August 22, 2022 – By John & Nisha Whitehead
“We want no Gestapo or Secret Police. FBI is tending in that direction.”—Harry Truman
With every passing day, the United States government borrows yet another leaf from Nazi Germany’s playbook: Secret police. Secret courts. Secret government agencies. Surveillance. Censorship. Intimidation. Harassment. Torture. Brutality. Widespread corruption. Entrapment. Indoctrination. Indefinite detention.
The FBI’s Gestapo Tactics: Hallmarks of an Authoritarian Regime
Tag: Freedom
Real Estate CEO: Recession Could Be “Good” if “Unemployment … Puts Employers Back in the Driver Seat”
The CEO and president of Douglas Emmett Inc., a real estate corporation worth over $3 billion and based in Santa Monica, California, said on an August 2 corporate earnings call that a recession could be “good” for the commercial real estate business “if it comes with a level of unemployment that puts employers back in the driver seat and allows them to get all their employees back into the office.” The executive, Jordan Kaplan, then repeated that “the thought would be that unemployment would be up. And therefore, employers would be in the driver seat to bring people back in the office, which is where they want them.”
Real Estate CEO: Recession Could Be “Good” if “Unemployment … Puts Employers Back in the Driver Seat”
Free Speech Doesn’t Matter If Propagandists Determine What People Say
by Caitlin Johnstone
None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.
None are more hopelessly ignorant than those who falsely believe they’re informed.
None are more hopelessly propagandized than those who don’t know they are propagandized.
Free Speech Doesn’t Matter If Propagandists Determine What People Say
Police abuse stop and search powers to target protesters, suggests data
Exclusive: Big Brother Watch analysis shows use of tactic rose 20.5% in London on weekends when demonstrations happened
Police abuse stop and search powers to target protesters, suggests data
US Congress could consider whether or not to condition US aid to India on improvements in human rights, civil liberties
Members of the US Congress could consider whether or not to condition future American aid to India on improvements in human rights and civil liberties in the country, an independent and bipartisan congressional research body has said.The Biden Administration has requested USD 117 million in foreign assistance to India for FY 2023.
US Congress could consider whether or not to condition US aid to India on improvements in human rights, civil liberties
Related:
USAID chief Samantha Power holds talks with govt functionaries
The USAID said Ms. Power met with civil society representatives in Delhi on July 26 to discuss freedom of expression, speech, identity, and the importance of protecting the rights of minority groups.
“The Administrator underscored the United States’ continued commitment to work with civil society organisations around the globe to advance human rights and fundamental freedoms,” acting spokesperson of USAID Shejal Pulivarti said.
Geopolitics as anti-Palestinianism
Western support for Israel is explained away by shared interests and realpolitik, but this elides an underlying anti-Palestinianism which motivates pro-Israel bias.
Geopolitics as anti-Palestinianism
CHINA: The West has Double Standards! West: China has Double Standards! Who is to be trusted?
Did the Syrian Revolution Have Popular Support?
by William Van Wagenen | Aug 3, 2022
In the mainstream view, the armed groups fighting the Syrian government since 2011, collectively known as the Free Syrian Army (FSA), were part of a Syrian revolution that represented the Syrian people. At the same time, the Syrian government, or Assad regime, allegedly represented only a small number of loyalists, in particular from President Assad’s minority Alawite community. Such a view undergirded demands by Western and Gulf-funded think tank scholars, who claimed that the Syrian people wished for FSA groups to be armed, and even for Western military intervention on behalf of the FSA, whose fighters they sympathetically described as rebels.
Did the Syrian Revolution Have Popular Support?
The Infantilization of Africa: US House Bill Claims to “Protect” Continent
Aug 15, 2022 – Didier Gondola, Professor of African History at Johns Hopkins University and Professor Teylama Miabey, President of the National Congress For Democracy join me to discuss HR7311
Video via HermelaTV
Previously:
South African Minister Tells West To Stop “Patronising Bullying” On Ukraine
Many Africans Reject Washington’s Position on Ukraine Crisis
A debate on March 2* over a resolution to essentially condemn and apportion exclusive blame on Moscow for the current military situation, was voted on by 141 UN representatives out of 191. 35 countries abstained from the vote including 17 member-states of the African Union (AU). Cameroon, Ethiopia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Burkina Faso, Togo, Eswatini and Morocco were absent. Algeria, Uganda, Burundi, Central African Republic, Mali, Senegal, Equatorial Guinea, Congo Brazzaville, Sudan, South Sudan, Madagascar, Mozambique, Angola, Namibia, Zimbabwe and South Africa abstained on the resolution.
South African Minister Tells West To Stop “Patronising Bullying” On Ukraine
Minister Pandor made these statements while sitting next to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken
South Africa’s Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Naledi Pandor has warned global powers against dictating how African countries should respond to global issues saying South Africa will never accept what she termed “patronising bullying”.
South African Minister Tells West To Stop “Patronising Bullying” On Ukraine
Related:
Blinken: US Won’t ‘Dictate Africa’s Choices’ on Russia, But…
In South Africa, Blinken has been pressed about legislation passed by the House this year that aims – in the words of its author, House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) – to “counter the malign influence and activities of the Russian Federation and its proxies in Africa.”
The text describes Russia’s “malign influence and activities” as those “that undermine United States objectives and interests.” – i.e, US corporate interests!
Last week, Pandor offered pointed criticism of the legislation, describing it as an “unprecedented” measure that is “intended to punish countries in Africa that have not toed the line on the Russia-Ukraine war.”
The Countering Malign Russian Activities in Africa Act passed the House in April in a 415-9 vote, and now faces Senate consideration.
‘Offensive’
At a joint press briefing with Blinken on Monday, Pandor expressed the hope the Senate would reject the “offensive” bill.
“When we believe in freedom, as I’m saying, it’s freedom for everybody, you can’t say because Africa is doing this, you will then be punished by the United States,” she said.
Pandor argued that South Africa’s position on Ukraine was one of abhorring war and supporting a search for peace.
She also suggested that the U.S. employs double standards, by supporting freedom for Ukraine but not for the Palestinians.
“We should be equally concerned at what is happening to the people of Palestine as we are with what is happening to the people of Ukraine,” she said. “We’ve not seen an even-handed approach in the utilization of the prescripts of international law.”
In a television interview in Johannesburg earlier in the day, Blinken was asked about the House legislation, and said, “I can only speak for our administration and for the president. Our focus is not on saying to friends, partners: you have to choose.” – liar!
In contrast to those diplomatic words, when the Meeks bill was first marked up by the committee he chairs, ranking member and co-sponsor of the legislation Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) spoke of the need to “make every state choose between doing business with the free world or with a war criminal” – the latter a reference to Russian President Vladimir Putin. – then they shouldn’t be doing business with any NATO country!
Ms. Cat’s Chronicles 
You must be logged in to post a comment.