Tag: Iran

Mike Pompeo Brought His Backward View of Human Rights to the UN. Europe Wasn’t Buying It.

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Mike Pompeo Brought His Backward View of Human Rights to the UN. Europe Wasn’t Buying It.

Pompeo’s speech, which was part of an event hosted by the United States during the UN General Assembly, was marketed as a celebration of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the foundational document for decades of human rights policy. Instead, Pompeo promoted his own narrowly-defined idea of human rights, which was formalized last month in a report from a controversial State Department advisory body. Known as the Commission on Unalienable Rights, the group was stocked with critics of contraception, same-sex marriage, and abortion, including Pompeo’s former boss. In its final report, which was released last month, the commission elevated some rights like religious freedom as “unalienable,” while dismissing abortion and same-sex marriages as “divisive social and political controversies.”

Related:

Pompeo urges other countries to join alternative U.S. view on human rights

“The U.S. Commission on Unalienable Rights is a deeply misguided enterprise with the potential to undermine human rights protections that governments find disagreeable,” said Louis Charbonneau, the U.N. director for Human Rights Watch. “The commission promotes the false premise that too many people, particularly lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people and women, are asserting their rights.”

Other advocates rebuked Pompeo for his emphasis on religion, to the exclusion of other rights.

What they don’t say is that Pompeo is going to use this against China with his lies about the Uyghurs!

American Cultural Psychosis and Anti-Chinese War Propaganda, by Rainer Shea

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

by Rainer Shea Writer, Dandelion Salad Rainer Shea: Anti-Imperialist Journalist September 23, 2020

The Iraq invasion was a prelude to our current war run-up, the war run-up that the United States would experience when its global imperial hegemony came under threat during the 2020s. Like was the case in 2003, the empire’s propaganda machine has inculcated its narratives into the minds of a solid majority of the public. Like was the case in 2003, the main target of the empire’s violent rage is merely a scapegoat for the crises that the U.S. has been experiencing. The difference is that in 2020, America’s cultural psychosis is being directed towards preparing for a war far larger than the Iraq War, a war so destructive and costly that it could end up breaking U.S. hegemony for good.

American Cultural Psychosis and Anti-Chinese War Propaganda, by Rainer Shea

Belarus to abandon outreach to West & focus foreign policy on developing relationship with Russia & China – influential senior MP

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Belarus to abandon outreach to West & focus foreign policy on developing relationship with Russia & China – influential senior MP

In his opinion, Belarus’ “top priority” should now be “strengthening political, economic and military relations with Russia, within the framework of the Union State.” The MP also noted that the country should focus on its relationships with China, India, Iran, Turkey and Vietnam, to help the country become part of a “Eurasian macroregion.”

Is Hong Kong a repeat of the CIA-sponsored Iranian coup?

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Is Hong Kong a repeat of the CIA-sponsored Iranian coup?

American supremacy is now limited by the reality that it has to dismantle China’s BRI alliances with 138 countries (61.7% of the world population and 51.7% of world GDP). This is why the US and its allies are going on the offensive with sanctions, tariffs’ trade wars, technology bans, media restrictions and foreign interference under the pretext of ‘human rights’ concerns. The (c)overt’ US government interference in HKSAR affairs with aggressive support and funding for pro-independence ‘regime-change‘ recruits is just one of those disruptive policies to intensify the global anti-China sentiment that is already aggravated due to Covid-19, so as to destabilise China’s largest economic and geopolitical BRI alliances.

Israel Asks US for $8 Billion in Warplanes for ‘Qualitative’ Edge

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Israel Asks US for $8 Billion in Warplanes for ‘Qualitative’ Edge

Israel offered nothing publicly on why they would expect an arms race, or who would be involved. The reality is that the UAE doesn’t have a lot of military rivals, especially not the sort that would be able to afford an arms race. Though Iran is the catch-all excuse, Iran would never be able to afford a slew of advanced warplanes to counter the F-35s, nor would they be likely to try, given their military doctrine is based on deterrence and retaliatory capabilities.

Meanwhile:

Oregon Can’t Fight Wildfires Because Its Helicopters Were Sent To Afghanistan

Firefighters are having a great deal of trouble dealing with blazes of this size and ferocity, despite receiving support from the rest of the country. A group of Mexican firefighters also arrived in the state yesterday, keen to help their American compatriots. One major reason they are having such difficulties combatting the blazes, the Portland Tribune noted deep in one article, is that many of the state’s largest firefighting aircraft are not available because the Department of Defense has sent them to Afghanistan to fight in a 20-year-old war. Six Chinook helicopters, for example, have been redeployed to the Asian nation, critically undermining both rescue and firefighting missions at home.

Wagging the Dog: As Trump and Iran square off on Venezuela Oil Shipments, will US Go full Pirate of the Gulf?

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Wagging the Dog: As Trump and Iran square off on Venezuela Oil Shipments, will US Go full Pirate of the Gulf?

Trump had four Iranian oil tankers seized in August, alleging that they were heading for Venezuela. The problem? There is no basis in international law for the seizures, which are therefore mere piracy and outright grand larceny. The owners of the vessels have filed suit in a Washington, D.C. district court.

Related:

Is Mike Pompeo preparing an October Surprise?