Netanyahu cries ‘anti-Semitism’ as Israeli Maccabi hooligans instigate riots in Amsterdam

As anti-Palestinian provocations by notoriously racist Israeli football hooligans triggered riots in central Amsterdam on Thursday night, Israel and the far-right government of the Netherland along with other Western leaders are rushing to portray the violence as ‘anti-Semitic pogroms’ even as the Dutch police said investigations are ongoing and refused to comment on the ethnicity of the Dutch citizens arrested overnight.

Netanyahu cries ‘anti-Semitism’ as Israeli Maccabi hooligans instigate riots in Amsterdam

Africa taken for ‘neo-colonial’ ride

By Anis Chowdhury and Jomo Kwame Sundaram – Jul 26, 2022

SYDNEY and KUALA LUMPUR, Jul 26 2022 (IPS) – Like so many others, Africans have long been misled. Alleged progress under imperialism has long been used to legitimize exploitation. Meanwhile, Western colonial powers have been replaced by neo-colonial governments and international institutions serving their interests.

Africa taken for ‘neo-colonial’ ride

Pelosi expected to visit Taiwan, Taiwanese and US officials say and Could Get Us All Killed!

Nancy Pelosi Taiwan Visit Could Get Us All Killed

Related:

Pelosi expected to visit Taiwan, Taiwanese and US officials say

Officials also believe the Chinese leadership doesn’t completely grasp the political dynamics in the United States*, leading to a misunderstanding over the significance of Pelosi’s potential visit. The officials say China may be confusing Pelosi’s visit with an official administration visit, since she and Biden are both Democrats. Administration officials are concerned that China doesn’t separate Pelosi from Biden much, if at all.

The ‘eccentric, bigoted’ Pelosi does not care about others’ thoughts, but Biden is the key in the 82-year-old’s planned Taiwan trip

Pelosi is in the presidential line of succession, thus the administration takes extra care of her security when she travels overseas, the White House said on Tuesday, according to CNN.

They’re well aware that Pelosi is the second in line of Presidential succession!

CDC Tracked Millions of Phones to See If Americans Followed COVID Lockdown Orders

CDC Tracked Millions of Phones to See If Americans Followed COVID Lockdown Orders

The documents reveal the expansive plan the CDC had last year to use location data from a highly controversial data broker. SafeGraph, the company the CDC paid $420,000 for access to one year of data, includes Peter Thiel and the former head of Saudi intelligence [Turki bin Faisal Al Saud] among its investors. Google banned the company from the Play Store in June.

The CDC used the data for monitoring curfews, with the documents saying that SafeGraph’s data “has been critical for ongoing response efforts, such as hourly monitoring of activity in curfew zones or detailed counts of visits to participating pharmacies for vaccine monitoring.” The documents date from 2021.

Zach Edwards, a cybersecurity researcher who closely follows the data marketplace, told Motherboard in an online chat after reviewing the documents: “The CDC seems to have purposefully created an open-ended list of use cases, which included monitoring curfews, neighbor-to-neighbor visits, visits to churches, schools and pharmacies, and also a variety of analysis with this data specifically focused on ‘violence.’” (The document doesn’t stop at churches; it mentions “places of worship.”)

Related:

Data Broker Is Selling Location Data of People Who Visit Abortion Clinics

Location data broker SafeGraph stops selling information on visits to abortion providers

SafeGraph Provides CDC and 1000+ Organizations With Data to Fight the COVID-19 Crisis

Google Bans Location Data Firm Funded by Former Saudi Intelligence Head:

On its website SafeGraph says “We believe places data should be open for all.” In April 2017, Turki bin Faisal Al Saud, the former head of Saudi Arabia’s intelligence agency, invested in SafeGraph as part of a $16 million Series A funding round. SafeGraph said it had “assembled the deepest policy thinkers.” Beyond Faisal Al Saud, SafeGraph said it had enlisted the help of former U.S. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, author Sam Harris, Meghan O’Sullivan who ran Iraq and Afghanistan policy under President George Bush, former Deputy Chief of Staff to President Obama Mona Sutphen, and former German Minister of Defense Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, among others. Peter Thiel is also an investor in the company.

More investors: SafeGraph Raises $16 Million Series A

Biden’s Reckless Words Underscore the Dangers of the U.S.’s Use of Ukraine As a Proxy War

By Glenn Greenwald | March 27, 2022

As grave of a threat as deliberate war is, unintended escalation from miscommunication and misperception can be as bad. Biden is the perfect vessel for such risks.

Biden’s Reckless Words Underscore the Dangers of the U.S.’s Use of Ukraine As a Proxy War (Archived for external links)

Related:

‘Inconsistent With US Goals’: Western Analysts Criticise Biden’s Call for Regime Change in Russia

Is China an Economic Threat?

Is China an Economic Threat?

It seems that more and more Americans, pro-Trump or not, are concluding that trade with China is a threat to the United States. The objections are typically one of three: (1) freer trade with China after it was admitted to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001 has cost U.S. manufacturing jobs; (2) the Chinese have thrived by stealing our intellectual property (IP) and that has made Americans worse off; and (3) the Chinese will use some of their progress in cybertechnology to engage in surveillance of Americans.

Each of these objections contains a kernel of truth. But the objections together are not nearly enough to offset the huge gains that Americans reap from freer trade with China.