both in the United States of America and here in my own Canada ... albeit on a much, much, much smaller scale.
Let this be a
wakeup call to the "light-skinned" in Latin America
and the Arab world. You are all "colored" 2the racist
scum in the USA no matter how "european" u think u
look. Being Uncle Toms will get you nowhere in the long run.#cdnpoli#tcot#onpolihttps://t.co/w3C9B3rwi8
Speaking of
looting, the US army is right now looting #Syria's
50% oil and gas resources leaving a large portion of the population
without heating and energy. The #USA
empire is based on looting. This has come to an end,
NOW!
— Kevork Almassian (@KevorkAlmassian) June
5, 2020
We crunched the
numbers: Police — not protesters — are overwhelmingly responsible for
attacking journalists https://t.co/NCkolaI9yO by
@trevortimm
Russia urges the
U.S. to ‘observe democratic standards’ and respect Americans’ right to
protest - The Russian Foreign Ministry said, “it’s time for the U.S. to
drop the mentor’s tone and look in the mirror” —— https://t.co/iqpAtMFLAq
What we must not
do is look away. Bear witness to the agony of others....and never kid
yourself that it couldn’t happen to you. https://t.co/6YzrQnQMBG
—
Marianne Williamson (@marwilliamson) June
5, 2020
Reminder that
@NYCMayor
Bill de Blasio and his cops have been making delivery workers'
lives hell for years. https://t.co/jlhHN1HWrp
Peaceful and
orderly "I can't breathe" protest in downtown
Toronto. Toronto Police Chief Saunders does the right thing. I
believe another one planned for tomorrow and on Sunday. #cdnpoli#tcot#TOpolihttps://t.co/zmdIZYI3bf
It's nice
to see cops showing solidarity with the 75-year-old man other cops
introduced the pavement to... *record scratch*... My mistake. It appears
the cops are showing solidarity with the cops responsible and who
walked over him as blood flowed from his head. https://t.co/AcQp1duV4X
"..Prime
Minister Justin Trudeau took a knee for eight minutes and 46 seconds of
silence, the length of time that a Minneapolis police officer knelt on
George Floyd's neck before his death.., #cdnpoli#tcot#TOpoli#BLMhttps://t.co/A8TtsyHVgs
3️⃣1️⃣4️⃣ Des
Moines, IA: white people in a car shout "Black Lives
Don't Matter," so Des Moines PD think the appropriate
response is to shoot a teargas canister at the car *in front* of the one
with people shouting
This propaganda
is a literal psyop (psychological operation) tactic used by the US
military when it is occupying foreign countries to try to get the local
population to like it.
—
Michael Thomas Carter 🌹 (@_michaeltcarter) June
6, 2020
"...in a
chilling testimony, a Palestinian rights activist said that when she
saw the image of Derek Chauvin kneeling on Mr. Floyd’s neck, she was
reminded of the Israeli forces’ policing of the occupied
territories.
Neta Golan, co-founder of International
Solidarity Movement
"...Baltimore law enforcement officials, along
with hundreds of others from Florida, New Jersey, Pennsylvania,
California, Arizona, Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, North
Carolina, Georgia, Washington state as well as the DC Capitol police
have all traveled to Israel for
"....In
the aftermath of 9/11, Israel seized on its decades-long experience as
an occupying force to brand itself as a world leader in
counterterrorism. U.S. law enforcement agencies took the Jewish state up
on its expertise by participating in exchange programs sponsored by
an
"....Military hardware not only makes civilian
cops look like soldiers; it makes them more likely to act like soldiers,
too. Wall Street Journal reporter Radley Balko’s work documenting the
rise of the “warrior cop” is indispensable: he has showed how this
warrior mentality,
Shit like cops
cheering on other cops who almost killed a senior citizen is why the
windows of squad cars are going to continue to get bricks and Molotov
cocktails. pic.twitter.com/rpCJQfggPG
After years of
civil rights activists calling for the removal of Confederate monuments,
they're falling like dominoes amid nationwide protests in the
wake of George Floyd's death in police custody. https://t.co/PWa62fjqsy
Thousands of
demonstrators joined a Black Lives Matter rally outside the U.S. Embassy
in London to protest racial injustice and the death of George Floyd.
https://t.co/ojKDzdyokapic.twitter.com/r5eV3ovgJu
More on 3️⃣5️⃣2️⃣
in Bakersfield CA, where a peaceful protestor was run over and killed
by a white nationalist – who police decided would not be charged https://t.co/X0IJgpDAYZ
new yorkers
please don’t fall for this cop propaganda. this guy w a megaphone shows
up to marches with a camera crew to lead people in pro-cop chants and is
apparently a model who only got that beret yesterday. seems like an
opportunist, not a leader. https://t.co/UaK0qD49B9
In Whitefish,
Montana, a young woman named Samantha Francine is confronted by a large
white man with balled fists, shouting, "Black Lives Matter?
Fuck you! Fuck you! Fuck you!" She does not look away.
"As protests
against police brutality are met with an unceasing barrage of police
brutality, the obsequious bootlicking copologia in online discussion
forums has been cranked up to eleven."https://t.co/SOinWZw0Gi
Police
militarization is an endless, deadly arms race that endangers people of
color & the poor, & impoverishes our communities. Tweaks
around the margins (body cams, bias training, duty to report etc.)
haven't worked. This needs a total system change. https://t.co/I4uxgZlaGf
"...Who
needs a military parade, President Trump? Americans are witnessing
militarized “parades” across the U.S.A. Their theme: violent force. The
result: plenty of wounded and otherwise damaged Americans left in their
wake. The detritus of America’s foreign wars
John W Whitehead:
"...The Deep State, the powers-that-be, want us to turn this
into a race war, but this is about so much more than systemic racism.
This is the oldest con game in the books, the magician’s sleight of hand
that keeps you focused on the shell game in front of
you
“city council
members rarely curb the pay or power of the police who installed them in
office. In many California places, the city doesn’t oversee the police;
the police oversee the city.”https://t.co/WFoq5kX9Gu
Proof that Australia's 60 Minutes outfit has done an excellent job with this documentary can be evident from the number of views it has already had. Posted just a week ago, I am betting it's going to the 3Million views pretty soon.
The persecution n
crucifixion of the Kings Bay Plowshares7 and Roman Catholic anti-war
activists in #Trump's
America. I wonder how most Americans, even those not making $s
off such, have become pro war. #cdnpoli#tcot#TOpoli https://t.co/wMkEJZhoCi
If one is
anti-war, one is an enemy of the US Gov. If one is corrupt to the core,
a serial rapist, serial pedophile, serial fraudster ... then one is one
with the US Gov and all's well. What a disgusting judicial
system!!!!#cdnpoli#tcot#TOpolihttps://t.co/QA7F7fecxH
After reading how
US politicians have looted Ukraine after the coup,I am wondering if any
of our own Canadian politicians (Harper era) got pieces of the pie as
well. "The Plundering Of Ukraine By Corrupt American
Democrats" #cdnpoli#tcot#TOpolihttps://t.co/IchPTHk1L2
"... Steve Kelly, a
Jesuit priest who has already spent ten years in prison for protesting
nuclear weapons, returned, in shackles, to the local jail. Because of an
outstanding warrant...#cdnpoli#tcot#TOpolihttps://t.co/oscG84ZIPf
US dictators
arresting Blumenthal on absolutely false n stupid charges will
invigorate the entire team at the Grayzone. Great for us truth-seekers.
Go Go Grayzone! Go get the Deep State bullies!!#cdnpoli#tcot#TOpolihttps://t.co/AYA1BE90U8 via
@GrayzoneProject
Here's
what happens in Police State USA. Canadians should be wary of
travelling down south. If this disgusting police state can do this to
its own citizens on trumped up false accusations, imagine what it can do
to you.#cdnpoli#tcot#TOpolihttps://t.co/rzAJqFfoig
Wish Landis had
realized what the Saudi Arabia/Israel/USA/Turkey funded wahhabis were up
to many years ago. Novices and total dodos like me knew, but a
supposedly MidEast expert like him didn't, eh @joshua_landis
? Too late the analysis now!! https://t.co/05IoLrJHQJ
There are so many
reasons to like Bernie Sanders...and now knowing that Israel's
puppet Nikki Haley thinks he's radical... that's yet
another reason to like him even more. https://t.co/CIySRpyj8t
"..Beyond its involvement with a repressive police
force, Canada has provided financial and diplomatic backing to the
neo-Duvalerist criminals subjugating Haiti’s impoverished masses....
#cdnpoli#tcot#TOpolihttps://t.co/m7tHRS1e1r
Terrible crime
that the Lima Group's queen @cafreeland
's strongest member Chile kills protestors, right?
Wonder why the silence on Chile's crimes from Venezuela regime
change warmongers both in Canada n the USA. Hypocrites!! #cdnpoli#tcot#TOpolihttps://t.co/MPNcwA5hGR
Excellent move...
I like it!! I detest face coverings, especially the religious/cultural
kind. " Immigrants will have to take a values test, but it
won't be required for residency" #cdnpoli#tcot#TOpolihttps://t.co/Yb6iR7UR38
She's
right! ...Erdogan has been "slaughtering the Syrian
Kurds and he's using terrorists from ISIS and al-Qaeda as his
militia," she explained, and has "been helping ISIS/AQ
for years," ..... #cdnpoli#tcot#TOpolihttps://t.co/kH36EAIymx
What happens in
#Trump's
fav land. "...70 years ago, Bethlehem, the birthplace
of Jesus Christ, was 86 percent Christian... ".Last
April, only 200 Christians were granted
permits.."
Here's
why Chileans r protesting at the risk of being
"disappeared" by the military or killed
outright. Don't forget that the Canadian govt under
@JustinTrudeau
has not said a single word against these human right abuses #cdnpoli#tcot#TOpolihttps://t.co/WspcX2OhmX
The PTB will do
anything n everything 2prevent Bernie Sanders fm the presidency even if
it means this crazy impeachment process will galvanize even those who
hate Trump to vote for him. "How Democrats and Republicans
Voted.. #cdnpoli#tcot#TOpolihttps://t.co/udXMEdTnYh
Now that the USA has elected a president the BBC is not in love with, out comes its claws all of a sudden to show the world something of what's happening in the dying empire. All this was prevalent the last so many decades, but BBC, like most of the MSM, had a lid on anything that showed America in a bad light..until now. BBC betrayal?
#cdnpoli#tcot#TOpoli 2) I cannot recall the BBC showing anything anti USA during Obama's reign. Were there no child brides or women dying in childbirth then dear @BBCNews? Your bias is showing!https://t.co/UWJOPw52mv
#cdnpoli#tcot#TOpoli 3) BBC was wholly in Obama n Hillary camp while education standards in USA were just as bad as they r now. But surprise, surprise, BBC now finds its long lost tongue on stuff anti USA as present prez not liked by BBC's PTB https://t.co/MwtyBjH6nI
Thoughtful article. The author reminds us that when Kaepernick took the knee (actually, IMO, I find that it seems more respectful to "take the knee" as that action is tough on the knees while standing is easy on the feet) during Obama's reign, there was hardly any press on it.
Edward Curtin at DissidentVoice The Super Patriotic Draft Dodger’s Rag: “Fire the Son-of-a-Bitch” So I wish you well, Sarge, give ’em Hell! Kill me a thousand or so And if you ever get a war without blood and gore I’ll be the first to go — Phil Ochs, The Draft Dodger’s Rag
Guess that makes me a proud bitch. — Teresa Kaepernick, Colin Kaepernick’s mother’s in response to Trump’s comment about her son In the true spirit of patriotic opposition, Colin Kaepernick took a courageous knee when he protested the current and historical treatment of black Americans and people of color during the playing of the National Anthem. For his patriotism, the NFL has made sure he remains unemployed, and now, when our reality-television president urges NFL teams to fire any “son-of-a-bitch” who dares follow Kaepernick’s example, the NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell releases a sanctimonious statement calling Trump’s demented words “divisive comments,” revealing an “unfortunate lack of respect” for NFL players. NFL owners and others chimed in with the word of the day – “divisive.” Exactly who is being divided from whom is left to speculation?
The hypocrisies of this lurid spectacle continue to mount daily.
Kaepernick knelt on principle during the Obama presidency. His was a lonely act. Now that the buffoonish Trump tweets and speaks his grotesqueries, it has become easy to emerge from the woodwork and join the crowd in supporting the man who made his solitary witness. Cheap grace, the German theologian and pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer termed the desire for “salvation” without paying a price. He said this before being executed by Hitler for his opposition to Nazism..........
Keep in mind that the largest percentage of the 4th Estate is owned by just a handful of individuals. Chances are that parts of the 5th Estate are slowly being bribed away from truth-tellers ... but that's another story.
When Russian and Syrian forces were bombarding 'rebel'-held East Aleppo last year, newspapers and television screens were full of anguished reporting about the plight of civilians killed, injured, trapped, traumatised or desperately fleeing. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Russian leader Vladimir Putin, both Official Enemies, were denounced and demonised, in accordance with the usual propaganda script. One piece in the Evening Standard described Assad as a 'monster' and a Boris Johnson column in the Telegraph referred to both Putin and Assad as 'the Devil'.
As the respected veteran reporter Patrick Cockburn put it:
'The partisan reporting of the siege of East Aleppo presented it as a battle between good and evil: The Lord of the Rings, with Assad and Putin as Saruman and Sauron.'
This, he said, was 'the nadir of Western media coverage of the wars in Iraq and Syria.' Media reporting focused laser-like on 'Last calls (or messages or tweets) from Aleppo'. There were heart-breaking accounts of families, children, elderly people, all caught up in dreadful conditions that could be pinned on the 'brutal' Assad and his 'regime'; endless photographs depicting grief and suffering that tore at one's psyche.
By contrast, there was little of this evident in media coverage as the Iraqi city of Mosul, with a population of around one million, was being pulverised by the US-led 'coalition' from 2015; particularly since the massive assault launched last October to 'liberate' the city from ISIS, with 'victory' declared a few days ago. Most pointedly, western media coverage has not, of course, demonised the US for inflicting mass death and suffering.
As Cockburn pointed out, there were 'many similarities between the sieges of Mosul and East Aleppo, but they were reported very differently'.
He explained:
'When civilians are killed or their houses destroyed during the US-led bombardment of Mosul, it is Islamic State that is said to be responsible for their deaths: they were being deployed as human shields. When Russia or Syria targets buildings in East Aleppo, Russia or Syria is blamed: the rebels have nothing to do with it.'
For example:
'Heartrending images from East Aleppo showing dead, wounded and shellshocked children were broadcast around the world. But when, on 12 January, a video was posted online showing people searching for bodies in the ruins of a building in Mosul that appeared to have been destroyed by a US-led coalition airstrike, no Western television station carried the pictures.'
Cockburn summarised:
'In Mosul, civilian loss of life is blamed on Isis, with its indiscriminate use of mortars and suicide bombers, while the Iraqi army and their air support are largely given a free pass. [...] Contrast this with Western media descriptions of the inhuman savagery of President Assad's forces indiscriminately slaughtering civilians regardless of whether they stay or try to flee.'..............
A "must read" on the stench of hypocrisy wafting up and polluting our planet in a more disastrous way than anything else ever known to earthlings ... and almost all of it coming from the leaders of the Western nations and their hangers-on.
The attack outside and inside London’s Westminster Parliament just before 4 pm local time on Wednesday 22nd March resulted in five deaths, including the assailant and forty injured. The confirmed British-born attacker, Adrian Elms – but with a number of alias’ including the much quoted Khalid Masood – drove a grey Hyundai SUV over Westminster Bridge, which spans the River Thames as it flows past Parliament, mounting the pavement and mowing down pedestrians crossing the great span, with it’s panoramic city views.
Some forty people were injured, twenty nine treated in hospital, with seven initially in a critical condition. Speaking in Parliament the next morning Prime Minister Theresa May listed the injured including twelve Britons, three of whom were police officers returning from an Award ceremony, three French children, two Romanians, four South Koreans, one Pole, one Irish, one Chinese, one Italian, an American and two Greeks....
.....Safely back in her official residence, behind Downing Street’s fortified walls and soaring iron gates, guarded by colleagues of PC Palmer, she paid tribute to the emergency services: “ … these exceptional men and women ran towards the danger even as they encouraged others to move the other way.”
She talked of terrorists targeting Parliament because they hated the “values our Parliament represents – democracy, freedom, human rights, the rule of law” and the “spirit of (it’s engendered) freedom that echoes in some of the furthest corners of the globe.”
It has to be wondered whether those still under bombardment from the UK or its ally the US, in Afghanistan after sixteen years, Iraq after fourteen years, in Libya, Syria, Yemen; Palestinians remembering the decimation the Balfour Declaration has wrought on them for generations – when May had declared that in this, its centenary year, it is to be remembered in special UK “celebrations” – share quite such a starry eyed view of the “values”, “human rights” and “freedoms” etc., emanating from ”the Mother of Parliaments.”....
....A spokesman for the US led Mosul slaughter:
Operation Inherent Resolve”, responded with: “The coalition respects human life, which is why we are assisting our Iraqi partner forces in their effort to liberate their lands from ISIS brutality.
He has clearly forgotten what the US has demonstrated in Iraq – with a brief break – fourteen years of their “respect for human life” – and the comment from a bewildered senior US military man to Major General Antonio Taguba during his investigation into the horrors, torture and death inflicted by US forces at Abu Ghraib: “But they were only Iraqis.”
Another friend provided me unwittingly with the conclusion for this inadequate piece on towering double standards. Thank you:
Do we not all bleed the same?
8/3 Kabul, Afghanistan – 49 dead. Silence
9/3 Tikrit, Iraq – 30 dead. Silence
11/3 Damascus, Syria – 74 dead. Silence
15/3 Damascus, Syria – 40 dead. Silence
16/3 Al-Jineh, Syria – 46 dead. Silence
21/3 Raqqa, Syria – 33 dead. Silence
21/3 Westminster, London – 5 dead.
22/3 Mosul, Iraq – 240 dead. Silence
They say we are all born equal.
But only the (Western deemed) “worthy” die as humans.
WHO probably needs more funding, so every couple of years we are hit with these exotic sounding viruses. We can expect to hear of many more such productions. Don't you just love their names? Zika, Yaba, West Nile. Someone at WHO is having fun choosing names from the bottom of the alphabet. What next "X-fever"?
When you can't paint for nuts and an elephant can draw better than you, then the genuis manipulator that you are, along with support from other manipulating "artists" in the business of selling "art works" to fools and snobs, had to come up with a brillant idea to fool the snobs.... let's hear your applause for "modern art" that looks like a soiled diaper pressed unto a canvas. The vid below is a perfect example of how snobs and fools can be exposed for the idiots that they actually are to believe that long lines, short lines, dots, circles, squares, zig-zags and wriggly worms in different colors is something that actually talks to you about feelings and more additional shit.
And, just like how the manipulating "modern art" con masters and those who sell their works to you at "art galleries" opened with laundered money, so also you will find people with two left feet who can't dance for nuts but can flay their arms about and jump around without a skipping rope and yet manage to make you believe that they are the greatest "contemporary dancers" by flayed about their arms and jumping around like dying grasshoppers .
Our wonderful world of dumbed-down people and make believe continues to continue. But for how long, that is the question.
Interesting. Many of us know exactly what Gearoid Colmain is stating so passionately. Take care Mr.Colmain ... I always fear for the safety of people who speak the truth, are idealistic and can't be bought. Evil walks our planet these days like it owns it and everybody in it. The labyrinth of falsehoods, false flags, lies, tyranny, propaganda, murder, suicide, hypocrisy, acrimony and deceit is all around us. The vid below was posted on Jan 9th.
The hypocrisy is much more jaw-dropping than the few items touched on by the two journalists. Just a few hours ago, France arrested a black comedian for posting some nonsense on his facebook page on the pretext that it either condoned or encouraged terrorism. The shamelessness of the world leaders and the utter lies and hypocrisy, especially from the politicians of the Anglosphere, is affecting even the stock markets and the economy. When citizens see their politicians in their naked hypocrisy, how can they have any respect or confidence in their government?
Drones from the almighty nation of the USA have been killing children, not intentionally, but it still happens. Children have been killed by Obama's drones in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen .... that we know of. Where else? Children have been killed in their hundreds, maybe even thousands, killed by USA-made weapons supplied by USA warmongers to Israeli killers. It's no surprise then that when children are killed either by Western warmongers or by jihadis in Muslim nations, there's not much of a hue and cry. Whereas, the tale of the Australian terrorism event and the aftermath will be kept alive for weeks to come.
Very few people on our planet missed the hostage situation in Sydney where the actions of one lone jihadi slime caused the death of two Australians? At end of day today, why don't you put the question "How many children were butchered by the Taliban today in Pakistan?" to about a dozen people of your acquaintance and see how they will either dismiss you with "oh ... they do it every day" or "who cares, they are Muslim anyway" or the rare "I didn't hear that, how terrible" .... what a sad world we have come to when 100s of innocent kids' lives whether they be in Muslim countries like Pakistan or Palestine mean nothing to us but the death of two Australian adults and the stories stemming from that incident have been covered page to page by each and every newspaper in the world. Do you think even the few news outlets covering the Pakistani children massacre will cover it tomorrow too? Will we get to see interviews with their friends and get to know how cute and cuddly they were, how well they drew animals and stars, how beautifully they danced and sang, how promising their futures were, how much loved they were?????????????? NO we won't. This is our world of not only hate and bitterness because of religion but also of judging the worth of a human being depending on geography and, as much as we would like to deny it, also on color.
A contributor at the Orontes Jimdo website has given video proof of how the USA backed "opposition to Assad" has a deep connection to ISIS/ISIL/IS/xyz. Not that we didn't know about it, but there are masses upon masses of people who are naively ignorant of that fact and every little bit to shake them awake helps.
Really Mr. President? Tens of thousands of Syrians were killed by those very same thugs, entire neighborhoods in major Syrian cities were transformed to rubble, the country's infrastructure devastated by none other than those championed by your administration and financed by US GCC clients... and all of a sudden "the entire world" is appalled just because ONE man was slaughtered?........... .....President Obama says ISIS has "no place in the 21st century," however US key man in Syria worked closely with the al-Qaeda factions ISIL (ISIS/IS ) and Jabhat al-Nusra.
Captured Kiev soldiers were marched through Donetsk and the residents looked ready to pounce on them and tear them to pieces and probably would have if the separatists had not held them at bay.
And, of course, wouldn't you know it, according to the hypocritical BBC this kind of thing is "against the Geneva Conventions" but laughably when Israel is slaughtering Gazan children and committing genocide on Palestinians, "Geneva Conventions" is AWOL from the BBC's dictionary ... these people at the BBC simply refuse to realize the kind of hypocrites they have become and that those fully awake among us can see them for what they are.
I am so overwhelmed by the misery of it all. What an unjust world we live in! Go to the link and read the whole thing as I have pasted below only a few extracts from a long article.
Noam Chomsky article printed at ZComm.Org: Outrage. Almost every day brings news of awful crimes, but some are so heinous, so horrendous and malicious, that they dwarf all else. One of those rare events took place on July 17, when Malaysian Airlines MH17 was shot down in Eastern Ukraine, killing 298 people. The Guardian of Virtue in the White House denounced it as an “outrage of unspeakable proportions,” which he attributed to “Russian support.” His UN Ambassador thundered that “when 298 civilians are killed” in the “horrific downing” of a civilian plane, “we must stop at nothing to determine who is responsible and to bring them to justice.” She also called on Putin to end his shameful efforts to evade his very clear responsibility. True, the “irritating little man” with the “ratlike face” (Timothy Garton Ash) had called for an independent investigation, but that could only have been because of sanctions from the one country courageous enough to impose them, the United States, while Europeans had cowered in fear.......... .........The commander of a nearby U.S. vessel, David Carlson, wrote in the U.S. Naval Proceedings that he “wondered aloud in disbelief” as “’The Vincennes announced her intentions” to attack what was clearly a civilian aircraft. He speculated that “Robo Cruiser,” as the Vincennes was called because of its aggressive behavior, “felt a need to prove the viability of Aegis (the sophisticated anti-aircraft system on the cruiser) in the Persian Gulf, and that they hankered for the opportunity to show their stuff.” Two years later, the commander of the Vincennes and the officer in charge of anti-air warfare were given the Legion of Merit award for “exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding service” and for the “calm and professional atmosphere” during the period of the destruction of the Iranian Airbus, which was not mentioned in the award......... ..........It is worth remembering the extent of Washington’s devotion to its friend Saddam. Reagan removed him from the terrorist list so that aid could be sent to expedite his assault on Iran, and later denied his terrible crimes against the Kurds, including the use of chemical weapons, blocking congressional condemnations. He also accorded Saddam a privilege otherwise granted only to Israel: there was no serious reaction when Iraq attacked the USS Stark with missiles, killing 37 crewmen, much like the case of the USS Liberty, attacked repeatedly by Israeli jets and torpedo ships in 1967, killing 34 crewmen. Reagan’s successor, Bush I, went on to provide further aid to Saddam, badly needed after the war with Iran that he launched. Bush also invited Iraqi nuclear engineers to come to the US for advanced training in weapons production. In April 1990, Bush dispatched a high-level Senate delegation, led by future Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole, to convey his warm regards to his friend Saddam and to assure him that he should disregard irresponsible criticism from the “haughty and pampered press,” and that such miscreants had been removed from Voice of America. The fawning before Saddam continued until he turned into a new Hitler a few months later by disobeying orders, or perhaps misunderstanding them, and invading Kuwait, with illuminating consequences that are worth reviewing once again, though I will leave this interesting matter aside here....... ........Other precedents had long since been dismissed to the memory hole as without significance. One example is the Libyan civilian airliner that was lost in a sandstorm in 1973 when it was shot down by US-supplied Israeli jets, two minutes flight time from Cairo, towards which it was heading. .... ......For the West Bank, the norm has been that Israel carries forward its illegal construction of settlements and infrastructure so that it can integrate into Israel whatever might be of value to it, meanwhile consigning Palestinians to unviable cantons and subjecting them to intense repression and violence. For the past 14 years, the norm has been that Israel kills more than two Palestinian children a week. The latest Israeli rampage was set of by the brutal murder of three Israeli boys from a settler community in the occupied West Bank. A month before, two Palestinian boys were shot dead in the West Bank city of Ramallah. That elicited no attention, which is understandable, since it is routine. “The institutionalised disregard for Palestinian life in the West helps explain not only why Palestinians resort to violence,” the respected Middle East analyst Mouin Rabbani reports, “but also Israel’s latest assault on the Gaza Strip.”.... .........The distinguished human rights lawyer Raji Sourani, who has remained in Gaza through years of Israeli brutality and terror, reports that “The most common sentence I heard when people began to talk about ceasefire: everybody says it’s better for all of us to die and not go back to the situation we used to have before this war. We don’t want that again. We have no dignity, no pride; we are just soft targets, and we are very cheap. Either this situation really improves or it is better to just die. I am talking about intellectuals, academics, ordinary people: everybody is saying that.” Similar sentiments have been widely voiced: it is better to die with dignity than to be slowly strangled by the torturer.............
