It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Thursday, May 23, 2024
NAKBA II
UNRWA: 75% of Gazans forcibly displaced since 7 October
[22/May/2024]
GAZA May 22. 2024 (Saba) - The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) announced on Wednesday that 75 percent of Gazans have faced forced displacement, many of them four or five times since the seventh of last October.
"For thousands of Palestinian families there is nowhere to go, Zionist military operations and shelling are a constant threat, buildings have been reduced to rubble, and there is no safe place in Gaza," the agency said in a post on the X platform.
In a post earlier today, UNRWA stated that its staff in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip "continue to provide support to residents by providing sanitation, water, waste collection and guidance."
"The challenges are enormous, including the scarcity of water, fuel and health resources," It said. Safe and unhindered access is needed to protect people in Gaza.
E.M
Germany says it will arrest Netanyahu as Israeli envoy appeals to Berlin to defy ICC
Israel's ambassador urges the German government to reject the "outrageous" ICC move
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and German Federal Government Spokesman and Head of the Federal Government's Press and Information Office Steffen Hebestreit attend the weekly cabinet meeting at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany June 7, 2023
.(photo credit: REUTERS/ANNEGRET HILSE)
Israel’s Ambassador to Berlin, Ron Prosor, was rebuffed by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government on Wednesday after the envoy made a dramatic appeal on X, formerly Twitter, to the Federal government to reject the ICC’s legitimacy fully.
Scholz’s spokesman, Steffen Hebestreit, was asked on Wednesday if the German government would execute an ICC arrest order against Prime Minister Netanyahu for alleged war crimes during Swords of Iron.
Hebestreit said, "Of course. Yes, we abide by the law."
On Tuesday, before Hebestreit’s announcement, Prosor wrote on X in both German and English, “This is outrageous! The German 'Staatsräson' is now being put to the test—no ifs or buts. This contrasts with the weak statements we hear from some institutions and political actors. The public statement that Israel has the right to self-defense loses credibility if our hands are tied as soon as we defend ourselves.”
Staatsräson is the German word that refers to Germany's pledge to ensure Israel’s security is part of its national security and interests. Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel declared during her 2008 Knesset speech that Israel is part of Germany’s raison d'etre—or state of being.
German Government Spokesman Steffen Hebestreit reacts as he presents the logo for the G7 summit in Germany 2022 at a news conference in Berlin, Germany
(credit: REUTERS/ANNEGRET HILSE)
The ambassador continued, “ The Chief Prosecutor [of the ICC] equates a democratic government with Hamas, thereby demonizing and delegitimizing Israel and the Jewish people. He has completely lost his moral compass. Germany has a responsibility to readjust this compass. This disgraceful political campaign could become a nail in the coffin for the West and its institutions. Do not let it come to that!"
ICC formed in response to Holocaust
The International Criminal Court was formed in response to Nazi Germany’s extermination of 6 million Jews. Germany is a generous donor to the ICC. The possibility that a German government would arrest and deport an Israeli Prime Minister and defense minister if they stepped foot on German soil in light of the country’s Hitler movement history has triggered shocking reports in the German media and on social media.
Germany seems to be working at cross purposes in its diplomatic messaging. On Tuesday, a spokesman for the German foreign ministry said about the ICC arrest warrant request that “The simultaneous application for arrest warrants against the Hamas leaders on the one hand and the two Israeli officials on the other has given the false impression of equivalence.”
Separately but related, Tal Heinrich, Israeli government spokeswoman, sharply criticized the German civil servant, Michael Blume, who is tasked with fighting antisemitism in the state of Baden-Württemberg but has blamed Israel’s government for Hamas’s October 7 mass murder, according to German experts on antisemitism.
Heinrich responded to reports about Blume denigrating the Israeli icon, Orde Wingate, Blume’s calls on the Israeli government to dismantle its security fence to stop Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and Fatah terrorism, and his sympathy for the ICC case against the Jewish state.
Hamas slaughtered nearly 1,200 people on October 7 and kidnapped over 250.
Heinrich told the Post on Tuesday that “One of the very first statements of the PM in the beginning of the war - right after October 7 - underscored that this is a time for moral clarity. Comments that we have seen from Mr. Blume in the past about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and throughout this war demonstrate that he often lacks moral clarity. “
The Israeli government spokeswoman, Heinrich, added, “Whether or not he should stay in his role is not in my place to say. But generally speaking, when you’re on a mission to fight antisemitism you have to be able to clearly differentiate between good and evil. There’s no grey zone when it comes to the hatred of Jews.”
On Tuesday, the day the ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan said he is seeking to arrest Netanyahu and Defense Minister Gallant, Blume took to X to again trash the Israeli national hero, Orde Wingate, as a “war criminal.” Orde Wingate was termed the “father of IDF” by former MK and Israeli Ambassador to the US, Michael Oren, who told the Post in 2022 that Blume “should resign" because of his attacks on Wingate. The IDF also rebuked Blume at the time for his slashing criticism of Wingate.
The timing of Blume’s attack on Wingate was noticed by Blume’s critics as he lashed out at Wingate and defended the ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan against Netnanyhu’s charge that Khan’s decision was antisemitic. Blume also endorsed an X post declaring that the decision to issue an arrest warrant for Netanyahu was “right.”
Blume previously “liked” an X post and reposted it, calling on Netanyahu to “tear down” the security fence in Judea and Samaria that has saved the lives of thousands of Jews and Arabs, according to the IDF. Blume compared the anti-terror fence to the Berlin Wall. Brigadier General (Res.) Amir Avivi, who is the head of the Israel Defense and Security Forum, told the Post, "The time has come to fire Blume, who, instead of siding with Israel amid the most horrific attack since the Holocaust on innocent civilians, once again confuses who the good guys are and from where pure evil emanates. Israel builds walls to defend itself against Hamas and other terror organizations. Time has come to hold Palestinian leadership accountable and Blume as well."
Blume has delivered talks across Germany that mainly pin the blame on Israel for October 7 and not Hamas, according to his critics. He told students at the University of Tübingen about Netanyahu that “His government coalition with right-wing extremists and ultra-Orthodox divided Israeli society by attempting to abolish the separation of powers and relocated the Israeli army to the settlers in the West Bank instead of protecting its own south.”
Natan Sharansky, a one-time Soviet dissident and former Israeli government minister, termed an X post by Blume “anti-Semitic, “ in which Blume suggested he was being surveilled by an alleged Israeli intelligence company. Blume provided no evidence.
Sharansky said last year there was "no doubt that his[Blume] tweet…is anti-Semitic. As it demonizes our people and goes to classic anti-Semitic conspiracy theory. It is a legitimate question why should the German government pay him for fighting anti-Semitism."
Matthias Gauger, a spokesman for the Green Party governor, Winfried Kretschmann, in Baden-Württemberg declined to comment. Kretschmann has faced criticism for supporting Blume’s alleged antisemitism and providing funds to an antisemitic BDS preacher in the West Bank, according to a Post report.
On Wednesday, the Jerusalem Post sent press queries to the German foreign ministry about Prosor’s X post and Chancellor Scholz’s decision to arrest Netanyahu if the warrant is implemented.
WWIII
Manila-Beijing row worsens as China yet to show evidence of ‘secret deal’
The Asian superpower has made such agreements before, but its latest claims may be a divide-and-conquer tactic, analysts say.
Camille Elemia 2024.05.22 Manila
Vice Adm. Alberto Carlos, chief of the Philippine military’s Western Command (left), speaks to the media with military chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr., in Palawan, Philippines, Aug. 10, 2023.
Eloisa Lopez/AFP
Manila’s row with Beijing has worsened in recent weeks, as China insists that the Philippines has violated their alleged secret deals and concessions on the South China Sea, but has not shown any evidence to back its claim.
For its part, the Philippines has consistently denied the existence of such deals or concessions, with some observers saying China’s assertion is part of its divide-and-conquer strategy, and other analysts noting that Beijing has a record of secret agreements that breach global regulations.
The recent controversy between the Philippines and China centers around analleged secret recording Beijing’s embassy in Manila made of a phone conversation, and released what they said was its transcript to some media organizations.
The call, they said, was between a senior Filipino military official and a Chinese diplomat, during which Manila reportedly agreed on a new model for arranging notifications of resupply missions to Second Thomas (Ayungin) Shoal.
Vice Adm. Alberto Carlos, the senior Philippine military official in question, said Wednesday that he did have such a conversation with a Chinese diplomat buthad not consented to its being recorded.
“I did not enter into any secret deals that will compromise the interests of our country. …I have not compromised the country’s territorial integrity,” he said at a hearing in the Senate on Wednesday.
“I have not given up our sovereign rights and entitlement. I am a soldier for the Filipino. I remain a loyal servant of the republic.”
Carlos had been replaced and put on forced leave at the general military headquarters after the controversy broke. The Philippine military did not explain why, only saying that his reassignment was not a punishment.
‘China has relied on such deals’
This development may not help ease Beijing-Manila tensions.
On Wednesday, China reiterated its claim that it had “solid evidence” these deals with the Philippines existed but did not say why it has not produced this so-called proof.
“Whether it’s [a] ‘gentlemen’s agreement,’ or … internal understandings, or the ‘new model’ reached between China and the Philippines on properly managing the situation in the South China Sea, they all have clear timelines and are supported by solid evidence,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbinsaid on Wednesday.
“No one can deny their existence,” he insisted.
And China has relied on such deals which have worked in its favor in the past, analysts pointed out.
“China is quite known for its preference for secretive deals that do not embody legitimate rules and norms of international relations,” Don McLain Gill, a Manila-based geopolitical analyst, told BenarNews on Monday.
He cited two examples: the 1963 secret territorial pact between Pakistan and China and thealleged secret deal between China and Cambodia that allowed the Chinese Navy to have an extended and exclusive access to Phnom Penh’s naval base.
Both China and Cambodia denied the secret agreements, of course, but Western officials and groups believed otherwise.
“Such deals favor China because while they are clouded in ambiguity, they still serve the strategic purpose of Beijing. However, such deals often put the other country in the hot seat,” said Gill, who’s also a lecturer at the De La Salle University.
‘Divide and conquer’
Antonio Carpio, a Philippine South China Sea expert, has another explanation he believes is behind the controversy.
Beijing’s claims about alleged internal agreements with Manila are meant to create divisions among Philippine officials, said Carpio, who is also a former Supreme Court justice.
The Philippine Coast Guard escorts Filipino fishing boats joining a convoy to Scarborough Shoal, May 15, 2024. [Jojo Riñoza/BenarNews]
“China will talk to the lower echelons and they’ll say, ‘These officials agreed with us,’ ” he told BenarNews in May, explaining Beijing’s alleged tactic.
“That is not the way [to do things]. That is very undiplomatic. You must go through the proper channels,” Carpio told BenarNews in an interview in early May.
Former President Rodrigo Duterte’s pro-China policy during his six-year tenure (2016-2022) had allowed, among other things, unofficial talks, verbal agreements and deals without official documents as proof, Carpio said. And Beijing may have thought it could continue that policy, he said.
‘Duterte’s legacy’
Rommel Jude Ong, a retired Philippine Navy official, agreed with Carpio.
“We are dealing with the legacy of Duterte's foreign policy posture,” Ong told BenarNews.
“The Chinese Communist Party may be using informal concessions made by the previous administration as leverage and to compel the [current] government to conform to these practices.”
One example is from 2021 when, according to China, it entered into a deal with the Duterte administration on the rusty ship Manila uses as its base on Second Thomas Shoal.
China says Manila agreed not to repair or build structures on the ship and in return, provided Beijing’s non-interference when the Philippines sends troops and supplies to the military outpost.
The former Philippines president first denied then admitted entering into a verbal agreement with Beijing on this issue.
A boat’s crew members and volunteers on a Filipino civilian convoy sleep on their way back to Subic in Zambales province in the Philippines, after sailing near Scarborough Shoal, May 16, 2024. [Jojo Riñoza/BenarNews]
One security analyst said that governments sometimes enter into behind-the-scenes deals to help settle disputes without pressure from their domestic audiences.
“Governments … avoid making the impression of compromising their countries’ positions in disputed spaces by entering into such agreements,” Lucio Pitlo III, an analyst with the Asia Pacific Pathways to Progress Foundation, told BenarNews.
“But exposing such deals may put Beijing in a difficult spot at home and may force them to take a more hardline and uncompromising stance so as not to appear weak in their domestic public.”
Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei, and Taiwan also have overlapping claims in the South China Sea.
Latin America’s Tourism Boom: A $385 Billion Lift to the Economy
In 2024, Latin America’s tourism sector will boost the regional economy by $385.9 billion, heralding a bright future.
This marks a 6% increase over pre-pandemic levels, signaling a significant economic rebound.
The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) views this upsurge as a key driver of economic revitalization.
The sector will generate 18.2 million jobs, making tourism a major employment source for one in twelve workers.
Julia Simpson, WTTC’s CEO, highlights tourism’s role in driving economic growth and job creation, showcasing regional resilience post-crisis.
Tourist spending is also on the rise, anticipated to hit $60.5 billion, outpacing last year’s figures and pre-COVID-19 levels.
Domestic tourism is contributing significantly, with spending expected to reach $226 billion, surpassing 2019 figures
.
(Photo Internet reproduction)
In 2023, tourism accounted for 7.8% of Latin America’s total economic output, amounting to $367.4 billion and creating over 110,000 new jobs since 2019.
Spending by international tourists reached $54.5 billion, while domestic spending hit $219.7 billion.
The future looks even brighter, with tourism expected to contribute over $498 billion to the region’s economy by 2034, equivalent to 8.3% of GDP.
The sector is projected to support nearly 22.43 million jobs by then, representing 9.6% of the workforce.
Latin America’s tourism sector is a dynamic economic force, set to transform the economic landscape and provide numerous opportunities.
This growth is not merely incremental; it represents a significant shift, underscoring the region’s vibrant spirit and potential. Dependence on Tourism
The region of Latin America and the Caribbean is the most dependent on tourism globally.
Tourism’s economic impact in Latin America varies significantly, with Mexico showing much greater dependence than Brazil.
The IDB highlights that from 2017 to 2021, tourism made up over 16% of Mexico’s GDP and jobs, compared to about 10% in Uruguay, Argentina, and Chile.
The Tourism Dependency Index (TDI) scores countries from 0 to 100 based on their reliance on tourism for GDP, employment, and exports.
Brazil ranks 130th globally, indicating lower dependence, while Mexico and Argentina are more reliant, ranking 62nd and 86th, respectively.
30,000 Taiwanese demonstratorssurroundedthe Legislative Yuan, the island’s parliament, on Tuesdayprotestingagainst the legislative majority’s attempts to enact new laws by allegedly violating procedural justice and the island’s constitution.
The controversies surround two bills, the parliamentary reform and a transport network bill, with a proposed cost of nearly $62 billion, equal to the island’s annual expenditure. The controversy surrounding the bill regards a possible violation of committee autonomy. The legislative majority, comprising the Kuomintang and the Taiwan People’s Party, refused to discuss each provision in the legislative committee with the ruling Democratic Progressive Party and preserved all provisions for the next stage “Consult Among Political Parties.”The legislative majority continued its refusal to negotiate at this stage and proceeded to the second reading last Friday, after the end of the statutory freeze period for the negotiation to take place.
As a result of the refusal to negotiate, the legislative majority put forward 28 different versions of the parliamentary reform bill and only disclosed, on Friday night after the planned meeting time, the final version to be voted on to lawmakers belonging to the ruling party. This version was unavailable on the legislature’s official website during the second reading.
Taipei City Council member Miao Poya criticised the legislative majority for flagrantly flouting the legislature’s procedural rules. Miao further explained that preliminary stages before the second reading—the committee’s review stage and “Consult Among Political Parties”—are important for public consultation and supervision. As a conventional practice, Miao said, the committee should aim to settle disputes on two-thirds of the provisions before putting a bill to the second reading. According to Miao, contrary to what the legislative majority have done, no major amendments should have been proposed at this stage.
Tuesday’s meeting at the legislature passed, by an anonymous show of hands, only 10 provisions as a result of the ruling party’s filibustering. One controversial amendment is Article 25 of the Law Governing the Legislative Yuan’s Power, which prohibits government officials from refusing to answer the Legislative Yuan’s questions or “counter-questioning” lawmakers. Criminal liability will be attached to refusal to reply and misrepresentation.
The transport network bill is equally controversial. The bill proposes a high-speed railway that connects the whole island. The bill alleged that the central government, in the past, failed to conduct a national plan, rendering unequal transport development in different counties and cities. Regardless, the ruling party argued that the bill involves vast transport network planning, falling squarely within the executive’s expertise and constitutional power. The ruling party contested that the Executive Yuan is entitled to apply for a constitutional interpretation from the Constitutional Court on Article 70, which stipulates that the legislature has no power to increase the expenditures in a budgetary bill. The Constitutional Court explained that the rationale is to prevent the increased expenditure from transforming into an extra tax burden on citizens.
Many compare the protest with the 2014 Sunflower Movement. Protesters occupied the parliament for 24 days to express their disapproval of the Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement and a violation of procedural justice.
The legislature will continue to review the parliamentary reform bill, and later the transport network bill, on Thursday, May 24.
What I've learned about the future of Palestinian solidarity in the US
Protesters on college campuses have faced a host of challenges, including scorn and arrest.
But they are helping to shift the tide in Gaza's favour.
DANNY SHAW www.trtworld.com Law enforcement officers and demonstrators face off, after protesters against the war in Gaza surrounded the physical sciences lecture hall in Irvine, California, U.S. May 15, 2024. / Photo: Reuters
Earlier this month, on the morning of May 16, riot police brutally ripped professor Tiffany Willoughby-Herard from her tent as she slept on campus at the University of California Irvine.
A disproportionate amount of police with helmets, clubs and guns violently burst into the Gaza Solidarity Encampment, doing what has been done across the United States to hundreds of encampments.
Officers carted away Willoughby-Herard, a global studies professor, in handcuffs, as well as other student and faculty protestors. They also destroyed the peaceful occupation. As police ushered her away, the media swarmed her, asking why she had engaged in this act of civil disobedience.
Her voice and answer reached millions: "Because we cannot have a genocidal foreign policy in a democracy. What job do I have if the students don't have a future?"
Millions of us who make up the Global Palestinian Family wondered: could professor Willoughby-Herard's voice do what none of our voices has been able to do? Reach Americans who are trapped in the echo chambers of CNN and Fox News and in complete denial about a colonial holocaust of human life funded with our taxpayer money? Complicit US media
The corporate media is a one-trick pony. No matter what our movement of millions says, they accuse us of hating Jewish people. They even accuse our anti-Zionist Jewish leadership of being anti-Semetic.
NY11, ABC, CNN, Fox, the Atlantic and other mainstream outlets have interviewed scores of leaders from the Palestine solidarity movement, including myself. Few if any of my or our words have ever aired because most American media refuses to show what is really happening on the ground in Gaza.
We say, "we stand against the delivery of thousands of German and US bombs Israel is dropping on a dehydrated and starved population." The mainstream media reports: "protestors are anti-Semitic."
Just in the first few weeks following October 7, Israel dropped the equivalent of two Hiroshima nuclear bombs on Gaza. In a recently released report, anti-war leaders Medea Benjamin and Nicolas Davies document just how many thousands of bombs are dropped on Gazans every day.
Despite the severe repression of information in the US, the Palestine solidarity movement works to document the human cost of the war on Gaza. According to the report, "As Israel assaults Rafah, home to 1.4 million displaced people including at least 600,000 children, most of the warplanes dropping bombs on them are F-16s, originally designed and manufactured by General Dynamics, but now produced by Lockheed Martin in Greenville, South Carolina. Israel's 224 F-16s have long been its weapon of choice for bombing militants and civilians in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria."
Some 230 days into the war, CNN, MSNBC, the New York Times and the full gamut of Western media outlets continue to insist that this is "an Israel-Hamas war." The genocidal war would not be possible without the intentional control of information and brainwashing of Western populations that Hamas is vastly more powerful than it actually is.
Police sweeps
For people speaking up against the war, the fear of state attacks is constant. Most nights, at our encampments at Columbia University and City College in New York last month, a New York Police Department (NYPD) helicopter hovered above us, low enough to make sure no one slept.
A drone moved 10 feet every five seconds above hundreds of camped-out students who cried out for warmth and a Palestine free of apartheid and ethnic cleansing. There were even threats that college administrations loyal to the agenda of the US and Israel would call in the National Guard.
The heavy specter of the Kent State, Jackson State and Orangeburg student massacres more than 50 years ago also towered over every participant.
Amid the swirl of rumours, there was the temptation to run around in confusion, like chickens with our heads cut off. But the Palestinian and anti-Zionist Jewish student leadership's calm confidence checkmated those fears. This is the kind of unity Zionism is most afraid of. Anything to distract from Gaza
Protesting peacefully is not easy anymore.
At no point did the Zionists give our students' encampments a respite. They circled the periphery, snapping pictures of students praying during Maghrib time at 7:58pm. They yelled obscenities during Isha prayer at 9:23pm.
A man wearing an Israeli flag climbs down from a flagpole, with a Palestinian flag that he removed from it following a demonstration in support of Israel at Columbia University, in New York City, April 26, 2024 (REUTERS/Mike Segar).
They forced their way in to make the same points their kindergarten teachers and college instructors had indoctrinated into them for three generations. But the Palestinian people have no interest in the coloniser and his narratives.
Seventy-six years of being told you are an inferior non-people went up in smoke on October 7. The children of colonial humiliation had broken out of the concentration camp.
If you were not invited to a massive festival of peace, would you still insist on going? Would you barge into another's family's traditions?
The provocateurs are never far behind. They burst uninvited into the community. They do everything to shift the focus away from the war and to make it about themselves. The entire encampment follows their training. "Do not engage with Zionists."
If they persist, the students form phalanxes of freedom and sing civil rights songs until the Zionists get bored and seek out how to try to bully and humiliate next.
In the sea of keffiyehs, hundreds of "journalists" came and went, hunting for anything that could be twisted into an anti-semitic trope. Undercover informants and provocateurs infiltrated the outside rally engaging in an anti-Semitic skit in front of the drooling cameras.
In a scene totally alien to the essence of the Palestinian movement, two pretend students demanded money from a "Jewish student" in return for not further destroying a tattered, burnt Israeli flag. It was a disgusting scene meant to further demonise the burgeoning mass movement. Entitled Zionists insisted on making it all about them and their colonial narcissism.
Anything to distract from Gaza. The historic Jewish soul remains trapped between two holocausts.
At UCLA, Zionist mobs beat peaceful protestors with metal poles and bats and attacked them with pepper spray and other weapons. The police watched before attacking the encampment themselves.
The Zionist fashions himself superior to his neighbours. The camp insisted on not relinquishing control of the narrative to the genocidaires. Not engaging with Zionist provocateurs remains rule #1.
Lessons learned
After a long day of civil disobedience training and anti-colonial educationals at the Columbia encampment, I jotted down the following notes:
There has not been one drop of alcohol. There has been no scent of weed. There has not been one incident of public urination. There is maximum discipline and focus on Gaza, and the non-negotiable push for Columbia's divestment from Israel's apartheid regime. The students stand by their demands, which the Western media empire attempts to frame as juvenile, naïve and hate-filled.
What an honour to be a witness to the unwavering assertiveness and the most seasoned camaraderie among these students. These demands are rooted in the highest truth: all human beings have a right to life, dignity and self-determination. Palestine is our moral compass.
Standing before the SWAT teams, a sophomore majoring in English thought of calling her parents on Long Island to tell them she loved them. But that thought quickly moved to the outer recesses of her mind. ,,
Despite all the arrests, or maybe in part because of them, the tide is shifting as Zionism further isolates itself from humanity every day.
This was an inside moment among comrades who no one in the outside world could ever quite understand. Camaraderie was the watchword. A generation removed from the protagonists, I looked around at the beautiful leaders. Their passion compelled them forward. Who would one day write memoirs and make documentaries about this moment?
The roar of the helicopter and the silence of the drone above mocked us and our principles. The riot police, phalanxes of armed men and women, awaited orders to crack "the geeks' " heads open.
The NYPD formed a blue wall of repression armed with ignorance, self-interest and guns. All of mayors Bill de Blasio and Eric Adams' diversity trainings boiled down to plain fascism.
Despite all the arrests, or maybe in part because of them, the tide is shifting as Zionism further isolates itself from humanity every day.
For the first time in its history, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and other leading officials responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Students are tearing up their degrees. High-level officials in US President Joe Biden's administration are resigning, including Lily Greenberg Call, the first Jewish appointee to protest and resign because of the war.
Universities under pressure from donors and the government are firing professors who speak up. Millions of us are making sacrifices to stop a colonial genocide of an indigenous people that has been in motion for 76 years.
To the anti-colonial fighters who are the age of our children across the world: Keep going! Keep fighting! It is your right to rebel! Seize the time! Keep leading the way! Gaza sees you!
"Palestine is our moral compass!"
SOURCE: TRT WORLD Danny Shaw graduated from Columbia University with a BA in Sociology and Latin American Studies in 2000. He graduated with a Masters of International Affairs with a specialization in South American and Caribbean Studies in 2006 from Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs. After 18 years of teaching in the Latin American and Latinx Studies Department at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, he was fired for his social media posts and for helping organize protests against the Israeli-US genocide in Gaza. He was camped out with the hundreds of students, faculty, alumni and staff that made up the Columbia Gaza Solidarity Encampment.
Self-inflicted hit of pepper spray drives off an attacking grizzly in Grand Teton National Park
By The Associated Press Published May 22, 2024 at Brennan Linsley /AP The morning sun illuminates the Grand Tetons at Grand Teton National Park, north of Jackson Hole, Wyo., Aug 26, 2016. A grizzly bear that attacked a hiker in Wyoming's Grand Teton National Park won't be captured or killed by wildlife authorities because it may have been trying to protect a cub, park officials said in a statement Tuesday.
A grizzly that accidentally inflicted itself with a burst of pepper spray while attacking a hiker in Wyoming's Grand Teton National Park won't be captured or killed because it may have been trying to protect a cub, park officials said in a statement.
While mauling a hiker on Signal Mountain, the grizzly bit into the man's can of bear repellent and was hit with a burst of it, causing the animal to flee. The 35-year-old Massachusetts man, who'd pretended to be dead while he was being bitten, made it to safety and spent Sunday night in the hospital.
There was no word when Signal Mountain or a road and trail to its 7,700-foot (2,300-meter) summit would reopen after being closed because of the attack. Such closures are typical after the handful of grizzly attacks on public land in the Yellowstone region every year.
The decision not to pursue the bears, which officials determined behaved naturally after being surprised, also was consistent with attacks that don't involve campsite raids, eating food left out by people, or similar behaviors that make bears more dangerous.
Rangers track and study many of the Yellowstone region's 1,000 or so bears but weren't familiar with the ones responsible for the attack Sunday afternoon, according to the statement.
The attack happened even though the victim was carrying bear-repellant spray and made noise to alert bears in the forest, the statement said.
Speaking to rangers afterward, the man said he came across a small bear that ran away from him. As he reached for his bear repellant, he saw a larger bear charging at him in his periphery vision.
He had no time to use his bear spray before falling to the ground with fingers laced behind his neck and one finger holding the spray canister.
The bear bit him several times before biting into the can of pepper spray, which burst and drove the bears away.
The man got to an area with cell phone coverage and called for help. A helicopter, then an ambulance evacuated him to a nearby hospital.
Investigators suspect from the man's description that the smaller bear he saw was an older cub belonging to the female grizzly that attacked. Mother bears aggressively defend their offspring and remain with them for two to three years after birth.
Park officials didn't release the victim's name. He was expected to make a full recovery.
Copyright 2024 NPR
Vietnam Elects Police Minister as New President
STALINIST CAPITALI$M
Nguyen Dieu Tu Uyen and Nguyen Xuan Quynh, Bloomberg News
To Lam Photographer: Nhac Nguyen/AFP/Getty Images , Getty Images via Bloomberg
(Bloomberg) -- Vietnam’s National Assembly elected police minister To Lam as the nation’s new president, the legislature said on Wednesday.
Lam, 66, was minister of public security and deputy head of the Communist Party’s anti-corruption committee before taking on the second most important position in Vietnam’s political hierarchy. He becomes Vietnam’s third president in less than two years after his two immediate predecessors resigned for “violations” that were possibly detected by the ministry that Lam oversaw.
“This is a great honor and responsibility, also an opportunity for me,” Lam said in a speech after taking his oath at the National Assembly. He vowed to “resolutely and persistently fight corruption and wrongdoings,” and sought the “support and cooperation” of the party central committee, the parliament and the government.
The vote comes amid an anti-graft campaign pushed by Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong that has also ensnared two deputy prime ministers, a parliament chairman, scores of other government officials and business executives.
The parliament on Wednesday also voted to strip Lam of his public security position following his election. The government assigned Tran Quoc To, deputy minister of public security, to oversee the ministry until a replacement for Lam is found, it said in a statement.
Despite being largely ceremonial, the presidency is the second most important position in the political hierarchy and is a stepping stone to eventually succeed Trong when his term as party chief ends in 2026.
Lam has emerged as one of the most important officials apart from Trong, after his work to weed out corruption helped lift Vietnam’s ranking in Transparency International’s corruption perceptions index to 83 last year from 113 in 2016. Still, Lam’s election is unlikely to alter the course of economic or foreign policies, which are decided by the Politburo and the central committee.
The country’s benchmark stock index rose as much as 0.5% in Ho Chi Minh City trading Wednesday morning. The dong stayed near its record low of 25,465 to the dollar.
(Updates with parliament decision to strip To Lam of police minister role in fifth paragraph.)
Vietnam’s top security official To Lam was confirmed Wednesday as the nation's new president. He oversaw police and intelligence operations over a period when rights groups say basic liberties have been systematically suppressed, and its secret service was accused of violating international law.
Lam was confirmed by Vietnam's National Assembly after his predecessor resigned amid an ongoing anti-corruption campaign that has shaken the country’s political establishment and business elites and has resulted in multiple top-level changes in government.
Vietnam's presidency is largely ceremonial, but his new role as head of state puts the 66-year-old in a “very strong position” to become the next Communist Party general secretary, the most important political position in the country, said Nguyen Khac Giang, an analyst at Singapore’s ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute.
Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong was elected to a third term in 2021, but at age 80, he may not seek another term after 2026.
Trong is an an ideologue who views corruption as the gravest threat facing the party. As Vietnam's top security official, Lam has led Trong's sweeping anti-graft campaign .
Lam spent more than four decades in the Ministry of Public Security before becoming the minister in 2016. His rise took place while Vietnam’s politburo lost of six of its 18 members amid the expanding anti-graft campaign, including two former presidents and Vietnam’s parliamentary head .
Lam was behind many of the investigations into high-profile politicians, said Giang.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh is seen as the other major contender to possibly succeed Trong, Giang said.
The current vice-speaker of Vietnam’s parliament was confirmed Monday as the National Assembly speaker after his predecessor, Vuong Dinh Hue, resigned amid the anti-graft campaign. Until his resignation, Hue was also widely seen as a potential successor to Trong.
This unprecedented instability in Vietnam’s political system has spooked investors as the country tries to position itself as an alternative for companies looking to shift their supply chains away from China.
A flood of foreign investment, especially in manufacturing of high-tech products like smartphones and computers, raised expectations it could join the "Four Asian Tigers" — Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan, whose economies underwent rapid industrialization and posted high growth rates.
But the scandals and uncertainty — including the death sentence for a real estate tycoon accused of embezzling nearly 3% of the country’s 2022 GDP — have brought with them uncertainty and bureaucratic reticence to make decisions. Economic growth slipped to 5.1% last year from 8% in 2022 as exports slowed.
During Lam's years heading the Public Security Ministry, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and other watchdog organizations have strongly criticized Vietnam for its harassment and intimidation of critics .
In 2021, courts convicted at least 32 people for posting critical opinions about the government and sentenced them to multiple years in prison, while police arrested at least 26 others on fabricated charges, according to Human Rights Watch.
Under Tam's watch as Vietnam’s top security boss, civil society faced further curbs, foreign aid restrictions introduced in 2021 were tightened in 2023, the country jailed climate activists , and laws were introduced to censor social media, said Ben Swanton of The 88 Project, a group that advocates for freedom of expression in Vietnam.
“With To Lam’s ascent to the presidency, Vietnam is now a literal police state,” said Swanton, adding that the Vietnamese ruling Politburo was now dominated by current and former security officials. He said he expected further intensification of repression and censorship.
While Vietnam was under a COVID-19 lockdown in 2021, a video surfaced showing Turkish chef Nusret Gokce, popularly known as Salt Bae, feeding Tam a gold-encrusted steak in London. Despite efforts to censor it, the video went viral, stoking widespread anger from people enduring virus lockdowns that exacerbated economic deprivations.
Meantime, a Vietnamese noodle vendor named Bui Tuan Lam, who followed the video with a parody of Salt Bae, was arrested on charges of spreading anti-state propaganda and sentenced to five years in prison.
It was also under Lam's tenure as public security minister, in 2017, when German authorities say Vietnamese businessperson and former politician Trinh Xuan Thanh and a companion were abducted and dragged into a van in downtown Berlin, in what officials there called “an unprecedented and flagrant violation of German and international law.”
Vietnam has maintained that Thanh surrendered to Vietnamese authorities after evading an international arrest warrant for nearly a year. Germany said he and his companion were kidnapped, and responded by summoning Vietnam’s ambassador for talks and expelling its intelligence attaché.
Thanh was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2018 after being put on trial in Vietnam.
Announcing espionage-related charges in 2022 against a man accused of being part of Thanh's abduction, the German Federal Prosecutor’s Office said the kidnapping was an “operation of the Vietnamese secret service” carried out by Vietnamese agents and members of its embassy in Berlin as well as several Vietnamese nationals living in Europe.
The suspect, identified only as Ahn T.L. in line with German privacy laws, was convicted in 2023 of aiding and abetting an abduction as a foreign agent and sentenced to five years in prison.
“The relationship between Germany and Vietnam continue to be shaken by this crime to this day," the German court said at the time.
Another suspect, identified as Long N.H., was convicted in 2018 in a Berlin court of espionage-related charges and sentenced to nearly four years in prison.
