Is this seriously "defending itself"? Or war racketeering? Is Netanyahu out of control? Risking a bigger war in the region to keep himself out of Jail? CEASEFIRE: The will of the minority prevailed that day. Was it because the United States is selling weapons to Israel?

Budget-song-budget · 2023-12-07T01:44:24+00:00

Since WWII, so many, various, and varied organizations: UN, Nuremberg, WHO, UNICEF, and the whole UN series, International Law, HR Commission, NATO, EU, ICC, from a list that never ends, all have lost credibility and thence their raison d’être, the very sense of their existence. Meanwhile, the various and varied Rules of Law, Conventions, Treaties, and the like, drafted, convened, and signed under the location names of Geneva, Rome, Vienna, The Hague, UN, and Co. now only confirm the original intention to apply double standards on the weaker, on the “Wretched of the Earth."

The various NGOs (both Non-governmental and what has now become New-Governmental ones) now turned BONGOs (Business-Oriented NGOs), Agencies, Institutions, Study Centres, and Think Tanks…together with all the major ill-intentioned, much-advertised, and well-financed programs of the type of Women-Empowerment, Child Care, Capacity-Building, Youth Whatever… Freedom of Association, Dialogue, Crisis Diplomacy, and Problem-Solving… proved to be tools to blind the common follower of what GREED is planning for them and for the world, the ever-growing battle between the Haves and the Have Nots.

Budget-song-budget · 2023-12-04T21:48:53+00:00

So far have you heard of any of the covid vaccines as having caused bruising, platelets count being noticeably down or spleen problems,in those who received them?

Budget-song-budget · 2023-11-25T23:04:26+00:00

Extract:

A War Hero Who Was Appalled By War

It is very important to remember that Lieutenant John Kennedy was a genuine Naval war hero in WW II, having risked his life and been badly injured while saving his men in the treacherous waters of the South Pacific after their PT boat was sunk by a Japanese destroyer. His older brother Joe and his brother-in-law Billy Hartington had died in the war, as had some of his boat’s crew members.

As a result, Kennedy was extremely sensitive to the horrors of war, and, when he first ran for Congress in Massachusetts in 1946, he made it explicitly clear that avoiding another war was his number one priority. This commitment remained with him and was intensely strengthened throughout his brief presidency until the day he died, fighting for peace.

Despite much rhetoric to the contrary, this anti-war stance was unusual for a politician, especially during the 1950s and 1960s. Kennedy was a remarkable man, for even though he assumed the presidency as somewhat of a cold warrior vis-à-vis the Soviet Union in particular, his experiences in office rapidly chastened that stance. He very quickly came to see that there were many people surrounding him who relished the thought of war, even nuclear war, and he came to consider them as very dangerous.

A Prescient Perspective

Yet even before he became president, in 1957, then Senator Kennedy gave a speech in the U.S. Senate that sent shock waves throughout Washington, D.C. and around the world.[2] He came out in support of Algerian independence from France and African liberation generally and against colonial imperialism. As chair of the Senate’s African Subcommittee in 1959, he urged sympathy for African independence movements as part of American foreign policy. He believed that continued support of colonial policies would only end in more bloodshed because the voices of independence would not be denied, nor should they be.

That speech caused an international uproar, and in the U.S.A. Kennedy was harshly criticized by Eisenhower, Nixon, John Foster Dulles, and even members of the Democratic party, such as Adlai Stevenson and Dean Acheson. But it was applauded in Africa and the Third World.

Yet JFK continued throughout his 1960 presidential campaign raising his voice against colonialism throughout the world and for free and independent African nations. Such views were anathema to the foreign policy establishment, including the CIA and the burgeoning military industrial complex that President Eisenhower belatedly warned against in his Farewell Address, delivered nine months after approving the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in March 1960; this juxtaposition revealed the hold the Pentagon and CIA had and has on sitting presidents, as the pressure for war became structurally systemized.

Patrice Lumumba

One of Africa’s anti-colonial and nationalist leaders was the charismatic Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba. In June, 1960, he had become the first democratically elected leader of the Congo, a country savagely raped and plundered for more than half a century by Belgium’s King Leopold II for himself and multinational mining companies. Kennedy’s support for African independence was well-known and especially feared by the CIA, who, together with Brussels, considered Lumumba, and Kennedy for supporting him, as threats to their interests in the region.

So, three days before JFK’s inauguration, together with the Belgian government, the CIA had Lumumba brutally assassinated after torturing and beating him. According to Robert Johnson, a note taker at a National Security Council meeting in August 1960, Lumumba’s assassination had been approved by President Eisenhower when he gave Allen Dulles, the Director of the CIA, the approval to “eliminate” Lumumba. Johnson disclosed that in a 1975 interview that was discovered in 2000.[3]

Budget-song-budget · 2023-11-25T23:01:47+00:00

Friends 😂. Says a lot about the company he kept.

Budget-song-budget · 2023-11-25T22:59:51+00:00

Can a robot "cheat" at games of chance?

Budget-song-budget · 2023-11-25T01:16:14+00:00

If you grow up surrounded by dogs or pets your system gets trigger practice, as a kid. As an adult chances of getting asthma are nil. But those kids who have grown up in super clean environments no pets, no dirt they're sitting ducks. Someone I know was advised to get a pet, due to asthma diagnosed after she left university. She'd always wanted one as a child but her mother refused outright, overruling her dad who was ok with it.

Sometimes you take a chance - sometimes not. If the food tastes ok, smells ok, past its use by date, I'll risk it. But finding a bag of nuts in the cupboard a year out of date, still unopened, looked online for advice. Do they have a white powder effect? If yes, don't eat them. Apart from the white powder effect they seemed ok. But I wasn't brave enough to risk it.

My mother disregarded the advice - she said as a child she'd eaten lots of nuts, never gotten sick. I've seen the effects of food poisoning, luckily I've never had it. Probably paranoid like the time I opened a can of chicken soup, smelled foul, but it still had months to go. It was the first and only time that chicken soup didn't smell right. Not worth the risk.

Removed the dish from the fridge, oops, the cooked broccoli seemed to be threaded with white strands, yep gone off, but the rest of the contents smelled and looked ok. So very carefully removed all the broccoli and anything it could have contacted, warned it up. 👍 Luckily judged correctly. Both the chicken and the rice were dry, now had their been liquid in it, 🤔.

Budget-song-budget · 2023-11-25T00:24:01+00:00

Doctors, paramedics, and rescue workers were constantly under fire from Israeli forces during Operation Cast Lead in 2009. In January of that year, the Israeli military killed three paramedics and a child in Gaza using US-made Hellfire guided missiles; the paramedics were near a clearly marked ambulance with flashing lights and were wearing recognizable fluorescent vests. As a forensic report notes:

At the spot where the paramedics and the child were killed, Amnesty International delegates found pieces of the paramedics’ fluorescent vests strewn on the ground and stuck on trees, and remnants of at least two Hellfire missiles, which are usually launched from helicopters. The label read “guided missile, surface attack” and the USA is cited as the weapon’s country of origin.

✂✂

Israel has used both the 155mm shells and 120mm mortar shells to launch white phosphorus — a brutal incendiary weapon capable of burning straight through flesh, bone, and even metal — at targets in Lebanon in 1982, 2006, and 2023, as well as repeatedly in densely populated areas in Gaza, including in 2009 and 2023. The Israeli military first denied using white phosphorus in 2009 before admitting it later. Israel has denied using it this year too, despite forensic evidence indicating that it clearly did. Protocol III of the UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons prohibits using white phosphorus near civilians, but Israel isn’t party to it.

The leaked document also shows an Israeli request for M4 assault rifles, the same type of rifle an Israeli army marksman used to murder journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in May 2022. M4s feature prominently in a pending $34 million sale of US assault rifles to Israel, which has received some press attention because of Israel’s practice of arming settlers and encouraging them to attack Palestinians.

Over the summer, armed settlers carried out pogroms all across the West Bank, and this fall, Israeli officials recently began arming thousands of Israeli civilians in over a thousand locations, including settlements, to function as “alert teams” — i.e., militias. In late October, Israel’s national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, posted photos of him handing out assault rifles to civilians at a political event. Since October 7, the UN reports that two hundred Palestinian civilians, including fifty-two children, have been killed in the West Bank.

Joe Biden’s unconditional support for Israel’s military offensive has yielded predictable results. Israeli leaders openly endorse collective punishment, and Israel’s military is acting accordingly by intentionally targeting schools, hospitals, and apartments. A child is killed every ten minutes in Gaza, which has been described as “hell on earth” by UN leaders. The US president’s willingness to provide the exact same types of weapons Israel has used in the past to kill innocent civilians is a new moral low — and a clear rejection by Biden of international law.

Budget-song-budget · 2023-11-25T00:20:14+00:00

Vegetables if cooked properly are 😋. Seriously. As are raw fruits.

I've to admit I was surprised, that something nicely wrapped up should house so many germs. But when without washing hands workers touch and handle food they leave their bugs behind.

Irradiation was one solution, but oops, turned out if someone hadn't washed their hands after going to the toilet, irradiating the food didn't kill those germs!

https://boingboing.net/2011/07/29/the-pros-and-cons-of-irradiated-food.html

2001 https://academic.oup.com/cid/article/33/3/375/278041?login=false To Irradiate or Not to Irradiate: What Are the Risk-Benefit Arguments in Relation to Food Safety?

Budget-song-budget · 2023-11-24T02:49:43+00:00

I remember reading just because something was wrapped in plastic didn't mean it too didn't carry any germs. I'm not talking about cooked or pre cooked food here, but items like vegetables or 'froots'.

https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/features/smart-packaging-food-safety-plastic/ ‘Smart’ packaging preserves food and enhances safety without plastic waste

something on TV 😂

Budget-song-budget · 2023-11-24T00:22:33+00:00

The sold stereotype goes:

French cook from fresh ingredients, they love to touch, and feel before they buy

Whereas Americans have a reputation for fast food and piling on the calories. As for British cooking its bland, by reputation. Apple's were waxed to shine. British wanted their food to look good, but taste wise showed little discernment.

One guy who went to the docks as ships arrived to pick up fresh deliveries said as the incoming immigrants change, so does the food that's sold. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01j73s3

Budget-song-budget · 2023-11-24T00:01:06+00:00

Non violent a no-no. BDS again no-no. And yet flogging arms to indiscriminately zap, is ok. 🤔

Budget-song-budget · 2023-11-19T06:34:21+00:00

Extract:

No eradicating Hamas

But perhaps the most fraudulent of the White House deceptions is the assumption that Hamas – and by extension, all Palestinian resistance – can be eradicated from Gaza.

Palestinian fighters are not some alien force that invaded the enclave. They are not occupiers, even though that is the way they are portrayed by every western government and media outlet.

They emerged organically out of a population that has endured decades of military abuse and oppression from Israel. Hamas is the legacy of that suffering.

Israel’s genocidal policies – unless it intends to wipe out every Palestinian in Gaza – will not moderate that impulse for resistance. Israel will simply inflame more anger and resentment, and a stronger motive for vengeance.

Even were Hamas to be wiped out, another, probably more desperate and vicious resistance group would surface to take its place.

Most of the Palestinian children now being bombed and terrorised, made homeless along with their families, and witnessing loved ones being killed, will not grow up over the next few years to become young peace ambassadors.

Their birthright will be the gun and the rocket. Their ambition will be to avenge their families and restore their honour.

Israel and the US know all this, too. History is crammed full of such lessons taught to greedy, arrogant colonisers and occupiers.

But their goal, whatever they claim, is not a solution or a resolution. It is permanent war. It is perpetuating the “cycle of violence”. It is greasing the tank treads of the West’s profitable war machine by spawning the very enemies that western publics are told they need protecting from.

Whether Palestinians are returned to the Stone Age in Gaza, as Israeli military commanders have long desired, or expelled to live in refugee camps in Sinai, they will not accept a fate in which they are treated as “human animals”.

Their fight will go on. And Israel and Washington will have to keep inventing new, ever more fanciful stories to try to persuade us that the West’s hands are clean

Budget-song-budget · 2023-11-15T01:30:35+00:00

Existential Threat

In the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, Israel faces a crisis that its senior-most leadership describes as existential in nature. In 2022 and 2023, Israel carried out large-scale military exercises designed to test the Israel Defense Forces’ ability to respond to simultaneous attacks from all known enemies of Israel — Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria and Iran. While the official results of these exercises remain a state secret, some conclusions have been alluded to by Israeli military sources. First, any military conflict between Israel and Iran could only be conducted with significant military assistance from the US, which might not be forthcoming. Second, Hezbollah possesses sufficient missile capacity to overwhelm Israeli air defenses, enabling them to inflict serious harm to Israeli economic, political and military infrastructure. Thirdly, the Israeli exercises did not envision a major attack by Hamas that would consume so much of Israel’s conventional military power in response.

If the current conflict with Hamas were to escalate to involve both Hezbollah and Iran, Israel most probably lacks the conventional military capability to defeat this combined threat. At this juncture, Israel would face the decision of initiating the third phase of its nuclear deterrent posture: overt acknowledgement followed by escalatory steps. The decision to publicly declare an Israeli nuclear capability is a matter of great political sensitivity which, if done improperly, could turn even its US ally against it. This is why Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded so harshly to the indiscreet ruminations of an obscure Israeli minister. Any step of this magnitude must be conducted in a very controlled fashion, with very specific objectives in mind — all of which should be linked to deterring the potential for operational use, not encouraging it.

Budget-song-budget · 2023-11-15T01:17:04+00:00

The administration has not explained this discrepancy, but it most likely stems from simple political logic. While Biden has been proud to boast his team’s support for Ukraine, he stands to face far more blowback for supporting Israel, whose actions in Gaza have drawn significant criticism both within the U.S. and abroad.

This logic played out recently when it came to light that the U.S. is planning to supply rifles to the Israeli national police, which is controlled by far-right Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who has promised to give guns to settlers in the West Bank. Former State Department official Josh Paul also told RS last week that multiple units of the Israeli police had previously been flagged for alleged “gross violations of human rights,” which should legally preclude them from receiving American weapons.

The only other planned weapons transfer to Israel that has been publicly disclosed is a previously approved shipment of $320 million in precision bomb kits known as Spice Family Gliding Bomb Assemblies. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) will reportedly fight this sale by filing a “resolution of disapproval” that would block the transfer if it received a veto-proof majority in both houses of Congress. The kits are “the sort of capability Israel has been using for the last month to devastate Gaza,” according to Paul.

High stakes for U.S. interests in the region

Another likely reason for the secrecy around U.S. involvement is the fear that American support for Israel will hurt Washington’s standing in the Middle East, especially given the region’s widespread opposition to Israel’s offensive, which numerous Arab commentators have called a “genocide".

Budget-song-budget · 2023-11-09T22:40:18+00:00

Extract:

Since October 7, the calls for the boycott of the regime, as well as the companies, products and brands that have directly or indirectly aided the occupying regime have grown louder worldwide

It comes as the death toll in the Israeli bombing campaign in the besieged coastal strip continues to mount, reaching almost 9,000 now after four weeks, most of them children and women.

On Tuesday, a series of bombings targeting a refugee camp in northern Gaza left hundreds dead.

Economic vulnerabilities

The Israeli regime's economy is not self-sufficient and is heavily dependent on trade and imports, especially energy, as well as exports, which makes it vulnerable to foreign boycotts.

The ongoing war on Gaza has already caused damage to the Israeli economy as the population is forced to stay at home due to regular retaliatory rocket attacks, pushing normal life to a standstill.

In the past three weeks, the main natural gas field has been shut down, airlines have canceled most of their flights, farms have been destroyed for lack of workers, and the mobilization and evacuation of hundreds of thousands has upended many businesses in the occupied territories.

The technology industry, which was once the regime’s flagship industry contributing to its economic growth, began to falter even before the start of the new war on October 7 with foreign investment in tech companies nose-diving in the half last year compared to a record $27 billion the year before.

The financial situation is also dire as the Israeli regime’s fledgling currency, the shekel, has reached a 14-year low, and the benchmark stock index has plummeted approximately 10 percent this year.

Last year, 2.67 million foreign tourists visited the occupied territories and the income was $3.8 billion, as opposed to around $6.6 billion in 2019. Now observers are warning of the tourism collapse next year.

Michel Strawczynski, an economist and professor at the Hebrew University, said he expects a massive blow in the last quarter of 2023 with the likelihood of the economy shrinking by 15 percent.

A long and possibly multi-front war with the Palestinian resistance groups could make the economic downturn even worse, with a much longer time required for subsequent recovery.

The most vulnerable point of the Israeli regime’s foreign-dependent economy, according to most experts, is the organized boycott of its products, which account for tens of billions of dollars every year.

Major trade areas

According to the UN COMTRADE database on international trade for 2022, by far the largest importer country of Israeli products is the United States, with a value of $18.6 billion or a 29% share.

Other significant importers are China, India, United Kingdom, Ireland, Netherlands, Turkey, France, Belgium, Brazil, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, South Korea and Spain.

Combined, European countries with 36 percent imports represent an even bigger market than the US, most of which refers to EU countries. A large share is also made by Asia with 27 percent of imports.

Most of the value of these products is related to diamonds ($9.06 billion), integrated circuits ($5.09B), refined petroleum ($2.73B), medical instruments ($2.36B), and other measuring instruments ($2.32B).

The products are generally exported to private companies whose staff activists can inform about Israeli war crimes or organize pressure campaigns to cancel trade.

A more important exception to this is the export of military technology, valued from $831 million last year to $1.46 billion in the record year 2016, which is again prone to activism.

In August, the Press TV website published an investigation about how the Israeli authorities manipulate data on the effectiveness of their Iron Dome military systems with the aim of exporting and making multibillion-dollar profits from them.

The latest escalation by the regime in Gaza has confirmed the analysis and proved inefficiencies far greater than previously acknowledged. The situation is similar with the Merkava tanks and other weapons whose reputation Israel has manipulated in the same way.

Equally important are the pressures on the regime’s import of foreign weapons, which already included several successful campaigns, as well as on stopping Israel's import of crude oil, which it receives mainly from Azerbaijan, via Turkey.

The campaign with the hashtag #NoOilForIsrael has been trending on social media in recent weeks with tens of thousands of citizens calling for an end to oil exports to the regime.

Major companies to boycott

Campaigns have in recent weeks been vociferously calling for the boycott of Israeli and international companies and brands that are directly and indirectly complicit in violations of Palestinian rights.

The companies that should be boycotted, as a start, include Siemens, which has been found complicit in the Israeli regime’s project of settler-colonialism through its planned EuroAsia Interconnector.

Hewlett Packard is another company closely tied with the Tel Aviv regime and helps run the biometric system that Israel reportedly employs to monitor and restrict the movement of Palestinians.

The California-based company, according to confirmed reports, provides computer hardware to the Israeli military and maintains data servers belonging to the regime’s police force.

French insurance company AXA Divest is one of the largest investors in Israeli regime-run banks, which are used to finance the construction of illegal settlements and the theft of Palestinian resources.

Puma, the German multinational company that manufactures footwear, apparel and accessories, is the sponsor of the Israeli football federation which includes players and teams from occupied territories.

Starbucks, McDonald’s, and other such brands have also faced increased scrutiny in recent weeks.

Starbucks reportedly sued its workers union after they posted a message in solidarity with Palestinians, which enraged millions of consumers across the world.

The franchises of McDonald’s in the occupied territories announced free meals for Israeli military personnel following the regime’s indiscriminate bombing campaign in the Gaza Strip last month.

Burger King franchises in the occupied territories also faced calls for a boycott after it offered free food to the Israeli military members. The company even posted photos of it on Instagram.

Dominos, Pizza Hut, Subway, Nestle and PapaJohns also had similar offers for the Israeli soldiers, willfully ignoring their participation in the regime’s genocidal campaign in the besieged Gaza Strip.

Google has also been found biased in favor of the Israeli regime after its CEP Sundar Pichai issued a letter recently that expressed support for the regime and sparked calls for the company’s boycott.

Among those companies that have been put on the boycott list by various anti-apartheid campaigns is Ahava Cosmetics, a popular Israeli brand that has production sites in illegal Israeli settlements.

Nestlé, a popular Swiss multinational food and drink company, is believed to be owning 53.8 percent of shares in the leading Israeli food manufacturer Osem.

Keter, an Israeli manufacturer of sheds, raised garden beds, and deck boxes is another big name.

BDS boycott

Data on major export products and active Israeli companies in different countries that should be boycotted can be found on the BDS movement website.

Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) is a pacifist pro-Palestinian movement that has been promoting boycotts, divestments, and economic sanctions against Israel for eighteen years.

The organization, with branches in many countries, regularly monitors, collects data and organizes activists for actions, aimed at ending international support for the regime’s oppression of Palestinians.

Among the companies the BDS movement has listed prominently for boycott is Hewlett Packard, an American company worth more than $25 billion complicit in the persecution of Palestinians.

In the past, companies such as Ben & Jerry’s (US) and Orange (France) have featured on the BDS list.

The UN, the World Bank and other experts say that BDS is having an important economic impact on Israel and that this could well grow as the movement develops*.

Amid the fresh escalation in Gaza, BDS has published an urgent action alert in which it calls for the development of new effective campaigns and the expansion of cooperation with new interested parties.

In a tweet on Wednesday, the movement called for “urgent global mobilization to stop Gaza genocide.”

“If not now, when? Join or organize solidarity demos in your town or city. Let's continue to pressure governments, escalate all #BDS campaigns and pressure the @IntlCrimCourt,” It wrote.

Interestingly, a Pew survey found last year that some 84 percent of Americans knew little about this campaign. Today, millions of people are naming brands with ties to Israel and calling for a boycott.

The BDC movement takes inspiration from the South African anti-apartheid struggle and the US civil rights movement, both of which relied on boycotts to press their demands.

Potential of boycott

The potential for the expansion of boycott activism is tremendous, as evidenced by recent large-scale protests in countries considered key trade partners of Israel, as well as public opinion in those countries.

Budget-song-budget · 2023-11-03T02:49:17+00:00

I came across this.

https://skwawkbox.org/2023/11/02/moves-at-un-to-create-arab-led-peace-force-in-face-of-us-israeli-war-crime-intransigence/

‘Serious moves’ are underway at the United Nations to create an Arab-led UN peacekeeping force to intervene in Israel’s relentless, genocidal bombing of Gazan civilians, according to a specialist UN-watcher.

Mark Seddon, director of Buckingham University’s Centre for UN Studies, has reported the development on his social media this afternoon, saying:

Since the US is unable or unwilling to reign in its client state, Israel, there are now serious moves at the UN, I gather, to put together an international Arab led force under UN auspices for Gaza. This further strengthens the need for a ceasefire.

https://skwawkbox.org/2023/11/01/uns-new-york-human-rights-director-quits-citing-us-uk-collusion-in-gaza-genocide/

Craig Mokhiber follows up resignation letter condemning ‘successive waves of murder and persecution against the Palestinians throughout the life of the UN’ with social media post about ‘decades of Israeli impunity’ for ‘war crimes’

He too calls it genocide. https://twitter.com/andrewfeinstein/status/1719499794362872163

Please read this. Especially the last paragraph

Budget-song-budget · 2023-11-02T12:28:27+00:00

Joe Biden has requested $106 billion in military and humanitarian aid for Israel, Ukraine, and Gaza. This could benefit the aerospace and weapons sector, which saw a 7% increase in value after recent conflicts. Analysts from General Dynamics and Raytheon expressed optimism about the potential increase in demand for their products. Morgan Stanley, which holds over $3 billion in Raytheon stock, also saw the funding request as a good fit for the company's defense portfolio.

Raytheon's chairman and executive director, Greg Hayes, has stated that the company's portfolio will benefit from restocking and an expected increase in the Department of Defense budget. However, these comments appear to contradict the company's statement on human rights and endorsement of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. The comments have raised concerns about whether the company is abiding by its own human rights policies, as well as the callousness of discussing financial benefits from armed conflict.

TD Bank is committed to respecting human rights in accordance with the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. They have been reviewing their practices and procedures since 2018 and are working towards integrating these principles throughout the bank.

The United Nations' Human Rights Council has warned that war crimes may have been committed in the recent Israel-Hamas conflict and that those responsible must be held accountable. The Council has been collecting evidence of war crimes since October 2023. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have also supported these assessments. The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights expect companies, including banks, to respect human rights and not contribute to violations. Banks have a responsibility to prevent further violations and mitigate the impact on human rights if they invest in arms producers that supply weapons used in violations.

But the UN won’t be the legal arbiter of whether US companies have participated in human rights violations, a key loophole for institutional investors and the weapons firms.

“The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is only as good as how it’s interpreted by the host government, which in this case would be the US,” Shana Marshall, an expert on finance and arms trade and associate director of the Institute for Middle East Studies at George Washington University explained.

“These analysts can feel safe in the knowledge that the US government is never going to interpret that law in such a way that they will be prevented from exporting weapons to a country that the US doesn’t have an outright embargo on, which probably won’t have anything to do with human rights law anyways.”

Morgan Stanley and TD Bank did not respond to requests for comment.

https://rumble.com/v3s4fxf-the-main-winner-from-gaza-war-is-the-us-arms-industry-ex-israeli-foreign-mi.html

Ex-Israeli Foreign Minister Criticises Netanyahu's Government Over Gaza War

https://x.com/BeckettUnite/status/1719281503434145804?s=20

Channel 4 expose ethnic cleansing in West Bank.

Hamas are not in the West Bank.

The Ch 4 news clip (4.36)

It is not defence. It is genocide.

Former British Soldier EXPOSES Israel War Machine (9.51) https://youtu.be/Gs41WwknRlA?feature=shared

Budget-song-budget · 2023-10-28T02:13:36+00:00

Extract:

of the entire population of Gaza,” based on the “unique and rare opportunity to evacuate the entire Gaza Strip” that Israel’s latest assault on the besieged costal enclave provided.

Published in Hebrew on the organization’s website, the paper was authored by Amir Weitman, “an investment manager and visiting researcher” at the Institute who also leads the libertarian caucus of Israel’s ruling Likud Party. The document began by noting that there are 10 million vacant housing units in neighboring Egypt that could be “immediately” filled with Palestinians. Weitman then assured readers that the “sustainable plan…aligns well with the economic and geopolitical interests of the State of Israel, Egypt, the USA and Saudi Arabia.”

Weitman’s ethnic cleansing proposal echoes forced transfer plans advanced in recent days by former Israeli officials while capitalizing on evacuation orders delivered to the entire civilian population of northern Gaza by the Israeli military..

Weitman’s sinister blueprint imagined Israel purchasing these properties at a cost of $5 – 8 billion dollars, a whopping price-tag that reflects just 1 – 1.5 percent of Israel’s GDP.

“These sums of money [required to cleanse Gaza] in relation to the Israeli economy, are minimal,” Weitman posits. “Investing individual billions of dollars to solve this difficult issue is an innovative, cheap and sustainable solution.”

Weitman acknowledged that his plan virtually amounts to Israel “buying the Gaza Strip,” arguing the move would be “a very worthwhile investment” for Zionists because it would “add a lot of value over time.” He asserted local “land conditions” in the area would provide “many” Israeli settlers a high standard of living, therefore allowing for an expansion of settlements in Gush Dan near the Egyptian border, giving “a tremendous impetus to settlement in the Negev.”

In December 2021, Tel Aviv approved plans to establish four settlements in the Negev to house 3,000 settler families.

A genocidal war to end all wars

Though Egypt has so far rejected Israeli pressure for a mass exodus of Gaza residents through the southern Rafah crossing, Weitman argued Cairo will welcome the mass exodus of Palestinian refugees as “an immediate stimulus” that will “provide a tremendous and immediate benefit to al-Sisi’s regime.”

Weitman claimed that Cairo’s major creditors — including France, Germany and Saudi Arabia — are likely to welcome a revitalized Egyptian economy, courtesy of “Israeli investment” in the Palestinians’ permanent removal. He surmizes that Western Europe will welcome “the transfer of the entire Gaza population to Egypt,” because it will significantly “reduce the risk of illegal immigration…a tremendous advantage.” Meanwhile, he expects Riyadh to embrace the move because the “evacuation of the Gaza Strip means the elimination of a significant ally of Iran.”

The ethnic cleansing of Gaza would mean an end to “ceaseless, repeated rounds of fighting, which inflame the fires of hatred against Israel.” Moreover, “closing the Gaza issue will ensure a stable and increased supply of Israeli gas to Egypt and its liquefaction,” from the vast reserves seized by Israel near Gaza’s shores.

Budget-song-budget · 2023-10-26T10:00:22+00:00

Don't tell me, he bribed the west? It couldn't possibly be their own love of vaccines are a passport to a fortune. Health? Er, what's that? Think of the money saved!! Er, should any misfortune arise from the "vaccines" use, Ah well! No biggie.

Now where to spend that loot? Yacht? Private jet? Ship bigger then Bezos? Choices. Choices! It sucks to be rich! But it sucks more to rub shoulders with the masses.

Budget-song-budget · 2023-10-03T21:20:43+00:00

The Biden administration has given Benjamin Netanyahu's apartheid regime a political victory by granting them the visa waiver program. This is seen as a gift to Netanyahu, similar to Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The treatment of Palestinians at Israeli border crossings is reprehensible, and even those with foreign passports face uncertainty and humiliation. The reward of visa-free entry to the US for Israeli citizens is attributed to Netanyahu.

Ben-Gurion Airport, which sits on lands stolen from the occupied Palestinian city of Lyd, is racist. The officials who work at the airport, who might be compared to TSA employees in U.S. airports, are agents of the Israeli intelligence agencies. They have two main objectives: First, to welcome Israelis and Zionist Jews who come to visit and second, to make life hell for anyone else who attempts to enter the country.

The abusive treatment is used mostly for those of Palestinian descent but not exclusively. If the officials suspect a person might have pro-Palestinian sentiments, they will administer similar abuse.

A group of fifteen U.S. senators sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken stating that Israel is not in compliance with a law regarding reciprocal treatment for all U.S. citizens, and is not on track to come into compliance before the September 30, 2023 deadline. {NB deadline has passed.)

The senators expressed concerns that Israel may not meet the requirement for entry into the Visa Waiver Program due to a high non-immigrant visa refusal rate. The letter also highlighted inconsistencies between the language in the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and the Israeli government's guidance regarding the recognition of U.S. citizens. Palestinians with U.S. passports also face difficulties, such as being unable to rent cars or facing restrictions at checkpoints within Israel. The senators argue that if the U.S. were to reciprocate, certain groups of Israelis, such as those living in West Bank settlements, would face similar restrictions in the United States.

NO SURPRISE AT ALL

If anyone is surprised that Israel was once again treated favorably by a U.S. administration, they need to wake up. U.S. administrations treat Israel with deference even when it means ignoring – not to say blatantly violating – U.S. and international law. With all the criticism of the Netanyahu government, President Biden has just given him a personal political victory, and once again, there is no reciprocity. The United States government and the citizens of the United States have nothing to gain from this. It is purely for the benefit and satisfaction of Prime Minister Netanyahu and Israeli citizens who wish to travel to the U.S..

Israel is an apartheid state which commits horrendous crimes regularly. Palestinians who hold United States citizenship get no benefit – or, for that matter, protection – from their U.S. citizenship. Rather than demand U.S. citizens receive fair and decent treatment by Israel, the Biden administration added yet another award to the government leader of apartheid Israel.

Budget-song-budget · 2023-09-26T19:18:27+00:00

I think the thinking was "sex it up" how can it possibly go wrong? Someone obviously forgot - a good strong storyline needs no sex. A bad one starts to lose viewers pretty fast.

There's a movie by that name, circa 1973.

https://www.comedy.co.uk/film/no_sex_please_were_british/cast_crew/

Budget-song-budget · 2023-09-26T19:14:22+00:00

The smell of 🏧💰 no doubt buries any qualms.

Budget-song-budget · 2023-09-23T23:13:45+00:00

Hugh Grant became a celebrity for all the wrong reasons. https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/hugh-grant-arrest-divine-brown-sex-worker-nine-months-elizabeth-hurley-a9584341.html

Then his ordeal with Murdoch https://www.huffpost.com/entry/hugh-grant-lawsuit-the-sun_n_6470a184e4b045ce2482993e

As for Versailles - did it represent truth? Somehow I doubt it, some of the narrative over stretched the imagination. BBC they did have this to provide context. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5jPx75byxj2rptb50s5y5nC/versailles-a-guide-to-its-historical-accuracy

I watched Versailles to see how it would unfold. Originally when I tuned in I expected a serious documentary, but it was a soap opera. BBC Versailles 😂 was criticised for too many explicit sex scenes. In all honesty they were superfluous but whosoever made it thought otherwise.

https://meaww.com/netflix-versailles-sex-scenes-canceled

'Versailles,' one of the most explicit TV shows finally canceled after viewers tire of the 'constant sex' , Jan 8, 2020

I've never seen Game of Thrones, but Versailles was certainly physical Olympics.

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/tv/bbc2-period-drama-versailles-features-17092442 "Porno or period drama? BBC's Versailles shocks with 23 X-rated sex scenes IF you thought Games of Thrones pushed the envelope when it came to sex, violence and nudity, think again". 20 JUL 2019

Budget-song-budget · 2023-09-22T21:13:37+00:00

In the footage above, what's the actor Hugh Grant doing there?

On the topic of your comment. Did you ever watch this? It started out excellent ie enjoyable, but as soon as he acquired Madame de Montespan as mistress it starts to bog down. Inspite of over the top - too many - sex scenes the series eventually got the chop.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/b08nf8s0/versailles

Budget-song-budget · 2023-09-21T22:42:09+00:00

The response regarding her actions..

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/quit-now-calls-for-caroline-dinenage-to-go-as-it-emerges-rumble-row-mp-didnt-clear-russell-brand-letter-with-own-committee/ar-AA1h46su

Budget-song-budget · 2023-09-21T01:29:45+00:00

The author, who had just won the Booker Prize, found herself inadvertently cast as a cultural ambassador for the aggressive New India when a BJP-led Hindu nationalist government came to power in 1998 and conducted a series of nuclear tests. Feeling that keeping quiet was as political as speaking out, she wrote her first essay, The End of Imagination, which was published in two major mass-circulation magazines and labelled her a traitor and anti-national. This set her off on a long writing journey, entwining her fiction and nonfiction in ways that they can no longer be separated. Her essays were viewed with suspicion by some, but quickly translated into other Indian languages and distributed for free in places off the highway, where readers had an entirely different idea of what literature is or should be. The author believes that the place for literature is built by writers and readers, and that literature should provide shelter of all kinds.

The text discusses the current state of the media in India, stating that mainstream media houses are unlikely to publish essays critical of corporate advertisers. The author argues that the combination of the free market, fascism, and the so-called free press has led India away from democracy. The article highlights two recent events that illustrate this point: the BBC documentary "India: The Modi Question" and the Hindenburg Report, which exposed wrongdoing by India's biggest corporation, the Adani group. The Indian media portrayed these events as attacks on Prime Minister Modi and industrialist Gautam Adani, and the author suggests that Indian investigation agencies and media are unable to investigate or publish such stories. The article concludes by noting that in the current atmosphere of pseudo hyper-nationalism, foreign media coverage of such issues is often portrayed as an attack on Indian sovereignty.

The first episode of the BBC film The Modi Question focuses on the 2002 anti-Muslim pogrom in Gujarat, India, which saw at least 2,000 people murdered. The film also covers the 20-year legal journey of some victims seeking justice and political accountability. The documentary includes eyewitness testimonies, including Imtiyaz Pathan, who lost ten members of his family in the Gulbarg Society massacre. The film also reveals an internal report commissioned by the British Foreign Office in 2002, which estimated the number of deaths and called the massacre a pre-planned pogrom. The Modi government has banned the film, and social media platforms have taken down all links and references to it.

The Hindenburg Report accuses the Adani Group of engaging in a “brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme”, which – through the use of offshore shell entities – artificially overvalued its key listed companies and inflated the net worth of its chairman. According to the report, seven of Adani’s listed companies are overvalued by more than 85%. Modi and Adani have known each other for decades. Their friendship was consolidated after the 2002 Gujarat pogrom.

Gautam Adani, an Indian industrialist, supported Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the Gujarat riots in 2002 and helped establish the Gujarat Model of "development," which is characterised by violent Hindu nationalism and corporate money. Adani's wealth has grown from $8 billion to $137 billion during Modi's nine-year tenure, and his company, the Adani Group, controls a significant portion of India's shipping ports, airports, and power plants. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), India's ruling party, introduced electoral bonds in 2016, allowing corporations to fund political parties anonymously, and has become the party with the largest share of corporate funding. Meanwhile, Oxfam has reported that the top 10% of India's population holds 77% of the total national wealth, and 670 million Indians who comprise the poorest half of the population saw only a 1% increase in their wealth. Amnesty International and other NGOs in India have been harassed into shutting down.

Despite concerns about Indian Prime Minister Modi's human rights record, Western leaders such as President Biden and President Macron have continued to engage with him and even announced a major aircraft deal with India. Modi has also been feted during state visits to the US and France, despite his role in the Gujarat pogrom and ongoing violence against Muslims and Christians in India.

They would have known about the hounding of opposition politicians, students, human rights activists, lawyers and journalists, some of whom have received long prison sentences, about the attacks on universities by police and suspected Hindu nationalists, the rewriting of history textbooks, the banning of films, the shutdown of Amnesty International India, the raid on the India offices of the BBC, the activists, journalists and government critics placed on mysterious no-fly lists and the pressure on academics, both Indian and foreign.

They would have known that India now ranks at 161 out of 180 countries on the World Press Freedom Index, that many of the best Indian journalists have been hounded out of the mainstream media and that journalists could soon be subjected to a censorial regulatory regime in which a government-appointed body will have the power to decide whether media reports and commentary about the government are fake or misleading. And the new IT law that is designed to shut down dissent on social media.

They would have known about the sword-wielding, violent Hindu vigilante mobs who regularly and openly call for the annihilation of Muslims and the rape of Muslim women".

They would have known about the situation in Kashmir, which beginning in 2019 was subjected to a monthslong communication blackout – the longest internet shutdown in a democracy – and whose journalists suffer harassment, arrest and interrogation. Nobody in the 21st century should have to live as they do, with a boot on their throats.

They would have known about the Citizenship Amendment Act passed in 2019 that barefacedly discriminates against Muslims, the massive protests that it touched off and how those protests only ended after dozens of Muslims were killed the following year by Hindu mobs in Delhi (which, incidentally, took place while President Donald Trump was in town on a state visit, and about which he uttered not a word). They would have known about how the Delhi police forced grievously injured young Muslim men who were lying on the street to sing the Indian National Anthem while they prodded and kicked them. One of them died subsequently.

The author highlights the hypocrisy of world powers who continue to support Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi despite the rise of Hindu extremism and violence against Muslims in India. The author argues that this is a form of racism and that the dismantling of democracy in India will have global consequences. The author also notes recent events in India that demonstrate the erosion of democracy and warns that it is time to take action.

The text describes instances of violence and discrimination against Muslims in India. In Manipur, two women were handed over to a mob by a partisan police force and were gang-raped. In Maharashtra, a Railway Protection Force Officer shot Muslim passengers on a train and called for people to vote for Modi. A Hindu vigilante called for a religious march through a Muslim-majority settlement, which resulted in violence and the murder of six people. The state has responded by bulldozing Muslim settlements and causing families to flee. The prime minister has not commented on these incidents, which are seen as part of an election campaign to further polarize the population.

A video has surfaced of a teacher in a small school in India making a Muslim child stand while Hindu students slap him. The Muslim family has been pressured not to press charges and the boy has been taken out of school. The author argues that India has become a fascist state, with support from Hindus living abroad. The responsibility to stand up against this lies with everyone, as dissent will soon be shut down if Modi wins in 2024.

Budget-song-budget · 2023-09-21T00:40:16+00:00

“We call it the wrap-up smear. If you want to talk politics, we call it the wrap-up smear. You smear somebody with falsehoods and all the rest, and then you merchandise it. And then you write it, and they’ll say, see, it’s reported in the press that this, this, this, and this. So they have that validation that the press reported the smear, and then it’s called the wrap-up smear. Now I’m going to merchandise the press’s report on the smear that we made. And it’s a tactic and it’s self evident.”

Budget-song-budget · 2023-09-16T04:50:23+00:00

Jeremy Corbyn stands out. No wonder they sought to undermine him from the minute he became Labour leader. His replacement is spineless drone, allied to the sell out back seat driver Blair.

What a surprise! David Owen,

in the Daily Telegraph, David Owen, a former British foreign secretary, wrote: “We have proved in Libya that intervention can still work.

Wiki describes him as a "physician". A physician?

David Anthony Llewellyn Owen, Baron Owen, CH, PC, FRCP (born 2 July 1938) [1] is a British politician and physician

Budget-song-budget · 2023-09-07T13:13:11+00:00

In the 20th century, public universities and technical institutions were established, while technology development was focused in the R&D labs of large corporations. The era of lone inventors had ended and corporations gathered leading scientists and technologists to create future technologies. Capital was still expanding production during this time.

In the past, finance capital was dominant over productive capital, but major capitalist countries still had a strong manufacturing base. Science was seen as a public good and was mainly developed in universities or publicly funded research institutions. Technology development was considered a private enterprise, with the role of innovation being to turn ideas into artifacts. Patents were created to protect useful ideas and also had a public purpose of ensuring eventual public disclosure of the invention.

The traditional university system of knowledge production has been transformed into a profit-making commercial enterprise under the neoliberal order. The distinction between science and technology has blurred, leading to innovations that are both patentable and marketable. This has driven many disciplines of science and research output in universities closer to commercial production systems. The university system now produces knowledge directly for commercial purposes, while R&D laboratories have been destroyed. Finance capital controls university science through investment in R&D and the purchase of patents, allowing it to dominate over industrial capital.

The end of the twentieth century revealed the rupture of finance capital and productive capital. Today, global capital operates far more as disembodied finance capital, controlling production at one end with its control over technology and markets at the other. In this phase, where capital increasingly lives off speculation and rent, there is also a marked separation of knowledge as capital from productive or physical capital—plant and machinery. Foxconn/Hon Hai Precision Industries manufactures Apple products but cannot claim a major share in the profits from their sale, since Apple holds the intellectual knowledge and property rights. Roughly, Apple gets 31 percent of the profits from an iPhone sale, Foxconn less than two percent.

The transformation of capital to rent seeking, by using its monopoly over knowledge—patents, copyrights, industrial designs, etc.—characterizes the current phase of capital. With this, the advanced capitalist countries have increasingly become rentier and “service” economies. In essence, they dominate the world by virtue of controlling the global financial structure, new knowledge required for production, and distribution through retail and global brands.

Despite universities being influenced by capitalism and becoming more like businesses, the knowledge they produce is still funded by the public. Private capital dictates the direction of scientific research and takes over successful outcomes, but this transformation did not come about through private funding. The state covers the high cost of fundamental research, while private capital receives the patents. This reflects the neoliberal system's socialization of risk and privatization of rewards.

The understanding that science needs to be restored as an open and collaborative exercise has given birth to the commons movement. By a curious sleight of hand, capitalism sees the finite commons—the atmosphere and large water bodies such as lakes, rivers and oceans—as infinite, and demands the right to dump waste in these commons. Yet it regards knowledge, capable of being copied infinite number of times without loss, as finite and demands monopoly rights over it!

Never before has society had the ability it does today to bring together different communities and resources in order to produce new knowledge. It is social, universal labor, and its private appropriation as intellectual property under capitalism stands in the way of liberating the enormous power of the collective to generate new knowledge and benefit people.

Budget-song-budget · 2023-09-07T02:23:43+00:00

How Sanctions Failed To Hinder China's Development

These headlines related to China are demonstrating a very fast historic development:

Why Do the Chinese Copy So Much? - IHT/NY Times, July 25, 2012

26 Things That China Ripped Off - Insider, August 27, 2013

Chinese Tech Firms Are Increasingly Being Copied by U.S., Not Just Copying - The Street, June 28, 2018

World Record-Breaking Drone Swarm From China Puts on Magical Show - Nerdist, June 10, 2018

Pentagon unveils ‘Replicator’ drone program to compete with China - Defense News, August 28, 2023

From the last link:

The Pentagon committed on Monday to fielding thousands of attritable, autonomous systems across multiple domains within the next two years as part of a new initiative to better compete with China.

The program, dubbed Replicator, was announced by Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks, speaking at the National Defense Industrial Association’s Emerging Technologies conference here.

“Replicator will galvanize progress in the too-slow shift of U.S. military innovation to leverage platforms that are small, smart, cheap and many,” Hicks said.

China's industry developed by copying designs from other producers. But it only took a few years until it started to produce better or new products for new markets. Historically this is nothing new. Germany's industrial development happened by ripping off British manufacturing processes and products. A few years later industrial German products could compete with British ones and the Brits started to copy Germany technology.

In 2018 China demonstrated large swarms of coordinated drones that could draw moving pictures into the sky.

bigger

Now the Pentagon wants to replicate such capabilities.

replicate: verb - If you replicate someone's experiment, work, or research, you do it yourself in exactly the same way.

I have been given a DJI drone as a gift. It is an excellent product. It is light enough to stay within legal limits. It has good flight characteristics, with excellent design and usability of hardware and software. It is reliable and comes at a reasonable price. Even the packaging was very well designed and underlined the value of the product.

Asides from way too expensive Apple products I am not aware of many U.S. or European mass market products that come near to its overall quality level.

If China's military gets drones of the quality that Chinese companies produce for consumers it is likely a generation ahead of everyone else.

It is doubtful that the Pentagon, with its lengthy procurement processes subject to Congressional graft, will ever catch up with that.

In 2019, when Trump sanctioned Huawei by denying it access to modern chips, I wrote:

Huawei currently uses U.S. made chips in many of its smartphones and networking products. But it has long expected the U.S. move and diligently prepared for it: ... Soon U.S. chip companies will have lost all their sales to the second largest smartphone producer of the world. That loss will not be just temporarily, it will become permanent.

The moment of reckoning has come.

Last week Huawei presented its new cell phone Mate 60 Pro. **Since the sanctions were implemented the company has developed genuinely new CPUs for cell phones as well as for other equipment. Bloomberg reports of the teardown and preliminary analysis of the processor by a U.S. company. It is fairly complicate system-on-a-chip that is to 100% made in China:

tphuang @tphuang - 2:25 UTC · Sep 4, 2023

Kirin 9000S teardown so surprising

Includes CPU, GPU, 5G modem, ISP, DSP + NPU (w/ Ascend lite/tiny cores + TPU)

All this squeezed into 110mm2 die w/o stacking ... Oh, 9000S in teardown/testing showed better overall CPU performance & power consumption than 9000 & SD 888 + had better peak CPU performance than SD 8 Gen 1 all this w/o advanced packaging.

bigger

Huawei could do this because it is an extraordinary company that was created by an extraordinary man:

Ren Zhengfei, founder and CEO of Chinese telecoms equipment maker Huawei Technologies, urged the US-sanctioned tech giant to maintain its technological lead in specific areas and focus on developing internal talent, according to his latest speech published on the company’s employee website on Monday.

“Huawei will save talent, not US dollars,” Ren said in the speech, which he delivered on July 28. “We will try hard to lead in some business aspects globally, not all aspects. For our products, the boundary can be relatively narrow, but our research boundary can be wider.”

In his July speech, Ren said the best motivation for talented workers is passion.

“I think the material reward is not that important,” he said. “The first thing is that [the worker] finds a position he has passion for … If he can work on something he is interested in, he will have no regrets.”

Ren added that no one is good at all aspects of a business from day one and that it takes time for people to grow their talents beyond a single specialised field. “[In time], you will see who becomes a leader. It’s a natural process,” he said.

That sounds like a company I would like to work for. Huawei's response to U.S. sanctions was not to give up but to hire more people:

Talent recruitment has long been important for Huawei. Ren initiated a programme known as “Top Minds” in 2019, just months after the company was blacklisted by the US government. That recruitment drive, later dubbed the “Genius Youth” programme, gave priority to candidates whose research had produced “tangible and impactful” results and winners of top research honours, according to an advertisement posted by Huawei on Weibo at the time. Huawei has 207,000 employees globally, according to its website, and 55.6 per cent are research and development personnel. This is up from the end of 2021, when the company said it employed 195,000 people, with 54.8 per cent of them in R&D.

That is an extremely large research and development company to which a smaller production and sales arm is attached. Western finance and business attitude would never allow for something like it.

That is just one reason why the U.S. is losing the tech war with China:

Western media, for the most part, has ignored a remarkable array of Chinese pilot products in industrial automation, executed primarily by Huawei, the world’s largest maker of telecommunications infrastructure and the target of a global suppression campaign by the United States. Fully automated factories, mines, ports, and warehouses already are in operation, and the first commercial autonomous taxi service is starting up in Beijing. Huawei officials say the company has 10,000 contracts for private 5G networks in China, including 6,000 in factories. Huawei’s cloud division has just launched a software platform designed to help Chinese businesses build proprietary AI systems using their own data. This again proves that sanctions can not end development when a certain base is already there:

Restrictions on technology exports to China at best are a stopgap. Eventually, China, which graduates more engineers each year than the rest of the world combined, will develop its own substitutes, as ASML, the world’s premier maker of chip lithography equipment, avers. Even as a stopgap, though, the controls are failing. They impose high costs on China in several ways but have not impeded the Fourth Industrial Revolution. On the contrary: the limited adoption of Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies by American industry is concentrated in firms that have major commitments to China. ... To maintain a technological edge over China, we will have to spend an additional several hundred billions of dollars, train a highly-skilled workforce, educate or import more scientists and engineers, and provide broader incentives to manufacturing. It is simply too late to try to suppress China. That is no longer within our power. What remains within our power is to restore American pre-eminence. Well, good luck with attempting that

Budget-song-budget · 2023-09-05T17:41:14+00:00

Declassified could find no instances in the hundreds of press articles where RUSI’s funders were mentioned.

In the past two years, the Guardian or Observer mentioned RUSI in 106 articles, the Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph in 66 and the Times and Sunday Times in 28 articles.

The references in the papers were quotes from RUSI staff, notably on the war in Ukraine and UK military policy, or reports released by the organisation.

RUSI says it is “an independent think tank engaged in cutting-edge defence and security research” and that it “embodies nearly two centuries of forward thinking, free discussion, and careful reflection on defence and security matters”.

Based in Whitehall, close to the Ministry of Defence, RUSI was founded in 1831 by the Duke of Wellington, the Field Marshal and later prime minister.

Its second largest funder – providing between £500,000 and £999,000 – is the US State Department while its other large sponsors include the UK Foreign Office, the British army and arms corporation BAE Systems, which all gave up to £0.5m each in 2020-21.

Budget-song-budget · 2023-09-05T17:33:39+00:00

Doug Weir, from the Conflict and Environment Observatory, told Declassified: “It is believed that Challenger 2’s can carry up to 52 rounds of ammunition, in this case a proportion of this is likely to have been CHARM3 DU munitions.

“Past cases of fires affecting vehicles suggest that should the fire be sufficiently intense, pyrophoric DU can ignite and burn.

“Vehicles suspected to be contaminated by DU oxide need to be marked and managed so as to avoid further dispersal to the environment, or the exposure of people coming into contact with them. Contamination may also be present in the vicinity of the vehicle.”

While the UK was the first to supply Ukraine with depleted uranium, the US has since announced the ammunition will be available with Abrams tanks it is sending to Kyiv.

Weapons containing DU have previously been fired by UK and US forces in conflicts such as Iraq, Syria and the former Yugoslavia.

An investigation by Declassified this summer in Kosovo found that civilians living near areas where DU was fired reported high levels of rare cancers.

Budget-song-budget · 2023-09-03T18:27:37+00:00

Gabon is the world's third largest producer of manganese, with over 250 million tons of reserves. Manganese is the country's second largest export product, accounting for 11% of total exports. The largest company producing manganese in Gabon is La Compagnie Minière de l’Ogooue. Gabon also has large deposits of oil and natural gas, with the oil sector accounting for 38.5% of GDP and 70.5% of exports. However, the country's reliance on oil exports is a danger to its economy and social development, with over 80% of food being imported. The US controls almost 100% of Gabon's crude oil exports, but other countries such as China and Russia may also be interested in Gabon's resources. The recent military coup in Gabon may have been timed to coincide with the country's elections, and the US may become involved in restoring order.

Gabon’s almost exclusive reliance on oil exports is a real danger for her economy and social development, especially given the volatility of hydrocarbon prices. Due to this reliance on petrol income, the agricultural sector has been neglected to the point where, according to government estimates, more than 80% of food is imported – and this given the high degree of fertility of Gabon’s soil. See this.

Food imports make for food price volatility an instability.

Additionally https://www.globalresearch.ca/is-there-a-genuine-anti-imperialist-peoples-movement-in-west-africa-nigers-military-government-is-supported-by-the-pentagon/5829840

Is There a Genuine "Anti-Imperialist People's Movement" in West Africa?

Budget-song-budget · 2023-09-03T17:37:01+00:00

The latest World Economic Outlook July 2023 from IMF says that US will in 2023 have a growth of 1.8% against a growth in China of 5.2%. In 2024 the US will be even worse off with a growth of meagre 1.0% in 2024 and China will grow at 4.5% in 2024. In both years, we see China growing by around 3½ % faster than the US.

China will continue for many years to do a lot better than the US.

That puts the gleefulness by which US media describe China’s economic challenges into a more correct perspective.

Budget-song-budget · 2023-09-01T00:37:02+00:00

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant have blamed Iran for Israel's security problems, despite the country's ongoing socio-economic polarization, political and judicial crises, and settlers' pogroms in the West Bank. Every Palestinian attack on Israelis is preceded by Israeli army raids or settler attacks on Palestinian communities, and reports indicate that this year is the most violent in the West Bank in nearly two decades. The UN has described the violence as a "concerning trend" attributed to a "growing sense of despair about the future."

The UN humanitarian agency, OCHA, had similar findings. It said that nearly 600 settler-related ‘incidents’ were reported in the Occupied Territories in the first six months of 2023. Settler attacks have resulted in “Palestinian casualties, property damage or both.”

However, Netanyahu and Gallant are diverting attention from the ongoing human rights violations in Palestine by blaming Iran for the supposed threat.

For Netanyahu, blaming Iran allows him to stoke the fire of instability in the Middle East, unite all Israelis behind their supposed defender and avoid any accountability for the ongoing human rights violations in Palestine.

As for Gallant, blaming Iran elevates the military and all branches of intelligence services; instead of being seen as failing to stop homegrown Palestinian struggle, he wants to paint an alternative image of a heroic army fighting an ‘existential threat’ hatched elsewhere.

This is not a simple case of lacking self-awareness, but a deliberate diversion of the actual problem: the Israeli occupation and apartheid.

Throughout the years, Israel has insisted that Palestinians are not political actors capable of making their own collective decisions, and that some bogeymen elsewhere – the Arabs, the Iranians, the communists, the Islamists, and so on … – are to blame.

But Tel Aviv is wrong. For Israel to understand the reasons behind the growing Palestinian resistance in all of its forms, it needs to look at the devastated refugee camps of Jenin, Balata and Nur Shams – not Tehran – for the answers.

Budget-song-budget · 2023-08-30T01:32:52+00:00

Given Nato' role in the destruction of Yugoslavia - he's not an oracle!

https://documentaryheaven.com/the-weight-of-chains/

Budget-song-budget · 2023-08-29T20:23:54+00:00

Averyanov currently serves as the head of covert offensive operations in Russia’s military intelligence service, and he has been accused of ordering assassinations of Russian dissidents. He now has the task of maintaining Wagner’s operations in Africa after the death of their architect, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Budget-song-budget · 2023-08-29T10:07:23+00:00

From April 1964 to March 1985, a military junta ruled Brazil with an iron fist. Its crimes against humanity throughout this period were extensive, including institutionalized torture, imprisonment, forced disappearances and mass murder. Typically, the victims were political opponents of the regime, although the country’s indigenous population was a specific, dedicated target.

In most cases, their crime was objecting to economic “reform” projects that destroyed their homes or simply living in the wrong place at the wrong time. With the backing and direction of the World Bank, the junta forcibly displaced indigenous people and desecrated their lands to extract valuable natural resources for Western capital. Along the way, these communities routinely endured brutal repression, pogroms, and massacres.

Much of this barbarity was doled out by the Rural Indigenous Guard, a lethal elite police force covertly created by the CIA. The Agency also constructed a system of indigenous prisons, which played a pivotal and horrifying role in the junta’s policies of indigenous cleansing.

Budget-song-budget · 2023-08-26T21:58:32+00:00

Population growth and climate change are putting immense pressure on water supplies in the American Southwest, with states such as New Mexico, California, Arizona, and Colorado facing the most significant strains. The region has experienced higher temperatures and drought conditions since 2000, exacerbating the scarcity of water. Farmers use the majority of water withdrawn from the Colorado River to irrigate crops, and the river also supplies drinking water to 40 million people. The situation is set to worsen with continued climate change and population growth, highlighting the need for better management of existing water supplies.

Direct Potable Reuse (DPR)

Potable reuse technology, specifically direct potable reuse (DPR), can turn wastewater into drinking water safely and efficiently. This method is gaining momentum as a solution to water supply problems, as it is cheaper and quicker than other options. Despite initial reluctance, US states are now considering DPR as a legitimate and potentially imperative solution.

Bad Branding Stalls Progress

Potable reuse projects, which involve treating wastewater to augment drinking water supplies, have faced challenges due to concerns over the technology and misperceptions about the process. Indirect potable reuse (IPR) was once considered a last resort option, while direct potable reuse (DPR) was not even considered. Questions and uncertainties over potable reuse could only be resolved with more comprehensive data from full-scale operational systems. Misperceptions about the process, including the "toilet to tap" narrative, have also contributed to a lack of public support for these projects.

What “toilet to tap” missed was that treatment options—i.e., membrane filtration, membrane desalination, ozone, and advanced oxidation, to name a few—can make the purified water entirely safe to drink.

Recent advances in water treatment technologies have increased confidence in and acceptance of potable water reuse among water professionals. The Orange County Water District's Groundwater Replenishment System project has successfully provided drinking water to over 2.5 million people since 2008, highlighting the effectiveness of indirect potable reuse (IPR) and providing data to evaluate the viability of the process. The National Research Council (NRC) has also changed its position on water reuse, acknowledging that some engineered systems can perform as well or better than environmental buffers in diluting and attenuating contaminants. While IPR has slowly taken hold, direct potable reuse (DPR) remains controversial and legal in only three US states. DPR has several advantages over IPR, including the ability to recycle more water and avoid regulations on putting water back into the environment by eliminating the buffer. However, public acceptance remains a major obstacle to the proliferation of DPR, despite the fact that the purification process makes recycled water safe to drink and of higher quality than most bottled water.

Desperation: The Mother of Innovation

Big Spring, Texas, has the only functional DPR facility in the US, which was established in 2013 to address the urgent need to diversify the city's water portfolio and increase its supply reliability. Wichita Falls followed suit in 2014 due to a water crisis, but the system was decommissioned in 2015 due to sufficient rainfall. Both cities were forced to act under emergency regulations, highlighting the need for water reuse to be recognised before immediate action is needed.

Making Reuse Mainstream

Community practitioners are working to educate the public about the benefits of direct potable reuse (DPR) of water, which could lead to increased adoption of the technology. The key to success is making the concept of DPR easy to understand and demonstrating its safety. The Pure Water San Diego project, which uses DPR, has been successful in part because it has engaged with the community through tours, presentations, websites and mailers, and has identified all stakeholders. The project has also emphasised the fact that San Diego's water is already recycled many times before it reaches the city, which has helped to quell fears about the safety of recycled water.

The public used to be skeptical about using treated wastewater for drinking, but now they are more accepting of it. A proposed environmental buffer/recharge basin was meant to ease concerns, but it turned out to be unnecessary as the public embraced direct potable reuse (DPR). In 2005, only 28% of people surveyed were in favor of using recycled water, but in 2019, that number had risen to 79%.

As of 2023, the Pure Water Project, the first phase of which “includes 10 different projects that will clean recycled water to produce 30 million gallons per day of high-quality purified water,” has permission to add purified water to the Miramar Reservoir (using the reservoir as an environmental buffer) as part of the construction of an IPR facility, with DPR slated for phase two of the project—which could provide an extra 53 million gallons by 2035, ensuring that one-third of San Diego’s water supply will come from reused water by that time.

Education and Outreach Remain Critical

The public's perception of direct potable reuse (DPR) is changing in the face of water scarcity caused by climate change. San Diego and Brownwood, Texas, have demonstrated that the public can accept DPR with extensive water education and outreach. El Paso Water Utilities (EPWU) also received public support for its "Advanced Water Purification" system, which will produce fresh drinking water by turning treated wastewater into potable water. However, public perception in other areas is shaped by outreach, trust in messengers, and the reputation of water agencies and providers.

Southwest US Leads the Way in Water Reuse

Communities are more likely to accept recycled water when they see other communities doing it. A study in San Diego showed a 50% increase in acceptance when citizens learned that other communities had already implemented potable reuse. The Southwest US is leading the way in this trend.

Colorado became the first state to rubber-stamp their DPR regulations in 2023; others will follow. In addition to Pure Water’s plans in San Diego, Los Angeles is also considering a DPR/IPR hybrid facility that will deliver 230 million gallons a day.

To lessen its dependence on the Colorado River, the city of Phoenix, Arizona, announced plans in April 2023 for a multibillion-dollar facility that will use DPR to purify 60 million gallons of water per day—enough for about 200,000 households a year. El Paso, too, is in the design phase of a DPR facility that will turn up to 10 million gallons of wastewater a day into drinking water, which would make it the world’s biggest DPR facility providing treated wastewater to consumers.

But DPR isn’t a cure-all; it’s just another vital tool among many water reuse solutions that the U.S. will have to embrace as drought continues to grip the nation.

“We can’t have whatever we want,” says John Trotter, a photographer who has documented the Colorado River’s decline since 2002. “We must learn to adapt if we are going to continue to exist in these places.”

Budget-song-budget · 2023-08-26T00:48:00+00:00

There was an avalanche of Western media reports within minutes or hours of the ghastly death on Wednesday of the head of the Wagner organization of Russian military contractors, Yevgeny Prigozhin, which pointed the accusing finger at President Vladimir Putin as the perpetrator.

It is almost as if a button was pressed at some unknown command center to launch a new narrative to demonize Putin for serving the cold dish of revenge to Prigozhin, to borrow the CIA director William Burns’ recent words, for staging a failed coup in Russia. No one cared to produce empirical evidence.

“Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth” — the law of propaganda is often attributed to the Nazi leader Joseph Goebbels who understood the power of repeating falsehoods. It is now the West’s compass to “erase” Russia.

True, Putin had every reason to be annoyed with Prigozhin — a “stab in the back,” as he put it — when the nation was waging an existential war against sworn enemies who seek the dismemberment of Russia. But three considerations discredit the hypothesis of Putin’s involvement.

First, why such a crude method reminiscent of the murder of the charismatic Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, the spearhead of Tehran’s ‘Axis of Resistance’ against America, by former US president Donald Trump?

In his celebrated 1827 essay titled On Murder Considered as one of the Fine Arts, Thomas De Quincey wrote, “Everything in this world has two handles. Murder, for instance, may be laid hold of by its moral handle… and that, I confess, is its weak side; or it may also be treated aesthetically, as the Germans call it, that is, in relation to good taste.” The aesthetic of Prigozhin’s murder is, simply put, the least appealing by the principle of murder connoisseurship if the motivation were revenge.

Second, Prigozhin was a dead man walking for staging such an idiotic act, after his security cover was withdrawn by the state. Imagine ex-president Barack Obama without secret service protection after the murder of Osama bin Laden — or Mike Pompeo and Trump walking around without security after murdering Soleimani.

But Putin made it clear that Wagner still would have a future and the nation will remember its role in the Ukraine war. Putin even invited Prigozhin to a Kremlin meeting. Arguably, Putin’s first remarks on Prigozhin’s death betray a trace of pity. (here and here)

Putin said, “I’ve known Prigozhin for a very long time, since the early 1990s. He was a man of no easy fate. He made some serious mistakes in his life, but he also achieved the needed results – both for himself and, when I asked him, for the common cause. The way it was in recent months.”

“As far as I know, he returned from Africa only yesterday. He met with some officials here. He worked not only in our country – and he worked successfully, but also abroad, especially in Africa. There, he dealt with oil, gas, precious metals and stones,” Putin added.

In the excessive zeal to focus on Prigozhin’s murder to demonize Putin, *what is overlooked is that whoever choreographed the crime also ensured that Wagner’s entire command structure has been eliminated. Bye, bye, Africa!

There isn’t going to be anyone in the foreseeable future to challenge the hegemony of the French Legion in the Sahel or match the vast network of 29 bases (https://archive.li/UgMyq PENTAGON’S OWN MAP OF U.S. BASES IN AFRICA CONTRADICTS ITS CLAIM OF “LIGHT” FOOTPRINT ) under Pentagon’s Africa Command spread across the continent from Djibouti in the north to Botswana in the south. Put differently, the long arm of Russia’s “smart power” has been chopped off with one single swing of the blade. Who stands to gain?

Third, Prigozhin’s murder was staged on a special day that in a historical perspective, must be counted as the finest hour of Russian diplomacy ever since the disintegration of the former Soviet Union. The reality of “a new starting point for BRICS” — as Chinese President Xi Jinping stated — is yet to sink in fully, but what is beyond doubt is that Russia is walking away as the winner.

Make no mistake that the BRICS unity held firm and rubbished all Western prognosis; BRICS expansion means that the issue of a single settlement currency is on the table, and the international financial system is not going to the same again; de-dollarization is knocking at the gates; a new global trading system is taking shape which renders obsolete the exploitative 4-century old Western regime geared to transfer wealth to the rich countries; BRICS has graduated, finally, from an informal club to an institution that will eclipse the G7.

The host country South Africa delivered big-time for the Russian and Chinese agenda of multipolarity. https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/zxxx_662805/202308/t20230823_11130511.html The joint statement issued by South Africa and China and the induction of Ethiopia (where the West tried to stage a regime change) as a BRICS member underscores the emerging alignment in Africa. Doesn’t all that add up to something? https://www.vanguardngr.com/2023/08/africa-and-the-opportunities-of-brics/

And, above all, the big message coming out of Johannesburg is that with all the king’s horses and all the king’s men, the Biden administration has failed miserably to “isolate” Russia — it is writ large in the resplendent glow of Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s effulgent smile. Russia is capping its gains in the battlefields of Ukraine with an outstanding diplomatic victory by being on the right side of history alongside the global majority.

Isn’t it plain common sense that of all days, Putin would never have chosen Wednesday to act as a spoiler when Russia’s prestige was soaring high in the international community? Again, the question arises: Who stands to gain?

The plain truth is, there could be any number of people who wanted to physically eliminate Prigozhin. Within Russia itself, Prigozhin had recruited criminals undergoing prison sentence to fight in Ukraine and thereby get their sentence commuted. He deployed them without adequate military training and over 10,000 of them reportedly got killed. There is a deep sense of revulsion within Russia in the matter.

Then there are the external enemies starting from France, which has been virtually evicted from the Sahel region, its playpen where it had a field day until Prigozhin came and spoiled the party. France could barely hide its rancor toward Russia since then.

Meanwhile, the brewing crisis in Niger alerted the US that Prigozhin was on the prowl. The redoubtable acting secretary of state Victoria Nuland, who masterminded the 2014 coup in Ukraine, traveled to Niamey to plead with the coup leaders not to have any truck with Wagner.

However, Prigozhin reportedly had sneaked into the neighboring country, Mali, where Wagner is well established, with a view to establishing contact with Niger’s new rulers and offering the services of Wagner. Suffice to say, Prigozhin was threatening to do to the Pentagon what he earlier did to the French Legion in Sahel.

It is entirely conceivable that the Biden administration decided that enough was enough and Wagner must be decapitated. Of course, Prigozhin’s departure along with his senior commanders will weaken Wagner.

Within Russia, the ruthless Ukrainian intelligence operates at different levels. The drone attacks on Moscow are being staged by saboteurs within Russia. And Ukraine too has a score to settle with Wagner, which is present in Belarus.

Without doubt, there is a congruence of interests between the Ukrainian intelligence and its Western mentors to destroy Wagner and eliminate it from the geopolitical chessboard altogether.

Budget-song-budget · 2023-08-22T22:24:08+00:00

The recent coup in Niger has brought attention to the expansion of private military and security companies (PMSCs) in Africa. Niger's new military rulers have asked Russian PMSC Wagner for help, while the US Secretary of State has warned of the PMSC exploiting instability. PMSCs have gained influence in Africa, evolving from mercenaries to powerful corporate-driven forces. As instability and conflict continue in the Sahel region, the strengthening of PMSCs, both domestic and foreign, will continue to reshape Africa's security in unpredictable ways.

Private military and security companies (PMSCs) have a long history in Africa, dating back to the post-World War II decolonisation period. Mercenaries were used by colonial powers to suppress rebellions and create unrest, with figures like Britain's "Mad Mike" Hoare and France's Bob Denard becoming emblematic of this era.

After the Cold War, PMSCs became more corporate as demobilized soldiers sought employment and civil conflicts increased. Executive Outcomes, a South African PMSC founded in 1989, gained notoriety for protecting energy infrastructure in Angola and fighting in Sierra Leone's civil war.

South Africa's government pressured the disbandment of EO in 1998, but other private military and security companies (PMSCs) emerged, including Sandline International, which helped gain control over mineral rights in Sierra Leone. The taboo of using PMSCs was broken after the US began heavily relying on them during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Existing in a legal gray zone, PMSCs have leveraged their strategic capabilities worldwide—no more so than in Africa. Fragile government institutions, powerful criminal and militant groups, international power struggles, and competition over Africa’s natural resources have nurtured an environment supportive of a growing network of PMSCs. Across the continent, they are used to secure energy facilities, government buildings, and private infrastructure, protect local actors and foreign personnel, and provide police and military training, intelligence, and active fire support to governments and corporate clients.

Russia is using private military companies like Wagner to gain influence in Africa's security landscape. In the Sahel region, Russian PMSCs have taken advantage of the departure of French military forces and local anti-French sentiment to fill the security void.

Amid shifting allegiances, Wagner underscores how Russia’s indirect power projection allows the Kremlin to wield substantial influence without deploying conventional military forces. Wagner’s activities are believed to span across Mali, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Angola, Madagascar, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Burkina Faso, Chad, the Central African Republic (CAR), and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Other Russian PMSCs, such as RSB Group, Moran Security Group, and Patriot, also operate across Africa.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the financier of Wagner, a Russian PMSC network in Africa, celebrated the success of a coup in Niger and claimed that Wagner was capable of handling the situation, despite the Russian government's lack of support. Prigozhin has had conflicts with the Russian military in the past but was recently seen meeting with African dignitaries at the Russia-Africa summit in St Petersburg.

Wagner, a Russian private military company, could act as a proxy for the Kremlin in Niger, filling the security void left by the French military. There are concerns that Niger may halt uranium exports, which are important to French and EU supplies, and this could draw the West's attention to the country. Although Russian officials have downplayed state connections to Wagner's activities in Africa, the ongoing role of Yevgeny Prigozhin, a Russian businessman with close ties to the Kremlin, suggests that the Kremlin is trying to hide its true motivations.

Beyond Russia, numerous Western PMSCs have embedded themselves within Africa’s security. Unlike Russia’s PMSCs, most do not operate on the frontlines of conflict and primarily operate in security and training roles, though do coordinate with official military deployments. French PMSC Secopex made headlines in 2011 when its founder was killed in Libya during the country’s revolution, and it remains unclear as to what the PMSC’s role was.

Secopex had also been involved in the CAR and Somalia, while Corpguard (also created by the co-founder of Secopex, David Hornus) has been involved in training the Cote D’Ivoire’s military.

Other French PMSCs, such as Agemira, are active in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Though French-owned, Agemira is registered in Bulgaria to take advantage of the country’s lack of regulation and transparency. The UK’s Aegis Defence Services is believed to have worked in 18 African countries, while G4S, Erinys, and Olive Group are also active in Africa.

Several private military and security companies (PMSCs), including MPRI, CACI International, Academi (formerly Blackwater), DynCorp, Triple Canopy, and AdvanFort Co, have been active in Africa since the 2000s. Xeless and Asgaard, based in Germany, also have operations in Sudan, Libya, Mauritania, and Egypt. These companies provide training, logistical support, and anti-piracy maritime protection across the continent.

Private military and security companies (PMSCs) are increasingly operating in conflict zones such as Somalia and Libya. In Somalia, PMSCs from various countries have helped train government forces and provide maritime protection. In Libya, PMSCs from multiple countries have been sent to exploit the chaos and advance their interests since 2011.

Active in Libya, Turkey’s SADAT group has also signed deals to train African troops while pitching itself as a Muslim alternative PMSC for Islamic-majority countries. The UAE-based Black Shield Security Company was accused in 2020 of promising Sudanese citizens security contractor jobs but instead sent them to conflict zones in Libya. Other UAE PMSCs have been active in East Africa, including in Somalia, while China has developed a multitude of PMSCs to secure its Belt and Road projects in Africa. Israeli PMSCs have their own African operations.

The Nigerian government hired PMSCs to fight Boko Haram in 2014, including STTEP which was successful and received more contracts. Other South African PMSCs include Osprey, Blackhawk, and Dyck Advisory Group, which was hired by Mozambique to combat Al-Shabaab militants but was accused of killing civilians indiscriminately by the UN in 2020.

The use of PMSCs in Africa is likely to expand. They often offer African governments a quick, relatively inexpensive, and tailored way to manage crises instead of relying on ineffective state forces. PMSCs also enable international companies to protect themselves without relying on the fanfare of official military deployments by working with another corporate entity.

*Nonetheless, this raises questions about sovereignty, a recurring issue in a continent where it has consistently been violated since African countries won their independence. The monopoly on the use of violent force by their police and military institutions has been steadily eroded by criminals, militants, foreign countries, and increasingly, PMSCs.

Commodifying security is dangerous as it allows foreign companies and powerful local actors to afford security while ignoring the core issues of instability. This instability is often exploited by outside forces. Additionally, many Africans end up working for Private Military and Security Companies (PMSCs) outside the continent because they are cheaper than recruits from other parts of the world.

Furthermore, PMSCs, and the governments and companies that employ them, remain largely uncommitted to stronger regulation. The Montreux Document aimed to enforce greater rules for PMSCs, but has been criticized for its limited scope and lack of binding nature. Other countries, including the five members of the UN Security Council, have refused to ratify the UN International Convention Against the Recruitment, Use, Financing, and Training of Mercenaries.

Criticism of PMSCs in Africa is growing. In February 2023, the African Union (AU) commissioner for political affairs, peace, and security, Bankole Adeoye, called for the “complete exclusion of mercenaries from the African continent.” But US PMSC Bancroft Global had already been hired by the AU to assess the risk of Somali forces trained by Blackwater founder Erik Prince to continue operating in the country.

These entities epitomise globalisation. Aegis Defence Services was acquired by Canadian company GardaWorld in 2015, while DynCorp was bought by Amentum in 2020. Academi and Triple Canopy merged in 2014 to form Constellis Group, while Triple Canopy has outsourced work to Peru-based PMSC Defion International. Erik Prince, through the Hong Kong-based Frontier Services Group, has helped China train its own PMSCs for use in Africa and elsewhere. G4S was meanwhile bought by Allied Universal in 2021 and is now North America’s third-largest private employer. Allied Universal itself is owned by institutional investor Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and private equity firm Warburg Pincus.

Many PMSCs provide legitimate and needed security for civilians and government officials. But considering the wide-ranging motivations, means, and methods of so many PMSCs on the continent—and increasingly in the same spaces—it is critical for Africa’s governments, leaders, and populations to consider how comfortable they are in allowing this rapidly developing global PMSC network to continue expanding in their own backyards.

Budget-song-budget · 2023-08-21T21:04:59+00:00

Continued.

Beyond Militarization

Any serious understanding of ways to avoid looming wars has to start with existing social contradictions. The increased militarization of the West, including Finland joining NATO and Sweden waiting in the wings for membership, is a sign of the march of neoliberalism. Lynch notes in her article how business interests in these countries are most enthusiastic about joining NATO. They foresee windfall profits from increased military spending. On the other hand, the youth, who will have to live through an emaciated welfare state and bear the burden of compulsory military conscription, are the biggest opponents. Many progressives in the West have noted that the European Commission and governments are using the war in Ukraine as a pretext to increase military spending while working people suffer the cost of living crisis.

Western governments may think that with Eurocentrism on their side, they can sell any foreign invasion to their citizens. However, every ideology has its sell-by date.

Many countries in the Global South are using the current crisis to come out of the West’s imperial hegemony. The emerging multi-polar scenario provides a unique opportunity for citizens of all countries to interact as equals. As the crisis of neoliberalism in the West deepens and its citizens search for alternatives, they would have an opportunity to join this emerging global community of equals and break free from the spell of Eurocentrism.

Budget-song-budget · 2023-08-21T21:04:42+00:00

Finland joined NATO on 4 April this year. Sweden could join the Western military alliance in the near future. Even at the height of the Cold War between 1950 and 1990, these countries remained neutral, so joining NATO is a significant break from their recent history. Sweden is ranked second out of 179 countries in the Liberal Democracy Index of V-Dem Institute. Finland is ranked tenth.

On the other hand, NATO countries have waged the largest number of armed aggressions and wars in the past three decades. Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed, and state institutions and public utilities have been destroyed in Serbia (1999), Iraq (2003), Libya (2011), Syria and Afghanistan (2001-2021). Most of these armed aggressions were illegal in international law, and their perpetrators would have been tried for war crimes in a fair world. Why are seemingly peace-loving and democratic Finns and Swedes tying themselves to an aggressive military alliance?

According to the political leadership of the two countries, NATO membership is necessary to counter Russia after it invaded Ukraine in February 2022. However, if Russia and NATO are effectively at war in Ukraine, how do peace and security get served by joining one of the warring parties? As for Russia, there is hardly any evidence of a direct and declared threat to Finland and Sweden. Since 1992, Finland had a Friendship Treaty with Russia, which forbids armed aggression against each other. Was Russia about to break the deal? Even if that was the case, and by attacking Ukraine, Russia has shown bad faith towards its international obligations, why join a military alliance which has led illegal wars in many parts of the world?

Clearly, a differential value judgment concerning armed aggressions is at work. War crimes of one group of countries are lesser than those of other countries. The fact that victims of NATO and its members’ military aggressions have been countries of the Global South says a lot about the strategic preferences of Finland and Sweden. A good indicator is Finland’s minister of Foreign Trade and Development, who said it would stop aid to countries of the Global South that have not come out against Russia.

Leaving aside the Russian bogey, the real reason is the self-perception of what passes off as ‘the West’ and the current crisis it is facing.

Eurocentric Charms of ‘the West’

Critical literature on NATO often sees it as primarily the vehicle of US strategic interests. While not incorrect on specifics, such analyses miss the geopolitical significance of NATO in fostering a collective West. In a perceptive article on the Swedish and Finnish decision to enter NATO, journalist Lily Lynch explains why it is actually them ‘joining the West’ and what that implies.

While the United States undoubtedly commands all NATO operations, how even smaller NATO countries join its rampages is rarely understood. Belgian, Danish, Norwegian and Portuguese air forces were participants in the bombing of Serbia in 1999. According to one commentator, during the war on Libya in 2011, ‘little Denmark and Norway took as many targets as did Britain.’ These two liberal democracies are ranked first and third on the V-Dem index. But they did bomb Libya with gusto. The idea of the United States shepherding a bunch of reluctant allies or subservient minions does not match the reality.

‘The West’ fortified by NATO is a strong ideological, and political construct. In an address to the inauguration of the European Diplomatic Academy on 13 October 2022, Josep Borrell, the foreign policy chief of the European Union, called Europe a garden and the rest of the world a jungle. Borrell’s imagery succinctly combines the long-standing Eurocentric and Orientalist ideological currents in the West.

The liberal democratic credentials of the West are an essential part of its garden-like character, a Borrell might say. However, as Norway and Denmark demonstrate, democratic achievements are no constraint on bombing other countries. Of the top 25 countries on the V-Dem Liberal Democracy Index, only three (Switzerland, Costa Rica and Chile) are not part of NATO or associated with it. Eurocentric presumptions are too strong for a civilised behaviour expected from democracies.

The Eurocentrism of ‘the West’ would not be of much global significance, but since the success of industrial capitalism in Western Europe 200 years ago, it has been hegemonic. Not only the ruling classes of Western countries and sections of its popular classes, but social elites in the rest of the world also see the world through a Eurocentric lens. The material basis of this hegemony is economic and military dominance.

The short 20th century ushered by the Russian Revolution, later continued by anti-colonial struggles, did challenge this viewpoint. However, even before the USSR disintegrated in 1991, neo-liberal globalisation had helped Western countries re-establish economic domination. By the time Bush entered Iraq in 2003, only a clutch of bedraggled ‘rouge states’ (Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Libya and Cuba) and terrorist attacks from Islamic fundamentalist groups appeared standing in the way to the forever glory of ‘the West’.

Two decades later, the world looks different. Western countries are no longer at the centre of the global production of goods and services. The gross domestic product at purchasing power parity of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, the five BRICS countries, is $56 trillion or about 8% greater than that of the United States, Japan, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Italy and Canada of the G7. The BRICS economies are also growing at twice the rate. China’s share (including Hong Kong) of global goods exports in 2021 was 23%. By comparison, the European Union’s share was 15%, and the United States' 10%. If the growth of capitalism was key to Western domination, the development of capitalism in other countries seems to have unravelled that very domination.

The empire can and will strike back, particularly because the West still dominates in advanced technologies, including military hardware, software, and finance capital. Actions on these fronts require coordinated collective action. Not just the United States, many European countries have also banned the 5G technology of Chinese company Huawei and blocked transfers of advanced chip technology to China. Similarly, freezing foreign assets and sanctions against Russia would be impossible without collective action.

All such actions by the West, however, erode its hegemony. Other countries realise that they need economic strength and strategic autonomy for honourable survival. This explains why most countries in the Global South have refused to follow the West in sanctioning Russia.

Recent years have shaken the West out of its geo-strategic assumptions. The era of unipolarity ended in 2015 when Russia entered the Syrian civil war on the side of the Assad regime against Islamic fundamentalist groups supported by the West. Despite the United States Army’s bases in Northern and Eastern Syria and continuing occupation of practically a fourth of the country, Russian intervention was a decisive blow to anti-Assad forces and defeated the “regime change” plans of the West.

An intelligent Western leadership would have noticed the changed scenario and tried to evolve a modus vivendi with Russia to avoid further conflicts. Russia gave enough warnings about closer military integration of Ukraine with the West on its border, and proposed treaty-bound joint security architecture for Europe. Only Eurocentric hubris, a blind belief in the permanent paramountcy of the West, can explain the utter disregard for the emerging scenario.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine, right on the border of the West, to one it had guaranteed security, was a rude jolt. A perhaps even bigger shock is that the coordinated Western economic sanctions on Russia have not dented its economy. This is mainly because the major economies of the Global South have continued trading with it.

Sweden and Finland have long been politically and economically integrated into the West. Their decision to forego neutrality and join NATO shows deepening Western unity in the current crisis. Besides girdling up the West in a close military alliance, NATO is systematically building relationships with East Asian nations to contain China. For the first time, NATO’s 2022 Strategic Concept noted that developments in the Indo-Pacific directly affect Euro-Atlantic security. Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand have so far had military pacts with the United States only.

Since the 2022 Madrid NATO Summit, heads of State and governments of these countries have started attending these summits, indicating a closer military integration with the West.

The unity of the West and its expansion to other parts of the world is adversarial in intent and purpose. Rather than find ways to avoid war, it assumes war is the only option. Its biggest failure is that it emerges from the same Eurocentric vision of the world whose weakening hold has created the current crisis.

Budget-song-budget · 2023-08-20T20:12:39+00:00

It seems the bankers wars are being outed.

Italy Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni Goes Viral Again After Niger Coup (5.25) https://youtu.be/VzfrvfoM2Cs

Budget-song-budget · 2023-08-19T23:04:53+00:00

Our dear politicians love being obliging, especially where inducements are generously forthcoming.

Budget-song-budget · 2023-08-19T21:48:43+00:00

Key points of this investigation

• Taiwanese officials are monitoring Chinese Americans and passing intelligence to the FBI in attempts to have them prosecuted.

• Taiwan is working with “friends” in media and politics to create a culture of fear towards China and Chinese people in the US

• Taiwanese officials claim they are “directing” and “guiding” certain US politicians.

• Taiwan is monitoring and helping to intimidate U.S. politicians they deem to be too pro-China.

• The island is spending millions funding US think tanks that inject pro-Taiwan and anti-China talking points into American politics.

Budget-song-budget · 2023-08-19T21:17:43+00:00

Is the point of a hinge to be more accommodating?

Budget-song-budget · 2023-08-19T21:15:12+00:00

Are any of them exceptional minus their self publicity? Seeing as Musk squaked with glee about the Bolivian coup kind of makes you wonder ....

Budget-song-budget

MODERATOR OF