propaganda

Palestine

UNRWA urges Israel to lift Gaza aid blockade

Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief & Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) Philippe Lazzarini urged Israel to lift the aid blockade in Gaza, charging that under Israeli military control “aid distribution has become a death trap.” The UNRWA head asserted that aid distribution in Gaza can only be effectively achieved through the United Nations. He demanded that Israel allow the UN to manage a safe and at-scale delivery of aid in Gaza, calling this “the only way to avert mass starvation including among 1 million children.” (Photo: hosny salah from Pixabay)

Afghanistan

Afghans out; Afrikaners in

Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem announced the termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Afghans, saying that the “conditions in Afghanistan” no longer warrant continuing the program. Afghanistan is experiencing a dire human rights crisis under renewed Taliban rule. Human Rights Watch has reported that individuals who have links with the previous Afghan government’s security forces (or the US-led force that backed it) face violent reprisals such as extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detention and torture. Meanwhile, nearly 60 white South Africans were admitted into the US as part of Trump’s resettlement program for Afrikaners who say they fear persecution. Trump, who has otherwise virtually shut down the US asylum program, said that a “genocide” against “white farmers” is taking place in South Africa. Bill Frelick, head of the Refugee & Migrants Rights Division at Human Rights Watch, responded that Trump’s claim “is not actually supported from any of the information that we have seen.” (Photo: USMC Staff Sgt. Victor Mancilla/CentComPublic Affairs via Wikimedia Commons)

Europe

Russian activist arrested for ‘Putin Hitler’ message

A 68-year-old veteran opposition activist was arrested after displaying a sign reading “PUTIN HITLER” from a prominent bridge over the Moskva River in the center of the Russian capital. Grigory Saksonov, also known as Uncle Grisha, climbed over the Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge holding the sign and clad in wetsuit before lowering himself into the water below with a rope. He was pulled out of the river by police and taken away in an ambulance. Saksonov faces charges of “taking part in an unauthorized action” and “disobeying a police officer.” Saksonov’s action came three days before Vladimir Putin presided over the 80th anniversary Victory Day parade in Red Square, a massive spectacle marking the Soviet Union’s defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. (Photo via Novaya Gazeta)

North America

MAGA-fascism, Orwell and the cannabis stigma

Trump is pointing to Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s tattoos to justify his indefinite detention without charge in the ultra-oppressive Salvadoran prison gulag. These notoriously include a cannabis leaf, demonstrating the continued propaganda utility of the “Reefer Madness” stigma, even as a multi-million dollar legal industry emerges. But the White House actually added the characters “MS13” (name of the notorious Salvadoran gang) to the shot of Abrego Garcia’s knuckles in a crude photoshop job—despite transparent denials from Trump. Lubricating the emerging transnational mass detention program with this Orwellian post-truth stratagem, the Trump regime meanwhile moves toward actual deportation of US citizens. Bill Weinberg raises the alarm in Episode 277 of the CounterVortex podcast. (Photo: Donald Trump/Truth Social as seen, e.g., on CNN)

Palestine

Israeli cabinet approves ‘conquest’ of Gaza

The Israeli government unveiled a new military plan for the Gaza Strip, an operation forebodingly dubbed “Gideon’s Chariots” after an Old Testament conqueror. Approved unanimously by the security cabinet, the plan calls for the “conquering of Gaza” and retaining the territory indefinitely, an official said. The plan also includes concentrating the Palestinian civilian population in a “sterile area” in the south of the Strip. The official said Israel will give Hamas until the end of US President Donald Trump’s upcoming trip to the Middle East to agree to a hostage deal. Otherwise, “Operation Gideon’s Chariots will begin with great force and will not end until all its objectives are achieved.” The military is already calling up tens of thousands of reservists in preparation for the new operation. (Photo: Jaber Jehad Badwan via Wikimedia Commons)

Syria

Israel escalates Syria strikes —in name of protecting Druze

Syrian Druze leader Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri accused the interim government of carrying out a “genocidal attack” on his community following two days of sectarian violence that left 100 dead. Clashes broke out in the Damascus suburbs of Jaramana and Sahnaya, and armed residents began to mobilize in the Druze-majority southern city of Suwayda before a truce was reached. But by then Israel had escalated its military intervention in Syria, launching air-strikes on targets around Damascus. In a statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the IDF had “struck an extremist group” that was killing members of the Druze community. This is presumably a reference to the now ostensibly disbanded Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the leading faction in the forces that took power in Syria and formed the transition government late last year. It is unclear who launched the attacks that sparked the fighting, which were condemned by the interim government. (Map: PCL)

Palestine

Podcast: MAGA-fascism and anti-Semitic pseudo-anti-anti-Semitism

In Episode 272 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg discusses the Israel-hosted “International Conference on Combatting anti-Semitism” that featured speakers from the European and American neo-fascist (and even anti-Semitic!) far right. The established phenomenon of paradoxical fascist pseudo-anti-fascism has now been joined by anti-Semitic pseudo-anti-anti-Semitism. While Trump’s 2019 executive order on anti-Semitism sought to conflate anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism, the new posture would actually substitute the prior for the latter entirely as the ideology to be opposed, in all but name. Anti-Semitism is now acceptable as long as it is pro-Israel, fulfilling Zionist founder Theodore Herzl‘s 1895 prediction: “The anti-Semites will become our most dependable friends, the anti-Semitic countries our allies.” (Photo of rally at NYU: CounterVortex)

North America

Podcast: Is it fascism yet?

In Episode 263 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg deconstructs the moves by the unconstitutional Trump regime to consolidate a dictatorship over the United States—attempting to seize autocratic control over the bureaucracy, and (in a case of fascist pseudo-anti-fascism) weaponizing concern with anti-Semitism to suppress free speech while institutionalizing indifference to (and consciously enflaming) all other forms of racism. And this as Elon Musk (a private-sector oligarch given extra-legal power over government functions) tells a rally of the Nazi-adjacent Alternative für Deutschland that Germany has “too much of a focus on past guilt.” It took Hitler mere weeks to establish a dictatorship after coming to power, whereas with Mussolini it took some three years. We shall soon find out how long it will take in the United States—unless the country can find the wherewithal to resist. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. (Photo via CEPR)

Palestine

Gaza ceasefire: the sobering reality

With the sounds of war starting to fall silent in the Gaza Strip after 470 days of brutal Israeli military assault and siege, a tiny crack of hope has opened for the Palestinian residents of the enclave that they will be able to gather the shattered pieces of their lives and begin the daunting task of rebuilding. But whether the deal reached by Israel and Hamas will lead to a decisive end to the war remains entirely unclear. Under a Trump administration that promises to be even more staunchly pro-Israel than the Biden administration, it’s difficult to imagine Palestinians seeing anything resembling their aspirations for a state being met—or justice and accountability for the crimes committed over the past 15 months. (Photo: Rita Baroud/TNH)

Palestine

Amnesty International accuses Israel of genocide

In a landmark 300-page report, Amnesty International has accused Israeli authorities of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. The report outlines three specific violations of the Genocide Convention: the killing of Palestinians, causing serious bodily or mental harm, and deliberately inflicting conditions intended to bring about their physical destruction. This assertion comes after a thorough investigation involving interviews with over 200 individuals, satellite imagery analysis, and a review of public statements by Israeli officials. The report highlights the severe impact of Israel’s actions, with over 42,000 Palestinians, including 13,300 children, killed, and 97,000 injured. Entire neighborhoods have been leveled, and crucial infrastructure obliterated, leaving significant parts of Gaza uninhabitable. The humanitarian toll is severe, with civilians enduring desperate conditions, such as lack of clean water and constant bombing. (Photo: Mohammed Zaanoun/TNH)

Europe

Russia: ‘nuclear war by Christmas’

President Joe Biden has authorized Ukraine to use US-supplied Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) for strikes deep inside Russia. In interviews with both the UK’s Times Radio and the BBC news program The World At One, former Putin advisor and semi-official mouthpiece Sergei Markov responded to the move by warning of an imminent Russian nuclear strike—not just on Ukraine but on the United States and Britain. “In the worst scenario, the nuclear war happens before Christmas of this year,” he told the BBC. “Probably you will not be able to say ‘Merry Christmas’ because you will stay in the hole trying to hide away [your] family from the nuclear catastrophe. It can develop very, very quickly.” (Photo of ATACMS being launched: Ukraine Ministry of Defense via Forces News)

North America

Podcast: nullify the election!

As Trump assembles his cabinet of dangerous cranks and far-right extremists, his election is being openly celebrated by reigning fascists and arch-reactionaries from Russia to Hungaryto Bosnia. The fascist world order that began to consolidate under his first term is poised to be cemented under a global triumvirate of tyranny—Trump, Putin and Xi. Biden’s cooperationin the transfer of power is a betrayal not only of the nation but of humanity—and Trump has still failed to sign the ethics pledge mandated by the protocol of presidential transition, making clear his ill intent. Evidence that the Kremlin directly hacked the vote on behalf of Trump (rather than merely using disinformation propaganda, as in 2016) warrants investigation. Furthermore, the Insurrection Clause of the 14th Amendment, under which Trump was impeached, should be invoked to bar him from office. There is still time to stop the fascist takeover of the United States through the Electoral College or in the certification process. Despite the Supreme Court decision upholding state laws against “faithless electors” who refuse to vote for the candidate they pledged for, this is by no means equivalent to the “fake electors” contrived by Trump’s team to try to throw the 2020 election. On the contrary, it is a constitutional mechanism, as outlined by Hamilton in the Federalist Papers. In Episode 252 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg makes the case for mass pressure to demand nullification of the election. The protests against Trump since Election Day are a good start. But a mass movement on the scale of the post-electoral protests now seen in the Republic of Georgia and Ecuador is urgently mandated. (Image: APhilosophicalEnquiry)