It has finally happened – WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange was arrested within the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. It is widely expected he will be extradited to the US to stand trial. The expected charges are espionage. This is truly a dark day for journalists and journalism.
CrossTalking with Joe Lauria, Ray McGovern, and Sara Flounders.
By Laurent Guyénot
“What’s a neocon?” clueless George W. Bush once asked his father in 2003. “Do you want names, or a description?” answered Bush 41. “Description.” “Well,” said 41, “I’ll give it to you in one word: Israel.” True or not, that exchange quoted by Andrew Cockburn sums it up: the neoconservatives are crypto-Israelis. Their true loyalty goes to Israel — Israel as defined by their mentor Leo Strauss in his 1962 lecture “Why We Remain Jews,” that is, including an indispensable Diaspora.
[…]
The neocons’ U.S. foreign policy has always coincided with the best interest of Israel as they see it. Before 1967, Israel’s interest rested heavily on Jewish immigration from Eastern Europe. From 1967, when Moscow closed Jewish emigration to protest Israel’s annexation of Arab territories, Israel’s interest included the U.S. winning the Cold War. That is when the editorial board of Commentary, the monthly magazine of the American Jewish Committee, experienced their conversion to “neoconservatism,” and Commentary became, in the words of Benjamin Balint, “the contentious magazine that transformed the Jewish left into the neoconservative right.” Irving Kristol explained to the American Jewish Congress in 1973 why anti-war activism was no longer good for Israel: “it is now an interest of the Jews to have a large and powerful military establishment in the United States. […] American Jews who care about the survival of the state of Israel have to say, no, we don’t want to cut the military budget, it is important to keep that military budget big, so that we can defend Israel.” This tells us what “reality” Kristol was referring to, when he famously defined a neoconservative as “a liberal who has been mugged by reality” (Neoconservatism: the Autobiography of an Idea, 1995).
With the end of the Cold War, the national interest of Israel changed once again. The primary objective became the destruction of Israel’s enemies in the Middle East by dragging the U.S. into a third world war. The neoconservatives underwent their second conversion, from anti-communist Cold Warriors to Islamophobic “Clashers of Civilizations” and crusaders in the “War on Terror.”
Read the full article at The Unz Review
Israelis, who get enrolled into their government’s oppression of the Palestinian people are victims just like those they oppress, iconic Palestinian activist and former prisoner Ahed Tamimi told RT’s Going Underground.
“I pity [the Israelis] because they are dehumanized. They are only filled with hatred. It is not about occupying the land, it is about occupying the minds,” she said.
Tamimi, who got international fame after being arrested by Israel for slapping a soldier, made the argument about Israelis being victimized by the policies of their government after being released from an Israeli jail.
The young activist spoke to program host Afshin Rattansi ahead of the first anniversary of the Great Return March, the ongoing mass protest by Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip staged near Israel’s border wall. Israel justifies its heavy-handed response to the protest, which resulted in at least 183 people being killed and over 9,000 injured, by saying the movement is just a cover for the militant movement Hamas to launch its attacks against Israel.
Source: RT International
The European Parliament has voted to adopt the highly controversial Article 13 provision which would govern the production and distribution of content online under the auspices of increasing copyright protections.
Tuesday’s move will update the EU’s 20-year-old copyright rules and will govern everything from audiovisual content to memes, much to the dismay of many social media users who have already begun outpouring their grief online.
MEPs passed the legislation by 348 votes to 274 Tuesday. Opponents had hoped for last-minute amendments to be made but their efforts were in vain.
Article 13 or ‘The Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market’ makes all platforms legally responsible for the content hosted and shared on their platforms.
The process of updating the bloc’s copyright laws began in the European Commission two years ago, ostensibly to protect Europe’s publishers, broadcasters and artists and guarantee fair compensation from big tech companies.
By essentially forcing companies like Google, Facebook and Twitter to pay artists and publishers for the reproduction of their work online, include in meme format, the EU is effectively clamping down on online memery.
The law requires anyone sharing copyrighted content to obtain permission from rights owners, even if the content is just an animated gif on Twitter. Even repurposing an image for a meme would require permission from the image’s creator, because while memes are protected as parodies under current copyright law, an automated filter is incapable of distinguishing between a parody and a ripoff.
Source: RT International
For more information: The European Copyright Directive
The U.S. has moved its embassy to the occupied Jerusalem al-Quds and is about to recognize Syria’s occupied Golan Heights as Israeli territory in violation of international law!
For over seven decades, the U.S. has acted as a shield to protect Israel at the UN Security Council vetoing almost all of the 44 UN resolutions, it has given Israel a free hand to keep its violation of international law!
ISIL once controlled territory in Syria and Iraq equivalent to the size of Great Britain, and imposed its version of Islamic rule on millions.
The group’s fighters were defeated in Iraq two years ago, and it appears their dream of a so-called caliphate in Syria is over too.
US-backed fighters declared what they call the ‘100 percent territorial defeat’ of ISIL after winning the battle for Barghouz.
US-backed fighters declared what they call the ‘100 percent territorial defeat’ of ISIL after winning the battle for Barghouz.
Following weeks of intense fighting, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces raised their flag over the final Syrian town under ISIL control.
However, analysts are warning that ISIL’s ideology remains strong. So. has the group really been defeated?
Despite a concerted effort by the U.S. Empire to snuff out the ideology, a 2016 poll found young Americans have a much more favorable view of socialism than capitalism.
Though he died 133 years ago, the analysis put forward by one of the world’s most influential thinkers, Karl Marx, remains extremely relevant today. The Empire’s recent rigged presidential election has been disrupted by the support of an avowed socialist, Bernie Sanders, by millions of voters.
To find out why Marx’s popularity has stood the test of time, Abby Martin interviews renowned Marxist economist Richard Wolff, Professor Emeritus of Economics at UMass – Amherst, and visiting professor at the New School in New York.
Prof. Wolff gives an introduction suited for both beginners and seasoned Marxists, with comprehensive explanations of key tenets of Marxism including dialectical and historical materialism, surplus value, crises of overproduction, capitalism’s internal contradictions, and more.
Peter Lavelle meets with Alastair Crooke again to discuss the end of America’s unipolar moment.
On the eve of another US war for oil, Abby Martin debunks the most repeated myths about Venezuela and uncovers how US sanctions are crimes against humanity with UN investigator and human rights Rapporteur Alfred De Zayas.
The war in Syria made art redundant. Most artists emigrated. Some stayed, or came back, to share something special. With RT Documentary, discover a sculptor who adorns tunnels left by rebel fighters, a daring street dancer, a gallery owner and a jazz band conductor. As the war draws to a close, they are all still fighting in their way, to keep dreams alive.
Against the Grain 