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"The object of war is victory, the object of victory is conquest, and the object of conquest is occupation"

-- Napoleon Bonaparte

News and Opinion

US, Israel Vote No as UN Approves World Court Resolution on Illegal Occupation

The General Assembly of the United Nations on Friday approved a resolution that asks the International Court of Justice to issue an opinion on the legal consequences of Israel's illegal occupation of the Palestinian territories.

The resolution passed with a final vote of 87 in favor, 26 opposed, and 53 nations abstaining. Among those opposed to the measure were the United States, Israel, the United Kingdom, and Germany.

Specifically, the resolution asks the ICJ to provide the United Nations with an advisory opinion on the legal consequences of Israel's ongoing "occupation, settlement and annexation" of the Occupied Territories, "including measures aimed at altering the demographic composition, character and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem, and from its adoption of related discriminatory legislation and measures."

The official request to the ICJ also asks the body, known broadly as the World Court, how specific Israeli policies and practices "affect the legal status of the occupation" and to characterize any legal consequences for all the United Nations and its member states that stem from this status.

A lot of embarrassing votes here from European countries which always have a lot to say about international law in Ukraine. https://t.co/jJxucSUzBL

— Yousef Munayyer (@YousefMunayyer) December 31, 2022

Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesperson for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, said Saturday that the vote signals that "the time has come for Israel to be a state subject to law, and to be held accountable for its ongoing crimes against our people."

Ahead of the vote, Palestinian U.N. envoy Riyad Mansour said in an address to General Assembly members: "We trust that, regardless of your vote today, if you believe in international law and peace, you will uphold the opinion of the International Court of Justice when delivered and you will stand up to this Israeli government right now."

As Al-Jazeera noted, "The ICJ last weighed in on the issue of Israel's occupation in 2004, when it ruled that Israel's wall in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem was illegal. Israel rejected that ruling, accusing the court of being politically motivated."

The Israeli government made its displeasure with the resolution known prior to the vote, with its U.N. Ambassador Gilad Erdan saying "[a]ny decision from a judicial body which receives its mandate from the morally bankrupt and politicized U.N. is completely illegitimate."

While the ICJ's rulings have binding status, there is no legal mechanism to enforce its decisions and continued U.S. support for Israeli occupation means there is little hope for any consequences regardless of what the World Court puts forth.

Mansour noted that Friday's vote arrived just days following the swearing-in of the new far-right Israeli government, once again headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but now backed by a coalition even more hostile to Palestinian rights than previous iterations.

Mansour warned that Netanyahu will now oversee an acceleration of the "colonial and racist policies" that have marked the Likud governments of the past.

https://t.co/ucbxoZx58A

— Brighton BDS (@BrightonBDS) December 31, 2022

NATO weapons for peace

No Sign of Peace in Ukraine as New Year Approaches

After over 10 months of fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces, there’s no sign that 2023 will bring peace to Ukraine as the warring parties have radically different demands, and the US continues to escalate aid for Kyiv and its role in the war. ...

As the US is escalating its role in the war, the Pentagon has also shifted its view on Ukrainian attacks inside Russian territory. After Ukrainian drones hit airfields deep inside Russia earlier this month, The Times reported that the Pentagon tacitly endorses such operations, and Asia Times reported that the drones used US satellite GPS data to hit their targets. ...

According to a report from investigative journalist and US Army Special Operations veteran Jack Murphy, the US has also been involved in a covert campaign inside Russia. Citing unnamed former US military and intelligence officials, Murphy reported that the CIA has been using an unnamed European NATO country’s intelligence services to conduct sabotage attacks inside Russia since the February invasion of Ukraine.

Both the covert campaign inside Russia and the US-backed Ukrainian attacks in the country risk provoking a major escalation from Moscow. But US officials are not as concerned with an escalation based only on the fact that up to this point, Russia hasn’t responded to attacks on its territory with nuclear weapons or by attacking NATO countries.

While US officials aren’t concerned by a nuclear escalation, experts have warned that the chance of nuclear war is greater today than at any time during the Cold War. President Biden himself acknowledged that there is a risk of nuclear “armageddon,” and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has warned a full-blown war between Russia and NATO is possible. But both men insist the Western powers should continue supporting Ukraine in its war with Russia despite the risks, and 2023 will likely bring more dangerous escalations.

Peace in Syria takes big step forward

Turkey’s Russian Red Light in Syria

Turkey and Syria’s ministers of defense met in Moscow this Wednesday, in their first talks in more than a decade. The two countries’ defense and intelligence chiefs met alongside Russian counterparts, where the three defense heads reportedly discussed “the Syrian crisis, the refugee issue, and joint efforts to fight against all terrorist groups in Syria.” The trilateral talks marked new progress in a Turkish-Syrian rapprochement that, after a decade of acrimony and war, now seems to be picking up speed.

As recently as December, Turkey had seemed on the brink of another ground offensive against Kurdish-led militants in Syria. In late November, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that a Turkish campaign of aerial bombing was just the beginning. Turkish forces would attack by land “as soon as possible,” he said, following up the next day with comments that they would move “at the most convenient time for us.” Turkey’s saber-rattling alarmed Washington, and top U.S. officials discouraged Turkish action repeatedly, in public and in private.

Then Turkey’s threatened incursion didn’t happen — but not, in all likelihood, because of Washington’s objections. Rather, it was Moscow’s opposition that likely prevented a Turkish invasion.

Turkish officials have insisted that they don’t need anyone’s “permission” or “green light” to take what they characterize as defensive counterterrorism action in neighboring Syria. Except they do, it seems — from Russia, not the United States. Turkey’s prior interventions in Syria have proceeded with Russian acquiescence, and often over American objections. Meanwhile, Russian opposition has seemed enough to stymie Turkish action — over this past year, but also, conspicuously, in March 2020. Precedent suggests that sometimes Turkey wins Russia’s assent for a new Syria intervention. Sometimes it doesn’t, and Turkish officials’ escalatory rhetoric goes nowhere.

Turkey doesn’t seem finished trying for a new Syria incursion, even if this latest escalation was a dud. Ankara has previously managed to get Moscow to “yes,” eventually — and because Russia has suggested lately that a new Turkish military intervention is conditioned on Turkish-Syrian normalization, a process that saw major new progress this week, a renewed offensive can’t be ruled out.

China Conducts Military Maneuvers Near Guam, Okinawa

The Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning has sailed near the Japanese island of Okinawa and the US territory of Guam over the past two weeks. The naval operations came at the end of a year which saw several military escalations between Washington and Beijing.

Tokyo reported that the Liaoning and at least four other large warships operated in waters near Okinawa, adding that the ships remained about 150 miles offshore for several days. While in the area, the Chinese carrier conducted over 200 takeoff and landing drills.

On Thursday, Japanese officials confirmed that, after sailing away from Japan, the flotilla then traveled near the US territory of Guam. According to the Global Times, a Chinese newspaper closely linked with the country’s ruling Communist Party, the operation ”showed that the Chinese carrier is ready to defend the country against potential US attacks launched from there.”

Lula vows to pull Brazil out of Bolsonaro’s era of ‘devastation’

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has vowed to haul Brazil out of Jair Bolsonaro’s era of “devastation”, barbarism and hate after being sworn in as the new president of Latin America’s largest democracy.

Addressing the National Congress in Brasília on Sunday afternoon, the veteran leftwinger, a former factory worker who was president from 2003 to 2010, celebrated the defeat of the far-right radical’s “authoritarian project” in October’s election, and promised to lead Brazil into a new chapter of environmental protection, social progress and “rational democratic” government. “Democracy was the big winner in this election … Long live democracy! Long live the Brazilian people!” he told lawmakers to loud cheers.

Lula did not mention his right-wing predecessor by name in his 30-minute address. But he excoriated the damage done by Bolsonaro’s four-year administration during which nearly 700,000 Brazilians died of a mishandled Covid outbreak, millions were plunged into poverty, and Amazon deforestation soared.

The “criminal behaviour of a denialist and obscurantist government that treated people’s lives with callousness” during the coronavirus pandemic should not go unpunished, Lula told congress. “Those who made mistakes will have to respond for those mistakes,” he declared, although he denied seeking revenge.

Venezuela to normalise ties with US

Corporate Giving to Group Tied to Supreme Court Sparks Concern

Both alarm and concern were expressed Saturday in response to new reporting about a charitable group with close ties to the U.S. Supreme Court that has been soliciting and accepting donations from corporate interests and far-right activists with cases before the court.

The New York Times exposé focused on the activities and fundraising of the Supreme Court Historical Society, a nonprofit that claims its mission is "dedicated to the collection and preservation" of the Court's history.

While the group refused to disclose its donors to the Times, reporters from the newspaper determine that much of the funding came from powerful companies like Chevron, Goldman Sachs, Time Warner, and Facebook as well as anti-abortion activists like Rev. Rob Schenck.

According to the newspaper:

The society has raised more than $23 million over the last two decades. Because of its nonprofit status, it does not have to publicly disclose its donors—and declined when asked to do so. But The New York Times was able to identify the sources behind more than $10.7 million raised since 2003, the first year for which relevant records were available.

At least $6.4 million—or 60 percent—came from corporations, special interest groups, or lawyers and firms that argued cases before the court, according to an analysis of archived historical society newsletters and publicly available records that detail grants given to the society by foundations. Of that, at least $4.7 million came from individuals or entities in years when they had a pending interest in a federal court case on appeal or at the high court, records show.

In the case of Chevron, the oil giant actively gave to the society even as it had a pending climate litigation working its way through the court.

In response to the new revelations, public interest attorney Steven Donzinger, who was himself targeted by Chevron for his work aimed at holding the company to account for its polluting activities in Ecuador, said the implications were "horrifying."

"Why are these conflicts allowed?" asked Donzinger.

Others quoted by the Times said the effort by people like Rev. Schenck, who admits to using the charitable group as a way to get other anti-abortion activists closer to the justices, creates a clear conflict of interest.

Charles Fried, a Harvard Law professor who once served as solicitor general in the Reagan administration and counts himself a donor to the Historical Society, told the newspaper was so "horrified" by Schenck's behavior that he may no longer give.

"It's disgusting," Fried said. "Many of the people who contribute have the same reasons I do. You go to a cocktail party and support a good cause. But it turns out that for some people it's not that innocent."

While the Times notes that the Historical Society is "ostensibly independent of the judicial branch of government," the reality is that "the two are inextricably intertwined," with court justices serving as chair of the board and hosting gala events where exclusive access is reportedly part of the allure.

The left-leaning Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) said the reporting raises "significant questions" about the group which has "raked in millions—a significant chunk of it from groups with cases before the Court" over the last two decades.

MINDBLOWING CNBC Clip – They Say It Out Loud!

JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank seek dismissal of lawsuits by Epstein accusers

JPMorgan Chase and Deutsche Bank have asked a US judge to dismiss lawsuits by women who accused Jeffrey Epstein of sexual abuse and said the banks enabled and ignored red flags about the late financier’s sex trafficking.

The banks, in papers filed on Friday night in Manhattan federal court in New York, said they did not participate in or benefit from sex trafficking by their former client, and that the unnamed women failed to allege violations of a federal anti-trafficking law.

The banks also said they had no duty to protect the women from Epstein and did not cause his abuses, requiring the dismissal of claims under a new law in New York that lets abuse victims sue even if statutes of limitations have expired.

“Jane Doe 1 is a survivor of Epstein’s sexual abuse, and she is entitled to justice,” but filed meritless claims against the “wrong party”, JPMorgan said in its filing. ...

Both lawsuits seek class-action status and unspecified damages. They were filed on 24 November by lawyers who have represented many Epstein accusers.

Democrat Kris Mayes wins Arizona race for attorney general after recount

Democrats won the race for attorney general of Arizona by a razor-thin 280 votes, a mandatory statewide recount confirmed on Thursday.

Going into the recount, Democrat Kris Mayes led her Republican opponent, Abraham Hamadeh, by 511 votes.

In other recounts, Tom Horne, a Republican, won the race for state superintendent of public instruction and Liz Harris, a Republican who has spread misinformation about elections, won a race for a state legislative seat.

All three winners had led going into their recount, an automatic process in Arizona in races where the margin separating the candidates is 0.5% or less of total votes cast.

Mayes’s win made official another Democratic victory in a statewide race in Arizona, long a Republican stronghold but increasingly politically competitive. Democrats also won the contests for governor, US Senate and secretary of state.

Extinction Rebellion announces move away from disruptive tactics

The climate protest group Extinction Rebellion is shifting tactics from disruptions such as smashing windows and glueing themselves to public places in 2023, it has announced. A new year resolution to “prioritise attendance over arrest and relationships over roadblocks”, was spelled out in a 1 January statement titled “We quit”, which said “constantly evolving tactics is a necessary approach”.

Full statement here https://t.co/4S8kzv9TyA

— Extinction Rebellion UK (@XRebellionUK) January 1, 2023

The group admitted the move would be controversial. Other environmental protest groups, such as Just Stop Oil, have stepped up direct actions, notably throwing paint at art masterpieces.

New legal restrictions on protests were introduced by the government after a wave of direct actions by climate protesters closed motorways and other infrastructure. The introduction of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act in 2022 gave police greater powers to restrict protests that cause disruption. The new public order bill is due to introduce offences of “locking on” and “interference with key national infrastructure”, which can both be punishable by imprisonment. There could be new “serious disruption prevention orders” targeting protesters “determined to repeatedly inflict disruption on the public”. ...

“In a time when speaking out and taking action are criminalised, building collective power, strengthening in number and thriving through bridge-building is a radical act,” the group said.

Also of Interest

Here are some articles of interest, some which defied fair-use abstraction.

The US and China Are in a War “for Peru’s Soul”, Says Mexican Geopolitical Analyst

War Of The Worlds Begins In Your Neighborhood “Because — German Chancellor Merkel Has Just Declared — Russia Was Never Pacified”

Twitter Files Thread: The Spies Who Loved Twitter

John Roberts’ year-end report calls for judicial security but avoids abortion debate

‘There’s been a fundamental change in our planet’: hunt on for spot to mark the start of the Anthropocene epoch

Something is afoot with copyright this Public Domain Day

Anita Pointer from Grammy-winning Pointer Sisters dies aged 74

Russia Drone Strikes, Losses in Makeyevka, Advances in Zaporozhye; Lavrov Hints At Offensive

A Little Night Music

Willie Brown - M & O Blues

Kid Bailey - Mississippi Bottom Blues

Charlie Patton with Willie Brown - Dry Well Blues

Willie Brown - Make Me A Pallet On The Floor

Son House w/Willie Brown, Leroy Williams - Walking Blues

Willie Brown - Ragged & Dirty

Kid Bailey - Rowdy Blues

Willie 61 Blackwell & William Brown - Four O'Clock Flower Blues

William Brown - Mississippi Blues