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:"The point of public relations slogans like "Support Our Troops" is that they don't mean anything ... that's the whole point of good propaganda. You want to create a slogan that nobody is going to be against and I suppose everybody will be for, because nobody knows what it means, because it doesn't mean anything. But its crucial value is that it diverts your attention from a question that does mean something, do you support our policy? And that's the one you're not allowed to talk about."

-- Noam Chomsky

News and Opinion

US Officials Really, REALLY Want You To Know The US Is The World’s “Leader”

In response to questions he received during a press conference on Monday about Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin cementing a “new era” in strategic partnership between China and Russia, the White House National Security Council’s John Kirby made no fewer than seven assertions that the US is the “leader” of the world.

Here are excerpts from his comments:

“The two countries have grown closer. But they are both countries that chafe and bristle at U.S. leadership around the world.”

“And in China’s case in particular, they certainly would like to challenge U.S. leadership around the world.“

“But these are not two countries that have, you know, decades-long experience working together and full trust and confidence. It’s a burgeoning of late based on America’s increasing leadership around the world and trying to check that.”

“Peter, these are two countries that have long chafed, as I said to Jeff — long chafed at U.S. leadership around the world and the network of alliances and partnerships that we have.”

“And we work on those relationships one at a time, because every country on the continent is different, has different needs and different expectations of American leadership.”

“That’s the power of American convening leadership. And you don’t see that power out of either Russia or China.”

“But one of the reasons why you’re seeing that tightening relationship is because they recognize that they don’t have that strong foundation of international support for what they’re trying to do, which is basically challenge American leadership around the world.”

John Kirby really wants everyone to know that America is in charge of the world. This is from one single press conference. pic.twitter.com/HeE9uGEwrW

— Caitlin Johnstone (@caitoz) March 21, 2023

The illusory truth effect is a cognitive bias which causes people to mistake something they have heard many times for an established fact, because the way the human brain receives and interprets information tends to draw little or no distinction between repetition and truth. Propagandists and empire managers often take advantage of this glitch in our wetware, which is what’s happening when you see them repeating key phrases over and over again that they want people to believe.

We saw another repetition of this line recently at an online conference hosted by the US Chamber of Commerce, in which the US ambassador to China asserted that Beijing must accept the US as the “leader” of the region China happens to occupy.

US empire managers are of course getting very assertive about the narrative that they are the world’s “leader” because that self-appointed “leadership” is being challenged by China, and the nations which support it with increasing openness like Russia. Most of the major international news stories of our day are either directly or indirectly related to this dynamic, wherein the US is struggling to secure unipolar planetary domination by thwarting China’s rise and undermining its partners.

The message they’re putting out is, “This is our world. We’re in charge. Anyone who claims otherwise is freakish and abnormal, and must be opposed.”

Why do they say the US is the “leader” of the world instead of its “ruler”, anyway? I’m unclear on the difference as practically applied. Is it meant to give us the impression that the US rules the world by democratic vote? That this is something the rest of the world consented to? Because I sure as hell don’t remember voting for it, and we’ve all seen what happens to governments which don’t comply with US “leadership”.

I’m not one of those who believe a multipolar world will be a wonderful thing, I just recognize that it beats the hell out of the alternative, that being increasingly reckless nuclear brinkmanship to maintain global control. The US has been in charge long enough to make it clear that the world order it dominates can only be maintained by nonstop violence and aggression, with more and more of that violence and aggression being directed toward major nuclear-armed powers. The facts are in and the case is closed: US unipolar hegemony is unsustainable.

The problem is that the US empire itself does not know this. This horrifying trajectory we’re on toward an Atomic Age world war is the result of the empire’s doctrine that it must maintain unipolar control at all costs crashing into the rise of a multipolar world order.

It doesn’t need to be this way. There’s no valid reason why the US needs to remain in charge of the world and can’t just let different people in different regions sort out their own affairs like they always did before. There’s no valid reason why governments need to be brandishing armageddon weapons at each other instead of collaborating peacefully in the interest of all humankind. We’re being pushed toward disaster to preserve “American leadership around the world,” and I for one do not consent to this.

Russia Fast Progress Avdeevka, Advances Bakhmut, UK MoD Admits Russia Progress Kupiansk

IMF staff reaches agreement with Ukraine for $15.6bn loan

The International Monetary Fund says it has reached a staff-level agreement with Ukraine for a four-year financing package worth about $15.6bn, offering funds the country needs as it continues to defend against Russia’s invasion.

The agreement – which must still be ratified by the IMF’s board – takes into consideration Ukraine’s path to accession to the European Union after the war. The fund said on Tuesday its executive board was expected to discuss approval in the coming weeks.

“The overarching goals of the authorities’ program are to sustain economic and financial stability in circumstances of exceptionally high uncertainty, restore debt sustainability, and support Ukraine’s recovery on the path toward EU accession in the post-war period,” IMF official Gavin Gray said in a statement announcing the agreement.

IMF staff on Tuesday briefed board members on the deal – which would be Ukraine’s biggest loan package since Russia’s full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022 – and the board was supportive, a source familiar with the matter said.

If approved, as expected, the Ukraine programme would be the IMF’s biggest loan to a country involved in an active conflict.

Blinken, Belarus envoy for regime change. Massive protests France. Macron's 80,000 EURO watch.

US Navy rejects China claim that warship ‘illegally’ entered part of South China Sea

The United States has denied Chinese claims that a US destroyer was driven out from waters around the contested Paracel Islands after it “illegally” entered the area in the South China Sea.

In a statement on Thursday, the Chinese military said the guided-missile destroyer USS Milius illegally intruded into China’s territorial waters, without the approval of the government, undermining peace and stability in the busy waterway.

The United States Navy, however, declared this to be false.

“The USS Milius is conducting routine operations in the South China Sea and was not expelled. The United States will continue to fly, sail, and operate wherever international law allows,” a statement from the US Navy 7th Fleet said.

The Paracel Islands are a disputed archipelago spread across about 7 square km in the South China Sea. China has de facto control of the islands and has built installations and outposts, but Taiwan and Vietnam also claim ownership.

Scores arrested on Israeli day of protest as parliament passes judicial changes

Israel’s two-month-old protest movement took to the streets for a “day of disruption” as the parliament passed the first part of the hardline government’s controversial judicial changes into law.

The legislation, designed to protect the position of the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, was approved early on Thursday, after a heated all-night debate, by 61 votes to 47 – the minimum majority required.

On Thursday evening, Netanyahu made a televised address in which he called for unity, pledging to protect civil rights and democracy. “We can’t let any disagreement, however fierce, endanger our joint future,” he said. “To avoid a rift in the people, each side must take seriously the claims and concerns of the other.

“Until now, my hands were bound. Now, I am getting involved,” he said, referring to a now obsolete decision by the attorney general’s office banning him from involvement in the judicial overhaul on the grounds of potential conflict of interest given his corruption trial.

"France Is Furious": Anger Grows at Macron for Raising Retirement Age as Millions Strike & Protest

Bordeaux city hall set on fire amid nationwide protests against French pension changes

Emmanuel Macron felt the full force of French anger on Thursday as protesters gathered across the country to demonstrate their opposition to the pension age being raised from 62 to 64. Unions claimed 3.5 million people turned out across the country, while the authorities suggested the figure was much lower, at just under 1.1 million.

In Paris, union leaders claimed that a record 800,000 people took part in a mostly peaceful march through the city – the police gave the figure as 119,000 – to demand that the government drop the fiercely contested change.

However, the national day of action was marred by outbreaks of violence and vandalism. In the south-western city of Bordeaux, the front door of the city hall was set on fire, while in Paris police and groups of protesters clashed late into the night. ...

Elsewhere, a woman reportedly had part of her hand blown off by a teargas grenade in the city of Rouen, where between 14,800 and 23,000 protesters gathered, according to figures from police and unions. There were large protests in Marseille, Lyon, Besançon, Rennes and Arles, as well as other French towns and cities.

At least 457 people arrested, 441 security forces injured in violent French pension protests

Macron brazenly defends decision to impose pension cuts without parliamentary vote

Yesterday, in a mid-afternoon TV address, President Emmanuel Macron defended his move to impose pension cuts opposed by 80 percent of the French people without a vote in parliament. ... Macron’s address totally exposed those, like the leaders of France’s union confederations or the Unsubmissive France (LFI) party, who argued for impotently imploring Macron not to promulgate the law he had just imposed. Even as millions of workers strike and protest today, it is evident that Macron intends to run roughshod over basic social and democratic rights.

His address, timed to fall at a time when few workers could watch it, confirmed that there is no “democratic” way forward in the struggle against Macron. He is trampling public opinion underfoot to impose the diktat of the banks, diverting tens of billions of euros from pensions to bank bailouts and the military build-up for war with Russia. His actions have torn the “democratic” veil off the state, which is a naked dictatorship of the capitalist oligarchy that impoverishes the masses via presidential fiat and police violence.

Before his TV address, speaking to members of his own Rennaissance party, Macron provocatively asserted that the people do not have the legitimacy to challenge his government. He said, “If you believe in the democratic and republican order, riots do not trump the representatives of the people, and crowds have no legitimacy against the people whose sovereignty is expressed through its elected officials.” This is a conception of elections with which any dictator could agree. According to Macron’s argument, being elected president means that until the next elections, one is free to trample the will of the people underfoot. Mass protests with overwhelming popular support must bow, in this view, to diktat of the president and his hordes of thousands of heavily-armed riot police.

During his TV interview, Macron maintained this anti-democratic pretense, ludicrously claiming that by slashing pensions and living standards, he is defending democracy against the people. “The reform will pursue its democratic path,” Macron claimed about his pension cuts, adding: “This reform is necessary, there are not 36 solutions. … I am ready to be unpopular.” Asked if there is anything he regretted or would have done differently, Macron said he regretted “not having succeeded in convincing people of the need for the reform.”

In fact, the justifications Macron advanced for his cuts failed to convince the population because they were all lies. These included above all the claims that the pension system is bankrupt, and that there is no more money to be found. In reality, the pension system has a balanced budget; if there is no more money for it, it is that Macron is raising military spending by nearly 100 billion euros over the rest of the decade, while leaving his billionaire backers like Bernard Arnault at a zero percent effective tax rate.

NLRB Says Amazon Illegally Union-Busted by Limiting Worker Access to Warehouses

The Amazon Labor Union celebrated Wednesday as a lawyer for the National Labor Relations Board in Brooklyn determined that Amazon acted illegally when it adopted a rule barring warehouse workers from being present at their workplace when they were not scheduled to work—a transparent effort, the board said, to limit union activity.

The company reached a settlement in 2021 with the NLRB, agreeing to notify workers of their right to form a union and to organize on company property.

Organizers with the ALU say the settlement was crucial in allowing off-duty workers to engage with their colleagues as they prepared to vote on unionizing—a vote that they ultimately won on April 1, 2022 in a result that one labor reporter called a "tremendous upset."

As the union prepared to vote last year, said Christian Smalls, a co-founder of the ALU and former Amazon employee, on Wednesday, "we were allowed to organize in the break room, feed the workers, feed our colleagues, let them know that we're building a culture that's here to represent the workers."

"Unfortunately, after our victory Amazon rolled a policy out that allowed no access to the building, meaning workers cannot report before or afterwards unless they're scheduled for shifts," he added. "We weren't allowed to organize because they were targeting us, retaliating, firing, writing people up."

The new policy, introduced last summer, barred workers from being in the building 15 minutes before or after their scheduled shift. The ALU says it made it more difficult for the union to engage with workers and enlist them to help pressure Amazon to bargain with them.

The company has claimed that it instituted the off-duty access rule only as a security measure and applied the rule fairly.

"The employer violated the [National Labor Relations] Act in implementing its off-duty access rule at the end of June in response to union activity," said the NLRB in a letter to the ALU. "The off-duty access rule has further been applied discriminatorily as relates to the disciplines pursuant to the rule which have been issued for union activity."

The board's announcement that it found merit in the ALU's charges regarding the rule could be "a precursor to the agency issuing a complaint or taking other formal actions," Bloomberg Law reported.

'Never Seen Anything Like This': US Librarians Report Book Bans Hit Record High in 2022

Librarians from across the United States released a report showing that pro-censorship groups' efforts to ban books with LGBTQ+ themes and stories about people of color have driven an unprecedented rise in the number of book challenges, with right-wing organizers pushing library workers to remove works ranging from the dystopian novel The Handmaid's Tale to children's books about foods enjoyed in different cultures.

According to the American Library Association (ALA), a record-breaking 2,571 unique titles were challenged in 2022, a 38% increase from the previous year.

The organization recorded 1,269 demands to censor books from various groups and individuals, compared to 729 challenges counted in 2021.

"Each attempt to ban a book by one of these groups represents a direct attack on every person's constitutionally protected right to freely choose what books to read and what ideas to explore," said Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom. "The choice of what to read must be left to the reader or, in the case of children, to parents. That choice does not belong to self-appointed book police."

The Office for Intellectual Freedom said that starting in 2021, a rising number of challenges began targeting large numbers of titles, suggesting they were coordinated efforts from national groups like Moms for Liberty. Previously, the vast majority of book challenges were focused on a single book to which a parent or group of parents objected.

In 2022, 90% of the books challenged were part of attempts to censor multiple titles, the ALA reported.

Cop City: Judge Denies Bond to People Rounded Up in Mass Arrest for Opposing Police Training Camp

Police sue rapper Afroman for using footage of home raid in his music videos

Police officers who conducted a botched armed raid of rapper Afroman’s home last year have filed a lawsuit against him for invasion of privacy and emotional distress after he used footage of it in his music videos. Earlier this month, police officers Shawn D Cooley, Justin Cooley, Michael D Estep, Shawn D, Grooms, Brian Newland, Lisa Phillips, and Randolph L Walters, Jr, filed the lawsuit in Adams county, Ohio, against Afroman, alleging that the rapper and others including his record label used the officers’ persona for commercial purposes.

According to court documents, police officers conducted a search of Afroman’s residence last August, “pursuant to a lawfully issued search warrant”. According to the warrant, the search was carried out as part of an investigation into drug possession and trafficking, as well as kidnapping.

Following the raid, Adams county prosecutor’s office said officers found no probative criminal evidence, and Afroman faced no charges. At the time of the raid, Afroman, whose real name is Joseph Edgar Foreman, was not home but his wife was. In addition to Afroman’s wife recording parts of the raid on her phone, security video cameras installed at their home also caught portions of the search, including the faces and bodies of many of the officers involved.

The rapper went on to use the footage recorded by his wife and house cameras as part of several music videos which were released online. Afroman also posted content from the raid onto his social media accounts including Facebook, Snapchat, TikTok and Instagram, the lawsuit said.

The Candidate and the Spy: James Bamford on Israel's Secret Collusion with Trump to Win 2016 Race

Witness expected to testify for defense at Proud Boys trial was government informant

Federal prosecutors disclosed on Wednesday that a witness expected to testify for the defense at the seditious conspiracy trial of the former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and four associates was a government informant for nearly two years after the January 6 US Capitol attack.

Carmen Hernandez, a lawyer for Zachary Rehl, a former chapter leader in the far-right group, asked a judge to schedule an immediate emergency hearing and suspend the trial “until these issues have been considered and resolved”. Lawyers for the other four defendants joined in Hernandez’s request.

Hernandez said in court papers the defense was told by prosecutors on Wednesday afternoon the witness they were planning to call on Thursday had been a government informant.

The judge ordered prosecutors to file a response to the defense filing by Thursday afternoon and scheduled a hearing for the same day, putting testimony in the case on hold until Friday. The US attorney’s office did not immediately comment.

UN conference hears litany of water disasters linked to climate crisis

Water is at the heart of the climate crisis, with an increasingly dire carousel of droughts, floods and sea level rise felt “making our planet uninhabitable” the secretary-general of the United Nations, António Guterres, has warned.

On the second day of the first UN water conference in almost half a century, countries lined up to describe how they are suffering from water disasters linked to human-made global heating. “We seem to either have too much water, or too little,” said Senzo Mchunu, South Africa’s water minister. “We will fail on climate change if we fail on water.”

Last year more than 40,000 people, half of them children, died from drought in Somalia while a third of Pakistan was inundated after catastrophic floods. Agricultural yields have fallen sharply in parts of Europe and China after a string of drought years, and last month Cyclone Freddy brought catastrophic floods to southern Africa.

“Humanity faces a difficult truth – climate change is making our planet uninhabitable,” said Guterres on Thursday. “As countries hurtle past the 1.5C limit (2.7F), climate change is intensifying heatwaves, droughts, flooding, wildfires and famines, while threatening to submerge low-lying countries and cities and drive more species to extinction.”

On Thursday, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which holds the presidency for Cop28, came under pressure to put water front and centre of the UN climate talks to be held in Dubai in November. About 90% of climate impacts are related to water – too much, too little or too polluted – yet currently only 3% of climate finance is dedicated to water resources.

Climate Change Enables the Spread of a Dangerous Flesh-Eating Bacteria in US Coastal Waters, Study Says

Cases of a potentially fatal infection from a seawater-borne pathogen have increased off the U.S. Atlantic coast as ocean waters warmed over the last 30 years, and are expected to rise further in future because of climate change, according to a study published on Thursday by Scientific Reports, an open-access journal for research on the natural sciences and other topics.

The incidence of infections from Vibrio vulnificus, a pathogen that thrives in shallow, brackish water, was eight times greater in the eastern U.S. in 2018 than it was in 1988, and its range shifted northward to areas where waters were previously too cold to support it, according to the paper, “Climate Warming and Increasing Vibrio Vulnificus Infections in North America,” by academic researchers in the U.S., England and Spain.

By the middle of the 21st century, the pathogen is expected to become more common in major population centers, including New York City, and by the end of the century, infections may be present in every U.S. Atlantic coast state if carbon emissions follow a medium- to high-level trajectory, the report said.

Infections can enter the body through skin wounds or by eating raw or undercooked shellfish, and can turn necrotic in as little as one or two days. That requires, in about 10 percent of cases, the surgical removal of infected flesh or the amputation of limbs. The mortality rate is as high as 18 percent, and fatalities have occurred as soon as 48 hours after exposure, the report said.

“Our projections indicate that climate change will have a major effect on V. vulnificus infection distribution and number in Eastern USA, likely due to warming coastal waters favoring presence of bacteria and elevated temperatures leading to more coastal recreation,” the study said.

Also of Interest

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

The Trump Campaign’s Collusion With Israel

BP Extracted £15 Billion of Iraqi Oil After British Invasion

From Bush to Blix: what happened to the key figures in the Iraq war?

Dennis Kucinich: From Iraq Into the Abyss?

The 'Junior Partner' Meme Gives No Insight To Real Changes

Israeli Army Conducted Online Psy-op Against Israeli Public During Gaza War

German Public Sector Workers Continue Strikes

A Little Night Music

BB King - Why I Sing The Blues

BB King - When It All Comes Down

BB King - Better Not Look Down

BB King - Never Make Your Move Too Soon

B.B. King - Rusty Dusty Blues

BB King - Hummingbird

BB King - Worry, Worry, Worry

Albert King, BB King, Willie Dixon, Etta James, Koko Taylor - Let the Good Times Roll

Stevie Ray Vaughan, BB King & Albert Collins - Texas Flood Live In New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival

BB King - Nobody Loves Me But My Mother And She Could Be Jivin' Too