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"The worst form of injustice is pretended justice."

-- Plato

News and Opinion

Chris Hedges: Julian Assange’s Final Appeal

If Julian Assange is denied permission to appeal his extradition to the United States before a panel of two judges at the High Court in London this week, he will have no recourse left within the British legal system. His lawyers can ask the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) for a stay of execution underRule 39, which is given in “exceptional circumstances” and “only where there is an imminent risk of irreparable harm.” But it is far from certain that the British court will agree. It may order Julian’s immediate extradition prior to a Rule 39 instruction or may decide to ignore a request from the ECtHR to allow Julian to have his case heard by the court.

The nearly 15-year-long persecution of Julian, which has taken a heavy toll on his physical and psychological health, is done in the name of extradition to the U.S. where he would stand trial for allegedly violating 17 counts of the 1917 Espionage Act, with a potential sentence of 170 years.

Julian’s “crime” is that he published classified documents, internal messages, reports and videos from the U.S. government and U.S. military in 2010, which were provided by U.S. army whistleblower Chelsea Manning. This vast trove of material revealed massacres of civilians, torture, assassinations, the list of detainees held at Guantanamo Bay and the conditions they were subjected to, as well as the Rules of Engagement in Iraq. Those who perpetrated these crimes — including the U.S. helicopter pilots who gunned down two Reuters journalists and 10 other civilians and severely injured two children, all captured in the Collateral Murder video — have never been prosecuted.

Julian exposed what the U.S. empire seeks to airbrush out of history.

Julian’s persecution is an ominous message to the rest of us. Defy the U.S. imperium, expose its crimes, and no matter who you are, no matter what country you come from, no matter where you live, you will be hunted down and brought to the U.S. to spend the rest of your life in one of the harshest prison systems on earth. If Julian is found guilty it will mean the death of investigative journalism into the inner workings of state power. To possess, much less publish, classified material — as I did when I was a reporter for The New York Times — will be criminalized. And that is the point, one understood by The New York Times, Der Spiegel, Le Monde, El País and The Guardian, who issued a joint letter calling on the U.S. to drop the charges against him.

Assange DAY X Preview - Frontline Club, London

Matthew Hoh: Free Julian Assange TODAY

LIVE: Julian Assange Extradition Hearing

Israel says it will launch Rafah assault if hostages not freed by Ramadan

A member of Israel’s war cabinet has said the country will launch its threatened ground offensive against Rafah, the last place of relative safety in Gaza, if Hamas does not release its remaining Israeli hostages by the beginning of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan in just under three weeks. “The world must know, and Hamas leaders must know – if by Ramadan our hostages are not home, the fighting will continue everywhere, including the Rafah area,” Benny Gantz, a retired Israel Defense Forces (IDF) chief of staff, told a conference of American Jewish leaders in Jerusalem on Sunday.

As Israeli forces have expanded ground operations steadily southwards in their war against Hamas over the past four months, Rafah – situated on the border with Egypt, and before the conflict home to about 280,000 people – has become the last refuge for more than half of the strip’s population of 2.3 million.

Widespread destruction and continuing fighting across the territory, two-thirds of which is already under Israeli evacuation orders, means it is unclear how civilians are expected to flee the long-awaited offensive.

In Gaza on Monday, the IDF claimed victory in the weeks-long fight for the central town of Khan Younis and nearby refugee camps, making the prospect of a Rafah ground attack more likely. Seven patients died at Khan Younis’s Nasser hospital after power cuts caused by a days-long Israeli raid on the premises, and another 20 were in urgent need of referral, the World Health Organization said.

Airstrikes and ground fighting over the past day killed more than 100 people, mostly women and children, pushing the death toll over 29,000, said the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. About 85% of the population have been displaced from their homes, and one in four are starving, according to the UN.

Israel Econ COLLAPSE Amid Gaza ESCALATION

US urges Israel to drop plans for Rafah ground offensive

The US has proposed a UN security council resolution calling for a temporary ceasefire and for Israel not to go ahead with a planned offensive on Rafah in southern Gaza. The draft text marks the first time the US has explicitly backed a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas conflict, though it adds that the temporary truce should be begun “as soon as practicable”, leaving some room for manoeuvre by the Israeli military.

The text is being offered by the Biden administration as an alternative to an Algerian draft resolution calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire that is due to be debated on Tuesday.

The US appeal over Rafah, where about half of Gaza’s 2.3 million population have sought refuge, echoes comments made by Joe Biden in recent days. But the significance of the draft resolution is as a signal that Washington is willing to go through the UN to put pressure on Israel and not rely solely on bilateral messages.

According to a text seen by the Guardian, the US draft resolution says the security council “determines that under current circumstances a major ground offensive into Rafah would result in further harm to civilians and their further displacement including potentially into neighbouring countries, which would have serious implications for regional peace and security, and therefore underscores that such a major ground offensive should not proceed under current circumstances”.

More Than 50 Countries Argue Before World Court Against Israeli Occupation of Palestine

UN Experts Demand Investigation Into IDF Abuse of Women and Girls in Gaza

A group of United Nations experts on Monday demanded an immediate and thorough investigation into reports that Israeli forces have arbitrarily detained, sexually abused, and executed Palestinian women and girls in the Gaza Strip.

"We are shocked by reports of the deliberate targeting and extrajudicial killing of Palestinian women and children in places where they sought refuge, or while fleeing," said Reem Alsalem, special rapporteur on violence against women and girls; Francesca Albanese, special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories; and Dorothy Estrada Tanck, Claudia Flores, Ivana Krstić, Haina Lu, and Laura Nyirinkindi of the working group on discrimination against women and girls.

"Some of them were reportedly holding white pieces of cloth when they were killed by the Israeli army or affiliated forces," the U.N. experts continued. "We are particularly distressed by reports that Palestinian women and girls in detention have also been subjected to multiple forms of sexual assault, such as being stripped naked and searched by male Israeli army officers. At least two female Palestinian detainees were reportedly raped while others were reportedly threatened with rape and sexual violence."

Palestinian women and children have borne the brunt of Israel's large-scale assault on Gaza, making up around 70% of the more than 29,000 people who have been killed by Israeli forces since the Hamas-led attack on October 7.

The Israeli military has arrested thousands of Gazans—including many women and children—without charge across the besieged enclave over the past four months. Detainees have reported torture and other abuse at the hands of Israeli soldiers, some of whom have posted evidence of their odious actions online for the world to see.

Tamam al-Aswad, a Palestinian mother who was arrested in December and freed earlier this month, told Reuters following her release that she was handcuffed, blindfolded, and placed on a bus with other detainees. At one point, al-Aswad said, an Israeli soldier slammed her head into a wall and hit her on the back after she refused to kiss an Israeli flag.

The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, which estimates that Israeli forces have detained more than 3,000 Gazans since October, said late last year that it had received testimony confirming that Palestinian women have been abused and threatened with rape while in Israeli custody.

The U.N. experts said Monday that they have seen "credible allegations of egregious human rights violations" by Israeli forces against women and girls in Gaza.

"Many have reportedly been subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment, denied menstruation pads, food and medicine, and severely beaten," they said. "On at least one occasion, Palestinian women detained in Gaza were allegedly kept in a cage in the rain and cold, without food."

"Taken together, these alleged acts may constitute grave violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, and amount to serious crimes under international criminal law that could be prosecuted under the Rome Statute," the experts continued. "Those responsible for these apparent crimes must be held accountable and victims and their families are entitled to full redress and justice."

Bernie Sanders SHAMELESSLY TIP TOES Around Calling Out GENOCIDE In Israel

Irish protesters denounce Bernie Sanders as a Zionist genocide denier over Gaza

Pro-Palestinian protesters at University College Dublin denounced Bernie Sanders as a Zionist for opposing a ceasefire in Gaza and as a genocide denier for refusing to back South Africa’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

At a February 15 discussion between Bernie Sanders and David McWilliams of the Irish Times during the Dalkey Book Festival, the left-posturing senator from Vermont was promoting his book, It’s OK To Be Angry At Capitalism.

During the event that attracted 1,000 people, he said that he was trying to persuade the Biden administration to call for a “humanitarian pause or ceasefire in order to provide the desperately needed aid.” However, referring to the International Court of Justice provisional ruling on January 26 that there are legal grounds for accusing Israel of carrying out a genocide against the Palestinian people, Sanders said he is just “a little bit queasy” about the use of the word “genocide. We have to be careful about it.”

One audience member shouted, “It is a genocide.” Another demanded of Sanders, “What’s your definition of genocide?” A third made a longer denunciation from the floor, saying, “Bernie, you have funded Zionism yourself. You have funded the Israeli settler state. Here you are, pretending you aren’t. It is disgusting. Liar, liar, genocide denier!” He concluded, “It is disgusting. It’s reprehensible. You are a child killer, you are a genocide denier. The United States military industrial complex are the largest murderers in the world. It does not matter if it is a Democrat or a Republican. You have murdered people around the world.”

Bernie Sanders was discrediting the use of genocide to describe what the Israelis are doing to Palestinians saying the word made him "queasy" ... and he was shamed for it in Ireland yesterday.

Pro-humanity protesters disrupted an event in UCD in Dublin featuring the former US… pic.twitter.com/LyENyk7AKZ

— Johann Spischak (@SDGMasterglass) February 16, 2024

Lula Recalls Israel Envoy Amid Escalating Clash Over Genocide Remarks

Brazil recalled its ambassador from Tel Aviv for talks on Monday after Israel's foreign minister declared Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva persona non grata for condemning the Israeli genocide in Gaza.

Israeli state broadcaster Kan reported that Lula recalled Brazilian Ambassador Frederico Meyer amid the escalating row over comments the leftist leader made over the weekend in Ethiopia. The Brazilian news site Carta Capital reported that Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira called Israeli Ambassador Daniel Zonshine for a meeting on Monday.

This, after Lula told attendees at the African Union (A.U.) summit in Addis Ababa on Sunday that "what's happening in the Gaza Strip isn't a war, it's a genocide."

"It's not a war of soldiers against soldiers," Lula continued. "It's a war between a highly prepared army and women and children."

"It is important to remember that in 2010 Brazil was the first country to recognize the Palestinian state," he said. "What is happening in the Gaza Strip and with the Palestinian people did not exist at any other historical moment. In fact, it existed when Hitler decided to kill the Jews."

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has accused Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip:

“What is happening in the Gaza Strip with the Palestinian people hasn’t happened at any other moment in history. Actually, it has happened: when Hitler… pic.twitter.com/npJVAMO9FQ

— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) February 18, 2024

Lula asked: "Who will help rebuild those houses that were destroyed? Who will repay the lives of 30,000 people who have died, 70,000 who are injured? Who will return the lives of the children who died without knowing why they were dying?"

According to Palestinian officials, at least 29,092 Palestinians—mostly women and children—have been killed, 69,028 wounded, and more than 7,000 others left missing and presumed dead under the rubble as a result of Israel's 136-day assault on the besieged coastal enclave of 2.3 million people, around 90% of whom have been forcibly displaced.

Lula's remarks were well received by A.U. summit attendees, who issued a statement condemning Israel's "brutal" war on Gaza.

"Gaza is being completely annihilated and its people are deprived of all of their rights," declared A.U. Commission Chair Moussa Faki Mahamat, who added that he "condemns the Israeli operation, which is unparalleled in the history of humanity."

Mahamat underscored his support for South Africa as it leads a Gaza genocide case at the International Court of Justice, which found in a provisional ruling last month that Israel is "plausibly" committing genocide against the Palestinian people.

Israeli leaders were incensed by Lula's remarks. Right-wing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said da Silva had "crossed a line."

"The words of the president of Brazil are shameful and alarming," Netanyahu said in a statement. "This is a trivialization of the Holocaust and an attempt to harm the Jewish people and Israel's right to defend itself."

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz called Lula's comments "shameful and grave."

Katz summoned Meyer for a reprimand at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem, where the Jewish Brazilian diplomat—whose country sent 20,000 troops to fight the Nazis in World War II—was paraded before a list of Jews killed by the Third Reich.

"We will not forget and we will not forgive," Katz told Meyer. "In my name, and in the name of all Israeli citizens, tell President Lula that he is persona non grata in Israel until he retracts his statements."

Persona non grata is Latin for "unwelcome person." Legally, "it refers to the practice of a state prohibiting a diplomat from entering the country as a diplomat, or censuring a diplomat already resident in the country for conduct unbecoming of the status of a diplomat," according to the U.S. State Department.

Celso Amorim, a former foreign and defense minister who now serves as Lula's chief adviser for international affairs, called Katz's declaration "absurd."

"It only increases Israel's isolation," Amorim told Brazilian journalist Andréia Sadi. "Lula is sought all over the world and at the moment, Israel is persona non grata."

Palestine defenders in Brazil and beyond embraced Israel's rebuke of Lula. The Arab Palestinian Federation of Brazil said on social media that it's "an honor for Lula's biography" to be "persona non grata in the colonial occupation that calls itself a country."

China offers to deepen security ties with Hungary

China has offered to deepen security cooperation with Hungary, underscoring Budapest’s warming ties with Beijing just as Hungarian officials snubbed a visiting delegation from Washington. Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, met China’s minister of public security, Wang Xiaohong, on Friday.

In comments published by China’s official Xinhua news agency over the weekend, Wang said he was hoping to “deepen cooperation in areas including counter-terrorism, combating transnational crimes, security and law enforcement capacity building under the belt and road initiative”.

The aim, according to the Chinese minister, would be “to make law enforcement and security cooperation a new highlight of bilateral relations”. Hungary is a member of the EU and Nato, making China’s offer highly unusual.

Budapest, which also maintains closer links to Moscow than any other EU member, has been nurturing a relationship with Beijing. Last year, Orbán was the only EU leader to attend a forum of the belt and road initiative in Beijing. China’s electrical vehicle manufacturer BYD has said it will open its first European production factory in Hungary.

In a statement about Friday’s meeting with Wang, a spokesperson for Orbán said the prime minister had declared that “respect is increasingly missing from international diplomacy, but it has always remained between Hungary and China”.

US could send long-range missiles to Ukraine if funding passes

Joe Biden’s White House is prepared to send long-range tactical missiles to Ukraine if Congress approves a new funding package, according to a US media report on Monday.

Citing two unnamed officials, NBC News said that the administration was willing to send a variant of the missiles – known as Atacms (army tactical missile systems) – if a new $60bn aid package approved by the Senate, but held up for now by congressional Republicans, becomes law.

The report came as Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia was exploiting delays in aid to Ukraine. ...

Newer variations of Atacms that the Biden administration wants to send to Ukraine have a maximum range of nearly 200 miles (300km), typically carrying cluster bomblets, allowing Ukrainian forces to strike the Crimean Peninsula.

According to officials who spoke with NBC anonymously, it was possible that the US would request that Nato allies provide the missiles to Ukraine against the expectation that the American government would refill depleted stockpiles..

Exclusive: ADL pushed BMG to drop Roger Waters by threatening to weaponize company’s Nazi past

When the Berlin-based BMG music company terminated its business relationship with Roger Waters, the Pink Floyd co-founder claimed the decision was spurred by a concerted Israel lobby-directed campaign to financially retaliate against his outspoken support for Palestine. The Grayzone has obtained a threatening private letter sent by Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt to BMG executives which confirms the musician’s accusation.

“Given the fact that your parent company, Bertelsmann Group, has made laudable and necessary efforts to repair its Nazi past,” the ADL director warned in his June 16, 2023 letter, “it would be deeply unfortunate to have those efforts continue to be tarnished by such hurtful and injurious conduct.”

In an interview with The Grayzone, Waters described the ADL’s menacing missive as the culmination of a months-long intimidation campaign which began well before the October 7 attacks in Israel. The ADL’s push resulted not only in the termination of the company’s deal to release the new 50th anniversary recording of “The Dark Side of the Moon,” he said, but in the departure of BMG’s CEO as well.

“As far as attacks on me by the ADL and and all the rest of the lobby are concerned, the jury has been out for a long time, but it’s not out anymore,” Waters commented to The Grayzone. “The contention that I’m an antisemite because I’ve stood up against the attempted genocide of the indigenous people of Palestine is dead in the water. The people of the world have seen through the wall of hatred and tissue of lies.”

Ep. 75 The national security state is the main driver of censorship and election interference in the United States. "What I’m describing is military rule," says Mike Benz. "It’s the inversion of democracy." pic.twitter.com/hDTEjAf89T

— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) February 16, 2024

A gunman killed and injured protesters at a BLM march. Why did police blame the victims?

Two years after an attacker shot five volunteers before a Black Lives Matter march in Portland, Oregon, killing a 60-year-old woman and leaving one of her young friends paralyzed, a new visual investigation of the attack reveals that the assailant tried to provoke a stand-your-ground situation, daring three women to fight him, before suddenly opening fire when they refused.

The research agency Forensic Architecture collaborated with survivors on a reconstruction of the attack, analyzing helmet-camera video recorded by one of the victims, police radio traffic obtained through public records requests, and the testimony of 11 witnesses – including the volunteer armed guard who stopped the rampage by shooting and disarming the gunman.

The accumulated evidence flatly contradicts what Portland’s police chief told the public and city council staff in the days after the attack: that the gunman, 43-year-old Ben Smith, had opened fire only after he had been confronted by “armed protesters”. That false characterization of the unarmed victims as aggressors, which was repeated in dozens of local and national news reports, remains uncorrected on the website of the Portland police bureau (PPB) even today, as the survivors mark the second anniversary of Smith murdering their friend, June Knightly. ...

Two years following the attack, survivors remain convinced that antipathy toward the protest movement led the police to cast the victims as suspects in initial public statements. Police dispatch records obtained through a public records request show that officers responding to the shooting were advised that “this is an anti-police protest”.

“They don’t like us. And I am certain that that influenced the way that statement went the following day, and they’ve never done anything to retract it, never came out and said: ‘What we said was wrong,’” said Bradley.

White House FURIOUS At NYT for DARING to Scrutinize Biden’s Age and Unpopularity

New study reveals diet link to PFAS ‘forever chemicals’ in human body

Diets rich in foods such as processed meat and butter likely increase levels of toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” in human blood over time, new peer-reviewed research has found.

The paper identified a range of foods to be among the drivers of high PFAS levels, including teas, pork, candy, sports drinks, processed meat, butter, chips and bottled water. The research also pointed to higher PFAS blood levels among those who consumed more carryout or food prepared at restaurants.

“The main takeaway is not to demonize certain foods or say, ‘Oh my gosh, this food is so unhealthy,” said Hailey Hampson, a University of Southern California doctoral student and the study’s lead author. “The point is to highlight that we need more testing of these foods, and this gives us an avenue to say, “OK, these foods may have higher levels of PFAS so we should do more targeted monitoring of them.’” ...

Although exposure via water has drawn the most regulatory attention, there is scientific consensus that contaminated food largely represents the biggest threat to human health.

The US Food and Drug Administration tests food for PFAS annually and has reported very little contamination. But the agency has faced criticism from independent scientists who say its testing methodologies are flawed, and designed to make it appear as if food is less contaminated than it really is.

Also of Interest

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

You Only Need To Cage A Bird If It Knows That It Can Fly

The Assange ‘Death Plots’

US Deceptions at the Heart of Assange Case

"Democracies" Deny the Popular Will While Suppressing Protest and Dissent

Lightning Strikes And Third Parties

Pledge Allegiance to the Gag

Westminster Abbey agrees ‘in principle’ to return sacred tablet to Ethiopia

Houthis MOST DAMAGING Strike Yet In Red Sea

A Little Night Music

Ida Cox - Wild Women Don't Have The Blues

Ida Cox - Hard Time Blues

Ida Cox - I Can't Quit That Man

Ida Cox - Death Letter Blues

Ida Cox - Pink Slip Blues

Ida Cox - Fore Day Creep

Ida Cox - Take Him Off My Mind

Ida Cox - Lawdy, Lawdy Blues

Ida Cox - One Hour Mama