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"It is a sin to be silent when it is your duty to protest."

-- Abraham Lincoln

News and Opinion

Chris Hedges: Aaron Bushnell’s Divine Violence

Aaron Bushnell, when he placed his cell phone on the ground to set up a livestream and lit himself on fire in front of the Israeli Embassy in Washington D.C., resulting in his death, pitted divine violence against radical evil. As an active duty member of the U.S. Air Force, he was part of the vast machinery that sustains the ongoing genocide in Gaza, no less morally culpable than the German soldiers, technocrats, engineers, scientists and bureaucrats who oiled the apparatus of the Nazi Holocaust. This was a role he could no longer accept. He died for our sins. “I will no longer be complicit in genocide,” he said calmly in his video as he walked to the gate of the embassy. “I am about to engage in an extreme act of protest. But compared to what people have been experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their colonizers, it’s not extreme at all. This is what our ruling class has decided will be normal.”

Young men and women sign up for the military for many reasons, but starving, bombing and killing women and children is usually not amongst them. Shouldn’t, in a just world, the U.S. fleet break the Israeli blockade of Gaza to provide food, shelter and medicine? Shouldn’t U.S. warplanes impose a no fly zone over Gaza to halt the saturation bombing? Shouldn’t Israel be issued an ultimatum to withdraw its forces from Gaza? Shouldn’t the weapons shipments, billions in military aid and intelligence provided to Israel, be halted? Shouldn’t those who commit genocide, as well as those who support genocide, be held accountable? ...

The coalition forces intervened in northern Iraq in 1991 to protect the Kurds following the first Gulf War. The suffering of the Kurds was extensive, but dwarfed by the genocide in Gaza. A no-fly zone for the Iraqi air force was imposed. The Iraqi military was pushed out of the northern Kurdish areas. Humanitarian aid saved Kurds from starvation, infectious diseases and death from exposure. But that was another time, another war. Genocide is evil when it is carried out by our enemies. It is defended and sustained when carried out by our allies. ...

Walter Benjamin — whose friends Fritz Heinle and Rika Seligson committed suicide in 1914 to protest German militarism and the First World War — in his essay “Critique of Violence,” examines acts of violence undertaken by individuals who confront radical evil. Any act that defies radical evil breaks the law in the name of justice. It affirms the sovereignty and dignity of the individual. It condemns the coercive violence of the state. It entails a willingness to die. Benjamin called these extreme acts of resistance “divine violence.” ...

Bushnell’s self-immolation — one most social media posts and news organizations have heavily censored — is the point. It is meant to be seen. Bushnell extinguished his life in the same way thousands of Palestinians, including children, have been extinguished. We could watch him burn to death. This is what it looks like. This is what happens to Palestinians because of us. ...

Divine violence terrifies a corrupt and discredited ruling class. It exposes their depravity. It illustrates that not everyone is paralyzed by fear. It is a siren call to battle radical evil. That is what Bushnell intended. His sacrifice speaks to our better selves.

Prof. John Mearsheimer: When Will Middle East and Ukraine Explode

112 dead in chaotic scenes as Israeli troops open fire near aid trucks, say Gaza officials

More than a hundred Palestinians were killed in the early hours of Thursday morning, Gaza health officials said, when desperate crowds gathered around aid trucks and Israeli troops opened fire, in an incident that the US president, Joe Biden, warned was likely to complicate ceasefire talks.

There were starkly different accounts of how the victims died in the chaos that took place near Gaza City in the north of the strip.

Israel’s military denied shooting into large crowds of hungry people and said most were killed in a crush or run over by trucks trying to escape. Soldiers only fired at a small group that moved away from the trucks and threatened a checkpoint, a spokesperson said.

As the UN security council convened an emergency session on Thursday night, the White House called for the deaths to be “thoroughly investigated” and reminded Israel that it needs to provide basic security in areas of Gaza under its control.

Witnesses and survivors described bullets hitting crowds around the aid trucks, and Mohammed Salha, acting director of the al-Awda hospital, which treated 161 casualties, said most appeared to have been shot. However, another Palestinian witness told the BBC that most of the dead had been run over by lorries.

Max Blumenthal: Evils Of the IDF

From MOA, worth a click and a full read:

Zionists Use Food-Baits To Attract And Kill Starving Civilians

The Zionist occupation forces send food into the northern Gaza strip to then kill starving Palestinians who try to collect it.

Food aid reaches north Gaza for first time in weeks, Israeli officials say - AP, Feb 28 2024

Aid convoys carrying food reached northern Gaza this week, Israeli officials said on Wednesday, the first major delivery in a month to the devastated, isolated area, where the UN has warned of worsening starvation among hundreds of thousands of Palestinians amid Israel’s offensive.
...
Across Gaza, more than 576,000 people, a quarter of the population, are a step away from famine, the UN says.

But northern Gaza in particular has been gutted by hunger. The north has largely been cut off and much of it has been levelled since Israeli ground troops invaded in late October.

Several hundred thousand Palestinians are believed to remain there, and many have been reduced to eating animal fodder to survive.
...
A convoy of 31 trucks carrying food entered northern Gaza on Wednesday, the Israeli military office that oversees Palestinian civilian affairs said.

The office, known by the acronym COGAT, said nearly 20 other lorries entered the north on Monday and Tuesday.

Associated Press footage showed people carrying sacks of flour from the distribution site.

It was not immediately clear who carried out the deliveries.

The UN was not involved, said a spokesman for the UN’s humanitarian co-ordination office, Eri Keneko.

The trucks were sent by the Zionists. No other organization was involved. But when people came near to the trucks to collect the food they had carried into Gaza the Zionist went berserk.

‘Massacre’: Dozens killed by Israeli fire in Gaza while collecting food aid - Al Jazeerah, Feb 29 2024

More than 100 Palestinians have been killed and some 700 others wounded after Israeli troops opened fire on hundreds waiting for food aid southwest of Gaza City, health officials say, as the besieged enclave faces an unprecedented hunger crisis.

This is not the first time that a food convoy or aid distribution has been used by the Zionists to attract and then kill starving Palestinians.

ADL SHAMES 'Uncommitted' Voters in MI; MOST Dems Prefer Candidate Who DOESN'T BACK Israel

Pentagon Backpedals After Austin Says Israel Killed 'Over 25,000' Women and Kids in Gaza

The Pentagon attempted damage control Thursday after U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said during a congressional hearing that "over 25,000" Palestinian women and children have been killed during Israel's 146-day assault on Gaza.

Austin's remark came in reply to a question from Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) during a House Armed Services Committee hearing focused on his recent hospitalization for prostate cancer and his dayslong delay in informing President Joe Biden and members of Congress of his whereabouts.

"About how many Palestinian women and children have been killed by Israel since October 7?" Khanna asked, referring to the date when Israel launched its retaliatory war on Gaza immediately following the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel.

Austin replied, "It's over 25,000."

Within hours, Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh attempted to walk back her boss' admission, claiming Austin was citing figures by the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health and that the defense secretary was referring to the total number of Palestinians killed in Gaza.

However, Singh's explanation did not add up. According to the Gaza Ministry of Health figures cited by The Times of Israel Thursday, Israeli forces have killed a total of at least 30,189 Palestinians in Gaza since October 7. Of these, at least 13,230 are children and 8,860 are women, for a total of 22,090. Palestinian health officials say that at least 10,000 other people are missing and presumed dead and buried beneath the rubble of bombed buildings, and that even that figure is probably a significant undercount. Assuming even half of the missing people are women and children—who account for 73% of known deaths—then the number of women and children killed far exceeds 25,000.

In late October, U.S. President Joe Biden was accused of genocide denial after he said he had "no confidence" in Palestinian officials' casualty figures—even though such data has been deemed reliable by United Nations agencies, human rights groups, Israeli and international media, and even the Biden administration in past reports on Israeli attacks on Gaza.

In November, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf contradicted Biden by asserting that the Gaza death toll may be "even higher" than reported.

Leaf's assessment came during a congressional hearing interrupted by CodePink peace activists. Members of the women-led anti-war group were again present at Austin's hearing, during which Khanna also noted that the United States has provided 21,000 precision-guided munitions to Israel.

"The secretary of defense is supporting a genocide," CodePink co-founder Medea Benjamin said before being removed from the hearing.

Separately on Thursday, U.S. State Department spokesperson Matt Miller responded awkwardly during a press conference when pressed by Palestinian journalist Said Arikat on why "it so difficult for this government to say we condemn the killing of Palestinian women and children."

"We don't wanna see anyone die," Miller answered during a four-minute exchange with Arikat in which the spokesperson refused to say the word "condemn" and blamed Hamas for the more than 100,000 Palestinians killed or maimed by U.S.-backed Israeli forces.

Scores of Palestinians Killed, Wounded as Israeli Massacres Continue

As the Israeli aggression entered its 145th day, Israeli tanks and artillery shelling intensified their raids on Gaza City and the Rafah and Khan Yunis governorates.

Israeli artillery continued to bomb residential squares and the vicinity of shelter centers in southern Gaza.

The Israeli occupation forces blew up residential homes west of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, coinciding with Israeli artillery shelling and raids on various areas of the city, especially the eastern region.

Meanwhile, Israeli warplanes bombed a residential square in the Al-Amal neighborhood in the center of Khan Yunis.

The Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, southeast of Gaza City, witnessed artillery shelling and armed clashes.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said that its crews transferred at least 34 patients who sustained various injuries as a result of Israeli shelling of two homes yesterday evening in the city of Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.

Col. Lawrence Wilkerson: Who Will Use Nukes First?

#GeorgeGalloway 's campaign manager James Giles tells Consortium News Galloway has won the Rochdale by-election by a "comfortable" margin and will be returning to Parliament for a seventh time. #Galloway #RochdaleByElection

— Consortium News (@Consortiumnews) March 1, 2024

U.S. Has Launched 230 Attacks on Houthis Over Red Sea Disruption

Yves here. Aside from the blip earlier this week when three underseas cables were cut in Yemen waters (and the Houthis strongly denied responsibility), the campaign by the Houthis against Israel-bound and connected shipping in the Red Sea has retreated somewhat from the news despite the continuing costs and disruption it is inflicting on shippers and customers.

However the OilPrice story below recaps fresh Congressional testimony about US efforts to Do Something about the Houthi’s chokehold. From Bloomberg:

The US has struck 230 targets in Yemen following Houthi-led attacks against shipping in the Red Sea, a top Pentagon official said, offering the most detailed public accounting of the airstrikes so far.

Late last month, American forces also interdicted ships carrying lethal aid from Iran to the Houthis, including drone components, missile warheads, anti-tank missile assemblies and other material, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Daniel Shapiro told a Senate Foreign Relations Committee subcommittee on Tuesday.

He said that aid was “in clear violation of international law,” and that while US strikes have likely destroyed hundreds of Houthi weapons, the group appears “committed to sustaining standoff maritime attacks with their remaining inventory of weapons.”

The trumpeting of 230 attacks comes off as a tell. Remember the 85 strikes on Iran-connected assets after three servicemembers died in strikes on base operations maybe in Jordan but more likely in Syria (where they would be completely legitimate targets), which as Scott Ritter put it, was basically a fireworks show? Or the 500 “are you kidding me” sanctions on Russia after Navalny’s death when the US and EU sanctions bazooka has been either ineffective or a backfire? In other words, focusing on numbers as opposed to effect looks to be an admission of impotence.

Notice also the “their remaining inventory of weapons” by Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Shapiro. This is a watered-down variant of the line Western officials repeatedly sold on Russia: “They are running out of missiles.”

The Intercept: New York Times Exposé Lacks Evidence to Claim Hamas Weaponized Sexual Violence Oct. 7

Putin, state of the nation and the Global Majority

Sending troops to Ukraine would risk provoking nuclear war, Putin tells Nato

Vladimir Putin has told Nato countries that they risk provoking a nuclear war if they send troops to fight in Ukraine, in an annual state of the nation speech ramping up his threats against Europe and the US.

In a reference to Emmanuel Macron’s comments earlier this week in which he opened the door to sending European ground troops to Ukraine, the Russian president said it would lead to “tragic” consequences for the nations who decided to do that.

“There has been talk about the possibility of sending Nato military contingents to Ukraine,” Putin said in his combative two-hour address on Thursday.

“[Western nations] must understand that we also have weapons that can hit targets on their territory. All this really threatens a conflict with the use of nuclear weapons and the destruction of civilisation. Don’t they get that? We remember the fate of those who once sent their contingents to the territory of our country. Now the consequences for possible interventionists will be much more tragic.”

Putin described western warnings that Russia might attack Europe as “nonsense” but spoke of a potential nuclear conflict if the west tried an “intervention” in Russia. “They think this is some kind of game. They are blinded by their own superiority complex,” he said.

Democrats will protect Mike Johnson over Ukraine aid vote, Jeffries suggests

The Democratic leadership in Congress has suggested it would protect the Republican House speaker, Mike Johnson, if he bucks his far-right colleagues and brings a stalled $60bn Ukraine military aid package to a vote, as a new poll shows public support for Ukraine is now fractured down party-political lines.

Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader, floated the offer in an interview with the New York Times, saying “a reasonable number” of Democrats would vote to save the Republican speaker if the Ukraine vote resulted in a Republican mutiny.

Far-right members of Congress including Marjorie Taylor Greene have said they would seek to depose Johnson if he brings the foreign aid bill forward, threatening to send Republicans toward yet another protracted leadership crisis like the one that paralyzed the House under former speaker Kevin McCarthy.

Jeffries said that if Johnson were “to do the right thing”, there would be a “reasonable number of people” on the Democratic side “who will take the position that he should not fall as a result”. But Jeffries said he had not discussed the matter with Johnson, who has said Congress “must take care of America’s needs first”.

The political carrot was extended a day after Joe Biden and congressional leaders pushed Republicans to move the aid bill forward. Johnson later told reporters that they had been working in “good faith, around the clock every single day” on a spending deal.

Ferguson, Missouri, to pay out $4.5m to settle debtors’ jail lawsuit

The city of Ferguson, Missouri, will pay out $4.5m to thousands of plaintiffs who allege that the city jailed them because of their inability to pay fines, fees and other municipal costs.

The multimillion-dollar settlement is in response to a class-action lawsuit filed against Ferguson in 2015, the legal advocacy non-profit ArchCity Defenders announced on Tuesday. Ferguson officials were accused of “jailing [plaintiffs] in deplorable conditions for an inability to pay and without the necessary legal process”, read the press release.

“We are so proud of our plaintiffs for having stuck through nine years of litigation to achieve a settlement on behalf of an entire class of people whose rights were impacted by the allegations in this lawsuit,” Maureen Hanlon, managing attorney at ArchCity Defenders, said.

The settlement amount will be paid out to more than 15,000 people who were jailed by the city of Ferguson between 8 February 2010 and 30 December 2022 over unpaid fees. The amount a person received will be proportioned to the number of hours they spent in the city’s jail.

RFK Jr. BLAZES Onto The Ballot in GA & AZ, Biden TRAILS Trump in EVERY SINGLE Swing State

People displaced by climate crisis to testify in first-of-its-kind hearing in US

Communities under imminent threat from rising sea level, floods and other extreme weather will testify in Washington on Thursday, as the region’s foremost human rights body holds a first-of-its-kind hearing on how climate catastrophe is driving forced migration across the Americas.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) will hear from people on the frontline of the climate emergency in Mexico, Honduras, the Bahamas and Colombia, as part of a special hearing sought by human rights groups in Latin America, the US and the Caribbean.

A growing number of migrants and refugees trying to seek sanctuary in the US and other countries are being displaced by hurricanes, heatwaves and drought, as well as slow-onset climate disasters such as ocean acidification, coastal erosion and desertification.

The witnesses will include Higinio Alberto Ramírez from Honduras, who last year suffered life-altering injuries when a fire razed a detention center in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, killing 43 migrants from Latin America. Ramírez is from Cedeño, a coastal fishing town that is disappearing under rising sea levels, and was trying to reach the US to pay off family debts after tidal waves destroyed the shrimp nursery where he and his father worked.

“The case of the Ramírez family is a tragic reminder that forced migration is not an issue for the future. Sea levels have been rising due to climate change for decades. States and humanitarian systems must catch up and ensure that protections are in place,” said Gretchen Kuhner, director of the Mexico based Institute for Women in Migration (Imumi), one of the groups which requested the hearing.

El Niño forecast to drive record heat from the Amazon to Alaska in 2024

The current climate event known as El Niño is likely to supercharge global heating and deliver record-breaking temperatures from the Amazon to Alaska in 2024, analysis has found. Coastal areas of India by the Bay of Bengal and by the South China Sea, as well as the Philippines and the Caribbean, are also likely to experience unprecedented heat in the period to June, the scientists said, after which El Niño may weaken.

The natural phenomenon, in which heat is released from the western Pacific Ocean, is known to increase global surface temperatures and helped 2023 smash the record for the hottest year by a large margin. Extreme heat in the second half of 2023 as El Niño kicked in had severe impacts on people living in North America, Europe and China, South America and Madagascar as the climate crisis intensified.

The new analysis uses computer models to identify the likely regional hotspots in the first half of 2024. It also found there was a 90% chance that the global temperature over this period would set a new record.

“Intense heatwaves and tropical cyclones, combined with [human-caused] global sea level rise, [mean] densely populated coastal areas are facing an enormous and urgent climate crisis that challenges our current capacity for adaptation, mitigation and risk management,” said Dr Ning Jiang, at the Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences in Beijing, and his co-authors. “This impending warmth heightens the risk of year-round marine heatwaves and escalates the threat of wildfires and other negative consequences in Alaska and the Amazon basin,” he said. Seas and coastal areas are particularly vulnerable because the ocean can hold more heat than land, meaning hot conditions can persist there for longer periods of time.

Texas wildfires cause chaos as largest blaze in state history scorches 1.2m acres

Dozens of wildfires are causing chaos across the Texas Panhandle as the Smokehouse Creek fire – now the largest blaze in state history – grew to more than 1mn acres on Thursday, even as a dusting of snow brought a measure of relief. ...

Fueled by parched grasses, strong winds and abnormally warm temperatures, the fires have scorched more than 1.2 million acres since last Sunday, according to the Texas A&M forest service, leaving a desolate landscape of charred prairie, dead cattle and burned-out homes in their wake.

The Smokehouse Creek fire, which merged with another fire, has exploded in recent days, now sweeping across close to 1,700 sq miles (4,400 sq km). As of Thursday, the fire was just 3% contained. “This is now both the largest and most destructive fire in Texas history,” the West Odessa volunteer fire department said in a post on Facebook. “It is also the second largest wildfire in US history.”

Greg Abbott, the state’s governor, issued a disaster declaration for 60 counties. More than a dozen homes in Oklahoma have also been destroyed, according to state emergency officials, as the behemoth blaze crossed state lines.

Cooler temperatures have offered a temporary reprieve as firefighters work to corral the conflagration, but critical fire weather is forecast to return across the plains this weekend, including gusty winds and low humidity, according to the National Weather Service.

Also of Interest

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

Putin's Address To The Federal Assembly

Patrick Lawrence: The CIA in Ukraine — The NY Times Gets a Guided Tour

CIA in Ukraine — An Ex-CIA Agent’s View

Suspended UK Labour Politician Slams Starmer’s Gaza Stance

US Refuses to Assure UK Judges That Assange Won’t Be Executed If He’s Extradited

Patrick Lawrence: The CIA in Ukraine — The NY Times Gets a Guided Tour

‘We don’t need air con’: how Burkina Faso builds schools that stay cool in 40C heat

OUT OF TOUCH Libs BASH Rural Whites as Racist Rubes in CRINGE MSNBC Segment

Putin Warns West Missile Strikes, NATO Troops Ukr; Kerch Bridge Attack Talk; Ukr Total Defeat Summer

A Little Night Music

Rory Gallagher – Bullfrog Blues

Rory Gallagher – Hands Up

Rory Gallagher – Hands Off

Rory Gallagher – I Could’ve Had Religion (Radio Bremen)

Rory Gallagher – Walk On Hot Coals

Rory Gallagher - Who's That Coming

Rory Gallagher – There's A Light

Rory Gallagher – Secret Agent

Rory Gallagher - Out On The Western Plain

Rory Gallagher – Messin’ With The Kid (Radio Bremen)