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This evening's music features English rock band The Animals. Enjoy!

"It makes my heart sick when I remember all the good words and the broken promises."

-- Chief Joseph

News and Opinion

The US & UK Failed to Back Palestine Statehood at the UN

This week, the U.S. and U.K. had the chance to correct decades of their blatant geopolitical errors in the Israel-Palestine conflict by welcoming Palestine as the 194th United Nations member state. [On Thursday, however, the U.S. in the Security Council vetoed granting Palestinian Authority full membership while the U.K and Switzerland abstained.] More than any other countries, the U.S. and U.K. have wrecked the Middle East through their non-stop meddling and imperial arrogance. This week they had the chance to make some amends.

A total of 139 countries already recognize the State of Palestine, more than two-thirds of the U.N. member states. Several European states will soon join the list. Yet the U.S. has so far blocked Palestine’s membership in the U.N., with the U.K. always sticking close to the U.S. lead. Both have relentlessly backed Israel’s apartheid rule over Palestine and are currently actively backing Israel in its horrific destruction of Gaza.

Back in 2011, Palestine had the support of the U.N. Security Council for membership, except that the U.S. forced the Palestinians to accept “observer” status instead, promising that full membership would soon follow, yet another U.S. deception. ... Throughout the entire postwar period, the U.S. has been the lead dishonest broker between Israel and Palestine, for example calling for the Palestinian legislative elections in 2006 but then boycotting and trying to overthrow Hamas when it won those elections. ...

Despite numerous U.N. Security Council resolutions over the years calling for a two-state solution of the Israel-Palestine conflict, the Israeli governments led by Benjamin Netanyahu have blatantly rejected an independent State of Palestine. The current Netanyahu cabinet includes right-wing extremists such as Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir who openly call for ethnic cleansing of the West Bank and Gaza to create a Greater Israel from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. Yet despite Israel’s relentless provocations, routine killing of Palestinians (known colloquially as “mowing the grass”), repeated violations of the U.N. Security Council and now the slaughter in Gaza, the U.S. and U.K. have remained steadfast in backing Israel and opposing Palestine as if nothing at all is amiss.

The question is whether the U.S. and U.K. have any sense and any shame at this point. They may think they are supporting Israel by blocking Palestine’s U.N. membership, but the fact is that Israel is more isolated and endangered than ever because of the Israeli government’s extremism, its shocking violence against the Palestinian people and its apartheid rule. ...

The U.S. and U.K. adamantly refused to condemn Israel’s brazenly illegal bombing of Iran’s diplomatic compound in Damascus, Syria, on April 1, but then heatedly condemned Iran when it counter-attacked two weeks later. This absurd double-standard makes the U.S. and U.K. look like crass bullies in the eyes of the rest of the world.

Neocons, narratives and Netanyahu

Israel Launches Attack on Iran

ABC News has reported that a US official said Israel launched an attack on Iran early Friday morning. Other reports say explosions have hit Syria and Iraq, with aircraft activity reported in the area.

Iran’s Mehr news agency reported explosions in the Iranian province of Isfahan. Sources told Mehr that the explosions were the result of air defenses destroying three drones.

According to CNN, the US knew Israel was planning to hit Iran with the understanding that nuclear sites wouldn’t be targeted. Iranian media is reporting that nuclear sites in Isfahan are safe.

Israel STRIKES Iran, Risking WW3

We are already in World War 3

World leaders urge calm after Israeli drone strike on Iran ratchets up tension

World leaders urged calm on Friday after Israel conducted a pre-dawn drone sortie over Iran following a cycle of tit-for-tat attacks that crossed an important red line that has for decades held the Middle East back from a major regional conflict.

There were tentative hopes late on Friday that the apparent strike attempt against an airbase near the city of Isfahan was sufficiently limited to fend off the threat of a bigger Iranian response and an uncontrolled spiral of violence between a nuclear power and a state with the capacity to develop nuclear weapons quickly.

According to Italy’s foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, speaking later on Friday, the US told the G7 foreign ministers meeting in Capri that it had received “last-minute” information from Israel about a drone action in Iran. Israel’s N12 news channel reported that Israel had also struck targets in Iraq and Syria, and explosions were reported in both those countries.

Iran’s foreign minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian, said the sortie on Isfahan involved miniature drones and had caused no damage or casualties. “The Zionist regime’s media supporters, in a desperate effort, tried to make victory out of their defeat, while the downed mini-drones have not caused any damage or casualties,” Amirabdollahian told envoys of Muslim nations during a visit to the UN in New York, according to Iranian media. Tehran has indicated that it had no “immediate” plan for retaliation.

INTEL Roundtable: Weekly Intel Wrap-up w/ Johnson & McGovern

Max Blumenthal: Hamas Still Stands

US accused of failing to act on reports of abuse by Israeli forces

The US state department has failed to act on internal reports of human rights abuses by Israeli army and police units, according to a new report, raising new questions over whether Washington’s continued supply of arms to Israel is breaking US law.

The ProPublica investigative journalism site quoted officials as saying that a special panel set up by the Biden administration had recommended that multiple Israeli military and police units be denied US funding because of serious human rights abuses. But the state department has yet to act on the recommendations.

The incidents involving alleged abuses mostly took place in the West Bank before the 7 October Hamas attack and the outbreak of the Gaza war. They included extrajudicial killings by the border police, a case in which an elderly Palestinian-American man was gagged, handcuffed and left to die, and an allegation that interrogators tortured and raped a teenager accused of throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails.

The Biden administration set up another mechanism in August last year for monitoring civilian casualties around the world caused by US-supplied weapons, in what was billed as an important new human rights safeguard. But the system, Civilian Harm Incident Response Guidance (CHIRG), has been run since then by just a half-dozen staffers working on it part-time, and was overwhelmed soon after its creation by the outbreak of the Gaza conflict, in which over 34,000 people have been killed.

Josh Paul, a former state department officials, said: “I am deeply sceptical that the administration is paying these issues the attention that they deserve.” As a consequence of the lack of scrutiny, he said: “There’s such a culture of impunity that has developed where the Israeli soldiers at the lowest level feel free to act without any concern of repercussions.”

US, Israeli media declare 'total defeat' for Israel in Gaza

US vetoes Palestinian request for full UN membership

The US has vetoed a Palestinian request to the United Nations security council for full UN membership, blocking the world body’s recognition of a Palestinian state.

The vote in the 15-member security council was 12 in favor, the US opposed and two abstentions, the UK and Switzerland.

US officials had been hoping Washington could avoid use of its veto if other states objected to a draft resolution before the council recommending the “State of Palestine be admitted to membership of the United Nations”.

Before the vote, diplomats said the US mission had been trying to convince one or two other council members to abstain, to mitigate Washington’s isolation on the issue, but American officials said they were resigned to having to wield the US veto once more in support of Israel.

Israel’s Ben Gvir Calls for Executing Palestinians to Make More Room in Prisons

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has called for the execution of Palestinians to make room in Israel’s overcrowded prisons.

Ben Gvir, leader of the hardline Jewish Power party, said he was happy that the Israeli government approved a construction plan to expand prisons but said the best solution would be the death penalty.

“The additional construction will allow the prison service to take in more terrorists, and will bring a partial solution to the prison crisis that exists in the Shabak,” Ben Gvir wrote on X. “The death penalty for terrorists is the right solution to the incarceration problem, until then – glad that the government approved the proposal I brought.”

‘People are begging us to feed their children’: Gaza refugees in Cairo find little help

The last thing Rania sold was her jewellery. In the weeks after her family first woke up to heavy shelling in northern Gaza, they lost everything as they journeyed south to escape the bombs. “Wherever we went, the houses would be destroyed,” she says. “We were sent running from place to place.”

After three long months, she found herself in the border city of Rafah parting with her rings, gold bracelets and necklaces to pay the $15,000 “coordination fees” needed to get her family on the evacuation list to leave Gaza.

In January, Rania entered Egypt through the Rafah crossing, the only remaining route out of the coastal exclave. Since war broke out in the wake of the Hamas attack on 7 October, the Egyptian authorities say more than 83,000 people have left Gaza. Most have since travelled to other countries, but activists say there may be thousands of Palestinians sheltering in Egypt, despite the absence of any centralised relief effort. Unlike in neighbouring countries, no UN body has taken responsibility for Palestinians who have fled to Egypt, while Egyptian authorities stand accused of profiting from high border-crossing fees. ...

While travel from Gaza into Egypt was initially orchestrated by multiple agencies charging wildly differing prices, a single company has since emerged with the monopoly on border crossings, charging a flat fee of $5,000 (£4,000) for an adult and $2,500 for each child. Hala Consulting and Tourism “is now the only way for people to get out of Gaza”, according to one Egyptian activist.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you America's most experienced diplomat:

‘Lost for words’: Joe Biden’s tale about cannibals bemuses Papua New Guinea residents

Joe Biden’s suggestion that his uncle may have been eaten by cannibals in Papua New Guinea during world war two has been met with a mixture of bemusement and criticism in the country. Biden spoke about his uncle, 2nd Lt Ambrose J Finnegan Jr, while campaigning in Pittsburgh on Wednesday, describing how “Uncle Bosie” had flown single engine planes as reconnaissance flights during the war. Biden said he “got shot down in New Guinea”, adding “they never found the body because there used to be a lot of cannibals, for real, in that part of New Guinea.”

Official war records say Finnegan was killed when a plane on which he was a passenger experienced engine failure and crashed into the Pacific Ocean. The records do not mention cannibalism or state that the plane was shot down.

Analysts in Papua New Guinea who were shown his comments described the claims as unsubstantiated and poorly judged, pointing out that they come at a time when US has been seeking to strengthen its ties with the country, and counter Chinese influence in the Pacific region. “The Melanesian group of people, who Papua New Guinea is part of, are a very proud people. And they would find this kind of categorisation very offensive. Not because someone says ‘oh there used to be cannibalism in PNG’ – yes, we know that, that’s a fact.

“But taking it out of context, and implying that your [uncle] jumps out of the plane and somehow we think it’s a good meal is unacceptable,” said Michael Kabuni, a lecturer in political science at the University of Papua New Guinea.

Whistleblower Says US Is Putting Troops in Danger by Refusing to Leave Niger

The Biden administration’s refusal to withdraw from Niger despite an order from the post-coup government to leave has put US troops in the country in danger, a senior Air Force leader said in a letter to Congress that was obtained by The Washington Post.

The whistleblower said that senior officials at the US Embassy in Niger have “intentionally suppressed intelligence” to maintain the “facade of a great country-to-country relationship” as the US is trying to figure out a way to maintain its military presence.

The Nigerien government, known as the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland (CNSP), said in March that it was severing military relations with the US and that the US presence was no longer legally justified. US officials have claimed they didn’t receive an order to exit the country.

“It is clear that the country of Niger does not want a permanent military presence in the country and they have informed us that we need to leave. At the same time, there are approximately 1,100 US Military Service Members in the country who are essentially being held hostage from returning home to their families while the State Department continues with failed diplomacy by not communicating with the country of Niger on what their withdrawal plans will look like,” the whistleblower said.

Google fires 28 staff after protest against firm’s contract with Israeli government

Google said on Thursday it had terminated 28 employees after some staff participated in protests against the company’s cloud contract with the Israeli government. Employees staged sit-ins at their offices, some for more than eight hours.

The Alphabet unit said a small number of pro-Palestine employees entered and disrupted work at a few unspecified office locations. They occupied the office of the chief technology officer of Google Cloud and held posters reading “No cloud apartheid”, “Googlers against genocide” and “Don’t be evil, stop retaliation”, a reference to Google’s former corporate slogan.

New York police made four trespassing arrests in response to the protest while police in Sunnyvale, California made five, according to the New York Post. Roughly 50 protesters occupied Google’s New York office; about 80 protested in Sunnyvale. ...

Google said it had concluded individual investigations, resulting in the termination of 28 employees, and would continue to investigate and take action as needed.

In a statement, Google workers affiliated with the No Tech for Apartheid campaign called it a “flagrant act of retaliation” and said that some employees who did not directly participate in Tuesday’s protests were also among those Google fired.

David Sirota: Stop GASLIGHTING On Biden Economy

RIP:

Dickey Betts, Allman Brothers Band co-founder and guitarist, dies aged 80

Guitar legend Dickey Betts, who co-founded the Allman Brothers Band and wrote their biggest hit, Ramblin’ Man, has died. He was 80.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer died at his home in Osprey, Florida, David Spero, Betts’ manager of 20 years, confirmed. Betts had been diagnosed with cancer and had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, Spero said.

“He was surrounded by his whole family and he passed peacefully. They didn’t think he was in any pain,” Spero said by phone.

Betts shared lead guitar duties with Duane Allman in the original Allman Brothers Band to help give the group its distinctive sound and create a new genre – southern rock. Acts including Lynyrd Skynyrd, Kid Rock, Phish and Jason Isbell – among many others – were influenced by the Allmans’ music, which combined the blues, country, R&B and jazz with 60s rock.

Founded in 1969, the Allmans were a pioneering jam band, trampling the traditional notion of three-minute pop songs by performing lengthy compositions in concert and on record. The band was also notable as a biracial group from the deep south.

This showed up in my feed:

We've Lost Dickey Betts

Plastic-production emissions could triple to one-fifth of Earth’s carbon budget

By the middle of the century, global emissions from plastic production could triple to account for one-fifth of the Earth’s remaining carbon budget, an analysis has found.

The stunning new estimates from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, published on Wednesday, provide yet more evidence that the plastic industry is “undermining the world’s efforts to address climate change”, said Heather McTeer Toney, executive director of the Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Beyond Petrochemicals campaign, which helped fund the new report. ...

Plastic creation generated 2.24 gigatonnes of planet-heating pollution in 2019, or as much as 600 coal-fired power plants. That year, it accounted for 5% of all global carbon emissions, 12% of the world’s oil demand and 8.5% of gas demand, the report found. Those numbers are expected to increase dramatically, the report says, because the plastic industry is on an exponential growth trajectory, with production expected to double or even triple by 2050.

If production increases by 4% every year, doubling within a quarter of a century, planet-warming emissions could hit 6.78 gigatonnes by 2050 – equal to the emissions of more than 1,700 coal plants. Fully decarbonizing the power grid – a key focus of global climate plans – could limit this climate impact, yet would still leave the world on a perilous path. As much as 70% of the fossil fuel used in plastic creation comes from the raw materials used in production – not the electricity used in processing – the authors write.

As a result, even if the world achieves fully carbon-free electricity by 2050, plastic production would produce 5.13 gigatonnes of pollution in 2050 under a 4% annual growth scenario.

US lawmakers Elizabeth Warren and Ro Khanna seek to ban trade in water rights

With private investors poised to profit from water scarcity in the west, US senator Elizabeth Warren and representative Ro Khanna are pursuing a bill to prohibit the trading of water as a commodity.

The lawmakers will introduce the bill on Thursday afternoon, the Guardian has learned. “Water is not a commodity for the rich and powerful to profit off of,” said Warren, the progressive Democrat from Massachusetts. “Representative Khanna and I are standing up to protect water from Wall Street speculation and ensure one of our most essential resources isn’t auctioned off to the highest bidder.”

Water-futures trading allows investors – including hedge funds, farmers and municipalities – to trade water and water rights as a commodity, similar to oil or gold. The practice is currently limited to California, where the world’s first water futures market was launched. So far, the market hasn’t taken off, dampened by the reality that the physical trade of water in the state has been limited. After a couple of wet years in California, the price of water futures has also plummeted.

But Warren and Khanna’s Future of Water Act has been reintroduced amid growing concerns about meddling from investors in western water rights. The bill was originally introduced two years ago but did not get taken up for a vote. The lawmakers and supporters of the bill argue that now is a crucial moment to re-introduce it – and stop water-futures trading before the climate crisis and booming water speculation threaten to shrink supplies and inflate prices.

Chemical Giant Bayer SEEKS IMMUNITY From Suits Over Cancer-Causing RoundUp

Clean energy’s dirty secret: the trail of waste left by India’s solar power boom

Under the scorching sun, a sea of solar panels gleams in the semi-arid landscape. Pavagada, 100 miles north of Bengaluru in southern India, is the world’s third-largest solar power plant, with 25m panels across a huge 50 sq km site, and a capacity of 2,050MW of clean energy. India has 11 similarly vast solar parks, and plans to install another 39 across 12 states by 2026, a commitment to a greener future.

Yet this solar boom has a downside: the waste it generates from the panels, made of glass, aluminium, silicon, rare-earth elements; as well as power inverters and wiring. “While manufacturers claim decades of longevity, degradation of these panels sets in much sooner,” says Atif Mirza, director of Fusion Sprint Recycler, a solar-farm waste contractor in Uttar Pradesh. Panels can break during installation and transport or through exposure to monsoons and typhoons.

India’s solar ambitions come with a hefty amount of waste. With the nation targeting output of 280GW of solar power by 2030, of which 70.1GW is already installed, one study forecasts an accumulation of more than 600,000 tonnes of solar waste by then, with this projected to increase 32-fold to more than 19m tonnes by 2050.

Also of Interest

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

Nicaragua’s Case Against Germany Arming Israel

The Colonialist and Anti-Semitic Origins of Modern Israel

No Victory Awaits Israel in Rafah. Only More Death and Destruction

War on Gaza: Israelis enraged as Palestinians seek respite from war and heat at beach

U.S./EU Lobby Against Georgian Law That Would Reveal Their Secret Influence

Why I Rarely Care About The Events Of the Day

Blueberries and bell peppers: six fruits and vegetables with the most pesticide risk

Penguins in the pond, kiwi in the back yard: how a city brought back its birds

"Fear and Terror": Gaza Photographer Ahmed Zakot on Documenting the Carnage of Israel's Assault

Israel IGNORES US; STRIKES Iran In Retaliatory Attack; Nuclear Site, Major Air Base Targeted

Hillary & Bill Get Heckled In NY!

A Little Night Music

The Animals - Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood

The Animals - Bring It On Home To Me

The Animals - She Said Yeah

The Animals - She'll Return It

The Animals - Mess Around

The Animals - Dimples / Boom Boom

The Animals - Ain't Got You

The Animals - I'm Almost Grown

The Animals - One Monkey Don't Stop No Show