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"We are led by the absolute worst of us. This past year has been a nonstop reminder of this. When western governments support and defend a live-streamed genocide, you know for certain that we are led by the very cruelest and most psychopathically deranged people in our society."

-- Caitlin Johnstone

News and Opinion

It’s So, So Bad, And It’s About To Get A Whole Lot Worse

Things are so, so bad in the middle east right now, and from the looks of things they’re about to get a whole lot worse.

Israel is going full scorched-earth on northern Gaza in advancement of its long-planned ethnic cleansing of the area. The IDF is besieging and attacking civilian populations throughout the north, and the UN World Food Programme reports that no food aid whatsoever has been allowed in so far this month.

Hossam Shabat, one of the last remaining journalists in northern Gaza, reports the following on Twitter:

“The Israeli occupation has besieged us in this area, which includes Beit Hanoun, Beit Lahia, and the Jabalia refugee camp, for the past eight days. Since October 1st, they have stopped all food, water, and medical supplies from entering. They have threatened hospitals to shut down, stopped fuel from entering in order for hospitals to operate, and are targeting anyone who moves. So far, 400 people have been killed. People are bleeding in the streets, and we can’t reach them.”

Another post from Shabat:

“Due to the Israeli occupation siege on Jabalia camp, most injuries caused by the occupation’s bullets and shelling lead to death, as there are no medical resources or capabilities available to effectively treat the wounded.”

Another post, the most recent as of this writing:

“We are literally living our final moments. O Allah, grant us a good end.”

Non-stop massacres. Feeling a sense of dread at the prospect of the silence that may befall north Gaza soon. https://t.co/XbUrQvJofh

— Sana Saeed (@SanaSaeed) October 12, 2024

The western media have been working fanatically to facilitate these atrocities.

A CNN report on the World Food Programme’s findings titled “UN says no food has entered northern Gaza since start of October, putting 1 million people at risk of starvation” does not mention the word “Israel” until the twelfth paragraph, and then somehow manages to go the entire rest of the article without making it clear that Israel is blocking the food.

A BBC report describes Israel’s policy of laying total siege to a population of hundreds of thousands of civilians as merely “controversial”, with an amazingly delicate headline that reads “‘Surrender or starve’: Attack on Jabalia hints at controversial Israeli plan for northern Gaza”.

In a recent interview on CNN, a doctor who worked in Gaza for two weeks corrected CNN anchor Kate Bolduan for absurdly referring to the results of Israel’s war crimes as a “humanitarian crisis”, saying “This is not a humanitarian crisis, Kate, and I’m gonna say it very clearly for your viewers to hear: this is genocide.”

In southern Lebanon, Israel has been deliberately targeting healthcare facilities so extensively that nearly half of the medical centers in areas of conflict have already been closed. More UN peacekeepers have been wounded by Israeli fire as Israel continues to deliberately target staff from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon. The Israeli military is now saying they’re going to start attacking ambulances because the ambulances are Hezbollah.

And as horrifying as both these developing stories are, they’re going to be shifted to the back burner as soon as Israel begins its planned attack on Iran. As we discussed previously, Iran has already said it will respond to any further attacks by Israel with attacks of its own, and that its days of restraint in this stand-off are over.

The US now reportedly has boots on the ground in Israel, with American troops set to operate the THAAD anti-ballistic missile systems that are being sent by Israel’s superpower ally. It seems inevitable that the US will become further and further involved in this conflict the more Israel escalates against Iran, and nobody in the White House seems particularly invested in preventing it from doing so.

And of course the mass media are helping to pave the way toward this next war as well. The Washington Post has published unverified documents that were given to them by the Israeli military which purport to show Hamas plotting to petition Iran for assistance in the October 7 attack, admitting all the way down in paragraph 14 that “the documents’ authenticity could not be definitively established.” The New York Times published its own report on the documents, which it claims it “verified” by asking the Israeli military and some Palestinian sources who aren’t even in Gaza if they appeared authentic.

There don’t seem to be any feet near the brake pedal on this thing. All sides seem to have concluded that backing down is no longer an option, so the only choice left on the table is to keep escalating in the hope that the other side blinks.

This could easily culminate in Israeli nuclear strikes on Iran. Nothing Israel has done this past year indicates that there is any sanity or restraint among the people who’ve been calling the shots, and if Iranian missiles start pounding Israeli cities I see no reason to feel confident that the world won’t see a mushroom cloud over Tehran in the near future. 

As bad as things are, we can’t even imagine how much worse they could soon get.

Israel ‘Desperately Wants’ a U.S.-Iran War

Alarm as Pentagon Confirms Deployment of US Troops to Israel

The Pentagon confirmed Sunday that it has authorized the deployment of an advanced antimissile system and around 100 U.S. troops to Israel as the Netanyahu government prepares to attack Iran—a move that's expected to provoke an Iranian response.

Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, press secretary for the U.S. Defense Department, said in a statement that at President Joe Biden's direction, the Pentagon approved the "deployment of a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery and associated crew of U.S. military personnel to Israel to help bolster Israel's air defenses" in the wake of Iran's ballistic missile attack earlier this month.

"The THAAD Battery will augment Israel's integrated air defense system," said Ryder. "This action underscores the United States' ironclad commitment to the defense of Israel, and to defend Americans in Israel, from any further ballistic missile attacks by Iran."

The Pentagon's statement came shortly after The Wall Street Journal and other outlets reported on the Biden administration's plans.

It is not clear when the U.S. troops are set to arrive in Israel. The U.S. currently has some 40,000 soldiers stationed across the Middle East.

Iran fired roughly 200 ballistic missiles at Israel on October 1 in response to the assassinations of Hezbollah's leader and Hamas' political chief. Most of the Iranian missiles were shot down with the help of the U.S., whose Navy fired interceptors at the missiles.

Journalist Séamus Malekafzali argued the U.S. deployment of troops and the THAAD system shows that "the Israelis are clearly planning something for Iran that is going to cause a retaliation they know their own systems are unable to take."

"U.S. troops being deployed to Israel in this matter is seismic," Malekafzali added. "The U.S. military is now inextricably involved in this war, directly, without any illusions of barriers. Netanyahu is as close as he has ever been to his ultimate wish: making the U.S. fight Iran on Israel's behalf."

Israel's cabinet met Thursday to discuss a potential response to Iran's October 1 missile barrage. One unnamed Israeli source toldThe Times of Israel that "no big decisions" were made at the cabinet meeting. Speaking to reporters earlier this month, Biden said that U.S. and Israeli officials were "discussing" the possibility of an attack on Iranian oil infrastructure.

Iran has warned of a "crushing" response to any Israeli attack.

In a statement Sunday, progressive U.S. Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), James McGovern (D-Mass.), and Greg Casar (D-Texas) said that "military force will not solve the challenge posed by Iran."

"We need meaningful de-escalation and diplomacy—not a wider war," the lawmakers added. "Nothing in current law authorizes the United States to conduct offensive military action against Iran. We risk becoming entangled in another catastrophic war that will inevitably harm innocent civilians and may cost billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars."

Israel Attacks U.N. Peacekeeping Forces as U.S. Sends 100 Troops Anticipating Conflict with Iran

UN mission says Israeli tanks forcibly entered base in southern Lebanon

The UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon has said two Israeli tanks destroyed a gate and forcibly entered a base in the south of the country as Israel’s ground operation against Hezbollah moved deeper into Lebanese territory. The incident in Ramyah on Sunday morning was the latest in a string of violations that Unifil, the UN force deployed since 1978 to southern Lebanon, has blamed on the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

After the tanks left, shells exploded about 100 metres from the base, and the ensuing smoke left 15 staffers needing medical treatment for unusual symptoms despite the use of gas masks. Unifil also accused the Israeli military of holding up a logistics convoy.

In a statement released late on Sunday, the Israeli military said a Merkava tank had been trying to evacuate injured soldiers and had backed into the Unifil post accidentally. Five peacekeepers have been injured since Friday as Israeli ground troops have begun to advance farther north in Lebanon after two weeks of intense fighting and airstrikes. The death toll in the small Mediterranean country now stands at more than 1,400 since late September, after intense Israeli airstrikes overnight on the centre of the southern city of Nabatieh.

Unifil said it had requested an explanation from the IDF for what it called “shocking violations”.

In a videoed statement addressed to the UN secretary general, António Guterres, on Sunday, the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, reiterated Israeli calls for Unifil troops to evacuate. “The time has come for you to withdraw Unifil from Hezbollah strongholds and from the combat zones,” he said. “The IDF has requested this repeatedly and has met with repeated refusal, which has the effect of providing Hezbollah terrorists with human shields.”

Alastair Crooke : Is Israel America’s Tool or Boss?

US: former White House advisor urges Israel to ‘carpet bomb’ Irish peacekeepers in Lebanon

Former White House advisor Matthew Brodsky has urged Israel to drop napalm on Irish peacekeepers in South Lebanon, sparking outrage and concern over the ideological stance of individuals advising the US administration on Israel and Palestine.

Brodsky, a Senior Fellow at the Gold Institute for International Strategy and former Director of Policy at the Jewish Policy Centre, posted a shocking tweet on X stating: “Israel should carpet bomb the Irish area and then drop napalm over it.” The tweet, which has since been deleted, included a map showing the deployment of Ireland’s peacekeeping force in Southern Lebanon.

BREAKING

White House advisor Matthew Brodsky suspended from X after calling for Irish peacekeepers in Lebanon to be burned alive.

Not enough. Suspend him from the Whitehouse. pic.twitter.com/ZBWjMEv6Jw

— ADAM (@AdameMedia) October 9, 2024

...

Critics have accused Brodsky, who has lived and studied in Israel, of promoting Jewish supremacism. This incident has reignited debates about the prevalence of extremist ideologies within US political circles and their potential impact on diplomatic efforts in the Middle East.

Last year Stuart Seldowitz, a former US State Department official, was filmed threatening a food vendor in New York. Seldowitz was recorded saying that the death of 4,000 Palestinian children “wasn’t enough”, highlighting legitimate concerns about anti-Palestinian sentiment among some former US officials. Seldowitz worked for former State Secretary Madeline Albright, who in a shocking interview justified the killing of 500,000 Iraqi children, confirming her view that the killings were “worth it”.

Ray McGovern : How Close is the US to War With Iran?

Hunger in Lebanon could soar amid Israeli onslaught, UN expert warns

Hunger and malnutrition rates could rise “exponentially” in Lebanon, if Israel follows through with threats to escalate the current military operation which has so far killed more than 2,000 and displaced as many as a million people, according to a leading UN expert.

“Israel has the ability to starve Lebanon – like it has starved Palestinians in Gaza,” said Michael Fakhri, the UN special rapporteur on the right to food. “If you look at the geography of Lebanon, Israel has the power to absolutely put a stranglehold on the food system. There is a huge risk of hunger and malnutrition rates skyrocketing very quickly in Lebanon.”

Acute hunger rates could rise very quickly because food security in Lebanon was precarious even before Israel launched its full-scale aerial bombardment in mid-September, as growing hostilities with Hezbollah since 7 October had already displaced 40% of local farmers, disrupting local production and interrupting trade flows and access to markets, according to the UN World Food Programme.

Access to adequate food is becoming increasingly challenging, as entire communities have been forced to abandon their homes and farmland in southern Lebanon and as civilian areas in Beirut come under heavy aerial attack. In June, the UN added Lebanon to its list of hunger hotspots, warning that a quarter of the population faced acute levels of food insecurity amid the simmering conflict, soaring inflation, rising global wheat prices, and diminishing humanitarian aid for the country’s 1.5 million Syrian and Palestinian refugees.

On Friday, Fakhri will face questions at the UN general assembly over the findings of his latest report, which argues that starvation campaigns are always deliberate and that the state of Israel should be held criminally accountable for the mass starvation of Palestinians. “Famines are human-made and are always the result of one group starving another, therefore should always be understood as a political problem,” said Fakhri. “There is clear evidence that Israeli officials have used starvation both as a war crime and as a crime against humanity – which are fundamental violations of international law with no exceptions.”

‘They are taking incredible care of us’: Lebanon’s Shia put their faith in Hezbollah

When the Sabra family fled Israeli bombardments in the southern Lebanese town of Marjayoun for Beirut’s southern suburbs in October last year, a monthly stipend in dollars from Hezbollah meant they did not fear going hungry. When they were displaced a second time, to the mountains around the capital by a wave of Israeli attacks on southern Beirut, regular deliveries of meals, food parcels and even cleaning supplies from organisations connected to the group have kept them afloat.

“They are taking incredible care of us even with everything that is happening. They never leave us alone,” said Hind Sabra, whose name has been changed. Their house of 14 people contains three families, each receiving a $200 (£150) monthly stipend in cash as well as cut-price medications, and food parcels containing rice, oil, tuna and beans.

The food, medication and cash are all part of a network of support long maintained by Hezbollah, including a de facto bank that has flourished amid Lebanon’s years-long financial crisis, a fund that cares for the families of those killed in battle, and a social care organisation responsible for distributing cash payments to tens of thousands displaced earlier this year, according to a Hezbollah official.

Over the past two decades, Hezbollah has come to dominate the various groups that make up Lebanon’s fractured and sectarian politics, as well as exerting control over key industries such as agriculture and construction in the south. Lina Khatib of Chatham House said the group’s status had grown to “influence and control the state in Lebanon from within state institutions as well as outside them”.

Western countries, including the US and UK, have placed sanctions on Hezbollah and regard it as a terrorist organisation. Meanwhile the group, which comprises a paramilitary organisation and a political party, maintains a support base mainly among Lebanon’s working-class Shia Muslim community that see Hezbollah as a defender of their interests, and essential protection against Israeli military power. Members of Lebanon’s Shia sect displaced in recent weeks by a dramatic escalation in Israeli bombardments across southern Lebanon said they are confident that Hezbollah will protect them as well as rebuild their homes and compensate them in future.

Israelis Are Selling Stolen Palestinian Land To Americans

‘We fear Gaza will be forgotten’: Palestinians despair as focus shifts to Lebanon

As Israeli bombs began to fall across Lebanon, the scenes of bloodshed and chaos were grimly familiar to the people of Gaza. Mai al-Afifa, 24, was teaching a workshop about how to identify unexploded ordnance in a school turned shelter in the central Gaza town of Deir al-Balah on Thursday when an Israeli missile hit the next building in the compound. Twenty-eight people were killed and 54 injured, according to medics at the scene.

Through the smoke and rubble dust Afifa saw the body parts of two women and a male aid worker as she stumbled to safety. The Israeli military said it had used a precise strike to target Hamas fighters using the school as a command centre.

“We are very sad about what is happening now in Lebanon … We have experienced this pain and loss,” Afifa said. “But we also fear that Gaza will be forgotten: the massacres have increased here and no one is talking about it. All the TV channels are talking about the regional war, Iran, Israel and what is happening in Lebanon.” ...

The war in Lebanon and the threat of a region-wide escalation drawing in Iran and the US has pushed Gaza down news bulletins and the diplomatic agenda. Even so, Israel has managed to renew its year-long offensive on the besieged Palestinian territory. An estimated 400,000 people are trapped by the latest fighting in the Jabaliya neighbourhood of Gaza City, which has now entered a second week. Israel claims the ground offensive is necessary to prevent Hamas from regrouping.

Badr Alzaharna, 25, from Gaza City, said he and his family wanted to leave after clinging on in their home for a year, but the fighting and Israeli snipers made it impossible. “Just walking in the street you see apocalyptic scenes … It is traumatising to be here. [Every day] I am reminded of the hypocrisy of the world,” he said. ... Mohammed Said, 36, a father of four from Deir al-Balah now sheltering with his family elsewhere in the city after their home was damaged in an airstrike, said he was resigned to the fact that the world’s attention had shifted elsewhere. “Gaza was always forgotten. That’s why all of this has happened,” he said.

"This is not a humanitarian crisis, Kate, and I'm going to say it very clearly for your viewers to hear: This is genocide [...] Media agencies will have reckon with their major role in the genocide." -- Dr. Tanya Haj-Hassan to CNN pic.twitter.com/PTVSe0lOFY

— Omar Baddar (@OmarBaddar) October 11, 2024

Palestinian Diplomat Calls Israeli Assault on Northern Gaza 'Genocide Within the Genocide'

Palestine's deputy permanent observer to the United Nations said Saturday that "what is happening in northern Gaza now is a genocide within the genocide" as Israeli forces continued to bombard the region and terrorize the hundreds of thousands of people who remain trapped there, in increasingly desperate need of food and other necessities.

Palestinian Ambassador Majed Bamya's message came after the World Food Program (WFP) warned that Israel's latest offensive in northern Gaza "is having a disastrous impact on food security for thousands of Palestinian families."

"Food distribution points, as well as kitchens and bakeries in North Gaza, have been forced to shut down due to airstrikes, military ground operations, and evacuation orders," the U.N. body said in a statement. "The only functioning bakery in North Gaza, supported by WFP, caught fire after being hit by an explosive munition."

Antoine Renard, WFP's country director for Palestine, said that the northern part of the enclave "is basically cut off and we're not able to operate there."

"WFP has been on the ground since the onset of the crisis," said Renard. "We are committed to delivering lifesaving food every day despite the mounting challenges, but without safe and sustained access, it is virtually impossible to reach the people in need."

No shipments of food, water, or medicine have been able to enter northern Gaza in at least two weeks due to Israel's assault, which has trapped around 400,000 people and killed dozens. Residents have reported witnessing Israeli drones and quadcopters fire on people attempting to flee the famine-stricken area.

Israel's military said Saturday that even shelters for displaced people in northern Gaza are considered part of a "dangerous combat zone," further underscoring that there is no safe place in the besieged enclave.

" Israel is exterminating northern Gaza right now," said Middle East historian and analyst Assal Rad. "There are 400,000 Palestinians there being deliberately starved, with nowhere to go, trapped inside a killing field. There's no outrage or wall-to-wall media coverage because Israel is the one doing it and the victims are Arab."

On Sunday, The Associated Press reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is "examining a plan to seal off humanitarian aid to northern Gaza in an attempt to starve out Hamas militants, a plan that, if implemented, could trap without food or water hundreds of thousands of Palestinians unwilling or unable to leave their homes."

Israel is openly talking about starving, displacing and bombing hundreds of thousands of people. This is ethnic cleansing and genocide. https://t.co/0BbkOkztv5 pic.twitter.com/zq9be01IEz

— ishmael n. daro (@iD4RO) October 13, 2024

According to AP, the plan was proposed to Netanyahu and the Israeli parliament by "a group of retired generals." It would give the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who remain in the northern third of Gaza a week to leave before the area is declared a "closed military zone."

"Those who remain would be considered combatants—meaning military regulations would allow troops to kill them—and denied food, water, medicine, and fuel," AP added. "The plan calls for Israel to maintain control over the north for an indefinite period to attempt to create a new administration without Hamas, splitting the Gaza Strip in two."

While the Netanyahu government has not yet decided whether to "fully carry out" the plan, the outlet observed, "one official with knowledge of the matter said parts of the plan are already being implemented, without specifying which parts."

Citing senior defense officials, the Israeli newspaper Haaretzreported Sunday that the Netanyahu government "is not seeking to revive hostage talks and the political leadership is pushing for the gradual annexation of large parts of the Gaza Strip."

"Army commanders in the field who spoke with Haaretz say the recent decision to launch operations in northern Gaza was taken without any in-depth discussion. They said it appeared that the operations were aimed principally at pressuring local residents, who were again told to evacuate the area for the coast as winter is approaching," the newspaper continued. "It is possible that the operation is laying the groundwork for a decision by the government to put into effect the so-called surrender or starve plan of Maj. Gen. (ret.) Giora Eiland."

"Surrender or Starve": Israel Weighs Plan to Liquidate Northern Gaza

Israel Used US-Supplied Bomb in Beirut Strike That Killed at Least 22 Lebanese

At least one U.S.-supplied bomb was used by Israel in a Thursday night airstrike that killed at least 22 people and wounded over 115 more in the Lebanese capital of Beirut, according to a Guardian analysis published on Friday.

The crisis, conflict, and arms division of Human Rights Watch and a former U.S. military explosives expert analyzed shrapnel from a bomb used by Israel in the strike on an apartment complex in the densely populated Basta neighborhood near central Beirut and concluded it came from a joint direct attack munition (JDAM) manufactured by Boeing.

"The bolt pattern, its position, and the shape of the remnant are consistent with the tail fin of a U.S.-made JDAM guidance kit for MK80-series air-dropped munitions," HRW senior researcher Richard Weir told The Guardian.

MK80-series JDAMs are attached to so-called "dumb" bombs ranging from 500 to 2,000 pounds to convert them into GPS-guided "smart" munitions.

"The use of these weapons in densely populated areas, like this one, places civilians and civilian objects in the immediate area at grave risk of immediate and lasting harm," Weir said. ...

The United Nations Human Rights Office said in June that Israel's use of 2,000-pound bombs and other U.S.-supplied weapons likely violated international law by deliberately targeting civilians in disproportionate attacks. Israeli military commanders have also been criticized for using artificial intelligence-based target selection to approve bombings they know will cause high civilian casualties.

Woodward 'WAR,' Biden stared down Putin nuke threat

Democrats on edge in critical Michigan amid fears of waning enthusiasm

Michigan is one of the handful of key swing states that will decide the result of this most momentous of elections. While Harris has a slight lead in national polls, she is struggling in Michigan, a state she must win or face a more challenging path through the US’s electoral college to take the White House. Trump won the state by just 10,704 in 2016 and lost it by a narrow margin to Biden four years later. ...

The Harris campaign has long considered its easiest path to victory is by winning the Rust belt battleground states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. If the vice-president were to lose in Michigan, she would almost certainly need to win one of the other closely contested states of Georgia, Arizona or North Carolina.

A Quinnipiac University poll released last Wednesday put the vice-president three points behind Trump in Michigan, while poll trackers offer a mixed picture. ...

Both campaigns are piling resources into Michigan including a deluge of frantic television advertising, and a merry-go-round of candidates and prominent supporters wheeling through the state. The Harris campaign has wheeled out Barack Obama in recent days and sent Bernie Sanders, the darling of the left of the Democratic party, to rally student support in Saginaw a week ago.

Kamala DECLARES WAR On Jill Stein

‘I think, boy, I’m a part of all this’: how local heroes reforested Rio’s green heart

From his vantage point at the top of the hill where he grew up, Luiz Alberto Nunes dos Santos gazes down at the city below. White apartment blocks are nestled among mountains covered with luxuriant vegetation. The statue of Christ the Redeemer and Sugarloaf Mountain appear through gaps in the trees. The sea is just about visible in the distance.

Rio de Janeiro’s striking blend of urban infrastructure and tropical jungle, cradled between granite peaks and the sea, earned the city Unesco world heritage status in 2012. Yet few people realise that the verdant forests cloaking Rio’s dramatic hills are largely the result of human intervention. “None of this was here before. Nothing, zero trees,” says Santos, motioning towards the woods surrounding Tavares Bastos, a small favela clinging to a hill that overlooks Guanabara Bay. The 40-year-old, who uses the name Leleco, planted some of those trees himself as part of a pioneering reforestation project run by the municipal government. ...

The programme, known today as Refloresta Rio (Reforest Rio), was set up by the city government in 1986. By 2019, it had transformed the city’s landscape, having trained 15,000 local workers like Leleco, who have planted 10m seedlings across 3,462 hectares (8,500 acres) – roughly 10 times the area of New York’s Central Park. Reforested sites include mangroves and vegetation-covered sandbars called restinga, as well as wooded mountainsides around favelas.

Over time, some sites have been abandoned due to the disengagement of the local community or security concerns linked to the violence widespread in Rio’s favelas. But the overall programme has outlived nearly a dozen mayoral administrations and can now be considered a public policy, advocates say. “It fluctuates, but we have about 100 [active] sites all over the city, some in safer areas, others in very violent areas,” says Peterson Santos Silva, the project’s coordinator at city hall. That number includes around 30 sites reforested in partnership with private companies, a parallel initiative launched in 2011. ...

Spread over 17 states that are home to 72% of the country’s population, the Atlantic forest is the most devastated ecosystem in Brazil. According to the National Institute for Space Research (INPE), only 12.4% of the native forest remains – 80% of it in private areas – after devastation due to urban expansion and exploitation of brazilwood, sugar cane, gold and coffee since the arrival of the Portuguese in 1500. In a country where biomes such as the Amazon and the Pantanal are burning to make way for agriculture and cattle, and wildfires can also break out in urban areas, as happened recently near Tijuca national park, recovering the Atlantic forest is a sign that something different is under way in Rio.

BHP to face 620,000 claimants in Mariana dam collapse trial in London

The mother of a seven-year-old boy who was torn from the arms of his grandmother and drowned in one of Brazil’s worst environmental disasters is among more than 620,000 claimants who will have their case heard this month in the largest group claim in English legal history. Gelvana Aparecida Rodrigues da Silva, 37, lost her son Thiago on 5 November 2015 when the Fundão dam, near Mariana in eastern Brazil, collapsed, releasing about 50m cubic metres of toxic waste.

The avalanche of water reached the small community of Bento Rodrigues within minutes, killing 19 people, including Thiago, who had been staying with his grandmother at the time. ... Thiago’s body was found a week later, 60 miles (100km) away.

The iron ore waste stored in the dam rapidly moved down various watercourses, spilling over their banks and into the neighbouring municipalities of Mariana, Barra Longa, Rio Doce and Santa Cruz do Escalvado. It destroyed bridges, roads, houses, factories and other commercial premises, as well as farmland, wildlife and historic churches containing priceless artefacts.

About 620,000 individuals, 46 Brazilian municipalities, 2,000 businesses and 65 faith-based institutions are to claim damages from the Anglo-Australian mining company BHP at a high court trial in London scheduled to be heard over 12 weeks, from 21 October. Tom Goodhead, the chief executive of the international law firm Pogust Goodhead, which is representing the claimants, said they will argue that BHP is liable as a 50% shareholder in Samarco, the joint venture company responsible for managing the Fundão tailings dam.

It is further claimed that BHP, who were in a joint venture with the Brazilian iron-ore mining company Vale, were negligent in that although “they were aware of the risks of the dam collapsing, they funded its expansion”, Goodhead said. The claimants are seeking up to $44bn (£33.6bn) in compensation.

Also of Interest

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

Israel jails Grayzone’s Jeremy Loffredo, releases him pending investigation

Patrick Lawrence: Truths That Come Out Like the Sun

“Never Again!” Cried The Israeli While Doing It Again

We Must Purge Genocide From The Marrow Of Our Bones

Opposing The Western War Machine Is The Most Important Thing You Can Do

Hizbullah, Iran Put More Pressure On Israel

UN Troops in Lebanon Can Shoot Back at Israel

Palestine & the Lessons of East Timor

Why a Liberated Palestine Threatens Global Capitalism

When Pompeo Spat on West Point

‘We want clean water back’: British Columbia town fights hydro plant

Tributes paid to Alex Salmond’s ‘colossal contribution’ to Scottish and UK politics

Northern lights sightings across the US inspire awe and delight – in pictures

Newly found Jimi Hendrix tapes give fans chance to own song only they can listen to

Israeli soldiers document their own war crimes online: Why? | International Centre of Justice for Palestinians Panel

Biden Sends 100 US Troops To Protect Israel

A Little Night Music

Don and Dewey - Justine!

1st RECORDING OF: Farmer John - Don and Dewey

Don And Dewey – Jungle Hop

Don And Dewey – Koko Joe

Don & Dewey - Soul Motion

Don & Dewey - Stretchin' Out

Don & Dewey - Jump Awhile

Don & Dewey - Bim Bam

Don And Dewey – Big Boy Pete