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None Of These War Criminals Will Face Justice While The US Empire Exists

Two journalists were ejected from a State Department press conference on Thursday for asking inconvenient questions about Gaza. One of them, Sam Husseini, was physically carried out by security while demanding to know why Secretary of State Antony Blinken is not in The Hague for his war crimes.

The Grayzone’s Max Blumenthal was also made to leave while asking Blinken why he allowed hundreds of journalists to be murdered in Gaza, telling State Department spokesman Matt Miller that he “smirked through a genocide.”

Husseini was then forcibly removed for asking questions about Gaza, and about Israel’s nuclear program and Hannibal directive. Blinken told Husseini to “respect the process,” to which Husseini replied, “Respect the process? Respect the process? While everybody from Amnesty International to the ICJ says Israel’s doing genocide and extermination, and you’re telling me to respect the process? Criminal! Why aren’t you in the Hague?”

The western political-media class is expressing outrage over the incident, not because of journalists being manhandled for asking critical questions of their government, but because those journalists asked critical questions.

The talking heads on CNN described the journalists interrogating government officials as “cringeworthy heckling by activists”, initially expressing bafflement at how those “activists” could have gotten into a press room intended for accredited journalists (both Blumenthal and Husseini are in fact members of the press who often attend State Department press briefings).

Longtime State Department swamp monster Aaron David Miller tweeted of the exchange, “In 27 years at State, never seen a situation where a Secretary of State — a caring compassionate man — is heckled in his own building by a heckler yelling ‘Why aren’t you in The Hague.’ A new low in civility and discourse.”

This is western liberalism in a nutshell. The problem isn’t the genocide, the problem is people being insufficiently polite about the genocide. Western officials feeling inconvenienced and insulted is a greater concern than children being shredded and burned by US military explosives.

Husseini’s question is an interesting one. Why isn’t Blinken in The Hague? Why hasn’t he faced justice for his facilitation of the starvation, sickness and daily massacres he’s been helping Israel inflict on civilians in Gaza for the last 15 months? And more importantly, why does it seem like a safe assumption that he never will?

This is after all the “rules-based international order,” is it not? Surely when you’ve got mainstream human rights organizations asserting that genocidal atrocities are being committed with the facilitation of the government which purports to uphold that order, some legal repercussions should be seen as at least within the realm of possibility, should they not?

And yet we all know this won’t be happening any time in the foreseeable future. We all know that as long as the US empire exists in the way that it exists, Tony Blinken and Matt Miller will enjoy prosperous free lives after their time with the Biden administration draws to a close.

This is because “international law” only exists to the extent that it can be enforced. If a superpower doesn’t want its lackeys being carted off to war crimes tribunals in the Netherlands then they won’t be, because as things sit right now nobody’s going to war with the US empire to put Tony Blinken behind bars. Or George W Bush, Dick Cheney, Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton, for that matter.

As long as the US empire exists, none of these monsters will ever face justice for their actions. They will move on from their time in government to lucrative careers in think tanks or working as lobbyists until another Democratic administration calls for their services again — or, in Biden’s case, enjoy a comfortable retirement until a peaceful death surrounded by family members in the lap of luxury.

Freedom of the Press.
US style. pic.twitter.com/0GfUMewuSY

— The Resistance (@TopGResistance) January 16, 2025

Until the empire has been dismantled, the world will never know justice. These swamp creatures will be able to worm their way around back and forth through the revolving door between Washington’s official government and its unofficial government while murdering, displacing and tormenting as many innocents as they please, with total impunity.

One way or another, the slaughter in Gaza will end at some point. And as long as the US-centralized power structure still dominates our world, there will be no meaningful consequences for this. It will be filed away in the history books, and the propagandists will pace us along into the next imperial horror show. There will be more Gazas in the future, perhaps overseen by different Tony Blinkens or perhaps by the same ones, and they will keep happening for as long as this murderous empire remains standing.

This world can have justice when it finds a way to end the US empire. Until then the world will be ruled by tyrants who do exactly as they please, and anyone who questions them will be removed from the room by any force necessary.

An excellent article, worth a peek. Here's some to get you started:

Chris Hedges: The Ceasefire Charade

Israel, going back decades, has played a duplicitous game. It signs a deal with the Palestinians that is to be implemented in phases. The first phase gives Israel what it wants — in this case the release of the Israeli hostages in Gaza — but Israel habitually fails to implement subsequent phases that would lead to a just and equitable peace.

It eventually provokes the Palestinians with indiscriminate armed assaults to retaliate, defines a Palestinian response as a provocation and abrogates the ceasefire deal to reignite the slaughter. If this latest three-phase ceasefire deal is ratified — and there is no certainty that it will be by Israel — it will, I expect, be little more than a presidential inauguration bombing pause. Israel has no intention of halting its merry-go-round of death.

The Israeli Cabinet has delayed a vote on the ceasefire proposal while it continues to pound Gaza. At least 81 Palestinians have been killed in the last 24 hours. The morning after a ceasefire agreement was announced, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Hamas of reneging on part of the deal “in an effort to extort last minute concessions.”

He warned that his cabinet will not meet “until the mediators notify Israel that Hamas has accepted all elements of the agreement.” Hamas dismissed Netanyahu’s claims and repeated their commitment to the ceasefire as agreed with the mediators.

Gideon Levy & Mouin Rabbani on Ceasefire: "Netanyahu Will Do Everything Possible" to Kill It Later

‘We will be betrayed’: cold, fearful and still under fire, Gaza’s people wait

Amid continuing airstrikes, bitter cold and news of delays, millions in Gaza were waiting anxiously on Thursday for confirmation that the ceasefire-for-hostages deal between Hamas and Israel was going ahead. Many spoke of their fear that hopes of a new beginning after a 15-month conflict might be dashed. The war has killed many tens of thousands in the territory and reduced swathes of it to ruins.

“So far, the news is tense about the deal … so we follow the news 24 hours a day. The deal’s failure is possible, because the Israelis do not want Gaza and its people to rest and breathe,” said Muhammad al-Hebbil, 37, who was displaced early in the war from his home in the northern town of Beit Lahiya to Gaza City.

The agreement announced by Qatar on Wednesday followed months of fruitless negotiations and, if finalised, would pause hostilities one day before the inauguration of the US president-elect, Donald Trump, on Monday. Reports that Israel had accused Hamas of reneging on parts of the deal, and that the Israeli cabinet had not yet met to ratify the agreement increased concerns on Thursday. ...

Palestinians in Gaza reported heavy Israeli bombardment. In previous conflicts in the territory, both sides have stepped up military operations in the final hours before ceasefires as a way to project strength and inflict last-minute losses on their enemy.

The conflict has displaced about 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million, many of whom are at risk of famine. Tented camps now stretch across what were once beaches and fields. Almost all of the territory’s infrastructure – power cables, sewers, water pipes – has been destroyed, along with much of its healthcare system. Aid workers describe some former busy cities as “moonscapes”.

Many in Gaza fear that Israel will resume hostilities when the first of the three phases of the ceasefire ends. “I am still not optimistic, and I feel that we will be betrayed and the ceasefire will be cancelled, even after signing the deal,” said Eman, a 19-year-old medical student from the Jabaliya neighbourhood, which has seen a blockade and fierce bombardment over recent months.“I am very scared that after Israel got their prisoners, the war would return. I am afraid that it will fail. I hope with all my heart, pray to Allah sincerely that it will succeed.”

Just remember that every inauguration of a US president, Palestine miraculously gets a ceasefire from Israel. And after the inauguration, Israel always breaks the ceasefire. They are gaslighting us. pic.twitter.com/slJBU8q7BF

— Rathbone (@_rathbone) January 15, 2025

Families of hostages held in Gaza say they are in agony over ceasefire delays

Families of hostages being held in Gaza have said delays to the ceasefire and hostage deal have left them in limbo and agony. Relatives of some of the 98 hostages still believed to be held by Hamas reacted with “guarded optimism” to the truce announced by Qatar and the US on Wednesday, but a vote by the Israeli cabinet has been delayed by the Israeli prime minister until Friday, saying Hamas must accept “all elements of the agreement”. ...

In the first stage, 33 hostages are set to be released over six weeks in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. The remainder are to be released in a second phase. The 98 hostages – some of whom are believed to be dead – include four people taken hostage in 2014 and 2015.

Brisley, from Bridgend in Wales, said he had had to temper his optimism due to the uncertainty.

“The fact that it was officially announced [on Wednesday evening] has been slightly coloured by events today with the cabinet yet to vote on it. We’re hearing conflicting stories about whether Hamas have attempted to change things or whether it’s just politicking,” he said.

“It’s the usual sort of conflicting information, but all of it leads to further delay and further torture for us and leaves us in limbo. I’m by no means sure that it’s going to happen and in its current structure, across six weeks, a lot can happen. Guarded optimism is the most I’m prepared to allow myself to have at the moment.”

Israelis Protest AGAINST Peace Deal In Gaza!

Trump National Security Pick Says Israel Has Green Light to Keep Attacking Gaza

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's pick to serve as national security adviser said late Wednesday that the incoming administration will support future Israeli attacks on Gaza even as Trump hailed the tenuous new cease-fire and hostage-release agreement as a signal "to the entire world that my administration would seek peace."

In an appearance on Fox News late Wednesday after the agreement was announced, Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) said that "we've made it very clear to the Israelis, and I want the people of Israel to hear me on this: If they need to go back in [to Gaza], we're with them."

"Hamas is not going to continue as a military entity and it's certainly not going to govern Gaza," Waltz added.

The national security adviser nominee expressed a similar position in a podcast appearance prior to the announcement of the cease-fire deal, which is currently in jeopardy as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accuses Hamas of reneging on the terms of the agreement—a claim Hamas has rejected.

Asked whether a cease-fire agreement would mean "the war is over," Waltz said, "Hamas would like to believe that."

"But we've been clear that Gaza has to be fully demilitarized, Hamas has to be destroyed to the point that it cannot reconstitute, and that Israel has every right to fully protect itself," he added. "All of those objectives are still very much in place."

"We need to get our people out," Waltz continued, "and then we need to achieve those objectives in this war."

Drop Site's Jeremy Scahill noted that the approach Waltz laid out mirrors "a plan Netanyahu has hinted at: Israel views this deal as only one phase to get the Israeli and U.S. hostages out."

Last month, Netanyahu said that Israeli forces would "return to fighting" once hostages are freed.

"There is no point in pretending otherwise," said Netanyahu, "because returning to fighting is needed in order to complete the goals of the war."

Under the first phase of the deal announced Wednesday, a six-week cease-fire would begin as soon as Sunday and 33 hostages would be freed in exchange for the release of more than 1,000 Palestinian detainees. The second and third stages of the deal are contingent upon negotiations that will take place during the first.

The text also stipulates the "withdrawal of Israeli forces eastwards from densely populated areas along the borders of the Gaza Strip" and a reduction of Israeli troop presence in the Philadelphi corridor—an issue that has repeatedly emerged as a sticking point in cease-fire negotiations.

The agreement states that "the Israeli side will gradually reduce the forces in the corridor area during stage 1 based on the accompanying maps and the agreement between both sides."

"After the last hostage release of stage one, on day 42, the Israeli forces will begin their withdrawal and complete it no later than day 50," the text continues.

But Netanyahu's office insisted Thursday that the same number of forces would remain in the corridor during the deal's first phase—a position that critics said runs counter to the agreement.

Netanyahu said yes to Trump’s envoy, and is now saying no publicly. This is unserious behavior and not how negotiations go.

Netanyahu trying to make a fool of Trump at the place where he has the most pride, the dealmaking table https://t.co/IIarmXiQGD

— Ryan Grim (@ryangrim) January 16, 2025

While Trump and his allies celebrated the announced agreement as a master stroke of dealmaking and aid groups voiced hope for some reprieve for devastated Palestinians in Gaza, Netanyahu's spokesman told The New York Times in a text message that "there isn't any deal at the moment."

Israel's cabinet was expected to vote on the deal Thursday, but Netanyahu delayed the meeting and accused Hamas of trying to "extort last-minute concessions."

Hamas officials denied the charge, saying they are committed to the agreed-upon text.

Ruby Chen, the father of a 19-year-old Israeli-American soldier who was taken captive by Hamas on October 7, 2023, suggested Thursday that Netanyahu "might be looking to get out of" the deal as he faces backlash from far-right members of his coalition.

Citing unnamed sources, The Washington Post reported Thursday that "behind closed doors, Netanyahu has been promising his far-right allies that the war could resume after the first, 42-day phase of the cease-fire, when Hamas is to release 33 hostages in exchange for the release of more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners."

Paul Pillar, a non-resident fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, wrote Thursday that "there remains the possibility that a renewed war in Gaza will, beginning a few weeks from now, become a problem for Trump just as it was for Biden."

"But two main factors will incline President Trump not to exert any pressure on the Israeli government to turn away from renewing its devastation and ethnic cleansing in the Gaza Strip," Pillar predicted. "One is Trump's relationship with his domestic evangelical political base, with its unconditional support for most anything Israel does. The other is that his ally Netanyahu has done him a big favor with his handling of the ceasefire negotiations, and now Trump owes Netanyahu favors in return."

According to one Israeli report, Trump offered Netanyahu a "gift bag" of concessions in exchange for accepting a pre-inauguration cease-fire deal, including sanctions relief for violent Israeli settlers in the illegally occupied West Bank.

‘I realised we’re such hypocrites’: how growing numbers of US veterans were moved to protest over Gaza

Of the protesters who were forcibly bundled out of the hearing for Donald Trump’s defence secretary nominee Pete Hegseth at the Senate’s armed services committee on Tuesday, two were notable for their jackets. With “US military” stitched over one breast pocket and their surnames on the other, Greg Stoker and Josephine Guilbeau are among thousands of veterans who have become a loud and visible presence in America’s anti-war movement.

With echoes of peace groups during the US wars in Vietnam and Iraq, the growing movement of military veterans has been using social media and demonstrations to protest against their government’s arming of Israel. Josh Shurley, 49, a former army infantryman says military personnel have enough experience of conflict to view what they are seeing in Gaza as atrocities and feel a duty to speak up. Vice-president of Veterans for Peace, he says that over the past year there has been a swell of interest in the group, particularly from younger people.

Shurley believes this is driven by social media images coming from Gaza. “Every month we are getting three to four times the amount of phone calls from veterans wanting to join us than previous years,” he says. He believes the more combat an individual has seen, the more committed they are to peace, despite the military’s culture of loyalty and compliance making dissent difficult.

Romania's silent coup. EU/NATO tries to stop Georgescu

Should Tulsi Have Renounced Her 702 Opposition To Get Confirmed?

Should Federal Minimum Wage Be Raised Above $7.25? Trump's Treasury Pick: 'No Sir'

Scott Bessent, a hedge fund manager and U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's pick for treasury secretary, indicated during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Finance Committee Thursday that he has no issue with the federal minimum wage remaining at $7.25 an hour, the wage floor that's been in place since 2009.

The admission was prompted by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who asked Bessent, "Will you work with those of us who want to raise the federal minimum wage to a living wage to take millions of Americans out of poverty?"

Bessent replied, "Senator, I believe that the minimum wage is more of a statewide and regional issue."

Sanders then pressed him, asking, "So you don't think we should change the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour?"

"No, sir," said Bessent, who owns assets worth at least $500 million, according to The Washington Post.

The annual wages of a worker making federal minimum wage is $15,080.

'Deep State' Trying To IMPEDE Trump's Agenda?! Mike Johnson OUSTS Mike Turner From House Intel Cmte

‘TARIFFS all the way!!!’: EU mulls carrots and sticks to counter Trump on trade

If there is one thing the EU knows about Donald Trump, it is that he loves tariffs. The incoming president has said “tariff” is “the most beautiful word in the dictionary” and has threatened to impose them on US allies around the world. On the campaign trail he proposed tariffs of 10-20% on imports from all countries, with a 60% rate reserved for China. Once elected, he tweeted that the EU must buy more US oil and gas “otherwise it is TARIFFS all the way!!!” This week, he announced he would create an “external revenue service” on the day of his inauguration.

The European Commission, which leads on trade policy for the EU’s 27 member states, has been preparing for the next US president since last summer. Details of its response to potential tariffs are closely guarded though, and depend on what the volatile incoming president actually does.

It is understood that the commission has a twofold, carrot and stick approach. The sticks are the EU’s own retaliatory tariffs, while the carrots include offers to buy more US goods. Before Trump’s social media outburst, the commission’s president, Ursula von der Leyen, proposed that the EU could buy more liquefied natural gas from the US to replace the LNG it buys from Russia.

However well-prepared the EU is, officials are concerned about a possible trade war. The EU and US traded a record €1.54tn (£1.3tn) in goods and services in 2023. Commission officials describe that trade as “balanced”, pointing out that the EU buys more services from the US than it sells in return. But Trump tends to focus on trade in goods, where the US runs a deficit. “They don’t take our cars. They don’t take our farm products. They sell millions and millions of cars in the United States. No, no, no, they are going to have to pay a big price,” he complained on the campaign trail last October.

Ohio woman sues hospital and police after she was arrested over miscarriage

Brittany Watts, an Ohio woman who was charged with abuse of a corpse after having a miscarriage, has filed a federal lawsuit accusing some of the medical professionals who treated her of conspiring with a police officer to fabricate the criminal case against her.

The lawsuit, which was filed last week and names the professionals, the officer, the hospital where Watts was treated and the city of Warren, Ohio, as defendants, is the latest development in a case that first made national headlines in late 2023 when Watts was first charged. Although a grand jury ultimately declined to move forward with the charge against Watts, the case sparked fears about how the fall of Roe v Wade and subsequent wave of abortion bans could endanger pregnant women and lead to police treating miscarriages as crimes.

“This case is a perfect example of the broader implications of the overruling of Roe v Wade in the Dobbs case. Brittany was not seeking an abortion,” said Julia Rickert, one of Watts’s attorneys and a partner at the civil rights law firm Loevy and Loevy. “But the repercussions of the Dobbs decision meant that her pregnancy and her choices and her medical crisis were viewed in a different way.”

On 19 September 2023, when Watts was about 21 weeks into a wanted pregnancy, she went to the hospital after she started experiencing pain and bleeding, according to the lawsuit. Although she was showing signs of potential miscarriage, the lawsuit alleges that Watts “received no meaningful treatment or guidance”. She left the hospital after several hours, only to return the following day. Although a doctor told her that her pregnancy was in effect over and that she was at risk of hemorrhaging and sepsis, the lawsuit alleges that Watts once again did not receive adequate treatment for hours and left the hospital. “Her womb was a death trap, essentially,” Rickert said.

In the early morning of 22 September 2023, Watts miscarried into her toilet (which is common in miscarriages). According to the lawsuit, she delivered an “already-deceased, under-one-pound fetus”, which she did not see. Watts attempted to flush and clean out the toilet, then went back to the hospital as she continued to bleed. A nurse at the hospital contacted the hospital’s risk management department and called police, according to the lawsuit. She allegedly told the police that Watts had given birth at home, did not want the baby and did not know if the baby was alive. Another nurse also wrote a medical note that falsely suggested that Watts had seen and touched the fetus, the lawsuit alleged.

Will Biden Grant Leonard Peltier Clemency? Indigenous Leaders Plead, "Don't Let Him Die in Prison"

BREAKING: MSNBC Suddenly Terrified of Oligarchy!

LA wildfires: evacuees warned against returning to homes due to toxic waste

As the battle against the deadly fires in Los Angeles county enters its 10th day, officials are warning evacuees against returning to their homes due to the presence of toxic, hazardous waste and exposed power and gas lines.

During a Thursday press conference, Yonah Halpern, principal engineer with LA county public works said that toxins such as asbestos, and mercury can be found in fire debris and that the US Environmental Protection Agency and county fire department will be going house-to-house to assess and remove hazardous materials at no cost to the property’s owner.

The extreme winds behind the disastrous fires in Los Angeles are forecast to calm the rest of the week into the weekend, making it easier for firefighters to further efforts to put out the massive Palisades and Eaton fires that have been ablaze for over a week.

The National Weather Service said on Thursday that the “nine-day wind siege has finally ended” and the weekend will bring a “significant cooling trend” with higher humidity in the region. But it warned that high winds could pick up again early next week. A marine layer is forecasted to come into the area on Thursday and Friday bringing with it desperately needed humidity, said James White, the incident meteorologist for the Eaton fire, during a Thursday press conference.

As of Thursday morning, crews were still working to fully contain the two largest fires in Los Angeles. The Palisades fire is 22% contained after burning more than 23,700 acres while the Eaton fire is 55% contained after burning roughly 14,100 acres.

‘Big oil’s negligence’: LA residents call on fossil fuel industry to pay for wildfire damages

As Los Angeles’s deadly wildfires continue to burn, a group of survivors is taking aim at the industry most responsible for fueling climate disasters: fossil fuels.

Residents impacted by the blazes lamented during a Thursday conference call losing their homes and communities and called for litigation and policies that could force big oil to pay for the damages. In the coming days, lawmakers will introduce legislation with that aim in mind. ...

Scientists are still working to determine the degree to which the climate crisis exacerbated the ongoing Los Angeles fires, but existing research makes clear that global warming creates the conditions for more severe and frequent fires. And UCLA climate scientists this week determined that the climate crisis was likely responsible for a quarter of the dryness that fueled the fires’ rapid spread.

There is mounting evidence that big oil knew for decades that their products fuel the climate crisis, yet continued to peddle them to the public anyway and sow doubt about global warming. Cities and states, including California, have filed litigation aimed at holding oil companies accountable for this alleged disinformation campaign and force them to pay damages.

Also of Interest

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

Craig Murray: Ceasefire Not an End

Gaza Ceasefire Deal Still Not Approved by Knesset. And Why Should the World Trust Israel to Comply if So?

Israel Kills Two Soldiers and a Civilians in First Attack on New Syrian Government Forces

EU Lends $847 Million to Israel Amid Gaza Genocide

Poland hails breakthrough with Ukraine over second world war Volhynia atrocity

Andrew P. Napolitano on Tulsi Gabbard’s abandonment of the people’s constitutional protection from spying under the Fourth Amendment

Doctorow Has the Best Idea for How Canada Should Retaliate to Trump’s Tariffs + Make It So Americans Can’t Drive

Beating Wall Street at Its Own Game — The Bank of North Dakota Model

The man who deserves but probably will not be allowed to lead Romania

COL. Douglas Macgregor : Trump and American Expansion

INTEL Roundtable w/ Johnson & Scott Ritter in for Ray McGovern

A Little Night Music

Eddie Kirkland And His House Rockers - Done Somebody Wrong

Eddie Kirkland And His House Rockers - I Need You Baby

Eddie Kirkland - No Shoes

Eddie Kirkland - Train Done Gone

Eddie Kirkland - Please Don't Think I'm Nosey

Eddie Kirkland - I Tried

Eddie Kirkland – The Devil

Eddie Kirkland – Pick Up The Pieces

Eddie Kirkland – Saturday Night Stomp

Eddie Kirkland Band @ The Roxy - Wash DC - around 1988