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“Laws are spider webs through which the big flies pass and the little ones get caught.”

-- Honore de Balzac

News and Opinion

When are these fuckers going to be prosecuted for war crimes?

CIA black site detainee served as training prop to teach interrogators torture techniques

A detainee at a secret CIA detention site in Afghanistan was used as a living prop to teach trainee interrogators, who lined up to take turns at knocking his head against a plywood wall, leaving him with brain damage, according to a US government report.

The details of the torture of Ammar al-Baluchi are in a 2008 report by the CIA’s inspector general, newly declassified as part of a court filing by his lawyers aimed at getting him an independent medical examination. Baluchi, a 44-year-old Kuwaiti, is one of five defendants before a military tribunal on Guantánamo Bay charged with participation in the 9/11 plot, but the case has been in pre-trial hearings for 10 years, mired in a dispute over legal admissibility of testimony obtained after torture. ...

There was no time limit for the “walling” sessions but “typically a session did not last for more than two hours at a time.” They went on for so long because Baluchi was being used as a teaching prop. One former trainee told investigators “all the interrogation students lined up to ‘wall’ Ammar so that [the instructor] could certify them on their ability to use the technique.”

Julian Assange denied permission to appeal against US extradition

Julian Assange has moved a step closer to a US trial on espionage charges after the UK’s highest court refused to hear his appeal against extradition. The WikiLeaks founder was attempting to appeal against a judgment by the high court in December that ruled he could be extradited after assurances from the US authorities with regard to his prison conditions there.

The supreme court said on Monday that it had refused permission to appeal “as the application didn’t raise an arguable point of law”. After the decision, the case is expected to be formally sent to Priti Patel to approve the extradition.

Assange’s lawyers will have four weeks to make submissions to the home secretary before her decision. There also remain other routes to fight his extradition, for instance by mounting a challenge on other issues of law raised at first instance that he lost on and have not yet been subject to appeal.

The attempted appeal to the supreme court was specifically on the issue of the US assurances.

Matt Taibbi: Orwell's 1984 Comes True In US Propaganda

Hedges: Waltzing Toward Armageddon with the Merchants of Death

The Cold War, from 1945 to 1989, was a wild Bacchanalia for arms manufacturers, the Pentagon, the CIA, the diplomats who played one country off another on the world’s chess board, and the global corporations able to loot and pillage by equating predatory capitalism with freedom. In the name of national security, the Cold Warriors, many of them self-identified liberals, demonized labor, independent media, human rights organizations, and those who opposed the permanent war economy and the militarization of American society as soft on communism.

That is why they have resurrected it. ...

The Russian invasion of Ukraine, perhaps a cynical goal of the Western alliance, has now solidified an expanding and resurgent NATO and a rampant, uncontrollable militarism. The masters of war may be ecstatic, but the potential consequences, including a global conflagration, are terrifying. Peace has been sacrificed for US global hegemony. It has been sacrificed for the billions in profits made by the arms industry. Peace could have seen state resources invested in people rather than systems of control. It could have allowed us to address the climate emergency. But we cry peace, peace, and there is no peace. Nations frantically rearm, threatening nuclear war. They prepare for the worst, ensuring that the worst will happen.

So what if the Amazon is reaching its final tipping point where trees will soon begin to die off en masse. So what if land ice and ice shelves are melting from below at a much faster rate than predicted. So what if temperatures soar, monster hurricanes, floods, droughts, and wildfires devastate the earth. In the face of the gravest existential crisis to beset the human species, and most other species, the ruling elites stoke a conflict that is driving up the price of oil and turbocharging the fossil fuel extraction industry. It is collective madness.

The march towards protracted conflict with Russia and China will backfire. The desperate effort to counter the steady loss of economic dominance by the US will not be offset by military dominance. If Russia and China can create an alternative global financial system, one that does not use the US dollar as the world’s reserve currency, it will signal the collapse of the American empire. The dollar will plummet in value. Treasury bonds, used to fund America’s massive debt, will become largely worthless. The financial sanctions used to cripple Russia will be, I expect, the mechanism that slays us, if we don’t first immolate ourselves in thermonuclear war. ...

Putin played into the hands of the war industry. He gave the warmongers what they wanted. He fulfilled their wildest fantasies. There will be no impediments now on the march to Armageddon. Military budgets will soar. The oil will gush from the ground. The climate crisis will accelerate. China and Russia will form the new axis of evil. The poor will be abandoned. The roads across the earth will be clogged with desperate refugees. All dissent will be treason. The young will be sacrificed for the tired tropes of glory, honor, and country. The vulnerable will suffer and die. The only true patriots will be generals, war profiteers, opportunists, courtiers in the media and demagogues braying for more and more blood. The merchants of death rule like Olympian gods. And we, cowed by fear, intoxicated by war, swept up in the collective hysteria, clamor for our own annihilation.

US/NATO Preparing False Flag Chemical Attack In Ukraine?

Volodymyr Zelenskiy expected to urge jet transfer in address to US Congress

Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the president of Ukraine, will address Congress on Wednesday in what could prove his most powerful plea yet for the west to take a tougher line against Vladimir Putin.

Zelenskiy is expected to use the virtual address to urge members of the House of Representatives and Senate to intensify pressure on Joe Biden to allow the transfer of MiG-29 fighter jets from Poland. ...

Zelenskiy, who will speak at 9am Washington time on Wednesday, has been seeking to drum up support with video briefings of foreign audiences. Last week he received a standing ovation from the British parliament and echoed William Shakespeare (“The question for us now is: ‘To be or not to be’”) and Winston Churchill (“We will fight in the forests, in the fields, on the shores, in the streets”).

Zelensky says Ukraine must recognise it will not join NATO

Kim Iversen: China, Russia Declare A NEW WORLD ORDER In Released Joint Statement

US urged China not to supply arms to Russia at ‘intense’ Rome meeting

The United States has held “intense” high-level talks with China in an effort to try to dissuade Beijing from supplying arms to Russia, at a meeting in Rome which the White House sees as critically important not just for the war in Ukraine but also for the future of the global balance of power. ...

“It was an intense seven-hour session, reflecting the gravity of the moment, as well as our commitment to maintaining open lines of communication,” a senior administration official said. “This meeting was not about negotiating specific issues or outcomes, but about a candid direct exchange of views.” ...

The official would not describe the Chinese response to US arguments in Rome, nor comment on reports that the US had briefed allies on Monday, before the meeting, that Beijing had shown willingness to provide military assistance to Russia.

China reacted angrily to the reports in multiple media outlets citing US officials. Its foreign ministry spokesman, Zhao Lijian, said the US was spreading “malicious disinformation,” with “sinister intentions,” according to translations by journalists in the room.

“China’s position on the Ukraine issue is consistent and clear, and China has been playing a constructive role in promoting peace talks,” Zhao said. “It is imperative that all parties exercise restraint and cool down tensions, not add fuel to the fire.”

War in Ukraine: India firmly on Putin's side despite international pressure

Boycott of Russian gas and oil ‘could cause mass poverty in Germany’

Germany has warned that an immediate boycott of Russian gas and oil supplies could hurt its own population more than Vladimir Putin, bringing mass unemployment and poverty. “If we flip a switch immediately, there will be supply shortages, even supply stops in Germany,” the economic and energy minister Robert Habeck told public broadcaster ARD on Sunday, as Europe’s largest economy intensely searches to diversify its energy supplies in the medium term.

The Green party politician predicted “mass unemployment, poverty, people who can’t heat their homes, people who run out of petrol” if his country stopped using Russian oil and gas.

Few other western economies are as dependent on Russian energy as Germany: 55% of the natural gas, 52% of the coal and 34% of mineral oil used in the country comes from Russia, for which it pays hundreds of millions of euros daily, financially supporting the war machine currently devastating Ukraine.

Habeck said his government was working hard to ensure Germany would be in a position to give up Russian coal by the summer, and to phase out Russian oil by the end of the year, but that a short-term ban on Russian gas could leave his country exposed. “With coal, oil and even gas we are step by step in the process of making ourselves independent”, the former Green party co-leader said. “But we can’t do it in an instant. That’s bitter, and it’s not a nice thing morally to confess to, but we can’t do it yet.”

Russia NATIONALIZES Western Assets As Debt Default Looms

Russia on the brink of debt default

A Russian default on its international debt has come a big step closer with warnings from the IMF and the World Bank that it is very much on the cards because of the decision by the United States and the European Union to freeze the foreign currency assets of the Russian central bank they hold. In an interview with the CBS program “Face the Nation” on Sunday, IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva said that a Russian default was no longer “improbable.” ...

“In terms of debt service obligations, I can say no longer we think of Russian default as [an] improbable event. Russia has the money to service its debt but cannot access it. What I’m more concerned is that there are consequences that go far beyond Ukraine and Russia,” she said. ... Asked if a Russian default could set off a global financial crisis, Georgieva said, “for now, no.” The total exposure of banks to Russia was about $120 billion, an amount that while not negligible, was “definitely not systemically relevant.” ...

Warnings of a default have come from Russia itself. On Sunday, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov threatened to pay international bond holders in roubles rather than dollars when interest rate payments become due. He said Russia needed to pay for critical imports such as food and medicines, but because of the limitations on foreign currency reserves “we will pay off our debt to those countries in the rouble equivalent.” It was “absolutely fair” that such action be taken until the sanctions, which have hit around $300 billion of Russia’s total of foreign reserves of $630 billion, were lifted, he added.

An indication of whether Russia will default will come on Wednesday when it is due to make $117 million in interest payments on two dollar-denominated bonds, neither of which has an option for payment in roubles. Russia is looking to China to try to work around the sanctions. However, China is under threat of sanctions itself if it takes such action. The Biden administration’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan said that China would face consequences if it tried to assist Moscow.

"Shocking Act of Bloodletting": Saudi Arabia Executes 81 as West Asks Kingdom to Increase Oil Output

Saudi Arabia BEHEADS 81 In Unprecedented Execution

Uproar as Mississippi signs bill to limit discussions of race in school lessons

Mississippi’s governor signed a bill on Monday to limit how race can be discussed in classrooms, marking the latest move in a Republican-driven battle over “critical race theory”, an academic framework that examines how racism has shaped US public policy and institutions.

The Mississippi bill has sparked opposition from Black lawmakers, who have said its passage could squelch honest discussion about the harmful effects of racism.

The short title of senate bill 2113 says it would prohibit “critical race theory”. But the main text of the legislation does not mention or define the theory, and many supporters of the bill also have said they cannot define it.

Tate Reeves, the state’s Republican governor, has denied the bill is an attempt to limit the teaching of history. “Contrary to what some critics may claim, this bill in no way, in no shape and in no form prohibits the teaching of history,” Reeves said in a video posted on social media. “Any claim that this bill will somehow stop Mississippi kids from learning about American history is just flat-out wrong.”

Daunte Wright: backlash over plan to move police killing victim’s memorial

Plans to remove a street-corner memorial to Daunte Wright have been put on hold, after protests from the family of the 20-year old Black man who was killed by a Minnesota police officer during a traffic stop last year.

“If they want to not have memorials on their street corners they need to stop murdering our loved ones on street corners,” said Wright’s mother, Katie Wright.

The announcement of the plan to remove the memorial in Brooklyn Center, a city near Minneapolis, came nearly a month after a former police officer, Kim Potter, was sentenced to 24 months in prison for manslaughter.

Democrat party "insider" caught speaking what she calls a mind.

Maryland Democrat’s leaked email casts doubt over Black candidates’ electability

Doubts about the electability of Black candidates “should have no place in America in 2022”, a contender for the Democratic nomination for governor in Maryland said, after an email from a party official and donor expressing such doubt went public.

The email from Barbara Goldberg Goldman, deputy treasurer of the state Democratic party, was obtained by Axios. The news site noted the disparity between such doubts and Democratic reliance on Black voters in states across the US, not least in the election of Joe Biden as president.

In the email, which Axios said was written “to other party insiders”, Goldberg Goldman explained why she was backing Tom Perez, a former labor secretary and chairman of the Democratic National Committee, for the nomination for governor this year.

“So, my thinking beyond here is the age-old question,” Goldberg Goldman wrote. “Which candidate(s) have a better chance in the general election of beating an attractive female [Larry] Hogan team member for whom both [Democrats] and [Republicans] have expressed genuine likability?” The possible Republican nominee referred to as a successor to Hogan, who has served two terms, is Kelly Schulz, currently state secretary for commerce.

“Consider this,” Goldberg Goldman wrote. “Three African American males have run statewide for governor and have lost. Maryland is not a blue state. It’s a purple one. This is a fact we must not ignore. In the last 20 years, only eight have been with a Democratic governor. We need a winning team. IMHO.”

Manchin Opposes Fueling US Electric Vehicle Revolution Because... the 1970s Oil Crisis

U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin came under fire Monday after his recent remarks about government support for electric vehicles made the rounds on social media and suggested that the West Virginia Democrat—known for sabotaging his own party's agenda—either doesn't understand how EVs work or believes he can get away with misleading comments about them.

Washington Post columnist Catherine Rampell noted in a tweet that Manchin told an energy conference in Texas on Friday that "I'm very reluctant to go down the path of electric vehicles... I'm old enough to remember standing in line in 1974 trying to buy gas—I remember those days. I don't want to have to be standing in line waiting for a battery for my vehicle, because we're now dependent on a foreign supply chain—mostly China."

While the final version of the infrastructure bill that Manchin championed and President Joe Biden signed last year included $7.5 billion to boost EV ownership and charging capacity nationwide, the senator also criticized Democrats' efforts to increase that investment to $85 billion, saying that he has "a hard time understanding" the use of public money for such efforts.

Some critics suggested Manchin truly doesn't get how electric vehicles work. While there is a variety of EVs, from conventional and plug-in hybrids to fuel cell cars to battery electric vehicles, BEVs are powered by batteries that are built into the cars and recharged with grid electricity.

"This is Manchin telling us he's ignorant without telling us he's ignorant OR he's gaslighting," tweeted Paul Cicchini, the public information officer for the Illinois Department of Labor.

Tech reporter Sam Biddle said that "this is clearly disingenuous on his part but it seems possible that Manchin thinks electric cars take like, a bunch of disposable D batteries," similar to a handheld gaming console.

University of Denver political scientist Seth Masket compared Manchin's remarks to former President Donald Trump's 2019 rant against wind power. As Masket put it: "The difference between this argument and Trump's claims that windmills kill birds is that windmills have likely killed a few birds."

Others took the statements as Manchin—who's faced criticism for having contact with an ExxonMobil lobbyist and profiting from the coal industry—standing up for fossil fuels.

Krystal Ball: Does Fox News Want To NATIONALIZE Big Oil?

Democrats Demand IG Probe Into USPS Contract for New 'Gas-Guzzling' Fleet

Five U.S. House Democrats on Monday called for a federal investigation into the environmental impact of a U.S. Postal Service contract to buy new gas-powered delivery trucks, which has sparked fresh calls for firing embattled Postmaster General Louis DeJoy.

"We write to request that the Postal Service Office of Inspector General (OIG) initiate an investigation into the Postal Service's compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), particularly the filing of the environmental impact statement (EIS) for the next generation delivery vehicle (NGDV)," states the lawmakers' letter.

"The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the White House Council for Environmental Quality (CEQ), and numerous environmental stakeholders have raised concerns that the Postal Service did not meet its NEPA obligations during its contracting process for the NGDV," the letter notes. "These significant concerns warrant an investigation by the OIG."

The five Democrats pressuring USPS Inspector General Tammy Whitcomb to launch a probe are Reps. Gerry Connolly (Va.), Jared Huffman (CaIif.), Brenda Lawrence (Mich.), Stephen Lynch (Mass.), and Carolyn Maloney (N.Y.), chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform.

Their letter to Whitcomb highlights that the controversial contract with Oshkosh Defense could lead the USPS to acquire up to 165,000 vehicles over a decade—which conflicts with President Joe Biden's proposed transition to zero-emission government vehicles.

"The Oversight Committee strongly supports the purchase of electric vehicles for the Postal Service's fleet, which would significantly cut emissions and position the Postal Service as an environmental leader," says the letter. "Given the potential environmental impact of the NGDV contract, it is crucial that the Postal Service conduct a robust environmental analysis prior to moving forward."

"Postal vehicles serve a public purpose—helping to deliver the mail six days a week across the United States—and must do so in an environmentally sound manner," the letter continues. "Given the substantial public interest in this acquisition and the significant deficiencies in the EIS identified by EPA, it is critical that Congress understand whether the Postal Service properly met its statutory environmental obligations."

Concerns and criticism of DeJoy's plan have mounted over the past month, with opponents calling it "supervillain stuff" and renewing calls for the USPS board of governors to fire the scandal-plagued postmaster general, who was appointed during the Trump administration.

Sun sets on Mexico’s paradise beaches as climate crisis hits home

Almost all the infrastructure in Quintana Roo state is concentrated in a coastal ribbon of beach resorts and timeshare properties, especially from Tulum to Cancún, about 80 miles (130km) to the north. Air-conditioned white minivans filled with tourists buzz over hot asphalt as palms stand by on parade. But this land is in a perilous position. Rises in sea level driven by the climate crisis could reach 40cm (15in) by 2050, says Ruth Cerezo-Mota, an oceanographer at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), with four to 20 metres of beach lost. This “would mean chaos”, says Christian Appendini, a coastal engineer at UNAM. “All the beaches in front of urban developments would probably disappear unless drastic nature-based beach restoration measures are taken.”

The 700-mile coast of Quintana Roo has been eroded at a rate of 1.2 metres a year, with some parts losing up to 4.9 metres a year, according to Mexico’s tourism ministry. Beaches are disappearing, and some are only maintained artificially with sand dredged from the seabed. Often they are little more than strips of sand, no wider than a dirt road. Sometimes the strand has completely vanished, leaving waves breaking against the walls of swimming pools, restaurants and houses.

Hurricanes are expected to increase in intensity due to higher ocean temperatures, leading to storm surges and exacerbating beach erosion. In 2005, Cancún lost large swaths of an eight-mile beach after Hurricane Wilma, which were later artificially restored, and then hit again by Hurricane Dean two years later. In 2020, the Riviera Maya region experienced 17 tropical storms and 13 hurricanes in one of the most active hurricane seasons on record.

Algal blooms have also plagued the coast of the Riviera Maya, a phenomenon scientists have linked to warming sea temperatures. The beachfront along the coast is frequently lined with mounds of rotting black seaweed. In Tulum, the seaweed is often stacked high in piles with workers shovelling it on to wheelbarrows on the shore and hotel owners despairing over where to put it all. ...

“I think there is a window of about three years before developers start feeling the economic effects of environmental degradation,” says Jennifer Ruiz-Ramírez, an oceanographer at the University of Quintana Roo. “That is how long it will take for tourists to figure out that the reality no longer corresponds to the image they are being sold.”

Also of Interest

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

Three Lessons From The Melian Dialogue Which Apply Today

In Praise of ‘Whataboutism’

Ukraine - Officials Announce False Flag Attack - Sanctions Hit Back

Big Brave Keyboard Warriors: Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix

Supreme Court Inches Towards Deciding Whether State Legislatures Can Draw Congressional Districts Largely Free of Court Oversight

US astronaut’s return hangs in the balance as tensions with Russia escalate

Yorkshire’s lost ‘Atlantis’ nearly found, says Hull professor

Biden Blames ALL INFLATION On Putin

MSNBC Praises Hitler To Manufacture Consent For Ukraine War

Ryan Grim: The REAL Fix For The Inflation Problem Is Something You Don't Want To Hear

A Little Night Music

Ernie K-Doe - Te-Ta-Te-Ta-Ta

Ernie K-Doe - A Certain Girl

Ernie K-Doe - Loving You

Ernie K-Doe - Little Bit of Everything

Ernie K-Doe - Fly Away with Me

Ernie K Doe - Dancin' Man

Ernie K Doe - I'm Sorry

Ernie K-Doe - Wanted, $10,000.00 Reward

Ernie K Doe - Beating Like A Tom Tom

Ernie K. Doe - Here Come The Girls

Ernie K-Doe - Hotcha Mama