A Broadsheet of Conflict: Escaping the News Cycle
[Image: a frame from an Al Jezeera report on Israeli settlers attacking Palestinians harvesting olives.]
Published: 2022-11-07
A reading of this article is available.
Introduction
This is not an "article" or "essay". Rather it is a report on international issues many of which "fly under the radar" or rapidly disappear from view. It is not the order but the collection of the issues which asks for consideration.
A sequence of recent events and preceding conditions places the world in a position of considerable instability. There are elements of good news, as outlined by former Indian diplomat Bhadkumar in a recent article for People's Dispatch. Additionally, a ceasefire has been reached in Ethiopia. This modicum of hope stands in stark contrast to a broadsheet of conflict.
Becoming invested in whatever the latest story which the news cycle is promoting lessens ones ability to see the wider picture. This report attempts to remind us of the wide array of concerns which face our society and planet. This list of issues is by no means exhaustive.
Issues
Pakistan and India
Ousted former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, has been giving political speeches attended by over a hundred thousand citizens in multiple locations. He is encouraging his supporters to march towards Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan. On 2022-11-03 he was wounded by bullet fragments in his right leg. Various articles describe this as an assassination attempt. Richard Medhurst noted that no Pakistani Prime Minister has ever completed a term of office, so fractured is their political situation. The possession of nuclear weapons by both Pakistan and India, and their continued conflict over the province of Kashmir is a constant thorn in relations between these two nuclear armed nations.
Korean Peninsula
The recent military exercises by the USA and South Korea, Vigilant Storm, cause the government of North Korea, the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, to fire the most numerous salvo of missiles to date into the Sea of Japan. In response, the USA extended the period of the military exercises, further raising tensions. Caitlin Johnstone identified the "self licking boot" of military escalation at play.
Ukraine
The USA has not only undermined previous peace talks between Ukraine and the Russian Federation over the conflict in Ukraine, as exemplified by former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson's visit to Kiev following the Istanbul talks, but continues to deny any dialogue to create a ceasefire to save the lives of Ukrainian and Russian people. To highlight the intractability of the USA position an open letter signed by 30 members of the Progressive Caucus of the the USA House of Representatives which called for diplomacy to be a component of the USA's role in the conflict was retracted with 24 hours of its release. Meanwhile, it seems that the UK is forming the modern equivalent of the "stay behind" partisan forces left after the second World War as documented by Daniele Ganser in Operation Gladio.
European Economies
Germany has raised 200 Billion Euro to alleviate the suffering of its population caused by its compliance with NATO dictates to defund Russia by cutting off its and greater Europe's inexpensive energy supply from Russia. The inflation rate in Europe averages above 10% for the year and Britain's Bank of England has raised interest rates by 75 "basis points" from 2.25% to 3% as an attempt to control this inflation.
China/Taiwan
USA House Speaker Pelosi visited Taiwan and spoke with local legislators demolishing the "strategic ambiguity" policy of the USA since Nixon's advances to China during the early 1970's. Further visits have been made by other USA members of government. The FCC's visit is the most recent. The USA has also allocated billions of dollars to fund Taiwan's military.
AUKUS/Quad
The USA has formed two new military alliances around southeast Asia in the area they recently labeled as the "Indo-Pacific". The alliances are AUKUS, between Australia, the USA and the UK, in which the later two will profit from supplying nuclear powered, but not armed, submarines to Australia. The French were mightily annoyed by this as their contract to supply Australia with diesel-electric submarines was canceled in the process. The second alliance is "The Quad" between the USA, Australia, Japan and India. It is completely opaque as to what level of co-operation exists in these alliances. The USA has expanded its military in northern Australia with the stationing of long range B-52 bombers. The B-52's range would theoretically enable an attack, nuclear or conventional, on China's mainland from the Australian airfield at which they are to be positioned.
Africa
In 2007 the USA formed AFRICOM, a military command to engage in Africa. Since, it has continued to expand on the continent. Vijay Prashad's recent article builds on a body of work by Nick Turse examining this unacknowledged military expansion by the USA. African countries are another battleground between the global influence of the declining USA/NATO empire and the rising multipolar world. African nations are attempting to avoid being caught in a vice between "the west" and other international organisations such as BRICS+ and the SCO.
Yemen and Ethiopia
The Yemen war continues. The USA and UK's military contractors continue to support Saudia Arabia in their war against the Houthi rebels.
Conflict has thankfully reached a ceasefire in Ethiopia between the government and the Tigray region.
Nuclear Tensions
Russia Today recently published an Op-Ed by one of its editors, Abbas Duncan. The article describes the Perimeter (also known as "Dead Hand") system built by the USSR as an automatic fallback system for a return nuclear strike should their political leadership by assassinated by an incoming nuclear attack. The article concludes that the system has received updates and implies that it is still operational.
Cuba
For 30 years the UN General Assembly has voted against the continued economic blockage of Cuba by the USA. The most recent vote was 185 for with 2 against and 2 abstentions. I know this is a stupid question, but which other country has maintained an economic blockade against another nation which has been protested against with successful resolutions demeaning the action for 30 long years? The USA's recent National Security Strategy is long on democracies fighting autocracies. The USA is the subject of 30 years of condemnation by the rest of the world for its treatment of Cuba.
G7 vs OPEC+
Following the most recent meeting of the G7+Australia they announced that they are continuing with the insane plan to impose a "price cap" on Russian energy exports. They are quadrupling down on a failed policy. The existing sanction policies have failed miserably. Russia itself was surprised by how successfully it managed to withstand the economic sanctions. They are currently making even more money from energy exports, and exporting less. The price cap is pure political theater and will fail to achieve any useful objectives beyond a few headlines. Meanwhile, the G7 economies will suffer because of these policies.
Palestine
The latest party trick for Israeli settlers is to turn up on Palestinian land armed with clubs and guns and verbally abuse and then physically attack Palestinians who are harvesting olives on their land. The threat is that the Palestinians might feed themselves.
Conclusion
Sorry that this report is such a downer.
I live in hope that we can understand this turmoil and consider ways to reduce this constant escalation and conflict.
Update
The “Russiagate” canard
Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) have consistently debunked the “Russiagate” political play by Hillary Clinton and her inner circle which ran roughshod over the tatters of integrity left to the USA’s “mainstream” media following their WMD support for the 2003 illegal and disastrous invasion of Iraq. Co-founder of VIPS, Ray McGovern has suffered the indignity of continuing to read the New York Times and has recently declared that their suppression of the truth even outlasted the suppression by Adam Schiff.
The honorable Craig Murray has already declared that the email data was from a person inside the DNC. Murray lead the FBI on a chase via various local houses of ill-repute in Washington. The merry tale displays the joy WikiLeaks and its supporters have experienced while running rings around the colossal “intelligence” community.
Sources
Gauging the Chances of a Biden-Putin Meeting in Bali, M.K. Bhadrakumar, Consortium News, 2022-11-05
The Ethiopian government and Tigray have agreed to end a 2-year war, Associated Press, NPR, 2022-11-02
The Assassination Attempt Against Imran Khan Exposes the Establishment’s Dirty Game, Andrew Korybko, Global Research, 2022-11-04
US, South Korea to Extend Massive Aerial War Games After North’s Missile Launches, Dave DeCamp, Antiwar, 2022-11-03
The Self-Licking Boot Of US Militarism, Caitlin Johnstone, her newsletter, 2022-11-05
Under pressure, progressives retract call for diplomacy in Ukraine, Connor Echols, Responsible Statecraft, 2022-10-25
Leaked documents: British spies constructing secret terror army in Ukraine, Kit Klarenberg, The Grayzone, 2022-11-03
Ganser, Daniele. "The Ghost Of Machiavelli An Approach To Operation Gladio And Terrorism In Cold War Italy." Crime, Law And Social Change, Vol. 45, No. 2, 2006, Pp. 111 154, Daniele Ganser, Internet Archive, 2006-03-01
Germany agrees 200 bln euro package to shield against surging energy prices, Holger Hansen and Kirsti Knolle, Reuters, 2022-09-29
Bank of England raises rates by most since 1989 even as long recession looms, By David Milliken and Andy Bruce, Reuters, 2022-11-03
U.S. FCC commissioner visits Taiwan to discuss cybersecurity, telecoms, By Sarah Wu , Yimou Lee and David Shepardson, Reuters, 2022-11-02
Senate tees up billions in military aid to Taiwan to counter Chinese aggression, Peter Kasperowicz, Fox News, 2022-10-12
US Plans Nuclear-Capable B-52 Deployment to Australia: Report, Inder Singh Bisht, TheDefensePost, 2022-11-03
Africa Does Not Want to Be a Breeding Ground for the New Cold War, Vijay Prashad, ScheerPost, 2022-11-05
Dead Hand’s nuclear revenge: What would happen if the West launched an attack on Russia?, Abbas Duncan, RT editor, RT, 2022-11-06
Entire World Votes 185 to 2 Against Blockade of Cuba—US and Israel Are Rogue States at UN, Ben Norton, ScheerPost (originally published at Multipolarista), 2022-11-04
EXCLUSIVE G7 coalition has agreed to set fixed price for Russian oil -sources, By Andrea Shalal , Noah Browning and Timothy Gardner, Reuters, 2022-11-04
Settler attacks wreak havoc on Palestinians during olive harvest, Zena Al Tahhan, Al Jazeera, 2022-10-17
New York Times Still Burying the Truth on ‘Russian Hack’, Ray McGovern, Antiwar, 2022-11-07
The CIA’s Absence of Conviction, Craig Murray, his website, 2016-12-11
12/13/16 – Craig Murray: DNC, Podesta emails leaked by Americans, not hacked by Russia, Scott Horton interviews Craig Murray, Scott Horton Show, 2016-12-13
Direct MP3 download.
Videos
Russia, Ukraine and Preventing Nuclear Holocaust with Jeffrey Sachs | The Tulsi Gabbard Show, Tulsi Gabbard interviews Jeffrey Sachs, The Tulsi Gabbard Show, 2022-10-18
Dr. Daniele Ganser Interview : NATO's Secret Armies - Operation GLADIO, Daniele Ganser is interviewed regarding Operation Gladio, The Mind Renewed podcast, 2015-02-03
Ideas and Society | Australia and China: A conversation with Paul Keating, Professor James Curran interviews former Australia Prime Minister Paul Keating, La Trobe University’s Ideas and Society program, uploaded 2022-10-17
Imran Khan SHOT | Who Is Behind It?, Richard Medhurst, Richard Medhurst, 2022-11-06
Culture
Ana Vidović - FULL CONCERT - CLASSICAL GUITAR - Live from St. Mark's, SF - Omni Foundation, Ana Vidović, Omni Foundation, uploaded 2021-03-27
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