Interesting Articles: mid January 2024
AIPAC in Oz, the Axis of Resistance, a little Sykes-Picot and getting active with CODEPINK
Published: 2024-01-18
Interesting Articles
The Israel Lobby is International
Israeli, Zionist pressure groups exist internationally. They are well represented in the US by AIPAC (American Israeli Public Affairs Committee) which is for some unknown reason not required to register under the US' foreign influence legislation. Israeli political action was involved in the ouster of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the UK Labour Party under a cloud of "anti-semitism" accusations at people within the Labour Party.
In recent years the international Zionists have redefined anti-semitism to mean 'opposition of policy of the state of Israel' which is offensive to Orthodox Jews who do not view Judaism as a state religion and to those who have actually suffered anti-semitism as opposed to people discussing government policy.
Australia's national broadcaster is also required to comply with Israeli political opinion as evidenced by the firing of a journalist. Legal action was threatened, the head of the ABC referred the matter to the 'content' manager, the journalist was sacked and now the ABC have a case of wrongful dismissal to handle.
None of this is terribly new. Following the article, please find a collection of other references.
Australian Journalist Fired After Israel Lobby Push, Jake Johnson, Consortium News (originally Common Dreams), 2024-01-16
The dark roots of AIPAC, ‘America’s Pro-Israel Lobby’, Doug Rossinow, Washington Post, 2018-03-06
The Lobby P1: Young Friends of Israel l Al Jazeera Investigations, Al Jazeera, 2017-01-10
The Lobby P2: The Training Session l Al Jazeera Investigations, Al Jazeera, 2017-01-11
The Lobby P3: An Anti-Semitic Trope l Al Jazeera Investigations, Al Jazeera, 2017-01-12
The Lobby P4: The Takedown l Al Jazeera Investigations, Al Jazeera, 2017-01-14
Helmer Rides Two Horses While Kremlin Sits on the Fence
John Helmer's work is regularly included in this newsletter's references list for he is not only a veteran journalist and Australian but is also a long term resident of Russia. He combines the skills of an old hack with a collection of sources which enable him to comment with citation on many matters Russian.
In this Interesting Articles issue he features twice.
Firstly, he's issued a criticism of inaction at the Kremlin over the Houti/US+UK/Israel/Genocide conflict. It is included specifically because it was republished at Natylie's Place: Understanding Russia. I have not seen N. S. Baldwin republish Helmer before. Her selection of articles for republication are of consistently high quality. I imagine that Mr. Helmer will be glad for her nod to his work.
Kremlin Tries to Sit on the Fence in the Middle of the Red Sea, John Helmer, Natylie's Place: Understanding Russia, 2023-01-016
Axis of Resistance
Below, Bernard from Moon of Alabama leads Helmer on an identical theme in their articles. They are followed by Richard Medhurst in video.
The second (now there's a third and more) attack on Anṣār Allāh in Yemen has unleashed the dogs of war. That which is being displayed is the strength in depth of the Axis of Resistance, a network of local forces whose formation was begun by Qassem Soleimani. Excuse me for repeating a summary of the history.
The US + other western military intelligence supported and trained and US + others, including Gulf monarchies, funded ISIS forces which were meant to overthrow al Assad in Syria, started to act independently. Following gathering the abandoned equipment from the fleeing US trained Iraqi army advanced towards Baghdad.
Iraqi, Shia, Grand Ayatollah al Sistanti issued a fatwa for volunteers to defend the holy city of Baghdad. Soleimani along with other trained Shia Iraqi military leaders formed the volunteers into what became known as the Popular Mobilization Units, or PMUs. These defeated the advancing ISIS forces and have since been merged into Iraqi's national defence forces.
Two weeks before US President Trump left office, he authorized the drone assassinations of both Soleimani (Major-General, Iran's elite Quds (means Jerusalem, the unit is for foreign action) Force, of the Iranian Republican Guards Corp) and Muhandis (Senior commander of Iraq's PMU) in the same drone strike.
Bernard and Helmer both note that the array of Axis of Resistance forces, which the US has awoken by attacking Anṣār Allāh, are almost certain to prove far more than the US can handle. Those forces include:
the Quds Force (IRGC) which just took out both Israeli and Kurdish intelligence HQs in Erbil,
the Iraqi PMUs which are attacking US bases in Iraq,
the militia tolerated by the Syrian Arab Army which will be doing similar things in the northeast and southeast of Syria
Hezbollah who have forced 100 000 Israelis to flee the occupied Golan Heights
Hamas who are still attacking Israeli forces which try to engage them in Gaza, and last but not least
Anṣār Allāh who have survived a decade of conflict and civil strife due to the US+UK supported Saudi war on them, and have in response to the US+UK attacks on Yemen started to widen the pain they can cause the world economy by attacking whichever ships they want in the Red Sea. They started with a US cargo ship and continued with another: Game on!
For every US missle Anṣār Allāh can fabricate 1000 drones ($2 million per misssile, $2 thousand per drone). To stop this the US is going to have to interdict transport to Yemen delivering the parts. This transport has to be dominantly maritime (just look at a map). What will the US argument about ‘freedom of navigation/commercial shipping’ be then, eh?
Richard Medhurst delivers the same essential message of the forces arrayed against the US sticking its fat thumbs into the region, in video form. In the videocast/show he focusses particularly on the Yemeni’s.
If you dont know about Richard, he's the child of professional parents who worked for the UN. He grew up in the Middle East and Europe and speaks fluently English, French, and Arabic along with various other languages. He is both a Syrian and British citizen and a trained journalist and presenter. He is very knowledgeable about affairs in the Middle East and especially Syria, obviously.
When you see him wearing a scarf in a video presentation, should you be able to ask him what it is, he would be able to provide a detailed answer. He grew up with Arabs speaking Arabic. He was next door in a kindergarden when a terrotist attack occured in Pakistan. He has not so much walked the walk, as lived it. He’s been talking the talk for western audiences for various media outlets and recently had alphbet soup agency leader Alphabet Inc.’s subsidiary Youtube ban his channel. So, he’s publishing at Rumble like hundreds of other informed commentators. Rumble are actually using the Section 230 protections that the CDMA provides them rather than becoming thought police like Alphabet/Google/Youtube and Meta/Facebook and X/Twitter.
Click on the link to visit Rumble and see Richard in action.
War On Gaza - Iran Demonstrates Its Means Of Self-defense, b., Moon Of Alabama, 2023-01-16
The US, Israel have Lost Battlefield Control – Houthis Have Attacked US Destroyer, Hit Greek-US Owned Bulker; Iran Has Hit US Base in Kurdish Capital, Erbil, John Helmer, Dances With Wolves, 2024-01-16
US-UK Illegally Bomb Yemen So Israel Continues Its Gaza Holocaust, Richard Medhurst, Rumble (Video duration 00:01:16:40), 2024-01-14
An Now for a Spot of History
If one has an historical bent, a desire to understand a bit of the history of the region to put the current events in a larger context, then here are a couple of options.
Mark Curtis is an excellent researcher and writer for Declassified UK. He presents a look at the British role in Yemen, which you may have heard Medhurst commenting about in the video above.
Or, if you would really like to dig in, then James Corbett covers the carving up of the region post WWI in the "Sykes-Picot" era in his “Part 1 of False Flags: The Secret History of Al Qaeda".
Enjoy!
Bombing Yemen as British as Afternoon Tea, Mark Curtis, Consortium News (originally Declassified UK), 2024-01-14
Episode 407 - False Flags: The Secret History of Al Qaeda — Part 1: Origin Story, James Corbett, Corbett Report, 2021-09-11
Enough Research, Sign Me Up!
If, on the other hand, you're done with all the reading and you want to take political action, then which group should you join?
If your mission is one of peace and a greater understanding between cultures, just like Scott Ritter is trying to do for the US and Russia, and you think this could be more broadly applied, then how about working with CODEPINK?
Recently, some US Democrat was waxing lyrical about the latest talking point of "fighting autocracy" and Judge Napolitano knew the man's or his brother or something. In a short video clip of the dweebish Democrat as waxing lyrical on his soap box there is a slight woman, quietly holding a sign, who is also in the 'shot'. The Capitol police come and man handle her away, which offends Judge Napolitano' sensibilities.
When he plays this footage for the third time, this time to Matthew Ho, Ho immediately responds, "Yes, that's Medea Benjamin." "She's amazing."
And she is. So would agree Ray McGovern and hundreds of other seasoned activists. I could easily write a 4 000 word article on Medea and not even come close to running out of material. She is an expert at getting onto footage of "important people" saying really offensive things, while holding a sign or using her voice, and then while being videoed being dragged off by security goons. She's had an arm seriously broken once. Never stopped her.
You think that Trump is good at playing the media? Meet Medea Benjamin. Every commercial video editor knows about her so that there is no chance whatsoever that she will ever appear on CNN or Fox or anything. She is totally banned.
And still she persists. You'll find her on Democracy Now! now and then, or on various independent media platforms. She writes and is published all over the place (e.g Antiwar) and is interviewed regularly on independent media.
Medea co-founded CODEPINK.
A protest was organized by CODEPINK. The article would be worthless without the image. Who took the image? CODEPINK.
Bloodied Baby Dolls Left Outside White House to Protest Biden’s Complicity in Gaza, Jon Queally, Scheerpost (originally Common Dreams), 2023-01-13
Okay, no 4000 word article, but I did find this 😲
In Viral Video, Medea Benjamin Confronts Trump Official on Iran, Aaron Maté interviews Medea Benjamin, The Real News, 2018-09-21
Okay. One more. Napolitano and Hoh discuss the genocide and the MSM, actually. Medea comes up at the end:
Matthew Hoh: How the Media Distorts Gaza, Napolitano interviews Hoh, Judging Freedom, 2024-01-16
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Culture
Excuse Me Mr. (from the 1995 album “Fight For Your Mind”), Ben Harper, uploaded 2017-07-24
Copyleft: CC0
