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Adam Johnson Profile picture
@adamjohnsonCHI
Dec 22 • 11 tweets • 3 min read • Read on X
more brainless stenography from the paper of record. Is anyone at NYT interested in doing any actual journalism or just running through a list of "officials says" and wholesale embracing the US govts line? lets break down the problems with the latest copy and paste job from NYT🧵
(1) The piece heavily implies that Venezuela's oil is under sanctions from "The US and other countries". It is not, it is only under sanctions from the US.

(2) we've now moved from scare quotes to the NYT just using the term "ghost tankers" This is a meaningless propaganda term
Why are they "ghosts"? Could it be because one country (the US) is stealing their oil? And they'd like them to not do that? Is anyone at the NYT interested in asking if these ships are hiding their location because the US is hijacking them rather than the current narrative...
that the US is hijacking their ships because the US is suddenly very interested in the flag display formalism in international waters? Does anyone think this is anything other than pretextual? and clearly a system designed to create its own pretext through US belligerence?
(3) The US can steal billions in oil from a starving country but––don't worry, NYT assures us––it's only a "law enforcement action" not an act of war. So if China unilaterally stole dozens of US ships with billions in oil rest assure the NYT would not consider this an act of war Image
(4) once again the NYT makes the claim these actions are legal citing the UN Law of the Sea. And once again the NYT does so without pointing out the fairly relevant fact that the US––unlike 167 other countries––is **not a signatory to the UN Law of the Sea**
So the NYT finds a blob lawyer to throw out fancy sounding treaties that seem vaguely consistent with international law without noting that (1) random countries can't just go around enforcing flag requirements via stealing ships (2) the US isn't a signatory to the relevant treaty
The US has zero legal authority to unilaterally engage in "law enforcement actions" on intl waters & the only lawyers the NYT can find to say they do are American blob lawyers. By this logic China can begin hijacking US corporate ships that violate their Taiwan-related sanctions
NYT's Liberal-washing of Trump over his transparent attempt to provoke war using piracy is bottom rung even for the Times. Total embrace of the WH line, no seeking out international legal experts critical of the US, and totally false "internationalizing" of unilateral US dictates
If the NYT wishes to embrace the editorial position "might makes right," and the US can do whatever it wants because it has the largest military in the world, they're welcome to. But they can't keep lying/bullshitting that any of this has anything to do with international law
the NYT continues its zombie liberalism. Despite the fact that Trump openly talks about taking Venezuela's oil, despite the fact that the WH brazenly lies about everything, the NYT still goes out of its way to run through the motions of intl law formalism

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More from @adamjohnsonCHI

Adam Johnson Profile picture
Dec 19
It’s correct that Israel doesnt want Hamas out of power in a formal sense, they want them totally disarmed which is to say they want everyone in Gaza disarmed so they can use an IDF solider getting a paper cut as a pretext to finish the job against a wholly defenseless population
This is why, despite half of Palestinians disapproving of Hamas according to most polls, 70% reject Hamas disarmament because (1) they know in effect Israel means a disarmament of everyone not on their payroll and (2) they’re be nothing standing between them an total annihilation
This is why this “external” security force plan keeps hitting “roadblocks” because its based on a fundamental distortion of Israel’s goals. Israel doesnt want Palestinian autonomy—Hamas or no Hamas—they want to staff out occupation/depopulation plans to the US and its Arab allies
Read 7 tweets
Adam Johnson Profile picture
Dec 4
There’s a frog in boiling water element to this too. On polymarket you can bet on whether Gaza will be ethnically cleansed. On Kalshi you can bet on whether they’ll be famine in Gaza (that one paid out for ‘yes’ btw) This is objectively depraved and should not be legal but 1/2 Image
Image
it is not only legal but totally normalized and never commented on by anyone in our media. CNN, by partnering with Kalshi, is going to be “reporting on the news” now while offering the chance to wager on these events. On mass death, starvation, dispossession and genocide. 2/2
The fate of victims of an ongoing genocide—a genocide often supported and backed by the same investors and executives of these gambling apps—are just another chip on a roulette table. The total dehumanization of the billions of NPCs they wager on and fleece is complete and total.
Read 5 tweets
Adam Johnson Profile picture
Nov 27
A simple way of explaining this to people is that Israel’s calculus is that they can maintain apartheid and carry out genocide and will still be seen as a normal country—just with some bad apples. BDS says no, this is unacceptable. Israel is banking on Business As Usual. 1/4
“Open dialogue” claptrap is just another version of Business As Usual. To the extent speaking to Israelis in person has any political utility (very debatable) it is VERY MUCH outweighed by the more urgent and meaningful goal of cementing Israel’s pariah status. 2/4
There’s a reason why 38 states have passed anti-BDS laws and exactly zero have banned Socratic Masterminds like Peter Beinart or Ben Burgis from speaking to Israelis. One challenges actual power, one is fart sniffing idealism and/or careerism 3/4
Read 4 tweets
Adam Johnson Profile picture
Nov 13
None of the people in these emails lovingly chatting with Epstein will face social consequences and we know this because in 2019 it was revealed Bill Gates met with Epstein several times—and his wife of 30+yrs divorced him over it!!—and this basically went into a memory hole.
vanityfair.com/style/2022/03/…
All you have to do is produce some Netflix documentaries about public health or climate change or whatever and everyone basically moves on.
Read 6 tweets
Adam Johnson Profile picture
Nov 5
[$70 million organization dedicatedly entirely to israel]: it’s important politicians understand Israel is irrelevant and they need to ignore it
It’s an interesting PR tactic common with pro-Israel groups I call Quantum Zionism. they put on press tours, trips to Israel, luncheons etc for politicians, then when it’s a politician critical of Israel they go “um obsessed with Israel much? Hum, curious why that would be?”
The obvious implication is this “singling out” or “obsession” can only be explained by antisemitism. But they can’t actually say this because they don’t have the courage or substance to level such a charge so it’s just heavily implied
Read 4 tweets
Adam Johnson Profile picture
Nov 5
Trump openly said his motives for attacking Venezuela are to seize its oil. But recent explainers in WaPo, Politico, BBC pontificating about Trump's motives do not mention this fact at all. I wrote about western media's bizarre refusal to state the obvious
columnblog.com/p/media-pontif…
For years Trump has openly talked about how he thinks the US should take over other countries' resources. Indeed, exploitation of resources is his most consistent, publicly espoused motive behind his foreign policy. Why is this dynamic rarely discussed in Venezuela coverage? Image
I get that 'resource grab' stuff has the undignified and Unserious whiff of conspiracy but this isn't an issue when the guy in charge openly says “when I left, Venezuela was ready to collapse. [Had I won in 2020] we would have taken it over, we would have gotten all that oil.”
Read 4 tweets

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