Sir David Attenborough continues to inspire me because he is a true ambassador of humanity, of  awe before the marvels of Nature, of truth and joie de vivre. That's what we must reclaim and defend in 2024! Attenborough's entire career reflects the best of our civilization, the best of our love for this beautiful blue planet, the respect for all Life on Earth, the commitment to protect the environment for future generations.

The right to disagree is an acquis of civilization, a core value of democracy, an existential need of all humans, like the air we breathe, the water we drink, the choices we make. When it comes to groupthink, persons living in "democracies" are even more endangered than the masses in autocratic countries. We are more likely to believe the nonsense of our leaders, because we naively trust them. In autocracies, the people tend to have a healthy skepticism

States parties to the 1948 #Genocide convention should invoke article 9 of the Convention to refer the genocide being perpetrated by #Israel against the #Palestinians of #Gaza to the International Court of Justice, which has jurisdiction ratione materiae. Besides a "contentious case" under the Genocide Convention, the ICJ can issue an advisory opinion specifically on the civil and penal liability for war crimes and crimes against humanity in #Gaza. A General Assembly Resolution under article 96 of the Charter suffices.

The Sioux Nation Treaty Council just issued a press release stating "It is no surprise to us that the United States supports Israel's invasion and genocide of the Palestine nation as they have done for more than 75 years." Alas, our government committed genocide on the Sioux and now supports similar endeavours.

Our leaders in the US and EU have taken us to the wrong side of history.  Defending the indefensible and waging war against the rights of self-determination of peoples is a losing proposition. The Global Majority does not endorse the US and EU narrative.  Let us get this right -- for 76 years the Palestinians have suffered oppression.  Who is really the victim in this murderous war?

As UN rapporteur I issued press releases on world democracy day 15 September. Today I continue to denounce the democracy deficits in the US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, etc. We live in a Brave New World of cognitive dissonance. Freedom of opinion and expression depends on access to information, otherwise we have nothing valuable to communicate.  Alas, the UN rapporteur keeps quiet on the information clampdown and happily applies double-standards.

The report of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights released on 31 August reveals methodological and procedural problems that detract from its credibility. The so-called "assessment" of the situation in Xinjiang is woefully incomplete and does not take into account information supplied by many Chinese ngo's that demonstrate a different picture.

Gorbachev's death gives us an opportunity to imagine how the world would have been if the promises of James Baker had been kept.

#Gorbatchev
#Gorbachev Gorbachev was an honest man, a rare kind among political predators. He harboured a hope for sustainable peace between East and West.  Alas, the West persisted in confrontation.

#Gorbatchev
#Gorbachev