The Ukraine war was provoked by NATO's imperialistic expansion. The first condition for peace is that Trump understands our responsibility. Clinton, Obama, Nuland, Biden, Blinken are guilty. Trump can accept this without losing face. He should turn the page without emotion. Russia has no interest in seeing the US or Europe humiliated. Every party to an armed conflict has personal dignity and no one likes defeat. Yet, wars end with victors and vanquished. The key to peace is in reestablishing mutual respect and avoiding humiliating the former enemy

The concepts of alternative truth or “post-truth” were associated with Trump during his first administration. But Trump holds no patent on “post-truth”, as we experienced during the Biden Administration, which will be remembered for its appetite for fake news, fake history, fake law, fake diplomacy, and fake democracy.

FINALLY! The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued TODAY arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. When the ICC had failed to do so, it would have lost the little authority and credibility it still has. The ICC also issued an arrest warrant against Hamas military leader Mohammed Deif, who reportedly was killed in one of the many bombardments of Gaza. Hamas undoubtedly committed war crimes that must be investigated and prosecuted.

I seldom agree with Josep #Borrell on anything, but on #Israel's murderous campaign against the #Palestinians, it is certainly "ethnic cleansing" -- but so much worse -- it is #genocide. Borrell wants the #EU to take decisive action against Israel - that would be easy - 1. immediately stop all commercial relations with Israel, 2. criminalize the sale of weapons to Israel after the filing of the ICJ case by South Africa, 3. break diplomatic relations with Israel.

The Trump-Harris debate was irrelevant. Who cares? Whoever sits in the White House will still be subordinate to the military-industrial-financial-media-digital-academic complex. The US wants full spectrum dominance, but it lost it long ago. Trying to regain this dominance may lead the world to Apocalypse, including the Latin American, Africans and Asians who have nothing to do with the European madness.

The US walked Ukraine into disaster. The American public were misinformed by the media and believed the totally wrong narratives. Notwithstanding the overall responsibility of Biden and Blinken for the tragedy, it is the average American that will bear the financial and moral consequences.

So-called "colour revolutions" are favourite tools of the "democratic West" and of so-called human rights ngo's. We have become accustomed to such Orwellian plots and the "Ministry of Truth" persuades us of the benign intentions behind them. Yet another victim of a "colour revolution" is the former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina who has been quite explicit in blaing the US for the coup d'état as revenge for her refusal to agree to a US base on Bangladeshi territory.

Biden’s withdrawal was overdue. The question is whether there is any Democratic party candidate today who would advance democratic values, education, health care, the creation of jobs, engage in multilateral diplomacy as Jimmy Carter tried to do? The Democratic National Committee should not have nominated Hillary Clinton in 2016. Senator Bernie Sanders should have been a strong candidate, and he would have beaten Trump.

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