During the Nakba, Zionist forces committed the most unspeakable & barbaric acts imaginable in a deliberate campaign of terror against the Palestinians. Some of the most disturbing oral accounts were collated by Rosemary Sayigh in “Palestinians: From Peasants to Revolutionaries”. Sayigh’s book should be read in its entirety, but @stevesalaita’s excellent review of it for @LiberatedTexts makes clear its importance and relevance: liberatedtexts.com/reviews/a-hist…

Iran completely dominated an abysmal Wales side & deservedly won that match. The BBC’s analysis - Jurgen Klinsmann in particular - implying they only won because of the ref/their “gamesmanship” & they’re essentially cheats because it’s “in their culture” is an absolute disgrace. Especially galling from Klinsmann who was a such notorious cheat/diver in his career that his goal celebration was a fake dive.

“Charles misused his influence to shield Peter Ball, a former Anglican bishop and old friend, from punishment after the cleric had admitted sexually abusing a young novice, an independent inquiry found” nytimes.com/2019/05/10/wor… In addition to Charles’ friend & long term tenant Peter Ball being a paedophile, his mentor & uncle, Lord Mountbatten was also. As was his ‘spiritual guru’ (& godfather to William) Laurens van der Post, as well as his long term close friend & “marriage counsellor”, Jimmy Saville.

The existence of Israel as an ethnocratic settler colony is in itself a perpetual act of violence. A state that considers one group of people to be human beings but not another can only be created & maintained through systematic, daily acts of violence on every conceivable level. This is important to consider when you see people condemn Israel’s cruel acts of violence against Palestinians, regardless of whether they are children or elderly as “senseless”, because the reality is that such acts, however sadistic, in fact have a clear intent and purpose.

All war reporting must be viewed in this context: More info on the Cuba example mentioned here:

https://twitter.com/louis_allday/status/1030516502691303425

Surprised to see this in Newsweek:

“in 24 days of conflict, Russia has flown some 1,400 strike sorties and delivered almost 1,000 missiles (by contrast, the United States flew more sorties and delivered more weapons in the first day of the 2003 Iraq war)”newsweek.com/putins-bombers… The source for much of the story is the DIA, US military intelligence, so this leaked info that pushes back very strongly against the media narrative of Putin intentionally killing civilians etc, likely reflect an internal disagreement on strategy, maybe US military and the CIA.

A decade ago today, NATO’s assault on Libya began & the most developed country in Africa as per the UN’s Human Development Index was crushed. It was whitewashed as a humanitarian intervention & supported by everyone from Anthony Bourdain to Ken Roth & a host of ‘Left’ luminaries. One such luminary was the supposed Marxist and anti-imperialist Gilbert Achcar who declared confidently in 2011: “[I]f there is no clarity about what a post-Gaddafi Libya might look like . . . it can’t be worse than Gaddafi’s regime”.

The propaganda campaign on Syria taught me that Western media isn’t simply biased, but knowingly & systematically creates an alternative reality in support of the US narrative to an extent that I had hugely underestimated. Many of the same tactics are being used now with Ukraine. One of it’s most powerful techniques is making anyone who questions that narrative or doubts the veracity of the claims used to support it appear heartless, which naturally makes people stay silent about doubts they might have & allows the narrative to become even more dominant.

A statistic that’s just blown my mind: according to Forbes Magazine’s figures, the wealth of the US’ richest *three* oligarchs (Musk, Bezos and Gates) alone is $594bn, a total that is greater than the wealth of the richest *one hundred* Russian oligarchs combined at $558bn. Among many things, realising the extent of that disparity has made me realise the extent to which the propaganda about Russian oligarchs and their wealth has been successful on me, I never would’ve guessed the difference in wealth would be that enormous.

The UK sanctioning Abramovich after green-lighting the Saudi Govt takeover of Newcastle is not really a question of ‘double standards’, as that label implies a moral standard is being applied inconsistently, whereas in fact a political one is being applied *consistently*. The UK was never bothered by Abramovich’s massive funding of Zionist settlers stealing Palestinian land for the same reason it is not concerned with Saudi’s ongoing war on Yemen (of which it is a major partner) - those activities align with the interests of the UK and its allies.

The west virtually destroyed Syria over a decade-long proxy war (then direct military occupation) and continues to immiserate it through sanctions and other means of economic warfare and sabotage. The idea it “stood back and watched” is not only a lie, but deeply offensive. Of course it is the guardian publishing this propaganda in order to call for further western aggression. Behind its progressive facade it’s probably the most reliably pro imperialist and pro war paper there is, it’s record is there for all to see.

On this day in 1966, Kwame Nkrumah was deposed as President of Ghana in a CIA coup. His editor & confidante June Milne believed the publication of his book ‘Neo-Colonialism’ the previous year was the “final straw” in the CIA’s decision to depose him. The CIA wrote a review of Nkrumah's book at the end of 1965 that concluded by reporting copies of it had been sent to the African Division of the Deputy Directorate for Plans (DDP) - the CIA's covert action arm - for study & “whatever action these components consider advisable”.

Leader-focussed framing is a central component of Western propaganda campaigns. It’s used to sell the simple idea there is a “bad guy” who “we” must stand up to, & like clockwork, anyone who dares to critique that narrative is immediately labelled an apologist for that leader. It’s an unfortunately effective means of controlling the narrative and limiting dissent, notably because it comes not only from the right, but habitually and vocally from prominent leftists like Owen Jones.

Immediately after Israel occupied East Jerusalem in 1967, it demolished the city's Moroccan Quarter in it’s entirety – a neighbourhood that had existed for 700 years. Its residents were given two hours' notice before the houses were bulldozed. "So suddenly came this dictate that one woman from the quarter who did not hear the calls to vacate was buried alive beneath the rubble that evening. Her body was found the next morning under the ruins of her home."

Colin Powell’s shameful role in the US’ propaganda campaign to justify its invasion of Iraq is well known, but what’s less spoken about is that he facilitated, covered up and justified US war crimes in Vietnam, including the notorious My Lai Massacre. consortiumnews.com/2018/03/17/beh… Powell justifying the murder of Vietnamese civilians:

Today’s events are like those in Khalde a few months ago. There’s a clear plan to attempt to provoke Hezbollah into reaction by committing acts of violence against its supporters in order to spark civil conflict. It’s an additional element of the ongoing economic warfare model. And all those people who are framing this latest violence in an intentionally vague manner that suggests Hezbollah or it’s supporters are responsible as opposed to those targeted are playing a part in the campaign.

Zionists having a collective meltdown over Sally Rooney supporting the cultural boycott of Israel is 👌 Shameless clowns

Looks like using Guantanamo Bay to imprison Haitians will shortly be added to the ever-expanding list of utterly obscene things the Biden administration has done.

https://twitter.com/jacobsoboroff/status/1440773834274054150

Remember when people who weren’t celebrating Biden’s win got attacked as “haters” who “weren’t letting people enjoy things”? Despicable.

It feels significant the White House is portraying the violence at the border as it following “Covid Safety Protocol”, using Title 42, legislation that’s supposedly aimed at ‘preventing the spread of Covid-19 in holding facilities’.
It was painfully obvious that legislation like this that was passed supposedly for reasons of public health would in fact be used in obscene ways like this. Biden extended Title 42 “indefinitely” in August.

What an achievement this is shouldn’t be underestimated. Hezbollah has successfully delivered fuel to suffocated/sanctioned Lebanon from another sanctioned country (Iran), via yet another sanctioned country (Syria). All three working together against US hegemony & it’s designs.

https://twitter.com/AlMayadeenNews/status/1438408985929994242

https://twitter.com/allushiii_new/status/1437476040809537537

One of the most depraved front pages I’ve ever seen. Page six: