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About stuartbramhall

Retired child and adolescent psychiatrist and American expatriate in New Zealand. In 2002, I made the difficult decision to close my 25-year Seattle practice after 15 years of covert FBI harassment. I describe the unrelenting phone harassment, illegal break-ins and six attempts on my life in my 2010 book The Most Revolutionary Act: Memoir of an American Refugee.

The French Revolution: Peasant Revolt and the Abolition of Feudalism

1789 French National Assembly

Episode 8: Peasant Revolt and Abolition of Feudalism

Living the French Revolution and Age of Napoleon

Dr Suzanne M Desan

Film Review

Historically, the political reforms the French won in their revolution were far more radical than Americans won in the American Revolution. Following the Paris uprising on July 4, 1789, French peasants revolted between July 20th and August 16 in an insurrection known as the “Great Fear. In a few regions, peasants (mainly those who evicted them from common lands) put their feudal lords under popular arrest.

Desan identifies three main causes of this insurrection:

1) Hunger – worsened by aristocratic hoarding to increase prices.

2) An increase in organized pillaging of farms by brigands (10% of the population were vagabonds and there were rumors aristocrats were paying them to steal grain).

3) Rumors the king’s brothers were organizing foreign mercenaries to invade France and restore the king to sovereignty.

Rumors were still the main source of information in the countryside as the majority of peasants were illiterate and two-thirds of them still spoke regional dialects (such as Gascon, Occitan, Provençal, etc) rather than French.

In the National Assembly on August 4, 1789, several nobles stood up and called on their fellow aristocrats and church officials to renounce their feudal dues, hunting rights and tithes. The Assembly adopted most of these proposals, only to recant a week later and water down the reforms they had agreed to.

The reforms they ultimately approved included the abolition of

  • feudal dues, for using manorial ovens, grain mills, wine presses, etc
  • seigniorial court
  • dovecotes (housing the lords pigeons and/or doves)
  • all unpaid peasant labor

At the same time they set up a committee to

  • explore the abolition of all aristocratic titles and to establish a government bureaucracy based merely on merit and equality (abolishing the sale of bureaucratic offices and a merit based system to allow any (male) person to enter the ranks of the church and army.
  • guarantee complete religious freedom in all the professions
  • explore the complete abolition of the nobility.

They rejected proposals (by a right wing group called the monarchiens) to create an upper chamber in France comparable to the British House of Lords and to give the king an absolute veto of any legislation they passed.

Meanwhile the wives of artisans donated their jewels and merchants their silver shoe buckles to the National Assembly to pay off the national debt. In the countryside, peasants tore open their lords’ dovecoats* and shot the pigeons and doves that were damaging their crops.

By 1793 the National Assembly had effectively abolished feudal dues and peasants now paid rent  or bought small parcels of land they owned outright.


*A small, decorative shelter for pigeons or doves, often built on top of a house.

A round two-storey building set with a conical roof is set into a wall, made of the same greyish stone. There's a stairway within the wall to the left of the building and behind it is a pink flowering cherry tree. It's a bright, sunny spring day and the sky is blue.

**Church tithes were eliminated in 1791, when the French government began paying the salaries of priests.

Film can be viewed free with a library card on Kanopy.

https://www.kanopy.com/en/pukeariki/watch/video/149323/149339

Jan 6: Why Ray Eps Was Let Off

James Howard Kunstler

Clusterfuck Nation

You know why the judge let provocateur Ray Epps off the hook for his antics before and during the so-called J-6 “insurrection,” don’t you? Well, yes, it was partly because he was acting at the direction of blob officials, most likely the FBI, but possibly the CIA, Defense Intelligence, or some black-box fed outfit no one ever heard of (but somehow gets half a billion in funding every year). Ol’ Ray pleaded to one year’s probation (no jail time), 100 hours of community service (checking books out at his local library?), and a $500 fine. Say, what. . . ? A speeding ticket on the Rockville Pike would probably cost you more.

You remember those videos of Ray on the DC street the day before the riot, importuning the crowd, a commanding presence with his military bearing and red hat, six inches taller than most of the other men around him, yelling, “Tomorrow we need to go into the Capitol, into the Capitol!”  At which moment the crowd groaned “no-o-o-o. . . !” and then commenced chanting, “fed. . . fed. . . fed. . . !” They had his number. His use of the word need was especially beguiling, as in, who actually “needed” that to happen?

I’ll tell you one reason Ray didn’t get, like, twenty years, nor two years of pre-trial detention in the reeking, roach-infested DC lockup, or massive fines, like other J-6 defendants: Because he told his handlers in no uncertain terms that he would blow their cover and vivisect them publicly on the whole fed J-6 operation if they so much as made him show up in person for any proceeding — and, of course, he “attended” his sentencing by phone, in a Zoom meeting from a remote location.

Okay, I’ll tell you the actual reason that Ray Epps got the VIP powder puff treatment: It was to give half of America a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. . . the old double-barreled middle finger. . . a thunderous fuck you, with the subtext: we can do anything we want to you and you can’t do anything about it. . . and we can rub your faces in it, too, ho ho. . . and then empty a bed pan over your head in case you’re not feeling sufficiently impotent and humiliated. And the purpose of all that is their hope to foment some act of genuine violent resistance against the blob to justify further lawless persecution of the blob’s enemies. They’re really hoping to set off a civil war to justify martial law in order to ensure a free and fair election.

The judge in the Ray Epps case is. . . wait for it. . . the fabulous judicial utility infielder, James Boasberg, now Chief Judge of the DC Federal District Court, a big cheese. Yes, the same rascal who sat on the FISA Court during the FBI’s “Crossfire Hurricane” shenanigans, when they fed all manner of fake documents to that court to enable the FBI to conduct warrantless surveillance on Donald Trump’s campaign, and then afterwards on his presidency.

It was Judge Boasberg who let FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith off the hook with probation when he was charged with doctoring an email to conceal the fact that FBI target Carter Page had been an active CIA informer in Russia over the years, not just some schlub swanning around the fringe of the Trump Campaign. Getting a FISA warrant on Carter Page was tremendously advantageous to the FBI, because it enabled them to use the “three-hop rule,” meaning they could also surveil anyone else in the Trump retinue who Mr. Page had communicated with by phone or email.

The disposition of Ray Epps’s case also means there will be no further official inquiries into his behavior that fateful day 1/6/21. The principle of double jeopardy means he can’t be tried for the same thing twice. There will be no further inquiries into what he did that day and on J-6 itself when he appeared at the barricades on the Capitol grounds, apparently goading protesters to bust through them. It’s a dead letter. Chalk up a “W” for the blob.

[…]

Via https://kunstler.com/clusterfuck-nation/poison-spiders-at-the-center-of-the-web/

 

Assymetric Warfare: Why the Houthis Can Beat the Collective West

 

by Russell Bentley via Sputnik Globe

The Houthis might at first appear to be vastly outmatched by the US/UK armada that has struck Yemen, but militarily and economically, the US and Europe are actually much more vulnerable than the Houthis. To put it simply, in both economic and military terms, the US, UK and Europe, and Israel, have a lot more to lose.

The Houthis are not alone – Hezbollah, considered to be one of the most effective fighting forces in the world today, has an estimated 100,000 highly trained and motivated and very well armed soldiers in Lebanon, and is already at (undeclared, but de facto) war with Israel, and will probably escalate in the next few days. In October, 1983, Hezbollah was able to kill 305 US and French occupation soldiers at a cost of only 2 KIA on the Hezbollah side.

Of the US and French soldiers, 220 were US Marines, the greatest single loss in one day of US Marines since the Battle of Iwo Jima in 1945. In the 2006 Hezbollah-Israeli War, in which Israel invaded southern Lebanon, Hezbollah was able to inflict “unacceptable casualties” on Israeli forces, which resulted in the withdrawal of IDF forces and the signing of UNSC1701. While the Lebanese casualties were significantly higher than Israeli, the conflict is generally seen as a tactical and strategic defeat for Israel. Israel and their US/EU allies would do well to remember both of these battles before continuing to escalate an already extremely volatile situation beyond the point of no return.

Escalation between Hezbollah and the IDF on Lebanon’s southern border will not only expand the current area of conflict into the eastern Mediterranean, it can quickly become a serious threat to the Israeli city of Haifa, only 20 miles from the Lebanese border. Haifa is Israel’s 3rd largest city, with a population of around 300,000. The Port of Haifa is Israel’s second largest by cargo tonnage, and the Haifa oil refinery (the largest, and one of only two in Israel) processes more than 66 million barrels of crude oil per year, more than a million barrels per week. The port, and especially the refinery would be prime targets, and significant damage to either, especially the refinery, would have serious repercussions for the Israeli economy.

The “massive attack” by US/UK naval forces against the Houthis involved airstrikes, as well as approximately 100 cruise missiles, at a cost of more than $1 million each. According to reports published by the Houthi military command and Western media, the attack killed five Houthis. Now, do the math. The US and UK just spent a collective $100 million to kill 5 Houthis and escalate and exacerbate an already volatile situation. Based on assurances from the Houthi government that only Israeli-connected shipping was under threat, the majority of Red Sea shipping traffic had actually continued the Red Sea unhindered.

This is no longer the case. As of January 13th, after the US/UK attacks and their possible continuation, the International Association of Independent Tanker Owners (Intertanko), which represents almost 70 per cent of all internationally traded oil, gas and chemical tankers, said in an advisory to members to “stay well away” from the Bab al Mendab strait, and for vessels travelling south via the Suez Canal to pause north of Yemen. This major disruption of tanker traffic may well have an upward influence on oil prices, coming as it does right on the heels of Saudi Aramco’s announcement of a $2 per barrel discount beginning in February.

The Huthis don’t even have to shoot at any more ships – just the threat of the possibility of Houthi or coalition missiles being fired has been enough to disrupt Red Sea shipping traffic, which carries 12% of all global trade goods, and a staggering 30% of all container goods. It is actually the US/UK “coalition” that has escalated the situation to dangerous levels that now interfere with much more shipping, including tanker traffic.

[…]

Via https://sputnikglobe.com/20240114/asymmetric-warfare-why-the-houthis-can-beat-the-collective-west-1116154913.html

Smallpox Vaccine Death: A Long, Ignored History

Image via openverse

Casandra’s Box

Vaccine deaths have always existed, and have always been denied. This is a story of some of these forgotten vaccine deaths.

Inoculation Deaths

Inoculation, or variolation, was the practice of deliberately infecting someone with smallpox. This was the practice that was used prior to the introduction of the Jennerian method of deliberately infecting people with cowpox as a method to protect from smallpox.

This practice was very dangerous. The more sensible (if that’s the right word) inoculators admitted this risk, they just argued that the odds were better with inoculation than natural infection since they had observed that people generally only got smallpox once.

A man called Jurin (a pro-inoculator) collected statistical data on the question of inoculation. He stated that inoculation had a death rate of 1 in 48 (13 in 624). But that the natural disease killed 1 in 6, so that the odds were better with inoculation (of course, what this logic ignores is that you aren’t guaranteed to get smallpox, and even if you were, you might get it many years later, meaning many life years lost to inoculation).

The Case of John Baker

When Edward Jenner entered into this discussion, he performed experiments on children to attempt to prove that cowpox protected from smallpox. This bit is well known, what is less emphasised, however, is Jenner’s arguments relating to horse grease and cowpox. Jenner believed that there was more than one form of disease of the cow’s teat – horse grease cowpox and spontaneous cowpox. In his initial text, the Inquiry, he argued that the protective form of cowpox was the horse grease form. Jenner believed that the disease was essentially artificial in the cow. The chain of events was as follows, in Jenner’s mind: the horse developed a disease known as grease which affected the heels of the horse. The farrier would have to dress the heels of the horse, causing the disease to be on his hands. However, he also did double duty milking the cow, and as such, then spread the disease to the cow’s teat. Pustules and inflammation developed on the teat as a result and this was horse grease cowpox (which could protect from smallpox).

This is relevant because Jenner wanted to compare direct horse grease with horse grease cowpox. As such, he vaccinated two children, one with horse grease direct and one with cowpox. The child vaccinated with the horse grease was John Baker, a 5-year-old. Jenner had intended to test his immunity by inoculating him for smallpox, but he was ‘rendered unfit for inoculation’, Jenner said, by a fever he caught in the workhouse. The boy died and the most plausible assumption is that he died as a result of the vaccination experiment.

‘Preserving Vaccination From Reproach’

Vaccination death has always been covered up by the medical establishment. As critics of vaccination have pointed out, one way this is done is to put the symptom on the death certificate, but not the cause of the symptom. In this way it can be stated that the child died of erysipelas or some other condition, without blaming vaccination.

What is of interest is we have one case from the 19th century where a doctor openly stated they concealed vaccination as the cause of death on a death certificate. Henry May, a physician from Birmingham (United Kingdom) stated the following in 1874:

A death from Vaccination occurred not long ago in my practice, and although I had not vaccinated the child, yet in my desire to preserve Vaccination from reproach, I omitted all mention of it from my certificate of death.

Henry May, cited in White 1885

20th Century Deaths

For much of the twentieth century, deaths from vaccination were higher than deaths from smallpox. Smallpox declined due to increased sanitation:

A Mr. John Cryer, an ardent anti-vaccinationist, taught school in Bradford, Eng. One day he noticed a lad of about twelve years—a new pupil in school. He questioned him: “Where did you come from?” “Sheffield, sir.” “How long have you resided there?” “Six years, sir.” “How many are there in the family ?” “Six of us, sir.” “Then you were in Sheffield during the small-pox epidemic ?” “Yes, sir.” “Did any of you have the small-pox?” “Oh, no, sir, we lived in a front street.” That last sentence tells the whole story. It is worth more than a dozen reports of Local Guardians; worth more than whole columns of statistics. It hits the nail square on the head, and locates the disease. Why didn’t the lad say: “Oh, no, sir, we were all vaccinated?”

J.M. Peebles

Vaccination also declined significantly after the mandates were eased and objection clauses inserted.

Nevertheless we have multiple deaths reported from vaccination. Between 1933-1946 there were 89 child deaths from vaccination according to the official statistics. During the same time 28 died from smallpox. This will likely be a large undercount due to the concealment of vaccination deaths.

[…]

Via https://cassandrasbox.com/2024/01/14/smallpox-vaccine-death-a-long-ignored-history/

100s of Federal Employees Plan to Strike Next Week in Protest of Biden’s support for Israel

The White House is bracing for a walkout of hundreds of employees in protest to its handling of the Middle East crisis and funding of Israel's war efforts

By Will Potter For Dailymail.Com

  • White House employees and staff from more than two dozen federal agencies are set to strike on Tuesday  
  • The walk out will mark 100 days of Israel’s siege on Gaza, which has killed upwards of 23,000 people, mostly civilians 
  • It comes amid growing internal resentment toward the Biden administration’s handling of the Middle East crisis

Hundreds of Biden administration employees and federal staffers from more than two dozen agencies are set to walk off the job next week in protest of the White House‘s handling of the Middle East crisis.

An anonymous internal cabal calling itself ‘Feds United for Peace’ have organized the strike for Tuesday, marking 100 days of Israel‘s siege on Gaza, according to AI Monitor.

The move is reportedly fueled by growing resentment inside the administration over Biden’s unwavering support for Israel’s military bombardment of Palestine, which has killed upwards of 23,000 people, mostly civilians.

There are concerns that Biden’s support for the conflict is costing him significant political currency, particularly with young voters, just as his 2024 re-election campaign heats up.

President Biden  is facing the internal revolt from a group calling itself ‘Feds United for Peace.’ There are fears his support for Israel is costing the White House significant political capital, especially with young voters, as he heads into the 2024 election

The walk out is a drastic departure from how top federal employees have shown their disapproval toward White House policy in the past, which was typically reserved to media leaks or public resignations over policy.

But the organizers, who have remained anonymous, say they are intent on changing direction from within, and they expect ‘easily hundreds’ of staffers to join their efforts on Tuesday.

They say they have commitments from people inside 22 federal agencies for the strike, including from the Executive Office of the President, the National Security Agency, Homeland Security, Defense Department, and the FDA.

The Biden administration has so far sent upwards of $14 billion to Israel alongside significant military support, with United Nations estimates placing the number of displaced Palestinians since at 1.9 million people – 85 percent of its population.

One of the organizers of the strike told AI Monitor that they decided to launch the protest as it ‘grew out of a collective desire to do what we could to influence the Biden administration’s policy on this issue.’

‘What you’re seeing with this effort is something very unusual, and that is for dissent to be manifested via a physical act,’ they added.

The unrest has also reportedly seen a number of letters also drafted through the State Department’s private ‘dissent channel’, a way for staffers to raise concerns anonymously that was set up during the Vietnam War.

To curb the internal revolts, White House officials have reportedly held meetings with their aides to hear out their concerns, including ‘listening sessions’ between Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Arab American, Muslim and Jewish staffers.

There is mounting internal backlash to Biden’s approach to the crisis in Gaza, as he has sent upwards of $14 billion to Israel alongside significant military support

The United Nations estimates the number of displaced Palestinians stands at 1.9 million people – 85 percent of its population

The organizer said they had ‘unequivocally’ tried to raise their points internally, but feel the mass walkout is one of their last resorts.

‘It’s one thing to write letters from within, but when policy discussions and dissent cables yield no shift in policy — and in some views, a double down on that policy — then people feel they have no other option because they’re not being heard,’ they added.

While top federal staffers in years past have resigned in protest over disagreements, the organizer said they felt a ‘moral obligation and patriotic duty’ to change Biden’s approach from the inside.

Specific issues cited for the walkout also included America’s obstruction of ceasefire campaigns within the United Nations, and the bypassing of Congress to send weapons to Israel.

The demonstration comes as reports cite growing anger from Washington elites over the attitude of young staffers in showing their disapproval to their bosses.

A series of anonymous letters penned by staffers in the White House, State Department and Biden’s re-election campaign have been levied since the conflict erupted in October, a move that would have been unthinkable decades ago.

James Carville. a longtime Democratic operative and former campaign strategist for President Bill Clinton, said the demonstrations from staffers mark a dramatic departure from how aides showed their disapproval in years past, and a strike ‘wouldn’t even cross your mind’

James Carville, a longtime Democratic operative and former campaign strategist for President Bill Clinton, told Politico that the letters mark a turning point to how young staffers speak their minds.

‘There’s this whole, “You’re not the boss of me” attitude now. “I might work for you but I have my own views,”‘ he said.

‘If you said you didn’t like some of President Clinton’s policies, the idea that you would go public with that would be insane. Just wouldn’t do that. It wouldn’t even cross your mind.’

[…]

Via https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12959421/biden-administration-employees-walk-protest-israel-war.html

Millions Protest in Yemen after U.S. and U.K. Bombing – Turkey President Warns Red Sea will now Become “Bloodbath”

 

“Millions” of people in Yemen reportedly took to the streets to protest.

Health Impact News

As I have previously reported, the Red Sea war and the shutting down of the commercial shipping route, has affected Europe negatively as it disrupts their oil imports, but it has increased sales of oil from the US by over 1 million barrels a day.e U.S. Secured Red Sea Shipping Routes? U.S. Oil Exports have Increased by 1.377 Million Barrels A DAY Since Houthis Started Attacking Ships

So I wouldn’t expect the shipping route through the Red Sea to be resolved anytime soon, as this current campaign will drive up the price of oil, just as the U.S. is exporting more oil due to these conflicts in the Red Sea. Resolving this war in the Red Sea would hurt business for the Rockefeller oil industry, even if it costs the lives of Americans serving in the Navy in the area.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan condemned the U.S. and British airstrikes on Yemen’s Houthi rebels, saying the attack would turn the Red Sea into a “bloodbath.”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan condemned Friday the U.S. and British airstrikes on Yemen’s Houthi rebels, saying the attack was would turn Red Sea into a “bloodbath.”

“First of all, they are not proportional. All of these constitute disproportionate use of force,” Erdoğan told journalists after Friday prayers in Istanbul.

“It is as if they aspire to turn the Red Sea into a bloodbath.”

The U.S. and British strikes came in response to Houthi attacks on what they deemed to be Israeli-linked ships traveling in the Red Sea.

Erdoğan said his government had received news from various channels that the Houthis were conducting “successful defense and gave successful answers both to the U.S. and Britain.”

Speaking about South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at International Court of Justice (ICJ), he said they had confidence in the Court and added that Türkiye contributed to documenting Israel’s crimes.

“All the documents we have given are seriously working in The Hague and we will continue to provide these documents … I believe Israel will be found guilty,” he said.

“Netanyahu no longer has a hole to run to, no means to defend,” added Erdoğan. (Source.)

Iran, along with their ally Russia, have condemned the attacks as “illegal.”

Iran Strongly Condemns ‘Arbitrary’ US, British Attacks on Yemen

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran has vehemently condemned the military actions undertaken by the United States and Britain in Yemen, labeling them as “arbitrary” and a blatant violation of Yemen’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

“The attacks are a breach of international laws and regulations,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said in Iran’s initial response to the aggression, emphasizing that such “arbitrary attacks” would only serve to escalate insecurity and instability in the region.

He voiced concern over the motivations behind these military actions, saying that these military attacks are carried out “in line with the continuation of the full support of the United States and the United Kingdom for the last hundred days of the Zionist regime’s war crimes against the Palestinian nation and the oppressed citizens under the complete siege of the Gaza Strip”.

Yemeni officials reported the attacks saying that explosions rocked the cities of Sanaa, Hudaydah, Saada, and Dhamar early Friday, with a US official confirming that the assaults were executed through airplanes, ships, and submarines.

“While the Zionist regime continues its attacks and war crimes in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank in Palestine, the United States and England are trying to detract the attention of the people of the world from the crimes of this fake, criminal, and aggressor regime against the people of Palestine by expanding their umbrella of support for the Zionist regime,” Kanaani said. (Source.)

It was reported last month (December, 2023) that Iran had established a “voluntary navy force” consisting of 33,000 small boats armed with missiles.

Iran announces establishment of Basij voluntary naval force

According to the commander, the unit has already recruited 55,000 members and has 33,000 small vessels that are equipped with 107mm missiles

DUBAI, December 20. /TASS/. Iran has established a voluntary Basij naval force, said Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy Commander Rear Admiral Ali Reza Tangsiri.

“Guided by past experience in conducting maritime operations to free ships seized by pirates, we have concluded that it is necessary to establish a separate Basij unit to carry out maritime missions,” Tangsiri was quoted as saying by Iran’s Tasnim news agency.

According to the commander, the unit has already recruited 55,000 members and has 33,000 small vessels that are equipped with 107mm missiles. (Source.)

Iran’s English language news site has recently been posting photos of many “new warships and speedboats” for their navy.

[…]

Via https://healthimpactnews.com/2024/millions-protest-in-yemen-after-u-s-and-u-k-bombing-turkey-president-warns-that-red-sea-will-now-become-blood-bath/

US Air Force Aids Israel in Gaza Genocide

[Ashraf Amra – Anadolu Agency]

Middle East Monitor

The US is quietly [without congressional approval] providing intelligence to Israel for targeting purposes in Gaza, deploying US Air Force “intelligence engagement officers on the ground,” according to a deployment order obtained under the Freedom of Information Act and published at the Intercept.

While the administration of President Joe Biden has publicly insisted US forces are not directly aiding Israel’s military campaign in Gaza beyond the rescue of prisoners of war, the newly uncovered deployment orders suggest American personnel are secretly advising on offensive target selection and intelligence gathering.

Freedom of Information Act materials show the US Air Force dispatched officers specialising in “targeting intelligence” to Israel in late November as concerns that Israel is carrying out genocide in Gaza started to grow. The revelation contradicts assurances that US advisers are solely focused on hostage recovery.

READ: Israel’s AI system for target selection has generated ‘mass assassination factory’ in Gaza

“I’ve directed my team to share intelligence and deploy additional experts from across the United States government to consult with and advise the Israeli counterparts on hostage recovery efforts,” said Biden three days after the Hamas attack.

But several weeks later, on 21 November, the US Air Force issued deployment guidelines for officers, including intelligence engagement officers, headed to Israel, the Intercept reported.

Experts say the team would likely provide satellite imagery and analysis directly used for Israeli bombing of suspected Hamas sites in densely populated Gaza. This sensitive targeting support allows the US to coordinate with Israel’s military while avoiding public scrutiny.

The deployment order was issued by the Pentagon’s air component command for the Middle East, Air Forces Central (for Central Command). The document provides deployment instructions to airmen sent to the country, including “airmen assigned as the Intelligence Engagement Officer (IEO)” — personnel who specialise in sharing sensitive intelligence with partner militaries.

Rights advocates argue that by bolstering Israeli capabilities, Washington makes itself complicit in potential war crimes including genocide. US administration statements celebrate supporting Israel’s “self-defence” but conceal specifics of weapons supplied to the occupation state and intelligence provided to target Palestinians.

“As a general matter, US officials who are providing support to another country during armed conflict would want to make sure they are not aiding and abetting war crimes,” Brian Finucane, a former legal adviser for the State Department who now works for Crisis Group, told the Intercept.

[…]

Via https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20240112-us-quietly-sent-american-air-force-unit-to-aid-israel-in-gaza-genocide/

US/UK Military Presence in Red Sea Violates International Law

Al Mayadeen

UK and US presence in the Red Sea violates International Law, and the Republic of Yemen is responsible for dealing with it appropriately.

The Yemeni Supreme Political Council of the Sanaa government issued a statement on the joint US-UK overnight aggression against Yemen warning of imminent retaliation.

“What the country has been subjected to is an unjustified and illegitimate American-British aggression, which violates all international laws,” the statement’s opening statement read.

“All American and British interests have become legitimate targets for the Yemeni Armed Forces in response to their direct and announced aggression against the Yemeni Republic,” the Supreme Political Council warned.

“The aggression on Yemen is an extension of the treacherous American targeting of the Yemeni Naval Forces and the American-British-Zionist aggression on the people of Gaza. The American-British aggression is a real threat to international peace and security, putting the region at grave stakes.”

“The presence of American and British forces, and those allied to them, under false pretexts in the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab [strait] is rejected and violates all laws. This presence [of the US and UK in the Red Sea] is a threat to international navigation, and it’s the duty of the Yemeni Republic to deal with it the way it sees fit.”

“We affirm the commitment of the Yemeni Republic to what was declared at the beginning of its naval operation to end the blockade, stop the aggression, end the genocidal war on Gaza, and allow the entry of food, medicine, fuel, and all means of life.”

[…]

Via https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/all-uk–us-interests-in-region-are-legitimate-targets–yemen

French Revolution: Storming the Bastille

https://i5.walmartimages.com/asr/73a8379a-9235-4207-b4b0-287a68f5c326_1.1afd38198baca4fe5b969a7bfd21538f.jpeg

Barricade on Rue St Martin

Episode 7: Storming the Bastille

Living the French Revolution and Age of Napoleon

Dr Suzanne M Desan

Film Review

The storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789 is celebrated as the start of the French revolution. This fortress was a state prison for the king’s personal enemies, many of whom were imprisoned without trial. Jailers were forbidden to speak to prisoners, who in many cases, were never informed of their crimes. Ironically on July 14th, all but seven had been moved somewhere else.

By July, 1789, economic conditions were so dismal, that Parisians were far more concerned about the price of bread than the workings of their new National Assembly. On July 11, 5000 protestors marched through Paris marched through the city to condemn Louis XVI’s Jacques Necker, viewed as the “people’s protectors” and a strong National Assembly supporter.

On the 14th, journalist and political activist Camille Desmoulins issued a call for Parisians to arm themselves against the 5,000 (mostly mercenary) troops the king deployed outside Paris. In their for arms and ammunition, the Bastille became an immediate target owing to rumors Louis XVI stored gunpowder there.

The fortress was guarded by 30 soldiers and 82 retired military pensioners, many of whom sympathized with the mob. Armed with pikes, axes and a few muskets, a mob artisans, merchants and day laborers sent in a delegation requesting a meeting with the governor (warden), while a small group mounted the roof of a perfume shop immediately adjacent to the the outer wall.

After the Bastille defenders let off one canon shot and a single round of musket fire, the attackers set fire to a load of hay to created a smokescreen. One of the military pensioners joined the rebels, who fired five cannons at the inner gate to break it down. Although the other pensioners dissuaded the governor from blowing up the gunpowder, the attackers eventually killed him and one of the soldiers after he kicked one of them in the testicles. In all 100 attackers were killed and 73 wounded.

On July 15th, the French nobility began fleeing the country en masse. By late July, there were uprisings in Caen, Strasbourg, Bordeaux and Grenoble. Each of the “liberated” cities set up a revolutionary committee to provide governance as well as local militias. The latter came to be known as the national guard. The newly formed commune of Paris chose Lafayette (a former aristocrat who assisted the American colonists in their War of Independence) to lead the Paris national guard.

Anticipating attack by Louis XVI’s troops, they set up barricades in Paris while construction workers began to disassemble the Bastille, this led to the distribution of small stone blocks across France. Lafayette sent a key to the Bastille to George Washington as a souvenir.

On July 16, the king agreed to work with the National Assembly, withdrew his troops from Paris and rehired Necker.

On July 17, he visited Paris, where Lafayette (who favored constitutional monarchy) welcomed him as the “father of the free French.”

Over the next six weeks, the National Assembly wrote the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen.

Film can be viewed free with a library card on Kanopy.

https://www.kanopy.com/en/pukeariki/watch/video/149323/149337

 

Israel staring at Paris Olympics ban for killing Palestinian athletes

By Reza Javadi

The Palestinian football fraternity is mourning the loss of Hani Al-Mossader, a veteran player and coach of the Palestinian Olympic football team, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Gaza last week.

Known as Abu al-Abed in the football circles of Palestine, he became the latest victim of the occupying regime’s genocidal war, which has not even spared athletes.

“Abu al-Abed rose (to martyrdom – PC) due to the occupation aggression on the Gaza Strip for the third month, joining the constellation of football martyrs and martyrs of the Palestinian sports movement,” the Palestinian Football Association said in a statement.

According to Palestinian media, since October 7, at least 88 Palestinian athletes have been killed in Israeli airstrikes, with 67 football players among them.

“At least 88 athletes in team and individual sports, including 67 football players were killed. Additionally, 24 officials from managerial and technical staff also lost their lives in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza,” read a statement posted on the official PFA website.

The association said it has sent “urgent letters to the International Olympic Committee and all international, continental and regional federations (including FIFA) calling for an urgent international investigation into the crimes of the Israeli occupation against sports and athletes in Palestine.”

Sports infrastructure in the besieged coastal territory has also come under devastating Israeli aerial blitz in the past three months, resulting in widespread destruction.

Condemning the Israeli army’s actions, the Gaza-based Supreme Council for Sports said the Israeli army has killed hundreds of sports figures and destroyed dozens of playfields.

Playfields turn into torture chambers

The council said stadiums and sports clubs have turned into torture and execution centers, including the Yarmuk Stadium in Gaza City.

Images and videos showing young Palestinians being stripped down to their underwear and held in large numbers at gunpoint by the Israeli army in the Yarmuk Stadium, in northern Gaza, came as a shock to many football fans worldwide.

The Gaza-based council urged international authorities to take decisive action and hold the regime forces accountable for inhumane activities inflicted upon athletes.

In mid-December, a PFA report highlighted the destruction of at least nine sports facilities, four in the occupied West Bank and five in the Gaza Strip.

It also sounded alarm over the detention of athletes in the occupied West Bank towns, and injuries they sustained during Israeli military raids.

In Late December, a prominent Palestinian footballer, Ahmed Daraghmeh, 23, was killed by Israeli forces when they entered the city of Nablus to escort Jewish settlers to a site known as the biblical Joseph’s Tomb in the occupied West Bank city.

Local Palestinians say stories of many Palestinian athletes killed since October 7 remain untold amid the information blackout.

Palestine in Olympics

Despite heavy odds, Palestinian athletes have not lost hope and are confident to compete in international sporting events this year, including the AFC Asia Cup and 2024 Summer Olympics to be hosted by Paris.

So far, two Palestinian athletes, Ahmed-al-Zahhar and Wasim Naief, have expressed their intention to compete in the Archery event at the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Amid the massive anti-Israel sentiment sweeping the world, there is a likelihood of athletes refusing to compete against their Israeli opponents in international events.

Palestinian wrestler Rabbia Khalil, who trains in Germany and aspires to compete in Paris, has already declared his unwillingness to compete against Israeli athletes.

He anticipates that more Arabic or pro-Palestine athletes may boycott competitions if required to compete against Israeli athletes, as athletes may become increasingly prepared to accept the associated consequences.

In the past, many international sports stars have refused to turn up against their Israeli opponents in international sporting events, including the Olympics, as a mark of protest against the apartheid entity’s war crimes against Palestinians.

Iranian athletes, for example, have been leading this anti-Israel boycott.

Exclusion of Israel from Paris 2024 Olympics

In light of the Israeli regime’s continued aggression against Palestinians in Gaza, calls to bar Israel from the 2024 Paris Olympics have gained momentum, reflecting a growing global concern over the humanitarian crisis unfolding in the territory.

Recently, a US-based magazine delved into the prospect of Israel’s participation in the Paris Olympics next year, asking whether it should face penalties or outright exclusion.

“​Israel’s attacks on Gaza raise a question that Western powers in the world of sports would like to avoid: Should Israel be penalized or even barred from competing in the Paris 2024 Olympics?” The Nation wrote in a report.

A prominent football journalist, in an interview with Press TV on Wednesday, decried the “hypocrisy” of international sports organizations for their failure to ban Israel from global sporting events over its ongoing genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.

Nima Tavallaey Roodsari, endorsing a petition run by the Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 (DiEM25), said Israel also must be barred from international sporting events if Russia was barred over the Ukraine war.

“This hypocrisy just cannot continue to stand, and if it does I fear that’s the beginning of the end of international sporting organizations as we know it,” he said.

The petition states that Western governments continue to toe the official line of Israel, ignoring the genocide unfolding in Gaza, with over 23,000 killed so far.

” The International Olympic Committee, FIFA, UEFA, FIBA, and other sports organizations are complicit as they allow continuous participation of the occupying apartheid regime in their events. Following a swift response and an instant suspension of Russia, it is now difficult for them to justify turning a blind eye to the Israeli government’s actions,” it stated.

Tragedy of Gaza

According to rights groups, a Palestinian is killed every four minutes in Gaza, mostly children and more than 80 percent of the population is on the brink of starvation.

Shockingly, the death toll in Gaza within the first 25 days of the war surpassed the casualties in the war in Ukraine, which has been going on for over a year and a half.

The numbers paint a grim picture—more than 23,000 Palestinians, the majority of them women and children, have lost their lives, with nearly 59,000 injured.

The Zionist regime’s targeted strikes have crippled medical facilities, rendering more than 25 hospitals out of service and endangering millions of lives.

Reports indicate that the power of Israeli bombs in Gaza exceeded that of the Little Boy nuclear bomb used in Hiroshima, with an equivalent of 10 kilograms of explosives for each Palestinian residing in the Gaza Strip.

Tragically, within three weeks of the war, the number of Palestinian children martyred surpassed the global count for children killed in all parts of the world since 2019.

Experts believe banning Israel from the Paris Olympics is the least the international sports fraternity can do to hold the regime accountable for its genocide in Gaza.

[…]

Via https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2024/01/11/718013/Israel-staring-at-Paris-Olympics-ban-for-killing-Palestinian-athletes