Archiv: Monarchien / Imperien / monarchies / empires


14.02.2024 - 13:59 [ New York Times ]

A Palestinian Exile Champions an Arab Vision for Gaza

Mohammed Dahlan, an adviser to the president of the United Arab Emirates, outlined one under which Israel and Hamas would hand power to a new and independent Palestinian leader who could rebuild Gaza under the protection of an Arab peacekeeping force.

While such plans face steep challenges, the leaders of Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the Emirates are open to supporting processes that are part of efforts leading to a Palestinian state, said Mr. Dahlan, who also has close ties to Egypt’s president, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

07.02.2024 - 16:55 [ Daniel Neun / Radio Utopie ]

BBC-Filmreihe “The Trap” (III): Die Freiheit von Berlin oder Der “Kampf der Zivilisationen”

(18. November 2012)

1965 begannen die U.S.A. während des Krieges gegen Nordvietnam ein ebenso mörderisches, wie geheimes Bombardement gegen das neutrale Kambodscha, was bis 1954 Kolonie Frankreichs gewesen war. 2,7 Millionen Tonnen Bomben zwischen 1965 bis 1973 beförderten Kambodscha “zurück in die Steinzeit” und töteten 200.000 Menschen. Den U.S.-Bomberpiloten wurde vom Pentagon sogar verboten, die eigenen Vorgesetzten zu informieren. Die angeblichen Militärstützpunkte Nordvietnams in Kambodscha, wegen denen die Bombardements vermeintlich durchgeführt wurden, existierten nicht.

Was die Tat von Wahnsinnigen war, wurde nachher als “Wahnsinnigen-Theorie” (“Madman-Theory”) verkauft: die U.S.-Regierung unter Präsident Richard Nixon und Außenminister Henry Kissinger (der später den Friedensnobelpreis bekam) behauptete, sie habe sich wahnsinnig benommen, um der Sowjetunion Angst vor einem Atomkrieg zu machen, damit diese Druck auf Nordvietnam ausübe, damit das den Krieg gegen die U.S.A. beende, den die U.S.A. selbst begonnen hatten.

1970 stürzten die U.S.A. die Monarchie unter “Prinz” Sihanouk, installierten ein Proxy-Regime und marschierten in Kambodscha ein. Sihanouk, einst 1941 im Alter von achtzehn Jahren vom französischen Vichy-Regime unter deutscher Besatzung zum neuen König der damaligen französischen Kolonie Kambodscha ernannt, floh ins China Mao Tse Tungs und formierte dort eine kambodschanische “Freiheitsbewegung”. Deren Teil: die Roten Khmer.

1972 besuchte Richard Nixon als erster U.S.-Präsident China und Mao Tse Tung, im Versuch gegen das mit der Sowjetunion verbündete Nordvietnam einen Verbündeten zu finden und die Rivalitäten sowohl zwischen China und Vietnam, als auch zwischen China und der Sowjetunion zu schüren.

Als 1975 in Vietnam die Truppen des Vietkong und Nordvietnams in Saigon einmarschierten und den Krieg gegen die U.S.A. gewannen, marschierten in Kambodscha die Truppen der Roten Khmer – von China unterstützt und traditionell verfeindet mit den vietnamesischen Kommunisten – plötzlich in der Haupstadt Phnom Penh ein. Und setzten Prinz Sihanouk als offizielles Staatsoberhaupt ein.

Von der Schreckensherrschaft Pol Pots, auf dessen Killing Fields Millionen Leichen lagen und dessen Verbündeter Prinz Sihanouk nach wie vor im Land lebte, befreite Kambodscha 1979 nicht etwa die “negative Freiheit” der U.S.A., von Frankreich, oder der U.N.O., sondern die einrückenden Truppen des kommunistischen Vietnams.

Die Mörder der Roten Khmer, die gerade einen Genozid begangen hatten, flohen in Dschungel und begannen dort einen neuen Guerillakrieg – mit Unterstützung der U.S.A. und anderer ehrenwerter westlicher Länder. 1982 formierten die Massenmörder unter Führung Sihanouks eine Exilregierung, die von den U.S.A., der U.N.O und unwichtigen Ländereien Westeuropas anerkannt wurde.

Vizepräsident dieser kambodschanischen Exilregierung: das “Staatsoberhaupt” des Pol Pot Regimes von 1976-1979, Khieu Samphan. Er lebt heute noch. Er sagt, er hätte nichts gewusst.

Pol Pot wurde nie verfolgt. Dafür sorgten die U.S.A..

Neues altes Staatsoberhaupt Kambodschas wurde 1991 Sihanouk, nach dem Abzug der vietnamesischen Truppen. Er starb erst vor wenigen Tagen, am 15. Oktober 2012, in Peking.

07.02.2024 - 16:34 [ Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia - eccc.gov.kh ]

Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia: TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS – “DUCH” TRIAL PUBLIC

(6 April 2009, 0910H)

Q. Still in the political context — of course, we will go back to your detention, speak about your detention a bit later, but you also spoke about the coup d‘etat of 1970, so a coup d‘etat through which Sihanouk was deposed and a republican regime that was set up by Lon Nol was installed.

Can you tell us, you were — can you tell us how this was perceived? In particular, how the declaration of March 1970 was perceived through which Prince Sihanouk asked the Cambodian people to rise up? I‘d like to understand how the CPK, Communist Party of Kampuchea, experienced this period and was there a real union? What happened, in fact?

[10:19:40]

A. Judge Lavergne, I would like to respond to your question based on my political view. Samdech Norodom Sihanouk was the Head of State of Cambodia. His position was the populist to preserve his throne. It was not Norodom Sihanouk. Lon Nol was

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affiliated with the United States, and when he grasped or controlled the Assembly in 1966, he managed to — he really caused the dispute and the uprising in Samlaut at the Sihanoukist side, and the other side is the Communist side which are affiliated with Marxist and Leninist, and these things were mixed up.

I think through my understanding, if Richard Nixon did not be quick to allow Lon Nol to start the coup d‘etat and allowing Khmer Rouge to cooperate with Sihanouk, I think Khmer Rouge would be demolished or otherwise they would never be able to stand up again. But Mr. Kissinger and Richard Nixon weren‘t quick and the Khmer Rouge noted the golden opportunity and King Sihanouk declare from China that all Cambodian people go through the Marxist jungle and then the Khmer Rouge troop will build up from 1970 to 1975.

I think this is the political context and people tried to gain — to have political gain. Lon Nol tried to benefit from politics and then Sihanouk also tried to gain benefit for his side.

07.02.2024 - 16:15 [ Reuters ]

Khmer Rouge jailer says U.S. contributed to Pol Pot rise

(April 6, 2009)

Duch, the first of five Pol Pot cadres to face trial for the 1975-79 reign of terror in which 1.7 million Cambodians died, said the Khmer Rouge would have faded if the U.S. had not got involved in Cambodia.

„Mr Richard Nixon and Kissinger allowed the Khmer Rouge to grasp golden opportunities,“ the 66-year-old former jailer said at the start of the second week of his trial by the joint U.N.-Cambodian tribunal.

07.02.2024 - 14:20 [ Sophal Ear / theConversation.com ]

Henry Kissinger’s bombing campaign likely killed hundreds of thousands of Cambodians − and set path for the ravages of the Khmer Rouge

(November 30, 2023)

To Kissinger, Cambodia was a “sideshow,” to use the title of William Shawcross’ damning book exposing the story of America’s secret war with Cambodia from 1969 to 1973.

During that period, the U.S. bombing of neutral Cambodia saw an estimated 500,000 tons  of ordnance dropped on 113,716 targets in the country.

Kissinger and others in the White House tried to keep the campaign from the public for as long as they could, for good reason. It came as public opinion in the U.S. was turning against American involvement. The bombing campaign is also considered illegal under international law by many experts.

But to Kissinger, the ends – containing communism – seemingly justified the means, no matter the cost. And the cost to Cambodians was huge.

It resulted in the direct deaths of hundreds of thousands of Cambodians. With the U.S. government keeping the bombings secret at the time, comprehensive data and documentation are limited. But estimates on the number of deaths range from as few as 24,000 to as many as a million.

31.01.2024 - 14:52 [ Middle East Eye ]

Mustaribeen: The Israeli undercover agents with a history of dressing like Palestinians

Dressed in medical scrubs, Islamic thobes and hijabs, wearing face masks and pushing wheelchairs, a group of Israeli undercover agents descended upon Jenin‘s Ibn Sina Hospital on Tuesday.

The agents are known in Arabic as mustaribeen, which means to „dress and act like an Arab“, and in Hebrew as mistaarivim, a derivative of the Arabic word.

20.01.2024 - 06:30 [ ]

War on Gaza: Arab despots‘ failure to stand up to Israel could fuel an explosion

But something else is happening that is just as important: Palestine is being officially defended by the Global South. South Africa has taken the lead by launching the case for genocide at the International Court of Justice in the Hague.

Palestine, at the same time, is reemerging as a global cause, just as was the case in the fight against apartheid in South Africa. The composition of South Africa’s team of lawyers says it all: multi-ethnic, male, female, Irish, British, South African. There was no Palestinian officially with them in the group. And yet, a day after the hearing ended, there were massive demonstrations in 45 countries – but not in Egypt, Saudi Arabia or even Algeria.

03.01.2024 - 08:55 [ Middle East Eye ]

War on Gaza: OIC and Arab League must back South Africa‘s ICJ case on Israel

Beyond material progress and architectural marvels that rival ancient wonders, a truly progressive state is marked by its commitment to accountability and justice – a domain where some established democracies have faltered.

After enduring a harrowing 85 days of bombardment resulting in nearly 22,000 killed, including more than 8,000 children and 6,000 women, 1.9 million displaced and the collapse of the health infrastructure, South Africa, a signatory of the Genocide Convention has finally called upon the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to examine the crisis.

This long-awaited step reflects a crucial recognition of the international community‘s role in conflict resolution and human rights protection.

03.01.2024 - 08:35 [ Jacobin ]

South Africa Is Right to Invoke the Genocide Convention Against Israel’s War on Gaza

By the 1920s, Lemkin was formulating the concepts and laws that were articulated in his best-known book, Axis Rule in Occupied Europe (1944). His unpublished manuscripts reveal that he saw colonialism as an integral part of a world history of genocide.

Those manuscripts covered an extremely wide range of cases where European colonial powers were responsible for mass killing, from the Spanish conquest of the Americas in the sixteenth century and the slaughter of indigenous peoples in Australia and New Zealand to the German massacre of the Hereros in Namibia a few decades earlier.

31.12.2023 - 20:20 [ Middle East Eye ]

Israel‘s war on Gaza encapsulates the entire history of European colonialism

In North and South America, Australia, Asia and Africa, European settler-colonialists have left behind the evidence of their psychotic genocidal practices.

The European transatlantic slave trade may have halved the population of Africa, some historians believe. The US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and many African colonies were all built on the systematic extermination, displacement and internment of the original inhabitants.

In the Israeli settler-colonialism now on violent display in Gaza and the rest of Palestine, European colonialism is living up to its murderous infamy and has returned to the global stage with a vengeance.

For decades, scholars of European colonialism have been working hard to document, archive and connect these episodes of the premeditated mass murder of native people around the globe.

07.11.2023 - 06:03 [ Wikipedia ]

Black September

Black September (Arabic: أيلول الأسود Aylūl al-ʾAswad), also known as the Jordanian Civil War,[9] was an armed conflict between Jordan, led by King Hussein, and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), led by chairman Yasser Arafat. The main phase of the fighting took place between 16 and 27 September 1970, though certain aspects of the conflict continued until 17 July 1971.

After the 1967 Six-Day War, Palestinian fedayeen guerrillas relocated to Jordan and stepped up their attacks on Israel and the occupied territories. They were headquartered at the Jordanian border town of Karameh, which Israel targeted during a battle in 1968, leading to a surge of Arab support for the fedayeen. The PLO‘s strength grew, and by early 1970, groups within the PLO began calling for the overthrow of Jordan‘s Hashemite monarchy, leading to violent clashes in June 1970.

07.11.2023 - 05:39 [ Wikipedia ]

Jordanischer Bürgerkrieg

Nach dem Sechstagekrieg 1967 verschlechterte sich das Verhältnis zwischen den Mitgliederorganisationen der Palästinensischen Befreiungsorganisation und dem jordanischen Königshaus deutlich. Die jordanische Niederlage im Krieg und der Verlust des Westjordanlandes führten zu einem Gesichtsverlust des Staates unter vielen Palästinensern. Die jordanische Regierung sah die mit ihr nicht abgesprochenen Angriffe auf israelisches Territorium als Verletzung ihrer Souveränität. So führte die Schlacht von Karame zu einem Zerwürfnis zwischen beiden Seiten. Die palästinensische Seite hatte rund 100.000 bewaffnete Kämpfer in Jordanien, und ihre Führungsschicht sah in der mehrheitlich palästinensischstämmigen Bevölkerung des Königreichs eine potentielle Machtbasis, den Staat zu kontrollieren. So verdrängten palästinensische Milizen jordanische Sicherheitskräfte aus den Flüchtlingslagern und mehreren Städten.

02.11.2023 - 19:16 [ Palestine Action / Twitter ]

Leonardo supplies Israel with Apache Helicopters and parts for their F-35 fighter jets, used to bombard Gaza. Today, we’re shutting them down in London!

02.11.2023 - 19:00 [ PalestineAction.org ]

Palestine Action Strike Britain’s Foreign Office and Occupy Leonardo On Balfour 106

Today, on the 106th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, activists from Palestine Action targeted Britain’s foreign office and are currently occupying the weapons firm Leonardo at their London HQ. Leonardo’s London offices have been covered in red paint, to symbolise the Palestinian bloodshed by their weaponry, whilst one activist remains on top of the company’s front overhang. Elsewhere, the Foreign Office in London was sprayed in messages including ‘Britain Guilty’ and ‘Fuck Balfour.

10.07.2023 - 11:41 [ NLTimes.nl ]

Dutch PM Rutte says he will not seek re-election

Various opposition parties, including left-wing bloc GroenLinks and PvdA and far-right PVV, have announced their intention to submit or support a motion of no confidence against Rutte during the parliamentary debate today. Should the motion pass, Rutte would have to step down immediately.

Rutte IV collapsed 543 days after being sworn in by the King. The Rutte III Cabinet also ended in a collapse, that one over the childcare allowance scandal in which the Tax Authority unjustly accused thousands of parents of fraud and left many in financial difficulties by revoking their benefits.

10.07.2023 - 11:23 [ ORF.at ]

Niederlande: Rutte tritt bei Neuwahl nicht mehr an

Er werde sich nach der Neuwahl im November aus der Politik zurückziehen, kündigte der dienstälteste Regierungschef in der Geschichte des Landes heute an.

Der 56-jährige Rutte hatte zuvor noch erklärt, er wolle gerne erneut kandidieren, das hänge aber von seiner konservativen Partei VVD ab.

09.07.2023 - 12:35 [ Archives.gov ]

Declaration of Independence: A Transcription

(July 4, 1776)

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government.

09.07.2023 - 11:50 [ New York Times ]

To Foreign Policy Veteran, the Real Danger Is at Home

Mr. Haass recently published a book called “The Bill of Obligations: The Ten Habits of Good Citizens,” outlining ways Americans can help heal their own society, like “Be Informed,” “Remain Civil,” “Put Country First” — all admittedly bromides and yet somehow often elusive these days. (…)

Putting his foreign policy hat aside for now, he said he wants to expand the message from his book and help refocus the country on the core values embodied in the Declaration of Independence as the 250th anniversary of the document approaches three years from now.

28.06.2023 - 14:04 [ Haaretz ]

The Next Step in Netanyahu‘s Legal Coup Will Make Every Minister an Emperor

Thanks to a law that Israel inherited from the British Mandate dictatorship, the interior minister holds the power to disband a municipality. The minister is barred from using it in the year preceding local elections. But once those elections are over later this year, this government can depose as many mayors and local and regional council heads as it wants. It can eliminate city council members and replace them with government loyalists.

The interior minister can easily find a pretext for “faulty performance” in any locale. And what will the deposed mayors do then? The Supreme Court will be unable to deem the decision to fire them “unreasonable,” because this standard will no longer be available.

24.06.2023 - 15:17 [ Wikipedia ]

Kornilov affair

Kornilov had the support of the British military attaché, Brigadier-General Alfred Knox, and Kerensky accused Knox of producing pro-Kornilov propaganda. Kerensky also claimed Lord Milner wrote him a letter expressing support for Kornilov. A British armoured car squadron commanded by Oliver Locker-Lampson and dressed in Russian uniforms allegedly participated in the coup.

Over the course of the next few days, as the Provisional Government tried to come up with a concrete plan to avert the oncoming attack, the Petrograd Soviet had taken measures to defend against Kornilov‘s advancing troops. One of these measures was the creation of the Committee for Struggle Against Counterrevolution on 11 September 1917 (28 August Old Style). Those participating in the committee were representatives of the two national soviet executive committees of workers and soldiers and of peasants, the Petrograd Soviet, the General Central Council of Trade Unions, and the Social Revolutionary (S. R.) and Menshevik parties. The most notable members of this committee were the Bolsheviks, who had a large support base among the lower class, and included organizers such as Leon Trotsky, who had been previously imprisoned but released at the behest of the Petrograd Soviet to assist in the organization of the defense of Petrograd.

(…)

The biggest beneficiary of the Kornilov affair was the Bolshevik Party, who enjoyed a revival in support and strength in the wake of the attempted coup. Kerensky released Bolsheviks who had been arrested during the July Days a few months earlier, when Vladimir Lenin was accused of being in the pay of the Germans and subsequently fled to Finland. Kerensky‘s plea to the Petrograd Soviet for support had resulted in the rearmament of the Bolshevik Military Organization and the release of Bolshevik political prisoners, including Leon Trotsky. Though these weapons were not needed to fight off Kornilov‘s advancing troops in August, they were kept by the Bolsheviks and used in their own successful armed October Revolution.

17.06.2023 - 19:43 [ Tass.com ]

Putin begins talks on Ukraine with African leaders

Russian President Vladimir Putin has begun talks with a delegation of seven African nations that arrived in St. Petersburg to look for solutions to the Ukraine crisis.

The meeting is taking place at the Konstantinovsky Palace in Strelna, which was a residence of the Romanov imperial family and now hosts official events, including international ones.

30.05.2023 - 20:40 [ theGuardian.com ]

Saudi crown prince a ‘psychopath’, says exiled intelligence officer

(25 Oct, 2021)

A former senior Saudi intelligence officer has claimed that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is a “psychopath with no empathy” who once boasted that he could kill the kingdom’s ruler at the time, King Abdullah, and replace him with his own father.

In an interview on US television, Saad Aljabri, who fled Saudi Arabia in May 2017 and is living in exile in Canada, also said he had been warned by an associate in 2018, after the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, that a Saudi hit team was heading to Canada to kill him.

06.05.2023 - 19:18 [ BBC ]

Charles and Camilla crowned in historic Coronation celebrations

Summary

– The King and Queen waved at crowds and watched a flypast at Buckingham Palace‘s balcony following a day of Coronation celebrations
– They were joined by senior royals, including the Prince and Princess of Wales and their children – but Prince Harry was notably missing
– The BBC understands Harry, who attended the coronation at Westminster Abbey, was not invited to appear on the balcony
– Earlier, the King and Queen were crowned in a ceremony full of pageantry and symbolism

21.04.2023 - 11:32 [ German Historical Institute Washington (GHI) ]

The Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany: Guiding Principles (April 1917)

Berlin, April 9-11, 1917

In the interest of the working class, the opposition within the Social Democratic Party of Germany wishes to pursue an independent and autonomous policy, which will be guided by the basic principles and demands of the party program, the resolutions of the party congresses, and the resolutions of international congresses. The opposition stands in fundamental opposition to the existing system of government, to the war policy of the federal government, and to the policy that the executive committee of the nominal [Social Democratic] party has pursued in the tow of the government. To distinguish itself from this party, the new opposition organization takes the name: Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany. The program and organization of the party are to be shaped by the lessons won during the war, which will only be completely possible when party comrades have returned from military service and the bases of the party have been restored in free discussion. Until then, just as the party program provides the basis for policy, so do the organizational statutes of the Social Democratic Party of Germany provide the basis for organizing the opposition. Party comrades are obligated to apply the statutes in a democratic spirit and especially to strive to make all important decisions on a democratic foundation. Now that the [Social Democratic] leadership has used the state of war violently to deprive members of the opposition party of their rights and to expel these members from the party illegally, the opposition has formed an independent organization.

Source: USPD Grundlinien [Guiding Principles of the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany] (April 1917), in Karl Wippermann, et al., ed., Deutscher Geschichtskalender [German Historical Almanac] 33 (1917), p. 782.

21.04.2023 - 11:03 [ Daniel Neun / Twitter ]

Und jetzt nochmal, Schwachsinnige: Wann kommt die neue USPD?

(25.April 2014 / kein spezifisches Datum)

26.09.2022 - 18:33 [ Rosa Luxemburg / Leipziger Volkszeitung / marxists.org ]

Peace Utopias

(May, 6/8 1911)

During these fifteen years we had this: in 1895 the war between Japan and China, which is the prelude to the East Asiatic period of imperialism; in 1898 the war between Spain and the United States; in 1899-1902 the British Boer War in South Africa; in 1900 the campaign of the European powers in China; in 1904 the Russo-Japanese War; in 1904-07 the German Herero War in Africa; and then there was also the military intervention of Russia in 1908 in Persia, at the present moment the military intervention of France in Morocco, without mentioning the incessant colonial skirmishes in Asia and in Africa. Hence the bare facts alone show that for fifteen years hardly a year has gone by without some war activity. (…)

Only were one suddenly to lose sight of all these happenings and manoeuvres, and to transfer oneself back to the blissful times of the European concert of powers, could one say, for instance, that for forty years we have had uninterrupted peace. This conception, which considers only events on the European continent, does not notice that the very reason why we have had no war in Europe for decades is the fact that international antagonisms have grown infinitely beyond the narrow confines of the European continent, and that European problems and interests are now fought out on the world seas and in the by-corners of Europe.

Hence the “United States of Europe” is an idea which runs directly counter both economically and politically to the course of development, and which takes absolutely no account of the events of the last quarter of a century.

That an idea so little in accord with the tendency of development can fundamentally offer no progressive solution in spite of all radical disguises is confirmed also by the fate of the slogan of the “United States of Europe.” Every time that bourgeois politicians have championed the idea of Europeanism, of the union of European States, it has been with an open or concealed point directed against the “yellow peril,” the “dark continent,” against the “inferior races,” in short, it has always been an imperialist abortion.

And now if we, as Social Democrats, were to try to fill this old skin with fresh and apparently revolutionary wine, then it must be said that the advantages would not be on our side but on that of the bourgeoisie. Things have their own objective logic. And the solution of the European union within the capitalist social order can objectively, in the economic sense, mean only a tariff war with America, and in the political sense only a colonial race war. The Chinese campaign of the united European regiments, with the World Field Marshal Waldersee at the head, and the gospel of the Hun as our standard – that is the actual and not the fantastic, the only possible expression of the “European State Federation” in the present social order.

05.08.2022 - 06:34 [ Fort Hays State University ]

United States Relations with Chiang Kai-Shek, 1937-1949

Chiang was the leader of the most stable faction within China and consequently gave promise of being able to serve American interests. For this reason he was selected as the agent with whom the United States would treat with in China. During the years 1937-1949 the United States furnished Chiang Kai-shek‘s government a considerable amount of material and financial aid.

(…)

Some American officials thought that Chiang was merely taking all of the American aid he could get, then conserving his forces for a future struggle with the Chinese Communists f or control of China. There is evidence to support this viewpoint.

(…)

A final effort on the part of the United States to find some effective means of supporting Chiang Kai-shek and keeping him in power came in July, 1947 when the fact finding mission to China of General Albert C. Wedemeyer was arranged. His mission also failed to bring about any concrete results in regard to assisting Chiang Kai-shek. Recommendations in Wedemeyer‘s report, if followed, would have required a commitment of American troops far larger than the United States was willing to make. The American government was caught in a dilemma: a decision was necessary but the American people would not support sending large numbers of troops, Chiang would not follow American suggestions and Russia was a constant threat. Once again, America was „too late with too little“ and the mainland was lost to Chiang and Chiang‘s value as America’s agent in China was destroyed.

05.08.2022 - 06:12 [ Wikipedia ]

Chiang Kai-shek

Chiang Kai-shek oder Tschiang Kai-schek (chinesisch 蔣介石 / 蒋介石, Pinyin Jiǎng Jièshí, W.-G. Chiang Chieh-Shih, Zhuyin ㄐㄧㄤˇ ㄐㄧㄝˋ ㄕˊ, kantonesisch Chiang Kai-shek, Pe̍h-ōe-jī Chiúⁿ Kài-se̍k; * 31. Oktober 1887 als 蔣中正 / 蒋中正, Jiǎng Zhōngzhèng, Chiang Chung-cheng, Zhuyin ㄐㄧㄤˇ ㄓㄨㄥ ㄓㄥˋ, Pe̍h-ōe-jī ChiúⁿTiong-chìng; in Xikou, Landkreis Fenghua, Provinz Zhejiang, kaiserliches Qing-China; † 5. April 1975 in Taipeh) war ein chinesischer Militär und Politiker in der Zeit nach der Xinhai-Revolution (1911) und ab 1925 Führer der Kuomintang. Als solcher war er im Chinesischen Bürgerkrieg (1927–1949) der Gegenspieler Mao Zedongs und bis zur Machtübernahme der Kommunisten auf dem chinesischen Festland im Chinesischen Bürgerkrieg der führende Politiker Chinas. In dieser Zeit war er mehrfach Präsident sowie als Marschall und Generalissimus militärischer Oberbefehlshaber der Republik China.

Nach der Niederlage gegen die Kommunisten proklamierte Chiang Ende 1949 auf Taiwan (früher Formosa) die provisorische Regierung der Republik China. Er regierte teilweise diktatorisch und erhob bis zu seinem Tod 1975 mit US-Unterstützung Anspruch auf ganz China.

(…)

Um Japans Dominanz zu begegnen und den innerchinesischen Konflikt mit den Kommunisten für sich zu entscheiden, war es notwendig, die Modernisierung von Wirtschaft und Militär voranzutreiben. Unterstützung erhielt Chiang von Nazideutschland, das im Zuge seiner Aufrüstung auf chinesische Rohstoffe angewiesen war. Im Rahmen der chinesisch-deutschen Kooperation waren Hans von Seeckt von 1933 bis 1935 und dann Alexander von Falkenhausen von 1935 bis 1938 als Militärberater für Chiang tätig.

(…)

Chiangs Deichbruchaktion in der Provinz Henan am Gelben Fluss am 9. Juni 1938 mit der Idee, durch das Fluten ganzer Provinzen die japanische Armee aufzuhalten, forderte fast eine Million Tote. Die Flutungen bewirkten immerhin eine monatelange Unterbrechung des japanischen Feldzugs.

06.06.2022 - 10:05 [ WPLG Local 10 / Youtube ]

Parade and pageant highlights final day of Queen‘s Platinum Jubilee

The fourth and final day of the Queen‘s Jubilee is underway in London.

15.02.2022 - 05:29 [ Michael Fitzgibbon / Twitter ]

Technical point for my int’l friends: Trudeau is not “head-of-state,” he is “head-of-gov’t.” As a monarchy within the realm of the UK, Canada’s head-of-state is Elizabeth II, represented in-country by Governor-General Mary Simon. This explains why we have no liberty.

01.02.2022 - 03:14 [ Haaretz ]

NSO Is an Arm of Israel‘s Government

In 2019 NSO agreed to reconnect the Pegasus system in Saudi Arabia, in the context of Netanyahu’s contacts regarding the Abraham Accords. Until the accords were announced, Israel gave NSO a permit to sell Pegasus to almost all of the countries that signed the agreements.

01.02.2022 - 03:00 [ New York Times ]

The Battle for the World’s Most Powerful Cyberweapon

(Jan. 28, 2022)

The F.B.I. had bought a version of Pegasus, NSO’s premier spying tool. For nearly a decade, the Israeli firm had been selling its surveillance software on a subscription basis to law-enforcement and intelligence agencies around the world, promising that it could do what no one else — not a private company, not even a state intelligence service — could do: consistently and reliably crack the encrypted communications of any iPhone or Android smartphone.

01.02.2022 - 02:28 [ New York Times ]

F.B.I. Secretly Bought Israeli Spyware and Explored Hacking U.S. Phones

(Jan. 28, 2022)

The Times found that sales of Pegasus played a critical role in securing the support of Arab nations in Israel’s campaign against Iran and negotiating the Abraham Accords, the 2020 diplomatic agreements, signed at a Trump White House ceremony, that normalized relations between Israel and some of its longtime Arab adversaries.

The U.S. had also moved to acquire Pegasus, The Times found. The F.B.I., in a deal never previously reported, bought the spyware in 2019, despite multiple reports that it had been used against activists and political opponents in other countries. It also spent two years discussing whether to deploy a newer product, called Phantom, inside the United States.

27.09.2021 - 16:10 [ Marion Van Renterghem / theGuardian.com ]

Europe is losing its moral compass – how will it find its way without Merkel?

Elizabeth and Angela: two opposite worlds, two entirely different functions, and yet, similarities. Those boring speeches no one dares to make any more. That style, that calm, that stability and that way of embodying their countries.

Merkel now embodies more than Germany; she embodies Europe. She’s a pop icon, who has entered our consciousness like a song.

17.09.2021 - 13:40 [ Alliance for Human Research Protection ]

1932–1945: Doctors & Academics Perverted Medicine & Science in Nazi Germany

(November 18, 2014)

“Three of its institutes that were beneficiaries of the Rockefeller Foundation [K-W Psychiatry (Munich); K-W Brain Research (Berlin-Buch); K-W Anthropology, Genetics, Eugenics (Berlin-Dahlem)] played an important role in the development, implementation and exploitation of the racial programs of the Third Reich including murderous experiments and the exploitation of the dead. Kaiser-Wilhelm scientists joined with the Nazi state in pursuit of the goal of improving the people’s health (Volksgesundheit), the major emphasis being on eugenic and racial purification.

The resulting collaboration between science and the Nazi state not only legitimized the policies and programs of the Hitler regime but it resulted in the exploitation and mutilation and murder of untold thousands of innocent victims by physicians and scientists associated with some of the world’s leading universities and research institutes. The participation of scientists associated with the Kaiser-Wilhelm Society enhanced the credibility of the Nazi state’s program of scientific terror and murder.”

10.08.2021 - 16:10 [ France24 ]

Thai police fire rubber bullets, tear gas at Bangkok protest

A youth-led democracy movement that kicked off in Thailand last year drew tens of thousands of people to rallies demanding the resignation of Prayut, the former army chief who came to power in a 2014 coup.

The movement broke long-held taboos by demanding reforms to Thailand‘s monarchy, and scores of protesters have been hit with multiple royal defamation charges, which carry 15-year jail terms.

02.07.2021 - 13:30 [ Tagesschau.de ]

Merkel in Großbritannien: Abschiedsbesuch bei Queen und Johnson

Bei ihrer voraussichtlich letzten Reise nach Großbritannien als Bundeskanzlerin trifft Angela Merkel heute die britische Königin Elizabeth II. und Premierminister Boris Johnson. Es gehe um eine Vertiefung der deutsch-britischen Beziehungen, hieß es aus dem britischen Regierungssitz.

05.06.2021 - 11:41 [ Zeit.de ]

Europäischer Kolonialismus

(30. März 2012)

Die Herrschaft über Kolonien erlangten die Machthaber Europas, indem sie Militär in die Kolonien entsendeten und Zivilverwaltungen aufbauten. Dieses Vorgehen rechtfertigten sie damit, dass sie die Bevölkerung in den kolonialen Besitzungen für minderwertig erklärten. Die sogenannten Wilden betrachteten sie als rassisch unterlegen, als unzivilisiert und unfähig, sich selbst zu verwalten. Es galt daher als legitim, sie in den Kolonien zur Arbeit zu zwingen oder als Sklaven zu exportieren.

Kolonialmächte wollten Kolonien aber nicht nur beherrschen und ausbeuten, sondern ihnen auch ihre Kulturen und Religionen aufprägen.