The Holy See Press Office announced that Pope Leo XIV met with the Vice President of the United States of America, James David Vance, on Monday morning. The US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, and their wives were also present at the audience.
The US Vice President and Secretary of State represented the United States at the Pope’s Mass of Inauguration of his Petrine Ministry on Sunday morning in St. Peter’s Square.
In the photo, taken by a Reuters photographer, the names of people Waltz had been texting included Vice President JD Vance, Rubio, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and Steve Witkoff, Trump‘s Middle East envoy.
Fox News confirmed Waltz and his deputy, Alex Wong, were ousted Thursday. Sources said additional staffers removed from the office will likely be announced, and President Donald Trump is expected to speak publicly about the matter. (…)
Following confirmation of Waltz‘s ouster, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., told Fox News, „The National Security Advisor Waltz is out. He’s the first. He certainly won’t be the last.“
(26.4.2018)
As Barbara Lee presciently warned her colleagues before she cast her lone dissenting vote in 2001, we have “become the evil we deplore.” But these wars have not been accompanied by fearsome military parades (not yet) or speeches about conquering the world. Instead they have been politically justified by “information warfare” to demonize enemies and fabricate crises, and then waged in a “disguised, quiet, media free” way, to hide their cost in human blood from the American public and the world.
After 16 years of war, about 6 million violent deaths, 6 countries utterly destroyed and many more destabilized, it is urgent that the American public come to terms with the true human cost of our country’s wars and how we have been manipulated and misled into turning a blind eye to them – before they go on even longer, destroy more countries, further undermine the rule of international law and kill millions more of our fellow human beings.
He explained that, in his opinion, the most important thing is not the public statements, such as President Zelenskyy saying he was committed to peace or apologizing to the president. He emphasized that what matters more is what the Ukrainians do to get meaningfully involved in what a peaceful settlement would look like. He stated that they need Ukrainians to come to them privately and say what they need, what they want, and how they will participate in the process of ending the conflict. He concluded that this lack of private participation is what concerns them the most.
Vice President JD Vance told reporters on Capitol Hill that Ukraine must “come to the table and start negotiating” in order for aid to be restored and that President Donald Trump is still committed to a rare minerals deal.
„We want peace,“ Trump told reporters following the meeting which, he said, „didn‘t work exactly great.“
„He (Zelensky) overplayed his hand (…) we are not looking to go into a 10-year-war and play games, we want peace. He‘s going to have to make peace. He‘s got to stop the fighting, he‘s got to stop the death,“ Trump said, adding that Russia‘s President Vladimir Putin „wants to end it.“
Zelenskyy said he was „not sure that we did something bad“ when asked about the heated exchange but conceded the dustup was „bad for both sides.“
„I just want to be honest, and I just want our partners to understand the situation correctly, and I want to understand everything correctly. That‘s about us not to lose our friendship,“ he later said.
Donald Trump’s Oval Office meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky descended into a shouting match with the US president abruptly ending the conversation and throwing reporters out.
Mr Trump told the Ukrainian president he was “gambling with World War Three” as their meeting became heated.
The Ukrainian president told Mr Trump the rare earth minerals deal being negotiated by the two leaders was not enough for his country.
Mr Trump in turn accused Mr Zelensky of being “very disrespectful”.
JD Vance, the vice president, intervened, asking Mr Zelensky: “have you said thank you once?”
As voices were raised, Mr Trump told the Ukrainian leader that “you have to be thankful”.
“You either make a deal, or we are out,” the president warned.
Mr Trump then abruptly ended the meeting saying he thought it was enough, with the press abruptly ushered out.
The Israeli lawmaker said that „no one in the world wants the civilians in Gaza, everyone is pushing them into Israel, they know that these are scum and subhumans“.
Vaturi also called for the widescale destruction of Jenin, which is currently under a brutal Israeli military siege, with tanks being sent into the West Bank city and refugee camp on Monday.
The deputy speaker of the Israeli parliament has called for the separation of children from their mothers and the killing of adults in Gaza.
During an interview with Kol BaRama radio, Nissim Vaturi called Palestinians „scoundrels“ and „subhumans“, adding that this is a group of people that cannot be accepted.
(…
The deputy speaker, who belongs to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu‘s Likud party, also said that the occupied West Bank city of Jenin will soon turn into Gaza, saying that Palestinians released as part of the ceasefire deal should be put there „so that they can be eliminated later“.
„Erase Jenin. Don‘t start looking for the terrorists – if there‘s a terrorist in the house, take him down, tell the women and children to get out,“ he added. )
(26.4.2018)
As Barbara Lee presciently warned her colleagues before she cast her lone dissenting vote in 2001, we have “become the evil we deplore.” But these wars have not been accompanied by fearsome military parades (not yet) or speeches about conquering the world. Instead they have been politically justified by “information warfare” to demonize enemies and fabricate crises, and then waged in a “disguised, quiet, media free” way, to hide their cost in human blood from the American public and the world.
After 16 years of war, about 6 million violent deaths, 6 countries utterly destroyed and many more destabilized, it is urgent that the American public come to terms with the true human cost of our country’s wars and how we have been manipulated and misled into turning a blind eye to them – before they go on even longer, destroy more countries, further undermine the rule of international law and kill millions more of our fellow human beings.
JD Vance delivered a historic full speech at the Munich Security Conference, where he strongly criticized European leaders for their approach to free speech. He specifically targeted the United Kingdom, calling out its restrictive policies and emphasizing the importance of protecting freedom of expression.
„What I worry about is the threat from within the retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values, values shared with the United States of America.“
Vance called out former European Commissioner Thierry Breton, who said in January that if the right wing German AfD party were to win elections in Germany, the results could go the way of Romania.
„These cavalier statements are shocking to American ears,“ said Vance.
Liat Ben Ari complained she hadn‘t received sufficient backing from the State Prosecutor and his deputy, according to a source in the prosecutor‘s office told Haaretz
(18.8.2011)
As Obama issued his statement, the leaders of France, Germany and Britain joined him in calling on Assad “to face the reality of the complete rejection of his regime by the Syrian people and to step aside.”
Obama had spoken to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister David Cameron over the past two weeks to discuss calling for Assad’s resignation and to coordinate steps on sanctions.
The United States spent billions over years arming and training militants in Syria, many linked to Al-Qaeda and ISIS.
Current US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan admitted back in 2012 that “AQ [Al-Qaeda] is on our side in Syria”.
The present report contains information regarding the efforts of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories to implement its mandate and documents human rights concerns in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and the occupied Syrian Golan from October 2023 to July 2024. The Special Committee was not able to conduct visits to the occupied territories, but did conduct its annual consultations in Geneva and undertook a visit to Amman, and met with government officials, United Nations organizations and mechanisms, representatives of civil society organizations, youth representatives, human rights defenders, and Palestinian families.
The report raises serious concerns of breaches of international humanitarian and human rights laws in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including starvation as a weapon of war, the possibility of genocide in Gaza and an apartheid system in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. It documents the impact of the conflict escalation since 7 October 2023 on Palestinians’ rights to food; to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment; to physical integrity, liberty and security of persons; as well as the disproportionate effects on the rights of women, children, and future generations more broadly. The report also highlights the ongoing attacks against the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and refers to developments in the occupied Syrian Golan. The report provides recommendations to the General Assembly and Member States; to the State of Israel; and to businesses operating with Israel, that in any way contribute to maintaining Israel’s unlawful presence in the occupied territories.
(…)
IX. Conclusions
69. The developments in this report lead the Special Committee to conclude that the policies and practices of Israel during the reporting period are consistent with the characteristics of genocide. The targeting of Palestinians as a group; the life-threatening conditions imposed on Palestinians in Gaza through warfare and restrictions on humanitarian aid – resulting in physical destruction, increased miscarriages and stillbirths – and the killing of and serious bodily or mental harm caused to Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, are violations under international law. Civilians have been indiscriminately and disproportionally killed en masse in Gaza, while in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Israeli colonial settlers, military and security personnel have continued to violate human rights and humanitarian law with impunity. Senior Israeli government and military officials must be held accountable, including for using dehumanizing language and inciting violence.
Less than 48 hours after the Biden administration said it does not believe Israel is unlawfully obstructing humanitarian assistance in Gaza, a United Nations special committee issued a report Thursday arguing that the Israeli military‘s actions in the Palestinian enclave bear „the characteristics of genocide.“
(November 12, 2024)
Last month, the Biden administration—which has approved tens of billions of dollars in military aid for Israel and provided nearly unconditional diplomatic support since October 2023—sent a letter to the Israeli government threatening to cut off U.S. arms transfers if it failed to take „urgent and sustained actions“ to improve humanitarian conditions in Gaza within 30 days.
Asked during a Tuesday press conference if the Israeli government has met the letter‘s demands, State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said that „we have not made an assessment that they are in violation of U.S. law.“
(April 14, 2023)
Peo0le with clearance and access to „Top Secret“ U.S.federal government information, by employee type
Government 605.579
Contractor 472.576
Other 173.803
Total 1.251.958
As of Oct.1, 2019
Source: Office of the Director of National Intelligence via Federation of American Scientists
(July 20, 2010)
The Post investigation uncovered what amounts to an alternative geography of the United States, a Top Secret America created since 9/11 that is hidden from public view, lacking in thorough oversight and so unwieldy that its effectiveness is impossible to determine.
It is also a system in which contractors are playing an ever more important role. The Post estimates that out of 854,000 people with top-secret clearances, 265,000 are contractors. There is no better example of the government‘s dependency on them than at the CIA, the one place in government that exists to do things overseas that no other U.S. agency is allowed to do.
(…)
Contractors kill enemy fighters. They spy on foreign governments and eavesdrop on terrorist networks. They help craft war plans. They gather information on local factions in war zones. They are the historians, the architects, the recruiters in the nation‘s most secretive agencies. They staff watch centers across the Washington area. They are among the most trusted advisers to the four-star generals leading the nation‘s wars.
With Trump winning his second term, it is worth noting that there was no absolutely accountability by the Democratic Party when he won in 2016. Losing an election to so dangerous and corrupt a figure as Donald Trump should cause a political party to do some major inward reflection on their own failures of policy and political strategy. Instead, all the Democrats who bore responsibility for the 2016 failure—starting with Hillary Clinton—found a way to blame anyone else but them.
There was also the larger error of anointing Harris without political competition — an insult to the democratic process that handed the nomination to a candidate who, as some of us warned at the time, was exceptionally weak. That, in turn, came about because Democrats failed to take Biden’s obvious mental decline seriously until June’s debate debacle (and then allowed him to cling to the nomination for a few weeks more), making it difficult to hold even a truncated mini-primary.
For a year now, since the war began, the international community has shown utter impotence to stop the indiscriminate attack on civilians in the Gaza Strip. Now, when it is clearer than ever that Israel intends to forcibly displace northern Gaza’s residents by committing some of the gravest crimes under the laws of war, the world’s nations must take action.
Without immediate, decisive action from the international community, without using every tool available – political, legal, economic – the mass killings in the northern Gaza Strip will continue and the suffering of its besieged civilians will grow. All international bodies and institutions must act now to compel Israel to stop the war and end the carnage.
(October 22, 2024)
Israel and the United States are reportedly considering a joint plan to deploy a private American-Israeli security firm to administer Gaza by subjecting Palestinians to biometric screenings with the threat of withholding humanitarian aid.
According to media reports, based on an initial report by Israeli journalist, Shlomi Eldar, on Monday this week, the US and Israel are planning to run a pilot programme – starting with the Al-Atatra village in north-western Gaza – involving 1,000 private mercenaries who would create “gated communities” within the Strip where they will control the inhabitants and their movements through the use of biometrics.
(July 2, 2024)
The experimental model is slated to be implemented soon in the northern Gaza neighborhoods of Al-Atatra, Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahia, according to the Financial Times, citing six sources familiar with the plan.
Harris pursues a policy of death in Gaza, and she expects we will vote for her.
We need to work hard to make sure that she will not be elected to the presidency. Not only will this punish Harris, but it will also send a signal to all politicians that you won’t be rewarded with our votes when you engage in genocide. This movement will transform American politics and bring civil rights into US foreign policy.
It’s like yes asshole, it’s very nice to be living in the imperial core that’s receiving the benefits of mass murder and imperialist extraction, and it’s less nice to live in the countries where the murder and extraction is happening. That’s the entire fucking point here.
It can be nice to live in the western world, but the western world is not nice. Ours is the most savage and thuggish civilization on this planet, and it’s not even close.
The Democratic Party really does look ready to lose yet another easily winnable election by running yet another awful, murderous candidate with awful, murderous policies, and then once again blame their loss on everyone in America who is a better person than they are.
The old world is dying once again, but the US-Israel axis is wrong to suggest it is slaying monsters. It is the monster
The UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has said that an Israeli army bulldozer demolished an observation tower and the perimeter fence of a UN position earlier on Sunday in Marwahin, in the southern part of the country.
(April 10, 2011)
The Arab League request for a no-fly zone over Gaza may have been inspired by a UN-sanctioned aerial blockade for Libya to halt forces loyal to Moamer Kadhafi harming civilians.
Arab League backing for that no-fly zone was seen as crucially important by the United States when it pressed for a UN resolution that authorised it and other countries to keep Libyan planes grounded.
The Biden administration needs to push its ally with more than just empty threats.
“Yet again we see direct and apparently deliberate fire on a UNIFIL position,” the Mission said in a statement.
“We remind the IDF and all actors of their obligations to ensure the safety and security of UN personnel and property and to respect the inviolability of UN premises at all times,” it stressed.
(19:06 BST)
The UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon (Unifil) said an Israeli Merkava tank fired at their watchtower near southern Lebanon‘s Kfar Kela on Wednesday morning.
Two cameras were destroyed, and the tower was damaged, Unifil said.
Harris pursues a policy of death in Gaza, and she expects we will vote for her.
We need to work hard to make sure that she will not be elected to the presidency. Not only will this punish Harris, but it will also send a signal to all politicians that you won’t be rewarded with our votes when you engage in genocide. This movement will transform American politics and bring civil rights into US foreign policy.
(August 12, 2024)
The bureau said in a statement that Israel’s war on Gaza has killed more than 39,000 Palestinians. “This constitutes around 1.8 percent of the total population in the territory,” PCBS said.
According to the data, approximately 24 percent of those killed by Israel in Gaza are youths.
(9. März, 2016)
Jeder Idiot, wenn auch kein “Linker” heutztage, begreift, dass ein Angriff von außen nur die herrschenden, autoritären und auf Krieg angewiesenen Kräfte stärkt.
Jeder “Politiker”, jeder Militär, jeder Funktionär ist zum Erbrechen, wo man nur hinschaut.
Fazit:
Im Westen nichts Neues.