(October 15, 2024)
One rogue nation cannot declare war on the UN itself and continue to get away with it
(October 15, 2024)
One rogue nation cannot declare war on the UN itself and continue to get away with it
(October 15, 2024)
One rogue nation cannot declare war on the UN itself and continue to get away with it
(November 29, 2024)
I am not alone in opposing his tyranny. The consistent political opposition inside Israel itself, made up of democratic Jews and Arab citizens, finds the notion of democracy in Israel under Netanyahu absurd too. Democracy in Israel never really existed, owing to the state of Israel’s definition as an ethnic concept, antithetical to political egalitarianism.
A state that under its basic laws declares one group politically superior to the other cannot be regarded as a democracy, but as an ethnocracy. Since its formation, Israel has been pursuing discriminatory policies towards its own Palestinian citizens in all spheres of life – housing, employment, welfare and education. Even the supposed Israeli bill of rights, the Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty, doesn’t dare to mention the right to equality.
(October 15, 2024)
One rogue nation cannot declare war on the UN itself and continue to get away with it
(October 15, 2024)
One rogue nation cannot declare war on the UN itself and continue to get away with it
(May 28, 2024)
Thanks to their comprehensive access to Palestinian telecoms infrastructure, the sources said, intelligence operatives could capture the calls without installing spyware on the ICC official’s devices.
“If Fatou Bensouda spoke to any person in the West Bank or Gaza, then that phone call would enter [intercept] systems,” one source said. Another said there was no hesitation internally over spying on the prosecutor, adding: “With Bensouda, she’s black and African, so who cares?”
The surveillance system did not capture calls between ICC officials and anyone outside Palestine. However, multiple sources said the system required the active selection of the overseas phone numbers of ICC officials whose calls Israeli intelligence agencies decided to listen to.
According to one Israeli source, a large whiteboard in an Israeli intelligence department contained the names of about 60 people under surveillance – half of them Palestinians and half from other countries, including UN officials and ICC personnel.
In The Hague, Bensouda and her senior staff were alerted by security advisers and via diplomatic channels that Israel was monitoring their work.
(May 28, 2024)
Die Haftbefehle für Benjamin Netanyahu und Yoav Gallant, die der internationale Strafgerichtshof (IStGH) letzte Woche ausgeschrieben hatte, beziehen sich zwar auf Verbrechen, die die israelische Führung während des neuen Gaza-Krieges begangen haben soll, die Untersuchungen begannen aber bereits 2015.
Damals eröffnete die damalige Chefanklägerin des Internationalen Strafgerichtshofs, Fatou Bensouda, die Überprüfung von Vorwürfen gegen Einzelpersonen im Gazastreifen, im Westjordanland und in Ostjerusalem.
(May 28, 2024)
The former head of the Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence agency, allegedly threatened a chief prosecutor of the international criminal court in a series of secret meetings in which he tried to pressure her into abandoning a war crimes investigation, the Guardian can reveal.
Yossi Cohen’s covert contacts with the ICC’s then prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, took place in the years leading up to her decision to open a formal investigation into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in occupied Palestinian territories.
That investigation, launched in 2021, culminated last week when Bensouda’s successor, Karim Khan, announced that he was seeking an arrest warrant for the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, over the country’s conduct in its war in Gaza.
(…)
After the surprise meeting with Kabila and Bensouda in New York, Cohen repeatedly phoned the chief prosecutor and sought meetings with her, three sources recalled. According to two people familiar with the situation, at one stage Bensouda asked Cohen how he had obtained her phone number, to which he replied: “Did you forget what I do for a living?”
(October 15, 2024)
One rogue nation cannot declare war on the UN itself and continue to get away with it
(16.10.2023)
(Sun 20 Aug 2023)
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s domestically besieged prime minister, badly needs a Saudi deal. The Saudis want one, too, but insist, on paper at least, on tangible progress towards a Palestinian state. Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners oppose any concessions, he’s barely on speaking terms with Biden – and in October, just to spite him, he plans to visit China.
Even so, Biden seems to think he can win Israeli agreement for increased Palestinian autonomy, a halt to West Bank annexation plans and maybe a revived two-state peace process in return for delivering the Saudis, defanging Iran and providing security guarantees all round.
Biden’s hat-trick hopes look slightly delusional.
Twitter’s website traffic is “tanking” according to the chief of internet services company Cloudflare, amid signs users are migrating to alternative platforms such as Threads, BlueSky and Mastodon.
Kennedy’s positions on many other issues also cut against the media grain. His most controversial stance is on the war in Ukraine, where he strongly opposes American involvement (though his son volunteered to serve alongside Ukrainians). Back home, he believes transgender athletes should not participate in female sports; and, at time when the media itself seems to be hiring directly out of Langley, he’s harshly critical of America’s intelligence community, and particularly the CIA, which he believes is responsible for the assassination of his uncle, John F. Kennedy.
Rasmussen said: “If Nato cannot agree on a clear path forward for Ukraine, there is a clear possibility that some countries individually might take action. We know that Poland is very engaged in providing concrete assistance to Ukraine. And I wouldn’t exclude the possibility that Poland would engage even stronger in this context on a national basis and be followed by the Baltic states, maybe including the possibility of troops on the ground.
“I think the Poles would seriously consider going in and assemble a coalition of the willing if Ukraine doesn’t get anything in Vilnius.
(24 Nov 2021)
But, exasperatingly, and despite speculation being the order of the day, the film never attempts to name any supposed second or third shooter, to say exactly where these gunmen would have been positioned, and how the inevitable witnesses to their activity would have been suppressed. The old question reasserts itself: can you do this with any historical event? Could you, with enough time, undermine the case against Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo in 1914?
A few have issued veiled warnings. None has imposed the sort of sanctions or boycotts levelled in the past on political extremists in other countries.
The coalition’s objectionable plans raise a broader, uncomfortable question for the US and Europe reaching beyond the too-familiar abuses and impunity of military occupation. In short, can Israel still be considered a reliable, law-abiding ally that shares a set of common values and standards with the western democracies? Maybe this is why governments are keeping stumm.
(05.10.2022)
Instead, Joe Biden finds himself staring down a partner in the Middle East whom he had personally visited during the summer as the extent of the supply crisis became apparent. Biden walked away empty-handed and, as a result, faces the uncomfortable prospect of taking high bowser prices to midterm elections. Perhaps more importantly for the US president, a rise in oil prices could be seen as helping fund Putin’s war effort.
(22 Sep 2013)
The Kremlin aide added that the political and social cost of EU integration could also be high, and allowed for the possibility of separatist movements springing up in the Russian-speaking east and south of Ukraine. He suggested that if Ukraine signed the agreement, Russia would consider the bilateral treaty that delineates the countries‘ borders to be void.
„We don‘t want to use any kind of blackmail. This is a question for the Ukrainian people,“ said Glazyev. „But legally, signing this agreement about association with EU, the Ukrainian government violates the treaty on strategic partnership and friendship with Russia.“ When this happened, he said, Russia could no longer guarantee Ukraine‘s status as a state and could possibly intervene if pro-Russian regions of the country appealed directly to Moscow.
(today)
Glasjew deutete nach dem Bruch der Ukraine mit Russland an, dass Russland den Vertrag, der die Grenzen zwischen den beiden Ländern festlegt, als ungültig betrachten würde und erwähnte, dass im russischsprachigen Osten und Süden der Ukraine separatistische Bewegungen aufkommen könnten. Russland könne den Status der Ukraine als Staat nicht mehr garantieren und werde möglicherweise intervenieren, wenn sich prorussische Regionen des Landes direkt an Moskau wenden würden, so der Kremlberater.
(today)
(13.01.2022)
The court’s conservative majority concluded the administration overstepped its authority by seeking to impose the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (Osha) vaccine-or-test rule on US businesses with at least 100 employees. More than 80 million people would have been affected.
“Osha has never before imposed such a mandate. Nor has Congress. Indeed, although Congress has enacted significant legislation addressing the Covid-19 pandemic, it has declined to enact any measure similar to what Osha has promulgated here,” the conservatives wrote in an unsigned opinion.
In dissent, the court’s three liberals argued that it was the court that was overreaching by substituting its judgment for that of health experts.
Is there international action that can be taken now?
It appears increasingly likely that some forms of coordinated international action will be taken, mirroring responses to the global financial crisis, the eurozone debt crisis and the Covid pandemic.
The former Italian prime minister Mario Draghi floated the idea of “a cartel of buyers” at a meeting with the US president, Joe Biden, in May. This would involve large oil consumers working together to negotiate prices.
This was not a politician convening his team for discussions, this was a supreme leader marshalling his minions and ensuring collective responsibility for a decision that, at minimum, will change the security architecture in Europe, and may well lead to a horrific war that consumes Ukraine.
Putin appeared genuinely angry and passionate in his speech, which he almost certainly wrote himself.
Domestic critics of Emmanuel Macron, Nato hardliners and the leadership in Ukraine will be suspiciously examining the French president’s late-night remarks at his Moscow press conference on Monday for signs of freelancing.
(25 Dec 2021)
In an interview with the Guardian, Monto considered both this possible future – in which Covid-19 “is not going away, in spite of how well our vaccines perform” – and an incredible and perplexing year of vaccine distribution.
“The first thing is [that] we never expected our vaccines to be so good, so effective,” said Monto. “This was a very happy surprise to everybody – and it was a surprise.”
(01.12.2021)
The government’s back-door amendments to the policing bill are tyrannical. We should be on the streets in our millions
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.
(30.08.2021)
The Pentagon criticised the leaking of the call details reported in Politico, telling the news website: “This story is based on the unlawful disclosure of classified information and internal deliberations of a sensitive nature.
“As soon as we became aware of the material divulged to the reporter, we engaged Politico at the highest levels to prevent the publication of information that would put our troops and our operations at the airport at greater risk. We condemn the unlawful disclosure of classified information and oppose the publication of a story based on it while a dangerous operation is ongoing.”
Some 3,000 people in Rome gathered to protest against what is known as the “green pass,” according to ANSA news agency. The EU‘s digital coronavirus certificate is also called the green pass in Italy.
There were also demonstrations in Milan, Turin and Naples, according to Corriere della Sera newspaper.
(today)
Draghi told a press conference on Thursday that the country needed to act quickly to avoid the kind of infection levels that are being seen in the UK and elsewhere in Europe, as well as to protect the economy.
From 6 August, entry to stadiums, museums, theatres, cinemas, exhibition centres, swimming pools and gyms will only be allowed upon presentation of a “green pass”.
The final decision about 19 July will be taken on Monday morning, based on modelling from the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) about Covid cases and pressures on the NHS.
Police have come under fire for their treatment of a reporter at demonstrations in Bristol on Friday night, during violent clashes between officers and protesters.
Daily Mirror journalist Matthew Dresch shared video footage that appeared to show police pushing him and hitting him with a baton as he shouted that he was a member of the press.
A crowd of people gathered in Bristol on Friday evening for a third ‚kill the bill‘ demonstration within a week.
Protesters met at two parks, Castle Park and College Green, and marched through the city centre and along Park Street towards Bristol University’s buildings
Hundreds sit down outside Bristol police station in ‚kill the bill‘ protest
(12.09.2009)
‚I took some flesh home and called it my son.‘ The Guardian interviews 11 villagers
(11.01.2021)
Cometh the hour, cometh the man. In these exceptionally grim times we’re all – Boris Johnson included – looking for a saviour to rise from these streets. And right now that salvation appears to be the England’s chief medical officer, Chris Whitty. Just about the only person left whom anyone can trust to tell the country the naked truth about coronavirus.
They rubbished those who knew what they were talking about. Professors Chris Whitty and Patrick Vallance were “Messrs Doom and Gloom”, “fear-mongering” and “self-serving”. That Whitty and Jonathan Van-Tam used their tiny amount of spare time to volunteer in hospitals suggests that’s not true. Now, as the death toll still rises, the same people crawl from the woodwork to demand we lift all restrictions as soon as the most vulnerable are vaccinated.
(30.12.2020)
And while there are some early signs the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine might not only prevent people becoming seriously ill with Covid but also prevent asymptomatic infections, more data is needed to confirm such protection.
No one has been brought to book for the crimes exposed by WikiLeaks. Instead, the Trump administration has launched a full-scale assault on the international criminal court for daring to investigate these and other offences, and is pursuing the man who brought them to light. It has taken the unprecedented step of prosecuting him under the Espionage Act for publishing confidential information. (Mike Pompeo, secretary of state and former CIA director, has previously described Wikileaks as a “non-state hostile intelligence agency”). In doing so, it chose to attack one of the very bases of journalism: its ability to share vital information that the government would rather suppress.
And while there are some early signs the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine might not only prevent people becoming seriously ill with Covid but also prevent asymptomatic infections, more data is needed to confirm such protection.
Merkel said the German cabinet would meet by telephone on 28 December to decide its stance, but added that the agreement “cannot finally enter into force until the European parliament has also given its approval”.
Von der Leyen spoke by telephone to Johnson on Monday night to discuss a way forward and further calls are expected in the next 24 hours, but the commission refused to offer details.
Barnier said as he went into a meeting with EU ambassadors: “We are really in the crucial moment. We are giving it the final push. In 10 days the UK will leave the single market and we continue to work in total transparency with the member states right now and with the parliament.”
The Nuffield Trust thinktank stated: “The perilously uncertain future facing the UK at the end of the Brexit transition period could put the UK’s health and care system at risk.”
The report said new migration rules, possible disruption to medicines and devices, an ongoing economic slowdown and barriers to science investment would hit the health sector.
The teams led by the chief UK negotiator, David Frost, and his EU counterpart, Michel Barnier, were expected to continue talks on Monday despite the European parliament’s notice that it would not vote on a deal if not secured by midnight on Sunday.
(September 12, 2009)
‚I took some flesh home and called it my son.‘ The Guardian interviews 11 villagers
(23.04.2019)
The result is a small network of companies that have near-monopolies on election services, such as building voting machines. Across the spectrum, private vendors have long histories of errors that affected elections, of obstructing politicians and the public from seeking information, of corruption, suspect foreign influence, false statements of security and business dishonesty. (…)
The party narrative is that Democrats are trying to use the federal government to take over state and local elections; the political angle is that recognizing vulnerabilities or flaws in the election system could raise doubts about the legitimacy of the party’s – and Donald Trump’s – victory in 2016.
Raskin’s bill could affect at least two of the largest election companies. Dominion Voting Systems, which is the second-largest voting machine vendor in the US, is based in both the US and Canada.
(…)
Due to that statement and a litany of other scandals – such as leaving an internet-facing server unprotected and revealing the source code for its machines or by installing unapproved software patches on its machines just before an election – that company, Diebold, sold off the election-machine portion of its company in 2009.
(07.10.2020)
The rate of new cases in the inner-city districts that host Berlin’s nightlife were higher still: of seven hotspots listed by Germany’s disease control agency as having a seven-day incidence of more than 50 cases per 100,000 people, four are in the heart of the capital. Trendy Neukölln leads the pack, with 288 new cases recorded over the course of the last week.
An official in Ratcliffe’s office, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said on Saturday the office was “concerned about unauthorized disclosures of sensitive information following recent briefings”.
The move drew a heated rejoinder from House Democrats, who have focused on foreign efforts to sway the presidential election in 2016 and again this year.
(today)
Deaths from all causes were below average levels for the sixth consecutive week. There were a total of 8,891 deaths registered in England and Wales in the week to 24 July, according to the ONS, 161 fewer than the five-year average of 9,052.
(04.05.2020)
There is no current evidence to suggest that coronavirus leaked from a Chinese research laboratory, intelligence sources have told the Guardian, contradicting recent White House claims that there is growing proof this is how the pandemic began.
The sources also insisted that a “15-page dossier” highlighted by the Australian Daily Telegraph which accused China of a deadly cover up was not culled from intelligence from the Five Eyes network, an alliance between the UK, US, Australia, New Zealand and Canada.
“While these control measures appear to have reduced the number of infections to very low levels, without herd immunity against Covid-19, cases could easily resurge as businesses, factory operations, and schools gradually resume and increase social mixing, particularly given the increasing risk of imported cases from overseas as Covid-19 continues to spread globally,” says Prof Joseph T Wu from the University of Hong Kong, who co-led the research.
(06.03.2020)
Trump has been repeatedly contradicted by public health experts including his own top infectious diseases adviser, Dr Anthony Fauci, who has warned that there is only “anecdotal evidence” that the drugs could be helpful.
The FCC documents show that Southcom’s balloons are carrying small, satellite-like vehicles housing sophisticated sensors and communication gear. One of those sensors is a synthetic aperture radar intended to detect every car or boat in motion on a 25-mile swath beneath the balloon.
The balloons also have advanced mesh networking technologies that allow them to communicate with one another, share data and pass it to receivers on the ground below.
Conservative leadership hopeful Jeremy Hunt has accused rival Boris Johnson of refusing to answer „difficult“ questions amid scrutiny of his private life.
“Just gave Boris Johnson the finger,” she wrote, referring to her greeting for the prospective Tory leader staying at his girlfriend’s flat in the same block as Ms Leigh’s apartment in south east London.
Ms Leigh, an American theatre producer, director and writer, has now deleted her Twitter account – possibly because the influence she and her husband, Tom Penn, have had over the leadership race became immeasurable this weekend.
Is it right to record a couple’s private conversations, through the walls of their home, and then publish their words verbatim in a national newspaper? Most people would say no. Most people would consider that a grotesque invasion of privacy. Most people would think it profoundly morally wrong to spy on a couple’s most intimate moments and then salaciously expose those moments to readers hungry for scandal.
(20.06.2019)
The Guardian says that it was warned earlier this year about efforts by a cybersecurity unit in Saudi Arabia to „hack“ its computer networks.
The British newspaper published an article on Wednesday that says it was alerted by a source in Riyadh that it was being targeted by the unit following the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Abdul Baset al-Sarout, 27, who rose to fame as a goalkeeper for his home city of Homs, joined peaceful protests against Assad in 2011 and was known as the “singer of the revolution”. He later took up arms as the country slid into civil war. Four of his brothers and his father have also been killed in the fighting.
Sarout’s life and his role in Syria’s uprising and conflict was the subject of Return to Homs, a documentary film that won an award at the 2014 Sundance film festival.
The officials said no final decision had been made yet, and it was not clear if the White House would approve sending all or just some of the requested forces.
Yet you might think that hardened Remainers could just admit to a tiny of nugget of good news in that the economy has continued to defy the recession they so confidently predicted would result from a vote for Brexit. But not a bit of it. According to a Guardian news report on the story, the unexpectedly strong performance of the economy was “helped by unprecedented stockpiling by manufacturers fearful of the impact from a no-deal Brexit.”
„Ohne internationales Netzwerk hätten diese Angriffe keinen Erfolg haben können“, zitierte der „Guardian“ den Sprecher, der auch Gesundheitsminister des Landes ist.
Schon zwei Wochen vor den Anschlägen sei man schriftlich gewarnt worden – inklusive einer Liste mit Namen von Verdächtigen, so Senaratne.
The Sri Lankan government’s decision to block all social media sites in the wake of Sunday’s deadly attacks is emblematic of just how much US-based technology companies’ failure to rein in misinformation, extremism and incitement to violence has come to outweigh the claimed benefits of social media.
In a statement the Met police said: ‚The MPS had a duty to execute the warrant, on behalf of Westminster magistrates court, and was invited into the embassy by the ambassador, following the Ecuadorian government’s withdrawal of asylum‘
The shamelessness of the apocaholics is increasingly blatant. They know that even if a story of impending doom is thoroughly debunked, the correction comes too late. The gullible media will have relayed the headline without checking, so the activists have made their fake-news hit, perhaps even raised funds on the back of it, and won.
Take the story on February 10 that ‘insects could vanish within a century’, as the Guardian’s Damian Carrington put it, echoed by the BBC.
(3.1.2019) The sanctions, which came in on Monday, ban US companies from exporting goods or services to Petroleum of Venezuela (PDVSA), as part of a campaign to force Maduro to step aside and cede power to Juan Guaidó, the opposition leader. US refineries are also banned from buying crude from PDVSA unless the money is paid into accounts not tied to Maduro.
The conference call was joined by the Cabinet Office minister, David Lidington – Theresa May’s de facto deputy; the home secretary, Sajid Javid; the security minister, Ben Wallace; and the defence minister Stuart Andrew.
Lidington was said to have pressed for the Home Office and the Ministry of Defence to update their rapid deployment protocols for signing off requests for military assistance.