Archiv: (Vor-)Geschichte / (pre-)history


20.02.2025 - 23:26 [ Fox News ]

FBI nominee Kash Patel confirmed in narrow Senate vote

And in another message meant to assuage senators, Patel said he didn’t find it feasible to require a warrant for intelligence agencies to surveil U.S. citizens suspected to be involved in national security matters, referring to Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

„Having a warrant requirement to go through that information in real time is just not comported with the requirement to protect American citizens,“ Patel said. „It’s almost impossible to make that function and serve the national, no-fail mission.“

„Get a warrant“ had become a rallying cry of right-wing conservatives worried about the privacy of U.S. citizens, and almost derailed the reauthorization of the surveillance program entirely.

15.02.2025 - 19:17 [ Nicolas J.S. Davies / Mintpress.com ]

Libya, Syria, Somalia and Yemen: Calculating the Millions-High Death Toll of America’s Post-9/11 Wars

(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.

15.02.2025 - 06:45 [ CNN ]

Hegseth rules out NATO membership for Ukraine and says Europe must be responsible for country’s security

(February 12, 2025)

Later on Wednesday afternoon, Trump said he agrees with Hegseth and does not “think it’s practical” to have Ukraine join NATO.

“I don’t think it’s practical to have it. Personally, I know that our new secretary of defense is excellent. Pete made a statement today saying that he thinks it’s unlikely or impractical. I think probably that’s true. I think long before President Putin, they said there’s no way they’d allow that. This has been going on for many, many years. They’ve been saying that for a long time that Ukraine did not go into NATO, and I’m okay with that,” Trump said from the Oval Office.

15.02.2025 - 06:39 [ Voice of America ]

US defense chief: Return to Ukraine‘s 2014 borders ‚unrealistic‘

(February 12, 2025)

Speaking in Brussels at NATO headquarters, Hegseth told his fellow defense chiefs, „We want, like you, a sovereign and prosperous Ukraine. But we must start by recognizing that returning to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders is an unrealistic objective. Chasing this illusionary goal will only prolong the war and cause more suffering.”

No peace talks have been scheduled, but Hegseth said any durable conclusion to the war must include „robust security guarantees to ensure that the war will not begin again.“

13.02.2025 - 21:43 [ Gregor Gysi / Twitter ]

@berlinliebich ist auch auf meinen Wunsch hin Mitglied der AtlantikBrücke. Mandatsrückgabeforderungen sind absurd.

(May 9, 2015)

13.02.2025 - 19:17 [ Esquire.com ]

What’s in the Newly Unearthed FBI Files Tied to President Kennedy’s Assassination?

(February 11, 2025)

Now we discover that its vetting and releasing of documents under the 1992 Assassination Records Collection Act has been of a piece with the moment in 1963 when Dallas FBI agent James Hosty flushed a threatening note from Lee Harvey Oswald down the john. (…)

We’ve been fooled by what we thought was the sound of ice cracking on all of this too often to make me sanguine about anything coming of it. But the situation, at least to my mind, pits the FBI against the CIA, which traditionally has dragged its feet on releasing what it knows about Oswald—which is considerable. Joannides, for example, was a CIA psyop officer. If the FBI releases its files on him, the folks at Langley are going to have their mellows harshed considerably. About damn time.

13.02.2025 - 19:07 [ Daily Sabah ]

FBI discovers over 2,000 secret records on Kennedy assassination

(February 11, 2025)

The existence of the new JFK documents was disclosed to the White House on Friday, and a further review of those records could reveal more information as to what happened in one of the most scrutinized tragedies in American history. The release of the new documents could also change the federal procedures for vetting and releasing information related to government events.

13.02.2025 - 19:04 [ CNN ]

FBI says it has discovered new files on JFK assassination

(February 11, 2025)

The FBI has discovered about 2,400 new records related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy from a new records search following an executive order from President Donald Trump.

13.02.2025 - 18:44 [ USA Today ]

Senate confirms Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services

WASHINGTON – The Senate confirmed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the Health and Human Services secretary on Thursday, giving the longtime vaccine critic who has vowed to take on „big pharma“ and ultra-processed food the power to oversee the nation’s food and healthcare systems.

13.02.2025 - 18:36 [ CBS News ]

Senate confirms RFK Jr. as HHS secretary in 52-48 vote

Kennedy, 71, is a longtime environmental lawyer and anti-vaccine activist whose family has mythic status in Democratic politics. The nephew of President John F. Kennedy and the son of Robert F. Kennedy launched his own White House bid in 2023. And although he initially sought the Democratic nomination, Kennedy changed his bid to independent, before dropping out to endorse President Trump in Augus

13.02.2025 - 14:27 [ Welt.de ]

Tausende Hinweise auf Kriegsverbrecher unter Asylwerbern ignoriert

(March 7, 2019)

Danach gab das Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge (BAMF) von 2014 bis Anfang 2019 rund 5000 Hinweise auf „Straftaten nach dem Völkerrecht“ an das Bundeskriminalamt und den Generalbundesanwalt weiter. Von anderen Stellen seien 200 Hinweise gekommen. Doch nur in 129 Fällen seien Ermittlungen aufgenommen worden. In den Jahren 2015/16, also auf dem Höhepunkt des Flüchtlingszuzugs, gab es dem Bericht zufolge 3800 Hinweise, es kam jedoch nur zu 28 Ermittlungen.

„Die große Zahl der Hinweise hat es nicht zugelassen, allen zum Beispiel durch polizeiliche Vernehmungen unmittelbar nachzugehen“, sagte ein Sprecher des Bundesinnenministeriums zu „Bild“.

13.02.2025 - 14:07 [ Zeit.de ]

BND und Verfassungsschutz: Mit Asylversprechen Flüchtlinge abgeschöpft

(14. Januar 2016)

Die „Partnerbefrager“, wie sie im internen Jargon genannt werden, saßen nicht nur in der Zentrale der Hauptstelle in Berlin, sondern auch in den Außenstellen Zirndorf, Nürnberg, Wiesbaden und Friedland. So konnten amerikanische und britische Dienste ungehindert auch ohne die Aufsicht des BND Flüchtlinge befragen.

13.02.2025 - 00:47 [ Libertarian Institute ]

Gabbard Says She Now Supports FISA Section 702

(January 12, 2025)

President Donald Trump’s nominee for Director of National Security, Tulsi Gabbard, told Senators that she now supports Section 702 of the FISA Act. 702 is viewed as giving the US government the power to surveil Americans warrantlessly. Gabbard previously authored a bill that would have ended the mass surveillance program.

12.02.2025 - 13:02 [ KBS.co.kr ]

Amtsenthebungsverfahren gegen Yoon geht in Endphase

Demnach gilt es als sehr wahrscheinlich, dass die mündliche Verhandlung nächste Woche beendet wird. Das Urteil würde dann möglicherweise Anfang März verkündet.

Im Amtsenthebungsverfahren gegen Präsidentin Park Geun-hye im Jahr 2017 wurde das Urteil elf Tage nach Abschluss der Verhandlungen gesprochen. Im Verfahren gegen Präsident Roh Moo-hyun 2004 nach 14 Tagen.

08.02.2025 - 17:15 [ Techdirt ]

Snooper‘s Charter May Not ‚Increase‘ Surveillance… But Tries To Legalize Over A Decade Of Secret, Illegal Mass Surveillance

(November 6, 2015)

Earlier this week, we wrote about the UK’s release of its new Snooper’s Charter bill, where we noted that the government spin on it was fairly dizzying. I noted at the time that while the government kept insisting that it wasn’t adding a requirement to backdoor encryption, that was misleading because the text of the bill indicated the government believed such a mandate already existed. And that’s only the least of it. The bill and the discussion around it simply confirmed that the UK government engaged in mass surveillance for many, many years, and until now only a “tiny handful” of government ministers even knew about it.

That’s kind of astounding.

And, amazingly, the government is using this fact to argue that the new bill is a good thing because it actually “limits and restricts” activity that it secretly engaged in for years and years.

08.02.2025 - 17:13 [ Techdirt ]

UK Government Goes Full Orwell: Snooper‘s Charter, Encryption Backdoors, Free Speech Suppression

(May 28, 2015)

The old joke goes “George Orwell’s 1984 was a warning, not a ‘how to’ manual.” But that joke is increasingly less funny as the UK really seems to be doing everything it can to put in place Orwell’s fictitious vision — just a few decades later.

(…)

That first sentence is about the extremism orders, but the second part may be even more troubling. It’s the Queen making it clear that the Snooper’s Charter is returning — but even worse than before.

06.02.2025 - 22:24 [ University of Washington ]

New Left and Antiwar Movement History and Geography

Antiwar and countercultural activism by millions of young people of every backgound turned campuses and cities into both battle grounds and zones of social and cultural innovation while helping to bring down two presidents and rearranging both the Democratic and Republican Parties. The impact of these movements registered widely: in the military which had to be redesigned to operate without conscription; in mass media which scrambled to recapture a generation that had discovered underground newspapers; and especially in the new ways that many Americans would from then on view their nation‘s institutions and role in the world.

06.02.2025 - 22:15 [ Monthly Review ]

Vietnam and the Soldiers’ Revolt: The Politics of a Forgotten History

(June 1, 2016)

All sides have attempted to define the collective memory of the Vietnam War in ways that advance their current visions for global and domestic politics and superimpose them on the past. Think, for example, of the persistence of the “spit upon” or “baby killer” myths, or the claim that the antiwar movement “stabbed” soldiers “in the back” (even many of my students, born decades later, say these are the first things they think about when they hear “Vietnam War”).1 The continued influence of these myths has helped prop up consent for militarism at home and abroad. The story of GI protest during the war is an important counter to the conventional story, for it hits at the heart of some of the most emotive symbols in these political battles: the soldiers. It offers grounding for an alternative politics from the antiwar left. It is history worth knowing.

06.02.2025 - 22:05 [ WagingPeaceinVietnam.com ]

Waging Peace in Vietnam: A Timeline of the Movement

August 1964

False claims of North Vietnamese attacks in the Gulf of Tonkin lead to U.S. airstrikes and an escalating air war over the coming years that becomes the heaviest bombing campaign in the history of warfare, with more than 7 million tons of bombs and ordnance used against Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.

1965

Major escalation of U.S. ground troops begins.

January 1965

Lt. Richard Steinke becomes the first U.S. serviceman to refuse to fight after arriving in Vietnam. In November that year, Lt. Henry Howe of Ft. Bliss, Texas, attends antiwar protest in El Paso and is sentenced to two years hard labor.

June, 1966

Privates James Johnson, Dennis Mora and David Samis—the Ft. Hood Three—publicly refuse orders to Vietnam.

October, 1966

Capt. Howard Levy, MD, refuses orders to train Green Beret combatants at Ft. Jackson, South Carolina.

December 1967

Andy Stapp and others at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma, form the American Servicemen’s Union and organize chapters at dozens of military installations and ships.

Late 1967

Vietnam GI , one of the first known GI antiwar newspapers, begins publication. Hundreds of other GI papers appear throughout the military over the next five years. …….

05.02.2025 - 22:48 [ Common Dreams ]

Trump’s Ethnic Cleansing of Gaza Is a Brutal Form of Colonial Capitalism

The colonial creation of private property from stolen land is the American way, from the theft of Indigenous people’s lands to the urban renewal clearance projects that built the modern New York City in which Donald Trump was able to thrive and build wealth. There can be no shock that the developer president’s first public words on Gaza would celebrate the old method of generating “demolition sites” (terra nullius, or empty land). In a way, Trump actually is daring those of us who support Palestinian sovereignty to understand the interdependence of capitalism and genocidal colonialism. There must be a people, and there must be a land. One without the other presents a windfall to the developers.

04.02.2025 - 17:56 [ Daniel Neun / Radio Utopie ]

U.S.-Imperium will „globale Koalition“ für Terrorkrieg 2.0 und bastelt an „Nachrüstung“ der Kriegsvollmacht aus 2001

(September 2, 2014)

Auf dem Gipfel des Nordatlantikpakts in Wales wird es weniger um Russland als um die Frage gehen, mit welcher schwachsinnigen Ausrede nun die N.A.T.O. den am 4. Oktober 2001 ausgerufenen „kollektiven Verteidigungsfall“ aufrechterhalten will.

Eine Option: Noch mehr Eroberungen islamischer Staaten, wegen dem „Islamischen Staat“.

01.02.2025 - 00:58 [ New York Times ]

U.S. Relies Heavily on Saudi Money to Support Syrian Rebels

(January 23, 2016)

In addition to Saudi Arabia’s vast oil reserves and role as the spiritual anchor of the Sunni Muslim world, the long intelligence relationship helps explain why the United States has been reluctant to openly criticize Saudi Arabia for its human rights abuses, its treatment of women and its support for the extreme strain of Islam, Wahhabism, that has inspired many of the very terrorist groups the United States is fighting. The Obama administration did not publicly condemn Saudi Arabia’s beheading this month of a dissident Shiite cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, who had challenged the royal family.

01.02.2025 - 00:46 [ Libertarian Institute ]

‘People in Our Government Supported Al-Qaeda’: Gabbard in Heated Exchange With Sen. Kelly

(January 30,2025)

“It was shocking and a betrayal to me and every person who was killed on 9/11, their families, and my brothers and sisters in uniform.” She continued, “When as a member of Congress, I learned about President Obama’s, dual programs that he had begun, really to overthrow the regime of Syria and being willing to, through the CIA’s Timber Sycamore program that has now been made public, of working with and arming and equipping Al Qaeda in an effort to overthrow that regime, starting yet another regime change war in the Middle East.”

29.01.2025 - 22:53 [ Daniel Neun / Radio Utopie ]

Syrien-Krieg: Ist Russland ein Lakai der N.A.T.O.? Will es noch ein Blutbad in Asien?

(December 13, 2012)

Die neuesten Äußerungen von Sergej Lawrows Stellvertreter, Mikhail Bogdanov, sind ein weiteres, unleugbares Anzeichen dafür, dass die derzeitige Regierung in Moskau, wenn nicht sogar Russlands Präsident Wladimir Putin, bei der laufenden Invasion und Zerschlagung Syriens durch Proxy-Armeen einfallender Militärmächte – namentlich der Türkei, Frankreich, U.S.A., Großbritannien, sowie diverser asiatischer Kirchenstaaten und Monarchien – aktiv oder passiv kollaboriert.

24.01.2025 - 00:34 [ White House ]

DECLASSIFICATION OF RECORDS CONCERNING THE ASSASSINATIONS OF PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY, SENATOR ROBERT F. KENNEDY, AND THE REVEREND DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

I have now determined that the continued redaction and withholding of information from records pertaining to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy is not consistent with the public interest and the release of these records is long overdue. And although no Act of Congress directs the release of information pertaining to the assassinations of Senator Robert F. Kennedy and the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I have determined that the release of all records in the Federal Government’s possession pertaining to each of those assassinations is also in the public interest.

23.01.2025 - 00:17 [ Middle East Eye ]

528,500 people killed in Syria since 2011

(January 2, 2025)

More than 528,500 people have been killed in the conflict in Syria since 2011, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported yesterday.

22.01.2025 - 20:39 [ Fox News ]

Trump‘s FBI overhaul puts ‚untouchable‘ feds on notice: former agent

On Monday, the White House announced Brian Driscoll as acting director of the FBI. Driscoll’s time as acting director will presumably end when Kashyap „Kash“ Patel is confirmed as the FBI’s next director by the U.S. Senate.

Throughout former President Biden‘s term, the FBI was entangled in repeated scandals, prompting President Trump to promise to root out corruption in the FBI and the Department of Justice (DOJ).

22.01.2025 - 20:02 [ Cato Institute ]

The Imperial Presidency and the War on Terror

(March/​April 2006)

Since the start of the war on terror, the Bush administration has singlemindedly advanced the view that, in time of war, the president is the law, and no statute, no constitutional barrier, no coordinate branch of the U.S. government can stand in the president’s way when, by his lights, he is acting to preserve national security. Bush administration officials have argued

– that the president has the inherent constitutional authority to designate American citizens suspected of terrorist activity as “enemy combatants,” strip them of any constitutional protection, and hold them for the duration of the war on terror;
– that the president has the power to ignore validly enacted statutes prohibiting war crimes if he believes those statutes impede his prosecution of the war on terror; and
– that the president has the power to launch invasions of other countries at his discretion, without so much as a by-yourleave to Congress.

In a 1977 interview with David Frost, Richard Nixon described his view of the president’s national security authority: “Well, when the President does it, that means it is not illegal.” In the arguments it has advanced, both publicly and privately, for untrammeled executive power, the Bush administration comes perilously close to that view.

21.01.2025 - 19:53 [ White House ]

RESTORING FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND ENDING FEDERAL CENSORSHIP

Section 1. Purpose. The First Amendment to the United States Constitution, an amendment essential to the success of our Republic, enshrines the right of the American people to speak freely in the public square without Government interference. Over the last 4 years, the previous administration trampled free speech rights by censoring Americans’ speech on online platforms, often by exerting substantial coercive pressure on third parties, such as social media companies, to moderate, deplatform, or otherwise suppress speech that the Federal Government did not approve. Under the guise of combatting “misinformation,” “disinformation,” and “malinformation,” the Federal Government infringed on the constitutionally protected speech rights of American citizens across the United States in a manner that advanced the Government’s preferred narrative about significant matters of public debate. Government censorship of speech is intolerable in a free society.

Sec. 2. Policy. It is the policy of the United States to: (a) secure the right of the American people to engage in constitutionally protected speech;

(b) ensure that no Federal Government officer, employee, or agent engages in or facilitates any conduct that would unconstitutionally abridge the free speech of any American citizen;

(c) ensure that no taxpayer resources are used to engage in or facilitate any conduct that would unconstitutionally abridge the free speech of any American citizen; and

(d) identify and take appropriate action to correct past misconduct by the Federal Government related to censorship of protected speech.

Sec. 3. Ending Censorship of Protected Speech. (a) No Federal department, agency, entity, officer, employee, or agent may act or use any Federal resources in a manner contrary to section 2 of this order.

(b) The Attorney General, in consultation with the heads of executive departments and agencies, shall investigate the activities of the Federal Government over the last 4 years that are inconsistent with the purposes and policies of this order and prepare a report to be submitted to the President, through the Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy, with recommendations for appropriate remedial actions to be taken based on the findings of the report.

21.01.2025 - 19:50 [ Associated Press ]

Trump orders government not to infringe on Americans’ speech, calls for censorship investigation

It’s not yet clear how the order could affect the work that several U.S. agencies do to track false claims that pose threats to election security, including the FBI, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, known as CISA.

20.01.2025 - 17:58 [ Berkeley University ]

‘Discredit, disrupt, and destroy’: FBI records acquired by the Library reveal violent surveillance of Black leaders, civil rights organizations

(January 18, 2021)

One of the biggest lessons contained in the documents is abundantly clear: Whatever you do, don’t let them think you’re a communist.

For Hoover, an Ahab-type character in pursuit of his cursed whale, the mere whiff of such leanings could trigger the dirtiest of tricks in the FBI’s arsenal.

“No holds were barred,” said assistant FBI director William C. Sullivan in his testimony for the U.S. Senate’s Church Committee, as recorded in documents held by the Library and freely available on the digital repository HathiTrust. “We have used (these techniques) against Soviet agents. They have used (them) against us.”

“We did not differentiate,” Sullivan said. “This is a rough, tough business.”

20.01.2025 - 16:07 [ Business Times ]

Trump Pledges to Declassify JFK, RFK, and MLK Assassination Files

The announcement, made during his victory rally in Washington, D.C., was met with thunderous applause from supporters.

„As the first step toward restoring transparency and accountability to government, we will also reverse the over-classification of government documents,“ Trump declared to a packed Capital One Arena. „And in the coming days, we are going to make public remaining records relating to the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, his brother Robert Kennedy, as well as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.“

11.01.2025 - 10:43 [ Wikipedia ]

United States support for Saudi Arabian–led operations in Yemen

During the presidency of Barack Obama, the United States began providing Saudi Arabia with critical support to „sustain“ the Saudi Arabian–led intervention in the Yemeni Civil War,[1] later expanded during the presidency of Donald Trump.[2] This support included logistical and intelligence aid. Trump vetoed a bipartisan bill in 2019 aimed at stopping U.S. support for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen. In 2021, Joe Biden vowed to halt U.S. support for the war, though U.S. arms sales to the coalition have continued.[3][4]

From 2015 to 2019, Saudi Arabia was reportedly the largest importer of U.S. arms.[2]

08.01.2025 - 09:52 [ Daniel Neun / Radio Utopie ]

Doppelagent Putin

(15. April 2018)

Der nun erfolgte erneute Luftangriff gegen Syrien repräsentiert die Wiederholung einer Seifenoper aus dem letzten Jahr (11.04.2017, Wag the Russki). Drehbuch wie folgt:

– U.S. Präsident Donald Trump äußert in etwa “es hat nach Hunderttausenden von Toten keinen Sinn mehr die Invasion in Syrien mit terroristischen Proxy-Truppen und regulären eigenen Einheiten weiter fortzusetzen”,

– im Gebiet der terroristischen Proxies und Invasoren bei Ghouta ereignet sich ein fiktiver oder tatsächlicher Einsatz von Chemiewaffen,

– Trump dreht sich um 180 Grad und kündigt einen Militärschlag auf Syrien an,

– dieser erfolgt, mit Ankündigung und laut der französischen Verteidigungsministerin und einem anonymen Politiker über “Reuters” abermals mit Vorwarnung durch die Westmächte,

– die russische Flugabwehr tut nichts, gibt auch noch damit an und die syrische, die genau wie die russischen Militärs noch jedem Massaker gegen die eigenen und verbündeten Truppen aus Irak, Iran und Libanon zugesehen hat wie die Karnickel auf der Fahrbahn, behauptet dies und das.

Einer der wenigen Unterschiede zum letzten Jahr ist, dass sich neben Donald Trump mit Emmanuel Macron und Theresa May nun zwei weitere in ihrem Land hoch umstrittene Staatsleiter vor die Presse stellen und sagen können, sehet her, das haben sie nun davon, diese Russkis. Und Putin, der arme Putin, zitiert das Völkerrecht.

Dass die russische Staatsführung nie beabsichtigt hat Syrien gegen Luftangriffe zu verteidigen, sagte sie schon im letzten Jahr. Dass der russische Präsident jetzt von einer Verletzung der Souveränität Syriens redet, spricht Bände über dessen auch im Humor zum Ausdruck kommenden Grausamkeit. Der ganze Luftraum Syriens quillt über von irgendwelchen Kampfjets von Vancouver bis Wladivostok, seit Jahren. Noch einmal – hätte die Russische Föderation vor Beginn der Syrien-Invasion oder vor Beginn der Libyen-Invasion den dortigen Regimen eine Garantieerklärung gegeben, wie sie China letzten Sommer unter viel Gewimmer und Gebrumm endlich gegenüber Nordkorea abgab, wären Hunderttausende Menschen heute noch am Leben.

07.01.2025 - 19:23 [ MintPressNews.com ]

From ‘Terrorist’ to ‘Freedom Fighter’: How the West Rebranded Al-Qaeda’s Jolani as Syria’s ‘Woke’ New Leader

(December 12, 2024)

In 2003, he went to Iraq to fight against American forces. After three years of war, he was captured by the U.S. military and spent over five years in prison, including a stint at the notorious Abu Ghraib torture center.

While in Iraq, Jolani fought with ISIS and was even a deputy to its founder. Immediately upon release in 2011, ISIS sent him to Syria with a rumored $1 billion to found the Syrian wing of al-Qaeda and participate in the armed protest movement against Assad that arose out of the Arab Spring.

03.01.2025 - 11:44 [ Jurist.org ]

South Korea acting president to move quickly to fill Constitutional Court vacancies amid political turmoil

(January 1, 2024)

The Yonhap News Agency evaluates that, despite one vacant seat in the Constitutional Court, the main obstacle to President Yoon Seok-yeol’s impeachment trial has been resolved, as the same eight judges who presided over the dismissal of former President Park Geun-hye in 2016 have been appointed.

According to Article 22 of the Korean Constitutional Court Act, the Constitutional Court requires the consent of six judges to cite the impeachment petition, and seven people to hear the case.

31.12.2024 - 04:26 [ Hussam Abu Safiyia / New York Times ]

I’m One of the Last Doctors in This Hospital in Gaza. I’m Begging the World for Help.

(December 2, 2024)

We are working beyond our areas of specialization because we no longer have a qualified surgical team. We have called upon the world for protection for over 50 days but unfortunately there has been no response. I’m confounded by this world that claims to believe in humanity and democracy but does not respond. Not even the World Health Organization has any protection here.

The human mind cannot imagine all the death and body parts and blood that surround us around the clock…

22.12.2024 - 04:23 [ Antiwar.com ]

US Official Has ‘Good, Productive’ Meeting with al-Qaeda-Linked Julani in Damascus

Julani fought for al-Qaeda in Iraq against American soldiers during the Iraq War. He then founded al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria, the al-Nusra Front. In recent years, he has attempted to soften his image by giving friendly interviews to Western journalists, often appearing in a suit and with a trimmed beard to obscure his jihadist ideology.

Leaf said of Julani after the meeting, who is also going by Ahmad al-Sharaa, “I heard him on his priorities, which are very much rooted in getting Syria on the road to economic recovery.”

“We’ve been hearing this for some time, some very pragmatic and moderate statements on various issues, from women’s rights to protection to equal rights for all communities,” she added. “It was a good first meeting. We will judge by deeds, not just by words.”

21.12.2024 - 01:56 [ New York Times ]

Israel Found the Hamas Money Machine Years Ago. Nobody Turned It Off.

(December 16, 2023)

Israeli leaders believed that Hamas was more interested in governing than fighting. By the time the agents discovered the ledgers in 2018, the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, was encouraging the government of Qatar to deliver millions of dollars to the Gaza Strip. He gambled that the money would buy stability and peace.

Mr. Levy recalled briefing Mr. Netanyahu personally in 2015 about the Hamas portfolio.

15.12.2024 - 09:55 [ Times of Israel ]

Report: Russia draws down forces in Syria, removes S-300 system that troubled Israel

(Ooctober 20, 2022)

Though it has on several occasions harshly criticized Russia’s actions in Ukraine, Jerusalem has so far avoided providing direct military aid to Kyiv — neither offensive arms nor advanced defensive technology — in an attempt to avoid sparking a crisis with Moscow.
/,,,)
An encrypted phone connection was installed in 2017 between a Russian air base in western Syria and the Israeli Air Force command center in Tel Aviv.

The S-300 system was moved to Syria is 2018. Control of the batteries was never handed over to Syrian government.
(…)
Russia still maintains its more advanced S-400 air defense system in Syria, but the missiles are reportedly tasked only with defending Russian assets.

12.12.2024 - 06:59 [ Donald J. Trump / Truth Social ]

The resignation of Christopher Wray is a great day for America as it will end the Weaponization of what has become known as the United States Department of Injustice. I just don’t know what happened to him.

We will now restore the Rule of Law for all Americans. Under the leadership of Christopher Wray, the FBI illegally raided my home, without cause, worked diligently on illegally impeaching and indicting me, and has done everything else to interfere with the success and future of America. They have used their vast powers to threaten and destroy many innocent Americans, some of which will never be able to recover from what has been done to them.

12.12.2024 - 06:54 [ Reuters ]

FBI Director Chris Wray to resign following Trump nomination of Patel

Wray will leave before the end of the 10-year term that Trump himself appointed him to in 2017.

11.12.2024 - 09:22 [ enabbaladi.net ]

The US and al-Omar oil field: Military base or oil greed

(September 23, 2022)

On 22 October 2017, SDF announced that its forces, with the support of the International Coalition Forces (ICF), had taken control of the al-Omar oil field, Syria’s largest, after the regime’s alliance had engaged in military operations against it for days.

As SDF installed its spheres of influence in the region as far as the Euphrates River from the eastern side, the al-Omar field is now known as the largest US military base in Syria.

The field in Deir Ezzor’s eastern countryside is the largest oil field in Syria, with a pre-Syrian revolution production of about 30,000 barrels per day.

08.12.2024 - 21:56 [ Reuters ]

Syrian Observatory says war has killed more than half a million

(March 12, 2018)

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based war monitor, said on Monday about 511,000 people had been killed in the Syrian war since it began seven years ago.

08.12.2024 - 21:50 [ Washington Post ]

Assad must go, Obama says

(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.

08.12.2024 - 21:34 [ BBC ]

US expands ‚axis of evil‘

(6.5.2002)

The United States has added Cuba, Libya and Syria to the nations it claims are deliberately seeking to obtain chemical or biological weapons.

08.12.2024 - 21:24 [ Washington Post ]

Text of President Bush‘s 2002 State of the Union Address

(Jan. 29, 2002)

Our second goal is to prevent regimes that sponsor terror from threatening America or our friends and allies with weapons of mass destruction.

Some of these regimes have been pretty quiet since September 11, but we know their true nature. North Korea is a regime arming with missiles and weapons of mass destruction, while starving its citizens.

Iran aggressively pursues these weapons and exports terror, while an unelected few repress the Iranian people‘s hope for freedom.

Iraq continues to flaunt its hostility toward America and to support terror. The Iraqi regime has plotted to develop anthrax and nerve gas and nuclear weapons for over a decade.

This is a regime that has already used poison gas to murder thousands of its own citizens, leaving the bodies of mothers huddled over their dead children. This is a regime that agreed to international inspections then kicked out the inspectors. This is a regime that has something to hide from the civilized world.

States like these, and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world.

07.12.2024 - 16:59 [ United Nations Security Council ]

Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force for the period from 4 September to 19 November 2014

(01.12.2014)

5. In view of the heavy fighting, which was approaching close to the UNDOF headquarters at Camp Faouar and the mission’s positions in the central part of the area of separation, the Force Commander briefed both parties early in September on the Force’s plans to relocate its personnel and assets should the Nusra Front or other extremist fighters who posed a clear threat to the mission endanger the safety and security of the United Nations personnel. It should be noted here that from information posted on social media as well as in the course of its efforts to secure the release of the peacekeepers, the United Nations learned that its personnel had been taken and held by members of the Nusra Front. There were indications that the Nusra Front intended to detain additional UNDOF personnel and take from UNDOF more weapons and vehicles as opportunities arose. (…)

12. Crossing of the ceasefire line by civilians, primarily shepherds, was observed on an almost daily basis. On 24 October, United Nations observation post 73 observed 12 IDF soldiers who detained one civilian between the Alpha line and the Israeli technical fence south-east of the observation post and subsequently took him away. IDF informed UNDOF that they released the person within one hour at the same location. On 27 October, position 80 observed two IDF soldiers east of the technical fence returning from the direction of the Alpha line towards the technical fence. UNDOF observed IDF opening the technical fence gate and letting two individuals pass from the Bravo to the Alpha side. Following the evacuation of UNDOF personnel from position 85 on 28 August, UNDOF sporadically observed armed members of the opposition interacting with IDF across the ceasefire line in the vicinity of United Nations position 85.

07.12.2024 - 16:53 [ UN Tribune ]

UN Peacekeepers Observe IDF Interacting With Al Nusra in Golan

(4.12.2014)

UN troops monitoring the 1974 ceasefire between Israel and Syria have witnessed interactions between members of the Israeli Defence Forces and the Al Nusra Front who have taken over a large part of the Golan Heights.

05.12.2024 - 12:00 [ Europäisches Kernforschungszentrum / European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) ]

The birth of the Web

On 30 April 1993, CERN put the World Wide Web software in the public domain. Later, CERN made a release available with an open licence, a more sure way to maximise its dissemination. These actions allowed the web to flourish.

03.12.2024 - 01:02 [ CNN ]

Democrats left fuming over Biden’s decision to pardon his son — after he repeatedly said he wouldn’t

President Joe Biden’s decision to pardon his son has left some Democrats fuming over his choice to repeatedly and unequivocally claim that he would never take that step, even though a pardon long appeared possible to Hunter Biden’s legal team.

Multiple officials who recently worked for Joe Biden said they never believed the president or White House aides speaking on his behalf when they insisted in recent months that a pardon for Hunter Biden was off the table.

03.12.2024 - 00:56 [ Associated Press ]

Biden pardons his son Hunter despite previous pledges not to

President Joe Biden pardoned his son, Hunter, sparing the younger Biden a possible prison sentence for federal felony gun and tax convictions and reversing his past promises not to use the extraordinary powers of the presidency for the benefit of his family.

01.12.2024 - 03:07 [ Donald J. Trump / Social Truth ]

I am proud to announce that Kashyap “Kash” Patel will serve as the next Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Kash is a brilliant lawyer, investigator, and “America First” fighter who has spent his career exposing corruption, defending Justice, and protecting the American People. He played a pivotal role in uncovering the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, standing as an advocate for truth, accountability, and the Constitution.

01.12.2024 - 02:59 [ New York Times ]

Trump Says He Will Nominate Kash Patel to Run F.B.I.

President-elect Donald J. Trump said on Saturday that he wants to replace Christopher A. Wray, the F.B.I. director, with Kash Patel, a hard-line critic of the bureau who has called for shutting down the agency’s Washington headquarters, firing its leadership and bringing the nation’s law enforcement agencies “to heel.”

01.12.2024 - 02:51 [ ABC News ]

Trump says he‘ll fire FBI Director Christopher Wray, replace him with longtime ally Kash Patel

President-elect Donald Trump announced Saturday that he plans on firing FBI director Christopher Wray and replacing him with longtime ally Kash Patel.

The appointment must be approved by the Senate.

30.11.2024 - 07:51 [ Republic of Türkiye / Ministry of Foreign Affairs ]

Joint Statement by Iran, Russia and Turkey on the International Meeting on Syria in Astana 28-29 November 2018

5. Examined in details the situation in the Idlib de-escalation area and reaffirmed their determination to fully implement the Memorandum on Stabilization of the Situation in the Idlib De-escalation Area of 17 September 2018. In this regard they expressed their concern with the ongoing violations of the ceasefire regime, and declared that, as guarantors of the ceasefire regime, they would step up their efforts to ensure observance with it, including by enhacing work of the Joint Iranian-Russian-Turkish Coordination Center. They stressed the importance of a lasting ceasefire while underlining the necessity to continue effective fight against terrorism. They also emphasized that under no circumstances the creation of the above-mentioned de-escalation area should undermine the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic;

30.11.2024 - 02:28 [ MintPressNews.com ]

Six Months of Lies and Pressure: How US and Israeli Interference Stalled Netanyahu’s ICC Arrest Warrant

(November 22, 2024)

More than six months after the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor sought arrest warrants for Israel’s prime minister and defense minister, a ruling was finally issued Thursday. In the interim, both Israel and the United States took unprecedented steps to obstruct the court’s decision-making process.

29.11.2024 - 20:15 [ CNN ]

Syrian rebels enter Aleppo for first time in eight years during shock offensive

Syrian armed rebels have entered Aleppo just three days into their surprise offensive, marking the first time they have set foot in the country’s second largest city since government forces recaptured the city in 2016.

Rebel forces launched a surprise attack this week, sweeping through several villages outside the city and reigniting conflict that had been largely static for years.

23.11.2024 - 20:02 [ Middle East Eye ]

The PLO’s patient strategy of turning to ICC paying off with arrest warrants

Three days after the war ended, on 21 January 2009, the PA filed a declaration with the ICC seeking to allow the court jurisdiction over the occupied Palestinian territories.

Under Article 12(3) of the Rome Statute – the treaty that established the ICC – non-members of the ICC can file a declaration granting the court jurisdiction to investigate crimes committed within their territory after a specified date. Ukraine has adopted this approach to address alleged Russian crimes.

After much deliberation, the ICC rejected Palestine’s declaration on the grounds that Article 12(3) of the Rome Statute only applied to “states”.

However, when Palestine was recognised as a non-member observer state at the UN following a General Assembly vote in late 2012, it opened up the possibility not only of filing a declaration with the ICC but also of attaining full membership.

20.11.2024 - 16:26 [ Consortium News ]

RAY McGOVERN: Will Gabbard Be Able to Direct the Intelligence ‘Community’?

On July 22, 2004, immediately after the 9/11 Commission report was released, I found myself with 9/11 commissioner (and former senator from Washington) Slade Gorton in the BBC blue room in Washington. I had the temerity to remind him that it was far from the case that “no one was in charge” of the intelligence community; that Tenet had all the authority he needed.

Gorton turned to me, smiled and said: “Of course we know all that; but we in the Commission and in Congress just had to do something so the American people would see that we were doing something.”

Yuck.

The national intelligence director, and the newly created bureaucracy, is what it is. Maybe Tulsi Gabbard can take the reins and make the community work. It will take a miracle; let’s hope for one.

20.11.2024 - 14:07 [ Anadolu ]

1988 Palestinian independence declaration: A pivotal step toward statehood

Today, 146 out of 193 UN members recognize the state of Palestine.

17.11.2024 - 21:20 [ Vox.com ]

40 maps that explain the internet

(June 2, 2014)

The internet increasingly pervades our lives, delivering information to us no matter where we are. It takes a complex system of cables, servers, towers, and other infrastructure, developed over decades, to allow us to stay in touch with our friends and family so effortlessly. Here are 40 maps that will help you better understand the internet — where it came from, how it works, and how it‘s used by people around the world.

17.11.2024 - 18:33 [ Europäisches Kernforschungszentrum / European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) ]

The birth of the Web

On 30 April 1993, CERN put the World Wide Web software in the public domain. Later, CERN made a release available with an open licence, a more sure way to maximise its dissemination. These actions allowed the web to flourish.

16.11.2024 - 22:53 [ Reuters ]

LIVE: Press conference to announce filing of lawsuit on behalf of Malcolm X’s family

Streamed live on Nov 15, 2024 #Reuters #News #Live
Civil-rights attorney Ben Crump holds press conference to announce the filing of a lawsuit on behalf of Malcolm X’s family.

16.11.2024 - 22:42 [ APNews.com ]

The daughters of Malcolm X sue the CIA, FBI and NYPD over the civil rights leader’s assassination

(November 15, 2024)

According to the lawsuit, the NYPD, coordinating with federal law enforcement agencies, arrested the activist’s security detail days before the assassination and intentionally removed their officers from inside the ballroom where Malcolm X was killed. Meanwhile, it adds, federal agencies had personnel, including undercover agents, in the ballroom but failed to protect him.

The lawsuit was not brought sooner because the defendants withheld information from the family, including the identities of undercover “informants, agents and provocateurs” and what they knew about the planning that preceded the attack.