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Best of the Web: There are chilling parallels between the suffering of Julian Assange and Gaza civilians

Assange image
© Rasid Necati Aslim/Getty ImagesJullian Assange supporter
By locking away one journalist and abetting the misery of an entire people, the West combines oppressive structure with disregard for law...

Recently, two of the defining injustices of the contemporary West have been the object of legal proceedings. And while one involves mass murder and the other the torture but not murder of a single victim (at least not yet), there are good reasons to juxtapose the two systematically. The suffering involved is different, but the forces that cause it are intricately linked and, as we will see, reveal much about the nature of the West as a political order.

In The Hague, the UN's International Court of Justice (ICJ) - also known as the World Court - has held extensive hearings (involving 52 states and three international organizations) on Israel's post-1967 occupation - or de facto annexation - of Palestinian territories. These hearings are connected to, but are not the same as, the genocide case against Israel also currently proceeding at the ICJ.

All of this is happening against the backdrop of Israel's relentless genocide of the Palestinians by bombing, shooting (reportedly including small children, in the head), blockade, and starvation. As of now, the constantly growing - and conservative - victim count stands at about 30,000 killed, 70,000 injured, 7,000 missing, and at least 2 million displaced, often more than once, always under horrific conditions.

In London, the Royal Courts of Justice have been the stage for Julian Assange's fight for an appeal against Washington's demand to extradite him to the US. Assange, an activist and publisher of investigative journalism, has already been in confinement - of one kind or the other - for more than a decade. Since 2019, he has been held in the Belmarsh high security prison. In fact, what has already happened to him is the modern equivalent of being locked away in the Bastille by royal "lettre de cachet" in absolutist, pre-revolutionary, Ancien régime France. Multiple observers, including a UN special rapporteur, have argued compellingly that Assange's treatment has amounted to torture.

X

Best of the Web: If memes are illegal, all speech will become illegal

with her
© THERICKYVAUGHN/TWITTERscreenshot
The Biden administration has convicted a pro-Trump influencer for posting a meme. If this precedent stands, soon everything will be against the law, but the law will only apply to enemies of the state.

Thirty years ago, the incendiary columnist Sam Francis coined the term "anarcho-tyranny" to describe a state of affairs in which the government cannot or will not enforce laws against serious criminals and instead exerts excessive and often arbitrary force on ordinary citizens.

Francis's coinage, conceived against the backdrop of the crack epidemic and attendant crime wave of the late '80s and early '90s, was provoked by a series of feckless gun laws ostensibly designed to curb armed crime. But in practice, they were used to harass ordinary gun owners. The original column appeared in December 1992, a few months after an off-the-grid Vietnam vet was entrapped by an undercover ATF agent for the illegal sale of a shotgun, leading to a raid on his cabin in Ruby Ridge, Idaho, and the murder of his dog, son, and wife by federal agents.

Anarcho-tyranny is not an intentional conspiracy to subvert the rule of law. There are no smoke-filled rooms where the anarcho-tyranny white paper is passed around among policymakers. It is simply the natural devolution of a government undergoing a crisis of authority: As power slackens in one direction, it must tighten in another.

Yoda

Best of the Web: UK firebrand George Galloway WINS Rochdale by-election

George Galloway reelected britain house of commons
George Galloway has clinched a stunning victory in the Rochdale by-election after one of the most divisive and controversial contests in recent history
Controversial politician to make shock return to the Commons after his hardline pro-Palestinian stance brings victory amid Labour vote collapse - as he fires warning at Keir Starmer and says: 'This is for Gaza'

George Galloway has clinched a stunning victory in the Rochdale by-election after one of the most divisive and chaotic contests in recent history.

Local voters have chosen the firebrand politician as their new MP to replace Sir Tony Lloyd, following the death of the veteran Labour politician last month.

Mr Galloway, who put a hardline pro-Palestinian stance at the heart of his campaign, is now set to end his nine-year absence from the House of Commons.

Comment: Things are about to get very uncomfortable for the parliamentary class in the UK House of Commons. Galloway has never been reticent about voicing plain truths. And a post-election interview with a Sky News reporter. Must-watch!




Wolf

Best of the Web: Obama's CIA asked foreign intel agencies to spy on Trump campaign, thus launching Russiagate

five eyes surveillance
The Five Eyes countries are the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
The revelation that the U.S. intelligence community, under the Obama administration, sought the assistance of the "Five Eyes" intelligence alliance to surveil Donald Trump's associates before the 2016 election is a chilling reminder of the lengths to which the Deep State will go to protect its interests and challenge its adversaries. (The Five Eyes countries are the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.) This bombshell, reported by a team of independent journalists, exposes a dark chapter in American political history, where foreign intelligence services were reportedly mobilized against a presidential candidate.

The alleged operation against Trump and his associates, which predates the official start of the FBI's Crossfire Hurricane investigation, is a stark example of political weaponization of intelligence. The involvement of foreign allies in surveilling American citizens under the pretext of national security raises serious questions about the integrity of our democratic processes and the autonomy of our nation's intelligence operations.

Comment:


Binoculars

Best of the Web: Border Patrol Council: Trump supports agents' mission, Biden 'burned border to the ground'

joe biden trump
© Sean Rayford, Mike Segar-Pool/Getty ImagesPresident Joe Biden and candidate Donald Trump
The National Border Patrol Council (NBPC) drew a stark contrast between how former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden treat border patrol agents, declaring Trump shows agents "respect" while "Biden falsely accuses them of crimes."

The union, which notes it represents some "18,000 Border Patrol Agents and support personnel assigned to the U.S. Border Patrol," took to X on Thursday to lay out the "difference" between Biden and Trump.


"President Trump treats BP agents with respect, supports their mission and listens to their ideas," a post from the union's official account reads. "Biden falsely accuses agents of crimes, burned the border to the ground and only listens to his radical leftist base. See the difference?"

Comment: Fox News reports that "Border patrol agents had to guide Biden around like a fragile animal"




Map

Best of the Web: CIA has 'many bases' in Ukraine - FSB boss

Bortnikov
© Gavriil Grigorov/SputnikRussian Federal Security Service (FSB) Director Aleksandr Bortnikov
The American espionage network is even larger than what the US press describes, Moscow believes...

The CIA has "many" bases in Ukraine, the head of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) Aleksandr Bortnikov told Russian television on Thursday, when asked about a New York Times report on the spy network.

The US newspaper described a decade-long record of cooperation between the American spy agency and Ukrainian special services.

According to the article, which was published last Sunday, the CIA has 12 secret bases on Ukrainian soil which are actively working against Russia. The paper wrote that over the past eight years, the CIA has trained and equipped Kiev's intelligence officers in underground bunkers, some of which are nestled deep in the forests of Ukraine.

Bortnikov told Channel 1:
"They [US intelligence] had entered there a long time ago and are using this resource to do the dirty work, on their own and with the hands of the Ukrainian special services."
He said "work is ongoing," when asked whether Russia can get to the CIA sites.

Comment: That New York Times piece was propaganda - based on some actual reporting - to help promote the passage of the $100 billion foreign aid bill, of which $60 billion is earmarked 'for Ukraine'.


Big Bomb

Best of the Web: Napoleonic folly: Macron stands by remarks on NATO troops in Ukraine

Emmanuel Macron
© Getty Images / Chesnot
The French president brushed off criticism from fellow NATO members, insisting his words were "thought-through and measured"

French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday stood by his controversial remarks on Monday about the prospects of deploying troops to Ukraine, which have caused uproar among some NATO members, and has insisted his words were well thought out.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a visit to inspect the 2024 Olympics village near Paris, Macron refused to backtrack on his statements despite a flurry of criticism from some fellow members of the US-led bloc.

Comment: From the same source there was also:

1 Mar, 2024
Vast majority of French oppose Macron's 'troops in Ukraine' comment - poll
Survey results published on Thursday by French newspaper Le Figaro showed that 68% of respondents disapproved of Macron's comments on a possible future NATO deployment to the war-torn state, while just 31% said they agreed. The remainder, just 1%, were undecided.
31% is probably an accurate reflection of the percentage supportive of the Western regime generally.

Although Macron has met with resistance, he has support from eastern EU states like Estonia:

29 Feb, 2024
NATO member backs 'boots on the ground' in Ukraine
Estonia is "not afraid" of Russia and thinks sending NATO ground troops to Ukraine ought to be under consideration, Prime Minister Kaja Kallas has told Sky News in an interview aired on Wednesday.

So far, only Estonia and Lithuania have expressed any enthusiasm for the idea of escalating NATO support to Kiev beyond deliveries of weapons, ammunition, and money.

"We shouldn't be afraid of our own power. Russia is saying this or that step is escalation, but defense is not escalation," Kallas told Sky. "I'm saying we should have all options on the table. What more can we do in order to really help Ukraine win?"

Earlier this week, French President Emmanuel Macron argued that the US-led bloc should not rule out sending troops to Ukraine, or any other options. Most members of the bloc have since distanced themselves from the idea - except two of the former Soviet Baltic republics.

On Tuesday, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis urged NATO to "think outside the box." Meanwhile, the country's ambassador to Sweden, Linas Linkevicius, said the bloc would "neutralize" the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad if Moscow "dares to challenge NATO."
Were Estonian and Lithuanian officials given their cue cards by the US? The US says that it's gearing up to fight Russia head-on if Russia's SMO is successful, but because we know that they know that this could easily precipitate M.A.D., it's probably bluff to induce other eastern European countries like the Baltic states and Poland to fight Russia in an expanded proxy war.

29 Feb, 2024
Pentagon warns of direct Russia-NATO clash
Addressing the US House Armed Services Committee hearing on Thursday, Austin once again urged lawmakers to approve additional funding for Kiev's war effort, painting a grim picture for NATO allies.

"If you are a Baltic state, you are really worried about whether you are next... And, frankly, if Ukraine falls, I really believe that NATO will be in a fight with Russia," the Pentagon chief said.

Austin went on to claim that "other autocrats around the world will look at this and will be encouraged by the fact that this happened and we failed to support a democracy."
Macron is probably aware that he is in the same situation as Britain's Rishi Sunak. That is, French "advisors" are already involved, on the ground, fighting the Russians in Ukraine:

29 Feb, 2024
UK 'directly involved' in Ukraine conflict - Kremlin
The outlet RTVI asked Peskov to comment a report from The Times which claimed that Admiral Tony Radakin, the head of the UK armed forces, has helped make "battle plans" for Ukraine.

"In general, it's no secret that the British really provide different forms of support [to Ukraine]. People on the ground and intelligence and so on and so forth," Peskov said. "That is, they are actually directly involved in this conflict."

According to the British outlet, citing a Ukrainian military source, Radakin "is understood to have helped the Ukrainians with the strategy to destroy Russian ships and open up the Black Sea," and seen as "invaluable in coordinating support from other senior chiefs in NATO."

The admiral also reportedly visited Kiev and met with President Vladimir Zelensky, to discuss Ukraine's strategy and the ways in which the West could help.

The Kremlin doesn't have specific information related to Radakin, but "probably our military knows about this," Peskov said.

Radakin, 58, was due to retire in November after three years as chief of the defense staff, but will stay on the job for another year at Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's request, the Times reported. One source told the outlet that the British government considered it important to retain "continuity" ahead of the upcoming general election.
For other articles related to the latest developments, see:


Vader

Best of the Web: Did the West intentionally incite Putin to war?

zelensky poke bear russia ukraine political cartoon
© David Parkins/The Globe and Mail/2014
Over the last year the US and NATO countries have undertaken no effort to convince Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskiy to begin talks with Putin, despite: the death of more than half a million Ukrainians; the destruction of much of Ukraine's economy, finances, physical infrastructure, human capital, civil society; and the West's inability to sustain financial and military support even as Ukraine loses the war when said support was at its height. The West's war strategy now seems to be to prolong a 'long war' in the hope either that the war begins to affect Russia and Putin's standing there or that Putin's health wanes and his system destabilizes. All this and much more written below raises suspicions the West intentionally, maybe even 'subconsciously' - the actions of small policy victories won in order to 'confront Putin' by competing elements within it, especially inside Washington - drew Russia into the NATO-Russia Ukrainian War. Aside from the background cause and main driver of this decision - NATO expansion - and more immediate precipitants of Putin's decision in mid- to late February 2022, what efforts, of any, did the West undertake perhaps intentionally to drive this decision?

If we look at the course of events in reverse chronological order it seems to me even more glaringly so that the West sought this war and indeed drew Russia into it intentionally with the the strategy of using the war to weaken Russia's economic and political stability. The strategic goal is the reinforcement of US hegemony and power maximalization by achieving two long-standing, interrelated sub-goals: (1) NATO expansion and (2) the removal from power of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Let's reverse engineer the course of events.

Bullseye

Best of the Web: UN special rapporteur: Israel is deliberately starving Palestinians and it should be held accountable for genocide

Gaza children hunger food
© Fatima Shbair/APPalestinians line up for a free meal in Rafah, Gaza Strip, on 16 February. UN special rapporteur on the right to food Michael Fakhri says denial of food is war crime and constitutes 'a situation of genocide'.
Israel is intentionally starving Palestinians and should be held accountable for war crimes - and genocide, according to the UN's leading expert on the right to food.

Hunger and severe malnutrition are widespread in the Gaza Strip, where about 2.2 million Palestinians are facing severe shortages resulting from Israel destroying food supplies and severely restricting the flow of food, medicines and other humanitarian supplies. Aid trucks and Palestinians waiting for humanitarian relief have come under Israeli fire.

"There is no reason to intentionally block the passage of humanitarian aid or intentionally obliterate small-scale fishing vessels, greenhouses and orchards in Gaza - other than to deny people access to food," Michael Fakhri, the UN special rapporteur on the right to food, told the Guardian.

Comment: And Israel manages to take malevolence to yet another level: not only are the IDF also shooting livestock, bombing food and sanitation infrastructure - and the rest - but they're also shelling and shooting those simply scrambling for food - see the reports below.

But, there does appear to be a notable development by those working for propaganda media outlets, because it seems that even those journalists are struggling to overlook the atrocities, and, in turn, Israel and its cheerleaders in the West appear to be escalating tensions ever further, perhaps due to their realisation that their window of opportunity is closing:


Initial reports indicate Death tolls are up to: 150 KILLED AND 1000 INJURED
Video 1&2: Injuries and martyrs arriving to the hospitals.
Video 3: Civilians gathered waiting for Aid.
Video 4: the moment civilians were targeted and shot.




Bad Guys

Best of the Web: Germany's Scholz implies British troops operating long-range missiles INSIDE Ukraine, is slammed by counterparts for intel-leak

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz
© Christoph Schmidt/Getty ImagesGerman Chancellor Olaf Scholz
The chancellor said giving Kiev long-range missiles would require assistance from German troops, citing London's example

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has come under fire from the UK after he suggested that there were British troops operating in the Ukraine conflict. Explaining why Berlin would not supply Kiev with long-range Taurus missiles, Scholz said it would require German military personnel on the ground providing assistance.

He went on to say that Taurus "is a very long-range weapon, and what was done on the part of the British and French in terms of target-control and target-control assistance can't be done in Germany."

Comment: The Daily Mail further clarifies the comments:
On Tuesday, it was revealed that the UK had also stationed a 'small number' of troops in Ukraine in a support capacity, specifying only that some were involved in medical training.

Though it is known that the UK provides Ukraine with intelligence on Russian targets, it is not currently known to what extend support is given to Ukrainian troops in direct military action.
And The Telegraph:
Justin Crump, chief executive of Sibylline, an intelligence consultancy, said: "British support to Ukraine is hardly news to Moscow given repeated leaks, but this has previously been veiled in ambiguity - itself drawing on a trick from Russia's own playbook.

"[Mr] Scholz though has more clearly pierced this veil. His assertion is a gift to Russian propagandists, already forming a key part of Russia's effort to undermine Nato cohesion and support for Kyiv during this critical period ahead of US and UK elections."
Meanwhile the overall press coverage seems to be dancing around the issue, such as with the following from The Standard:
His comments led to reports that British soldiers are in Ukraine helping with weapons system, or at least helping to fire them remotely.
Whilst one could put this down to infighting and/or incompetence - and it does come amidst the German Navy's recent embarrassment - what with the admission from the US about CIA bases stationed in Ukraine since 2014; with Macron's calls to send in France's troops to Ukraine; and the seeming need for the West to escalate matters, one can't help but wonder whether it's, at least in part, laying the ground for a provocation.

Although perhaps that's giving the desperate, bungling, albeit sinister, establishment puppets too much credit.

Either way, the outcome seems as though it will be the same: note that Russia's response is that, indeed, a direct (official) confrontation does seem to be brewing: