#International Association of Parliamentarians for Peace

[northern-passage]

Read the full call to action here.

Tomorrow, November 29th, the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, the #BDS movement is calling for an all day social media storm. Our physical and digital actions can be used together to strengthen our demands: Permanent ceasefire and lifting the siege to stop Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Lawful sanctions on Israel, including a #MilitaryEmbargo. Pressure on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue arrest warrants for Israeli leaders. Click here for prepared messages and images to use for the social media storm. Over the last 7 weeks, millions of you have taken to the streets for the largest protests the world has seen in the last 20 years! We are grateful to each one of you who, through your voices and creative actions, have built up unprecedented grassroots power to end Israel’s genocidal war against 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza. Yet, Western governments are continuing to arm, fund and provide political cover for Israel’s genocide. We must act urgently to end all state, corporate and institutional complicity with Israel’s genocidal apartheid regime. Palestinian lives and livelihoods literally depend on it. To this end, and as time has shown, BDS is the most effective form of solidarity with the Palestinian liberation struggle. Tomorrow, we call for escalating worldwide peaceful mobilizations and expressions of meaningful solidarity to stop the genocide including: 1. Whenever feasible, organizing peaceful disruptions, sit-ins, occupations, etc. targeting  policymakers, as well as the corporate enablers of genocide and apartheid (arms manufacturers, investment firms), and institutions (media, universities, cultural spaces, etc.). 2. Disrupting the transport of weapons, or weapon parts, to Israel, including in transit states, by supporting trade unions refusing to handle such shipments, as has been done in Belgium, US, and the Spanish State, and as expressed by trade unions in India, Turkey, Italy and Greece.  3. Pressuring parliaments and governments to cancel existing military contracts and agreements with Israel, as Colombia’s president publicly espoused, and as demanded by the BDS movement in Brazil, a demand supported by civil society and more than 60 parliamentarians in the country. 4. Intensifying all strategic economic boycott and divestment campaigns against complicit corporations, and escalating campaigns to cut all ties to apartheid Israel and its complicit academic and cultural institutions as well as sports teams. Mobilizing your community, trade union, association, church, social network, student government/union, city council, cultural center, or other organization to declare itself an Apartheid Free Zone (AFZ) on November 29th, if it hasn’t already, and organize a solidarity event or action on November 29th. 5. Pressuring your elected officials, where relevant, through direct communication or collective direct action, to demand real pressure on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to urgently prosecute Netanyahu and all other Israeli officials responsible for genocide, apartheid, and war crimes. If not now, when? In solidarity, The Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC)

ABOUT THE BDS MOVEMENT

Cultural boycott guidelines

Economic boycott for consumers

[whatisonthemoon]

How has the Moon network played a role in the post-9/11 U.S. Imperialist strategy?

We often think about how the Moon network played a role in anti-communist efforts that ended up murdering thousands from the 70s into the 80s, but in what ways has the Moon network played a role in post-9/11 international policies around surveillance and security?

We should more deeply examine post-9/11 counterinsurgency work that the UC has taken up, especially consider the millions of deaths that have come out of the so-called “War on Terror.”

A recent study shows that, apart from the million direct casualties of the War(s) on Terror, over 3,000,000 people died from the conditions created by those wars.

How has Moon’s Universal Peace Federation played a role in this, including through the International Association of Parliamentarians for Peace (IAPP), Podgorica Club, South Asia Peace Initiative (SAPI), and other UPF-initiated groups?

We know bits and pieces of how the UC’s organizations have been used for international relations and policies, including in Nepal, the DPRK, the Philippines, a number of Southeastern European countries, etc., in the past decade... but there’s still so much more to be exposed. 

We also know that the Washington Times was used during the Bush years to validate his election win, claims of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and other claims around foreign governments that have been proven false or were  intentionally released in an effort to support Bush’s administration’s war efforts. We know how often Moonie Bill Gertz played a role in these efforts. 

Read the full study from Brown University (Watson Institute) - HOW DEATH OUTLIVES WAR: THE REVERBERATING IMPACT OF THE POST-9/11 WARS ON HUMAN HEALTH

Related links

Brief Summary of the UPF’s Podgorica Club

Those Spared in Duterte’s “War on Drugs” May Go to Moonie Rehabilitation

December 2021 Kathmandu Post article on Hak Ja Han

Nepal Prime Minister criticised for accepting FFWPU award

Moon’s Vision: A New Pan-Asianism

Anti-communist Moonie podcast - with Bill Gertz

PM raises 0.1 million dollar ethical question

Some words on the Moonies’/Hak Ja Han’s Relationship to the “Revisionist” Maoists of Nepal

People’s Review: Prachanda afraid of pro-Hindu campaign; silent on Unification Church (2018)

UPF Played Major Role in Republic of Korea-Nepal Relations

On the Nepal Pariwar Dal

Grapple with Imperialism. Come to Terms with Yourself

The Complex, Dynamic, and Opportunistic Relationship of Moon and the DPRK’s Kim Family

[howwelldoyouknowyourmoon]

Japan Times: Cabinet reshuffle raises a slew of new questions

“... Twelve high-ranking members of the government are executives of the conservative lobbying group Japan Conference (Nippon Kaigi) and 12 — there is overlap — are associated with the anti-leftist Unification Church, including six of the 13 rookie ministers. Some of these members have worked on behalf of the International Association of Parliamentarians for Peace, a project one of whose aims is to make the Unification Church a state religion in various countries, including Japan. Although it sounds ironic that these lawmakers are associated with a religion based in South Korea, given the Abe administration’s fractured relationship with Seoul at the moment, they may sympathize with the church’s stance that states should return to a purer nationalism.”

Full story:

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/09/28/national/media-national/cabinet-reshuffle-raises-slew-new-questions/

___________________________________

Prime Minister Kishi of Japan, organized crime and the Moon involvement in Japanese politics gained protection for the UC

“Japan. Wow! My eyes were opened.” A huge UC scam in Japan is revealed.

Top Japanese ex-UC leader, Yoshikazu Soejima, interviewed

これが『統一教会』の秘部だ

Shocking video of UC of Japan demanding money – English transcript

FFWPU / UC of Japan used members for profit, not religious purposes

6,500 women missing from FFWPU mass weddings

Shocking video of UC of Japan demanding money – English transcript

Moon extracted $500 million from Japanese female members

Suicide of a Moon money mule in Uruguay – a Japanese mother in torment 

The ‘True Father’ who could not forgive: “I haven’t been able to release my grudge towards Japanese people yet.” November 2011

[mzemo0]

International Tongue Supports Palestine, Hates Normalization!

Israeli steps have recently accelerated in consolidating public normalization with a growing number of Arab and Islamic countries. Since many Arab countries no longer see “Israel” as their enemy, yet their indispensable ally in their war against people and seizing the future of peace, technology and innovation.

While some Arab governments continue to normalize with the occupation “state”, there are Arab countries and positions that have rejected normalization with “Israel” as it entails beautifying and legitimizing the existence of the occupation in Palestinian land.

Political Positions Against Normalization From Mesopotamia, Iraq records a historic day in support of Palestine and Jerusalem, and the collective position of more than 270 Iraqi parliamentarians, who voted in favor of a law criminalizing normalization with “Israel”. It is a position of victory for Iraq first, then Palestine and Jerusalem second. It also sends a message to the Palestinian people, that Iraq refuses to sell Palestine at a cheap price, and will remain side by side with Palestine, supporting the rights of its people, and criminalizing any form of relationship with “Israel” at all times.

As for Kuwait, it seems that the government and its people are strict in boycotting sporting and commercial dealings with Israel, as the Kuwaiti authorities continue to ban the entry of ships carrying goods to and from Israel into Kuwait’s territorial waters.

Kuwait has emerged as the most Arab country and people whose positions cause concern, confusion and curiosity of Israel, its officials and institutions, especially Jewish think tanks and media.

For his part, Tunisian President Kais Saied Al-Amal included the criminalization of normalization in the new Tunisian constitution issued in the Tunisian Official Gazette on June 30, 2022. In the preface to the text, he referred to “the Palestinian people’s right to their stolen land and the establishment of their state on it after its liberation with its capital, Jerusalem.”

Palestinian Salute to International Positions Against Normalization of Sports

A noticeable increase in the number of those who reject sports normalization with the Israeli enemy, with a new group of Arab athletes and solidarity activists from the region joining the ranks of the heroic boycotters who rejected the discourse of “sports for the sake of sport” and “sports above politics”. This record that many international sports associations and institutions did not stop repeating until the trumpets of Arab normalization adopted it and those chasing after some material and moral profits.

With their withdrawal from a number of international tournaments and competitions, the Kuwaitis Muhammad Al-Fadhli, Abdul Razzaq Al-Baghli and Muhammad Al-Awadi, the Jordanians Musa Al-Qutb, Muhammad Al-Saud, Mahmoud Al-Khatib, Ahmed Al-Borini, Muhammad Farhan, Ahmed Al-Batoush, Maysir Al-Dahamshe, Abdullah Shaheen, the Lebanese Aquilina Al-Shayeb, the Algerians Ibrahim Sarqama and Ahmed Touba, in addition to the Iranian Women’s Hockey Team, emphasized one fact that the arenas for resisting normalization with the Israeli colonial and apartheid regime are numerous, and that sport, with its popularity, is on top.

We salute the official and popular stances following the insistence of the President of the Tunisian tennis champion Ons Jabeur that her team participate in the Women’s World Cup in Helsinki – Finland from 2-8 February 2020, despite her prior knowledge that the lottery placed it in the same group as the representative team of the Israeli colonial system.

Let us pressure on the Arab sports bodies to raise their voice against the hypocrisy of these Western sports bodies and dominate them, and to demand consistency in policies, and thus the exclusion of Israel in order to end the occupation, settler-colonialism and apartheid regime that has prevailed for more than seven decades.

As the Egyptian squash champion Ali Farag said: […] We were never allowed to talk about politics in sports, but ,suddenly, it is allowed now. As long as it is allowed; then people may look at the oppression happening everywhere in the world. Palestinians are going through this persecution for the past 74 years. […] As long as we can talk now about Ukraine; then we can talk about Palestine as well.

Cultural Boycott The Price of Normalization: Arab Cultural Works Decide to Exclude Artists Who Were Involved in Normalization Works

As awareness of Israel’s oppression of Palestinians grows, more and more artists from across the world are joining the cultural boycott. Support for the cultural boycott and cancellations of performances receive very significant media exposure in Israel, showing ordinary Israelis that there is increasing opposition to Israel’s denial of Palestinian rights.

Many high-profile artists have cancelled events in ‘Israel’

Top artists including Elvis Costello, Gil Scott-Heron, Lauryn Hill, Faithless, Marianah, U2, Bjork, Zakir Hussain, Jean-Luc Godard, Snoop Dogg, Cat Power, and Vanessa Paradis have cancelled performances in ‘Israel’ or declined to perform there. Despite offering large sums of money to international artists to defy the cultural boycott, Israeli promoters complain that it is becoming increasingly challenging for them to attract famous artists.

Thousands of artists from across the world now support the cultural boycott Thousands of artists and cultural workers have signed public statements in support of the cultural boycott. In 2015, more than a thousand cultural figures in the UK signed a cultural boycott pledge. BDS-related initiatives have been launched in Montreal (Canada), Ireland, South Africa, Switzerland, Lebanon, and the US. Distinguished cultural figures who have endorsed the cultural boycott of Israel include the late Stéphane Hessel, Holocaust survivor and contributor to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Chuck D (pictured left), Roger Waters (pictured above spray painting apartheid wall), Talib Kweli, John Berger, Arundhati Roy, Iain Banks, Judith Butler, Junot Diaz, Naomi Klein, Ken Loach, Alice Walker, Angela Davis, Mira Nair, Mike Leigh and many others.

[newstfionline]

Iran’s Jewish community is the largest in the Mideast outside Israel—and feels safe and respected

Kim Hjelmgaard, USA TODAY, Aug. 29, 2018

TEHRAN, Iran--In a large room off a courtyard decorated in places with Islamic calligraphy and patterned tiles featuring intricate geometric shapes and patterns, men wearing tunics, cloaks and sandals recite morning prayers.

At the back of the room, three women sit together on a bench, hunched over ancient texts. Scarves cover their hair, as required by Iran’s religious law. Birdsong floats into the cavernous space as the incantations grow louder and more insistent.

This is a synagogue. In Iran.

In a nation that has called for Israel to be wiped off the face of the Earth, the Iranian government allows thousands of Jews to worship in peace and continue their association with the country founded more than 2,500 years ago.

“We have all the facilities we need for our rituals, and we can say our prayers very freely. We never have any problems. I can even tell you that, in many cases, we are more respected than Muslims,” said Nejat Golshirazi, 60, rabbi of the synagogue USA TODAY visited one morning last month. “You saw for yourself we don’t even have any security guards here.”

At its peak in the decades before Iran’s Islamic Revolution in 1979, 100,000 to 150,000 Jews lived here, according to the Tehran Jewish Committee, a group that lobbies for the interests of Iranian Jews. In the months following the fall of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, Iran’s second and last monarch, many fled for Israel and the United States.

It was a dispersion precipitated in part by the execution of Habib Elghanian, who was then one of Iran’s leading Jewish businessmen and philanthropists. Elghanian also headed the Tehran Jewish Committee and had ties to the deposed shah. He was killed by firing squad after being accused by Iran’s Islamic revolutionaries of spying and fundraising for Israel.

Today, 12,000 to 15,000 Jews remain in Iran, according to the committee.

It’s a small minority in a nation of 80 million people. But consider: Iran is home to the Middle East’s largest Jewish population outside Israel.

And, according to Golshirazi and other senior members of Iran’s Jewish community, they mostly enjoy good relations with Iran’s hard-line, theocratic government despite perceptions abroad that Iran’s Islamic rulers might subject them to harsh treatment.

“The Muslim majority in Iran has accepted us,” said Homayoun Sameyah Najafabadi, 53, who holds the role once held by Elghanian, chairman of the Tehran Jewish Committee.

“We are respected and trusted for our expertise and fair dealings in business, and we never feel threatened,” he said. “Many years ago, before the royal regime of Pahlavi, by contrast, if it was raining in Iran, Jews were not allowed to go outside of their houses because it was believed that if a non-Muslim got wet and touched a Muslim it would make them dirty.”

Najafabadi said it may be difficult for Jews and others outside the country suspicious of Iran’s treatment of religious minorities or its views on Israel to accept, but after the execution of Elghanian, Ayatollah Khomeini, Iran’s first supreme leader, deliberately sought to improve relations between Jews and Muslims in the country for the nation’s long-term stability.

He added that Jews, who have been in Iran since about the eighth century B.C., used to be scattered all over the country but are now largely concentrated in Tehran and other big cities such as Isfahan and Shiraz. In all, he said, Iran is home to about 35 synagogues.

Najafabadi said most Jews in Iran are shopkeepers, although he said others work as doctors, engineers and in other highly skilled professions.

There are no Jews, however, in senior government positions. There’s only one Jewish representative in the country’s 290-member Parliament. His name is Siamak Moreh Sedgh.

Sedgh, 53, said one of the reasons Jews in Iran are able to live peacefully is that they consider themselves Iranians first--and Jews second.

“We’re not an entity outside of the Iranian nation. We are part of it. Our past and our future. I may pray in Hebrew, but I can only think in Persian (Farsi, Iran’s language),” said Sedgh, who is also a surgeon at a hospital in central Tehran, where USA TODAY spoke with him.

Crucially, that affinity extends to the question of Israel.

“I don’t think Israel is a Jewish state because not everyone in Israel lives according to the teachings of the Torah. This is what Jews in Iran believe,” Sedgh insisted.

He acknowledged that it was somewhat ironic that Iran, arguably the biggest foe of Israel, was also the “biggest friend of the Jewish people.”

Sounding more Iranian than Jewish, Sedgh said he disagreed with President Donald Trump’s decision this year to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv because “Trump can’t just change a capital city that according to international law and the United Nations is an occupied city.”

“Trump is a coward who has lost his humanity and forgotten about spirituality. He wants to destroy large parts of the world only for the benefit of a small group of capitalists,” Sedgh said.

On Tehran’s bustling streets, Jews are not very visible, partly because there are so few of them. USA TODAY did, however, spot a few men wearing kippahs as they hurried off to work in the morning. They did not appear to attract any second glances from Iranian men in business suits, others in traditional Muslim dress or women sporting hijabs and chadors.

Other minority groups in Iran include Arabs, Armenians, Baloch people (who live near Pakistan, in Iran’s southeast), Christians and Kurds. Open Doors USA, an organization that tracks persecuted Christians worldwide, estimates there could be as many as 800,000 Christians secretly living in Iran. It says Christians in Iran are routinely subject to imprisonment, harassment and physical abuse for seeking to convert Muslims. USA TODAY did not encounter any Christians in Iran.

Outside the Yousef Abad Synagogue, the entrance via the courtyard was unprotected, and it was easy to walk straight in. That’s unheard-of for Jews in Europe, where Jewish schools, institutions and places of worship receive extra security amid a spate of attacks.

“What you see there (for Iran’s Jews) is a very vibrant community,” said Lior Sternfeld, a Middle East historian who in November will publish a book on modern Jewish life in Iran. “A community that faces problems--but it’s Iran, so problems are a given.”

Still, rights groups and experts believe Jews in Iran do face discrimination. Najafabadi, the committee chief, conceded that in some instances, Iranian Jews have had trouble getting access to the best schools with their Muslim peers.

Then there’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran’s former president, who drew international attention when he repeatedly denied the Holocaust in which 6 million Jews were murdered.

Meir Javedanfar, an Iranian Jew, says life has improved for Jews under Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. Javedanfar left the country for Israel in 1987 as a teenager and now teaches classes on Iranian politics at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, north of Tel Aviv.

Javedanfar said, for example, that Jewish children in Iran are no longer required to attend school on the Sabbath, the traditional day of rest and religious observance among Jews that falls on a Saturday but is a regular workday in Iran.

“At the same time, the regime continues to hold Holocaust cartoon contests that are pretty anti-Semitic,” he noted, referring to a provocative annual exhibition in Iran that mocks Jewish suffering while claiming to challenge Western ideas about free speech and Holocaust taboos.

He quickly pointed out: “The regime is not too concerned about its Jews as long as they don’t become involved in politics and don’t say anything positive about Israel.”

Golshirazi the rabbi, Najafabadi of the committee and Sedgh the parliamentarian all stressed they were speaking truthfully and not trying to distort their views of life in Iran for Jews out of fear of government persecution. They also said Jews in Iran often enjoy extra social freedoms that Muslims do not, such as the ability to consume alcohol in a private setting.

The few Jews in Iran are unlikely to leave.

In 2007, the Tehran Jewish Committee rejected an offer by Israel’s government to pay each family of remaining Jews in Iran up to $60,000 to help them leave the country.

“I can tell, you are thinking I am afraid,” Golshirazi said when USA TODAY pressed him on that point. “But I have been many places visiting Jewish communities. Iran is the best for us.”

[armeniaitn]

South Australia recognizes the Republic of Artsakh, condemns Azerbaijan and Turkey

New Post has been published on https://armenia.in-the.news/politics/south-australia-recognizes-the-republic-of-artsakh-condemns-azerbaijan-and-turkey-68879-03-02-2021/

South Australia recognizes the Republic of Artsakh, condemns Azerbaijan and Turkey

South Australia became the second state in Australia to recognize the rights to self-determination of the Republic of Artsakh, condemning Azerbaijan and Turkey for their invasion of the country’s indigenous Armenians in a motion passed with a vote in the House of Assembly, reported the Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC-AU).

The motion follows one passed by the New South Wales Parliament’s Legislative Assembly in October 2020, and similarly “calls on the Federal Government to also recognize the Republic of Artsakh as the only permanent solution to the conflict to avoid further attempts of such military aggression”.

Member for West Torrens, the Hon. Tom Koustantonis MP moved the historic motion, which also called out “the actions of President Erdogan of Turkey and President Aliyev of Azerbaijan in their pursuit of a policy of Pan-Turkish nationalism, which has previously led to genocide and which now threatens the Armenian population of Artsakh with ethnic cleansing”.

The House of Assembly considered a proposal to “adjourn the debate”, however this was defeated by the casting vote of the Speaker. The debate resumed and resulted in a vote – without dissent – in favor of the motion.

ANC-AU Executive Director Haig Kayserian thanked the Armenian Cultural Association of South Australia (ACASA) for their grassroots advocacy.

“We were proud to support members of Adelaide’s dedicated Armenian community for their tireless efforts on the ground, which have ensured South Australia’s parliament has joined a growing number of legislatures around the world supporting the legitimate rights to self-determination of the Republic of Artsakh,” said Kayserian.

“Mr Emil Davityan and the President of the Armenian Cultural Association of South Australia are a credit to the greater Armenian-Australian community and were a pleasure to work with to achieving this wonderful outcome for our heroic brothers and sisters of the Armenian Republic of Artsakh,” he added.

Emil Davityan added: “We thank Mr Tom Koustantonis and Ms Jayne Stinson for championing this motion and extend our gratitude to all parliamentarians who supported its passage in the name of human rights.”

“South Australia’s Armenian community wanted to play its part in supporting the people of Artsakh, bringing attention to the critical humanitarian issues in the region and contributing to an enduring and peaceful settlement to the conflict. The community thanks all who supported it in its endeavors.”

The Motion in full reads as follows:

That this House:

(1)Notes the actions and belligerence of Azerbaijan towards the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Artsakh in commencing military action on 27 September 2020.

(2)Notes the serious concerns that have been raised from Armenian-Australians regarding the existential threat to the indigenous Armenian population of the Republic of Artsakh by this military action, and in any attempts by Azerbaijan to prevent the peaceful resettlement of the indigenous Armenian population following agreement to a provisional ceasefire on 9 November 2020.

(3) Notes the serious concerns raised by Armenian-Australians and independent international organisations regarding the risk of Azerbaijan destroying sites of global cultural and historical significance.

(4)Condemns the actions of President Erdogan of Turkey and President Aliyev of Azerbaijan in their pursuit of a policy of Pan-Turkish nationalism, which has previously led to genocide and which now threatens the Armenian population of Artsakh with ethnic cleansing.

(5)Calls on the Federal Government to condemn these attacks and advocate its support for the safety and security of the Republic of Armenia and Artsakh.

(6)Recognise the right to self-determination of all peoples including those of the Republic of Artsakh and calls on the Federal Government to also recognise the Republic of Artsakh as the only permanent solution to the conflict to avoid further attempts of such military aggression.

Read original article here.

[interkomitet]

Elena Panina responded to reports of new US sanctions against Russia

Russia’s involvement in the “Chinese case” means that the American authorities are trying to slow down cooperation between Moscow and Beijing in the field of strategic weapons, but there is always a decent answer to the American challenge, Elena Panina, a member of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs, told RIA Novosti, commenting on the possible inclusion in the sanctions list The US has 28 more Russian organizations.

Earlier it was reported that twenty-eight organizations of the civil and military-industrial complex of Russia may be included in the new US sanctions lists associated with China.

“In recent years, Russia has made significant progress in strengthening its defense potential, primarily in the field of strategic weapons. Russia’s joining the” Chinese case “means that the American authorities are trying to slow down cooperation between Moscow and Beijing in this area,” Panina said.

According to the parliamentarian, the American authorities are looking for “points of vulnerability” in both Russia and China.

“With regard to Russia, we are talking about the United States’ desire to prevent international cooperation of the Russian military-industrial complex with partners from other countries, to block access to foreign components. The attempts of the American side to jeopardize Russia’s peaceful international cooperation in the field of civil aviation are even more obvious,” Panina stressed.

At the same time, the MP adds, a different strategy is being used towards China. The PRC is completely self-sufficient in terms of its production base, but it needs Russian technologies in order to close the gap with the United States in the military sphere, Panina said.

“By imposing such sanctions, the United States is trying to simultaneously strike both the PRC and Russia and potential partners of the Russian Federation in third countries. These approaches have been implemented by the American side for half a century, but it cannot be said that such actions are always effective. Ultimately, American pressure forces both the Russian Federation and China to seek and successfully find their own technological solutions. There is always a worthy answer to the American challenge,” the deputy stated.

http://interkomitet.com/about-the-committee/blogs/elena-panina/elena-panina-responded-to-reports-of-new-us-sanctions-against-russia/

[xtruss]

UK Organisations Urge Government to Challenge Annexation, US ‘Peace Plan’

— January 28, 2020

Annexation

Statement endorsed by a coalition of UK-based humanitarian, development, human rights and faith organisations working to support the rights and welfare of the Palestinian people.

Last May, a group of UK-based humanitarian, development, human rights and faith organisations working to support the rights and welfare of the Palestinian people raised the alarm over President Trump’s so-called ‘peace plan’. Since then, we have witnessed only further devastating human impacts of occupation: increasing rates of demolition of Palestinian structures and the displacement of families, obstruction of access to healthcare and education, and the chronic deterioration of the Palestinian economy which is leading to unemployment and destruction of livelihoods.

There is a major risk that the so-called ‘peace plan’, set to be released imminently, will lead to the formal annexation of Palestinian land, perpetual Israeli occupation, and the negation of Palestinians’ collective right to self-determination. Such an outcome will only deepen poverty and polarisation.

Formal annexation would also seriously breach a foundational principle of the post-WWII international legal order, with implications far beyond the Israel-Palestine context.

Palestinians are already losing their land with creeping de-facto annexation of the West Bank forcing them to become perpetually aid dependent despite abundant natural resources.

A sustainable peace for Palestinians and Israelis can only be built on the foundations of international law. We are deeply concerned that the basic human rights and civilian protections guaranteed to the Palestinian people are now in even greater danger.

We therefore reiterate our urgent call on the UK government, parliamentarians and civil society organisations to reaffirm their commitment to the principles of international law and justice at this critical time, and uphold their respective legal and moral responsibilities to robustly defend the rights of the Palestinian people.

The UK has repeatedly stated that annexation of part of the West Bank “would be contrary to international law, damaging to peace efforts and could not pass unchallenged.” Now is the time for the UK to outline what form such a challenge would take, and how it will work with other states to support the Palestinian people to attain their fundamental right to self-determination.

There is a possible path to sustainable peace if we listen, learn, and bring more voices to the table. Peace should be rooted in the recognition of the human rights and dignity of all Palestinians and Israelis, as well as a firm foundation in international law.

Statement Endorsed by the Following 16 Agencies:

— ABCD Bethlehem

— Care International UK

— Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD)

— Christian Aid

— Council for Arab-British Understanding (Caabu)

— Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel - UK and Ireland (EAPPI UK and Ireland)

— Embrace the Middle East

— Friends of Birzeit University (Fobzu)

— Friends of Nablus and the Surrounding Areas (FONSA)

— Interpal

— Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights (LPHR)

— Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP)

— Sabeel-Kairos UK

— War on Want

— Welfare Association

— Quakers in Britain

— map.org.uk | Dr. Norman Gary Finkelstein

[whatisonthemoon]

Speculating on Banco de Crédito

The so-called “archives of terror” discovered by a human rights lawyer in Paraguay over a decade ago continue to yield new information on the cooperation between the de facto regimes that ruled much of South America in the 1970s and 1980s. These documents confirmed that Moon-owned banks in Uruguay were used as a part of Operation Condor, though it remains unclear to the public to what extent.

I have heard before that in the 80s, Paul Schafer’s Colonia Dignidad community in Chile, which became close allies of Pinochet and for many years hosted the military and its torture chambers for political prisoners, had money in several banks, including in Argentina and Uruguay. Were they by chance using Moon’s Banco de Crédito in Uruguay?  

(Researcher and author Carlo Basso had mentioned before that Colonia Dignidad even had offices in San Francisco in the U.S.  - there’s a lot more to be said about Colonia Dignidad and its pedophile leader - you can watch the 5-episode docuseries The Survivors, Colonia Dignidad on Amazon Prime) Related links and notes below

On Moon’s Political Network and their Deep Connections to Global Terrorism 4,200 female Japanese followers allegedly deposited as much as $25,000 each in the Moon-controlled Banco de Credito. Consortium News: Rev. Moon’s Bank Scam Uruguay’s freewheeling banking system that operated as a laundromat for drug money. Moon bought a bank. Chicago Tribune: Unification Church Invests Heavily Uruguay (December 1994) On Banco de Crédito

Banco de Credito out of Moonie hands

Notes on Moonie Drug Trade

The Irish Times: Moonies accused of involvement in drugs (2004)

Moon’s activities in South America

FFWPU President of IAPP (The International Association of Parliamentarians for Peace) Prosecuted for Money Laundering and Drug Smuggling in US Court; suspicions of connections to UC / FFWPU Leadership from Robert Parry - 

Another close church associate, who also requested anonymity out of fear of reprisals, said cash arriving from Japan was used in one major construction project to pay “illegal” laborers from Asia and South America. “They [the church leaders] were always waiting for our money to come in from Japan,” this source said. “When the economy in Japan crashed, a lot of our money came from South America, mainly Brazil.” …”

[howwelldoyouknowyourmoon]

Should ex-second generation members be asked to forgive their abusers?

                       Updated January 27, 2022

Concerning abuse, the elephant in the room was Sun Myung Moon. He was the master manipulator and abuser. As someone said, “shit rolls downhill from the top”. A good place to start is to look at Sun Myung Moon’s behavior and “the fruit of his tree”, his family, his organizations and his families’ financial empires. Moon hated and abused the Japanese. Moon said he could never forgive the Japanese. How can Moon himself be worthy of being forgiven? His legacy of the destruction of families and individuals in Japan continues under Hak Ja Han. (The present UC regime in Brazil may also be harsh.)

Jesus had a thousand times more love and compassion than Sun Myung Moon.

Moon and Hak Ja Han do not honor a Christian God. Theirs is more like an angry Korean volcano-nim with some shamanism thrown in. See investigations HERE and HERE.

The Moon / Hak Ja Han families primarily run businesses. Follow the money. A tax-exempt religious façade is very convenient.

Almost everyone wants “World Peace”. It is an appealing buzzword. Have the Moons achieved world peace? Anywhere?

What is the content of the Moons’ “Cheon Il Guk Constitutions”? It seems there would not be much freedom or peace for any citizens of a possible future Cheon Il Guk. The realm of CIG is not recommended for the second gen, or anyone.

The UC organization, including CAUSA, donated money to support the Bolivian “cocaine coup” and worked with the Nazi “Butcher of Lyons”. They shipped thousands of CAUSA books to Bolivia, then had to beat a hasty retreat when the cocaine flowed into the US doing terrible harm to many citizens.

In November 2019 the UC President of IAPP (the International Association of Parliamentarians for Peace) was prosecuted by the FBI in New York for money laundering and drug smuggling.

Moon and his Washington Times raised money to fight against the legitimately elected government of Nicaragua. Thousands of innocent people died or were harmed for life. Ronald Reagan and the CIA even mined a Nicaraguan harbor. Bo Hi Pak praised numerous right wing dictators who had tortured and murdered thousands in Central and South America. Dropping living people into the ocean from helicopters was one regime’s disposal method. Children were taken from mothers and given to childless regime leaders – then the parents were murdered. These are the people Bo Hi Pak and CAUSA and the Moon organization supported. One regime torturer became a leader in the Unification Church of Uruguay. See investigation HERE.

Sun Myung Moon helped North Korea with technology for launching nuclear missiles from submarines. See investigation HERE.

Where is world peace and justice? It will never be found under any of the Moon family.

Many second gen are damaged because they are the fruit of Moon’s often disastrous matchings of unsuitable people who were then guilted/shamed into staying together.

For ex-members to be liberated they need to understand that almost every single one of them are morally superior to, and have more integrity than Sun Myung Moon ever did. That is a good place to start towards healing.

Then understand the process of manipulation and the erosion of self-esteem done by Moon’s church. Jen Kiaba (UC second gen) gives an excellent introduction. LINK

Some look at everything through the lens of the Divine Principle. Let’s use that flawed DP book to look at the life of the leader.

First Blessing The Divine Principle is toxic because it promotes and idea of perfection. No one will ever be perfect, but if you are a leader who wants to guilt or shame underlings, it is a useful concept. Sun Myung Moon lied thousands of times. He claimed authority through meeting Jesus when he was 15, 16 or 17 at Easter but maybe it was another time, his birthday, he says. He has told the story in so many different ways, it seems to have been made up, probably by using a combination of the experiences of Lee Yong-do and Kim Baek-moon whose stories have some credibility. (Moon knew about Lee’s life, and he studied under Kim.) Moon’s story has no credibility. See investigation HERE.

Moon lied about carrying Pak Chung-hwa for 600 miles from Pyongyang to the south of Korea. HERE

Moon lied about going to Waseda University in Japan. HERE

Moon lied about being a virgin until he was 40 and married Hak Ja Han. HERE

Moon promised to give money to an orphanage in Guyana and got lots of good press. He never gave the money.

Moon had no integrity. He was a liar and a deceiver. He did not fulfill the first blessing.

Second Blessing Sun Myung Moon had six ‘wives’ and had sex, according to at least two of his own children and other witnesses, with hundreds of women. One woman testified on national Japanese TV, another was Sam Park’s mother. In North Korea Moon was jailed for adultery in 1946 and bigamy in 1948. Moon’s family is a disaster. Hak Ja Han threatened to divorce her husband. Moon’s children were abusive and one committed suicide. Nansook Hong shines a light on some of the many dark places in his family. LINK

Moon messed up the second blessing more than most people ever could.

Third Blessing Sun Myung Moon said, “live for the sake of others”. He had the “Original Palace” built by the lake at Cheongpyeong and then another one built up the hill. The second palace cost one billion dollars. Then he had another palace built on Geomun Island off the south coast and the Moons have other luxury mansions and apartments around Korea. Moon instructed Kwak Chung-hwan to buy him 84 luxury homes around the world. When Moon went fishing, he threw his drink cans and bottles and other things into the ocean. He watched them float away. Moon never cared about the creation. (Following Moon’s example, on Ocean Church most trash was thrown in the ocean.), etc.

Some say the world is fallen? How? In what way is it fallen? Was there ever a literal Adam and Eve? Was there a sexual fall? Sun Myung Moon’s explanation of the fall does not make any sense at all because the Bible states Adam and Eve were married before the Fall. And Lucifer was already fallen before he “seduced Eve”. See Genesis. The Biblical ‘Fall’ is an allegorical tale, but a sexual interpretation opens the door for Sun Myung Moon to have lots of sex. LINK

How was the original sin transmitted from the “fall” to present generations? Since there is no such thing as original sin, it does not matter.

The Divine Principle refers to a “foundation of faith” and “a foundation of substance”. Sounds like jargon or perhaps “loaded language”. Is it connected to the Cain-Abel mind-fuck theology? Absolutely obey your leader, who is in the Abel position. Know you are in the Cain position and don’t have murderous Cain-type thoughts.

“Absolute faith, absolute love, absolute obedience” is a Unification Church mantra.

The Divine Principle is an instrument for shaming, guilting and manipulating – and recruiting and retaining members. There is no liberation in the Divine Principle. Only enslavement to serve and worship the new “Emperor of the Universe” – Sun Myung Moon.

Sun Myung Moon stole all the ideas for the Divine Principle and had Eu Hyo-won, Choi Won-pok, Kim Young-oon and others systematize the book. Within its own circular logic, the Divine Principle is clever – but it adds nothing useful to human knowledge.

The parallels of history do not add up. LINK

The 1952 edition of the Divine Principle stated that Jesus was married, but that changed in the 1957 edition. LINK The Divine Principle is a human concoction which morphed to suit Moon’s agenda. There was never any divine revelation.

God is not an impotent being who needs to be rescued by Sun Myung Moon who himself does not embody parental love. Just look at his family.

The four or more types of sin itemized in the Divine Principle are all hokum. They are in the DP for the purpose of manipulation. See it for what it is. No one should not be guilt tripped through the DP. The UC lecturers pile on guilt and shame when they come to teach chapter two, the so-called Fall of Man.

No responsibility should be put on the second generation to forgive their abusers. They need to be helped to discover how they were made to feel guilt and shame, and to be supported and embraced on their journey to rebuilding their self-esteem as they move towards liberation. Their painful experiences may never be forgotten (but they should be recognized and acknowledged). The second gen need to be heard. Hopefully the pain will lessen as the years pass. For victims of rape, it is doubly hard. For the first and second gen who died in the Unification Church it is too late. For those on the way out of the matrix, love and time will help the healing.

It is important to know Sun Myung Moon, the founder, and to really study his behavior. His words may now ring very hollow. His teachings do not bring enlightenment or liberation.

How well do you know your Moon?

__________________________________________

Sun Myung Moon’s Unification Church accused of involvement in drugs trade in Paraguay        The Irish Times   October 14, 2004

Sun Myung Moon’s theology used to control members

Sun Myung Moon makes me feel ashamed to be Korean

The six ‘wives’ of Sun Myung Moon

[crimesofisrael-blog]

Israeli MK called 'child murderer' by Kuwaiti parliamentarian

During Inter-Parliamentary Union's 137th meeting, Kuwaiti parliament speaker verbally attacks Israeli delegation, calling them representatives of 'occupying and oppressing parliament.' Kuwaiti parliament speaker Marzouq al-Ghanim on Wednesday publicly rebuked the Israeli parliamentary delegation at the 137th meeting of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in St. Petersburg, Russia on Wednesday. "The representative of this occupying and oppressing parliament is the most dangerous type of terrorist. This is state terrorism. This is what this oppressor represents," said the Kuwaiti representative. Later, al-Ghanim hurled insults at MK Nachman Shai (Zionist Union), the head of the Knesset, and demanded him to leave to the sound of applause.

Kuwaiti parliament speaker Marzouq al-Ghanim, at the 137th IPU meeting "You have to take your suitcases and leave the hall after seeing the reactions of all the respected parliaments from around the world!" he shouted. "Get out of the hall now, if you have a shred of respect, you conqueror, you child murderer!" The chairman of the organization did not allow MK Sharren Heschel (Likud) to respond, and turned off her microphone. As a result, the delegation, which also included Prof. Yossi Yona (Zionist Union) and Haim Jelin (Yesh Atid), decided to leave the hall. "To fight for the truth and against the liars, we have to remain in the plenum, not to leave, and to fight for our right to speak. But as soon as delegation member Heschel could not voice the Israeli side of the discussion due to the plenum chairman's decision, I decided, out of friendship, to leave and support her," MK Jelin later said. Jelin added that "the decisions in the plenum were tainted by blatant anti-Israeli bias. It's a shame that international hypocrisy is reaching a place that is supposed to mark a fruitful dialogue between (all countries from around—ed) the world." The IPU is an international umbrella organization for parliaments. Its members include 166 parliaments and 10 inter-parliamentary associations. It serves as a forum for meetings and dialogue between members of parliaments in order to promote the goals of peace and cooperation between the nations and the promotion of representative democracy. Israel holds a member status, and the Knesset makes sure to participate regularly in the Association's conferences. The verbal altercation took place ten days after Labor MK and former party head Amir Peretz, who was visiting Morocco as part of a conference held by the Parliamentary Assembly for the Mediterranean and the World Trade Organization, was faced aggressive protesting from parliamentarian Achsan Abed el-Halak, who yelled at him, "You're a war criminal! You were the Israeli defense minister and you're not welcome here." Source: www.ynetnews.com Read the full article

[humanrightsupdates]

Israel/OPT: Two Palestinian women in administrative detention

Member of the Palestinian parliament Khalida Jarrar and women’s union leader Khitam Saafin have been held without being charged or tried for 36 days. They both face indefinite detention without charge or trial. Their administrative detention orders can be renewed indefinitely and with no prior notice.

Palestinian civil society leaders Khalida Jarrar and Khitam Saafin have been held without charge or trial since 2 July. According to Addameer Association’s lawyers who represent both women, the Israel military commander issued a three-month administrative detention order against Khitam Saafin on 9 July. The decision was confirmed by a military judge on 12 July. Khalida Jarrar, who is an elected parliamentarian, was given a six-month administrative detention order on 12 July and a military judge confirmed the decision on 18 July. Although six months is the maximum period of detention for each order, they can be renewed indefinitely.

Both women were arrested by Israeli soldiers during pre-dawn raids on their homes on 2 July. According to eyewitnesses, at 3:30am that day, between 40 and 50 armed Israeli soldiers conducted a raid on Khitam Saafin's home in Beitunia, a neighbourhood of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, in order to arrest her. On the same morning at around 4am, a similar Israeli military raid was carried out to arrest Khalida Jarrar in her home in Ramallah. In the raid, the soldiers also confiscated Khalida Jarrar’s phone, tablet and the hard drive of her home computer.

Both women were first held in Ofer military compound near Ramallah and then transferred to HaSharon prison inside Israel in the afternoon of 2 July. The transfer of both women to HaSharon prison violates international humanitarian law; detainees from occupied territories must be detained in the occupied territory, and not in the territory of the occupying power. Israeli authorities accuse each woman of membership in an illegal organisation, claims they both deny.

As with all cases of administrative detention, the “evidence” against Khalida Jarrar and Khitam Saafin is secret, and neither they nor their lawyers are allowed to review it. This violates a central tenet of fair trial standards.

Please write immediately in English, Hebrew or your own language calling on the Israeli authorities to:

Immediately release Khitam Saafin and Khalida Jarrar and all other administrative detainees or to promptly charge them with an internationally recognizable criminal offense and bring them to trial in conformity with international trial standards;

Take immediate steps to end the practice of administrative detention.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 19 SEPTEMBER 2017 TO: Minister of Defence Avigdor Leiberman Ministry of Defence 37 Kaplan Street, Hakirya Tel Aviv 61909, Israel Email: minister@mod.gov.il pniot@mod.gov.il Fax: +972 3 691 6940 Salutation: Dear Minister

Commander of the IDF – West Bank Major-General Roni Numa GOC Central Command Military Post 02367, Battalion 877 Israel Defence Forces, Israel Fax: +972 2 530 5741, +972 2 530 5724 Salutation: Dear Major-General Roni Numa

And copies to: Minister of Public Security Gilad Erdan Kiryat Hamemshala PO Box 18182 Jerusalem 91181, Israel Fax: +972 2 584 7872 Email: gerdan@knesset.gov.il Salutation: Dear Minister

Also send copies to diplomatic representatives accredited to your country. HIS EXCELLENCY MR MARK REGEV, Embassy of Israel 2 Palace Green Kensington W8 4QB, 020 7957 9500

Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Khitam Saafin, aged 54, is the president of the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees, an organization that works for community-based economic and social development of women in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. She has been an outspoken activist for Palestinian women’s economic, national, and social liberation for decades both locally and in international forums. Khitam Saafin is a prominent educator and civil society leader in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. According to a family member, Khitam Saafin’s youngest child, aged 18, was called to an interview with an Israeli intelligence officer at Ofer military base following his last trip home in January from Cyprus, where he attends university. He was interrogated about his social and political views, his activities and those of his mother. The intelligence officer who questioned him appears to be the same intelligence officer who was present during the arrest of Khitam Saafin on 2 July.

Khalida Jarrar, aged 54, is an elected Palestinian parliamentarian and outspoken critic of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory and Palestinian security cooperation with the Israeli military. She is a member of the Board of Directors of Addameer Association, a human rights organization, and an appointed member of the Palestinian Higher National Committee to Follow-up with the International Criminal Court. She has been a strong advocate for the rights of Palestinian prisoners and their families. Khalida Jarrar has been subjected to decades of harassment and intimidation by the Israeli authorities, including a travel ban imposed since 1998. The ban was lifted once for a couple of days in 2010 to allow her to travel for medical testing in Jordan for a serious chronic medical issue that she continues to suffer from. Israeli authorities have repeatedly declared her a security risk, but did not charge her with any criminal offence until April 2015. On 2 April 2015, she was arrested by Israeli soldiers at her home in Ramallah, and placed under administrative detention. On 15 April 2015, at the review hearing of her administrative detention order, the military prosecution brought 12 charges against her relating to membership of the banned political party Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), and incitement to kidnap Israeli soldiers. She has vehemently denied this accusation and her lawyers have claimed that it has no basis. Following an unfair trial in an Israeli military court, Khalida Jarrar was convicted of four of the charges, including incitement. She served 14 months in prison and was released in June 2016 with a five-year suspended sentence.

Israel’s use of administrative detention of Palestinians is widespread and has led to mass hunger strikes by Palestinian detainees and prisoners, protesting against the conditions in which they are held and being detained without charge. Administrative detention – ostensibly introduced as an exceptional measure to detain people who pose an extreme and imminent danger to security – is used by Israel as an alternative to the criminal justice system to arrest, charge and prosecute people suspected of criminal offences, or to detain people who should not have been arrested at all. Although six months is the maximum period of detention for each order, they can be renewed indefinitely and Amnesty International believes that some Palestinians held in administrative detention by Israel are prisoners of conscience, held solely for the peaceful exercise of their right to freedom of expression and association.

According to Israeli NGO, HaMoked—Center for the Defence of the Individual, Israel is holding 465 administrative detainees without charge or trial as of August 2017.

UA: 187/17 Index: MDE 15/6859/2017 Issue Date: 8 August 2017

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[s-leary]

Fascism Watch, March 4-5

Trump

Trump, Offering No Evidence, Says Obama Tapped His Phones. This whole article is amazing. Here's a small portion:

"It would have been difficult for federal agents, working within the law, to obtain a wiretap order to target Mr. Trump’s phone conversations. It would have meant that the Justice Department had gathered sufficient evidence to persuade a federal judge that there was probable cause to believe he had committed a serious crime or was an agent of a foreign power, depending on whether it was a criminal investigation or a foreign intelligence one.

Former officials pointed to longstanding laws and procedures intended to ensure that presidents cannot wiretap a rival for political purposes.

“A cardinal rule of the Obama administration was that no White House official ever interfered with any independent investigation led by the Department of Justice,” said Kevin Lewis, a spokesman for Mr. Obama. “As part of that practice, neither President Obama nor any White House official ever ordered surveillance on any U.S. citizen.”

But a senior White House official said that Donald F. McGahn II, the president’s chief counsel, was working on Saturday to secure access to what Mr. McGahn believed was an order issued by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court authorizing some form of surveillance related to Mr. Trump and his associates.

The official offered no evidence to support the notion that such an order exists. If one does, it would be highly unusual for a White House to order the Justice Department to turn over such an investigative document, given the traditional independence of law enforcement matters."

White House requests Congress investigate whether Obama administration abused power

Trump flashes anger over Sessions recusal, Russia stories in tense Oval Office meeting

The Conspiratorial Game of Telephone in Bannon’s Rag that Made Left, Right, and POTUS Go Crazy

Comey Asks Justice Dept. to Reject Trump’s Wiretapping Claim

Mr. Comey, who made the request on Saturday after Mr. Trump leveled his allegation on Twitter, has been working to get the Justice Department to knock down the claim because it falsely insinuates that the F.B.I. broke the law, the officials said.

A spokesman for the F.B.I. declined to comment. Sarah Isgur Flores, the spokeswoman for the Justice Department, also declined to comment.

Mr. Comey’s request is a remarkable rebuke of a sitting president, putting the nation’s top law enforcement official in the position of questioning Mr. Trump’s truthfulness.

It's literally pay to play at Mar-a-Lago

It's a nice setup for those who want some government favor and can afford a six-figure check. And it's a nice setup for Donald Trump.

Jeff Sessions, who couldn't possibly have anything better to do this weekend, was greeting guests at a gala.

Trump sons, planning expansion of family business, look to leverage campaign experience

The company says it has signed at least 17 letters of intent with potential developers. It is targeting an array of cities such as Austin, Dallas, St. Louis, Nashville and Seattle — and Trump Jr. said the campaign proved useful in forging relationships with potential new connections.

“I met people along the way that would be awesome partners,” he said.

Yet another person connected to Trump and Russia has died: Alex Oronov. Oronov was connected to Trump's lawyer, Michael Cohen, whom you might remember from his colorful threats to the Daily Beast over their coverage of Ivana Trump's abuse claims.

Last week I wrote about Michael Cohen and his extensive network of personal and business relationships in the Ukrainian-American emigre community. One of those was a man named Alex Oronov, who runs a major agribusiness concern in Ukraine. Oronov was a partner in the ethanol business Cohen and Cohen's brother Bryan set up in Ukraine about a decade ago. Oronov is Bryan Cohen's father-in-law. Today we learned that Oronov apparently organized that 'peace plan' meeting that brought together Ukrainian MP Artemenko, Cohen and Felix Sater. About four hours ago Andrii Artemenko, the Ukrainian parliamentarian who came to New York with that 'peace plan', went on Facebook to announce that Alex Oronov has died.

Oronov reportedly lived in one of Trump's Florida condos.

Keystone pipeline won't use US steel despite Trump pledge

Trump campaign applies to trademark ‘Keep America Great!’ as his 2020 campaign slogan

Trump's long history of racism is well documented, but this moment from Don Cheadle is just... wow.

(@DonCheadle tweet)

Immigration

Trump to unveil new immigration ban on Monday. Here's the weird part: “Employees at DHS were instructed to work from home on Monday morning.” Are we planning for a Reichstag fire, or do we just not want anyone at work to answer the phone?

Trump admin. plans expanded immigrant detention. We'll have the best internment camps, big league, lots of federal contracts, with bonus slave labor.

(@Luvvie tweet)

ETA: The sign appears to be street art.

After Decades In The U.S., NY Immigrant With Years-Old Pot Conviction Faces Deportation

Deportation of grandmother leaves a San Diego military family reeling

Clarissa Arredondo, 43, is the mother of Adriana Aparicio, whose husband is a Navy veteran working as a contractor in Afghanistan. The couple has two daughters, 2 and 3, and Arredondo, who came to the U.S. more than 25 years ago, helped take care of them.

Congress

Some GOP lawmakers’ block-everything mentality could imperil big-picture plans

Across the Capitol, there’s a new generation of Republicans who have risen to power since the GOP last attempted to enact a sweeping agenda that would overhaul big pieces of the economy such as the health-care and tax systems. Quite simply, there aren’t many Republicans around with muscle memory of what it’s like to craft large pieces of legislation that rely almost entirely on votes from their side of the aisle.

The problem is particularly acute in the House, where just 60 Republicans — a quarter of their caucus — have ever served in the majority with a GOP president.

Moreover, more than 160 House Republicans are getting their first taste of working with a Republican president. Their entire legislative careers until now have been dedicated to stopping an administration’s actions.

Cabinet & Federal Appointees

Sessions Will Submit Amended Testimony, Address Senators’ Questions on Monday. Get your popcorn ready.

Home Alone in the Trump Administration

President Trump has appointed fewer than three dozen of the top 1,000 officials he needs to run the federal government. Worse, he doesn’t think that’s a problem.

The president seems to have lost interest in the nomination process after making his cabinet and Supreme Court picks, people involved in the transition say. Now, he’s trying to pass off his inattention as some kind of plan. “In many cases, we don’t want to fill those jobs,” he said on Fox News this week. “What do all these people do? You don’t need all those jobs.”

The Washington Post has a handy tracker for positions requiring Senate confirmation. Trump keeps complaining that Congress is dragging its feet on confirming his nominees, but there are currently 517 positions he hasn't even nominated.

The Curious Case of Sebastian Gorka, Trump’s New Terrorism Guru. He's advising on national security but doesn't appear to have security clearance.

Even Scott Pruitt thinks the not-yet-public proposed EPA budget cuts are too much.

Under Trump, an Already Depleted I.R.S. Could Face Deep Cuts. It's madness to cut the agency that's in charge of bringing in money, unless perhaps Trump doesn't like the fact that they expect money from him and his friends.

Trump's budget proposal includes steep cuts to NOAA, surprising no one. Still, that's depressing.

Trump's neglect of the CDC while China is experiencing a bird flu epidemic has set up the US for a health crisis

This Stunningly Racist French Novel Is How Steve Bannon Explains The World. '“The Camp of the Saints” tells a grotesque tale about a migrant invasion to destroy Western civilization.' It really is stunning; steel yourself before reading this.

[phgq]

PRRD, other leaders to strengthen region's fight vs. Covid

#PHnews: PRRD, other leaders to strengthen region's fight vs. Covid

MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte and his Southeast Asian counterparts are expected explore new avenues for enhanced cooperation to strengthen the region’s capacity to address the challenges posed by the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic.

Chief of Presidential Protocol and Presidential Assistant of Foreign Affairs Robert Borje said this will be the main agenda in the 36th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Summit, which will be held via video conference on Friday (June 26).

He said their discussions will build on the agreements adopted during the Special Asean Summit on Covid-19 held last April, seeking ways to facilitate the region’s transition to the “new normal” and post-pandemic recovery.

According to Borje, the leaders will also take stock of the progress of various community building initiatives under the three pillars of Asean – political-security, economic, and socio-cultural – and chart the way forward.

“They will exchange views on international and regional issues, including maritime security developments,” he said.

He said they will have an opportunity to interface with parliamentarians, youth representatives, and business leaders from all over Asean.

Meanwhile, he said a special session on “Women Empowerment in the Digital Age” will also be held to mark the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action on the rights of women and gender equality.

Earlier, Roque said Duterte will be attending at least six online Asean-related activities.

These activities include the 36th Asean Summit; Asean Leaders Special Session on Women’s Empowerment; Asean Leaders Interface with the Representatives of Asean Inter-Parliamentary Assembly; Asean Leaders Interface with Representatives of Asean Youth; Asean Leaders Interface with Representatives of Asean Business Advisory Council; and a press conference of Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, chairman of the 36th Asean Summit.

The summit is expected to adopt more than 10 outcome documents on key areas of cooperation, such as food security and supply chain connectivity in the context of pandemic response, countering radicalization and violent extremism, and human resource development, among others, he added.

Sea row

Amid China’s continued militarization in the South China Sea, Borje said the sea dispute will also be in the summit’s agenda under regional and international developments.

He said Duterte will again underscore the importance of having a Code of Conduct (COC) in the South China Sea.

“The President has always been very clear on the country’s position on the developments in the South China Sea including the finalization of the Code of Conduct for the South China Sea,” he said.

By wanting to fast-track the COC, Borje said Duterte has been “consistent” in his participation in Asean Summits.

He said Duterte will also push for the protection of migrant workers and peace, order, and security in the region.

Duterte will be joined by key members of his cabinet, including the Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez, and Social Welfare Secretary Rolando Bautista covering the three pillars of the Asean Community.

This is the first regular Asean Summit to be convened via videoconference in view of the constraints posed by Covid-19.

Apart from the Philippines and Vietnam, other Asean members include Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, and Thailand. (PNA)

***

References:

* Philippine News Agency. "PRRD, other leaders to strengthen region's fight vs. Covid." Philippine News Agency. https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1107043 (accessed June 26, 2020 at 01:28AM UTC+14).

* Philippine News Agency. "PRRD, other leaders to strengthen region's fight vs. Covid." Archive Today. https://archive.ph/?run=1&url=https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1107043 (archived).

[realcleargoodtimes]

The business partner, former Ukrainian parliamentarian Andrii Artemenko, is registered to lobby using a different name. He's also in the transportation and logistics business with Prince, and the two have been very busy because the coronavirus pandemic has snarled air travel around the world, Artemenko told POLITICO.

The Giuliani associate who hired Artemenko is Andriy Derkach, a member of Ukraine's Rada who drew attention in U.S. media during President Donald Trump’s impeachment saga, and who was once a member of the Ukrainian political party that Paul Manafort worked for.

Derkach met with Giuliani when the former New York mayor and amateur sleuth traveled to Ukraine to help produce a documentary on the Bidens for the controversial pro-Trump TV network One America News, as Reuters reported. The Ukrainian lawmaker has pushed allegations of corruption involving former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter, and claims the previous Ukrainian administration meddled in the 2016 U.S. election.

Giuliani's drumbeat of unsubstantiated allegations against the Bidens has quieted in recent months as the coronavirus has swept across the United States, even as the former vice president has all but secured the Democratic nomination. But Republicans on Capitol Hill have plowed ahead with their own investigative steps against the Biden family, threatening to revive the issue as the general election campaign heats up.

Derkach, before a pro-Western uprising toppled Ukraine’s then-President Viktor Yanukovuch, was a member of his Russia-aligned Party of Regions. Imprisoned ex-Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort worked for that party, and for Yanukovych.

The filing shows only that Derkach hired a man named Andy Victor Kuchma to lobby for him, along with a second person named Nabil Ahmad Bader.

But “Andy Victor Kuchma” is actually Artemenko's legal name, he told POLITICO. He said he legally changed his name to Andy Victor Kuchma in 2017; his wife’s last name is Kuchma, he said, and the new name is easier for Americans to understand. (Despite that, he still went by Andrii Artemenko when he appeared in a OAN episode about the Biden family a few months ago.)

Artemenko drew attention early in the Trump administration when the New York Times reported that he had shared with Michael Cohen -- then Trump’s personal lawyer, now in prison –– a plan for peace between Ukraine and Russia. The plan, which would have leased Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula to Russia for decades, drew widespread criticism as being pro-Russia.

Artemenko featured prominently in a One America News episode about the Bidens and Ukraine. In it, he alleged that Ukrainian officials with allegations about the Bidens couldn’t get visas to come to the U.S. because of corruption at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv.

“They serve to the Democrats,” he said of U.S. Embassy officials. “They serve to the Mr. Soros.”

Derkach, meanwhile, recently said the U.S. has revoked his visa without explanation (the State Department does not comment on visa matters). Despite that, according to their lobbying contract, Artemenko and Bader plan to set up meetings for Derkachwith White House officials and members of “the Senate Foreign Relationship and House of Foreign Affairs Committees.” It is unclear where such meetings would take place, given the impact the coronavirus has had on Capitol Hill and Derkach's current inability to lawfully travel to the U.S.

When asked whether the lobbying work would involve the Bidens, Derkach told Politico: “Under this contract, no targeted or other investigative activities are provided for and are not conducted. The materials under the contract are already being worked on.”

But the contract mentions topics that Giuliani and others have touched on when pontificating about the former vice president and his family:

"Accordingly, providing advice and assistance within the framework of the current legislation of the United States of America and Ukraine on actions aimed at investigating the facts of international corruption in the area of providing Ukraine with international technical assistance and loans, interfering with the activities of central and law enforcement agencies, and unlawful impact on the country's domestic economic and political processes as well as attracting investments in machine industry and fuel and energy industry."

Derkach featured prominently in a Feb. 21, 2020 episode of Giuliani’s podcast titled “The BLOCKBUSTER Report & RAPE of Ukraine,” where he discussed alleged misappropriation of U.S. aid to Ukraine during the Obama administration.

The contract’s reference to U.S. interference in Ukrainian law enforcement recalls allegations that Giuliani and other Trump allies have made regarding Biden’s push, as vice president, to have Ukraine’s top prosecutor fired.

Giuliani and others have argued that Biden forced the prosecutor out because he had investigated corruption at Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian energy company where Hunter Biden was a board member. Biden’s push for the ouster of the prosecutor in question, Viktor Shokin, had broad support from America’s European allies. And Kurt Volker, who served as Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine for a time, told congressional impeachment investigators that Biden’s push “was widely understood internationally to be the right policy.”

A search of corporate records under Andy Kuchma’s name indicated he is in business with Erik Prince, who founded Blackwater. A company registered in Florida called Airtrans LLC lists Kuchma as its executive chairman, and Artemenko’s wife Oksana as its president. The company’s website says it is part of Frontier Resource Group, which Prince helms.

Artemenko confirmed that he and Prince are in business.

“We are working together,” he said.

Prince posted on LinkedIn earlier this week that his company has multiple Ukrainian heavylift aircraft available, and hashtagged the post “#coronavirus.” He included a photo of what appears to be a massive Antonov An-225 Mriya cargo plane; the Airtrans website, meanwhile has a picture that appears to depict the same kind of plane. Interesting Engineering has called the An-225 “a true monster of the skies.”

A spokesperson for Prince did not reply to requests for comment.

Coronavirus updates: Some recovered COVID-19 patients re-tested positive: WHO Good Morning America Demand Trump End Family Separation TurnoutPAC.org Ad Bernie Sanders Proposes Emergency Version

[whatisonthemoon]

Banco de Credito out of Moonie hands

Moon Bank Taken Over  - The Irish Times

Uruguay's Central Bank said yesterday it was taking over Banco de Credito, which is controlled by Korean Evangelist, Mr Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church, due to liquidity problems. The bank has 30 branches throughout Uruguay.

Mr Moon's Unification Church has built up a presence in Uruguay and owns a newspaper and land across the River Plate in Argentina.

Moon’s Banking Woes by Robert Parry - Consortium News

The central bank of Uruguay has put Rev. Sun Myung Moon’s financial base in South America -- Banco de Credito -- under government supervision because of management and “liquidity” problems.

On Sept. 18, the central bank took the long-awaited move against Moon’s bank which allegedly has been kept afloat in the past by mysterious cash deposits carried into the country by Moon’s religious followers.

Since much of the money arrives as cash, authorities have had trouble determining if the money sources are legitimate or not.

According to a bank employees union, 4,200 Moon followers walked into the bank in 1996 and deposited a total of $80 million into a Moon-controlled account.

Besides Banco de Credito’s red-ink problems, the central bank stated that it was intervening to “improve the management” of the bank.

The move, however, raises other questions about the viability of Moon’s business and political operations in the United States, especially the financing The Washington Times, which costs Moon an estimated $100 million a year.

The developments in Uruguay raise the question: How can Moon afford such losses when his chief bank in the Western Hemisphere is on the brink?

Related links below

On Moon’s Political Network and their Deep Connections to Global Terrorism

4,200 female Japanese followers allegedly deposited as much as $25,000 each in the Moon-controlled Banco de Credito.

Consortium News: Rev. Moon’s Bank Scam

Uruguay’s freewheeling banking system that operated as a laundromat for drug money. Moon bought a bank.

Moon’s activities in South America

FFWPU President of IAPP (The International Association of Parliamentarians for Peace) Prosecuted for Money Laundering and Drug Smuggling in US Court; suspicions of connections to UC / FFWPU Leadership

Chicago Tribune: Unification Church Invests Heavily Uruguay (December 1994)

On Banco de Crédito

Notes on Moonie Drug Trade

The Irish Times: Moonies accused of involvement in drugs (2004)

“When the economy in Japan crashed, a lot of our money came from South America, mainly Brazil.”

$80 million was deposited in Uruguay over the course of a week. It still had the U.S. Federal Reserve band around it.

Sun Myung Moon’s FFWPU accused of involvement in drugs trade in Paraguay in 2004

Suspicion Following Sun Myung Moon to Brazil