#sanctuary - both the american and israeli ones

[saltcherry]

on Sunday I went for a walk and it was really sunny. I ended up taking my keffiyeh instead of my big flowered scarf to drape over myself. Woman I recognized from shul failed to recognize me + gave me a look as we passed each other. Starting to think I will not manage to form an anti-Zionist working group in the congregation. blegh. This is a nothing post about my little problems but it remains disheartening.

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

by Corey Walker

The author of a book on Jewish American identity enjoyed a sellout crowd at a rescheduled event after the original discussion was canceled over the presence of a Zionist panelist.  Joshua Leifer, author of Tablets Shattered: The End of an American Jewish Century and the Future of Jewish Life, spoke alongside Rabbi Andy Bachman at the Center for New Jewish Culture in Brooklyn on Monday. The original discussion, which was scheduled at Powerhouse Books in Brooklyn last Tuesday, was canceled at the last minute by an employee who did not want the bookstore to platform a “Zionist” rabbi.  During Monday’s discussion, Leifer lambasted the cancellation as both “wrong and antisemitic” as well as “the dumbest strategic thing you can do.” The bookstore’s owner, Daniel Power, later clarified in an interview that Powerhouse Books does not maintain an official ban on Zionist authors and that the employee acted on her own. He revealed that the employee responsible for canceling the event quit on her own accord before he could fire her.  The bookstore issued an apology soon after the incident, writing, “litmus tests as a precondition for participation in public life are wrong. Rejections of dialogue, debate, and nuance are wrong.” Despite the inconvenience, the backlash over the viral incident seems to have benefited Leifer. Roughly 300 people attended the rescheduled discussion, as opposed to the estimated two dozen that showed up for the original event. Leifer’s book currently holds the number one spot in the “History of Judaism” section on Amazon. “In large part, this sanctuary is filled because of what happened,” Bachman stated at the event.  Leifer, a political progressive and writer, has issued blistering criticisms of Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza. He has called for a change in the “status quo” of Israeli policy and has encouraged the American Jewish community to reexamine its relationship with Israel.  In an essay published in The Atlantic, Leifer reflected on the decision to snub Bachman for being a Zionist, saying that it “exemplified the bind that many progressive American Jews face.” “We are caught between parts of an activist left demanding that we disavow our communities, even our families, as an entrance ticket, and a mainstream Jewish institutional world that has long marginalized critics of Israeli policy. Indeed, Jews who are committed to the flourishing of Jewish life in Israel and the Diaspora, and who are also outraged by Israel’s brutal war in Gaza, feel like we have little room to maneuver,” Leifer wrote. “My experience last week was so demoralizing in part because such episodes make moving the mainstream Jewish community much harder,” Leifer added. “Every time a left-wing activist insists that the only way to truly participate in the fight for peace and justice is to support the dissolution of Israel, it reinforces the zero-sum (and morally repulsive) idea that opposing the status quo requires Israel’s destruction.” 

Leifer still doesn't get it. Jew-hatred, in the guise of Israel hatred has become part of the progressive canon. "Critics of Israeli policy" are lionized, not marginalized among progressive Jews.

[mariacallous]

Rabbi Angela Buchdahl of New York’s Reform Central Synagogue also urged solidarity with the hundreds of thousands of protesters in Israel who have taken to the streets in opposition to their government’s judicial reform plans:

If you care about democratic rights — help preserve the only functional democracy in the Middle East. If you care about the vulnerable — safeguard the sole sanctuary for Jewish refugees in need. If you value Jewish Peoplehood, hear the cries of the other half of our Jewish family and remember: the destiny of Am Yisrael is bound, one to the other. 

This young, messy, miraculous Jewish state is the most important, sovereign democratic project of the Jewish people of the last 2000 years.

We cannot walk away. While the task can feel at times, overwhelming, exhausting, Pirke Avot teaches:Iit is not our duty to complete it, only not to abandon it. 

In his Rosh Hashanah morning sermon, Rabbi Joshua Davidson of New York’s Reform Congregation Emanu-El reported on his visit to Israel with a group of local rabbis and their conversation with politician Simcha Rothman:

When my turn came to speak, I asked him how he intended to protect the rights of those who don’t align with his politics, Israelis who are not haredi or from the Religious Zionist camp.  He responded dismissively: “If you Reformim want to secure your rights, more of you should move to Israel.” Stunningly unaware he was addressing a delegation of Conservative and Orthodox rabbis, too, this chair of the Knesset’s Constitution, Law and Justice Committee made painfully clear that his view of law and justice was purely majoritarian. Minority rights be damned.

It was a shattering encounter. One that revealed this coalition cares nothing for me, my Judaism, or my Jewish community. Don’t they know my congregation’s tireless efforts to strengthen American Jewry’s commitment to Israel? Don’t they know we lovingly display Israel’s flag on our bimah? And here my colleagues and I had travelled across an ocean only to get stiff-armed! Oy. Even in Israel, shver tsu zayn a Yid, sometimes it’s hard to be a Jew!

Rabbi Jeffrey Saxe of the Reform Temple Rodeph Shalom in Falls Church, Virginia, addressed congregants who may be reluctant to criticize Israel despite disagreeing with its government’s plans to weaken the power of the country’s judiciary. He took a lesson from the Book of Jonah, read on Yom Kippur:

God teaches us the most important lesson of the Book of Jonah: that criticism must be given as a blessing and not a curse. Especially when a harsh word of warning is needed to bring one back from the edge, it must be offered as a lifeline and not a threat. …. This text challenges us both to recognize when this is needed, and to remember that the commandment in Leviticus to rebuke your neighbor comes just one verse before, paired inextricably, with the commandment to love your neighbor as yourself. Criticism and disagreement must be conducted with love. By fostering and deepening our relationship with Israel, we take a place in the conversation that comes from caring. By acknowledging all sides and their humanity, we model the sensitivity that is needed to raise the level of the discussion. By being part of one of the countless efforts and organizations to help Palestinians, help Jews, build something, and be part of a positive vision, we earn the credibility to say our piece. 

[cavenewstimes]

At events across the US, American Jews mark a grim anniversary

NEW YORK (RNS) — Brooklyn Jews rose from their seats in the rotunda-shaped sanctuary of Congregation Beth Elohim on Sunday (Oct. 6) to recite the Mourner’s Kaddish, the Jewish prayer for the dead. They then rose again to sing the Hatikvah, the Israeli national anthem. The memorial service, marking the anniversary of Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel, was one of hundreds of such gatherings both…

[progressivemillennial]

In case you no longer have access to the Washington Post this month, here’s the full text:

Since I began my first term in Congress, I have sought to speak openly and honestly about the scale of the issues our country faces — whether it is ending the crippling burden of student debt, tackling the existential threat of climate change or making sure no one in one of the richest countries in the world dies from lack of health care. As a survivor of war and a refugee, I have also sought to have an honest conversation about U.S. foreign policy, militarism and our role in the world.

This question of how the United States engages in conflict abroad is deeply personal to me. I fled my home country of Somalia when I was 8 years old from a conflict that the United States later engaged in. I spent the next four years in a refugee camp in Kenya, where I experienced and witnessed unspeakable suffering from those who, like me, had lost everything because of war.

I saw firsthand the devastating toll of war. And I dreamed of one day coming to the United States of America — a land that promised peace and opportunity regardless of one’s faith or ethnicity. But I also saw how America’s image in the world is undermined when we don’t live up to those values. And I witnessed how our continuous involvement in foreign conflicts — even those undertaken with the best of intentions — can damage our own reputation abroad.

I believe in an inclusive foreign policy — one that centers on human rights, justice and peace as the pillars of America’s engagement in the world, one that brings our troops home and truly makes military action a last resort. This is a vision that centers on the experiences of the people directly affected by conflict, that takes into account the long-term effects of U.S. engagement in war and that is sincere about our values regardless of short-term political convenience.

This means reorienting our foreign affairs to focus on diplomacy and economic and cultural engagement. At a time when we spend more on our military than the next seven countries combined, our global armed presence is often the most immediate contact people in the developing world have with the United States. National security experts across the political spectrum agree that we don’t need nearly 800 military bases outside the United States to keep our country safe.

Valuing human rights also means applying the same standards to our friends and our enemies. We do not have the credibility to support those fighting for human rights in Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua if we do not also support those fighting for human rights in Honduras, Guatemala and Brazil. Our criticisms of oppression and regional instability caused by Iran are not legitimate if we do not hold Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain to the same standards.

And we cannot continue to turn a blind eye to repression in Saudi Arabia — a country that is consistently ranked among the worst of the worst human rights offenders. Whether it is the murder of dissenters such as Jamal Khashoggi or war crimes against civilian populations in Yemen, we must hold all of our allies to the same international standards as our enemies.

This vision also applies to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. U.S. support for Israel has a long history. The founding of Israel 70 years ago was built on the Jewish people’s connection to their historical homeland, as well as the urgency of establishing a nation in the wake of the horror of the Holocaust and the centuries of anti-Semitic oppression leading up to it. Many of the founders of Israel were themselves refugees who survived indescribable horrors.

We must acknowledge that this is also the historical homeland of Palestinians. And without a state, the Palestinian people live in a state of permanent refugeehood and displacement. This, too, is a refugee crisis, and they, too, deserve freedom and dignity.

A balanced, inclusive approach to the conflict recognizes the shared desire for security and freedom of both peoples. I support a two-state solution, with internationally recognized borders, which allows for both Israelis and Palestinians to have their own sanctuaries and self-determination. This has been official bipartisan U.S. policy across two decades and has been supported by each of the most recent Israeli and Palestinian leaders, as well as the consensus of the Israeli security establishment. As Jim Mattis, who later was President Trump’s defense secretary, said in 2011 , “The current situation between those two peoples is unsustainable.”

Working toward peace in the region also means holding everyone involved accountable for actions that undermine the path to peace — because without justice, there can never be a lasting peace. When I criticize certain Israeli government actions in Gaza or settlements in the West Bank, it is because I believe these actions not only threaten the possibility of peace in the region — they also threaten the United States’ own national security interests.

My goal in speaking out at all times has been to encourage both sides to move toward a peaceful two-state solution. We need to reinsert this call back into the public debate with urgency. Both parties must come to the table for a final peace deal; violence will not bring us any closer to that day.

Peace and respect for human rights: These are universal values. They are what drove Americans to organize and protest for equal rights and civil rights. They are what motivated nonviolent movements from South Africa to South Asia to the American South. These are the values that propelled me to get involved in public life, and I know they are the values that drove Minnesotans to give a Somali American refugee a chance at representing them in Congress.

Let us apply these universal values to all nations. Only then will our world achieve peace.

[theliberaltony]

via Politics – FiveThirtyEight

The recent passage of a law in Alabama that essentially bans all abortions in the state resulted in a barrage of coverage of other abortion restrictions being adopted in conservative areas this year. But as FiveThirtyEight illustrated in a story last week, this is not a new trend — Republican-controlled states have been chipping away at abortion access since the 2010 elections, which swept the GOP into power in state legislatures and governors’ mansions across the country.

Still, the Alabama law got us thinking … what policies in addition to abortion limits are being passed in a multitude of states? More specifically, what laws are being passed in “trifecta” states, in which one party controls both houses of the legislature and the governor’s office? These states are ripe for bills to pass easily because the other party can’t stop them. And they serve as a good indicator of each party’s priorities and what it might do at the federal level given unfettered power.1

There is no formal clearinghouse for state policy changes, so I looked for legislative patterns and consulted with national groups that work on state policy, such as the left-leaning State Innovation Exchange. The result is a non-exhaustive list of legislation that has passed in multiple trifecta states, either blue or red.

The 14 states — which are home to about 112 million people — that are totally controlled by Democrats are pushing forward an agenda of, among other things, hiking the minimum wage significantly above the federal $7.25 per hour, banning (for minors) therapy that is designed to “convert” gay and lesbian people from homosexuality (this treatment is widely condemned by medical experts) and mandating that the Electoral College votes in states go to whichever candidate wins the national popular vote.

The issues being pushed in liberal states aren’t too surprising. They reflect a combination of (i) initiatives the Obama administration was pushing in its latter stages but couldn’t get approved nationally because the GOP controlled Congress; (ii) reactions to the Trump era (particularly trying to ensure that another president is not elected without winning the popular vote), and (iii) priorities of the party’s activists.

The 22 GOP-totally-controlled states — which are home to about 136 million people — have tried to eliminate restrictions on gun rights, stop cities from becoming “sanctuaries” for undocumented immigrants and weaken the Boycott, Divest and Sanctions movement that targets the Israeli government for how it treats Palestinians.

Similar to the Democratic list, this legislative agenda represents (i) Trump administration priorities that can’t get approved in Congress; (ii) reactions to the Obama administration (particularly the attempts to limit Medicaid, which was greatly expanded in the Obama years), and (iii) longtime conservative activists’ causes (limiting gun restrictions, for example).

Again, this is not a complete list of policies being enacted in a huge swath of the states. (We purposefully left out abortion, which is covered in more detail here.) And some of these ideas have crossed the red-blue divide — for example, some GOP-controlled states, like North Dakota, are joining the push to decriminalize marijuana, and many blue states, including California and New York, have enacted anti-BDS provisions.

It’s also worth noting which policies are not proliferating at the state level. Despite national momentum in the Democratic Party for enrolling more people in Medicare-style government-run health insurance plans, only Washington has adopted a so-called public option at the state level. And even as some of the party’s presidential candidates emphasize hiking rates on the wealthiest Americans, totally controlled Democratic states haven’t been as enthusiastic. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy’s push for a major tax increase on millionaires, for example, is facing strong resistance from his fellow Democrats in the state legislature.

On the GOP side, national Republicans, particularly Education Secretary Betsy Devos, are strong supporters of charter schools, as an alternative to traditional public schools. But of the six states that don’t currently have laws allowing for the creation of charters, four (Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and West Virginia) are totally controlled by the GOP.

And to be sure, trifectas don’t represent each party at the state level in totality — there are Republicans who sometimes back liberal legislation and Democrats who embrace conservative priorities. For example, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican, recently signed a minimum wage increase. Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, has backed some abortion limits.

All that said, Sacramento, Salem (Oregon), Santa Fe and Springfield (Illinois) are very different places but might at times have very similar legislation on the floors of their state legislatures. And if you live in Iowa, it’s actually fairly useful to see what laws are passing in Alabama and Texas — they are likely to come to your state soon.

[newstfionline]

Friday, August 27, 2021

Coronavirus vaccine mandates for workers (Bloomberg) Using formal federal approval as cover, a growing number of U.S. employers are imposing coronavirus vaccine mandates on workers, increasingly limiting the places people who have shunned shots can work, shop and play. In New York, Goldman Sachs required bankers prove they’d been vaccinated. In Baton Rouge, Louisiana State University will demand vaccination or negative Covid-19 tests to see a game at Tiger Stadium. CVS has mandated shots for corporate employees and those working with patients. And fossil fuel companies Chevron and Hess added requirements for employees on oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. Delta Air Lines even said it would levy a $200 monthly charge on workers who refuse to protect themselves. And the list goes on.

Most US government agencies are using facial recognition (The Verge) A new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that 19 of the 24 US government agencies surveyed are using facial recognition in some way, illustrating how commonplace the controversial technology has become within the federal government. The list of agencies includes agencies like the Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that maintain in-house systems, alongside smaller agencies that use the system to control access to high-security locations.

Medical intimidation in Mexico (Guardian) Mexico has the world’s fourth-highest COVID-19 death toll—253,000 to date. Researchers believe the true figure could be nearly three times higher because testing numbers are low. When the pandemic hit, demand for oxygen soared. Two companies that supply medical oxygen, Grupo Infra and Praxair Mexico, control 70% of the market together. In 2020, deliveries were often delayed, causing shortages and price increases. Some hospitals responded by building their own onsite oxygen generator plants, with help from the World Health Organization, UNICEF, and the World Bank. Grupo Infra noticed its orders had begun falling. Grupo Infra’s lawyers, crying breach of contract, embarked on a harrowing campaign against the hospitals, sending threatening letters with misleading and untrue claims, asserting patients’ lives were at risk, and imposing ever-larger fines. When the Bureau of Investigative Journalism accused the company of unlawful intimidation, Grupo Infra said it was not aware of any legal action taken against any hospital for installing its own oxygen-generating equipment. Praxair, which reported $27 billion in sales in 2020, had no comment.

Death toll rises to at least 20 in western Venezuela floods (Reuters) At least 20 people have died in the western Venezuelan state of Merida following intense rains that caused mudslides and rivers to overflow. State governor Ramon Guevara said that more than 1,200 houses had been destroyed and 17 people remained missing as rescue workers search the wreckage. Images shared on social media showed cars being swept down streets, buildings and businesses filled with mud, and mudslides that left boulders strewn across roads.

Uruguay starts to dance again as pandemic subsides (AP) After long months of illness, Uruguay is once again starting to dance. The government last week authorized ballrooms and event halls to open as the country’s COVID-19 death rate—once among the highest in the world per capita—has fallen sharply. Seventy percent of Uruguayans have received both doses of vaccines against the virus and once-overstressed hospitals now have empty beds. The government decided to let ballrooms for dancing open five hours a day—though with limited capacity and mandatory 20-minute pauses each hour to air out closed spaces.

Blue whales returning to Spain’s Atlantic coast after 40-year absence (Guardian) Blue whales, the world’s largest mammals, are returning to Spain’s Atlantic coast after an absence of more than 40 years. The first one was spotted off the coast of Galicia in north-west Spain in 2017 by Bruno Díaz, a marine biologist who is head of the Bottlenose Dolphin Research Institute in O Grove, Galicia. More have been spotted since then. A typical blue whale is 20-24 metres long and weighs 120 tonnes—equivalent to 16 elephants—but specimens of up to 30 metres and 170 tonnes have been found.

Harris, in Vietnam, gets a dose of China’s challenge to the U.S. (Washington Post) Vice President Harris, on her second international trip in the role, got a taste of the intensifying rivalry between the United States and China as she flew into Vietnam—a former U.S. adversary wary of Beijing’s growing dominance and now courted by Washington. Harris was en route Wednesday to announce, among other things, a donation of 1 million coronavirus vaccine doses to the pandemic-hit country. But a three-hour delay in her schedule handed China a window of opportunity. Beijing quickly sent its envoy in Hanoi to meet with Vietnam’s prime minister and pledged a donation of 2 million vaccine doses, undercutting the subsequent U.S. announcement. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, thanking the envoy, said Vietnam “does not ally with one country to fight against another,” according to state media. The incident underscored the challenges facing the Biden administration as Harris has made her way through Southeast Asia this week, along with Chinese sensitivity about her visit. Washington’s agenda does not always align with that of governments in the region, which face a diplomatic high-wire act in balancing the competing interests of the United States and China—the latter being Vietnam’s top trading partner.

Suicide bombers target Kabul airport (AP) Two suicide bombers and gunmen attacked crowds of Afghans flocking to Kabul’s airport Thursday, transforming a scene of desperation into one of horror in the waning days of an airlift for those fleeing the Taliban takeover. The attacks killed at least 60 Afghans and 13 U.S. troops, Afghan and U.S. officials said. Eighteen service members were wounded and officials warned the toll could grow. More than 140 Afghans were wounded, an Afghan official said. The U.S. general overseeing the evacuation said the attacks would not stop the United States from evacuating Americans and others, and flights out were continuing. Gen. Frank McKenzie, head of U.S. Central Command, said there was a large amount of security at the airport, and alternate routes were being used to get evacuees in. About 5,000 people were awaiting flights on the airfield, McKenzie said. The blasts came hours after Western officials warned of a major attack, urging people to leave the airport. But that advice went largely unheeded by Afghans desperate to escape the country in the last few days of an American-led evacuation before the U.S. officially ends its 20-year presence on Aug. 31. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the killings on its Amaq news channel. The IS affiliate in Afghanistan is far more radical than the Taliban, who recently took control of the country in a lightning blitz.

Taliban shows off ‘special forces’ in propaganda blitz (AFP) The Taliban has been showing off its own “special forces” on social media, soldiers in new uniforms equipped with looted American equipment who contrast sharply with the image of the usual Afghan insurgent. Pictures and videos of fighters in the so-called “Badri 313” unit have been posted online for propaganda purposes. The soldiers are shown in uniforms, boots, balaclavas and body armour similar to those worn by special forces around the world. Rather than a battered Russian-designed Kalashnikov rifle slung over their shoulder, the men of Badri 313 hold new US-made rifles such as the M4, sometimes with night-vision goggles and advanced gunsights. The amount of equipment at their disposal is unclear, but multiple pictures online show jubilant Taliban fighters posing with captured armoured Humvees, aircraft and weapons abandoned by the defeated US-equipped Afghan national army. Experts say the most sophisticated equipment, especially the helicopters, will be difficult to operate and near-impossible to maintain.

The Real Winner of the Afghan War? It's Not Who You Think. (NYT) Just days after the Taliban took Kabul, their flag was flying high above a central mosque in Pakistan’s capital. It was an in-your-face gesture intended to spite the defeated Americans. But it was also a sign of the real victors in the 20-year Afghan war. Pakistan was ostensibly America’s partner in the war against al-Qaida and the Taliban. Its military won tens of billions of dollars in American aid over the last two decades, even as Washington acknowledged that much of the money disappeared into unaccounted sinkholes. But it was a relationship riven by duplicity and divided interests from its very start after 9/11. Not least, the Afghan Taliban the Americans were fighting are, in large part, a creation of Pakistan’s intelligence service, the ISI, which through the course of the war nurtured and protected Taliban assets inside Pakistan. In the last three months as the Taliban swept across Afghanistan, the Pakistani military waved a surge of new fighters across the border from sanctuaries inside Pakistan, tribal leaders have said. It was a final coup de grâce to the American-trained Afghan security forces. Pakistan’s already shaky reputation in the West is likely to plummet now, as the Taliban take over Afghanistan. Calls to sanction Pakistan have already circulated on social media. Relations with the United States, already on the downslope, will unravel further. So the question for the Pakistanis is what will they do with the broken country that is their prize?

Biden meets Bennett (Politico) When President Biden meets with new Israeli PM Naftali Bennett in the Oval Office today, the two leaders will have their work cut out for them in repairing a damaged bilateral relationship. Biden is one of a dwindling band of older Democratic leaders holding back a tide of younger progressives who want the U.S. to adopt a much tougher line with Israel. The Jerusalem Post notes there is just one thing on Bennett’s mind: “Iran, Iran and more Iran.” Bennett, who heads a shaky coalition and is a neophyte on the world stage, has made it clear in recent days that Israel wants Biden to drop any plans for a return to the Iran nuclear agreement that former President Donald Trump tore up, and instead back Israel’s plan for a potential military option to degrade the Iranian program. On the big issues, Biden is as far apart with Bennett as he was with former PM Netanyahu. In an interview with the NYT this week, Bennett “said he would expand West Bank settlements that Mr. Biden opposes, declined to back American plans to reopen a consulate for Palestinians in Jerusalem and ruled out reaching a peace agreement with the Palestinians under his watch.”

The cost of war (AP) Hamas and Israel have engaged in four wars in Gaza in thirteen years. The pattern is always the same: Palestinian rocket fire, devastating Israeli airstrikes, a mounting loss of life and property, and appeals for the “senseless cycle” to stop. According to the U.N., there has been more than $5 billion (in 2021 dollars) in damage to Gaza’s homes, agriculture, industry, electricity, and water infrastructure. 4,000 plus Palestinians have been killed, half of them civilians. The death toll in Israel is 106, including civilians, soldiers, and foreign residents The property damage is estimated to reach $193 million. U.N. economist Rami Alazzeh says Gaza’s economy is caught in a “vicious” cycle of destruction, reconstruction, and infusions of aid “just to get it back to before this military operation. If this cycle keeps going on, Gaza can never recover.” Palestinian officials say 70% of Gaza’s two million residents are under age 30. The median age is 19, compared to 30 in Israel. Gaza’s young adults have spent their childhood and adolescent years in an active war zone, and symptoms of PTSD are common. And under Hamas, unemployment among young people has worsened, standing at 62% in June. “This is a lost generation,” Alazzeh said.

[sayedhusaini]

*The Great Game in Afghanistan: Fraudulent Beginning - Fateful End*

1. An extremely important thread on the Geopolitical Landscape: a Magnitude 10 Earthquake whose epicenter was in Kabul. One that has sent shockwaves across entire planet; in every Capital - challenging & threatening the New World Order & the Global Reset: Agenda 2030 up in smokes. Yes!

2. When the US Forces invaded Afghanistan - also romantically known as *The Heart of Asia*; in the year 2001, *America had multiple Grand Strategic Objectives...*

• Defense of Israel

• Direct Control of Strategic Global Resources

• Destruction of Political Islam.

• De-Nuclearization of Pakistan: leading to the defense of Israel.

• Encirclement of Russia.

• Containment of China.

• Control of global Trading Routes & Sea Lanes.

3. Around 1998, American Enterprise Institute (AEI) had written a *Strategic Report* aimed at creating strategies to maintain global dominance of the US in the 21st century. The report was called: *"Project for the New American Century (PNAC)"* - which had outlined measures that would ensure for the US to maintain its dominant role in the 21st century.

*Accordingly events of 9/11 were conceptualized, articulated & executed as the perfect "pearl harbor" - the US needed to launch this (so called) war-on-terror*: to accomplish its Grand Strategic Objectives.

4. *So, US was NOT in Afghanistan to catch Bin Laden - period...*

A established base in the "Heart of Asia" served to fortify all those grand strategic objectives.

After the British Empire destroyed the Ottoman Caliphate (now Turkey) in 1923, they had vowed; *never to allow rise of Political Islam again...*

Accordingly rise of Talibans in Afghanistan posed a direct threat to their Project for the 21st Century.

5. Philosopher & Poet (of the East) Dr. Muhammad Iqbal had the farsighted vision to write in 1920, when Communism was on the rise in the East as a direct threat to Capitalist Order in the West (this was presented as such for next 70 years). However, (Iqbal wrote) *for the Western Civilization, real threat will always come from the Islamic Civilization - from Political Islam & NOT Communism.*

He was right!

6. Invasion of Afghanistan - using the fraudulent events of 9/11 as pretext and after *dealing with the "threat" of Political Islam,* the

CIA/MI6/Mossad got to work immediately - initially on their own, later they subcontracted RAW/NDS/Saudi/Egyptian/UAE Intelligence Services *on a singular Project: to destabilize Nuclear Armed Pakistan* with the objective that by 2015 Pakistan will cease to exist as a single established State...

7. America's Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), British MI6, Israel's Mossad & India's RAW, after establishing their

occupation in Afghanistan; *created the deadliest terror outfits: Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Afghanistan* & launched this group and others as well, like BLA & BNA; against Pakistan.

Over the next few years nearly 100 - 200,000 Pakistanis lost their lives - while countless others were maimed or wounded besides more than 150 billion USD were lost in Pakistan's economy due to this secret CIA/MI6/Mossad/NDS/RAW sponsored terror attacks on Pakistan.

8. US presence in Afghanistan *had removed the "threat" of Political Islam* & they were now well on their way to dismember & dismantle Pakistan - as per their own timeline: 2015.

Simultaneously, presence of US Forces in Afghanistan *had blocked Russian access to the "Heart of Asia" & were well poised to block any Chinese adventure towards: One-Belt-One-Road(OBOR) projects and the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) type trade routes across Asia.*

9. Indians & Israelis *were having a dream ride under the US umbrella* removal of their common mortal enemy: Pakistan - the Only Nuclear Armed Islamic state on the planet.

*The grand strategy of invading & establishing an operational base in "the Heart of Asia" Afghanistan: seemed to work very well for a while* - especially as Pakistan bled profusely under the secret, sustained often ferocious onslaughts of multiple terror outfits created, funded, trained and launched from across Pakistan's western borders.

10. Despite the broad perception around the world - primarily created by the malicious disinformation and propaganda campaigns against Pakistan; *the established fact is that Pakistan did NOT support the Afghan Taliban...*

Quite the contrary,

Pakistan remained the strongest frontline Non-NATO Ally of the US led occupation force in Afghanistan, formally allowing nearly a million containers of weapons, logistics & other heavy military supplies through its ports, its lands & its air bridges in support of the US & NATO forces in Afghanistan while suffering deep divisions among its own populace & the destruction beyond repair of the country's infrastructure.

11. By the year 2007, Pakistan was surely and steadily on it's way towards dismemberment. Gen Musharraf, the then President of Pakistan was removed through a Pentagon sponsored, CIA/MI6/Mossad orchestrated regime change movement & a CIA asset Asif Zardari was installed as the President & another CIA asset Hussain Haqqani was installed as Pakistan's Ambassador to the US in Washington DC.

12. Pakistan and Pakistan's mighty Armed Forces was effectively losing the secret war against CIA/MI6/Mossad/NDS/RAW backed terror outfits created, funded, trained and launched from Afghanistan. Even a serving Lieutenant General was killed right outside the gates of the well protected & fortified Army GHQ in Rawalpindi - in a suicide bombing attack. Headquarters of the globally acclaimed Pakistan's Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) all over the country were bombed. Army GHQ itself was attacked & almost taken over...

*Those were very bad days for Pakistan...*

13. *By 2008, the then DG ISI General Shuja Pasha had figured out the CIA/MI6/Mossad/RAW/NDS game plan and had begun conceptualizing & building the counter strategy* and thus the push back began in earnest by mid-2008.

*Every echelon of the Pakistan Armed Forces began its historically most large scale high intensity military operations both within the major cities of Pakistan and across the country* to reclaim lost territory.

14. *It was a long, gruesome 4-year blooby battle*: by 2012 Pakistan's Armed Forces had successfully reclaimed all the lost territory from CIA/MI6/Mossad/RAW/NDS backed terrorists assets; who were by then fully operational from US & NATO controlled Afghanistan.

Even so this brutal, and bloody war-of- terror could not be stopped till today as the paid & trained assets & mercenaries were protected in Afghan sanctuaries by CIA/MI6/Mossad/NDS/RAW.

15. Once the security situation in Pakistan began to improve, China swiftly moved in to counter the US & NATO's strategic objectives & launched its own Economic & Trade Corridors through Pakistan which US & NATO were trying to scuttle. OBOR & CPEC Projects were launched in Pakistan.

By this time, it was clear that the CIA/MI6/Mossad's 2015 plan to dismember Pakistan & dismantle Pakistan nuclear weapons program had failed miserably.

16. By the end of 2015, Afghan Taliban had also emerged as a strong, very disciplined, more potent & with more capacity for strategic resistance to the US & NATO occupation forces in Afghanistan. *US by now was also suffering from deep "imperial overstretch"* - exhausted; having taken both economic & human losses *in the now well known graveyard of the empires.*

The tide had turned in favor of "Haq against Baatil"

17. Pakistan's Armed Forces fought gallantly - sometimes suffering heavy losses; ONLY to protect itself within its own borders *against terrorists: created, funded, trained and launched by its OWN allies* who were occupying Afghanistan.

Ironic yet a factual narrative!

*Afghan Taliban did NOT receive a single container of weapons, armaments or supplies from Pakistan in the last 20 years.* They ambushed, snatched and also received weapons and armaments from ANA/US/NATO/India/Iran/Russia and fought a tactically brilliant guerrilla warfare and strategically patient battle on all fronts.

18. *In the end, it was the Afghan Taliban who won the war in an honorable & fair fight against the combined might of 57 flags: US, Britain, NATO and all the other nameless allied forces.*

The Talibans were NOT helped by any other country in this long-drawn strategic battle for independence from foreign occupation forces.

US President Biden squarely blamed the defeat on the collapse of the Afghan National Army (ANA) - whom they created, they funded, they equipped & they trained. A defeated President Biden while acknowledging the defeat of the US & NATO forces in Afghanistan did not lay the blame on Pakistan or on any other country.

19. *Now what? why is the world screaming & demonizing a band of resoundingly brave & viciously free people who led a truly genuine freedom fight to liberate their own land- locked poorest country on this planet against foreign occupation? Why are they such a threat to the big global powers?*

For any reflective & critically thinking reader; this is the crucial next phase of the jigsaw puzzle to understand & grasp.

20. Surely, the Global Powers are not screaming in pain & fear for their concern for *human rights in Afghanistan* or the *rights of the Afghan women...* That's a big *hogwash to say the least...*

*The Taliban victory in Afghanistan is a direct & existential threat to the Zionist's plans towards Globalization and the New world order - the Global Reset (Agenda 2030);*

which they are unfolding right now under the false flag cover of Covid-19 *Global Plan-demic.*

21. *The idea of Political Islam* is reborn: an idea the Western Civilization had hoped would stay in the Museums of history. *Political Islam now has a country and an operating base of its own.* The ultimate nightmare for the Globalists have come true. More so; when these people (the Talibans of Afghanistan) have (historically) defeated the British Colonists, the Communist Ideology & now Capitalist Order: their power centers politically ravaged in the last 4 decades.

*This is simply a geopolitical and geostrategic miracle. Nothing else can justify this victory accept by reference to a Gift from the Divine*

23. Once a truly Independent Islamic Government is formed anywhere in the world, it becomes a magnet for other Muslim countries in the region & movements around the world to attempt to copy the Taliban model.

The Afghan Jihad of the 80's triggered the Intifadas of Kashmir, Palestine, Chechnya & Algeria.

Same may happen again from this Taliban victory.

24. One may understand the resistance, pushback & attacks by US, EU, India & Israel but the most severe resistance & animosity to this poor Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan will come from Saudi Arabia, the UAE & Egypt...the three most petrified countries - *terrified by the idea of Political Islam taking over power as a model & getting a foothold.* under the current Global Order.

25. And just to let one ponder a bit more...

Afghan Jihad of the 80's & the Taliban resistance & ultimate victory of today in Afghanistan: are the only Muslim Resistance Movements in the last 200 years that have actually succeeded in driving out foreign occupation forces: returning victorious from the battlefield.

*Truly a romantic moment in human history!!*

[kafkasmelomania]

May 25, 2021: Grugs Are Dood by Punk On Toast

*Bandcamp here

Unite Asia talks about the background of Grugs Are Dood and why Punk On Toast wanted to release a live album in this article; The Chakkar goes into more detail here. Both are interesting reads, and the album is really energetic -- Punk On Toast is a great live band.

If you’d like to get involved with stopping the atrocities against Palestine, here’s where you can start (text in bold for readability):

This Carrd is full of information, petitions, and places to donate.

Here are some organizations to which you can donate. This post now includes a list of corporations to boycott.

Here is some information about the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund and a list of other organizations.

This is a list of actions you can take (somewhat UK-specific). This is a reading list of texts with more background information.

UK petitions: This is a petition for the UK government to formally recognize the State of Palestine. This is a petition to introduce sanctions against Israel. This is a petition to condemn Israel for their treatment of Palestine and Palestinians.

Here’s the Wikipedia overview of the current iteration of the crisis.

If you’re curious about the United States’s involvement: this is a report about U.S. foreign aid to Israel. This is the Wikipedia page for Palestine-United States relations and this is the Wikipedia page for Israel-United States relations.

Here are some perspectives from on the ground in Gaza. This is also explains why spreading the Palestinian point of view. is so important.

This is one Jewish person’s explanation of the conflation of Jewish identity with the modern Israeli state. They mention the Nakba, which is important – per Wikipedia, “the Nakba, […] also known as the Palestinian Catastrophe, was the destruction of Palestinian society and homeland in 1948, and the permanent displacement of a majority of the Palestinian people.”

This Vox video gives a brief overview of the conflict from its inception until the present day, although it’s from 2016, so it’s not entirely up to date. This CrashCourse video does the same, and I think it’s actually a little better than the Vox video because within the first minute they shut down everyone who claims that this is a religious conflict. That video is also not entirely up to date, as it is from 2015.

Black lives matter and here are some ways you can get involved in the  fight against racism, specifically anti-black racism (text in bold for readability):  

This Linktree and this Carrd are full of ways to confront and fight against anti-black racism: places to donate, advice for protesting, educational resources.

This post is specifically about Daunte Wright and how to help his family. This is Daunte Wright’s memorial fund.

The  Minnesota Freedom Fund is doing good work, and since so many people have been recognizing that work and donating to them, they ask that you  instead donate to Families Supporting Families Against Police Violence, the Racial Justice Network, Communities United Against Police Brutality, the Minneapolis NAACP, the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Minneapolis, and the Black Immigrant Collective. You can also donate to the Bail Project, which operates in multiple states.

Other organizations to which you can donate are the Black Trans Advocacy Coalition, the NAACP, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the Okra Project, the Solutions Not Punishment Collaborative, For The Gworls, G.L.I.T.S., the Marsha P. Johnson Institute, the Black Trans Travel Fund, the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, and the Black Trans Femmes in the Arts Collective.

GoFundMe: Justice for Breonna Taylor, In Memory of Jamarion Robinson, Rent Fund For Black LGBT Family, Esperanza Spalding’s BIPOC Artist Sanctuary, Help the Williams Family Get a Set of Wheels, Survival and Gender Affirming Needs for Black Enby

(via https://open.spotify.com/album/3KhmLshFOsHNWo8PSeoUOC?si=QQ9NMzkOQwW4FMXyN_lElA)

[cmkshama]

On Thursday, May 24th, I co-sponsored the screening of the film “Pinkwashing Exposed: Seattle Fights Back” with the City of Seattle LGBTQ Commission and the Commission for People with Disabilities. In response, Mayor Durkan, the Seattle Times editorial board, and the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle expressed concern about the film. The Federation argued that the screening should be canceled. Below is my open letter to Mayor Durkan and the City Council clarifying why we felt that it was important to screen this film, responding to the concerns about it, and urging the City to stand strong in its support for the screening.

Thursday, May 24, 2018

Dear Mayor Durkan and City Council,

I am writing to you about the screening scheduled for this evening of the film, Pinkwashing Exposed: Seattle Fights Back.

I encourage you to take the time to watch the film yourselves. I have personally watched it and found it to be in no way prejudiced against, unfair to, or factually inaccurate about any section of our community. It is a moving portrayal of events that transpired in 2012 in relation to the City of Seattle LGBTQ Commission and the City Council.

The film recounts the efforts of activists, and the courageous decision made by the LGBTQ Commission at the time to cancel an event that would have legitimized Stand With Us, a right-wing anti-Palestinian group, and the policies of the Israeli Government in carrying out the brutal repression of Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank. The film then goes on to show the subsequent campaign to make the Commission publicly apologize for cancelling the event. In my view, as an elected representative of Seattle’s working people, the most unfortunate aspect of the 2012 events was that the Mayor and City Councilmembers at that time also joined in the chorus of voices demanding an apology from the LGBTQ Commissioners for what was in fact a principled act on their part.

I congratulate the LGBTQ commissioners in stating clearly that there is no genuine way for us to stand with one oppressed group of people without also actively standing up against other oppressions and injustices. As members of our community advocating for the rights of LGBTQ and disabled community members, we have an obligation to also stand up for the rights of the Palestinian people.

As socialists, we stand in solidarity with Jewish, Muslim, and Christian working people in Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank, and with all immigrant working people in Seattle, regardless of national origin, ethnicity, or religion. We believe that the only way to address the situation in Israel and Palestine is for Israeli and Palestinian working people to organize united movements against the brutal occupation and repression of Palestinian people by the Israeli ruling class, openly abetted by the US ruling class. These united movements should also build the fight for unionized living wage jobs, affordable housing for all, and women’s and LGBTQ rights in the region.

The City of Seattle’s support for this evening’s screening is also extremely timely in light of the massacre of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on May 14, as an attack on peaceful protests against the Trump-ordered embassy transfer to Jerusalem. It was the deadliest day for Palestinians since the Gaza war in 2014. The attack came on top of the ongoing brutal siege imposed on them for over a decade, and has drawn broad worldwide condemnation, including from the United Nations. Sixty-two people were shot dead in one day, adding to the dozens slain previously in demonstrations in recent weeks. Among those killed were Palestinian teenaged youths, medics, journalists, and an eight-month-old baby girl who died after massive exposure to tear gas. Over 1,500 Palestinians were injured by Israeli live fire, rubber-coated steel bullets, and tear gas.

Supporting the screening is also entirely consistent with Seattle’s declaration to being a sanctuary city. Cancelling the event, if that is what the city establishment decided to do, would be a slap in the face to all those fighting for Palestinian rights in the face of the massacre in Gaza.

I invite you to watch the film online (it is available for free), and I urge you to join us this evening at the event. As the letter from the LGBTQ Commission released yesterday says, “Seattle community members with diverse and intersecting backgrounds including individuals who are LGBTQ, Jewish, Palestinian, Christian, immigrants, people born and raised in Seattle and others, attended Seattle LGBTQ Commission meetings to provide public comment and request we host this film screening at City Hall.”

I understand the calls by some that “both sides” should be heard. My office would be happy to help organize an event where the issues involved are discussed and debated in depth. I believe, though, that we should also recognize that the just and accurate critique of Israel’s illegal policy of brutal repression of the Palestinian people is far too often excluded from American political discourse, and that it is correct to support the screening and discussion organized for this evening. Everyone is cordially invited to listen and participate in a peaceful and respectful discussion and help organize future discussions.

Finally, let me address the matter of anti-Semitism. The Jewish Federation leadership, in calling for cancellation of the event, claims that showing this film will “stir up increased anti-Semitism.”

Anyone who gives the film a balanced viewing will reject that the film in any way bolsters or provokes anti-Semitism.

Anti-Semitism is a pervasive and virulent disease that we must fight everywhere it shows up. I stand with all Jewish working people in opposing anti-Semitism. Most recently, we saw two prominent anti-Semitic pastors deliver prayers at the provocative opening of the US Embassy in Jerusalem: John Hagee, who has claimed that Hitler was a “hunter” sent by God, and Robert Jeffress, who has preached that “you can’t be saved by being a Jew.” Surprisingly, I have yet to hear the people who claim Pinkwashing Exposed provokes anti-Semitism denounce these hateful preachers, who were invited by the Israeli government with the blessing of the Trump administration.

As the US State Department’s own definition of anti-Semitism notes (a definition cited by the Jewish Federation in denouncing the Pinkwashing Exposed film), “criticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any other country cannot be regarded as anti-Semitic.”

I have been consistent, as have the activists who are supporting this film, in opposing ruling classes everywhere as they act to subjugate others to pursue their own interests against those of working and oppressed people, flout UN resolutions to pursue peaceful settlements of land issues, and create different sets of laws for people of different ethnicities and nationalities.

Lastly, the film’s central point must be taken on board: the fact that the Israeli government has policies (at least for some of its inhabitants) that are more LGBTQ-friendly than those in neighboring states does not diminish or negate the inhumanity of its killing of and oppressing the Palestinian people.

Sincerely,

    Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant

[itskimngxn-blog]

Blog Post #7

1. This means that each party fighting for the right to claim ownership of Jerusalem has its own perception and does not want to objectively dissect the problem by acknowledging other views. The religious belief passed down many generations cannot be changed within a day, and as time goes by, these sacred ideologies become almost unchangeable. The reason why negotiation cannot take place is due to each party’s fear of its own limitations in perception, need to prove influence, and extreme protection of its own culture. Upon reading this, I immediately thought about the left and right wing of American politics (how extreme conservatives can rarely sit down, listen to the thoughts of liberals and actually respect them). Conflicts can be found among parties, but then I also thought about my own country. As a country governed by only one party, you will never see protests in the streets if you come to Vietnam. The government never appreciates citizens’ opinions, and even when people express arguments that are persuasive but go against the government’s perception, they will be considered as renegades. Even in education the same thing takes place: I still remember when I attended a scientific contest wherein the judges disregarded my team’s invention because we did not make something that was taught in the textbook (how is doing so considered “an invention”?). Being blinded by one’s subjective views and unable to recognize other viewpoints can be very detrimental, as it leaves no room for acquiring true understanding as well as critical thinking, and this leads to the inability to negotiate with one another. 

2. Jews view Jerusalem as the most sacred land, since the remains of the Second Temple as well as the Wailing Wall still exist here, serving as the core of their religion’s symbol. Christians view Jerusalem under a different lens: it was the land where Jesus sacrificed his life for the sin that humans committed. For Muslims, Jerusalem includes the Noble Sanctuary where Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven. It can be seen that each religion has its own story relating to the sacred land called Jerusalem, which makes each view so distinguished and the fight for ownership inevitable. 

3. The prayer starts off softly, accompanied by the strings and solo keyboard, whose first stanza includes the depiction of Jerusalem: “The one with the most beautiful buildings/The flower of all cities”. Fairuz clearly appreciates the natural beauty of this city, as the first part of her prayer focuses on describing Jerusalem’s purity. However, as the prayer progresses, it suggests the ongoing fight over this land, by introducing heavy beats and loud blasts. I think it is really interesting how the prayer shifts from the image of mosques to Christian connection, as in the fourth stanza, the prayer talks about the crying faces of Mary and her child. The act of crying comes from the fact that children in Jerusalem have no shelter, people are forced to leave their homes, and how unstable the political situation at this land is, despite originally being known as the “Land of Peace”. After the fifth stanza, listener can understand that perhaps it is not the Gods that want us to fight over Jerusalem, but war comes from human’s selfishness and their need of power, generalized as “forces of evil”. Jerusalem might be the land where all historical events occurred, but instead of fighting for the right to own it, each faction should try to embrace the value of one another and cherish religious diversity. 

4. The distinctive elements of Palestinian popular music include: ululation (high-pitched tongue trills), improvisation, pure melody performed monophonically (reminds me of medieval chants), complex vocal, percussive beats, and hand clapping. For Israeli popular music, listeners should pay attention to: use of Slavic/Russian melodies, promotion of nation’s identity, and the depiction of social/cultural problems. This type of music shares a lot of similar features to those of Palestinian music. 

5. In rare cases, music is played on TV or radio stations. Music can also be disseminated by transporting tapes across the border and distributing thousands of copies. Censorship placed includes sending artists to underground, complete control over broadcasting networks, banning of nationalistic lyrics, confiscation of personal belongings, and even imprisonment. 

6. I notice the presence of string instruments normally used by artists in the Middle East, and also voice trills performed by the male singer. Although this is a cover, 90% of it resembles the original version. This proves that the artists cherish the authenticity of the song but still work to alter it a bit to achieve the delivery of an underlying message: to bring people together as a whole despite each person’s status of citizenship. I think the song works really well for spreading this idea as it encapsulates both Western and Middle East musical characteristics, signifying a unity among countries. 

7. I agree with the author’s final words. Music is viewed as a temporal escape for the world’s complicated political issues as it is one of the art forms that bring people closer together, despite their differences in ideologies. I still remember the time when China claimed its illegal possession over various parts of South China Sea, aggressively provoked other Asian countries including Vietnam, Japan and Philippines. During that time, lots of Vietnamese grew hatred for the country, including me. I wanted to delete Chinese songs from my Walkman, because it is really weird listening to music performed by people belonging to the country that tries to STEAL an oceanic part of Vietnam. However, I gradually realized that I should keep things distinguished. The fight for territory is the politician/government/military’s fight, musicians are not the ones responsible for starting the conflict. Neither are the country’s citizens. Upon travelling to different parts in Vietnam during that time, I witnessed Vietnamese people hissed at Chinese tourists, which was totally unreasonable. I learn to accept that the conflict affects everyone because we all have patriotism, but there are certain cultural values (including music) we still need to appreciate, not bash due to political tension. 

[mariacallous]

Late last month, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama paid a high-profile three-day visit to Israel, where he met with Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid, President Isaac Herzog, Knesset Speaker Mickey Levy, Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman, and the head of Israel’s National Cyber Directorate, Gaby Portnoy. Both sides discussed enhancing security cooperation, particularly in the cybersphere, and organizing a summit of Balkan leaders in Israel next year.

Rama’s visit to Israel came after Albania found evidence that Iran was behind a series of cyberattacks in July and September that temporarily shut down numerous online Albanian government services and websites. Rama said his government’s investigation, which was conducted with assistance from the FBI and Microsoft, among others, revealed that the cyberattack wasn’t carried out by individuals or independent groups but by the Iranian state—calling it “state aggression.” In response, Rama expelled Iranian diplomats from the country.

For its move, Albania won praise in Israel, as Israelis have often voiced their frustration at European governments’ unwillingness to confront Iran. “Iran represents a joint threat for Israel and Albania. We saw this in the recent Iranian cyberattacks against Albania,” Lapid said. “Israel will assist in any way in the effort against Iran. We see this as a national interest and a historical responsibility.” Washington also backed Tirana’s decision to cut ties with Tehran and sanctioned Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence for its alleged role in the cyberattacks. Tehran rejected the charges that it was behind the cyberattacks and accused Albania of complicity in an American-Israeli campaign against Iran.

So how did Albania of all places find itself in Iran’s cyber crosshairs?

In fact, the two countries have been at odds for years, ever since the Balkan state began hosting—at the request of the United States—members of the exiled Iranian opposition group People’s Mujahideen of Iran, or Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MEK), on its soil. The group has had a presence in Albania since at least 2013.

In the 1970s, the MEK was one of the main groups fighting the imperial regime in Iran. It played a significant role in the 1979 Islamic Revolution before falling out with the newly established Islamic Republic led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

Morphing into a secretive, cult-like group, the MEK lived in exile under former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s patronage starting in the 1980s and was designated as a “Foreign Terrorist Organization” by the United States, European Union, Canada, Japan, and Great Britain because of its alleged killings of U.S. nationals.

The United States removed the MEK from the terrorist list in 2003 following the U.S. invasion of Iraq and planned at the time to use the MEK in a potential overthrow of the Iranian regime (a plan most recently voiced by former U.S. national security advisor John Bolton in 2018). However, such a plan never came to fruition. Hussein’s toppling and the ensuing chaos in Iraq required the group to find a new sanctuary, and the United States urged Albania to host MEK members.

Currently, about 3,000 MEK members are estimated to live in Albania’s Camp Ashraf-3, a heavily fortified compound protected by Albanian private security.

Since 2013, the MEK has regularly hosted events and summits in Albania that have attracted conservative U.S. Republicans, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former Vice President Mike Pence, the latter of whom delivered a keynote address at an event in Albania in June. Even today, many Republicans and congressional aides view the MEK as an important voice calling for regime change in Iran. Albanian media outlets have also reported on contacts between the Israeli Embassy in Tirana and representatives of the MEK. Most recently, in October, the Israeli ambassador to Albania, Galit Peleg, apparently met with MEK leader Maryam Rajavi during the former’s trip to southern Albania.

These contacts have been closely followed in Tehran.

For obvious reasons, Iran is not thrilled with Albania for hosting the MEK, though Tehran tends to put most of the blame on the United States. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani criticized the United States for “forcing” the Albanian government to host the MEK and for “training and equipping them in cyber technology.” The group, he said, has “constantly served and still serves as a tool in the hands of U.S. to carry out acts of terror, cyberattacks, and wage psychosocial war against the Iranian government and nation.”

This raises the question of why Albania would willingly drag itself into one of the world’s most tense geopolitical standoffs, involving the United States, Israel, and Iran, by agreeing to host such a controversial group. A number of Albanian analysts have told me that the idea was not an Albanian initiative but rather a U.S.-Israeli agreement. To paraphrase my favorite line from the 1997 film Wag the Dog: ‘‘Why Albania? … Why not?’’ And the Albanian government, eager to showcase its pro-Western credentials, went along with it.

A former communist dictatorship that broke off ties with both the Soviet Union and Mao Zedong’s China to tread its own path, Albania is now yet another NATO member in a region surrounded by NATO member states. Eager to stand out as a steadfast U.S. ally, it often entangles itself in complex geopolitical issues far from its shores—from being the only country to accept Uyghurs from the U.S. prison at Guantánamo Bay who were cleared of terrorist charges, to accepting nearly 4,000 Afghans (mostly translators and support staff of the U.S. military), to hosting the MEK—a foreign-policy approach considered fruitful by major political forces in Albania.

Albanian analysts have told me that this way, Albania hopes to strengthen its role in the region and its diplomatic relations with the United States and Israel. Back in 2011, then-Prime Minister Sali Berisha declared Iran “a Nazi state” and backed Israel at the United Nations against the Palestinian bid for statehood. Then, much like today, the idea of gaining access to the United States via Israel was certainly on Rama’s mind.

For its part, Israel’s approach to the Balkans can be framed as a classic securitization policy: securing the state beyond its borders by military and intelligence cooperation, political deals, and intelligence sharing. Israel has gradually and discreetly formed partnerships with Balkan countries such as Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, and Serbia. Israeli investments, both private and government-linked, in Greece and Serbia have been increasing, as have the number of Israeli tourists visiting the region, including Israeli Arabs visiting Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Indeed, Israeli sources confirmed to me that the person organizing Rama’s recent Israel visit was Alexander Machkevitch, a billionaire businessman and the chairman of Eurasian Resources Group, one of the largest global producers of essential metals and minerals, employing some 80,000 people. Machkevitch is also an Israeli citizen and a good friend of Rama’s.

Over the past few years, Israel has also emerged as one of the main diplomatic backers of Bosnia’s highly autonomous Republika Srpska, where Lieberman has cultivated a close working relationship with the pro-Russian Bosnian Serb hard-liner Milorad Dodik. Israel has also been nurturing military and diplomatic ties with Greece, Croatia, and Macedonia. On a more diplomatic level, it has engaged Balkan states through the Craiova State Forum, which brings together heads of government from Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, and Greece, and focuses on improving infrastructure and energy cooperation.

Having a diplomatic presence in the Balkans is not only tempting but logical for Israel as well. Nested between the Black Sea and the Adriatic, its geography places it at the crossroads between trade routes. Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, and Greece all have maritime access to North Africa and the Middle East; Hungary and Serbia connect the Balkan Peninsula with Central Europe; and Romania and Bulgaria have access to the Black Sea. Turkey’s booming exports destined for the European Union all pass through the Balkans, the shortest and most economical route. Just recently, Israeli company Elbit Systems opened a flight school in the southern city of Kalamata that will train Greek pilots in combat missions.

Israel is not the only Middle Eastern player making overtures in the Balkans: Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia have made forays in the past, in addition to China and Russia. Security experts in the region have told me that Israel is trying to carve a place for itself in a region that is seen as the new chessboard in a great power competition.

Looking from a broader perspective, the Balkans fall into Israel’s “periphery doctrine”—its strategy of outflanking Arab neighbors deemed hostile by enhancing its security and economic ties with non-Arab Muslim states including in the Balkans, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. This was a starting point in Israel’s decadeslong relationships with Turkey and Azerbaijan.

The Balkans are clearly emerging as a distinct region in which Israel wants to play a leading role. It is establishing itself as a leader in tech innovation, the defense sector, and cybersecurity. So far, Israel has managed to forge a system of bilateral working relationships with Serbia, Albania, Croatia, and Kosovo.

In the case of Albania, all three sides win: Albania gets Israel’s support in terms of cybersecurity and intelligence and showcases its loyalty to Washington; Israel forges closer ties with yet another non-Arab Muslim-majority country on its periphery; and the United States continues training a group in Albania that politically and militarily opposes its archnemesis—a card that can be pulled out should circumstances call for it.

[chivublog]

#Blog Post 15

1. Nasser writes:

“Not surprisingly, decades of hostility and fighting have resulted in monolithic readings of the problem, whereby each group is uncompromising and unwilling to listen to the other side's point of view.”

What does this mean? Can you think of something in your life or American politics that is similar?

According to my understanding, that means monolithic readings and propaganda from one country are against those of the other. Each country defames or tries to ruin the other country’s reputation in order to reinforce its viewpoints, values, and rights without an effort to listen or resolve the problem, which results in misunderstandings and hostility between the two groups. 

2. How do each of the three religions claim Jerusalem as a central part of their religious traditions?

The article mentioned that each country had its own history and reasons to claim Jerusalem as a central part of its religious traditions. On page 42, Nasser showed readers that “for Jews, Jerusalem is the site of the Western Wall or Wailing Wall, of remains of the Second Temple built by Jews following their exile in Babylon, and the holiest site to the Jewish people. To Christians, it was the scene of Jesus' death, burial and resurrection, and the birthplace of the Christian faith. As for Muslims, Jerusalem (known in Arabic as al-Quds, 'the holy') is the home of Haram al-Sharif, or the 'Noble Sanctuary', which includes the Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa Mosque, from which the Prophet Muhammad ascended to Heaven”. 

3. Read the lyrics of the prayer sung by Fairuz and discuss how they change over the course of the stanzas.

Nasser gave the readers an insight perspective towards the change in lyrics of the prayer. The first theme was about the tragic situation in Jerusalem (p.44) with lots of punctuations and repetitive phrases such as “To you” and “I pray”, showing the severe struggle and instability within that location.  The second theme dug deeper into that struggle by the indication of war, terror, destructions, and the lack of peace in the “Land of Peace” (p. 44). The third theme was about prayers and aspiration for peace, which created a smooth transition to the fourth theme about the Christian Bible (Christianity’s biggest events). After that, “the lyrics shift

 to a narration of the historic events from the 1967 war, voicing criticism of the

 Israeli army as the violators of peace: Jerusalem became a warzone, giving way to injustice, intolerance, and terror” (p.44). The prayers ended by the confirmation that “Jerusalem is ours” (p.44) to call for peace, responsibility, and unity.

4. What elements of music should we listen for in Palestinian popular music and Israeli popular music? They will sound very different, but also very different from our popular music.

The volume and timbre, as well as the musical form, should be noticed when we listen to Palestinian popular and Israeli popular music. The volume is changing from time to time, for instance, the additional louder sound of brass or strings instruments and harmonic voices. There are also lots of different voices or the heroic chant with the changes in the pitch to create the vow and to show the strength of prayers (“the higher level of intensity” (p.47)). The form of music is also changed a lot within a song (“melodic flexibility” (p.47)). For example, it may slow and soft at the beginning, but it gets louder and faster with heavy instrumental background and drumbeats.

5. How is this music disseminated? What sort of censorship has been in place?

According to the article, popular music in this country is promoted and defined as “national’s identity” (p.49). Besides, “the emergence of the cassette industry helped popularise the songs of resistance, mostly based on folk tradition and mixed with Arab popular music” (p.48). Censorship can be sending artists underground, confiscating the musical products or videotapes, controlled by “the Israeli media, who had total control over the broadcasting networks” (pp.50-51)

6. Take a listen to the king of Rai Khaled and Noa singing John Lennon’s “Imagine.” What musical elements do you notice? Does this song “work” for this purpose?

What stood out to me is the harmony and the structure. The version of Khaled and Noa was harmonized by other instruments, which was different from the original version. The intro, middle 8, and break parts were played differently too. 

The song works for the purpose well because “Khaled and Noa affirm their vision of peace and their wish for a world with no boundaries and divisions” (p.56). The song was sung in both their mother tongue and English with the meaningful lyrics to spread love and peace.

7. “The role of popular music is not limited to raising awareness of social and political tensions, but to actively participate in offering tools for understanding the shifting dynamics within a disputed territory. As music soars above the temporal crossroads, it enables people to come together and reach better understandings of one another despite their political differences. To this end, music not only reflects our vision and understanding of history, but also expands our appreciation for the present, illuminating conflicts and paving the way toward a better future. The challenge remains, however, for each party to accept the other side's views in a way that would ensure a just peace, equality, and reconciliation for all.”

Do you agree with or disagree with the author’s final words?

I agree with the author’s final words because humans can easily have intuitive and emotional reactions to music, meaning that music can touch humans’ souls and maybe change someone’s perspectives. Take the song “Imagine” sung by Khaled and Noa for an example, that song connected two artists from different regions and widespread the meanings of peace and reconciliation. While making music or listening to music, people have a chance to reflect and think about the lyrics as well as the purpose of the song. They can also learn different languages or cultures through songs by singing or searching for information about those pieces. Therefore, I agree that music can be a bridge to connect people together.

[feelingbluepolitics]

An interesting article, although somewhat obtuse.

"[W]hat laws are being passed in 'trifecta' states, in which one party controls both houses of the legislature and the governor’s office? These states are ripe for bills to pass easily because the other party can’t stop them. And they serve as a good indicator of each party’s priorities and what it might do at the federal level given unfettered power.

..."[This] is a non-exhaustive list of legislation that has passed in multiple trifecta states, either blue or red.

"The 14 states — which are home to about 112 million people — that are totally controlled by Democrats are pushing forward an agenda of, among other things, hiking the minimum wage significantly above the federal $7.25 per hour, banning (for minors) therapy that is designed to 'convert' gay and lesbian people from homosexuality (this treatment is widely condemned by medical experts) and mandating that the Electoral College votes in states go to whichever candidate wins the national popular vote.

"The 22 GOP-totally-controlled states — which are home to about 136 million people — have tried to eliminate restrictions on gun rights, stop cities from becoming 'sanctuaries' for undocumented immigrants [by co-opting state and local law enforcement as ICE adjacent] and weaken the Boycott, Divest and Sanctions movement that targets the Israeli government for how it treats Palestinians."

(It should not be overlooked how hard red states have worked to make elections unfair and vulnerable.)

Here is where the obtuseness comes in.

The Republicons just had unfettered power at the federal level. They passed:

- the Republicon Tax Scam to give vast amounts of money to the rich.

Now, the last time Democrats had control:

- The Affordable Care Act: Better known as Obamacare.

- Dodd-Frank: This Wall Street reform was passed as a response to the recession of 2008 with hope that a financial crisis like that will never happen again and in hopes that banks will never become too big to fail.

- Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay: Sought to make sure women receive equal pay for equal work.

- Economic Stimulus Act of 2008: Passed to lessen the blow of a recession and boost the economy away from a financial freefall. 'The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 put $787 billion into the economy in hope of blunting the effect of the recession.'

- The repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell: Which allowed LGBTQ individuals in our military to serve openly without consequence.

- Credit Card Reform: The Credit Card Holders Bill of Rights issued new regulations on card companies, demanding that they increase transparency. (Also limiting interest rate hikes.)

- Student Loans: The Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act increased the amount of Pell Grants for college students.

- Tobacco Regulation: The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act gave the Food and Drug Administration the power to regulate the tobacco industry.

- Food Safety: The Food Safety Modernization Act would give the Food and Drug Administration more power over food producers (passed by Senate, not yet signed into law).

- Dream act

- Cap-and-trade

- CHIP reauthorization

- Employee Free Choice Act

- Fair sentencing act

- Hate Crimes Prevention Act

- Establishing the Office of Congressional Ethics

https://medium.com/@SarahWoodwriter/nancy-pelosis-list-of-accomplishments-as-speaker-proves-she-s-the-champion-we-still-need-8ab29e041055

* Both Parties Are Not The Same.*

Meanwhile, as the original article's author points out:

"[E]ven as some of the party’s presidential candidates emphasize hiking rates on the wealthiest Americans, totally controlled Democratic states haven’t been as enthusiastic."

Fortunately, what this indicates rather than hypocrisy is a laudable lack of stupidity on the part of state trifectas held by Democrats. If a state hiked rates on wealthy residents, they would move. This is why Republicon states strip school funding to gush subsidy money on their corporate residents, because the school system can get more and more impoverished for the children of those states, but cannot leave.

Raising taxation rates on the obscenely wealthy must be done at the federal level, as must many other Democratic reforms to make life better for most Americans. Just like last time.

[challengingpride]

No Pride in Apartheid: Pinkwashing in Israel

           Swarms of muscled, care-free, white men revel on the white beaches of Tel Aviv, a paradise for rich, white, gay men to vacation. With the rich blue sea, stunning natural landscapes, and modern cities, one almost forgets the coexisting ethnic cleansing project happening in Israel alongside this homoerotic beach party. This is what I gather from the television spots developed by Brand Israel in an attempt to engage in pinkwashing. Pinkwashing refers to the homonationalist efforts of governments to focus international attention of their progressive LGBTQ+ rights record (though more often than not, this is just a pseudonym for gay rights), in order to draw attention away from their human rights violations. In this case, these violations encompass the existing state of Apartheid within Israel in which Palestinians are designated second-class citizens. Meanwhile, Israel continues their settler-colonial project to appropriate ever-dwindling Palestinian land, engages in bombing campaigns against Palestinian civilians, and exploits Palestinian labor.

         Brand Israel is a multi-million dollar marketing campaign developed in 2005 between the Israeli government and American corporate marketing executives (Schulman). This propaganda campaign was focused on shifting the then-dismal and accurate public perception of Israel as a conflict-ridden settler-colonial state, and works to maintain an image of Israel as a modern, progressive, and legitimate state. Brand Israel further promotes Israel as a refuge for persecuted Palestinians, when in fact, the Israeli Apartheid severely restricts the movement of Palestinians, and queer Palestinians taking refuge from homophobia in Israel are “often detained and sent back to the West Bank or Gaze where they face the same abuse they fled from.” Queer Palestinian refugees (queer activist groups reject the LGBT acronym and labels as a Western influence) often live in severely marginalized conditions to avoid detainment, despite the fact that their deportation as LGBTQ+ refugees violates Israel’s accord with international humanitarian law (Feng).

           To be clear, Palestine is by no means queer-friendly. Homosexuality is illegal in the Gaza Strip, but has been decriminalized in the West Bank since the 1950s “when anti-sodomy laws imposed under British colonial influence were removed from the Jordanian penal code, which Palestinians [must] follow” (Schulman). Queer Palestinians can potentially face both extreme interpersonal and state violence, including “beatings, stabbings, burnings, prolonged immersion in sewage water, and forced starvation” (Feng). Queer Palestinians do not have specifically outlined rights within the law. However, the definition of queerness as Other, and thus, the need for laws to protect queer Palestinians, is the result of the importation of homophobia from British colonialism. Further, the propagation of Israel’s LGBT rights is demonstrably a tool for rebranding, not done out of concern for queer Palestinians. Beyond the fact that Israel legally does not accept queer Palestinian immigrants, Brand Israel coordinates its pinkwashing with StandWithUs, an Israeli government-funded lobby group with ties to right-wing anti-LGBTQ+ activists such as John Hagee of Christians United for Israel (Barrows-Friedman). “The rise of the gay equality agenda in Israel is concomitant with the increasing repression of the Israeli state towards Palestinians,” explains anthropologist Rebecca L. Stein.

           It’s important to distinguish between LGBTQ+ rights not as something gifted from the West to non-Western nations, but to reframe LGBTQ+ rights as something necessitated by the homophobia enhanced, imported, and imposed by Western colonialism. It must also be acknowledged that the representation of the non-white immigrant (especially Muslim immigrants) as intensely homophobic “opportunistically ignores the existence of Muslim gays and their allies within their communities. They also render invisible the role that fundamentalist Christians, the Roman Catholic Church, and Orthodox Jews play in perpetuating fear and even hatred of gays.” This narrative has been transposed from its origins as a European xenophobic tool to a facilitator of the Israeli apartheid. Puar clarifies that homonationalism in Israel is not “a reflection of any exceptionalist activity,” but is merely an iteration of a traditional colonialist tactic, which weaponizes the treatment of marginalized groups “to justify imperialist violence” (Jasbir 283). Classic examples include the British-Consul General Lord Cromer, head of the colonial Egyptian government, supposed supporter of the liberation of Egyptian women, despite restricting their education, and founder and president of the Britain-based Men’s League For Opposing Women’s Suffrage.

           The discussion of pinkwashing consistently refers to the weaponization of “LGBT” rights, and yet, Israel’s gay-targeted marketing agenda and even outside pinkwashing activism, ambiguously situate trans people within their frames. Saffo Papantonopoulou terms this “trans-homonationalism” (because transnationalism was “already taken”). Papantonopoulou describes a “Zionist economy of gratitude” that inserts transgender people in Israel into “a cycle of debt...[in which the transgender subject is perpetually indebted to capitalism and the West for allowing her to exist” (281). Thus, although trans people targeted by pinkwashing in implicit terms only, as Brand Israel’s marketing describe an LGBT haven, but shows only (mostly white) gay men. Israel’s trans rights are relatively underdeveloped for a nation that seeks to align itself with Western models of modernity – specifically, it is very difficult for trans people in Israel to transition under the age of 18, and a significant number are turned away because of strict definitions of gender dysphoria diagnoses. Trans people may serve in the military, although the right to enforce the Israeli settler-colonial project should not correlate with progressivism. For example, Israel has recently promoted its first transgender military officer, Shachar Erez. Erez’s tour is, consequently, presented by StandWithUs. Israel’s neoliberal idea of progressivism once again situates itself in such a way as to distract from the state’s human rights abuses, in such a blatant way that it nearly satirizes itself. Luckily, Nora Barrows-Friedman can do that on her own, covering Erez’s tour with the Onion-worthy headline: “Israel’s First Trans Officers Helps With Ethnic Cleansing.”

           Like homonationalism, pinkwashing insidiously appropriates the struggles of queer people to the detriment of others; in this case, it is those within our own community who suffer. Israeli Apartheid and the decolonization of Palestine is an LGBTQ+ issue. LGBTQ+ organizing against Israeli Apartheid is developing throughout the United States and beyond. We must give our support and deference to queer Palestinian liberation groups like Aswat, Al-Qaws, and Palestinian Queers for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions. We cannot allow apolitical Israeli or pro-Israeli events to take place in LGBTQ+ spaces. Not in our name.

Free Palestine.

- Emily

CITATION

Barrows-Friedman, Nora. "Israel’s First Trans Officer Helps with Ethnic Cleansing." The Electronic Intifada, 12 Apr. 2017.

Feng, Josh. "A Selective Sanctuary: "Pinkwashing" and Gay Palestinian Asylum-Seekers in Israel." The Yale Review of International Studies, Vol. 5, No. 1, Oct. 2014.

Papantonopoulou, Saffo. "“Even a Freak Like You Would Be Safe in Tel Aviv”: Transgender Subjects, Wounded Attachments, and the Zionist Economy of Gratitude." WSQ: Women's Studies Quarterly, vol. 42, no. 1-2, 2014, pp. 278-293.

Puar, Jasbir. "Citation and Censorship: The Politics of Talking About the Sexual Politics of Israel." Feminist Legal Studies, vol. 19, no. 2, 2011, pp. 133-142.

Schulman, Sarah. "Israel and 'Pinkwashing'." The New York Times, 22 Nov. 2011.

[racingtoaredlight]

Opening Bell: February 3, 2017

Senate Democrats have borrowed from Senate Republicans’ playbook and started to boycott the final committee votes of some cabinet officials. While this tactic has only delayed committee votes by about one business day, it shows the extent to which Senate Democrats intend to return the favor to Senate Republicans who promised to do everything to block appointments and legislation submitted or favored by the Obama administration over the previous eight years. Though some observers have called this intransigence the rise of the “Tea Party of the Left,” I think it too early to call it anything other than a reaction to the manner in which Donald Trump has governed to this point. That said, the only cabinet nominee in danger of not being approved, Education Secretary nominee Betsy DeVos, seems liked to slide past the Senate with the help of Vice President Mike Pence.

Meanwhile Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, whose wife Elaine Chao was confirmed this week as Secretary of Transportation, penned an op-ed in the Washington Post decrying initial Democratic opposition to the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch. Gorsuch is almost certainly to be confirmed, though certainly not without a contentious Judiciary Committee hearing. 

Amidst the reports on the closeness of Treasury-nominee Steven Mnuchin and his failure to disclose approximately $100 million in assets prior to his confirmation hearing, something which I mentioned in this space last week, Mnuchin’s position that funding for the IRS must be increased has been lost. The Brookings Institution analyzes, with excellent data, how Mnuchin’s proposal would benefit both the IRS itself and the federal government as a whole.

 The CEO of ride-sharing app Uber has quit the economic advisory council to which he was named by President Trump. His resignation is apparently due to the negative public reaction to his connection the Trump administration’s executive order on administration which was issued last week.

Kyle Kondik of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics has an early analysis on those congressional districts whose vote shifted measurably to Hillary Clinton in 2016 and those Democrats which sit in districts which suddenly seem less friendly to their constituents. This is a fascinating analysis and provides an excellent first step towards the 2018 midterm elections. Midterm elections have traditionally gone against the party in the White House.

On the campaign trail, Donald Trump was a vociferous supporter of Israel and of Israeli settlement expansion in the West Bank. This position stood in stark contrast to that of the Obama administration, which sought to restrain Israeli expansionism as a first step to returning to comprehensive peace talks, a policy which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was openly contemptuous of. This week, in a surprise, the Trump White House said that the expansion of Israeli settlements—construction of 2,500 new homes was recently announced by the government—was not helpful in getting parties to return to the peace table.

During the daily White House press briefing yesterday, National Security Advisor Michael Flynn made an appearance and declared that a recent Iranian test of a cruise missile was unacceptable and that therefore Iran was “on notice.” What this constitutes exactly is unclear as cruise missile tests were not covered in the Iran nuclear agreement with the United States and several European nations. Newly sworn in Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will likely be forced to address this in a more formal manner in the near future.

More details have emerged from the U.S. special forces raid in Yemen, the first of the Trump administration, which resulted in the death of one special forces operator. While criticism has been railed against the Trump administration for perhaps acting too hastily, some reports indicate that the Navy SEALS who carried out the mission came into contact with Al-Qaeda fighters who used civilian women and children as human shields. While in office President Obama relied heavily upon raids and missions by special forces detachments to take care of emerging threats or targets of opportunity. It will be interesting to see to what degree President Trump uses the same commandos.

Recently, Kurdish resistance fighters in Syria began showcasing new armored vehicles allegedly received from the United States. The shipment was, apparently, one of the last acts of the Obama administration, but it also creates a question of the type of support which the Trump administration can be expected to provide. Recall that Turkey, a key U.S. ally in the region, regards the main Kurdish political organization in the region, the PKK, as a terrorist organization, responsible for bombings throughout the nation.

Yesterday, the Treasury Department announced an adjustment to a sanction against the Russian state security agency FSB—the successor the KGB in the post-Cold War period—which made a technical change to a sanction which the Obama administration had enacted in December. The original sanction prevented any U.S. business from doing business with the FSB. The adjustment now allows technology licenses to be purchased by the FSB from American companies so long as the transaction does not exceed $5,000 per calendar year. Many viewed this as an initial step to lifting other sanctions against Russia which the Obama administration implemented, but Foreign Policy explains why everyone is viewing this small change incorrectly.

This week, the USS Antietam, a guided missile cruiser based in Japan, grounded in Tokyo Bay. 1,100 gallons of fuel were leaked, which the Navy has already promised to cleanup. The cruiser is headed to dry-dock for what will likely become extensive repairs.

Austin, Texas is the capital of the Lone Star State and also one of its most liberal cities. During the deportation of the Barack Obama’s first administration, Austin became a magnet for undocumented immigrants; a sanctuary city. Now it is being targeted both by the federal government but also by Texas Governor Greg Abbott who this week withheld a $1.5 million grant to Travis County, in which Austin is located, which was unrelated to immigration policy. Austin, which has a Democratic mayor and a Sheriff who was elected with 60% of the vote in November, is shaping up to be the first battleground with the Trump administration over the viability of sanctuary cities.

Last week, or perhaps it was the week before—with the whirlwind of activity in Trump’s first two weeks in office, keeping track of time has become difficult—I linked to a story about President Donald Trump floating the creation of a vaccine safety commission which would be headed by vaccine-skeptic Robert Kennedy, Jr. Though no movement on the creation of such a commission has occurred in the interim, the Washington Post notes the enormous amount of public support for vaccination programs.

Stuart Rothenberg on Donald Trump's first two weeks in office. Rothenberg examines the actions by Trump as compared to his actions during the campaign, with the result that there is not much dissimilarity between the two. The question then, Rothenberg explicates, is whether Trump’s actions will have unintended consequences which many of his followers do not like and did not anticipate.

Unbeknownst to many Americans, the First Lady of the United States, i.e. FLOTUS, hires her own staff as a means to pursue her own policy objectives. The First Lady’s office is located in the East Wing of the White House—as opposed to the West Wing where the Oval Office and most of the president’s senior advisors sit—and typically focuses on relatively non-partisan issues which are meant to better certain parts of the American public. Though First Lady Melania Trump has returned to New York City, she continues to follow the pattern set out by previous First Ladies by filling out her own personal staff, which includes an Obama administration appointee as social secretary.

Five juveniles who were arrested for defacing a historic black school in Virginia with racist propaganda have been given an unusual sentence by the district judge. Three of the juveniles were themselves minorities and spray-painted “Brown Power” to go along with the “White Power” graffiti of their co-assailants. The judge presiding over the case, upon the prosecution’s recommendation, ordered that the assailants read a list of books by Jewish, Afghan, and black authors and that reports of each book be prepared. The judge further ordered that the juveniles prepare a research paper on the subject of hate speech and that they each visit the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. If the juveniles fulfill all of these requirements, then the case against them will be dismissed and their records expunged.

The woman at the center of the incident which lead to the detention and lynching of Emmett Till in Mississippi in 1955, has apparently recanted the story which lead to Till’s brutal death. Till who was 14 years old at the time, was assaulted and ultimately hanged by a group of white men after he allegedly made an advance on a white woman in public. Till’s mother insisted on an open casket funeral so that his mutilated corpse would be seen by the nation. His death, along with those of the choir girls at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, a subject I’ve written about here before, is considered one of the catalysts of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.

Welcome to the weekend.