On the same day that a prosecutor from the International Criminal Court (ICC) requested arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and his defense minister for committing genocidal war drimes in Gaza, Julian Assange has won the right to appeal his extradtition to the United States to face charges of committing journalism.
As far as American officials are concerned, the exposure of their war crimes is worse than the actual commission, or aiding and abetting of, war crimes. They've already been caught aggressively trying to quash the warrants against Bibi and his fellow genocidaires. Some hardliners in the US Congress had even explicitly threatened to invade The Hague if Bibi should ever be captured and held for trial there. (Congress already passed a law that requires the US military to swoop in and rescue, say, George Bush or Dick Cheney if they are ever brought to international justice for their Iraq war crimes. So l imagine Lindsay Graham and Tom Cotton feverishly writing legislation right this minute to codify things and specifically add Bibi to the official rescue list of mass murderers kidnapped by those vicious human rights terrorist folks.)
At the same time, both political parties in the United States have ensured that Assange continues to rot in jail. This is notwithstanding President Biden's recent vague mutterings that his administration is considering dropping the Espionage Act charges against Assange.
He left the impression that they're running out the clock on the ailing Assange. They have already done their utmost to destroy both his physical and mental health. By the time Biden belatedly decides to set him free. Assange's condition will have deteriorated to the point that they feel he no longer poses a threat to them, His appearance upon release will be so shocking that it will put the big chill on aspiring truth-tellers all over the world. The lucrative US war racket will survice and thrive while killing and maiming and displacing even more victims.
As I write this post, there still has been no official reaction from the White House concerning the ICC request for the arrest warrants against the Israeli officials as well as for two top leaders of Hamas. There also has been no reaction from the Biden administration regarding the granting of the Assange appeal.
Coverage of both legal stories has been relatively muted in the mainstream media, what with the helicopter crash killing Iran's president and the overheated saga of the ongoing Trump hush money trial, both of which were taking pride of place on the New York Times digital home-page this morning.
The two separate court cases, regarding as they do US-financed and abetted violations of human rights - against Assange as an individual and against innocent civilians in occupied territory in Gaza, the West Bank and in Israel itself - do not put the Biden administration in a good light, as they attempt to install the aging president in another four year term.
It wouldn't even be a stretch for the ICC prosecutor to include Biden and the entire US Congress in his arrest warrant request. After all, without the billions of dollars in American military aid, this genocidal rampage would not be possible.
One ominous sign that the ICC will never touch the United States with a ten foot pole, and that this legal process is as much about political theater as it is about justice, is that prosecutor Karim Khan singled out human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, wife of George Clooney, for special thanks for her assistance in building the cases against Israel and Hamas leaders.
Her husband is set to headline a gala fundraiser for Joe Biden next month before heading to Broadway to reprise his film role as legendary journliast Edward R. Murrow. Playing a journalist beats actually working as one every single time. Just ask the stenographers in the modern war-funded corporate media.
9 comments:
Great closing, Karen! You sure nailed it!
It is really hard to see much of this as anything but Kabuki Theatre.
I am always happy to find a great source of information and I thought I would share this with the Salon Sardonicky. I have been listening to the Critical Hour whilst falling asleep at night and they have some really well-informed guests. My all time favourite is KJ Noh. He is a modest, incredibly compassionate and insightful source of great information. The latest Critical Hour episode including him is on what is happening in New Caledonia. I am really beginning to hate France and Macron especially.
I am hoping that Biden, in a desperate effort to score points with the Leftist sector of the Democratic Party that is ever so willing to jump ship and go over to Stein, will pardon Julian. It will need to be a full pardon with no strings attached because we all know the vindictive Trump will try to throw Julian back in jail to die.
And these amazing students continue to be my inspiration. Alternative media keeps exposing the gutter rat billionaires behind these police crackdowns, especially focused on the Columbia student protesters. Honestly, if I were nearby, I would be baking cookies and quiche for those amazing young people who are risking so much. If I were an employer, I would put any protester to the top of the pile for showing integrity and grit.
George Clooney for President?? How about it ladies? Is his wife hot or what? Civilization, saved from Joe the Barbarian by Hollywood, filmed live from Lake Como, "Davos with Romance".
Thorstein, dream on.
But for a closer-to-reality nightmare, ponder two words: Ivanka Trump.
Encouraging news on Democracy Now. Lots of support for student protesters and Norway, Ireland and Spain recognise Palestine as a country. Israel called its diplomats home - boo, hoo! U.S. admits that no food coming via the pier has reached Gazans - What a surprise. I want our 320 million back!
The New School has agreed to divest itself from companies arming and supporting Israeli forces in Gaza and the West Bank - as well as a blank amnesty for the students protesting in support of the beleaguered Palestinians. Let's hope this is the beginning of change.
@Annenigma
I seem to recall you love Clare and Mick as much as I do!
@MissingJay
Yes, and George Galloway too. Why don't we have even one outspoken politician like them? Oh wait, there's Marjorie Taylor Green!
The majority of the world outside of Anglo-American Empire vassalage is thoroughly fed up with our bullying criminal cartel and beginning to assert their independence, starting with African nations who are kicking our military out. Booyah!
The Empire's days are numbered but I'm afraid we Americans are going down with it. Maybe from the ruins we can go back to being just a country again.
Genocide Joe's quarter-billion dollar joke of a 'humanitarian' pier fell apart and washed up along the coast. It must have been weakened by all the trucks delivering weapons instead of food.
So it's Memorial weekend and the traffic is heavy. An occasion when our military exploits are ennobled and, by implication, those of the enemy vilified. This us/them paradigm, drilled into us from infancy, is likely the basis, at bottom, of our collective dementia. Who among us doesn't believe that black is the opposite of white? For the same reason we believe that red is the opposite of green. What will it take to disabuse myself of this belief that these different qualities are opposites?
Some readers might think, "Well, this is kind of stupid"
I lost a friend recently because he believed that the student protestors' antics were bizarre. He wrote, "Why would someone interfere with the operations of their college over the actions of a foreign country?" After I responded, he countered with "I watch the news, I know what reality is." He does pay for a cable service, so he's obliged to consume whatever's on it.
I've been wondering about the educational dictate to be or become "informed". Is this a way of evading our own sense of reality. I'm recalling the two young dissenting members of the IDF who appeared on Democracy Now!, who mentioned how after so much rigorous indoctrination, they were able to escape it by "listening" to the feelings in their bodies. Seems there it has to get that fundamental. An properly indoctrinated person should not ask why is there no aid to Gaza by way of our new pier there (thanks Valerie), rather, why is there no Black Friday before Memorial Day.
To stay "informed" I would listen to NPR radio. A non-Fox channel I knew of. This Saturday morning I went there to check out The New Yorker Radio Hour. I tuned in a bit early to catch a story about some airline mishaps in Japan: A blown out plane window with some injuries, a near collision on the runways. The formulaic framing of the story forced it under the rubric of holiday weekend travel. I waited for the mention of the recent whistleblower revelation of the recklessness in Boeing's supply and assembly operations. It never came. Instead, the story's themes were about how relatively safe air travel still is and about how if you're feeling flight phobia you should avail yourself of therapy available for it. Don't let fear and caution spoil your enjoyment of a holiday weekend, because the problem is with you. The real theme here of protecting corporate bottom lines remains unmentioned.
I turned it off. I averted hearing about not letting my abhorrence of genocide interfere with my abhorrence of antisemitism and terrorism.
@Mario
I feel you pain about alienating a friend over Palestine. My dear cousin, who is like a sister to me in many respects, started going on about how she didn't think the students protesting even knew what they were protesting about - straight from Hillary Clinton's propagandising mouth to the ears of indiscriminate consumers of "news" - and I just lost it! I was just so angry at her an so many of my fellow countrymen and women who keep implying that Hamas is equally as bad as the Israeli government, and the same old crap rumours about atrocities done by Hamas that are miraculously never on camera but seem to hold equal weight with what IS actually filmed on camera about Israeli atrocities - even by the psychopathic IDF soldiers themselves. I'm angry that I still have friends who believe we should be sending conscripted Ukrainian soldiers to their death in order to nip at the heels of Russia and that Victoria Nuland still gets air time even after the debacle she orchestrated in Ukraine. It is hard for me to even want to be friends with people who are so inured to the suffering and injustice of the powerless that they just go on about their lives spouting ignorant and heartless opinions whilst ridiculing the protesters.
I would encourage you to try out two sources of information in addition to Sardonicky, The Critical Hour on Sputnik radio and Dialogue Works. The Critical Hour, Garland Nixon is a little too unintellectual for me on his own, and Wilmer Leon is a bit boring on his own - but together, they are amazing and they invite guests who are thoughtful and informed to talk about all the latest issues that get swept under the carpet by the MSM - for example, KJ Noh discussing the French colonialism concerning New Caledonia - something, without John Pilger, that goes unexplained in Australia. Nima Alkhorshid, I believe he is Iranian, asks great questions and then shuts up to let his guests talk. The show hasn't been around for very long but I notice it is attracting some great guests.
Anyone interested in dipping their toes into Dialogue Works, there is an especially great episode with Michael Hudson (who is very involved in Jill Stein's campaign) and Richard Wolff discussing the economy.
@Thought Criminal
I was really tired when I mentioned Mick and Clare to you and neglected to post the link, but I wondered if you caught them both (talking together) on Glenn Diesen's channel with Alexander Mercurous - again, two interviewers who don't try to steal the limelight. I think it is cross posted on the Duran. Personally, I like Diesen/Mercurous better than the Duran.
@Karen,
Thank you so much for providing this space where our little group of commenters can come together. This is the only place I comment and can get a response. You do us all a great service with your thoughtful essays and providing a commenting space that remains troll-free.
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