mintpressnews--2020-02-28--Once Saudi Allies, Tribes in Eastern Yemen’s Al-Mahrah Are Now Battling Saudi Forces

AL-MAHRAH , YEMEN — Saudi Arabia ’ s continued efforts to occupy Yemen ’ s province of al-Mahrah , which lies on the country ’ s border with Oman , appear only to have emboldened al-Mahrah tribes , who have resorted to using military tactics to drive out Saudi forces from their province .
The tribes are fueled by a collective social desire for sovereignty stemming from their long history as an independent region and a local culture that remains wary of foreign forces .
On Wednesday , Saudi troops in Nashton Port in al-Mahrah were subjected to an explosive @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Fujeet District killing multiple troops including members of a local Saudi-funded militia .
The attack came after Saudi forces occupied al Shehn port last week .
Since 2017 , when Saudi forces once again entered the isolated province , the deep-seated sense of local identity spurred a growing opposition movement .
The opposition developed and took the form of festivals and protests near Saudi military sites which included speeches , the reading of poetry and the playing of patriotic music .
In the past year , Mahri tribes have increasingly confronted encroachments on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to violence – including the al-Anfaq incident in November 2018 , clashes near the Omani border in March 2019 , and a shoot out at al-Labib checkpoint in April .
Their military deployment in al-Mahrah has given the Saudis de facto military control over the governorate .
Today , Saudi Arabia controls al-Mahrah ’ s airport and Saudi forces have assumed a role akin to a state security apparatus in the province as air reconnaissance and other operations are launched from a command center at the base , bypassing even its allies .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ main seaport , dozens of Saudi bases have been established in Hat District , Lusick in Hawf District , Jawdah in Huswain District , and Darfat in Sayhut District .
Moreover , the militarization of al-Mahrah by Saudi forces has affectedthe province ’ s social cohesion and identity .
Maharis were already divided between opposing the presence of Saudi forces and supporting it .
The Saudi have reinforced this division by recruiting from and distributing weapons to certain tribes , changing the social fabric of the area which is likely to lead to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that local opposition has prevented the construction of several military outposts , Saudi forces have continued to pursue their strategic interests in southern Yemen , including the construction of an oil shipping port in al-Mahrah on the coast of the Arabian Sea .
This has resulted in renewed calls for military resistance against the Saudi presence , with opposition leaders declaring their intention to establish local anti-Saudi forces .
Al-Mahrah is Yemen ’ s second-largest province .
It is bordered by Oman to the east , Saudi Arabia to the north , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ It ’ s Empty Quarter , a vast desert , covers much of southern al-Mahrah .
The governorate also contains a mountainous region in the east that is seasonally covered with lush green foliage .
The province is a largely peaceful area that has been mostly spared from Yemen ’ s five-year war .
Attacks from Al-Mahrah ’ s tribes have flared up as recently as last week after Saudi forces began construction on a number of new security checkpoints and military camps in al Shehn District .
Last Monday , Saudi forces @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Armed helicopters , ground vehicles , and both Saudi troops and local mercenaries were deployed in the assault which was ultimately repelled .
Later , Saudi forces succeeded in occupying the area after resorting to a plan played by the ousted president Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi .
Prior to Monday ’ s Saudi military incursion , local tribal fighters had withdrawn from Shehn after an agreement between Saudi forces and local tribes was reached following tribal mediation which stipulated that tribal fighters in the town would be replaced by forces loyal to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they were deceived into withdrawing ahead of the Saudi advance .
In the wake of recent events , Ali bin Salem al-Huraizy , al-Mahrah ’ s former deputy governor who plays a critical role as a figurehead in the popular opposition movement against Saudi Arabia , criticized ousted Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi saying , “ I did not expect the treachers.. to authorize the Saudi occupation forces to crush al-Mahrah people… who were defending the independence and sovereignty of the country.
” The deputy head of the Al-Mahra Peoples ’ Sit-in Committee @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , saying : ” you [ Hadi ] sold yourself to Saudi [ Arabia ] , please do not sell the Yemeni people and the whole country to Saudi Arabia.
” The Al-Mahra Peoples ’ Sit-in Committee has said that Saudi actions constitute a flagrant violation of Yemeni sovereignty and national identity .
The group said in a statement : “ In this dangerous turning point of our honorable history , we call on all the tribes of the province , their sheiks and their dignitaries , and their citizens to unite alongside @ @ @ @ @ @ @ prevent the Saudi occupation from imposing its domination over Al-Mahrah.
” Hadi recently issued a decree appointing Muhammad Ali Yasser , a parliamentarian loyal to the Saudi-led Coalition , to be the governor of Mahrah instead of sitting governor , Ba Kreit .
The move is seen as an attempt to implement a new Saudi strategy , according to al-Mahrah residents .
Mahris have a unique history of running their own affairs .
Saudi Arabia , however , has used “ internationally recognized president Hadi ” to force the replacement of uncooperative officials @ @ @ @ @ @ @ activists say .
Despite having a Saudi proxy as governor and thousands of Saudi troops and their proxy forces deployed around in and around al-Mahrah , the Saudi military presence in al-Mahrah appears to be increasingly challenged in the face of growing peaceful opposition and increasing military resistance .
Saudi forces have also imposed trade restrictions on al-Mahrah .
Cargo entering Yemen through al-Mahrah has been confiscated by Saudi officials according to businessmen who spoke to MintPress .
Local residents are concerned that the move is part of a broader effort to stifle @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , just like the rest of Yemen .
Earlier this week Saudi forces arrested several Yemeni businessmen and truck drivers attempting to import goods into al-Mahrah .
The drivers included Pakistani and Syrian nationals , and their trucks , which carried official authorization from their country of origin , were confiscated by Saudi officials according to local Yemen businessman .
After 2015 , when the war began , most of Yemen ’ s official points of entry fell into coalition control .
However , Shehn border crossing in al-Mahrah remains one of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ into Yemen .
The customs revenues from the crossing have bolstered the governorate ’ s budget and allowed it to pay local civil servant salaries , unlike most other governorates in Yemen that have been left nearly penniless since the war began .
Al-Mahrah ’ s Shehn and Sarfait border crossings with Oman have been under the control of local tribes since 2015 when they took advantage of a security vacuum following the withdrawal of government security forces due to the Saudi-led coalition military campaign .
In 2015 , when the Saudi-led coalition @ @ @ @ @ @ @ its aspirations for the construction of an oil pipeline that would allow the kingdom to transport oil directly to the Arabian Sea , bypassing the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait .
The costs related to exporting Saudi oil would be reduced by allowing tankers to avoid the Bab al-Mandab and Hormuz straits , both vulnerable to political strife and regional enemies .
In fact , Saudi Arabia ’ s aspirations in Al-Mahrah date back to the end of the last century .
In the 1990s , Saudi Arabia sought to build @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ambitions to build an oil pipeline through the district to the Arabian Sea .
And for that , tribal sheiks were granted Saudi residency , travel documents , and financial benefits .
Moreover , in the 1980s , Saudi Arabia launched negotiations with former South Yemeni President Ali Nasser Mohammed to build the pipeline , but the negotiation failed after Ali Nasser refused , stating the pipeline would threaten the state ’ s sovereignty .
In the 1990s , in the wake of Yemeni unification , the Saudis pressed the Yemeni government to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a 4-kilometer buffer zone around the proposed pipeline route to maintain security .
The Riyadh project was shelved after Sana ’ a rejected it once again .
In late 2017 , Riyadh began deploying armed forces in al-Mahrah under the premise of combating smuggling across the Omani border .
However , al-Mahrah residents see the presence of Saudi troops in the region as malign and colonial .
According to people who have organized an open sit-in since 2018 , smuggling is just a pretext for a Saudi takeover of the province .
Saudi @ @ @ @ @ @ @ arms smuggling operations by Ansarullah ( Houthis ) are being carried out from Oman into Yemen via the al-Mahrah border crossing , though they have provided no evidence to back their claim , which Oman has repeatedly denied .
Moreover , in addition to an electrified fence along a portion of the border built by Oman in 2013 , U.S. special operations forces have also deployed to al-Mahrah in 2018 to support the coalition ’ s alleged anti-smuggling operations according to diplomatic sources cited by the Sana ’ a Center .
In fact @ @ @ @ @ @ @ coalition and being free from the presence of Houthi fighters , Yemen ’ s southern provinces , including not only al-Mahrah but also the strategic island of Socotra , have been fully controlled and managed by Saudi Arabia and UAE .
Some analysts believe that the Saudi Coalition ’ s continued military presence in al-Mahrah may also be intended to cordon off Oman , which enjoys long borders and solid relations with Yemen .
Much to the dismay of Saudi Arabia and the UAE , Oman also enjoys cordial relations with Saudi rival @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is eager to undermine .
As a result , Oman has supported popular protests demanding the removal of Saudi forces .
Recently , Muscat arranged meetings in the Omani capital between the protest leaders , European and American officials , and representatives from international organizations .
Oman allowed Western journalists to cross into al-Mahrah without visas or stamps .
Feature photo | Tribesmen from eastern Yemen stand on a military vehicle captured in Hadramawt , April 29 , 2015 .
Omer Arm | Reuters Ahmed AbdulKareem is a Yemeni journalist .
He covers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as well as local Yemeni media .

AL-MAHRAH, YEMEN — Saudi Arabia’s continued efforts to occupy Yemen’s province of al-Mahrah, which lies on the country’s border with Oman, appear only to have emboldened al-Mahrah tribes, who have resorted to using military tactics to drive out Saudi forces from their province. The tribes are fueled by a collective social desire for sovereignty stemming from their long history as an independent region and a local culture that remains wary of foreign forces.
On Wednesday, Saudi troops in Nashton Port in al-Mahrah were subjected to an explosive device targeting a Saudi military convoy in Fujeet District killing multiple troops including members of a local Saudi-funded militia. The attack came after Saudi forces occupied al Shehn port last week.
Since 2017, when Saudi forces once again entered the isolated province, the deep-seated sense of local identity spurred a growing opposition movement. The opposition developed and took the form of festivals and protests near Saudi military sites which included speeches, the reading of poetry and the playing of patriotic music.
In the past year, Mahri tribes have increasingly confronted encroachments on local sovereignty. Several confrontations have led to violence – including the al-Anfaq incident in November 2018, clashes near the Omani border in March 2019, and a shoot out at al-Labib checkpoint in April.
Their military deployment in al-Mahrah has given the Saudis de facto military control over the governorate. Today, Saudi Arabia controls al-Mahrah’s airport and Saudi forces have assumed a role akin to a state security apparatus in the province as air reconnaissance and other operations are launched from a command center at the base, bypassing even its allies. In addition to border crossings and the main seaport, dozens of Saudi bases have been established in Hat District, Lusick in Hawf District, Jawdah in Huswain District, and Darfat in Sayhut District.
Moreover, the militarization of al-Mahrah by Saudi forces has affectedthe province’s social cohesion and identity. Maharis were already divided between opposing the presence of Saudi forces and supporting it. The Saudi have reinforced this division by recruiting from and distributing weapons to certain tribes, changing the social fabric of the area which is likely to lead to open internal conflict.
Despite the fact that local opposition has prevented the construction of several military outposts, Saudi forces have continued to pursue their strategic interests in southern Yemen, including the construction of an oil shipping port in al-Mahrah on the coast of the Arabian Sea. This has resulted in renewed calls for military resistance against the Saudi presence, with opposition leaders declaring their intention to establish local anti-Saudi forces.
Al-Mahrah is Yemen’s second-largest province. It is bordered by Oman to the east, Saudi Arabia to the north, and the Arabian Sea to the south. It’s Empty Quarter, a vast desert, covers much of southern al-Mahrah. The governorate also contains a mountainous region in the east that is seasonally covered with lush green foliage. The province is a largely peaceful area that has been mostly spared from Yemen’s five-year war.
Al-Mahrah’s tribes vow resistance
Attacks from Al-Mahrah’s tribes have flared up as recently as last week after Saudi forces began construction on a number of new security checkpoints and military camps in al Shehn District. Last Monday, Saudi forces attempted to storm the town of Shahn. Armed helicopters, ground vehicles, and both Saudi troops and local mercenaries were deployed in the assault which was ultimately repelled. Later, Saudi forces succeeded in occupying the area after resorting to a plan played by the ousted president Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi.
Prior to Monday’s Saudi military incursion, local tribal fighters had withdrawn from Shehn after an agreement between Saudi forces and local tribes was reached following tribal mediation which stipulated that tribal fighters in the town would be replaced by forces loyal to the Saudi-led Coalition. The tribes say they were deceived into withdrawing ahead of the Saudi advance.
In the wake of recent events, Ali bin Salem al-Huraizy, al-Mahrah’s former deputy governor who plays a critical role as a figurehead in the popular opposition movement against Saudi Arabia, criticized ousted Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi saying, “I did not expect the treachers.. to authorize the Saudi occupation forces to crush al-Mahrah people… who were defending the independence and sovereignty of the country.” The deputy head of the Al-Mahra Peoples’ Sit-in Committee, Aboud Heboud Qumsit expressed similar disdain, saying: ”you [Hadi] sold yourself to Saudi [Arabia], please do not sell the Yemeni people and the whole country to Saudi Arabia.”
The Al-Mahra Peoples’ Sit-in Committee has said that Saudi actions constitute a flagrant violation of Yemeni sovereignty and national identity. The group said in a statement: “In this dangerous turning point of our honorable history, we call on all the tribes of the province, their sheiks and their dignitaries, and their citizens to unite alongside all the liberals of the province to prevent the Saudi occupation from imposing its domination over Al-Mahrah.”
Hadi recently issued a decree appointing Muhammad Ali Yasser, a parliamentarian loyal to the Saudi-led Coalition, to be the governor of Mahrah instead of sitting governor, Ba Kreit. The move is seen as an attempt to implement a new Saudi strategy, according to al-Mahrah residents. Mahris have a unique history of running their own affairs. Saudi Arabia, however, has used “internationally recognized president Hadi ” to force the replacement of uncooperative officials in al-Mahrah and appoint pliant replacements, activists say.
Despite having a Saudi proxy as governor and thousands of Saudi troops and their proxy forces deployed around in and around al-Mahrah, the Saudi military presence in al-Mahrah appears to be increasingly challenged in the face of growing peaceful opposition and increasing military resistance.
Saudis levy punitive measures on al-Mahrah
Saudi forces have also imposed trade restrictions on al-Mahrah. Cargo entering Yemen through al-Mahrah has been confiscated by Saudi officials according to businessmen who spoke to MintPress. Local residents are concerned that the move is part of a broader effort to stifle al-Mahrah economically and push it towards starvation, just like the rest of Yemen.
Earlier this week Saudi forces arrested several Yemeni businessmen and truck drivers attempting to import goods into al-Mahrah. The drivers included Pakistani and Syrian nationals, and their trucks, which carried official authorization from their country of origin, were confiscated by Saudi officials according to local Yemen businessman.
After 2015, when the war began, most of Yemen’s official points of entry fell into coalition control. However, Shehn border crossing in al-Mahrah remains one of the only routes for traders to ship goods into Yemen. The customs revenues from the crossing have bolstered the governorate’s budget and allowed it to pay local civil servant salaries, unlike most other governorates in Yemen that have been left nearly penniless since the war began.
Al-Mahrah’s Shehn and Sarfait border crossings with Oman have been under the control of local tribes since 2015 when they took advantage of a security vacuum following the withdrawal of government security forces due to the Saudi-led coalition military campaign.
Saudi ambitions in Al-Mahrah date back decades
In 2015, when the Saudi-led coalition war on Yemen began, Riyadh revived its aspirations for the construction of an oil pipeline that would allow the kingdom to transport oil directly to the Arabian Sea, bypassing the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait. The costs related to exporting Saudi oil would be reduced by allowing tankers to avoid the Bab al-Mandab and Hormuz straits, both vulnerable to political strife and regional enemies.
In fact, Saudi Arabia’s aspirations in Al-Mahrah date back to the end of the last century. In the 1990s, Saudi Arabia sought to build influence in al-Mahrah as part of its ambitions to build an oil pipeline through the district to the Arabian Sea. And for that, tribal sheiks were granted Saudi residency, travel documents, and financial benefits.
Moreover, in the 1980s, Saudi Arabia launched negotiations with former South Yemeni President Ali Nasser Mohammed to build the pipeline, but the negotiation failed after Ali Nasser refused, stating the pipeline would threaten the state’s sovereignty. In the 1990s, in the wake of Yemeni unification, the Saudis pressed the Yemeni government to permit the deployment of Saudi forces into a 4-kilometer buffer zone around the proposed pipeline route to maintain security. The Riyadh project was shelved after Sana’a rejected it once again.
In late 2017, Riyadh began deploying armed forces in al-Mahrah under the premise of combating smuggling across the Omani border. However, al-Mahrah residents see the presence of Saudi troops in the region as malign and colonial. According to people who have organized an open sit-in since 2018, smuggling is just a pretext for a Saudi takeover of the province.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE also claim that arms smuggling operations by Ansarullah (Houthis) are being carried out from Oman into Yemen via the al-Mahrah border crossing, though they have provided no evidence to back their claim, which Oman has repeatedly denied.
Moreover, in addition to an electrified fence along a portion of the border built by Oman in 2013, U.S. special operations forces have also deployed to al-Mahrah in 2018 to support the coalition’s alleged anti-smuggling operations according to diplomatic sources cited by the Sana’a Center.
In fact, despite their support for the Saudi-led coalition and being free from the presence of Houthi fighters, Yemen’s southern provinces, including not only al-Mahrah but also the strategic island of Socotra, have been fully controlled and managed by Saudi Arabia and UAE.
Some analysts believe that the Saudi Coalition’s continued military presence in al-Mahrah may also be intended to cordon off Oman, which enjoys long borders and solid relations with Yemen. Much to the dismay of Saudi Arabia and the UAE, Oman also enjoys cordial relations with Saudi rival Iran, a relationship that the Coalition is eager to undermine.
As a result, Oman has supported popular protests demanding the removal of Saudi forces. Recently, Muscat arranged meetings in the Omani capital between the protest leaders, European and American officials, and representatives from international organizations. Oman allowed Western journalists to cross into al-Mahrah without visas or stamps.
Feature photo | Tribesmen from eastern Yemen stand on a military vehicle captured in Hadramawt, April 29, 2015. Omer Arm | Reuters
Ahmed AbdulKareem is a Yemeni journalist. He covers the war in Yemen for MintPress News as well as local Yemeni media.


mintpressnews--2020-02-28--US Military Building Presence in Saudi Arabia for First Time in 17 Years

Amid rising tensions with Iran , the United States is increasing its military presence in Saudi Arabia- separated from the Islamic Republic by only the Persian Gulf .
Some 2,500 troops have arrived at their new home , the Prince Sultan Air Base , some 60 km southeast of Riyadh .
On Iran , General John Walker , commander of the 378th Air Expeditionary Wing at the base , said : “ We face a thinking enemy that is playing a real regional conflict for keeps , and they ’ re very good.
” While the U.S. government has not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ expects its forces to be there , temporary structures are being replaced with more substantial ones , and the arrival of fighter jets suggests they are there for the long haul .
Roads are also being resurfaced to and from the base .
More than half a million American troops were sent to Saudi Arabia during the first Gulf War in the 1990s .
One of the chief motivations for Al-Qaeda ’ s attack on the United States in 2001 was its permanent military presence in Saudi Arabia , the site of many @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The organization is reported to have announced : “ The United States has been occupying the lands of Islam in the holiest of places , the Arabian Peninsula , plundering its riches , dictating to its rulers , humiliating its people , terrorizing its neighbors , and turning its bases in the Peninsula into a spearhead through which to fight the neighboring Muslim peoples.
” The move comes amid new tensions that have once again put Iran into American crosshairs .
On January 3 , Iranian general and statesman Qassem Soleimani was killed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Baghdad , Iraq .
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo justified the move on the basis that he was preparing an “ imminent attack ” on the U.S. , something that appears to contradict other government statements .
This reason was also contradicted by Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi , who stated Soleimani had flown to Iraq to attend regional peace talks .
Furthermore , Abdul-Mahdi claimed that he had sought and received authorization from the Trump administration to do so .
In response , Iran fired a number of ballistic missiles at U.S.-occupied @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , but no fatalities , as the U.S. was warned of the impending response .
The Pentagon has claimed that dozens of troops have suffered brain injuries as a result , but Trump disagreed , saying they amounted to little more than headaches .
Perhaps the most important fallout from the conflict , however , was in Iraq .
The Iraqi parliament passed a unanimous resolution on January 5 ( with many abstentions ) , calling for the expulsion of all U.S. troops .
And in response to what many saw as another @ @ @ @ @ @ @ estimated 2.5 million people marched through Baghdad and other cities with the same message : “ get out America.
” Those people were likely not impressed with Trump ’ s response .
“ We ’ re not leaving unless they pay us back for it…If they do ask us to leave , if we don ’ t do it on a very friendly basis , we will charge them sanctions like they ’ ve never seen before ever ” the president replied , referencing the sanctions that are estimated to have starved a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The U.S. military almost immediately announced that , far from leaving , they were building three new bases , all very close to the Iranian border .
Although a hot war with Iran has so far been avoided , an online conflict continues to rage .
Last month Iranian media outlet Press TV had its YouTube account permanently deleted .
On Twitter , Trump-supporting Americans boosted anti-Soleimani messages , while Instagram and Facebook announced that all pro-Soleimani content would be deleted .
“ We operate under U.S. sanctions laws , including those @ @ @ @ @ @ @ designation of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps ( IRGC ) and its leadership , ” Facebook said , explaining that Trump ’ s new sanctions on Iran essentially made supporting the country on American websites illegal under U.S. law .
This creates a tricky situation as over 80 percent of Iranians viewed the general favorably , meaning the U.S. government has succeeded in pressuring U.S. corporations to silence Iranians sharing majority opinions to other Iranians in Iran .
The U.S. has been Saudi Arabia ’ s chief foreign backer for many decades , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it in power .
Secretary of State Pompeo visited the new American air base , telling reporters that , “ the Saudis share our strategic objectives .
They are an important ally and partner.
” The State Department commented that “ the longstanding US-Saudi security relationship ” is strong and the new base “ reaffirms America ’ s determination to stand with Saudi Arabia in the face of Iranian malign behavior.
” The U.S. has also been a crucial partner in the Saudi war on Yemen , supplying , maintaining and training Saudis @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
These new bases in the Middle East represent a worrying buildup of military might for those who are concerned with preventing another conflict in the already war-torn region .
Feature photo | US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrives at the Prince Sultan air base in Al-Kharj , in central Saudi Arabia , Feb. 20 , 2020 .
Andrew Caballero Reynolds | AP Alan MacLeod is a Staff Writer for MintPress News .
After completing his PhD in 2017 he published two books : Bad News From Venezuela : Twenty Years of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Information Age : Still Manufacturing Consent .
He has also contributed to Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting , The Guardian , Salon , The Grayzone , Jacobin Magazine , Common Dreams the American Herald Tribune and The Canary .

Amid rising tensions with Iran, the United States is increasing its military presence in Saudi Arabia- separated from the Islamic Republic by only the Persian Gulf. Some 2,500 troops have arrived at their new home, the Prince Sultan Air Base, some 60 km southeast of Riyadh. On Iran, General John Walker, commander of the 378th Air Expeditionary Wing at the base, said: “We face a thinking enemy that is playing a real regional conflict for keeps, and they’re very good.”
While the U.S. government has not given any indication of how long it expects its forces to be there, temporary structures are being replaced with more substantial ones, and the arrival of fighter jets suggests they are there for the long haul. Roads are also being resurfaced to and from the base.
More than half a million American troops were sent to Saudi Arabia during the first Gulf War in the 1990s. One of the chief motivations for Al-Qaeda’s attack on the United States in 2001 was its permanent military presence in Saudi Arabia, the site of many of the holiest places in Islam. The organization is reported to have announced: “The United States has been occupying the lands of Islam in the holiest of places, the Arabian Peninsula, plundering its riches, dictating to its rulers, humiliating its people, terrorizing its neighbors, and turning its bases in the Peninsula into a spearhead through which to fight the neighboring Muslim peoples.”
The move comes amid new tensions that have once again put Iran into American crosshairs. On January 3, Iranian general and statesman Qassem Soleimani was killed by a targeted U.S. drone strike in Baghdad, Iraq.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo justified the move on the basis that he was preparing an “imminent attack” on the U.S., something that appears to contradict other government statements. This reason was also contradicted by Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi, who stated Soleimani had flown to Iraq to attend regional peace talks. Furthermore, Abdul-Mahdi claimed that he had sought and received authorization from the Trump administration to do so.
In response, Iran fired a number of ballistic missiles at U.S.-occupied bases in Iraq, causing pinpoint damage, but no fatalities, as the U.S. was warned of the impending response. The Pentagon has claimed that dozens of troops have suffered brain injuries as a result, but Trump disagreed, saying they amounted to little more than headaches.
Perhaps the most important fallout from the conflict, however, was in Iraq. The Iraqi parliament passed a unanimous resolution on January 5 (with many abstentions), calling for the expulsion of all U.S. troops. And in response to what many saw as another example of American imperial arrogance, an estimated 2.5 million people marched through Baghdad and other cities with the same message: “get out America.” Those people were likely not impressed with Trump’s response. “We’re not leaving unless they pay us back for it…If they do ask us to leave, if we don’t do it on a very friendly basis, we will charge them sanctions like they’ve never seen before ever” the president replied, referencing the sanctions that are estimated to have starved a million Iraqis to death in the 1990s. The U.S. military almost immediately announced that, far from leaving, they were building three new bases, all very close to the Iranian border.
Although a hot war with Iran has so far been avoided, an online conflict continues to rage. Last month Iranian media outlet Press TV had its YouTube account permanently deleted. On Twitter, Trump-supporting Americans boosted anti-Soleimani messages, while Instagram and Facebook announced that all pro-Soleimani content would be deleted. “We operate under U.S. sanctions laws, including those related to the U.S. government’s designation of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its leadership,” Facebook said, explaining that Trump’s new sanctions on Iran essentially made supporting the country on American websites illegal under U.S. law. This creates a tricky situation as over 80 percent of Iranians viewed the general favorably, meaning the U.S. government has succeeded in pressuring U.S. corporations to silence Iranians sharing majority opinions to other Iranians in Iran.
The U.S. has been Saudi Arabia’s chief foreign backer for many decades, supplying the government with arms to keep it in power. Secretary of State Pompeo visited the new American air base, telling reporters that, “the Saudis share our strategic objectives. They are an important ally and partner.” The State Department commented that “the longstanding US-Saudi security relationship” is strong and the new base “reaffirms America’s determination to stand with Saudi Arabia in the face of Iranian malign behavior.” The U.S. has also been a crucial partner in the Saudi war on Yemen, supplying, maintaining and training Saudis to use American weapons against Houthi militias. These new bases in the Middle East represent a worrying buildup of military might for those who are concerned with preventing another conflict in the already war-torn region.
Feature photo | US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrives at the Prince Sultan air base in Al-Kharj, in central Saudi Arabia, Feb. 20, 2020. Andrew Caballero Reynolds | AP
Alan MacLeod is a Staff Writer for MintPress News. After completing his PhD in 2017 he published two books: Bad News From Venezuela: Twenty Years of Fake News and Misreporting and Propaganda in the Information Age: Still Manufacturing Consent. He has also contributed to Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, The Guardian, Salon, The Grayzone, Jacobin Magazine, Common Dreams the American Herald Tribune and The Canary.


mintpressnews--2020-02-28--Months After Supporting a Deadly Coup, WaPo Admits Bolivia’s Elections Were Clean

The Washington Post published an op-ed yesterday from a research team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology showing that there was no fraud in the October elections in Bolivia after all .
The Post had for months claimed that President Evo Morales won the election fraudulently , thus justifying the U.S.-backed coup that ousted him weeks later .
There simply “ isn ’ t statistical support for the claims of vote fraud , ” the research team concluded .
While the Post deserves some credit for publishing the findings at all and for accurately using the word “ coup ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the media refused to do – there are still a number of glaring errors and omissions with the new Post line .
For one , the article frames the events leading to Morales ’ ouster as “ protests ” that police joined .
A more honest framing would be that the powerful right-wing opposition conducted a campaign of terrorist violence that included burning down the houses of and kidnapping elected officials from Morales ’ Movement to Socialism ( MAS ) party .
For example , Patricia Arce , Mayor of the town @ @ @ @ @ @ @ her cut her hair off and her body painted red , and was publicly dragged through the streets and abused , with her captors forcing her to commit to leaving office .
Morales made clear he was only stepping down due to the threat of increased violence .
The Post story also presents the Organization of America States ( OAS ) as an honest neutral body raising genuine concerns over the election , rather than a politically biased group that is majority funded by the Trump administration .
Indeed , in justifying its @ @ @ @ @ @ @ OAS is a crucial tool in “ promoting U.S. interests in the Western hemisphere by countering the influence of anti-U.S. countries ” like Bolivia .
It also describes the dozens of people protesting the upheaval of democracy murdered by security forces in well-documented massacres as merely people dying in “ post-electoral conflict , ” effectively whitewashing the new government ’ s actions .
The article also fails to mention the salience of their findings , particularly the American government ’ s full support of the coup , and glosses over the media ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the entire article is presented as an interesting anomaly , rather than evidence of a major international crime .
Nor does it mention the fact that the Washington-based think-tank , the Center for Economic Policy Research ( CEPR ) had already published a comprehensive statistical analysis of the election in November , showing virtually the same results .
As CEPR wrote , the results and the OAS ’ questions “ were not hard to explain.
” The Washington Post is a particularly influential news source .
Beyond the fact that it is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the United States , its prestige , location in the capital and the fact that so many in positions of political power read it , makes everything it publishes especially important .
Even before the October 20 vote , the Post was claiming that Morales standing for re-election was a threat to democracy .
Its editorial board immediately called his victory into question suggesting he was a “ dictator ” of an “ inept and repressive ” leftist regime , and falsely claiming , without evidence , that polls showed he would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he would win by around ten points – exactly the margin the now accepted results showed .
Thus , by the time U.S.-backed military generals forced Morales out , the Post editorial board was fully behind the action , insisting that , “ this was not a coup in the usual sense ” and expressing its relief that the country was now in the hands of “ more responsible leaders.
” “ There could be little doubt who was ultimately responsible for the chaos : newly resigned president Evo Morales ” it told @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an article entitled “ Bolivia is in danger of slipping into anarchy .
It ’ s Evo Morales ’ s fault.
” The Post was hardly alone in supporting the coup .
In fact , virtually the entire spectrum of corporate media did the same .
The New York Times , for example , insisted that this was not a coup , but the “ arrogant ” and “ increasingly autocratic ” Morales had merely “ resigned.
” It also praised “ democratic-minded Bolivians ” for standing up to him and using the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ them .
Meanwhile , The Wall Street Journal hailed the coup as “ a democratic outbreak in Bolivia , ” applauding the military ’ s refusal to allow Morales to “ steal another election.
” Since coming to power , the administration of Jeanine Añez has attempted to crush all resistance to her rule , pre-exonerating the police and military of all crimes committed during the “ re-establishment of order ” and the ` pacification ” of the country .
Those security forces have conducted massacres of indigenous protesters .
Independent media has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rights groups have been targeted , threatened and killed .
Añez has tried to force through wholesale privatization of the country ’ s economy , dismantling social services and pulling Bolivia out of multiple international and intercontinental treaties .
She is a deeply conservative Christian , who has expressed her disgust for the “ satanic ” indigenous population ( who make up over half the country ) .
“ I dream of a Bolivia free of satanic indigenous practices .
Cities are not for the Indian ” she tweeted , adding that they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the remote highlands of Bolivia .
A lesser-known senator before being handpicked by the military for her new role , Añez originally promised to retire from politics after her role as “ interim president.
” But she later performed an about-face and declared that she would run for president in the upcoming May elections .
This has disappointed many , even among her own ruling coalition .
The right-wing parties are fractured , with multiple candidates campaigning to win the presidency .
Meanwhile , the MAS is more united than ever , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a double digit lead in polls .
However , as in October , there is a great deal of concern that the MAS might not be able to assume the presidency , with Añez ’ s administration attempting to arrest Arce and other top MAS officials .
Morales himself has been blocked from running for a senate seat and can not return to Bolivia from exile on pain of arrest .
In contrast to the Post and the rest of the corporate press , MintPress News ’ team both inside and outside of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ incisive coverage of the coup and its aftermath , with first hand accounts of the massacres and the upcoming elections that most of the media have ignored or downplayed .
While the Post has , months after the fact , eventually presented a more truthful version of the Bolivian election , the damage has been done .
In much the same way that corporate media supported coups against other anti-imperialist governments like in Chile in 1973 , Venezuela in 2002 or Honduras in 2009 , only to later condemn them , long after @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for regime change was manufactured .
Democracy in Bolivia did not die in darkness , it died to the applause of the Washington Post .
Feature photo | An electoral official shows a ballot marked for President Evo Morales after polls closed for presidential elections in La Paz , Bolivia , Oct. 20 , 2019 .
Juan Karita | AP Alan MacLeod is a Staff Writer for MintPress News .
After completing his PhD in 2017 he published two books : Bad News From Venezuela : Twenty Years of Fake News and Misreporting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Still Manufacturing Consent .
He has also contributed to Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting , The Guardian , Salon , The Grayzone , Jacobin Magazine , Common Dreams the American Herald Tribune and The Canary .

The Washington Post published an op-ed yesterday from a research team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology showing that there was no fraud in the October elections in Bolivia after all. The Post had for months claimed that President Evo Morales won the election fraudulently, thus justifying the U.S.-backed coup that ousted him weeks later. There simply “isn’t statistical support for the claims of vote fraud,” the research team concluded.
While the Post deserves some credit for publishing the findings at all and for accurately using the word “coup” to describe the events – something much of the media refused to do – there are still a number of glaring errors and omissions with the new Post line. For one, the article frames the events leading to Morales’ ouster as “protests” that police joined. A more honest framing would be that the powerful right-wing opposition conducted a campaign of terrorist violence that included burning down the houses of and kidnapping elected officials from Morales’ Movement to Socialism (MAS) party. For example, Patricia Arce, Mayor of the town of Vinto, was kidnapped, had her cut her hair off and her body painted red, and was publicly dragged through the streets and abused, with her captors forcing her to commit to leaving office. Morales made clear he was only stepping down due to the threat of increased violence.
The Post story also presents the Organization of America States (OAS) as an honest neutral body raising genuine concerns over the election, rather than a politically biased group that is majority funded by the Trump administration. Indeed, in justifying its continued funding, USAID argued that the OAS is a crucial tool in “promoting U.S. interests in the Western hemisphere by countering the influence of anti-U.S. countries” like Bolivia. It also describes the dozens of people protesting the upheaval of democracy murdered by security forces in well-documented massacres as merely people dying in “post-electoral conflict,” effectively whitewashing the new government’s actions.
The article also fails to mention the salience of their findings, particularly the American government’s full support of the coup, and glosses over the media’s overwhelming endorsement of events. Thus, the entire article is presented as an interesting anomaly, rather than evidence of a major international crime.
Nor does it mention the fact that the Washington-based think-tank, the Center for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) had already published a comprehensive statistical analysis of the election in November, showing virtually the same results. As CEPR wrote, the results and the OAS’ questions “were not hard to explain.”
Pushing through a coup
The Washington Post is a particularly influential news source. Beyond the fact that it is one of the most widely read newspapers in the United States, its prestige, location in the capital and the fact that so many in positions of political power read it, makes everything it publishes especially important. Even before the October 20 vote, the Post was claiming that Morales standing for re-election was a threat to democracy. Its editorial board immediately called his victory into question suggesting he was a “dictator” of an “inept and repressive” leftist regime, and falsely claiming, without evidence, that polls showed he would lose the election. Polls actually suggested he would win by around ten points – exactly the margin the now accepted results showed.
Thus, by the time U.S.-backed military generals forced Morales out, the Post editorial board was fully behind the action, insisting that, “this was not a coup in the usual sense” and expressing its relief that the country was now in the hands of “more responsible leaders.” “There could be little doubt who was ultimately responsible for the chaos: newly resigned president Evo Morales” it told its readers in the first paragraph of an article entitled “Bolivia is in danger of slipping into anarchy. It’s Evo Morales’s fault.”
Oh no, turns out the Bolivia coup was one big whoopsie. Too bad liberals need the Washington Post to sanction obvious facts long after it’s too late rather than studying US history for 10mins to infer what was happening in Bolivia was propped up by half ass imperialist bullshit. https://t.co/dl7HkbVe56 — Adam H. Johnson (@adamjohnsonNYC) February 27, 2020
The Post was hardly alone in supporting the coup. In fact, virtually the entire spectrum of corporate media did the same. The New York Times, for example, insisted that this was not a coup, but the “arrogant” and “increasingly autocratic” Morales had merely “resigned.” It also praised “democratic-minded Bolivians” for standing up to him and using the “only remaining option” open to them. Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal hailed the coup as “a democratic outbreak in Bolivia,” applauding the military’s refusal to allow Morales to “steal another election.”
Dictator for Life?
Since coming to power, the administration of Jeanine Añez has attempted to crush all resistance to her rule, pre-exonerating the police and military of all crimes committed during the “re-establishment of order” and the `pacification” of the country. Those security forces have conducted massacres of indigenous protesters. Independent media has been shut down and journalists and human rights groups have been targeted, threatened and killed. Añez has tried to force through wholesale privatization of the country’s economy, dismantling social services and pulling Bolivia out of multiple international and intercontinental treaties. She is a deeply conservative Christian, who has expressed her disgust for the “satanic” indigenous population (who make up over half the country). “I dream of a Bolivia free of satanic indigenous practices. Cities are not for the Indian” she tweeted, adding that they should be confined to the desert or the remote highlands of Bolivia.
A lesser-known senator before being handpicked by the military for her new role, Añez originally promised to retire from politics after her role as “interim president.” But she later performed an about-face and declared that she would run for president in the upcoming May elections. This has disappointed many, even among her own ruling coalition. The right-wing parties are fractured, with multiple candidates campaigning to win the presidency. Meanwhile, the MAS is more united than ever, and its candidate, Luis Arce, has a double digit lead in polls. However, as in October, there is a great deal of concern that the MAS might not be able to assume the presidency, with Añez’s administration attempting to arrest Arce and other top MAS officials. Morales himself has been blocked from running for a senate seat and cannot return to Bolivia from exile on pain of arrest.
New research shows there was no fraud in Bolivia's October elections, which Evo won. As usual, outlets like @washingtonpost publish these facts only after the damage has been done. After their original misinformation has triumphed. https://t.co/VCVN5XAmpw — Ollie Vargas (@OVargas52) February 27, 2020
In contrast to the Post and the rest of the corporate press, MintPress News’ team both inside and outside of Bolivia have consistently offered more accurate and incisive coverage of the coup and its aftermath, with first hand accounts of the massacres and the upcoming elections that most of the media have ignored or downplayed. While the Post has, months after the fact, eventually presented a more truthful version of the Bolivian election, the damage has been done.
In much the same way that corporate media supported coups against other anti-imperialist governments like in Chile in 1973, Venezuela in 2002 or Honduras in 2009, only to later condemn them, long after they could influence anything, elite consent for regime change was manufactured. Democracy in Bolivia did not die in darkness, it died to the applause of the Washington Post.
Feature photo | An electoral official shows a ballot marked for President Evo Morales after polls closed for presidential elections in La Paz, Bolivia, Oct. 20, 2019. Juan Karita | AP
Alan MacLeod is a Staff Writer for MintPress News. After completing his PhD in 2017 he published two books: Bad News From Venezuela: Twenty Years of Fake News and Misreporting and Propaganda in the Information Age: Still Manufacturing Consent. He has also contributed to Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, The Guardian, Salon, The Grayzone, Jacobin Magazine, Common Dreams the American Herald Tribune and The Canary.


mintpressnews--2020-02-28--In Dem Debates, Corporate Media Push a Militaristic Foreign Policy: An Interview with Sam Husseini

On Tuesday , CBS News hosted the latest Democratic debate in South Carolina .
Described by mainstream media outlets as both “ feisty ” and “ chaotic , ” the debate was largely characterized by efforts by other candidates to put heat on the current frontrunner for the Democratic nomination , Bernie Sanders .
It noticeably touched more on foreign policy than previous debates , with questions relating to Russia , China , Syria and Israel .
While some may have welcomed the return of U.S. foreign policy issues to the Democratic debates , many of the questions were structured @ @ @ @ @ @ @ anti-interventionist policies do harm to U.S. national security and that framed militaristic responses to foreign policy dilemmas as favorable .
To discuss the framing of foreign policy at the most recent Democratic debate , MintPress News recently spoke to Sam Husseini , senior analyst with the Institute for Public Accuracy and contributor to The Nation .
Husseini argues that , in general , primary debates hosted by corporate media outlets often promote militaristic and even xenophobic approaches to foreign policy and that these outlets often leave journalistic principles by the wayside out of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the bipartisan , pro-war foreign policy establishment that has long dominated US politics .
MintPress News ( MPN ) | Polls in recent years have shown that a majority of Americans oppose endless wars and U.S. intervention as the go-to solution for foreign policy dilemmas .
Yet , the most recent Democratic debate hosted by CBS asked several questions that framed forever wars abroad as key to U.S. national security .
How do you explain the apparent gulf between the CBS perspective and popular opinion regarding existing U.S. foreign policy and forever @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fundamentally that major media don ’ t reflect popular opinion , but they instead try to mold it .
Sometimes , they make allusions to the public voice , usually through a corporate partner like Twitter , Facebook or Apple News or something .
But , the issues , the framing , the questioning — that is all determined by corporate media and I don ’ t think they seek to reflect public opinion , but they are out to mold it .
That ’ s very dangerous .
They mold it on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and newscasts and so on , but it reaches a new height when we are talking about the debates .
The airwaves belong to the public and should be used in the public interest , but these outlets regularly don ’ t do that .
The whole structure of these debates is that they are corporate-run in effect , with some cooperation or collusion with the DNC .
So , the DNC sets the criteria and , when they want to , change the criteria to determine which candidates are allowed in .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ into the most recent debates after he facilitated an influx of cash to the DNC , whereas the DNC didn ’ t change their criteria to include other candidates like Gravel , Castro , even Harris and Booker , and Gabbard .
MPN | Some debate observers on social media commented that , in regards to foreign policy , many of the questions asked at the South Carolina debate could have just as easily been asked at a Republican primary debate .
What does this say about the foreign policy of both major @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a tricky question in a way , since sometimes they even come at the Republican party from the right as well .
For example , during one of the 2016 Republican primary debates , a right-wing radio talk show host asked Ben Carson , if he [ Carson ] — as a doctor — was able to kill people , which he [ the radio host ] argued is something the president is supposed to do .
Of course , a mild reform would be to have a left-wing broadcaster as part of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of course , doesn ’ t happen .
A low-hanging fruit would be that ABC News has Katrina vanden Heuvel of The Nation on as a commentator sometimes , but they don ’ t bring her into the process to ask Democrats questions [ during the debates ] .
That would just be an obvious reform in terms of the asymmetry we are discussing here .
I think that they [ corporate media ] tend to ask more hawkish and interventionist questions of both parties and that the media are sort of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pushing both parties in that regard .
Trump , because of his brash manner , was able to distinguish himself by posing as an anti-interventionist to very good effect for his own candidacy by playing to isolationist tendencies in the U.S. public .
That helped his candidacy a great deal , but I don ’ t think he was helped in that by the major media .
MPN | You have argued that CBS and other corporate media outlets that have hosted Democratic debates thus far asked questions that perpetuate the views of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ expense of journalistic principles .
Can you elaborate on this point and explain how CBS may have violated journalistic principles during the most recent South Carolina debate ?
SH : Well , all of CBS ’ questions were from a interventionist , right-wing or xenophobic perspective .
For example , if you withdraw troops , aren ’ t you endangering national security ?
All the questions were framed as the president being commander-in-chief of the whole country as opposed to just the Armed Forces .
Another question was about whether Chinese companies should @ @ @ @ @ @ @ They were all from that interventionist perspective .
Or , in terms of Israel , one question asked Bernie Sanders about his making pro-Israel people nervous .
These questions come from the pro-interventionist and fundamentally pro-war camp and represent a failure to scrutinize the foreign policy establishment that is the “ elephant in the room.
” There is virtually no questioning of the prerogative of the U.S. to use violence around the world .
Quite the contrary , there is at least an implicit critique of anybody who even seems to deviate from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t really deviate from that .
There ’ s a push in that regard .
So , it ’ s not a journalistic enterprise , I ’ d argue , as it ’ s about how to find a way to cast someone who seems to deviate from the U.S. establishment in terms of foreign policy in a negative light .
That ’ s where most of these debate questions [ related to foreign policy ] are coming from .
MPN | Do you think the framing of foreign policy questions by CBS @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the debates of this election cycle , is related to the ownership and/or investments of these news outlets and their parent companies ?
SH | Possibly , and also to the advertisers , some of which are major military contractors and so on .
There ’ s an entire foreign policy establishment that is in part based on ideology and in part based on corporate interests and interlocking directorates at the highest level .
I ’ m not sure how much intervention is necessary to keep the current structure [ of mainstream media @ @ @ @ @ @ @ those structures definitely matter , but there is an overlying simple ideology of nationalism and militarism that I think is the overriding factor .
MPN | As you touched on earlier , during the 2016 election , Donald Trump posed as an anti-interventionist while Hillary Clinton largely defended such policies .
Do you think Democrats risk repeating the outcome of 2016 if they nominate a candidate closely aligned with the U.S. foreign policy establishment that Trump still claims to oppose ?
SH | I think that ’ s definitely true , but I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I think even progressives are under-estimating that you have an incumbent president seeking re-election without a recession , and those types of presidents almost always get re-elected under those circumstances… I think any Democrat or any challenger to Trump has an uphill battle just because of that historical tendency .
But , I also think that , given the repeated failures of centrists or establishment Democrats like HIllary Clinton and John Kerry to get elected in recent years , this makes it obvious that the best possible bet would be to choose someone @ @ @ @ @ @ @ what Bernie Sanders is trying to do .
MPN | Do you think the questions on foreign policy asked during the recent debate perpetuated the so-called “ Cold War 2.0 ” that has grown precipitously since the 2016 election ?
If so , which questions/topics do you think were the worst offenders in promoting a black/white and hawkish foreign policy approach ?
SH | Well , I mean right from the top they framed it as “ Russiagate 2.0 ” by framing Russia as wanting Sanders to be the nominee and eventually become @ @ @ @ @ @ @ up later in the debate with a question that argued that , if the Russians are interfering in our election , shouldn ’ t we conduct cyberwarfare against them , as if the United States is typically a reactive or defense actor in such situations , when it obviously isn ’ t .
I think those questions had the most brazen framing [ during the last debate ] , especially when Russiagate has been mostly directed at Trump and to get Democrats to buy into this “ Cold War 2.0 ” as well @ @ @ @ @ @ @ benevolent force on the world stage , which I think has been its primary purpose .
Feature photo | The Democratic presidential candidates , stand on stage before a Democratic presidential primary debate , Feb. 25 , 2020 , in Charleston , S.C. Matt Rourke | AP Whitney Webb is a MintPress News journalist based in Chile .
She has contributed to several independent media outlets including Global Research , EcoWatch , the Ron Paul Institute and 21st Century Wire , among others .
She has made several radio and television appearances and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Shim Award for Uncompromised Integrity in Journalism .

On Tuesday, CBS News hosted the latest Democratic debate in South Carolina. Described by mainstream media outlets as both “feisty” and “chaotic,” the debate was largely characterized by efforts by other candidates to put heat on the current frontrunner for the Democratic nomination, Bernie Sanders. It noticeably touched more on foreign policy than previous debates, with questions relating to Russia, China, Syria and Israel.
While some may have welcomed the return of U.S. foreign policy issues to the Democratic debates, many of the questions were structured in such a way that suggested that anti-interventionist policies do harm to U.S. national security and that framed militaristic responses to foreign policy dilemmas as favorable.
To discuss the framing of foreign policy at the most recent Democratic debate, MintPress News recently spoke to Sam Husseini, senior analyst with the Institute for Public Accuracy and contributor to The Nation. Husseini argues that, in general, primary debates hosted by corporate media outlets often promote militaristic and even xenophobic approaches to foreign policy and that these outlets often leave journalistic principles by the wayside out of fealty to the aims and prevailing ideology of the bipartisan, pro-war foreign policy establishment that has long dominated US politics.
MintPress News (MPN) | Polls in recent years have shown that a majority of Americans oppose endless wars and U.S. intervention as the go-to solution for foreign policy dilemmas. Yet, the most recent Democratic debate hosted by CBS asked several questions that framed forever wars abroad as key to U.S. national security. How do you explain the apparent gulf between the CBS perspective and popular opinion regarding existing U.S. foreign policy and forever wars?
Sam Husseini | I think fundamentally that major media don’t reflect popular opinion, but they instead try to mold it. Sometimes, they make allusions to the public voice, usually through a corporate partner like Twitter, Facebook or Apple News or something. But, the issues, the framing, the questioning — that is all determined by corporate media and I don’t think they seek to reflect public opinion, but they are out to mold it. That’s very dangerous. They mold it on a regular basis through their media coverage and newscasts and so on, but it reaches a new height when we are talking about the debates.
The airwaves belong to the public and should be used in the public interest, but these outlets regularly don’t do that. The whole structure of these debates is that they are corporate-run in effect, with some cooperation or collusion with the DNC. So, the DNC sets the criteria and, when they want to, change the criteria to determine which candidates are allowed in. They changed the criteria to allow Bloomberg into the most recent debates after he facilitated an influx of cash to the DNC, whereas the DNC didn’t change their criteria to include other candidates like Gravel, Castro, even Harris and Booker, and Gabbard.
MPN | Some debate observers on social media commented that, in regards to foreign policy, many of the questions asked at the South Carolina debate could have just as easily been asked at a Republican primary debate. What does this say about the foreign policy of both major parties?
SH | That’s a tricky question in a way, since sometimes they even come at the Republican party from the right as well. For example, during one of the 2016 Republican primary debates, a right-wing radio talk show host asked Ben Carson, if he [Carson] — as a doctor — was able to kill people, which he [the radio host] argued is something the president is supposed to do. Of course, a mild reform would be to have a left-wing broadcaster as part of a Democratic party debate and that, of course, doesn’t happen. A low-hanging fruit would be that ABC News has Katrina vanden Heuvel of The Nation on as a commentator sometimes, but they don’t bring her into the process to ask Democrats questions [during the debates]. That would just be an obvious reform in terms of the asymmetry we are discussing here.
I think that they [corporate media] tend to ask more hawkish and interventionist questions of both parties and that the media are sort of the constant in this equation and they are pushing both parties in that regard. Trump, because of his brash manner, was able to distinguish himself by posing as an anti-interventionist to very good effect for his own candidacy by playing to isolationist tendencies in the U.S. public. That helped his candidacy a great deal, but I don’t think he was helped in that by the major media.
MPN | You have argued that CBS and other corporate media outlets that have hosted Democratic debates thus far asked questions that perpetuate the views of the U.S. foreign policy establishment at the expense of journalistic principles. Can you elaborate on this point and explain how CBS may have violated journalistic principles during the most recent South Carolina debate?
SH: Well, all of CBS’ questions were from a interventionist, right-wing or xenophobic perspective. For example, if you withdraw troops, aren’t you endangering national security? All the questions were framed as the president being commander-in-chief of the whole country as opposed to just the Armed Forces. Another question was about whether Chinese companies should be allowed to build our infrastructure. They were all from that interventionist perspective. Or, in terms of Israel, one question asked Bernie Sanders about his making pro-Israel people nervous.
These questions come from the pro-interventionist and fundamentally pro-war camp and represent a failure to scrutinize the foreign policy establishment that is the “elephant in the room.” There is virtually no questioning of the prerogative of the U.S. to use violence around the world. Quite the contrary, there is at least an implicit critique of anybody who even seems to deviate from that, even if they don’t really deviate from that. There’s a push in that regard.
So, it’s not a journalistic enterprise, I’d argue, as it’s about how to find a way to cast someone who seems to deviate from the U.S. establishment in terms of foreign policy in a negative light. That’s where most of these debate questions [related to foreign policy] are coming from.
MPN | Do you think the framing of foreign policy questions by CBS, and previously by other outlets during the debates of this election cycle, is related to the ownership and/or investments of these news outlets and their parent companies?
SH | Possibly, and also to the advertisers, some of which are major military contractors and so on. There’s an entire foreign policy establishment that is in part based on ideology and in part based on corporate interests and interlocking directorates at the highest level. I’m not sure how much intervention is necessary to keep the current structure [of mainstream media] in line. I think that those structures definitely matter, but there is an overlying simple ideology of nationalism and militarism that I think is the overriding factor.
MPN | As you touched on earlier, during the 2016 election, Donald Trump posed as an anti-interventionist while Hillary Clinton largely defended such policies. Do you think Democrats risk repeating the outcome of 2016 if they nominate a candidate closely aligned with the U.S. foreign policy establishment that Trump still claims to oppose?
SH | I think that’s definitely true, but I do think that gets somewhat complicated because I think even progressives are under-estimating that you have an incumbent president seeking re-election without a recession, and those types of presidents almost always get re-elected under those circumstances… I think any Democrat or any challenger to Trump has an uphill battle just because of that historical tendency.
But, I also think that, given the repeated failures of centrists or establishment Democrats like HIllary Clinton and John Kerry to get elected in recent years, this makes it obvious that the best possible bet would be to choose someone with a populist appeal, which is what Bernie Sanders is trying to do.
MPN | Do you think the questions on foreign policy asked during the recent debate perpetuated the so-called “Cold War 2.0” that has grown precipitously since the 2016 election? If so, which questions/topics do you think were the worst offenders in promoting a black/white and hawkish foreign policy approach?
SH | Well, I mean right from the top they framed it as “Russiagate 2.0” by framing Russia as wanting Sanders to be the nominee and eventually become President. Then, that was followed up later in the debate with a question that argued that, if the Russians are interfering in our election, shouldn’t we conduct cyberwarfare against them, as if the United States is typically a reactive or defense actor in such situations, when it obviously isn’t.
I think those questions had the most brazen framing [during the last debate], especially when Russiagate has been mostly directed at Trump and to get Democrats to buy into this “Cold War 2.0” as well as to cast the US as a benevolent force on the world stage, which I think has been its primary purpose.
Feature photo | The Democratic presidential candidates, stand on stage before a Democratic presidential primary debate, Feb. 25, 2020, in Charleston, S.C. Matt Rourke | AP
Whitney Webb is a MintPress News journalist based in Chile. She has contributed to several independent media outlets including Global Research, EcoWatch, the Ron Paul Institute and 21st Century Wire, among others. She has made several radio and television appearances and is the 2019 winner of the Serena Shim Award for Uncompromised Integrity in Journalism.


mintpressnews--2020-02-29--The Media’s Deafening Silence on Mike Bloomberg’s Ties to Epstein and Other Criminals

After his late jump into the Democratic primary and , as critics argue , purchasing his way into the primary debates , former Mayor of New York City Michael Bloomberg has received mixed coverage from corporate media , with many negative critiques of the current presidential contender ’ s history , conduct and connections .
Yet , despite efforts by other campaigns and more progressive-leaning media outlets to dampen Bloomberg ’ s chances at the nomination , one clear weakness of Bloomberg ’ s has thus far evaded meaningful media coverage : his ties to key players in the Epstein @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Maxwell and even Jeffrey Epstein himself .
Silence among outlets that largely oppose Bloomberg ’ s candidacy regarding his connections to Epstein and those in his close social orbit is odd , especially when reporting on an individual ’ s connections to the intelligence-linked pedophile are a sure-fire way to generate considerable negative attention and fodder for rival campaigns .
This is particularly striking given that the numerous accusations that Bloomberg has long stoked a toxic culture of sexual harassment at his company , resulting in no small number of non-disclosure agreements over @ @ @ @ @ @ @ attention .
Yet , the fact that many of Bloomberg ’ s close friends have been accused of far , far worse has received hardly any coverage by comparison .
For instance , when it was announced last week that the controlling stake in the Leslie Wexner-owned lingerie company Victoria ’ s Secret would be sold to a private equity firm called Sycamore Partners , only one media outlet — The Intercept — revealed that Bloomberg has at least $ 136 million of his money in that firm .
The Intercept noted in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ most of Jeffrey Epstein ’ s supposed fortune , his close collaborator for decades and alleged rapist of many of his victims — had been pressured to step down following the scandal , which also hit Wexner-owned companies hard and had forced the Ohio-based billionaire to seek a buyer for his lingerie brand and its tarnished reputation .
Yet , the outlet did not make the direct connection that Sycamore Partners-backer Bloomberg is a friend of Wexner ’ s and has attended Wexner ’ s personal social parties for years prior to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ well before this recent opportunity to point out Bloomberg ’ s ties to Leslie Wexner , there have been plenty of opportunities for the media to question Bloomberg about his now-infamous picture with Ghislaine Maxwell , daughter of Mossad-connected Robert Maxwell and Epstein ’ s alleged madam and co-conspirator .
That picture , taken in 2013 at the Four Seasons restaurant in New York , has not been mentioned by mainstream media following the launch of Bloomberg ’ s candidacy late last November .
Similarly , mainstream media have failed to question Bloomberg @ @ @ @ @ @ @ telephone numbers for him appear in Jeffrey Epstein ’ s infamous list of contacts often referred to as his “ little black book.
” The extent of the Maxwell-Bloomberg relationship is unknown , though Bloomberg ’ s deep ties to his former employer Salomon Brothers is a possible link , given that that firm served as one of the Maxwell family ’ s main investment bankers in the years prior to and following Robert Maxwell ’ s mysterious death in 1991 .
Similarly , Epstein had close ties to prominent figures on Wall @ @ @ @ @ @ @ time at Bear Stearns , who are also close to Bloomberg .
Bloomberg and Epstein also shared close friendships with some of the same New York media executives like Mort Zuckerman .
Media outlets have described Zuckerman , a former business partner of Epstein ’ s , as Bloomberg ’ s “ long-time enabler.
” In another example , Epstein ’ s former publicist Howard Rubenstein is a long-time supporter of Bloomberg and was reported to be the driving force behind Bloomberg ’ s controversial push to run around mayoral term limits and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ New York .
Another mutual Epstein-Bloomberg associate is disgraced media mogul Harvey Weinstein .
Weinstein was part of an investment group with Epstein that sought to purchase New York magazine in 2003 .
Another member of that investment group was frequent MSNBC commentator Donny Deutsch , who has recently fervently backed Bloomberg ’ s candidacy .
Weinstein was recently convicted of rape and has dozens of accusers , whose decision to come forward about Weinstein ’ s sex crimes in recent years helped spark the “ Me Too ” movement .
Weinstein also @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Ehud Barak , who was a close friend and business associate of Epstein ’ s , and it was Barak who personally introduced Weinstein to former Mossad spies that Weinstein hired to intimidate his accusers .
In addition to being Prime Minister , Barak is also the former head of Israeli military intelligence , the foreign intelligence agency that sponsored Epstein ’ s sexual blackmail operation involving underage girls in the United States .
Bloomberg ’ s candidacy has yet to be strongly challenged over his ties to Weinstein , which are considerable @ @ @ @ @ @ @ major backer of Bloomberg ’ s mayoral campaigns and even recorded robocalls on Bloomberg ’ s behalf to boost his election chances .
Bloomberg , in turn , appointed Weinstein to a charity board and Weinstein later praised Bloomberg for aiding his film company .
While Bloomberg ’ s ties to Wexner , Epstein and Maxwell have gotten the silent treatment , some outlets ( mostly right-leaning ) have covered the Bloomberg-Weinstein ties , but there has been little pressure on Bloomberg from mainstream media to address those ties directly .
Another close @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by numerous women of sexual harassment is hedge fund manager Michael Steinhardt .
Steinhardt is a long-time fixture in Bloomberg ’ s social circle and has long appeared at Bloomberg ’ s dinner parties .
Steinhardt is also connected to Leslie Wexner through his membership in the so-called “ Mega Group ” — an exclusive group of organized-crime-linked “ mega ” donors to pro-Israel causes that Wexner co-founded in 1991 .
Steinhardt also boasts close ties to the now deceased founder of Glencore , the Mossad-linked Marc Rich , and Steinhardt — along @ @ @ @ @ @ @ aggressively lobbied former President Bill Clinton to controversially pardon Rich before leaving office .
“ Show me your friends and I ’ ll tell you who you are ” The oft-quoted saying “ Show me your friends and I ’ ll tell you who you are , ” seems to hold true for Bloomberg .
For instance , his eponymous media conglomerate has received no small number of lawsuits over the years alleging rampant sexual harassment and even the rape of female workers , much of its allegedly egged on by Bloomberg ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ been derided as sexist .
Many of those lawsuits ended in female accusers being asked to sign non-disclosure agreements ( NDAs ) .
More recently , The Nation reported that Bloomberg ’ s 2020 presidential campaign is making use of NDAs in such a way “ that could prevent staffers from reporting workplace abuse.
” In addition , a 1999 profile of Bloomberg in Wired magazine quoted Bloomberg as saying “ My daughter is tall and busty and blonde .
We went to China together .
And what ’ s a 16-year-old going @ @ @ @ @ @ @ So , I got her dates in every city in China.
” Bloomberg , not unlike Epstein and Wexner , also has a history of cozy ties to the CIA .
For instance , during his tenure as Mayor of New York , Bloomberg actively promoted a controversial post-9/11 program that saw the CIA work directly with the NYPD to spy on the city ’ s Muslim communities .
Even though the CIA is technically prohibited from spying on Americans not linked to criminal activity , one of the CIA officers working as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ had “ no limitations ” on what he could do .
Bloomberg has long defended this program and its merging of the CIA with local police .
In the case of Epstein and Wexner , as MintPress News reported in its viral series on the Epstein scandal last year , Epstein once claimed to have worked for the CIA during the 1980s and Epstein and Wexner were the key players behind the relocation of CIA front company Southern Air Transport to Ohio , where Wexner ’ s business interests have long been based @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a key player in a controversial initiative regarding Israel ’ s intelligence-linked technology sector .
For instance , Bloomberg created a $ 2 billion project that involved opening a Manhattan campus called “ Cornell Tech ” that brought together Cornell University and Israel ’ s Technion , which has close ties to Israel ’ s national security state and military-industrial complex .
Bloomberg personally gave over $ 100 million to facilitate completion of that project .
That campus is now a partner in the recent creation of two Israeli-run “ cybersecurity ” centers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to Israeli intelligence and were recently reported on by MintPress .
Jeffrey Epstein was also involved with Israeli military intelligence-linked technology companies and , as previously mentioned , Israeli military intelligence was also the sponsor of Epstein ’ s sexual blackmail operation that targeted mostly U.S. politicians and public figures for the benefit of the state of Israel , whose military currently receives $ 3.8 billion per year from U.S. taxpayers .
While these aspects of Bloomberg ’ s past have received considerable media attention as of late , these same outlets have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ inner circle boasts many individuals accused of harassment , rape or worse .
With his clear ties to the “ Epstein network , ” the fact that mainstream media has declined to even question Bloomberg about his social appearances with Ghislaine Maxwell or Leslie Wexner and having five different telephone numbers of his in Epstein ’ s list of high-profile contacts is a damning indictment of the current landscape of both American media and American politics .
Feature photo | Democratic presidential candidate and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg poses for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Mike for Black America , ” at the Buffalo Soldiers National Museum , Feb. 13 , 2020 , in Houston .
David J. Phillip | AP Whitney Webb is a MintPress News journalist based in Chile .
She has contributed to several independent media outlets including Global Research , EcoWatch , the Ron Paul Institute and 21st Century Wire , among others .
She has made several radio and television appearances and is the 2019 winner of the Serena Shim Award for Uncompromised Integrity in Journalism .

After his late jump into the Democratic primary and, as critics argue, purchasing his way into the primary debates, former Mayor of New York City Michael Bloomberg has received mixed coverage from corporate media, with many negative critiques of the current presidential contender’s history, conduct and connections.
Yet, despite efforts by other campaigns and more progressive-leaning media outlets to dampen Bloomberg’s chances at the nomination, one clear weakness of Bloomberg’s has thus far evaded meaningful media coverage: his ties to key players in the Epstein scandal, including Leslie Wexner, Ghislaine Maxwell and even Jeffrey Epstein himself.
Silence among outlets that largely oppose Bloomberg’s candidacy regarding his connections to Epstein and those in his close social orbit is odd, especially when reporting on an individual’s connections to the intelligence-linked pedophile are a sure-fire way to generate considerable negative attention and fodder for rival campaigns. This is particularly striking given that the numerous accusations that Bloomberg has long stoked a toxic culture of sexual harassment at his company, resulting in no small number of non-disclosure agreements over the years, have received some media attention. Yet, the fact that many of Bloomberg’s close friends have been accused of far, far worse has received hardly any coverage by comparison.
For instance, when it was announced last week that the controlling stake in the Leslie Wexner-owned lingerie company Victoria’s Secret would be sold to a private equity firm called Sycamore Partners, only one media outlet — The Intercept — revealed that Bloomberg has at least $136 million of his money in that firm. The Intercept noted in passing that Wexner — the source of most of Jeffrey Epstein’s supposed fortune, his close collaborator for decades and alleged rapist of many of his victims — had been pressured to step down following the scandal, which also hit Wexner-owned companies hard and had forced the Ohio-based billionaire to seek a buyer for his lingerie brand and its tarnished reputation. Yet, the outlet did not make the direct connection that Sycamore Partners-backer Bloomberg is a friend of Wexner’s and has attended Wexner’s personal social parties for years prior to the most recent scandal.
https://twitter.com/wash_cloth/status/1229438126831153155
Yet, even well before this recent opportunity to point out Bloomberg’s ties to Leslie Wexner, there have been plenty of opportunities for the media to question Bloomberg about his now-infamous picture with Ghislaine Maxwell, daughter of Mossad-connected Robert Maxwell and Epstein’s alleged madam and co-conspirator.
That picture, taken in 2013 at the Four Seasons restaurant in New York, has not been mentioned by mainstream media following the launch of Bloomberg’s candidacy late last November. Similarly, mainstream media have failed to question Bloomberg regarding why his name and five different telephone numbers for him appear in Jeffrey Epstein’s infamous list of contacts often referred to as his “little black book.”
Bloomberg and the Manhattan Swamp
The extent of the Maxwell-Bloomberg relationship is unknown, though Bloomberg’s deep ties to his former employer Salomon Brothers is a possible link, given that that firm served as one of the Maxwell family’s main investment bankers in the years prior to and following Robert Maxwell’s mysterious death in 1991. Similarly, Epstein had close ties to prominent figures on Wall Street, some dating back to his time at Bear Stearns, who are also close to Bloomberg.
Bloomberg and Epstein also shared close friendships with some of the same New York media executives like Mort Zuckerman. Media outlets have described Zuckerman, a former business partner of Epstein’s, as Bloomberg’s “long-time enabler.” In another example, Epstein’s former publicist Howard Rubenstein is a long-time supporter of Bloomberg and was reported to be the driving force behind Bloomberg’s controversial push to run around mayoral term limits and pursue a third term as Mayor of New York.
Another mutual Epstein-Bloomberg associate is disgraced media mogul Harvey Weinstein. Weinstein was part of an investment group with Epstein that sought to purchase New York magazine in 2003. Another member of that investment group was frequent MSNBC commentator Donny Deutsch, who has recently fervently backed Bloomberg’s candidacy.
Weinstein was recently convicted of rape and has dozens of accusers, whose decision to come forward about Weinstein’s sex crimes in recent years helped spark the “Me Too” movement. Weinstein also has ties to former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who was a close friend and business associate of Epstein’s, and it was Barak who personally introduced Weinstein to former Mossad spies that Weinstein hired to intimidate his accusers. In addition to being Prime Minister, Barak is also the former head of Israeli military intelligence, the foreign intelligence agency that sponsored Epstein’s sexual blackmail operation involving underage girls in the United States.
Bloomberg’s candidacy has yet to be strongly challenged over his ties to Weinstein, which are considerable. For instance, Weinstein was a major backer of Bloomberg’s mayoral campaigns and even recorded robocalls on Bloomberg’s behalf to boost his election chances. Bloomberg, in turn, appointed Weinstein to a charity board and Weinstein later praised Bloomberg for aiding his film company. While Bloomberg’s ties to Wexner, Epstein and Maxwell have gotten the silent treatment, some outlets (mostly right-leaning) have covered the Bloomberg-Weinstein ties, but there has been little pressure on Bloomberg from mainstream media to address those ties directly.
Another close Bloomberg associate who recently has been accused by numerous women of sexual harassment is hedge fund manager Michael Steinhardt. Steinhardt is a long-time fixture in Bloomberg’s social circle and has long appeared at Bloomberg’s dinner parties. Steinhardt is also connected to Leslie Wexner through his membership in the so-called “Mega Group” — an exclusive group of organized-crime-linked “mega” donors to pro-Israel causes that Wexner co-founded in 1991. Steinhardt also boasts close ties to the now deceased founder of Glencore, the Mossad-linked Marc Rich, and Steinhardt — along with top Israeli politicians and spies — aggressively lobbied former President Bill Clinton to controversially pardon Rich before leaving office.
“Show me your friends and I’ll tell you who you are”
The oft-quoted saying “Show me your friends and I’ll tell you who you are,” seems to hold true for Bloomberg. For instance, his eponymous media conglomerate has received no small number of lawsuits over the years alleging rampant sexual harassment and even the rape of female workers, much of its allegedly egged on by Bloomberg’s long history of comments that have been derided as sexist. Many of those lawsuits ended in female accusers being asked to sign non-disclosure agreements (NDAs). More recently, The Nation reported that Bloomberg’s 2020 presidential campaign is making use of NDAs in such a way “that could prevent staffers from reporting workplace abuse.”
In addition, a 1999 profile of Bloomberg in Wired magazine quoted Bloomberg as saying “My daughter is tall and busty and blonde. We went to China together. And what’s a 16-year-old going to do on a business trip? So, I got her dates in every city in China.”
Bloomberg, not unlike Epstein and Wexner, also has a history of cozy ties to the CIA. For instance, during his tenure as Mayor of New York, Bloomberg actively promoted a controversial post-9/11 program that saw the CIA work directly with the NYPD to spy on the city’s Muslim communities. Even though the CIA is technically prohibited from spying on Americans not linked to criminal activity, one of the CIA officers working as part of the Bloomberg-backed program said he had “no limitations” on what he could do. Bloomberg has long defended this program and its merging of the CIA with local police.
In the case of Epstein and Wexner, as MintPress News reported in its viral series on the Epstein scandal last year, Epstein once claimed to have worked for the CIA during the 1980s and Epstein and Wexner were the key players behind the relocation of CIA front company Southern Air Transport to Ohio, where Wexner’s business interests have long been based.
In addition, Bloomberg was also a key player in a controversial initiative regarding Israel’s intelligence-linked technology sector. For instance, Bloomberg created a $2 billion project that involved opening a Manhattan campus called “Cornell Tech” that brought together Cornell University and Israel’s Technion, which has close ties to Israel’s national security state and military-industrial complex. Bloomberg personally gave over $100 million to facilitate completion of that project. That campus is now a partner in the recent creation of two Israeli-run “cybersecurity” centers in New York City that are tied to Israeli intelligence and were recently reported on by MintPress.
Jeffrey Epstein was also involved with Israeli military intelligence-linked technology companies and, as previously mentioned, Israeli military intelligence was also the sponsor of Epstein’s sexual blackmail operation that targeted mostly U.S. politicians and public figures for the benefit of the state of Israel, whose military currently receives $3.8 billion per year from U.S. taxpayers.
While these aspects of Bloomberg’s past have received considerable media attention as of late, these same outlets have failed to note that Bloomberg’s inner circle boasts many individuals accused of harassment, rape or worse. With his clear ties to the “Epstein network,” the fact that mainstream media has declined to even question Bloomberg about his social appearances with Ghislaine Maxwell or Leslie Wexner and having five different telephone numbers of his in Epstein’s list of high-profile contacts is a damning indictment of the current landscape of both American media and American politics.
Feature photo | Democratic presidential candidate and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg poses for photographs during his campaign launch of “Mike for Black America,” at the Buffalo Soldiers National Museum, Feb. 13, 2020, in Houston. David J. Phillip | AP
Whitney Webb is a MintPress News journalist based in Chile. She has contributed to several independent media outlets including Global Research, EcoWatch, the Ron Paul Institute and 21st Century Wire, among others. She has made several radio and television appearances and is the 2019 winner of the Serena Shim Award for Uncompromised Integrity in Journalism.