mintpressnews--2020-01-24--Three Years into Trump’s Presidency, What’s Left of the American Left?

On January 20 , Donald J. Trump completed his third year in office .
I predicted in 2016 , in a blog post that received considerable traction on social media , that Trump would lose his bid for America ’ s highest office .
I was spectacularly wrong but not alone .
Even the Las Vegas bookies thought Clinton was a shoo-in with her unbeatable two-punch knockout .
The first punch : I ’ m not Trump , the second : World War III with the Russians would be peachy at least until the bombs start falling .
What could @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the point , the unexpected victory of Trump was the historical reaction to the bankruptcy of the neoliberalism so prevalent in the Clinton , Bush and Obama eras .
Now after three years of Mr. Trump , what ’ s left ?
When President George W. ( Dubya ) Bush , who is now viewed favorably by a majority of Democrats , was in office , Democrats could wring their tied hands to the accolades of their base .
My own Democrat Representative Lynn Woolsey stood up daily in the House and denounced @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a while , there was a resurgent peace movement against U.S. military adventures in the Middle East , which was even backed by some left-leaning liberals .
But the moment that Obama ascended to the Oval Office , the Iraq War became Obama ’ s war , Bush ’ s secretary of war Gates was carried over to administer it , and Woolsey forgot she was for peace .
No matter , Obama , the peace candidate , would fix it .
Just give him a chance .
For eight years , Obama @ @ @ @ @ @ @ movement went quiescent .
Surely a Republican president , I thought , would harken a rebirth of the peace movement given the ever-inflated war budget and the proliferation of U.S. wars .
The United States is officially at war with Afghanistan , Iraq , Syria , Yemen , Somalia , Libya , and Niger .
Add to that list a number of other states subject to U.S. drone attacks such as Iran , Pakistan , and Mali , and some 30 countries are currently being targeted with illegal unilateral coercive measures as a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in control of both Congress and the White House , my expectation was that Democrats would safely take a giant step to the right in accordance with their Wall Street funders , while safely keeping a baby step to the left of Republicans in order to appease their liberal-leaning base .
To a certain extent , this is what happened with Trump ’ s tax cut for the wealthy .
Democrats could , and did , claim that their hands were once again tied ( wink , wink to their Wall Street handlers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Democrats did not pay lip service to their base ’ s economic priorities , instead , they attacked Republicans on their weak left flank .
The assault on Republicans came from the right with what The Hill called Pelosi ’ s “ fiscally hawkish pay-as-you-go rules , ” increasing the war budget and launching Russiagate instead of appealing to working people on bread and butter issues .
While Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders did raise genuine issues regarding runaway income inequality and plutocratic politics , he was suppressed by a hostile corporate press @ @ @ @ @ @ @ which arguably preferred to risk a Republican victory in 2016 than to support anyone who dare question neoliberal orthodoxy .
Sanders ’ issues got asphyxiated in the juggernaut of Russiagate .
His legacy – so far – has been to help contain a progressive insurgency within the Democratic Party , the perennial graveyard of social movements .
Had Mr. Sanders not come along , the Democrats – now the full-throated party of neoliberal austerity at home and imperial war abroad – would have needed to invent a leftish Pied Piper to keep their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ after three years of Trump , the mass movement against militarism that is needed now more than ever has yet to resurrect in force , notwithstanding promising demonstrations in immediate response to Trump ’ s assassination of Iran ’ s Major General Soleimani on January 3 with more demonstrations to come .
Dubya proved his imperialist mettle with the second Iraq war ; Obama with the destruction of Libya .
But Trump has yet to start a war of his own .
Though , in the case of Iran , it was not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The last U.S. president that failed to hold true to an imperialist legacy was the one-term Jimmy Carter .
But Trump has 12 , and possibly 60 , more months to go .
In his short time in office , Trump has packed his administration with former war industry executives , increased troops in Afghanistan , approved the sale of weapons to the post-coup government of Ukraine , made the largest weapons deal in U.S. history with Saudi Arabia , supported the Saudi war against Yemen , recognized Jerusalem as the capital of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ drone strikes than “ Obomber.
” In the empire ’ s own “ backyard , ” Trump has tightened the blockade on Cuba , intensified Obama ’ s sanctions on Venezuela , oversaw the devastation of Puerto Rico , and backed a bloody right-wing coup in Bolivia .
The Venezuelan Embassy Protectors , a group of American peace activists , are fighting the U.S. government for a fair trial , while whistleblower Julian Assange faces extradition to the U.S. Now that Trump has declared the defeat of ISIS , the official U.S. National @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ interstate strategic competition ” with Russia and China .
The strategy , based on the official guiding document of the US foreign policy , explicitly calls for “ build [ ing ] a more lethal force ” for world domination .
Giving credit where it is due , both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama had presciently decreed a “ pivot to Asia ” back in 2011 .
Closer to home Trump has been busy deregulating environmental protections , dismantling the National Park system , weaponizing social media , undoing net neutrality and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ change .
What ’ s not to despise ?
Russiagate , in case you are not totally absorbed in mass media , is about a conspiracy that Russia , not the U.S .
Electoral College , is responsible for Hillary Clinton not getting her rightful turn to be President of the United States .
For the better part of the last three years under the shadow of the Trump White House , a spook emerged from the netherworld of the deep state and has toiled mightily to expose wrongdoers .
This man , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , we are told , is only one miracle short of being canonized in blue state heaven .
Yet even he failed to indict a single American for colluding with Russia , though he was able to hand out indictments to Americans for other wrongdoings unrelated to Russia .
Undeterred by this investigation to nowhere , Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi initiated impeachment proceedings against the sitting president in the Democrat ’ s first successful step to promote Mike Pence as the next POTUS .
When an unelected and unaccountable CIA operative @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from his agency , seeks to take down a constitutionally elected president , there is cause for concern .
Operating under the cloak of anonymity and with privileged access to information , national security operatives skilled in the craft of espionage have the undemocratic means to manipulate and even depose elected officials .
What has arisen is an emboldened national security state .
The CIA , lest we forget , is the clandestine agency whose mission is to use any means necessary to effect “ regime change ” in countries that dare to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to quip that the U.S. has never suffered a coup because there is no U.S. embassy in Washington .
There may not be a U.S. embassy there , but the CIA and the rest of the security establishment are now more present than ever and pose an impending danger to democracy .
Now , Obama ’ s former Director of National Intelligence and serial perjurer James Clapper holds the conflicted role of CNN pundit while still retaining top security clearance .
Likewise , former CIA director , torture apologist , and fellow perjurer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and MSNBC with his security clearance intact .
While both Democrats and Republicans engage in mortal combat on the superficial , they remain united in their bedrock loyalty to the rule of capital and U.S. military and economic dominance .
The first article of the Democrat-backed impeachment against Trump is his “ abuse of power.
” Yet , amidst the heat of the House impeachment hearings , Democrats helped renew the Patriot Act by an overwhelming majority , which gives the president wartime authority to shred the constitution .
Contrary to the utterances @ @ @ @ @ @ @ campaign trail about limiting U.S. military spending , the latest $ 738 billion National Defense Authorization Act ( NDAA ) is $ 22 billion more than the last .
The Democratic Progressive Caucus didn ’ t even bother to whip members to oppose the bill .
On December 11 , in an orgy of bi-partisan love , the NDAA bill passed by a landslide vote of 377-48 .
President Trump tweeted “ Wow !
” Democratic Party leader and House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith called the bill “ the most progressive @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” The bill gifts twelve more Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jets than Trump requested and greenlights funding of Trump ’ s border wall with Mexico .
Stripped from the bipartisan NDAA “ compromise ” bill were provisions to prohibit Trump from launching a war on Iran without Congressional authorization .
Similarly dropped were limits to U.S. participation in the genocidal war in Yemen .
A new Space Force was authorized to militarize the heavens .
Meanwhile , the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has set the doomsday clock at 2 minutes before midnight @ @ @ @ @ @ @ concern about Trump ’ s abuse of power does not extend to such existential matters as nuclear war .
Trump ’ s renegotiated North American Free Trade Agreement ( i.e.
, USMCA ) , an acknowledged disaster , was renewed with bipartisan support and on the domestic front , Trump ’ s cuts to food stamps , Medicaid , and reproductive health services , barely registered audible demurs of the supine Democrats .
Behind the façade of the impeachment spectacle ( Ken Starr and Alan Dershowitz are now on Trump ’ s legal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ consensus that trumps partisan differences .
As political economist Rob Urie perceptively observed : In the highly contested 2016 presidential contest , nearly half the eligible U.S. voters opted out , not finding enough difference among the contenders to leave home .
2020 may be an opportunity ; an opening for an alternative to neoliberal austerity at home and imperial wars abroad lurching to an increasingly oppressive national security state .
The campaigns of Bernie Sanders and Tulsi Gabbard .
and before them the Occupy Wall Street movement , point to a brewing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dispossessed are rocking France , India , Colombia , Chile , and soon , perhaps , the United States .
Feature photo | Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders , I-Vt. , speaks at a campaign stop at the State Historical Museum of Iowa , Jan. 20 , 2020 , in Des Moines , Iowa .
Andrew Harnik | AP Roger D. Harris is on the state central committee of the Peace and Freedom Party , the only ballot-qualified socialist party in California .

On January 20, Donald J. Trump completed his third year in office. I predicted in 2016, in a blog post that received considerable traction on social media, that Trump would lose his bid for America’s highest office. I was spectacularly wrong but not alone. Even the Las Vegas bookies thought Clinton was a shoo-in with her unbeatable two-punch knockout. The first punch: I’m not Trump, the second: World War III with the Russians would be peachy at least until the bombs start falling. What could possibly have gone wrong?
More to the point, the unexpected victory of Trump was the historical reaction to the bankruptcy of the neoliberalism so prevalent in the Clinton, Bush and Obama eras. Now after three years of Mr. Trump, what’s left?
When President George W. (Dubya) Bush, who is now viewed favorably by a majority of Democrats, was in office, Democrats could wring their tied hands to the accolades of their base. My own Democrat Representative Lynn Woolsey stood up daily in the House and denounced Bush’s Iraq war. For a while, there was a resurgent peace movement against U.S. military adventures in the Middle East, which was even backed by some left-leaning liberals.
But the moment that Obama ascended to the Oval Office, the Iraq War became Obama’s war, Bush’s secretary of war Gates was carried over to administer it, and Woolsey forgot she was for peace. No matter, Obama, the peace candidate, would fix it. Just give him a chance. For eight years, Obama was given a chance and the peace movement went quiescent.
Trump takes office
Surely a Republican president, I thought, would harken a rebirth of the peace movement given the ever-inflated war budget and the proliferation of U.S. wars. The United States is officially at war with Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Libya, and Niger. Add to that list a number of other states subject to U.S. drone attacks such as Iran, Pakistan, and Mali, and some 30 countries are currently being targeted with illegal unilateral coercive measures as a form of economic warfare.
With Republicans in control of both Congress and the White House, my expectation was that Democrats would safely take a giant step to the right in accordance with their Wall Street funders, while safely keeping a baby step to the left of Republicans in order to appease their liberal-leaning base. To a certain extent, this is what happened with Trump’s tax cut for the wealthy. Democrats could, and did, claim that their hands were once again tied (wink, wink to their Wall Street handlers).
Yet on more fundamental issues, Democrats did not pay lip service to their base’s economic priorities, instead, they attacked Republicans on their weak left flank. The assault on Republicans came from the right with what The Hill called Pelosi’s “fiscally hawkish pay-as-you-go rules,” increasing the war budget and launching Russiagate instead of appealing to working people on bread and butter issues.
While Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders did raise genuine issues regarding runaway income inequality and plutocratic politics, he was suppressed by a hostile corporate press and an antagonistic Democratic Party establishment, which arguably preferred to risk a Republican victory in 2016 than to support anyone who dare question neoliberal orthodoxy.
Sanders’ issues got asphyxiated in the juggernaut of Russiagate. His legacy – so far – has been to help contain a progressive insurgency within the Democratic Party, the perennial graveyard of social movements. Had Mr. Sanders not come along, the Democrats – now the full-throated party of neoliberal austerity at home and imperial war abroad – would have needed to invent a leftish Pied Piper to keep their base in the fold.
So, after three years of Trump, the mass movement against militarism that is needed now more than ever has yet to resurrect in force, notwithstanding promising demonstrations in immediate response to Trump’s assassination of Iran’s Major General Soleimani on January 3 with more demonstrations to come.
Imperialism and neoliberalism
Dubya proved his imperialist mettle with the second Iraq war; Obama with the destruction of Libya. But Trump has yet to start a war of his own. Though, in the case of Iran, it was not due to a lack of trying. The last U.S. president that failed to hold true to an imperialist legacy was the one-term Jimmy Carter. But Trump has 12, and possibly 60, more months to go.
In his short time in office, Trump has packed his administration with former war industry executives, increased troops in Afghanistan, approved the sale of weapons to the post-coup government of Ukraine, made the largest weapons deal in U.S. history with Saudi Arabia, supported the Saudi war against Yemen, recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and killed more civilians in drone strikes than “Obomber.” In the empire’s own “backyard,” Trump has tightened the blockade on Cuba, intensified Obama’s sanctions on Venezuela, oversaw the devastation of Puerto Rico, and backed a bloody right-wing coup in Bolivia. The Venezuelan Embassy Protectors, a group of American peace activists, are fighting the U.S. government for a fair trial, while whistleblower Julian Assange faces extradition to the U.S.
Now that Trump has declared the defeat of ISIS, the official U.S. National Defense Strategy has shifted to focus on “interstate strategic competition” with Russia and China. The strategy, based on the official guiding document of the US foreign policy, explicitly calls for “build[ing] a more lethal force” for world domination. Giving credit where it is due, both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama had presciently decreed a “pivot to Asia” back in 2011.
Closer to home Trump has been busy deregulating environmental protections, dismantling the National Park system, weaponizing social media, undoing net neutrality and withdrawing from the Paris Agreement on climate change. What’s not to despise?
Russiagate and impeachment
Russiagate, in case you are not totally absorbed in mass media, is about a conspiracy that Russia, not the U.S. Electoral College, is responsible for Hillary Clinton not getting her rightful turn to be President of the United States.
For the better part of the last three years under the shadow of the Trump White House, a spook emerged from the netherworld of the deep state and has toiled mightily to expose wrongdoers. This man, former head of the FBI Robert Mueller, we are told, is only one miracle short of being canonized in blue state heaven. Yet even he failed to indict a single American for colluding with Russia, though he was able to hand out indictments to Americans for other wrongdoings unrelated to Russia.
Undeterred by this investigation to nowhere, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi initiated impeachment proceedings against the sitting president in the Democrat’s first successful step to promote Mike Pence as the next POTUS.
When an unelected and unaccountable CIA operative colluding with opposition politicians and with backing from his agency, seeks to take down a constitutionally elected president, there is cause for concern. Operating under the cloak of anonymity and with privileged access to information, national security operatives skilled in the craft of espionage have the undemocratic means to manipulate and even depose elected officials.
What has arisen is an emboldened national security state. The CIA, lest we forget, is the clandestine agency whose mission is to use any means necessary to effect “regime change” in countries that dare to buck empire. Latin American leftists used to quip that the U.S. has never suffered a coup because there is no U.S. embassy in Washington. There may not be a U.S. embassy there, but the CIA and the rest of the security establishment are now more present than ever and pose an impending danger to democracy.
Now, Obama’s former Director of National Intelligence and serial perjurer James Clapper holds the conflicted role of CNN pundit while still retaining top security clearance. Likewise, former CIA director, torture apologist, and fellow perjurer John Brennan holds forth on NBC News and MSNBC with his security clearance intact.
Class trumps partisan differences
While both Democrats and Republicans engage in mortal combat on the superficial, they remain united in their bedrock loyalty to the rule of capital and U.S. military and economic dominance. The first article of the Democrat-backed impeachment against Trump is his “abuse of power.” Yet, amidst the heat of the House impeachment hearings, Democrats helped renew the Patriot Act by an overwhelming majority, which gives the president wartime authority to shred the constitution.
Contrary to the utterances of the Democratic presidential candidates on the campaign trail about limiting U.S. military spending, the latest $738 billion National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) is $22 billion more than the last. The Democratic Progressive Caucus didn’t even bother to whip members to oppose the bill. On December 11, in an orgy of bi-partisan love, the NDAA bill passed by a landslide vote of 377-48.
President Trump tweeted “Wow!” Democratic Party leader and House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith called the bill “the most progressive defense bill we have passed in decades.”
The bill gifts twelve more Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jets than Trump requested and greenlights funding of Trump’s border wall with Mexico. Stripped from the bipartisan NDAA “compromise” bill were provisions to prohibit Trump from launching a war on Iran without Congressional authorization. Similarly dropped were limits to U.S. participation in the genocidal war in Yemen.
A new Space Force was authorized to militarize the heavens. Meanwhile, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has set the doomsday clock at 2 minutes before midnight. Unfortunately, the Democrat’s concern about Trump’s abuse of power does not extend to such existential matters as nuclear war.
Trump’s renegotiated North American Free Trade Agreement (i.e., USMCA), an acknowledged disaster, was renewed with bipartisan support and on the domestic front, Trump’s cuts to food stamps, Medicaid, and reproductive health services, barely registered audible demurs of the supine Democrats.
Revolt of the dispossessed
Behind the façade of the impeachment spectacle (Ken Starr and Alan Dershowitz are now on Trump’s legal team), is a ruling class consensus that trumps partisan differences. As political economist Rob Urie perceptively observed:
The American obsession with electoral politics is odd in that ‘the people’ have so little say in electoral outcomes and that the outcomes only dance around the edges of most people’s lives. It isn’t so much that the actions of elected leaders are inconsequential as that other factors— economic, historical, structural and institutional, do more to determine ‘politics.’
In the highly contested 2016 presidential contest, nearly half the eligible U.S. voters opted out, not finding enough difference among the contenders to leave home. 2020 may be an opportunity; an opening for an alternative to neoliberal austerity at home and imperial wars abroad lurching to an increasingly oppressive national security state. The campaigns of Bernie Sanders and Tulsi Gabbard. and before them the Occupy Wall Street movement, point to a brewing popular insurgency. Mass protests of the dispossessed are rocking France, India, Colombia, Chile, and soon, perhaps, the United States.
Feature photo | Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks at a campaign stop at the State Historical Museum of Iowa, Jan. 20, 2020, in Des Moines, Iowa. Andrew Harnik | AP
Roger D. Harris is on the state central committee of the Peace and Freedom Party, the only ballot-qualified socialist party in California.


mintpressnews--2020-01-27--North Korea: Kim Jong-un’s Aunt Appears Alive After Six Years of Media Saying He Killed Her

It ’ s well past Halloween , but people in the Democratic People ’ s Republic of Korea are rising from the dead ( again ) .
That is according to our media , who have for six years been claiming Kim Kyong-hui , the aunt of current ruler Kim Jong-un and daughter of the father of the nation Kim Il-sung , was dead , only for her to be spotted beside her nephew enjoying the Lunar New Year festivities in Pyongyang at the weekend .
CNN and the Daily Telegraph both reported that Kim Jong-un had her poisoned in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a stroke ?
Or was it a heart attack ?
Or was she in a permanent vegetative state ?
The media couldn ’ t decide , yet they all agreed she was definitely gone .
The press appeared unsurprised by the government ’ s apparent ability with necromancy , covering her reappearance merely as an “ isn ’ t this crazy ” story , merely “ a reminder of how weird and brutal North Korea is ” ( BBC ) .
While that statement might be accurate ( Kyong-hui ’ s husband , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the state , after all ) , across the media , there was little self-reflection at all as to how and why they had been reporting fake news for six years .
This is hardly the first time that the press has breathlessly reported that members of the DPRK ’ s elite have been killed , only for their untimely reappearance to spoil the narrative .
Last year corporate media claimed that Korean negotiators were executed for failing to achieve a deal with the U.S. at the nuclear disarmament summit in Vietnam , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ massive purge to divert attention away from internal turmoil and discontent.
” But barely a few days after the media deluge , the negotiating team ’ s leader appeared at a performance alongside Kim Jong-un .
In 2013 , it was widely reported that Hyon Song-wol , a popular musician and reputed love interest of the DPRK ’ s supreme leader was executed in a “ hail of machine gun fire while members of her orchestra looked on ” ( BBC ) .
Unfortunately for this narrative , Song-wol is very much alive @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to this day .
And there is a cavalcade of military officials the corporate press has insisted were killed , often in comically over-the-top ways who turn up later seemingly unharmed .
For example , in 2018 General Ri Yong-gil , the officer Donald Trump awkwardly saluted , was promoted to Chief of General Staff , this , despite having been “ executed ” in 2016 as part of a “ brutal consolidation of power , ” according to CNN .
Another North Korean figure rising from the dead is national soccer coach @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 7-0 to Portugal at the 2010 World Cup , media reported that he had been shot .
This narrative was only dropped after a journalist ran into him at an airport .
Ten years later , not only is Jong-su alive , but he is still the national team ’ s coach .
The problem with these stories is that they largely emanate from one source : notorious conservative South Korean daily the Chosun Ilbo , which has a long and detailed history of printing lurid fake news .
Yet Western press are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of their reporting .
As Business Insider said while falsely reporting that Kim Kyong-hui , aunt of Kim Jong-un was dead , “ the Chosun Ilbo is generally considered a reliable source.
” Other stories are based on testimonies from defectors , who are paid in cash for their stories , something that the poor , isolated and jobless dissidents themselves complain gives them a perverse incentive to exaggerate .
The saying , in journalism , goes : “ if it bleeds it leads , ” i.e .
the more shocking a story @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to be published , meaning that defectors who do not offer the sordid details journalists , intelligence agencies or human rights groups want , will not be paid .
Defectors are not necessarily trustworthy sources either .
One Korean defector who was praised for his heroic actions later admitted that he was actually on the run for a murder he confessed he committed .
The perverse incentive also exists for media , too , who live in a hyper-competitive world driven by the need to get clicks .
Careful , nuanced analysis does @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the fact that the DPRK is an official enemy of the United States .
The United States killed up to one quarter of the Korean race in bombing during the 1950s , using chemical weapons against them and committing other war crimes such as bombing civilian targets .
Media analyst Adam Johnson put forward his theory of the “ North Korea law of journalism , ” where , he says , “ editorial standards are inversely proportional to a country ’ s enemy status.
” While the U.S. or friendly countries are covered @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be printed with regards to enemy states like Venezuela , Bolivia or the DPRK , as there is no penalty for being incorrect .
Publishing stories claiming Donald Trump had thrown General Michael Flynn into a tank of ravenous piranhas would result in outlets being shut down , re-ranked and delisted by search engines and social media , and perhaps even journalists being arrested .
But the same story run about North Korea is a money-spinner .
Thus , the same orientalist tropes are used again and again when it comes to reporting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ one haircut allowed , that it has “ banned sarcasm , ” that there is no electricity or tall buildings in the country– are endlessly repeated by journalists reproducing imperial propaganda .
As Kim Kyong-hui ’ s case shows , in North Korea , stories are often too bad to be true .
Feature photo | North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his wife Ri Sol Ju watch a performance to celebrate the Lunar New Year at the Samjiyon Theater in Pyongyang , North Korea , January 25 , 2020 .
Kim @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Kyong-hui , is pictured on the far right .
Photo| KCNA via 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 .

It’s well past Halloween, but people in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea are rising from the dead (again). That is according to our media, who have for six years been claiming Kim Kyong-hui, the aunt of current ruler Kim Jong-un and daughter of the father of the nation Kim Il-sung, was dead, only for her to be spotted beside her nephew enjoying the Lunar New Year festivities in Pyongyang at the weekend.
CNN and the Daily Telegraph both reported that Kim Jong-un had her poisoned in 2014. Or perhaps she died of a stroke? Or was it a heart attack? Or was she in a permanent vegetative state? The media couldn’t decide, yet they all agreed she was definitely gone. The press appeared unsurprised by the government’s apparent ability with necromancy, covering her reappearance merely as an “isn’t this crazy” story, merely “a reminder of how weird and brutal North Korea is” (BBC). While that statement might be accurate (Kyong-hui’s husband, a top official, was executed by the state, after all), across the media, there was little self-reflection at all as to how and why they had been reporting fake news for six years.
This is hardly the first time that the press has breathlessly reported that members of the DPRK’s elite have been killed, only for their untimely reappearance to spoil the narrative. Last year corporate media claimed that Korean negotiators were executed for failing to achieve a deal with the U.S. at the nuclear disarmament summit in Vietnam, something CNBC called part of a “massive purge to divert attention away from internal turmoil and discontent.” But barely a few days after the media deluge, the negotiating team’s leader appeared at a performance alongside Kim Jong-un.
In 2013, it was widely reported that Hyon Song-wol, a popular musician and reputed love interest of the DPRK’s supreme leader was executed in a “hail of machine gun fire while members of her orchestra looked on” (BBC). Unfortunately for this narrative, Song-wol is very much alive and singing, continuing to publicly perform to this day. And there is a cavalcade of military officials the corporate press has insisted were killed, often in comically over-the-top ways who turn up later seemingly unharmed. For example, in 2018 General Ri Yong-gil, the officer Donald Trump awkwardly saluted, was promoted to Chief of General Staff, this, despite having been “executed” in 2016 as part of a “brutal consolidation of power,” according to CNN.
Another North Korean figure rising from the dead is national soccer coach Yun Jong-su. After the country lost 7-0 to Portugal at the 2010 World Cup, media reported that he had been shot. This narrative was only dropped after a journalist ran into him at an airport. Ten years later, not only is Jong-su alive, but he is still the national team’s coach.
The problem with these stories is that they largely emanate from one source: notorious conservative South Korean daily the Chosun Ilbo, which has a long and detailed history of printing lurid fake news. Yet Western press are dependent on the Chosun Ilbo for much of their reporting. As Business Insider said while falsely reporting that Kim Kyong-hui, aunt of Kim Jong-un was dead, “the Chosun Ilbo is generally considered a reliable source.”
Other stories are based on testimonies from defectors, who are paid in cash for their stories, something that the poor, isolated and jobless dissidents themselves complain gives them a perverse incentive to exaggerate. The saying, in journalism, goes: “if it bleeds it leads,” i.e. the more shocking a story is, the more likely it is to be published, meaning that defectors who do not offer the sordid details journalists, intelligence agencies or human rights groups want, will not be paid. Defectors are not necessarily trustworthy sources either. One Korean defector who was praised for his heroic actions later admitted that he was actually on the run for a murder he confessed he committed.
The perverse incentive also exists for media, too, who live in a hyper-competitive world driven by the need to get clicks. Careful, nuanced analysis does not pay. Added to that is the fact that the DPRK is an official enemy of the United States. The United States killed up to one quarter of the Korean race in bombing during the 1950s, using chemical weapons against them and committing other war crimes such as bombing civilian targets. Media analyst Adam Johnson put forward his theory of the “North Korea law of journalism,” where, he says, “editorial standards are inversely proportional to a country’s enemy status.” While the U.S. or friendly countries are covered favorably, the most lurid fantasies can be printed with regards to enemy states like Venezuela, Bolivia or the DPRK, as there is no penalty for being incorrect. Publishing stories claiming Donald Trump had thrown General Michael Flynn into a tank of ravenous piranhas would result in outlets being shut down, re-ranked and delisted by search engines and social media, and perhaps even journalists being arrested. But the same story run about North Korea is a money-spinner.
Thus, the same orientalist tropes are used again and again when it comes to reporting on Korea – that there is only one haircut allowed, that it has “banned sarcasm,” that there is no electricity or tall buildings in the country– are endlessly repeated by journalists reproducing imperial propaganda. As Kim Kyong-hui’s case shows, in North Korea, stories are often too bad to be true.
Feature photo | North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his wife Ri Sol Ju watch a performance to celebrate the Lunar New Year at the Samjiyon Theater in Pyongyang, North Korea, January 25, 2020. Kim Jong Un’s aunt, Kim Kyong-hui, is pictured on the far right. Photo| KCNA via 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--2020-01-27--Genocide Scholar Warns That the Groundwork for Genocide in the US Has Been Laid

Writer , scholar and activist Brynn Tannehill came out to say that the United States , particularly under the Trump administration , is already several steps down the path towards committing genocide against certain segments of the population .
In a viral tweetstorm , the navy veteran and former defense analyst claimed that immigrants , Muslims , the homeless and transgender people are most at risk , noting that India , Brazil and much of Europe are moving in a similar direction .
Tannehill , who studied genocides for her Ph.D. , noted that they “ rarely go from zero @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of an eye.
” Instead , preparations begin sometimes years in advance , slowly moving the population to the point of acceptance or support for an all out crackdown on demonized populations .
With clear allusions to Trump ’ s Muslim ban and transgender bathroom laws , Tannehill states that revoking a targeted population ’ s civil rights often follows , establishing them as “ lesser to the others being a key step towards what comes next .
If the government , she asked , “ went full Nazi on trans people , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rise up ?
How about immigrants ?
Muslims ?
… The answer clearly seems to be almost certainly not , ” she said .
However , Tannehill was at pains to stress that not every , nor even most , genocide ends in Nazi-style death camps , but that , studying the history of events like those in Rwanda , the Ottoman Empire , Darfur or Myanmar , there are “ common themes and patterns ” that emerge .
“ Usually it happens in an economically distressed country with falling standards of living @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , laying out a checklist of common steps towards mass killings which include : • None The creation of a mythological past free of targeted minorities , • None The removal of a minority from federal service , • None Preventing access to healthcare and other services to said minority , • None Testing to see foreign governments ’ reactions to violence against a minority , Generally , those enacting this legislation are populists who push an “ us vs. them ” narrative against those they deem inferior , blaming them for the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ promising to bring the country back to a mythical past of strength and respect .
The “ others ” are defamed as criminals , terrorists , degenerates or threats to society .
If this sounds familiar to you , then you are in the same boat as Tannehill , who revealed that , as a transgender woman , she is already planning to leave her Ohio home and move to Canada with her Canadian partner and children .
Many of the conditions that Tannehill warns about already exist throughout the world .
In @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Hindu supremacist government has come to power , with Prime Minister Narendra Modi currently trying to enact anti-Muslim and anti-transgender immigration legislation and pass citizenship laws that would allow the government to reclassify potentially hundreds of millions of Indians as illegal aliens .
The NRC law , as it is called , has already been implemented in the northeastern state of Assam , where nearly two million people ( more than half of them Muslim ) , have been declared illegal .
The government is currently building a huge network of concentration camps @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , after what its Human Rights Chief called “ decades of sustained and unrestrained anti-foreigner abuse , misinformation and distortion , ” the United Nations has urged the British government to tackle the open hate speech of tabloid newspapers , comparing their rhetoric to Nazi media coverage of Jews in the 1930s .
The government has failed to act .
Indeed , populists like Nigel Farage and Prime Minister Boris Johnson have risen to prominence precisely by echoing media attacks on and demonization of foreigners , particularly Muslims .
Meanwhile , in much @ @ @ @ @ @ @ now tell pollsters that they see Muslims unfavorably .
Tannehill singles out the U.K. , Hungary and Poland as particularly worrying cases .
Closer to home , Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was elected into office promising to kill anyone he deemed a leftist : “ These red outlaws will be banished from our homeland .
It will be a cleanup the likes of which has never been seen in Brazilian history…Either they go overseas , or they go to jail , ” he said – an ominous threat , considering the country ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ also constantly defames LGBT people , and last week his government charged American journalist Glenn Greenwald , possibly the country ’ s most prominent gay person , with cybercrimes , widely seen as a politically motivated retaliation .
In decaying and collapsing societies that are on the verge of violence , writer and journalist Chris Hedges argues that much of the population descends into magical thinking , believing in conspiracy theories and stories of past greatness .
This is already happening in much of the world ; a 2018 poll found that 41 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of British people supporting Brexit believed that governments in both countries were secretly trying to make them Muslim-majority states through rampant immigration .
Trump was elected on a promise to make America great again , a phrase that anti-racist educator Tim Wise argues sounds more like a threat than a promise to many Americans .
Tannehill concluded by saying , “ Are you worried yet ?
You probably should be .
Because I am very , very worried .
I am not saying it will definitely happen , but the necessary conditions are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ events are in motion.
” Feature photo | A woman holds a protest image as she takes part in a demonstration march against President Donald Trump ’ s Muslim ban , Feb. 4 , 2017 .
Matt Dunham | 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 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The Grayzone , Jacobin Magazine , Common Dreams the American Herald Tribune and The Canary .

Writer, scholar and activist Brynn Tannehill came out to say that the United States, particularly under the Trump administration, is already several steps down the path towards committing genocide against certain segments of the population. In a viral tweetstorm, the navy veteran and former defense analyst claimed that immigrants, Muslims, the homeless and transgender people are most at risk, noting that India, Brazil and much of Europe are moving in a similar direction.
Tannehill, who studied genocides for her Ph.D., noted that they “rarely go from zero to all out slaughter in the blink of an eye.” Instead, preparations begin sometimes years in advance, slowly moving the population to the point of acceptance or support for an all out crackdown on demonized populations.
First, there’s the propaganda, supported by things like government reporting of the crimes committed by the people they target,” she said, “then there’s public safety measures. Removing them from the military, and from federal service. Revoking clearances. Egging on stochastic intimidation and violence and failing to prosecute people who commit it.”
With clear allusions to Trump’s Muslim ban and transgender bathroom laws, Tannehill states that revoking a targeted population’s civil rights often follows, establishing them as “lesser to the others being a key step towards what comes next. If the government, she asked, “went full Nazi on trans people, would the American population as a whole rise up? How about immigrants? Muslims?… The answer clearly seems to be almost certainly not,” she said.
I study genocide. It's been a theme in my academic endeavours for nearly 30 years. More accurately, I study the conditions in the lead up to genocide, be they cultural, social, political, economic, etc… 1/n — Brynn Tannehill (@BrynnTannehill) January 23, 2020
However, Tannehill was at pains to stress that not every, nor even most, genocide ends in Nazi-style death camps, but that, studying the history of events like those in Rwanda, the Ottoman Empire, Darfur or Myanmar, there are “common themes and patterns” that emerge.
“Usually it happens in an economically distressed country with falling standards of living for most people,” she said, laying out a checklist of common steps towards mass killings which include:
Demonizing government propaganda,
The creation of a mythological past free of targeted minorities,
Populist government,
A breakdown of democratic norms,
A politicized court beholden to a party or leader,
The removal of a minority from federal service,
Legalizing a minority’s second class status,
Stochastically encouraging violence,
Preventing access to healthcare and other services to said minority,
Mandatory segregation,
Requiring minorities to publicly identify themselves,
Random arrests and indefinite detentions in black hole sites,
Testing to see foreign governments’ reactions to violence against a minority,
Groups fleeing the country
Generally, those enacting this legislation are populists who push an “us vs. them” narrative against those they deem inferior, blaming them for the country’s poor economic state while promising to bring the country back to a mythical past of strength and respect. The “others” are defamed as criminals, terrorists, degenerates or threats to society. If this sounds familiar to you, then you are in the same boat as Tannehill, who revealed that, as a transgender woman, she is already planning to leave her Ohio home and move to Canada with her Canadian partner and children.
Laying the groundwork for genocide
Many of the conditions that Tannehill warns about already exist throughout the world. In India, for example, an openly Hindu supremacist government has come to power, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi currently trying to enact anti-Muslim and anti-transgender immigration legislation and pass citizenship laws that would allow the government to reclassify potentially hundreds of millions of Indians as illegal aliens. The NRC law, as it is called, has already been implemented in the northeastern state of Assam, where nearly two million people (more than half of them Muslim), have been declared illegal. The government is currently building a huge network of concentration camps to house them.
In the U.K., after what its Human Rights Chief called “decades of sustained and unrestrained anti-foreigner abuse, misinformation and distortion,” the United Nations has urged the British government to tackle the open hate speech of tabloid newspapers, comparing their rhetoric to Nazi media coverage of Jews in the 1930s. The government has failed to act. Indeed, populists like Nigel Farage and Prime Minister Boris Johnson have risen to prominence precisely by echoing media attacks on and demonization of foreigners, particularly Muslims. Meanwhile, in much of Europe, majorities of the population now tell pollsters that they see Muslims unfavorably. Tannehill singles out the U.K., Hungary and Poland as particularly worrying cases.
Closer to home, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was elected into office promising to kill anyone he deemed a leftist: “These red outlaws will be banished from our homeland. It will be a cleanup the likes of which has never been seen in Brazilian history…Either they go overseas, or they go to jail,” he said – an ominous threat, considering the country’s history of fascist rule. Bolsonaro also constantly defames LGBT people, and last week his government charged American journalist Glenn Greenwald, possibly the country’s most prominent gay person, with cybercrimes, widely seen as a politically motivated retaliation.
In decaying and collapsing societies that are on the verge of violence, writer and journalist Chris Hedges argues that much of the population descends into magical thinking, believing in conspiracy theories and stories of past greatness. This is already happening in much of the world; a 2018 poll found that 41 percent of Trump voters and 31 percent of British people supporting Brexit believed that governments in both countries were secretly trying to make them Muslim-majority states through rampant immigration. Trump was elected on a promise to make America great again, a phrase that anti-racist educator Tim Wise argues sounds more like a threat than a promise to many Americans.
Tannehill concluded by saying, “Are you worried yet? You probably should be. Because I am very, very worried. I am not saying it will definitely happen, but the necessary conditions are there, and many of the precursor events are in motion.”
Feature photo | A woman holds a protest image as she takes part in a demonstration march against President Donald Trump’s Muslim ban, Feb. 4, 2017. Matt Dunham | 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--2020-01-27--Yemen: Saudi Coalition Claims ‘Tactical Withdrawal” After Houthi Forces Retake Key Province

MARIB , YEMEN — The Saudi-led Coalition escalated its military operations in Yemen over the weekend , targeting Nihm , Jawf , Marib and Bayda with a barrage of indiscriminate airstrikes that left tens of civilians dead and caused a new wave of displacement .
On Thursday , the coalition and its allies launched a new military campaign against the Nihm District , 25 miles east of Yemen ’ s capital , Sana ’ a .
The attack came just hours after Mahdi al-Mashat , Ansar Allah ’ s ( the Houthis ’ political bloc ) president of the Supreme @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Sana ’ a met with the EU , French and Dutch ambassadors to Yemen .
The coalition claims that its military operations came in retaliation for a missile attack on an army base in Marib that killed over 100 coalition soldiers over the weekend .
The Houthis , who generally take responsibility for attacks on the coalition , have denied they were involved in the attack , while many Yemenis , including those that support the Saudi-led Coalition , have accused the United Arab Emirates ( UAE ) of being behind the bombing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the leading partner to Saudi Arabia in the coalition , the UAE and Saudi governments have increasingly been at loggerheads over their conflicting interests in Yemen , conflicts that have , in the past , ended in violence .
During a meeting with UN Envoy to Yemen , Martin Griffiths , al-Mashad warned that the recent escalation , will , if it continues , end ongoing peace initiatives and lead to dangerous results in light of the changes in the region .
On Friday night , backed by heavy artillery , Yemen ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ offensive in concert with residents in Nihm .
Al-Mashat ’ s peace initiative , which followed attacks on two Saudi Arabia oil facilities in Abqaiq and Khurais , saw an end to all retaliatory missile and drone attacks against the Saudi monarchy by Houthi forces .
Al-Sheik Yayah al-Raie , the head of parliament , said that Al-Mashat faces enormous public pressure over his initiative to stop retaliatory attacks against the coalition while Saudi jets continue to bomb Yemen daily without response .
On Sunday , the ambassadors of the United States , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ warned in a joint statement against the recent military escalation , saying that it has led to the killing of civilians and the displacement of families .
The statement warned of what it described as a “ decline in progress made in stopping the escalation.
” “ The hard-earned progress that Yemen has made on de-escalation is very fragile .
Such actions can derail this progress , ” UN envoy to Yemen , Martin Griffiths said , urging both sides to “ redirect efforts from the battlefield to political dialogue.
” EU foreign @ @ @ @ @ @ @ statement late Sunday that “ all parties should show restraint and engage constructively with the UN Special Envoy to end the conflict.
” “ The EU , ” Stano said , “ will continue supporting the UN in achieving this with all the tools at its disposal.
” The battle for Nihm , the gateway to Sana ’ a Nihm lies just east of Yemen ’ s Houthi-held capital Sana ’ a and is one of the most strategically important battlefields in Yemen .
Saudi Arabia has thus far relied on heavy bombing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for the advance of heavily armored mechanized ground units .
By nightfall last Thursday , the noise of Saudi Apache helicopters , artillery and gunfire echoed throughout the city .
However , Yemen ’ s Army , loyal to the Houthis , has gained ground in the district where rugged mountains make it difficult for even the most technologically proficient armies to make progress .
Now , the whole region , which spans over nearly 1,900 miles , remains under Houthi control , assuring that the key gateway to the capital is fully @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have been captured and 400 have been killed according to Houthi military sources .
The past weeks have seen the intensity of the battles near Nihm increase .
According to Houthi officials , besieged forces have withdrawn and others have surrendered .
By the early morning hours of Friday , they announced full control of the Nihm front , ending one of the most extended rounds of conflict with Saudi forces , as well as securing one of the most dangerous fronts near the capital , Sana ’ a .
By Sunday , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ eastern Al-Jawf junction , cutting the supply lines to Saudi-backed militias from the town of Marib , the stronghold of the Muslim Brotherhood-linked Islah Party .
Now , Houthi forces and their allies are fighting on the outskirts of Marib after capturing a number of villages , including Mafrag al-Jawf and Serwah , both under coalition control for four years .
Houthi leader Mohammed al-Houthi confirmed in a tweet that the army “ achieved a great victory against coalition fighters on the most important front in Sanaa , ” in reference to Nihm @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the International Crisis Group said the “ Houthis appeared to be making the biggest gains on the battlefield.
” The think-tank warned that if the renewed fighting spread , it would represent “ a devastating blow to current efforts to end the war.
” The advance came despite extensive airstrikes by Saudi coalition warplanes supporting their fighters on the ground amid a mass offensive against the Houthis .
On Sunday , activists released a video showing several of the top military commanders of the Houthi-allied Yemeni army visiting military sites in Jawf @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Abu Ali al-Hakim , Chief of Military Intelligence , touring sites in the Nihm , Majzar and Marib districts .
Marib tribesmen , who see the Houthi routing of Saudi forces as a victory , held a meeting in Sana ’ a calling on the leaders of the Islah party to call upon their fighters to safely exit from the region .
They also called on Saudi-backed militias to leave the Marib Province and hand over all the directorates to their residents peacefully , promising to expel them by force if they refused @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the face of the Houthi advance a “ tactical withdrawal ” amid scathing criticism and sarcasm by activists and media pundits who are expressing concerns over what they consider a rolling back of five years of coalition operations .
Feature photo | Houthi fighters gather during a mobilization of allied troops near Sana ’ a , Yemen , Aug. 1 , 2019 .
Hani Mohammed | AP Ahmed AbdulKareem is a Yemeni journalist .
He covers the war in Yemen for MintPress News as well as local Yemeni media .

MARIB, YEMEN — The Saudi-led Coalition escalated its military operations in Yemen over the weekend, targeting Nihm, Jawf, Marib and Bayda with a barrage of indiscriminate airstrikes that left tens of civilians dead and caused a new wave of displacement.
On Thursday, the coalition and its allies launched a new military campaign against the Nihm District, 25 miles east of Yemen’s capital, Sana’a. The attack came just hours after Mahdi al-Mashat, Ansar Allah’s (the Houthis’ political bloc) president of the Supreme Political Council and other officials in the Sana’a met with the EU, French and Dutch ambassadors to Yemen.
The coalition claims that its military operations came in retaliation for a missile attack on an army base in Marib that killed over 100 coalition soldiers over the weekend. The Houthis, who generally take responsibility for attacks on the coalition, have denied they were involved in the attack, while many Yemenis, including those that support the Saudi-led Coalition, have accused the United Arab Emirates (UAE) of being behind the bombing in Marib. While the UAE is the leading partner to Saudi Arabia in the coalition, the UAE and Saudi governments have increasingly been at loggerheads over their conflicting interests in Yemen, conflicts that have, in the past, ended in violence.
During a meeting with UN Envoy to Yemen, Martin Griffiths, al-Mashad warned that the recent escalation, will, if it continues, end ongoing peace initiatives and lead to dangerous results in light of the changes in the region. On Friday night, backed by heavy artillery, Yemen’s pro-Houthi armed forces began a long-awaited offensive in concert with residents in Nihm.
Al-Mashat’s peace initiative, which followed attacks on two Saudi Arabia oil facilities in Abqaiq and Khurais, saw an end to all retaliatory missile and drone attacks against the Saudi monarchy by Houthi forces. Al-Sheik Yayah al-Raie, the head of parliament, said that Al-Mashat faces enormous public pressure over his initiative to stop retaliatory attacks against the coalition while Saudi jets continue to bomb Yemen daily without response.
On Sunday, the ambassadors of the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom and France warned in a joint statement against the recent military escalation, saying that it has led to the killing of civilians and the displacement of families. The statement warned of what it described as a “decline in progress made in stopping the escalation.”
“The hard-earned progress that Yemen has made on de-escalation is very fragile. Such actions can derail this progress,” UN envoy to Yemen, Martin Griffiths said, urging both sides to “redirect efforts from the battlefield to political dialogue.”
EU foreign policy spokesman Peter Stano said in a statement late Sunday that “all parties should show restraint and engage constructively with the UN Special Envoy to end the conflict.” “The EU,” Stano said, “will continue supporting the UN in achieving this with all the tools at its disposal.”
The battle for Nihm, the gateway to Sana’a
Nihm lies just east of Yemen’s Houthi-held capital Sana’a and is one of the most strategically important battlefields in Yemen. Saudi Arabia has thus far relied on heavy bombing of the city to pave the way for the advance of heavily armored mechanized ground units. By nightfall last Thursday, the noise of Saudi Apache helicopters, artillery and gunfire echoed throughout the city.
However, Yemen’s Army, loyal to the Houthis, has gained ground in the district where rugged mountains make it difficult for even the most technologically proficient armies to make progress. Now, the whole region, which spans over nearly 1,900 miles, remains under Houthi control, assuring that the key gateway to the capital is fully secured. At least 2,000 coalition fighters have been captured and 400 have been killed according to Houthi military sources.
The past weeks have seen the intensity of the battles near Nihm increase. According to Houthi officials, besieged forces have withdrawn and others have surrendered. By the early morning hours of Friday, they announced full control of the Nihm front, ending one of the most extended rounds of conflict with Saudi forces, as well as securing one of the most dangerous fronts near the capital, Sana’a.
By Sunday, Houthi units circumvented the front towards the eastern Al-Jawf junction, cutting the supply lines to Saudi-backed militias from the town of Marib, the stronghold of the Muslim Brotherhood-linked Islah Party.
Now, Houthi forces and their allies are fighting on the outskirts of Marib after capturing a number of villages, including Mafrag al-Jawf and Serwah, both under coalition control for four years. Houthi leader Mohammed al-Houthi confirmed in a tweet that the army “achieved a great victory against coalition fighters on the most important front in Sanaa,” in reference to Nihm front.”
In a report published Friday, the International Crisis Group said the “Houthis appeared to be making the biggest gains on the battlefield.” The think-tank warned that if the renewed fighting spread, it would represent “a devastating blow to current efforts to end the war.” The advance came despite extensive airstrikes by Saudi coalition warplanes supporting their fighters on the ground amid a mass offensive against the Houthis.
On Sunday, activists released a video showing several of the top military commanders of the Houthi-allied Yemeni army visiting military sites in Jawf province. The footage showed Maj. Gen. Abu Ali al-Hakim, Chief of Military Intelligence, touring sites in the Nihm, Majzar and Marib districts.
Marib tribesmen, who see the Houthi routing of Saudi forces as a victory, held a meeting in Sana’a calling on the leaders of the Islah party to call upon their fighters to safely exit from the region. They also called on Saudi-backed militias to leave the Marib Province and hand over all the directorates to their residents peacefully, promising to expel them by force if they refused.
Saudi forces have called their defeat in the face of the Houthi advance a “tactical withdrawal” amid scathing criticism and sarcasm by activists and media pundits who are expressing concerns over what they consider a rolling back of five years of coalition operations.
Feature photo | Houthi fighters gather during a mobilization of allied troops near Sana’a, Yemen, Aug. 1, 2019. Hani Mohammed | AP
Ahmed AbdulKareem is a Yemeni journalist. He covers the war in Yemen for MintPress News as well as local Yemeni media.


mintpressnews--2020-01-27--Israel’s Auschwitz Commemoration: A Kidnapping of Jewish history

As world leaders gathered in Jerusalem to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp , Zochrot , an Israeli NGO that works to raise awareness among Israeli Jews of the injustices faced by Palestinians , posted a comment on their Facebook page .
The post , written in Hebrew , reminded visiting world leaders that the Israeli Holocaust Museum , Yad Vashem , was built on a hill once called Hirbet Elhamame in Arabic .
Zochrot pointed out that Mount Hertzel , where the Israeli National Cemetary now sits and where Zionist dignitaries are buried @ @ @ @ @ @ @ called Jabal Elsharfa .
Both hills belonged to the Palestinian communities that resided in the area for generations until they were brutally forced to leave by invading Zionist colonizers .
Palestinians , once the owners of the lands that span those hills , are now banned from returning .
They were never compensated for their loss , or for the chilling brutality they endured .
In its post , Zochrot asks world leaders whether those Palestinians will also be remembered during their visit to the Holocaust Museum .
From the balcony of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ look to the north and can see the remnants of what was once a Palestinian village .
On April 9 , 1948 , that village was attacked and destroyed .
Countless residents were massacred and untold numbers of men , women and children were forced to flee .
The name of that village was Deir Yassin .
The notorious brutality of what came to be known as the Deir Yassin massacre went on for days and was committed by invading Zionists only three years after Auschwitz was liberated by the Russain army .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Israeli Minister of Defense , shows him on BBC debating Palestinian lawyer Diana Buttu .
In the clip , Bennett claimed that for the past 71 years Palestinians have done nothing but victimize themselves .
He stated that while Jews had risen from the Holocaust and created a country , then went on to invent computer chips and cherry tomatoes , Palestinians invented terrorism .
The claim is typical of the racism that pervades Zionist ideology and shows more ignorance than anything else .
Since Bennett , in his ignorance , has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they must not exist .
Bennet ’ s claim , however reductive and hateful it may be , needs to be dissected .
He says , effectively , that Jews suffered a tragedy and then built Israel and achieved great things while Palestinians do nothing but complain .
The truth is that Jews did experience horrific suffering during the Holocaust and that Zionists in Palestine inflicted horrific suffering on the Palestinians , and they continue to do so to this day .
In spite of the genocide , ethnic cleansing and apartheid that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ years , they have managed to make enormous contributions in almost every field imaginable .
While Israel perfected the art of murder by inventing weapons that are so cruel and unusual that their use violates international law , the Palestinian diaspora has prospered and contributes to its host communities around the world .
Few Israelis know this and why should they ?
One can hardly find a book by or about Palestinians in Israeli bookstores .
Outside of Israel , however , it is well known that some of the finest intellectuals , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ known are Palestinian .
The list includes respected luminaries like Dr. Walid Khalidi , Dr. Edward Said , May Ziadeh and Ghada Karmi .
It includes writers like Susan Abulhawa , Ibrahim Nasrallah and Ghassan Kanafani , poets like Fadwa Tuqan , Mahmoud Darwish and Taha Mohammad Ali .
It includes many of the engineers and architects who built the Gulf states and some of the finest doctors working in Israeli hospitals .
The Jewish communities ’ ability to recover after the Holocaust has nothing to do with Israel .
The fact that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ communities in Europe , in the United States , and elsewhere and to gain rights and flourish in the countries of the world is indeed remarkable .
After visiting the Ultra Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods of upstate New York in early February , I wrote about the experience of seeing a community reborn .
I watched thousands of young Ultra Orthodox Jewish children run to school in the morning , dressed as their grandparents had before the Holocaust , to receive a Jewish education just as their forefathers had .
This community was built @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Auschwitz who were determined to recreate the flourishing Jewish communities that existed in eastern Europe before they were destroyed by the Nazis .
Furthermore , many , if not most of these communities , have openly rejected Zionism and the State of Israel .
Bennett is an excellent spokesman as long as his audience is ignorant .
His attempts to falsify history work wonderfully with an audience that is uninformed .
Holding Palestinians responsible for terrorism , claiming they invented suicide terrorists , is a popular trope among those willing to fall prey @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The truth , however , is that there is , and never was , such a thing as Palestinian terrorism .
Palestinians have always fought for their freedom and justice and they used whatever scant means were available to them to do so .
Terrorism was brought to Palestine by its Zionist colonizers and they have used it to achieve their goals for over one hundred years .
Today , with the advent of modern weapons systems , many developed by Israeli arms manufacturers , the casualty count and the number of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ than ever before .
Today ’ s Zionists have kidnapped our Jewish history and made it their own .
They have added elements from outside the bounds of history , elements to which there is no scientific or historical proof , and that are mixed with a version of history that is being used to create a myth to sell to the world .
The Zionist myth is one so romantic and heroic and biblical sounding that no one dares question it .
Where they crossed the line is with the Holocaust .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ indeed all governments , accept their version of history while ignoring the fact that even as the Holocaust was taking place , Zionists were engaged in the ethnic cleansing and genocide of the Palestinian people .
The Holocaust should not be commemorated in Israeli museums and institutions .
It must be commemorated where it took place .
Those who wish to commemorate the Holocaust should travel to Europe and walk the hallow grounds where millions were killed .
See the train tracks , the mass graves , the ruined synagogues and then swear @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it never happens again .
Swear to see to it that minorities , refugees and all those who are disenfranchised , are lifted and protected .
Commemorating the Holocaust in Palestine is wrong , especially as one can still see the remains of Deir Yasin from Israel ’ s Holocaust Museum .
Feature photo | World leaders pose for a photo during the World Holocaust Forum in Jerusalem , Jan. 23 , 2020 .
Abir Sultan | Pool Photo via AP Miko Peled is an author and human rights activist born in Jerusalem @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The General ’ s Son .
Journey of an Israeli in Palestine , ” and “ Injustice , the Story of the Holy Land Foundation Five .
”

As world leaders gathered in Jerusalem to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp, Zochrot, an Israeli NGO that works to raise awareness among Israeli Jews of the injustices faced by Palestinians, posted a comment on their Facebook page. The post, written in Hebrew, reminded visiting world leaders that the Israeli Holocaust Museum, Yad Vashem, was built on a hill once called Hirbet Elhamame in Arabic. Zochrot pointed out that Mount Hertzel, where the Israeli National Cemetary now sits and where Zionist dignitaries are buried, was built on a hill once called Jabal Elsharfa. Both hills belonged to the Palestinian communities that resided in the area for generations until they were brutally forced to leave by invading Zionist colonizers.
Palestinians, once the owners of the lands that span those hills, are now banned from returning. They were never compensated for their loss, or for the chilling brutality they endured. In its post, Zochrot asks world leaders whether those Palestinians will also be remembered during their visit to the Holocaust Museum.
From the balcony of the museum, Zochrot continues, one can look to the north and can see the remnants of what was once a Palestinian village. On April 9, 1948, that village was attacked and destroyed. Countless residents were massacred and untold numbers of men, women and children were forced to flee. The name of that village was Deir Yassin. The notorious brutality of what came to be known as the Deir Yassin massacre went on for days and was committed by invading Zionists only three years after Auschwitz was liberated by the Russain army.
Cheap lies and demagogues
A tweet posted by Naftali Bennett, the Israeli Minister of Defense, shows him on BBC debating Palestinian lawyer Diana Buttu. In the clip, Bennett claimed that for the past 71 years Palestinians have done nothing but victimize themselves. He stated that while Jews had risen from the Holocaust and created a country, then went on to invent computer chips and cherry tomatoes, Palestinians invented terrorism. The claim is typical of the racism that pervades Zionist ideology and shows more ignorance than anything else. Since Bennett, in his ignorance, has not heard of any Palestinian achievements, they must not exist.
Bennet’s claim, however reductive and hateful it may be, needs to be dissected. He says, effectively, that Jews suffered a tragedy and then built Israel and achieved great things while Palestinians do nothing but complain. The truth is that Jews did experience horrific suffering during the Holocaust and that Zionists in Palestine inflicted horrific suffering on the Palestinians, and they continue to do so to this day.
In spite of the genocide, ethnic cleansing and apartheid that Palestinians have endured for over one hundred years, they have managed to make enormous contributions in almost every field imaginable. While Israel perfected the art of murder by inventing weapons that are so cruel and unusual that their use violates international law, the Palestinian diaspora has prospered and contributes to its host communities around the world.
Few Israelis know this and why should they? One can hardly find a book by or about Palestinians in Israeli bookstores. Outside of Israel, however, it is well known that some of the finest intellectuals, writers, and poets the world has known are Palestinian. The list includes respected luminaries like Dr. Walid Khalidi, Dr. Edward Said, May Ziadeh and Ghada Karmi. It includes writers like Susan Abulhawa, Ibrahim Nasrallah and Ghassan Kanafani, poets like Fadwa Tuqan, Mahmoud Darwish and Taha Mohammad Ali. It includes many of the engineers and architects who built the Gulf states and some of the finest doctors working in Israeli hospitals.
Rising from the Holocaust
The Jewish communities’ ability to recover after the Holocaust has nothing to do with Israel. The fact that Jewish people were able to rebuild their communities in Europe, in the United States, and elsewhere and to gain rights and flourish in the countries of the world is indeed remarkable.
After visiting the Ultra Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods of upstate New York in early February, I wrote about the experience of seeing a community reborn. I watched thousands of young Ultra Orthodox Jewish children run to school in the morning, dressed as their grandparents had before the Holocaust, to receive a Jewish education just as their forefathers had.
This community was built mostly by Hungarian Jews, survivors of Auschwitz who were determined to recreate the flourishing Jewish communities that existed in eastern Europe before they were destroyed by the Nazis. Furthermore, many, if not most of these communities, have openly rejected Zionism and the State of Israel.
Inventing terrorism
Bennett is an excellent spokesman as long as his audience is ignorant. His attempts to falsify history work wonderfully with an audience that is uninformed. Holding Palestinians responsible for terrorism, claiming they invented suicide terrorists, is a popular trope among those willing to fall prey to the cheap demagoguery of racist politicians. The truth, however, is that there is, and never was, such a thing as Palestinian terrorism.
Palestinians have always fought for their freedom and justice and they used whatever scant means were available to them to do so. Terrorism was brought to Palestine by its Zionist colonizers and they have used it to achieve their goals for over one hundred years. Today, with the advent of modern weapons systems, many developed by Israeli arms manufacturers, the casualty count and the number of injuries from Israeli state terrorism is higher than ever before.
The kidnapping of Jewish history
Today’s Zionists have kidnapped our Jewish history and made it their own. They have added elements from outside the bounds of history, elements to which there is no scientific or historical proof, and that are mixed with a version of history that is being used to create a myth to sell to the world. The Zionist myth is one so romantic and heroic and biblical sounding that no one dares question it.
Where they crossed the line is with the Holocaust. Israel demands that all people, and indeed all governments, accept their version of history while ignoring the fact that even as the Holocaust was taking place, Zionists were engaged in the ethnic cleansing and genocide of the Palestinian people.
The Holocaust should not be commemorated in Israeli museums and institutions. It must be commemorated where it took place. Those who wish to commemorate the Holocaust should travel to Europe and walk the hallow grounds where millions were killed. See the train tracks, the mass graves, the ruined synagogues and then swear to do whatever it takes so that it never happens again. Swear to see to it that minorities, refugees and all those who are disenfranchised, are lifted and protected. Commemorating the Holocaust in Palestine is wrong, especially as one can still see the remains of Deir Yasin from Israel’s Holocaust Museum.
Feature photo | World leaders pose for a photo during the World Holocaust Forum in Jerusalem, Jan. 23, 2020. Abir Sultan | Pool Photo via AP
Miko Peled is an author and human rights activist born in Jerusalem. He is the author of “The General’s Son. Journey of an Israeli in Palestine,” and “Injustice, the Story of the Holy Land Foundation Five.”