mintpressnews--2020-07-07--Revealed: Saudi Arabia Tripled its Theft of Yemen’s Oil amid Price War with Russia

MARIB , YEMEN — Saudi Arabia possesses around 18 percent of the world ’ s petroleum reserves .
That fact though has done little to stifle the Kingdom ’ s apparent appetite for new sources of crude .
Now , following over five years of all-out war against its southern neighbor , Saudi Arabia is scrambling to secure rights over Yemen ’ s potentially bountiful reserves of oil .
Aramco , Saudi Arabia ’ s state-owned oil company , is seeking decades-long strategic agreements with the internationally recognized government in exile of Abdul Mansour al-Hadi , which is backed by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , to gain control of Yemen substantial oil and gas reserves , particularly in the oil-rich provinces of al-Jawf , Marib , Shabwa , and Hadramout , according to officials .
The move could inflame enough anger among Yemen ’ s many warring and fractious parties to band together against what is increasingly viewed as an existential threat to Yemen ’ s sovereignty .
Officials in Yemen ’ s state-owned oil and gas company , known globally as Safer , as well as members of the transitional Hadi government who spoke on condition @ @ @ @ @ @ @ revealed to MintPress that negotiations are already taking place between Saudi Arabia and its allies with officials in Yemen ’ s ministry of oil and Safer to reach an agreement that would ostensibly hand control of much of Yemen ’ s oil and gas reserves to Saudi Arabia for decades to come .
A number of meetings have already taken place between high-ranking Saudi officials , including Saudi ambassador to Yemen Mohammed Al-Jaber and officials from Aramco , and Yemeni leaders , including interim vice president of the transitional government Ali Hussen al-Ahmer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and officials from both Safer and Yemen ’ s Ministry of Oil .
Negotiators from French oil company TOTAL reportedly attended some of the meetings held in Marib , al-Mahrah , and the Saudi capital of Riyadh .
According to a source in Yemen ’ s transitional government , Saudi Arabia is seeking long-term lease agreements over the much of country ’ s oil reserves , particularly in what some officials have called “ the oil triangle , ” an area between al-Jawf and Marib provinces .
Under the agreement , Saudi Arabia @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s oil reserves and retain the profits from the sale of said oil in exchange for an annual remittance that would be paid by Aramco to certain members of the Yemeni government .
The agreement stipulates that the payments are only required if the government remains friendly to Saudi Arabia .
Jalal al-Salahi , a Yemeni activist known to have close ties to decision-makers in the transitional government , recently released a video in which he claimed to be in possession of a draft document of an oil agreement between Saudi Arabia and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has already garnered nearly 90,000 views since it was published to YouTube on July 4 , Al-Salah said the document shows that the Saudi government is to pay $ 15 billion to certain Yemeni officials in return for seventy years of oil concessions in al-Jawf .
Sources in Yemen ’ s transitional government refused to deny or confirm the authenticity of the document but told MintPress that some of the claims being made on social media are true without specifying which ones .
According to official sources , under the Saudi deal , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to what the Kingdom calls “ Yemen ’ s debts and reconstruction.
” Saudi Arabia , one of the world ’ s most repressive monarchies and wealthiest countries , launched a U.S.-backed scorched-earth campaign against its southern neighbor under the auspices of restoring the government of ousted President Hadi to power and is now pushing , along with the UAE , for Yemenis to compensate the Saudi-led coalition for the war it has waged on their country .
Negotiations to wrest long-term de facto control over Yemen ostensibly began in 2019 and have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ according to a source close to the negotiations .
In fact , Riyadh has kept high-level officials in the Hadi government , including Hadi himself as well as Yemen ’ s members of parliament , under house arrest in Saudi Arabia .
Yemeni officials that have been allowed to stay in Yemen are confined to coalition-controlled areas and can not leave the country without permission from Riyadh and Abu Dubai .
The potential Saudi move is not without precedent .
Saudi Arabia has been securing its objectives in Yemen by enabling its allies @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in exchange for profitable long-term agreements for years .
Yemen ’ s history is rife with these sorts of long-term agreements , including the Treaty of Taif signed in 1934 between the emerging Saudi state and the Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen , which handed Saudi Arabia control over the former Yemeni provinces of Jizan , Najran , and Asir .
Saudi forces and Yemeni tribal leaders with Saudi nationality , along with allied mercenary forces , have been blocking domestic oil exploration in al-Jawf since the war began and it is an open @ @ @ @ @ @ @ officials to keep them from drilling and exploration activities in the area .
In fact , just last week Saudi armored vehicles crossed the border to bury a well that had been dug for water by Yemen ’ s 1st Brigade Border Guards , apparently fearing they could be covertly drilling for oil .
Saudi Arabia , supported by the United States , has been preventing Yemen from capitalizing its own oil reserves since the 1970s , particularly in the al-Jawf Province which holds most of the country ’ s reserves and enjoys @ @ @ @ @ @ @ two oil-rich regions of Saudi Arabia .
It was about 9:20 a.m. at the Block 18 oil field in Marib , Yemen when H.A.Y.K.
, an oil tanker driver who wished to be identified only by his initials , put his hand in his pocket to make sure that his recently acquired “ official permit ” to cross the Saudi border was where it was supposed to be .
H.A.Y.K .
was not alone , eight drivers had gotten into their trucks that morning and started their engines in preparation for the journey @ @ @ @ @ @ @ convoy lurched ahead and was soon inside Saudi territory accompanied by at least six armored Toyota Land Cruisers from the Coalition-backed Al-Abra Military Brigade and laden with a shipment of crude oil stolen from Block 18 .
H.A.Y.K told MintPress that after a treacherous drive through Yemen ’ s northeast border region , he crossed the Saudi border into the Bishah District in the southwestern Saudi province of Asir where he unloaded his truck .
Saudi Arabia and UAE are believed to be transferring stolen oil into the Sharq Eaidh desert located between @ @ @ @ @ @ @ then pumped through a pipeline owned by an unidentified Austrian company to the UAE-controlled Al-Nashima Port on the Arabian Sea where it is then transferred to small oil vessels .
The theft of crude has become a daily occurrence in Safer ’ s Blocks 4 , 5 , and 18 , as well as in other oil fields in the province , including the al-Uqlah Block ( S2 ) located in the Marib-Shabwa Basin east of Block 18 .
Thefts have also become prolific in the Shabwa , Hadremout , and al-Mahrah provinces @ @ @ @ @ @ @ trucks crossing the Saudi border tripled in the second week of March when the Saudi-Russia oil price war was at its peak , according to oil engineers and tanker drivers that spoke to MintPress .
This could suggest that Saudi Arabia was likely pumping oil stolen from Yemen into the international market , albeit in small quantities , at a time when losses by oil-producing companies in the U.S. were skyrocketing .
Hedging untapped Yemeni oil reserves would give Saudi Arabia an important advantage in negotiations with competing oil-producing countries like Russia and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and officials who spoke to MintPress , up to 65 percent of Yemen ’ s oil produced since 2015 , when the war began , has been looted by Saudi Arabia , the United Arab Emirates , and international oil companies and some 18-23 percent of crude production , including that produced by Safer and Petrol Masilah , is being looted by tribal leaders and black market traders allied with the Saudi coalition .
Militant groups and tribal factions allied with Saudi Arabia and the UAE in Marib and other eastern provinces , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Transitional Council as well as personnel close to Hadi , including his son Jalal , are all involved in the looting of Yemen ’ s oil and gas and have used heavy equipment belonging to Safer and TOTAL to extract crude oil assisted by engineers from both companies .
MintPress witnessed small bootleg oil refining operations scattered through the Neqm and Shaharh oil fields .
Local residents , as well as oil smugglers , told us that similar machinery could be found throughout Marib , Shabaw , and other districts .
These operations @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by members of the Hadi government as well as local tribal leaders who are stealing crude from fields and pipelines belonging to Safer .
Pipelines are punctured and the crude oil is siphoned off into small and medium trucks and brought to large open storage pits or floor tanks to be refined or sold on the black market .
The financial returns for the plundered oil are not used to invest in Yemen ’ s infrastructure or bolster the local economy to keep the value of the Yemeni Riyal from tanking .
In @ @ @ @ @ @ @ into Yemen ’ s banks , instead going directly into the personal bank accounts of corrupt Saudi-allied officials or to fund infighting between warring militant groups .
Money from plundered Yemeni oil is rumored to have made it into the bank accounts of corrupt officials across the Middle East , and as far off as Turkey .
Ansar Allah leader Abdulmalik al-Houthi said in a televised speech that more than 120 million barrels of crude oil have been looted by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates since 2016 , amounting to nearly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ revenue per month .
Ahmed Daris , Ansar Allah ’ s Sana ’ a-based Minister of Oil , claimed that Saudi Arabia has looted more than 18 million barrels of oil exports in 2018 alone and that the profits from that oil are now in the Saudi National Bank .
According to an official database maintained by the Hadi government , Yemen used to produce some 300-350 thousand barrels of oil per month before 2010 , however , due to Saudi Arabia ’ s active suppression of Yemeni exploration and development of its @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Yemeni crude output has plummeted sharply .
The low point was reached at the end of 2015 after oil fields were closed on Saudi orders .
At the time , Yemeni production hovered around 35,000 barrels per day .
In 2019 , the Yemeni government loyal to Saudi Arabia said that it had managed to bump that number up to some 70,000 barrels per day .
Although these figures are likely inaccurate , as many known oil fields were not included in the official lists of the state and international oil bodies @ @ @ @ @ @ @ been confirmed that Saudi Arabia has deprived Yemen of revenues from the sale of at least 70,000 barrels a day and at least 126,000,000 barrels over the course of five years of war .
That amounts to a total of over six billion dollars based on an average $ 50 per barrel price of oil .
That revenue would have been sufficient to pay the salary of every government employee for at least four years .
Hoping to thwart Saudi ambitions in their oil-rich provinces , some Yemeni tribes have begun an armed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the province , sparking fear among the Kingdom and its allied militants and triggering a cruel campaign against the families of tribes who have announced their opposition to the Saudi Coalition .
Sheikh Mohsen Suba ’ yan was among the tribal leaders opposed to the Saudi regime .
On June 29 , he and six of his relatives were killed when their home was surrounded and burned to the ground .
The completion of any long-term contracts with the internationally-recognized Hadi government is very important for Saudi Arabia as Ansar Allah is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ gaining control of most of al-Jawf .
Just four months ago , Yemeni forces backed by Ansar Allah took control over the rich-oil province of al-Jawf after fierce battles with Saudi forces backed by al-Qaeda and IS militants and supported by American advisers .
Ansar Allah , supported by tribes disenfranchised with de facto Saudi rule , hope to secure the oil for domestic consumption in the country amid an acute fuel crisis that has halted the delivery of much-needed fuel to Yemen .
Feature photo | A Saudi soldier guards a cargo @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Yemen , Feb. 1 , 2018 .
Jon Gambrell | AP Ahmed AbdulKareem is a Yemeni journalist .
He covers the war in Yemen for MintPress News as well as local Yemeni media .

MARIB, YEMEN — Saudi Arabia possesses around 18 percent of the world’s petroleum reserves. That fact though has done little to stifle the Kingdom’s apparent appetite for new sources of crude. Now, following over five years of all-out war against its southern neighbor, Saudi Arabia is scrambling to secure rights over Yemen’s potentially bountiful reserves of oil.
Aramco, Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil company, is seeking decades-long strategic agreements with the internationally recognized government in exile of Abdul Mansour al-Hadi, which is backed by the Saudi-led coalition and the United States, to gain control of Yemen substantial oil and gas reserves, particularly in the oil-rich provinces of al-Jawf, Marib, Shabwa, and Hadramout, according to officials. The move could inflame enough anger among Yemen’s many warring and fractious parties to band together against what is increasingly viewed as an existential threat to Yemen’s sovereignty.
Officials in Yemen’s state-owned oil and gas company, known globally as Safer, as well as members of the transitional Hadi government who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal, revealed to MintPress that negotiations are already taking place between Saudi Arabia and its allies with officials in Yemen’s ministry of oil and Safer to reach an agreement that would ostensibly hand control of much of Yemen’s oil and gas reserves to Saudi Arabia for decades to come.
A number of meetings have already taken place between high-ranking Saudi officials, including Saudi ambassador to Yemen Mohammed Al-Jaber and officials from Aramco, and Yemeni leaders, including interim vice president of the transitional government Ali Hussen al-Ahmer, governor of Marib Sheikh Sultan al-Arada and officials from both Safer and Yemen’s Ministry of Oil. Negotiators from French oil company TOTAL reportedly attended some of the meetings held in Marib, al-Mahrah, and the Saudi capital of Riyadh.
According to a source in Yemen’s transitional government, Saudi Arabia is seeking long-term lease agreements over the much of country’s oil reserves, particularly in what some officials have called “the oil triangle,” an area between al-Jawf and Marib provinces. Under the agreement, Saudi Arabia would be allowed to develop Yemen’s oil reserves and retain the profits from the sale of said oil in exchange for an annual remittance that would be paid by Aramco to certain members of the Yemeni government. The agreement stipulates that the payments are only required if the government remains friendly to Saudi Arabia.
Jalal al-Salahi, a Yemeni activist known to have close ties to decision-makers in the transitional government, recently released a video in which he claimed to be in possession of a draft document of an oil agreement between Saudi Arabia and Yemen. In the video, which has already garnered nearly 90,000 views since it was published to YouTube on July 4, Al-Salah said the document shows that the Saudi government is to pay $15 billion to certain Yemeni officials in return for seventy years of oil concessions in al-Jawf. Sources in Yemen’s transitional government refused to deny or confirm the authenticity of the document but told MintPress that some of the claims being made on social media are true without specifying which ones.
According to official sources, under the Saudi deal, payments would go to a fund restricted to what the Kingdom calls “Yemen’s debts and reconstruction.” Saudi Arabia, one of the world’s most repressive monarchies and wealthiest countries, launched a U.S.-backed scorched-earth campaign against its southern neighbor under the auspices of restoring the government of ousted President Hadi to power and is now pushing, along with the UAE, for Yemenis to compensate the Saudi-led coalition for the war it has waged on their country.
Negotiations to wrest long-term de facto control over Yemen ostensibly began in 2019 and have been marked by Saudi pressure and threats according to a source close to the negotiations. In fact, Riyadh has kept high-level officials in the Hadi government, including Hadi himself as well as Yemen’s members of parliament, under house arrest in Saudi Arabia. Yemeni officials that have been allowed to stay in Yemen are confined to coalition-controlled areas and cannot leave the country without permission from Riyadh and Abu Dubai.
The potential Saudi move is not without precedent. Saudi Arabia has been securing its objectives in Yemen by enabling its allies in the Yemeni government to take power in exchange for profitable long-term agreements for years. Yemen’s history is rife with these sorts of long-term agreements, including the Treaty of Taif signed in 1934 between the emerging Saudi state and the Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen, which handed Saudi Arabia control over the former Yemeni provinces of Jizan, Najran, and Asir.
Saudi forces and Yemeni tribal leaders with Saudi nationality, along with allied mercenary forces, have been blocking domestic oil exploration in al-Jawf since the war began and it is an open secret that Riyadh bribed former Yemeni government officials to keep them from drilling and exploration activities in the area. In fact, just last week Saudi armored vehicles crossed the border to bury a well that had been dug for water by Yemen’s 1st Brigade Border Guards, apparently fearing they could be covertly drilling for oil.
Saudi Arabia, supported by the United States, has been preventing Yemen from capitalizing its own oil reserves since the 1970s, particularly in the al-Jawf Province which holds most of the country’s reserves and enjoys a unique status as a neighbor to two oil-rich regions of Saudi Arabia.
Yemen’s stolen oil
It was about 9:20 a.m. at the Block 18 oil field in Marib, Yemen when H.A.Y.K., an oil tanker driver who wished to be identified only by his initials, put his hand in his pocket to make sure that his recently acquired “official permit” to cross the Saudi border was where it was supposed to be. H.A.Y.K. was not alone, eight drivers had gotten into their trucks that morning and started their engines in preparation for the journey. Minutes later, the crude oil-laden convoy lurched ahead and was soon inside Saudi territory accompanied by at least six armored Toyota Land Cruisers from the Coalition-backed Al-Abra Military Brigade and laden with a shipment of crude oil stolen from Block 18.
H.A.Y.K told MintPress that after a treacherous drive through Yemen’s northeast border region, he crossed the Saudi border into the Bishah District in the southwestern Saudi province of Asir where he unloaded his truck. Saudi Arabia and UAE are believed to be transferring stolen oil into the Sharq Eaidh desert located between Shabwa and Marib provinces. It is then pumped through a pipeline owned by an unidentified Austrian company to the UAE-controlled Al-Nashima Port on the Arabian Sea where it is then transferred to small oil vessels.
The theft of crude has become a daily occurrence in Safer’s Blocks 4, 5, and 18, as well as in other oil fields in the province, including the al-Uqlah Block (S2) located in the Marib-Shabwa Basin east of Block 18. Thefts have also become prolific in the Shabwa, Hadremout, and al-Mahrah provinces.
But the presence of crude oil-filled trucks crossing the Saudi border tripled in the second week of March when the Saudi-Russia oil price war was at its peak, according to oil engineers and tanker drivers that spoke to MintPress. This could suggest that Saudi Arabia was likely pumping oil stolen from Yemen into the international market, albeit in small quantities, at a time when losses by oil-producing companies in the U.S. were skyrocketing. Hedging untapped Yemeni oil reserves would give Saudi Arabia an important advantage in negotiations with competing oil-producing countries like Russia and the United States.
According to economists and officials who spoke to MintPress, up to 65 percent of Yemen’s oil produced since 2015, when the war began, has been looted by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and international oil companies and some 18-23 percent of crude production, including that produced by Safer and Petrol Masilah, is being looted by tribal leaders and black market traders allied with the Saudi coalition.
Militant groups and tribal factions allied with Saudi Arabia and the UAE in Marib and other eastern provinces, particularly the El-Eslah Party and the Southern Transitional Council as well as personnel close to Hadi, including his son Jalal, are all involved in the looting of Yemen’s oil and gas and have used heavy equipment belonging to Safer and TOTAL to extract crude oil assisted by engineers from both companies.
MintPress witnessed small bootleg oil refining operations scattered through the Neqm and Shaharh oil fields. Local residents, as well as oil smugglers, told us that similar machinery could be found throughout Marib, Shabaw, and other districts. These operations, according to witnesses, are owned by members of the Hadi government as well as local tribal leaders who are stealing crude from fields and pipelines belonging to Safer. Pipelines are punctured and the crude oil is siphoned off into small and medium trucks and brought to large open storage pits or floor tanks to be refined or sold on the black market.
The financial returns for the plundered oil are not used to invest in Yemen’s infrastructure or bolster the local economy to keep the value of the Yemeni Riyal from tanking. In fact, they rarely even make it into Yemen’s banks, instead going directly into the personal bank accounts of corrupt Saudi-allied officials or to fund infighting between warring militant groups. Money from plundered Yemeni oil is rumored to have made it into the bank accounts of corrupt officials across the Middle East, and as far off as Turkey.
Ansar Allah leader Abdulmalik al-Houthi said in a televised speech that more than 120 million barrels of crude oil have been looted by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates since 2016, amounting to nearly 80 billion Yemeni Rials worth of lost revenue per month. Ahmed Daris, Ansar Allah’s Sana’a-based Minister of Oil, claimed that Saudi Arabia has looted more than 18 million barrels of oil exports in 2018 alone and that the profits from that oil are now in the Saudi National Bank.
According to an official database maintained by the Hadi government, Yemen used to produce some 300-350 thousand barrels of oil per month before 2010, however, due to Saudi Arabia’s active suppression of Yemeni exploration and development of its oil fields as well as internal conflict, Yemeni crude output has plummeted sharply. The low point was reached at the end of 2015 after oil fields were closed on Saudi orders. At the time, Yemeni production hovered around 35,000 barrels per day. In 2019, the Yemeni government loyal to Saudi Arabia said that it had managed to bump that number up to some 70,000 barrels per day.
Although these figures are likely inaccurate, as many known oil fields were not included in the official lists of the state and international oil bodies such as OPEC, it had long been confirmed that Saudi Arabia has deprived Yemen of revenues from the sale of at least 70,000 barrels a day and at least 126,000,000 barrels over the course of five years of war. That amounts to a total of over six billion dollars based on an average $50 per barrel price of oil. That revenue would have been sufficient to pay the salary of every government employee for at least four years.
The Saudi clock is ticking
Hoping to thwart Saudi ambitions in their oil-rich provinces, some Yemeni tribes have begun an armed uprising against Saudi Arabia and their allies in the province, sparking fear among the Kingdom and its allied militants and triggering a cruel campaign against the families of tribes who have announced their opposition to the Saudi Coalition. Sheikh Mohsen Suba’yan was among the tribal leaders opposed to the Saudi regime. On June 29, he and six of his relatives were killed when their home was surrounded and burned to the ground.
The completion of any long-term contracts with the internationally-recognized Hadi government is very important for Saudi Arabia as Ansar Allah is close to recapturing the Marib Province after gaining control of most of al-Jawf. Just four months ago, Yemeni forces backed by Ansar Allah took control over the rich-oil province of al-Jawf after fierce battles with Saudi forces backed by al-Qaeda and IS militants and supported by American advisers.
Ansar Allah, supported by tribes disenfranchised with de facto Saudi rule, hope to secure the oil for domestic consumption in the country amid an acute fuel crisis that has halted the delivery of much-needed fuel to Yemen.
Feature photo | A Saudi soldier guards a cargo plane at an air base in Marib, Yemen, Feb. 1, 2018. Jon Gambrell | AP
Ahmed AbdulKareem is a Yemeni journalist. He covers the war in Yemen for MintPress News as well as local Yemeni media.


mintpressnews--2020-07-08--On Israel’s Bizarre Definitions: The West Bank is Already Annexed

Wednesday , July 1 , was meant to be the day on which the Israeli government officially annexed 30 % of the occupied Palestinian West Bank and the Jordan Valley .
This date , however , came and went and annexation was never actualized .
“ I don ’ t know if there will be a declaration of sovereignty today , ” said Israeli Foreign Minister , Gabi Ashkenazi , with reference to the self-imposed deadline declared earlier by Israeli Prime Minister , Benjamin Netanyahu .
An alternative date was not immediately announced .
But does it really matter ?
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Palestinian land takes place with massive media fanfare and a declaration of sovereignty , or whether it happens incrementally over the course of the coming days , weeks , and months , Israel has , in reality , already annexed the West Bank – not just 30 % of it but , in fact , the whole area .
It is critical that we understand such terms as ‘ annexation ’ , ‘ illegal ’ , ‘ military occupation ’ , and so on , in their proper contexts .
For example , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s Jewish settlements , constructed anywhere on Palestinian land occupied during the 1967 war , are illegal .
Interestingly , Israel , too , uses the term ‘ illegal ’ with reference to settlements , but only to ‘ outposts ’ that have been erected in the occupied territories without the permission of the Israeli government .
In other words , while in the Israeli lexicon the vast majority of all settlement activities in occupied Palestine are ‘ legal ’ , the rest can only be legalized through official channels .
Indeed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ legal ’ 132 settlements in the West Bank and Jerusalem , housing over half a million Israeli Jewish settlers , began as ‘ illegal outposts ’ .
Though this logic may satisfy the need of the Israeli government to ensure its relentless colonial project in Palestine follows a centralized blueprint , none of this matters in international law .
Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Conventions states that “ Individual or mass forcible transfers , as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory to the territory of the Occupying Power or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ occupied or not , are prohibited , regardless of their motive ” , adding that “ The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.
” Israel has violated its commitment to international law as an ‘ Occupying Power ’ on numerous occasions , rendering its very ‘ occupation ’ of Palestine , itself , a violation of how military occupations are conducted – which are meant to be temporary , anyway .
Military occupation is different from annexation .
The former is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of which the ‘ Occupying Power ’ is expected , in fact , demanded , to relinquish its military hold on the occupied territory after a fixed length of time .
Annexation , on the other hand , is a stark violation of the Geneva Conventions and the Hague Regulations .
It is tantamount to a war crime , for the occupier is strictly prohibited from proclaiming unilateral sovereignty over occupied land .
The international uproar generated by Netanyahu ’ s plan to annex a third of the West Bank is fully understandable @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is that , in practice , Israel ’ s violations of the terms of occupation have granted it a de facto annexation of the whole of the West Bank .
So when the European Union , for example , demands that Israel abandons its annexation plans , it is merely asking Israel to re-embrace the status quo ante , that of de facto annexation .
Both abhorring scenarios should be rejected .
Israel began utilizing the occupied territories as if they are contiguous and permanent parts of so-called Israel proper , immediately following @ @ @ @ @ @ @ few years , it erected illegal settlements , now thriving cities , eventually moving hundreds of thousands of its own citizens to populate the newly acquired areas .
This exploitation became more sophisticated with time , as Palestinians were subjected to slow , but irreversible , ethnic cleansing .
As Palestinian homes were destroyed , farms confiscated , and entire regions depopulated , Jewish settlers moved in to take their place .
The post-1967 scenario was a repeat of the post-1948 history , which led to the establishment of the State of Israel @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Moshe Dayan , who served as Israel ’ s Defense Minister during the 1967 war , explained the Israeli logic best in a historical address at Israel ’ s Technion University in March 1969 .
“ We came to this country which was already populated by Arabs , and we are establishing a Hebrew , that is a Jewish state here , ” he said .
“ Jewish villages were built in the place of Arab villages .
You do not even know the names of these Arab villages , and I do @ @ @ @ @ @ @ books no longer exist ; not only do the books not exist , the Arab villages are not there , either … There is no one place built in this country that did not have a former Arab population , ” he added .
The same colonial approach was applied to East Jerusalem and the West Bank after the war .
While East Jerusalem was formally annexed in 1980 , the West Bank was annexed in practice , but not through a clear legal Israeli proclamation .
Why ?
In one word : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Jerusalem , it went on a population transfer frenzy : moving its own population to the Palestinian city , strategically expanding the municipal boundaries of Jerusalem to include as many Jews and as few Palestinians as possible , slowly reducing the Palestinian population of Al Quds through numerous tactics , including the revocation of residency and outright ethnic cleansing .
And , thus , Jerusalem ’ s Palestinian population , which once constituted the absolute majority , has now been reduced to a dwindling minority .
The same process was initiated in parts @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the relatively large size of the area and population , it was not possible to follow a similar annexation stratagem without jeopardizing Israel ’ s drive to maintain Jewish majority .
Dividing the West Bank into Areas A , B , and C as a result of the disastrous Oslo accords , has given Israel a lifeline , for this allowed it to increase settlement activities in Area C – nearly 60 % of the West Bank – without stressing too much about demographic imbalances .
Area C , where the current @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , is ideal for Israeli colonialism , for it includes Palestine ’ s most arable , resource-rich , and sparsely populated lands .
It matters little whether the annexation will have a set date or will take place progressively through Israel ’ s declarations of sovereignty over smaller chunks of the West Bank in the future .
The fact is , annexation is not a new Israeli political agenda dictated by political circumstances in Tel Aviv and Washington .
Rather , annexation has been the ultimate Israeli colonial objective from the very onset @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Israel ’ s bizarre definitions .
The truth is that Israel rarely behaves as an ‘ Occupying Power ’ , but as a sovereign in a country where racial discrimination and apartheid are not only tolerated or acceptable but are , in fact , ‘ legal ’ as well .
Feature photo | Young Palestinians use a ladder to climb over Israel ’ s apartheid wall in Al-Ram , north of Jerusalem .
Majdi Mohammed | AP Ramzy Baroud is a journalist and the Editor of The Palestine Chronicle .
He is the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is “ These Chains Will Be Broken : Palestinian Stories of Struggle and Defiance in Israeli Prisons ” ( Clarity Press , Atlanta ) .
Dr. Baroud is a Non-resident Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs ( CIGA ) , Istanbul Zaim University ( IZU ) .
His website is www.ramzybaroud.net

Wednesday, July 1, was meant to be the day on which the Israeli government officially annexed 30% of the occupied Palestinian West Bank and the Jordan Valley. This date, however, came and went and annexation was never actualized.
“I don’t know if there will be a declaration of sovereignty today,” said Israeli Foreign Minister, Gabi Ashkenazi, with reference to the self-imposed deadline declared earlier by Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. An alternative date was not immediately announced.
But does it really matter?
Whether Israel’s illegal appropriation of Palestinian land takes place with massive media fanfare and a declaration of sovereignty, or whether it happens incrementally over the course of the coming days, weeks, and months, Israel has, in reality, already annexed the West Bank – not just 30% of it but, in fact, the whole area.
It is critical that we understand such terms as ‘annexation’, ‘illegal’, ‘military occupation’, and so on, in their proper contexts.
For example, international law deems that all of Israel’s Jewish settlements, constructed anywhere on Palestinian land occupied during the 1967 war, are illegal.
Interestingly, Israel, too, uses the term ‘illegal’ with reference to settlements, but only to ‘outposts’ that have been erected in the occupied territories without the permission of the Israeli government.
In other words, while in the Israeli lexicon the vast majority of all settlement activities in occupied Palestine are ‘legal’, the rest can only be legalized through official channels. Indeed, many of today’s ‘legal’ 132 settlements in the West Bank and Jerusalem, housing over half a million Israeli Jewish settlers, began as ‘illegal outposts’.
Though this logic may satisfy the need of the Israeli government to ensure its relentless colonial project in Palestine follows a centralized blueprint, none of this matters in international law.
Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Conventions states that “Individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory to the territory of the Occupying Power or to that of any other country, occupied or not, are prohibited, regardless of their motive”, adding that “The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.”
Israel has violated its commitment to international law as an ‘Occupying Power’ on numerous occasions, rendering its very ‘occupation’ of Palestine, itself, a violation of how military occupations are conducted – which are meant to be temporary, anyway.
Military occupation is different from annexation. The former is a temporary transition, at the end of which the ‘Occupying Power’ is expected, in fact, demanded, to relinquish its military hold on the occupied territory after a fixed length of time. Annexation, on the other hand, is a stark violation of the Geneva Conventions and the Hague Regulations. It is tantamount to a war crime, for the occupier is strictly prohibited from proclaiming unilateral sovereignty over occupied land.
The international uproar generated by Netanyahu’s plan to annex a third of the West Bank is fully understandable. But the bigger issue at stake is that, in practice, Israel’s violations of the terms of occupation have granted it a de facto annexation of the whole of the West Bank.
So when the European Union, for example, demands that Israel abandons its annexation plans, it is merely asking Israel to re-embrace the status quo ante, that of de facto annexation. Both abhorring scenarios should be rejected.
Israel began utilizing the occupied territories as if they are contiguous and permanent parts of so-called Israel proper, immediately following the June 1967 war. Within a few years, it erected illegal settlements, now thriving cities, eventually moving hundreds of thousands of its own citizens to populate the newly acquired areas.
This exploitation became more sophisticated with time, as Palestinians were subjected to slow, but irreversible, ethnic cleansing. As Palestinian homes were destroyed, farms confiscated, and entire regions depopulated, Jewish settlers moved in to take their place. The post-1967 scenario was a repeat of the post-1948 history, which led to the establishment of the State of Israel on the ruins of historic Palestine.
Moshe Dayan, who served as Israel’s Defense Minister during the 1967 war, explained the Israeli logic best in a historical address at Israel’s Technion University in March 1969. “We came to this country which was already populated by Arabs, and we are establishing a Hebrew, that is a Jewish state here,” he said.
“Jewish villages were built in the place of Arab villages. You do not even know the names of these Arab villages, and I do not blame you, because these geography books no longer exist; not only do the books not exist, the Arab villages are not there, either … There is no one place built in this country that did not have a former Arab population,” he added.
The same colonial approach was applied to East Jerusalem and the West Bank after the war. While East Jerusalem was formally annexed in 1980, the West Bank was annexed in practice, but not through a clear legal Israeli proclamation. Why? In one word: demographics.
When Israel first occupied East Jerusalem, it went on a population transfer frenzy: moving its own population to the Palestinian city, strategically expanding the municipal boundaries of Jerusalem to include as many Jews and as few Palestinians as possible, slowly reducing the Palestinian population of Al Quds through numerous tactics, including the revocation of residency and outright ethnic cleansing.
And, thus, Jerusalem’s Palestinian population, which once constituted the absolute majority, has now been reduced to a dwindling minority.
The same process was initiated in parts of the West Bank, but due to the relatively large size of the area and population, it was not possible to follow a similar annexation stratagem without jeopardizing Israel’s drive to maintain Jewish majority.
Dividing the West Bank into Areas A, B, and C as a result of the disastrous Oslo accords, has given Israel a lifeline, for this allowed it to increase settlement activities in Area C – nearly 60% of the West Bank – without stressing too much about demographic imbalances. Area C, where the current annexation plan is set to take place, is ideal for Israeli colonialism, for it includes Palestine’s most arable, resource-rich, and sparsely populated lands.
It matters little whether the annexation will have a set date or will take place progressively through Israel’s declarations of sovereignty over smaller chunks of the West Bank in the future. The fact is, annexation is not a new Israeli political agenda dictated by political circumstances in Tel Aviv and Washington. Rather, annexation has been the ultimate Israeli colonial objective from the very onset.
Let us not get entangled in Israel’s bizarre definitions. The truth is that Israel rarely behaves as an ‘Occupying Power’, but as a sovereign in a country where racial discrimination and apartheid are not only tolerated or acceptable but are, in fact, ‘legal’ as well.
Feature photo | Young Palestinians use a ladder to climb over Israel’s apartheid wall in Al-Ram, north of Jerusalem. Majdi Mohammed | AP
Ramzy Baroud is a journalist and the Editor of The Palestine Chronicle. He is the author of five books. His latest is “These Chains Will Be Broken: Palestinian Stories of Struggle and Defiance in Israeli Prisons” (Clarity Press, Atlanta). Dr. Baroud is a Non-resident Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA), Istanbul Zaim University (IZU). His website is www.ramzybaroud.net


mintpressnews--2020-07-08--TikTok Could Become Latest Victim of US War on Chinese Competition

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo revealed last night that he is strongly considering banning the hugely popular video app TikTok .
“ I don ’ t want to get out in front of the president , but it ’ s something we ’ re looking at , ” he told Laura Ingraham .
When the Fox News anchor pushed him further , asking if anybody should download the app , he responded , “ Only if you want your private information in the hands of the Chinese Communist Party.
” The news comes after India ’ s decision last week @ @ @ @ @ @ @ including TikTok , following skirmishes along the countries ’ Himalayan border that have left dozens dead .
The decision dismayed the nearly half-billion Indian users ( the app is ubiquitous across the sub-continent ) but delighted U.S. officials .
“ Good to see India ban 59 popular apps owned by Chinese firms , ” wrote Nikki Haley , former American Ambassador to the United Nations , “ India is continuing to show it won ’ t back down from China ’ s aggression.
” Available in over 150 countries , TikTok is a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with Generation Z .
It has over 800 million active users worldwide , including over 123 million in the United States , and is by far the most downloaded app in the Apple App Store .
However , unlike other social media giants ( Facebook , Reddit , YouTube , Twitter , etc . )
, it is not based in Silicon Valley , but in China .
While Pompeo and other U.S. officials allege the company works hand-in-glove with the government in Beijing , TikTok insists it would never comply with any @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hand over user data or other sensitive information .
The accusations being lodged against TikTok are already a demonstrable reality with American-based social media giants .
In 2018 , Facebook announced that it was partnering with the Atlantic Council , a NATO cutout organization , outsourcing the curation of what they deem fake news and what is reliable information to a group with virtually every living ex-CIA director , as well as neoconservative stalwarts like Henry Kissinger , Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell on its board .
So intimately involved with the national @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Jones wrote that it is difficult to know where Facebook ends and the NSA begins .
Reddit also recently appointed a former deputy director at the Atlantic Council to be its head of policy .
Meanwhile , few even noticed when , last year , a senior Twitter executive was outed as an active officer in a British Army brigade dedicated to online and psychological operations .
After the Trump administration assassinated Iranian statesman Qassem Soleimani in January , it was also able to censor positive descriptions of the general from American-based social @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump had earlier labeled him a terrorist .
“ 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 , ” said Facebook in a statement explaining their strict censorship of praise of Iran ’ s most popular figure .
Thus , Iranians speaking to other Iranians in Farsi are unable to share majoritarian opinions online because speech is regulated by the dictates of Washington .
Last month MintPress also reported that a U.S-government-funded @ @ @ @ @ @ @ delete hundreds of thousands of Chinese , Russian and Turkish accounts from Twitter , a fate that has befallen Iranian and Venezuelan government officials as well , but not those of the U.S. or its allies , no matter how aggressive or threatening their behavior is .
Understanding the power of social media to influence people in any worldwide information war , Google executives Eric Schmidt and Larry Cohen wrote , “ What Lockheed Martin was to the twentieth century , technology and cyber-security companies will be to the twenty-first.
” Their prediction @ @ @ @ @ @ @ latest moves against TikTok mirror the panic over the rise of Huawei and its 5G network , something the United States has been trying to halt from being rolled out worldwide .
However , most countries have not shared Washington ’ s concerns about supposed spyware , seeing their protestations more as angst over being outcompeted in the marketplace by superior Chinese products and services .
Malaysian prime minister Mahathir bin Mohamad , for instance , dismissed U.S. concerns , painting Washington as a jealous bully , threatening others : “ If you @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I will send warships to your country…That is not competition , that is threatening people , ” he remarked .
As a result of its superior offerings , Huawei is continuing to grow in influence .
In recent months , both Democrats and Republicans have increased their anti-Chinese rhetoric , to the point where only 17 percent of Americans see the country as a friendly nation , with around 80 percent willing to support an all-out economic war against it .
In February , the Pentagon released its 2021 budget request , which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ targets of a new intercontinental conflict and a catalyst for a new military build up .
President Trump and Joe Biden have accused each other of being stooges of Beijing .
Trump ’ s xenophobic rhetoric in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic , taking every opportunity to label it the “ Wuhan China virus ” has led to a surge in anti-Asian hate crimes , many of which targeted Asians of other backgrounds .
Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has also been guilty of fanning the flames of resentment , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ Chinese entity , ” and not to be trusted .
In fact , the company is based in the U.S. , and its CEO and founder Eric Yuan , is an American citizen .
The U.S. government has had nearly four years to express concern over TikTok ’ s supposed danger .
That it is doing so during a wave of anti-China warmongering and only after the company has outcompeted its American rivals suggests that this move has more to do with re-establishing American control over social media in an era of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ As writer Caitlin Johnstone remarked : “ They ’ re not talking about banning TikTok because of data mining , they are talking about banning TikTok because of data mining that isn ’ t run by western oligarchs and intelligence agencies.
” 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 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Salon , The Grayzone , Jacobin Magazine , Common Dreams the American Herald Tribune and The Canary .

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo revealed last night that he is strongly considering banning the hugely popular video app TikTok. “I don’t want to get out in front of the president, but it’s something we’re looking at,” he told Laura Ingraham. When the Fox News anchor pushed him further, asking if anybody should download the app, he responded, “Only if you want your private information in the hands of the Chinese Communist Party.”
The news comes after India’s decision last week to block dozens of Chinese apps, including TikTok, following skirmishes along the countries’ Himalayan border that have left dozens dead. The decision dismayed the nearly half-billion Indian users (the app is ubiquitous across the sub-continent) but delighted U.S. officials. “Good to see India ban 59 popular apps owned by Chinese firms,” wrote Nikki Haley, former American Ambassador to the United Nations, “India is continuing to show it won’t back down from China’s aggression.”
Available in over 150 countries, TikTok is a video sharing platform that is particularly popular with Generation Z. It has over 800 million active users worldwide, including over 123 million in the United States, and is by far the most downloaded app in the Apple App Store. However, unlike other social media giants (Facebook, Reddit, YouTube, Twitter, etc.), it is not based in Silicon Valley, but in China. While Pompeo and other U.S. officials allege the company works hand-in-glove with the government in Beijing, TikTok insists it would never comply with any requests made by the Chinese state to hand over user data or other sensitive information.
The accusations being lodged against TikTok are already a demonstrable reality with American-based social media giants. In 2018, Facebook announced that it was partnering with the Atlantic Council, a NATO cutout organization, outsourcing the curation of what they deem fake news and what is reliable information to a group with virtually every living ex-CIA director, as well as neoconservative stalwarts like Henry Kissinger, Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell on its board. So intimately involved with the national security state is the platform that Mother Jones wrote that it is difficult to know where Facebook ends and the NSA begins. Reddit also recently appointed a former deputy director at the Atlantic Council to be its head of policy. Meanwhile, few even noticed when, last year, a senior Twitter executive was outed as an active officer in a British Army brigade dedicated to online and psychological operations.
After the Trump administration assassinated Iranian statesman Qassem Soleimani in January, it was also able to censor positive descriptions of the general from American-based social media platforms due to the fact that Trump had earlier labeled him a terrorist. “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,” said Facebook in a statement explaining their strict censorship of praise of Iran’s most popular figure. Thus, Iranians speaking to other Iranians in Farsi are unable to share majoritarian opinions online because speech is regulated by the dictates of Washington.
Last month MintPress also reported that a U.S-government-funded think tank was behind the decision to delete hundreds of thousands of Chinese, Russian and Turkish accounts from Twitter, a fate that has befallen Iranian and Venezuelan government officials as well, but not those of the U.S. or its allies, no matter how aggressive or threatening their behavior is.
Understanding the power of social media to influence people in any worldwide information war, Google executives Eric Schmidt and Larry Cohen wrote, “What Lockheed Martin was to the twentieth century, technology and cyber-security companies will be to the twenty-first.” Their prediction appears to have been accurate.
The latest moves against TikTok mirror the panic over the rise of Huawei and its 5G network, something the United States has been trying to halt from being rolled out worldwide. However, most countries have not shared Washington’s concerns about supposed spyware, seeing their protestations more as angst over being outcompeted in the marketplace by superior Chinese products and services. Malaysian prime minister Mahathir bin Mohamad, for instance, dismissed U.S. concerns, painting Washington as a jealous bully, threatening others: “If you are ahead I will ban you, I will send warships to your country…That is not competition, that is threatening people,” he remarked. As a result of its superior offerings, Huawei is continuing to grow in influence.
In recent months, both Democrats and Republicans have increased their anti-Chinese rhetoric, to the point where only 17 percent of Americans see the country as a friendly nation, with around 80 percent willing to support an all-out economic war against it. In February, the Pentagon released its 2021 budget request, which singled out Russia and China as the targets of a new intercontinental conflict and a catalyst for a new military build up. President Trump and Joe Biden have accused each other of being stooges of Beijing. Trump’s xenophobic rhetoric in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, taking every opportunity to label it the “Wuhan China virus” has led to a surge in anti-Asian hate crimes, many of which targeted Asians of other backgrounds. Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has also been guilty of fanning the flames of resentment, falsely labeling video conference app Zoom a “Chinese entity,” and not to be trusted. In fact, the company is based in the U.S., and its CEO and founder Eric Yuan, is an American citizen.
The U.S. government has had nearly four years to express concern over TikTok’s supposed danger. That it is doing so during a wave of anti-China warmongering and only after the company has outcompeted its American rivals suggests that this move has more to do with re-establishing American control over social media in an era of a coming Cold War with Beijing. As writer Caitlin Johnstone remarked:
“They’re not talking about banning TikTok because of data mining, they are talking about banning TikTok because of data mining that isn’t run by western oligarchs and intelligence agencies.”
Feature photo | Donald Trump meets Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Sept. 19, 2019, in the Oval Office. Joiyce N. Boghosian | White House
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--2020-07-08--Democratic Candidate James Averhart Personally Oversaw Solitary Confinement of Chelsea Manning

The man responsible for some of the most inhumane punishment of whistleblower Chelsea Manning stands a good chance of becoming a Democratic Congressional candidate .
On July 14 , Democrats in Alabama ’ s First District will go back to the polls to choose from one of two candidates .
In the March primary , James Averhart finished less than 2,000 votes behind leader Kiani Gardner , forcing a runoff .
A 30-year military veteran , Averhart began as a Marine infantryman in 1987 before transferring to the Military Police and becoming a corrections officer .
Between 2010 and 2011 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ military brig at Quantico , VA , where Manning was held on 22 counts of leaking classified information to Wikileaks .
During her time at Quantico , Manning was held in solitary confinement , a practice roundly condemned by human rights groups , the United Nations , and almost universally described as a form of torture .
In her testaments and complaints , Manning singled out Averhart as a particularly sadistic torturer , claiming that he entered her cell , yelled at her , and declared that he was her “ God , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ her life .
Averhart repeatedly rejected psychiatrists ’ constant recommendations that Manning should not be held in solitary in an 8-by-6 foot ( 2.4-by 1.8-meter ) cell around the clock .
According to Manning ’ s complaint : On 18 January 2011 , over the recommendation of Capt .
Hocter and the defense forensic psychiatrist , Capt .
Moore , CWO4 Averhart placed me under Suicide Risk .
The Suicide Risk assignment resulted in me being required to remain in my cell for 24 hours a day .
I was stripped of all @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
My prescription eyeglasses were taken away from me and I was forced to sit in essential blindness.
” On the matter , Amnesty International wrote to Defense Secretary Robert Gates , expressing their dismay that Manning was being locked up in a windowless box and shackled during visits , claiming that her treatment violated both domestic U.S. and United Nations laws on the minimum standards of prisoner welfare .
The Marine Corps Chief of Corrections would later testify that Averhart wrongfully kept Manning on suicide watch ( meaning she was disturbed every @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for the pretrial detention of a suspect that should have been presumed innocent until proven guilty .
Averhart had previously led a task force dedicated to finding and arresting Vietnam War veterans who refused to fight .
As The Guardian wrote in 2006 : “ Since he took over the Marine Corps Absentee Collection Centre in 2004 , Chief Warrant Officer James Averhart has reopened cold cases and claims to have tracked down 33 deserters.
” One 65-year-old Floridian was held in jail for five months for a desertion that occurred 40 years @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to writer Andrew Perez , who first covered the Averhart story , was an attempt to discourage any modern-day deserters from the Iraq War .
Despite his history , the former soldier presents himself as a civil libertarian , his campaign website putting civil rights and criminal justice at the forefront of his message : “ Averhart believes that all people have a right to participate in our government and our society without fear , oppression , or discrimination , ” it reads , promising to “ preserve and expand protections for all @ @ @ @ @ @ @ criminal justice reform.
” The most consequential of Manning ’ s leaks was the infamous “ Collateral Murder ” video , which showed U.S. military personnel carrying out a massacre of civilians ( including two Reuters journalists ) , in cold blood , laughing at the carnage they were creating .
Neither the military units who carried out the atrocity nor their superiors faced any consequences , unlike Manning , who was prosecuted for sharing the tape and labeled an “ ungrateful traitor ” by Donald Trump .
She was sentenced to 35 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ later commuted by President Obama .
In 2018 , she unsuccessfully ran for the Senate , challenging the incumbent Ben Cardin .
Since then , she has faced constant harassment and was jailed again for refusing to testify against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange .
The runoff election on July 14 is sure to be a hard fought race , given the close outcome in March .
Averhart ’ s opponent is Kiani Gardner , a former research scientist and biology professor from Hawaii , who has been endorsed by influential Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth @ @ @ @ @ @ @ intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning speaks with reporters , after arriving at the federal courthouse in Alexandria , Va. , May 16 , 2019 .
Cliff Owen | 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 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and The Canary .

The man responsible for some of the most inhumane punishment of whistleblower Chelsea Manning stands a good chance of becoming a Democratic Congressional candidate. On July 14, Democrats in Alabama’s First District will go back to the polls to choose from one of two candidates. In the March primary, James Averhart finished less than 2,000 votes behind leader Kiani Gardner, forcing a runoff. A 30-year military veteran, Averhart began as a Marine infantryman in 1987 before transferring to the Military Police and becoming a corrections officer. Between 2010 and 2011, he was in charge of the military brig at Quantico, VA, where Manning was held on 22 counts of leaking classified information to Wikileaks.
During her time at Quantico, Manning was held in solitary confinement, a practice roundly condemned by human rights groups, the United Nations, and almost universally described as a form of torture. In her testaments and complaints, Manning singled out Averhart as a particularly sadistic torturer, claiming that he entered her cell, yelled at her, and declared that he was her “God,” implying he had total control over her life. Averhart repeatedly rejected psychiatrists’ constant recommendations that Manning should not be held in solitary in an 8-by-6 foot (2.4-by 1.8-meter) cell around the clock. According to Manning’s complaint:
On 18 January 2011, over the recommendation of Capt. Hocter and the defense forensic psychiatrist, Capt. Moore, CWO4 Averhart placed me under Suicide Risk. The Suicide Risk assignment resulted in me being required to remain in my cell for 24 hours a day. I was stripped of all clothing with the exception of my underwear. My prescription eyeglasses were taken away from me and I was forced to sit in essential blindness.”
On the matter, Amnesty International wrote to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, expressing their dismay that Manning was being locked up in a windowless box and shackled during visits, claiming that her treatment violated both domestic U.S. and United Nations laws on the minimum standards of prisoner welfare. The Marine Corps Chief of Corrections would later testify that Averhart wrongfully kept Manning on suicide watch (meaning she was disturbed every five minutes). All this was for the pretrial detention of a suspect that should have been presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Averhart had previously led a task force dedicated to finding and arresting Vietnam War veterans who refused to fight. As The Guardian wrote in 2006: “Since he took over the Marine Corps Absentee Collection Centre in 2004, Chief Warrant Officer James Averhart has reopened cold cases and claims to have tracked down 33 deserters.” One 65-year-old Floridian was held in jail for five months for a desertion that occurred 40 years earlier. This zealous persecution, according to writer Andrew Perez, who first covered the Averhart story, was an attempt to discourage any modern-day deserters from the Iraq War.
Despite his history, the former soldier presents himself as a civil libertarian, his campaign website putting civil rights and criminal justice at the forefront of his message: “Averhart believes that all people have a right to participate in our government and our society without fear, oppression, or discrimination,” it reads, promising to “preserve and expand protections for all Americans” and “fight for end-to-end criminal justice reform.”
The most consequential of Manning’s leaks was the infamous “Collateral Murder” video, which showed U.S. military personnel carrying out a massacre of civilians (including two Reuters journalists), in cold blood, laughing at the carnage they were creating. Neither the military units who carried out the atrocity nor their superiors faced any consequences, unlike Manning, who was prosecuted for sharing the tape and labeled an “ungrateful traitor” by Donald Trump. She was sentenced to 35 years in prison, although that was later commuted by President Obama. In 2018, she unsuccessfully ran for the Senate, challenging the incumbent Ben Cardin. Since then, she has faced constant harassment and was jailed again for refusing to testify against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.
The runoff election on July 14 is sure to be a hard fought race, given the close outcome in March. Averhart’s opponent is Kiani Gardner, a former research scientist and biology professor from Hawaii, who has been endorsed by influential Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren.
Feature photo | Former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning speaks with reporters, after arriving at the federal courthouse in Alexandria, Va., May 16, 2019. Cliff Owen | 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--2020-07-09--VenezolanosConBiden and MAGAzuela: Two Sides of the Same Coin

The Biden campaign held an online event on Wednesday , July 8 pitched as the former Vice President ’ s “ vision for Venezuela and Venezuelans in the U.S. ” Spoiler alert : his vision for Venezuela barely differs from President Trump .
This event , which didn ’ t merit an appearance from Biden himself , was aimed at getting Venezuelan-Americans to volunteer for “ Uncle Joe , ” as Representative Darren Soto ( D-Fl ) called him .
It was an hour and a half of shilling for votes and influence , and it demonstrated that when it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ change , sanctions and a refusal to engage in dialogue unite VenezolanosConBiden ( the group hosting the event ) with MAGAzuela ( the term for Trump-supporting Venezuelans ) .
There are only two policy differences in the Biden and Trump approaches to Venezuela .
One is about TPS , or temporary protected status , which is an immigration policy that allows people from ten specific countries affected by disasters to live and work in the U.S. Biden supports TPS for Venezuelans , while Trump allies have blocked it in the Senate and Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to issue it for Venezuelans .
According to one of Biden ’ s surrogates , there are 150 thousand Venezuelans in the U.S. who are either undocumented or are here on expired visas .
The other difference is the border wall , which is now being built in part using Venezuelan funds .
The Trump administration has diverted $ 601 million dollars in assets stolen from the Venezuelan people to build the wall on the U.S.-Mexico border .
This money was previously held in the Treasury Department ’ s “ forfeiture fund ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ law enforcement operations .
It is part of the estimated $ 24 billion that the U.S. and its allies have frozen and looted from Venezuela in their regime change efforts .
Juan Guaidó , the self-proclaimed interim president , has yet to comment on how the Trump administration is using these Venezuelan funds , but his “ ambassador ” , Carlos Vecchio , admitted to working with the Justice Department to “ establish a formal agreement … to define the percentage ” of how much of the seized Venezuelan funds will go to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and his associates , it is “ normal ” for the Trump administration to take a cut .
TPS and the wall are the only two points on which Biden and Trump differ .
Biden ’ s surrogates claim he will grant TPS to Venezuelans on Day One of his administration and Biden says he will stop financing the wall .
These differences are minimal though , especially considering that Biden will continue the policies that have led millions of Venezuelans to flee in the first place and he has given every indication @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Biden ’ s vision is more of the same magical thinking that the Trump administration has engaged in for years .
His campaign says the sanctions will continue and actually intensify .
A Biden administration would seek “ a huge increase in aid ” , not just for Venezuela but for Colombia and other countries with Venezuelan migrants .
They would build an “ international coalition ” to rebuild Venezuela .
They would persecute key supporters of the Venezuelan government , regardless of where they are in the world .
According to Juan @ @ @ @ @ @ @ State under Obama and current advisor to Biden on Latin America , they will give the government of President Nicolás Maduro one option : elections observed by a respected ( and unnamed ) multilateral institution and he must leave office .
Biden ’ s surrogates warn that Venezuela is a national security issue for the U.S. , that the country has been infiltrated by terrorist groups and everything must be done to end Russian , Chinese , and Cuban influence .
They responded to a question about the impact of sanctions by blaming @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
They say Biden will not negotiate with Maduro .
The Biden campaign attacked Trump for suggesting he would meet with Maduro , forcing Trump to backtrack on the offer , and has been running ads in Miami accusing Trump of being soft on Maduro .
Biden ’ s policies are the same policies and exact rhetoric used by the Trump administration .
Since 2017 , the U.S. has imposed sanctions that have cost 100,000 Venezuelans their lives and led to economic losses of $ 130 billion .
But according to Biden supporter @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t been enough of a crackdown ” on the Maduro government .
Trump has spent three years building an approximately 60-country anti-Maduro coalition and Secretary of State Pompeo has traveled the world seeking more aid allegedly for Venezuela , but that ends up in countries with Venezuelan migrants .
They have sanctioned foreign companies doing business with Venezuela and sought to arrest Venezuelan businessmen overseas .
On the issue of military intervention , the Biden surrogates claimed Trump ’ s threats of a military option were empty and insisted other options must be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ exhausted ( except , of course , dialogue ) before considering military action .
They did not say whether U.S. intervention should be “ on the table ” , and framed the discussion around the U.S. public ’ s alleged aversion to another war rather than on the catastrophic consequences this would have for the Venezuelan people , let alone the illegality of any sort of military intervention .
It is no secret that regime change in Venezuela is a bipartisan objective , and Trump ’ s tactic of pandering to right-wing Latinx @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to do the same .
The Biden campaign strategy is clear : mimic the administration ’ s Venezuela policy while offering TPS to draw votes away from Trump .
The surrogates also repeatedly insisted that Biden is not a socialist – apparently a common misconception among the MAGAzuela crowd .
It should be no surprise that this is all about Florida and the 2020 election .
Trump not only won the state in 2016 , but his allies took the governorship and a Senate seat in 2018 , albeit by small margins .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Scott both accused their opponents of being socialists who are soft on Venezuela .
The Biden camp is doing its utmost to prevent those types of attacks from sticking against their candidate .
There is no reason to believe that Biden will change course on Venezuela if elected .
There are too many votes in Florida at stake , as well as donations to be had from wealthy Venezuelan ex-pats – who at this point are playing both sides and doing so very well .
A Biden presidency , just like another four @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be disastrous for the Venezuelan people .
Feature photo | Joe Biden meets with Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro on the sidelines of the 2015 inauguration of Brazil ’ s President Dilma Rousseff at the Planalto Palace .
Photo | AP Leonardo Flores is Latin American policy expert and campaigner with CODEPINK .

The Biden campaign held an online event on Wednesday, July 8 pitched as the former Vice President’s “vision for Venezuela and Venezuelans in the U.S.” Spoiler alert: his vision for Venezuela barely differs from President Trump. This event, which didn’t merit an appearance from Biden himself, was aimed at getting Venezuelan-Americans to volunteer for “Uncle Joe,” as Representative Darren Soto (D-Fl) called him. It was an hour and a half of shilling for votes and influence, and it demonstrated that when it comes to Venezuela, policies of regime change, sanctions and a refusal to engage in dialogue unite VenezolanosConBiden (the group hosting the event) with MAGAzuela (the term for Trump-supporting Venezuelans).
There are only two policy differences in the Biden and Trump approaches to Venezuela. One is about TPS, or temporary protected status, which is an immigration policy that allows people from ten specific countries affected by disasters to live and work in the U.S. Biden supports TPS for Venezuelans, while Trump allies have blocked it in the Senate and Trump himself ended the program and has refused to issue it for Venezuelans. According to one of Biden’s surrogates, there are 150 thousand Venezuelans in the U.S. who are either undocumented or are here on expired visas.
The other difference is the border wall, which is now being built in part using Venezuelan funds. The Trump administration has diverted $601 million dollars in assets stolen from the Venezuelan people to build the wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. This money was previously held in the Treasury Department’s “forfeiture fund”, which is typically used to finance law enforcement operations. It is part of the estimated $24 billion that the U.S. and its allies have frozen and looted from Venezuela in their regime change efforts. Juan Guaidó, the self-proclaimed interim president, has yet to comment on how the Trump administration is using these Venezuelan funds, but his “ambassador”, Carlos Vecchio, admitted to working with the Justice Department to “establish a formal agreement … to define the percentage” of how much of the seized Venezuelan funds will go to the United States. According to Guaidó and his associates, it is “normal” for the Trump administration to take a cut.
TPS and the wall are the only two points on which Biden and Trump differ. Biden’s surrogates claim he will grant TPS to Venezuelans on Day One of his administration and Biden says he will stop financing the wall. These differences are minimal though, especially considering that Biden will continue the policies that have led millions of Venezuelans to flee in the first place and he has given every indication that more funds will be frozen.
Biden’s vision is more of the same magical thinking that the Trump administration has engaged in for years. His campaign says the sanctions will continue and actually intensify. A Biden administration would seek “a huge increase in aid”, not just for Venezuela but for Colombia and other countries with Venezuelan migrants. They would build an “international coalition” to rebuild Venezuela. They would persecute key supporters of the Venezuelan government, regardless of where they are in the world. According to Juan González, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State under Obama and current advisor to Biden on Latin America, they will give the government of President Nicolás Maduro one option: elections observed by a respected (and unnamed) multilateral institution and he must leave office.
Biden’s surrogates warn that Venezuela is a national security issue for the U.S., that the country has been infiltrated by terrorist groups and everything must be done to end Russian, Chinese, and Cuban influence. They responded to a question about the impact of sanctions by blaming the “humanitarian crisis” on chavismo. They say Biden will not negotiate with Maduro. The Biden campaign attacked Trump for suggesting he would meet with Maduro, forcing Trump to backtrack on the offer, and has been running ads in Miami accusing Trump of being soft on Maduro.
Biden’s policies are the same policies and exact rhetoric used by the Trump administration. Since 2017, the U.S. has imposed sanctions that have cost 100,000 Venezuelans their lives and led to economic losses of $130 billion. But according to Biden supporter Rep. Soto, “there hasn’t been enough of a crackdown” on the Maduro government. Trump has spent three years building an approximately 60-country anti-Maduro coalition and Secretary of State Pompeo has traveled the world seeking more aid allegedly for Venezuela, but that ends up in countries with Venezuelan migrants. They have sanctioned foreign companies doing business with Venezuela and sought to arrest Venezuelan businessmen overseas.
On the issue of military intervention, the Biden surrogates claimed Trump’s threats of a military option were empty and insisted other options must be explored and all other avenues of pressure exhausted (except, of course, dialogue) before considering military action. They did not say whether U.S. intervention should be “on the table”, and framed the discussion around the U.S. public’s alleged aversion to another war rather than on the catastrophic consequences this would have for the Venezuelan people, let alone the illegality of any sort of military intervention.
It is no secret that regime change in Venezuela is a bipartisan objective, and Trump’s tactic of pandering to right-wing Latinx extremists in Florida has led the Democrats to do the same. The Biden campaign strategy is clear: mimic the administration’s Venezuela policy while offering TPS to draw votes away from Trump. The surrogates also repeatedly insisted that Biden is not a socialist – apparently a common misconception among the MAGAzuela crowd.
It should be no surprise that this is all about Florida and the 2020 election. Trump not only won the state in 2016, but his allies took the governorship and a Senate seat in 2018, albeit by small margins. Republican governor Ron DeSantis and Senator Rick Scott both accused their opponents of being socialists who are soft on Venezuela. The Biden camp is doing its utmost to prevent those types of attacks from sticking against their candidate.
There is no reason to believe that Biden will change course on Venezuela if elected. There are too many votes in Florida at stake, as well as donations to be had from wealthy Venezuelan ex-pats – who at this point are playing both sides and doing so very well. A Biden presidency, just like another four more years of Trump, looks to be disastrous for the Venezuelan people.
Feature photo | Joe Biden meets with Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro on the sidelines of the 2015 inauguration of Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff at the Planalto Palace. Photo | AP
Leonardo Flores is Latin American policy expert and campaigner with CODEPINK.


mintpressnews--2020-07-09--Firm Linked to HHS’ Robert Kadlec Poised to Become Exclusive Manufacture of COVID-19 Vaccines

Trump ’ s much-ballyhooed “ Operation Warp Speed ” unveiled in May of this year to produce and deploy a COVID-19 vaccine in the U.S. is shaping up to be yet another scheme to funnel millions of dollars into a singularly corrupt pharmaceutical entity with deep ties to Robert Kadlec , the serving Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response ( ASPR ) , who is in charge of the Strategic National Stockpile and is the architect of the legislative edifice which currently governs the nation ’ s public-private partnership ( PPP ) approach to health emergencies .
The task force @ @ @ @ @ @ @ awarded to Maryland-based Novavax , Inc. to cover late-stage testing and manufacturing of their COVID-19 vaccine candidate .
Only the sixth company to receive federal funds from Trump ’ s program , the $ 1.6 billion infusion is intended to result in the production of 100 million doses by the start of 2021 , according to Novavax CEO , Stanley Erck .
The other companies favored by Operation Warp Speed include AstraZeneca , which received $ 1.2 billion last May to develop its AZD1222 vaccine ; ModernaTX , Inc. who was awarded nearly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with the relatively paltry sum of $ 38 million ; Sanofi ’ s Protein Sciences got a little over $ 30 million and finally , Johnson & Johnson ’ s subsidiary , Janssen Research & Development , LLC obtained $ 456 million back in February for its Ad26-based vaccine technology platform , which will ostensibly “ maximize the probability of a successful vaccine and rapid deployment within the US and globally.
” Of these , the three largest award recipients have direct partnerships to manufacture their vaccines with one company .
Emergent Biosolutions @ @ @ @ @ @ @ million dollar contract by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority ( BARDA ) to provide “ manufacturing support ” for the delivery of COVID-19 vaccines across the U.S. , has entered into agreements with Novavax , Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca to provide contract development and manufacturing ( CDMO ) services .
A March article in the Washington Business Journal characterizes Emergent Biosolutions ’ contract with Novavax as hitting the pharmaceutical company ’ s “ sweet spot of teaming up with the federal government to address public health threats , with major @ @ @ @ @ @ @ … ] .
” Indeed , Emergent ’ s track record with the federal government goes back decades , but it is anything but encouraging .
Originally BioPort , Emergent Biosolutions was formed in the late 90 ’ s for the sole purpose of acquiring the only anthrax vaccine manufacturing plant in the United States , which was then owned by the state of Michigan .
The events that subsequently transpired after the acquisition would reveal a scandalous pattern of cronyism , incompetence and outright criminality as the company siphoned off millions of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , to the point that the Pentagon was on the verge of rescinding the relationship and revoking their exclusive license for the production of the anthrax vaccine in August , 2001 .
After the infamous anthrax “ attacks ” later that month , their license was reinstated for good and one of the most high-profile suspects surrounding Amerithrax , Jerome Hauer , would join their board of directors where remains to this day .
Serious questions surrounding Emergent Biosolutions ’ history and links to Kadlec have surfaced as a result of this author @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and subsequent investigations by the Washington Post and at least two letters from Congressional leaders inquiring about Kadlec ’ s failure to reveal his conflict of interests with Emergent Biosolutions and his dubious actions in his capacity of ASPR in relation to recent unilateral changes to BARDA policies .
So far , Kadlec has not publicly responded to questions regarding his ties to Emergent Biosolutions founder Fuad El-Hibri , with whom he co-founded East West Protections , a company that has provided biodefense services to countries around the world .
Nor have issues @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and Congressman Bill Pascrell , Jr. , been addressed about the removal of former BARDA director Rick Bright and a subsequent “ wholesale shift in strategy ” at the agency tasked with procurement of medical materiel , drugs , and vaccines for the Strategic National Stockpile .
Among the most telling questions posed by Pascrell , Jr. , and Menendez in their letter to Kadlec and acting BARDA director , Gary L. Disbrow revolves around BARDA ’ s role in Operation Warp Speed and whether or not any funding has been diverted from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ being disbursed by Operation Warp Speed shows clear signs of some sort of tacit agreement between Kadlec ’ s old friends at Emergent Biosolutions and the presumably independent “ Manhattan Project-style ” COVID-19 vaccine development program headed by the former head of research and development for the world ’ s largest vaccine company and a military general with expertise in logistics .
The story of how Emergent Biosolutions obtained and maintained a U.S. monopoly on the anthrax vaccine has been covered in detail in the Engineering Contagion series .
It is a tale @ @ @ @ @ @ @ both the public and private sectors , which exposes the vested interests of a shadowy cabal of global pharmaceutical firms and their agents in government who have been working in concert for decades to establish a mandated global market for vaccines and other drugs .
Kadlec ’ s central role in the execution of this scheme is only now beginning to be examined and the near-total grip of Emergent Biosolutions over the flow of federal dollars in relation to these biotech initiatives has been completely ignored by the media .
One notable exception @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has been stealthily offering positive investment tips about Emergent , calling it an “ under-the-radar stock , ” which has “ become the go-to manufacturing partner for companies looking to develop vaccines for the coronavirus.
” As usual , following the money usually takes us to the center of the real action .
In the case of the COVID-19 vaccine , Emergent ’ s “ go-to ” status is borne out by this tried and true method , and when we survey the agreements already in place with the companies most likely to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The value of Johnson & Johnson ’ s contract with Emergent Biosolutions , for instance , matches up almost exactly with the $ 456 million grant it received from the Trump administration ; Emergent ’ s five-year manufacturing agreement with the American multinational is worth approximately $ 480 million .
AstraZeneca ’ s vaccine candidate , which also received considerable funding from Operation Warp Speed , likewise reached an $ 87 million agreement with Emergent Biosolutions to manufacture its vaccine doses for the U.S. market .
The contract also includes contract development @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to manufacture the British-Swedish pharmaceutical firm ’ s goal of more than “ 2 billion doses per year by 2021.
” Together with the Novavax contract , which has been in place since March , Emergent Biosolutions has positioned itself as the only known vaccine manufacturer for three of the six companies in the running to be approved for one .
Only Moderna has an agreement with a different manufacturer , while the remaining vaccine candidates are being developed by companies with their own manufacturing capabilities .
Novavax says that it is “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ technology to an unnamed contract manufacturer that has two large manufacturing facilities ” to meet its goal of producing 50 million doses a month in the United States and that Emergent is only tasked with helping with the manufacturing of smaller late-stage testing doses .
Emergent Biosolutions , however , has a total of five manufacturing facilities in the U.S. and a $ 628 million-dollar contract with the federal government to scale production of the successful vaccine candidate to the tune of “ tens to hundreds of millions of doses.
” Given the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the company once called BioPort , it would not be surprising if Novavax would prefer to keep the full extent of that partnership secret .
Feature photo | From left , assistant secretary for preparedness and response for the Department of Health and Human Services Robert Kadlec , President Donald Trump , Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield and Vice President Mike Pence watch .
Evan Vucci | AP

Trump’s much-ballyhooed “Operation Warp Speed” unveiled in May of this year to produce and deploy a COVID-19 vaccine in the U.S. is shaping up to be yet another scheme to funnel millions of dollars into a singularly corrupt pharmaceutical entity with deep ties to Robert Kadlec, the serving Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR), who is in charge of the Strategic National Stockpile and is the architect of the legislative edifice which currently governs the nation’s public-private partnership (PPP) approach to health emergencies.
The task force’s latest and largest grant was awarded to Maryland-based Novavax, Inc. to cover late-stage testing and manufacturing of their COVID-19 vaccine candidate. Only the sixth company to receive federal funds from Trump’s program, the $1.6 billion infusion is intended to result in the production of 100 million doses by the start of 2021, according to Novavax CEO, Stanley Erck.
The other companies favored by Operation Warp Speed include AstraZeneca, which received $1.2 billion last May to develop its AZD1222 vaccine; ModernaTX, Inc. who was awarded nearly $550 million; Merck and IAVI with the relatively paltry sum of $38 million; Sanofi’s Protein Sciences got a little over $30 million and finally, Johnson & Johnson’s subsidiary, Janssen Research & Development, LLC obtained $456 million back in February for its Ad26-based vaccine technology platform, which will ostensibly “maximize the probability of a successful vaccine and rapid deployment within the US and globally.”
Of these, the three largest award recipients have direct partnerships to manufacture their vaccines with one company. Emergent Biosolutions, who was awarded a $628 million dollar contract by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) to provide “manufacturing support” for the delivery of COVID-19 vaccines across the U.S., has entered into agreements with Novavax, Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca to provide contract development and manufacturing (CDMO) services.
A March article in the Washington Business Journal characterizes Emergent Biosolutions’ contract with Novavax as hitting the pharmaceutical company’s “sweet spot of teaming up with the federal government to address public health threats, with major contracts to fuel the national stockpile […].” Indeed, Emergent’s track record with the federal government goes back decades, but it is anything but encouraging. Originally BioPort, Emergent Biosolutions was formed in the late 90’s for the sole purpose of acquiring the only anthrax vaccine manufacturing plant in the United States, which was then owned by the state of Michigan.
The events that subsequently transpired after the acquisition would reveal a scandalous pattern of cronyism, incompetence and outright criminality as the company siphoned off millions of dollars in federal contracts that went unfulfilled, to the point that the Pentagon was on the verge of rescinding the relationship and revoking their exclusive license for the production of the anthrax vaccine in August, 2001.
After the infamous anthrax “attacks” later that month, their license was reinstated for good and one of the most high-profile suspects surrounding Amerithrax, Jerome Hauer, would join their board of directors where remains to this day.
Emerging Questions
Serious questions surrounding Emergent Biosolutions’ history and links to Kadlec have surfaced as a result of this author’s collaborative investigation with Whitney Webb and subsequent investigations by the Washington Post and at least two letters from Congressional leaders inquiring about Kadlec’s failure to reveal his conflict of interests with Emergent Biosolutions and his dubious actions in his capacity of ASPR in relation to recent unilateral changes to BARDA policies.
So far, Kadlec has not publicly responded to questions regarding his ties to Emergent Biosolutions founder Fuad El-Hibri, with whom he co-founded East West Protections, a company that has provided biodefense services to countries around the world. Nor have issues raised by U.S. Senator Robert Menendez and Congressman Bill Pascrell, Jr., been addressed about the removal of former BARDA director Rick Bright and a subsequent “wholesale shift in strategy” at the agency tasked with procurement of medical materiel, drugs, and vaccines for the Strategic National Stockpile.
Among the most telling questions posed by Pascrell, Jr., and Menendez in their letter to Kadlec and acting BARDA director, Gary L. Disbrow revolves around BARDA’s role in Operation Warp Speed and whether or not any funding has been diverted from BARDA to that program.
The monies being disbursed by Operation Warp Speed shows clear signs of some sort of tacit agreement between Kadlec’s old friends at Emergent Biosolutions and the presumably independent “Manhattan Project-style” COVID-19 vaccine development program headed by the former head of research and development for the world’s largest vaccine company and a military general with expertise in logistics.
The story of how Emergent Biosolutions obtained and maintained a U.S. monopoly on the anthrax vaccine has been covered in detail in the Engineering Contagion series. It is a tale of corruption at the highest levels of both the public and private sectors, which exposes the vested interests of a shadowy cabal of global pharmaceutical firms and their agents in government who have been working in concert for decades to establish a mandated global market for vaccines and other drugs.
Kadlec’s central role in the execution of this scheme is only now beginning to be examined and the near-total grip of Emergent Biosolutions over the flow of federal dollars in relation to these biotech initiatives has been completely ignored by the media. One notable exception might be the financial press, which has been stealthily offering positive investment tips about Emergent, calling it an “under-the-radar stock,” which has “become the go-to manufacturing partner for companies looking to develop vaccines for the coronavirus.”
The Money Trail
As usual, following the money usually takes us to the center of the real action. In the case of the COVID-19 vaccine, Emergent’s “go-to” status is borne out by this tried and true method, and when we survey the agreements already in place with the companies most likely to develop a vaccine for the novel coronavirus. The value of Johnson & Johnson’s contract with Emergent Biosolutions, for instance, matches up almost exactly with the $456 million grant it received from the Trump administration; Emergent’s five-year manufacturing agreement with the American multinational is worth approximately $480 million.
AstraZeneca’s vaccine candidate, which also received considerable funding from Operation Warp Speed, likewise reached an $87 million agreement with Emergent Biosolutions to manufacture its vaccine doses for the U.S. market. The contract also includes contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) services to manufacture the British-Swedish pharmaceutical firm’s goal of more than “2 billion doses per year by 2021.”
Together with the Novavax contract, which has been in place since March, Emergent Biosolutions has positioned itself as the only known vaccine manufacturer for three of the six companies in the running to be approved for one. Only Moderna has an agreement with a different manufacturer, while the remaining vaccine candidates are being developed by companies with their own manufacturing capabilities.
Novavax says that it is “in the process of transferring its vaccine technology to an unnamed contract manufacturer that has two large manufacturing facilities” to meet its goal of producing 50 million doses a month in the United States and that Emergent is only tasked with helping with the manufacturing of smaller late-stage testing doses.
Emergent Biosolutions, however, has a total of five manufacturing facilities in the U.S. and a $628 million-dollar contract with the federal government to scale production of the successful vaccine candidate to the tune of “tens to hundreds of millions of doses.” Given the sordid history of incompetence and corruption of the company once called BioPort, it would not be surprising if Novavax would prefer to keep the full extent of that partnership secret.
Feature photo | From left, assistant secretary for preparedness and response for the Department of Health and Human Services Robert Kadlec, President Donald Trump, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield and Vice President Mike Pence watch. Evan Vucci | AP
Raul Diego is a MintPress News Staff Writer, independent photojournalist, researcher, writer and documentary filmmaker.