mintpressnews--2020-08-03--With Microsoft Purchase of TikTok, US Tightens Grip Over International Media

Following Donald Trump ’ s Friday announcement that he would ban the popular Chinese-owned video platform , Microsoft has today swooped in to hoover up TikTok after it received “ personal assurances ” from the president himself that he would back such a move .
Trump has given the two parties up to 45 days to hash out a deal .
ByteDance , TikTok ’ s parent company , values its U.S. operations at $ 50 billion , but it is not at all certain they will receive fair compensation , given their predicament .
The platform is by far @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s app store , with over 800 million active users worldwide , including over 100 million in the United States , primarily members of Generation Z .
The move comes amid growing American aggression towards Beijing , ostensibly over its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic , its treatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang province and demonstrators in Hong Kong , and , above all , its uneasiness at its growing economic power .
Early last month the Trump administration began floating the idea of a TikTok ban , citing potential national security issues .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Ingraham if Americans should use the app , Secretary of State Mike Pompeo responded : “ only if you want your private information in the hands of the Chinese Communist Party.
” TikTok has strenuously denied that it works with the Chinese government , noting that American users ’ data is stored in the U.S. , with strict controls on employee access .
News of the imminent purchase excited the stock market , with Microsoft shares surging by five percent on their Friday totals .
Given that the company is worth over $ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 77 billion to Bill Gates ’ company ’ s value , suggesting that traders believe they are receiving the deal of a lifetime .
“ Microsoft appreciates the U.S. Government ’ s and President Trump ’ s personal involvement as it continues to develop strong security protections for the country , ” the tech giant said in a statement today .
The company is already a preferred partner of the administration and has a lot to be thankful to Trump for .
In November it received a lucrative $ 10 billion contract to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cloud computing network that sees it instantly become one of the world ’ s largest military contractors .
The decision to award Microsoft ( and not Amazon ) the deal was allegedly made on the behest of Trump himself , who disliked how he was being treated by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos ’ Washington Post .
Microsoft also has a long history of intimate collusion with government agencies , enabling them to spy on U.S. citizens .
Documents leaked by Edward Snowden revealed that it worked with the FBI and NSA to allow @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to gather information on hundreds of millions of worldwide users of its platforms , such as Skype and Outlook .
Today , Microsoft said it is “ committed to acquiring TikTok subject to a complete security review and providing proper economic benefits to the United States , including the United States Treasury.
” The Internet is the new battlefield “ What Lockheed Martin was to the twentieth century , technology and cyber-security companies will be to the twenty-first , ” wrote Google executives Eric Schmidt and Larry Cohen , suggesting that the Internet @ @ @ @ @ @ @ company ’ s services to the White House .
Although giant new social media companies are thought of as transnational entities , most are , in fact , very much American corporations .
While billions of people around the world rely on them for their news and entertainment , they are subject to strict American laws .
In January , for instance , Facebook and its subsidiary platforms like Instagram and WhatsApp banned all positive mentions of General Qassem Soleimani , an Iranian leader assassinated in a U.S. drone strike .
This was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Revolutionary Guard Corps ( IRGC ) , an official extension of Iran ’ s military , a terrorist organization .
“ We operate under U.S. sanctions laws , including those related to the U.S. government ’ s designation of the IRGC and its leadership , ” Facebook explained .
This is particularly problematic as Soleimani was Iran ’ s most popular living figure , with an over 80 percent approval rating , meaning that Iranians were banned from sharing a majority opinion online with other Iranians in Iran , speaking in Farsi , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ other side of the planet .
In its drive against fake news , Facebook also partnered with the Atlantic Council to decide what news to promote and what to censor and remove .
The Atlantic Council was born out of NATO and has a board of directors including high government officials like Henry Kissinger , Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell , ex-Generals like Wesley Clark and David Petraeus , and CIA chiefs like Leon Panetta , Michael Hayden , and Robert Gates .
Similarly , Reddit ’ s Director of Policy is a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the popular website aligns with Western foreign policy goals .
Meanwhile , a senior Twitter executive is an officer in the British Army ’ s 77th Brigade , a unit dedicated to information warfare and online psychological operations .
U.S. government-funded think tanks also advise Twitter and other platforms on which websites to blacklist and which accounts to delete , leading to a huge reduction in traffic for alternative media and hundreds of thousands of critical voices silenced .
Effectively then , the U.S. government is in control over much of what America @ @ @ @ @ @ @ — see online , creating something coming to resemble a global state-controlled media apparatus .
Even as the government attempts to frame the debate over the banning of Chinese companies like TikTok and Huawei over privacy concerns , it continues to try to ban the encryption of data and communications at home .
This would essentially end even the pretense of online privacy , giving state agencies virtually unfettered access to any data it wished to see .
Thus , it is possible that the forced transfer of TikTok to Microsoft may have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the means of world communication than genuine worries about our own civil liberties .
Feature photo | Microsoft founder Bill Gates gets in an elevator at Trump Tower in New York , Dec. 13 , 2016 .
Seth Wenig | 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 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , The Grayzone , Jacobin Magazine , Common Dreams the American Herald Tribune and The Canary .

Following Donald Trump’s Friday announcement that he would ban the popular Chinese-owned video platform, Microsoft has today swooped in to hoover up TikTok after it received “personal assurances” from the president himself that he would back such a move. Trump has given the two parties up to 45 days to hash out a deal. ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, values its U.S. operations at $50 billion, but it is not at all certain they will receive fair compensation, given their predicament. The platform is by far the most downloaded app in Apple’s app store, with over 800 million active users worldwide, including over 100 million in the United States, primarily members of Generation Z.
The move comes amid growing American aggression towards Beijing, ostensibly over its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, its treatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang province and demonstrators in Hong Kong, and, above all, its uneasiness at its growing economic power. Early last month the Trump administration began floating the idea of a TikTok ban, citing potential national security issues. When asked by Fox News anchor Laura Ingraham if Americans should use the app, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo responded: “only if you want your private information in the hands of the Chinese Communist Party.” TikTok has strenuously denied that it works with the Chinese government, noting that American users’ data is stored in the U.S., with strict controls on employee access.
What's next, T-Mobile gets to sell Huawei phones to the US market? The State Department is slipping a $50 billion company into Microsoft's back pocket, all while acting tough about "protecting" Americans' data (P.S. Microsoft works with ICE) https://t.co/lregSKuILk — Qiao Collective (@qiaocollective) August 3, 2020
News of the imminent purchase excited the stock market, with Microsoft shares surging by five percent on their Friday totals. Given that the company is worth over $1 trillion, the news added $77 billion to Bill Gates’ company’s value, suggesting that traders believe they are receiving the deal of a lifetime. “Microsoft appreciates the U.S. Government’s and President Trump’s personal involvement as it continues to develop strong security protections for the country,” the tech giant said in a statement today.
The company is already a preferred partner of the administration and has a lot to be thankful to Trump for. In November it received a lucrative $10 billion contract to partner with the Pentagon to develop a cloud computing network that sees it instantly become one of the world’s largest military contractors. The decision to award Microsoft (and not Amazon) the deal was allegedly made on the behest of Trump himself, who disliked how he was being treated by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ Washington Post. Microsoft also has a long history of intimate collusion with government agencies, enabling them to spy on U.S. citizens. Documents leaked by Edward Snowden revealed that it worked with the FBI and NSA to allow them to circumvent their own encryption methods to gather information on hundreds of millions of worldwide users of its platforms, such as Skype and Outlook. Today, Microsoft said it is “committed to acquiring TikTok subject to a complete security review and providing proper economic benefits to the United States, including the United States Treasury.”
I'm a US congressman and I care about precisely two things when it comes to tech: banning tiktok so an authoritarian government can't get a hold of your personal information, and making encryption illegal so the FBI can read every text message you've ever sent — Corn Purist (@onlineman420) August 3, 2020
The Internet is the new battlefield
“What Lockheed Martin was to the twentieth century, technology and cyber-security companies will be to the twenty-first,” wrote Google executives Eric Schmidt and Larry Cohen, suggesting that the Internet is the new battlefield and offering their company’s services to the White House.
Although giant new social media companies are thought of as transnational entities, most are, in fact, very much American corporations. While billions of people around the world rely on them for their news and entertainment, they are subject to strict American laws. In January, for instance, Facebook and its subsidiary platforms like Instagram and WhatsApp banned all positive mentions of General Qassem Soleimani, an Iranian leader assassinated in a U.S. drone strike. This was because the Trump administration deemed the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), an official extension of Iran’s military, a terrorist organization. “We operate under U.S. sanctions laws, including those related to the U.S. government’s designation of the IRGC and its leadership,” Facebook explained. This is particularly problematic as Soleimani was Iran’s most popular living figure, with an over 80 percent approval rating, meaning that Iranians were banned from sharing a majority opinion online with other Iranians in Iran, speaking in Farsi, because what Trump had decided from the other side of the planet.
In its drive against fake news, Facebook also partnered with the Atlantic Council to decide what news to promote and what to censor and remove. The Atlantic Council was born out of NATO and has a board of directors including high government officials like Henry Kissinger, Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell, ex-Generals like Wesley Clark and David Petraeus, and CIA chiefs like Leon Panetta, Michael Hayden, and Robert Gates. Similarly, Reddit’s Director of Policy is a former Atlantic Council deputy director, ensuring the popular website aligns with Western foreign policy goals. Meanwhile, a senior Twitter executive is an officer in the British Army’s 77th Brigade, a unit dedicated to information warfare and online psychological operations. U.S. government-funded think tanks also advise Twitter and other platforms on which websites to blacklist and which accounts to delete, leading to a huge reduction in traffic for alternative media and hundreds of thousands of critical voices silenced. Effectively then, the U.S. government is in control over much of what America — and the rest of the world — see online, creating something coming to resemble a global state-controlled media apparatus.
i love that the political establishment has come together to make inaccessible everything that gen z seems to care about: college education, a healthy and clean planet, and tiktok — kellen heniford (@hellenkeniford) August 3, 2020
Even as the government attempts to frame the debate over the banning of Chinese companies like TikTok and Huawei over privacy concerns, it continues to try to ban the encryption of data and communications at home. This would essentially end even the pretense of online privacy, giving state agencies virtually unfettered access to any data it wished to see. Thus, it is possible that the forced transfer of TikTok to Microsoft may have far more to do with control over the means of world communication than genuine worries about our own civil liberties.
Feature photo | Microsoft founder Bill Gates gets in an elevator at Trump Tower in New York, Dec. 13, 2016. Seth Wenig | 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--2020-08-03--New Report Reveals Israel Demolishes Over 2,000 Palestinian Bedouin Homes per Year

A report published in June of 2020 states that in 2017 , 2018 and 2019 , the state of Israel demolished over two thousand homes of Palestinian citizens of Israel per year in the Naqab region alone .
The report was put together by an Israeli Non-Governmental agency called , “ The Negev Coexistence Forum for Civil Equality.
” The Naqab , called the Negev in Hebrew , makes up the entire southern half of Palestine , and while it is a desert , it is considered to be a fertile desert .
The indigenous people of the Naqab , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people and historically cultivated these lands .
Zionist mythology that claims the land was barren until the Zionist colonization “ made the desert bloom , ” is , in fact , a lie .
The British government , which occupied Palestine from 1917-1948 , and the Ottoman Empire before that , recognized the rights of the Palestinian Bedouin in the Naqab to their lands .
However , from the very beginning of the Zionist colonization of Palestine , the Naqab was targeted and once the State of Israel was established , Bedouin lands @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Dr. Mansour Nasasra , when the British withdrew from the city of Bi ’ r Al-Saba in May of 1948 , the Palestinian mayor of the city , Shafiq Mustafa raised the Palestinian flag , signaling what was expected to be the start of Palestinian rule over the city .
However , the city fell to the Zionist forces on October 21 , 1948 , a day the Bedouin Palestinians refer to as “ Kasret Al-Saba , ” or the disaster of Bi ’ r Al-Saba .
According to Dr. Nasasra , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was considered the capital of the Naqab Bedouin , “ meant the end of their economic , cultural and administrative center , as well as of their freedom.
” ( The Naqab Bedouins , Mansour Nasasra ) .
Prior to the Zionist conquest of Palestine , close to one hundred thousand Palestinian Bedouin lived in the Naqab .
During 1948 all of Palestine was subjected to a ruthless campaign of ethnic cleansing and the Naqab was no exception .
Once the Naqab was overtaken by Zionist forces the region was subjected to a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ than 10 percent of the native population to remain .
The ones who did remain were herded into the northern part of the Naqab called the “ Siage ” area or fenced area , and the state invested heavily in building modern Jewish-only colonies that provided an excellent lifestyle for the colonizers while depriving the Bedouin of their land and resources .
The Bedouin communities in the Naqab today make up about 250,000 people , which is about one-third of the total population of the region .
They are only permitted to live @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Naqab , in other words , only 12 percent of the towns in the Naqab are designated for the Palestinian Bedouin citizens .
And while the standard of living in the Israeli settlements and cities in the Naqab is among the highest in the country , the Bedouin live mostly in townships and impoverished villages denied the basic most services the state offers Jewish citizens .
Half of the Bedouin Palestinians live in towns that are called “ unrecognized.
” This means that the state of Israel does not recognize them and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of these towns predate the state and others were created by the state .
In both cases , the state arbitrarily decided that the areas where these people live are no longer designated for people to live but have been designated for military or other uses by the State .
The state demands from the population that they vacate to other areas designated for them and they either refuse or are unable to do so .
Since the state of Israel does not recognize the community ’ s right to their lands , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ belongs to other families , something the Bedouin quite often refuse to do .
Furthermore , the state will often relocate several families to the same plot creating an impossible situation for them .
This lack of recognition is a violation of the rights of these communities .
The unrecognized towns and villages receive no services like water , electricity , healthcare , or even roads , and they are constantly under threat of forced displacement , home demolition and land confiscation .
When the state does relocate them , it is never @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but into impoverished overcrowded townships .
It is also worth noting that although many of Jewish colonies in the Naqab are agricultural communities , land cultivation is not permitted for the Bedouins .
The life of the Palestinian Bedouin is administered not like other citizens of the state of Israel but rather by governmental agencies like the Bedouin Administration Agency and the Ministry of Agriculture , which are run by Israeli Jews and in which the Bedouin Palestinians have no voice .
The state wants to confiscate all the Bedouin lands in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and uses the demolition of homes and other methods as a means to force these communities , which suffer from severe lack of housing and poverty already , into crowded townships where levels of poverty and unemployment are high .
One example is the Palestinian Bedouin village of Ras Jabara , which sits within the municipal boundaries of the city of Dimona .
The city was built on lands that historically belonged to this village .
Today , there are only 600 people who live in the village and even though they are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , they are denied basic rights and services that the Jewish residents of the city receive .
They are not even allowed to vote in the municipal elections .
In March of 2018 , the residents of Ras Jabara received evacuation notices because the city wanted to build a neighborhood for Jews – once again Palestinians are removed because the state wants to build for Jews only .
It is likely that this community too will be relocated to one of the nearby townships .
The Bedouin Administration Authority has its own enforcement @ @ @ @ @ @ @ called “ Yoav.
” They invade the towns in the early morning hours to demolish , destroy , detain , and generally intimidate the residents .
When they come to enforce a demolition order the owner of the building is given the option of self-demolition .
Self-demolition is often the preferred option because it allows the owners of the property to salvage whatever equipment they may have inside the property and reuse whatever scrap material they have leftover .
Because these communities are by and large impoverished , most of the homes and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the time of COVID Even with COVID-19 hitting poor communities hard , the Israeli authorities have not let up on harassment of the Bedouin Palestinians .
Throughout the Naqab Israeli “ enforcing ” agencies continue to harass , demolish , arrest and impose outrageous fines .
Israel claims that the Palestinian Bedouin of the Naqab are its citizens – a “ privilege ” that they never sought but was imposed on them – yet they receive none of the privileges the Jewish citizens of the state enjoy .
Feature photo | Palestinian Bedouin @ @ @ @ @ @ @ classrooms destroyed by the Israeli army in the village of Abu Nuwar , West Bank .
Israel demolished the school saying the EU-funded structure was built without proper permits .
Mahmoud Illean | AP Miko Peled is an author and human rights activist born in Jerusalem .
He is the author of “ The General ’ s Son .
Journey of an Israeli in Palestine , ” and “ Injustice , the Story of the Holy Land Foundation Five .
”

A report published in June of 2020 states that in 2017, 2018 and 2019, the state of Israel demolished over two thousand homes of Palestinian citizens of Israel per year in the Naqab region alone. The report was put together by an Israeli Non-Governmental agency called, “The Negev Coexistence Forum for Civil Equality.”
History
The Naqab, called the Negev in Hebrew, makes up the entire southern half of Palestine, and while it is a desert, it is considered to be a fertile desert. The indigenous people of the Naqab, the Palestinian Bedouin, are a semi-nomadic people and historically cultivated these lands. Zionist mythology that claims the land was barren until the Zionist colonization “made the desert bloom,” is, in fact, a lie.
The British government, which occupied Palestine from 1917-1948, and the Ottoman Empire before that, recognized the rights of the Palestinian Bedouin in the Naqab to their lands. However, from the very beginning of the Zionist colonization of Palestine, the Naqab was targeted and once the State of Israel was established, Bedouin lands were taken.
According to Palestinian professor, Dr. Mansour Nasasra, when the British withdrew from the city of Bi’r Al-Saba in May of 1948, the Palestinian mayor of the city, Shafiq Mustafa raised the Palestinian flag, signaling what was expected to be the start of Palestinian rule over the city. However, the city fell to the Zionist forces on October 21, 1948, a day the Bedouin Palestinians refer to as “Kasret Al-Saba,” or the disaster of Bi’r Al-Saba. According to Dr. Nasasra, the fall of the city, which was considered the capital of the Naqab Bedouin, “meant the end of their economic, cultural and administrative center, as well as of their freedom.” (The Naqab Bedouins, Mansour Nasasra).
Prior to the Zionist conquest of Palestine, close to one hundred thousand Palestinian Bedouin lived in the Naqab. During 1948 all of Palestine was subjected to a ruthless campaign of ethnic cleansing and the Naqab was no exception. Once the Naqab was overtaken by Zionist forces the region was subjected to a fierce campaign of ethnic cleansing allowing less than 10 percent of the native population to remain. The ones who did remain were herded into the northern part of the Naqab called the “Siage” area or fenced area, and the state invested heavily in building modern Jewish-only colonies that provided an excellent lifestyle for the colonizers while depriving the Bedouin of their land and resources.
Unrecognized towns
The Bedouin communities in the Naqab today make up about 250,000 people, which is about one-third of the total population of the region. They are only permitted to live in 12 percent of the towns in the Naqab, in other words, only 12 percent of the towns in the Naqab are designated for the Palestinian Bedouin citizens. And while the standard of living in the Israeli settlements and cities in the Naqab is among the highest in the country, the Bedouin live mostly in townships and impoverished villages denied the basic most services the state offers Jewish citizens.
Half of the Bedouin Palestinians live in towns that are called “unrecognized.” This means that the state of Israel does not recognize them and provides them with no services. Some of these towns predate the state and others were created by the state. In both cases, the state arbitrarily decided that the areas where these people live are no longer designated for people to live but have been designated for military or other uses by the State.
The state demands from the population that they vacate to other areas designated for them and they either refuse or are unable to do so. Since the state of Israel does not recognize the community’s right to their lands, it often relocates families onto land that belongs to other families, something the Bedouin quite often refuse to do. Furthermore, the state will often relocate several families to the same plot creating an impossible situation for them.
This lack of recognition is a violation of the rights of these communities. The unrecognized towns and villages receive no services like water, electricity, healthcare, or even roads, and they are constantly under threat of forced displacement, home demolition and land confiscation. When the state does relocate them, it is never to the highly developed wealthy Jewish-only towns but into impoverished overcrowded townships. It is also worth noting that although many of Jewish colonies in the Naqab are agricultural communities, land cultivation is not permitted for the Bedouins.
Relocation
The life of the Palestinian Bedouin is administered not like other citizens of the state of Israel but rather by governmental agencies like the Bedouin Administration Agency and the Ministry of Agriculture, which are run by Israeli Jews and in which the Bedouin Palestinians have no voice. The state wants to confiscate all the Bedouin lands in the Naqab and to relocate them into townships and uses the demolition of homes and other methods as a means to force these communities, which suffer from severe lack of housing and poverty already, into crowded townships where levels of poverty and unemployment are high.
One example is the Palestinian Bedouin village of Ras Jabara, which sits within the municipal boundaries of the city of Dimona. The city was built on lands that historically belonged to this village. Today, there are only 600 people who live in the village and even though they are within the municipal boundaries of the city, they are denied basic rights and services that the Jewish residents of the city receive. They are not even allowed to vote in the municipal elections. In March of 2018, the residents of Ras Jabara received evacuation notices because the city wanted to build a neighborhood for Jews – once again Palestinians are removed because the state wants to build for Jews only. It is likely that this community too will be relocated to one of the nearby townships.
Self demolition
The Bedouin Administration Authority has its own enforcement apparatus which includes a militarized police unit called “Yoav.” They invade the towns in the early morning hours to demolish, destroy, detain, and generally intimidate the residents. When they come to enforce a demolition order the owner of the building is given the option of self-demolition.
Self-demolition is often the preferred option because it allows the owners of the property to salvage whatever equipment they may have inside the property and reuse whatever scrap material they have leftover. Because these communities are by and large impoverished, most of the homes and other structures are rudimentary.
Apartheid in the time of COVID
Even with COVID-19 hitting poor communities hard, the Israeli authorities have not let up on harassment of the Bedouin Palestinians. Throughout the Naqab Israeli “enforcing” agencies continue to harass, demolish, arrest and impose outrageous fines. Israel claims that the Palestinian Bedouin of the Naqab are its citizens – a “privilege” that they never sought but was imposed on them – yet they receive none of the privileges the Jewish citizens of the state enjoy.
Feature photo | Palestinian Bedouin children stand on the rubble of two classrooms destroyed by the Israeli army in the village of Abu Nuwar, West Bank. Israel demolished the school saying the EU-funded structure was built without proper permits. Mahmoud Illean | AP
Miko Peled is an author and human rights activist born in Jerusalem. He is the author of “The General’s Son. Journey of an Israeli in Palestine,” and “Injustice, the Story of the Holy Land Foundation Five.”


mintpressnews--2020-08-04--Shadow Wars: Leaks by Mossad Point to Israeli Involvement in Deadly Attacks on Iran

Israel is believed to be behind several recent acts of sabotage against Iranian civilian and military infrastructure , including a @ @ @ @ @ the lives of at least 19 people and has further disrupted an economy already in @ @ @ @ @ downturn brought on by a global pandemic and crippling economic sanctions .
Read more about @ @ @ @ @ | Rescue workers search for survivors at the scene of a mysterious explosion at the @ @ @ @ @ Center in the north of Iran ’ s capital Tehran on June 30 , 2020 @ @ @ @ @

Israel is believed to be behind several recent acts of sabotage against Iranian civilian and military infrastructure, including a hospital, that have taken the lives of at least 19 people and has further disrupted an economy already in the throes of a devastating downturn brought on by a global pandemic and crippling economic sanctions.
Read more about the attacks:
Feature photo | Rescue workers search for survivors at the scene of a mysterious explosion at the Sina At’har Health Center in the north of Iran’s capital Tehran on June 30, 2020. Amir Kholousi | ISNA


mintpressnews--2020-08-04--John Pilger: Another Hiroshima is Coming, Unless We Stop It Now

When I first went to Hiroshima in 1967 , the shadow on the steps was still there .
It was an almost perfect impression of a human being at ease : legs splayed , back bent , one hand by her side as she sat waiting for a bank to open .
At a quarter past eight on the morning of August 6 , 1945 , she and her silhouette were burned into the granite .
I stared at the shadow for an hour or more , then I walked down to the river where the survivors still lived in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Yukio , whose chest was etched with the pattern of the shirt he was wearing when the atomic bomb was dropped .
He described a huge flash over the city , “ a bluish light , something like an electrical short ” , after which wind blew like a tornado and black rain fell .
“ I was thrown on the ground and noticed only the stalks of my flowers were left .
Everything was still and quiet , and when I got up , there were people naked , not saying anything @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or hair .
I was certain I was dead.
” Nine years later , I returned to look for him and he was dead from leukaemia .
“ No radioactivity in Hiroshima ruin ” said The New York Times front page on 13 September , 1945 , a classic of planted disinformation .
“ General Farrell , ” reported William H. Lawrence , “ denied categorically that [ the atomic bomb ] produced a dangerous , lingering radioactivity.
” Only one reporter , Wilfred Burchett , an Australian , had braved the perilous @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the atomic bombing , in defiance of the Allied occupation authorities , which controlled the “ press pack ” .
“ I write this as a warning to the world , ” reported Burchett in the London Daily Express of September 5,1945 .
Sitting in the rubble with his Baby Hermes typewriter , he described hospital wards filled with people with no visible injuries who were dying from what he called “ an atomic plague ” .
For this , his press accreditation was withdrawn , he was pilloried and smeared .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ forgiven .
The atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was an act of premeditated mass murder that unleashed a weapon of intrinsic criminality .
It was justified by lies that form the bedrock of America ’ s war propaganda in the 21st century , casting a new enemy , and target – China .
During the 75 years since Hiroshima , the most enduring lie is that the atomic bomb was dropped to end the war in the Pacific and to save lives .
“ Even without the atomic bombing attacks , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of 1946 , “ air supremacy over Japan could have exerted sufficient pressure to bring about unconditional surrender and obviate the need for invasion .
“ Based on a detailed investigation of all the facts , and supported by the testimony of the surviving Japanese leaders involved , it is the Survey ’ s opinion that … Japan would have surrendered even if the atomic bombs had not been dropped , even if Russia had not entered the war [ against Japan ] and even if no invasion had been planned or contemplated.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ documented Japanese peace overtures as early as 1943 .
None was pursued .
A cable sent on May 5 , 1945 by the German ambassador in Tokyo and intercepted by the US made clear the Japanese were desperate to sue for peace , including “ capitulation even if the terms were hard ” .
Nothing was done .
The US Secretary of War , Henry Stimson , told President Truman he was “ fearful ” that the US Air Force would have Japan so “ bombed out ” that the new weapon would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ strength ” .
Stimson later admitted that “ no effort was made , and none was seriously considered , to achieve surrender merely in order not to have to use the [ atomic ] bomb ” .
Stimson ’ s foreign policy colleagues — looking ahead to the post-war era they were then shaping “ in our image ” , as Cold War planner George Kennan famously put it — made clear they were eager “ to browbeat the Russians with the [ atomic ] bomb held rather ostentatiously on our hip ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Manhattan Project that made the atomic bomb , testified : “ There was never any illusion on my part that Russia was our enemy , and that the project was conducted on that basis.
” The day after Hiroshima was obliterated , President Harry Truman voiced his satisfaction with the “ overwhelming success ” of “ the experiment ” .
The “ experiment ” continued long after the war was over .
Between 1946 and 1958 , the United States exploded 67 nuclear bombs in the Marshall Islands in the Pacific : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ every day for 12 years .
The human and environmental consequences were catastrophic .
During the filming of my documentary , The Coming War on China , I chartered a small aircraft and flew to Bikini Atoll in the Marshalls .
It was here that the United States exploded the world ’ s first Hydrogen Bomb .
It remains poisoned earth .
My shoes registered “ unsafe ” on my Geiger counter .
Palm trees stood in unworldly formations .
There were no birds .
I trekked through the jungle to the concrete @ @ @ @ @ @ @ morning of March 1 , 1954 , the button was pushed .
The sun , which had risen , rose again and vaporised an entire island in the lagoon , leaving a vast black hole , which from the air is a menacing spectacle : a deathly void in a place of beauty .
The radioactive fall-out spread quickly and “ unexpectedly ” .
The official history claims “ the wind changed suddenly ” .
It was the first of many lies , as declassified documents and the victims ’ testimony reveal .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ monitor the test site , said , “ They knew where the radioactive fall-out was going to go .
Even on the day of the shot , they still had an opportunity to evacuate people , but [ people ] were not evacuated ; I was not evacuated… The United States needed some guinea pigs to study what the effects of radiation would do.
” Like Hiroshima , the secret of the Marshall Islands was a calculated experiment on the lives of large numbers of people .
This was Project 4.1 , which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and became an experiment on “ human beings exposed to the radiation of a nuclear weapon ” .
The Marshall Islanders I met in 2015 — like the survivors of Hiroshima I interviewed in the 1960s and 70s — suffered from a range of cancers , commonly thyroid cancer ; thousands had already died .
Miscarriages and stillbirths were common ; those babies who lived were often deformed horribly .
Unlike Bikini , nearby Rongelap atoll had not been evacuated during the H-Bomb test .
Directly downwind of Bikini , Rongelap ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ appeared to be snowflakes .
Food and water were contaminated ; and the population fell victim to cancers .
That is still true today .
I met Nerje Joseph , who showed me a photograph of herself as a child on Rongelap .
She had terrible facial burns and much of her was hair missing .
“ We were bathing at the well on the day the bomb exploded , ” she said .
“ White dust started falling from the sky .
I reached to catch the powder .
We used it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ A few days later , my hair started falling out.
” Lemoyo Abon said , “ Some of us were in agony .
Others had diarrhoea .
We were terrified .
We thought it must be the end of the world.
” US official archive film I included in my film refers to the islanders as “ amenable savages ” .
In the wake of the explosion , a US Atomic Energy Agency official is seen boasting that Rongelap “ is by far the most contaminated place on earth ” , adding , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a measure of human uptake when people live in a contaminated environment.
” American scientists , including medical doctors , built distinguished careers studying the “ human uptake ’ .
There they are in flickering film , in their white coats , attentive with their clipboards .
When an islander died in his teens , his family received a sympathy card from the scientist who studied him .
I have reported from five nuclear “ ground zeros ” throughout the world — in Japan , the Marshall Islands , Nevada , Polynesia and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ my experience as a war correspondent , this has taught me about the ruthlessness and immorality of great power : that is , imperial power , whose cynicism is the true enemy of humanity .
This struck me forcibly when I filmed at Taranaki Ground Zero at Maralinga in the Australian desert .
In a dish-like crater was an obelisk on which was inscribed : “ A British atomic weapon was test exploded here on 9 October 1957 ” .
On the rim of the crater was this sign : around this point @ @ @ @ @ @ @ far as the eye could see , and beyond , the ground was irradiated .
Raw plutonium lay about , scattered like talcum powder : plutonium is so dangerous to humans that a third of a milligram gives a 50 per cent chance of cancer .
The only people who might have seen the sign were Indigenous Australians , for whom there was no warning .
According to an official account , if they were lucky “ they were shooed off like rabbits ” .
Today , an unprecedented campaign of propaganda is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ We are not meant to question the daily torrent of anti-Chinese rhetoric , which is rapidly overtaking the torrent of anti-Russia rhetoric .
Anything Chinese is bad , anathema , a threat : Wuhan … .
Huawei .
How confusing it is when “ our ” most reviled leader says so .
The current phase of this campaign began not with Trump but with Barack Obama , who in 2011 flew to Australia to declare the greatest build-up of US naval forces in the Asia-Pacific region since World War Two .
Suddenly , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ This was nonsense , of course .
What was threatened was America ’ s unchallenged psychopathic view of itself as the richest , the most successful , the most “ indispensable ” nation .
What was never in dispute was its prowess as a bully — with more than 30 members of the United Nations suffering American sanctions of some kind and a trail of the blood running through defenceless countries bombed , their governments overthrown , their elections interfered with , their resources plundered .
Obama ’ s declaration became known as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ One of its principal advocates was his Secretary of State , Hillary Clinton , who , as WikiLeaks revealed , wanted to rename the Pacific Ocean “ the American Sea ” .
Whereas Clinton never concealed her warmongering , Obama was a maestro of marketing.
” I state clearly and with conviction , ” said the new president in 2009 , “ that America ’ s commitment is to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons.
” Obama increased spending on nuclear warheads faster than any president since the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ usable ” nuclear weapon was developed .
Known as the B61 Model 12 , it means , according to General James Cartwright , former vice-chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff , that “ going smaller [ makes its use ] more thinkable ” .
The target is China .
Today , more than 400 American military bases almost encircle China with missiles , bombers , warships and nuclear weapons .
From Australia north through the Pacific to South-East Asia , Japan and Korea and across Eurasia to Afghanistan and India , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ strategist told me , “ the perfect noose ” .
A study by the RAND Corporation – which , since Vietnam , has planned America ’ s wars – is entitled War with China : Thinking Through the Unthinkable .
Commissioned by the US Army , the authors evoke the infamous catch cry of its chief Cold War strategist , Herman Kahn – “ thinking the unthinkable ” .
Kahn ’ s book , On Thermonuclear War , elaborated a plan for a “ winnable ” nuclear war .
Kahn ’ s apocalyptic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Secretary of State Mike Pompeo , an evangelical fanatic who believes in the “ rapture of the End ” .
He is perhaps the most dangerous man alive .
“ I was CIA director , ” he boasted , “ We lied , we cheated , we stole .
It was like we had entire training courses.
” Pompeo ’ s obsession is China .
The endgame of Pompeo ’ s extremism is rarely if ever discussed in the Anglo-American media , where the myths and fabrications about China are standard fare , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ A virulent racism is the sub-text of this propaganda .
Classified “ yellow ” even though they were white , the Chinese are the only ethnic group to have been banned by an “ exclusion act ” from entering the United States , because they were Chinese .
Popular culture declared them sinister , untrustworthy , “ sneaky ” , depraved , diseased , immoral .
An Australian magazine , The Bulletin , was devoted to promoting fear of the “ yellow peril ” as if all of Asia was about to fall @ @ @ @ @ @ @ force of gravity .
‘ The Chinese Octopus ’ , The Bulletin , Sydney 1886 , an early promoter of the “ Yellow Peril ” and other stereotypes .
As the historian Martin Powers writes , acknowledging China ’ s modernism , its secular morality and “ contributions to liberal thought threatened European face , so it became necessary to suppress China ’ s role in the Enlightenment debate … .
For centuries , China ’ s threat to the myth of Western superiority has made it an easy target for race-baiting.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ China-basher Peter Hartcher described those who spread Chinese influence in Australia as “ rats , flies , mosquitoes and sparrows ” .
Hartcher , who favourably quotes the American demagogue Steve Bannon , likes to interpret the “ dreams ” of the current Chinese elite , to which he is apparently privy .
These are inspired by yearnings for the “ Mandate of Heaven ” of 2,000 years ago .
Ad nausea .
To combat this “ mandate ” , the Australian government of Scott Morrison has committed one of the most secure @ @ @ @ @ @ @ partner is China , to hundreds of billions of dollars ’ worth of American missiles that can be fired at China .
The trickledown is already evident .
In a country historically scarred by violent racism towards Asians , Australians of Chinese descent have formed a vigilante group to protect delivery riders .
Phone videos show a delivery rider punched in the face and a Chinese couple racially abused in a supermarket .
Between April and June , there were almost 400 racist attacks on Asian-Australians .
“ We are not your enemy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ told me , “ but if you [ in the West ] decide we are , we must prepare without delay.
” China ’ s arsenal is small compared with America ’ s , but it is growing fast , especially the development of maritime missiles designed to destroy fleets of ships .
“ For the first time , ” wrote Gregory Kulacki of the Union of Concerned Scientists , “ China is discussing putting its nuclear missiles on high alert so that they can be launched quickly on warning of an attack… @ @ @ @ @ @ @ change in Chinese policy… ” In Washington , I met Amitai Etzioni , distinguished professor of international affairs at George Washington University , who wrote that a “ blinding attack on China ” was planned , “ with strikes that could be mistakenly perceived [ by the Chinese ] as pre-emptive attempts to take out its nuclear weapons , thus cornering them into a terrible use-it-or-lose-it dilemma [ that would ] lead to nuclear war.
” In 2019 , the US staged its biggest single military exercise since the Cold War , much @ @ @ @ @ @ @ armada of ships and long-range bombers rehearsed an “ Air-Sea Battle Concept for China ” – ASB – blocking sea lanes in the Straits of Malacca and cutting off China ’ s access to oil , gas and other raw materials from the Middle East and Africa .
It is fear of such a blockade that has seen China develop its Belt and Road Initiative along the old Silk Road to Europe and urgently build strategic airstrips on disputed reefs and islets in the Spratly Islands .
In Shanghai , I met Lijia @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , typical of a new class of outspoken mavericks .
Her best-selling book has the ironic title Socialism Is Great !
Having grown up in the chaotic , brutal Cultural Revolution , she has travelled and lived in the US and Europe .
“ Many Americans imagine , ” she said , “ that Chinese people live a miserable , repressed life with no freedom whatsoever .
The [ idea of ] the yellow peril has never left them… They have no idea there are some 500 million people being lifted out of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s 600 million.
” Modern China ’ s epic achievements , its defeat of mass poverty , and the pride and contentment of its people ( measured forensically by American pollsters such as Pew ) are wilfully unknown or misunderstood in the West .
This alone is a commentary on the lamentable state of Western journalism and the abandonment of honest reporting .
China ’ s repressive dark side and what we like to call its “ authoritarianism ” are the facade we are allowed to see almost exclusively .
It is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the evil super-villain Dr. Fu Manchu .
And it is time we asked why : before it is too late to stop the next Hiroshima .
Feature photo | In this Aug. 6 , 1945 photo released by the U.S. Army , a mushroom cloud billows about one hour after a nuclear bomb was detonated above Hiroshima , Japan .
U.S. Army via Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum via AP John Pilger is an award-winning journalist .
His articles appear worldwide in newspapers such as the Guardian , the Independent , the New @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the Mail & Guardian ( South Africa ) , Aftonbladet ( Sweden ) , Il Manifesto ( Italy ) .
Visit his website at www.johnpilger.com .

When I first went to Hiroshima in 1967, the shadow on the steps was still there. It was an almost perfect impression of a human being at ease: legs splayed, back bent, one hand by her side as she sat waiting for a bank to open.
At a quarter past eight on the morning of August 6, 1945, she and her silhouette were burned into the granite.
I stared at the shadow for an hour or more, then I walked down to the river where the survivors still lived in shanties.
I met a man called Yukio, whose chest was etched with the pattern of the shirt he was wearing when the atomic bomb was dropped.
He described a huge flash over the city, “a bluish light, something like an electrical short”, after which wind blew like a tornado and black rain fell. “I was thrown on the ground and noticed only the stalks of my flowers were left. Everything was still and quiet, and when I got up, there were people naked, not saying anything. Some of them had no skin or hair. I was certain I was dead.”
Nine years later, I returned to look for him and he was dead from leukaemia.
“No radioactivity in Hiroshima ruin” said The New York Times front page on 13 September, 1945, a classic of planted disinformation. “General Farrell,” reported William H. Lawrence, “denied categorically that [the atomic bomb] produced a dangerous, lingering radioactivity.”
Only one reporter, Wilfred Burchett, an Australian, had braved the perilous journey to Hiroshima in the immediate aftermath of the atomic bombing, in defiance of the Allied occupation authorities, which controlled the “press pack”.
“I write this as a warning to the world,” reported Burchett in the London Daily Express of September 5,1945. Sitting in the rubble with his Baby Hermes typewriter, he described hospital wards filled with people with no visible injuries who were dying from what he called “an atomic plague”.
For this, his press accreditation was withdrawn, he was pilloried and smeared. His witness to the truth was never forgiven.
The atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was an act of premeditated mass murder that unleashed a weapon of intrinsic criminality. It was justified by lies that form the bedrock of America’s war propaganda in the 21st century, casting a new enemy, and target – China.
During the 75 years since Hiroshima, the most enduring lie is that the atomic bomb was dropped to end the war in the Pacific and to save lives.
“Even without the atomic bombing attacks,” concluded the United States Strategic Bombing Survey of 1946, “air supremacy over Japan could have exerted sufficient pressure to bring about unconditional surrender and obviate the need for invasion. “Based on a detailed investigation of all the facts, and supported by the testimony of the surviving Japanese leaders involved, it is the Survey’s opinion that … Japan would have surrendered even if the atomic bombs had not been dropped, even if Russia had not entered the war [against Japan] and even if no invasion had been planned or contemplated.”
The National Archives in Washington contains documented Japanese peace overtures as early as 1943. None was pursued. A cable sent on May 5, 1945 by the German ambassador in Tokyo and intercepted by the US made clear the Japanese were desperate to sue for peace, including “capitulation even if the terms were hard”. Nothing was done.
The US Secretary of War, Henry Stimson, told President Truman he was “fearful” that the US Air Force would have Japan so “bombed out” that the new weapon would not be able “to show its strength”. Stimson later admitted that “no effort was made, and none was seriously considered, to achieve surrender merely in order not to have to use the [atomic] bomb”.
Stimson’s foreign policy colleagues — looking ahead to the post-war era they were then shaping “in our image”, as Cold War planner George Kennan famously put it — made clear they were eager “to browbeat the Russians with the [atomic] bomb held rather ostentatiously on our hip”. General Leslie Groves, director of the Manhattan Project that made the atomic bomb, testified: “There was never any illusion on my part that Russia was our enemy, and that the project was conducted on that basis.”
The day after Hiroshima was obliterated, President Harry Truman voiced his satisfaction with the “overwhelming success” of “the experiment”.
The “experiment” continued long after the war was over. Between 1946 and 1958, the United States exploded 67 nuclear bombs in the Marshall Islands in the Pacific: the equivalent of more than one Hiroshima every day for 12 years.
The human and environmental consequences were catastrophic. During the filming of my documentary, The Coming War on China, I chartered a small aircraft and flew to Bikini Atoll in the Marshalls. It was here that the United States exploded the world’s first Hydrogen Bomb. It remains poisoned earth. My shoes registered “unsafe” on my Geiger counter. Palm trees stood in unworldly formations. There were no birds.
I trekked through the jungle to the concrete bunker where, at 6.45 on the morning of March 1, 1954, the button was pushed. The sun, which had risen, rose again and vaporised an entire island in the lagoon, leaving a vast black hole, which from the air is a menacing spectacle: a deathly void in a place of beauty.
The radioactive fall-out spread quickly and “unexpectedly”. The official history claims “the wind changed suddenly”. It was the first of many lies, as declassified documents and the victims’ testimony reveal.
Gene Curbow, a meteorologist assigned to monitor the test site, said, “They knew where the radioactive fall-out was going to go. Even on the day of the shot, they still had an opportunity to evacuate people, but [people] were not evacuated; I was not evacuated… The United States needed some guinea pigs to study what the effects of radiation would do.”
Like Hiroshima, the secret of the Marshall Islands was a calculated experiment on the lives of large numbers of people. This was Project 4.1, which began as a scientific study of mice and became an experiment on “human beings exposed to the radiation of a nuclear weapon”.
The Marshall Islanders I met in 2015 — like the survivors of Hiroshima I interviewed in the 1960s and 70s — suffered from a range of cancers, commonly thyroid cancer; thousands had already died. Miscarriages and stillbirths were common; those babies who lived were often deformed horribly.
Unlike Bikini, nearby Rongelap atoll had not been evacuated during the H-Bomb test. Directly downwind of Bikini, Rongelap’s skies darkened and it rained what first appeared to be snowflakes. Food and water were contaminated; and the population fell victim to cancers. That is still true today.
I met Nerje Joseph, who showed me a photograph of herself as a child on Rongelap. She had terrible facial burns and much of her was hair missing. “We were bathing at the well on the day the bomb exploded,” she said. “White dust started falling from the sky. I reached to catch the powder. We used it as soap to wash our hair. A few days later, my hair started falling out.”
Lemoyo Abon said, “Some of us were in agony. Others had diarrhoea. We were terrified. We thought it must be the end of the world.”
US official archive film I included in my film refers to the islanders as “amenable savages”. In the wake of the explosion, a US Atomic Energy Agency official is seen boasting that Rongelap “is by far the most contaminated place on earth”, adding, “it will be interesting to get a measure of human uptake when people live in a contaminated environment.”
American scientists, including medical doctors, built distinguished careers studying the “human uptake’. There they are in flickering film, in their white coats, attentive with their clipboards. When an islander died in his teens, his family received a sympathy card from the scientist who studied him.
I have reported from five nuclear “ground zeros” throughout the world — in Japan, the Marshall Islands, Nevada, Polynesia and Maralinga in Australia. Even more than my experience as a war correspondent, this has taught me about the ruthlessness and immorality of great power: that is, imperial power, whose cynicism is the true enemy of humanity.
This struck me forcibly when I filmed at Taranaki Ground Zero at Maralinga in the Australian desert. In a dish-like crater was an obelisk on which was inscribed: “A British atomic weapon was test exploded here on 9 October 1957”. On the rim of the crater was this sign:
WARNING: RADIATION HAZARD
Radiation levels for a few hundred metres
around this point may be above those considered
safe for permanent occupation.
For as far as the eye could see, and beyond, the ground was irradiated. Raw plutonium lay about, scattered like talcum powder: plutonium is so dangerous to humans that a third of a milligram gives a 50 per cent chance of cancer.
The only people who might have seen the sign were Indigenous Australians, for whom there was no warning. According to an official account, if they were lucky “they were shooed off like rabbits”.
Today, an unprecedented campaign of propaganda is shooing us all off like rabbits. We are not meant to question the daily torrent of anti-Chinese rhetoric, which is rapidly overtaking the torrent of anti-Russia rhetoric. Anything Chinese is bad, anathema, a threat: Wuhan …. Huawei. How confusing it is when “our” most reviled leader says so.
The current phase of this campaign began not with Trump but with Barack Obama, who in 2011 flew to Australia to declare the greatest build-up of US naval forces in the Asia-Pacific region since World War Two. Suddenly, China was a “threat”. This was nonsense, of course. What was threatened was America’s unchallenged psychopathic view of itself as the richest, the most successful, the most “indispensable” nation.
What was never in dispute was its prowess as a bully — with more than 30 members of the United Nations suffering American sanctions of some kind and a trail of the blood running through defenceless countries bombed, their governments overthrown, their elections interfered with, their resources plundered.
Obama’s declaration became known as the “pivot to Asia”. One of its principal advocates was his Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, who, as WikiLeaks revealed, wanted to rename the Pacific Ocean “the American Sea”.
Whereas Clinton never concealed her warmongering, Obama was a maestro of marketing.”I state clearly and with conviction,” said the new president in 2009, “that America’s commitment is to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons.”
Obama increased spending on nuclear warheads faster than any president since the end of the Cold War. A “usable” nuclear weapon was developed. Known as the B61 Model 12, it means, according to General James Cartwright, former vice-chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, that “going smaller [makes its use] more thinkable”.
The target is China. Today, more than 400 American military bases almost encircle China with missiles, bombers, warships and nuclear weapons. From Australia north through the Pacific to South-East Asia, Japan and Korea and across Eurasia to Afghanistan and India, the bases form, as one US strategist told me, “the perfect noose”.
A study by the RAND Corporation – which, since Vietnam, has planned America’s wars – is entitled War with China: Thinking Through the Unthinkable. Commissioned by the US Army, the authors evoke the infamous catch cry of its chief Cold War strategist, Herman Kahn – “thinking the unthinkable”. Kahn’s book, On Thermonuclear War, elaborated a plan for a “winnable” nuclear war.
Kahn’s apocalyptic view is shared by Trump’s Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, an evangelical fanatic who believes in the “rapture of the End”. He is perhaps the most dangerous man alive. “I was CIA director,” he boasted, “We lied, we cheated, we stole. It was like we had entire training courses.” Pompeo’s obsession is China.
The endgame of Pompeo’s extremism is rarely if ever discussed in the Anglo-American media, where the myths and fabrications about China are standard fare, as were the lies about Iraq. A virulent racism is the sub-text of this propaganda. Classified “yellow” even though they were white, the Chinese are the only ethnic group to have been banned by an “exclusion act” from entering the United States, because they were Chinese. Popular culture declared them sinister, untrustworthy, “sneaky”, depraved, diseased, immoral.
An Australian magazine, The Bulletin, was devoted to promoting fear of the “yellow peril” as if all of Asia was about to fall down on the whites-only colony by the force of gravity.
‘The Chinese Octopus’, The Bulletin, Sydney 1886, an early promoter of the “Yellow Peril” and other stereotypes.
As the historian Martin Powers writes, acknowledging China’s modernism, its secular morality and “contributions to liberal thought threatened European face, so it became necessary to suppress China’s role in the Enlightenment debate …. For centuries, China’s threat to the myth of Western superiority has made it an easy target for race-baiting.”
In the Sydney Morning Herald, tireless China-basher Peter Hartcher described those who spread Chinese influence in Australia as “rats, flies, mosquitoes and sparrows”. Hartcher, who favourably quotes the American demagogue Steve Bannon, likes to interpret the “dreams” of the current Chinese elite, to which he is apparently privy. These are inspired by yearnings for the “Mandate of Heaven” of 2,000 years ago. Ad nausea.
To combat this “mandate”, the Australian government of Scott Morrison has committed one of the most secure countries on earth, whose major trading partner is China, to hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of American missiles that can be fired at China.
The trickledown is already evident. In a country historically scarred by violent racism towards Asians, Australians of Chinese descent have formed a vigilante group to protect delivery riders. Phone videos show a delivery rider punched in the face and a Chinese couple racially abused in a supermarket. Between April and June, there were almost 400 racist attacks on Asian-Australians.
“We are not your enemy,” a high-ranking strategist in China told me, “but if you [in the West] decide we are, we must prepare without delay.” China’s arsenal is small compared with America’s, but it is growing fast, especially the development of maritime missiles designed to destroy fleets of ships.
“For the first time,” wrote Gregory Kulacki of the Union of Concerned Scientists, “China is discussing putting its nuclear missiles on high alert so that they can be launched quickly on warning of an attack… This would be a significant and dangerous change in Chinese policy…”
In Washington, I met Amitai Etzioni, distinguished professor of international affairs at George Washington University, who wrote that a “blinding attack on China” was planned, “with strikes that could be mistakenly perceived [by the Chinese] as pre-emptive attempts to take out its nuclear weapons, thus cornering them into a terrible use-it-or-lose-it dilemma [that would] lead to nuclear war.”
In 2019, the US staged its biggest single military exercise since the Cold War, much of it in high secrecy. An armada of ships and long-range bombers rehearsed an “Air-Sea Battle Concept for China” – ASB – blocking sea lanes in the Straits of Malacca and cutting off China’s access to oil, gas and other raw materials from the Middle East and Africa.
It is fear of such a blockade that has seen China develop its Belt and Road Initiative along the old Silk Road to Europe and urgently build strategic airstrips on disputed reefs and islets in the Spratly Islands.
In Shanghai, I met Lijia Zhang, a Beijing journalist and novelist, typical of a new class of outspoken mavericks. Her best-selling book has the ironic title Socialism Is Great! Having grown up in the chaotic, brutal Cultural Revolution, she has travelled and lived in the US and Europe. “Many Americans imagine,” she said, “that Chinese people live a miserable, repressed life with no freedom whatsoever. The [idea of] the yellow peril has never left them… They have no idea there are some 500 million people being lifted out of poverty, and some would say it’s 600 million.”
Modern China’s epic achievements, its defeat of mass poverty, and the pride and contentment of its people (measured forensically by American pollsters such as Pew) are wilfully unknown or misunderstood in the West. This alone is a commentary on the lamentable state of Western journalism and the abandonment of honest reporting.
China’s repressive dark side and what we like to call its “authoritarianism” are the facade we are allowed to see almost exclusively. It is as if we are fed unending tales of the evil super-villain Dr. Fu Manchu. And it is time we asked why: before it is too late to stop the next Hiroshima.
Feature photo | In this Aug. 6, 1945 photo released by the U.S. Army, a mushroom cloud billows about one hour after a nuclear bomb was detonated above Hiroshima, Japan. U.S. Army via Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum via AP
John Pilger is an award-winning journalist. His articles appear worldwide in newspapers such as the Guardian, the Independent, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Mail & Guardian (South Africa), Aftonbladet (Sweden), Il Manifesto (Italy). Visit his website at www.johnpilger.com.


mintpressnews--2020-08-04--Lee Camp: A Dozen Reasons Now is the Time for Housing as a Human Right

Congress ’ s inability to actually represent the real-live human beings of America , combined with an economic system that rewards lack of empathy and an excess of greed , has brought us to a dark time when an oncoming tsunami of financial ruin , destitution and evictions towers over our heads , blocking out the sunlight .
The impending evictions may soon out of their homes .
To put that in perspective , only ten million people lost their homes during the 2008 economic crisis , and that was considered by anyone paying attention to be the craziest thing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ re facing now could be three times crazier , getting to Charlie Sheen levels .
( I almost wrote “ Kanye West levels ” but everything he does is in hopes of being mentioned in the media , and I ’ m not falling for it .
…Shit .
This parenthetical has betrayed me ! )
To talk about the impending homelessness tsunami , we have to first get past the fact that our government could totally bail people out and keep them in their homes .
Not only have they already bailed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the tune of but on top of that the Pentagon has of unaccounted-for adjustments on their books over the past 20 years .
This is to say – there ’ s plenty of money .
Money is an idea , a concept , an imaginary metaphysical belief , and it ’ s high time we faced the fact that the U.S. government has an unlimited imagination .
As philosopher Alan Watts once put it : Money is not a thing , it ’ s a measurement .
Saying there ’ s not enough @ @ @ @ @ @ @ builder saying there are not enough inches to build a house .
He has the wood , nails , and hammers .
He ’ s just out of inches .
The U.S. government could easily give every American $ 2,000 a month for the foreseeable future , which would keep almost everybody in their homes and apartments .
In fact , Canada has opted to to those who lost work because of the pandemic .
But ignore the fact that there ’ s enough money .
That ’ s not what we ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ also enough empty homes .
, there were nearly 1.5 million vacant homes in the country .
Compare that to the estimated on any given night .
So even before the pandemic , there were three empty houses for every homeless person .
Three .
That ’ s not even accounting for empty apartments , yachts , sheds , extra bedrooms , garages , condos , cubbyholes , attic spaces , basements , barns , pool houses , and walk-in refrigerators .
If those vacant locations were used to house the houseless , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ our own abodes wouldn ’ t hardly notice a difference except that homelessness would have vanished .
It would be something we talk about in a “ remember when ” fashion like VHS tapes , game shows about grocery shopping , and dating that didn ’ t involve blood tests and an Instagram audit .
No more people on the street , no more fear that a little bad luck would result in you or your family under a bridge giving a guy your underwear in exchange for a sandwich .
All that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ And the impending number of evictions—28 million—isn ’ t even accounting for how many people stay in horrible relationships because they can ’ t afford a place of their own , both horrible marriages and other living arrangements .
( Like a 25-year-old who has to live with his mom who cleans her feet on the couch every night while watching Wheel of Fortune and eating soup that smells of rotting raccoon carcass .
Call me crazy , but in our post-scarcity world , that 25-year-old should be given an apartment . )
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ further and question the brain parasites we were given from our social engineering .
Why should someone be homeless just because they don ’ t have enough money ?
Some would say indignantly , “ Because they didn ’ t work hard enough , so they deserve to be homeless .
That ’ s called ‘ work ethic ’ – and it ’ s what this country ’ s founded on !
George Washington something something Ford Motor Company .
Meh !
” Okay , that ’ s a great point except—No , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ someone works hardly matters in our society .
Think for a moment about all the filthy rich trust-fund kids who sit around on their asses all day smoking weed out of the skull of an exotic lemur .
Yet they ’ re still rich .
How many trophy wives or trophy husbands lounge by the pool eternally caressing their junk in the sunshine ?
They don ’ t work hard .
How many superfluous “ board members ” get paid hundreds of thousands to sit on a board and attend one conference call @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that actually do work for their fortunes—like a CEO—do you honestly believe they work a thousand times harder than a janitor or a dishwasher or a coal miner ?
Of course not .
What ’ s the hardest job in the world ?
Probably ripping asbestos out of a dilapidated sewage treatment plant in Phoenix , Arizona in 110-degree heat with improper safety equipment .
Do you think those guys get paid the highest salary in the world because they work the hardest ?
No !
They ’ re lucky if they get @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their lunch break is long enough for a sandwich and a piss .
America is not based on hard work .
Get it out of your head that this society is at all set up to be fair .
Fair would be everyone with a roof over their head .
Fair would be every kid getting a solid education .
Fair would be every person drinking delicious clean water .
Fair is the opposite of whatever the hell we ’ re doing here .
But very little of this discussion exists in our @ @ @ @ @ @ @ landlords are preparing to kick 28 million families out .
And it ’ s not like the bank will resell all those homes during the impending depression lathered in a pandemic .
Nope .
Those homes will sit empty , just like the 10 million foreclosed homes during the 2008 Great Recession sat empty for months if not years .
So the reason for kicking people out is simply to… um… make sure they ’ re homeless ?
How can that make sense ?
If the goal is to have a good , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ illogical to kick people out of their shelters .
The families will be devastated .
The kids will be traumatized .
Divorces will occur .
Suicides .
Addiction .
Overdoses .
None of that is good for society .
None of that helps America even slightly .
So the truly patriotic thing to do is demand housing for all .
What ’ s good for society is to have people comfortable in their homes , able to get educated and grow as humans .
Whatever happened to the pursuit of human growth for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ We can ’ t let people stay in their homes because we need to teach them personal responsibility.
” That ’ s the argument every vomit-brained Fox News guest spits out reflexively .
Yet it ’ s impossible to be responsible for something no one saw coming .
Did anyone see this pandemic coming ?
Did anyone including the government prepare for it ?
No .
In fact , we ’ ve bailed out whole industries , the .
Billions of dollars just handed to them .
How are the heads of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who lost her job in the pandemic ?
There ’ s no difference .
Shouldn ’ t the airline CEOs be the ones evicted—left out on the street sleeping in a box ?
On top of all this—and this point is really going to blow a hole through your pants—it ’ s cheaper to keep people in their homes .
For example , , “ Utah was spending on average $ 20,000 on each chronically homeless person .
So , to in part cut those costs — but also to ‘ save lives @ @ @ @ @ @ @ each chronically homeless person with his or her own house.
” It worked .
By 2015 , they cut homelessness by 91 percent and saved the state money .
However , since then , homelessness has gone back up .
It ’ s tough to say why , but one director of a , “ The mistake we made was stopping [ the program ] .
” Yeah , that may have been the reason .
Utah lawmakers found out how to end homelessness… .
and then they stopped doing that !
( @ @ @ @ @ @ @ screaming from every great idea like it ’ s a hive of angry bees that all want to talk to us about life insurance ?
? )
So here , alas , are the solutions .
Housing should be a human right .
We have enough homes .
We have enough materials .
We have enough dollars and enough inches .
It doesn ’ t need to be a goddamn mansion , but everyone should have a roof over their heads and four good walls .
Hell , I ’ ll even compromise—two @ @ @ @ @ @ @ if we didn ’ t have enough homes , which we do , we can now in a matter of hours .
( Although it must suck when the printer jams .
All those houses stuck together in the tray . )
Point is , don ’ t tell me we don ’ t have enough houses and apartments for everyone .
have a fucking $ 325,000 mansion !
I ’ m not kidding .
Just for the dogs .
That ’ s , shall we say , mildly upsetting .
( Let @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to get where they are . )
The next solution is to fight the impending evictions .
Don ’ t let the authorities kick your friends and neighbors onto the street .
We have a strong ( suppressed ) history in this country of fighting against landlords and the cruelty of evictions , such as the great in the Bronx , and the .
Fighting back is not just an option , it ’ s an obligation .
If you ’ re strong enough to resist the profit-centered social engineering we are fed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you will soon realize housing should be a human right .
Feature photo | This Sept. 25 , 2019 photo shows an eviction notice on the front door of Apartment 17 , the home of Ed Buck in West Hollywood , Calif. Brian Melley | AP Lee Camp is the host of the hit comedy news show “ .
” His new book “ Bullet Points and Punch Lines ” is available at and his stand-up comedy special can be streamed for free at .

Congress’s inability to actually represent the real-live human beings of America, combined with an economic system that rewards lack of empathy and an excess of greed, has brought us to a dark time when an oncoming tsunami of financial ruin, destitution and evictions towers over our heads, blocking out the sunlight.
The impending evictions may soon kick 28 million people/families out of their homes. To put that in perspective, only ten million people lost their homes during the 2008 economic crisis, and that was considered by anyone paying attention to be the craziest thing to ever happen.
What we’re facing now could be three times crazier, getting to Charlie Sheen levels. (I almost wrote “Kanye West levels” but everything he does is in hopes of being mentioned in the media, and I’m not falling for it. …Shit. This parenthetical has betrayed me!)
To talk about the impending homelessness tsunami, we have to first get past the fact that our government could totally bail people out and keep them in their homes. Not only have they already bailed out big banks and Wall Street to the tune of $4.25 t rillion but on top of that the Pentagon has over $21 Trillion of unaccounted-for adjustments on their books over the past 20 years. This is to say – there’s plenty of money.
Money is an idea, a concept, an imaginary metaphysical belief, and it’s high time we faced the fact that the U.S. government has an unlimited imagination. As philosopher Alan Watts once put it: Money is not a thing, it’s a measurement. Saying there’s not enough money to do something is like a builder saying there are not enough inches to build a house. He has the wood, nails, and hammers. He’s just out of inches.
The U.S. government could easily give every American $2,000 a month for the foreseeable future, which would keep almost everybody in their homes and apartments. In fact, Canada has opted to give $2,000 a month to those who lost work because of the pandemic.
But ignore the fact that there’s enough money. That’s not what we’re here to discuss.
There are also enough empty homes. As of 2018 , there were nearly 1.5 million vacant homes in the country. Compare that to the estimated 553,742 people homeless on any given night. So even before the pandemic, there were three empty houses for every homeless person. Three. That’s not even accounting for empty apartments, yachts, sheds, extra bedrooms, garages, condos, cubbyholes, attic spaces, basements, barns, pool houses, and walk-in refrigerators.
If those vacant locations were used to house the houseless, those of us lucky enough to have our own abodes wouldn’t hardly notice a difference except that homelessness would have vanished. It would be something we talk about in a “remember when” fashion like VHS tapes, game shows about grocery shopping, and dating that didn’t involve blood tests and an Instagram audit.
No more people on the street, no more fear that a little bad luck would result in you or your family under a bridge giving a guy your underwear in exchange for a sandwich. All that utter madness would cease to exist.
And the impending number of evictions—28 million—isn’t even accounting for how many people stay in horrible relationships because they can’t afford a place of their own, both horrible marriages and other living arrangements. (Like a 25-year-old who has to live with his mom who cleans her feet on the couch every night while watching Wheel of Fortune and eating soup that smells of rotting raccoon carcass. Call me crazy, but in our post-scarcity world, that 25-year-old should be given an apartment.)
But let’s back up even further and question the brain parasites we were given from our social engineering. Why should someone be homeless just because they don’t have enough money? Some would say indignantly, “Because they didn’t work hard enough, so they deserve to be homeless. That’s called ‘work ethic’ – and it’s what this country’s founded on! George Washington something something Ford Motor Company. Meh!”
Okay, that’s a great point except—No, it’s not. How hard someone works hardly matters in our society. Think for a moment about all the filthy rich trust-fund kids who sit around on their asses all day smoking weed out of the skull of an exotic lemur. Yet they’re still rich. How many trophy wives or trophy husbands lounge by the pool eternally caressing their junk in the sunshine? They don’t work hard. How many superfluous “board members” get paid hundreds of thousands to sit on a board and attend one conference call a month?
Plus, consider people that actually do work for their fortunes—like a CEO—do you honestly believe they work a thousand times harder than a janitor or a dishwasher or a coal miner? Of course not. What’s the hardest job in the world? Probably ripping asbestos out of a dilapidated sewage treatment plant in Phoenix, Arizona in 110-degree heat with improper safety equipment.
Do you think those guys get paid the highest salary in the world because they work the hardest? No! They’re lucky if they get dental. They’re lucky if their lunch break is long enough for a sandwich and a piss.
America is not based on hard work. Get it out of your head that this society is at all set up to be fair. Fair would be everyone with a roof over their head. Fair would be every kid getting a solid education. Fair would be every person drinking delicious clean water. Fair is the opposite of whatever the hell we’re doing here.
But very little of this discussion exists in our culture. Instead, the banks and landlords are preparing to kick 28 million families out. And it’s not like the bank will resell all those homes during the impending depression lathered in a pandemic. Nope. Those homes will sit empty, just like the 10 million foreclosed homes during the 2008 Great Recession sat empty for months if not years. So the reason for kicking people out is simply to… um… make sure they’re homeless? How can that make sense?
If the goal is to have a good, functioning society, it’s completely illogical to kick people out of their shelters. The families will be devastated. The kids will be traumatized. Divorces will occur. Suicides. Addiction. Overdoses. None of that is good for society. None of that helps America even slightly. So the truly patriotic thing to do is demand housing for all.
What’s good for society is to have people comfortable in their homes, able to get educated and grow as humans. Whatever happened to the pursuit of human growth for every individual?
Some may argue, “We can’t let people stay in their homes because we need to teach them personal responsibility.” That’s the argument every vomit-brained Fox News guest spits out reflexively. Yet it’s impossible to be responsible for something no one saw coming. Did anyone see this pandemic coming? Did anyone including the government prepare for it?
No. In fact, we’ve bailed out whole industries, the airline industry for one . Billions of dollars just handed to them. How are the heads of the airlines any different from a homeowner who lost her job in the pandemic? There’s no difference. Shouldn’t the airline CEOs be the ones evicted—left out on the street sleeping in a box?
On top of all this—and this point is really going to blow a hole through your pants—it’s cheaper to keep people in their homes. For example, according to The Washington Post , “Utah was spending on average $20,000 on each chronically homeless person. So, to in part cut those costs — but also to ‘save lives,’ …the state started setting up each chronically homeless person with his or her own house.”
It worked. By 2015, they cut homelessness by 91 percent and saved the state money. However, since then, homelessness has gone back up. It’s tough to say why, but one director of a Utah food pantry said , “The mistake we made was stopping [the program].”
Yeah, that may have been the reason. Utah lawmakers found out how to end homelessness…. and then they stopped doing that! (Why in this country do we run screaming from every great idea like it’s a hive of angry bees that all want to talk to us about life insurance??)
So here, alas, are the solutions. Housing should be a human right. We have enough homes. We have enough materials. We have enough dollars and enough inches. It doesn’t need to be a goddamn mansion, but everyone should have a roof over their heads and four good walls. Hell, I’ll even compromise—two and a half good walls.
Even if we didn’t have enough homes, which we do, we can now 3D print a house in a matter of hours. (Although it must suck when the printer jams. All those houses stuck together in the tray.)
Point is, don’t tell me we don’t have enough houses and apartments for everyone. Paris Hilton’s dogs have a fucking $325,000 mansion! I’m not kidding. Just for the dogs. That’s, shall we say, mildly upsetting. (Let me guess – those dogs worked hard to get where they are.)
The next solution is to fight the impending evictions. Don’t let the authorities kick your friends and neighbors onto the street. We have a strong (suppressed) history in this country of fighting against landlords and the cruelty of evictions, such as the great Rent Strike War of 1932 in the Bronx, and the Chicago Eviction Riots of 1931 .
Fighting back is not just an option, it’s an obligation. If you’re strong enough to resist the profit-centered social engineering we are fed every day of our lives, then you will soon realize housing should be a human right.
Feature photo | This Sept. 25, 2019 photo shows an eviction notice on the front door of Apartment 17, the home of Ed Buck in West Hollywood, Calif. Brian Melley | AP
Lee Camp is the host of the hit comedy news show “ Redacted Tonight .” His new book “Bullet Points and Punch Lines” is available at LeeCampBook.com and his stand-up comedy special can be streamed for free at LeeCampAmerican.com .


mintpressnews--2020-08-04--Big Pharma Giants GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi Receive $2.1 Billion to Develop COVID Vaccine

The Trump administration ’ s “ Manhattan project ” for a COVID-19 vaccine has topped its biggest award given only two weeks ago to Novavax , Inc with its latest grant of $ 2.1 billion to pharmaceutical giant , GlaxoSmithKline , and partner Sanofi Pasteur to “ speed up clinical development and manufacturing ” of its recombinant vaccine candidate for the novel coronavirus .
The deal clocks in at over $ 400 million more than the program ’ s previous investment of $ 1.6 billion earlier this month .
Most of the GSK/Sanofi grant will be used for clinical trials @ @ @ @ @ @ @ delivery ” of 100 million vaccine doses destined for the U.S. population .
The deal also offers the USG an option to buy a “ supply of 500 million doses over the long term.
” This latest infusion of tax-payer money into Big Pharma ’ s hands by the Trump administration comes on the heels of the rumored failure of an early vaccine candidate .
Moderna ’ s SARS-CoV-2 mRNA-1273 vaccine has received nearly a billion in federal funds , but recent reports of the company ’ s CMO , Tal Zaks , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the vaccine is set to begin late-stage trials have sparked speculation that the “ pre-fusion stabilized Spike protein ” vaccine is dead in the water .
Neither Novavax or Moderna , however , have ever had a single product go to market despite years in the business .
GSK and Sanofi , in contrast , have plenty .
Sanofi produces an FDA-approved flu shot and GSK , producer of some of the most recognizable pharmaceutical brand names like Binaca and Paxil , also produced a flu vaccine for the H1N1 “ bird flu @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fact that these large pharmaceutical firms have had some market success doesn ’ t necessarily mean anything in terms of the safety of their vaccines .
GSK ’ s Pandermix turned out to induce narcolepsy and after studies confirmed the association between the drug and the chronic sleeping disorder , it has not been used since .
The $ 2.1 billion is the second award given to the GSK/Sanofi vaccine project .
The first came in April via BARDA and preceded the formation of Operation Warp Speed , itself .
Trump ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s vaccine-development task force used to run R & D for GlaxoSmithKline and , until recently , was on the board of directors of the Human Vaccines Project – a vaccine acceleration project that has virtually all the vaccine developers in Operation Warp Speed as partners , including Astra-Zeneca , Johnson & Johnson and Novavax .
Sanofi was one of the first pharmaceutical firms to work with HHS on a COVID-19 vaccine and counts on a “ long-standing ” relationship with its funding arm , BARDA .
Prior to its partnership with GSK @ @ @ @ @ @ @ million deal with the agency to “ quickly advance a potential vaccine candidate.
” Then BARDA director , Rick Bright , endorsed Sanofi ’ s “ licensed recombinant vaccine platform.
” In early December of 2019 , Bright ’ s BARDA awarded Sanofi $ 226 million to expand its “ pandemic influenza vaccine production capabilities ” in the company ’ s Swiftwater , Pennsylvania facilities .
In a prophetic statement , Bright praised the deal with Sanofi Pasteur by asserting that “ the question is not if , but when the next influenza @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on to further warn of the “ potentially devastating consequences for public health and the U.S. economy ” that such a pandemic might bring .
Rick Bright would eventually be ousted as BARDA director in April after filing a whistleblower complaint against HHS , in which he accused ASPR Robert Kadlec of “ inviting violations of federal procurement law ” over the awarding of a $ 21 million contract for a COVID-19 “ Pepcid ” treatment trial to an associate of one of his advisors , Dr. Michael Callahan .
Bright ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and has since amended his complaint to include allegations that secretary Alex Azar has continued to retaliate and is “ on the war path ” against him and trying to sabotage his now diminished role at NIH .
The signs of rampant cronyism coming out of the COVID-19 vaccine development projects like Operation Warp Speed and similar efforts at HHS should be concerning , with situations like Bright ’ s ouster and firms like Emergent Biosolutions with deep links to the ASPR coming up again and again on vaccine manufacturing contracts .
Sanofi @ @ @ @ @ @ @ quiet part out loud in May when he told Bloomberg that the “ U.S .
would have initial access to Sanofi ’ s COVID-19 vaccine—if it works—because the country was the first to invest in the program.
” The statement had to be walked back by Sanofi Chairman , Serge Weinberg for obvious reasons .
But , given that the U.S. government has decided to trust for-profit corporations to look after our health , no one should really be surprised .
Feature photo | Protesters display placards during a rally at the Sanofi @ @ @ @ @ @ @ protest the drug company ’ s deal with the Government on the controversial anti-dengue vaccine Dengvaxia , March 5 , 2018 , east of Manila , Philippines .
Bullit Marquez | AP

The Trump administration’s “Manhattan project” for a COVID-19 vaccine has topped its biggest award given only two weeks ago to Novavax, Inc with its latest grant of $2.1 billion to pharmaceutical giant, GlaxoSmithKline, and partner Sanofi Pasteur to “speed up clinical development and manufacturing” of its recombinant vaccine candidate for the novel coronavirus.
The deal clocks in at over $400 million more than the program’s previous investment of $1.6 billion earlier this month. Most of the GSK/Sanofi grant will be used for clinical trials and the rest to “scale-up and delivery” of 100 million vaccine doses destined for the U.S. population. The deal also offers the USG an option to buy a “supply of 500 million doses over the long term.”
This latest infusion of tax-payer money into Big Pharma’s hands by the Trump administration comes on the heels of the rumored failure of an early vaccine candidate. Moderna’s SARS-CoV-2 mRNA-1273 vaccine has received nearly a billion in federal funds, but recent reports of the company’s CMO, Tal Zaks, selling almost all of his shares as the vaccine is set to begin late-stage trials have sparked speculation that the “pre-fusion stabilized Spike protein” vaccine is dead in the water.
Neither Novavax or Moderna, however, have ever had a single product go to market despite years in the business. GSK and Sanofi, in contrast, have plenty. Sanofi produces an FDA-approved flu shot and GSK, producer of some of the most recognizable pharmaceutical brand names like Binaca and Paxil, also produced a flu vaccine for the H1N1 “bird flu” called Pandermix.
Nevertheless, the fact that these large pharmaceutical firms have had some market success doesn’t necessarily mean anything in terms of the safety of their vaccines. GSK’s Pandermix turned out to induce narcolepsy and after studies confirmed the association between the drug and the chronic sleeping disorder, it has not been used since.
Long-standing ties
The $2.1 billion is the second award given to the GSK/Sanofi vaccine project. The first came in April via BARDA and preceded the formation of Operation Warp Speed, itself. Trump’s pick to lead the White House’s vaccine-development task force used to run R&D for GlaxoSmithKline and, until recently, was on the board of directors of the Human Vaccines Project – a vaccine acceleration project that has virtually all the vaccine developers in Operation Warp Speed as partners, including Astra-Zeneca, Johnson & Johnson and Novavax.
Sanofi was one of the first pharmaceutical firms to work with HHS on a COVID-19 vaccine and counts on a “long-standing” relationship with its funding arm, BARDA. Prior to its partnership with GSK, Sanofi had struck a $30 million deal with the agency to “quickly advance a potential vaccine candidate.” Then BARDA director, Rick Bright, endorsed Sanofi’s “licensed recombinant vaccine platform.”
In early December of 2019, Bright’s BARDA awarded Sanofi $226 million to expand its “pandemic influenza vaccine production capabilities” in the company’s Swiftwater, Pennsylvania facilities. In a prophetic statement, Bright praised the deal with Sanofi Pasteur by asserting that “the question is not if, but when the next influenza pandemic will occur,” and went on to further warn of the “potentially devastating consequences for public health and the U.S. economy” that such a pandemic might bring.
The profit motive
Rick Bright would eventually be ousted as BARDA director in April after filing a whistleblower complaint against HHS, in which he accused ASPR Robert Kadlec of “inviting violations of federal procurement law” over the awarding of a $21 million contract for a COVID-19 “Pepcid” treatment trial to an associate of one of his advisors, Dr. Michael Callahan. Bright’s struggle with HHS has continued to deepen and has since amended his complaint to include allegations that secretary Alex Azar has continued to retaliate and is “on the war path” against him and trying to sabotage his now diminished role at NIH.
The signs of rampant cronyism coming out of the COVID-19 vaccine development projects like Operation Warp Speed and similar efforts at HHS should be concerning, with situations like Bright’s ouster and firms like Emergent Biosolutions with deep links to the ASPR coming up again and again on vaccine manufacturing contracts.
Sanofi CEO, Paul Hudson, said the quiet part out loud in May when he told Bloomberg that the “U.S. would have initial access to Sanofi’s COVID-19 vaccine—if it works—because the country was the first to invest in the program.” The statement had to be walked back by Sanofi Chairman, Serge Weinberg for obvious reasons. But, given that the U.S. government has decided to trust for-profit corporations to look after our health, no one should really be surprised.
Feature photo | Protesters display placards during a rally at the Sanofi Pasteur office in suburban Taguig city to protest the drug company’s deal with the Government on the controversial anti-dengue vaccine Dengvaxia, March 5, 2018, east of Manila, Philippines. Bullit Marquez | AP
Raul Diego is a MintPress News Staff Writer, independent photojournalist, researcher, writer and documentary filmmaker.