mintpressnews--2020-12-28--2020 Ends as It Began: With the Looming Threat of a US War With Iran

Amid increasing hostility towards Tehran , the United States is building up its military presence on Iran ’ s borders .
In the past three weeks alone , the U.S. has flown in a squadron of fighter jets and extra B-52 bombers while deploying the U.S.S .
Nimitz aircraft carrier ( with its strike group ) and a large submarine to the Persian Gulf .
This comes on top of the 2,500 troops it sent to Saudi Arabia earlier in the year , the first build-up of forces in the country in 17 years .
The nuclear powered Nimitz is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and has also long been rumored to carry nuclear weapons .
The military insists that all the new measures are purely “ in the name of deterrence.
” However , the few journalists who have paid attention to the news appear skeptical .
“ That ’ s provocation !
” wrote Rania Khalek .
“ You ’ re sending this shit thousands of miles away from your border to try to provoke Iran and then playing the victim.
” The move comes in the midst of worsening hostilities between the United States and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ embassy in Baghdad ( a massive citadel in the center of the city , almost as large as the Vatican ) was hit by a rocket strike that the Trump administration blames on Iranian-sponsored groups .
On Wednesday , Trump gave “ some friendly health advice ” to Iran , tweeting that “ If one American is killed , I will hold Iran responsible .
Think it over.
” The U.S. also recently upped its already extensive sanctions on the Islamic Republic , with Trump ’ s Special Representative for Iran and Venezuela @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Thanks to the success of our sanctions , Iran is looking to come back to the negotiating table to get relief , ” even as he imposed new ones .
The sanctions have indeed caused serious hardship on Iran , sending the prices of consumer goods soaring and the value of its currency , the rial , in the opposite direction .
Like in Venezuela , oil production has slowed , as Tehran can find few buyers for its principal national export .
The price of food has also become a serious issue @ @ @ @ @ @ @ target ordinary Iranians , women , and children , ” Seyed Mohammad Marandi , Professor of English Literature at the University of Tehran told MintPress earlier this year .
“ They are designed to kill hospital patients and to create poverty .
They have had partial success.
” Iran was one of the earliest hit countries by the COVID-19 pandemic , and the U.S. government used it as an opportunity to try to overthrow the government , hindering its attempts to import medical equipment and personal protective equipment , a move condemned by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ senior politicians alike appeared to be relishing the prospect of an insurrection in Tehran .
“ With aging rulers and a weak health system , could the coronavirus lead to a regime change in Iran ?
” asked former Speaker of the House of Representatives Newt Gingrich .
Eventually , the World Health Organization stepped in directly , donating large quantities of supplies — one reason why the Trump administration decided to leave the organization .
2020 started with the U.S. assassination of Iranian statesman Qassem Soleimani as he was in Iraq attending @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi .
Also present were representatives from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf monarchies with antagonistic relationships with Tehran .
The move sparked uproar in Iraq , especially after Abdul-Mahdi revealed he had sought and received Trump ’ s blessing to invite Soleimani .
The result was an enormous march of up to 2.5 million Iraqis parading through Baghdad insisting that the U.S. leave the country for good .
Instead , the U.S. announced it was building three new military bases , all of them on the Iranian border .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ worked hard to build a united front against Iran amongst its client regimes in the region , with experts suggesting to MintPress that the Abraham Accords ( the Israel-UAE-Bahrain agreement ) were far more about war with Tehran than peace , as they were sold to the public .
2020 also ended with another high profile assassination ; that of top Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh , a crime Iran suggested Israel or the United States must have committed .
The incoming Biden administration has signaled its intent to return to the nuclear @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , with the 2020 Democratic National Platform categorically stating that , However , with the U.S. showing its ability to rapidly change political direction and break its own treaties , it is not clear whether Iran will see any American agreement as credible in the long term .
Nevertheless , with the threat of a hot conflict increasing , any de-escalatory actions can not come soon enough .
Feature photo | Guided-missile submarine USS Georgia , front , with the guided-missile cruiser USS Port Royal , transit the Strait of Hormuz in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Indra Beaufort | U.S. Navy via AP Alan MacLeod is a Staff Writer for MintPress News .
After completing his PhD in 2017 he published two books : Bad News From Venezuela : Twenty Years of Fake News and Misreporting and Propaganda in the Information Age : Still Manufacturing Consent .
He has also contributed to Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting , The Guardian , Salon , The Grayzone , Jacobin Magazine , Common Dreams the American Herald Tribune and The Canary .

Amid increasing hostility towards Tehran, the United States is building up its military presence on Iran’s borders. In the past three weeks alone, the U.S. has flown in a squadron of fighter jets and extra B-52 bombers while deploying the U.S.S. Nimitz aircraft carrier (with its strike group) and a large submarine to the Persian Gulf. This comes on top of the 2,500 troops it sent to Saudi Arabia earlier in the year, the first build-up of forces in the country in 17 years. The nuclear powered Nimitz is home to nine squadrons of fighting aircraft and has also long been rumored to carry nuclear weapons.
The military insists that all the new measures are purely “in the name of deterrence.” However, the few journalists who have paid attention to the news appear skeptical. “That’s provocation!” wrote Rania Khalek. “You’re sending this shit thousands of miles away from your border to try to provoke Iran and then playing the victim.”
The move comes in the midst of worsening hostilities between the United States and Iran. Last week, the U.S. embassy in Baghdad (a massive citadel in the center of the city, almost as large as the Vatican) was hit by a rocket strike that the Trump administration blames on Iranian-sponsored groups. On Wednesday, Trump gave “some friendly health advice” to Iran, tweeting that “If one American is killed, I will hold Iran responsible. Think it over.”
The U.S. also recently upped its already extensive sanctions on the Islamic Republic, with Trump’s Special Representative for Iran and Venezuela, Elliott Abrams, claiming that “Thanks to the success of our sanctions, Iran is looking to come back to the negotiating table to get relief,” even as he imposed new ones.
The sanctions have indeed caused serious hardship on Iran, sending the prices of consumer goods soaring and the value of its currency, the rial, in the opposite direction. Like in Venezuela, oil production has slowed, as Tehran can find few buyers for its principal national export. The price of food has also become a serious issue for many. “The sanctions deliberately target ordinary Iranians, women, and children,” Seyed Mohammad Marandi, Professor of English Literature at the University of Tehran told MintPress earlier this year. “They are designed to kill hospital patients and to create poverty. They have had partial success.”
Iran was one of the earliest hit countries by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the U.S. government used it as an opportunity to try to overthrow the government, hindering its attempts to import medical equipment and personal protective equipment, a move condemned by human rights groups. Hawkish media and senior politicians alike appeared to be relishing the prospect of an insurrection in Tehran. “With aging rulers and a weak health system, could the coronavirus lead to a regime change in Iran?” asked former Speaker of the House of Representatives Newt Gingrich. Eventually, the World Health Organization stepped in directly, donating large quantities of supplies — one reason why the Trump administration decided to leave the organization.
2020 started with the U.S. assassination of Iranian statesman Qassem Soleimani as he was in Iraq attending a peace conference at the invitation of Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi. Also present were representatives from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf monarchies with antagonistic relationships with Tehran. The move sparked uproar in Iraq, especially after Abdul-Mahdi revealed he had sought and received Trump’s blessing to invite Soleimani. The result was an enormous march of up to 2.5 million Iraqis parading through Baghdad insisting that the U.S. leave the country for good. Instead, the U.S. announced it was building three new military bases, all of them on the Iranian border.
Throughout 2020, the Trump administration has worked hard to build a united front against Iran amongst its client regimes in the region, with experts suggesting to MintPress that the Abraham Accords (the Israel-UAE-Bahrain agreement) were far more about war with Tehran than peace, as they were sold to the public. 2020 also ended with another high profile assassination; that of top Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, a crime Iran suggested Israel or the United States must have committed.
The incoming Biden administration has signaled its intent to return to the nuclear deal that Trump and his team abandoned, with the 2020 Democratic National Platform categorically stating that,
Democrats will call off the Trump Administration’s race to war with Iran and prioritize nuclear diplomacy, de-escalation, and regional dialogue. Democrats believe the United States should not impose regime change on other countries and reject that as the goal of U.S. policy toward Iran.”
However, with the U.S. showing its ability to rapidly change political direction and break its own treaties, it is not clear whether Iran will see any American agreement as credible in the long term. Nevertheless, with the threat of a hot conflict increasing, any de-escalatory actions cannot come soon enough.
Feature photo | Guided-missile submarine USS Georgia, front, with the guided-missile cruiser USS Port Royal, transit the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf, Dec. 21, 2020. Indra Beaufort | U.S. Navy via AP
Alan MacLeod is a Staff Writer for MintPress News. After completing his PhD in 2017 he published two books: Bad News From Venezuela: Twenty Years of Fake News and Misreporting and Propaganda in the Information Age: Still Manufacturing Consent. He has also contributed to Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, The Guardian, Salon, The Grayzone, Jacobin Magazine, Common Dreams the American Herald Tribune and The Canary.


mintpressnews--2020-12-28--Meet The Pseudo-Left Imperialists Fighting Against Universal Healthcare

Over the past week comedian Jimmy Dore has single-handedly exposed a collection of self-styled leaders of progressive media as imperialist hacks joined at the hip with the Democratic Party and NATO .
It all started when Dore , a self-described jagoff pothead comedian – called for progressive members of Congress to withhold their votes for Nancy Pelosi as House Speaker until she agreed to hold a floor vote on Medicare for All .
With a pandemic raging and Americans losing their jobs and healthcare , it seemed like the perfect way to hold Democrats ’ feet to the fire .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the most prominent progressive in Congress , Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez .
After she rejected his tactic in a series of tweets , deferring to the House Speaker she ’ s referred to lovingly as “ Mama Bear , ” a group of prominent podcasters sprang to her defense – and then launched a wave of personalized , vicious , and ultimately revealing attacks on Dore .
Rather than debate the merits of his proposal , figures like Nomiki Konst , Ana Kasparian , Ben Dixon , and Cenk Uygur homed in on Dore ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to deflect from the substance of the issue , and insulating their hero AOC .
The Youtube channel of longtime MSNBC contributor Sam Seder became a theater for the meltdown over Jimmy Dore ’ s rogue campaign for a M4A floor vote .
In the past week alone , Seder has done two lengthy segments devoted to smearing Jimmy Dore .
During one 23 minute segment , podcaster and failed New York public advocate candidate Nomiki Konst launched a McCarthyite attack on Dore , accusing him of taking what she called “ Assad @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is a clickbait game .
There are hosts on air who want to make change .
I think all of us are really concerned about educating our audience and bringing on informed people to help us understand everything , issues , and how to move through , and push for these changes .
And then there are those who want to be multi-millionaires and famous .
And you know , let ’ s just make those lines very clear .
And not to mention , he has taken money , admitted to taking @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he ’ s not the pure guy that he wants to pretend… This is the guy who took Assad money !
” This was not just a neocon-style distraction , but a total lie .
What Konst called Assad money had no relation to Assad .
She was referring to a $ 2,500 donation from a U.S.-based anti-war nonprofit called the Association for Investment in Popular Action Committees .
It does relief work in Cuba , Palestine , and Syria , targets of Washington ’ s ruthless hybrid warfare .
This non-profit has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ proxy war on Syria .
The Assad money trope Konst deployed originated from a bogus investigation published by a notorious disinformation shop called Bellingcat .
This outlet has been funded by the UK Foreign Office and the National Endowment for Democracy , a CIA cutout created under the Reagan administration .
An ex-CIA agent gushed about Bellingcat ’ s role as a clearinghouse for U.S. and UK intelligence , declaring , “ We love this… instead of trying to have things cleared or worry about classification issues , you could just reference their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ smeared Jimmy Dore with a phony talking point that originated from a de facto CIA cutout .
Very progressive .
Konst also lashed out at journalist Max Blumenthal by falsely accusing him of going on a literal foreign interest-funded trip to Syria .
So who is Nomiki Konst , and why does she sound like an intern for the Project for a New American Century ?
According to her own bio , she not only helps coach Hollywood celebrity wannabe ’ s on public speaking , but she has also been an active @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Libya .
That ’ s right , self-described leftist Nomiki Konst spent time training the Islamist opposition in Libya after the NATO intervention that deposed Moammar Gaddafi and saw him murdered in the streets by jihadist proxies after NATO drones attacked his motorcade .
Konst traveled to Libya thanks to the National Democratic Institute , one of the subsidiaries of the very same CIA cutout , the National Endowment for Democracy , that funds Bellingcat .
The National Democratic Institute was directed at the time by Madeleine Albright , the militaristic former @ @ @ @ @ @ @ she was perfectly fine with being responsible for killing half a million Iraqi children .
When I called out Konst ’ s U.S. government-sponsored regime change vacation on Twitter , she doubled down on her slander , demanding to know if I had also lined my pockets with Bashar Bucks .
Full disclosure : I have never received money from Bashar al-Assad , the Syrian government , or any of its functionaries .
And I don ’ t actually know how getting Syrian government money would even be possible given the U.S. sanctions @ @ @ @ @ @ @ offense .
But I did receive the same award that Jimmy Dore and many other anti-war journalists have received from the non-profit group she referenced – and which , once again , is not part of the Syrian government in any way !
And guess what ?
I ’ m proud to have earned an award approved by the family of Serena Shim , the brave American journalist who lost her life exposing the dirty war on Syria .
Beyond her part in bringing slavery back to the African continent , Nomiki Konst @ @ @ @ @ @ @ leader ” by the Truman National Security Project , a Democratic party-aligned , pro-war think tank that helped groom noted revolutionary leaders like Pete Buttigieg and Michele Flournoy .
The Truman National Security Project was formed to create a “ new generation of hawkish Democrats rethinking security questions in a post-9/11 world.
” Nomiki seems to fit perfectly with the brand .
Here ’ s millennial thought leader Nomiki Konst discussing her time in Libya in a 2013 interview , “ When it comes to NATO , all I witnessed was Libyans being @ @ @ @ @ @ @ so targeted .
You ’ d go by these buildings where NATO struck the buildings and they just imploded , it was amazing.
” Even in 2015 , long after the liberal hawks who pushed Obama to strike Libya had been wholly discredited and the country was in perpetual chaos , Konst stood by her support for the attack , tweeting that the neocon senator Marco Rubio was right about Libya .
At the same time , she was regularly appearing on Fox News to shill for Obama ’ s wars in Syria @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Young Turks personality Ana Kasparian took it upon herself to defend AOC against the powerful Beltway lobby of pothead comedian Jimmy Dore and his supporters .
She accused him of never acting in good faith and tweeted that his call to pressure Pelosi is more a branding exercise than anything else , even while admitting that Jimmy ’ s proposal is the right thing to do .
For Kasparian , personal beef with Jimmy Dore outweighs the public ’ s dire need for healthcare .
I ’ d be remiss to overlook the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The Young Turks from Jeffrey Katzenberg ’ s media conglomerate that has its fingers in the private healthcare industry .
In 2019 , Katzenberg developed a smartphone app to help healthcare giants with mobile marketing .
Like Nomiki Konst , Ana Kasparian brands herself as a progressive , and even a socialist , while participating directly in NATO propaganda operations .
Last year , she beamed with pride as she interviewed Madeleine Albright at the Munich Security Conference , a NATO summit funded by Western governments , multi-national corporations , and the arms @ @ @ @ @ @ @ international militarists , she argued to a U.S. general that Trump was not hard enough on Russia and suggested that he ’ s controlled by Putin , “ Don ’ t you think there are too many coincidences when it comes to Donald Trump and Russia .
And look I ’ m not some Russia fear-mongerer .
But he questions the legitimacy of NATO , he questions whether or not it was really that big of a deal for Russia to annex Crimea .
He was very reluctant to implement those sanctions , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
It was just his actions that really do speak volumes , ” Kasparian insisted .
She also denigrated leftists who dared to question the avalanche of anti-China propaganda , demanding that they “ be honest ” and just accept State Department talking points , lock stock and barrel , saying , “ I also have an issue with some people on the left who aren ’ t honest about the actual abuses that take place in China .
And the abuses that take place in Hong Kong now , Taiwan , I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ re being sent to those camps.
” No surprise , Kasparian had little interest in reporting on the persecution of Julian Assange .
When his extradition trial kicked off , her viewers had to pressure her to even cover it at all .
The most consequential trial of the century isn ’ t even on the radar of the corporate NATO propagandist Ana Kasparian .
Perhaps the most unhinged Jimmy Hater is Ben Dixon , the podcaster who speculated that Dore was actually an FBI operation to destroy the squad and prevent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tirades against Dore include , among others , this not-so-subtle outburst : “ Fuck Jimmy Dore !
This stuff is sociopathy .
What he is doing is cashing in on your anger .
But he ’ s cashing in on a strategy that ’ s going to leave you without Medicare For All .
He is literally at this point , COINTELPRO for me .
He is a fed , at this point.
” This is the same Ben Dixon who spent years smearing Julian Assange and providing left wing cover as the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ co-founder up and throw away the key as punishment for revealing hideous U.S. war crimes .
Dixon had high praise for the feds and their meddling in Hong Kong .
Specifically the CIA ” Dixon was so incensed by the prospect of a floor vote on public healthcare that he demanded Jimmy Dore meet him on the playground at recess .
Cenk Uygur also trashed Jimmy Dore , his former colleague at The Young Turks .
Maybe it was inevitable that Cenk would lash out at Jimmy .
For the past four years @ @ @ @ @ @ @ claiming an undeniable Trump-Russia connection and whipping up Cold War hysteria , telling his audience , “ I think there clearly is collusion based on the publicly available evidence… I think during the Russians , during the election , did they quote unquote interfere ?
Yes .
Did they do the fake news ?
Yes .
Did they buy those troll farms to do tweets ?
Yes… But after the election , Putin calls him aside and says “ you know we did all that money laundering together .
We just turn that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ world of trouble .
You ’ re going to go to prison .
So here ’ s what you ’ re going to do for us .
And then Trump proceeds to do just that.
” Back in 2011 , the future founder of the Justice Democrats was orgasming over the destruction of Libya , declaring , “ Down goes Gaddafi !
It appears !
Down goes Gaddafi !
” And when Neera Tanden , who proposed stealing Libya ’ s oil to balance the budget , was recently selected as Biden ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Uygur tweeted that he ’ s rooting for her .
And then there ’ s the time he declared his support for “ our guys ” in the CIA .
It ’ s no coincidence that the pundits who are circling the wagons around AOC and seething at a comedian for pushing for a Medicare For All floor vote are also a bunch of pseudo-left imperialists .
They ’ ve positioned themselves as guard dogs and gatekeepers of the Democratic Party , a pro-war , pro-Wall Street political cartel that fights the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on right-wing Republicans .
If there ’ s any positive to take away , now we know who ’ s part of the struggle to improve the lives of working people in this country and ends wars abroad , and who ’ s standing in the way .
Dan Cohen is a journalist and filmmaker .
He has produced widely distributed video reports and print dispatches from across Israel-Palestine .
Dan is a correspondent at RT America and tweets at @ DanCohen3000 .

Over the past week comedian Jimmy Dore has single-handedly exposed a collection of self-styled leaders of progressive media as imperialist hacks joined at the hip with the Democratic Party and NATO.
It all started when Dore, a self-described jagoff pothead comedian – called for progressive members of Congress to withhold their votes for Nancy Pelosi as House Speaker until she agreed to hold a floor vote on Medicare for All. With a pandemic raging and Americans losing their jobs and healthcare, it seemed like the perfect way to hold Democrats’ feet to the fire.
But Dore’s push apparently threatened the most prominent progressive in Congress, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
After she rejected his tactic in a series of tweets, deferring to the House Speaker she’s referred to lovingly as “Mama Bear,” a group of prominent podcasters sprang to her defense – and then launched a wave of personalized, vicious, and ultimately revealing attacks on Dore.
Rather than debate the merits of his proposal, figures like Nomiki Konst, Ana Kasparian, Ben Dixon, and Cenk Uygur homed in on Dore’s personality, doing all they could to deflect from the substance of the issue, and insulating their hero AOC.
The Youtube channel of longtime MSNBC contributor Sam Seder became a theater for the meltdown over Jimmy Dore’s rogue campaign for a M4A floor vote.
In the past week alone, Seder has done two lengthy segments devoted to smearing Jimmy Dore.
During one 23 minute segment, podcaster and failed New York public advocate candidate Nomiki Konst launched a McCarthyite attack on Dore, accusing him of taking what she called “Assad money.”
Nomiki Konst: “This is a clickbait game. There are hosts on air who want to make change. I think all of us are really concerned about educating our audience and bringing on informed people to help us understand everything, issues, and how to move through, and push for these changes. And then there are those who want to be multi-millionaires and famous. And you know, let’s just make those lines very clear. And not to mention, he has taken money, admitted to taking money, from pro-Assadist groups. So he’s not the pure guy that he wants to pretend… This is the guy who took Assad money!”
This was not just a neocon-style distraction, but a total lie. What Konst called Assad money had no relation to Assad. She was referring to a $2,500 donation from a U.S.-based anti-war nonprofit called the Association for Investment in Popular Action Committees. It does relief work in Cuba, Palestine, and Syria, targets of Washington’s ruthless hybrid warfare. This non-profit has also organized openly against the devastating U.S. proxy war on Syria.
The Assad money trope Konst deployed originated from a bogus investigation published by a notorious disinformation shop called Bellingcat. This outlet has been funded by the UK Foreign Office and the National Endowment for Democracy, a CIA cutout created under the Reagan administration.
An ex-CIA agent gushed about Bellingcat’s role as a clearinghouse for U.S. and UK intelligence, declaring, “We love this… instead of trying to have things cleared or worry about classification issues, you could just reference their work.”
In other words, Konst smeared Jimmy Dore with a phony talking point that originated from a de facto CIA cutout. Very progressive.
Konst also lashed out at journalist Max Blumenthal by falsely accusing him of going on a literal foreign interest-funded trip to Syria.
So? I worked with Libyan women. Blumenthal literally went to Syria on a foreign interests dime last year — Nomiki Konst (@NomikiKonst) December 20, 2020
So who is Nomiki Konst, and why does she sound like an intern for the Project for a New American Century?
According to her own bio, she not only helps coach Hollywood celebrity wannabe’s on public speaking, but she has also been an active participant in NATO’s criminal destruction of Libya.
That’s right, self-described leftist Nomiki Konst spent time training the Islamist opposition in Libya after the NATO intervention that deposed Moammar Gaddafi and saw him murdered in the streets by jihadist proxies after NATO drones attacked his motorcade. Konst traveled to Libya thanks to the National Democratic Institute, one of the subsidiaries of the very same CIA cutout, the National Endowment for Democracy, that funds Bellingcat.
The National Democratic Institute was directed at the time by Madeleine Albright, the militaristic former Secretary of State who famously stated that she was perfectly fine with being responsible for killing half a million Iraqi children.
When I called out Konst’s U.S. government-sponsored regime change vacation on Twitter, she doubled down on her slander, demanding to know if I had also lined my pockets with Bashar Bucks.
Again, WHO FUNDS YOU — Nomiki Konst (@NomikiKonst) December 20, 2020
Full disclosure: I have never received money from Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian government, or any of its functionaries. And I don’t actually know how getting Syrian government money would even be possible given the U.S. sanctions that make such an act a criminal offense. But I did receive the same award that Jimmy Dore and many other anti-war journalists have received from the non-profit group she referenced – and which, once again, is not part of the Syrian government in any way!
And guess what? I’m proud to have earned an award approved by the family of Serena Shim, the brave American journalist who lost her life exposing the dirty war on Syria.
Beyond her part in bringing slavery back to the African continent, Nomiki Konst was trained as a “millennial thought leader” by the Truman National Security Project, a Democratic party-aligned, pro-war think tank that helped groom noted revolutionary leaders like Pete Buttigieg and Michele Flournoy.
The Truman National Security Project was formed to create a “new generation of hawkish Democrats rethinking security questions in a post-9/11 world.” Nomiki seems to fit perfectly with the brand.
Here’s millennial thought leader Nomiki Konst discussing her time in Libya in a 2013 interview, “When it comes to NATO, all I witnessed was Libyans being incredibly grateful to NATO because it was so targeted. You’d go by these buildings where NATO struck the buildings and they just imploded, it was amazing.”
Even in 2015, long after the liberal hawks who pushed Obama to strike Libya had been wholly discredited and the country was in perpetual chaos, Konst stood by her support for the attack, tweeting that the neocon senator Marco Rubio was right about Libya.
Rubio does have a very good point about Libya. He's 100% correct. #gopdebate — Nomiki Konst (@NomikiKonst) December 16, 2015
At the same time, she was regularly appearing on Fox News to shill for Obama’s wars in Syria and Iraq.
Like Nomiki Konst, Young Turks personality Ana Kasparian took it upon herself to defend AOC against the powerful Beltway lobby of pothead comedian Jimmy Dore and his supporters.
She accused him of never acting in good faith and tweeted that his call to pressure Pelosi is more a branding exercise than anything else, even while admitting that Jimmy’s proposal is the right thing to do.
It’s one thing to debate the strategies lawmakers like @AOC should take. My issue with Dore is that I don’t believe he says anything in good faith. It’s incredible to witness his rage-filled demands of some lawmakers while he refused to hold Tulsi accountable for a damn thing. — Ana Kasparian (@AnaKasparian) December 13, 2020
With the that said, pressuring politicians to actually represent us is the right thing to do. I just question his intentions, and for good reason. Even a broken clock…etc etc… — Ana Kasparian (@AnaKasparian) December 13, 2020
For Kasparian, personal beef with Jimmy Dore outweighs the public’s dire need for healthcare.
I’d be remiss to overlook the influence of twenty million dollars invested in The Young Turks from Jeffrey Katzenberg’s media conglomerate that has its fingers in the private healthcare industry.
In 2019, Katzenberg developed a smartphone app to help healthcare giants with mobile marketing.
Like Nomiki Konst, Ana Kasparian brands herself as a progressive, and even a socialist, while participating directly in NATO propaganda operations.
Last year, she beamed with pride as she interviewed Madeleine Albright at the Munich Security Conference, a NATO summit funded by Western governments, multi-national corporations, and the arms industry.
“The view is that we have isolated ourselves, we are absent from a lot of things that need to happen, but we need friends and allies,” says @madeleine Albright in the interview with @AnaKasparian. See the full interview this afternoon on https://t.co/UFcV0y8PVv. #yourMSC pic.twitter.com/fnIMq6p2Cs — yourMSC (@yourMSC_2020) February 16, 2019
At the same gathering of international militarists, she argued to a U.S. general that Trump was not hard enough on Russia and suggested that he’s controlled by Putin, “Don’t you think there are too many coincidences when it comes to Donald Trump and Russia. And look I’m not some Russia fear-mongerer. But he questions the legitimacy of NATO, he questions whether or not it was really that big of a deal for Russia to annex Crimea. He was very reluctant to implement those sanctions, he was very complimentary to Vladimir Putin. It was just his actions that really do speak volumes,” Kasparian insisted.
She also denigrated leftists who dared to question the avalanche of anti-China propaganda, demanding that they “be honest” and just accept State Department talking points, lock stock and barrel, saying, “I also have an issue with some people on the left who aren’t honest about the actual abuses that take place in China. And the abuses that take place in Hong Kong now, Taiwan, I think the Uyghur Muslims and how they’re being sent to those camps.”
No surprise, Kasparian had little interest in reporting on the persecution of Julian Assange. When his extradition trial kicked off, her viewers had to pressure her to even cover it at all.
https://twitter.com/Fiorella_im/status/1306398043990716416
The most consequential trial of the century isn’t even on the radar of the corporate NATO propagandist Ana Kasparian.
Perhaps the most unhinged Jimmy Hater is Ben Dixon, the podcaster who speculated that Dore was actually an FBI operation to destroy the squad and prevent Medicare For All.
Dixon’s tirades against Dore include, among others, this not-so-subtle outburst: “Fuck Jimmy Dore! This stuff is sociopathy. What he is doing is cashing in on your anger. But he’s cashing in on a strategy that’s going to leave you without Medicare For All. He is literally at this point, COINTELPRO for me. He is a fed, at this point.”
This is the same Ben Dixon who spent years smearing Julian Assange and providing left wing cover as the actual feds sought to lock the Wikileaks co-founder up and throw away the key as punishment for revealing hideous U.S. war crimes.
Wikileaks & Assange were once held in a venerated position by too many — seen as “heroes”, above reproach & questioning. Glad we can *generally* dispense w/that notion & demand their motives be questioned like everyone else. — Benjamin Dixon (@BenjaminPDixon) November 14, 2017
Dixon had high praise for the feds and their meddling in Hong Kong. Specifically the CIA”
Even if the CIA is funding the protesters in Hong Kong, China is no more the socialist revolutionary vanguard that America is. So you might find ourselves in situations where the CIA, who does nothing but evil things around the world, yes, find themselves, for whatever reason, whatever their justification, find themselves on the right side of the argument. I’m not going to have a knee-jerk reaction and say just because the CIA – it’s just like saying just because America is involved in something it’s inherently evil. No!”
In this unhinged diatribe, @BenjaminPDixon endorses CIA activity in Hong Kong as "on the right side of the argument". This sounds a lot more like a Lou Dobbs segment than something to come from a "leftist". Full segment here: https://t.co/N20AqDSs2y pic.twitter.com/vo2qtvWP2b — Dan Cohen (@dancohen3000) October 15, 2019
Dixon was so incensed by the prospect of a floor vote on public healthcare that he demanded Jimmy Dore meet him on the playground at recess.
Cenk Uygur also trashed Jimmy Dore, his former colleague at The Young Turks. Maybe it was inevitable that Cenk would lash out at Jimmy. For the past four years, Cenk has shamelessly promoted Russiagate, claiming an undeniable Trump-Russia connection and whipping up Cold War hysteria, telling his audience, “I think there clearly is collusion based on the publicly available evidence… I think during the Russians, during the election, did they quote unquote interfere? Yes. Did they do the fake news? Yes. Did they buy those troll farms to do tweets? Yes… But after the election, Putin calls him aside and says “you know we did all that money laundering together. We just turn that in and you’re in a world of trouble. You’re going to go to prison. So here’s what you’re going to do for us. And then Trump proceeds to do just that.”
If you want to challenge Pelosi, you have to do your homework & figure out ahead of time who could run against her in the caucus, not wait till the choice is between her & @GOPLeader. That’s what some of us did a month ago. Some of us chose to be hot-tempered & childish instead. — Cenk Uygur (@cenkuygur) December 20, 2020
Back in 2011, the future founder of the Justice Democrats was orgasming over the destruction of Libya, declaring, “Down goes Gaddafi! It appears! Down goes Gaddafi!”
And when Neera Tanden, who proposed stealing Libya’s oil to balance the budget, was recently selected as Biden’s office of management and budget director, Uygur tweeted that he’s rooting for her.
.@neeratanden has been waiting for this appointment for four unending years now. All of her hardwork inside the establishment paid off & now she's in a power position to help direct world's largest resources. Now we're going to find out who she is, and so is she. Rooting for her. — Cenk Uygur (@cenkuygur) November 29, 2020
And then there’s the time he declared his support for “our guys” in the CIA.
So, after saying it’s not true that he trusts Putin more than US intelligence, he goes on to say that our guys are “sleazebags,” “dirty cops” and “proven liars.” And how about Putin? Not one unkind word about his handler. He would never dare criticize his boss. #Traitor https://t.co/54RPmpgzcE — Cenk Uygur (@cenkuygur) August 11, 2020
It’s no coincidence that the pundits who are circling the wagons around AOC and seething at a comedian for pushing for a Medicare For All floor vote are also a bunch of pseudo-left imperialists. They’ve positioned themselves as guard dogs and gatekeepers of the Democratic Party, a pro-war, pro-Wall Street political cartel that fights the authentic anti-imperialist left harder than it takes on right-wing Republicans.
If there’s any positive to take away, now we know who’s part of the struggle to improve the lives of working people in this country and ends wars abroad, and who’s standing in the way.
Feature photo | Graphic by Antonio Cabrera for MintPress News
Dan Cohen is a journalist and filmmaker. He has produced widely distributed video reports and print dispatches from across Israel-Palestine. Dan is a correspondent at RT America and tweets at @DanCohen3000.


mintpressnews--2020-12-29--Why Senators Must Reject Avril Haines for Intelligence

Even before President-elect Joe Biden sets foot in the White House , the Senate Intelligence Committee may start hearings on his nomination of Avril Haines as Director of National Intelligence .
Barack Obama ’ s top lawyer on the National Security Council from 2010 to 2013 followed by CIA Deputy Director from 2013 to 2015 , Haines is the proverbial wolf in sheep ’ s clothing .
She is the affable assassin who , according to Newsweek , would be summoned in the middle of the night to decide if a citizen of any country , including our own , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ strike in a distant land in the greater Middle East .
Haines also played a key role in covering up the U.S. torture program , known euphemistically as “ enhanced interrogation techniques , ” which included repeated waterboarding , sexual humiliation , sleep deprivation , dousing naked prisoners with ice-cold water , and rectal rehydration .
For these reasons , among others , the activist groups CODEPINK , Progressive Democrats of America , World Beyond War , and Roots Action have launched a campaign calling on the Senate to reject her confirmation .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ dissuade Biden from choosing two other warmongering candidates for critical foreign policy positions : China-hawk Michele Flournoy for Secretary of Defense and torture apologist Mike Morell for CIA Director .
By hosting calling parties to Senators , launching petitions and publishing Open Letters from DNC delegates , feminists—including Alice Walker , Jane Fonda , and Gloria Steinem—and Guantanamo torture survivors , activists helped derail candidates who were once considered shoo-ins for Biden ’ s cabinet .
In 2015 , when Haines was CIA Deputy Director , CIA agents illegally hacked the computers of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Committee ’ s investigation into the spy agency ’ s detention and interrogation program .
Haines overruled the CIA ’ s own Inspector General in failing to discipline the CIA agents who violated the U.S. Constitution ’ s separation of powers .
According to former CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou , she not only shielded the hackers from accountability but even awarded them the Career Intelligence Medal .
And there ’ s more .
When the exhaustive 6,000-page Senate Intelligence Committee report on torture was finally complete , after five years of investigation and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it to deny the public ’ s right to know its full details , reducing the document to a 500-page , black-ink-smeared summary .
This censorship went beyond merely “ protecting sources and methods ” ; it avoided CIA embarrassment while ensuring her own career advancement .
Moreover , Haines supported torture apologist Gina Haspel as Trump ’ s CIA Director .
Haspel ran a secret black site prison in Thailand where torture was regularly inflicted .
Haspel also drafted the memo ordering the destruction of almost 100 videotapes documenting CIA torture .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ CNN , “ Haines has an unfortunate record of repeatedly covering up for torture and torturers .
Her push for maximalist redactions of the torture report , her refusal to discipline the CIA personnel who hacked the Senate , and her vociferous support for Gina Haspel — which was even touted by the Trump White House as Democrats stood in nearly unanimous opposition to the then-nominee to lead the CIA — should be interrogated during the confirmation process.
” This sentiment was echoed by Mark Udall , a Democratic senator on the intelligence @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ If our country is going to turn the page on the dark chapter of our history that was the CIA ’ s torture program , we need to stop nominating and confirming individuals who led this terrible program and helped cover it up.
” Another reason Haines ’ s nomination should be rejected is her support for the proliferation of killer drones .
There has been a concerted effort by former Obama colleagues to paint Haines as a voice of restraint that tried to protect civilians .
But according to former @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the drone bombings that killed not only suspected terrorists but entire families , including children , who died as collateral damage.
” It was Avril that decided whether it was legal to incinerate someone from the sky , ” said Kiriakou .
When human rights groups denounced Obama ’ s rash use of extrajudicial killings , including the assumption that all military-age males in the strike zone were “ enemy combatants ” and therefore legitimate targets , Haines was enlisted to co-author a new “ presidential policy guidance ” to tighten the regulations @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” issued on May 22 , 2013 , continued to blur the line between civilians and combatants , normalizing targeted assassinations and effectively repudiating the “ presumption of innocence ” that has been the bedrock principle of civilian law for over 800 years .
The drone playbook , “ PROCEDURES FOR APPROVING DIRECT ACTION AGAINST TERRORIST TARGETS LOCATED OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES AND AREAS OF ACTIVE HOSTILITIES , ” says on page 1 that any “ direct action must be conducted lawfully and taken against lawful targets , ” yet the guidelines never @ @ @ @ @ @ @ when extrajudicial killings outside of an active war zone are permitted .
On page 4 , the guidelines for drone strikes allow for lethal action against those who are not “ high-value targets , ” without explaining the criteria the CIA would use to identify someone as an imminent threat to the security of the United States .
On page 12 , the co-authors , Haines among them , redacted the minimum profile requirements for an individual “ nominated ” for lethal action .
The very term “ nominated ” suggests an effort @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the bombing target is recommended for a U.S. presidential cabinet position .
[ NOTE : You might ( somewhat sarcastically ) want to put “ [ sic ] ” after the first use of the word “ nominated ” ] Moreover , the guidelines themselves were often totally disregarded .
The policy states , for example , that the U.S. “ prioritizes , as a matter of policy , the capture of terrorist suspects as a preferred option over lethal action ” and that lethal action should be taken “ only when capture @ @ @ @ @ @ @ But the Obama administration did nothing of the sort .
Under George Bush , at least 780 terrorist suspects were captured and thrown into the U.S.-run gulag in Guantanamo .
Haines ’ s guidelines prohibit transfer to Guantanamo so , instead , suspects were simply incinerated .
The guidelines required “ near certainty that non-combatants will not be killed or injured , ” but this requirement was routinely violated , as documented by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism .
Haines ’ s policy guidance also states that the U.S. would respect other states @ @ @ @ @ @ @ when other governments “ can not or will not ” address a threat to the U.S .
This , too , became simply empty words on paper .
The U.S. barely even consulted with the governments in whose territory it was dropping bombs and , in the case of Pakistan , openly defied the government .
In December 2013 , the National Assembly of Pakistan unanimously approved a resolution against U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan , calling them a violation of “ the charter of the United Nations , international laws and humanitarian @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif stated : “ The use of drones is not only a continual violation of our territorial integrity but also detrimental to our resolve and efforts at eliminating terrorism from our country.
” But the U.S. ignored the pleas of Pakistan ’ s elected government .
The proliferation of drone killings under Obama , from Yemen to Somalia , also violated U.S. law , which gives Congress the sole authority to authorize military conflict .
But Obama ’ s legal team , which included Haines , circumvented the law by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force ( AUMF ) , the law Congress passed to target Afghanistan in the wake of the 9/11 attacks .
This specious argument provided fodder for the out-of-control misuse of that 2001 AUMF which , according to the Congressional Research Service , has been relied on to justify U.S. military action at least 41 times in 19 countries .
In addition , the guidelines don ’ t even require the CIA and other agencies participating in the drone program to notify the President , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be killed in a drone strike , except when a targeted individual is a U.S. citizen or when the agencies in charge can not agree on the target .
There are many other reasons to reject Haines .
She advocates intensifying crippling economic sanctions on North Korea that undermine a negotiated peace , and “ regime change ” –hypothetically engineered by a U.S. ally–that could leave a collapsed North Korea vulnerable to terrorist theft of its nuclear material ; she was a consultant at WestExec Advisors , a firm that exploits insider government @ @ @ @ @ @ @ contracts ; and she was a consultant with Palantir , a data-mining company that facilitated Trump ’ s mass deportations of immigrants .
But Haines ’ s record on torture and drones , alone , should be enough for Senators to reject her nomination .
The unassuming spy—who got her start at the White House as a legal adviser in the Bush State Department in 2003 , the year the U.S. invaded Iraq—might look and sound more like your favorite college professor than someone who enabled murder by remote control or wielded a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , but a clear examination of her past should convince the Senate that Haines is unfit for high office in an administration that promises to restore transparency , integrity , and respect for international law .
Tell your Senator : Vote NO on Haines .
Feature photo | Avril Haines speaks during a session on “ The Rise of Techno Nationalism ” at the Annual Meeting 2019 of the World Economic Forum in Davos , January 22 , 2019 .
Ciaran McCrickard | WEC | CC Medea Benjamin is cofounder of CODEPINK for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , including Drone Warfare : Killing by Remote Control .
In 2013 she directly confronted President Obama about his drone killings .
Marcy Winograd of Progressive Democrats of America served as a 2020 DNC Delegate for Bernie Sanders and co-founded the Progressive Caucus of the California Democratic Party .
Coordinator of CODEPINKCONGRESS , Marcy spearheads Capitol Hill calling parties to mobilize co-sponsors and votes for progressive foreign policy legislation .

Even before President-elect Joe Biden sets foot in the White House, the Senate Intelligence Committee may start hearings on his nomination of Avril Haines as Director of National Intelligence.
Barack Obama’s top lawyer on the National Security Council from 2010 to 2013 followed by CIA Deputy Director from 2013 to 2015, Haines is the proverbial wolf in sheep’s clothing. She is the affable assassin who, according to Newsweek, would be summoned in the middle of the night to decide if a citizen of any country, including our own, should be incinerated in a U.S. drone strike in a distant land in the greater Middle East. Haines also played a key role in covering up the U.S. torture program, known euphemistically as “enhanced interrogation techniques,” which included repeated waterboarding, sexual humiliation, sleep deprivation, dousing naked prisoners with ice-cold water, and rectal rehydration.
For these reasons, among others, the activist groups CODEPINK, Progressive Democrats of America, World Beyond War, and Roots Action have launched a campaign calling on the Senate to reject her confirmation.
These same groups ran successful campaigns to dissuade Biden from choosing two other warmongering candidates for critical foreign policy positions: China-hawk Michele Flournoy for Secretary of Defense and torture apologist Mike Morell for CIA Director. By hosting calling parties to Senators, launching petitions and publishing Open Letters from DNC delegates, feminists—including Alice Walker, Jane Fonda, and Gloria Steinem—and Guantanamo torture survivors, activists helped derail candidates who were once considered shoo-ins for Biden’s cabinet.
Now activists are challenging Avril Haines.
In 2015, when Haines was CIA Deputy Director, CIA agents illegally hacked the computers of the Senate Intelligence Committee to thwart the Committee’s investigation into the spy agency’s detention and interrogation program. Haines overruled the CIA’s own Inspector General in failing to discipline the CIA agents who violated the U.S. Constitution’s separation of powers. According to former CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou, she not only shielded the hackers from accountability but even awarded them the Career Intelligence Medal.
And there’s more. When the exhaustive 6,000-page Senate Intelligence Committee report on torture was finally complete, after five years of investigation and research, Haines took charge of redacting it to deny the public’s right to know its full details, reducing the document to a 500-page, black-ink-smeared summary.
This censorship went beyond merely “protecting sources and methods”; it avoided CIA embarrassment while ensuring her own career advancement.
Moreover, Haines supported torture apologist Gina Haspel as Trump’s CIA Director. Haspel ran a secret black site prison in Thailand where torture was regularly inflicted. Haspel also drafted the memo ordering the destruction of almost 100 videotapes documenting CIA torture.
As David Segal of Demand Progress told CNN, “Haines has an unfortunate record of repeatedly covering up for torture and torturers. Her push for maximalist redactions of the torture report, her refusal to discipline the CIA personnel who hacked the Senate, and her vociferous support for Gina Haspel — which was even touted by the Trump White House as Democrats stood in nearly unanimous opposition to the then-nominee to lead the CIA — should be interrogated during the confirmation process.”
This sentiment was echoed by Mark Udall, a Democratic senator on the intelligence committee when it finished the torture report. “If our country is going to turn the page on the dark chapter of our history that was the CIA’s torture program, we need to stop nominating and confirming individuals who led this terrible program and helped cover it up.”
Another reason Haines’s nomination should be rejected is her support for the proliferation of killer drones. There has been a concerted effort by former Obama colleagues to paint Haines as a voice of restraint that tried to protect civilians. But according to former CIA whistleblower Kiarikou, Haines regularly approved the drone bombings that killed not only suspected terrorists but entire families, including children, who died as collateral damage.” It was Avril that decided whether it was legal to incinerate someone from the sky,” said Kiriakou.
When human rights groups denounced Obama’s rash use of extrajudicial killings, including the assumption that all military-age males in the strike zone were “enemy combatants” and therefore legitimate targets, Haines was enlisted to co-author a new “presidential policy guidance” to tighten the regulations. But this new “guidance,” issued on May 22, 2013, continued to blur the line between civilians and combatants, normalizing targeted assassinations and effectively repudiating the “presumption of innocence” that has been the bedrock principle of civilian law for over 800 years.
The drone playbook, “PROCEDURES FOR APPROVING DIRECT ACTION AGAINST TERRORIST TARGETS LOCATED OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES AND AREAS OF ACTIVE HOSTILITIES,” says on page 1 that any “direct action must be conducted lawfully and taken against lawful targets,” yet the guidelines never reference international or domestic laws that define when extrajudicial killings outside of an active war zone are permitted.
On page 4, the guidelines for drone strikes allow for lethal action against those who are not “high-value targets,” without explaining the criteria the CIA would use to identify someone as an imminent threat to the security of the United States. On page 12, the co-authors, Haines among them, redacted the minimum profile requirements for an individual “nominated” for lethal action. The very term “nominated” suggests an effort to sugarcoat targeted assassination, as though the bombing target is recommended for a U.S. presidential cabinet position. [NOTE: You might (somewhat sarcastically) want to put “[sic]” after the first use of the word “nominated”]
Moreover, the guidelines themselves were often totally disregarded. The policy states, for example, that the U.S. “prioritizes, as a matter of policy, the capture of terrorist suspects as a preferred option over lethal action” and that lethal action should be taken “only when capture of an individual is not feasible.” But the Obama administration did nothing of the sort. Under George Bush, at least 780 terrorist suspects were captured and thrown into the U.S.-run gulag in Guantanamo. Haines’s guidelines prohibit transfer to Guantanamo so, instead, suspects were simply incinerated.
The guidelines required “near certainty that non-combatants will not be killed or injured,” but this requirement was routinely violated, as documented by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism.
Haines’s policy guidance also states that the U.S. would respect other states’ sovereignty, only undertaking lethal action when other governments “cannot or will not” address a threat to the U.S. This, too, became simply empty words on paper. The U.S. barely even consulted with the governments in whose territory it was dropping bombs and, in the case of Pakistan, openly defied the government. In December 2013, the National Assembly of Pakistan unanimously approved a resolution against U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan, calling them a violation of “the charter of the United Nations, international laws and humanitarian norms” and Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif stated: “The use of drones is not only a continual violation of our territorial integrity but also detrimental to our resolve and efforts at eliminating terrorism from our country.” But the U.S. ignored the pleas of Pakistan’s elected government.
The proliferation of drone killings under Obama, from Yemen to Somalia, also violated U.S. law, which gives Congress the sole authority to authorize military conflict. But Obama’s legal team, which included Haines, circumvented the law by insisting that these military interventions fell under the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF), the law Congress passed to target Afghanistan in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. This specious argument provided fodder for the out-of-control misuse of that 2001 AUMF which, according to the Congressional Research Service, has been relied on to justify U.S. military action at least 41 times in 19 countries.
In addition, the guidelines don’t even require the CIA and other agencies participating in the drone program to notify the President, the Commander-in-Chief, as to who is to be killed in a drone strike, except when a targeted individual is a U.S. citizen or when the agencies in charge cannot agree on the target.
There are many other reasons to reject Haines. She advocates intensifying crippling economic sanctions on North Korea that undermine a negotiated peace, and “regime change”–hypothetically engineered by a U.S. ally–that could leave a collapsed North Korea vulnerable to terrorist theft of its nuclear material; she was a consultant at WestExec Advisors, a firm that exploits insider government connections to help companies secure plum Pentagon contracts; and she was a consultant with Palantir, a data-mining company that facilitated Trump’s mass deportations of immigrants.
But Haines’s record on torture and drones, alone, should be enough for Senators to reject her nomination. The unassuming spy—who got her start at the White House as a legal adviser in the Bush State Department in 2003, the year the U.S. invaded Iraq—might look and sound more like your favorite college professor than someone who enabled murder by remote control or wielded a thick black pen to cover-up CIA torture, but a clear examination of her past should convince the Senate that Haines is unfit for high office in an administration that promises to restore transparency, integrity, and respect for international law.
Tell your Senator: Vote NO on Haines.
Feature photo | Avril Haines speaks during a session on “The Rise of Techno Nationalism” at the Annual Meeting 2019 of the World Economic Forum in Davos, January 22, 2019. Ciaran McCrickard | WEC | CC
Medea Benjamin is cofounder of CODEPINK for Peace, and author of several books, including Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control. In 2013 she directly confronted President Obama about his drone killings.
Marcy Winograd of Progressive Democrats of America served as a 2020 DNC Delegate for Bernie Sanders and co-founded the Progressive Caucus of the California Democratic Party. Coordinator of CODEPINKCONGRESS, Marcy spearheads Capitol Hill calling parties to mobilize co-sponsors and votes for progressive foreign policy legislation.


mintpressnews--2020-12-30--The American Money Tree: The Untold Story of US Aid to Israel

On December 21 , the United States Congress passed the COVID-19 Relief Package , as part of a larger $ 2.3 trillion bill meant to cover spending for the rest of the fiscal year .
As usual , US representatives allocated a massive sum of money for Israel .
While unemployment , thus poverty , in the US is skyrocketing as a result of repeated lockdowns , the US found it essential to provide Israel with $ 3.3 billion in ‘ security assistance ’ and $ 500 million for US-Israel missile defense cooperation .
Although a meager $ 600 dollar @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the subject of several months of intense debate , there was little discussion among American politicians over the large funds handed out to Israel , for which there are no returns .
Support for Israel is considered a bipartisan priority and has , for decades , been perceived as the most stable item in the US foreign policy agenda .
The mere questioning of how Israel uses the funds – whether the military aid is being actively used to sustain Israel ’ s illegal occupation of Palestine , finance Jewish settlements , fund @ @ @ @ @ @ @ human rights – is a major taboo .
One of the few members of Congress to demand that aid to Israel be conditioned on the latter ’ s respect for human rights is Democratic Senator , Bernie Sanders , of Vermont , who was also a leading presidential nominee for the Democratic Party .
“ We can not give it carte blanche to the Israeli government … We have the right to demand respect for human rights and democracy ” , Sanders had said in October 2019 .
His Democratic rival , now @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : “ The idea that I ’ d withdraw military aid , as others have suggested , from Israel , is bizarre , ” he said .
It is no secret that Israel is the world ’ s leading recipient of US aid since World War II .
According to data provided by the US Congressional Research Service , Israel has received $ 146 billion of US taxpayers ’ money as of November 2020 .
From 1971 up to 2007 , a bulk of these funds proved fundamental in helping Israel establish a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ most of the money has been allotted for military purposes , including the security of Israel ’ s illegal Jewish settlement enterprise .
Despite the US financial crisis of 2008 , American money continued to be channeled to Israel , whose economy survived the global recession , largely unscathed .
In 2016 , the US promised even more money .
The Democratic Barack Obama Administration , which is often – although mistakenly – seen as hostile to Israel , increased US funding to Israel by a significant margin .
In a 10-year Memorandum @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reached a deal whereby the US agreed to give Israel $ 38 billion in military aid covering the financial years 2019-2028 .
This is a whopping increase of $ 8 billion compared with the previous 10-year agreement , which concluded at the end of 2018 .
The new American funds are divided into two categories : $ 33 billion in foreign military grants and an additional $ 5 billion in missile defense .
American generosity has long been attributed to the unmatched influence of pro-Israeli groups , lead among them American Israel Public @ @ @ @ @ @ @ last four years , however , required little lobbying by these groups , as powerful agents within the administration itself became Israel ’ s top advocates .
Aside from the seemingly endless ‘ political freebies ’ that the Donald Trump Administration has given Israel in recent years , it is now considering ways to accelerate the timetable of delivering the remainder of US funds as determined by the last MOU , an amount that currently stands at $ 26.4 billion .
According to official congressional documents , the US “ also may approve @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and accelerate the delivery of KC-46A refueling and transport aircraft to Israel.
” These are not all the funds and perks that Israel receives .
Much more goes unreported , as it is channeled either indirectly or simply promoted under the flexible title of ‘ cooperation ’ .
For example , between 1973 and 1991 , a massive sum of $ 460 million of US funds was allocated to resettling Jews in Israel .
Many of these new immigrants are now the very Israeli militants that occupy the West Bank illegal settlements .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ is paid to a private charity known as the United Israel Appeal which , in turn , gives the money to the Jewish Agency .
The latter has played a central role in the founding of Israel on top of the ruins of Palestinian towns and villages in 1948 .
Under the guise of charitable donations , tens of millions of dollars are regularly sent to Israel in the form of “ tax-deductible gifts for Jewish settlement in the West Bank and East Jerusalem , ” the New York Times reported .
Much @ @ @ @ @ @ @ donations for educational and religious purposes , often finds its way to funding and purchasing housing for illegal settlers , “ as well as guard dogs , bulletproof vests , rifle scopes and vehicles to secure ( illegal Jewish ) outposts deep in occupied ( Palestinian ) areas.
” Quite often , US money ends up in the Israeli government ’ s coffers under deceptive pretenses .
For example , the latest Stimulus Package includes $ 50 million to fund the Nita M. Lowey Middle East Partnership for Peace Funds , supposedly to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ economic cooperation … between Israelis and Palestinians with the goal of supporting a negotiated and sustainable two-state solution.
” Actually , such money serves no particular purpose , since Washington and Tel Aviv endeavor to ensure the demise of a negotiated peace agreement and work hand-in-hand to kill the now defunct two-state solution .
The list is endless , though most of this money is not included in the official US aid packages to Israel , therefore receives little scrutiny , let alone media coverage .
As of February 2019 , the US @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Authority in the West Bank , in addition to cutting aid to the UN Palestinian Refugees agency ( UNRWA ) , the last lifeline of support needed to provide basic education and health services to millions of Palestinian refugees .
Judging by its legacy of continued support of the Israeli military machine and the ongoing colonial expansion in the West Bank , Washington insists on serving as Israel ’ s main benefactor – if not direct partner – while shunning Palestinians altogether .
Expecting the US to play a constructive role in achieving @ @ @ @ @ @ @ only reflect indefensible naivety but willful ignorance as well .
Feature photo | Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a statement at the Israeli Knesset , Dec. 22 , 2020 .
Yonatan Sindel | Pool via AP Ramzy Baroud is a journalist and the Editor of The Palestine Chronicle .
He is the author of five books .
His latest is “ These Chains Will Be Broken : Palestinian Stories of Struggle and Defiance in Israeli Prisons ” ( Clarity Press ) .
Dr. Baroud is a Non-resident Senior Research Fellow at the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ CIGA ) and also at the Afro-Middle East Center ( AMEC ) .
His website is www.ramzybaroud.net

On December 21, the United States Congress passed the COVID-19 Relief Package, as part of a larger $2.3 trillion bill meant to cover spending for the rest of the fiscal year. As usual, US representatives allocated a massive sum of money for Israel.
While unemployment, thus poverty, in the US is skyrocketing as a result of repeated lockdowns, the US found it essential to provide Israel with $3.3 billion in ‘security assistance’ and $500 million for US-Israel missile defense cooperation.
Although a meager $600 dollar payment to help struggling American families was the subject of several months of intense debate, there was little discussion among American politicians over the large funds handed out to Israel, for which there are no returns.
Support for Israel is considered a bipartisan priority and has, for decades, been perceived as the most stable item in the US foreign policy agenda. The mere questioning of how Israel uses the funds – whether the military aid is being actively used to sustain Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine, finance Jewish settlements, fund annexation of Palestinian land or violate Palestinian human rights – is a major taboo.
One of the few members of Congress to demand that aid to Israel be conditioned on the latter’s respect for human rights is Democratic Senator, Bernie Sanders, of Vermont, who was also a leading presidential nominee for the Democratic Party. “We cannot give it carte blanche to the Israeli government … We have the right to demand respect for human rights and democracy”, Sanders had said in October 2019.
His Democratic rival, now President-elect, Joe Biden, soon countered: “The idea that I’d withdraw military aid, as others have suggested, from Israel, is bizarre,” he said.
It is no secret that Israel is the world’s leading recipient of US aid since World War II. According to data provided by the US Congressional Research Service, Israel has received $146 billion of US taxpayers’ money as of November 2020.
From 1971 up to 2007, a bulk of these funds proved fundamental in helping Israel establish a strong economic base. Since then, most of the money has been allotted for military purposes, including the security of Israel’s illegal Jewish settlement enterprise.
Despite the US financial crisis of 2008, American money continued to be channeled to Israel, whose economy survived the global recession, largely unscathed.
In 2016, the US promised even more money. The Democratic Barack Obama Administration, which is often – although mistakenly – seen as hostile to Israel, increased US funding to Israel by a significant margin. In a 10-year Memorandum of Understanding, Washington and Tel Aviv reached a deal whereby the US agreed to give Israel $38 billion in military aid covering the financial years 2019-2028. This is a whopping increase of $8 billion compared with the previous 10-year agreement, which concluded at the end of 2018.
The new American funds are divided into two categories: $33 billion in foreign military grants and an additional $5 billion in missile defense.
American generosity has long been attributed to the unmatched influence of pro-Israeli groups, lead among them American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). The last four years, however, required little lobbying by these groups, as powerful agents within the administration itself became Israel’s top advocates.
Aside from the seemingly endless ‘political freebies’ that the Donald Trump Administration has given Israel in recent years, it is now considering ways to accelerate the timetable of delivering the remainder of US funds as determined by the last MOU, an amount that currently stands at $26.4 billion. According to official congressional documents, the US “also may approve additional sales of the F-35 to Israel and accelerate the delivery of KC-46A refueling and transport aircraft to Israel.”
These are not all the funds and perks that Israel receives. Much more goes unreported, as it is channeled either indirectly or simply promoted under the flexible title of ‘cooperation’.
For example, between 1973 and 1991, a massive sum of $460 million of US funds was allocated to resettling Jews in Israel. Many of these new immigrants are now the very Israeli militants that occupy the West Bank illegal settlements. In this particular case, the money is paid to a private charity known as the United Israel Appeal which, in turn, gives the money to the Jewish Agency. The latter has played a central role in the founding of Israel on top of the ruins of Palestinian towns and villages in 1948.
Under the guise of charitable donations, tens of millions of dollars are regularly sent to Israel in the form of “tax-deductible gifts for Jewish settlement in the West Bank and East Jerusalem,” the New York Times reported. Much of the money, falsely promoted as donations for educational and religious purposes, often finds its way to funding and purchasing housing for illegal settlers, “as well as guard dogs, bulletproof vests, rifle scopes and vehicles to secure (illegal Jewish) outposts deep in occupied (Palestinian) areas.”
Quite often, US money ends up in the Israeli government’s coffers under deceptive pretenses. For example, the latest Stimulus Package includes $50 million to fund the Nita M. Lowey Middle East Partnership for Peace Funds, supposedly to provide investments in “people-to-people exchanges and economic cooperation … between Israelis and Palestinians with the goal of supporting a negotiated and sustainable two-state solution.”
Actually, such money serves no particular purpose, since Washington and Tel Aviv endeavor to ensure the demise of a negotiated peace agreement and work hand-in-hand to kill the now defunct two-state solution.
The list is endless, though most of this money is not included in the official US aid packages to Israel, therefore receives little scrutiny, let alone media coverage.
As of February 2019, the US has withheld all funds to the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, in addition to cutting aid to the UN Palestinian Refugees agency (UNRWA), the last lifeline of support needed to provide basic education and health services to millions of Palestinian refugees.
Judging by its legacy of continued support of the Israeli military machine and the ongoing colonial expansion in the West Bank, Washington insists on serving as Israel’s main benefactor – if not direct partner – while shunning Palestinians altogether. Expecting the US to play a constructive role in achieving a just peace in Palestine does not only reflect indefensible naivety but willful ignorance as well.
Feature photo | Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a statement at the Israeli Knesset, Dec. 22, 2020. Yonatan Sindel | Pool via AP
Ramzy Baroud is a journalist and the Editor of The Palestine Chronicle. He is the author of five books. His latest is “These Chains Will Be Broken: Palestinian Stories of Struggle and Defiance in Israeli Prisons” (Clarity Press). Dr. Baroud is a Non-resident Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA) and also at the Afro-Middle East Center (AMEC). His website is www.ramzybaroud.net


mintpressnews--2020-12-30--Fingers Point to US-Backed Gov’t in Colombia’s Ninetieth Massacre of the Year

It is the festive season in Colombia , but not everyone is celebrating .
Sunday brought news of the ninetieth massacre of the year .
Five people were found dead in Bolívar Department in the north of the country , among them former leftist guerilla Rosa Amalia Mendoza and her infant child .
Meanwhile , just hours earlier in the southwestern department of Cauca , the brutally tortured body of 55-year-old Manuel Alonso Villegas was found on a roadside close to his hometown of Miranda .
Both Mendoza and Villegas had been members of the leftist guerilla group the FARC @ @ @ @ @ @ @ agreed to permanently lay down their weapons in a historic peace deal that promised to end the country ’ s decades-long civil war .
Mendoza , 25 , had reportedly become involved in local activism , founding the South Bolívar Agricultural and Environmental Housing Association .
Meanwhile , Villegas had turned his hand to handicrafts , making custom shirts and other items .
He was also active in a number of local community agricultural development projects .
His body was found only 200 meters from the gate of his community ’ s collective @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a calculated “ message.
” “ The community is really scared , ” one local said , in a recording shared with MintPress .
This was not the first time the town had experienced such terror .
Last year , two brothers had also been murdered .
Their mother died of a heart attack at their funeral .
James Jordan , National Co-Coordinator of the Alliance for Global Justice and a friend of Villegas ’ , spoke to MintPress about the incident .
“ Manuel was a master woodworker and had a room @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all the way from little stands to put your cell phone on to really nice beds and rocking chairs and cabinets , ” he said .
One encounters news of all these killings and atrocities and massacres by the armed forces , paramilitaries and other armed groups .
But when you get to know a community and see how eagerly they are working for peace , how enthusiastically they have handed over their guns for plows and sewing machines and woodworking tools , when you visit with these people where they live , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ soccer , together , the depravity and cruelty of the enemies of the peace becomes visceral .
I can still see Manuel ’ s face and to think of how his life and dreams have been extinguished so brutally is just not acceptable .
Not only must we demand his murderers be apprehended and punished , but if we would see justice , we have to make Manuel ’ s dreams and hopes and spirit of peace our own.
” The 2016 peace deal saw the FARC disband , ending armed struggle and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the Common Alternative Revolutionary Force .
Then-president Juan Manuel Santos received the Nobel Peace Prize for brokering the agreement .
However , the violence has only stopped in one direction as precious few of the government-aligned far-right paramilitaries have demobilized .
Villegas and Mendoza are the 248th and 249th signatories of the 2016 deal to be murdered to date , suggesting a secret campaign of targeted assassinations .
The Common Alternative Revolutionary Force condemned the violence , complaining that Colombia “ does not give guarantees to those who [ have ] bet @ @ @ @ @ @ @ suggested drug trafficking as an explanation for many of the massacres , but few appear convinced .
“ If drug trafficking were a determining factor in homicides , it would be expected that this phenomenon would occur mostly in the coca-growing municipalities .
However , the evidence indicates the opposite , ” stated Giovanni Álvarez , Director of the Colombian Investigation and Accusation Unit .
While the homicide rate in Colombia has fallen this year , massacres have , by contrast , greatly increased , as has their bloodiness throughout 2020 .
Altogether @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in mass killings this year , according to local human rights group Indepaz .
“ Every massacre is a message , ” Manuel Rozental , a physician and longtime activist living in Cauca , not far from Villegas ’ home , told MintPress earlier this year .
“ The massacres are methodic , systematic .
It is a job being done as planned.
” Earlier this month , United Nations ’ High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet called on the government to take “ stronger and much more effective action to protect @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pervasive violence.
” “ It is the state ’ s duty to be present throughout the country , implementing a whole range of comprehensive public policies , not only to clamp down on those responsible for the violence , but also to provide basic services and safeguard the fundamental rights of the population , ” she added .
Few , however , seem to be expecting a radically different 2021 .
Colombia has long been the most dangerous place in the world to be an activist .
Since 1989 , according to human @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 3,000 trade unionists have been assassinated , more than in the rest of the world combined .
“ In almost 100 % of these killings , the perpetrators act with impunity , ” Jordan said .
This afternoon , Norbey Antonio Rivera from Cauca , became the latest social leader to be assassinated .
Current president Ivan Duque is a strong conservative and a protege of the country ’ s former leader Álvaro Uribe , a figure who has dominated Colombian politics for most of the twenty-first century .
Both Duque and Uribe @ @ @ @ @ @ @ beseeching the public not to back it .
Since assuming office in 2018 , Duque has attempted to roll back parts of the agreement .
Uribe has an extremely close relationship with both the far-right paramilitary groups and organized drug cartels .
While president from 2002 to 2010 , he oversaw a years-long wave of murders of peasant , union , and indigenous leaders that resulted in over 10,000 deaths .
Dubbed the “ False Positives Scandal , ” government-controlled forces would kill anyone they wished , later framing their victims as members @ @ @ @ @ @ @ own name and justifying even more security spending .
This allowed Uribe to impose his rule on the country , intimidating opponents into silence .
His own political campaigns came financed , in turn , with money directly from the notorious Medellin drug cartel .
Paramilitary groups continue to hold considerable influence inside the country to this day .
The COVID-induced lockdown has made it even easier for the death squads who still terrorize the country to operate freely , knowing precisely where their targets will be and meeting little organized resistance .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ for coronavirus , with 42,620 deaths reported as of Wednesday — a similar per capita rate to the United States .
Who is to blame for this violence , and can it ever end ?
Jordan was clear that , while Colombians might be paying in blood , this was not a purely internal affair , and the source of the violence laid closer to home .
Feature photo | Ex-combatants of the disbanded FARC and social activists march to demand the government guarantee their right to life and compliance with the 2016 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Nov. 1 , 2020 .
Fernando Vergara | AP Alan MacLeod is a Staff Writer for MintPress News .
After completing his PhD in 2017 he published two books : Bad News From Venezuela : Twenty Years of Fake News and Misreporting and Propaganda in the Information Age : Still Manufacturing Consent .
He has also contributed to Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting , The Guardian , Salon , The Grayzone , Jacobin Magazine , Common Dreams the American Herald Tribune and The Canary .

It is the festive season in Colombia, but not everyone is celebrating. Sunday brought news of the ninetieth massacre of the year. Five people were found dead in Bolívar Department in the north of the country, among them former leftist guerilla Rosa Amalia Mendoza and her infant child. Meanwhile, just hours earlier in the southwestern department of Cauca, the brutally tortured body of 55-year-old Manuel Alonso Villegas was found on a roadside close to his hometown of Miranda.
Both Mendoza and Villegas had been members of the leftist guerilla group the FARC until 2016 when they and many others agreed to permanently lay down their weapons in a historic peace deal that promised to end the country’s decades-long civil war. Mendoza, 25, had reportedly become involved in local activism, founding the South Bolívar Agricultural and Environmental Housing Association. Meanwhile, Villegas had turned his hand to handicrafts, making custom shirts and other items. He was also active in a number of local community agricultural development projects.
Ex-FARC guerrilla Manuel Alfonso Villegas, 55, was killed on Sunday. Since signing the peace accord and laying down arms, he had started a shirt printing business and organization to support farmers. pic.twitter.com/ycCIZ6RMkn — Dan Cohen (@dancohen3000) December 28, 2020
His body was found only 200 meters from the gate of his community’s collective farm, something which locals perceive as a calculated “message.” “The community is really scared,” one local said, in a recording shared with MintPress. This was not the first time the town had experienced such terror. Last year, two brothers had also been murdered. Their mother died of a heart attack at their funeral.
James Jordan, National Co-Coordinator of the Alliance for Global Justice and a friend of Villegas’, spoke to MintPress about the incident. “Manuel was a master woodworker and had a room full of items he was selling, all the way from little stands to put your cell phone on to really nice beds and rocking chairs and cabinets,” he said.
One encounters news of all these killings and atrocities and massacres by the armed forces, paramilitaries and other armed groups. But when you get to know a community and see how eagerly they are working for peace, how enthusiastically they have handed over their guns for plows and sewing machines and woodworking tools, when you visit with these people where they live, share meals together, dance, play soccer, together, the depravity and cruelty of the enemies of the peace becomes visceral. I can still see Manuel’s face and to think of how his life and dreams have been extinguished so brutally is just not acceptable. Not only must we demand his murderers be apprehended and punished, but if we would see justice, we have to make Manuel’s dreams and hopes and spirit of peace our own.”
A secret campaign of targeted assassinations
The 2016 peace deal saw the FARC disband, ending armed struggle and taking up electoral politics under the name of the Common Alternative Revolutionary Force. Then-president Juan Manuel Santos received the Nobel Peace Prize for brokering the agreement.
However, the violence has only stopped in one direction as precious few of the government-aligned far-right paramilitaries have demobilized. Villegas and Mendoza are the 248th and 249th signatories of the 2016 deal to be murdered to date, suggesting a secret campaign of targeted assassinations. The Common Alternative Revolutionary Force condemned the violence, complaining that Colombia “does not give guarantees to those who [have] bet on peace.”
The government has half-heartedly suggested drug trafficking as an explanation for many of the massacres, but few appear convinced. “If drug trafficking were a determining factor in homicides, it would be expected that this phenomenon would occur mostly in the coca-growing municipalities. However, the evidence indicates the opposite,” stated Giovanni Álvarez, Director of the Colombian Investigation and Accusation Unit.
While the homicide rate in Colombia has fallen this year, massacres have, by contrast, greatly increased, as has their bloodiness throughout 2020. Altogether, 375 people have now been murdered in mass killings this year, according to local human rights group Indepaz. “Every massacre is a message,” Manuel Rozental, a physician and longtime activist living in Cauca, not far from Villegas’ home, told MintPress earlier this year. “The massacres are methodic, systematic. It is a job being done as planned.”
Earlier this month, United Nations’ High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet called on the government to take “stronger and much more effective action to protect the population” from “appalling and pervasive violence.” “It is the state’s duty to be present throughout the country, implementing a whole range of comprehensive public policies, not only to clamp down on those responsible for the violence, but also to provide basic services and safeguard the fundamental rights of the population,” she added.
Few, however, seem to be expecting a radically different 2021. Colombia has long been the most dangerous place in the world to be an activist. Since 1989, according to human rights group Justice For Colombia, over 3,000 trade unionists have been assassinated, more than in the rest of the world combined. “In almost 100% of these killings, the perpetrators act with impunity,” Jordan said. This afternoon, Norbey Antonio Rivera from Cauca, became the latest social leader to be assassinated.
“Violence fueled by US policies”
Current president Ivan Duque is a strong conservative and a protege of the country’s former leader Álvaro Uribe, a figure who has dominated Colombian politics for most of the twenty-first century. Both Duque and Uribe bitterly opposed the 2016 peace deal, beseeching the public not to back it. Since assuming office in 2018, Duque has attempted to roll back parts of the agreement.
Uribe has an extremely close relationship with both the far-right paramilitary groups and organized drug cartels. While president from 2002 to 2010, he oversaw a years-long wave of murders of peasant, union, and indigenous leaders that resulted in over 10,000 deaths. Dubbed the “False Positives Scandal,” government-controlled forces would kill anyone they wished, later framing their victims as members of the FARC, both clearing their own name and justifying even more security spending. This allowed Uribe to impose his rule on the country, intimidating opponents into silence. His own political campaigns came financed, in turn, with money directly from the notorious Medellin drug cartel.
Paramilitary groups continue to hold considerable influence inside the country to this day. The COVID-induced lockdown has made it even easier for the death squads who still terrorize the country to operate freely, knowing precisely where their targets will be and meeting little organized resistance. Over 1.6 million Colombians have tested positive for coronavirus, with 42,620 deaths reported as of Wednesday — a similar per capita rate to the United States.
Who is to blame for this violence, and can it ever end? Jordan was clear that, while Colombians might be paying in blood, this was not a purely internal affair, and the source of the violence laid closer to home.
Painfully, I have to repeat what so many have said before, that political violence in Colombia is fueled by U.S. government policies. The United States continues to provide weapons and direction for the Colombian armed forces, police, and jails, and it has all too often directly encouraged and even funded the leaders of private death squads. The Trump administration also waged a full scale campaign to undermine Colombia’s peace accords. We must not waste our time hoping the Biden administration might reverse course, we must demand it,” he told MintPress.
Feature photo | Ex-combatants of the disbanded FARC and social activists march to demand the government guarantee their right to life and compliance with the 2016 peace agreement, in Bogota, Colombia, Nov. 1, 2020. Fernando Vergara | 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.