Taking the Measure of Trump's Foreign Policy

Grading Trump on Foreign Policy 

by Jeremy Kuzmarov - Covert Action Magazine (CAM)

 

December 30, 2020

 

On foreign policy, Trump’s legacy is just as bad as in every other area.

 

Donald Trump visits a tank production facility in Ohio in 2019. 

[Source: vanityfair.com] 

 

By any objective measure, Donald Trump has been one of the worst presidents in American history. His administration exacerbated inequalities, fomented social divisions, encouraged nativist and white supremacist groups, gutted environmental protections, mishandled the Covid-19 crisis, and tarnished the office of the presidency in a way that no president ever has or probably ever will.  

 

Fearing Jenin, Jenin: Why Israel Banned Telling Documentary

Fearing the Palestinian Narrative: Why Israel Banned ‘Jenin Jenin’ 

by Ramzy Baroud - CounterPunch

 

January 22, 2021

On January 11, the Israeli Lod District Court ruled against a Palestinian film-maker, Mahmoud Bakri, ordering him to pay hefty compensation to an Israeli soldier who was accused, along with the Israeli military, of carrying out war crimes in April 2002, in the Palestinian Jenin refugee camp located in the northern occupied West Bank. 

 

Photograph Source: IDF Spokesperson’s Unit – CC BY 2.0

The case, as presented by Israeli and other media, seemed to deal with typical legal matters such as defamation of character and so on. To those familiar with the massive clash of narratives which emanated from that singular event, known to Palestinians as the ‘Jenin Massacre’, the Israeli court verdict is not only political but historical and intellectual, as well. 

 

Simpering, Simplistic and Inane: Media Presents Biden Era Coverage Template

“Here Are the Superheroes To Come and Save Us”: Media Waste No Time Fawning Over Biden

by Alan Macleod - MintPress News

 

January 21, 2021

The same media that behaved as attack dogs against Trump for four years (unless he was carrying out aggressive actions abroad) are likely to turn into lap dogs now that there is a Democrat in the White House.

We rely on the media to hold the powerful to account. But in its first hours in office, the corporate press has celebrated, rather than challenged, the new Biden administration.

Biden in Black and White

The Biden administration: Illusion and reality

by Niles Niemuth - WSWS

 

January 21, 2021

There is an intense effort in the Democratic Party-aligned media to present the inauguration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris as a fundamental turning point in American politics.

 

No doubt there is immense relief among millions in the US and around the world to see the fascist Trump leave Washington, two weeks after he spurred on an insurrection aimed at stopping the congressional certification of Biden’s victory.
But with the transfer of the White House from the Republicans to the Democrats, it is necessary to counter illusions about what this government will or even can do.

 

Poisoned Justice: State Secrets Conceal State Lies in Swedish Court (Again)

SWEDISH LABORATORY, STOCKHOLM COURT CONFIRM ALEXEI NAVALNY PREPARED NATO SECRETS, ADDING EVIDENCE FOR TREASON INDICTMENT IN RUSSIAN COURT

by John Helmer - Dances with Bears

 

January 20, 2021

 

A ruling by the Administrative Court of Appeal in Stockholm last week to keep the biochemical contents of Alexei Navalny’s blood secret has created new evidence for Russian prosecutors in Moscow that Navalny has actively collaborated with foreign governments to fabricate the  allegation that President Vladimir Putin attempted to kill him with a Novichok nerve agent.

 

Responding to a request by Mats Nilsson, a Stockholm lawyer, the appeal court ruled that a multi-page report on Navalny’s blood sampling and testing by the Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI) and communications interpreting Navalny’s blood contents between Swedish analysts, the German Defence Ministry,  and other NATO officials, are state secrets. They cannot be released publicly, the court wrote Nilsson on January 14, because declassification and publication “will damage Sweden’s relationships with a foreign power”. 

 

Media Tries Hanging Covid on China: "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?"

Corporate Media’s Leaked Chinese Documents Confirm China Didn’t Hide Covid-19

by Joshua Cho - FAIR

January 20, 2021

Several reports on China’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic came out late last year, based on what US outlets like CNN, the New York Times and ProPublica claimed to be leaked Chinese documents. 

Although these reports implied that China was responsible for how bad the pandemic has been because of its downplaying of numbers and censoring of critical information, these narratives are themselves misleading in several ways.

 

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Dimitri Lascaris, M.V. Ramana January 21st, 2021

This Week on GR

by C. L. Cook - Gorilla-Radio.com

 

January 21, 2021

Welcome back to Gorilla Radio’s Home Edition, recorded on the dates, January 18/19th, 2021.

 

And Happy Martin Luther King Day to all who admire the man murdered for opposing the military-industrial complex. Today, almost fifty-three years after that tragic event, Canada is intent on following full-heel America’s lead deeper into the Big Muddy of forever war and preparation for war. 

In the House of Commons, despite pleas for sanity from the commonality, all parties there agree on the course charted by militarists and empire builders. 

Nowhere is this sad fact more egregiously demonstrated than in the Canadian government’s determination to sink billions into a new generation of war ships that will, in part, conduct “freedom of navigation” exercises meant to “counter China’s growing influence in Asia.” 

Listen. Hear.

Dimitri Lascaris is a Montreal-based activist lawyer/journalist, past Real News Network correspondent, Green Party of Canada member, and very nearly its leader, falling just short of taking the job after eight ballots in last Fall’s leadership contest.

 

Dimitri Lascaris in the first half.

And; last November, Minister of Natural Resources Seamus O’Regan announced the federal government’s action plan for Small Modular Reactors. The ministers says in a time of climate change, he sees no way to “get to net zero-carbon emissions by 2050 without nuclear power.” While that’s a hotly debated opinion, no-one doubts the down-sides of atomic power: cost, pollution, and the dangers of reactor meltdowns as seen in Chernobyl and Fukushima.

 Professor M. V. Ramana serves as the Simons Chair in Disarmament, Global and Human Security. He is too Director of the Liu Institute for Global Issues at the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs at UBC. His recent article, ‘Why the Liberals’ Nuclear Power Plan is a Pipe Dream‘ warns, “small” does not make Modular Reactors less nuclear.

M.V. Ramana and nipping Canada’s nuclear reactor renaissance in the bud in the second half.

 

But first, Dimitri Lascaris and halting Canada’s march into the mire of endless warfare.

 

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, airing live every Thursday between 11-Noon Pacific Time. In Victoria at 101.9FM, and on the internet at: https://cfuv.ca. He also serves as a contributing editor to the web news site, http://www.pacificfreepress.com. Check out the GR blog at: http://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.ca/

 

Inheriting the Whirlwind: Charting Biden's Course into the Gyre

The Rubble of Empire: Doctrines of Disaster and Dreams of Security as the Biden Years Begin

by Rebecca Gordon - TomDispatch

 

January 19, 2021

How can you tell when your empire is crumbling? Some signs are actually visible from my own front window here in San Francisco.

Directly across the street, I can see a collection of tarps and poles (along with one of my own garbage cans) that were used to construct a makeshift home on the sidewalk. Beside that edifice stands a wooden cross decorated with a string of white Christmas lights and a red ribbon — a memorial to the woman who built that structure and died inside it earlier this week. We don’t know — and probably never will — what killed her: the pandemic raging across California? A heart attack? An overdose of heroin or fentanyl?

 

The Squad Hies Right: Closing the Democrat's Door on Progressive Left Hopes

The Obama-fication of "The Squad" Strengthens the Right at the Expense of the Left

by Danny Haiphong - Black Agenda Report (BAR)

January 13, 2021

The so-called ‘progressive” model would have us wait half a dozen election cycles before taking real action on the demand for Medicare for All and a Green New Deal.

 

Not one member of “the Squad” withheld their vote for Pelosi 

or made the demand of a floor vote for Medicare for All

 

“Black Americans had grown more economically optimistic and pro-U.S. intervention than ever before by the end of Obama’s first presidential term.” 

 

"Left" Media Picking-Up Pentagon Propaganda

Why is the Guardian Promoting More Pentagon Propaganda?

by Dimitri Lascaris

December 19, 2020

Britain’s leading ‘’centre-left’ newspaper just offered us a textbook example of the liberal media’s embrace of Pentagon propaganda.

Sailors observe the USS Nimitz and USS Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Groups 

steam in formation as the Nimitz Carrier Strike Force (CSF) in the South China Sea. 

Photo by 3rd Class Dalton Reidhead/Flickr. 

 

In an article entitled “US Navy to adopt ‘more assertive posture’ against China and Russia,” the Guardian reports that the U.S. Marine Corps, Navy and Coast Guard have declared their intention to “accept calculated tactical risks and adopt a more assertive posture” toward Chinese and Russian naval forces. 

 

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Marjorie Cohn, Eric van de Beek January 14th, 2021

This Week on GR

by C. L. Cook - Gorilla-Radio.com

 

January 14, 2021 

Welcome back to Gorilla Radio’s Home Edition recorded on this date, January 11/13th, 2021.

 

 

An astonishing week past in the United States guarantees, if nothing else Donald Trump’s place in history is assured. Democratic legislators have promised impeachment should the president not resign “imminently” rather than finish out the nine days left in his term; while others are calling for the invocation of the 25th amendment to have Mr. Trump forcibly removed. Either way, America finishes in 2021 where it began four years ago; a divided nation fighting over the legitimacy of its new leader.

Marjorie Cohn is professor emerita of law at the Thomas Jefferson School of Law, San Diego. A past president of the National Lawyers Guild, Cohn currently serves on the Bureau of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers, and writes, lectures, and provides legal clarity to local, national, and international media outlets when invited to do so. 

 

Listen. Hear.

 

Early in her career she worked with the International Association of Democratic Lawyers and participated in delegations to Cuba, Russia, and Yugoslavia. Her writing can be found at her website, MarjorieCohn.com, and for more than two decades at Truthout.org, where her series, Human Rights, Global Wrongs chronicling the abuse of both people and the legal process has appeared since, 2014.

 

Marjorie Cohn in the first half.

 

And; six and half years after departing Amsterdam bound for Kuala Lumpur, the cause of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17’s fiery crash in a Ukrainian farm field remains shrouded in mystery and misinformation. The criminal phase of the trial began in The Netherlands last Spring, but few in the country showed interest, thinking there’s nothing new to learn about the disaster that took the lives of 193 of their compatriots. And that, according to Eric van de Beek is the fault not only of the Dutch press, but a shadowy British internet news outlet known as Bellingcat.

Eric van de Beek is a freelance journalist based in the Netherlands who worked for several years at the leading Dutch weekly, Elsevier. His articles are published at his site, Ericvandebeek.nl and at The Grayzone.com, where I found his recent piece, ‘Bellingcat disrupts MH17 trial‘.

Eric van de Beek and digging through the wreckage of media disinformation and the Dutch Public Prosecution Service’s tangled MH17 investigation in the second half.

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, airing live every Thursday between 11-Noon Pacific Time. In Victoria at 101.9FM, and on the internet at: https://cfuv.ca. He also serves as a contributing editor to the web news site, http://www.pacificfreepress.com. Check out the GR blog at: http://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.ca/

Assange's Future Is the Future of Journalism (& Global Citizenship)

Julian Assange and the future of journalism

by DiEM25

January 7, 2021

On Monday, January 4, a UK judge blocked the US request to extradite Julian Assange. Two days after, on Wednesday January 6, the same judge denied Julian Assange bail. 

 

 

In this video, investigative journalist Stefania Maurizi, Brian Eno, Roger Waters, Yanis Varoufakis, Ken Loach and Frank Barat discuss the meaning of these decisions and what it means for the future of journalism and freedom of speech. 

 

This event/video was originally published on Frank Barat's Youtube page here: 

https://bit.ly/3hUbMtw​ 

Suicide Squeeze: Democrats Swing for the Dugout w/ Single Second Impeachment Article

Democrats Are Making a Mistake By Pursuing Articles of Impeachment Republicans Won’t Join. Or Not… 

by Ben Rosenfeld - CounterPunch

 

January 12, 2021 
 

The Democrats appear to be set to commit another tactical blunder by proceeding on a single article of impeachment against Donald Trump for incitement of insurrection. There is no doubt the House will sustain it, and it may even apply, though it is legally dubious. But there is next to zero chance that Senate Republicans will go along in the supermajority numbers needed to remove Trump from office. 

Photograph Source: Phil Roeder – CC BY 2.0

 

The goal, if Democrats sincerely believe Trump remains a clear and present danger to the country every moment he remains President, should be to leave only one switch left for the Senate to throw to kick him out in the event of a new emergency. (The 25th Amendment gambit seems doomed, and the process is actually more cumbersome and uncertain than impeachment in the current circumstances.) And some number of Senate Republicans have signaled that they might be willing to sustain “reasonable” articles of impeachment. 

 

In the Aftermath: Investigating the Revolting Trump Mob

New details about January 6 riot reveal need for full-scale investigation

by Eric London - WSWS

January 11, 2021

 

New information in media reports shows that Trump’s January 6 fascistic insurrection had high level support from within the Republican Party and critical sections of the police and military-intelligence apparatus. These revelations raise the need for a full-scale investigation into the plot to overthrow the Constitution and all those involved in it.

 

 

The Washington Post reported yesterday that in the days before the riot, congressional staff implored the US Capitol police to take seriously the clear signs that a coup attempt was being prepared, demanding greater protection for the scheduled Electoral College certification. Staff were “asking for briefings” and were desperate for information about the threat of violence, but Capitol police refused to provide any substantive response, the Post reported.

 

Resisting Nuland: Biden Reinstating Neocons

25 Organizations: Victoria Nuland’s Nomination Should Be Rejected

by World BEYOND War

 

January 11, 2021

Nuland played a key role in facilitating a coup in Ukraine that created a civil war costing 10,000 lives and displacing over a million people. She played a key role in arming Ukraine as well. She advocates radically increased military spending, NATO expansion, hostility toward Russia, and efforts to overthrow the Russian government.

Victoria Nuland, former foreign policy adviser to vice president Dick Cheney, should not be nominated for Undersecretary of State, and if nominated should be rejected by the Senate.

 

A Gas-Lit Serenade for American Democracy: Trump Exit Stage Left

Fascism by Gaslighting: Trump’s Coup and the Grassroots Insurrection Strategy

by Anthony DiMaggio - CounterPunch

 

January 8, 2021 

 

Donald Trump’s rolling coup attempt, which has been ongoing for months and reached a climax on January 6th, was a dramatic example of how demagogues manipulate their supporters in pursuit of fascist politics, while shrewdly trying to wash their hands of responsibility.

This con has worked for much of Trump’s base, with 52 percent of Republicans blaming Joe Biden, rather than the President, for the actions of the insurrectionists in D.C., and with 45 percent voicing support for the mob and their cause. Trump’s ability to sell his coup to the base is a classic example of fascist gaslighting, via his efforts to farm out insurrection to supporters, while pretending to remain above the fray. 

 

War Trek: The Next Generation

Will They Ever Be Over? The 20th Anniversary of the War on Terror Arrives

by Nick Turse - TomDispatch

 

January 7, 2021

 

“This is a different kind of war, which we will wage aggressively and methodically to disrupt and destroy terrorist activity,” President George W. Bush announced a little more than two weeks after the 9/11 attacks. “Some victories will be won outside of public view, in tragedies avoided and threats eliminated. Other victories will be clear to all.”  

 

This year will mark the 20th anniversary of the war on terror, including America’s undeclared conflict in Afghanistan.  After that war’s original moniker, Operation Infinite Justice, was nixed for offending Muslim sensibilities, the Pentagon rebranded it Operation Enduring Freedom. 

Trying and Failing to Find Rationality in Assange Rulings

As UK Judge Denies Julian Assange Bail, It’s Time for Joe Biden to Drop the US Extradition Request

by Andy Worthington

January 6, 2021

Today, at Westminster Magistrates Court, just two days after ruling that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange cannot be extradited to the US, District Judge Vanessa Baraitser refused to grant him bail, consigning him to ongoing imprisonment in the maximum-security Belmarsh prison in south east London.

 

 Lady Emma & Lord James Arbuthnot of Edrom, Buckingham Palace May 2017 

[Source: Instagram] 

 

On Monday, at the Central Criminal Court (the Old Bailey), Judge Baraitser refused to allow the extradition to proceed, ruling that his life would be at risk in a US supermax prison. 

Icing Trump's Cake: Pence Commands Pentagon, National Guard Take Back D.C.

Has Trump Already been Removed as Commander in Chief?

by Dave Lindorff - This Can't Be Happening

 

January 7, 2021

Little noticed during yesterday’s bizarre storming of the Capitol building by armed and violent Trump-incited American “brownshirts,” was the fact that National Guard troops, called for by Washington’s mayor, but not authorized by President Trump, were finally authorized by Vice President Pence.

 

 

Is Pence calling the shots when it comes to the Pentagon? 

 

Michael Ratner's Assange Story

The Empire is Not Done with Julian Assange

by Chris Hedges - ScheerPost   

 

January 4, 2021 

 

As is clear from the memoir of one of his attorneys, Michael Ratner, the ends have always justified the means for those demanding his global persecution. 

 

Shortly after WikiLeaks released the Iraq War Logs in October 2010, which documented numerous U.S. war crimes — including video images of the gunning down of two Reuters journalists and 10 other unarmed civilians in the Collateral Murder video, the routine torture of Iraqi prisoners, the covering up of thousands of civilian deaths and the killing of nearly 700 civilians that had approached too closely to U.S. checkpoints — the towering civil rights attorneys Michael Ratner and Len Weinglass, who had defended Daniel Ellsberg in the Pentagon Papers case, met Julian Assange in a studio apartment in Central London, according to Ratner’s newly released memoir “Moving the Bar”.