I started the old Weekend Interview Show on Radio KAOS 95.9 FM in Austin, Texas on April 12, 2003, three days after the fall of Baghdad. First up was Antiwar.com’s heroic Alan Bock.
Number 5,500 was of course with the Great Gareth Porter.
Full archives here and at YouTube.
WASHINGTON, April 12, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Experts will speak and take questions at the only annual national conference challenging the Israel lobby’s repressive agenda while proposing better alternatives for America.
IsraelApartheidCon is solely sponsored by the American Educational Trust, publisher of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, and the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy (IRmep).
Celebrated Palestinian author Susan Abulhawa reveals how U.S. taxpayers and readers are beginning to understand that their tax dollars are supporting ethnic cleansing and apartheid.
Palestinian writer and analyst Sumaya Awad warns of the danger of Facebook’s effort to suppress criticisms of Zionism by deeming it equivalent to hate speech or anti-Semitism, and her successful campaign against censorship.
Rev. Alex Awad describes how Palestinian evangelicals are successfully working to stop the spread of Christian Zionist biblical misinterpretations in many U.S. churches.
Congressman Brian Baird (1999-2011) describes how Israel and its U.S. lobby assert authority over Congress, Israel’s use of U.S. weapons and equipment in Gaza—including the 2003 killing of his constituent Rachel Corrie—and proposes critical actions voters can take to help elect leaders who will approach these issues in an open-minded way.
South African professor John Dugard provides insight into the international community’s disparity in its treatment of South Africa and Israel for applying substantially similar policies, and the prospects and best approaches for ending Israeli apartheid.
Richard Falk, former U.N. Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Occupied Palestine (2008-2014), will comment on B’Tselem’s apartheid report and Israel’s 2018 Basic Law that gives preferential status to Jews.
Zaha Hassan, a human rights lawyer and visiting fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, outlines how the Biden administration can break the Middle East peace impasse by adopting a rights-based—rather than an Israel and its lobby based—approach as the center of its strategy.
Historian and author Walter Hixson explains why until the monolithic Israel lobby is neutralized, there will never be peace in the Middle East, drawing on insights from his new book, Architects of Repression.
Radio host and Antiwar.com editorial director Scott Horton details how Israel and its U.S. lobby were key proponents of the disastrous 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq and today are virtually alone in supporting a U.S. war on Iran, drawing on research from his new book, Enough Already.
Professor Robin D.G. Kelley will discuss the current state of resisting Israel and its lobby’s efforts on campus, the parallels between South Africa and the movement toward Palestinian liberation, and how the Black Lives Matter and the Palestinian grassroots movements work together.
Tom Suárez, author of the 2016 book State of Terror: How Terrorism Created Modern Israel, will discuss the recently issued Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism (JDA).
Journalist and Mondoweiss.net co-founder Philip Weiss delivers a roundup on J Street and his key reflections about the effectiveness of liberal Zionism as revealed in its most significant annual policy conference.
UN correspondent Ian Williams provides a brief history of both Republican and Democratic administrations’ sycophantic relations with Israel and how this relationship affects U.S. policies toward the UN and international law.
Investigative journalist Asa Winstanley explores the similarities and differences between Labour Friends of Israel in the U.K. and the Democratic Majority for Israel in the U.S., the purpose they serve, and the recent sabotage and purge of major progressive leaders like Jeremy Corbyn who have spoken out in support of Palestinian human rights.
Get more information at www.IsraelApartheidCon.org and register online at Eventbrite.
This announcement was distributed via PR Newswire on April 12.
“This is an effective way to tear a country apart — and the Fed is trying to cover it up with its ludicrous rhetoric. But politicians in Washington of all stripes – who could stop the Fed’s policies with legislation – are fully on board with the wealth effect because they’re among the primary beneficiaries. And to heck with the bottom 50%. Not even populists on the left or the right, whose base is getting hit over the head on a daily basis by the wealth effect, are decrying the Fed’s policies.” On the contrary. Wolf Richter at Wolf Street
More here
End The Fed
A White-Pilled Take On Vaccine Passports – Pete Quinones
CouchStreams – Joshua Smith
A History of Now -The Mad Ones
Let’s hope Biden will take their advice.
MEMORANDUM FOR: The President
FROM: Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS)
SUBJECT: Avoiding War in Ukraine
Dear President Biden,
We last communicated with you on December 20, 2020, when you were President-elect.
At that time, we alerted you to the dangers inherent in formulating a policy toward Russia built on a foundation of Russia-bashing. While we continue to support the analysis contained in that memorandum, this new memo serves a far more pressing purpose. We wish to draw your attention to the dangerous situation that exists in Ukraine today, where there is growing risk of war unless you take steps to forestall such a conflict.
At this juncture, we call to mind two basic realities that need particular emphasis amid growing tension between Ukraine and Russia.
First, since Ukraine is not a member of NATO, Article 5 of the NATO Treaty of course would not apply in the case of an armed conflict between Ukraine and Russia.
Second, Ukraine’s current military flexing, if allowed to transition into actual military action, could lead to hostilities with Russia.
We think it crucial that your administration immediately seek to remove from the table, so to speak, any “solution” to the current impasse that has a military component. In short, there is, and can never be, a military solution to this problem.
Your interim national security strategy guidance indicated that your administration would “make smart and disciplined choices regarding our national defense and the responsible use of our military, while elevating diplomacy as our tool of first resort.” Right now is the perfect time to put these words into action for all to see.
More at Zerohedge
By Thomas o Falk at Aljazeera
Is their an end in sight for the war in Yemen?
Meanwhile, the US, United Nations, and regional mediator Oman still see an opportunity for negotiations. With the mediation of Oman, the Houthis have been negotiating with the US representative, Timothy Lenderking, for weeks. On Wednesday, it was reported that Oman hoped for an agreement between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis “very soon”.
However, Washington’s influence on facilitating a peaceful solution might be limited.
“The only real leverage the US has is with the Saudis and, by implication, with their proxies. They have no real leverage over the Houthis or their Iranian backers,” said Hurst.
However, even the leverage on Saudi Arabia was limited for two reasons in particular.
“First, US arms sales will not entirely stop Riyadh’s ability to continue to engage in the conflict. Second, the situation in Yemen is sadly not important enough to the United States for the Biden administration to issue the Saudi government with the kind of ultimatum that might compel them to make peace regardless of their preference,” according to Hurst.
The latter raises the question of what constitutes a conceivable road map towards peace. While there appears to be a theoretical path, the facilitation is another question entirely given to the actors involved.
Hashemi’s suggestion – which concurs with the view of former UN special envoy to Yemen Jamal Benomar that he recently opined in a British newspaper – requires a devoted joint effort.
“A power-sharing agreement is needed among the Yemenis. This must give all the key players a seat at the table, and it must be based on a vision where everyone can have equal access to state resources, political representation, and basic security guarantees,” said Hashemi.
This power-sharing approach would mark a stark contrast to previous propositions.
“Until now, the US-Saudi peace plans have been predicated on Houthi surrender, which is a non-starter for peace in Yemen,” Hashemi noted.
One party, in particular, will hence have to display its proclivity for change.
“In this context, Saudi Arabia is the recalcitrant party in blocking a genuine peace plan for Yemen.”
On the other hand, Iran could potentially be persuaded, albeit, with a caveat, Hashemi suggested.
“I think the Iranians would support a peace effort based on the outline of the former UN special envoy [Benomar]. A fundamental problem here is the absence of US-Iranian diplomatic engagement.”
Whether the encumbrance of antipathy between Washington and Tehran can be overcome could thus be one of the keys moving forward for peace in Yemen.
While the actors involved may or may not initiate genuine negotiations, the civilian population continues to pay the price for the conflict.
According to the UN, the war has cost about 250,000 Yemenis lives so far. Four million people have been displaced, 80 percent of the population depends on aid, and millions continue to starve.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres even warned of the world’s worst famine in decades. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic caused Yemen’s already weak health system to collapse and forced the country to declare a state of emergency.
The appalling legacy the war in Yemen has produced notwithstanding, it appears noticeably absent from a broader public discourse. While Syria and Libya have somewhat remained in the public’s eye and interest, the horrors in Yemen often remain an afterthought. One could even make a case that the international community’s efforts – besides organising donor conferences – have been rather subpar, considering the recently taken measures in Libya.
The reason is as simple as it is disgraceful: in the ever-complicated world of geopolitics, the humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen lacks standing.
“Yemen is not a key area of interest for the great powers. It has no natural resources, it is a very poverty-stricken country, and its geostrategic position on the map no longer matters,” said Hashemi.
The past six years are a testament to that view.
More here
H/T to Geopolitics & Empire
The Importance of Bitcoin in the Liberty Movement – Rollo and Slappy
Thanks to Everyone’s Orphan for rounding these up.
If anybody wants to buy wholesale copies of the book to resell or give away, please email wholesale@libertarianinstitute.org to set it up. They’re about 6 bucks each after shipping. Minimum order 50 I guess?
