Mark B. Rosenthal

[August 17, 2005] VAWA Reauthorization: Billions for battered women, not a penny for battered men!

For thirty years now, researchers have known that wives kick, punch, stab, or shoot their husbands about as often as husbands kick, punch, stab, or shoot their wives. But federal law ignores the facts and instead uses the power of the purse to get states to impose Kafkaesque policies that punish victimized men and reward violent women.

Back in 1975, the First National Family Violence Survey turned up results that surprised even the sociologists conducting the survey. Wives attack husbands about as often as husbands attack wives. And wives attack first about as often as husbands attack first, which is strong evidence that women's assaults on men can't be explained away simply as self-defense.¹ But battered women's advocates were intent on portraying domestic violence as something only men do and only women suffer from. So they'd conveniently leave out the part about women's assaults on men whenever they cited the study's results.²

Susan R. Paisner is a criminologist and longtime advocate for abused women and men. She recalls being stunned by the hostile attitudes toward male victims that she encountered at one of the nation's first conferences on domestic violence. She naively thought that "we were all there to do good -- for all who needed it." Yet when she mentioned having read a brief newspaper article about male victims, many of the other women at the conference turned on her, saying,

💬 "This is OUR issue, OUR cause. If men are battered, then let other MEN do something for them."³

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Rob Slane

[June 16, 2017] It’s been fun learning over the past week or so that I am an extremist. I hadn’t previously considered myself to be one, but it’s now been pointed out so many times over the past few days, by certain young left-leaning folks, that I can no longer be in any doubt. In fact I assume that I, along with other like-minded people, must now just wait for the powers-that-be to start issuing little badges with the letter “E”, in order to warn others that there are dangerous people with unwholesome views in their midst.

Until recently, I’d sort of thought of extremists as being those bearded head-chopper chaps with their black flags, or radical anarchist types intent on bringing down the State. Compared to them, I’m a fantastically dull extremist. Happily married for 17 years; raising six fairly contented children; held down jobs since leaving university 20-odd years ago; never been in trouble with the law; taxes paid into the Treasury’s redistribution scheme; an elder in a local Anglican church; no links to any terrorist organisations; good relations with neighbours; and by and large, pretty relaxed and content with my lot.

But according to Napoleon’s puppies (I’ll explain that in a moment), none of this counts for diddly squat, and I am indeed to be regarded on a par with chaps heading out for an extended holiday in one of those “training camps” in David Cameron’s New Libya.

You might say that it was quite by accident that I found it out. Had Theresa May not taken the inexplicably stupid decision to hold an election shortly before beginning the process of negotiating our way out of the EU, I might never have known. But after her gamble went splat, and she was forced into begging the DUP to bail her out, the grin which had been slowly spreading over the faces of some of the more mathematically challenged citizens during the election night (who still seem to think that 262 seats gets you into government), soon started to be turned into a rather menacing scowl.

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Jamal Kanj

Imagine you are at home, with your wife and children. It's dinner time before you put your three children to sleep. The room is cold, the propane cooking cylinder empty, no food, no electricity, or drinking water.

Your youngest child, Manar, cries, "I'm hungry. We haven't had food for the last four days." She rubs her dry bluish hands together, "Uhf-uh-ih-ih-uhhf, … I'm cold." The words escape her chattering teeth.

You, let's say your name is Nader, look at Manar's feeble body, her pale skin has lost color. The once bouncy curly black hair had tangled and knotted like a cluttered eagle nest, unwashed for more than a month.

Ahmad asks his wife, "Noora, did you search the cabinets and closets for the dry food?"

Noora took a deep breath, "More than ten times, our kitchen is as empty as our stomachs." She looked at the cold floor in despair, her face twisted into a sorrowful mask.

"Press this against Manar's stomach," he said in a low voice and handed Noora a bag full of sand. "It'll help her sleep, again."

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Veniamin Popov

The dates of 7 October 2023 and 13 April 2024 will go down in the history of the Middle East as milestones that defined a new balance of power. The myth of Israel’s military superiority and the invincibility of its army will be gone forever.

The Gaza massacre, which caused enormous loss of life and destruction, effectively isolated the Netanyahu government in the international community. Only the US and a few other Western powers provided diplomatic cover for his military provocations.

When the Israelis attacked the Iranian consulate in Damascus on 1 April, killing senior officers of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Western countries disrupted the UN Security Council’s discussion of this terrorist act by refusing to condemn this clear violation of international law.

In Tehran, many political forces demanded a response to this monstrous crime, and Iran’s representative to the UN made it clear that the Iranian authorities would be prepared to refrain from using force if the UN Security Council took a clear decision to condemn the attack.

On 13 April, Iran fired more than 300 drones and missiles at Israeli military installations – the first time in history that the Iranians have attacked Israel directly from their own territory. This was essentially the beginning of a new policy line for Tehran, which had previously been guided by the “concept of strategic patience”, avoiding direct attacks against Israel and the United States.

Iran used only a small fraction of its missile arsenal and warned that it was ready to use its new cruise and hypersonic missiles in the event of an Israeli attack: only military targets were targeted on 13 April, and the entire operation was conducted in such a way as to avoid civilian casualties.

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Paulo Nogueira Batista

Let us hope that the BRICS will confirm expectations entertained by the Global South and rise to the challenge of providing constructive alternatives for all.

The background to the recent discussions between the BRICS countries on international monetary and financial matters and, in particular, on possible joint initiatives is well-known in general. There is, first and foremost, an increasingly widespread perception that the current US dollar-centred international monetary system is becoming dysfunctional. Second, the increasing multipolarisation of the world in economic and political terms seems inconsistent with the indefinite continuation of a basically unipolar world monetary system.

Let me address these points in turn. It should be kept in mind that they are both international political economy issues, i.e., problems that are at the same time both political and economic.

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Staff Alahed News,
Translation: Al-Akhbar

Iran and “Israel” presented two completely contradictory pictures of what happened at dawn on April 14. This is a rare occurrence when it comes to such developments, which are often interpreted with a degree of neutrality, even by these two parties.

“Israel”, which always claims to be a “credible” source for the reality on the ground, didn’t exactly come off as reliable this time around.

In this particular event, the relatively neutral reading – and the issues are all relative here – didn’t need much in the way of finger-pointing.

The battle took place live on television. Its military and technical details and political dimensions were analyzed in the mainstream and on social media like nothing else before.

It’s safe to assume that this is exactly what Iran wanted. In the days leading up to the attack, Iran informed everyone about it, as if it were inviting them to a “wedding”.

Anyone, who is impartial – most people are when they watch an event of this magnitude developing moment by moment, regardless of their previous positions – can only acknowledge that what Iran did was a bold, but calculated, act against an entity that enjoys complete immunity from some of the world’s most powerful and richest states because it wasn’t a reason for the expansion of the war, which is what Tehran said before and after the event.

Since everything was evaluated in a very broad way, it’s important to answer the following questions: Where did “Israel’s” claim of “victory” come from, and what evidence does it have to prove it?

Following the attack, “Israeli” channels celebrated, and still are, what they call a victory over Iran. The media outlets praised “Israel’s” supposed superior military capabilities and technology.

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Kyle Anzalone

The UN aid agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) released a report showing that Gazans rounded up by the Israeli military have been subjected to severe abuses. UNRWA found some of its employees were subject to coercion and forced to make false statements about the organization’s alleged ties to Hamas. Tel Aviv used those confessions to persuade Washington and over a dozen other nations to cut funding for UNRWA.

Published on Tuesday, the new report details how Israeli soldiers in Gaza have rounded up thousands of people throughout the months-long conflict. Those Palestinians have been moved into various detention centers across Israel and face inhumane conditions and brutal treatment by the military.

💬 “Ill-treatment…included being subjected to beatings while made to lie on a thin mattress on top of rubble for hours without food, water or access to a toilet, with their legs and hands bound with plastic ties,” UNRWA said.

💬 “Several detainees reported being forced into cages and attacked by dogs. Some released detainees, including a child, had dog bite wounds on their body,” the report continued. “Detainees were threatened with prolonged detention, injury, or the killing of family members if they did not provide the requested information.”

Some of those who endured torture were UNRWA employees who were forced to make false confessions about the agency’s supposed ties to Palestinian militant groups. “[UNRWA staff] reported being subjected to threats and coercion while in detention and being pressured during interrogations to make forced confessions against the agency,” the report explained, “including that the agency has affiliations with Hamas and that UNRWA staff took part in the 7 October attacks against Israel.”

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Mohamed Hanipa Maidin

The legal issues surrounding the use of force, known to international lawyers as jus ad bellum, have once again been thrust into the legal limelight as a result of "Israel's" unprovoked attack against the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria as well as Iran's counter-attack against "Israel".

When "Israel" decided to launch a deadly strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria, that took place on April 1, many would argue that the "Israeli" government should have expected a retaliatory attack by Iran.

As duly expected on April 13, Iran finally launched hundreds of drones and missiles at “Israel” in retaliation for such a deadly “Israeli” strike on its consulate in Syria. “Israel's” initial and unprovoked attack killed Iranian General Mohammad Reza Zahedi (Also known as Hassan Mahdawi). He was a senior commander in the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard (IRG) Quds Force in Syria and Lebanon.

His death occurred while he was in a building adjacent to Iran’s consulate in Damascus – a location the Iranians claimed is still protected by international law. Apart from Hassan Mahdawi, the “Israeli” attack had also killed seven Iranians, including two veteran commanders.

Under international law, Iran consulates in Syria, and all the people therein are duly protected under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations 1963 as well as under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations 1961.

Who violated these laws? Iran or "Israel"? The deafening silence on the part of many Western powers, especially "Israeli" allies on such a flagrant violation of international law has been mind-boggling.

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Dmitry Medvedev (Дмитрий Медведев)
Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council

Discussions around the law on foreign agents in Tbilisi have moved into the realm of street clashes and merry Georgian brawls in Parliament.

Whoever would call such actions spontaneous protests, let him be the first to throw a stone at his mirror. Behind all these rallies we discern an experienced and familiar Hollywood hand.

The main thing that the "protesters" don't like about the law "On Transparency of Foreign Influence" that the Georgian parliament is trying to pass is this: It is a "Russian idea" and not a Western one.

A month earlier, a wave of fierce criticism from Western countries was caused by the adoption of a law in Kyrgyzstan that obliges NGOs with foreign funding to register in a special registry.

There were groans, shouts, and threats from European and American pro-government garbage dumps. And also ingratiating, but unpleasant, appeals to the leadership of this country. How dare they? Who allowed it? An internal affair of the state?

Security, sovereignty, independence? No, you haven't one. That is not for you...Behind all this is the arrogance and impotent anger of those who are increasingly given a direct rebuff, and do not want to obey. Advice is not heeded. Subservience out of the question. Demonstrations are suppressed.

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"Hadi bin Hurr"

Why would ISIS choose to carry out such a large-scale terrorist attack on Russian soil at this very moment when we know that nothing similar was attempted even in the midst of the war in Syria?

I

If it weren’t infinitely disgusting and totally inappropriate to the tragic moment, someone might find it funny how much Washington and their satellites are trying these days to prove that Ukraine has absolutely nothing to do with the horrible terrorist attack in Crocus City Hall that killed 144 completely innocent Russian civilians, while 360 of them were injured and 95 are still considered missing. If these professional Western liars had a little more brain than a parrot needs to endlessly repeat the same nonsense that no one on this planet believes anymore, they would realize that Moscow, by labeling the Kiev Nazi regime as the culprit of the second largest terrorist operation in Russia since 1991, in fact, in front of the whole world, more than directly calls out Washington and their other subordinate power centers. After all, simple logic and the abundance of direct and indirect evidence that is already available to the public lead each of us to come to the same conclusion ourselves.

American attempts to shift the blame for the massacre in Moscow solely to the “Islamic State” are more than naive and foolish. Worse than those pathetic attempts was only the American conviction that this false flag operation could pass and that the Kremlin could be successfully misled. Moscow does not believe in American crocodile tears! In addition, a large part of the world public has never allowed itself to become a victim of brainwashing by the Western mainstream media, so it does not fall for the American claims about the non-involvement of Kiev in the massacre in Moscow, which also applies to an increasing part of the Western public, which has become resistant to the lies of Zionist-controlled Washington. The world public has long been aware of the fact that Daesh is nothing more than a proxy weapon of global terror under the control of the infamous Zionist triad of special services consisting of the CIA, MI6, and the Mossad. Reinventing ISIS as the duty culprit for all the crimes planned in Washington, London, and Tel-Aviv is no longer possible.

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Strategic Culture Foundation Editorial

Germany and the United States along with other Western powers are continuing deep-seated historical crimes by way of their proxy war against Russia

The repeating of history might seem tragic, even farcical. One may wonder how such apparent madness can be repeated. But the explanation is straightforward when it is understood that the motive force is the same.

The charge against Germany at the International Court of Justice this week of aiding genocide in Gaza is truly shameful. Germany was brought to court by Nicaragua for facilitating Israel’s genocide in Gaza in breach of the 1948 Genocide Convention.

That convention was created in the aftermath of Nazi Germany’s mass murder of six million Jews during World War Two. Only 79 years after the end of that war, the German state is again in the dock for complicity in an ongoing genocide in Gaza committed by a self-declared Jewish state of Israel.

It seems a shocking and deplorable twist in history. Within living memory, Germany stands accused again of abominable crimes against humanity.

What is even more disgraceful, the German authorities are denying that Israel is committing genocide and that Germany is nobly defending Israel’s security out of a special obligation owing to its heinous World War Two holocaust.

Germany’s supposed rationale for supporting Israel is an astounding perversion of history.

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Walter Gelles

Where were you
when the bombs fell?
A nuclear war. It didn't end well.
The US pushed Russia over the edge.
Putin honored his "sacred pledge".
The globalists who run America
were keen on having a nuclear event.
The Demo-Republican Uniparty
gave their wholehearted assent.
The Senile Usurper ate the nuclear biscuit
and crowed "I am the Pres-i-dent."

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Editor thepeoplesvoice.org

Dr. Geert Vanden Bossche, a world-renowned Belgian virologist, has warned that a massive wave of illness and death among the highly vaccinated population with compromised immune systems is imminent. During an appearance on the KunstlerCast podcast on Friday, Bossche issued a grave warning, stating that “what I am predicting is a massive, massive tsunami” of illness and death among highly-vaccinated populations with compromised immune systems.

Bossche warned that hospitals will collapse, and financial, economic, and social chaos will ensue. He explained that the wave of illness and death will start with more cases of serious long Covid and then replace the surge of cancers, leading to a hyper-acute phase with a huge wave of illness and death.

💬 “What I am predicting is a massive, massive tsunami of illness and death among highly-vaccinated populations with compromised immune systems. You will see what will happen, for example, in the next coming weeks…is more and more cases of more serious long Covid… They will start to replace the surge of the cancers…now we have a more chronic phase. It will end with a hyper-acute phase, a huge, huge wave…"

💬 “I’ve been studying this now for four years. I know what I’m talking about. I’m probably the only person, in all modesty, who understands the immunology behind this. The thing I want your audience to understand, what we will be facing in the hyper-acute Covid crisis that is imminent, is that we will have to build a completely new world… It is very, very clear that when this starts, our hospitals will collapse. And that means the chaos in all kinds of layers of society — financial, economic, social, you name it — will be complete. And that is what I’m very clearly predicting…It’s very strange for me to make such statements, but I’m not hiding it because I’m two hundred percent convinced that it will happen."

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Alahed News, Live Coverage

Hezbollah Secretary General His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah delivered on Monday, April 8, 2024 a speech during commemorative event honoring the esteemed jihadi leader, martyr Mohammad Reza Zahedi, and his companions who were martyred in the assault on the Iranian consulate in Damascus.

Sayyed Nasrallah commenced his speech by stating, "In the wake of the martyrdom of our leaders, who linger in the shadows, we grapple with the paradox of unveiling their virtues and attributes, thereby enabling the enemy to celebrate its egregious crimes".

His Eminence emphasized, "The Islamic Revolutionary Guards have been stationed in Lebanon and Syria since 1982, fulfilling the directive of the late Imam Khomeini". He further noted, "The IRG's deployment in Syria and Lebanon traces back to 1982 following the 'Israeli' invasion of Lebanon".

The Secretary General further stated, "The presence of IRG forces in Syria and Lebanon persisted despite the global conflict imposed on Iran during that time". Additionally, he mentioned, "IRG officers and cadres arrived in Lebanon, notably in Janta, where the first training camp was held".

Explaining further, the Hezbollah chief emphasized that “the targeting of Iranian military advisors at the consulate in Damascus stands as the most prominent ‘Israeli’ attack in Syria in recent years”.

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Declan Hayes

The warmongering of the BBC against Syria, Russia and a host of other countries has cost more lives than we could ever count.

With the recent Crocus City terror attack in Moscow, MI6’s BBC outlet has again revealed itself as chief cheerleader, if not chief co-conspirator for indiscriminate mass murder. No sooner had MI6’s little helpers carried out this outrage than the BBC was busy covering their tracks by attempting to verify if the attacks in fact took place. On Tuesday 26th March, four full days after the massacre, the BBC’s Verify unit were still trying to discredit Russia’s investigation and to clear MI6, the CIA and their Ukrainian puppets of any and all involvement in this atrocity.

Let me put MI6 right on a couple of things. It is the job of the Russian police force to investigate such crimes and to bring to justice in this world, if not the next, all of those involved in this and related massacres. It is not the job of the BBC or similarly tainted outlets to play amateur detective. Their job is to report the facts as they know them and not to try to concoct fictions that suit MI6’s war aims or their own career ambitions.

And, though that applies to all media outlets, it applies in particular to the BBC, which has been unable to verify who blew up the Nordstream pipeline and which singularly failed to examine miscarriages of justice against innocent Irish and British citizens arrested over IRA outrages. Because life is short, the BBC should do us all a favour, stop spreading this puerile misinformation about the Crocus City attack, and confine itself to commenting on croquet and cricket matches. Aunty should stick to her knitting and leave adult investigations to adult investigators.

If that is too much, then the BBC should, in conjunction with Russia Today, interview Britain’s top detectives to see if they can shed any professional light on these crimes. If not, they should just STFU and refrain from being cheerleaders for fascism. Simple as.

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