"I shall not be there. I shall rise and pass. Bury my heart at Wounded Knee." (Stephen Vincent Benét)

Declan Hayes | [...] | And then there is Julian Assange. Remember him, that random Australian dude MI6 still has banged up in Belmarsh Prison because he was shocked into action, as we all should be, by America’s war crimes in Iraq, Afghanistan and far too many other places to adumbrate here.

Julian Assange should be spending Christmas at home with his wife and children, waiting for Santa to climb down their chimney (whatever!), scarpering back up it and letting Julian settle in to read, for the time of year that is in it, Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee (download the book here), which deals not only with the American Army’s December 29 1890 slaughter of the Lakota Indians but with many of the other Yankee campaigns of genocide against their own indigenous populations that preceded that notorious war crime.

Not that Yankee war crimes or their mutilation of the dead stopped there; because war crimes are what they do, there will be no tears shed within the Beltway for today’s Palestinian Baby Jesuses and Virgin Marys, who don’t even have a donkey’s stable to rest in, nor a Julian Assange-style journalist without an Israeli bullseye on his back to tell their tale. Even British MP Layla Moran, whose relatives are Gazan Catholics, is completely powerless to save their lives. As Finian Cunningham recently wrote about the Israelis mowing down their own, why not? Why not, in the words of Dostoevsky (sorry Russophobes), commit horrible crimes when there is no punishment, no moral compass to guide them?

■ Julian Assange: "Truth ultimately is all we have." (Links on this blog)

Referring to the declaration on security guarantees for Ukraine drawn up by the EU, the politician stated that the document was "a useless scrap of paper" with no added value | Moscow will without fail carry out a strike against foreign military bases in Ukraine should any be established in the country, Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev said on Telegram. ● Referring to the declaration on security guarantees for Ukraine drawn up by the EU, he stated that the document was "a useless scrap of paper" with no added value. However, it provided Kiev with the opportunity to make separate agreements with individual countries on weapons supplies, troop training, funding for military programs and many other things, up to and including the establishment of military bases on Ukrainian soil. 💬 "This is the game plan: We won’t let you join NATO as we don’t want a war with Russia, but there are no holds barred when it comes to relations with individual [NATO member countries]. In fact, the question now is how they will interpret Article 5 of the Washington Treaty. In other words, when Russia [eventually] carries out a strike on such a base (which is inevitable given that troops stationed at such a base will have been deployed there specifically to fight against us), will the allies [acting together] then be prepared to give a collective response to our country for the destruction of a base set up by [an individual] NATO member state?" the politician asked rhetorically.

■ Это Декларация ЕС по гарантиям безопасности для Украины (Дмитрий Медведев) (Dmitry Medvedev)
■ Security guarantees for Kiev are ‘scrap of paper’ – ex-Russian president

The use of techniques applied during the Maidan coup in Ukraine was “obvious,” according to the Foreign Ministry’s spokeswoman | Attempts by protestors to storm the Belgrade city administration building on Sunday were part of a plot by Western countries to overthrow the Serbian government, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said. ● Thousands of pro-Western demonstrators attempted to break into government buildings in the capital on Sunday evening following the victory of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) over the pro-EU Serbia Against Violence (SPN) coalition in parliamentary elections. ● Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has labeled the protests an attempted color revolution – a term used to describe movements funded and organized by Western countries, usually the US, aimed at toppling world leaders opposed to Washington’s interests. [...] The spokeswoman stated that “the only possible reaction” to the weekend’s election results was strict adherence to the letter and spirit of Serbia’s constitution and respect for the choice of its people.

■ Serbia thanks Russia for ‘color revolution’ warning (RT.com)

Irish lawmaker Clare Daly says Ursula von der Leyen bears responsibility for Israel’s actions in Gaza | Irish MEP Clare Daly has called European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen “Frau Genocide” over the EU’s stance on Israel’s military operation in Gaza. She went on to claim that contrary to its professed adherence to democracy, the bloc tramples on the will of the people when it runs counter to its own agenda. ● Daly, a left-wing politician representing Ireland’s Independents 4 Change political party, said from the European Parliament podium on Sunday that von der Leyen was “elevated to power without a single vote from the citizens.” She went on to accuse the EU Commission president of 💬 “swooping in and overriding the foreign policies of elected governments” in recent months, while cheerleading a “brutal apartheid regime that she calls a ‘vibrant democracy.’” The lawmaker concluded: “With defenders of democracy like that, I think I speak for many, many citizens of Europe, when I say: ‘Nein, danke! No, thanks, Frau Genocide!’”