Stephen Lendman

Just when you think things can't get worse, they do. Israel finds new ways to surprise. Couched in Big Lies. A daily litany burying hard truths. Many too outrageous too ignore. Wrongdoing writ large. Terrorism is what they do, not us.

On November 11, the Silwan, East Jerusalem-based Wadi Hilweh Information Center (WHIC) reported an IDF arrest warrant for two-year-old Hamza. Saying he's wanted for questioning. Confirming it when showing up to detain him. Raiding the family home. An Israeli intelligence officer demanding to see the boy. Told he lived next door. Leaving without comment. According to WHIC, "Israeli forces seized three computers from the Zidani family's home after arresting their 16-year-old son Mohammed."

Earlier, soldiers kidnapped four Silwan Palestinians. After ransacking their home. On Monday, Israeli security forces attacked Deir Abu Mashaal female Palestinian students. Dozens suffered temporary asphyxiation. Needing medical treatment for injuries sustained. West Bank communities and East Jerusalem remain on the boil.

Israeli live fire wounded two Nablus teenagers. Military forces invaded. Clashes with local youths followed. Ali Najeh Hanani and Moayyad Khatatba required hospitalization. Many residents suffered from tear gas inhalation.

On Monday, Israeli police kidnapped five dozen Palestinians. Including 10 children. In Kafr an Tur'an. During overnight clashes. For protesting Israeli ruthlessness. Unjustly accused of "causing violence." Peaceful protests called rioting. Numerous other clashes occurred in other West Bank cities, towns and villages.

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Stephen Lendman

Russia prioritizes cooperative relations with all countries. Washington provocatively seeks confrontations, threatening world peace.

New NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg mimics his predecessor. A convenient US stooge. A CIA asset. Beholden to America's imperial interests. Mindless of rule of law principles.

Repeating one Big Lie after another. Wrongfully claiming Donbass democratic elections were unlawful. Shamelessly accusing Russia of threatening Ukraine's border. Groundlessly saying it "continues to support, train and equip" Donbass self-defense forces. Ludicrously "call(ing) on Russia to make genuine efforts toward a peaceful solution."

No country anywhere did more for it responsibly since conflict erupted in Ukraine. None exerted more genuine efforts tirelessly.

Polar opposite Washington's rage for war. Along with its rogue NATO partners. What Stoltenberg didn't explain. Washington's man at NATO. A convenient US stooge. Chosen for that reason. For sure not for world peace.

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Stephen Lendman

Russia is geopolitical enemy No. 1. Not for wrongdoing. Or posing an existential threat. Or acting irresponsibly in any way. For defending its sovereign independence responsibly. Lawfully. Wanting other nations respecting it. Believing rule of law principles are inviolable. For Vladimir Putin, Sergey Lavrov and other officials telling it like it is. Expressing important views candidly, forthrightly and unambiguously.

Polar opposite duplicitous Western politicians. Especially Obama. A caricature of a leader. Arguably America's worst ever. A serial liar. A moral coward. A war criminal multiple times over. A shameless head of state. A deplorable one. A dangerous one. A lawless one. A ruthless one. Neo-liberal, reactionary, belligerent, pro-war, pro-monied interests, anti-democratic, anti-progressive, anti-populist, anti-labor and anti-social justice. A world-class thug. A threat to global peace at the most perilous time in world history.

Russia's Deputy Defense Minister Dmitry Rogozin commented. He explained Moscow's response to real existential threats. It's proud independence. Able to defend its interests effectively. Not about to roll over for Washington or other rogue Western partners. More on his remarks below.

Welcome to Cold War 2.0. The first one never ended. Since Soviet Russia's 1991 dissolution, Western policy remained hard-wired in place. Russia bashing persists. Intensely. Raging daily. Exceeding the worst of Soviet era levels. Daily vilifying a maliciously reinvented Evil Empire. It's back to the future. Unsurprisingly. Neocons infest Washington. Other Western capitals. Business as usual continues. At stake is world peace.

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Stephen Lendman

Ukraine's so-called government is a US-installed fascist dictatorship. It has no legitimacy whatever. Tyranny masquerades as democracy. None exists. Ordinary people have no say. Like in America. Monied interests run things in both countries. One fascist regime supports another. Sunday's snap parliamentary elections were farcical. Expect worse than ever business as usual going forward.

Sergey Lavrov is a world class diplomat. He combines candor and statesmanship with tactfulness, discretion, thoughtfulness and prudence. His comments warrant highlighting. He addressed post-electoral Ukraine. He did so for Moscow's Life News television and Izvestia. He believes Russia will recognize Ukraine's election results. Even though they fell short of international standards nationwide.

It's "critically important for Ukraine to obtain, at long last, a leadership that will not engage in petty infighting and drag the country from east to west and back again, but one that will address real Ukrainian problems, Lavrov said.

"Ukraine needs a government that will think how the nation should regain unity. It needs a government to guarantee an equal status to all Ukrainian citizens irrespective of the language they speak and political convictions they have." "No one should be victimised on political and other grounds, as has been the case until recently."

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Stephen Lendman

Survivors won't ever forget. Nor should they. Including Vietnamese sufferers. Permanently disabled US war veterans. Many on both sides enduring chronic illnesses. They want truth and full disclosure maintained. Nothing erased from history. Or reinvented to ignore what happened. One of history's greatest crimes. Nameless, faceless victims suffering to this day out of sight and mind understand best.

Pentagon commanders initiated it. A duplicitous 2015 50th anniversary commemoration. Honoring one of history's greatest crimes. Turning truth on its head. Orwell explained saying "(h)e who controls the past control the future. He who controls the present controls the past."

A Pentagon web site headlines "The United State of America Vietnam War Commemoration." Pentagon commanders glorify what demands condemnation. Providing "the American public with (so-called) historically accurate materials and interactive experiences that will help Americans better understand and appreciate the service of our Vietnam War veterans and the history of US involvement in the Vietnam War."

A Commemorative Partners Program "is designed for federal, state and local communities, veterans' organizations and other nongovernmental organizations to assist a grateful nation in thanking and honoring our Vietnam Veterans and their families." Thanking them for mass murder. Involvement in genocidal high crimes against peace. Making the world safe for monied interests. More on this below.

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Stephen Lendman

So-called Ukrainian democracy is pure fantasy. Tyranny masquerading as rule by the people. Sunday's snap unicameral Verkhovna Rada (parliamentary) elections reflected post-February coup business as usual. Ukraine is a US-installed fascist dictatorship. Its so-called government has no legitimacy whatever.

A previous article discussed whole families contesting for seats. Future deputies were known in advance. They're relatives of currently serving politicians. Including oligarch president Petro Poroshenko's son, Oleksiy. Running for the same Vinnitsa region's seat his father held previously. Assured of winning before voting began. According to Itar-Tass:

"…Ukraine’s political class is built on the foundation of nepotism and cronyism, as all the political forces display the tradition of nominating candidates on the grounds of kinship." "A closely controlled family affair with no legitimacy. Powerful interests control things Ordinary people have no say."

Stop NATO founder/editor Rick Rozoff calls Ukraine "a Nazi-like victory of US/NATO lawlessness." A US-led takeover of formerly sovereign Ukraine. Planned and executed by neocons and Zbigniew Brzezinski acolytes, says Rozoff. The driving force behind US unipolarity and quest for unchallenged global dominance.

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Stephen Lendman

The late Edward Said called "any serious public discussion" about Israeli policies the last taboo. It's no exaggeration, he said.

"Abortion, homosexuality, the death penalty, even the sacrosanct military budget can be discussed with some freedom." "The extermination of native Americans can be admitted, the morality of Hiroshima attacked, the national flag publicly committed to the flames."

"But (decades-long Israeli) oppression and maltreatment of the Palestinians is virtually unmentionable, a narrative that has no permission to appear."

Why, he asked? Because of enormous Israeli Lobby influence. The "power of Zionist organizations in American politics…" An "absolute astonishing" refusal to openly discuss what's vital. One-sided MSM media support for Israel. Many US Zionists believe "Palestinians are not real beings." They're "demonized fantasms - fearsome embodiments of terrorism and anti-Semitism." AIPAC is Washington "most powerful single lobby," Said said.

It "inspires an awed fear and respect across the political spectrum." "Who is going to stand up to this Moloch on behalf of the Palestinians, when they can offer nothing, and AIPAC can destroy a congressional career at the drop of a check book?" "(V)irtually the entire Senate can be marshalled in a matter of hours into signing a letter to the President on Israel’s behalf."

"No-one exemplifies the sway of AIPAC better than Hillary Clinton, outdoing even the most right-wing Zionists in fervor for Israel in her avid clawing for power in New York, where she went so far as to call for the transfer of the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and the grant of leniency for Jonathan Pollard, the Israeli spy serving a life sentence in the US."

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Stephen Lendman

Fear-mongering is sinister. It's reprehensible. It's longstanding US policy. So are false flags. Merriam-Webster calls them "deliberate gross distortion(s) of the truth used especially as a propaganda tactic." Wikipedia says they're "covert operations designed to deceive the public in such a way that the operations appear as though they are being carried out by other entities."

Official reports hype Big Lies. MSM scoundrels regurgitate them. Truth is systematically buried. Deception substitutes for reality. False flags are pretexts for militarism, wars, occupations, colonization, resource theft, and exploiting populations for profit. They facilitate ruthlessness. They foster police state repression against freedom.

Post-9/11, global war on terror lawlessness followed. It rages out-of-control. One country after another is ravaged, destroyed and pillaged. No end of conflicts loom. Permanent war is official US policy. Big Lies hype nonexistent threats. Regurgitated ad nauseam gets most people to believe them.

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Stephen Lendman

Mass surveillance is longstanding. It's institutionalized. It's lawless. It has nothing to do with domestic or foreign threats. Or anything related to national security. America's only enemies are ones it invents. It spies globally. It watches everyone. It monitors allies. It's for control. It's for economic advantage. It's to be one up on foreign competitors. It's for information used advantageously in trade, political, and military relations. Don't expect Washington's criminal class to explain. It's bipartisan. It's government of, by, and for special interests. Ordinary ones are ignored.

Edward Snowden connected important dots for millions. He did so because it matters. He and London Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger won this year's Rights Livelihood Award (RLA). "(F)or outstanding vision and work on behalf of our planet and its people." It's the "Alternative Nobel Prize." One with real distinction. Meaning that matters. Warranting universal praise. RLA honors the best and most deserving. 'Right livelihood' is an ancient notion. Everyone deserves respect. So does the natural world. We're all responsible for the consequences of our actions. No one should take more than a fair share of world resources.

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Stephen Lendman

Demagogic doublespeak dots his rhetoric. So do mumbo jumbo Big Lies. They systematically drown out truth. It's consistent Obama policy. He mocks democratic values. Justifying the unjustifiable. Defending the indefensible. Supporting the unthinkable. Believing militarism is the be all and end all. Waging permanent wars on humanity. It may not survive on his watch.

Removing him is a moral imperative. An urgent necessity. He presides over a police state apparatus. He institutionalized tyranny. It's headed toward full-blown. He's advancing America's imperium ruthlessly. He's a war criminal multiple times over. He's guilty of high crimes against peace. He risks WW III.

On October 11, he spoke in San Francisco. At a scripted DNC event. Selected guests alone were invited. He repeated one Big Lie after another. "(N)ews lately has been dominated by what's taking place overseas," he said. He bears full responsibility for what he called "scary to people, and understandably so."

His Afghan war continues. It's America's longest conflict. Responsible for millions of deaths. No end in sight looms. He made Libya a cauldron of violence. A dystopian wasteland. North Africa's most developed country no longer exists. He's waging Iraq War III. Without Security Council or congressional authorization. All US wars are illegal. Aggressive. Premeditated. Ones of choice.

Obama bears full responsibility for Syria's war. In March 2011, he launched it. Using imported proxy death squads. Radicalized Islamists. US special forces and CIA operatives arm, fund, train and direct them. Deploy them against Assad. Wanting pro-Western stooge governance replacing him. Bombing since late September. Headed for deploying US troops. Hundreds infest Iraq already. Perhaps many more covertly.

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