West Bank Gets The Gaza Treatment As 47 Fantasizes About Ruling Gaza

AI-generated questions on this post on the elongated muskrat's own platform indicate that the ghastly Gaza video 47 released is so far over the top even computers suspect it might be satirical.

Now that the West Bank is getting the Gaza treatment, we should all be concerned by this monument to the moral and aesthetic ugliness that AI was designed to create. Watching the video that 47 posted on "his" social media platform made me feel I had traveled back in time to do political theatre on 4th of July with the In Spite of Life players in West Athens, Maine. No satirical play we ever came up with exceeded this AI monstrosity in terms of hubris, ghoulishness, or over the top symbolism.

To name just a few: a tanner, slimmer, smiling elongated muskrat stuffs his face watching scantily clad belly dancers with Hamas-style male heads. Golden mylar balloons of the sort seen at children's birthday parties celebrate 47's name/brand and lots of dollar signs. Glittering seas, sands, cruise ships, and a casino sanitize the mountain of martyrs slaughtered to make Gaza safe for international capitalism.

Interesting is news that the audience on Truth Social was not impressed.

When I say the West Bank is getting the Gaza treatment I mean that for the first time in 20 years tanks rolled into the Jordan River adjacent territory following the expulsion of 40,000 people from three refugee camps. Bombardment is very likely to follow, and the targeting of individuals (think: doctors, journalists, professors) is already enabled by extensive creepy surveillance technology.

A checkpoint in apartheid Hebron

My friend Ken Jones is just returning from a trip to the occupied territory and has made public a blog I've been reading privately over the last few weeks. Hebron Witness may be found here with the explanation: "These reflections are about my Community Peacemaker Team accompaniment in Hebron Palestine, February 2025."

All the slaughter and destruction in Gaza was portrayed as being the Zionist entity's attempt to defeat Hamas. I'll remind readers that the West Bank has nothing to do with Hamas which rules Gaza but not the area from the river to sea.

Ofer Prison

Some excerpts from Ken's reporting:

She told us the story of Oct 7, 2024, the one year “memorial” of the Gazan prison break. An officer entered women’s rooms [at Ofer prison] and gave them 30 seconds to cover themselves before soldiers came in. When the soldiers came, they put zip ties on the women’s hands, blindfolded them, and took them out. They made them lie face down on the muddy ground, beat them, yelled at them, and brought police dogs out to terrorize them. While this was going on, soldiers went into their cells, took all of their clothes, and set off tear gas grenades in their cells. Then they put the women back in their cells. 

****  

Today we did Mosque Patrol. Every Friday, CPT monitors the checkpoint at the Ibrahimi Mosque to accompany Muslims as they try to go for prayer. For an hour, we stood to the side of the caged-in entrance to the checkpoint, watching.

Normally, about 400 men, women, and children come on Fridays, but since October 7, the Israeli security forces have made it more difficult, with longer waits, so fewer people are coming. Some are staying at home to pray rather than subjecting themselves to being crammed together and possibly not even getting through to the mosque in time for prayer anyway. Others come carrying cardboard to pray outside the mosque or even outside the checkpoint, anticipating that they won’t make it through the gauntlet in time to enter the mosque.

The gauntlet is pretty daunting: standing body-to-body in a very tight space for a long time until the green light goes on and 2-3 people can jam themselves through a turnstile. Then they have to go through a metal detector and present their IDs to a guard inside a glassed-in booth who checks his or her computer, one person at a time, to see if they have any criminal record or other marks against them. Of course, having a criminal record is not uncommon, especially for men, in this occupied state. Nearly all Palestinian men have been detained or spent time in Israeli prisons.

****  

Immediately next to Um al Khair is a settlement of some 500 Israeli families that is doing everything it can to run the Palestinians off. Just a couple of days ago, settler teenagers herded their sheep right into someone’s home. The teens are evidently front-line vigilantes, as they roam around with sticks and pepper spray making life tense for people of the village. Not long ago they beat 5 women. The women needed to go to the hospital right away, but the settlers blocked the ambulance from getting to them for over 5 hours. Soldiers were present, but did nothing to stop the “very violent boys,” as our guide called them.

Whenever the villagers complain to the police about such attacks, the police say they have been told by the settlers that the teens are being attacked by the Palestinians. The police threaten to arrest the villagers if they keep making these calls.

We walked over to the demolished house where a couple of young men were sitting, looking sadly at the ruins. Three rooms and a water tank were all jumbled up in piles. One of the men told us his 60-year old mother, who owned the house, had been thrown to the ground when she yelled about her house being destroyed. The military commander of the nearby base had given the demolition order, with the rationale that the home was blocking the military view of the area. Bogus, of course. Home demolition is a standard practice for the Israeli regime.

 

Again, you can read all of Ken Jones' blog posts from the West Bank here. Warning: what he describes is very, very ugly.

Sourcing Seeds While Boycotting Israel

Screenshot from a short documentary detailing destruction of Gaza's agricultural sector, which you can view here.

It's that time of year, when gardeners in the northern hemisphere turn to seed catalogs to order for spring planting.

Big problem: in my state both the big seed companies use seeds grown in Israel. With 15 months of horrific genocide behind us and more on the horizon as Israel violates the terms of their ceasefire agreement with Hamas, this boycott is non-negotiable for many of us.

As reported in the blog Palestine Will Be Free, this is an English translation of Hamas' summary of agricultural destruction:

The Government Media Office in Gaza held a press conference on, Sunday, February 2, at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City and gave an assessment of the damage..

• 185,000 m² of farmland destroyed
• 49 agricultural warehouses, 6,000 livestock, 1,000 poultry farms, and extensive irrigation networks damaged

Sadly both Fedco and Johnny's Select Seeds have been contacted -- repeatedly -- by BDS activists looking for accurate information. Both have been lobbied internally by their workers to boycott seeds and bulbs that produce profits for Israeli companies, to no avail. 

My friend and former colleague Mary Dunn, a retired science teacher, has shared her extensive research on companies that do or do not observe a boycott of Israeli products. Here's Mary's letter, and the replies she has received to date.

Hi,

As a long time gardener who is horrified watching the ongoing violence in Palestine and southern Lebanon, I realize a moral obligation to do my best to not purchase Israeli seed.

I have written to your company before and you replied you did not purchase Israeli seed. But in doing this research one company explained that this year they did not purchase Israeli seed because they have enough for this year but will probably continue to order from them in the future. This made me realize I need to be more clear. 

I am  looking for seed companies that will pledge to not purchase or sell seed from any Israeli seed company or any seed company which sells Israeli seed, such as Johnny's. 

In particular I am referring to seeds coming from the Israeli seed companies: Genesis, Hazara, Breedx, Gadot, IsraelAgri, Nirit Seeds, TomaTech, Origene Seeds, and Gedera Syngenta.

Please let me know, clearly and honestly, where your company stands on this.

Thank  you,

Mary Dunn

Maine

REPLIES:

 

Bhoomi Devi Seeds - We  grow all of our own seeds here on our MOFGA certified farm in Lincolnville, Maine. We do not work with corporations or conglomerations. In the event of a crop failure, we source that variety from other small scale certified organic seed growers within the US.

TrueLove Seeds - We do not and will not ever purchase Israeli seed. We do not purchase seed grown overseas. We do sell many varieties of seeds originally from Palestine, shared with us by Palestinian friends, but grown here in the US like all our other seeds. 

Turtle Tree Seeds - We hold seed source transparency very, very dear. We list in our paper (or PDF) catalog where every seed comes from. The only ones that do not have the specific farm/farmer named as the source are the ones which have come from two like-minded seed companies, one in Germany, one in Switzerland, who have similar local networks of growers. We are no longer able to buy seed from them because of the international shipping challenges, so I haven't looked into their practices recently, but when we did buy from them, neither one was working with any larger companies, only with local farmers who grew seed for them directly, as our network of US farmers does for us (although in recent years we have been growing a larger and larger percentage of our own seeds, far, far more than most seed companies, around 80-85%.)

Thanks for asking these important questions. Seed source transparency is a hugely important topic for so many reasons!!!!

Warmly,

Lia

Territorial Seed- Hi Mary,

We do not purchase Israeli seeds.

We do not  have seeds that are from any Israeli seeds companies.

We are a small business our seeds come from local growers and our farm.

Kassy, TSC

True Leaf Market/Kitazawa Seeds- Hi Mary,

Thank you for reaching out to us.

Rest assured, we have never sourced our seeds from Israel and Israeli companies in the past, and we have no plans to do so in the future.

Please let us know if we can help with anything else.- Juliet Webe True Leaf Market & Kitazawa Seed Company

Victory Seeds- We  do not purchase seeds from any of those companies, Including Johnny’s, or any other companies in Israel.  We just buy directly from suppliers or growers. Additionally, I’ll say, nearly all of our seed comes from the US, a bit from South America, Netherlands, and India.

Best, Jon

Hudson Valley Seeds - Hello Mary,

Thank you so much for your continued resolve in this area. We are not purchasing any seeds from Israel or Israel produced seed even from American based suppliers. We take this issue seriously and have looked into the original source for all of our products -seed and non-seed items alike. I hope this answers your question clearly. Let us know if you need any further clarification.

Warmly,

Lindsay

Southern Exposure Seed Exchange -  Mary, we only source seed from the US. We do not support genocide. If you look closely you might find some subtle pro palestine messaging on our catalog cover this year 🍉

Renee’s Garden - We understand and respect your sentiments. I have checked in with management and they have confirmed that "we do not have relationships with any of these companies and do not have any seed in packets from any of these companies." 

Seed Savers Exchange - We do not source any seeds from the companies you've listed.  

Experimental Farm Network - always clear about not buying Israeli seed.  

Turtle Tree - No, we grow most of the seeds we sell, and buy a small amount from other US biodynamic farmers (such as the farmers at Meadowlark seed farm and several others), and also a small amount from two biodynamic seed companies in Europe (Bingenheim and Sativa), which have a similar set of values to ours, and also work with a small network of regional seed growers and seed breeders.

Fruition - We grow ~60% of the seeds we share and the rest come only from individuals we are in community and relationship with --- so we can confidently say none of the seeds we share will benefit these Israeli seed companies. 

We are collaborating to create a 'seed buyer's guide' sharing more of these details so people can align their dollars and values more deeply.

Thanks for being you & here's to the seeds that will thrive beyond any empire.

Eden Brothers Seeds - Thank you for reaching out to us with your concerns. We understand and respect your desire to make informed purchasing decisions.

We want to assure you that we do not source any of our seeds from any of the companies you mentioned. If you have any additional questions, please feel free to reach out.

Please let us know if we can be of any further assistance.Thanks and have a great day Michelle. Customer Service

BDS alert!

Richters Herbs-  Thank you for reaching out to us with your question. We understand that sourcing is an important consideration for many of our customers for a variety of reasons, and we appreciate you taking the time to enquire.

We do carry some seeds from an Israeli supplier, as we source from a variety of regions worldwide based on quality, uniqueness, and availability. At this time, we do not have a policy or pledge to exclude seeds from Israeli suppliers. However, I have shared your concerns with our Sourcing Manager for consideration.

We recognize your concerns, and we truly respect your perspective. We sincerely apologize that we are unable to meet your expectations in this regard at this time. If you are looking for alternative options, we would be happy to assist you in finding selections that align with your preferences. Please let us know if there is anything else we can do for you.

Kind regards, Richters Customer Service

My husband and I love to grow food for our family and flowers for the pollinators. But for the past several years have been purchasing robust starts from a local farm that, unfortunately, uses Johnny's seeds. We will be contacting our grower to see if she'll consider using seeds we buy from sources that don't profit Israel. If not, we may ask a friend with a light table to grow our starts this year. I'll keep you posted.

EDITED FEB 28: Edited to add the name Turtle Tree Seeds and link.

BOOK REVIEW: The Message

I just finished Ta-Nahisi Coates' controversial book The Message, a Christmas present from one of my kids who said, I know he's kind of a liberal darling, mom, but I think you're going to really like this book. It's an opportune time to read about Coates' experiences in Palestine  because I have friends who are visiting the West Bank as observers of the Zionist occupation. One of them posts to a private blog each day and coincidentally had just read The Message before leaving on their trip. Much of what they report aligns with Coates' descriptions of apartheid and white supremacy in all its ugliness.

As for what Coates made of his experiences, therein lies the controversy.

Coates burst on the scene with a long-form piece in the legacy liberal magazine The Atlantic where he was on staff. "The Case for Reparations" is something most of us probably read years ago when it came out in 2014. If so, did you remember that Coates used the creation of Israel as an historical example of reparations? That he now regrets his hoodwinking by hasbara (Zionist pr) is palpable; he's embarrassed for himself, but not too embarrassed to learn more and to hold himself accountable for his errors.

I had been aware of his fall from grace with the liberal, Democratic Party-aligned media over the book but didn't know the details. Since I never watch CBS Mornings or really any corporate media, I missed it when Israel-aligned journalist Tony Dokoupil attacked Coates for comparing Jim Crow and Israeli apartheid. Astonishingly, Dokoupil told him:

If I took your name out of it, took away the award, and acclaim, took the cover off the book, the publishing house goes away -- the content of that section would not be out of place in the backpack of an extremist.

So the Zionist argument is: despite your stature as a prominent Black intellectual, we are going put a pejorative label on you for drawing your own conclusions based on your own recent observations in occupied Palestine. 

Conclusions that prominent Jewish intellectuals Noam Chomsky, Dr. Gabor Maté , Hannah Arendt, and Albert Einstein also reached based on their own observations.

What makes Coates' observations and conclusions so powerful is his broad experience with structural racism and white supremacy in our times. The Message is actually a collection of three essays he wrote for his writing students at Howard University, a historically Black college in Washington DC. One essay reflects on his trip to Senegal to see where the African slave trade that his ancestors suffered through originated. One reflects on his visit to a South Carolina school district that attempted to ban his book Between the World and Me from Advanced Placement English. And both those essays inform what he makes of his experiences in the West Bank, Jerusalem, and Tel Aviv.

Coates is nothing if not a researcher, delving into primary sources like Zionist founder Theodor Herzl's early writings to find prescient scheming and plans for dehumanization:

We must expropriate gently the private property on the estates assigned to us. We shall try to spirit the penniless population across the border by procuring employment for it[sic] in the transit countries, while denying it[sic] any employment in our own country. The property owners will come over to our side. Both the process of expropriation and the removal of the poor must be carried out discreetly and circumspectly.

As Coates begins to examine why he never interrogated Zionism, his research uncovers some facts that shock him: a study finding that from 1970-2019 fewer than 2% of opinion pieces about Palestine were by Palestinian authors. The dearth of Muslim or Arab journalists with positions in Western corporate media. Myths about Israel being "the only democracy in the Middle East" and the industry devoted to mythologizing archaeological ruins that become theme parks for promoting Zionist tropes.

The role of settlers in pushing Palestinians out of their homes and off their land is a major theme in Coates' essay. According to his research there are now half a million of them.

In case you're wondering, he meets with Israelis, too. They tell him how dangerous it is to speak out against apartheid or to refuse military service. They take him, a Black descendant of enslaved people, on the roads that only Jews may use, bypassing the checkpoints that clog up commerce, education, and familial bonding for Palestinians.

Back stateside, Coates gets together with a group of Palestinian professionals and activists and their friends.

The group spoke about politics in a manner of communal intimacy -- the way my people speak when no white people are around..

Deanna [Othman] told me she taught at a school where most of the kids were Palestinian, and she loved teaching "The Case for Reparations." She said, "The kids always say, Yeah but about the Israel part? And I just say, Well, nobody's perfect."

There's so much more in-depth analysis in The Message than I can convey here. As Israel refused over the weekend to release 600 Palestinian prisoners already on buses, despite the release as promised by Hamas of Israeli hostages in Gaza, and moved tanks into the West Bank for the first time in 20 years, it's time to examine the unvarnished truth about the Zionist project.

Will Maine's Town of Steuben Say No To Rocket Launches?

Readers of this blog may recall my reporting on efforts in Maine to block the construction of a rocket launch site in Steuben, visible from Acadia National Park. The fishing community of Jonesport had already blocked Blushift Aerospace of Brunswick from constructing a launch site there in 2022. In a letter to the editor entitled "Rocket entrepreneur didn't fulfill promises to Jonesport," resident Carrie Peabody explained:

Consensus proved 80 to 97% against rockets via multiple municipal processes, including straw vote, petitions, surveys, a moratorium and town vote. The actions backed the establishment of an ordinance to restrict launches.

Jonesport consistently relayed their decision to Deri, underscoring his refusal to fulfill his promise [to respect the consensus]..

Jonesporters.. want industry that enhances their fishing heritage and Down East culture. Rocket launches posed a threat to their livelihood, quality of life, environment, natural resources, tourism and town infrastructure.

A flurry of corporate media puffery ensued where readers were told that the lucky little town of Steuben had been selected as the new site. Local residents began to challenge the town council on their lack of democratic process in making this decision. Some of us organized talks at the Common Ground Fair that year to support them and created an informational website called Notoxicrockets4ME.

At the Common Ground Fair, Blushift CEO Sascha Deri showed up to disrupt our presentation and said we were lying. I'm embedding the video of this, and you can also see it on YouTube here.

Now comes March, the time of year when towns in Maine conduct local elections and hold an annual meeting of interested voters. In Steuben there is a citizen-initiated referendum to ban rocket launches on the ballot.

The Bangor Daily News reported on Hanson's effort:

Larch Hanson, a local resident who owns and operates a local seaweed company, spearheaded the citizen’s petition to get the proposed rocket ordinance on the ballot. He said that other rocket companies also are interested in Maine, and that the issue is bigger than just whether bluShift might expand to Steuben. In a written statement, Hanson said that rocket manufacturing, and possibly retrieving spent rockets from the ocean, is dangerous work. He cited the accidental discharge last summer of toxic fire-retardant foam at Brunswick Landing, where bluShift is headquartered, as something he would fear if rocket manufacturing came to Steuben. The head of bluShift “and those other CEO’s of rocket launching companies who will come tumbling out of the Trojan Horse, once it’s been wheeled through the gates of our community, will never be held accountable for the damage they do to our air, waters, soils, and health,” Hanson said.

Rocket launch sites are often built on the promise that no military use is intended. But Deri has already taken funds from the U.S. Space Force. They are often built on the promise that any pollution or disruption to wildlife will be minimal. But that is a huge lie as demonstrated at many locations where launch failures strew debris for miles and cause fires that burn several acres of wildlife habitat. This recent documentary on Space X in Brownsville, Texas does a good job of showing the reality of living near a rocket launch facility.

PFAS foam tumbled by the breeze following spill at Brunswick Landing

One of the safety issues with rocket launch sites is the need for industrial level fire suppression systems. Coincidentally, Blushift headquarters is located at Brunswick Executive Airport which is the site of the biggest PFAS spill ever. Caused by a malfunction of the fire suppression system that dumped thousands of gallons of forever-chemicals foam onto local land and waterways, this mishap will be impacting fisheries and human health for generations to come. 

PFAS researcher Pat Elder explained:

Clean-up is not possible. Think of the subsurface soils in the region as a massive subterranean sponge full of carcinogens that perpetually squeeze out into groundwater and surface water forever. 

How can we support Steuben in resisting this corporate rocket takeover? Share this information widely. Talk to your friends to see if they know any voters in town. Ask anyone that lives near Acadia, is this what you want for the Maine coast?

Health And Wealth

Without health, there is no wealth is the kind of folksy saying that I sort of agree with especially after a month of being sick and confined to home. The thing I know is that the relative wealth of a white boomer retiree makes being sick a very different experience for me than for many people in my country; I've got food, secure housing, plenty of firewood, wifi, streaming movies, etc. to comfort me in my affliction. Oh and did I mention great health care? I've known my doctor and family practice for decades, it's in one wing of a teaching hospital where my family has always received excellent care, and I have both retired teacher health insurance plus, at my age, Medicare (at least for now).

If I were living in my car and eating uncooked ramen noodles, relying on the emergency room to see a doctor, I might not have survived walking pneumonia. Or the allergic reaction to one of the medicines I was prescribed. As it is I'm on the mend and can waltz in without an appointment and get a follow up chest x-ray when the appointed day arrives.

Source: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

What if I lived in another country?

I've experienced minor health challenges in a few different countries. In Australia, which has a public health system that is barely adequate buttressed by a private system that some can afford, I saw a nice doctor that my aunt knows and my out of pocket cost was not high enough to be memorable.

Tokyo street scene, March 2023 Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP via Getty Images

In Tokyo, where I lived for four years, I had two babies, mastitis from a staph infection, and the kids had the usual viral infections. There were doctors and midwives right in our neighborhood who charged an infinitesimal co-pay (like $2.50), and we were in the public health system by virtue of working and paying taxes (10% flat) even though we weren't Japanese. The doctors gave us prescribed medications on the spot but maybe only a couple of days worth so I would bring the baby back for follow up.

Japanese people at the time (early 1980s) did not vaccinate until age 2, but I was able to get the standard childhood vaccinations for my kids earlier than that by asking around. Whooping cough was still a thing if not measles, tetanus, diphtheria, or polio.

In India I contracted dysentery while about three weeks pregnant and was very, very sick for a long time while my husband bounced back quickly from the same ailment. I saw one of the many woman doctors trained in India and was given antibiotics and powdered electrolyte mix. Again, the out of pocket cost was so small I cannot remember it.

Now that I've lived through Covid and the anti-vax movement on steroids that it fueled, I have a few thoughts.

The body of scientific knowledge is based on data, not anecdotes. All of the above I've just shared is anecdotal. Being a boomer, I remember a time when the prevailing sentiment was that vaccines save lives and doctors usually know best. Being someone with chronic digestive problems that started at birth, I also know that Western medicine is far from the definitive authority on how to get or stay well. A G/I specialist finally diagnosed what was wrong with me, but it took a naturopath and an acupuncturist to get me back on the path to decent health.

All of that is background for me to say that the profit motive has infected health care in the U.S. and a profound lack of trust in medical authorities stems from this root cause.

After we were told that Covid vaccines would stop transmission (they don't) -- and that we were criminals if we questioned that orthodoxy -- public faith in medical authorities began to disintegrate.

After we were told that Covid couldn't possibly have originated in a lab (it could, possibly with Mossad's involvement) -- and that we were criminals if we questioned that orthodoxy -- public faith in our government's commitment to our health began to disintegrate.

Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images  Source: "Newly sworn-in HHS Secretary RFK Jr. vows to tackle physical, as well as spiritual 'crisis' in the country"

Enter RFK Jr.

Kennedy is easily the most bizarre Secretary of Health & Human Services that we've had in my lifetime. One of the original "vaccines cause autism" advocates, he now appears to have walked that back somewhat -- or at least that's what he told senators in his confirmation hearings.

When I ran for the U.S. Senate in 2020 there was a large contingent who were intent on weaponizing anti-vax sentiment against me. Either trying to falsely paint me as anti-vax (as they had successfully done to pediatrician Dr. Jill Stein in 2016) or organizing opposition because I had made clear my position that parents are free to not vaccinate their kids, but in my opinion those kids should not be admitted to public schools. 

To really understand the concept of public health, you might have to work in a setting like public schools for a few years. Many anti-vax parents are against schools, too, and they homeschool with widely varied results. One such parent commented online, "I am only responsible for my family's health" which is a sentiment that would probably get you sent to a re-education camp in China (kidding).

China was set up to be seen as the bad guy during Covid. The virus was clearly developed with U.S. financial and logistical backing, but it "leaked" in Wuhan. Hmmm,  interesting. China went into overdrive to address the public health crisis, as did Cuba. The U.S. made sure a lot of very wealthy Big Pharma executives became even more wealthy, and withheld the patents for various early Covid vaccines.

China is not the bad guy here. Health care for profit is the bad guy. It is an oxymoron. It has eroded our faith in public health directives, and our faith in health advice from people who went to medical school.

If you haven't seen the mini-series Apple Cider Vinegar you might want to check it out. It's a recreation of the true story of an Australian health "influencer" who died of cancer after rejecting medical advice and instead attempting a fresh juice cure. Her mom also bought in and also died of a different type of cancer. Just today I learned that super model Elle Macpherson is another health "influencer" in Australia who rejected chemo for breast cancer and publicized it. 

I like fresh squeezed juice as much as the next person. But I also like my friend in town who is still alive after chemo to treat bladder cancer. In fact, they are in remission and were given a clean bill of health over a year ago. Honestly, they were the last person I expected to go the conventional route based on their lifestyle up to that point. But they have a family who loves them. So they talked it over and came to the decision to let the doctors try their best. I'm sure being so healthy heading into self-poisoning to kill the cancer cells made a difference.

In what direction will Secretary Kennedy lead us? As long as Congress fails to take the profit out of health care, it probably won't matter much. 

Am I too old to move to China?

Ukraine War Continues As Divisive As Ever

Original collage by James Fangboner (left image), modified by me (right image)

All U.S. presidents campaign on promises of ending whichever quagmire(s) the nation is floundering in. It plays well with voters.

Walking the walk is a lot harder than talking the talk, though.

For one thing, Ukraine represents a propaganda effort by Western corporate media that was so sudden and so comprehensive that I'll admit it smacked me upside of the head in 2022. (Full report here.) It completely split the "peace" or antiwar groups I was part of, with the Democrats of the former vilifying the anti-imperialists of the latter. Among the things I was called: a mouthpiece for Putin, and a parrot of Tucker Carlson (who I literally never watch). Veterans for Peace members locally turned their backs on me for carrying signs like "NO WAR WITH RUSSIA". A statewide coalition that holds monthly protests attracted a diverse list of co-sponsors that included the Libertarian Party of Maine, the Maine Communist Party, and the Party for Socialism & Liberation. But no Democratic Party.

Topsham, Maine February 5, 2023

How many times did President Zelensky travel to the U.S. to be valorized by Biden's crew and Congress? Now Z is in the dog house, and he and 47 are engaged in a flame war on social media. In Riyadh this week, it appears Russia and the U.S. made considerable progress toward a comprehensive agreement that would include a negotiated end to the war in Ukraine. 

This would never have happened under a Harris administration because Biden et al. owned the Ukraine war. Hunter Biden and "the big guy" made millions from its money laundering services, and it's no secret that dad shielded himself while extending a pardon for Hunter that stretches infinitely into the future.

Now 47 threatens to audit Ukraine to see where all the money went. That's got to be making some people nervous.

Among the lies we were told by corporate press throughout the war:

• It wasn't a proxy war with the West that aimed at weakening Russia using Ukraine as a cat's paw. 
• Russia blew up the Nord Stream pipeline carrying gas to Germany.
• Russia tried to blow up the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, in an area under its control. And, more recently, fired a missile into the Chernobyl nuclear power plant entombed in concrete.
• Russia was losing, barely had any troops or equipment, and would be forced to surrender any day now.
• Ukraine's government and military were not full of Nazis
• Ukraine was winning. 

On the eve of the third anniversary of Russia's special military operation, Ukraine has lost much of its eastern flank after referenda in Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions indicated the residents overwhelmingly preferred to be Russian.

Elections Zelensky should have held a year ago would have been a referendum on his conduct of the war with Russia, and he would be expected to lose mightily.

So now the sticking point in negotiations appears to be: should elections be held before or after an agreement is reached? Russia has pointed out that once Zelensky declared martial law which precludes elections, and once March 2024 -- his term's end date -- had passed, they cannot negotiate with him. He's no longer a legitimate president.

47 appears to be holding out for a negotiated end to the war with elections to be held afterwards.

Who will blink first?

I often get feedback from readers who point out mistakes or suggest other interpretations, and I often get warm feedback as well. One I cherish is that after posting about how the vilification of Putin was deliberately morphed into the Russiagate nonsense by Democrats, former CIA analyst Ray McGovern sent me an email that simply said: Good, Lisa.

Whenever and however the Ukraine war ends, it's safe to say that the U.S. will never claw back any of the $119.2 BILLION that went into Zelensky's coffers. Because isn't that the real point of wars these days -- big profits for the weapons industry?

Ceding To Fascism With Pre-Anticipatory Obedience

A squadron of 6 U.S. Air Force bombers has reportedly been flying over the Mediterranean Sea. The squadron includes B-52 Stratofortresses i.e. nuclear-capable bombers, among others. The aircraft took off from an American base in England on Monday.

Meanwhile, officials in both the U.S. and the Zionist entity threatened to "unleash hell" on Gaza if they don't submit to being permanently displaced from their homeland. Hamas had this to say about that:

"Trump must remember that there is an agreement that must be respected by both parties and this is the only way to return the prisoners," Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told AFP, referring to the hostages. He added, "The language of threats has no value and further complicates matters."

I recall President Theodore Roosevelt, the architect of U.S. imperialism, explained his strategy as "speak softly and carry a big stick." Now that we are ruled by small stick energy we boast and bluster on the world stage. Does the language of threats have no value? Probably not at the negotiating table where Hamas and Israel are poised on the brink of Phase 2 of their ceasefire agreement.

But, 47 and the elongated muskrat and their ilk think the language of threats plays well at home.

Speaking of threats, my friend and fellow organizer Bruce Gagnon received a threat from my alma mater yesterday. A resident of Brunswick, Maine where Bowdoin College is located, Bruce had local police at his door yesterday with a document promising to arrest him for criminal trespass if he sets foot on campus for the next 12 months. Here in a blog post he explains why his entirely nonviolent support for the recent student encampment led to Bowdoin enlisting local police to threaten him.

It's not a threat it's a promise when I say that I joined fellow Bowdoin alumni in boycotting the college's big fundraising day that's coming up, and have sent letters to a slew of administrators explaining why. Their refusal to address the Bowdoin Solidarity Referendum results nine months after its passage is shameful. Their persecution of students of conscience and the college's failure to live up to its oft vaunted commitment to pursue "the Common Good" is hypocritical.

A senior who was suspended for participating in the peaceful occupation of a student union that is supposed to be open 24/7 for student use but was instead locked down by college security forces told the Portland Press Herald what she thought was behind Bowdoin's cowardice:

[Oliva Kenney] characterized the college’s response as “pre-anticipatory obedience” to the Trump administration.

"I do believe that the college is concerned about how the Trump administration will react to colleges that have demonstrated any form of sympathy to Palestine protesters, but what they’re doing, really, is ceding to fascism before the true consequences of fascism have even descended upon them.”

Some community supporters have expressed disappointment that the students didn't hold out for longer than five days. It can be challenging to put yourself in the shoes of someone whose family has invested around a quarter of a million dollars in your degree only to be suspended, kicked out of your dorm and off the meal plan, and barred from attending classes -- all of which were paid for in advance. 

Do Bowdoin students have the support of their parents? Some do, some don't. One thing I can say for sure: most of these families have deep pockets and probably a lawyer or two in the mix. Will the college ultimately get away with trampling their progeny's access to education they paid for in defense of an indefensible genocide and ethno-state? Color me doubtful. 

I'm joining other alumni, including parents, in withholding donations to Bowdoin until they see their way clear to walking the walk, not just talking the talk, of "the Common Good." Estate planners may need to revise some decisions previously made.

Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank has been repeatedly bombed this month, displacing 17,000 people  Source: Al Jazeera

Zionists continue bombing Lebanon, gobbling up land in Syria, and shooting at children in Gaza and the West Bank. In fact, violence in the West Bank has ramped up significantly during the "ceasefire" in Gaza with 

Creating Israel was a mistake, but the Anglo-American imperialists who did so to create a permanently Western-aligned entity in occupied Palestine thought they had a big stick. They were wrong in thinking that indigenous Palestinians would cede to fascism with pre-anticipatory obedience (I'm excepting Palestinian Authority quislings here). 

Gazans and Palestinians in the West Bank won't back down, and neither will their supporters. Free Palestine!