Activists call for UN military intervention in Gaza

   By Reginald Johnson

  A group of pro-Palestinian activists are leading a campaign to push the United Nations to intervene in Gaza.

 Led by former Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein, the coalition wants the General Assembly to use a little-known process called “Uniting for Peace” to send a peacekeeping force to Gaza to protect civilians, ensure that food supplies are reaching the people and impose an embargo on military aid to Israel.

 The General Assembly used the Uniting for Peace resolution once before in 1956, when the assembly forced Israel, Britain and France to withdraw their troops from the Sinai during the Suez Canal dispute with Egypt.

 By invoking the process, the General Assembly is able to circumvent the Security Council where the United States has repeatedly used its veto power to block any punitive action against Israel.

 Members of the coalition called Lifeline for Palestine believe they have the votes to reach the two thirds majority needed to invoke the Uniting for Peace provision.

 “This is an unprecedented opportunity,” said Stein. “We do have the power to end the genocide and we should not accept powerlessness.”

 September 18th (Thursday) is the one year anniversary of the General Assembly voting by a 10 to 1 margin for a resolution demanding that Israel withdraw its forces from the Gaza Strip, or face UN penalties.

 Thursday will see a “Global Day of Action” on ending the war in Gaza, including a march and rally starting outside the public library at 41^st Street and Fifth Avenue in New York City, beginning at 12 noon. The musician and activist Roger Waters will perform.

 It is almost two years since the Gaza war began, touched off by an attack on Israel by Hamas militants, which left 1200 Israelis dead. Since then, Israel has waged a brutal and unrelenting military campaign, which has left by official counts 65,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, dead. But recent calculations by researchers put the death toll as high as 680,000. Most of Gaza's infrastructure, including hospitals and schools have been heavily damaged or destroyed. Blocks of high-rise housing have been leveled.

 Meanwhile, people have starved to death because Israel has impeded the supply of food aid.

 The World Court and human rights organizations have labeled the Israeli campaign a genocide.

  Craig Mokhiber, a former human rights official with the UN, said that if the General Assembly votes to approve an intervention through the Uniting for Peace process, Israel has no right to block the action, according to a previous World Court ruling.

  "Israel has no right to refuse or obstruct," Mokhiber said.

 The coalition is also asking that the UN remove Israel's credentials as a General Assembly member; reactivation of the UN's long-dormant anti-apartheid mechanism; and establishment of a war crimes tribunal.

 Endorsing the Lifeline for Palestine campaign include the following organizations: CODE Pink; Doctors Against Genocide; various Green Party chapters; and a number of state and local peace organizations.

   (For more information go to lifelineforpalestine.com)

Gaza ceasefire resolution pushed in Norwalk

 

    By Reginald Johnson

   NORWALK --- Peace activists in Fairfield County will gather here Tuesday night to ask the Norwalk City Council to pass a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

People will rally at 6:45 pm ahead of the council meeting at the main entrance to City Hall, at 125 East Avenue, Norwalk.

“We hope to engage council members about a ceasefire resolution as they enter the building for their meeting,” said Stephanie Carrows, a member of the group calling for the resolution.

 She added that “for anyone who’d like to attend, the main entrance is not on East Avenue but across from the building’s parking lot, accessed off Sunset Hill Avenue.”

 A number of towns and cities around the country have passed Gaza ceasefire resolutions, including Bridgeport and Windsor in Connecticut.

 Hundreds of thousands of Palestnians, mostly women and children, have been killed in Gaza by Israel since the war in Gaza began in October, 2023, after Hamas militants raided a concert in southern Israel and killed 1200 people. The world court has charged Israel with genocide for their campaign.

 

Has World War III already started?

 

                           

      By Reginald Johnson

 

Foreign policy analyst Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson sees alarming parallels between what’s happening in the world today and the year 1914,  when World War I broke out.

Like Britain and France at that time who were desperately trying to hold onto their empires in the face of a rising German state, the United States is now trying to maintain its global hegemony as China surges as an economic and military power.

“Mark my word, we’re already in World War III. We are in the opening stages of World War III,” said Wilkerson.

 “And this war is going to be fought and it will be fought whether it starts in Southwest Asia, the Arctic or as the war continues in Ukraine and spreads, it will be fought in order to stop the same thing that Britain and France were trying to stop years and years ago ---the overtaking of the American empire by China and its other friends. That’s what we’re involved in today,” said Wilkerson.

 Then he added ominously, “The difference, the salient difference between today and then is, we have nuclear weapons.”

Col. Wilkerson was part of a discussion hosted by Danny Haiphong about President Trump’s recent moves on Ukraine and global tensions in general. Former CIA analyst Larry Johnson also took part.

Wilkerson once was Chief of Staff  to Secretary of State Colin Powell during the Bush administration.  Early on he supported the Iraq War but later became a critic.  In recent years he’s been a commentator on  foreign affairs, often criticizing Israel and US policy in the Middle East.

Wilkerson said the US is in a “very, very serious” situation globally and Americans need to get a grasp on it.

Both he and Johnson criticized Trump on his management of foreign policy.

“To have Trump in the chairman’s seat, so to speak, is an utter disaster,” Wilkerson said.

                                                                                                          

Trump reneges on promise, ups the ante in Ukraine

   Reginald Johnson

 In a policy change that potentially has grave implications for the world, Donald Trump has reversed course on Ukraine.

The Financial Times is reporting that sources familiar with a phone call between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky last month indicated that Trump is now in favor of sending long-range offensive missiles to Ukraine and encouraged the Ukrainian leader to use them to hit targets deep inside Russia.

In an interview with the BBC, the author of the Financial Times report, Christopher Miller, recounted the conversation as he heard it from the sources.

 Trump asked Zelensky that if the US provided long-range missiles to Ukraine, “Can you hit Moscow? Can you hit St. Petersburg, too?”

Zelensky replied, “Absolutely. We can if you give us the weapons.”

Trump said he supported the idea of sending the missiles so “Russia can feel the pain for its invasion” and also push them to the negotiating table.

 Trump’s comments backing the idea of sending long-range missiles to Ukraine to strike deep inside Russia represent a 360 degree shift in policy from what Trump had been saying throughout the 2024 presidential campaign and early in his administration this year following his reelection.

 Previously he said repeatedly that he wanted to settle the Ukraine war quickly and he had not indicated any willingness to send more lethal weaponry to Ukraine to perpetuate the conflict. Trump had criticized former President Joseph Biden for supporting Ukraine in its war against Russia and said the conflict never would’ve happened if he had been president.

Early this year after his inauguration, Trump promised to work out a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin on a peace deal. There have been several efforts to bring that about but there’s been no resolution. Trump had also refused to sign off on new weapons shipments being sent to Ukraine.

 But in recent weeks Trump has been vocally criticizing Putin saying that the Russian leader was not willing to settle on a peace agreement and had undermined the peace process by approving missile and drone strikes against Ukraine, including against the capital, Kiev.

On Monday, Trump had a long press conference at the White House sitting with the NATO general secretary in which he stated again that he was upset with Putin and was now prepared to send defensive Patriot missiles to Ukraine to protect that country against incoming Russian missile and drone attacks. He also announced that he would impose steep tariffs on Russia.

But he did not indicate during a press conference that he was prepared to send long-range missiles to Ukraine. Now the Financial Times report indicates that the president has adopted a position of being aggressive in the Ukraine war similar to the policy the Biden administration had taken, a policy which Trump and many conservative media voices had criticized. 

The shift by Trump is deeply troubling and his willingness to now send offensive weaponry to Ukraine puts the entire world at risk in the same way that Biden’s policy put the world at risk. The flip-flop by Trump exposes him (again) as an extremely dishonest person who apparently was simply playing politics during the 2024 campaign, trying to tap into antiwar sentiment among many voters.

 To the delight of many of his supporters during the campaign, Trump bragged about how he could settle the Ukraine war in short order, at one point saying that he could settle it with a phone call “in a half hour.” At no point during the campaign did he ever indicate that he would be willing to change his position and send more lethal weaponry to Ukraine to perpetuate the war.

Trump’s new and dangerous policy on Ukraine must be criticized widely by people on both the left and the right. It’s time for Democrats, in particular, to stop hemming and hawing about the Ukraine war and demand that it end. Hundreds of thousands, perhaps over a million people, have died. For what?

Trump’s remarks about “hitting Moscow” are provocative and undermine chances for peace.

  Those comments and a move to send more long-range missiles to Ukraine will be seen as an escalation of the war by Putin and Russian leaders.

  Donald Trump has just made the world a lot less safe.

Trump heats up war with Iran with disturbing posts

By Reginald Johnson

In another unhinged social media post today, President Trump said that "we" know where Ayatollah Khameni, the Supreme Leader of Iran is hiding, and "we could take him out now" but won't "for now." Trump demanded Iran surrender to avoid further death and destruction. Trump sounds like some mob boss plotting the death of his enemies.

 He also said in another post that "we" control the skies over Iran, making it abundantly clear the US is working closely with Israel on the attack against Iran. There's no pretense anymore that the US is not fully involved in the Iran war.

 The American people have to rise up and say NO to this war! This could turn into a catastrophic regional war, or even a world war, where millions would die.

 Though the horse is out of the barn, people should still back Sen. Tim Kaine's Senate resolution to block Trump from attacking Iran without Congressional approval. Call 202-224-3121 and demand your senators support the resolution.

At this stage, people better start demanding impeachment as well. Trump is acting recklessly and in violation of the Constitution in many ways.

 

 

Starvation in Gaza? Congress yawns

 

     By Reginald Johnson

                                                  Commentary

  

 It doesn’t appear that members of Congress, including those from Connecticut, are very upset about the desperate conditions in Gaza.

The nation of Israel imposed a blockade on all shipments of humanitarian supplies including food and medicine into Gaza for nearly 3 months, creating starvation conditions. In the last two days Israel decided to lift the blockade, but only partially --- allowing a small number of trucks to come in with food.  UN officials said that while they were pleased that the full blockade had been lifted, what has been delivered represents only a drop in the ocean in terms of need.

Gaza health officials recently reported that there have been dozens of cases of starvation and hundreds if not thousands of young children are being treated for malnutrition in the few hospitals that are left in the territory.

Despite these dire conditions, members of Congress from Connecticut are not saying anything. They are not condemning Israel for the illegal blockade that went on for so long and now has only been partially lifted, and they’ve done nothing to urge President Trump to take action against Israel for this embargo of desperately needed food.

I placed calls to Congressman Jim Himes, who represents the Fourth Congressional District in Connecticut, urging him to make a statement condemning the blockade and calling for urgent action to deliver food. But his office indicated twice now in the last two weeks that he has not made such a statement criticizing Israel. I indicated that I was extremely upset over this and would not vote for him as a result in the future.

 I also called Sen. Richard Blumenthal’s office twice and on one call his office indicated that the senator as well had not made a statement criticizing Israel nor indicated any concern about the desperate situation in Gaza. I don’t know whether this has anything to do with the substantial donations that Blumenthal gets from the Israeli lobby called AIPAC. I hope that there is no connection, but I suspect that there might be.

 When I called Blumenthal’s office on Tuesday there was a three minute hold with nice classical music playing. Nobody picked up. After three minutes. I got disgusted and dropped the call. Last week I called Sen. Chris Murphy’s office. I was met with a taped greeting and no human being to speak with. I left a message stating my concern about Gaza and urged the office to get back to me. That never happened.

It is shameful that these representatives of ours in Congress are not showing more compassion for the people of Gaza and recognize their desperate plight. In addition to facing starvation conditions, thousands of Gazans are being forced to move once again by the Israeli army which has mounted a new offensive in the northern part of the strip. This is really a barbaric situation and it has been condemned by many world leaders, officials in the UN and human rights organizations.

 Unfortunately, most members of Congress are staying quiet. Again, I have to think that the widespread contributions by AIPAC to members of our national legislature have something to do with this. It appears that our elected representatives are putting their political needs ahead of the needs of starving people overseas. How low is that?

 It should be noted as well, that my former profession, the press, has not stood tall in regard to the terrible situation in Gaza. I’m hardly seeing anybody in television news or in the newspapers denouncing Israel for the genocide taking place. There's also little hard news coverage of Israel's brutal bombing or reporting on the famine conditions. And newspapers turn away opinion pieces that criticize Israel. I know this first-hand, since the Connecticut Post failed to run my op-ed calling for an end to the blockade.

  It’s going to be up to regular people on the ground to speak out on the catastrophe going on now in the Middle East --- to condemn Israel, to condemn the Trump administration for failure to stop Israel’s barbaric campaign and to push members of Congress into taking action.

 Only through grassroots pressure will the horror of Gaza be brought to an end.

 

 

 

 

Excusing the inexcusable

  By Reginald Johnson

   Here we are. The prime minister of Israel says the ethnic cleansing of Gaza is "inevitable." (Jerusalem Post) And he talks about it matter of factly. No biggie. And in America and Europe people sit around and say 'ho-hum.' Next.

 Now just suppose some fanatical leader of another country, say like a Benjamin Netanyahu, said the same thing about forcibly removing a group of white Europeans, Americans or Jews from some place. Oh well, that would be a different story. Then the shit would hit the fan.

 There would be thunderous speeches in the halls of Congress, in the British parliament and in Paris, denouncing the outrage. "We will not let this stand!" would be the cry.

 But alas, here we're talking about the Palestinians, Arabic people, who the British used to deride as “wogs.” No need to get excited. Expendable.

 Has the human race advanced the last 500 years ---- morally? No, not one iota.