Sermon – East Jerusalem: A capital provocation

by Courtenay Barnett

Dear beloved, we are gathered here today to hear words of truth, as straight as an arrow, spoken from the Altar of The Almighty Truth.

This truth is directed against the twin-headed dragon of lies and deception US Foreign Policy is aimed at.

Thus, such policy in relation to the wisdom – or – lack thereof in siting the US Embassy in East Jerusalem is the bane of our discourse.

No better way than to have informed proponents directly state their positions and then consider where next we go.

Nikki Haley – present ( US Ambassador Haley – permanent representative to the UN)

Noura Erakat – present (Palestinian- American human rights attorney and assistant professor at George Mason University)

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/nikki-haley-denies-gaza-violence-related-us-embassy/story?id=55178732

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/how-are-palestinians-reacting-to-the-u-s-embassy-in-jerusalem-and-violence-in-gaza/

So there we have two competing points of view. One sees absolutely no fault, no error, not even an iota of miscalculation in US Foreign Policy in placing the US Embassy in East Jerusalem: it is all the fault of the Palestinians and Hamas.

Another perspective takes account of the history, the political context, the reality of being corralled in Gaza indefinitely with no right of return for the refugees, which the Palestinians actually are under international law.

These competing thoughts and positions take me back almost 40 years to a time at University. It was one of those bulletin board announcement moments. A Palestinian Professor and a Jewish Professor agreed to have a round-table discussion on the question of Palestine/Israel and students and staff alike were duly informed of the venue for discussion.

There were about 15 people in attendance and I was one of them. It was not merely the erudition of the two scholars which impressed me – but – as a good lesson in debating skills – their civility.

After the papers were delivered and discussions took place, questions followed and conclusions were drawn. Although many years now have passed since that discussion, I still recall it as being as relevant now as it was then.

From one viewpoint, there was the pressing need for a homeland for the Palestinian people in relation to the settler- colony – Israel; from the other side, there was an expressed need to continue with a home for Jewish émigrés to the state of Israel. There at its simplest was where the divide between these two erudite scholars existed. So, within this context of dual land claims, now let us exercise our minds with the aid of historical facts.

A. The historical context

B. The twentieth century twin catalysts of the demise of the Ottoman Empire – and the Nazi onslaught on the Jewish people leading to a UN response in establishing the state of Israel; and

C. The catastrophic situation facing the Palestinian people post- US Embassy location in East Jerusalem and immediate implications arising therefrom.

First, A: The historical context

Jews had lived in the land called Palestine for about a thousand years, side by side with the Arabs, as mainly pastoral people – Jews and Arabs lived peacefully- so – what changed?

Second, B (i): The end of World War 1

This saw the end of the Ottoman Empire and the formation of The League of Nations [Belgium, Britain, France, Greece, Italy, and Japan] that divided territories that had been formerly under Ottoman rule. Entities were created called “mandates”. Under the mandate system territories would be administered by such powers as Britain and France with accountability to the League and the mandate would remain until the territories were determined by the League to be at a level of readiness for independence.

Syria and Lebanon were awarded to France. Iraq went to Britain along with the entity termed Palestine, so defined in modern history at San Remo, and at the time included the lands on both sides of the Jordan River and the present-day countries of Israel and Jordan. Boundary changes were made over time. July 1922 witnessed the League of Nations ratifying the mandate arrangements and changing the map which had been established in 1920. A picture is worth a thousand words – so – for broad historical reference do see the map below. A picture saves my use of a thousand words, which this troublesome international problem indubitably invites use of:

Second, B (ii): The end of World War 1 and inter-war years

Witness the Nazi onslaught on European Jewry.

The conscience of the world is struck by the Holocaust.

Then C (i), The immediate pre and post World War 11 periods

Establishment of the state of Israel

Zionists find a basis to advance a convincing case to establish a national homeland for the Jewish people. Only problem is that with Palestinians living in Palestine there is mass expulsion to accommodate the new Jewish settlers and therein commences the lasting problem to this day with some 700,000 Palestinians initially being left stateless as refugees. The consequential conflict between Palestinians and Israelis is an outgrowth of this historical reality.

Then C (ii), The immediate pre and post World War 11 periods

The contemporary conflict

The 1947 United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine, adopted as UN Resolution 181 (11) is an important reference point relative to the ongoing conflict. There was to be an Arab section; a Jewish section; and Jerusalem would reflect that reality with there being designated areas for both peoples and an international zone for all ( having regard for the importance of the city of Jerusalem for major world religions). That in essence was the plan.

Fast forward to 2018 with President Trump placing the US Embassy in East Jerusalem and question what this does. Note that the vast majority of nations treated Tel Aviv as the proper location for placement of their Embassies in Israel. Why? Because they noted and acknowledged the reality which the UN from the 1947 Plan had tried fairly to address. Now, the prospect, any prospect for a two state solution has had hopes dashed by the US making unilateral and lopsided embraces of Israel; for East Jerusalem was designated to be the Palestinian capital. So, full circle we go back to the perspectives of US Ambassador Nikki Haley and the Palestinian scholar Noura Erakat. Haley sees absolutely only Palestinian fault: Ekarat places fault at the doors she sees it necessary to be placed.

And geographical facts versus expressed differences of opinion on the Palestine/Israel conflict is again subject to the saving of many words by way of simply viewing maps:-

Solution

There has been talk of a two state versus one state solution to the Palestine/Israel conflict. I do not see any realistic chance of a two state solution for a number of reasons:-

1. The expulsion of Palestinians to make space for Jewish arrivees in Israel and the confinement in Gaza and permanent exile of Palestinian refugees do not demographically permit establishment of a Palestinian state for reasons stated below as 2, 3 ,4, 5 and 6. How can the Palestinian population’s demographics and geographical locations proffer any hope for a two state solution?

2. Israel, aided and abetted by the US, permits encroachment, capturing and expansions by Jews into Palestinian lands beyond the 1967 borders. Those settlements are intended to be permanent. So, given the US Foreign Policy stance ( as was the case when President Reagan supported and cossetted the White regime in South Africa along with his friend UK Prime Minister Margret Thatcher) – so yet again the US finds itself on the wrong side of history – doesn’t it?

3. There is a deliberate policy by Israel of making contiguous land space non-existent for the establishment of a state, which logically and of necessity would need contiguous land space if at all it is to be – or can ever be established.  Apartheid walls separate and crisscross Palestinian territories. What is termed the ‘West Bank’ ( see Map #4 entitled “Now”) creates the new reality for Palestinians’ divided land which makes a two-state solution impossible. Hasn’t Israel willfully done this and concomitantly corralled the Palestinian people in open air prisons?

4. Within Israel there is Apartheid discrimination against Arabs and so the twin evils of prejudice and denial of the sovereignty of the Palestinian people makes this two state solution an impossibility. Did the state of Israel not discriminate against the darker skinned Ethiopian Jews; ostracize African migrants; reserve exclusivity based on ‘race’, religion and skin colour ( lack thereof) to the select ones ( chosen people) who are the only ones who have any real voice in the Knesset, despite having a 25% non-Jewish population as citizens in Israel? Doesn’t the state of Israel do all of this? With absolutely no principled and/or moral leadership coming from the US to address and ultimately resolve the Palestinian/Israel conflict – does President Trump’s unilateral move of the US Embassy present any hope to the Palestinian people in their fight for freedom, justice and a homeland?

5. How can the embrace by the Trump Administration of the mantra that Jerusalem is the “united” city and the eternal capital of Israel permit any religious acknowledgement for legitimate Arab interests or politically permit the claim of Palestinian rights being addressed?

5a. In April 2017 Russia was the first country in the world to have recognized West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Implicitly then, if not expressly stated by Russia, East Jerusalem would be the Palestinian capital. What then for the US position in not embracing West Jerusalem for the geographical space as Jewish capital, as declared by Russia, but instead effecting a provocation regarding the Jewish “united” city of Jerusalem? Doesn’t the Russian recognition of only the Western part of Jerusalem, say to the world that it denied Israel’s claims to the eastern part, including the Old City, which then leads to the conflict exaccerbations created by the Trump administration under now officially declared US policy – doesn’t the US decision do just that – present an already intractable problem with an irreconcilable decision?

Note: the majority position in the international community, does not go as far as Russia did in its decision, but rather is consistent in holding the position that the status of the entire city of Jerusalem has to be determined in peace negotiations.

6. Since Jerusalem is advanced by Netanyahu and Trump as being the “united” city ( i.e. for Jews) and a solution for the Israel/Palestine conflict is contingent on a solution to the question of Jerusalem, then it would seem Netanyahu’s and Trump’s decisions would naturally lead to escalation, more conflict, and likely war.

The 1967 Middle East war resulted in Israel capturing land from Jordan and annexing it, which is not a right arising under international law and which move has not been recognized by the international community. Now that the captured land is declared as Israel’s “united” city and President Trump has taken sides 100% with Israel, there is simply no hope for a two state solution, given, at the very least, the religious and political significance of Jerusalem, and more particularly, East Jerusalem, as was intended for the Palestinian capital.

Come 1999 and the publication of The New York Times article by Professor Edward Said, the only solution, as I see it ( as was the case with the White South African problem), is a one state solution with all religions and ethnic groups being guaranteed legal rights of equality. Anything short of this only spells conflict, confrontation and war until that day arrives. Ultimately, the South African experience proves that while Nelson Mandela, as a lawyer, could have won his case in court by arguing, it isn’t arguments that won his battles for self-determination and sovereignty. It was not the rightness of the ANC’s case that defeated Apartheid. The Africans had to fight with weapons because Apartheid South Africa, fully aided and abetted by the West ( inclusive of Israel which assisted the White regime in acquiring nuclear weapons), was armed to the teeth, supported by these nations replete with double-standards. Power respected violence and force in South Africa. Israel is fully prepared to be unrelentingly and unrepentantly brutal. President Trump, as did President Reagan in cosseting Apartheid, has even gone further and not covertly – overtly picking a side. The Palestinians in these circumstances have exhausted their peaceful options and appear to have no choice but to confront politically and most likely militarily in varying ways. They seem not to have been given any further option. Whether the Palestinians are prepared to take alternate steps to those advanced in the past is a central question for them to answer – what must we do to achieve justice? They now may not see any other solution near, far or maybe somewhere over the horizon but that of increased conflict. I am swayed by the sagacity of Professor Said’s analysis, so present it here in its entirety:-

https://www.nytimes.com/1999/01/10/magazine/the-one-state-solution.html

Interestingly, Netanyahu is referenced by Professor Said ( deceased) in his article and so again in 2018 we find Netanyahu as Israel’s Prime Minister proceeding along a path which guarantees further Palestinian suffering while employing brute force oppression to maintain the status quo – but – nothing lasts forever. Apartheid South Africa could not and did not and neither shall the current status quo in Israel, even with all the assistance of the ‘great again’ President Donald Trump. History teaches that lesson.

Once circumstances dictate that a challenge has to be placed to obtain justice, the issue for the Palestinian people then seems not to be if they fight – but rather how they fight. What other choice now exists in all the circumstances now that the last hope that the intended preservation of East Jerusalem as a place for the capital of Palestine has been dashed? What choice? What other options?

An Arab commentator made this observation:-

“None of the usual media suspects has taken it upon themselves to explain how it is that the term “clash” can possibly apply to a situation in which Palestinian men, women, children, and old people – all of them trapped on a sliver of land with no escape – are attacked by an Israeli military with a monopoly on violence and a penchant for utilising the Gaza Strip as its own personal shooting range.”

N.B.

For one set of people – a celebration of ‘independence day’ ( 14th May); for the other, the dejection ( ejection as a people and rejection as refugees) of the ‘Nabka Day’ ( 15th May).

Just about all Western journalists seem either unable or afraid to ask the logical question: Why must Israel, as the only such nation on earth, exist as an ethnicractic state and be preserved as such a construct ( see below the footnote referenced book by Shlomo Sands), while Palestinians, upon a false premise of a ‘two state solution’, are to be left living in open air concentration camps?
In 2015 Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this, “I am asked if we will forever live by the sword – yes.”

The die has been cast as PM Netanyahu has proclaimed. However, the Palestinians can choose. The choices are actually quite stark for it is either that of subservience in perpetuity or fighting over rights and ‘sovereign state freedom’. The circumstances on the ground as unequivocally confirmed by President Trump’s decision has erased any choice of two states and now leaves but one state as ‘the final solution’. There now seems to be no middle ground between that single state solution and the alternative of permanently stateless Palestinians living on Israel’s borders. Axiomatically, the prevailing circumstances dictate that justice is a potentially belligerent precursor for peace.
Justice – Peace – then: AMEN!

Footnote

Those interested in having a deeper understanding of the issues might care to read a book by a Jewish scholar, who wrote a best seller in Israel and then wrote a sequel:-

Shlomo Sand – “The invention of the land of Israel”
For a review – visit – https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/apr/18/invention-land-israel-shlomo-sand

Just how far reaching is Trump’s decision to site the US Embassy in East Jerusalem?

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/jerusalem-trump-meaning-why-important-what-does-it-mean-happened-israel-palestine-middle-east-latest-a8095991.html

 

Courtenay Barnett is a graduate of London University. His areas of study were economics, political science and international law. He has been a practising lawyer for over thirty years, has been arrested for defending his views, and has argued public interest and human rights cases. He lives and works in the Caribbean.     

Please share, forward, or otherwise disseminate this article as widely as possible.  Richard John Stapleton, Editor & Publisher, Effective Learning Report, May 21, 2018

EFFECTIVE LEARNING DIGEST—MAY 2018

The Truth will make you free, if you can use it to solve problems

 

OR SO IT SEEMS TO ME TODAY

By Richard John Stapleton, PhD, CTA

WE taxpayers paid income taxes again for one more year by April 15. Apparently the federal government had a good take, with the budget deficit being lower than usual for the month, albeit with the expected yearly deficit for 2018 left unchanged at about $1.5 trillion, to be added on to the $21 trillion or so of federal debt cumulated through time, a gradual accumulation for 180 years that was explosively kicked into high gear by the Reagan administration in 1981, that tripled the total federal debt in eight years, a record for debt tripling that will probably stand forever, while writing the script and setting the stage for wastrel warmongering profligate presidents ever since, especially Bush II in 2001.

Wars and rumors of wars, and fears and hopes of wars, depending on how your bread is buttered, is the order of the day, reminiscent of the days in 2003 before Bush II invaded Iraq, starting the slaughter or ruining of over one million people in the Middle East and North Africa up to now; and the US is once again in the elected presidential hands of another mentally disordered immoral rich kid maniac, with enough power of office to start something even more disastrous than Bush II’s so-called war on terror, in reality a war of terror.

Mother’s Day is today. People call their mothers and tell them Happy Mother’s Day, and mail them cards, or hand them cards in person with a kiss on the cheek, and a spoken “I love you”. No doubt about it, mothers are important things to have. My wife and I talked about our deceased mothers today, remembering them in various particulars. Debbye thinks she had a great mother. I think mine was a good enough mother.

A preacher’s daughter, my mother, Ida Belle Coston Stapleton, was a very good cook, taught good morals and decision-making to my brother and me, and provided a stable, safe, clean, and orderly home. As the bookkeeper and manager of family businesses she was well respected by customers and employees. Community leaders regularly consulted her informally in her office about local problems and opportunities. My father said she had a memory like an elephant, and she never forgot anything. She told me she never made less than an A in school. A psychiatrist told me she probably was a very brilliant woman.

What is a great mother? Read “Reflections on Mother’s Day” by M. G. Piety about a great natural mother, cited below in the Effective Learning Digest. It seems to me great mothers are born, not made. The lottery that determines the quality of mothering for children and the socio-economic quality of life for children around Spaceship Earth is grossly unfair, and humans should do something about it.

Writers in at least four of the articles cited in the ELD this month allude to or discuss the importance of religion in economic, political and social affairs. One of them, Courtenay Barnett, a colleague living in the Turks and Caicos Islands, writes as if he were a preacher preaching at what he calls the altar of the almighty Truth. Another one, Michael Hudson, perhaps the greatest living economist, implies we need another reformation of the Christian religion, especially in the West. An economic historian, Hudson says Jesus was a Jewish rabbi whose teachings were taken out of context by western culture to serve economic and political ends. He thinks eastern Orthodox Christian churches did a better job of preserving and propagating Jesus’s most important teachings, such as the need for periodic debt jubilees, or the forgiveness of debts. One can build the case some of the teachings in the western Christian Bible written by the Romans were crafted to make it easier to control poor people and to make it easier for the rich to get richer, rather than to encourage and engender equality, love and acceptance among all people around Earth. According to Hudson, Jesus’s original teachings encouraged equality, meekness, humility, forgiveness, love, and sharing among people around Earth, qualities sorely lacking today in the US and in its vassal states such as the UK, France, Israel, and Saudi Arabia.

I come from a long line of Calvinist preachers and teachers. One of my great grandparents, The Reverend Doctor James Maury, a French Huguenot, taught four US presidents, Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe, in a boarding school in Virginia, documented in “A Synopsis of my Educational Background,” at https://blog.effectivelearning.net/a-synopsis-of-my-educational-background/.

As usual, following in the EFFECTIVE LEARNING DIGEST are some outstanding articles published in Internet media during the last month or so written by outstanding writers, and two audio-visual videos, shining light on current relevant states of affairs around Spaceship Earth.  I stuck in this month the Chain of Ego States diagram I invented and published in 1978 showing how organizational life is affected by parents and ego states.

While it’s often true in the short run that ignorance is bliss it’s probably not true in the long run in most cases, and how much ignorance is bliss depends on who you are and what your circumstances are. Some people, especially some children, are just better off not knowing certain things. On the other hand, purposely keeping people ignorant so as to manipulate and exploit them more and better is Not OK in most cases.

I have spent most of my adult life trying to learn and teach something. To see a chronological record of these efforts click here http://www.effectivelearning.net/rjs-academic-vita.html.

Western mainstream media in order to sell subscriptions and advertising have to discount in various degrees the severity of some economic, political, religious, social, and environmental threats playing a psychological Game of GREENHOUSE and participate in a societal Happiness Racket designed to produce feelings of security, dignity, and pride in readers. In some cases they have to make federal and state politicians, their political parties, their rich donors, their locust lobbyists, and their voters look good, or at least make it seem they are doing a better job of governing than they are to sell advertising. For more on psychological Games and Rackets, read my book Born to Learn: A Transactional Analysis of Human Learning at https://www.amazon.com/Born-Learn-Transactional-Analysis-Learning/dp/0692584331.

In any case it’s not easy to make a living owning, managing, and writing for mainstream newspapers, as serious layoffs in the industry recently mentioned in various media attest, and as I learned firsthand owning, writing, editing, and publishing a weekly newspaper for two years in my home town at age twenty-two, the Wolfforth-Frenship Gazette at Wolfforth, Texas.

For more on the fallacy of composition as it applies to organizational life, i.e., reducing, damaging, or destroying whole systems by trying to maximize the interests of sub-systems, read my book Business Voyages: Mental Maps, Scripts, Schemata, and Tools for Discovering and Co-Constructing Your Own Business Worlds at https://www.amazon.com/Business-Voyages-Schemata-Discovering-Co-Constructing/dp/1413480810.

I am a Certified Transactional Analyst, a CTA, explained at http://www.itaaworld.org/what-transactional-analysis-training.

Please copy, abridge, reprint, share, forward, or otherwise disseminate this Effective Learning Digest any way you see fit.

Just punch on the web addresses and this month’s selection of articles and videos and my Chain of Ego States diagram will pop up.

Richard John Stapleton, Editor & Publisher, 32 East Main Street, Statesboro, Georgia, USA, www.effectivelearning.net.

 

May 13, 2014

An unusual poignant Mother’s Day story

SOURCE: “Reflections on Mother’s Day,” by M. G. Piety, COUNTERPUNCH.ORG, https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/05/11/101957/.

 

May 13

… and all those one tenth of one percent richest people earned all their money by doing honest hard work with their minds and hands, don't you know, and there's no reason for them to give you any of it, especially by paying higher tax rates than poor people ... and now it's time to go seepy-seep, so put your pretty head on your pillow, and don't you worry about a thing.

SOURCE: “The American Dream is Dead,” by Georges Abi-Heila, MEDIUM.COM, https://medium.com/swlh/the-american-dream-is-dead-fe9290dd0516.

 

May 13

My chain of ego states diagram, first published in 1978 in the Transactional Analysis Journal, a refereed professional journal, shows the three chains of command in any authoritarian organization, family, church, school, business, corporation, religion, military, or government, using a unique configuration of three stacked circles, the Parent chain of command, the Adult chain of Command, and the Child command. Take a look at the diagram on my Facebook page. It’s scary to think that Donald Trump is Number 1 in the US Chain of Ego States diagram. According to the transactional analysis theory of the diagram, Trump’s parents, although deceased, are now the most powerful parents of the US.

SOURCE: Chain of Ego States Diagram, by Richard John Stapleton, Facebook post, https://www.facebook.com/richard.stapleton.397.

 

May 12

Well said, John Davis

SOURCE: “Modernity’s Long Twilight,” by John Davis, COUNTERPUNCH.ORG, https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/05/11/modernitys-long-twilight/.

 

May 12

Surely Trump is not this bad, even if Fox News does say so. This article is an excellent work of satire not for the tender minded or squeamish.

SOURCE: “Trump’s Penis: Is It Presidential?”,   by Douglas Valentine, https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/05/11/trumps-penis-is-it-presidential/.

 

May 10

Sad but probably true

SOURCE: “David Stockman Warns: Forget ‘America’, “It’s Deep State First”,” ZEROHEDGE.COM, https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-05-10/david-stockman-warns-forget-america-its-deep-state-first.

 

May 10

A sermon by Courtenay Barnett on international affairs

SOURCE: “Syria’s Plight With the US,” by Courtenay Barnett, EFFECTIVE LEARNING REPORT, https://blog.effectivelearning.net/syrias-plight-with-the-us/.

 

May 10

Must reading for anyone wanting to know what is now going on in Syria, Israel, and Iran.

SOURCE: “Making Sense of the No-Deal Iran Decision, “ by Courtenay Barnett, EFFECTIVE LEARNING REPORT, https://blog.effectivelearning.net/making-sense-of-the-no-deal-iran-decision/.

 

May 9

Go for it. Sanders is the most likely candidate I see on the horizon to defeat Trump in 2020, despite his age. During the 2016 presidential running season there was talk at one time that Jill Stein would offer Bernie the presidential nomination of the Green Party with her as his vice president running mate. That still sounds like a good idea to me. If they could get some disillusioned repubs and demos to join up with a sizeable percent of the fifty percent chronically disillusioned nonvoters (who might be enticed to vote for them in 2020) it seems to me they might have a shot at winning, if they could get on all state ballots and successfully navigate the morass and hazards of the antediluvian US electoral college.

SOURCE: “Bernie Sanders reportedly considering 2020 presidential campaign, summoned top advisers over the weekend,” by Chris Sommerfeldt, DAILYNEWS.COM, http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/bernie-sanders-reportedly-2020-presidential-campaign-article-1.3779024.

 

May 9

Sad but probably true

SOURCE: “Two-Faced Trump: Peace in Korea, World War in the Middle East, by John Feffer, COUNTERPUNCH.ORG, https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/05/08/two-faced-trump-peace-in-korea-world-war-in-the-middle-east/.

 

MAY 9

A positive event all right, but unfortunately most workers do not have this kind of natural power because of the nature of the organizations they have to work for.

SOURCE: “Teachers’ Class Struggle Defiance Inspires Millions,” by Jeff Mackler, COUINTERPUNCH.ORG, https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/05/08/teachers-class-struggle-defiance-inspires-millions/.

 

May 9

Say it ain’t so joe

SOURCE: “Extremists R Us,” by Tom Englehardt, COUNTERPUNCH.ORG, https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/05/09/extremists-r-us/.

 

May 9

Another sad bad mistake

SOURCE: “The U.S. Just Declared War on Iran,” by Jan Oberg, COUNTERPUNCH.ORG. https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/05/09/the-u-s-just-declared-war-on-iran/.

 

May 8

Unfortunately many wrongs do not make a right

SOURCE: “Against Holocaust Denial,” by Paul Street, COUNTERPUNCH.ORG, https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/05/04/against-holocaust-denial/.

 

May 4

All because of nine eleven? Given the way it was caused? Say it ain’t so Joe.

SOURCE: “How many millions have been killed in America’s post-9/11 wars?,” by Nicholas J S Davies, INTREPIDREPORT.COM http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/24107.

 

May 3

Here is another article on the subject of global learning similar to another article cited in the April ELD. The upshot is that these authors think the Internet despite the drivel and fake news it makes available is indeed causing normal people around Spaceship Earth to know more about what is really going on in global economics and politics than previously was the case, and therefore there’s hope this consciousness change might cause a major change in the way human affairs happen and are managed, primarily because it will be harder for politicians and deep state manipulators to mislead enlightened individuals with propaganda and fake news. Let’s hope so.

SOURCE: “The Emerging ‘Global Brain’,” by Michael Krieger, LIBERTYBLITZKRIEG.COM, https://libertyblitzkrieg.com/2018/05/02/the-emerging-global-brain/.

 

May 2

There has been more and more talk lately on the Internet about guaranteed minimal incomes for everyone in various countries around Earth. I can’t believe this could come about anytime soon, considering the overpopulation problem, but it seems to me this is the only rational solution for the long run, if there is a long run. For more detail read my article “Toward the Creation of Spaceship Earth, Incorporated,” easily found with an Internet search. The overpopulation problem can peacefully be solved over several generations through attrition, natural deaths exceeding births, by Earthian women gaining full control of their bodies and making sure they produce no more than one child each, of either sex.

SOURCE: “46% Favor Government Guaranteed Jobs for All – Rasmussen Reports”, RASMUSSENREPORTS.COM, http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/april_2018/46_favor_government_guaranteed_jobs_for_all.

 

May 1    

American labor in action

SOURCE: “Organizing Workers Strikes Against War and Repression,” by Jack Heyman, COUNERPUNCH.ORG, https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/05/01/organizing-workers-strikes-against-war-and-repression/.

 

May 1  

Another great explanation by Michael Hudson, the greatest economist alive

SOURCE: “Bronze Age Redux: On Debt, Clean Slates and What the Ancients Have to Teach U,” by Michael Hudson, COUNTERPUNCH.ORG, https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/05/01/bronze-age-redux-on-debt-clean-slates-and-what-the-ancients-have-to-teach-u/.

 

May 1  

Say it ain’t so Joe

SOURCE: “Almost 2/3 Of Americans Have Given Up On Political Parties Citing Corruption in Government,” by Mac Slavo, SHTFPLAN.COM, http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/almost-2-3-of-americans-have-given-up-on-political-parties-citing-corruption-in-government_04302018.

 

April 30

This video presentation purports to explain how Albert Einstein was wrong about matter being unable to travel faster than the speed of light. The presenter provides reasoning supposedly proving his assertion that matter can travel faster than the speed of light. If he’s right intelligent beings could theoretically travel to planets in various solar systems hundreds of light years away from their origins. It seems to me most likely this notion is scientifically incorrect (you need more physics knowledge than I have to know), but the video is interesting and well done, especially if you enjoy scientific speculations. The presenter, who has considerable experience in the aerospace industry, divulges information about shocking new US aerospace developments that most people are probably unaware of that are probably real.

SOURCE: “Proof Faster than Light Black Budget Antigravity Technology is Real,” a YouTube Video with more than 1,559,588 views, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9CAftwO1x8.

 

April 30

This well conceived, reasoned, and written article by Jill Stein, of the Green Party, whom I voted for as President of the US in 2016, is well worth a read by any responsible citizen.

SOURCE: “Breaking My Silence on RussiaGate,” by Jill Stein, COUNTERPUNCH.ORG, https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/04/27/breaking-my-silence-on-russiagate/.

 

April 30

Want to understand the history of Israel today? Here is a good place to start.

SOURCE: “The Real Victor,” by Uri Avnery, COUNTERPUNCH.ORG, https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/04/30/the-real-victor/.

 

April 30  

This great video on US warmongering emphasizes a dramatic statement about putting Iran "on notice" that is one of the most absurd utterances the current Donald Duck US administration has made. Notice how many bases the US has surrounding Iran in the video. The Iranians would have had to be idiots not to have known for a long time the US military is a serious threat to them. It’s amazing how many brave intelligent talented comedians there are out there in Internet media who really know their stuff about what the US deep state is doing around Spaceship Earth.

SOURCE: “The REAL Reason the U.S. Wants War with Iran,” by Lee Camp, Redacted Tonight, Standing Rock News, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65_GcK0g_VU&feature=share.

 

April 30

Another cogent sermon by Courtenay Barnett

SOURCE: “Racism, Rationalizations and Resentments,” by Courtenay Barnett, EFFECTIVE LEARNING REPORT, https://blog.effectivelearning.net/racism-rationalisations-and-resentments/.

 

April 29

Anti-intellectualism in action

SOURCE: “America’s Most Popular Politician Is Nikki Haley…Let That Sink In,” by Tyler Durden, ZEROHEDGE.COM, https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-04-28/americas-most-popular-politician-nikki-haleylet-sink.

 

April 29

Insanity in action

SOURCE: “Yemen War Great For US Jobs: Watch CNN’s Wolf Blitzer Proclaim Civilian Deaths Are Worth It,” by Tyler Durden, ZEROHEDGE.COM, https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-04-28/yemen-war-great-us-jobs-watch-cnns-wolf-blitzer-proclaim-civilian-deaths-are-worth.

 

April 27

… and you have to vote for him or her because s/he is the lesser evil

SOURCE: “Secret Recording Reveals Democratic Party Boss Ordering Progressive Candidate to Quit Race,” by Tyler Durden, ZEROHEDGE.COM, https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-04-27/decision-was-made-democratic-party-boss-tells-progressive-candidate-step-aside.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MAKING SENSE OF THE NO-DEAL IRAN DECISION

By Courtenay Barnett

Before I had completed a good laugh about Stormy Daniels money hustling directed at President Trump he proceeded to give me something far more serious to write about.

Dear beloved, I am left no choice but to deliver this serious sermon. As always, I shall be speaking the almighty truth. My legal mind has now been directed to the very serious implications under international law, for President Trump’s declaration that he intends to scrap the Iran nuclear deal: the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA.

A pithed history of US/Iran relations might be instructive.

The democratically elected leader of Iran in the 1950s, Mohammad Mosaddeq, wanted to modernise Iran along Western lines. He was a Professor of international law who had studied in France and had taken note of the desireable elements of Western democratic processes and thus wanted to move Iran in a direction, he, as a nationalist, thought was in the best interests of his people.

Mosaddeq also wanted to ensure that Iran obtained a fair share of its oil wealth.

Mosaddeq nationalised the Anglo-American oil interests then operating in Iran.

Mosaddeq argued his case for his country before the then World Court and he won.

Mosaddeq was named man of the year by Time Magazine and appeared on its front cover in 1952.

The Anglo-American interests responded to Mosaddeq with a CIA led coup in 1953, which overthrew Mosaddeq and in his stead installed the Shah of Iran ( a US puppet).

Up to 1979 the Shah remained in power and in a popular uprising he was overthrown.

It is that revolutionary government which currently is in power in Iran.

That history, to say the least, is both ironic and quite telling. Iran was the country in which the US effected the first post World War 11 CIA coup, to be followed by the coup d'état in Guatemala in 1954 and many more across the world thereafter. Did someone speak of meddling in elections and the like…hmmm? Ironic, because the expressed concerns about the long-suffering people of Iran under the revolutionary government, has only US models of Iraq and Libya as recent invitees to administrative and governmental disaster and options being offered by the greatest defender of democracy in the world today – the United States of America. Or, am I missing something here? An elected leader overthrown, and one who embraced and actively sought to follow Western democratic practices in government, is – well – conveniently displaced. And now President Trump is telling intelligent people in the world that once more he wants to help the long suffering people of Iran – “Finally, I want to deliver a message to the long-suffering people of Iran: The people of America stand with you.” - really? For the sake of historical accuracy and completeness and indeed truth – the words might be added: “ as we did in 1953 when we overthrew Mossadeq and gave the Iranian people the Shah.”

Irony of ironies in abundance. Was it not Donald Trump during the American presidential campaign, who had denounced former President George Bush Jr. for having “destabilised” the Middle East in having attacked Iraq.

So, may I ask:-

Are there standard and established practices to be met under international law before commencing war?

Does a Treaty not assist the rule of international law, such that any violation thereunder has a predetermined path in the international community to address consequences for such violation(s)?

Did not the designated international verification bodies, inclusive of US intelligence agencies, give Iran a clean bill of health for adhering to the nuclear deal?

The position under international law, with America’s European allies protesting the approach taken by Trump, then compels the questions:-

If not this deal then what?

Is there a plan B which President Trump has not informed us of?

What structure, under international law, is to be invoked to assist the intended non-proliferation of nuclear arms which the Iran deal sought to stop or at the very least, forestall?

Peace candidate Trump now seems hell bent on of both further destabilising the Middle East and moving events closer to a war. It is a tremendous executive step to leap-frog over one’s Secretary of Defence then abandon a carefully crafted multilateral agreement. Since Trump denounced his predecessor for the “mistake” of attacking Iraq, then what does this move against Iran signal if not yet again a potential greater “mistake” committed in the full glow of daylight and with the warning precedent of Iraq well established for all to see. But – Iran is not Iraq and the consequences of such a war would be far more devastating for the Middle East and indeed the world. Should we laugh or cry when we hear these words uttered by President Trump in his speech declaring the end of the Iran nuclear deal, “Great things can happen for Iran, and great things can happen for the peace and stability that we all want in the Middle East.” Like ‘regime change’ a la the 1953 US led Iranian coup d'état?

Let us further consider:-

No regard for the opinions of Congress.

No heeding of the findings of the designated US intelligence agencies monitorings and reports.

No abiding the concerns of America’s European allies.

No regard for the fact that China, Russia, the European allies were all on board and endorsed the Iranian nuclear deal.

No proclaimed or stated alternative plan once the deal is jettisoned.

Yet - a unilateral decision is pursued by President Trump – to what end? Why?

I believe that since Trump is surrounded by Zionists, and a person central to the decision making process, such as John Bolton, he is emboldened by warmongers. With a nut job like John Bolton as the new National Security adviser, who just happens to be a neocon warmonger and an architect for the 2003 George W. Bush illegal war against Iraq, one is not surprised by the direction, towards war, which President Trump is taking the US and the world.

Still, in more specific terms – why did Trump do it when at least two-thirds of Americans believe that he should not withdraw?

There is an answer.

Jared Kusher, Trump’s son in law is Jewish; Sheldon Adelson and Bernard Marcus, were huge financial contributors to Trump’s campaign and Paul Singer can be included as a financial backer, paid for when Marcus and Adelson (the biggest campaign supporter) are also board members of the ’Likudist Republican Jewish Coalition’ so there is more than enough close personal (as in Trump’s friendship with Netanyahu) and psychological (as in I shall undo all that Obama did) reasons for Trump to have acted as he did.

See, people get squeamish to speak about the Palestinian/Israel issue, for fear of being called anti-Semitic. Well, not so. One can have an honest discussion about the issue and be pro-justice while not being anti-Semitic. Can one run and chew gum at the same time? Let’s try. There are three fundamental positions to be adopted on the Palestinian/Israel issue:-

A ‘settler colony’ as of 1948 displaced some 700,000 Palestinians, who ended up in refugee camps in places like Jordan and Lebanon. This leads to one path of resistance which is that Israel had no right to do this. Enter, Iran in support of the Palestinians, Hezbollah and Hamas.

A post-1967 position which accepts that the 1967 boundary line establishes Israel’s’ territorial borders. Yet, East Jerusalem and the expansion of Jews into Palestinian lands, with no opposition from the US then leaves the Palestinians abandoned and dejected (or is the right word “rejected” by US Foreign policy?).

A one state or two state option.

Now. Let us fast forward to the recent decision of President Trump. See, when Trump was contesting within the Republican party and Mario Rubio was a challenger, Trump had his sights focused on who was funding his opponent. That was then with Sheldon Adelson funding Rubio. Trump in response said that Aldeson was seeking to “mold Marco Rubio into the perfect little puppet.” Then when Adleson became a welcomed money supplier for Trump the former opposition transformed into acceptance. Indeed, he who pays the piper, now calls Trump’s tune. That is the stark reality that the world is fearful to say because many persons are fearful for being labelled anti-Semitic. Well, I am a Black man, and I just spoke truth to power, and further, call me racist – and – I shall call all my Jewish friends and have them laugh along with me – right in your stupid face. So there. Thus, I surmise that any chance of Israeli-Palestinian peace under a Trump Presidency just took wings and flew out the window towards another window across the way in East Jerusalem where Trump has endorsed the U.S. Embassy’s placement. And one wonders why Iran supports the Palestinian cause. I shall tell you why – simply because countries such as the US, Saudi Arabia and Israel render no assistance to the plight of the Palestinian people.

Consider this, when President Trump enlists in this declaratory speech on the abandonment of the nuclear deal, his concern for the Iranian people. Declassified documents confirm that the US government had virtually no concern when Saddam Hussein was using chemical weapons against Iranians during the eight years war of Iraq against Iran (see: below at 2). However, could anyone in his/her right mind ever accuse Mr. Trump of being either a complicit and bought and paid for “moron” or a pathetic and pathological liar when he speaks as he does? Worse yet, even a “puppet” of the Israeli lobby operating in the US? Never!

Lightning is threatening to strike twice in the same region.

Brace yourself or run for cover.

AMEN!

Postscript

It is undeniably clear that President Trump is pursing what I term a “KK” plan and policy, which is two-pronged:-
“K”

1. "k" kill the nuclear deal with Iran; then

“K”

2. "K" kill the Iranian people, if not with further crippling sanctions, then with actual direct warfare. If you think that I am exaggerating or in any way not speaking truthfully, then think again:-

Here

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUCwCgthp_E

2. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/dec/31/iraq.politics

 

Courtenay Barnett is a graduate of London University. His areas of study were economics, political science and international law. He has been a practising lawyer for over thirty years, has been arrested for defending his views, and has argued public interest and human rights cases. He lives and works in the Caribbean.              

SYRIA’S PLIGHT WITH THE US

by Courtenay Barnett

Dear beloved it is time for another sermon. We are here, as we all know, to hear statements delivered from the altar of the almighty truth.

I thought of life, love, family, friends, but thought again.

Life is indeed a fact of life – which we already know we shall all live until the inevitable - death - so no need for that discourse today; love is in the air, so I am contented there and shall not share my personal life –so not that one either; family are all fine so nothing to report there; friends are prized treasures so I have to give them something worth reading in this sermon. Those other topics all covered we can move to the topic for today. Events in Syria are on my mind for a few reasons. The precedents of attacks/invasion in Iraq and Libya; the tensions between Russia and the US/West; implications for the potential of nuclear war – to mention a few references and points of concern.

Syria, I am reliably informed by General Wesley Clark, has been in the US foreign policy cross-hairs for quite a while ( see: footnote 1).

A war that has been marching on for some six years with the promise of more to come. Russia has assisted the Syrian government and the terrorists are just about defeated. Problem is that the world now seems more insane than ever under President Trump’s leadership.

The US in a proxy war funds terrorists in Syria while simultaneously professing that it wants to defeat terrorism. So, the US foreign policy objective of overthrowing Assad ( no doubt to have another ‘success story’ such as in Iraq or Libya) continues to prolong the war. Add to that the hatred and demonisation of Putin/Russia and a toxic mix of pursuit of global hegemony brews along with every conceivable effort to proclaim Russia as the enemy unceasingly up to dirty tricks. A diversion to the UK assists, for illustrations of the willing conduct of a vassal state in this regard.

During the Saddam Hussein days we had PM Tony Blair, via the ‘Downing Street Memorandum’, commit to war with Iraq a full year before the illegal attack and invasion was launched. Now we have PM Theresa May proclaiming that it was Russia that set out to poison double agent spy Skripal and his daughter. So stated at a time when the international body responsible for investigating such matters had not done an investigation and the UK parliament had not had the benefit of a debate on the issue. Yet, PM May knew it must be Putin/Russia. And, the US drops some bombs to send a message. It is proclaimed that a chemical weapons factory was bombed. President Donald Trump then tweets “Mission Accomplished”. Didn’t another President so declare back in 2003 about Iraq? So, an alleged chemical weapons factory is bombed and the next day Syrian officials are walking journalists through the site with no masks or any protective gear while the US President and the Western media are telling everyone else that it was a chemical weapons factory just bombed. Makes sense – doesn’t it? Since the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) was scheduled to inspect the site Syria would launch and attack its own people only to be found out and inevitably credibly criticised by the OPCW? Would it, or upon any Russian advice – act in this way? Why court being condemned by the international community of nations, when the war is just about fully won? The day after the air attack happened with hours before the scheduled OPCW visit to come – would Syria act in flagrant violation of international law? While PM May knows it all and knows best – President Trump just bombs the bastards! But which ones? Assad, the Russians in Syria – or – the Syrians people absorbing stray bombs? Strange and stranger as the fabricated plot thickens.

The real point is that since the Syrian government did not invite US action – and - under the UN Charter, the Security Council did not sanction such bombing and the US was not acting defensively nor in hot pursuit, there simply is not a leg to stand on under international law for the US and/or any of its willing European lackeys to be bombing Syria. Guess it must be just humanitarian bombs to assist the poor, long suffering people in war torn Syria where US funded Jihadists are fighting to overthrow Assad that led to this kind of action.

Incredulity aside, let’s consider.

If a person is well informed then there is a greater chance for rational decisions being made – be that President Donald Trump or PM Theresa May.

On a rational and logical basis, since Jihadists are trying to overthrow Assad, and after some six years, with the assistance of Russia, he has defeated the Jihadists and by extension and application of logic, also thwarted the intended ‘regime change’ the US was pursuing by way of proxy funding of the anti-Assad fighters – then what good is to be served by prolonging this war? Where is there a scintilla of credibility for US action when the US funds Jihadists who have now been defeated? Will there simply not be more suffering inflicted on the Syrian people when bombs are dropped and/or Jihadists are funded?

But – of course, this war is not about ‘democracy’; ridding Syria of the evil dictator; - it is about unrelenting pursuit of a pre-determined effort and policy of removing all and sundry anywhere in the world standing in the way of US global hegemony. Viewed in this light:-

Who then is the real terrorist? The Saudis are continually chopping off heads and hands and bombing civilians in Yemen – yet - not a word of condemnation from the US and/or the Western press.

What solace for the Syrian people when the alternative to the rule of Bashar al- Assad is the ‘welcomed rule’ of Jihadists? How does this change serve the interests of the Syrian people?

Why do countries like the US and UK want a regime change in Syria – that is the question.

Answer: Syria has no significant quantities of oil. What Syria does have is a strategic location which borders Israel, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq, and Jordan. It was the British and French, during their glory days of ‘Empire’, which had competed for control of the region. This was before World War II. Post World War II modern day imperialists are engaged in the same game, with Britain and the European NATO allies playing vassal roles to the US. According to US dictates, it has to be Syria first and Iran next. War, war, war and more war.

So, my much loved congregation, there I have stated it for the believers, the non-believers and most importantly – those who seek and pursue the truth.

Truth – the UK and US are governments of unrepentant imperialist actions on the world stage.

Rationality and logic would be much welcomed and indeed I have tried to understand with as much of both as I have been able to muster ( see: footnote 2).

If the Syrian people are to know peace in the near future then the following would have to happen:-

The US would have to change course from the global trajectory that General Wesley Clark had identified; and in a perfect world...

The Russians occupying two strategically important military bases in western Syria would have to withdraw to permit the Syrian people truly to be masters of their own destiny.

Well - since the US sees only war on the horizon in pursuit of its global hegemonic objectives – and - Russia has no earthly intention of giving up its 50 years renewable leases in Syria then what next?

My guess - more of the same with not rationality and/or logic being primarily operative but rather the raw pursuit of power by the major powers operating within the world.

There you have it my people. I did not ask for war; I did not wish it on the Syrian people; they got it because of their geographical location and for reason of being caught in the cross-hairs targeted and aimed at by major powers having their country in their sights.

Would not wish this on my worst enemy – but – people of Syria – you didn’t wish or want war but powers much bigger than you have inflicted it on you.

In straight colloquial language – “People of Syria – you are caught in a bitch of a bind with no rational and/or humane solution in sight”. The US won’t change course; Russia is not moving anytime soon out of the bases and has now invested far too much in Syria funding and fighting the American funded Jihadists to relinquish its position by way of any voluntary decision.

It is power which reigns; not fairness; not international law; not justice; not the greater good of humanity.

The strong dominate and control the destiny of the weak.

And having just stated that - Heaven help you and us all.

AMEN!

Footnotes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUCwCgthp_E

https://www.globalresearch.ca/oil-conflict-and-the-future-of-global-energy-supplies/1781

 

Courtenay Barnett is a graduate of London University. His areas of study were economics, political science and international law. He has been a practising lawyer for over thirty years, has been arrested for defending his views, and has argued public interest and human rights cases. He lives and works in the Caribbean.