WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley said on Thursday that he believes the United States has no right to criticize Israel for its brutality in the Gaza Strip given the long list of war crimes committed throughout its history, including in Japan and Iraq.

"Before we all get self-righteous about what Israel is doing … we shouldn't forget that we United States killed a lot of innocent people in Mosul, in Raqqa, that we the United States killed 12,000 innocent French civilians," Milley said at the Ash Carter Exchange on Innovation and National Security on Wednesday. "We destroyed 69 Japanese cities, not including Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We slaughtered people in massive numbers, innocent people who had nothing to do with their government, men, women and children."

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

I PERSONALLY FIND THIS CARTOON DISGUSTING!

GUS LEONISKY

POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951

FREE JULIAN ASSANGE NOW..............

Foreign Minister Penny Wong conveys Australia’s decision on Friday 10 May to the UN General Assembly on whether Palestine should be admitted as a full member. This, after years of conflict over Palestine between Labor and the Coalition, and disagreement within the ALP, is a definitional moment for Australia.

I expect a semi-dystopian future with substantial pain and suffering for the people of the Global South,” one expert said.

Nearly 80% of top-level climate scientists expect that global temperatures will rise by at least 2.5°C by 2100, while only 6% thought the world would succeed in limiting global heating to 1.5°C above pre industrial levels, a survey published Wednesday by The Guardian revealed.

Nearly three-quarters blamed world leaders’ insufficient action on a lack of political will, while 60% said that corporate interests such as fossil fuel companies were interfering with progress.

Israeli officials reportedly said that their prime minister is ‘extremely nervous about the possible arrest warrants’, adding that he had spoken to several US lawmakers in recent days, asking them to press the ICC against taking action.

A group of US Republican lawmakers released an open (and signed) letter threatening International Criminal Court (ICC) officials against issuing arrest warrants against Israeli officials, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The court shot back against the lawmakers’ threats, though they did not name the US specifically.

IF YOU ARE A REAL “JUSTICE SEEKER” YOU WOULD SEE THAT THIS [GERMANIC] JOURNALISTIC SPEW IS GEARED AGAINST DONALD TRUMP BEFORE ANY JUDGEMENT IS PASSED — WHETHER YOU THINK DONALD TRUMP IS A SLEAZE BAG, A CLOWN OR A DEVIOUS BUSINESSMAN.

AS WELL, THE LITTLE SUBHEADS ARE CALLED “CRIME, CRIME, CRIME” FOR EACH OF THE ITEMS. THIS IS SUBTLE COERCION TO MAKE YOU THINK THAT TRUMP IS A CRIMINAL…

FROM DW...

The judge presiding over former US President Donald Trump's case, for allegedly mishandling classified documents after leaving office, indefinitely postponed the start of his trial on Tuesday.

Since the global financial crisis, big banks have taken a backseat, and asset managers have become the – often self-appointed – new experts and administrators of capitalism. Yet, collectively they also own global housing and infrastructure assets, prioritising immediate profits over other considerations like community, locality, workers and the environment.

Our Lives in Their Portfolios: Why Asset Managers Own the World

cc. Yanis Varoufakis wanted to deliver the following speech during a “Palestine Conference” in Berlin, which was planned for three days and organised by various German and international, including Jewish, associations. Yanis Varoufakis was Greece’s finance minister during the country’s manifest euro crisis in 2015 and is now Secretary General of the pan-European Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 (DiEM25), a pan-European political party that he co-founded and which co-organised the Berlin conference.

Ukraine’s authorities approved a new mobilization law in April, with the legislation intended to mobilize hundreds of thousands more troops to fuel NATO’s proxy war against Russia. Along with draconian penalties for draft dodgers, the mobilization drive has been accompanied by some eyebrow-raising measures to ‘incentivize’ would-be recruits.

Britain’s leading business newspaper has unintentionally made a laughing stock of the Kiev regime’s efforts to get more Ukrainian bodies on the battlefield, dubbing a new strategy involving giving recruits a chance to pick where which forces they serve in a “choose your own adventure” scheme.

Ill health, perhaps especially mental ill health, is generally seen as a personal issue, requiring diagnosis and treatment. But at the population level, mental health problems have a profound message for our societies and their futures. We need to pay it more heed.

A new international review has concluded that rates of emotional problems such as depression and anxiety have increased among adolescents in many countries over the past four decades, and outcomes for those with problems have worsened.

WE CANNOT FOSTER PEACE BY BECOMING WARRIORS — Vladimir Leonisky (cousin)

Today, the misery of war is all too striking in places such as Syria, Yemen, Tigray, Myanmar and Ukraine. It can come as a surprise to learn that there are scores of sustainably peaceful societies around the world, ranging from indigenous people in the Xingu River Basin in Brazil to countries in the European Union. Learning from these societies, and identifying key drivers of harmony, is a vital process that can help promote world peace.

Peace Is More Than War’s Absence, and New Research Explains How to Build It

On April 7, the U.S. Central Command issued a press release boasting about their destruction of a mobile surface-to-air missile system in the Houthi-controlled territory of Yemen.

Since commencing a bombing operation on January 12, the U.S. and Great Britain have carried out 424 air strikes targeting the Houthis in Yemen, resulting in at least 37 deaths and 30 injuries.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hqR15v1uVI

How is the OECD supporting a more level playing field?

While subsidies can be helpful policy tools for addressing emergencies or market failures - where other instruments are less effective or appropriate - they can also distort trade and competition depending on their design and target. Much like doping in sports, government support can give some firms a leg-up on their competitors that is not grounded in economic or market forces, but instead in the generosity of the government supporting them. This undermines fair competition and the willingness of economies to accept the results of that competition. Support may in turn push other countries to respond in kind, to the detriment of consumers, taxpayers, and other governments that do not have sufficient fiscal space, ultimately undermining public support for, and confidence in, an interconnected global economy.

THE AMERICAN EMPIRE HAS BEEN A PLAGUE ON THIS PLANET… THIS EMPIRE REPLACED A GAMUT OF OTHER EMPIRES — THE ENGLISH, THE FRENCH, THE SPANISH, THE PORTUGUESE, THE GERMANS AND OTHER PLUNDERERS OF WEAKER NATIONS. 

SOON AFTER THE BRITISH LED THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION, THE AMERICAN EMPIRE BECAME THE BIGGEST POLLUTER ON THE PLANET — WITH MAINLY A DECEITFUL IDEOLOGY, PLASTICS, CHEMICALS, VIRUS GAIN OF FUNCTION AND CO2… 

ON THE FOOTSTEPS OF EUROPEAN POLITICAL DESPOTISM, THE AMERICAN EMPIRE WAS THE INSPIRATION FOR FASCISM, USING FREEDOM, DEMOCRACY AND EXCEPTIONALISM AS SMOKESCREENS FOR ITS VILE RUTHLESSNESS. 

WAIVING MONEY AS BAIT, IT DESTROYED THE SPIRITS OF FAIRNESS AND COVERTLY CONTINUED SLAVERY… INDEPENDENCE IS A DIRTY WORD FOR THE EMPIRE: “YOU’RE WITH US OR AGAINST US”…