Germany’s compliant response to the ICC’s arrest warrant for Netnyahu was shocking but correct
I was shocked by Germany’s stated willingness to arrest Netanyahu, but it was at the same time a pleasant surprise.
Germany is the last country I’d have expected to sully Washington by bowing to the ICC.
For one thing, the Germans have always leaned over backwards to prove they repent of their role in the Holocaust. Back in the 60s, Spiegel Magazine ran articles on this specifically German concept of Vergangenheitsbewältigung, which is so reflective of Germany’s mea culpa that it has no exact equivalent in any other language.
The closest I can come in English is “overcoming the past” or “coming to terms with the past,” but somehow that seems to fall short of the true meaning.
The German authorities went so far in their efforts to undo their past wickedness that they made various laws to prove they were repentant, and in so doing, showed that they themselves didn’t fully understand what they had done in the Third Reich and how it simply could not be undone.
One silly law was an attack on freedom of expression and it applied to the entire world.
It was a law against Volksverhetzung, another hard-to-translate word that essentially meant incitement of violence against a race or nationality.
A perfect example of locking the barndoor after the horse escapes, it sought, for example, to punish anyone anywhere who tried to maintain that the Nazi Holocaust killed fewer than 6 million Jews, even though after the war, it was nigh onto impossible to establish an exact number. In fact, even the official number varied from time to time until the 6 million was finally established essentially by consensus.
The new law took political correctness to new levels of idiocy. On one occasion, a non-German historian wrote a book that the Germans deemed a revisionist history of the Holocaust and the Germans issued an arrest warrant for him. He was caught in Australia and extradited to Germany, where he spent 18 months in prison, all for the sake of making the Germans look like they had overcome their Nazist ways. It showed just the opposite.
There are a host of things that Germans are not allowed to say about the Jews in public, and the penalty for insulting the Jews is a prison term.
But what they failed to understand was that all this legal mumbo-jumbo was far from deterring, or taming, any would-be Nazis from talking like Nazis. Nor did it prove that the German authorities had repented one iota of their horrendous behavior toward the Jews and everyone else.
Clearly, in making silly laws, the German Dummköpfe in authority showed the world that they had no idea what actually constituted the essence of Nazi racism.
The bulk of their efforts did not aim to eliminate racism, it only focused on Jews and paid little attention to the plight of other victims. Because after the war, the Jews were the main victim group who had captured the sympathy of the world.
Thus, it was clear that the German response was all political theatrics. For example, one news site described the ham-fisted attempts at coming to terms with the past as follows:
The Nakba remains the central event of Palestinians’ modern national life and is marked in Germany and throughout the world with events remembering this disaster.
But not in Berlin.
Last May 10, the police issued a blanket ban on any Nakba demonstrations, basing this on a claim that a young man had uttered an antisemitic remark at a recent demonstration.
All of these legal absurdities are why I was nonplussed at the current German response to the ICC arrest warrant.
Not only was it out of character for Germany to agree to arrest Netanyahu, but Scholtz, the decision maker in this, had always bowed deeply before his Führer Biden. For example, it was in Scholz’s presence that Biden announced months before the destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines that he would put and end to the pipeline if Putin invaded Ukraine, and that he had the ability to do so. Scholtz uttered nary a peep of protest to this shocking and insensitive announcement.
When the Nord Stream was then blown up in fulfillment of Biden’s promise, Scholtz still held his tongue, though he must have known that this sabotage would put an end not only to the pipeline but in fact to the German economy.
Thus, Scholtz has always been Biden’s obsequious little pin cushion.
Who would have thought that he of all people would compromise something so dear to Biden’s heart as his relationship with Israel, for which AIPAC had paid him over $5.2 million.
It is encouraging to know that if the US public paid its politicians millions of dollars, US politicians would be loyal to them as well.
Maybe.
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Here’s your daily air strike update for May 23, 2024
Translation with my notes in bold and in [brackets]
The Russian Aerospace Forces dropped new UMPB D-30SN rocket bombs on the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Kharkov
Author: Alena Zhilina
Photo: Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
May 23, 2024, 04:59 — Silovoy Blok [Power Bloc]
Journalists of the Telegram channel “War. Story. Weapons” published video footage of the work of the Russian Su-34 fighter bomber, which flew at enemy targets in Kharkov. Thus, the Su-34 crew dropped new UMPB D-30SN rocket bombs on a Ukrainian Armed Forces facility. As the authors of the publication report, compared to FABs and KABs, these bombs have a jet engine, which significantly increases the projectile’s flight range.
…
WG: Russian attack aircraft Soroka, who was captured, convinced four Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers to surrender
“In addition, the UMPB D-30SN can be used not only by aircraft, but also by the Tornado-S MLRS [multiple launch rocket system]. There is information that a TV tower in Kharkov was “cut down” with this particular bomb,” the publication says.
Most often, the Russian army uses FAB-500 and FAB-1000 aerial bombs to bomb enemy fortified areas and concentrations of manpower. There is also an aerial bomb FAB-1500 and FAB-3000 with glide modules in service with the Russian troops. The military also uses this type of weapon during a special operation before the start of assault operations in order to facilitate the work of the infantry in breaking through enemy defenses. For example, Russian soldiers used such aerial bombs to perform tasks in Kupyansk and Chasov Yar, and now they are using aerial bombs to defeat the enemy in Volchansk. As military correspondent Alexander Sladkov reported, the Russian army also has FAB-9000 aerial bombs in its arsenal, which were used only once - during the Chechen campaign.
Earlier, Silovy Blok reported that “RV” showed footage of the Airborne Forces breaking through on “Tigers” under artillery fire of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Chasov Yar.
SVOFABKHARKIV
**
Translation with my notes in bold and in [brackets]
https://smotrim.ru/article/3964062?ysclid=lwjn91bbu495107845
MAY 23, 2024
At least ten explosions occurred in Kharkov in 20 minutes
Igor Terekhov, installed by the Kyiv regime as the head of Kharkov, reported several explosions that rang out in the city on the afternoon of May 23.
According to Ukrainian warning resources, the air raid alert in the Kharkov region, announced on May 23 around 05:30, was still in effect at 11:00 Moscow time. At around 08:30 an explosion occurred in the city.
About two hours later, explosions resumed in the city. The mayor of Kharkov, Igor Terekhov, reported the first explosion at 10:27; by 10:45, according to information published on the Telegram channel of the Kharkov mayor, at least ten explosions were heard in the city. The consequences are being clarified.
Since 11:04, the air raid regime has covered most of the regions of Ukraine.
**
“Thousands of Lives Saved”: the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation destroyed large reserves in the rear of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in a powerful strike
Photo: Global look Press
The Russian army struck a powerful blow to the accumulation of reserves of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, intended for transferring to the Kharkov area. This is reported by the TG channel LPR1. According to the source, the strike occurred at the moment when the personnel and equipment of the Armed Forces were at the sorting station in Lyubotin in the Kharkov oblast. The train received several accurate missile and bomb hits.
In addition, another strike fell on the accumulation of enemy equipment in Shorty.
“Our command has just saved thousands of lives of our military personnel, not allowing the arrived reserves to reach the front lines,” the LPR1 channel said.
Now fierce battles are continuing in the Kharkov area. If in the early days of the offensive our troops managed to quickly advance several kilometers from the border, now the advance has slowed down very much. Ukraine transferred significant reinforcements to the breakthrough site. Now stubborn battles are going on in the city line of Volchansk and near Staritsa. The advance of the RF Armed Forces amounted to 500 meters over the past day. Therefore, in order to continue the successful offensive in the Kharkov direction, it is extremely important to timely destroy the reinforcements of the Armed Forces before their arrival at the front.
At the same time, almost no one had any doubt that Ukraine would continue to lose the territory in the near future. Thus, military officials in Kyiv advise Ukrainians to come to terms with the loss of territory in the coming months, Foreign Affairs magazine reports.
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Israeli soldiers and police tipping off groups that attack Gaza aid trucks
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Germany is quite possibly the European state with the least freedom of expression. It’s getting worse
Translation from German with my notes in bold and in [brackets]
Newsletter - "A new stage of repression"
(Own report) - On today's 75th anniversary of the entry into force of the Basic Law [essentially the Constitution] (May 23, 1949), Germany is located in a phase of a rapidly increasing authoritarian formation. While, for example, Chancellor Olaf Scholz praises the "freedom and value regulations" of the Basic Law and is mentioned in official statements of "75 years of freedom", unpopular opinions are increasingly suppressed and their followers are constrained. A first thrust in this direction had been accompanied by the beginning of the Ukraine War; At that time, Russian media were banned, Russian artists were boycotted and even works by Russian composers were taken from programs [Thus, as in the Third Reich, punishment was meted out on the basis of race – or at least ethnicity]. Since the beginning of the Gaza War, Palestinians and their supporters have had literary prizes withdrawn, were eliminated from cultural centers and their bank accounts have been terminated, the latter even when they are Jewish organizations. [the salient example is Alina Lipp’s case] Federal Ministry begins to officially discipline university lecturers who speak out for the right to protest, while Berlin imposes entry bans against critics, including a former Greek minister. From western countries there are increasingly horrific reactions.
https://www.german-foreign-policy.com/news/detail/9566
**
Hypocrisy of US toward ICC
https://ria.ru/20240521/antonov-1947318287.html
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Essentially every elected US federal official should be behind bars for corruption!
There is no such thing as a government of the people, by the people and for the people
Biden is best paid prostitute of Israel. A cool 5.2 million over the course of his career
Our thanks to JS:
RE: Israel regime KNOWS that Biden will never force creation of Palestinian state!
There are two very good reasons to believe this:
1] Biden is a lawyer and therefore a professional liar; and
2] Biden is a lawyer and therefore a promiscuous anything-for-a-buck political prostitute.
In support of reason 1], please see:
Biden as a young liar:
Biden as a presidential liar:
New York Times helps arrest source of documents showing US lies
On Thursday, the New York Times publicly exposed the identity of the individual who allegedly shared classified documents that exposed lies by the Biden administration and media about US involvement in Ukraine.
By Andre Damon, World Socialist Web Site, 13 April 2023
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/04/14/xfxa-a14.html
EXCERPTS:
The leaked documents showed that US President Joe Biden lied when he said, “I will not send American servicemen to fight in Ukraine.” In fact, over 70 US soldiers are deployed in Ukraine, alongside over 100 NATO special forces, according to the document. They also showed that the White House lied when it said, “NATO is not involved” in the conflict, as the documents do not make a distinction between efforts to train and lead Ukrainian forces and the other operations of NATO.
In support of reason 2], please see:
Top 20 Member Recipients of Money from Pro-Israel , 1990-2024
https://www.opensecrets.org/industries/summary?code=Q05&cycle=All&ind=Q05&recipdetail=M
Joe Biden holds the record as the all-time best paid prostitute of the Zionist regime having successfully solicited and accepted $4,261,010 over the course of the last 34 years. [Actually, another source sets the total higher than this]
In both second and third places, far behind Biden, are two other powerful Democratic Party liars and criminals,
>> Menendez, Robert (D-NJ) = $2,500,005
>> Clinton, Hillary (D-NY) = $2,362,312
On this topic, I recall with gratitude these words of wisdom from another Democrat:
https://web.archive.org/web/20190218065839/
https://twitter.com/ilhanmn/status/1094747501578633216
**
List showing the MILLIONS raked in from AIPAC by corrupt politicians over the years
Lindsay Graham raked in $1,007,580 from AIPAC so far
Excerpt from the above-linked site:
Speaking of Gaza, I watched Chris Hedges interview Ilan Pappé, an Israeli historian. Pappé put it simply and clearly: Israel is engaged in “incremental genocide” against the Palestinian people, a genocide in slow motion, a strategy of “displacement and replacement.” The “displacement” of the Palestinians is done by mass bombing, mass destruction, mass death, and (hopefully for the Israelis) mass migration, and the “replacement” will come when Jewish settlers take possession of Gaza (after a lot of munitions cleanup and infrastructure redevelopment, I suppose, probably paid for by the U.S. taxpayer).
There’s an Orwellian term for this. For mass death followed by forced expulsion, Israel is using the term “voluntary migration” (or “voluntary” emigration). But of course there is nothing “voluntary” about any of this.
If U.S. government officials appear clueless about what’s happening in Gaza, they’re not. They’re just bought and paid for.
…
AIPAC itself does not make political contributions and is in fact legally prohibited from doing so. Instead it uses its considerable resources ($3 million annual lobbying budget) to link current and aspiring members of Congress with pro-Israel donors. AIPAC’s projection of invincibility encourages political candidates and officeholders to accept pro-Israel contributions or risk seeing those funds go to their opponents. For example, former Congressman Paul Findley and former Senator Charles Percy lost their seats for failure to adhere to the AIPAC line.
**
https://larouchepub.com/other/2024/5120-some_important_history_of_isra.html
This article appears in the May 17, 2024 issue of Executive Intelligence Review.
Now We Must Stand Up for Truth!
Some Important History of Israel, Palestine and the British ‘Great Game’
by Harley Schlanger
We present here the author’s edit of his remarks on May 4 to The LaRouche Organization’s weekly “Manhattan Project” dialogue. Subheads have been added. The full video of the program may be seen here.
Protests against the hideous, inhuman, genocidal treatment of Palestinians are going strong. This is a protest at the University of Oregon in Eugene.
May 6—The world is watching the struggle of students who are protesting on U.S. campuses, asserting the First Amendment right to constitutionally protected free speech; in this case, free speech and condemnation of the genocide being committed by Israel on the people of Palestine. And this genocide will continue. As Netanyahu just said, it doesn’t matter if there’s a truce or not; the Israelis are still going into Rafah.
Asia, or in Africa. The oligarchs are defending an imperial unipolar order. The real fight is for peace—against genocide.
Why carry out genocide? What’s the point here?
…
The Truth of Anti-Semitism
I’ll demonstrate that the charge of anti-Semitism is not only false, but it’s a coward’s way of avoiding a real, principled discussion; and that’s what is needed—a real, principled discussion…
…
Some History of the British Zionism Project
Let’s take a look at some of the history behind this; the whole question of Zionism, anti-Semitism, and make the point that Zionism is not Judaism. Judaism is a religion; Zionism is a political cult, and it has a religious-cultish backing to it. But most importantly, it’s a tool that’s been used by the empire to serve the interests of the empire in Southwest Asia.
Let me give you some insights from Lyndon LaRouche, going back to, in this case, 1981, in an article called “The ‘LaRouche Doctrine’ on Israel and the Holocaust”:
More here
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Add Germany to the list of states that will arrest Netanyahu!
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Richard Wolff interviewed by Lena Petrova. Give a listen. It’s well worth your time.
Tariffs only increase inflation
Because YOU pay for them in price hikes, NOT the country targeted by them. No, they do not protect the US economy.
According to lying politicians, tariffs, say on autos, protect the US auto industry. But that is a bit of a fantasy. Biden, for political purposes, slapped a 100% tariff on Chinese electric cars. Dr. Wolff, who has been lecturing on economics all his life, explains that what this tariff does is raise the price of all electric cars, even those made in USA. Why?
Because by eliminating the competition from China, the US auto industry is freed to raise its prices without improving its cars or lowering its price.
That costs YOU the consumer more money.
I have always suspected that tariffs, intended to protect the US industry, eliminate the competition that is necessary for a healthy economy and now Dr. Wolff explains why.
The Chinese economy has gotten incredibly efficient and can now charge almost 50% less for its cars because of something known as economy of scale. They make a HUGE number of cars.
The US used to advocate for competition. But now it is losing in a competitive market because it no longer has the same old efficiency in manufacturing consumer goods.
Biden’s team of shysters accuse China of cheating, but, no, according to Wolff, China is playing by the rules. It is the US that cheats. And Biden isn’t the only one. Trump resorted to the same kind of cheating when it was his turn to muck up the economy. US presidents know nothing about economics. Their decisions are clever sound bytes.
The US cheats in many kinds of ways. In foreign policy by supporting genocide.
Since AIPAC started buying US politicians, we no longer have pro-American politicians.
Professor Wolff says the US is collapsing. Anyone can see he’s right.
What can be done when politicians ONLY think of their own pocket books? They deserve a stiff jail sentence, NOT re-election.
The solution can no longer come from inside America, no matter how patriotic the public is. Because the US political system is hopelessly corrupted. The Larouche Organization speaks of “corporate cartels.” My British friends speak of corporatism. The old time competitive capitalism is gone. Eventually, it will be replaced, but by what?
The solution, if it comes, will come from without. BRICS is winning the game. Can the US join?
Without the dollar, the corrupt politicians will have a hard time fleecing us. But they’ll fight it tooth and nail. Really, that means fighting us.