Right now, it’s still up to Joe “All War, All the Time” Biden to end the wars in Gaza and Ukraine. He has the power to do so, and to pretend that he doesn’t is arrant nonsense. But, but, you object, what about Bibi Netanyahu and Vladimir Putin? Well, they won’t. The former without an […]
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Charlotta Bass, the first African American woman to serve on a major presidential ticket as part of the Progressive party, stated in 1952, “We fought to destroy Hitlerism—but its germs took root right here.”[1] Now, Bass wasn’t entirely correct in her timeline of fascism rearing its head on the domestic scene, considering how at the […]
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+ On October 13, 2024, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin issued a joint letter demanding that Israel take concrete steps within 30 days to improve the catastrophic humanitarian crisis in Gaza. This would avoid potential policy and legal repercussions triggered by Section 620i of the Foreign Assistance Act, which requires […]
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Image by Alexander Mils. As has long been the case, the U.S. health care system is by far the world’s most expensive while providing the worst results among the world’s advanced capitalist countries. And that expense continues to get larger and more unaffordable. Just how large is the cost of private profit in health care? […]
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Still from Stripped for Parts: American Journalism on the Brink. The Commodification of Newspapers In the Bill of Rights, there is only one private industry singled out for protection by the federal government: The press. Yet, despite being enshrined in the First Amendment and being “a vibrant part of American life since the beginning of […]
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“A year of the most intense bombardment of a civilian population since World War II and the severe restriction on humanitarian aid have transformed Gaza into a dystopian horror.” – Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA + The Netanyahu regime announced this week that the Israeli army is close to completely displacing the Palestinian population of North Gaza […]
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For the past 13 months, the world has witnessed a campaign of carnage waged by the State of Israel against the people of Gaza on a scale unprecedented in this century. Not even the bombings against Nazi Germany at the end of World War II match the destruction and killing inflicted by the Jewish State […]
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Boys don’t cry. The first time I swam in the Gulf of Mexico off the Central Florida coast was also the last. It was deep summer, early 1980s. I was visiting the parents of my boyfriend at the time in Fort Myers. The father had had a brilliant career in military intelligence until, it was […]
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North Gaza In the past three weeks, more than 71,000 people have been displaced from North Gaza governorate to Gaza City and about 100,000 people remain in North Gaza, Office of Secretary-General of UN: The plight of Palestinian civilians trapped in North Gaza is unbearable. Just in the past few weeks, hundreds of people have […]
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Every atrocity Israel has accused Hamas of committing, Israel has perpetrated itself on a far grander scale: mass rapes, killing and decapitating babies, looting, using civilians as human shields, indiscriminate and intentionally killing civilians, desecrating religious sites, kidnapping, torture, stealing aid, conducting military operations while disguised as civilians, violating ceasefire agreements, denying medical care to […]
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Why don’t we have a maximum wage? Asking that question is another way of asking why some people can rake in millions while others struggle to earn enough to eat. A maximum wage might be one way to tamp down some of the massive inequality that exists around the world. The political conditions for a […]
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He possesses a captivating intellect, and spending even a few minutes with him feels like an extraordinary privilege. He, who identified as an accidental diplomat, served as the Singapore Ambassador to the UN and then served as the President of the United Nations Security Council. Kishore Mahbubani, an esteemed scholar, diplomat, and author, is well-known […]
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+ Let’s allow Volker Türk, the UN’s human rights chief, to set the scene for one of the bloodiest weeks yet in Israel’s pitiless extermination campaign in North Gaza: “Today, one of the darkest moments of the Gaza conflict is unfolding in the north of the Strip. As we speak, the Israeli military is subjecting […]
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Are you troubled or insane, broken down and filled with pain? Don’t be a jerk; get to work! Can you no longer walk? Cannot see? Can’t hear or talk? Don’t be a jerk; get to work! You all must work, you see, For work will make you free; you’ve got to bust a gut to […]
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As polls remain alarmingly deadlocked, Kamala Harris’ campaign is doubling down on its commitment to good vibes. In the recent vice-presidential debate, Tim Walz declared that Harris has unified a coalition consisting of Bernie Sanders, Dick Cheney, and “a whole bunch of folks in between,” saying, “They don’t all agree on everything, but they are truly optimistic people. They believe in a positive future for this country, and one where our politics can be better than it is.” After this startling characterization of the glowering, undeniably malevolent architect of Bush fils’ rampages in Iraq and Afghanistan as a “truly optimistic” visionary, Walz went on to assert that “Franklin Roosevelt was right. All we have to fear is fear itself. Kamala Harris is bringing us a new way forward. She’s bringing us a politics of joy.”
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More than 100,000 dead Palestinians later, Israel finally killed Yahya Sinwar. He wasn’t wearing a dress. He wasn’t hiding in a tunnel with Israeli hostages. He wasn’t shielded behind women and children. Bodyguards didn’t surround him. AI didn’t track him down. Another Palestinian didn’t rat him out. He hadn’t strapped explosives to his body.
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We belong to nature, we are one flesh and one blood with nature, we are one brain with nature. – Friedrich Engels, Dialectics of Nature, 1883. A year ago, the Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant probably said more than he meant to: “We are fighting human animals and we act accordingly … We are imposing […]
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It’s the final countdown for America’s Presidential race. Trump’s failed summer debate debacle is a dimmed memory, as is the sugar high of Harris’ Age of Aquarius “joy” convention. Post Chicago (and also Milwaukee where she announced her Presidency), Harris’ campaign settled into the worst parts of Obama and Clinton’s campaigns (of course the facsimile […]
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This was the week that Israel, with the backing of the Biden administration, went to war against…the United Nations by attacking UN peacekeepers (UNIFIL) in Lebanon and seizing the UN HQ in East Jerusalem. This brazen assault comes after a year of attacks on UN aid workers in Gaza, killing more than 300. After it has bombed UN food and supply convoys, UN health clinics, UN schools and refugee camps. After it has banned UN investigators from entering Gaza and threatened UN courts and prosecutors. All with the shameful acquiescence of Biden, Blinken and Harris.
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With the world at war, the feeling that the international system has failed humanity is increasing. The challenges posed to international law and the United Nations are structural—a minority of violent, militarized governments dictate the terms and play by their own rules. But can the will of the majority result in real change? Every year, […]
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Congrats to renowned author and novelist Pankaj Mishra, who recently won Canada’s prestigious Weston International Award! As winner of this impressive honor, Pankaj was asked to deliver a lecture at the Royal Ontario Museum, excerpts of which were to be published in Canada’s paper of record, the Globe and Mail. For his lecture, Pankaj chose […]
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+ This week, Israel bombed Beirut and southern Lebanon. Iran bombed Israeli military bases and intelligence sites. The US and Israel launched interceptor missiles at Iranian rockets. Israel invaded Lebonan with ground troops. The Houthis launched drone attacks on Israel. Israel bombed Yemen. The US bombed Syria. Israel bombed Gaza and the West Bank. The […]
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Flag of the Jewish National Fund.
In 1967, in the course of the Israeli invasion of the West Bank, the Israeli military razed three Palestinian villages which stood along a corridor connecting Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. In keeping with longstanding practice, the Israeli government turned the land over to the Jewish National Fund, which sought to permanently displace the Palestinian villagers through “afforestation,” or redevelopment of the area as a public park, where the former residents would be considered squatters if they tried to return to their homes. To fund the displacement-as-conservation, JNF solicited the Jewish community in Canada, whose contributions also lent the park its name: Canada Park.
Now, more than half a century later, as the Israeli occupation of the West Bank persists amid its ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip, JNF’s activities have come under new scrutiny. Most significantly, the Jewish National Fund of Canada has lost its charitable status due to even more outright support for Israeli violence: financing projects for the Israeli military in violation of regulations prohibiting charities from supporting foreign armed forces and activities contrary to public policy, such as illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
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Image by Allison Saeng.
America and its origin story are full of unexamined assumptions, one of the biggest being that voters actually cast their ballots for presidential candidates. Is democracy – which comes from the Greek words for people (demos) and rule (kratos) – the USA’s foundational “Big Lie”? Consider that, according to Ari Berman’s new book Minority Rule, only 1.8% of the population of the 13 original states voted in George Washington’s 1789 presidential election. In One Person, One Vote? director Maximina Juson goes behind the closed doors of 1787’s Constitutional Convention, when America’s anti-democratic original sin was enshrined in the new nation’s framed rules, and – like Howard Zinn’s People’s History and Oliver Stone’s Untold History of the United States – reveals hidden truths about “the land of the free.”
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+ Recall that this week of ferocious Israeli airstrikes inflicting mass civilian casualties across Lebanon began with Emanuel Macron and Joe Biden introducing a plan for a 21-day ceasefire in Lebanon that they said had the support of Netanyahu… + Shortly after Netanyahu delivered his lunatic rant at the UN, where he gave Israel the […]
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Image by Alexander Mills.
Israel’s violence toward its neighbors, long out of control in its destruction of Gaza, now threatens to open new fronts, involve new nations, and even drag the United States into direct conflict. Promises of a ceasefire from the Biden Administration have come to nothing. Soft, behind the scenes diplomacy has failed to achieve peace.
In response, “Ceasefire,” the first demand of the peace movement since Israel’s destruction of Gaza began, has evolved. The actions of the Israeli military and government, the indiscriminate killing of women and children with US weapons, and appropriate frustration from activists in the street have created a new demand: an American arms embargo against Israel. For President Biden and his administration, it may be the only way out of a new quagmire in the Middle East.
But instead of de-escalating the war and reaching a lasting peace with the Palestinian people, Netanyahu’s Israeli government is expanding the war to new fronts. On September 23rd the Israeli Defense Force launched a barrage of attacks on Lebanon, killing over 600 people and wounding thousands.
It is now threatening a ground invasion. The previous week it simultaneously detonated electronic devices across Lebanon killing dozens and maiming thousands, including civilians and children. Commenting on that attack, former CIA Director and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said, “I don’t think there’s any question that it’s a form of terrorism.” These terror attacks in Lebanon were perpetrated just one day after a senior Biden advisor warned Netanyahu not to expand the war.
These are only the latest examples of a pattern of escalation by Israel. In January an Israeli strike killed a top Hezbollah commander in Beirut, Lebanon. In April Israel destroyed the Iranian embassy in Damascus, Syria. In late July they assassinated the political leader of Hamas, and lead negotiator in the ceasefire talks, in Tehran, while he was attending the inauguration of Iran’s new president. Israel has also escalated the scale of violence in the West Bank, killing over 500 civilians in the past year and launching a major military operation there in August.
Israeli officials have recently described their strategy of expanding the war to include Lebanon as “de-escalation by escalation” – an oxymoron that flies in the face of the Biden Administration’s long stated goal to prevent a wider, regional war.
This diplomatic failure on the part of President Biden and his foreign policy team threatens to drag the United States into another war in the Middle East. The Pentagon announced that the US is sending additional forces, adding to the 40,000 US servicemen and women already in the region. Another aircraft carrier, the USS Truman, and accompanying ships is now headed to the area to join the USS Abraham Lincoln, sending thousands more sailors to the region as well, at considerable expense–and risk.
More direct US involvement in Israel’s wars threatens not only those US personnel, but also the political situation at home. A major foreign policy failure so close to the November presidential election could have the effect of bolstering former President Donald Trump’s bid to retake the White House. Trump has consistently criticized Biden for not supporting Israel enough, saying he should let them “finish the job” in Gaza. No friend to the Palestinians, Trump even used the term “Palestinian” as an insult and slur on the debate stage with Biden. Despite repeated signs that the Israeli PM is not a trustworthy partner for peace, President Biden has failed to use his leverage to rein him in. In a recent statement Netanyahu declared he will not entertain diplomatic ideas on Lebanon and will not engage in ceasefire talks for 45 days. The fact that the statement came 45 days before the US presidential election is a clear signal of Netanyahu’s political desires and motivations.
So what can Mr. Biden, his administration, and presidential hopeful VP Harris do? They can change course and finally put their foot down with Netanyahu and his right-wing government. The planned introduction of a Joint Resolution of Disapproval by Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont provides an opportunity to do so. This privileged resolution requires the US Senate to take a vote on the sale of $20 billion dollars of military equipment to Israel. More than $18 billion comes in the form of high tech F-15 fighter-bombers, but the sale also includes tank munitions, mortar shells, and precision bombs.
Biden could preempt the vote by announcing a pause to at least some weapons to Israel in light of the expanding war he has long opposed publicly. This move could also shield the Biden Administration from forthcoming reports from inspectors general investigating human rights violations committed by Israel using US weapons, a breach of US law.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has certainly given President Biden cause to stop sending US arms to his right wing government. The assault on the people of Gaza is nearing its one-year anniversary. Tens of thousands of Israelis are protesting their government’s failure to get back hostages taken by Hamas during its attack on Israel on October 7th, 2023. Former Israeli Prime Ministers Barak and Olmert have criticized Netanyahu’s prosecution of the war and blamed him for strategic failures that led to October 7th. President Biden could embrace these more reasonable forces in Israel, framing his arms stoppage as a message to Netanyahu personally and an effort to retrieve the hostages.
He’s done it before. In one of President Biden’s first foreign policy moves as president he announced a pause in offensive weapons to Saudi Arabia. The kingdom had been using such weapons to destroy its neighbor to the south, Yemen, since 2015. Biden’s move helped pave the way for negotiations leading to a ceasefire in Yemen that has largely held since 2022. His example of presidential leadership, while not perfect, illustrates a clear roadmap.
There’s historical precedent too. Presidents Eisenhower, Reagan, and George H.W. Bush also leveraged US arms to Israel. Want a ceasefire to end or prevent humanitarian disaster? Stop providing the fire.
President Biden’s strategy to achieve a ceasefire and end the destruction of Gaza has, so far, failed. His strategy to prevent a wider war in the Middle East is currently failing. It’s time for a tougher, clearer tack. There is still time to prevent the complete destruction of Gaza and to avert another disastrous regional war. There is time for Biden to avoid a political blunder that will permanently damage his legacy as president. There is time to energize young voters and Arab-American and Muslim-American voters who fear a return of Trumpism but can’t stomach a vote for an administration they see as complicit in genocide.
But there isn’t much time.
The Not Another Bomb Campaign, launched by the Uncommitted movement that successfully mobilized over 700,000 voters to express their discontent with Mr. Biden’s Gaza policy in the Democratic Primary, has the correct framing. “It is crystal clear: In order to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza, the U.S. must immediately stop arming Israel.”
Satisfying this new demand can also stop the expansion of violence into Lebanon, Syria, and Iran, preventing the loss of American lives. Heeding it might be the only way to stop the horror.
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Facebook data center Los Lunas, New Mexico. Image courtesy of Facebook.
In David Pogue’s book, How to Prepare for Climate Change, he suggests readers consider relocating to what he deems “climate safe-havens,” or fifteen cities that offer protection from the worst of climate disaster. These so-called safe havens spread across the northeastern part of the United States, from Minnesota to New York, and as far south as Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and the Virginias. Like the “rust belt,” “bible belt,” or “cornbelt,” these post-industrial cities are being redefined by their legacy infrastructure access to freshwater and moderate weather.
The designation of climate safe havens offers a little bit of hope alongside the litany of dire studies highlighting the irreversible effects of climate change. Studies like this one from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)tell us that this past May was the hottest May recorded on Earth, marking it the 12th consecutive month of record-breaking heat. The National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) reports that last year brought 28 weather and climate disaster that cost over a billion dollars in damages—yet another record broken.
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Around 3:30 local time on Tuesday, thousands of rigged pagers exploded across Lebanon and in some parts of Syria, including Damascus. Most of the explosions seemed to be targeted in Beirut’s Dahiya district and the southern Lebanon cities of West Beqaa, Sidon, Tyre, Nabatieh and Marjaayoun. The explosions, which happened simultaneously, killed at least nine […]
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Image by Joshua Kettle.
From August 14 to 18, 2023, I attended a Parliament of the World Religions in Chicago. The gathering drew together more than 7,000 people representing about 100 countries and more than 200 different religious groups. Focused on the theme of “A Call to Conscience: Defending Freedom and Human Rights,” it was a very impressive event.
The first time that many religious representatives met with each other was at the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893. Three of the goals of that gathering were to show “what and how many important truths the various Religions hold and teach in common,” to discover “what light Religion has to throw on the great problems of the present age,” and “to bring the nations of the earth into a more friendly fellowship, in the hope of securing permanent international peace.”
The president of that Parliament proclaimed: “Henceforth the religions of the world will make war, not on each other, but on the giant evils that afflict humanity.” But after two world wars, the Holocaust and other genocides, the Cold War with massive nuclear proliferation, and more than 80 wars since the end of the Second World War, many people representing many different religions realized the need for modern Parliaments in order to address our current global problems.
As a result, in 1993 many religious leaders in Chicago organized the first modern Parliament. The other modern Parliaments were then held in Cape Town, South Africa in 1999, in Barcelona, Spain in 2004, in Melbourne, Australia in 2009, in Salt Lake City, Utah in 2015, in Toronto, Canada in 2018, virtually in 2021, and most recently back in Chicago this year. I have been fortunate to participate in all these events.
The modern Parliaments are religious conventions that are open to anyone who is committed to learning about other religions and dialoging with people from other religions. Each day of the Parliament involves meetings, presentations, and panels about the beliefs and practices of different religions or about humanity’s most pressing problems: violence, human rights atrocities, poverty, racism, gender inequality, war and genocide, nuclear weapons, and environment degradation due to global warming. Leaders of various groups within Judaism, Christianity, Islam, the Baha’i Faith, Zoroastrianism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Jainism, Confucianism, Taoism, and other religious groups gave speeches in the plenary sessions about how they think these global problems can be solved.
At the 2023 Parliament, there were more than 100 sessions or presentations each day, as well as many opportunities to attend different religious services. Many dances and songs performed by various religious groups were also part of this global experience. Every day a large group of Sikhs offered a free meal of traditional Indian food to large groups of participants. Everyone who chose to attend these langars was asked to follow the Sikh custom of removing one’s shoes and covering one’s head with a turban or a cloth.
There was a major emphasis at this latest Parliament on the Declaration of a Global Ethic. It was written by a group of scholars from different religions for the 1993 Parliament. The Global Ethic emphasizes a commitment to a culture of nonviolence and respect for life, solidarity and a just economic order, tolerance and a life of truthfulness, equal rights and partnership between men and women, and sustainability and care for the Earth.
These principles reflect the ancient commandments taught in some way by all of the major religions: “You shall not murder/kill, steal, lie, or commit adultery.” According to the Global Ethic, people from every religion or no religion can agree on universal ethical values such as nonviolent conflict resolution, honesty, human rights, labor rights, working against corruption in government and economics, working for justice, and protecting the environment.
Another document that was emphasized at recent Parliaments is the Charter for Compassion. This Charter is based on the Golden Rule that has been taught by all of the major religions in various formulations.
The Charter calls upon all to restore compassion to the center of morality and religion, to reject any interpretation of scripture that breeds hatred or violence, to teach accurate and respectful information about other religions, to appreciate cultural and religious diversity, and to cultivate empathy for the sufferings of others, even those regarded as enemies. Because of the modern Parliaments and other influential leaders and organizations, many cities around the world have declared themselves to be Compassion Cities.
Several sessions at the 2023 Parliament emphasized the need for a democratic world federation. One was led by Sovaida Ma’ani Ewing, a representative of the Baha’i Faith. She argued that war, climate change, mismanagement of natural resources, proliferation of nuclear weapons, and financial upheavals can best be solved by establishing collective decision-making institutions that can evolve into a democratic world federation of nation-states.
Many modern philosophers and religious leaders have realized that there will be no peace among the nations without peace among the religions. Furthermore, there will be no peace among the religions without dialogue among the religions.
I am convinced that the Parliaments of the World’s Religions are important forums for promoting world citizenship, compassion, and a global ethic for the global community. The world’s religions have a responsibility to build a secure foundation for these values so that a democratic system of enforceable world law can outlaw war and solve our global problems.
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Image by Andrej Lišakov.
Under threat from Israeli tanks, the parents and siblings of Ms. Kamla (a pseudonym) were forced to evacuate al-Bureij camp and relocate to her central Gaza home in al-Maghazi on December 25, 2023. Three days later an Israeli tank fired a shell into her home, though thankfully their family was gathered in a different room of the house so there were no injuries. Since December 28, Kamla and her family have been displaced 7 or 8 times.
When the Israeli tanks finished their operation, Kamla left the tent she had evacuated to in Dier al-Balah. She went to see if her house was still standing. She found it partially destroyed, yet still she tried to clear the rubble to live in it once more. That was not the end however, as Israel returned with more tanks and bombs.
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