The US Leads the Charge to Condemn Assad's Crimes in Syria, but Ignores Saudi Arabia's Abuses

People carry the body of a child they uncovered from under the rubble of houses destroyed by Saudi airstrikes near Sanaa Airport, Yemen on March 25. (photo: Hani Mohammed/AP)

http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/36054-the-us-leads-the-charge-to-condemn-assads-crimes-in-syria-but-ignores-saudi-arabias-abuses

The US Leads the Charge to Condemn Assad's Crimes in Syria, but Ignores Saudi Arabia's Abuses

By Sarah Leah Whitson, Los Angeles Times

31 March 16

  One week before the Brussels terrorist attacks, a Saudi-led coalition bombed a market in Mastaba, Yemen. Although more people died in Mastaba than in Brussels — 106 versus 34 — the media and the international community in general ignored that earlier atrocity, as they've ignored most of the 150 indiscriminate aerial attacks reported by the United Nations and Human Rights Watch in the last year.

  The problem, however, is worse than inattention; the West is actually supporting — by way of arms and military assistance — this all-but-invisible war.

   Saudi Arabia has stated that its goal in Yemen is to restore to power President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi, who fled the capital, Sana, in the wake of a coup by Houthi militia forces, and to preempt Iranian designs to control the country. Whatever one makes of those ambitions, it's undeniable that the Saudis are violating international law as they carry out attacks with no apparent military target and use banned weapons, such as cluster bombs. Aerial strikes have hit schools, hospitals, markets and homes. According to the U.N., they account for 60% of the 3,200 civilians killed in the conflict.

   It's relatively well known that the U.S. and Britain are contributing to the war effort as the lead providers of the Saudi coalition's arsenal. Saudi Arabia has been on a global arms shopping spree and is now the world's largest purchaser of weapons. It contracted for at least $20 billion in weapons from the U.S. and almost $4.3 billion in weapons from Britain in 2015. The United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia's main partner in the Yemen war, is not far behind, as the world's fourth-largest purchaser of weapons, acquiring $1.07 billion from the US and $65.5 million from Britain last year.

    The brutal reality is that some of these bombs have landed on innocent Yemeni men, women and children. This is why many human rights and humanitarian organizations, as well as the European Parliament, have called for an embargo on arms sales to Saudi Arabia.

    What remains unknown is the exact nature of the U.S. and British military role in the Saudi campaign. The U.S. Defense Department has vaguely stated that it is providing “targeting assistance,” which as a matter of law means it is liable for unlawful strikes in which it takes part. So what, exactly, does this targeting assistance looks like? Did it assist with the strike on the market? Did it help target the Doctors Without Borders medical clinic that the coalition struck repeatedly last October? What about the cluster bomb attack on Sana University in January?

    Britain, for its part, has said it is providing “military training on compliance with the laws of war” — operating out of the Riyadh Command Center — with estimates ranging widely from six to 150 trainers. But what exactly are these people doing? If they are assisting with the targeting, this could make them a party to the conflict. If they are merely offering advice, it is patently clear that the Saudis are disregarding it.

    One appropriate way for the Saudis — and the U.S. and Britain — to address the streams of evidence about unlawful airstrikes in Yemen would be to support an independent, international investigation into the conduct of both the coalition and the Houthi armed group, Ansar Allah, which is currently in power in much of the country.

Member states of the U.N. Human Rights Council attempted to pursue just such an investigation, but the Saudi-U.S.-Britain trifecta effectively quashed it. Instead, they backed a “domestic investigation” in Yemen led by the quasi-exiled, Saudi-supported President Hadi. It is no surprise that the body he announced last September has made no progress The coalition also hastily announced the creation of a committee to “promote compliance with the law” but made clear that it would not investigate any alleged violations.

     So even as the U.S. leads the charge for international justice against the Assad government in Syria, it turns a blind eye to or actually stymies international inquiries into abuses by Saudi Arabia.

    President Obama has repeatedly connected the dots between the proliferation of violent extremism and abuses by the authoritarian, unaccountable governments of the Arab world. He has had less to say about the risks created to American citizens by U.S. alliances with and military support for these governments.

   But in this day and age, when it takes little training or equipment to wreak terrorist havoc in Western capitals, Obama should be very worried about the boomerang effect of such alliances. Unlawful strikes and large-scale civilian casualties are certain to foster further instability and extremism, whose effects may be felt not just in the region but closer to home too. The age of secret wars is not entirely over, but the shield of national boundaries has certainly expired.

C 2015 Reader Supported News

Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218.  Ph: 410-323-1607; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/

"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs

Economist Argues 'Pie in the Sky' Sanders Will, in Fact, 'Make Economy Great Again'

www.commondreams.org/news/2016/03/30/economist-argues-pie-sky-sanders-will-fact-make-economy-great-again

Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Economist Argues 'Pie in the Sky' Sanders Will, in Fact, 'Make Economy Great Again'

Leading economist argues that Sanders' bold economic agenda would 'deliver standards of well-being for the overwhelming majority of Americans in ways that we have not experienced for generations.'

Lauren McCauley, staff writer

Bernie Sanders' "Future to Believe In" is based, according to economists, on "solid economic reasoning and evidence." (Photo: Gage Skidmore/cc/flickr)

   As the Democratic primary race tightens, Hillary Clinton has been trying to cast opponent Bernie Sanders as unrealistic and "pie in the sky," but a leading University of Massachusetts economist says such criticisms are "dead wrong" and, in fact, the Vermont senator's proposals are precisely what will "make the economy great again."

   In a column published at The Nation on Tuesday, Robert Pollin, distinguished professor in economics at UMass Amherst and co-director of the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI), examines the major policy items under Sanders' economic agenda. These include a single-payer healthcare system; increasing the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour; free tuition at public colleges and universities, to be financed by a "Robin Hood" tax on Wall Street transactions; and large-scale public investments in renewable energy and infrastructure.

   Pollin's conclusion: this program works, handily.

   "All of his major proposals are grounded in solid economic reasoning and evidence," Pollin states.

"Overall, the Sanders program is capable of raising living standards and reducing insecurity for working people and the poor, expanding higher educational opportunities, and reversing the decades-long trend toward rising inequality," Pollin writes. "It could bring Wall Street’s dominance under control and help prevent a repeat of the financial crisis. It will also strongly support investments in education, clean energy, and public infrastructure, generating millions of good jobs in the process."

   Pollin's analysis builds on previous research, including his own. It takes a big-picture look at the potential impact of Sanders' policies, refuting claims made by Clinton and her supporters that they would stymie job and economic growth.

   When discussing the minimum wage increase, Pollin dismisses the idea that employers would not be able to absorb the cost of the wage increase. Citing a recent study by PERI colleague Jeannette Wicks-Lim and himself, Pollin states, "even fast-food restaurants, which employ a disproportionate share of minimum wage workers, are likely to see their overall business costs rise by only about 3.4 percent per year during a four-year phase-in for a $15 minimum wage."

   Pollin argues that the overall economy will benefit "from the gains in equality tied to the minimum-wage increase," explaining that "greater equality means working people have more spending power, which in turn supports greater overall demand in the economy."

   Referencing a paper that he along with a team of UMass economists published earlier this month, Pollin also concludes that the Inclusive Prosperity Act co-sponsored by Sanders in the Senate and U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) in the House, "could conservatively generate around $300 billion per year in new government revenue" through a Financial Transaction Tax (FTT), which "would be more than enough to finance in full the Sanders proposal to provide free college tuition for all U.S. students."

   At the time of that writing, National Nurses United executive director RoseAnn DeMoro published a column at Common Dreams which she wrote that it is "no surprise" that "Wall Street moguls, and their surrogates in the media and Washington, hate [the legislation]."

   "But," DeMoro added, "shamefully, many in the liberal and Democratic Party elite, from Hillary Clinton to her surrogates in the Democratic National Committee and Congress have also attacked Sanders' social change agenda as 'pie in the sky.'"

   In fact, Clinton used that very same language at a rally in Madison, Wisconsin, on Monday, telling supporters that she wasn't a candidate just proposing "pie in the sky stuff" in order to win votes. 

   Contrary to the criticisms lobbed against Sanders bold economic plan, Pollin concludes that the agenda would both grow the economy "at a healthy rate," and at the same time "deliver standards of well-being for the overwhelming majority of Americans, as well as the environment, in ways that we have not experienced for generations."

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License

Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218.  Ph: 410-323-1607; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/

"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs

Peace vigil at 5 PM on April 1/Film about McCarthyism on April 1 at 7:15 PM/Obama, You're Wrong About Sanders

  There is usually a silent peace vigil on Fridays, from 5 to 6 PM, sponsored by Homewood Friends and Stony Run Meetings, outside the Homewood Friends Meetinghouse, 3107 N. Charles St.  The next scheduled vigil is on Apr. 1. Black Lives Matter.  Since this is a First Friday, there will be a potluck dinner afterwards, followed by a DVD showing.

   The Hiroshima-Nagasaki Commemoration Committee, Baltimore Quaker Peace and Justice Committee of Homewood and Stony Run Meetings and Chesapeake Physicians for Social Responsibility are continuing the FILM & SOCIAL CONSCIOUSNESS DVD SERIES.  The DVDs will be shown at Homewood Friends Meetinghouse, 3107 N. Charles St., Baltimore 21218, usually on the First Friday. At 7:15 PM, from January through June, a DVD will be shown with a discussion to follow.  There is no charge, and refreshments will be available. The series theme is CHANGE IS INEVITABLE.  

On Fri., Apr. 1 see GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK [USA, 2005], a historical drama, directed by George Clooney, and starring David Strathairn, Clooney, Robert Downey, Jr., Patricia Clarkson and Jeff Daniels. The movie was written by Clooney and Grant Heslov (both of whom also have acting roles in the film) and portrays the conflict between veteran radio and television journalist Edward R. Murrow and U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin, especially relating to the anti-communist senator's actions with the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. The movie, although released in black and white, was filmed on color film stock but on a greyscale set, and was color corrected to black and white during post-production. It focuses on the theme of media responsibility, and also addresses what occurs when the media offer a voice of dissent from government policy. The movie takes its title (which ends with a period or full stop) from the line with which Murrow routinely signed off his broadcasts. GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director for Clooney and Best Actor for Straithairn. Call 410-366-1637 or email mobuszewski [at] verizon.net for further information.     

 www.commondreams.org/views/2016/03/30/obama-youre-wrong-about-sanders

Wednesday, March 30, 2016

The Hill

Obama, You’re Wrong About Sanders

Brent Budowsky

  Before Obama further insults the intelligence and idealism of Sanders supporters by suggesting he knows better than they do about which candidate they should put their faith in, he might  consider a few key things. (Photo: Jacquelyn Martin/AP)

   On Monday, President Obama scolded journalists for not covering the substance of the presidential campaign. I entirely agree.

   Where I disagree with the president is when he criticizes Bernie Sanders and his supporters, as well as Donald Trump, by saying: “When people put their faith into someone who can’t possibly deliver his or her own promises, that only breeds more cynicism.”

   Obama is wrong — and insulting to voters — when he suggests that they need him or the media to determine whether they should put their faith in Sanders. Sanders supporters know exactly why they are supporting the Vermont senator.

    Sanders and his supporters believe — and I entirely agree — that Democrats should stand for powerful transforming change. They believe Democrats should mobilize armies of small donors and workers to support that change and should motivate more voters to come out on Election Day to elect more Democrats to the House and Senate, so that the party can negotiate with Republicans from a position of strength and a mandate for change.

   Obama and Democrats should consider with prayerful reflection why, since Obama became president, Democrats have lost control of the House, the Senate, governorships and state legislatures across the nation. It is fact, not opinion, that Democrats have suffered extreme damage at all levels during Obama’s presidency, because too many Republican voters were motivated to vote and too many Democratic voters were not inspired and stayed home.

   Before Obama further insults the intelligence and idealism of Sanders supporters by suggesting he knows better than they do about which candidate they should put their faith in, he might consider this: The sum of all polling, according to RealClearPolitics, finds that Sanders would defeat every Republican opponent in a general election, would defeat Trump by an epic landslide margin of more than 17 percent and runs stronger than Hillary Clinton against all GOP opponents.

     My answer to Obama’s speech to journalists is not that Democrats should support Sanders or Clinton, but that it is profoundly unwise and destructive to Democrats for the president to gratuitously criticize Sanders and insult those who put their faith in him. Regardless of who is nominated, Sanders is a major part of the solution to the challenges that Democrats face, and when Obama criticizes Sanders he becomes the problem, not the solution.

    Make no mistake, Hillary Clinton is the probable nominee for the Democratic Party, and if she is nominated I will work like hell to get her elected. But make no mistake about this, either: Bernie Sanders still has a chance to win a majority of elected delegates, and he and his supporters should be respected.

   Sanders has touched a chord in American politics. He speaks to the heart of many Democrats. He offers the conviction politics of authenticity and principle that Americans hunger for and find sorely lacking in politics today. He thrills young people, appeals to independents and attracts blue-collar workers who might otherwise be tempted by Trump.

    If Obama wants to help his party do better than it has done so far on his watch, while offering high praise to Clinton, he should speak of Sanders with respect and admiration, not condescension and contempt. If he wants to elect more Democrats to the House and Senate, he should sing the praises of Sanders for inspiring small donors to give him more than $43 million in February, and he should offer those small donors a standing ovation worthy of their great aspirations. Then, perhaps, they will donate to progressive Democrats running for the House and Senate regardless of who is nominated for president.

   For the same reasons that Sanders should avoid negative attacks against Clinton, Obama should avoid negative opining about Sanders and condescension toward his supporters, who bring enthusiasm, idealism and commitment to the cause that serves all Democrats and is as precious as gold to any nominee, whoever he or she may ultimately be.

© 2016 The Hill

Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218.  Ph: 410-323-1607; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/

"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs

The Israel Lobby’s Dangerous Agenda for the US: Attack Free Speech and Criminalize Resistance

Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)

The Israel Lobby’s Dangerous Agenda for the US: Attack Free Speech and Criminalize Resistance

By Max Blumenthal [1] / AlterNet [2]

March 28, 2016

   Last week, just a few minutes before the House Foreign Affairs Committee met for a hearing, one of the Israel lobby’s most dependable members of Congress, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen huddled with twenty supporters of AIPAC, the lobby’s front line organization in Washington. It was a routine affair for the Florida Republican and her pro-Israel allies, whom she addressed by their first names. But a member of the public who witnessed the meeting noticed a startling new agenda was on the table.

  The witness told me that Ros-Lehtinen vowed to destroy the mounting grassroots BDS campaign to boycott, divest from and sanction Israel. To do so, she pledged to weaken the First Amendment. “Free speech is being used in our country to denigrate Israel and we need to actively fight against that,” Ros-Lehtinen declared, according to the source.

   Disturbing as her statement might have been, it was consistent with the rhetoric bellowed out by nearly every presidential contender who appeared on stage at DC’s Verizon Center. Speaking before some 18,000 AIPAC supporters, Senator Ted Cruz not only pledged [3] to starve educational institutions of federal funding if they dared to support BDS, he promised that under his watch, “they will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.” Echoing Cruz, Republican contender John Kasich announced his intention [4] to “use the full force of the White House” to destroy what he called “the scourge” of BDS.

  The Democratic frontrunner, Hillary Clinton, was no less draconian. Reverting to the “Goldwater girl” [5] sensibility of her conservative college years, and tossing aside her recent appeals to social justice intersectionality [6], Clinton vowed to punish [7] the campus left for supporting Palestinian human rights. Slamming BDS as a form of anti-Semitic hate speech, Clinton offered encouragement to the young, affluent and almost uniformly white pro-Israel students bused into AIPAC in droves. “Don’t let anyone silence you, bully you or try to shut down debate, especially in places of learning like colleges and universities,” she implored them.

    The BDS movement has gathered momentum at a staggering pace since it was devised by Palestinian civil society groups in 2005. With its call for grassroots level boycotts to pressure Israel into respecting the human rights of Palestinians, the movement has spread across European capitals and found fertile soil on American college campuses. Yet just a few years ago, AIPAC and its affiliates displayed little interest at all in it. When he appeared at AIPAC in 2011, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spent his entire speech badgering the Obama administration for not attacking Iran. He did not feel compelled to mention Palestinians even once. Despite the influential role played in the 2012 Republican presidential primary by Sheldon Adelson, a key benefactor of Netanyahu and the Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, BDS was scarcely mentioned by any of the candidates, nor was it discussed much in mainstream American media.

    Almost four years later, with the Iran nuclear deal ratified, the peace process in shambles and the Green Line that was supposed to separate Israel from a future Palestinian state fully erased by a settlement movement that dominates the Israeli government, AIPAC is moving to destroy the last line of resistance. From Washington to Paris to London, Israel lobbyists are extracting ritual denunciations of BDS from its political hand puppets and authoring new laws to forbid its implementation. Repressive legislative efforts are accompanied by legal subterfuge [8], high-tech sabotage [9], McCarthy-style online blacklists [10] and carefully orchestrated smear campaigns [11] against anyone who resists [12]. No target [13] is too small. With guidance from Jerusalem, where the most right-wing government in Israeli history is mounting an all-out assault on internal dissent [14], the lobby has embraced a totalitarian agenda that aims for nothing less than the criminalization of all political opposition.

  On display for the first time at AIPAC, the Israel lobby’s search-and-destroy mission against BDS has already found enthusiastic allies in governments across the West. In Paris, where President Manuel Valls vehemently equated anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism [15], a French court of criminal appeals recently upheld the conviction [16] of a dozen Palestine solidarity activists for calling for the boycott of Israeli goods. In the UK, the Conservative government of Prime Minister David Cameron has introduced legislation [17] to prevent local town councils from divesting from Israeli products or even from weapons manufacturers. As state legislatures [18] across the US [19] vote to blacklist companies [20] that refuse to do business in Israel — a rare and highly unusual instance of corporate regulation — the University of California board of regents has taken the unprecedented step of defining anti-Zionism as anti-Jewish discrimination [21], setting the stage for outlawing a political position gaining in popularity [22] among Jewish Americans.

In its bid to criminalize the speech of its opponents, the Israel lobby has sought to formally redefine anti-Semitism according to the “3 D’s” formula conceived by Natan Sharansky [23]. Promoted as a former Soviet dissident who champions freedom, Sharansky is, in fact, a hardline Likudnik Israeli politician and promoter of Israel’s settlement enterprise [24] who helped inspire [25] George W. Bush’s Middle Eastern conquests. Sharansky’s “3 D’s” abandons the traditional understanding of anti-Semitism, redefining it from the discrimination against Jews as Jews to any opposition to the political imperatives of the Israeli government, thereby limiting Jewish identity to the narrow ideological designs of Zionism. Israel lobbyists have successfully pressured the US State Department [26] to adopt Sharansky’s definition, and after a long slog [27], have pushed the University of California regents to endorse it as well. If this highly politicized understanding of anti-Semitism is ever enforced, anyone who has campaigned against Israeli human rights abuses could face harsh legal recriminations, even if they identify as Jewish.

   Capitalizing on a campaign finance system deregulated by the Citizens United decision, which defined corporations as people with unlimited rights to free speech, the Israel lobby has unprecedented leeway to limit the speech of actual human beings. Leveraging massive donations from Likudnik oligarchs [28], it is planting cadres at every level of government, turning Congress, statehouses and student government councils into a unified platform for crushing resistance. As the veteran AIPAC operative Jonathan Kesslerdeclared [29], “We’re going to make sure that pro-Israel students take over the student government and reverse [divestment votes]. This is how AIPAC operates in our nation’s capital.”

   The lobby’s campaign extends well beyond crushing Palestine solidarity. In the years ahead, pro-Israel forces will serve as the leading edge of reactionary campaigns to fracture any iteration of solidarity between marginalized social groups. The smears of Jeremy Corbyn [30], the leader of the British Labour Party, offer a perfect example of how Israel has been instrumentalized to break down progressive social movements. Elected in one of the most dramatic grassroots triumphs in recent political history by a coalition of university students, blue collar workers and immigrants outraged by deepening austerity and destructive foreign interventions, Corbyn has come under sustained fire from the neoliberal Blairites who had dominated Labour since the 1990’s. This February, anti-Corbyn elements opened up a new front with a torrent of thinly sourced allegations that Labour had suddenly become infected with “an anti-Semitism problem.” [31] Centered around the resignation of a Blairite Oxford University Labour club leader who complained that Jew-haters disguised as human rights activists had made his life unbearable, the unconfirmed claims made their way to the New York Times op-ed page through a column by Roger Cohen entitled, “An Anti-Semitism of the Left.” [32]

   Cobbling together a litany of complaints by anxiety-ridden Zionists about the tide of Palestine activism rising all around them, Cohen bemoaned the “identity and liberation politics” that now prevail on university campuses. Just a few paragraphs later, however, Cohen pronounced his devotion to the Zionist project, insisting that “the Jewish state was needed… That is why I am a Zionist — now a dirty word in Europe.” Yet Cohen does not live in Israel; he resides instead in an affluent locale in New York City, where Jews enjoy lavish lifestyles, political power and a sense of security they could never dream of in Jerusalem. His connection to Zionism is not grounded in the facts on the ground in Israel-Palestine, but in an identity politics that only elites like him can enjoy. When forms of speech that reinforce his identity have come under attack, as when Islamic fanatics massacred the staff of Charlie Hebdo, he summoned [33] “the entire free world” to “ruthlessly” defend liberal values. When his identity has been challenged by the unrelenting demands of Israel’s colonial subjects, however, Cohen quickly abandoned all pretense to enlightenment. He has become the living embodiment of Phil Ochs’ sardonic classic, “Love Me I’m A Liberal” [34]: “Ten degrees to the left of center in good times, ten degrees to the right of center if it affects them personally,” as Ochs sang.

   While Israel lobbyists howl about the threat of intersectionality [35] on campus, they are actively appropriating its identitarian language to undermine progressive social justice organizing on campus. Mark Yudof, the former University of California president who tacitly endorsed [36] the criminal prosecution of Muslim-American students for protesting a speech by Israel’s former ambassador to the US, put the tactic on display by describing [37] factual claims [38] that Israeli soldiers deliberately kill civilians as a “microaggression against Jews.” At the University of Michigan, a member of the student governing council justified her vote [39] against a resolution to divest from corporations involved in the Israeli occupation on the grounds that it denied “safe spaces” to Jewish students. And at the University of South California, a pro-Israel student conceded [40] that the UC regents’ decision to classify anti-Zionism as a form of anti-Semitism was an attack on free speech — but supported it anyway because, in her view, Jews are “a minority still so unfairly discriminated against and maligned.” Animated by the perceived ethnic slights of a hyper-privileged overclass, pro-Israel activism is essentially a White Lives Matter movement protected from accountability by morally inconsistent liberals. Indeed, many of the Jewish liberals who claim to have battled South African apartheid [41] and marched alongside the civil rights movement [42] now seek to destroy a struggle [43] they inspired.

   Towards the end of his life, as he watched the occupation of Palestine deepen and expand, the dissident Israeli philosopher Yeshayahu Leibowitz described Israel as “the only totalitarian country in the enlightened world.” He was referring to the way that the Jewish state promoted itself as beacon of liberal democracy while it imposed a brutal, panopticon-style regime of repression on Palestinians, raiding their homes at night, shuttering their media outlets, and torturing them at will. Today, Israel is projecting this regime outwards, recruiting operatives across the West to eradicate all resistance, even attacking constitutionally protected forms of protest. Like the country it has enlisted to defend, a borderless settler-colony that demands special exemption from international law, the lobby’s mission knows no limits. Where the occupation started is well known, but where will it end?

 Max Blumenthal is a senior editor of the Grayzone Project at AlterNet, and the award-winning author of Goliath [44] and Republican Gomorrah [45]. His most recent book is The 51 Day War: Ruin and Resistance in Gaza. Follow him on Twitter at @MaxBlumenthal [46].     

Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@alternet.org'. [47]

        [48]

Source URL: http://www.alternet.org/grayzone-project/israel-lobbys-totalitarian-agenda-smash-free-speech-and-criminalize-resistance

Links:

[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/max-blumenthal
[2] http://alternet.org
[3] http://www.policyconference.org/article/transcripts/cruz-2016.asp
[4] http://time.com/4267674/john-kasich-aipac-israel-speech-transcript/
[5] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WycwDYlOCDw
[6] https://shadowproof.com/2016/02/28/clinton-intersectionality-language-interview/
[7] http://time.com/4265947/hillary-clinton-aipac-speech-transcript/
[8] http://mondoweiss.net/2015/05/standwithus-lawsuit-olympia/
[9] http://www.alternet.org/grayzone-project/israel-announces-26-million-cyber-attack-boycott-divestment-and-sanctions-movement
[10] http://www.alternet.org/tea-party-and-right/modern-day-mccarthyists-are-going-extremes-slime-activists-fighting-israels
[11] http://mondoweiss.net/2016/03/nyt-finally-mentions-goliath-in-rightwing-ad-smearing-max-blumenthal/
[12] https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/charlotte-silver/pro-israel-group-targets-jewish-professor-over-palestine-activism
[13] http://www.buzzfeed.com/christophermassie/cory-booker-boycott-israel-movement-an-anti-jewish-movement#.jhmz6579B
[14] http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/27/opinion/how-israel-silences-dissent.html
[15] https://vimeo.com/145816483
[16] https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/france-now-more-repressive-boycott-calls-israel
[17] https://electronicintifada.net/content/uk-wants-law-stop-councils-boycotting-israel/15061
[18] http://www.masslive.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/09/massachusetts_state_representa.html
[19] http://mondoweiss.net/2016/03/indiana-lawmakers-seek-to-silence-critics-of-israel/
[20] https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/nora-barrows-friedman/new-york-bill-would-create-official-blacklist-israel-boycott-supporters
[21] http://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/regmeet/mar16/e1.pdf
[22] http://forward.com/news/israel/217528/embracing-israel-boycott-jewish-voice-for-peace-in/
[23] http://forward.com/opinion/4184/antisemitism-in-3-d/
[24] http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2005/03/dissident-interview-natan-sharansky
[25] http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/want-to-know-what-bush-thinks-read-sharansky-1.151005
[26] http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/fs/2010/122352.htm
[27] http://forward.com/opinion/312358/why-u-of-california-should-dump-three-d-definition-of-anti-semitism/
[28] http://forward.com/news/309413/sheldon-adelson-bds-campaign-campus-vegas/
[29] http://mondoweiss.net/2010/04/aipac-we-make-sure-that-pro-israel-candidates-take-over-government/#sthash.C6sYv9C8.dpuf
[30] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/labour/11749043/Andrew-Gilligan-Jeremy-Corbyn-friend-to-Hamas-Iran-and-extremists.html
[31] http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/mar/18/labour-antisemitism-jews-jeremy-corbyn
[32] http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/08/opinion/an-anti-semitism-of-the-left.html?_r=0
[33] https://twitter.com/tinyrevolution/status/554294504099155968
[34] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u52Oz-54VYw
[35] http://forward.com/opinion/328585/bds-and-the-rising-danger-of-intersectionality/
[36] http://www.thenation.com/article/free-speech-pro-israel-lobby-and-case-irvine-11/
[37] https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2015/12/14/colleges-should-commit-robust-debate-about-middle-east-conflicts-essay?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=06f09dc32e-DNU20151214&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-06f09dc32e-197769874
[38] http://www.btselem.org/publications/summaries/201501_black_flag
[39] https://twitter.com/MaxBlumenthal/status/583116374026809344
[40] http://dailytrojan.com/2016/03/21/uc-recognizes-racism-may-hide-anti-zionism/
[41] http://www.thejc.com/news/israel-news/150198/taking-israel-icc-would-exculpate-terror-backers
[42] http://www.jta.org/2015/07/21/news-opinion/politics/dermer-makes-civil-rights-appeal-to-black-dems-and-other-iran-deal-politics
[43] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alan-dershowitz/lets-have-a-real-aparthei_b_485399.html
[44] http://www.amazon.com/Goliath-Life-Loathing-Greater-Israel/dp/1568586345
[45] http://republicangomorrah.com/
[46] http://twitter.com/maxblumenthal
[47] mailto:corrections@alternet.org?Subject=Typo on The Israel Lobby’s Dangerous Agenda for the US: Attack Free Speech and Criminalize Resistance
[48] http://www.alternet.org/
[49] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B

Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218.  Ph: 410-323-1607; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/

"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs

Baltimore Activist Alert - March 31 - April 2, 2016

37] Iran Nuclear Deal – Mar. 31

38] Stop Coal Subsidies – Mar. 31

39] Lobby Like a Pro – Mar. 31

40] Peace group is meeting – Mar. 31

41] Rally for Zero – Apr. 1

42] Boris Nemtsov’s Murder – Apr. 1

43] Peace vigil at White House – Apr. 1

44] WIB peace vigils – Apr. 1

45] Go after Big Pharma – Apr. 1

46] Witness Against Torture retreat – Apr. 1 - 3

47] Peace Vigil/Black Lives Matter – Apr. 1

48] Film GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK – Apr. 1

49] Ballroom Dancing – Apr. 1

50] Theater about public housing – Apr. 1

51] Canvas for Bernie – Apr. 2

52] Canvass for Donna Edwards – Apr. 2

53] Job available with Little Friends For Peace

54] Sign up with Washington Peace Center

55] Donate books, videos, DVDs and records

56] Do you need any book shelves?

57] Join the Global Zero campaign

58] Join the Peace Park Antinuclear Vigil

--------

37] – On Thurs., Mar. 31 from 10 to 11:30 AM., Ebrahim Mohseni, University of Maryland; Iris Bieri, The Iran Project; Trita Parsi, National Iranian American Council; and Nancy Gallagher, University of Maryland, will discuss "The Implications of Iranian Elections on the Iran Nuclear Deal.” The event, sponsored by the University of Maryland, will be held in Room 385, Russell Senate Office Building, WDC.  Go to http://cissm.umd.edu/events/special-event-implications-iranian-electionsn.

38] – On Thurs., Mar. 31 at noon, join a Stop Coal Subsidies Rally at the  Japanese Embassy, 2520 Massachusetts Ave. NW, WDC.  Go to https://www.facebook.com/events/1582294655429947/. Join Friends of the Earth, Sierra Club and Oil Change International to protest a horrific coal project in Indonesia that the Japanese government might finance while Japanese Prime Minister Abe will be in Washington, DC. Now is the time to act and demand Japan move beyond coal!  Friends of the Earth (FOE) Japan and FOE Indonesia have asked for help to put public pressure on Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe while he's in town next week for the Nuclear Security Summit. Demand that he reject financing a harmful coal project already plagued by human rights violations that's proposed to be built in Central Java, Indonesia.

39] – Lobby Like a Pro 2016 continues on Thurs., Mar. 31, and then ends on Apr. 14.  These classes will be in the form of a webinar by phone. Do you feel that the legislative session is a mysterious process in which you have little meaningful access? Have you come to town for a rally or a lobby day, but left feeling you would like to do more you just don’t know how? Then “Lobby Like a Pro” is for you!

This course will give you a deeper understanding of how the session works, and how to influence legislation through the process. The training will cover every aspect of how a bill becomes a law, demystifying the process and giving you the tools and confidence to really make a difference. The course is free and open to anyone whether you have never been to Annapolis before or have done some lobbying work but want to know more. Participants who are not a member of Common Cause Maryland are encouraged to make a donation to support our work. The course will include seven trainings. Notes will be sent out after each training, so if you miss one do not despair! The classes will start at 7:15 PM for questions and discussion, and the training will begin at 7:30 PM and last until 8:45 PM.  Register at http://act-md.commoncause.org/site/Calendar/1862034735

40] – The Pledge of Resistance-Baltimore meets on Thursdays at 7:30 PM, and the meetings usually take place at Max’s residence.  However, the meeting on Thurs., Mar. 31 will be at an alternate site.  The agenda will include Freddie Gray & local organizing, killer drones and Obama, an action at the State of the Union, the refugees, lobbying Rep. Sarbanes, Bernie’s phone, Annapolis legislation, and the unending wars. RSVP at 410-323-1607 or mobuszewski at verizon.net to get the address of the meeting site.

41] – Rally for Zero in McPherson Square, WDC, on Fri., Apr. 1 at noon.  On March 31 & April 1, world leaders are convening in D.C. to talk nuclear security. Not on the agenda are nuclear weapons. That has to change. There are 15,000 nuclear weapons in the world today, thousands ready to fire at a moment’s notice. Nuclear weapons jeopardize global security - not strengthen it. Join as Global Zero rallies to show world leaders that 15000 ≠ security. It’s time they take action for zero. The rally will feature a life-size inflated nuclear missile and Global Zero movement leaders. Email ldaigle@globalzero.org. RSVP at http://www.globalzero.org/protest. 

42] –  Become enlightened by “Solved?”: Investigating Boris Nemtsov’s Murder at Atlantic Council, 1030 15th St. NW, 12th Floor (West Tower Elevators), WDC, on Fri., Apr. 1 from noon to 2 PM.  Join the McCain Institute, the Atlantic Council, the National Endowment for Democracy and the Institute of Modern Russia for a panel discussion on the current status of the investigation into the assassination of Boris Nemtsov and the need for international oversight of the investigation. One year after the public assassination of Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, the head of Russia’s Investigative Committee, General Alexander Bastrykin, has announced that the case has been “solved.” However, the legitimacy of the investigation is questionable.  RSVP at https://www.mccaininstitute.org/events/upcoming/solved-investigating-boris-nemtsovs-murder?mc_cid=ce58ce91d2&mc_eid=2ca43b10e0.

43] – On Fri., Apr. 1 from noon to 1 PM, join the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker in a vigil urging the powers that be to abolish war and torture, to disarm all weapons, to end indefinite detention, to close Guantanamo, to establish justice for all and help create the Beloved Community! This vigil will take place at the White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Contract Art @ artlaffin@hotmail.com or at 202-360-6416. 

44] – On Fri., Apr. 1 from noon to 1 PM, join a Women in Black peace vigil. A vigil will take place in McKeldin Square at the corner of Light and Pratt Sts., and another will take place outside Roland Park Place, 830 W. 40th St., across from the Rotunda.  Stay for as long as you can. Wear black. Dress for who knows what kind of weather. Bring your own poster or help with the "NO WAR IN MY NAME" banner.  When there are others to stand with, you don't need to carry the burden alone. Do this to be in solidarity with others....when everything around us says “Be afraid of the stranger.”

45] – The April Fool's "It’s No Joke, We Need Access to Medicines" rally is happening at PhRMA, 950 F St. NW, WDC, on Fri., Apr. 1 at 12:30 PM.  It's time to unveil the wizard behind the screen and deflate the myths of medicine pricing in collaboration with UAEM, SGAC, ACT UP, Treatment Action Campaign and many others in a grand global unveiling of Pharma's Greed! Bring your banners and voices to the PhRMA headquarters building to tell the United States Congress to stop being a puppet - Demand that Congress reject the TPP, which will only facilitate high pricing of medicines. Tell them that we need public discussion of a Global Research and Development (R&D) Agreement at the 2016 World Health Assembly, which would ultimately foster increased transparency concerning the cost of drug R&D and the pricing of medicines.  Email ali@uaem.org.  Go to https://www.facebook.com/events/469956726533233/.

46] – You are invited to the Witness Against Torture Retreat and Planning Session from Fri., Apr. 1 at 3 PM through Sun., Apr. 3 at 12:30 PM in Cleveland, Ohio. Every spring, WAT members gather to reflect on the year’s work and plan how to continue moving forward. There is simple housing available for those that are coming. RSVP by Fri., Mar. 25 to witnesstorture@gmail.com.

47] – There is usually a silent peace vigil on Fridays, from 5 to 6 PM, sponsored by Homewood Friends and Stony Run Meetings, outside the Homewood Friends Meetinghouse, 3107 N. Charles St.  The next scheduled vigil is on Apr. 1. Black Lives Matter.  Since this is a First Friday, there will be a potluck dinner afterwards, followed by a DVD showing.

48] – The Hiroshima-Nagasaki Commemoration Committee, Baltimore Quaker Peace and Justice Committee of Homewood and Stony Run Meetings and Chesapeake Physicians for Social Responsibility are continuing the FILM & SOCIAL CONSCIOUSNESS DVD SERIES.  The DVDs will be shown at Homewood Friends Meetinghouse, 3107 N. Charles St., Baltimore 21218, usually on the First Friday. At 7:15 PM, from January through June, a DVD will be shown with a discussion to follow.  There is no charge, and refreshments will be available. The series theme is CHANGE IS INEVITABLE.  

On Fri., Apr. 1 see GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK [USA, 2005], a historical drama, directed by George Clooney, and starring David Strathairn, Clooney, Robert Downey, Jr., Patricia Clarkson and Jeff Daniels. The movie was written by Clooney and Grant Heslov (both of whom also have acting roles in the film) and portrays the conflict between veteran radio and television journalist Edward R. Murrow and U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin, especially relating to the anti-communist senator's actions with the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. The movie, although released in black and white, was filmed on color film stock but on a greyscale set, and was color corrected to black and white during post-production. It focuses on the theme of media responsibility, and also addresses what occurs when the media offer a voice of dissent from government policy. The movie takes its title (which ends with a period or full stop) from the line with which Murrow routinely signed off his broadcasts. GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director for Clooney and Best Actor for Straithairn. Call 410-366-1637 or email mobuszewski [at] verizon.net for further information.     

49] – There is an opportunity to participate in ballroom dancing, usually every Friday of the month, in the JHU ROTC Bldg. at  8 PM.  Turn south on San Martin Dr. from the intersection of Univ. Parkway and 39th St.  Drive on campus by taking the third left turn. The next dance will be Apr. 1. Call Dave Greene at 410-599-3725.

50] –  Get over to On My Mind / In My Heart: The Voices of Women in Public Housing which is taking place at the Anacostia Arts Center, 1231 Good Hope Rd. SE, WDC, on Fri., Apr. 1 from 8 to 9:30 PM.  Six women from different DC communities are inviting you to hear some of their personal stories, hoping that you will walk away with a greater appreciation for the people who call public housing home.  Their stories have been woven together with the expert assistance of playwright Caleen Jennings and are brought to the stage under the brilliant direction of Goldie Patrick. The event includes music by Ron dj'Rbi Brown and a short discussion with the audience facilitated by Empower DC's public housing organizer Schyla RedBlackngreen. This event is FREE.  Contact Parisa at (202) 234-9119 x 100 or parisa@empowerdc.org.  Visit https://www.facebook.com/events/1072155086175435/.

51] – The revolution needs you at a Towson Area Canvass for Bernie Sanders on Sat., Apr. 2 at 10 AM.  There will be two canvasses--10 AM to 1 PM and 1 to 4 PM.  Meet in the parking lot outside the Fresh Market, 838 Dulaney Valley Road, Towson 21204.  You're invited to join your neighbors and supporters to knock on the doors of supporters and undecided voters. You will be given a script, a list of voters, and a map of where to go. You will be trained to use your time effectively out in the field.

52] – On Sat., April 2 at 10:30 AM, meet at 810 Winston Ave., Baltimore 21212, for coffee, tea and bagels and to get instructions at 11 AM.  Then go door to door with a targeted list to cavass for Donna Edwards from 11:30 AM to 1 PM.  Voter registration forms for the Winston-Govans community will be available. 

One of the main purposes in talking about Donna Edwards is to find people who will commit to poll watching during early voting from April 14-21 and on Election Day, April 26.  If you are able to donate a few hours towards this effort, please call 410-433-3269.  RSVP if you can help out on Saturday.  It's an important campaign as you know--to help put into the US Senate the only African American woman senator, a woman who has the backs of U.S. working class families.

53] – Little Friends for Peace is seeking an Associate Director! See http://cts.vresp.com/c/?LittleFriendsforPeac/62044daa7b/361a8a1b5e/2126310dfa.  The new Associate Director position is a giant step toward achieving a strategic goal of building capacity to make a greater impact on the communities and expand outreach to new unserved communities. Reporting to the Executive Director (MJ Park), the Associate Director will share strategic and operational responsibility for LFFP's staff, programs, mission execution, and expansion. For the full Associate Director job posting and instructions on how to apply, click here: http://cts.vresp.com/c/?LittleFriendsforPeac/62044daa7b/361a8a1b5e/33b07f4182.

54] -- The Washington Peace Center has a progressive calendar & activist alert! Consider signing up to receive its weekly email: info@washingtonpeacecenter.org.

55] -- If you would like to get rid of books, videos, DVDs or records, contact Max at 410-323-1607 or mobuszewski at verizon.net.

56] -- Can you use any book shelves? Contact Max at 410-366-1637 or mobuszewski at verizon.net.

57] -- Join an extraordinary global campaign for the elimination of nuclear weapons: http://www.globalzero.org/sign-declaration. A growing group of leaders around the world is calling for the elimination of nuclear weapons and a majority of the global public agrees.  This is an historic window of opportunity.  With momentum already building in favor of Zero, a major show of support from people around the world could tip the balance. When it comes to nuclear weapons, one is one too many.

58] – A Peace Park Antinuclear Vigil takes place every day in Lafayette Park, 1601 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, 24 hours a day, since June 3, 1981. Go to http://prop1.org; call 202-682-4282.

Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218.  Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/.

“One is called to live nonviolently, even if the change one works for seems impossible. It may or may not be possible to turn the US around through nonviolent revolution. But one thing favors such an attempt: the total inability of violence to change anything for the better" - Daniel Berrigan