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Category: Politics

Western governments increasingly concerned about their complicity in Israeli war crimes

Western governments increasingly concerned about their complicity in Israeli war crimes

The New York Times reports: For months, Western governments have provided military support for Israel while fending off accusations that their weapons were being used to commit war crimes in Gaza. But as a global outcry over the growing death toll in Gaza mounts, maintaining that balance is becoming increasingly difficult, as was clear on a single day this past week. On Tuesday, in a United Nations court, Germany found itself having to defend against accusations that it was complicit…

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World set to quadruple oil and gas production by 2030, led by new U.S. projects

World set to quadruple oil and gas production by 2030, led by new U.S. projects

Oliver Milman writes: The world’s fossil-fuel producers are on track to nearly quadruple the amount of extracted oil and gas from newly approved projects by the end of this decade, with the US leading the way in a surge of activity that threatens to blow apart agreed climate goals, a new report has found. There can be no new oil and gas infrastructure if the planet is to avoid careering past 1.5C (2.7F) of global heating, above pre-industrial times, the…

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Is this Israel’s forever war?

Is this Israel’s forever war?

Keith Gessen writes: For many people, in Washington and beyond, the American response to the 9/11 attacks settled an old question about the U.S. and its commitment to human rights. Clearly, it seemed to them, the U.S. had no such commitment. It was happy to preach to other people—to Serbs, Russians, Chinese—about human rights. But, when it came under attack, it would do just about anything to wipe out the threat. Paradoxically, though, it could be argued that the American…

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Iran seizes cargo ship in Strait of Hormuz after threats to close waterway

Iran seizes cargo ship in Strait of Hormuz after threats to close waterway

Reuters reports: Iran’s Revolutionary Guards seized an Israeli-linked cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, days after Tehran said it could close the crucial shipping route and warned it would retaliate for an Israeli strike on its Syria consulate. Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported that a Guards helicopter had boarded and taken into Iranian waters the Portuguese flagged MSC Aries, saying it was linked to Israel. MSC, which operates the Aries, confirmed Iran had seized the ship…

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Israeli photographer beaten by settlers while documenting attack of Palestinian town

Israeli photographer beaten by settlers while documenting attack of Palestinian town

The Times of Israel reports: Yedioth Ahronoth photographer Shaul Golan says he was attacked by a group of settlers after arriving at the Palestinian village of al-Mughayyir to document the rampage unfolding there. “I was walking around the village taking pictures when I saw a group of masked Jews emerge from a nearby olive grove, walking around… as if they owned the town. I filmed as they torched homes,” he tells the Ynet news site. Golan says he hid under…

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Majority of voters think Trump committed ‘serious federal crimes,’ according to NYT poll

Majority of voters think Trump committed ‘serious federal crimes,’ according to NYT poll

Politico reports: A majority of voters believe former President Donald Trump has committed “serious federal crimes,” according to the latest New York Times/Siena College poll. Fifty-three percent of likely voters said they believe this, while 39 percent of those surveyed said they did not believe that Trump committed serious crimes. Nine percent said they didn’t know or didn’t answer the question. The numbers broken down by party affiliation show that 90 percent of Democrats believe he has committed serious crimes,…

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A legal process rigged in Trump’s favor

A legal process rigged in Trump’s favor

James Romoser writes: Nearly 500,000 people in America are in jail while they await criminal trials. Trump, obviously, is not one of them. In all four of his criminal cases, he was allowed to remain free with minimal conditions of release. One of the few conditions — perhaps the central one — is that he must refrain from saying anything that would threaten or harass potential witnesses, co-defendants or jurors. His Georgia bond order, for instance, states: “The Defendant shall…

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Israel’s military objective in Gaza: ‘Kill them all’

Israel’s military objective in Gaza: ‘Kill them all’

Yagil Levy writes: The Israeli attack on a humanitarian convoy in Gaza in early April that killed seven aid workers with the U.S.-based aid group World Central Kitchen has ignited a fierce global backlash against Israel’s policies of engagement in the territory. The attack involved the successive firing of three missiles at three vehicles, driven by suspicions of a Hamas combatant’s presence within the convoy, according to reports. In Israel, the event is being portrayed as an accident, “a grave…

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Where is America’s ‘rules-based order’ now?

Where is America’s ‘rules-based order’ now?

Spencer Ackerman writes: No sooner had a nearly unanimous United Nations Security Council passed a resolution demanding an “immediate cease-fire” in Gaza last month than the United States and Israel acted as if it were a meaningless piece of paper. Israel, unwilling to accept a U.N. mandate, continued bombing the overcrowded southern city of Rafah and besieging Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Shortly after the vote, Biden administration officials called the resolution, No. 2728, “nonbinding,” in what appeared to be…

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Israel braces for imminent Iranian retaliation after embassy strike

Israel braces for imminent Iranian retaliation after embassy strike

Reuters reports: Israel on Friday braced for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of retaliation for the killing last week of a senior officer in Iran’s embassy in Damascus. Countries including India, France, Poland and Russia have warned their citizens against travel to the region, already on edge over the war in Gaza, now in its seventh month. White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the threat from Iran was real and viable. The…

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‘No tech for apartheid!’: Google workers revolt over $1.2 billion contract with Israel

‘No tech for apartheid!’: Google workers revolt over $1.2 billion contract with Israel

Time reports: In midtown Manhattan on March 4, Google’s managing director for Israel, Barak Regev, was addressing a conference promoting the Israeli tech industry when a member of the audience stood up in protest. “I am a Google Cloud software engineer, and I refuse to build technology that powers genocide, apartheid, or surveillance,” shouted the protester, wearing an orange t-shirt emblazoned with a white Google logo. “No tech for apartheid!” The Google worker, a 23-year-old software engineer named Eddie Hatfield,…

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Russia is buying politicians in Europe. Is it happening here too?

Russia is buying politicians in Europe. Is it happening here too?

Alex Finley writes: Democrats for years have warned about Russian influence in the Republican Party under Donald Trump. But now even some prominent GOP members of Congress are sounding the alarm. “I think Russian propaganda has made its way into the United States, unfortunately, and it’s infected a good chunk of my party’s base,” Representative Michael McCaul, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told Puck’s Julia Ioffe last week. Representative Mike Turner, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, went…

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Trump tries to boost support for Truth Social as DJT stock tanks

Trump tries to boost support for Truth Social as DJT stock tanks

CNBC reports: Donald Trump on Friday urged his followers to support his social media app Truth Social, as its parent company’s stock continues to sink lower. Trump in a post on that app said he believes Truth Social embodies the political “movement” behind his “Make America Great Again” presidential campaign slogan, adding that “it shows the Spirit and Love of our Country.” “If people who believe in putting America First and want to Make America Great Again, support TRUTH,” Trump…

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American surgeons return from Gaza, call for end of U.S. culpability in genocide

American surgeons return from Gaza, call for end of U.S. culpability in genocide

  We speak with two doctors who’ve just returned after two weeks at the European Hospital in Gaza. Dr. Feroze Sidhwa and Dr. Mark Perlmutter are co-authors of a new piece for Common Dreams titled “As Surgeons, We Have Never Seen Cruelty Like Israel’s Genocide in Gaza.” They describe a hospital “hanging on by a thread,” with the majority of patients being young children, and bombing targeted at Muslim Palestinians “concentrated at the time of evening prayer.” “Genocide was the…

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David Miliband, International Rescue Committee: There’s only a trickle of aid going into Gaza right now

David Miliband, International Rescue Committee: There’s only a trickle of aid going into Gaza right now

There’s a trickle of aid going into Gaza right now, as the population faces imminent famine. There needs to be a deluge. For every hour that the war goes on, the desperate need increases. I spoke to @WagnerTonight about the situation on the ground and the work of @RESCUEorg: pic.twitter.com/bYNsFTXtCC — David Miliband (@DMiliband) April 11, 2024

Trump’s telling comment on punishing doctors who provide abortions

Trump’s telling comment on punishing doctors who provide abortions

Aaron Blake writes: Back in 2022, when it looked as if the Supreme Court would soon overturn Roe v. Wade, Senate Republicans’ campaign arm sent out a memo encouraging GOP candidates to get their messaging right. “Republicans DO NOT want to throw doctors and women in jail,” the memo maintained. It cast the statement as a rebuttal to Democrats’ “lies” about the GOP’s abortion positions. Donald Trump did not get the memo. The former president on Wednesday responded to the…

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