Pepe Escobar on the Iran Nuclear Deal Cover Photo

on board the gaza boat | kevin neish goodbye to all this | theodor hensolt ‘we aint found shit!’ | scott ritter ColdType Writing Worth reading | photos Worth seeing issue 101 Greece: Tragedy, lies and misery

plus pepe escobar on the iran nuclear deal cover photo:

ON BOARD THE GAZA BOAT | KEVIN NEISH this donkeyhotey caricature of greek PM alexis tsipras was adapted from a GOODBYE TO ALL THIS | THEODOR HENSOLT ‘WE AINT FOUND SHIT!’ | SCOTT RITTER creative commons licensed photo by olaf kosinsky available via Wikimedia. the body was adapted from a creative commons licensed photo from robert ColdType scoble’s Flickr photostream. the background was from a creative commons WRITING WORTH READING | PHOTOS WORTH SEEING ISSUE 101 licensed photo from brian Jeffery beggerly’s Flickr photostream. GREECE: TRAGEDY, LIES AND MISERY

PLUS PEPE ESCOBAR ON THE IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL ColdType issueissue 101 / Mid-July 2015

3. greece: not just a tragedy, but also a lie John Pilger

6. dispensing With democracy danny katch

9. We are all greeks noW chris hedges

12. disinventing democracy george Monbiot

14. goodbye to all this theodore hensolt / Michael i. niMan

18. Freedom or the slaughterhouse? John W. Whitehead 22. the name game david edWards 26. out and about With the suburban soul seekers dell Franklin

30. on board the gaza boat kevin neish

32. telling lies For israel Jonathan cook

34. london Falling alan chaPMan

36. ‘We aint Found shit’ scott ritter

44. iran nuke deal resets eurasia’s ‘great game’ PePe escobar

48. hillary’s emails: missing the point c.n. hallinan

51. but What about the children? aManda cahill-riPley

53. donald trump to Xi and putin: ‘you’re Fired’ PhiliP kraske

54. sunset oF the empire JeFF nygaard

56. radical time capsule Michael i. niMan

61. your problems are our problems saM Pizzigati

62. the 51-day genocide david sWanson

editor: tony sutton – [email protected]

2 ColdType Mid-July 2015 | www.coldtype.net cover story / 1 greece: not just a ColdType tragedy, but also a lie tsipras and varoufakis have presented themselves neither as radicals nor ‘leftists’ nor even honest social democrats, writes john pilger

a big no! to europe’s bankers at a demonstration in dublin, ireland. Photo: des byrne street Photography, dublin

n historic betrayal has consumed lion euros more than the “austerity” figure the bailout Greece. Having set aside the man- rejected overwhelmingly by the majority of means sinister date of the Greek electorate, the the Greek population in a referendum on foreign control Syriza government has willfully July 5. and is A a warning to ignored July’s landslide “No” vote and se- These reportedly include a 50 per cent cretly agreed a raft of repressive, impoverish- increase in the cost of healthcare for pen- the world ing measures in return for a “bailout” that sioners, almost 40 per cent of whom live in means sinister foreign control and a warning poverty; deep cuts in public sector wages; to the world. the complete privatization of public facili- Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has pushed ties such as airports and ports; a rise in value through parliament a proposal to cut at least added tax to 23 per cent, now applied to the 13 billion euros from the public purse – 4 bil- Greek islands where people struggle to eke

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For a small country out a living. There is more to come. media: such as a 30 June letter published in such as Greece, “Anti-austerity party sweeps to stunning the Financial Times, in which Tsipras prom- the euro is a victory”, declared a Guardian headline on ised the heads of the EU, the European Cen- colonial currency: January 25. “Radical leftists” the paper called tral Bank and the IMF to accept their basic, a tether to a Tsipras and his impressively-educated com- most vicious demands – which he has now capitalist ideology rades. They wore open neck shirts, and the accepted. so extreme that finance minister rode a motorbike and was When the Greek electorate voted “no” on even the Pope described as a “rock star of economics”. It 5 July to this very kind of rotten deal, Tsipras pronounces it was a façade. They were not radical in any said, “Come Monday and the Greek govern- “intolerable” sense of that cliched label, neither were they ment will be at the negotiating table after the and “the dung “anti austerity”. referendum with better terms for the Greek of the devil” For six months Tsipras and the recently people”. Greeks had not voted for “better discarded finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis, terms”. They had voted for justice and for shuttled between Athens and Brussels, Ber- sovereignty, as they had done on January 25. lin and the other centres of European money The day after the January election a truly power. Instead of social justice for Greece, democratic and, yes, radical government they achieved a new indebtedness, a deeper would have stopped every impoverishment that would merely replace euro leaving the country,P hoto: Ben Folley a systemic rottenness based on the theft of repudiated the “illegal and tax revenue by the Greek super-wealthy – in odious” debt – as Argenti- accordance with European “neo-liberal” val- na did successfully – and expedited a plan to ues – and cheap, highly profitable loans from leave the crippling Eurozone. But there was those now seeking Greece’s scalp. no plan. There was only a willingness to be Greece’s debt, reports an audit by the “at the table” seeking “better terms”. Greek parliament, “is illegal, illegitimate and The true nature of Syriza has been seldom odious”. Proportionally, it is less than 30 per examined and explained. To the foreign me- cent that of the debit of Germany, its major dia it is no more than “leftist” or “far left” creditor. It is less than the debt of European or “hardline” – the usual misleading spray. banks whose “bailout” in 2007-8 was barely Some of Syriza’s international supporters controversial and unpunished. have reached, at times, levels of cheer lead- For a small country such as Greece, the ing reminiscent of the rise of Barack Obama. euro is a colonial currency: a tether to a capi- Few have asked: Who are these “radicals”? talist ideology so extreme that even the Pope What do they believe in? pronounces it “intolerable” and “the dung of In 2013, Yanis Varoufakis wrote: “Should the devil”. The euro is to Greece what the US we welcome this crisis of European capital- dollar is to remote territories in the Pacific, ism as an opportunity to replace it with a whose poverty and servility is guaranteed by better system? Or should we be so worried their dependency. about it as to embark upon a campaign for In their travels to the court of the mighty stabilising capitalism? To me, the answer is in Brussels and Berlin, Tsipras and Varoufa- clear. Europe’s crisis is far less likely to give kis presented themselves neither as radicals birth to a better alternative to capitalism... I nor “leftists” nor even honest social demo- bow to the criticism that I have campaigned crats, but as two slightly upstart supplicants on an agenda founded on the assumption in their pleas and demands. Without under- that the left was, and remains, squarely de- estimating the hostility they faced, it is fair to feated... Yes, I would love to put forward [a] say they displayed no political courage. More radical agenda. But, no, I am not prepared to than once, the Greek people found out about commit the [error of the British Labour Par- their “secret austerity plans” in leaks to the ty following Thatcher’s victory]... What good

4 ColdType Mid-July 2015 | www.coldtype.net cover story / 1

Photo: Ben Folley

Ireland, a previous victim of Europe’s austerity campaign marches in support of Greece. Photo: Des Byrne Street Photography, Dublin

did we achieve in Britain in the early 1980s democratic parties such as the Labor Party Their revolution by promoting an agenda of socialist change in Australia, still describing themselves as is the perverse, that British society scorned while falling “liberal” or even “left”, Syriza is the prod- familiar headlong into Thatcher’s neoliberal trip? uct of an affluent, highly privileged, educat- appropriation of Precisely none. What good will it do today to ed middle class, “schooled in postmodern- social democratic call for a dismantling of the Eurozone, of the ism”, as Alex Lantier wrote. and parliamentary European Union itself...?” For them, class is the unmentionable, let movements by Varoufakis omits all mention of the Social alone an enduring struggle, regardless of liberals groomed Democratic Party that split the Labour vote the reality of the lives of most human be- to comply with and led to Blairism. In suggesting people in ings. Syriza’s luminaries are well-groomed; neo-liberal drivel Britain “scorned socialist change” – when they lead not the resistance that ordinary they were given no real opportunity to bring people crave, as the Greek electorate has so about that change – he echoes Blair. bravely demonstrated, but “better terms” of The leaders of Syriza are revolutionar- a venal status quo that corrals and punishes ies of a kind – but their revolution is the the poor. When merged with “identity poli- perverse, familiar appropriation of social tics” and its insidious distractions, the con- democratic and parliamentary movements sequence is not resistance, but subservience. by liberals groomed to comply with neo-lib- “Mainstream” political life in Britain exem- eral drivel and a social engineering whose plifies this. John Pilger authentic face is that of Wolfgang Schau- This is not inevitable, a done deal, if we is working on ble, Germany’s finance minister, an impe- wake up from the long, postmodern coma a new movie, rial thug. Like the Labour Party in Britain and reject the myths and deceptions of those “The Coming and its equivalents among former social who claim to represent us, and fight. CT War”

www.coldtype.net | Mid-July 2015 | ColdType 5 cover story / 2 Dispensing with democracy How has democracy fared in the place where it was supposedly born? Not well, according to Danny Katch

Greece’s debt ncient Greece is said to have intro- and investments – some solid, some shady crisis didn’t come duced democracy to the world some – in many smaller countries until enough of about because 2,500 years ago. Now the world is the shady bank loans triggered a global finan- millions of Greeks A trying to show modern Greece that cial crisis in 2008. Greece was the country in borrowed money it’s been wrong all along. Europe with the biggest debt in relationship from their buddies Last January, when the Greeks elected the to the country’s gross domestic product – across Europe, radical left party SYRIZA into power, with its though it wasn’t number one by that much. bought a bunch platform of resisting the devastating auster- On its own, Greece’s debt was actually of nice stuff ity pushed by the authorities in Europe, they quite manageable, but as Mark Blyth ex- with it, and then were portrayed by international political and plained in Foreign Affairs, the bankers feared refused to pay business elites as foolishly attempting to resist it could be the loose thread that unraveled a back the debt the natural laws of capitalism. much larger web of financial lies across the As is so often the case in our world, we were continent: meant to view the crisis in Greece in purely “The Greek deficit [in 2010] was a rounding economic terms of debt repayment, rather error, not a reason to panic. Unless, of course, than raise democratic questions about who the folks holding Greek debts, those big banks decides which debts are paid and by whom – in the eurozone core, had, over the prior de- or whether some project is worth going into cade, grown to twice the size (in terms of as- debt for in the first place, for that matter. sets) of – and with operational leverage ratios What SYRIZA’s election did was to expose (assets divided by liabilities) twice as high as – the bankers’ laws and rules as not natural at their “too big to fail” American counterparts, all – a dangerous message for which Europe’s which they had done. In such an over-lever- leaders seem determined to punish both the aged world, if Greece defaulted, those banks party and the people who elected it with eco- would need to sell other similar sovereign as- nomic devastation for decades to come. sets to cover the losses. But all those sell con- It’s important to clarify from the beginning tracts hitting the market at once would trigger that Greece’s debt crisis didn’t come about a bank run throughout the bond markets of because millions of Greeks borrowed money the eurozone that could wipe out core Euro- from their buddies across Europe, bought a pean banks.” bunch of nice stuff with it, and then refused to In other words, for the past five years, the pay back their hardworking friends abroad. rich bankers of Europe have been attempting Rather, the bankers in Germany, France and to appease the gods of capital by offering up other powerful countries made lots of loans the ordinary people of Greece as a human

6 ColdType Mid-July 2015 | www.coldtype.net cover story / 2 sacrifice. Wages are down 20 percent while taxes have risen by seven times – all in return for billions of dollars in bailouts that mostly go straight to French and German banks. ——————— SYRIZA won a historic election in January – a meteoric rise for what was a small left electoral coalition only a few years before – because it promised to reject this brutal program of austerity. But the party leadership around Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras quickly turned its attention to talks with the European lenders, under the mistaken impression that the strong mandate they had been given by Greek voters would somehow impress European capitalists – rather than enrage them. Like clever foxes negotiating with a concrete wall, Tsipras and his Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis made concession after concession on SYRIZA’s campaign promises, waiting in vain for Germany and the European and international fi- Make the bosses and bankers pay! Photo: Ben Foley nancial institutions – known as the “troika” – to meet them halfway. tual democracy looks like, instead of the typi- The rich bankers Then at the end of June, something re- cal capitalist version of voting once in a while of Europe have markable happened. Desperate to change the for which face you want to be getting the bad been attempting terms of the game, Tsipras announced that news from for the next few years. to appease the he would ask the Greek people to vote for or Among ruling class circles in Europe, the gods of capital by against the latest EU proposals for austerity in reaction to Oxi! was rage. Tsipras had “torn offering up the a national referendum on July 5. down the last bridges over which Europe and ordinary people All the country’s political forces mobilized Greece might have been able to move towards of Greece as a – for the first time since the national election a compromise,” said Germany’s deputy chan- human sacrifice five months before, millions of Greeks would cellor (and leader of the Social Democrats) have a say in their own fate – were they for or Sigmar Gabriel, with his “rejection of the rules against the austerity measures. When 61 per- of the game of the eurozone.” cent voted “Oxi!” (“No!”), it was a decisive That’s right. Just like an exclusive coun- call for SYRIZA to continue – or restart – the try club that posts multiple signs forbidding fight against austerity. running, diving or splashing in the pool area, The Greek referendum was a startling mo- the eurozone tried to erect a “No voting” sign ment for people around the world as well, a across the continent. It was a variation on the glimpse of what something approaching ac- same message delivered ever since the people

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Among the many of France and the Netherlands decisively vot- The EU responded to the referendum as it things at stake ed down a proposed European Constitution did to SYRIZA’s election in January, calling for today in the in 2005. even harsher austerity measures – including battle for Greece That inconvenience forced European forcing the Greek parliament to pass a series is the question rulers to go to the trouble of rewriting the of laws undoing every SYRIZA promise and of democracy Constitution as the Treaty of Lisbon, which demanding that 50 billion euros in Greek as- under the harsh they claimed was merely a revision of previ- sets be turned over to a fund controlled by conditions of 21st ous European treaties and therefore not sub- EU. century capitalism ject to popular vote. Varoufakis, who had been forced to step The referendum called by Tsipras was non- down as finance minister, compared these de- binding – as later events would depressingly mands to the 1967 military coup that installed prove – but it nonetheless showed the explo- a military dictatorship. “In the coup d’état, sive power of democracy, bringing to mind the choice of weapon used in order to bring the truth of Frederick Engels’ observation in down democracy then was the tanks,” he said. “The Origin of Family, Private Property and “Well, this time, it was the banks.” the State:” What was the point of the referendum “Universal suffrage is thus the gauge of if the will of the people was going to be so the maturity of the working class. It can- quickly ignored? That question is being asked not and never will be anything more in the by millions of Greeks as well as their support- modern state, but that is enough. On the day ers around the world. when the thermometer of universal suffrage But the referendum won’t have been in shows boiling point among the workers, they vain if organizations on the Greek left – inside as well as the capitalists will know where and outside SYRIZA – are able to mobilize op- they stand.” position to the new austerity program, both in ——————— parliament and in the streets, workplaces and Engels’ point was that while democracy is both campuses of Greece. a tool and an aim for socialists, capitalism is The democracy practiced by Pericles and a fundamentally undemocratic economic or- the Athenians of ancient Greece was real, but der that can’t be elected out of existence, but very limited, resting on an economic founda- will need to be overthrown by workers acting tion of slave labor. In every society since that above and beyond the ballot box. Alexis Tsip- was dominated by a minority class, democra- ras and his co-thinkers in the SYRIZA lead- cy has been at best an ideal that is never close ership are committed to different version of to fulfilled. socialism, based on the strategy of gradually Among the many things at stake today in winning national power through parliament – the battle for Greece is the question of de- and more recently, wining continental power mocracy under the harsh conditions of 21st via the European Union. century capitalism. And we certainly know, That’s why almost immediately after the from observing the behavior of the European referendum, Tsipras announced that he was political and business elite, which side values going back to negotiations and was willing democracy. The rulers of the “free” market to accept most of the harsh measures that system don’t even bother to pretend they care Greeks had just decisively voted down in the about it any more. CT referendum that he had called. In effect, Tsipras decided to use the mass Danny Katch is the author of “Socialism... democracy of Oxi! as a bargaining chip in ne- Seriously: A Brief Guide to Human Liberation”. gotiations to try to remain in the far less dem- This essay originally appeared at http:// ocratic club of the European Union. socialistworker.org

8 ColdType Mid-July 2015 | www.coldtype.net cover story / 3 We are all Greeks now Democracy is as dead in the US as it is in Greece. There’s only one way to change the system. And that’s to fight it, argues Chris Hedges

he poor and the working class in the Bank, the International Monetary Fund and There are no United States know what it is to be the Federal Reserve, does what it is designed internal constraints Greek. They know underemploy- to do: It turns everything, including human on corporate ment and unemployment. They beings and the natural world, into commodi- capitalism. T And the few know life without a pension. They know ties to be exploited until exhaustion or col- existence on a few dollars a day. They know lapse. In the extraction process, labor unions external gas and electricity being turned off because are broken, regulatory agencies are gutted, constraints that of unpaid bills. They know the crippling laws are written by corporate lobbyists to le- existed have been weight of debt. They know being sick and galize fraud and empower global monopolies, removed unable to afford medical care. They know and public utilities are privatized. the state seizing their meager assets, a pro- Secret deals cess known in the United States as “civil asset forfeiture,” which has permitted Ameri- Secret trade agreements – which even elect- can police agencies to confiscate more than ed officials who view the documents are not $3 billion in cash and property. They know allowed to speak about – empower corporate the profound despair and abandonment oligarchs to amass even greater power and that come when schools, libraries, neighbor- accrue even greater profits at the expense of hood health clinics, day care services, roads, workers. To swell its profits, corporate capi- bridges, public buildings and assistance pro- talism plunders, represses and drives into grams are neglected or closed. They know bankruptcy individuals, cities, states and the financial elites’ hijacking of democratic governments. It ultimately demolishes the institutions to impose widespread misery in structures and markets that make capital- the name of austerity. They, like the Greeks, ism possible. But this is of little consolation know what it is to be abandoned. for those who endure its evil. By the time The Greeks and the US working poor en- it slays itself it will have left untold human dure the same deprivations because they are misery in its wake. being assaulted by the same system – corpo- The Greek government kneels before the rate capitalism. There are no internal con- bankers of Europe begging for mercy because straints on corporate capitalism. And the few it knows that if it leaves the eurozone, the in- external constraints that existed have been ternational banking system will do to Greece removed. Corporate capitalism, manipulat- what it did to the socialist government of Sal- ing the world’s most powerful financial insti- vador Allende in 1973 in Chile; it will, as Rich- tutions, including the Eurogroup, the World ard Nixon promised to do in Chile, “make the

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The cost of economy scream.” The bankers will destroy the civil society. being shot with Greece. If this means the Greeks can no longer Criminal justice is primarily about revenue a stun gun ($26) get medicine – Greece owes European drug streams for city and state governments in the or of probation makers 1 billion euros – so be it. If this means United States rather than about justice or re- services ($35 to food shortages – Greece imports thousands of habilitation. The poor are arrested and fined $100 a month) or tons of food from Europe a year – so be it. If for minor infractions in Ferguson, Mo., and of an electronic this means oil and gas shortages – Greece im- elsewhere; for not mowing their lawns; for ankle bracelet ports 99 percent of its oil and gas – so be it. putting their feet on seats of New York City ($11 a month) is The bankers will carry out economic warfare subway cars. If they cannot pay the fines, as vacuumed out until the current Greek government is ousted many cannot, they go to jail. In jail they are of the pockets and corporate political puppets are back in often charged room and board. And if they of the poor control. can’t pay this new bill they go to jail again. It Human life is of no concern to corporate is a game of circular and never-ending extor- capitalists. The suffering of the Greeks, like tion of the poor. Fines that are unpaid accrue the suffering of ordinary Americans, is very interest and generate warrants for arrest. Poor good for the profit margins of financial insti- people often end up owing thousands of dol- tutions such as Goldman Sachs. It was, after lars for parking or traffic violations. all, Goldman Sachs – which shoved subprime Fascist and communist firing squads mortgages down the throats of families it sometimes charged the victim’s family for the knew could never pay the loans back, sold bullets used in the execution. In corporate the subprime mortgages as investments to capitalism, too, the abusers extract payment; pension funds and then bet against them often the money goes to private corporations – that orchestrated complex financial agree- that carry out probation services or prison ments with Greece, many of them secret. and jail administration. The cost of being shot These agreements doubled the debt Greece with a stun gun ($26) or of probation servic- owes under derivative deals and allowed the es ($35 to $100 a month) or of an electronic old Greek government to mask its real debt to ankle bracelet ($11 a month) is vacuumed out keep borrowing. And when Greece imploded, of the pockets of the poor. And all this is hap- Goldman Sachs headed out the door with pening in what will one day be seen as the suitcases full of cash. good times. Wait until the financial house of cards collapses again – what is happening in Trickling up China is not a good sign – and Wall Street runs The system of unfettered capitalism is de- for cover. Then America will become Greece signed to callously extract money from the on steroids. most vulnerable and funnel it upward to “We are a nation that has turned its welfare the elites. This is seen in the mounting fines system into a criminal system,” write Karen and fees used to cover shortfalls in city and Dolan and Jodi L. Carr in an Institute for Poli- state budgets. Corporate capitalism seeks to cy Studies report titled “The Poor Get Prison.” privatize all aspects of government service, “We criminalize life-sustaining activities of from education to intelligence gathering. people too poor to afford shelter. We incarcer- The US Postal Service appears to be next. ate more people than any other nation in the Parents already must pay hundreds of dol- world. And we institute policies that virtually lars for their public-school children to take bar them for life from participating in soci- school buses, go to music or art classes and ety once they have done their time. We have participate in sports or other activities. Fire allowed the resurgence of debtors’ prisons. departments, ambulance services, the na- We’ve created a second-tier public education tional parks system are all slated to become system for poor children and black and Latino fodder for corporate profit. It is the death of children that disproportionally criminalizes

10 ColdType Mid-July 2015 | www.coldtype.net cover story / 3 their behavior and sets them early onto the imposes on the poor are, as Barbara Ehren- The economic path of incarceration and lack of access to as- reich has written, little more than “organized and political sistance and opportunity.” sadism.” ideology that The corporate dismantling of civil society Corporate profit is God. It does not matter convinced us that is nearly complete in Greece. It is far advanced who suffers. In Greece 40 percent of children organized human in the United States. We, like the Greeks, are live in poverty, there is a 25 percent unemploy- behavior should undergoing a political war waged by the ment rate and the unemployment figure for be determined by world’s oligarchs. No one elected them. They those between the ages of 15 and 24 is nearly the dictates of the ignore public opinion. And, as in Greece, if a 50 percent. And it will only get worse. global marketplace government defies the international banking The economic and political ideology that was a con game. community it is targeted for execution. The convinced us that organized human behavior We were the banks do not play by the rules of democracy. should be determined by the dictates of the suckers Our politicians are corporate employees. global marketplace was a con game. We were And if you get dewy-eyed about the possibility the suckers. The promised prosperity from of the US having its first woman president, re- trickle-down economics and the free market member that it was Hillary Clinton’s husband instead concentrated wealth among a few and who decimated manufacturing jobs with the destroyed the working and the middle classes 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement along with all vestiges of democracy. Corrupt and then went on to destroy welfare with the governments, ignoring the common good and Personal Responsibility and Work Opportu- the consent of the governed, abetted this pil- nity Reconciliation Act of 1996, which halted lage. The fossil fuel industry was licensed to federal cash aid programs and imposed time- ravage the ecosystem, threatening the viabil- limited, restrictive state block grants. Under ity of the human species, while being handed President Bill Clinton, most welfare recipi- lavish government subsidies. None of this ents – and 70 percent of those recipients were makes sense. children – were dropped from the rolls. The The mandarins that maintain this system prison-industrial complex exploded in size as cannot respond rationally in our time of cri- its private corporations swallowed up surplus, sis. They are trained only to make the system unemployed labor, making $40,000 or more a of exploitation work. They are blinded by year from each person held in a cage. The pop- their insatiable greed and neoliberal ideology, ulation of federal and state prisons combined which posits that controlling inflation, priva- rose by 673,000 under Clinton. He, along with tizing public assets and removing trade barri- Ronald Reagan, set the foundations for the ers are the sole economic priorities. They are Greecification of the United States. steering us over a cliff. The destruction of Greece, like the destruc- We will not return to a rational economy or tion of America, by the big banks and finan- restore democracy until these global specula- cial firms is not, as the bankers claim, about tors are stripped of power. This will happen austerity or imposing rational expenditures only if the streets of major cities in Europe or balanced budgets. It is not about responsi- and the United States are convulsed with ble or good government. It is a vicious form of mass protests. The tyranny of these financial class warfare. It is profoundly anti-democratic. elites knows no limits. They will impose ever It is about forming nations of impoverished, greater suffering and repression until we sub- disempowered serfs and a rapacious elite of mit or revolt. I prefer the latter. But we don’t all-powerful corporate oligarchs, backed by have much time. CT the most sophisticated security and surveillance apparatus in human history and a mili- Chris Hedges, a Pulitzer Prize-winning tarized police that shoots unarmed citizens reporter, writes a regular Monday column with reckless abandon. The laws and rules it for Truthdig – http://truthdig.com

www.coldtype.net | Mid-July 2015 | ColdType 11 cover story / 4 Disinventing democracy The assault on Greece is just the latest episode in a long history of shutting down choice on behalf of the financial elite, writes George Monbiot

Like most other reece might be financially bankrupt; don their progressive policies. Almost single- central banks, the troika is politically bankrupt. handedly, it engineered the 1997 Asian finan- the European Those who persecute this nation cial crisis: by forcing governments to remove Central Bank wield illegitimate, undemocratic their capital controls, it opened currencies to enjoys “political G powers: powers of the kind now afflicting us attack by financial speculators. Only coun- independence.” all. tries such as Malaysia and China, which re- This does not Consider the International Monetary fused to cave in, escaped the crisis. mean that it is Fund. The distribution of power here was Consider the European Central Bank. Like free from politics; perfectly stitched up: IMF decisions require most other central banks, it enjoys “political only that it is free an 85% majority, and the US holds 17% of the independence”. This does not mean that it from democracy votes. It’s controlled by the rich, and governs is free from politics; only that it is free from the poor on their behalf. It’s now doing to democracy. It is ruled instead by the financial Greece what it has done to one poor nation sector, whose interests it is constitutionally after another, from Argentina to Zambia. obliged to champion, through its inflation Its structural adjustment programmes have target of around 2%. Ever mindful of where forced scores of elected governments to dis- power lies, it has exceeded this mandate, in- mantle public spending, destroying health, flicting deflation and epic unemployment on education and the other means by which the poorer members of the eurozone. wretched of the earth might improve their The Maastricht treaty, establishing the lives. European Union and the euro, was built The same programme is imposed regard- on a lethal delusion: a belief that the ECB less of circumstance: every country the IMF could provide the only common economic colonises must place the control of inflation governance that monetary union required. ahead of other economic objectives; imme- It arose from an extreme version of market diately remove its barriers to trade and the fundamentalism: if inflation was kept low, flow of capital; liberalise its banking system; its authors imagined, the magic of the mar- reduce government spending on everything kets would resolve all other social and eco- except debt repayments; and privatise the as- nomic problems, making politics redundant. sets which can be sold to foreign investors. Those sober, suited, serious people, who now Using the threat of its self-fulfilling proph- pronounce themselves the only adults in the ecy (it warns the financial markets that coun- room, turn out to be demented utopian fan- tries which don’t submit to its demands are tasists, votaries of a fanatical economic cult. doomed), it has forced governments to aban- All this is but a recent chapter in the long

12 ColdType Mid-July 2015 | www.coldtype.net cover story / 5 tradition of subordinating human welfare to the money supply and funding deficits. You The assault on financial power. The austerity now imposed might have hoped that European govern- Greece is just the on Greece, brutal as it is, is mild by compari- ments would remember the results. latest episode in son to earlier versions. Take, for example, the Today, equivalents to the gold standard a long history of Irish and Indian famines, both exacerbated – inflexible commitments to austerity – shutting down (in the second case caused) by the doctrine abound. In December 2011, the European choice on behalf of then known as laissez-faire, but which we Council agreed a new fiscal compact, impos- the financial elite now know as market fundamentalism or ing on all members of the eurozone a rule neoliberalism. that “government budgets shall be balanced or in surplus”. This rule, which had to be tran- Exploiting drought scribed into national law, would “contain an In Ireland’s case, one eighth of the popula- automatic correction mechanism that shall tion was killed – one could almost say mur- be triggered in the event of deviation.” This dered – in the late 1840s, partly by the Brit- helps to explain the seignorial horror with ish refusal to distribute food, to prohibit the which the troika’s unelected technocrats export of grain or to provide effective poor have greeted the resurgence of democracy in relief. Such policies offended the holy doc- Greece. Hadn’t they ensured that choice was trine that nothing should stay the invisible illegal? Such diktats mean that the only pos- hand sible democratic outcome in Europe is now When drought struck India in 1877 and the collapse of the euro: like it or not, all else 1878, the British imperial government in- is slow-burning tyranny. sisted on exporting record amounts of grain, This is hard for those of us on the left to precipitating a famine that killed millions. admit, but Margaret Thatcher saved the UK The Anti-Charitable Contributions Act of from this despotism. European monetary 1877 prohibited “at the pain of imprison- union, she predicted, would ensure that the ment private relief donations that potential- poorer countries must not be bailed out, ly interfered with the market fixing of grain “which would devastate their inefficient prices.” The only relief permitted was forced economies.” work in labour camps, in which less food was But only, it seems, for her party to sup- provided than to the inmates of Buchenwald. plant it with a homegrown tyranny. George Monthly mortality in these camps in 1877 Osborne’s proposed legal commitment to a was equivalent to an annual rate of 94%. budgetary surplus exceeds that of the euro- As Karl Polanyi argued in “The Great zone rule. Labour’s promised budget respon- Transformation,” the gold standard – the sibility lock, though milder, had a similar self-regulating system at the heart of laissez- intent. In all cases, governments deny them- faire economics – prevented governments in selves the possibility of change. In other the 19th and early 20th centuries from rais- words, they pledge to thwart democracy. ing public spending or stimulating employ- So it has been for the past two centuries, ment. It obliged them to keep the majority with the exception of the 30-year Keynesian poor, while the rich enjoyed a gilded age. Few respite. The crushing of political choice is means of containing public discontent were not a side effect of this utopian belief system George Monbiot’s available, other than sucking wealth from the but a necessary component. Neoliberalism is book “Feral” was colonies and promoting aggressive national- inherently incompatible with democracy, as recently released in ism. This was one of the factors that contrib- people will always rebel against the austerity paperback format. uted to the First World War. The resumption and fiscal tyranny it prescribes. Something This article was of the gold standard by many nations after has to give, and it must be the people. This originally published the war exacerbated the Great Depression, is the true road to serfdom: disinventing de- in the Guardian preventing central banks from increasing mocracy on behalf of the elite. CT newspaper

www.coldtype.net | Mid-July 2015 | ColdType 13 In the frame / 1

Cowboys relax after a hard day’s work in the hot Cuban fields Goodbye to all this Theodor Hensolt is witness to what may be the last days of old style farming in Cuba

obbyists for US corporate agriculture have been working for decades to repeal sanctions against Cuba, winning a partial lift of the embargo in 2000 for limited “humanitarian” exports of LAmerican produce. Last month one of Big Agra’s assets in the US Senate, Republican Jerry Moran of Kansas, co-sponsored a bill with Maine’s independent senator, Angus King, to almost totally lift the embargo, complaining that the Cuban market, which the US Department of Agriculture estimates to be worth more than a billion dollars a year, Back to an older, more relaxed, way of life.

14 ColdType Mid-July 2015 | www.coldtype.net Before the embargo, machines did the heavy work on Cuba’s farms, then the farming reverted to simpler, older methods.

Canadian and American tourists might romanticize their picturesque lives, most Cuban farmworkers are unlikely to share that romantic vision after decades of manual labor under the hot tropical sun

Fresh chicken for sale. Free range, no antibiotics.

www.coldtype.net | Mid-July 2015 | ColdType 15 In the frame / 1

in the frame / 2

Above: Feeding time at the farm. Below: Cuban fuel truck.

Farmers in Cuba’s state-run system are used to either selling to one buyer at a low fixed price or working for one company at a low fixed wage

is open to the rest of the world, but closed to tural economy. US businesses. Whatever happens, one thing is certain: These efforts are backed by corporate lob- life for Cuban agricultural workers will never bies and bankrolled by multinational agricul- be the same. However, unlike other countries tural giants such as Cargill. The political stars where corporate monopolies overran small are all lined up for the falling of the sanctions farming long ago, farmers in Cuba’s state-run that helped freeze Cuban agricultural culture system are used to either selling to one buyer in time, opening the door for Cuban campesi- at a low fixed price or working for one com- nos to be integrated into the global agricul- pany at a low fixed wage.

16 ColdType Mid-July 2015 | www.coldtype.net Above: Back-breaking work in the hot fields. Below: Force-drying cereal on a public street.

Their future depends on how well the economy is managed to benefit its workers rather than Wall Street investors and an emerging Cuban elite

Theodor Hensolt is a retired And, while Canadian and American tour- in is dependent on how effectively the Cuban nuclear engineer ists might romanticize the picturesque lives political system can fight the inevitable cor- from Dormitz in of Cuban campesinos, seeing them as harken- ruption that comes with corporate cash; and Germany. ing back to a simpler, less stressful time, most if Cuba’s emerging new agricultural economy Michael i. Niman Cuban farmworkers are unlikely to share that is managed to benefit its workers, rather than is a professor of romantic vision after decades of manual labor Wall Street investors and an emerging Cuban journalism and under the hot tropical sun. elite. If events in the rest of the world is any- critical media Whether their working conditions improve thing to go by, their future looks grim. studies at SUNY or get worse as Monsanto and their ilk move Michael I. Niman Buffalo State

www.coldtype.net | Mid-July 2015 | ColdType 17 alphabet soup Freedom or the slaughterhouse? John W. Whitehead examines the American police state – from A to Z

Citizens seem “Who needs direct repression when one can B is for our battered BILL OF RIGHTS. In content to buy convince the chicken to walk freely into the cop culture that is America today, where into a carefully the slaughterhouse?” – Philosopher Slavoj you can be kicked, punched, tasered, shot, constructed, Žižek intimidated, harassed, stripped, searched, benevolent vision brutalized, terrorized, wrongfully arrested, of life in America espite the best efforts of some to and even killed by a police officer, and that that bears little sound the alarm, the nation is be- officer is rarely held accountable for violating resemblance ing locked down into a militarized, your rights, the Bill of Rights doesn’t amount to the gritty, mechanized, hypersensitive, legalis- to much. pain-etched D tic, self-righteous, goose-stepping antithesis reality of every principle upon which this nation C is for CIVIL ASSET FORFEITURE. The lat- was founded. est governmental scheme to deprive Ameri- All the while, the nation’s citizens seem cans of their liberties – namely, the right to content to buy into a carefully constructed, property – is being carried out under the benevolent vision of life in America that guise of civil asset forfeiture, a government bears little resemblance to the gritty, pain- practice wherein government agents (usually etched reality that plagues those unfortunate the police) seize private property they “sus- enough to not belong to the rarefied elite. pect” may be connected to criminal activity. For those whose minds have been short- Then, whether or not any crime is actually circuited into believing the candy-coated proven to have taken place, the government propaganda peddled by the politicians, here keeps the citizen’s property. is an A-to-Z, back-to-the-basics primer of what life in the United States of America is D is for DRONES. It is estimated that at least really all about. 30,000 drones will be airborne in American airspace by 2020, part of an $80 billion in- A is for the AMERICAN POLICE STATE. As dustry. Although some drones will be used I point out in my book “Battlefield America: for benevolent purposes, many will also be The War on the American People”, a police equipped with lasers, tasers and scanning state “is characterized by bureaucracy, secre- devices, among other weapons. cy, perpetual wars, a nation of suspects, militarization, surveillance, widespread police E is for ELECTRONIC CONCENTRATION presence, and a citizenry with little recourse CAMP. In the electronic concentration camp, against police actions.” as I have dubbed the surveillance state, all

18 ColdType Mid-July 2015 | www.coldtype.net alphabet soup aspects of a person’s life are policed by gov- in order to keep your pantry stocked, your The federal ernment agents and all citizens are suspects, utilities regulated and your life under control government their activities monitored and regulated, and relatively worry-free. The key word here, has distributed their movements tracked, their communi- however, is control. This “connected” indus- more than $18 cations spied upon, and their lives, liberties try propels us closer to a future where police billion worth and pursuit of happiness dependent on the agencies apprehend virtually anyone if the of battlefield- government’s say-so. government “thinks” they may commit a appropriate crime, driverless cars populate the highways, military weapons, F is for FUSION CENTERS. Fusion centers, and a person’s biometrics are constantly vehicles and data collecting agencies spread through- scanned and used to track their movements, equipment such as out the country and aided by the National target them for advertising, and keep them drones, tanks, and Security Agency, serve as a clearinghouse under perpetual surveillance. grenade launchers for information shared between state, local to domestic police and federal agencies. These fusion centers J is for JAILING FOR PROFIT. Having out- departments constantly monitor our communications, ev- sourced their inmate population to private erything from our internet activity and web prisons run by private corporations, this searches to text messages, phone calls and profit-driven form of mass punishment has emails. This data is then fed to government given rise to a $70 billion private prison in- agencies, which are now interconnected: the dustry that relies on the complicity of state CIA to the FBI, the FBI to local police. governments to keep their privately run prisons full by jailing large numbers of Ameri- G is for GRENADE LAUNCHERS. The fed- cans for inane crimes. eral government has distributed more than $18 billion worth of battlefield-appropriate K is for KENTUCKY V. KING. In an 8-1 military weapons, vehicles and equipment ruling, the Supreme Court ruled that po- such as drones, tanks, and grenade launch- lice officers can break into homes, without ers to domestic police departments across a warrant, even if it’s the wrong home as the country. As a result, most small-town long as they think they have a reason to do police forces now have enough firepower to so. Despite the fact that the police in ques- render any citizen resistance futile. tion ended up pursuing the wrong suspect, invaded the wrong apartment and violated H is for HOLLOW-POINT BULLETS. The just about every tenet that stands between government’s efforts to militarize and weap- us and a police state, the Court sanctioned onize its agencies and employees is reaching the warrantless raid, leaving Americans with epic proportions, with federal agencies as little real protection in the face of all manner varied as the Department of Homeland Secu- of abuses by law enforcement officials. rity and the Social Security Administration stockpiling millions of lethal hollow-point L is for LICENSE PLATE READERS, which bullets, which violate international law. enable law enforcement and private agen- Ironically, while the government continues cies to track the whereabouts of vehicles, and to push for stricter gun laws for the general their occupants, all across the country. This populace, the U.S. military’s arsenal of weap- data collected on tens of thousands of in- ons makes the average American’s handgun nocent people is also being shared between look like a Tinker Toy. police agencies, as well as with fusion centers and private companies. I is for the INTERNET OF THINGS, in which internet-connected “things” will mon- M is for MAIN CORE. Since the 1980s, the U.S. itor your home, your health and your habits government has acquired and maintained,

www.coldtype.net | Mid-July 2015 | ColdType 19 alphabet soup

On any given without warrant or court order, a database of ment, which “operates against the interests day, the average names and information on Americans con- of its own people except for favoring certain American going sidered to be threats to the nation. As Salon groups.” about his daily reports, this database, reportedly dubbed business will “Main Core,” is to be used by the Army and Q is for QUALIFIED IMMUNITY. Quali- be monitored, FEMA in times of national emergency or fied immunity allows officers to walk away surveilled, spied under martial law to locate and round up without paying a dime for their wrongdoing. on and tracked Americans seen as threats to national secu- Conveniently, those deciding whether a po- in more than 20 rity. As of 2008, there were some 8 million lice officer should be immune from having different ways, Americans in the Main Core database. to personally pay for misbehavior on the job by both all belong to the same system, all cronies government N is for NO-KNOCK RAIDS. Owing to the with a vested interest in protecting the police and corporate militarization of the nation’s police forces, and their infamous code of silence: city and eyes and ears SWAT teams are now increasingly being de- county attorneys, police commissioners, city ployed for routine police matters. In fact, councils and judges. more than 80,000 of these paramilitary raids are carried out every year. That translates to R is for ROADSIDE STRIP SEARCHES and more than 200 SWAT team raids every day in BLOOD DRAWS. The courts have increasing- which police crash through doors, damage ly erred on the side of giving government of- private property, terrorize adults and children ficials – especially the police – vast discretion alike, kill family pets, assault or shoot anyone in carrying out strip searches, blood draws that is perceived as threatening – and all in and even anal probes for a broad range of the pursuit of someone merely suspected of a violations, no matter how minor the offense. crime, usually some small amount of drugs. In the past, strip searches were resorted to only in exceptional circumstances where po- O is for OVERCRIMINALIZATION. Thanks lice were confident that a serious crime was to an overabundance of 4500-plus federal in progress. In recent years, however, strip crimes and 400,000 plus rules and regula- searches have become routine operating tions, it’s estimated that the average Ameri- procedures in which everyone is rendered can actually commits three felonies a day a suspect and, as such, is subjected to treat- without knowing it. As a result of this over- ment once reserved for only the most serious criminalization, we’re seeing an uptick in of criminals. Americans being arrested and jailed for such absurd “violations” as letting their kids play S is for the SURVEILLANCE STATE. On at a park unsupervised, collecting rainwa- any given day, the average American going ter and snow runoff on their own property, about his daily business will be monitored, growing vegetables in their yard, and hold- surveilled, spied on and tracked in more ing Bible studies in their living room. than 20 different ways, by both government and corporate eyes and ears. A byproduct P is for PATHOCRACY. When our own gov- of this new age in which we live, whether ernment treats us as things to be manipu- you’re walking through a store, driving your lated, maneuvered, mined for data, manhan- car, checking email, or talking to friends and dled by police, mistreated, and then jailed in family on the phone, you can be sure that profit-driven private prisons if we dare step some government agency, whether the NSA out of line, we are no longer operating un- or some other entity, is listening in and track- der a constitutional republic. Instead, what ing your behavior. This doesn’t even begin to we are experiencing is a pathocracy: tyran- touch on the corporate trackers that moni- ny at the hands of a psychopathic govern- tor your purchases, web browsing, Facebook

20 ColdType Mid-July 2015 | www.coldtype.net alphabet soup posts and other activities taking place in the systems are rife with the potential for abuse, Young people cyber sphere. not only by government bureaucrats but by are increasingly the technicians employed to operate them viewed as T is for TASERS. Nonlethal weapons such as suspects and tasers, stun guns, rubber pellets and the like, X is for X-KEYSCORE. One of the many spy- treated as have resulted in police using them as weap- ing programs carried out by the National criminals by school ons of compliance more often and with less Security Agency (NSA) that targets every officials and law restraint – even against women and children person in the United States who uses a com- enforcement alike, – and in some instances, even causing death. puter or phone. This top-secret program “al- often for engaging These “nonlethal” weapons also enable po- lows analysts to search with no prior autho- in little more than lice to aggress with the push of a button, rization through vast databases containing childish behavior making the potential for overblown confron- emails, online chats and the browsing histo- tations over minor incidents that much more ries of millions of individuals.” likely. A Taser Shockwave, for instance, can electrocute a crowd of people at the touch of Y is for YOU-NESS. Using your face, man- a button. nerisms, social media and “you-ness” against you, you can now be tracked based U is for UNARMED CITIZENS SHOT BY PO- on what you buy, where you go, what you LICE. No longer is it unusual to hear about do in public, and how you do what you do. incidents in which police shoot unarmed in- Facial recognition software promises to cre- dividuals first and ask questions later, often ate a society in which every individual who attributed to a fear for their safety. Yet the steps out into public is tracked and recorded fatality rate of on-duty patrol officers is re- as they go about their daily business. The portedly far lower than many other profes- goal is for government agents to be able to sions, including construction, logging, fish- scan a crowd of people and instantaneously ing, truck driving, and even trash collection. identify all of the individuals present. Facial recognition programs are being rolled out in V is for VIPR SQUADS. So-called “soft tar- states all across the country. get” security inspections, carried out by rov- ing VIPR task forces, comprised of federal Z is for ZERO TOLERANCE. We have moved air marshals, surface transportation security into a new paradigm in which young people inspectors, transportation security officers, are increasingly viewed as suspects and John W. behavior detection officers and explosive de- treated as criminals by school officials and Whitehead is tection canine teams, are taking place when- law enforcement alike, often for engaging in a constitutional ever and wherever the government deems little more than childish behavior. In some attorney and appropriate, at random times and places, jurisdictions, students have also been pe- author. He is and without needing the justification of a nalized under school zero tolerance policies founder and particular threat. for such inane “crimes” as carrying cough president of drops, wearing black lipstick, bringing nail The Rutherford W is for WHOLE-BODY SCANNERS. Using clippers to school, using Listerine or Scope, Institute. His either x-ray radiation or radio waves, scan- and carrying fold-out combs that resemble latest book ning devices are being used not only to “see” switchblades. “Battlefield through your clothes but government mobile America: The units can drive by your home and spy on you As you can see, the warning signs are all War on the within the privacy of your home. While these around us. The question is whether you will American mobile scanners are being sold to the Ameri- organize, take a stand and fight for freedom, People” is can public as necessary security and safety or will you, like so many clueless Americans, available at measures, we can ill afford to forget that such freely walk into the slaughterhouse? CT amazon.com

www.coldtype.net | Mid-July 2015 | ColdType 21 wrong label? The name game David Edwards on Daesh, The Revolutionary Neoliberal Party and the British Falsehood Corporation

“The BBC is full ord Hall, the director general of the of fact, it was not expected to be impartial of Conservatives BBC, is to be questioned by MPs over between Britain and Germany.” and former his refusal to refer to Islamic State us- Of course, the idea that political parties New Labour ing the term ‘Daesh’ (an Arabic abbre- should pressure media to produce biased apparatchiks with L viation that means ‘one who crushes some- information was one of the horrors Britain almost identical thing underfoot’ and ‘one who sows dis- was said to be fighting from 1939-1945. Also, views about cord’) because it is pejorative and therefore the notion that the BBC should be guided politics, business biased. Controversial British prime minister by emergency measures adopted in a time and the world. David Cameron had sent a request to the of total war against a Nazi state genuinely Executives have BBC supported in a letter signed by 120 MPs threatening conquest indicates the curious stuffed their from across the spectrum – Labour, Tory and mindset of some on the right. pockets with SNP. In reality, as Seumas Milne noted in the public money” Independent journalist Jonathan Cook Guardian: “The BBC is full of Conservatives comments: “So let us agree that Cameron and former New Labour apparatchiks with can insist on the BBC calling Islamic State almost identical views about politics, busi- ‘Daesh’ when he also insists on the broad- ness and the world. Executives have stuffed caster referring to the Conservatives as the their pockets with public money.” ‘Revolutionary Neoliberal Party’ [RNP].” Milne added: :There is no point in roman- Julian Lewis, RNP chairman of the defence ticising a BBC golden age. The corporation select committee, said he would also be writ- was always an establishment institution, ing to the BBC: “The BBC ought to hang its deeply embedded in the security state and head in shame – they would never dream of subject to direct government control in an taking this attitude if we were talking about emergency.” the fascists or the Nazis... We are engaged in Indeed, the BBC was founded in 1922 and a counter propaganda war of ideas – and the immediately used as a propaganda weapon British used to be rather good at this during for the Baldwin government during the Gen- the Cold War.” eral Strike, when it became known by work- Chris Grayling, a member of the RNP Brit- ers as the ‘British Falsehood Corporation’ ish Cabinet and leader of the Commons, ap- (BFC). parently detected no self-contradiction when Perhaps the BBC should rebrand itself. he said the BBC should openly take the side Actor Ken Stott commented in the Radio of the UK in international conflicts: “During Times: “The establishment is a dirty, danger- the Second World War, the BBC was a beacon ous beast and the BBC is a mouthpiece for

22 ColdType Mid-July 2015 | www.coldtype.net wrong label? that.” (Radio Times, December 3, 2014) State’ distorts the truth...” BBC bosses This helps explains a tweet sent recently It was “a distortion,” then, to suggest that and political by the BBC’s high-profile diplomatic editor, the BBC aims to be “fair,” Jordan continued: journalists Mark Urban: “Anti-Americanism alive & well “Our aim, as always, is to report accurately “are part of one as shown by ‘who is biggest threat to world and report the facts – nothing else.” Westminster peace?’ Survey via @INTLSpectator” Facts are sacred; it’s not the BBC’s job to conspiracy. For the embedded BFC, viewing America, make judgements. Except: “The BBC has at They don’t want very reasonably, as a lethal threat is to be its cornerstone a commitment to democracy anything to guilty of something called “Anti-American- and its pillars. The BBC is no friend of au- change. It’s not in ism.” thoritarian repression anywhere in the world their interests” But for some, too much is not enough. and our history shows it.” In the Telegraph, Stephen Pollard, editor of The ‘democracy and its pillars” being, of the Jewish Chronicle, commented on the BBC course, “us.” As for “authoritarian repres- chief’s limp resistance to imposed thought sion” – well, that’s “them.” as labelled by the control: government for a BBC intent on reporting “He appears to believe that impartial re- “the facts – nothing else.” porting means equidistance between a terror Appropriately enough, Sir Christopher group which butchers its victims and the rest Bland, who chaired the BBC between 1996 of humanity. and 2001, argued this week that the BBC “is “But equidistance is not the same as im- worryingly close to becoming an arm of the partiality.” Government,” Run that past us again: Bland said of Cameron’s government: “Impartiality means accuracy and reliabil- “Rather subtly and unattractively it draws ity in news gathering – which ought indeed the BBC closer to becoming [sic] an arm of to be the BBC’s governing ethos. It does not government which is always something that mean refusing ever to make any judgments the BBC and government have resisted.” between two sides in a conflict.” This recalls former director general Greg How so? Dyke’s quickly-buried assertion that BBC “Because in the real, impartial world, bosses and political journalists are deter- there is no equidistance between Daesh and mined to protect Britain’s elite-favouring sta- its victims.” tus quo because they “are part of one West- Whatever “equidistance is not the same minster conspiracy. They don’t want any- as impartiality” means – arguably, it means thing to change. It’s not in their interests.” nothing – presumably the “logic” can be ap- ‘Those to whom evil is done, plied elsewhere. After all, in “the real, impar- do evil in return’ tial world,” there is also no “equidistance” between Nato and its victims. So perhaps An interesting example of how the BBC is we should demand that the BBC describe “no friend of authoritarian repression” was Nato as “The Western Corporate Mercenary provided in the summer of 2013, when a Army,” or “The Western State-Corporate Mil- spanner clattered into the works of the West’s itant Mob,” because impartiality is one thing Perpetual War machine. and equidistance quite another. As everyone Since 2011, it had been clear that the US-UK knows. allies were intent on making Syria the next Inevitably, the response of David Jordan, target for overt “humanitarian intervention,” the BBC’s director of editorial policy and in addition to its behind-the-scenes support. standards, to these state-corporate attacks The endless stream of atrocity claims – ci- was less than heroic: “Suggesting that the vilian massacres, gas and napalm attacks - BBC wants to be fair to the so called ‘Islamic sourced from US-UK “intelligence” and

www.coldtype.net | Mid-July 2015 | ColdType 23 wrong label?

Abu Sakkar was pro-”rebel” Syrian “activists,” was a brazen to blame his actions on the Syrian govern- given high-profile replay of the 2002-2003 Iraq war media cam- ment, a constant theme in the BBC piece and space, not just to paign. The effort was again to persuade the other media reports. In stark contrast, when give his version public to support a black and white struggle MPs Alex Salmond and George Galloway at- of events, but to between ‘good’ - the “rebels” - and “evil,” the tempted to argue that UK foreign policy was supply mitigating Syrian government. a major factor behind the ‘7/7’ bombings in background detail Alas, then, Syrian “rebel” commander, London, their comments were dismissed as and unchallenged Abu Sakkar, was filmed cutting the heart out “crass” and “in poor taste” by the BBC jour- propaganda of a dead Syrian soldier and eating it before nalists interviewing them. a cheering crowd. Sakkar declared to the The BBC allowed Abu Sakkar to call for camera: “We will eat your hearts and your a “no-fly zone,” a key goal of Western war- livers you soldiers of [Syrian leader] Bashar mongers who had used the same strategy in the dog.” 2011 when Nato terrorist bombers had over- This was decidedly off-message. Russian thrown Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi: leader Vladimir Putin told a G8 summit news “If we don’t get help, a no-fly zone, heavy conference: “These are people who don’t just weapons, we will do worse [than I did]. kill their enemies, they open up their bodies, You’ve seen nothing yet.” and eat their intestines in front of the public The BBC also gave Abu Sakkar scope to and the cameras. Are these the people you downplay his actions: “I didn’t bite into [the want to... supply with weapons?’” heart],” Abu Sakkar says, “I just held it for Trusty BBC propagandist Paul Wood show.” came to the rescue, commenting of Abu Sak- Wood even quoted the poet W H Auden: kar that “meeting him face-to-face, he seems “Those to whom evil is done, do evil in re- a bit more circumspect: ‘I didn’t want to do turn.” this. I had to,’ he tells me.” A wonderfully compassionate response, Abu Sakkar was given high-profile space, then, to Abu Sakkar’s obscene act. Can we not just to give his version of events, but to imagine any BBC journalist quoting Auden supply mitigating background detail and un- in response to the recent horrific massacre challenged propaganda. of 38 British and other tourists on a Tunisian Wood wrote: “He joined the demonstra- beach in Sousse by Seifeddine Rezgui Yacou- tions when they started in the spring of 2011. bi? We can only guess at the level of outrage Then, he says, a woman and child were shot that would generate. dead at a protest. His brother went to help. But, as we saw above, even this level of He, too, was shot and killed... breath-taking, in fact grotesque, subservi- “Along the way, he lost another brother, ence to the needs of government propaganda many relatives, and countless of his men. His is insufficient for those on the hard right. parents were arrested and he says the po- The Telegraph published a piece under lice rang him so he could hear them being the remarkable title: “Syrian ‘cannibal’ rebel beaten... explains his actions.” “ ‘Put yourself in my shoes,’ he says.” In the Independent, propagandist Ken Sen- Imagine the BBC inviting readers to place gupta was also willing to empathise: themselves in the shoes of an Islamic State “Khalid al-Hamad (Abu Sakkar is his nom cannibal. The simple act of interviewing Abu de guerre) was not always a bloodthirsty Sakkar humanised him in a way that is un- man of violence... thinkable for Islamic State fighters, or any “The question remains what turned other official enemy perpetrating a compa- al-Hamad into Abu Sakkar, the man who rable act. proudly appears in a video mutilating a The BBC reinforced Abu Sakkar’s efforts corpse... What made someone who had once

24 ColdType Mid-July 2015 | www.coldtype.net wrong label? cautioned against blaming the Alawites - the longer this goes on the more violent people There is nothing to minority community from which the ruling become.” discuss, nothing elite are drawn - for the regime’s actions into Key propaganda messages clearly attempt- to understand, no their virulent hater?” ing to transform a PR disaster for Western context, certainly Understanding was sought, in other words warmongers into ammunition justifying an no sense that the - again, unthinkable for the official enemy. imminent attack on the Syrian government. West’s Perpetual Like Wood, Sengupta referenced a source This was a powerful example of the true War machine ‘correcting early reports that he ate a piece flexibility of corporate media ethics. Such might share of heart, pointing out it was lungs’. It wasn’t astonishing apologetics are permissible for some blame a heart at all and he hadn’t eaten it; he had an act which, if committed by an official just cut out a bit of lung from a corpse and enemy, would be instantly and relentlessly held it to his mouth. condemned, with any attempt to explore the So who was responsible for the atrocity? perpetrator’s motives dismissed as outra- Sengupta referenced the view of Haitham geous. Thus the verdict of the Daily Mirror Mohammed Nassr, a former “rebel” fighter, on the Tunisian beach atrocity in Sousse: who said the atrocity “should be put in the “The Islamist terrorists are evil and must be context of the crimes being committed by the defeated.” (Leading article, “Don’t give in to Shabiha, the Alawite pro-regime militia.” terror,” Daily Mirror, June 30, 2015) Sengupta concluded: “There is little Simple. There is nothing to discuss, noth- doubt that brutality with which the regime ing to understand, no context, certainly no responded to peaceful protests in Baba Amr sense that the West’s Perpetual War machine and elsewhere in Syria was the catalyst for might share some blame. CT the armed uprising which followed.” The “rebel” view was even allowed to con- David Edwards is co-editor of Medalens clude this piece ostensibly focused on “reb- - http://medialens.org - the British media el” crimes: “We all want Bashar to go, the watchdog

Life and Death on the Mavi Marmara A photo essay by Kevin Neish

Download pdf at http://coldtype.net/Assets.11/pdfs/0311.Mavi.hr.pdf

www.coldtype.net | Mid-July 2015 | ColdType 25 on the road Out and about with the suburban soul seekers Dell Franklin may not know about soul coaching, energy healing or soul retrieving, but he knows a thing or two about emotional clarity . . .

She showed me liked the way this lady signaled me as I people stay at the Apple Farm. Lots of peo- her winning stood by my cab across the street from ple who do business with Cal Poly.” ex-homecoming the Amtrak station where departing pas- “No. I’m only staying one night. It’s part queen smile sengers filed out. Her signal was assertive of a package for a retreat I’m going to about when spotting I without being demanding or aggressive. thirty miles from here out in the country.” my eyes scoping One glance at her and I recognized afflu- “I see. You came north. LA?” her through the ence and sophistication fueled by the intel- “Orange County. Mission Viejo.” rearview mirror ligence and ambition that leads to it. She “May I ask what kind of retreat?” and informed was around forty, with those pricy trendy “Certainly. It’s called soul coaching.” me she was boots and scarf, all bundled up, carrying Very politely, I asked. “What exactly is going to the but one Louis Vuitton bag which I snatched soul coaching?” Apple Farm Motel and placed in the trunk and then opened “It’s difficult to explain unless you have her rear door. time.” I noticed she wore no wedding ring. She showed me her winning ex-home- “This is my first retreat with soul coach- coming queen smile when ing. I’ve been to Esalen, too. spotting my eyes scoping her Not quite what the doctor or- through the rearview mirror dered.” and informed me she was go- I decided not to ask why ing to the Apple Farm Motel her soul needed coaching. In- and asked was it far? cabbie’s stead, I said, “You ever hear of “No. It’s at the end of motel corner Emotional Clarity?” row in town.” “Yes, I have!” she was a lit- “I hear it’s very nice.” tle more up in her seat. “It’s nice. It’s plush. It’s kind of corny, but “My best friend’s wife is big on Emotional not as corny as the famous Madonna Inn.” Clarity. She tried Dr. Wayne Dyer and Deep- “What do you mean by corny?” ak Chopra, and those guys didn’t help her, “Pleasantville is probably better, with a though she loves them, so now she’s deep dash of Disneyland. I would call it modern into Emotional Clarity.” quaint. Know what I mean?” “Has it made a difference in the quality “Getting the picture.” Again the smile. of her life?” Her perfume was just subtle enough not “To be completely honest, she seems to overpower the interior of the cab. “Here more confused and discontented than ever. for business?” I asked. “Lots of business She’s got a prince of a husband, a well pay-

26 ColdType Mid-July 2015 | www.coldtype.net on the road ing, fulfilling job as a middle school English “Soul coaching.” “We achieve teacher, but she gets up at five in the morn- She closed her computer. “Well, that’s emotional clarity ing to ride a stationary bike for an hour and interesting. I’m going to a retreat for soul by going to San a half in a dark room and then eats bird- retrieval.” Francisco every seed, and most of her girl friends are in the “I see. How does one go about retrieving few months to same boat.” their soul?” play basketball “Well, maybe she’s happy doing those “It’s impossible to explain in a limited with inner city things.” time frame in simple layman’s terminology. blacks and talk “Her husband and me, we lack emotion- In short, it deals with rediscovering your trash with them al clarity, too, according to these women, soul and becoming more intimate with and then get so our cure from time to time is to go to those feelings connected to your soul with- monstrously San Francisco and play basketball against out intellectualizing the process.” drunk in lowlife a bunch of black dudes and talk trash with Realizing she was smarter than me, I said, bars throughout them and afterwards go on a monumental “Is it, like, you lose your soulfulness because the city. When we drinking binge in as many Frisco bars as of self-inflicted stress, or outside-induced get home we feel possible before they close.” stress, or the emptiness of overachieving thoroughly purged She issued a full-throated, good-natured leading to an abundance of materialism? Or of any emotional laugh, hearty and appreciative of my spiel. does it have to do with taking up with men congestion” “If it works, more power to you. Sounds like who are heels and jerks?” fun to me.” She almost smiled. “Mainly, it’s recaptur- When we pulled up at the Apple Farm ing the soul you were born with and formed she was impressed with its storybook cot- in childhood but lose part of along the way tages. I took her bag to the front desk and by doing the things that allow you to lose for a five dollar ride she gave me a twenty your way.” and told me to keep the change and claimed “You ever hear of Emotional Clarity?” she had a wonderful time talking to me. She “Yes I have,” she said, perked up. made my shift. “My best friend’s wife has become an ——————— Emotional Clarity mentor. She and her A few months later I picked up another friends, mostly school teachers, go to Emo- woman at the airport and drove her to the tional Clarity retreats and run seminars. same motel. Unlike the lady from Mission They eat cheese and salt-less nuts and sip Viejo, she had short hair shaped like a hel- wine from Trader Joe’s and work out a lot. met and a tense look, and it was obvious she I’m talking two, three hours a day. Some of was driven and intelligent by the keen focus these gals were married to cultists and bik- in her eyes. I knew she was coming from ers, and they’re all educated, sophisticated the San Diego area due to viewing the flight women. None of them can cook and they’re board inside the airport. She wore designer always reading the latest self-help books.” jeans and a mannish shirt that smacked of “No wonder they need emotional clar- high-end hemp. ity,” she quipped tightly. “The Apple Farm’s pretty nice,” I told “My best friend, the husband of the her. Her lone bag was in the trunk. “Got a Emotional Clarity mentor, is a coach and decent restaurant with great deserts.” history teacher at the same middle school. “I’m only staying one night.” We achieve emotional clarity by going to “The last lady I picked up for one night San Francisco every few months to play bas- at the Apple Farm was going to a retreat.” ketball with inner city blacks and talk trash A flicker of interest interrupted her dis- with them and then get monstrously drunk missing of me as she opened her computer. in lowlife bars throughout the city. When “What kind of retreat?” we get home we feel thoroughly purged of

www.coldtype.net | Mid-July 2015 | ColdType 27 on the road

The very same any emotional congestion.” go to retreats – like soul coaxing, soul re- wife wore This lady, unlike the soul coached lady, trieval, emotional clarity…” designer attire pruned up upon hearing my spiel and never She appeared severe at my meddling. and had short said another word to me, not even a thank “Have you heard of energy healing?” blond-tinted hair you when I carried her bag to the desk, and “No. But it sounds kind of interesting. and sported a left me a puny tip. Icy cold. What exactly does it involve, if you don’t tennis tan and ——————— mind my asking?” I said with emphasized slender muscular A couple of months later I picked up a wom- politeness. arms an at the airport who was going to the gated “Energy healing alleviates emotional community surrounding the country club damage and mental pain, even physical and golf course, THE exclusive enclave in pain,” she said in a kind of rehearsed, robot- San Luis Obispo. The CC is off the same ar- ic monotone as she gazed out the window. tery as the airport and, depending on where “The healing of these ailments is through beyond the front gate, the fare is anywhere music and certain musical chords from a between $8 and $10. I could not remember variety of instruments. If one relaxes, and the last time I’d gotten a tip of over a dol- really concentrates and listens, almost in a lar and change at the CC and even Latino transcendental state, as in meditation, and nannies I’d driven there tipped better and allows the sounds to wash over you, like, for at least talked to me. instance, a harp, a violin, a flute, one feels I recalled driving this very same woman their inner turmoil, their stress, and the and her older, paunchy husband from the pain that produces it, gradually dissolve, airport to their palatial digs just off the golf and hopefully disappear.” course a year or so ago when their Lexus Gazing in my rearview, I wondered when would not start. Both became busy with was the last time this perfectly conditioned their computers and said nary a word to me physical specimen with the haggard, dis- until we passed through the gate manned tracted face had been properly touched by by a security guard in uniform, and this was her fat, smug sluggard of a husband in their to issue directions in a manner indicating I mini mansion with too many rooms and a was only bright enough to remember one swimming pool. street at a time. “How long does it take for the pain to When we arrived and I carried their bags return after you come back to the stress to the front door, the husband, after leaf- chamber,” I ventured with the humility of a ing through several singles I’d given him in lowly, curious cab driver. change, made sure to deliver me a long look “I have a range of sounds to use as ther- to make sure I thanked him for the dollar apy on my own.” tip he held before me, while the wife, who “The concept sounds fascinating. You seemed agitated, scurried inside. take my best friend’s wife. She’s tried a This time the very same wife wore de- bunch of these retreats and settled on Emo- signer attire and had short blond-tinted tional Clarity therapy. She’s embraced it in a hair and sported a tennis tan and slender profound and passionate way.” muscular arms. Before she could pull out “I’ve heard of Emotional Clarity. I’ve her computer in the back seat, I startled her done no research on it.” with a question. “She’s a school teacher and she got all her “Are you returning from some sort of re- friends to go to emotional clarity retreats treat, ma’am?” and seminars and now they’re conducting She perked up. “How would you know their own seminars and they’re in the pro- that?” cess of writing a book on it. These gals were “Well, lots of ladies I pick up these days all married to cultists and moldy bikers who

28 ColdType Mid-July 2015 | www.coldtype.net on the road put them through sexual torture and none and boozing pilgrimage to San Francisco “her husband, the of them can cook and they eat stuff like rice and confer with street loonies in dives. We coach, he’s my cakes with no butter, only low-cal marga- get so drunk we purge everything, and sur- best friend and rine!” viving a crushing hangover and feeling to- teaches history, “Do they have a publisher for their tally refreshed is part of the process. Me and and his kids, when book?” she was all business now. coach could probably write our own book those monsters “I’m thinking they’ll self-publish. Sev- and start our own seminars.” try and drive him enty five per cent of books published these The lady was speechless as I drove crazy he throws days are self-help. They think they’re gonna through the security gate. When she started toilet plungers at cash in big time and won’t have to teach to give me directions, I told her I already ‘em and threatens anymore and can devote all their time to knew where she lived, and she appeared to beat them up!” emotional clarity seminars and eventually more severe than ever when I pulled up to go on speaking tours and maybe end up on her circular driveway. I carried her luggage the Oprah Winfrey Show. My best friend’s to the front door, and when she told me to wife teaches junior high English. Those kids keep the change from a ten dollar bill on drive her crazy. Her husband, the coach, a $9.00 fare, and quickly disappeared into he’s my best friend and teaches history, and the big, dark house, I made sure to thank his kids, when those monsters try and drive her with the graciousness and humility of a him crazy he throws toilet plungers at ‘em dedicated bottom-feeder. CT and threatens to beat them up!” “He throws toilet plungers at children?” Dell Franklin is a long-time journalist “Yeh, Rocco’s from New Jersey. His kids and former publisher of the Rogue Voice are terrified of him, but they love him. newspaper in California. He writes a weekly When Rocco and I need a little emotional baseball blog, The Ball Player’s Son, at clarity and soul work we go on a basketball http://kelsoswing.blogspot.com

GOODBYE TO ALL THIS ‘WE AINT FOUND SHIT!’ Cold ColdType WRITING WORTH READING ISSUE 101 WRITING WORTH READING ISSUE 94 ype Type T ORTH SEEING W ISSUE 97 | PHOTOS ColdWORTH READING WRITING GREECE:, TRAGEDY MAL LIES AND MISERY COL M X THETHE ORDER TO WAS RIGHT CHRIS HEDGES tells how America’s refusal to face the truth about DESTROYTHE FACE OF OCCUPATION – A PHOTO STORY BY M empire has created the nightmare Malcolm X predicted 50 years ago MATS SVENSSON EPE ESCOBAR ON THE IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL PLUS P get your Free subscription to ColdType magazine Just send an email to [email protected] and write subscribe in the subject line

www.coldtype.net | Mid-July 2015 | ColdType 29 fighting the blockade On board the Gaza boat Kevin Neish brings a tale of piracy and violence in the latest – but not the last – attempt to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza

They initially ’m happy that I am back home safe and also tasered and beaten because he refused approached us in sound after a few days in Israeli prisons, to remove his Palestinian scarf. white Coast Guard but I would much rather be in Gaza right Just before the Israelis took over the zodiac boats, just now, handing the Marianne av Goteborg bridge, on the captain’s order, I had disabled for media spin I to the Palestinian fishers. the engine, but only in a very simple man- purposes, and On the 29th at 2 am, the Israelis attacked ner. For the safety of the ship, he required then attacked with us, when we were more than 100 nautical that the engine could be restarted within military zodiacs miles (185 km) from Israel, while we were a minute, in case it was in any danger. The full of heavily still off Egypt, near the entrance to the Suez Israelis spent three hours trying in vain to armed soldiers Canal. They used four warships full of hun- restart the engine and then tried to order dreds of IOF (Israeli Occupation Forces) sol- me to assist them, which I refused to do. We diers and sailors. They initially approached told them that as they had illegally hijacked us in white Coast Guard zodiac boats, just the ship, it was their problem, not ours. So for media spin purposes, and then attacked then they beat the captain and threatened with military zodiacs full of heavily armed to do the same to me unless we restarted soldiers. We saw the Coast Guard zodiacs the engine for them. being lifted onto a warship after the attack, At this point, the captain wisely de- like movie props being stored away. cided that it was not worth everyone be- Three activists, including Canadian pro- ing beaten, as the Israelis were getting very fessor Bob Lovelace, were sitting or stand- aggressive, and so he asked me to restart ing in front of the bridge door, and were all the engine. I went to the engine room, and immediately and repeatedly tasered. Bob simply reached down and turned on the lost count after six taser hits. I was inside battery master switch. As my Mom would the bridge during the attack, assisting the say – these guys were not the sharpest tacks captain and dealing with the engines. I be- in the drawer, but they made up for that in lieve it took the Israelis about 45 minutes to brutality. finally break through the locked and barred From this point on, it was just a series doors and hatches and into the bridge. of luggage and strip searches, interrogations While I was being marched out on to the and continuous attempts to humiliate us. It deck I believe a soldier poked me in the ribs was obvious they were all very angry, which with a stun wand (cattle prod) just for fun, is a good sign. At the Ashdod port they took but it was nothing compared to the taser many things from me, and kindly gave me hits Bob got. The Norwegian third mate was a receipt. And then at the prison they took

30 ColdType Mid-July 2015 | www.coldtype.net fighting the blockade

“Please stop the boat now. Otherwise you will be hurting people,” says an amplied voice from the Israeli zodiac. “No, YOU will be hurting people by illegally trying to board our boat. Go away,” replies a crew member aboard the Marianne av Goteborg. more things away, including my earlier re- tinuous abuse. The Palestinians’ strength As I finished my ceipt, and gave me no receipt. In particu- and “sumud” or steadfastness in the face of shower, I reached lar the Israelis wanted all the cameras, cell such brutality, is amazing and inspiring. for one of the phones and computers, to prevent anyone I’m sorry we were not able to get the Mar- “clean” towels, from having video evidence of their brutal ianne to Gaza. But the seven-week, 5,000 only to find that assault. But some camera chips, including mile voyage, was a great success from the an Israeli guard mine, were smuggled out and will be used moment we sailed into our first port, with had soiled it with in an upcoming Swedish trial. huge support everywhere we went. Others his excrement After two days in a filthy prison cell, with in the future will build on our effort, and and then carefully just a hole in the floor for a toilet and a pipe will end the siege and tear down the wall. refolded it coming out of the wall for a shower, we were Venceremos, we will win. CT sent to the airport detention prison, which had a proper bathroom and shower. But as I Kevin Neish is a Canadian human rights finished my shower, I reached for one of the activist, who worked as an ISM human “clean” towels, only to find that an Israeli shield in Bethlehem in 2002, and Gaza guard had soiled it with his excrement and in 2013. He was also on board the Mavi then carefully refolded it. All I could think Marmara in the first Freedom Flotilla to about at that moment was that I had only Gaza in 2010, when Israeli commandos gone through four days of abuse, whereas murdered 10 aid workers. Palestinians have had over 68 years of con- See www.shiptogaza.se for more info

See Kevin Neish’s photo essay from the Mavi Marmara attack at http://coldtype.net/Assets.11/pdfs/0311.Mavi.hr.pdf

www.coldtype.net | Mid-July 2015 | ColdType 31 holiday hasbara Telling lies for Israel Jonathan Cook tells why the nation’s army of civilian spin-doctors is doomed to defeat

The education he Israeli government believes it is that Israel has another, hidden side. ministry has locked in an epic struggle to save For years the Israeli government has re- launched a Israel from the growing movement lied on paid workers – and thousands of compulsory calling for an international boycott. volunteers in Israel and abroad – to surf the hasbara course T Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu warns net posting pro-Israel comments. for Israeli students that Israel must quickly “rebrand” itself to At Israel’s international airport, Israeli travelling avoid pariah status. holidaymakers are offered brochures ex- abroad. All youth Ordinary Israelis are therefore being con- plaining the importance of persuading those delegations are scripted into an army of spin-doctors in a they meet that Israel is misunderstood. Ad- now required campaign termed “hasbara” – Hebrew for vice suggests emphasising successes such to learn how to “public diplomacy”, or more literally “pro- as Israel’s invention of drip irrigation and justify to outsiders paganda”. popular varieties of the cherry tomato. Israel’s policies In the latest offensive, the education And yet the latest hasbara drive is as un- in the occupied ministry has launched a compulsory has- likely to reverse Israel’s slow slide into igno- territories bara course for Israeli students travelling miny as its predecessors. abroad. All youth delegations are now re- The hasbara industry’s chief flaw, as Is- quired to learn how to justify to outsiders raeli political scientist Neve Gordon ob- Israel’s policies in the occupied territories. serves, is its assumption that “the merchan- According to officials, the students must dise is fine, and only the packaging needs to challenge those who “seek to delegitimize be replaced”. Israel”. Losing control It is yet more evidence that hasbara has become a national obsession in Israel – and But rapid developments in information that the line between support for one’s technology mean Israel has less control country and support for the subjugation over its image than ever before. of another people has been erased. Some First it was 24-hour rolling news, then 85 per cent of Israelis tell pollsters they are the internet. Now cheap smartphones make keen to become hasbara ambassadors for every Palestinian a potential documentary- the Netanyahu government. maker, ensuring that moments of cruelty A hasbara ministry already targets the and oppression are captured and available international media with good news, while for anyone who cares to look. cultural events from food fairs to Israeli en- Palestinians post online videos of their tries at film festivals are designed to prove everyday abuse: from demolition of homes

32 ColdType Mid-July 2015 | www.coldtype.net holiday hasbara to stone-throwers being shot with live am- Critics of Israel, it is implied, are either In a short munition; from settlers burning crops to inveterate dupes or unabashed anti-sem- animated video, children being dragged by soldiers from ites. Either they have been deceived by the a naïve reporter their beds in the middle of the night. Israel-haters, or they are haters themselves. is shown claiming Recently, 56-year-old Zaki Sabah, a fa- As the hasbara industry moves into over- that the people of miliar cake vendor in Jerusalem’s Old City, drive, such slurs are becoming all too com- Gaza simply want starred in one such video. Bystanders filmed mon – including against those Israel most peace as militants him being savagely beaten by Israeli police urgently needs to cultivate as allies. fire rockets just on a busy road. Denied a permit for many Judith Nir Mozes, the wife of interior behind him years by the occupation authorities, Sabah minister Silvan Shalom, a Netanyahu confi- has been repeatedly fined and jailed. dant, possibly reflected high-level thinking Meanwhile, another video exposed Is- in Israel when she tweeted last month a rac- rael’s deceitful account of its supposedly ist “joke” about President Barack Obama. peaceful interception of a boat trying to “Do u know what Obama Coffee is? Black break the Israeli blockade of Gaza. As more and weak,” she wrote, ridiculing the leader than a dozen passengers were held captive, of Israel’s most important ally. footage was smuggled out showing that Is- Similarly, the Israeli foreign ministry raeli commandos had electrocuted some of hurried to mock foreign journalists, even them with tasers during the takeover. (See though they are hasbara’s target audience. pages 30 and 31 of this issue) In a short animated video, a naïve reporter is shown claiming that the people of Gaza Charred church simply want peace as militants fire rockets Troubling imagery is not restricted to the just behind him. Next the reporter misiden- occupied territories. Film of the charred in- tifies Hamas’ tunnelling as the “first Pales- terior of a historic church next to the Sea tinian subway system”. The video ends with of Galilee highlighted last month the latest a warning: “Open your eyes, terror rules hate crime by Jewish extremists against Is- Gaza.” rael’s large Palestinian minority. Michael Oren, Israel’s recently departed The futility of trying to staunch the tide ambassador to the US, has joined the fray of evidence damning Israel on media old too, castigating American Jewish journalists and new was exemplified by Moshe Yaalon, as “self-haters” for their critical coverage of the defence minister. the Israeli prime minister. “There is no humanitarian distress in Hasbara’s cartoon version of reality is not Gaza,” he averred, while the media illus- only unconvincing but, in alienating friends trated reports of his speech with pictures as much as foes, self-defeating. Netanyahu of mountains of rubble and children still may hope to repackage Israel, but his prod- homeless a year after Israel’s massive as- uct – ongoing oppression of Palestinians – is sault on the besieged enclave. one few can be persuaded to buy. CT Yaalon’s sophistry may placate Israel’s diehard supporters but the rest of us are Jonathan Cook won the Martha Gellhorn more often incensed by such insults to our Special Prize for Journalism. His latest books intelligence. are “Israel and the Clash of Civilisations: The hasbara offensive is doomed for an- Iraq, Iran and the Plan to Remake the Middle other reason. East” (Pluto Press) and “Disappearing With the Palestinians’ case substantiated Palestine: Israel’s Experiments in Human by evidence, rather than Israel’s, the evan- Despair” (Zed Books). His website is gelists of hasbara have only one recourse: to www.jonathan-cook.net. blame the messenger.

www.coldtype.net | Mid-July 2015 | ColdType 33 in the frame / 2 London Falling Out on the town with paparazzo Alan Chapman

Laugh. But don’t judge. It could have been you (perhaps). Or me (definitely). A few drinks with pals in a throbbing nightclub. Effusive farewells. Step outside into the cool air. Wham. Face down in gutter. Aroused by rough licks from a stray dog. Get up. Shake head. Clutch lamppost for support. Stagger home. Collapse into bed. Merciful oblivion . . . Next morning. Wake up. Aching head. Dry mouth. Brain fog slowly clears. Did I really pass out in the middle of the West End? Surely I didn’t take off all my clothes and climb onto a taxi. Nooooo! Just a bad dream. A nightmare. Right? Wrong! Well, thankfully, there were no photographers about. Oh, shiiiittttt . . . . Tony Sutton

34 ColdType Mid-July 2015 | www.coldtype.net in the frame / 2

Alan Chapman’s latest book is ‘Frame”, a collection of celebrity photographs

www.coldtype.net | Mid-July 2015 | ColdType 35 eyes on iran / 1 ‘We aint found shit!’ Scott Ritter explains why ‘no notice’ inspection of Iran’s nuclear sites by the West are not in the best interests of peace

No notice uclear negotiations between Iran US and the former Soviet Union, and I’m a inspections and what’s known as the P-5 + 1 firm believer that on-site inspections should to investigate group of nations (the United States, be part of any arms control agreement. As a ‘possible military the United Kingdom, France, Russia, United Nations weapons inspector in Iraq, I dimensions’, N China and Germany) are scheduled to con- worked closely with the IAEA to investigate however, go far clude at the end of last month. A ‘framework Iraq’s past nuclear weapons programme, beyond anything agreement’ was set out in April, but still at and I have confidence in the IAEA’s ability required by issue was what kind of access inspectors from to implement the Nuclear Non-Proliferation the NPT the International Atomic Energy Agency will Treaty. The provisions of the NPT are at the have. Iran has agreed to inspections of all the heart of the framework agreement with Iran, sites it has declared are being used to develop and the measures contained in it – which its nuclear power programme. The US insists include sophisticated remote monitoring, that any agreement must also address what and environmental sampling at undeclared it calls ‘possible military dimensions’ – that facilities – should be more than adequate to is, allegations that Iran has pursued an un- establish whether or not it has diverted any declared nuclear weapons capability – and is nuclear material to a weapons programme. demanding the right to conduct ‘no notice’ The framework agreement also calls for a inspections of nuclear sites, and to interview range of verification measures beyond those Iranian nuclear scientists. ‘It’s critical for us required by the NPT. These cover centrifuge to know going forward,’ the US secretary of production and aspects of the uranium fuel state, John Kerry, said in June, that ‘those ac- cycle such as mining and processing, and tivities have been stopped, and that we can are needed to verify that Iran isn’t engaged account for that in a legitimate way.’ France in covert uranium enrichment using a secret has said that any agreement that doesn’t in- cache of centrifuges and unaccounted-for clude inspections of military sites would be stocks of uranium ore. No notice inspections ‘useless’. Iran has been adamant that it won’t to investigate ‘possible military dimensions’, allow them and that its nuclear scientists are however, go far beyond anything required by off-limits. These positions seem irreconcil- the NPT. The question is whether such an in- able and unless something changes a nuclear trusive measure is warranted or whether, as accord is unlikely. Iran argues, the inspections would infringe My first experience as a weapons inspec- its legitimate security interests. tor was in implementing the Intermediate- The facts appear to support Iran’s posi- Range Nuclear Forces Treaty between the tion. Countries subjected to intrusive no

36 ColdType Mid-July 2015 | www.coldtype.net notice inspections have to be confident that the process isn’t actually an intelligence-led operation aimed at undermining their legitimate interests. The nuclear framework agreement with Iran doesn’t require the IAEA to accept anything Iran declares at face value, but none of its protocols justifies no notice inspections of military sites. Iran signed the Joint Plan of Action in 2013, and has abided by the verification conditions it required without incident. This track record should count in its favour, especially when you consider the dubious results of no notice inspections since they were first carried out in 1991. ———————— Until the late 1980s, on-site inspections hadn’t been included in any postwar arms control agreements. For decades, negotiators from the US and the Soviet Union discussed different verification measures, including remote sensor monitoring, overflights and ‘national technical means’ (a euphemism for spy satellites). But whenever the US raised the all declared facili- possibility of on-site inspections, the Soviet ties and regular monitoring Union would protest, believing that teams of inspections at each country’s largest mis- inspectors visiting sensitive sites would be sile production facility: the Hercules Plant used as a cover for intelligence-gathering. For in Utah, and the Votkinsk Machine Building the Americans, on-site inspections became a Plant in the foothills of the Urals. Provisions litmus test for judging how serious the USSR for short-notice ‘challenge’ inspections – was about a particular arms control issue. In which could be at any declared site and could July 1987, when the Soviet Union accepted a not be refused – were agreed on and imple- US plan for verification of disarmament that mented without any serious disputes. Mutual included an intensive programme of on-site fears over the ‘inspector-spy’ gaining access inspections, many American negotiators were to sensitive military installations soon gave taken by surprise. The Intermediate-Range way to mutual respect for the professional- Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) was signed that ism of the inspectors and the inspected. December, and on-site inspections became an During the 13 years that on-site inspec- essential part of disarmament agreements. tions were in force, both parties were seri- By ratifying the INF treaty, the United ous about keeping to the provisions of the States and the Soviet Union agreed that teams INF treaty. Proposals – I know of two – to of inspectors would supervise the destruction expand intelligence collection by US inspec- of missiles, conduct ‘baseline’ inspections of tors beyond what could be observed through

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These ‘special’ serendipity were immediately rejected by a UN operation. team members, the CIA. This didn’t mean there wasn’t any Two senior Americans at Unscom with trained in controversy: there was a crisis, for example, considerable experience in INF inspections, ‘close target over the US installation of an X-ray imaging the director of operations and a ballistic mis- reconnaissance’ system known as CargoScan at Votkinsk in sile chief inspector, did their best to strike a and ‘surreptitious the spring of 1990: the Soviet Union was con- balance between the UN’s need to maintain entry’, worked cerned that it might damage the propellant its independence and the CIA’s sensitivities for the Combat in its non-treaty-limited missiles. But rather over information security. But Iraqi obstruc- Applications Group than allow their differences to undermine the tion made it possible for the CIA to criticise and the Special treaty, both parties continued to refer back both men for being too soft on the Iraqis and Activities Division, to its terms when seeking a solution for any having an anti-American bias. In October better known problems. The INF treaty became the tem- 1991 Colin Powell, then chairman of the Joint as Delta Force plate for subsequent arms control and disar- Chiefs of Staff, demanded that they respond and the CIA mament agreements, whether bilateral (such to the CIA’s allegations. The charges against as the US-Soviet Strategic Arms Reduction them were refuted, and Powell dropped his Treaty, or START) or multilateral, such as the inquiry, but by the summer of 1992 both men Security Council resolutions calling for the had been pushed out of Unscom. disarmament of Iraq in the aftermath of the The CIA was in a position to make de- 1991 Gulf War. With START, the INF model mands because intelligence provided by the worked. In Iraq it didn’t. US played such an important role in the In the INF model, all inspection procedures Unscom inspections. A pair of Iraqi defec- were spelled out in the treaty, and what was tors had provided the CIA with information inspected was determined by data provided about locations in Baghdad used to hide by the inspected party. Intelligence played a sensitive documents from the inspectors. A minor role: the CIA operated two ‘gateway’ joint Unscom-IAEA inspection team was put facilities – one in Frankfurt and the other at together in a rush, the critical mission plan- Yokota Air Base in Japan – which provided ning done not by the director of operations support for INF inspections. This support was or the veteran INF chief inspector but by logistical – equipping and arranging transport the CIA. The result was what’s known as the for the inspection teams – and it was never ‘parking lot incident’: in September 1991, the the intention that CIA intelligence should al- inspection team seized thousands of docu- ter the course of the inspections themselves. ments, including some that provided clear Inspections in Iraq were initially supposed evidence that Iraq had an undeclared nuclear to operate in the same way, with Security weapons programme. The team was led by Council resolutions and Iraqi declarations an aggressive IAEA inspector called David setting the parameters for on-site inspec- Kay, though it was not really an IAEA operations. But incomplete data submissions and tion but a US one: the deputy chief inspector, active concealment by Iraq made the INF the American diplomat Bob Gallucci, called model hard to follow. For Unscom, the UN most of the shots. ‘The team,’ Gallucci said in programme to inspect Iraqi weapons, on 2001, ‘was very, very special … we had a lot of which I served between 1991 and 1998, the team members with special skills, especially CIA set up a ‘gateway’ operation in Bahrain, people who knew how to search buildings.’ with the assistance of the British, Canadian Gallucci recalled sitting with another inspec- and Australian intelligence services. Intel- tor, who ‘looked at the fellow who was driv- ligence support was available only to those ing the vehicle, who was one of our “special four countries. This led to friction within the people”, and he said to me: “He does not inspection teams, and concerns about Ameri- look like a physicist.” And I said: “It’s just can influence over what was supposed to be because he has a really thick neck. Is that

38 ColdType Mid-July 2015 | www.coldtype.net eyes on iran / 1 what you’re thinking?” And he said: “Yes, sure they surprised their targets. In the summer of that … and the crew cut. Where did you get But in the summer of 1996, the CIA used 1996, the CIA used him?” I answered: “Well, there was an ad in paramilitaries assigned to an Unscom inspec- paramilitaries the New York Times.”’ In fact, these ‘special’ tion team to assist in a failed coup attempt assigned to an team members, trained in ‘close target recon- against Saddam Hussein – an action which Unscom inspection naissance’ and ‘surreptitious entry’, worked Unscom had no knowledge of, and would team to assist in a for the Combat Applications Group and the never have permitted – and from then on Bob failed coup attempt Special Activities Division, better known as Gallucci’s special people were no longer made against Saddam Delta Force and the CIA. And after the suc- available by the US government. By this time, Hussein – an action cess of the parking lot incident the US relied however, Unscom had significant experience which Unscom had on them to conduct all no notice inspections in no notice inspections. By 1997 I had started no knowledge of, in Iraq. From the American perspective, Un- to run a five-day Inspector Operations Course and would never scom now had a model of on-site inspection before each major inspection round. The have permitted that worked. techniques used in the raids themselves re- ———————— mained fundamentally unchanged, although I got my first taste of the realities of no no- some new tactics, such as the use of remote tice inspections in December 1991 at a US-run cameras, had been added. Team members briefing in an aircraft hangar in Bahrain. My were instructed in subjects ranging from cul- notes from that day: ‘The inspection is like tural sensitivity (‘Your behaviour must be be- a raid. Surprise, speed and decisive action yond reproach at all times’) to attitude (‘You will carry the day.’ The instructor was a man are the Alpha Dog’), along with training in of military bearing with a non-regulation site exploitation, document processing and haircut and facial hair, an expert in what he tactical convoy driving. called ‘sensitive site exploitation’ – the art of Inspectors’ résumés no longer listed work rapidly entering and evaluating a room or in places like Mogadishu, Khartoum or San structure for persons and materials of inter- Salvador, but rather involvement in Unscom est, and securing anything worthwhile. Other missions that had often turned into intense members of the team included a number of confrontations between inspector and in- US paramilitary types, French Marine com- spected. The change led to a new ‘inspector mandos, various British soldiers of fortune, culture’ that was alien to all who weren’t and the odd rocket scientist, chemist, biolo- part of the tribe. A reporter from Le Monde gist and nuclear physicist. It could have been observed this in action at the Canal Hotel in a casting call for Mad Max. Baghdad, which served as the headquarters When we arrived in Iraq, our convoys of of the United Nations in Iraq: ‘One lot wore four-wheel-drive vehicles raced through city jeans, knocked back cans of beer, played streets or across the desert, with sensor-laden darts and put on deafening disco music. The helicopters and U-2 high-altitude reconnais- other group wore ties, sipped gin and tonics, sance aircraft above and high-resolution spy watched CNN news and tried to turn down satellites providing further imagery. Later the volume of the music.’ Inspectors were inspections included covert operators whose derided by their humanitarian colleagues task was to intercept sensitive Iraqi com- as ‘cowboys’, and the humanitarian workers munications, as well as networks of agents were referred to by inspectors as ‘bunny hug- who reported on what was happening in and gers’. around the targeted areas. The parking lot There’s no doubt that the Unscom cow- incident was the template for these raid-like boys had a bit of an attitude, but it sprang inspections: highly sensitive intelligence was from unfulfilled expectations, not arrogance. released by the US on condition that the in- Each inspection began like a cup final, only to spectors would protect the source and make lose its excitement because of Iraqi obstruc-

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The continued tionism, external political interference (usu- ligence had a ‘use by’ date. What was lacking failure of Unscom ally from the US) or Security Council ambiva- was a source inside Iraq who could update to uncover lence – sometimes all three. Team morale the information provided by defectors. The significant remained high, but cynicism crept in: our CIA refused to discuss the agents it might be proscribed theme song was U2’s ‘I Still Haven’t Found controlling inside Iraq and how they might activities and What I’m Looking For’, and every laptop had be able to help Unscom. SIS was much more material in Iraq, a copy of a clip from the movie Spaceballs accommodating, especially after a meeting I combined with (‘Find anything yet? We ain’t found shit!’) attended at its headquarters in Vauxhall in the political fallout that was played at the end of each day, as we August 1997. Debriefing reports coming out from the no notice returned empty-handed to prepare our daily of the gateway office in Bahrain had high- inspections, reports. lighted the name of a Special Republican caused Unscom’s ———————— Guard officer who had had contact with the collapse in 1998 During my seven years as an Unscom inspec- inspection team. It happened that this officer tor, I worked with the CIA, the Israeli Aman, had been in contact with relatives in England, the Dutch BVD and the German BND. But my and had expressed dissatisfaction with life in closest relationship was with British intelli- Iraq. SIS had assigned him the codename Ul- gence. From 1991 to 1996, our dealings were timate Goal, but since it no longer had a pres- managed through Operation Rockingham, ence inside Iraq, the recruitment effort had a Defence Intelligence Service organisation gone nowhere. that served as a clearing-house for all the Enter Unscom. At Vauxhall the SIS official intelligence support provided to Unscom by responsible for the Middle East (I’ll call him the UK. By 1996 most of Unscom’s leads had ‘the Don’) approached me about a matter of dried up and my need for actionable informa- great sensitivity. It was my inspection team tion was such that the Secret Intelligence Ser- that had made contact with Ultimate Goal, vice (SIS) agreed to deal with me directly. The and I’d spent a significant amount of time SIS assigned me a codename – Dark Knight – questioning him about his role in concealing for use in our correspondence (Richard But- material from Unscom. ‘Could you arrange ler, Unscom’s executive chairman, was Dark for another inspection of his office?’ the Don Prince). asked. I told him that I could. The Don then The sites for Unscom inspections were introduced me to an Arabic-speaking junior originally determined by declarations made officer (the Junior Executive), and we hatched by Iraq. In the first statements it provided to a plan. I would get the Junior Executive into the UN, in April 1991, it underestimated its Ultimate Goal’s office, and then create a dis- holdings of chemical weapons and ballistic traction while the Junior Executive conduct- missiles, and failed to acknowledge either a ed a quick assessment of the situation before biological or nuclear weapons programme. deciding whether or not to place in Ultimate Unscom was forced to turn to member gov- Goal’s desk instructions on how to make con- ernments for new intelligence to make up for tact with SIS. I ran this by my boss, Richard the information shortfall. The inspection pro- Butler, when I returned to New York, and to cess temporarily revived: information from a my surprise he signed off on the proposal defector led to the parking lot incident, which without any debate. The next month, the Ju- exposed the existence of the country’s nucle- nior Executive gained access to Ultimate Goal ar weapons programme; satellite imagery de- while I kept his colleagues busy. I don’t know tected a still existing covert missile force; and what the result of the mission was. ‘We won’t contracts that documented the purchase of be able to tell you if this worked or not,’ the complex growth media for propagating bac- Don had told me. ‘What I can promise you is teria compelled Iraq to admit it had a biologi- that if and when we get information that is of cal weapons programme. But even this intel- use to you and your team, you will get it.’

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The continued failure of Unscom to un- Unmovic had nearly three years to prepare. When Corcoran cover significant proscribed activities and Once on the ground, it conducted 750 inspec- met with SIS, material in Iraq, combined with the political tions at 550 sites. Most of them were routine, they insisted that fallout from the no notice inspections, caused familiarising Unmovic inspectors to sites al- intelligence had Unscom’s collapse in 1998. SIS played a role in ready inspected by Unscom. But there were to be carried into the final drama: an agent in Iraq provided in- also no notice inspections of sites that hadn’t Iraq by hand, and formation about ballistic missile components been inspected before, based on intelligence that knowledge of hidden in a Baath Party property in Baghdad. provided by supporting governments. The each report had to The site was due to be inspected in August vast majority of these inspections produced be limited to as few 1998, but the mission was aborted after the no results: the intelligence was either wrong people as possible Iraqis ceased all co-operation with Unscom. or out of date. But on one occasion it was In December 1998 Unscom tried again to in- dead-on: the inspection of the home of Fahel spect it, prompting a confrontation with Iraq Hassan Hamza, a scientist who in the 1980s that led to the withdrawal of Unscom and to had conducted work related to the laser Operation Desert Fox, a 72-hour aerial assault separation of radioisotopes. A cache of three by the US and the UK. Unscom inspectors nev- thousand documents was discovered, most of er returned. In September 2002, I went back which related directly to Hamza’s work with to Iraq to film a documentary about disarma- lasers. It looked as if the Unmovic model had ment and visited the Baath Party property in succeeded where Unscom had failed. question. The SIS report contained errors in Inspectors have remained tight-lipped critical details about its layout, bringing into about the tip that led to the inspection of question the source’s credibility; it’s unlikely Hamza’s house. The British government’s anything would have been found had an in- ‘Review of Intelligence on Weapons of Mass spection gone ahead. Destruction’ (better known as the Butler Re- ———————— view), published in July 2004, attributes the Unmovic, the United Nations Monitoring, intelligence to the UK, and most likely to SIS. Verification and Inspection Commission, was According to the Butler Review, SIS had six created by the UN Security Council in Decem- agents in Iraq at the time. (I can’t ascertain if ber 1999. It was designed to be different from one of them was Ultimate Goal.) The nuclear- its predecessor, staffed by employees paid related reporting appeared to come from two by, and ostensibly loyal to, the UN; Unscom of these sources, both termed ‘new’, neither had used ‘experts on mission’ loaned from of whom had direct experience in current its member governments. Each inspector was WMD programmes. The British were more required to attend a month-long course of reticent about sharing human intelligence instruction; in February 2003 Unmovic’s ex- sources with Unmovic than they had been ecutive chairman, Hans Blix, told attendees with Unscom. Unmovic’s new ‘independent’ at one such course that there would be ‘de- profile meant it was willing only to receive tailed lectures about various Iraqi weapons information. programmes, about the result of past inspec- Unmovic’s point of contact for receiving tions, about the craft and tools of inspection, foreign intelligence, the Canadian ex-intel- the rights and duties of inspectors in Iraq and ligence officer Jim Corcoran, was cleared to about the history, culture and religions of handle sensitive information, but SIS was less Iraq’. An Unmovic inspector, he said, should confident about the rest of the Unmovic staff be ‘driving and dynamic – but not angry and or its procedures for transmitting sensitive aggressive’; ‘ingenious – but not deceptive’; data into Iraq. When Corcoran met with SIS, ‘keeping some distance – but not arrogant or they insisted that intelligence had to be car- pompous’. Between its creation and the re- ried into Iraq by hand, and that knowledge of turn of inspectors to Iraq in November 2002 each report had to be limited to as few people

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The Iranians claim as possible. Two inspectors – Kay Mereish, resented ‘a sign that not everything has been that a series of a retired US colonel who had worked at the declared’. Colin Powell, then secretary of state, files the IAEA Medical Research Institute of Infectious Dis- cited the documents as ‘dramatic confirma- obtained in 2008 eases in Maryland, and Martin Fosbrook, a tion’ that Saddam was concealing evidence which appear to British biologist – flew back to New York so and not co-operating with the inspections. show that Iran had that Corcoran could brief them, along with Unnamed Western diplomats went further, conducted some Dimitri Perricos, a veteran IAEA inspector and said the documents showed there was nuclear weapons who served as chief inspector for this mission, ‘ongoing work taking place in Iraq to develop development in in a secure space, precluding any need for nuclear weapons’. The Iraqi government pub- 2002 and 2003 conversation in Iraq of a sort that shouldn’t licly criticised Unmovic for inspecting a pri- are fake be overheard. On 14 January the three inspec- vate residence, called the seized documents tors returned to Baghdad. Two days later they ‘private papers’, and claimed that their con- inspected Faleh Hamza’s house. tents were already known to the inspectors, On the morning of 16 January 2003 a con- and had nothing to do with the Iraqi nuclear voy of white UN vehicles left the Canal Ho- programme. tel, accompanied by their Iraqi minders in a On 14 February Mohammed El Baradei, hotchpotch of civilian vehicles. The convoy then the director general of the IAEA, said crossed the Tigris and arrived in Ghazaliyah, that the Hamza documents ‘provided some a neighbourhood in west Baghdad, just af- additional details about Iraq’s laser enrich- ter nine in the morning. As well as Hamza’s ment development efforts’, but ‘refer to activ- house, the inspectors raided the house of ities or sites already known to the IAEA and his next-door neighbour, Shakir al-Jibouri, appear to be the personal files of the scientist another Iraqi nuclear scientist. Both men in whose home they were found. Nothing were at work, and only their wives and chil- contained in the documents alters the con- dren were at home. The inspectors waited clusions previously drawn by the IAEA con- outside for hours while their Iraqi minders cerning the extent of Iraq’s laser enrichment tracked down the two scientists and brought programme.’ In short, the Unmovic version them home. Then the inspections began. The of the no notice inspection accomplished documents were found in a wooden box in nothing of significance but contributed to a cupboard upstairs in Hamza’s house, and an already confused story. On the eve of an Perricos ordered Mereish to take them into American-led war that used Iraqi weapons of Unmovic custody. mass destruction as its raison d’être, the re- The Iraqi government protested and a sults of the inspections proved disastrous. compromise was struck: Hamza would ac- ———————— company the documents to the Canal Hotel, The history of no notice inspections in Iraq where they would be copied by the inspec- does not bode well for their use in Iran. tors in his presence, and he would receive a Such inspections are intelligence-based complete copy. The process took hours, and exercises. The bulk of the intelligence un- Hamza claims that at one point he was sepa- derpinning the US concerns over ‘possible rated from his Iraqi minder and approached military dimensions’ comes from the ‘al- by a female Unmovic inspector who offered leged studies’ documents – a series of files to take him and his wife out of Iraq so that the IAEA obtained in 2008 which appear to he could talk to the inspectors without fear show that Iran had conducted some nucle- of reprisal. Hamza refused, and later com- ar weapons development in 2002 and 2003. plained to the press about the inspectors’ Their credibility has often been called into ‘mafia tactics’. question and the Iranians declare they are Blix used the seized documents to remon- fake. There’s good cause, too, to believe strate with the Iraqis; he said that they rep- that much of the remaining intelligence

42 ColdType Mid-July 2015 | www.coldtype.net eyes on iran / 1 buttressing the CIA’s case against Iran Iran justifiably claims is a set of forged docu- We used to joke is flawed. The strange tale of the Iranian ments. In 2014, Iran offered to let the IAEA about how often physicist Shahram Amiri, whose defection conduct another ‘managed access’ on-site in- we came back the CIA facilitated in the spring of 2009, spection of Marivan; the IAEA declined. from an inspection serves as a case in point. Amiri was for sev- ‘You can’t hang your hat on a single issue,’ empty-handed, eral years before his defection an American Garry Dillon, the former head of the IAEA’s repeating the agent-in-place whose reporting was used Action Team in Iraq, told me in October 1998. saying that insanity by the CIA in formulating its assessments ‘By insisting on investigating every minor is doing the on Iran. But his re-defection to Iran in 2010 discrepancy, regardless of the bigger picture, same thing over suggests that he may have been a double you’re putting process ahead of substance. In and over again agent, calling into question all his report- the end, all you’ll be doing is chasing ghosts.’ and expecting a ing to the CIA, before and after his defec- He was right. In Iraq, the inspection process different result tion. Operation Merlin, in which the CIA became a vehicle for creating confrontations attempted to pass on to Iran flawed designs that undermined international confidence for a nuclear weapon, further undermines in Baghdad’s willingness to abide by its dis- the CIA’s credibility as a source of infor- armament obligation. When Iraq finally told mation about an alleged Iranian nuclear the truth about its weapons programmes, no weapons programme. one believed it. We used to joke about how If they were permitted, where would no often we came back from an inspection emp- notice inspections in Iran take place? There ty-handed, repeating the saying that insanity are two sites that the IAEA has publicly de- is doing the same thing over and over again clared to be of interest. The first is Parchin, and expecting a different result. a military facility associated with the Iranian The intelligence about the ‘possible mili- Revolutionary Guard Command. The IAEA tary dimensions’ of Iran’s nuclear programme was granted a ‘managed access’ inspection is of questionable provenance and most of it of the facility in 2005, and found nothing. is more than a dozen years old. The conse- In 2007, the IAEA claimed to have received quences of failure to reach a nuclear accord new information linking Parchin to a test of with Iran today are too serious for the world a neutron initiator, the device which starts to embrace a process that has been so con- fission in a nuclear warhead, and asked to troversial while having so little impact on visit the site again. Iran has refused on the legitimate disarmament. This is especially grounds that the basis for such an inspection true when the inspected party, as is the case is flawed. with Iran, has agreed to implement stringent Scott Ritter is a Robert Kelley, a former IAEA inspector, verification measures and has a proven track former intelligence agreed: ‘The allegations that Iran carried out record of abiding by them. Iran has been put officer with the hydrodynamic experiments related to nu- in the impossible position of having to prove United States Marine clear explosives in a large steel containment a negative. If it accepts inspections based on Corps. From 1991-98, vessel [at Parchin] have questionable techni- allegations it knows to be baseless, then it’s he served as a Chief cal credibility.’ Parchin is a sensitive military opening itself up to an endless cycle of for- Inspector for the facility, and Iran fears that giving inspectors eign intrusion into its military and security UN in Iraq, where access would lead to an intelligence-driven infrastructure, and the inability of inspectors he led inspections fishing expedition. The other site of interest to discover something of relevance will only to find weapons of is in Marivan, where the IAEA contends that reinforce the belief that something is being mass destruction. Iran conducted large-scale explosive tests of a hidden. We saw this happen before in Iraq, This essay originally multi-point initiation system, which is used to and the end result was a war based on flawed appeared in the initiate nuclear fission, and in doing so to ac- intelligence and baseless accusations that left London Review of tivate the neutron initiator, in a weapon. The many thousands dead and a region in tur- Books – source of this allegation appears to be what moil. CT http://lrb.co.uk

www.coldtype.net | Mid-July 2015 | ColdType 43 eyes on iran / 2 iran nuke deal resets eurasia’s ‘great game’ pepe escobar tells how obama’s historic deal could be an international game-changer – but there’s still a long way to go

iran – supported his is it. It is indeed historic. And di- reaching an agreement that is not perfect by russia and plomacy eventually wins. In terms for anybody but is what we could accom- china – has finally, of the New Great Game in Eurasia, plish. Today could have been the end of successfully, and the ongoing tectonic shifts re- hope, but now we are starting a new chapter called the long, T organizing Eurasia, this is huge: Iran – sup- of hope.” winding 12-year- ported by Russia and China – has finally, Zarif also had to stress – correctly – this long atlanticist successfully, called the long, winding 12- was a long-sought solution for an “unneces- bluff on its year-long Atlanticist bluff on its “nuclear sary crisis”; the politicization – essentially ‘nuclear weapons’ weapons.” by the US – of a scientific, technical dossier. And this only happened because the Germany’s Foreign Minister Steinmeier, Obama administration needed for his part, was euphoric; “A his- 1) a lone foreign policy suc- toric day! We leave 35 years of cess, and speechlessness + more than 2) a go at trying to in- 12 years of a dangerous fluence at least laterally conflict behind us.” the onset of the new Looking ahead, Ira- Eurasia-centered geopo- nian President Hassan litical order. Rouhani tweeted now So here it is – the 159- there can be “a focus page, as detailed as possi- on shared challenges” ble, Joint Comprehensive – referring to the real Plan of Action (JCPOA); fight that NATO, and Iran, the actual P5+1/Iran nuclear should pursue together; deal. As Iranian diplomats have against the fake Caliphate of stressed, the JCPOA will be present- ISIS/ISIL/Daesh, whose ideological ed to the United Nations Security Council matrix is intolerant Wahhabism and whose (UNSC), which will then adopt a resolution attacks are directed against both Shi’ites within seven to ten days making it an of- and westerners. ficial international document. Right on cue, Russian President Vladimir Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif Putin stressed the deal will contribute to has described the deal – significantly – as fighting terrorism in the Middle East, not to a “win-win” solution. But not perfect: “I mention “assisting in strengthening global believe this is a historic moment. We are and regional security, global nuclear non-

44 ColdType Mid-July 2015 | www.coldtype.net eyes on iran / 2 proliferation” and – perhaps wishful think- firmation – from a European source – that There won’t ing? – “the creation in the Middle East of the Obama administration feels confident it be American a zone free from weapons of mass destruc- has the votes it needs in Capitol Hill. inspectors – tion.” And what about all that oil? shades of the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov Tariq Rauf, former Head of Verification run-up towards stressed the deal “fully corresponds” with and Security Policy at the IAEA and cur- the war on Russia’s negotiating points. The fact is no rently Director of the Disarmament and Iraq; only from deal would have been possible without Non-Proliferation Program at the Stock- countries with extensive Russian involvement – and the holm International Peace Research Institute diplomatic Obama administration knows it (but can- (SIPRI), hailed the deal as “the most sig- relations with Iran not admit it publicly). nificant multilateral nuclear agreement in The real problem started when Lavrov two decades – the last such agreement was added that Moscow expects the cancella- the 1996 nuclear test ban treaty.” Rauf even tion of Washington’s missile defense plans, advanced that the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize after the Iran deal proves that Tehran is not, should go to US Secretary of State Jon Kerry and won’t be, a nuclear “threat.” and Iran’s Foreign Minister Zarif. There’s the rub. The Pentagon simply Rebuilding trust between the US and won’t cancel an essential part of its Full Iran, though, will be a long and winding Spectrum Dominance military doctrine road. simply because of mere “diplomacy.” Every Tehran agreed to a 15-year moratorium security analyst not blinded by ideology on enriching uranium beyond 3.67 percent; knows that missile defense was never about this means it has agreed to reduce its en- Iran, but about Russia. The Pentagon’s new richment capacity by two-thirds. Only Na- military review still states – not by accident tanz will conduct enrichment; and Fordo, – major Eurasian players Iran, China and additionally, won’t store fissile material. Russia as “threats” to US national security. Iran agreed to store no more than 300 kg Now from the brighter side on Iran-Rus- of low-enriched uranium – a 96% reduction sia relations. Trade is bound to increase, es- compared to current levels. The Arak reac- pecially in nanotechnology, machinery parts tor will be reconfigured, and won’t be used and agriculture. And on the all-pervasive to produce plutonium. The spent fuel will energy front, Iran will indeed compete with be handled by an international team. Russia in major markets such as Turkey and The IAEA and Iran signed a roadmap in soon Western Europe, but there’s plenty of Tehran that was already decided in Vienna. leeway for Gazprom and the National Ira- By December 15, all past and present out- nian Oil Company (NIOC) to coordinate standing issues – that amount to 12 items their market share. NIOC executive Mohsen – should be clarified, and the IAEA will de- Qamsari advances that Iran will prioritize liver a final assessment. IAEA access to the exporting to Asia, and will try to regain the Parchin military site – always a very conten- at least 42% of the European market share tious issue – is part of a separate arrange- that it had before sanctions. ment. Compared to so many uplifting perspec- Sticking point tives, Washington’s reaction was quite pedes- trian. US President Barack Obama preferred One of the major sticking points in Vienna to stress – correctly – that every pathway to was solved – with Tehran allowing UN in- an Iranian nuclear weapon has been cut off. spectors to visit virtually any site. But it may And he vowed to veto any legislation in the object to a particular visit. A Joint Commis- US Congress that blocks the deal. When I sion – the P5+1 + Iran – will be able to over- was in Vienna last month I had surefire con- ride any objections with a simple majority

www.coldtype.net | Mid-July 2015 | ColdType 45 eyes on iran / 2

“Saudi Arabia vote. After that Iran has three days to com- Trita Parsi, president of the National spends 13 times ply – in case it loses the vote. There won’t be American-Iranian Council, went straight to more money American inspectors – shades of the run-up the point: “Saudi Arabia spends 13 times on its defense towards the war on Iraq; only from coun- more money on its defense than Iran does. than Iran does. tries with diplomatic relations with Iran. But somehow Iran, and not Saudi Arabia, But somehow So implementation of the deal will take is seen by the US as the potential aggres- Iran, and not at least the next five months. Sanctions will sor.” Saudi Arabia, is be lifted only by early 2016. So, whatever happens, expect tough seen by the US What’s certain is that Iran will become a days ahead. Two weeks ago, Foreign Minis- as the potential magnet for foreign investment. Major west- ter Zarif told a small group of independent aggressor” ern and Asian multinationals are already journalists in Vienna, including this cor- positioned to start cracking this practically respondent, that the negotiations would virgin market with over 70 million people, be a success because the US and Iran had including a very well educated middle class. agreed on “no humiliation of one anoth- There will be a boom in sectors such as con- er.” He stressed he paid “a high domestic sumer electronics, the auto industry and price for not blaming the Americans,” and hospitality and leisure. he praised Kerry as “a reasonable man.” And then there’s, once again, oil. Iran has But he was wary of the US establishment, as much as a whopping 50 million barrels which to a great extent, according to his of oil stored at sea – and that’s about ready best information, was dead set against the to hit the global market. The purchaser of lifting of sanctions. choice will be, inevitably, China – as the Zarif also praised the Russian idea that West remains mired in recession. Iran’s first after a deal, it will be time to form a real order of work is to regain lost market share counter-terrorism coalition, featuring to Persian Gulf producers. Yet the trend is Americans, Iranians, Russians, Chinese and for oil prices to go down – so Iran cannot Europeans – even as Putin and Obama had count on much profit in the short to me- agreed to work together on “regional is- dium term. sues.” And Iranian diplomacy was giving Now for a real war on terror? signs that the Obama administration had finally understood that the alternative to Arms embargo Assad in Syria was ISIS/ISIL/Daesh, not the The conventional arms embargo on Iran es- “Free” Syrian Army. sentially stays, for five years. That’s absurd, That degree of collaboration, post-Wall compared to Israel and the House of Saud of Mistrust, remains to be seen. Then it will arming themselves to their teeth. be possible to clearly evaluate whether the Last May the US Congress approved a $1.9 Obama administration has made a major billion arms sale to Israel. That includes 50 strategic decision, and whether “normal- BLU-113 bunker-buster bombs – to do what? izing” its relation with Iran involves much Bomb Natanz? – and 3,000 Hellfire missiles. more than meets the eye. As for Saudi Arabia, according to SIPRI, the House of Saud spent a whopping $80 bil- Pepe Escobar’s new book, just out, is lion on weapons last year; more than nucle- “Empire of Chaos”. He is also the author ar powers France or Britain. The House of of “Globalistan: How the Globalized Saud is waging an – illegal – war on Yemen. World is Dissolving into Liquid War” Qatar is not far behind. It clinched an $11 (Nimble Books, 2007), “Red Zone Blues: billion deal to buy Apache helicopters and a snapshot of Baghdad during the surge” Javelin and Patriot air defense systems, and (Nimble Books, 2007), and “Obama does is bound to buy loads of F-15 fighters. Globalistan: (Nimble Books, 2009

46 ColdType Mid-July 2015 | www.coldtype.net Paris, meet London

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www.coldtype.net | Mid-July 2015 | ColdType 47 french kiss Hillary’s emails: missing the story CM Hallinan tells how the French intelligence services plotted to overthrow Libyan leader in attempt to grab oil production and help French businesses

“The DGSE officers he Congressional harrying of former Bernard Henri-Levy, a man who has yet to indicated that US Secretary of State Hillary Clin- see a civil war that he doesn’t advocate inter- they expected the ton over emails concerning the 2012 vening in, from Yugoslavia to Syria. Accord- new government death of an American Ambassador ing to Julian Pecquet, the US congressional of Libya to favor T and three staff members in Benghazi, Libya, correspondent for the Turkish publication French firms and has become a sort of running joke, with Re- Al-Monitor, Henri-Levy claims he got French national interests, publicans claiming “cover-up” and Demo- President Nicolas Sarkozy to back the Beng- particularly crats dismissing the whole matter as nothing hazi-based Libyan Transitional National regarding the oil more than election year politics. But there Council that was quietly being funded by industry in Libya” is indeed a story embedded in the emails, the General Directorate for External Security one that is deeply damning of American and (DGSE), the French CIA. French actions in the Libyan civil war, from According to the memos, in return for secretly funding the revolt against Muammar money and support, “the DGSE officers in- Gaddafi, to the willingness to use journalism dicated that they expected the new govern- as a cover for covert action. ment of Libya to favor French firms and na- The latest round of emails came to light tional interests, particularly regarding the oil last month in a fit of Republican pique over industry in Libya.” The memo says that the Clinton’s prevarications concerning whether two leaders of the Council, Mustafa Abdul she solicited intelligence from her advisor, Jalil and General Abdul Fatah Younis, “ac- journalist and former aide to President Bill cepted this offer.” Clinton, Sidney Blumenthal. If most newspa- Another May 5 email indicates that French per readers rolled their eyes at this point and humanitarian flights to Benghazi included decided to check out the ball scores, one can officials of the French oil company TOTAL, hardly blame them. and representatives of construction firms But that would be a big mistake. and defense contractors, who secretly met While the emails do raise questions about with Council members and then “discreetly” Hillary Clinton’s veracity, the real story is how traveled by road to Egypt, protected by DGSE French intelligence plotted to overthrow the agents. Libyan leader in order to claim a hefty slice Henri-Levy, an inveterate publicity hound, of Libya’s oil production and “favorable con- claims to have come up with this quid pro sideration” for French businesses. quo, business/regime change scheme, using The courier in this cynical undertaking “his status as a journalist to provide cover was journalist and rightwing philosopher for his activities.” Given that journalists are

48 ColdType Mid-July 2015 | www.coldtype.net french kiss routinely accused of being “foreign agents” arms sales to the Middle East. But the Libya France, Britain in places like Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Syria war has turned that around. Since then, Paris and the US began and Afghanistan, Henri-Levy’s subterfuge has carefully courted Saudi Arabia, Qatar and systematically endangers other members of the media try- the United Arab Emirates by taking a hard bombing Qaddafi’s ing to do their jobs. line on the Iran nuclear talks. armed forces, All this clandestine maneuvering paid The global security analyst group Stratfor ignoring pleas off. noted in 2013, “France could gain financially by the African On Feb. 26, 2011, the UN Security Council from the GCC’s [Gulf Cooperation Council, Union to look for unanimously passed Resolution 1970 aimed the organization representing the oil mon- a peaceful way to at establishing “peace and security” and pro- archies of the Persian Gulf] frustrations over resolve the civil tecting the civilian population in the Libyan recent US policy in the Middle East. Signifi- war civil war. Or at least that was how UNR 1970 cant defense contracts worth tens of billions was sold to countries on the Security Coun- of dollars are up for grabs in the Gulf region, cil, like South Africa, Brazil, India, China and ranging from aircraft to warships to missile Russia, that had initial doubts. However, the systems. France is predominantly compet- French, Americans and British – along with ing with Britain and the United States for several NATO allies – saw the resolution as the contracts and is seeking to position itself an opportunity to overthrow Qaddafi and in as a key ally of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the France’s case, to get back in the game as a United Arab Emirates (UAE) as it looks to force in the region. strengthen its defense and industrial ties in Almost before the ink was dry on the reso- the region.” lution, France, Britain and the US began sys- Sure enough, the French company Thal- tematically bombing Qaddafi’s armed forces, es landed a $3.34 billion Saudi contract to ignoring pleas by the African Union to look upgrade the kingdom’s missile system and for a peaceful way to resolve the civil war. France just sold 24 Rafale fighters to Qatar According to one memo, President Sarkozy for $7 billion. Discussions are underway with “plans to have France lead the attacks on the UAE concerning the Rafale, and France [Qaddafi] over an extended period of time” sold 24 of the fighters to Egypt for $5.8 bil- and “sees this situation as an opportunity for lion. France has also built a military base in France to reassert itself as a military power.” the UAE. While for France flexing its muscles was French President Francois Hollande, along an important goal, Al-Monitor says that a with his Foreign and Defense ministers, at- September memo also shows that “Sarkozy tended the recent GCC meeting, and, accord- urged the Libyans to reserve 35 percent of ing to Hollande, there are 20 projects worth their oil industry for French firms – TOTAL billions of dollars being discussed with Saudi in particular – when he traveled to Tripoli Arabia. While he was in Qatar, Hollande gave that month.” In the end, Libya imploded and a hard-line talk on Iran and guaranteed “that Paris has actually realized little in the way of France is there for its allies when it is called oil, but France’s military industrial complex upon.” has done extraordinarily well in the after- True to his word, France has thrown up math of Qaddafi’s fall. one obstacle after another during the talks According to Defense Minister Jean-Yves between Iran and the P5 + 1 – the perma- Lodrian, French arms sales increased 42 per- nent members of the Security Council plus cent from 2012, bringing in $7 billion, and are Germany. expected to top almost $8 billion in 2014. Paris also supports Saudi Arabia and Over the past decade, France, the former it sallies in their bombing war on Yemen, colonial masters of Lebanon, Syria, and Al- and strongly backs the Saudi-Turkish led geria, has been sidelined by US and British overthrow of the government of Bashar al-

www.coldtype.net | Mid-July 2015 | ColdType 49 french kiss the collapse Assad in Syria, even though it means that men who killed 22 museum visitors in Tuni- of libya was the French are aligning themselves with al- sia last March, and 38 tourists on a beach July a particularly Qaeda linked extremist groups. 3, trained with extremists in Libya before car- catastrophic France seems to have its finger in every rying out their deadly attacks. event, which – Middle East disaster, although, to be fair, it is Clinton was aware of everything the as the african hardly alone. Britain and the US also played French were up to and apparently had little union accurately major roles in the Libya war, and the Obama objection to the cold-blooded cynicism be- predicted – sent administration is deep into the ongoing wars hind Paris’s policies in the region. a flood of arms in Syria and Yemen. In the latter case, Wash- The “news” in the Benghazi emails, ac- and unrest into ington supplies the Saudis with weapons, cording to the New York Times, is that, after two continents targeting intelligence, and in-air refueling of denying it, Clinton may indeed have solic- its fighter-bombers. ited advice from Blumenthal. The story ends But the collapse of Libya was a particular- with a piece of petty gossip: Clinton wanted ly catastrophic event, which – as the African to take credit for Qaddafi’s fall, but the White Union accurately predicted – sent a flood of House stole the limelight by announcing the arms and unrest into two continents. Libyan leader’s death first. CT The wars in Mali and Niger are a direct re- That’s all the news that’s fit to print? percussion of Qaddafi’s fall, and the extremist Boko Haram in Nigeria appears to have Conn M. Hallinan is a columnist for Foreign benefited from the plundering of Libyan Policy In Focus, “A Think Tank Without arms depots. Fighters and weapons from Walls, and an independent journalist. He is Libya have turned up in the ranks of the Is- a winner of a Project Censored “Real News lamic State in Syria and Iraq. And the gun- Award,” and lives in Berkeley, California

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50 ColdType Mid-July 2015 | www.coldtype.net welfare cuts But what about the children? Amanda Cahill-Ripley says Britain’s new welfare cuts breach the country’s human rights obligations

“ brighter, more secure future”? “All the people, the taxpayers of this country who In Osborne’s in this together”? With George Os- pay for it.” Britain hard work borne’s latest round of extreme Evidence to the contrary is not hard to find. is supposedly the welfare cuts now laid out, these According to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, best route out A of poverty – but grand claims are ringing more hollow than the shortfall between those on low incomes ever. and the weekly cost of a decent standard of cutting the incomes The Conservative government’s recent living is growing. On child tax credit, the In- of families who budget will certainly have a lasting effect and stitute for Fiscal Studies estimates that reduc- work for already legacy, but not just on the deficit. It will affect ing the Child Tax Credit child element to its low wages directly millions of vulnerable people, including chil- original 2003-04 level (adjusted for inflation) contradicts that aim dren, who will be forced deeper into poverty will increase relative child poverty by about and reliance on charitable concerns such as 300,00 (or 2.5 percentage points). Current food banks. figures put the number of children already in The specific cuts announced by the chan- poverty at 3.5m. cellor include a further reduction to the ben- In relation to hunger, figures released in efits cap – not only from £26,000 to £23,000 April 2015 by the Trussell Trust show that as promised in the Conservative Party’s 2015 more than 1m people received three days’ food manifesto, but down further to £20,000 out- from Trussell Trust food banks, compared to side London. Child tax credits, housing ben- 900,000 last year. This figure includes almost efits and working tax credits will be reduced, 400,000 children. Compare these figures to with child tax credit only being paid for the the 346,992 in 2012-13 and 26,000 who ac- first two children. cessed food banks in 2008-09 and the increas- These moves are particularly controversial, ing scale of food poverty becomes horribly since the benefits cap was purportedly meant evident. to “reward work”. In Osborne’s Britain, as he I can only imagine how these welfare cuts reiterated while delivering the budget, hard are going to affect food poverty throughout the work is supposedly the best route out of pov- UK. What’s clear is that the people these cuts erty – but cutting the incomes of families who will hit the hardest are the most vulnerable in work for already low wages directly contradicts our society – those on low incomes, children, that aim. Osborne has nonetheless argued single parents, large families and those with that the £12 billion cuts to welfare are needed disabilities. to make sure “work pays” and that “we give a We can argue about the political and moral fair deal for those on welfare and a fair deal to reasoning for such cuts, but the legal implica-

www.coldtype.net | Mid-July 2015 | ColdType 51 welfare cuts

These austerity tions of such policies are often forgotten. If we food bank provision by families.” measures and assess the situation from a legal human rights Likewise, the parliamentary Joint Commit- impending welfare perspective, the UK government is showing tee on Human Rights recently reported on the cuts are not only a blatant disregard for legal obligations it signed UK’s compliance with the UN CRC, and found deliberate attack up to long ago. it falling well short: “Welfare cuts will ensure on the poor; they Even leaving aside the question of the Eu- that the government is not in compliance with represent a serious ropean Convention on Human Rights and the its international human rights obligations to failure to comply Human Rights Act, the UK has ratified both realise a right to an adequate standard of living with Britain’s the UN International Covenant of Economic, under Article 11 of the International Covenant legal international Social and Cultural Rights (UN ICESCR) and on Economic and Social Rights (ICESR) and human rights the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child a child’s right to an adequate standard of liv- obligations (UN CRC). Both these legally binding treaties ing under Article 27 of the UN CRC. Further oblige the government to realise “the right of it will be in breach of the statutory target to everyone to an adequate standard of living eliminate child poverty contained in the Child for himself and his family, including adequate Poverty Act 2010.” food, clothing and housing.” Hence the well-timed change to the defi- The UN CRC requires that governments nition of child poverty, something Iain Dun- “recognise the right of every child to a stan- can Smith and the Department for Work and dard of living adequate for the child’s physical, Pensions have been trying to bring about for mental, spiritual, moral and social develop- a long time. The overriding consequences of ment” and recognise that “every child [has] these cuts will be more of what we’ve already the right to benefit from social security”. seen: a rise in child poverty, food poverty and While neither of these conventions have fuel poverty. This is not a matter of choice. been directly incorporated into British law, People turn to food banks “as a last resort, the state is nonetheless bound at international when other coping strategies have failed. De- level to honour their duties. ciding to seek help from a food bank can be It is also true that human rights law pro- difficult, embarrassing and shameful.” vides special protections for the most vulner- As such, the increasing use of food banks able – exactly the people who will be most to substitute the role of the state in protect- seriously affected by these cuts. ing the most vulnerable in society is not only Even the Cameron government’s own ad- a violation of the right to food and the right to visers have warned it about the cuts’ impact an adequate standard of living. It is fundamen- on children. The report of the UK Children’s tally a violation of the most essential right: the Commissioners to the UN Committee on the right to live one’s life in dignity. Rights of the Child, published in July 2015, The fact that the third sector is doing a fan- pulls no punches: tastic job dealing with food poverty (as well as Amanda Cahill- “Response to the global economic down- the housing crisis and fuel poverty) – albeit Ripley is a turn, including the imposition of austerity only touching the tip of the iceberg – does not lecturer in law measures and changes to the welfare system, mean that charities should replace the role of at Lancaster has resulted in a failure to protect the most the state. University in disadvantaged children and those in espe- Clearly, these austerity measures and now England. cially vulnerable groups from child poverty, the impending welfare cuts are not only a de- This article preventing the realisation of their rights under liberate attack on the poor; they represent a originally Articles 26 and 27 [of the UN CRC] … Reduc- serious failure to comply with Britain’s legal appeared at tions to household income for poorer children international human rights obligations. This http:// as a result of tax, transfer and social security government has taken depressing backwards theconversation. benefit changes have led to food and fuel pov- steps in terms of realising core economic and com erty, and the sharply increased use of crisis social rights. CT

52 ColdType Mid-July 2015 | www.coldtype.net poet’s corner president trump to Xi and putin: ‘you’re fired!” a poem by philip kraske

I was glad to see Donald Trump’s gonna run, Abroad our enemies will turn pussycat, To lend the race drama, great flair and some fun, As The Donald to them will take a big bat, With his big ideas whose time has sure come, Push them around and show them what’s greatness, Since he has a dream and not crap humdrum. Bully them to respect us without any hateness. For campaign gravitas has of late gotten lame, And if Putin or Xi of him dare get tired, With Ben Carson, Ted Cruz and Jeb! (no surname). Don’s just the one to tell them, “You’re fired!”

The Don gave his talk and promised to return, Finally! This prince after we’ve kissed every toad, America its greatness, my biggest concern. To take superpowerdom out on the road. Greatness, you know, can be lost like keys, He’s just what we need: a non-politician, Like a ball losing air or flowers their bees, Neither tub-thumper nor thoughtful patrician. Turning the country into a big Cameroon, But a billionaire leader as nobody’s been, Which far as I know put no man on the moon. Who’ll buy our country its greatness again CT

I particular liked his push for a wall, Along the Mex border to keep down the squall, Philip Kraske lives in Madrid, Spain, where he teaches Of mariachi bands and ladies in labor, English on a freelance basis and does some translation. And paid for by Mexies like a good neighbor. His four novels, of varied plots but centering on American That’s called vision in Century Twenty-One, politics and society, began to appear in 2009. Joining Reagan and Cesar with Atilla the Hun. His web site is http://philipkraske.com

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www.coldtype.net | Mid-July 2015 | ColdType 53 Drugs halt Sunset of the empire Columbian defiance of the ‘War onD rugs’ shows how US influence in Latin America is plunging, writes Jeff Nygaard

“Plan Columbia’ he New York Times headline on May ance rolls in every day, as this news item was considered 15th read, “Defying US, Colombia from the middle of May illustrates. an outstanding Ends a Drug Tactic.” The tactic to As reported by the Times and many others, success by which they refer has long formed a what happened in May was that Colombia an- the State T part of the Clinton-era anti-drug program nounced that it would stop the aerial spray- Department, but known as “Plan Colombia.” That’s the Plan ing of the chemical glyphosate. Glyphosate an unmitigated which the Obama State Department consid- is the active (and carcinogenic) ingredient in disaster by others ers an “outstanding success story” and hu- the Monsanto product known as RoundUp, man rights defenders consider “an unmiti- which has been the main (perhaps the only) gated disaster,” according to a recent article herbicide used in the coca-eradication cam- by the North American Congress on Latin paign. RoundUp is the world’s most widely America, or NACLA. used herbicide, in part due to the demand Part of the larger “War on Drugs,” which from the Colombian spraying. Perhaps all of was declared by Richard Nixon in 1971, Plan this has something to do with the fact that Colombia included a regime of aerial spraying Monsanto, according to the Union of Con- of coca fields, apparently based on the long- cerned Scientists, “consistently outspends all discredited idea that such “supply reduc- other agribusiness companies and interest tion” would somehow reduce cocaine use in groups” in its Washington lobbying efforts. the United States. This despite the numerous The Times comments that “The decision studies which show that “supply-side eradi- [to ban glyphosate] ends a program that has cation efforts almost always fail to reduce the continued for more than two decades, raising supply of drugs or rates of drug use.” questions about the viability of long-accepted There was a time when most countries in strategies in the war on drugs in the region.” the Western Hemisphere would do as they What it really raises questions about is the were told by the United States, even when ability of the US to call the shots in the hemi- what they were told to do was poisoning their sphere. Indeed, the Times notes that “Before people and increasing violence in their home- Thursday’s decision, the United States had land. That’s how Empire works. But now, as pressed the Colombian government to con- the Drug Policy Alliance noted in a 2014 arti- tinue the spraying program.” In the old days, cle, there is a “growing defiance across Latin that would have done the trick. These are America at decades of US-driven, militarized not the old days. drug policy and its devastating consequences It’s not just Colombia, either. An article for the region.” More evidence of this defi- from June 2014 in NACLA’s Report on the

54 ColdType Mid-July 2015 | www.coldtype.net drugs halt

Americas puts the recent Colombian deci- of Justice and Human Rights, speaking to the so-called War sion in context: the United Nations Commission on Nar- on drugs, declared “Since President Nixon first declared the cotic Drugs, who said that “Despite using when the us War on Drugs over 40 years ago, the US gov- all of these measures [for drug eradication], empire was still ernment has used its political and economic we have not, as is the case in the rest of the near the height of muscle to dictate policies throughout the world, achieved the desired results.” Speak- its powers, winds region. Now the tables have turned as Latin ing to the same group, the Mexican repre- down American countries have emerged as a driv- sentative asserted that “strategies to reduce ing force. Numerous factors have contributed demand and supply…should not cause more to the waning influence of Washington on this harmful effects than the damage…generated and other policies. The surge in left-leaning by the demand and supply of drugs.” NACLA governments in countries such as Venezuela, notes that “Such statements would have been Ecuador, and Bolivia has challenged Wash- unthinkable even two or three years ago. But ington’s historic patterns of unilateralism now, such concerns are routinely expressed and interventionism. The growing economic by sitting presidents and officials from key influence of Brazil, the economic recession Latin American countries.” in the United States, and the decline of US And so the so-called War on Drugs, de- foreign assistance have all contributed to this clared when the US Empire was still near the trend. Interestingly, the reformist leanings height of its powers, winds down. How will on drug policy do not break down on ideo- the national and international anti-drug bu- logical grounds, with Guatemala’s right-wing reaucracy be dismantled? Or, will it? And president joining left-wing presidents in Uru- what will take its place? Whatever happens, guay and Ecuador to advocate for an end to it looks like Latin America, not the United prohibitionist drug policies, while left-wing States, may lead the way into the future. governments in Venezuela and Nicaragua CT strongly support the status quo.” The speed of the decline in US dominance Jeff Nygaard is editor of Nygaard Notes – is indicated by a few quotations from the http://nygaardnotes.org– where this article NACLA article. First is Colombia’s Minister was first published

PAGE TRIBUTE AL 48- A SPECI

96 Remembering ISSUE Type Photo: Joyce Ravid Cold WRITING WORTH READING Danny Schechter Don’t miss our special 48-page tribute to the News Dissector DANNY SCHECHTER THE NEWSOR DISSECT 1942-2015 * click here to download

www.coldtype.net | Mid-July 2015 | ColdType 55 Just a memory quote

(Left to right) Leslie James Pickering, Craig Rosebraugh and Elaine Close return to their Portland home after the FBI raid. Radical time capsule Michael I. Niman tells how the FBI returned computers and typewriters and files to activist bookstore owner after 14 years

Their outfit long time ago I gifted a worn and try to empathize with Pickering, this is all I operated much rather worthless car to a friend. have to work with. like many large Though he intended to nurse my Pickering just received a shipment from multinational old hooptie back to life, he wound his prior life, by way of the FBI. A decade and corporate PR A up abandoning it. Years later I stumbled a half ago, Pickering lived in Portland, Or- agencies. The upon the car, embalmed in bird droppings egon. He, along with his friend, Craig Rose- difference was in and wrapped in vines, tucked away in an- braugh, operated from their house what can the clients they other friend’s backyard. Finding it was like best be described as a not-for-profit public represented finding a time capsule, ripe with artifacts relations agency. Their outfit operated much from my prior life, reemerging like a ghost like many large multinational corporate PR after two decades. agencies, offering press releases and data in My reunion with my old car offers, at support of their clients’ positions and ac- best, a poor analogy for what Buffalo book- tions. The biggest difference, beyond scale store owner Leslie James Pickering must be and their lack of a profit motive, was in the experiencing right now. But luckily for me, clients they represented. it’s the best one I can come up with. When I Whereas the corporate outfits regularly

56 ColdType Mid-July 2015 | www.coldtype.net Just a memory represent ecocidal companies or warring albeit while posing much less of a threat to While Pickering governments whose actions sometimes re- corporate and development interests. and Rosebraugh sult in thousands of human deaths, Pick- Running the press office made both Rose- claim to have ering and Rosebraugh’s primary client was braugh and Pickering prime targets for the never participated the Earth Liberation Front (ELF). FBI to investigate. Yet, to date, FBI investiga- in planning or The ELF was not an organization but an tions initiated more than 15 years ago have carrying out an ideological movement, ostensibly inspired failed to turn up any criminal connection ELF action, they by the Deep Ecology movement personi- between Pickering and Rosebraugh and the were both publicly fied by Earth First! in the 1980s and 1990s. arsonists and vandals behind the ELF ac- sympathetic to the Earth First!’s mischievous tactics of direct tions. movement action included “monkey wrenching” the In January 2000, and again in April 2001, machinery of environmental destruction, FBI agents raided Rosebraugh and Picker- through actions such as disabling bulldoz- ing’s home, which also served as the press ers and degrading the economic value of office. The second raid came shortly after old growth trees by hammering large spikes the pair issued press releases in connection into them, making it too risky and not eco- with an arson attack that burned 35 SUVs nomically viable to cut them down. The in a nearby dealership. Both times, the FBI ELF, however, took these tactics to another agents seized computer equipment, jour- level, exponentially raising the ante of what nals, typewriters, photo albums, personal they termed “direct action.” People claiming papers, and other assorted items. According the ELF banner, for example, torched a ski to Pickering, the FBI provided no inventory resort, McMansions, a condo development, for the 2000 seizure and only a partial in- and university laboratories where they be- ventory for the 2001 seizure. A few months lieved GMO research was being conducted. later, a representative from the agency con- While Pickering and Rosebraugh claim tacted Pickering and Rosebraugh, offering to have never participated in planning or to return their seized property. When the carrying out an ELF action, they were both pair turned up to retrieve their belongings, publicly sympathetic to the movement. however, agents only offered to return a re- Their PR operation, which operated from cycling bucket and its contents. 1997 to 2002, became known as the “ELF ELF actions were controversial among en- Press Office,” maintaining a public address vironmentalists who questioned the efficacy where they received anonymous communi- of their tactics, feared that somebody could ques from the arsonists and vandals behind get hurt or killed in one of their actions, and many ELF-type actions. Pushing free speech argued that these actions could be used by to its legal limits, they processed this infor- the government to justify further repression mation for press dissemination, often ap- of non-violent direct action environmental pearing publicly to contextualize and an- and anti-corporate movements. While Pick- swer questions about ELF actions, much like ering hasn’t waivered in his support of ELF corporate PR people do for their clients. tactics, he left the press office and stopped During this period, as the ELF gained doing PR for the ELF 14 years ago, roughly notoriety destroying property, the FBI de- one year after the second raid on his home. clared them the nation’s top “domestic ter- In 2011, he was interviewed for the Academy ror” threat. They issued this designation de- Award nominated documentary “If a Tree spite fact that nobody was ever hurt in any Falls,” which told the story of the ELF. He ELF action and that more dangerous move- is still an activist today, often lecturing on ments such as the anti-abortion and white environmental issues. His bookstore, Burn- supremacist movements were specifically ing Books, often hosts activist speakers and targeting and killing people at that time – films. Pickering has reinvented himself over

www.coldtype.net | Mid-July 2015 | ColdType 57 Just a memory

FBI investigations initiated more than 15 years ago have failed to turn up any criminal connection between Pickering and Rosebraugh and the arsonists and vandals behind the ELF actions

Some of the seized press office equipment

the past 14 years as a soft-spoken family Five” typewriters, which Pickering claims man and a business owner – whose quiet he was using as part of a book arts project. voice still speaks of revolution. An FBI forensic examination of these arti- And the FBI still keeps an eye on Picker- facts provided what the agency terms “no ing. In the summer of 2012, the Buffalo office useful info.” of the FBI allegedly started asking questions Michael Kuzma, who currently serves about him. In April of this year, the Eugene as Pickering’s attorney, suspects the equip- office of the FBI contacted Rosebraugh, tell- ment was seized “by design to cripple the ing him they were ready to return what they press office and crush the First Amend- seized from his and Pickering’s Portland ment rights of these activists,” adding that, home 14 years ago. Or at least they were “The FBI is no fan of free speech.” Kuzma ready to return the portion of the seized suspects that his client’s property was not property that they actually inventoried, actually being studied as evidence for the which, according to Pickering, amounts to past 14 years but was “collecting dust.” The about one SUV of material, from a seizure seizure, he argues, “fits in with the purpose that filled at least three government SUVs. of the FBI – historically to monitor and dis- The email from the FBI listed an inven- rupt political organizations they deem to be tory of the property they were returning: subversive.” It’s being returned now, Kuzma Mac, Dell, “Mini-Tower” [sic.] and “Domino suspects, because “Leslie’s public speak- tower” [sic.] computers, a computer mouse, ing activities, such as his recent European a monitor, a keyboard, a Canon printer, a speaking tour, has embarrassed the FBI – an Brother fax/scanner, a Umax scanner, a cell embarrassment because during his Power- phone, and IBM, Royal, and “Underwood Point presentation he shows images of the

58 ColdType Mid-July 2015 | www.coldtype.net Just a memory

You could say these items have aged like fine wine, starting their incarceration as worn equipment but aging into historic artifacts

Federal agent carries equipment from the house during the raid. agents actually seizing the equipment 14 the computer mouse? Whose DNA coated years ago.” it? What sort of detritus was left on the Pickering argues that the FBI “seems to printer? What resins clung to the monitor? be this uncertain mix of extreme bureau- These 14 years have not been kind to cracy and extreme incompetency.” Hence, Rosebraugh and Pickering’s property, ren- he explains, “I’m not really even asking my- dering all but the typewriters, which were self why they would suddenly release this already obsolete, as antiques. On the other junk after 14 years,” adding that he’s not hand, you could say these items have in- “tormenting” himself by “searching for any stead aged like fine wine, starting their in- more unanswerable questions.” He does carceration as worn equipment but aging point out, however, that his property was into historic artifacts. Put together into a ostensibly confiscated as part of the SUV ar- collection, as the FBI agents unwittingly son investigation, yet that crime was solved curated them, we can see something more almost a decade ago. than obsolete junk. Together, this curated Unlike my car, which sat and rotted under collection gives us a tactile reminder of a birds and vegetation, we don’t quite know political time, place, and tactic, represent- where these artifacts traveled over the past ing both the revolutionary fervor of the ELF 14 years, who they touched, and what they and the reactionary abuses of the FBI. CT had to say. What did forensic investigators think of the zeros and ones that populated Michael I. Niman is a professor of the seized hard drives and painted pictures journalism and critical media studies at of the lives of Pickering, Rosebraugh, and SUNY Buffalo State. their roommates? What did they learn from His website is http://mediastudy.com

www.coldtype.net | Mid-July 2015 | ColdType 59 remembering danny sCheChTer – 1942 - 2015

Danny Schechter TopıcTopıc of CancerCancerA Medıcal Mystery Tour

Danny Schechter’S final book: free to all colDtype reaDerS When he was diagnosed with cancer late last year, danny schechter, the news dissector, started a diary of his Medical Mystery tour – telling of his fight against the disease, his treatment and his feelings. this diary, with a moving final chapter by his daughter sarah debs schechter, was published as a 212-page ebook to commemorate his birthday on June 27, exclusively for readers of coldtype. get your copy today by clicking on the link below

http://coldtype.net/Assets.15/pdfs/TopicofCancerFinal.pdf book review / 1 your problems are our problems americans can learn as much from the Uk experience as the british can learn from what’s happening in the United states, says sam pizzigati

e live in a trickle-down world, workers injured on the job, men of wealth Wealth isn’t or so insist our world’s richest and power argued that workers insured trickling down and those who cheer them on. against disability would cut off their own from above. The grand fortunes our rich limbs to reap the rewards disability protec- myths are. W myths that amass, their story goes, eventually trickle tion would provide. down and benefit us all. University of Ox- “Injustice” exposes the myths that ratio- rationalize our ford social geographer Danny Dorling agrees nalize our income and wealth concentra- young century’s – up to a point. tion. colossal We do live, as he relates in these pages, Today’s rich and their hired hands sel- concentration of in a trickle-down world. But what’s trickling dom get that crude. They spin much more riches and power down brings most of us no benefit. sophisticated myths. In “Injustice,” Dorling The reason? Wealth isn’t tricktrick-- examines – and exposes – them all. ling down from above. Myths are. Sometimes with figures and Myths that rationalize our young charts. Sometimes with hishis- century’s colossal concentration tory. Sometimes with unreunre- of riches and power. Myths – lenting logic. Dorling calls them the “ideolo-“ideolo- A word of warning for gies of inequality” – that aim American readers: Injustice to justify injustice. invites you – expects you – to For Dorling, our world’s take a leap out of your comfort staggeringly unequal distri-- zone. The book includes plenty bution of income and wealth of material about the United has become the “disease States. But its pages also abound behind injustice,” a disease with stories and stats from the Sam Pizzigati is that binds the elitism, ex- UK, that proverbial “other side of the editor of Too clusion, prejudice, and despair the pond.” Much Online that define our epoch. injustice: Dorling is, in effect, betting – http://toomuch Why do we let this inequality Why social that Americans can learn as online.org – a inequality still define us? We have simply, Dor- much from the UK experience as commentary persists ling believes, imbibed too many the British can learn from what’s on excess and myths from those who lord over Danny Dorling happening in the United States. inequality. He is the us. A century ago, amid the strug- Policy Press A reasonable proposition from a author of “The Rich gle for social insurance to protect £9.98 (Amazon) readable book. CT Don’t Always Win”

www.coldtype.net | Mid-July 2015 | ColdType 61 book review / 2 the 51-day genocide david swanson reads a powerful new book on israel’s 2014 war on gaza

the stories in the ax Blumenthal’s latest with non-Jewish people liv- us media focused book, “The 51 Day War: ing on it. (Eighty percent of on israelis’ fears. Ruin and Resistance in Gaza’s residents are refugees the deaths of Gaza, “tells a power- from Israel, families ethni- gazans were M ful story powerfully well. I can cally cleansed in 1947-1948.) explained as think of a few other terms that Yes, of course, Israel wants the intentional accurately characterize the fossil fuels off the Gazan coast. sacrifices by 2014 Israeli assault on Gaza But it already has them. No, the a people with in addition to “war,” among immediate goal of the Israeli war a “culture of them: occupation, murder- on Gaza last year, like the one two martyrdom” spree, and genocide. Each years before, and like the one four who sometimes serves a different valuable pur- years before that, would perfectly the 51-day choose to die pose. Each is correct. fit a name like “The 51 Day Geno- War: ruin and because it makes The images people bring to cide.” The purpose was to kill. The resistance good video mind with the term “war,” univer- end was nothing other than the in gaza footage sally outdated, are grotesquely out- means. Max Blumenthal dated in a case like this one. There In 2014, as in 2012 and 2008, is no pair of armies on a battle- nation books Israel again attacked the people of field. There is no battlefield. There $14.15 (Amazon) Gaza, using weapons provided for is no aim to conquer, dispossess, free by the US government, which or rob. The people of Gaza are already pre- could be counted on, even standing com- defeated, conquered, imprisoned, and under pletely alone, to defend Israel’s crimes at the siege -- permanently overseen by military United Nations. Practicing what’s been called drones and remote-control machine-guns the Dahiya Doctrine, Israel’s policy was one atop prison-camp walls. In dropping bombs of collective punishment. on houses, the Israeli government is not try- The stories in the US media focused on ing to defeat another army on a battlefield, Israelis’ fears. The deaths of Gazans were ex- is not trying to gain possession of territory, plained as intentional sacrifices by a people is not trying to steal resources from a foreign with a “culture of martyrdom” who some- power, and is not trying to hold off a foreign times choose to die because it makes good army’s attempt to conquer Israel. video footage. After all, Israel was phoning Yes, of course, Israel ultimately wants people’s houses and giving them 5-minute Gaza’s land incorporated into Israel, but not warnings before blowing them up. The fact

62 ColdType Mid-July 2015 | www.coldtype.net book review / 2 that it was also blowing up shelters and hos- Inert Metal Explosives (DIME). The whole thing pitals they might flee to was glossed over or The people of Israel generally went along was kicked off explained as somehow involving military with this war (with many admirable excep- when Prime targets. tions), and later reelected its architects. Minister Benjamin But the Israeli media and internet were Protests against the war were banned, and Netanyahu lied full of open advocacy by top Israeli officials various lies (including those about the three that three of genocide. On August 1, 2014, the Deputy murder victims that kicked it all off) were ex- murder victims Speaker of Israel’s Parliament posted on posed in a matter of days or weeks. No mat- might be still alive, his Facebook page a plan for the complete ter, the point was to kill people, and people falsely blamed elimination of the Gazan people using con- were killed. And no matter in Washington, their kidnapping centration camps, to take one of dozens of either, which kept the weapons flowing, on Hamas, and examples. quite illegally. began raiding And the whole thing was kicked off when Gaza launched some 4,000 rockets into Is- houses and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lied rael, to little apparent effect -- rockets whose mass-arresting that three murder victims might be still total combined payload roughly equaled that Gazans alive, falsely blamed their kidnapping on of just 12 of the missiles Israel was sending Hamas, and began raiding houses and mass- into Gaza from its F-16s courtesy of the Land arresting Gazans. Once Israel and the United of the Free. States had rejected out-of-hand quite rea- The “international community” gathered sonable ceasefire demands from Hamas, the in Cairo on October 12, and diplomats “dis- war/genocide was on for 51 days -- with great cussed the destruction of Gaza as though popular support in Israel. Some 2,200 Gazan it were the result of a natural disaster -- as people were killed, over 10,000 injured, and though the missiles that reduced the strip’s 100,000 made homeless by a very one-sided border areas to rubble were meteors that war. descended from outer space.” There was Here’s a taste of how Blumenthal de- no way to discuss damage to both sides in scribes what happened: a manner that would make Israel’s actions “The two Red Crescent volunteers told seem legitimate, even by the standards of me they later found a man in Khuza’a with the “international community,” so they dis- rigor mortis, holding both hands over his cussed the one-sided damage as if nobody head in surrender, his body filled with bul- were responsible. lets. Deeper in the town, they discovered an Is this where the United States is headed entire family so badly decomposed they had culturally and with its own wars? One rea- to be shoveled with a bulldozer into a mass son to hope not is that opposing Israel’s wars David Swanson is grave. In a field on the other side of town, is one of the few places where US youth are an author, activist, Awad and Alkusofi found a shell-shocked engaged in antiwar activism. Nonetheless, journalist, and radio woman at least eighty years of age hiding in there is reason for concern. The US has fol- host. He is director a chicken coop. She had taken shelter there lowed the Israeli model of domestic policing, of WorldBeyondWar. for nine days during the siege, living off of of drone use, of assassination, and of propa- org and campaign nothing but chicken feed and rain water.” ganda, and the Israeli lead in relation to Iraq, coordinator for While every bombed school and hospital Syria, and Iran. As the US military moves RootsAction.org. was explained with the assertion that Gazan more and more toward treating the world as Swanson’s books fighters were hiding among “human shields,” Israel treats Gaza, the world’s future comes include “War Is A we meet Gazan people in Blumenthal’s book more and more into doubt. And there’s little Lie.? who were literally held up as shields by Is- to suggest that Americans will oppose ac- He blogs at http:// raeli soldiers who shot at Gazans from over tions by their own government simply be- DavidSwanson. their shoulders. People also had new nasty cause they’ve previously opposed those same org and http:// weapons tested on them, including Dense actions by the government of Israel. CT WarIsACrime.org

www.coldtype.net | Mid-July 2015 | ColdType 63 WriTing WorTh

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