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Rebyu ng WHEN CHINA SNEEZES: From the Coronavirus Lockdown to the Global Politico-Economic Crisis. Cynthia McKinney, editor; Nilimbag ng Clarity Press
Ni JOEL P. GARDUCE Ngayong krisis COVID-19, pihadong madalas mong ramdam na nilalansi ka. Ramdam nating mga Pilipino yan. Palyadong update sa stats ng COVID-19, todong-pagkait sa grabeng korapsyon sa karurukan ng gubyerno, lantarang pagsisinungaling ng mga troll sa social media, hanggang blackout sa tutoong kalusugan ni Duterte—pinalala pa ang masamang lagay na ito ng daloy ng impormasyon nang pinasara ang ABS-CBN, dambuhalang network sa Pilipinas na isa rin sa pinakamalaking midya sa Timog-Silangang Asya, matingkad na patunay sa patuloy na atake ng gubyerno sa kalayaang mamahayag. Sa tutoo’y palasak ang mga kasinungalingan maging sa buong mundo. Aktibong gatekeeping ang mapapansin sa social media magmulang ideklara ang W.H.O. ang pandemya. Sa ngalan ng pagtigil sa misimpormasyon at disimpormasyon, marapat na sinara ng Facebook, Twitter, Instagram at Youtube ang masasabing mga alt-right at pasistang account at post. Pero lagpas-lagpas pa dito ang ginawa ng mga higanteng ito ng Internet. Kasama ang mga nangungunang search engine gaya ng Google, minanipula ng mga ito ang mga search at feed algorithms para sagarang itulak sa laylayan ang mga account at post ng alternatibong midya na taimtim na nag-uulat sa mga anomalya at trend na di umaayon sa naratibo at adyenda ng establisimyento. Ilan sa mga biktimang independyenteng midya ang Truthout.org, Mint Press News, Global Research, Information Clearing House, WhatReallyHappened.com, Popular Resistance, Telesur, at RT (Russia Today); mga awtor gaya nina Mark Crispin Miller, Mark Taliano, Dr V.A. Shiva Ayyudarai at Pepe Escobar; at maraming alternative health websites. Resulta, bugbog sa walang-kabuluhang ingay ang sangkatauhan. Gaya nga ng nasabi ng Amerikanong musikerong si Jackson Browne, “the more you watch, read and listen, the less you know” (mas marami kang pinanonood, binabasa at pinakikinggan, mas konti ang iyong nalalaman). Pero ang kasaysayan ay hindi naman nagbibigay ng mga problema nang walang mga solusyon. Kahit pa walang kasintindi ang pagsisikap ng establisimyento na i-hijack ang daloy ng impormasyon, lumilitaw ang mga pwersang nagsisikhay na pangibabawan ang mga panlalansi. Ang librong WHEN CHINA SNEEZES: From the Coronavirus Lockdown to the Global Politico-Eonomic Crisis, isang bagong-labas na koleksyon ng mga akdang pumapatungkol sa COVID-19 na nilimbag ng Clarity Press at inedit ng palabang dating kongresista sa U.S. na si Cynthia McKinney, ay isang mahalagang ambag mula sa matuturing nating malapad na pandaigdigang kilusang COVID-19 para sa katotohanan, kalayaan at kalusugan. Beterano sa paghahanap ng katotohanan ang editor ng libro Hindi bago sa gawaing paghahanap ng katotohanan ang editor ng librong ito. Bilang Democrat mula Georgia sa Kongreso ng U.S. noong 2002, nangahas manawagan nang maaga si Representante McKinney ng lubos na imbestigasyon sa mga teroristang atake sa Amerika noong 9/11 ng 2001, kasama na ang pagsuri kung tumanggap ang noo’y Pangulong George W. Bush at iba pang opisyal ng U.S. ng maagang babala pero sawing napigilan ang terorismong ito. Nag-iisang tinig sya sa Kongreso ng U.S. na humiling ng imbestigasyong ito. Ginawa nya ito wala pang pitong buwan matapos ang 9/11 kung kelan bitag pa ang balana sa U.S. at buong daigdig sa opisyal na conspiracy theory na tanging sina Osama bin Laden at 19 na Muslim hijacker mula al-Qaeda ang may pakana ng mga atakeng ito. Sa kanyang pagsisikap na singilin ang katotohanan, siniraan si McKinney ng mga kampon ng gubyerno sa maraming establisimyentong midya sa Amerika. Naging biktima sya ng pandaraya mula kapwa sa partidong Democratic at Republican at inagaw sa kanya ang sana’y ikaanim nyang termino bilang kongresista. Kahit pa man, klarong di napigilan si McKinney sa kanyang aktibismo para sa karapatang pantao, pagkakapantay ng mga lahi, at pandaigdigang kapayapaan. Siya pa nga ang naging kandidato sa pagkapangulo ng Green Party noong 2008, at naging patnugot sya ng tatlong palabang publikasyon, kasama na ang When China Sneezes. Mga paghahalintulad ng COVID-19 at 9/11 Gaya ng pag-alpas ni McKinney, ang kilusang katotohanang 9/11 (9/11 truth movement) na tinaguyod nya ay nakaalpas din sa matinding paninira, at lumitaw ang mga grupo gaya ng Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth (Mga Arkitekto’t Inhinyero para sa Katotohanang 9/11) na naglalantad sa maanomalyang pagdemolish sa WTC7, ang pangatlong gusali sa New York na bumagsak noong 9/11 gaya ng Twin Towers pero hindi naman tinamaan ng alinman sa mga na-hijack na eroplano. Sa totoo lang, may natatanging paghahalintulad ang paglitaw ng COVID-19 ngayong taon sa naganap na 9/11 noong 2001. Parehong walang kaparis na pangyayari ang dalawa na sumalanta sa buong mundo at gumulantang sa sangkatauhan. Parehong may di-inaasahang malaking bilang ng kaswalti. Binunsod ng kapwa pangyayari ang pagbulusok ng ekonomya ng daigdig. Binunsod ng parehong pangyayari ang malawakang pagpataw ng mga hakbanging mapanupil sa kalayaang sibil. Naging oportunidad ang parehong pangyayari para kumamal ng limpak-limpak na superganansya ang mga makapangyarihang pandaigdigang interes. At inianak ng kapwang pangyayari ang maraming siryosong tanong at usapin na nagtuturo sa malalaking anomalya at tutoong kutsabahan na humihingi ng karampatang sagot para sa sangkatauhan. Sa entrada pa lang, nagbabala na si McKinney na “magsuot ng seatbelt, dahil pagkatapos nyong basahin ang mga pahinang ito, hindi na gaya nang dati ang magiging pananaw mo sa kalusugan, yaman at paggugubyernong pandaigdig.” Sa puntong ito, tagumpay ang libro. Mahusay na napagtipon ni McKinney ang mga maalam na malalim na sumuri sa samut saring bahagi ng nagaganap na pandaigdigang krisis sa kalusugan, ekonomya at pulitika.. Nagmula ba ang SARS-CoV-2 sa biodefense lab? Sa Unang Bahagi ay kaagad na tumutok sa esensyal si Jeff J. Brown, curator ng Bioweapon Truth Commission Global Online Library, sa pagsuri sa mismong sakit na COVID-19 at ang SARS-CoV-2 virus na nagbubunsod dito, sa paraang madaling intindihin. Solidong nag-ambag sya sa matagal-nang-nararapat na kumprehensibong imbestigasyon sa pinagmulan ng SARS-CoV-2 nang binahagi nya ang mga sinupil na syentipikong pag-aaral na nagsabing may katangian ang virus na di-maaaring bunga ng likas na ebolusyon. Oo, mas tiyak na nagmula ang virus sa isang laboratoryong “biodefense” (terminong Orwellian ng establisimyento para sa biowarfare). Naipamalas mang malamang na resulta ang virus ng isang “gain-of-function” biolab op, diniin ni Brown na di karapat-dapat na ituring na pandemya ang bagong coronavirus na sakit na ito. Malayong mas mababa aniya ang matagalang trend ng mortality rate ng COVID-19 kumpara halimbawa sa pulmonya. Yan pa rin nga ang trend magpahanggang ngayon: sa suma total na 35,152,675 kaso ng COVID-19 sa buong mundo na naitala nitong Oktubre 4, ang bilang ng namamatay sa nasabing sakit ay 1,038,151. Lumalabas na 2.95% ang mortality rate ng sakit na ito. Mas mababa ito sa 5% hanggang 10% ng pulmonya, at malayung-malayo sa 10% mortality rate ng (namaling-itaguring) “Spanish flu” na kumalat noong panahon ng Unang Digmaang Pandaigdig, sakit na kataka-takang kinumpara agad ang COVID-19 sa maagang bahagi pa lang ng nagaganap na krisis pangkalusugan. Ang binubusalang istorya ng pagkagapi ng China sa COVID-19 Sa Ikalawang Bahagi, detalyadong pinaliwanag naman ng propesor at retiradong negosyante na si Larry Romanoff ang matagumpay na pagtugon ng China sa kumalat na COVID-19, bagay na hindi lumaganap sa ibang bahagi ng mundo. Ang naiibang kaayusang sosyal ng bansa ay nagbigay ng pwersa sa kung paanong napangibabawan ng China ang COVID-19: mula sa sistema ng kalusugang publiko na binigyang-halaga ng gubyerno hanggang sa malakas na pambansang kapatiran at pagtutulungang pinamalas ng taumbayang Tsino sa panahon ng salanta. Hindi tinago ni Romanoff ang mga pagkakamaling nagawa sa proseso, pero nakikita naman nating lahat ngayon ang maliwanag na katibayan. Kahit pa binansagang epicenter ng COVID-19 at walang-basehang nag-akusa si Donald Trump at mga alyado nya sa loob at labas ng U.S. na ang SARS-CoV-2 ay isang “China virus”, matayog ngayong nakatindig ang China pag pinag-uusapan ang COVID-19. Isa ito sa mangilan-ngilang mga bansang malinaw na napangibabawan na ang COVID-19. Kasama ng China ang Cuba, Vietnam, Thailand at, oo, pati Taiwan na bahagi naman ng China. Walang nauulat na bagong mga kaso sa China, di gaya ng Trumpland USA, ang ngayo’y namamayagpag na lider sa dami ng kaso ng COVID-19, sa tulong ng sistemang pangkalusugan na bumulagang may malalim na lamat. Sumunod kay Romanoff ay mga detalyado at tapat na pagsalaysay ng di-nagpakilalang mamamayang Tsino at dayong taga-Nigeria na mismong nasa China nang pumutok ang COVID-19. Ang masamang bahagi ng COVID-19 sa ekonomya Tumungo ang Ikatlong Bahagi sa larangang pang-ekonomya ng krisis COVID-19. Nilatag ng ekonomistang si Jack Rasmus ang masamang pangitain para sa ekonomya ng U.S. na sinalanta ng coronavirus. Tinuturo ng sala-salansang mga krisis sa kalusugan, empleo, kabuhayan, renta at real estate, pangangalaga sa bata, at edukasyon ang “isang mahaba, mahina at di-stableng pag-ahon ng ekonomya—wag ipagkamali sa pansamantalang bawi sa tag-araw—na aabutin ng taon bago matapos”. Sinabayan ng ekonomistang si Michael Hudson ang pagturing ni Rasmus sa masamang kalalagyan ng ekonomya ng U.S.—o mas tamang sabihing mismong sambayanang Amerikano. Binisto ni Hudson na—gaya nung 2008—ang iilang mga kroning plutokrata at bankster ng political class ay muling “sasagipin” ng libreng pamigay na bilyun-bilyong dolyar, sa teribleng kapahamakan ng daan-milyong Amerikano. Tinuturo ni Hudson na isang malalim na ugat ng mga suliraning pang-ekonomya ng U.S. ay ang pagtalikod sa modelong Levitical ng pana-panahong pagtawad at pagkansela ng utang—ang tradisyong Jubilee na matatagpuan sa Lumang Tipan ng Kristyanong Bibliya. Nangahas naman ang geopolitical analyst na si Peter Koenig na silawan ang kahindik-hindik na aspeto ng kasalukuyang krisis. Binanggit niya ang 2010 Rockefeller Report na kataka-takang nagturo sa a program that starts in 2020 with a corona pandemic. It would start in China and in no time, it would engulf the entire globe. That initial phase is called ‘The Lockstep Scenario.’ (isang programang sisimulan ng pandemyang corona sa 2020. Magmumula sa China at gagapiin ang buong mundo. Tawag sa unang yugtong ito ay ‘Senaryong Lockstep’.) Estima ni Koenig na sasalantain ng “nabansagang” pandemya ang malalawak na bahagi ng pandaigdigang ekonomya at magbubunsod ito ng halimaw na “New or One World Order” na katatangian ng lubusang digitized na buhay ng mga tao. Ganitong di-nalalayong kinabukasang digitalized ang pangitain din ng Agenda ID2020, paboritong proyekto ng “pilantropo sa bakuna” na si Bill Gates na nagpundar sa Microsoft. Halos kasintulad na senaryo din ang sentral na tema ng Event 201 simulation na ginanap noong Oktubre 2019 sa New York, na inisponsor ng foundation ni Gates, ng Johns Hopkins Institute for Health, at ang World Economic Forum na tagpuan ng mga plutokrata. Kasama ang W.H.O., World Bank, UNICEF, at ang U.S. at Chinese CDCs (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) sa mga tanyag na kalahok ng Event 201. At makalipas lang ng isang buwan pagkatapos ng Event 201, voila! Lumitaw ang mga unang ulat ng bagong sakit na coronavirus sa Wuhan, China. Binigyang-diin ni Koenig ang mga positibong bagay para sa China bilang lumilitaw na world power, gaya ng pagbibigay-halaga sa public banking, at “ang pilosopyang Tsino ng walang agresyon, ng diplomasya para maresolba ang mga tunggalian at ng pagbandila ng mapayapang sabayang-pag-iral ng ekonomya (peaceful economic coexistence) at pag-unlad sa buong mundo”. Binando nya ang proyekto ng China na magtayo ng “Ekonomya ng Kapayapaan”. Mahirap nga lang isipin kung paanong tumutugma ang ganitong mga anunsyong intensyon sa matagal nang panggagaya ng China sa U.S. sa pagbuo ng pandaigdigang network ng sarili nitong mga base militar—marami pa nga dito’y napakalayo na sa prontera ng China. COVID-19 at ang Kapitalistang Uring Transnasyonal Inayudahan ng propesor na si William Robinson ang mga pangitaing mapanglaw nina Rasmus at Koenig para sa kinabukasan. Aniya’y maalam ang naghaharing kapitalistang uring transnasyonal (transnational capitalist class o TCC) sa mundo na isang “tumitiktok na time bomb” ang ekonomya ng mundo at nangailangan lang na “may mitsa at ito’y nagkaanyo ng coronavirus.” Ginagamit ng mismong naghaharing uri ang kasalukuyang krisis ng mundo para itulak ang planong lalo pang “konsolidahin ang police state ng mundo” sa pagpataw ng mga bansa ng mga mapaniil na hakbangin na mas malala pa sa mga ipinataw matapos ang mga teroristang atake noong 9/11 ng 2001. Paliwanag nya: Global police state refers to three interrelated developments: 1) militarized accumulation, as a means of accumulating capital in the face of stagnation; 2) systems of mass social control and repression to contain the oppressed; and 3) the increasing move towards political systems that can be characterized as twenty-first century fascism and even as totalitarian. (Ang pandaigdigang police state ay tumutukoy sa tatlong magkakaugnay na kaganapan: 1) militarisadong akumulasyon, bilang paraan ng akumulasyon ng kapital sa harap ng pagkalugmok ng ekonomya; 2) mga sistema ng pagkontrol at pagsupil sa masa para gapiin ang api; at 3) ang pagtungo ng mga sistemang pampulitika sa matataguriang siglo beinte-unong pasismo at pagiging totalitaryan.) Sa pagtatapos, nanawagan si Robinson: The COVID-19 pandemic marks a before-and-after turning point. We have entered into a period of mounting chaos in the world capitalist system. Short of revolution, we must struggle now to prevent our rulers from turning the crisis and its aftermath into an opportunity for them to resuscitate and deepen the neoliberal order once the dust settles. Our struggle is to push for something along the lines of a global Green New Deal as an interim program while seeking an accumulation of forces for more radical system change. Left and progressive forces must position themselves now to beat back the threat of war and the global police state and to push the coming upheavals in a direction that empowers the global working and popular classes. (Sangandaan sa kasaysayan ang pandemyang COVID-19. Pumapasok tayo sa panahon ng lumalalang gulo sa sistemang kapitalista ng mundo. Liban sa magrebolusyon, nararapat na makibaka tayo para pigilan ang mga naghahari na itransporma ang krisis at ang susunod ditong yugto bilang oportunidad para buhayin nilang muli at palalimin ang kaayusang neoliberal pagklaro ng alikabok. Makibaka para itulak ang hawig sa isang pandaigdigang Green New Deal bilang programang pantawid habang nag-iipon ng pwersa para sa mas radikal na pagbago ng sistema. Nararapat pumusisyon na ang mga pwersang kaliwa at progresibo para iatras ang banta ng gera at pandaigdigang police state at itulak ang napipintong mga pag-aaklas sa direksyong nagbibigay-kapangyarihan sa mga uring anakpawis at popular.) Karima-rimarim na network ng biowarfare sa mundo Sa Ikaapat na Bahagi, nagpokus ang peryodistang si Whitney Webb sa isang mahigpit na kinukubling dimensyon ng kasalukuyang krisis COVID-19: ang kahindik-hindik na pandaigdigang industriya ng biowarfare at ang nakasusuklam na kasaysayan nito. At may dagdag pa. Sinundan ni Webb ang bakas ng maagang disimpormasyon na kaydaling nagturo sa gubyerno ng China na maysala sa likod ng COVID-19. Tumungo ang bakas ng disinfo sa Radio Free Asia na katiwala ng U.S. C.I.A. kasama ang Washington Times. Nilantad nya ang karima-rimarim na network ng bioweaponry sa mundo na hayagan at kubling pinopondohan ng Pentagon ng U.S. sa ilalim ng samut saring programa na kasama ang mga high-security na laboratoryong “biodefense” sa hangganan ng China at Russia na hawak ng U.S.; ang pasilidad ng USAMRIID sa Fort Detrick, Maryland, USA; mga unibersidad sa Amerika; ang tumanyag na Wuhan Institute of Virology sa China, pati ang mga kumpanyang Big Pharma na nag-uunahang iprodyus ang bakunang COVID-19. Dinudugtong ni Webb ang mga ito sa notoryus na manipestong “Rebuilding America’s Defenses” na inilabas noong Setyembre 2000 ng Project for a New American Century (PNAC) na pirmado ng prominenteng neokonserbatibo. Nanawagan ang manipestong ito ng mga abanteng uri ng biowarfare na “tumatarget” sa mga ispesipikong genotype para dalhin ang maitim na larangang ito ng syensya “mula sa saklaw ng terror patungo sa isang kasangkapang mahalaga sa pulitika.” Bridgewater at ang COVID-19 bilang economic warfare Inuugnay naman ng inhinyerong si Claudio Peretti ang biowarfare at panggegera sa ekonomya (economic warfare). Sinasabayan nya ang pagdiin ng kaambag nya sa libro sa mahigpit na halagang malalimang imbestigahan ang paglitaw ng COVID-19 at ang pagkakadawit ng sakit na ito sa mga umiiral na proyektong biodefense. Importante ang akda ni Peretti sa imbestigasyong COVID-19 sa pagbahagi sa maaaring malalim na maagang pagkaalam sa COVID-19 ng Bridgewater, isa sa pinakamalaking hedge fund sa mundo. Nabalita kasi noong Nobyembre 2019 na naghapag ang Bridgewater ng walang kaparis sa halagang US$1.5-bilyon na taya sa options na babagsak nang malaki ang ekonomya ng mundo sa Marso 2020. Ewan ko sa inyo, pero sa ganang akin siraulo kang tunay kung maghahapag ka ng bilyon-dolyar na taya noong Nobyembre 2019 na babagsak ang ekonomya ng daigdig paglipas lang ng apat na buwan. Pero pumatok ang pusta ng Bridgewater. Tila sobrang patok at eksakto pa nga ang pustang ito, dahil wala sinuman ang may ideya noong sisirain ng COVID-19 ang ekonomya ng daigdig sa mismong buwan ng Marso 2020. Sa paghugot mula sa napakaanomalyang pangyayaring ito, nasabi ni Peretti na tila may mas makamandag pang virus sa SARS-CoV-2, at tinawag nya itong “Finanz-virus”. Eugenics at hybrid warfare sa kaibuturan ng COVID-19 Sinuri naman ni Cynthia McKinney, ang mismong editor ng buong libro, sa kanyang akda ang lugar ng eugenics—na ang kahulugan ay “paniniwala at pagsasapraktika ng selektibong pagbuo (at pagste-sterilize) ng mga tao sa layuning makalikha ng ‘Master Race’”—pati ang hybrid warfare—na sumasaklaw sa paggamit ng lahat ng hayag at kubling teknolohiyang panggera labas sa panggegerang kumbensyonal at nukleyar—sa kaibuturan ng salantang COVID-19 sa mundo. Naglista sya ng mga importanteng sandali sa madilim na kasaysayan ng biowarfare at paggamit dito ng mga makapangyarihang bansa sa mundo kahit sa panahong tahasang pinagbabawal na ito ng mga pandaigdigang kasunduan. Maraming materyal na ambag ang akda nya sa siryosong pagsusuri ng COVID-19. Isa dito ay ang misteryosong pagsasara ng U.S. CDC noong August 2019 sa umano’y ultra-ligtas na USAMRIID biolab sa Fort Detrick sa dahilang nagkulang itong magkaroon ng up-to-date log ng lahat ng mga toxin na taglay nito, at nagkulang ding ‘ipatupad at imantini ang mga patakarang containment na sapat para sa mga piling (ibig sabihin, sobrang mapanganib) na mga toxin’. Katakataka at tahimik na nabuksan muli ang Fort Detrick sa kasalukuyan. Biowarfare laban sa sangkatauhan Sinimulan ng manunulat na si Gary D. Barnett ang Ikalimang Bahagi sa pagtutok sa U.S. bilang numero unong bansang naglalaan ng pinakamalaking rekurso para sa iligal na biological at chemical warfare magpahanggang ngayon. Tinatarget ng mga operasyong biowarfare na ito hindi lamang ang mga dayuhang bansa at ang kanilang milyun-milyong inosenteng mamamayan. Naglista si Barnett ng mga insidente sa kasaysayan ng kasuklam-suklam na biowarfare experimentation na bumiktima hindi lamang sa mga sundalong Amerikano at empleyado ng military-industrial complex, kundi maging mga ordinaryong sibilyang Amerikano. (Hindi na nga kelangang lumayo pa sa nakalipas. Itong Agosto lamang, sa gitna ng krisis COVID-19, nagpakawala ang mga awtoridad ng 750 milyong lamok na genetically modified sa Florida, nang walang paunang abiso sa mismong mga taga-Florida.) Mariing nagtapos si Barnett: The insanity of bioweapon research, development, and use largely driven by the U.S., threatens not only every American, but puts everyone on earth at risk of sickness, suffering, and death. Due to these risks all of us are also subject to the prospect of abject slavery. The ongoing agenda of the ruling class is power and control of the entire planet, and bio-warfare against humanity is the tool envisaged to accomplish it. (Nagbabanta ang kahibangang tulak pangunahin ng U.S. ng pananaliksik, pagbuo at paggamit ng bioweapons di lamang sa bawat Amerikano, maging ang lahat ng nasa mundo ay namimiligro sa sakit, pagdarahop, at kamatayan. Pinapatawan tayong lahat ng tahasang pagkaalipin bunga ng mga peligrong ito. Kapangyarihan at kontrol ng buong planeta ang isinasagawang adyenda ng naghaharing uri, at ang biowarfare laban sa sangkatauhan ang nakikitang kasangkapan para makamit ito.) Pasistang dystopia paglipas ng COVID-19 Binanggit naman ng komentaristang si Helen Buyniski ang maraming pangyayari at hakbangin sa ibat ibang sulok ng mundo na nagpapakita sa klarong pasista at korporatistang adyenda ng mga nasa rurok ng kapangyarihan na nagbibigay-katwiran sa mga imposisyong lockdown a la batas militar medikal at sa ekonomya. Binubuo nya ang larawan ng isang tutoong-mangyayaring kinabukasang dystopian na magpapahamak sa sangkatauhan. Pinuntirya nya ang Blackrock, ang pinakamalaking asset manager sa kasaysayan na may halagang trilyong dolyar, na hinirang na magpapatakbo sa pinakamalaking konsolidasyon ng yaman ng pinakamalalaking plutokrata sa kasaysayan sabay ng walang-kaparis na pagsalanta sa kabuhayan sa buong planeta. Nagbabala si Buyniski sa pagtatapos: Those who lived through 9/11 [of 2001] and saw the destruction it wrought upon the U.S.’ national character can see it happening again on an international scale. It is our duty to warn the world and avert that outcome. One country falling under the thrall of a totalitarian technocratic police state is a tragedy; the entire world falling under an authoritarian global government is a nightmare from which humanity might never wake up. (Nasasaksihan ng yaong mga nakaalpas ng 9/11 [ng 2001] at nakita ang pagsira nito sa pambansang katangian ng U.S. ang katulad na pagsirang ito ngayon sa antas pandaigdig. Tungkulin nating bigyang-babala ang mundo at pigilang mangyari ito. Trahedya ang mahulog ang isang bansa sa bitag ng isang totalitarian at teknokratikong police state; ang mahulog ang buong planeta sa isang awtoritaryang gubyerno ng daigdig ay bangungot na maaaring hindi na pagmulatan ng sangkatauhan. Bagong kaisipan hinggil sa karapatang pantao pagkatapos ng COVID-19 Sa gitna ng malungkot at malagim na pangitain, nagtatapos ang libro sa optimismo ni Alfred de Zayas, retiradong opisyal ng United Nations (UN). Mangahas syang nagmumungkahi ng isang “Pandaigdigang Kumperensya sa Pagbawi Pagkatapos ng Covid”. Isang pangunahing adyenda ng pagtitipong ito ay ang pagbasura sa kasalukuyang “lipas at artipisyal na paghahati-hati ng karapatang pantao” na nagbunsod sa “isang kaayusang pandaigdig na kadalasa’y nagbibigay-layaw sa inhustisya” at pagpalit dito ng isang functional paradigm that would consider rights in the light of their function within a coherent system—not of competing rights and aspirations, but of interrelated, mutually reinforcing rights which should be applied in their interdependence and understood in the context of a coordinated strategy to serve the ultimate goal of achieving human dignity in all of its manifestations. (kapaki-pakinabang na pagturing sa karapatan sa kanilang papel sa isang sistemang magkakaugnay-ugnay—hindi ng nagtutunggaling karapatan at adhikain, pero ng nag-uugnayan, at mutwal na nagpapatibay na mga karapatan na marapat na pinatutupad sa kanilang pagsandig sa isa’t isa at nauunawaan sa konteksto ng isang koordinadong istratehiya na maglingkod sa punong layunin na kamtin ang dignidad ng tao sa lahat ng mga manipestasyon nito.) Kapansin-pansing hitik ang libro sa mahigpit na mensahe sa mambabasa na kumilos ngayong panahon ng krisis COVID-19. Dapat lang naman: Ngayon lamang matapos ang Ikalawang Digmaang Pandaigdig saksi tayong lahat sa isang tutohanang pandaigdigang opensiba laban sa katotohanan, kalusugan, kapakanan at kalayaan para sa sangkatauhan. Ang lalo pang pagkonsolida sa Siglo-Beinte-Unong Pandaigdigang Pasismo na isinalarawan sa koleksyong ito ng mapang-udyok na mga akda ay napakaimportanteng usapin para sa lahat ng mamamayan ng daigdig. Bilang lunas sa ating pagkalunod sa misimpormasyon at disimpormasyon, taos-pusong pasasalamat ang nararapat lang iparating sa pabliser, editor at mga nag-ambag sa karapat-dapat basahing librong ito. “The line it is drawn, the curse it is cast,” (Linya’y ginuhit na, sumpa’y tinakda na), gaya ng inawit ng makatang rocker na si Bob Dylan. Marami-raming pag-aalis, pagkakalas, pagsilab, paglansag, pag-aaklas, at pagbabalikwas ang sama-sama pa nating haharapin. #### Isang mananaliksik at aktibistang pulitikal at kultural si JOEL P. GARDUCE. Nalimbag ang ilang mga artikulo nya sa Bulatlat, Ibon Foundation, at Global Research, at nasalin ang ilan sa ibang wika. Dating kolumnista sya ng isang dyaryo sa Cebu. Siya’y naging presidente ng Philippine Science High School Alumni Association (PSHSAA), nagsalita na sa mga internasyonal na kumperensya, naging direktor ng Concerned Artists of the Philippines (CAP) at pambansang opiser ng League of Filipino Students (LFS) noong unang hati ng dekada ’80. Paminsan-minsan ay umaawit siya bilang baho (bass) sa People’s Chorale. 10/9/2020 Truth and Lies in the Time of COVID-19 Review of "WHEN CHINA SNEEZES," edited by Cynthia McKinneyRead Now Review of WHEN CHINA SNEEZES: From the Coronavirus Lockdown to the Global Politico-Economic Crisis, edited by Cynthia McKinney and published by Clarity Press
By JOEL P. GARDUCE These days of the COVID-19 global crisis, I’m sure you’ve often felt being lied to. Tens of millions of Filipinos know the feeling. Fudged updates on COVID-19 stats, denials of corruption and treason in high places, trolls actively spreading outright deceits on social media, even a blackout on the true state of President Duterte’s health—this utterly bad state of the flow of information was even compounded by the closure of ABS-CBN, a major Philippine broadcast network that’s one of Southeast Asia’s biggest media outfits, highlighting the Philippine government’s ongoing attack on press freedom. Lies and deceits pervade across the globe, in fact. Social media has been riding roughshod with most active gatekeeping across the board in all the major platforms under the current W.H.O.-declared global pandemic. In the guise of stamping out misinformation and disinformation, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Youtube rightfully took down what may be deemed alt-right and fascistic accounts and posts. But these digital behemoths sadly went far beyond that. Hand in hand with prime search engines like Google, they manipulated search and feed algorithms to extremely marginalize accounts and posts of alternative media outfits dutifully reporting on anomalies and trends that do not go along with the establishment narrative and agenda. Victims include independent media as Truthout.org, Mint Press News, Global Research, Information Clearing House, Whatreallyhappened.com, Popular Resistance, Telesur, and RT (Russia Today); authors like Mark Crispin Miller, Mark Taliano, Dr V.A. Shiva Ayyudarai and Pepe Escobar; and numerous alternative health websites. The result? Humanity is bamboozled with far more Sturm und Drang signifying nothing; to paraphrase the American rock musician Jackson Browne, the more you watch, read and listen, the less you know. But history doesn’t provide problems without the solutions. Notwithstanding unprecedented establishment efforts to hijack the flow of information, forces are surely emerging and persevering to rise above the din of deceptions. WHEN CHINA SNEEZES: From the Coronavirus Lockdown to the Global Politico-Eonomic Crisis, a newly-released compendium of COVID-19-related essays from Clarity Press and edited by feisty former U.S. congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, is one major effort from what can be called a broad global COVID-19 Truth, Freedom and Health Movement. Book’s editor a truthseeking veteran The book’s editor is no stranger to truthseeking. As a Democrat member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Georgia in 2002, McKinney dared call early for a complete investigation into the terrorist attacks of 9/11 of 2001 on U.S. soil, including whether then President George W. Bush and other U.S. officials got advance warnings of the terrorist acts and failed to prevent them. Hers was a solitary voice in the U.S. Congress calling for the inquiry. She raised the call just less than 7 months after 9/11 when the American and global publics were still held in thrall by the government’s official conspiracy theory that Osama bin Laden and 19 Muslim hijackers of al-Qaeda were solely behind the attacks. For being a forthright truthseeker, McKinney was widely pilloried and ridiculed in mainstream U.S. media by government apologists. She would later be a victim of bipartisan fraud to steal her 6th successive term in office. That obviously has not stopped her from her activist advocacy for human rights, racial equality, and global peace. She would be the Green Party Candidate for U.S. President in 2008, and be editor of three hard-hitting books, including When China Sneezes. Eerie parallels between COVID-19 and 9/11 Likewise, the 9/11 truth movement she advocated then has since surpassed much ridicule, with groups like the Architects and Engineers for 9/11 truth credibly exposing the anomalous demolition of WTC7, the third New York tower that fell on 9/11 in similar fashion as the Twin Towers but was not hit by any of the hijacked planes. To be honest about it, the emergence of COVID-19 this year has compelling, if eerie parallels to 9/11 of 2001. Both were unprecedented events that have impacted the entire world and caught the global public by surprise. Both have produced an unexpectedly large number of casualties. Both ushered in global economic downturns. Both events served as pretexts to impose repressive measures attacking broadly-accepted civil liberties. Both became opportunities for well-entrenched global economic interests to make superprofit bonanzas. And both watershed events have raised serious questions pointing to likely outstanding anomalies and—yes—real conspiracies that humanity deserves to know the answers to. At the book’s outset, McKinney warns the reader “to buckle your seatbelt, because by the time you’ve completed these pages, your outlook on health, wealth, and global governance won’t be the same.” And on this, the book does not disappoint. McKinney has successfully culled contributions from resource persons delving deeply into various dimensions of the current global health and politico-economic crisis. SARS-CoV-2’s biodefense lab origins? Part 1 immediately takes us to the jugular as Jeff J. Brown, curator of the Bioweapon Truth Commission Global Online Library, examines the COVID-19 disease itself and the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes it, in an easy-to-understand approach. He makes a solid contribution to a long-overdue comprehensive inquiry into the origins of the SARS-CoV-2 virus by sharing fiercely-suppressed scientific studies that reveal the virus has curious features that could not have been the result of natural “evolution”. Yes, the virus is far more likely to have originated in a “biodefense” (the establishment’s Orwellian term for biowarfare) lab. Notwithstanding the emerging fact-based conclusion that the virus causing COVID-19 was a likely result of a “gain-of-function” biolab op, Brown notes however that this new coronavirus disease doesn’t deserve the pandemic hype, observing the long-trending COVID-19 mortality rate is much lower than that of, say, pneumonia. This trend holds until now in fact: out of a total of 34,656,000 COVID-19 cases all over the world as of October 3, deaths from the disease number 1,028,800. That’s a 2.97% mortality rate, lower than pneumonia’s 5% to 10%, and a far cry from the 10% mortality rate from the (misnamed) Spanish flu of World War I vintage, to which COVID-19 has been curiously but most unfittingly compared at the get-go of the current health crisis. The hidden story of China’s defeat of COVID-19 Part 2 begins with China-based professor and retired businessman Larry Romanoff explaining the overwhelming victorious Chinese response to the COVID-19 outbreak in detail not widely shared with the rest of the world. The unique social setup of the country lends surprising muscle to how China licked COVID-19, from a public health system given primacy by government to overwhelming national solidarity shown by the Chinese people to lift each other up in times of adversity. Romanoff doesn’t hide the fact mistakes were made in the process, but we all see now the incontrovertible proof of the pudding. Despite being dubbed the epicenter of COVID-19 and pilloried in kneejerk fashion by no less than Donald Trump and his allies in and out of the U.S. that SARS-CoV-2 is a “China virus”, China now stands tall when we’re talking COVID-19. It’s one of a select number of countries certified to have successfully overcome the disease, along with Cuba, Vietnam, Thailand and, yes, that part of China called Taiwan. No new cases have been reported in China for weeks now. Contrast that with Trumpland USA, now the eminent leader in COVID-19 infections, no thanks to a health system that surprisingly unraveled in prompt fashion as deeply broken. After Romanoff, well-detailed on-the-ground honest accounts on what happened in China at the height of the COVID-19 outbreak are shared by a Chinese citizen and a Nigerian expat, who both chose to be anonymous. COVID-19’s dark economic side Part 3 proceeds to the economic dimension of the COVID-19 crisis. Economist Jack Rasmus lays down a bleak prognosis for the U.S. economy ravaged by the coronavirus. The simultaneous crises in health, employment, rent and real estate, childcare, and education spell “an extended, weak and unstable economic recovery—not to be confused with a temporary ‘rebound’ over the summer—that will take years to unfold”, as he describes it. Economist Michael Hudson shares Rasmus’ take on things getting really bad for the U.S. economy—or more exactly, for the American people, as Hudson reveals that once again, as in 2008, the plutocrat and bankster cronies of the political class will be “saved” by multibillion-dollar bonanza giveaways, to the horrific detriment of Main Street. Hudson argues that a fundamental root of the economic woes plaguing the U.S. is its abandonment of the Levitical model of periodic debt forgiveness and cancellation—the Jubilee tradition found in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. Geopolitical analyst Peter Koenig dares shine a bright light on a likely nefarious side to the current crisis. He cites the 2010 Rockefeller Report uncannily spelling out a program that starts in 2020 with a corona pandemic. It would start in China and in no time, it would engulf the entire globe. That initial phase is called ‘The Lockstep Scenario.’ He estimates the “purported” pandemic will devastate vast swathes of the global economy to give rise to a monstrous “New or One World Order” featuring fully-digitized human lives. This not-too-far digitalized future was fortuitously foreseen by Agenda ID2020, a pet project of vaccine “philanthropist” and Microsoft founder Bill Gates. A quite similar scenario was the central theme of the Event 201 simulation held October 2019 in New York, sponsored by Gates’ foundation, the Johns Hopkins Institute for Health, and the World Economic Forum plutocrats’ club. W.H.O., World Bank, UNICEF, the U.S. and the Chinese CDCs (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) were among Event 201’s stellar participants. And just a month after Event 201, voila!, the widely-known first reports of a new coronavirus disease struck Wuhan in China. Koenig would proceed to highlight the positive things going for rising world power China, like its putting unique primacy to public banking, and “the Chinese philosophy of nonaggression, of diplomacy to resolve conflicts and of promoting peaceful economic coexistence and development around the globe” as he touts China’s project to develop an “Economy of Peace”. One wonders though how long-running Chinese efforts to ape the U.S. in building a global network of its own military bases—many located far beyond China’s borders—chimes in with these announced intentions. COVID-19 and the Transnational Capitalist Class (TCC) Professor William Robinson takes a step further than both Rasmus and Koenig in the bleak part of their prognoses for the future. He writes on how the transnational capitalist class (TCC) ruling the world is fully aware that the global economy “is a ticking time bomb” that just needed “something to light the fuse (and t)hat came in the form of the coronavirus.” This same ruling class is now making use of the current world crisis to push a plan to further “consolidate a global police state” leveling up the repressive measures taken by countries in the wake of the terrorist attacks of 9/11 of 2001, explaining thus: Global police state refers to three interrelated developments: 1) militarized accumulation, as a means of accumulating capital in the face of stagnation; 2) systems of mass social control and repression to contain the oppressed; and 3) the increasing move towards political systems that can be characterized as twenty-first century fascism and even as totalitarian. Robinson issues a rallying cry at the end of his piece: The COVID-19 pandemic marks a before-and-after turning point. We have entered into a period of mounting chaos in the world capitalist system. Short of revolution, we must struggle now to prevent our rulers from turning the crisis and its aftermath into an opportunity for them to resuscitate and deepen the neoliberal order once the dust settles. Our struggle is to push for something along the lines of a global Green New Deal as an interim program while seeking an accumulation of forces for more radical system change. Left and progressive forces must position themselves now to beat back the threat of war and the global police state and to push the coming upheavals in a direction that empowers the global working and popular classes. Wicked worldwide web of biowarfare Part 4 of the book finds journalist Whitney Webb rightfully focusing on a fiercely-hidden dimension of the current COVID-19 crisis: the diabolical global biowarfare industry and its horrific history. And then some. Webb tracked down a vital trail of early disinformation which oh-so-quickly pointed to the Chinese government as being behind COVID-19. That disinfo trail leads to the C.I.A.-trusted Radio Free Asia as well as the Washington Times, among others. She then unveils a wicked worldwide web of bioweaponry overtly and covertly funded by the U.S. Pentagon under various programs prominently featuring U.S.-funded high-security “biodefense” labs at the border of China and Russia, the ubiquitous USAMRIID facility at Fort Detrick in Maryland, U.S. universities, the infamous Wuhan Institute of Virology in China, all the way to Big Pharma companies in the thick of the race to produce the first COVID-19 vaccine. Webb connects these dots to the notorious “Rebuilding America’s Defenses” September 2000 manifesto of the Project for a New American Century (PNAC) signed by prominent neoconservatives which openly promoted advanced forms of biowarfare “targeting” specific genotypes to take this abhorrent field of science “from the realm of terror to a politically useful tool.” Bridgewater and COVID-19 as economic warfare Engineer Claudio Peretti bridges the link between biowarfare and economic warfare. He echoes other contributors’ assertions on the urgency to conduct a deep inquiry on how COVID-19 came about and the disease’s likely entanglement with existing biodefense projects. Peretti’s piece is vital in the COVID-19 investigation for sharing how Bridgewater, a top global hedge fund, may have had most intimate foreknowledge of COVID-19. You see, it was reported in November 2019 that Bridgewater made an unprecedented $1.5-billion options bet that the global economy would suffer a spectacular crash on March 2020. I don’t know about you, but making a billion-dollar bet in November 2019 on a world crash in four months is certifiably crazy. But Bridgewater’s gamble proved prescient. Too uncomfortably prescient in fact, as virtually no one had an inkling COVID-19 would so drastically disrupt the world economy at that exact month early this year. Drawing on this most anomalous economic act, Peretti points to a far more sinister and malevolent virus than SARS-CoV-2, what he calls the “Finanz-virus”. Eugenics and hybrid warfare at the heart of COVID-19 The book’s editor, Cynthia McKinney, explores in her own contribution the likely place of eugenics—defined here as “the belief in and the practice of selectively breeding (and sterilizing) human beings for the purpose of creating a ‘Master Race’”—as well as of hybrid warfare—which encompasses employing all overt and covert war technologies short of conventional and nuclear warfare—at the center of the COVID-19 global maelstrom. She lists instructive flashpoints in biowarfare’s long sordid history and cites its use by world powers even when international conventions have explicitly banned it. As one of so many material contributions she raised towards a serious inquiry into COVID-19, McKinney points to a mysterious August 2019 shutdown by the U.S. CDC of the supposedly ultra-safe USAMRIID biolab at Fort Detrick for failing to keep an up-to-date log of all toxins on hand and to ‘implement and maintain containment procedures sufficient to contain select (read: highly dangerous) agents or toxins’. Ominously, Fort Detrick has quietly reopened since. Biowarfare vs humanity Part 5 begins with writer Gary D. Barnett focusing on the U.S. as far and away the country with the largest resources deployed for illegal biological and chemical warfare until now. These biowarfare operations have not only targeted foreign countries and their wide swathes of innocent civilian populations. Barnett lists historical incidents of reprehensible biowarfare experimentation victimizing not only U.S. soldiers and employees of the military-industrial complex but even ordinary American civilians. (We don’t need to plumb too deep in history, in fact. Amid the current COVID-19 crisis last August, U.S. authorities unleashed 750 million genetically modified mosquitoes in Florida without Floridians’ consent.) Barnett ends with a stirring conclusion: The insanity of bioweapon research, development, and use largely driven by the U.S., threatens not only every American, but puts everyone on earth at risk of sickness, suffering, and death. Due to these risks all of us are also subject to the prospect of abject slavery. The ongoing agenda of the ruling class is power and control of the entire planet, and bio-warfare against humanity is the tool envisaged to accomplish it. Fascist dystopia post-COVID-19 Political commentator Helen Buyniski presses on with an encyclopedic citation of measures and events across the globe that point to a clear fascist and corporatist agenda by those at the commanding heights of power justifying lockdown impositions a la medical and economic martial law. Indeed, a real-life dystopian future inimical to humanity firms up the whole picture. She cites the key role of Blackrock, history’s biggest trillion-dollar asset manager, as appointed overseer of what will be the biggest-ever consolidation of wealth of history’s obscenely richest plutocrats amid unparalleled economic devastation across the continents. Buyniski warns in the end: Those who lived through 9/11 [of 2001] and saw the destruction it wrought upon the U.S.’ national character can see it happening again on an international scale. It is our duty to warn the world and avert that outcome. One country falling under the thrall of a totalitarian technocratic police state is a tragedy; the entire world falling under an authoritarian global government is a nightmare from which humanity might never wake up. Rethinking human rights after COVID-19 Amid all the gloom and doom, retired U.N. official Alfred de Zayas rounds out the book with optimism. He boldly recommends a “World Conference on Post-Covid Recovery”. This proposed conference would have as one prime agenda discarding the current “obsolete and artificial division of human rights” that has long perpetuated “a world order that much too often appears to allow injustice” and replacing it with a functional paradigm that would consider rights in the light of their function within a coherent system—not of competing rights and aspirations, but of interrelated, mutually reinforcing rights which should be applied in their interdependence and understood in the context of a coordinated strategy to serve the ultimate goal of achieving human dignity in all of its manifestations. Throughout the book, an urgency permeates impelling the reader to do something about what’s happening under the current COVID-19 global crisis. As it should be: Nowhere after World War 2 has humanity been witness to a truly global offensive against truth, health, well-being and freedom for humankind as now. The further consolidation of 21st-century Global Fascism depicted throughout this collection of thought-provoking essays is a serious matter all denizens of the earth ought to reckon. For presenting us a veritable antidote to widespread misinformation and disinformation, this must-read of a book, its publisher, its editor and contributors deserve its readers’ bountiful gratitude. “The line it is drawn, the curse it is cast,” rock poet laureate Bob Dylan once sung. We all have a lot of unmasking, unraveling, unlearning, undoing and unshackling ahead. #### JOEL P. GARDUCE is a Filipino political and cultural researcher and activist. His previous articles have been published in the online sites of Bulatlat, Ibon Foundation, and Global Research, and have been translated in a number of languages. He previously wrote a column for a newspaper in central Philippines. He was a president of the alumni association of the Philippines’ premier high school, the Philippine Science High School (PSHS), had spoken at international conferences, was a director for the Concerned Artists of the Philippines (CAP), and was a national officer in the early 1980s of the League of Filipino Students (LFS). He sings bass for the People’s Chorale time and again.  The New York Times covered this report by David Vine and colleagues showing that the US Post-9/11 Wars have displaced at least 37 million people: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/08/magazine/displaced-war-on-terror.html?searchResultPosition=1 • A summary of the joint report on those displaced: https://investigativereportingworkshop.org/news/displaced-news/ • The full report is here: Costs of War at Brown University: https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/files/cow/imce/papers/2020/Displacement_Vine%20et%20al_Costs%20of%20War%202020%2009%2008.pdf  https://covertactionmagazine.com/2020/09/07/julian-assange-show-trial-resumes-why-the-u-s-government-wants-him-silenced/#_ftn1
Julian Assange has been held in isolation (23 hours per day) at Belmarsh high-security prison since he was dragged out of the Ecuadorian embassy in London, April 11, 2019. British police drag publisher Julian Assange out of Ecuador’s London embassy, April 11, 2019. [Source: theguardian.com]The United States government claims he violated its Espionage Act of 1917 and committed illegal computer hacking. U.S. authorities requested England’s government arrest and extradite him. He would be tried in Alexandria, Virginia. It is there that a secret grand jury began gathering a case against him on May 11, 2011. The extradition trial which starts today at Old Bailey, the central criminal court of London, is expected to last three or four weeks. Following his arrest, the court’s first legal proceedings against Assange dealt with his breach of bail conditions; he had sought asylum in Ecuador’s embassy to avoid imprisonment in the U.S. Assange had only 15 minutes to prepare with his lawyer and the hearing lasted only 15 minutes. As has been widely reported, one judge said that Assange was a “narcissist who cannot get beyond his own self-interest.” The judges, including Chief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot, ruled that he should be held in “custody” for 50 weeks. Bail violations are usually punished by a fine, and/or a few days in jail. Assange’s “custody” for such a minor offense resulted in isolation. He has long since served that time, but the government won’t release him pending results on the extradition matter. The U.S. government’s original charges against Assange would have netted a maximum of five years imprisonment. In June, Magistrate Arbuthnot ruled that a full extradition hearing should begin February 25, 2020, then expected to last five days. The trial was postponed while the U.S. initiated more charges against him, which now amount to 18 counts with a possible sentence of 175 years imprisonment. When there are court hearings, Assange is usually too sick to attend, and participates via video. He is allowed few visitors and even his lawyer is often not allowed in, or is limited to a few minutes. Julian is not even allowed to have materials pertaining to the case in his cell. Assange’s Alleged CrimesAs CAM readers are well aware, Assange is the founder of Wikileaks, a non-profit organization that claimed to have published over 10 million classified documents in the first ten years of its operations starting in 2006. The most explosive revelations include war logs from the Afghan War and the infamous “Collateral Murder” video from July 2007 in which U.S. troops opened fire and killed over a dozen people in a Baghdad suburb including two journalists. Two children involved in the rescue were also seriously wounded.[1] While many herald the Wikileaks’ exposure of government atrocities and corruption, others have criticized Assange and Wikileaks for inadequately curating its content and violating personal privacy. Notwithstanding, Brigadier General Robert Carr, the counter-intelligence officer who had overseen the investigation by the U.S. Defense Department, admitted under oath in 2013 that “I don’t have a specific example” of any person who came to harm due to the publication of the leaks.[2] The claim that Assange collaborated with the Russians to leak emails that depicted Hillary Clinton in a negative light in the 2016 election has also not been substantiated.[3] The U.S. government has pursued a vendetta against Assange and Wikileaks because they have been repeatedly humiliated by them. Whistleblowers have historically been treated very harshly not primarily because of the content of the information that they have helped leak, but because they challenge the legitimacy and authority of the state.[4] The Assange trial should be viewed in this context. No Fair Trial is PossibleCounsels for the U.S. government contend that Assange has committed the largest “crimes” of compromises of information in U.S. history. It was irrelevant to the U.S. government and England’s magistrates that the “compromises of information” exposed truths of many types of governmental crimes, including war crimes punishable by years to life imprisonment. If Assange is sent to Alexandria, he has no chance of a fair trial. According to Alexandria’s demographics, the city of 159,000 people is located 12 kilometers from downtown Washington D.C. Of 96,500 employed persons, 24,000 work directly for the government, mainly for intelligence services (CIA, NSA) and defense departments, and many private company employees are government contractors. Grand Juror selection always has government employees or private workers associated with the government. That is why the government always prosecutes accused violators of national security and espionage laws there. No journalist has ever been so tried. The Espionage Act was made in wartime to prohibit U.S. residents/citizens from supporting U.S. enemies in times of war. Julian Assange does not fit those criteria. According to the UN rapporteur on torture, Nils Meltzer, even more Alexandria residents—more than the demographics agency stated—work for the U.S. government. He told interviewer Daniel Ryser: “The choice of location is not by coincidence, because the jury members must be chosen in proportion to the local population, and 85 percent of Alexandria residents work in the national security community—at the CIA, the NSA, the Defense Department and the State Department. When people are tried for harming national security in front of a jury like that, the verdict is clear from the very beginning. The cases are always tried in front of the same judge behind closed doors and on the strength of classified evidence. No one has ever been acquitted there on a similar case.”[5] Niels Melzer (center), UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, speaks at a news conference at the United Nations in New York December 13, 2017, concerning torture used at the U.S. base in Guantanamo, Cuba. [Source: ijrcenter.org]The most contentious exposés for the U.S. and England are connected to the downloading of a “vast amount of classified documents” by Chelsea Manning when she was a U.S. army intelligence analyst. She subsequently served seven years in prison. These files included approximately 90,000 reports about the war in Afghanistan, 400,000 Iraq war reports and 800,000 Guantánamo Bay detainee assessments, as well as 250,000 U.S. diplomatic cables. Many daily newspapers published information and documentation provided by Assange-led Wikileaks. Many of these newspapers, which published Wikileaks exposures, such as, The Guardian, New York Times, Washington Post, and BBC TV and radio have since abandoned Assange and this historic case against freedom of the press. A 2019 study by John O’Day in Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting found that even muckraking journals like Mother Jones made a point of dismissing Assange’s claims to be a journalist, and denounced him for helping leakers to break the law.[6] In Denmark, the daily Politiken also published some of Wikileaks documents. Yet both it and state-sponsored DR media headlined news articles of the upcoming extradition trial as an outgrowth of earlier rape charges” against him, which Swedish authorities dropped in November 2019[7] When this reporter confronted the media with this error, they did nothing to correct the falsehood. This is a typical example of how the Western mass media in most countries demean and dismiss the Assange-Wikileaks publications as a legitimate medium. Sweden Joins the Witch-HuntTwo Swedish women, Anna Ardin and Sophia Wilén, had consensual sex with Assange when he visited them and held talks in Stockholm, in August 2010. Ardin invited Assange to her home and bedroom. After hosting a party for him at her flat, she tweeted friends that she was with Assange, one of the “world’s coolest, smartest people; it’s amazing.” After several days of sexual relations, Ardin and Wilén went to police to ask that Assange be tested for venereal disease. They said he had not always worn a condom and that one had torn. There was no question of use of force. Assange did go to the police station on his own. He was cleared of any illegality by prosecutor Eva Finne, who said, “There is no suspicion of any crime whatsoever.”[8] Only after the government changed prosecutors, following encouragement from the CIA, did the new one issue a warrant for simply “questioning” him. By then, Assange was in England. He agreed to return to Sweden if the government would guarantee that it would not extradite him to the U.S., as he realized the Obama government wanted his scalp. Even though that is frequently granted, Sweden refused to do so for this publisher-activist. In the summer of 2012, an English court ordered Assange’s extradition to Sweden for “questioning.” Assange, his staff, and lawyers were fearful that Sweden would send him further to the U.S. Assange then sought asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy when Rafael Correa was president. Correa granted him asylum and later granted him citizenship. It took Sweden five years before they finally interviewed him after his lawyers had suggested dozens of times they come to the Ecuadorian embassy where he awaited them. Finally, Sweden wanted to drop the case, but Britain kept urging them not to. In Ryser’s interview with Nils Meltzer, he asked, “Why were the British so eager to prevent the Swedes from closing the case?” “We have to stop believing that there was really an interest in leading an investigation into a sexual offense,” Meltzer replied. “What Wikileaks did is a threat to the political elite in the U.S., Britain, France and Russia in equal measure. Wikileaks publishes secret state information—they are opposed to classification. And in a world, even in so-called mature democracies, where secrecy has become rampant, that is seen as a fundamental threat.” Sweden finally dropped the case in November 2019. By that time, Russiagate was in full swing. So, that replaced the Sweden “rape” card. The Democratic Party National Committee, with Hillary Clinton in the lead, claimed Russia hacked into its server and had Wikileaks publish emails, revealing corruption by Hillary Clinton and sabotaging the primaries. Democratic leaders and the CIA saw a good chance to blame Putin and Assange, their two main enemies, for what was a probable disenchanted insider’s leak.[9] Authorities didn’t even do forensics on the equipment. No proof was found, not even by the anti-Trump, anti-Putin Robert Mueller inquiry. Probably in an effort to compromise, Trump and cohorts decided to blame Julian Assange alone for exposing state secrets, i.e. “espionage.” By that time, Wikileaks had disclosed millions of documents exposing crimes and corruption of scores of governments. The new Ecuadorian president, Lenin Moreno, withdrew Assange’s asylum and revoked his Ecuadorian passport overnight, without consulting or even informing Assange. Moreno did so after assurances that the U.S. would guarantee loans, increase trade and investments. USAID funding for U.S. propaganda programs returned to Ecuador after its new president betrayed his fellow citizen. After a decade of internment, either in jail, under house arrest, or seven years in a small area of the Ecuadorian embassy in London, the efforts to undermine Assange intensified. The CIA even had a Spanish company, Undercover Global, spy on him while in the Ecuadorian embassy. The Spanish National Court has opened an investigation into this.[10] “Undercover Global is suspected of having installed microphones in a fire extinguisher at the embassy as well as in the women’s toilets where Assange used to meet with his lawyers for fear of being spied on…´Meetings which Assange held with his lawyers, as well as medical visits and those of other nature were recorded,’ the court said.” The information, including video film, was then transferred to computer servers that were accessible to both the Ecuadorian and U.S. intelligence services, the court added. Judicial Conflict of InterestJudge Arbuthnot’s husband, Lord Arbuthnot of Edrom,[11] “a former defense minister, is a paid chair of the advisory board of military corporation Thales Group,” and was an adviser to arms company Babcock International. Both companies have major contracts with the UK Ministry of Defence. British judges are required to declare any potential conflicts of interests to the courts, but Emma Arbuthnot did not excuse herself from judging the Wikileaks publisher. Lady Arbuthnot began presiding over Assange’s legal case in 2017. She remains the supervising legal figure in the process. According to the UK courts service, the chief magistrate is “responsible for…supporting and guiding district judge colleagues.” “At a time when Lady Arbuthnot was in her former position as a district judge in Westminster, she personally benefited from funding together with her husband from two sources which were exposed by WikiLeaks in its document releases,” wrote Mark Curtis and Matt Kennard.[12] There is more than a mere “appearance of bias.” The judge’s husband was part of a delegation, including a former chair of the British joint intelligence committee, which co-ordinates GCHQ, MI5 and MI6, who met with Turkey’s foreign minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and energy minister Berat Albayrak, PM Erdoğan’s son-in-law. In 2016, WikiLeaks published 57,934 of Albayrak’s personal emails, of which more than 300 mentioned Çavuşoğlu, in its “Berat’s Box” release. “Thus at the same time Lady Arbuthnot was presiding over Assange’s legal case, her husband was holding talks with senior officials in Turkey exposed by WikiLeaks, some of whom have an interest in punishing Assange and the WikiLeaks organization,” wrote Curtis-Kennard. Lady Arbuthnot [Source: theguardian.com]Britain Tortures the MessengerAssange is still isolated in Belmarsh prison despite torturous conditions described by UN special rapporteur on torture, Nils Meltzer. He and two doctor specialists in torture, examined Assange in prison, and concluded that he is a victim of “psychological torture.” Meltzer went so far as to compare what was being done to Assange with what the Nazis did. They realized that using psychological torture is more effective in breaking victims than physical torture. The Convention on Torture—to which the U.S., UK, Sweden and Ecuador are parties persecuting and/or prosecuting Assange—requires that member countries conduct investigations into such charges by the UN rapporteur. They all refused to do so. Several politicians have publicly stated that Assange should be “hunted down” (Sarah Palin), or “assassinated” (Tom Flanagan). Flanagan was a senior adviser to the Canadian PM Stephen Harper when issuing “a fatwa against Assange,” on the Canadian TV station CBC. “I think Assange should be assassinated…I think Obama should put out a contract and maybe use a drone or something.”[13] Collage posted by Aaron Kesel. [Source: wearechange.org]Hillary Clinton said the same to her staff on November 23, 2010: “Can’t we just drone him?”[14] CablegateWikileaks disclosure of U.S. diplomatic cables between 1966 and 2010 are an extreme embarrassment to the U.S. government. Among the disclosures were various Hillary Clinton orders to U.S. diplomats, U.S. ambassadors’ complaints about U.S. allies and other embarrassing commentary and revelations:
Jonathan Cook explains how the media has failed in its mission to inform the public honestly. “Eight years of misdirection by the corporate media has laid the ground for the current public indifference to Assange’s extradition and widespread ignorance of its horrendous implications…Journalists do not need to care about Assange or like him. They have to speak out in protest because approval of his extradition will mark the official death of journalism. It will mean that any journalist in the world who unearths embarrassing truths about the U.S., who discovers its darkest secrets, will need to keep quiet or risk being jailed for the rest of their lives. That ought to terrify every journalist. He went on to say: “Assange did not just expose the political class, he exposed the media class too—for their feebleness, for their hypocrisy, for their dependence on the centers of power, for their inability to criticize a corporate system in which they were embedded.”[15] Meltzer concluded his in-depth interview with Republik thusly: “In order for the division of powers to work, the state must be monitored by the press as the fourth estate. WikiLeaks is the logical consequence of an ongoing process of expanded secrecy: If the truth can no longer be examined because everything is kept secret, if investigation reports on the U.S. government’s torture policy are kept secret and when even large sections of the published summary are redacted, leaks are at some point inevitably the result.” Ron Ridenour is a U.S.-born author and journalist, anti-war and civil rights activist since 1961. After joining the U.S. Air Force at 17, he saw the inner workings of U.S. imperialism first hand and resigned. In the 1980s and 1990’s he worked with the Nicaraguan government and on Cuban national media. He now lives in Denmark and, in addition to writing a dozen books, has served as a special correspondent and freelance investigative journalist for many publications in the U.S. and several Latin American and European countries—among them: The Morning Star, New Statesman, The Guardian (U.S. and England), Playboy, Liberation News Service, Pacific News Service, Coast, Qui, Skeptic, Sevendays, and Pacifica Radio. CAM co-founder Philip Agee wrote commentaries to two of his dozen books: Yankee Sandinistas: Interviews with North Americans Living and Working in the New Nicaragua, and Backfire: CIA’s Biggest Burn. See also: The Russian Peace Threat: Pentagon on Alert and Winding Brook Stories at Amazon and Lulu. Other work can be found at ronridenour.com. Ron can be contacted at [email protected]. [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WikiLeaks#:~:text=WikiLeaks%20(%2F%CB%88w%C9%AAk,in%20its%20first%2010%20years; https://collateralmurder.wikileaks.org/. [2]; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WikiLeaks#:~:text=WikiLeaks%20(%2F%CB%88w%C9%AAk,in%20its%20first%2010%20years; https://collateralmurder.wikileaks.org/. James Cogan, ”The Show Trial of Julian Assange Begins,” World Socialist Web Site, February 25, 2020, https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/02/25/pers-f25.html [3]“Intel Vets Challenge ‘Russia Hack’ Evidence,” Consortium News, July 24, 2017, https://consortiumnews.com/2017/07/24/intel-vets-challenge-russia-hack-evidence/ [4] See Lloyd C. Gardner, War on Leakers: National Security and American Democracy, from Eugene V. Debs to Edward Snowden (New York: The New Press, 2016). Chase Madar in The Passion of Bradley Manning: The Story Behind the Wikileaks Whistleblower (New York: OR Books, 2012) describes how Manning was subject to a harsh regiment of punitive solitary confinement designed “as a warning to other prospective whistle-blowers, and used as a way to break him, crush his spirit and force him to implicate Julian Assange [Wikileaks founder] and Wikileaks in espionage charges.” [5] https://www.republik.ch/2020/01/31/nils-melzer-about-wikileaks-founder-julian-assange [6] John O’Day, “Corporate Media Have Second Thoughts About Exiling Julian Assange From Journalism,” Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), June 5, 2019, https://fair.org/home/corporate-media-have-second-thoughts-about-exiling-julian-assange-from-journalism/ [7] Ben Quinn, “Sweden Drops Julian Assange Rape Investigation,” The Guardian, November 19, 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/nov/19/sweden-drops-julian-assange-investigation [8] https://consortiumnews.com/2020/09/04/assange-extradition-after-cheering-assanges-abuse-journalists-have-paved-path-to-us-gulag/ [9] See https://consortiumnews.com/2017/07/24/intel-vets-challenge-russia-hack-evidence/ and https://medium.com/@caityjohnstone/the-index-of-russiagate-debunkery-f5b6f4101dd0. Former NSA Technical Director Bill Binney has promoted the theory that the alleged hack of the computers may have bene orchestrated by the CIA in an attempt to set up Russia. [10] https://news.yahoo.com/spanish-court-probes-alleged-spying-assange-ecuadorian-embassy-180112903.html [11] http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/52548.htm [12]ibid. [13]https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/dec/01/us-embassy-cables-executed-mike-huckabee [14]https://wearechange.org/hillary-clinton-proposed-drone-strike-julian-assange/ [15] https://consortiumnews.com/2020/09/04/assange-extradition-after-cheering-assanges-abuse-journalists-have-paved-path-to-us-gulag/  From: https://thiscantbehappening.net/looking-back-at-todays-uprising/?preview_id=5187&preview_nonce=86e38d100d&post_format=standard&_thumbnail_id=-1&preview=true
By Annetta Reams and Enzo Ciscato, Vicenza, Italy
In these days, in Italy, we feel terribly far away from the possible achievement of demand n. 2 of Covid-19 Global Solidarity Manifesto “We demand that every nation move at least half its military spending to provide health care.” On Thursday 11 June 2020, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte with the approval of all the Ministers involved in the matter, agreed to sell to Egypt two new war ships built in Italy, originally planned for the Italian Navy’s modernization. This kind of business should be subject to debate in the Parliament according to art. 11 of the Italian Constitution and law 185/1990 regulating the export of arms & weapons. In the last decade Italy has been Egypt’s biggest trading partner in Europe with a massive business in oil drilling (ENI Italian national oil company), surveillance, weapons and more. The relationship with Egypt has become a controversial and drammatic issue since Giuglio Regeni (15.01.1988) Phd student at Girton College, Cambridge University, disappeared in Cairo 25.01.2016 and his body discovered 03.02.2016 on a road in the outskirts of Cairo. Giulio Regeni was researching Egypt’s independent trade unions. Useful links reporting the tragic kidnapping and murder of Giulio are here below. Be prepared: what you are going to read is really strong. If you read the articles as we did, thinking that Giulio was a PhD student, traveling all over the world, as your daughter or son, it makes a very strong impact. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Giulio_Regeni https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/15/magazine/giulio-regeni-italian-graduate-student-tortured-murdered-egypt.html For 4 years, Giulio’s family, many local, national and international associations (led by Amnesty International), common citizens, political and religious authorities have been asking for the truth from the Egyptian Government of Al-Sisi, while the same and Egyptian Secret Services are still hiding the truth. In this situation, the current Italian Government has decided to sell two war ships to Egypt plus other armaments stating (after immediate protests even from members of the political Parties in the government) that “trade and business” must be kept separated from “human rights” !!! Can you believe it ? See the campaign #StopArmiEgitto https://www.disarmo.org/ (also with articles in English) https://www.amnesty.it/stoparmiegitto-fermiamo-linvio-di-armamenti/ We are aeons away from the goal of demand n. 2 of the Manifesto with a growing embarrassment of having such a Government. The day we were writing these lines, Egyptian activist Sarah Hijazi (30 years old) refuged in Canada after one year of prison and torture, suicided. She was destroyed by the traumas suffered from her hellish time in the prisons of Al-Sisi. People, victims like Giulio and Sarah are thousands, but apparently they don’t count enough against the priority of business and the power of money. Vicenza, 19.06.2020 6/27/2020 WHAT ABOUT? or Not forgetting about “ISLAND of SHAME” let’s count on the ISLE of HOPE.Read Now By Annetta Reams and Enzo Ciscato, Vicenza, Italy
ISLAND of SHAME: David’s amazing book that brought the tragedy of Chagossians to public knowledge with lots of important details. ISLE of HOPE: in Savannah, GA, where l went to elementary school for 4 years before the de-segregation plan was enforced (1963-1964). SHAME thinking about all the people killed by militarized police, about civilians of all ages killed in many neverending wars, people all over the world without food, shelter, medical assistance, education, about people still under slavery in many different forms … HOPE believing that after the traumatic experience of Covid-19 pandemia, people must find the strength to start to change this planet in better with more power, feeling stronger in all countries, on all continents. ISLE of HOPE (or AISLE OF HOPE or LAND of HOPE or WORLD of HOPE) could this be a space in CGSC where ideas and positive (and not) news could find a space? We were thinking of a few lines of news that we all could propose/publish from our home continents. Recent Examples: U.S. disengagement from European bases: Confirmed the withdrawal of 9,700 soldiers from Germany. At first it sounded like one of the usual, irritated attacks of Donald Trump in reaction to Angela Merkel’s refusal to participate physically to the G7. But former U.S. ambassador in Berlin, Richard Grenell announced that US are intending to withdraw 9,700 of the about 35,000 soldiers actually stationed in Germany. Grenell has left his assignment last month to return to USA where he will be guiding the campaign for Tump’s re-election. In an interview with Bild Zeitung, the diplomat explained that Washington is “tired” to pay for the defense of other countries.“ It’s a hot matter in US and also a political goal of the President since a while. We want to bring home troops from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, South Korea, Japan and even from Germany”. (Corriere della Sera, 20.06.2020) Apart from the propaganda aspect, should we see a little bit of positivity in this possible small cut of US military forces in Europe ? Vicenza: Airborne of the 173rd brigade arrested for terrorism. They couldn’t believe it. They didn’t want to believe it. When the top officers of the 173rd Brigade stationed in Vicenza told what happened, the 3,500 air born soldiers (paratrooper) were stunned. The enemy they had been trained to fight against they had at home, he slept in their dormitory, joked and drank beer with them. Too bad that Ethan Melzer, 22 of Louisville, Kentucky, who arrived at Ederle barracks in early November 2019, was actually a member of a disturbing Satanist and Nazi organization “O9A”, an acronym for “Order of the Nine Angles” and he had planned to kill the largest possible number of his comrades with whom he spent his days. On June 10th the young soldier was arrested in Ederle base on charges of high treason and conspiracy against USA, among others. He is now in prison and will face trial in New York: he’s risking life in prison. (free translation from “Il Giornale di Vicenza” 24.06.2020) This evening we found more in the web while searching for “O9A”. See this article: https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2020/06/22/us-soldier-plotted-with-satanic-neo-nazis-to-ambush-his-own-unit-overseas-feds-say/ |
AuthorCOVID-19 Global Solidarity Coalition Members Archives
October 2020
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