When the cannons of war fell silent after the Second World War, a new kind of battlefield emerged—one that required no armies, only signatures, decrees, and financial systems. The victors of the century built a global order where economic power replaced the sword, and sanctions became the new siege engines of the modern era.
Today, economic sanctions are the preferred weapon of powerful nations against their rivals, deployed not in open conflict but in boardrooms and parliaments, targeting bank accounts instead of borders. They aim to force adversaries to bend, to alter policies, or to shift positions without a single missile launched.
Yet sanctions are not born of moral principle. As history shows, they often serve the “supreme global interests” of dominant powers—chiefly the United States and Western Europe—protecting their stake in the existing economic hierarchy.
And they do not stop at governments. Sanctions reach deep into societies, touching individuals, companies, scientists, and civic figures. The economist and historian Nicholas Mulder describes this evolution in his book The Economic Weapon, noting that modern sanctions are distinctive because “they are applied in times of peace, not war.”
The Roots of Pressure: Iran and the JCPOA
From the late 20th century to today, two countries have been caught in the fiercest crossfire of economic sanctions: Iran and Russia.
Since the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979, Iran has lived under the shadow of Western embargoes. Decades later, in 2015, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) offered a fragile truce: Iran would scale down uranium enrichment in exchange for relief from economic pressure.
The agreement briefly heralded a regional and international détente. But the promise proved short-lived. In 2018, then–U.S. President Donald Trump tore up Washington’s commitments and withdrew from the JCPOA, reigniting the nuclear dispute and launching the “maximum pressure” campaign that reimposed sweeping sanctions.
This reversal eroded faith in U.S. guarantees and exposed Europe’s inability to safeguard the deal. Central to the renewed controversy was the “snapback mechanism”—a clause allowing the automatic reinstatement of UN sanctions on Iran if it was accused of violating nuclear obligations, bypassing any new Security Council vote.
This mechanism was anchored in UN Security Council Resolution 2231 (2015), which gave any signatory the authority to trigger the return of sanctions within 30 days unless the Council decided otherwise.
In an interview with Al-Manar website, Iranian political analyst Mehdi Azizi explained:
“The snapback mechanism arises from the psychological turmoil within the West and the Zionist entity after Iran’s Intelligence Ministry revealed classified documents about the entity’s ties with certain Arab states and the location of its strategic facilities.”
Azizi added that, with the expiration of Resolution 2231, such sanctions have become legally void—though Washington’s habitual disregard for international agreements has long rendered its guarantees meaningless.
In a separate discussion with Al-Manar TV, political researcher Ghaleb Sarhan outlined how Iran has learned to circumvent economic sanctions, navigating the loopholes of the snapback mechanism and exploiting cracks within the Western economic front.
Sanctions Did Not Spare Russia
The use of sanctions is not confined to Iran. With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Moscow entered an era of economic vulnerability that Western capitals were quick to exploit. From that moment on, the “Russia file” became a fixture in the arsenal of Western coercive diplomacy.
When the war in Ukraine escalated, the United States and its European allies expanded their punitive measures, layering them atop decades of previous restrictions. Washington and Brussels, in concert with NATO, sought to isolate Moscow, brandishing sanctions as both punishment and deterrent.
The Magnitsky Act
One of the first salvos in this campaign was the Magnitsky Act, enacted on December 14, 2012. Under this law, Washington imposed sanctions on Russian officials accused—according to U.S. claims—of human rights violations, banning their entry into the United States and freezing their assets.
Though presented as a defense of “humanitarian values,” the law functions, as many analysts argue, as a propaganda tool to manipulate global public opinion and justify U.S. punitive policies under the guise of moral leadership.
Sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 Project
Energy soon became another front in the economic war. The Nord Stream 2 project, designed to deliver 55 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually from Russia to Germany via the Baltic Sea, became a symbol of Europe’s energy dependence—and of Washington’s disapproval.
On December 20, 2019, President Donald Trump signed a defense budget that included sanctions targeting Nord Stream 2 and TurkStream. U.S. pressure forced companies, including Allseas, to halt operations and withdraw their ships.
Washington, meanwhile, promoted its own liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports to Europe, presenting American energy as a substitute for Russian supply.
The project suffered further setbacks following a series of explosions on September 26, 2022, which Russian President Vladimir Putin denounced as “an unprecedented act of international terrorism.”
All of this is described by journalist Ahmed Al-Hajj Ali, a specialist in Russian affairs, in an interview with Al-Manar website, as a “double-edged sword”—for while these sanctions weaken Moscow, they also reshape Europe’s economy in ways that favor Washington.
The Special Military Operation in Ukraine
The decisive turning point came with Moscow’s recognition of the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR) on February 21, 2021, followed by the launch of the Special Military Operation (SVO) in Ukraine.
Within hours, Washington escalated its economic assault. On February 21, 2022, it sanctioned the two self-proclaimed republics; a day later, it targeted Russian sovereign debt and financial institutions such as VEB and Promsvyazbank. By February 24, the net widened to include major banks, top business figures, and key members of Russia’s political elite.
Subsequent waves of sanctions struck even deeper: restrictions on President Vladimir Putin, members of the Russian Security Council, bans on high-tech exports crucial to defense, aerospace, and shipbuilding industries, and a freeze on dealings with the Central Bank of Russia.
Who Profits from Sanctions?
In the grand calculus of power, the United States stands as the chief beneficiary of the sanctions imposed on Russia. As Europe cuts itself off from Russian gas, it turns to American shale gas—fortifying the dollar’s dominance not just over the ruble, but over the euro itself.
Economic sanctions, once framed as instruments of justice, now reveal their deeper function: weapons of economic empire. And in the global struggle between East and West, their true cost is measured not in currency, but in sovereignty.
As far as cunning plans go, Israel’s claim that it will annex 80 percent of the West Bank is as bold and as whacky as it gets. But will it work? And perhaps more to the point, is it a threat that they intend to go through with, or is it simply a bluff?
The West Bank often is under reported and rarely gets the media oxygen it deserves. Some might be forgiven that this latest announcement of Israel’s extreme right ministers of intending to annex the West Bank is out of the blue. In fact, the Israelis have been considering the plan for quite some time. If it weren’t for the Hamas attack of October 7th 2023, a longer, more measured policy of allowing settlers to do it for them – with the occasional days of military intervention – might have done the job. Some might even argue that the land grabs and the dirty work of armed settlers there stealing houses and land played a key role in the Hamas attack. But the truth is that the idea is nothing new and that Israel has wanted all along to take more land and control of West Bank and now it has the perfect pretext to do it.
The timing of this announcement is worth a second look. If we are to consider that Israel has made many victorious moves in recent months – decapitating Hezbollah in Lebanon, inheriting Syria and carrying out what some western analysts consider to be a successful strike against Iran – then it is fair to say that the confidence level of Netanyahu and his cronies is at an all time high. The hardcore fanatics on the right will be pushing for him to go ‘all out’ with both Gaza and the West Bank, given that they have Trump in the White House and they might consider anything is possible, given his ignorance and servitude. Let’s take West Bank.
Yet it’s the recent move by a number of EU countries to recognize Palestine which is the driving force behind the stunt. Even though the votes at the UN will be unprecedented as France, the UK, Portugal, Canada and Australia push for the recognition of Palestine, the move will still be blocked by the U.S. – yet the symbolism will still mean something in Palestine’s long road towards having its own state. Israel must teach the Europeans a lesson and the West Bank plan, although quite crude, will be effective in doing that: you push for a Palestinian state, we’ll create our own state in West Bank.
The Israelis probably believe that all it will take is for one of these western countries to retract their zealous plan to support the Palestinian statehood idea and it will fall like a house of cards. They might well be banking on the UK being the weakest link here as even Keir Starmer’s most ardent supporters are doubtful whether he will even stick with his so-called threat of supporting the vote for Palestinian statehood. His record of flip-flopping is unprecedented after all.
Perhaps this is the thinking of sending Israel’s President Isaac Herzog to visit Starmer in London on the coming days.
Yet like nearly everything that Israel does, there appears to be no long-term strategizing. As always, the Zionist entity works on a day-to-day basis and takes each day as it comes. For just as they figure that the West has its weak point – West Bank annexation – they too have their own Achilles heel which the UAE elite know only too well. Just as quickly as the plan was announced in western media, UAE officials were quick to warn that this would be a ‘red line’, hinting that the present Abraham Accords which Abu Dhabi signed up to, would be in tatters if they were to go ahead with it. Could Israel be so reckless to scupper such a momentous deal as its own normalisation with the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco – while Saudi Arabia and consider joining also – for a token victory over a handful of EU countries and their disingenuous political posturing? Unlikely.
The reality is that the scam which Israeli is trying to pull off is a massive bluff which can easily backfire. While it has won the ‘war’ in Gaza on many levels and is achieving its objectives in West Bank it has lost the media war as hundreds of millions of people around the world simply cannot accept the level of biblical depravity the savages in power in Israel have sunk to with the genocide and ethnic cleansing which is going on in both Gaza and West Bank. An entire generation which has seen the Hollywood portrayal of the Holocaust in such films as Schindler’s List and believe they got their heads around what the Nazis did in WWII cannot understand the horrors of bombing women and children in tents or starving them to death. It simply goes over a line of rationale comprehension and has shown the world what Israel is actually capable of and the West Bank ruse is really an example of how poorly attuned Netanyahu and his cabal are to how the world sees them and how western media no longer has the power that it had twenty years ago when Israel pulled out of the Gaza Strip.
A crowd greets Islamic Jihad and Hamas fighters as they arrive for the handover of Israeli and Thai captives to the Red Cross in the south Gaza Strip town of Khan Younis, on Thursday, January 30, 2025. (AP)
Palestinian Resistance factions have been preparing the exchange platform and related procedures since Friday night.
The Gaza Strip is set to release a fourth group of Israeli captives held by Palestinian factions today, Saturday, in exchange for “Israel’s” release of 90 Palestinian detainees.
Preparations for the exchange are in full swing in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, as Israeli reconnaissance drones hover overhead, closely monitoring the operation.
Al Mayadeen’s correspondent in Gaza reported that the exchange is expected to begin officially around 11:00 AM local time. Palestinian Resistance factions have been preparing the exchange platform and related procedures since Friday night.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Information Office confirmed that “Israel” will release 72 prisoners serving life or long-term sentences and 111 detainees from Gaza who were arrested after October 7, 2023.
Nahed Al-Fakhouri, head of media at the Martyrs, Prisoners, and Wounded Affairs Office, stated that following the Palestinian Resistance’s submission of Israeli captives’ names, the scheduled release will include:
18 Palestinian detainees serving life sentences
54 detainees with long-term or life sentences
111 Gazans detained after October 7
Al-Fakhouri emphasized that “the release of this batch comes as part of the Palestinian Resistance’s relentless efforts in the battle to free Palestinian detainees, reaffirming its national and moral commitment to breaking their chains and ending their suffering in occupation prisons.”
In previous exchanges, the Resistance has handed over Israeli captives at various locations in Gaza, with fighters from multiple factions participating in the handovers amid large crowds waving Resistance flags and images of martyrs.
As part of the agreement that ended the war on the Gaza Strip, the Israeli occupation has released dozens of Palestinian prisoners, particularly those serving lengthy sentences or life terms. In the most recent batch, 110 Palestinian prisoners and detainees were freed from Israeli prisons, including 32 sentenced to life, 48 serving various sentences, and 30 minors.
Among those released in the third batch was Zakaria al-Zubaidi, one of the heroes of the 2021 Operation Freedom Tunnel, as well as commander Mohammad Atiya Abu Warda, whom “Israel” considers one of the most dangerous freed prisoners, and Rashid al-Risheq, accused of planning the assassination of Israeli Police Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
Hamas turns captives release scenes into humiliation for ‘Israel’: WSJ
Hamas used the prisoner-captive exchange deal as a spectacle to assert its control over the Gaza Strip, sending a clear message that “Israel” is powerless to stop it, a Wall Street Journal report on Friday highlighted.
The WSJ wrote that the pattern began two weeks ago when the first Israeli captives were released as part of the ceasefire agreement.
According to The Wall Street Journal report, this time, the captives faced difficulties exiting Hamas vehicles as crowds gathered again to receive and photograph them. The Red Cross vehicles were not present, leaving the captives to navigate through the crowds with their armed militants providing protection.
Regional analysts say Hamas has turned each round of captive releases in Gaza into a more complex event, using it as a display of power to humiliate the Israeli occupation.
According to the report, “Israel” responded angrily to the spectacle, announcing it would not release 110 Palestinian detainees as agreed in the deal. However, mediators, including the US envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, quickly intervened to ensure the agreement remained intact. Ultimately, “Israel” released the detainees.
With its military operations paused and troops positioned on Gaza’s outskirts, “Israel” has little ability to stop Hamas from turning captive releases into public displays.
That said, Hugh Lovatt, a senior fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, noted that Hamas aims to “demonstrate its strength and prestige in Gaza.”
During her opening statement in the Senate hearing, Trump’s pick for Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard shed light on the repetitive intelligence failure of the US. Gabbard criticized the US invasion of Iraq, saying it was based on “total fabrications and complete intelligence failure.”
Speaking with Al Mayadeen, Cuba’s President, Miguel Diaz-Canel, expressed Cuba’s firm and unwavering support for Palestine and gave his opinion on the ceasefire agreement in Gaza. He further stressed on the importance of recognizing the heroism of the Palestinian people and the importance of resistance.
Circulated video on social media showed the family of the general commander of the al-Qassam Brigade, martyr Mohammad Deif, living a simple life, contrary to what Israeli leaders and media claim about Palestinian leaders.
Thousands of Egyptians from across the country have gathered in a show of solidarity with the Palestinian people, marching toward the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip. The demonstration came in rejection to Trump’s proposal to displace Palestinians to Egypt and Jordan.
Al Mayadeen’s correspondent interviews a freed Palestinian detainee who spent 23 years in an Israeli prison. When asked about the treatment of detainees during their release, he describes the abuse they endured. Despite everything, his first message is one of solidarity with Gaza.
Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov has explained why President Vladimir Putin does not plan to congratulate Donald Trump on his victory in the US election.“I still know nothing about Putin’s intention to congratulate Trump,” the Kremlin spokesman told the media. A few hours earlier, Peskov also said Putin had no plans for congratulating Trump.
I suggest remembering that we are talking about an election that took place in a country that is unfriendly to us and in a country that is involved in the conflict over Ukraine,” Peskov said.
Voting in the US elections ended on the morning of November 6 Moscow time. Officially, the results have not yet been summarized, but according to US media forecasts Trump has already gained more than 270 electoral votes, which is enough to win
He himself has already declared himself the 47th president of the United States. The speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, called him the elected head of state. Trump has been receiving congratulations from foreign leaders.
Congratulations on Trump’s victory in US election
The congratulatory messages and reactions to Trump’s win.
Polish President Andrzej Duda on X:
“Congratulations, Mr. President Donald Trump! You made it happen!
”European Council chief Charles Michel on X: “Congratulations to President-elect Donald Trump.
The EU and the US have an enduring alliance and a historic bond. As allies and friends, the EU looks forward to continuing our constructive cooperation. The EU will pursue its course in line with the strategic agenda as a strong, united, competitive and sovereign partner while defending the rules-based multilateral system.”
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte on X: “I just congratulated Donald Trump on his election as President of the United States. His leadership will again be key to keeping our Alliance strong. I look forward to working with him again to advance peace through strength through NATO.”
President of the EU Commission Ursula von der Leyen on X:
“I warmly congratulate Donald J. Trump. The EU and the US are more than just allies. We are bound by a true partnership between our people, uniting 800 million citizens. So let’s work together on a strong transatlantic agenda that keeps delivering for them.”German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier quoted by his Spokeswoman Cerstin Gammelin on X:
“Transatlantic relations are of key importance for the stability and prosperity of our two countries and our continents.”
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on X:
“I congratulate Donald Trump on his election as US President. For a long time, Germany and the US have been working together successfully promoting prosperity and freedom on both sides of the Atlantic. We will continue to do so for the wellbeing of our citizens.
”Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic congratulated Trump, noting that Belgrade remains committed to working with Washington for the sake of peace.Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on X:
“Heartiest congratulations my friend Donald Trump on your historic election victory. As you build on the successes of your previous term, I look forward to renewing our collaboration to further strengthen the India-US Comprehensive Global and Strategic Partnership.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: “Congratulations on history’s greatest comeback! Your historic return to the White House offers a new beginning for America and a powerful commitment to the great alliance between Israel and America.
President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on X:
“I extend my sincere congratulations to Donald Trump on his election as 47th President of the United States and Vance on his election as Vice President. In building upon over five decades of strategic bilateral cooperation, the UAE and US are united by our enduring partnership based on shared ambitions for progress.
”Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi on Facebook:
“I express my sincere congratulations to US President-elect Donald Trump. <…> We look forward to working together fruitfully to achieve peace and security in the Middle East, as well as strengthening the Egyptian-American strategic partnership.
”Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on X: “I congratulate my friend Donald Trump, who won the presidential election in the US after a great struggle and was reelected.”
The success of pro-Palestine encampments like divestment by several universities indicates the movement’s impact is tangible. As protests continue, they challenge existing power dynamics and potentially influence future U.S. policy and international support for Palestinian rights.
Another school year has dawned, and the pro-Palestine encampments have sprung anew like seedlings of resilience and hope that break through the toughest soil.
Today, that duration has nearly doubled, and next month, the crippling war will have burned in the minds and hearts of those unfortunate enough to have witnessed it forever.
Despite the passage of time and the feeling that little has changed, students have regrouped and reconnected, while university administration officials have begun to take precautions to keep the new protests limited and enforce a preemptive crackdown.
Days ago, the president of the University of California announced new bans on encampments and face masks in response.
Ahead of the new semester, Michael V. Drake clarified the policies regarding prohibitions on encampments, unauthorized structures, and the use of masks to conceal identities or avoid identification by university officials. He also instructed university leaders to enforce these rules strictly and consistently.
Looking back: a timeline
Last April, what started as one pro-Palestine encampment in New York’s Columbia University swiftly turned into a global phenomenon.
Universities across the US saw a historic surge in student protests in support of Palestine and Gaza, calling for ending all agreements with “Israel” and divesting from the occupation entity, and most importantly, an end to the US support to “Israel.”
Nemat Minouche Shafik, Columbia’s President, had issued an ultimatum to student protesters: either negotiate an agreement with the administration to disband the encampment or the school would pursue alternative measures to dismantle it. However, the demonstrators remained steadfast in their demands, with new supporters swelling their ranks.
She faced increased pressure over her response to the protests and ultimately resigned in what she attributed as “a period of turmoil where it has been difficult to overcome divergent views across our community.”
The US government’s fury over the practice of free speech in criticizing Israeli actions went so far that senators began to suggest legislation that slammed any critics of antisemitism.
The bill, dubbed the Antisemitism Awareness Act, would adopt the definition of antisemitism created by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA). If enforced, the definition would mark a grave turn of events for American citizens and residents opposing the Israeli occupation. The IHRA has spread dangerous rhetoric in which any action against the “state of Israel” would be considered anti-semitism.
Former US president Harry Truman once expressed that a government committed to silencing opposition will continue down the path of repression until it becomes a “terror” to all citizens and fear prevails.
“Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear.”- Harry Truman
As we have observed, the words of Truman were ever true. Could Truman have ever imagined that America, the alleged land of the free, become one of the only countries in the world, save Germany, with such negative consequences to befall those who dared utter criticism of an apartheid regime?
These encampments pose a significant challenge, not to Jewish students as some media narratives misleadingly suggest, but to the dominance and control over ideas and freedom of expression, and the fear prevails.
False claims of antisemitism detract from a real problem. Being accidentally hit by a passerby waving a small plastic flag is not the same as being “stabbed in the eye” as Sahar Tartak put it. A video and Tartak’s own account contradict her claims.🧵 pic.twitter.com/Sd36RA3iTc
The attempt to derail the effort and paint it as an anti-‘Israel’ effort rather than a pro-Palesine and anti-war effort is the key to delegitimizing the movement altogether.
Many times, such claims of Jewish hatred are easily debunked. When Minouche Shafik was cornered by Congresswoman Ilhan Omar during a Congressional hearing after dozens of students were arrested. Omar asked Shafik if she had seen a protest that was specifically targeted against Jewish people
The Congresswoman questioned Shafik on how many of the students involved in canceled pro-Palestine events were Jewish, to which Nemat admitted that one of the groups was Jewish Voice for Peace, essentially proving Omar’s point that such protests were not anti-Jewish, but rather anti-war.
During a recent debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, although both fiercely competed over who was more supportive of the occupation, Trump vowed to crack down on the pro-Palestine movement, explaining he would set it back decades and vowing to deport students who engaged in it.
This revelation is an even bigger attack on US voters’ civil liberties and a slap in the face of Palestinian rights. Such a promise could also impact the U.S.’s international reputation and relationships while fostering public mistrust and disillusionment among those concerned with democratic values and freedoms which seem to be sinking further in the collective West.
Victory is inevitable
Some of the encampments have been successful, despite the heavy crackdown. Late last month, San Francisco State University (SFSU) announced it had withdrawn its investments from four firms aiding “Israel’s” ongoing genocide in Gaza, a move celebrated by pro-Palestinian activists and considered a “major victory” for the divestment movement.
In May, the University of Copenhagen announced that it would cease investing in Israeli companies conducting business in the occupied West Bank.
In Australia, the University of Melbourne has agreed to some of the divestment demands.
The Senate of the University of Barcelona (UB) approved a motion in support of Palestine on May 8, calling on the university to cut all institutional and academic ties with “Israel”, including centers, research institutes, companies, and other institutions in the country, until the Israeli genocide against Gaza stops.
What is to be anticipated
Since the war on Gaza has made many citizens question where the loyalty of their elected leaders lies, there is a renewed fierceness to be expected for delayed justice. To see students gathering yet again despite the mass campaigns of arrests, censorship, and irrational retaliation by administration officials only ensures that they are undeterred in their efforts.
The longer the protests are in the limelight, the more people will be drawn to wonder what they are fighting for, allowing them to possibly gain more popular support.
The lasting physical presence will only amplify the voices of those advocating for Palestinian rights and continue to highlight issues otherwise overlooked.
This itself is a form of resistance, students risking their futures, like the people of Gaza risking their lives, for freedom.
The encampments will continue to foster community among students and other activists to strengthen networks and create lasting partnerships between various activist groups.
Amidst this, policymakers are sure to feel the strain. This engagement, particularly on the eve of a presidential election, can have long-term consequences, and policymakers may (hopefully) reconsider their stance on ‘Israel.’
Despite the Israeli lobby pumping money into government organizations, the encampments will allow Palestinian advocates to challenge this influence and Palestine will continue its path at the forefront of global discourse, possibly contributing to a shift and ultimately shaping the future dynamics of international support and lasting liberation.
11 months into “Israel’s” war on Gaza, pro-Palestine protests continue to gain momentum worldwide, going stronger than ever. Demonstrations have been held in Norway, the Netherlands, London, South Korea, Ireland, and Austria, with protesters voicing their outrage against the ongoing Israeli carnage in Gaza and calling for an immediate ceasefire. Banners at these protests conveyed powerful messages such as “Stop arming Israel,” “End the siege,” “Free Palestine,” and “Israel has murdered 20,000 children,” reflecting the heartwrenching death toll that is nearing 41,000 and more than 94,000 injuries.
Tens of thousands of Israelis protest in Tel Aviv
7 Sep 23:23
Israelis continue to demonstrate in Tel Aviv pressuring Netanyahu to accept a deal that would bring back the captives in Gaza. The mounting pressure has been growing for months as the rifts in Israeli politics widen due to disagreements over the handling of the war on Gaza.
Students at Monash University chant ‘Free Palestine,’ reject support for Israeli narrative
7 Sep 11:30
Videos circulating online show students at Monash Univerity in Melbourne, Australia refusing to stand up for “honoring” Israeli captives found dead in Gaza and others who remain there in a sign of refusal for the Israeli narrative. The video shows a student asking everyone in the room to stand up in support of these captives, however, it is noticeable that most of those in the room as seen in the video did not stand up. The students later started chanting “Free Palestine” when one of those who seemed to be in support of the captive addressed the pro-Palestine student who initiated the chants and told them to “stop chanting.”
Leaked Footage from Israeli prison: Palestinian detainees tortured by dogs
6 Sep 23:29
Leaked footage by Israeli newspaper Haaretz circulating on social media shows the Israeli occupation torturing Palestinians in one of its prisons that are widely known for human rights abuses and inhumane treatment. The reports say that this video is from the Israeli Megiddo prison in occupied Palestine. The Palestinian detainees are forced to lie face down on the ground with their hands zip-tied behind their backs as the soldiers move around dogs to terrorize and abuse them. If inspected closely many of the detainees seem to be young as the occupation is known for detaining Palestinian youth.
Kamala Harris Is a “chameleon” and “mouthpiece for Neocons”
6 Sep 20:36
International Human Rights Professor at the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Law, Daniel Kovalik, called out Kamala Harris, describing her as “an empty vessel” who supports war and the neocon agenda. Kovalek warned, during an interview for Al Mayadeen of her role in perpetuating conflicts and criticized both political candidates as being out of touch with the American people.
A systematic effort appears underway to silence Dr. Abu Sitta for his vocal condemnation of Israeli atrocities with Berlin authorities forcefully barring his entry into the country in April to attend a conference.
Renowned British-Palestinian doctor and humanitarian, Ghassan Abu Sitta, who volunteered in Gaza hospitals during the first weeks of the Israeli genocide, was reportedly barred from entering France while at Charles De Gaulle Airport.
Abu Sitta, scheduled to speak before the French Senate, expressed frustration as authorities cited a purported one-year ban imposed by Germany on his entry to Europe.
In a social media post, he said, “I am at Charles De Gaule airport. They are preventing me from entering France. I am supposed to speak at the French Senate today. They say the Germans put a 1 year ban on my entry to Europe.”
I am at Charles De Gaule airport. They are preventing me from entering France. I am supposed to speak at the French Senate today. They say the Germans put a 1 year ban on my entry to Europe.
— Ghassan Abu Sitta (@GhassanAbuSitt1) May 4, 2024
In another post, Abu Sitta lamented what he described as “Fortress Europe” silencing witnesses to the ongoing genocide, while “Israel” continues to target and kill them even within prison walls.
Fortress Europe silencing the witnesses to the genocide while Israel kills them in prison.
— Ghassan Abu Sitta (@GhassanAbuSitt1) May 4, 2024
Simultaneously, human rights activist Salah Hamouri affirmed to Al Mayadeen that Dr. Ghassan Abu Sitta was informed at Charles De Gaulle Airport of a German decision to prohibit his entry. Hamouri further stated that Dr. Abu Sitta has been notified of a comprehensive ban on his entry to European countries. In further detail, he informed Al Mayadeen that Abu Sitta’s phone had been seized.
The detention of Dr. Abu Sitta, as reported by Hamouri, comes in the wake of Germany’s recent decision to bar him from entering the Schengen area for one year.
In April, authorities in Berlin raided a conference titled the Palestine Congress, where Dr. Abu Sitta was scheduled to participate, abruptly cutting off electricity and terminating the weekend-long event.
The conference was aimed at addressing various issues, such as German arms exports to “Israel” and expressions of solidarity with the Palestinian cause.
Dr. Abu Sitta reported that after prolonged questioning, the German government forcefully barred his entry into the country.
Germany’s expulsion of Dr. Abu Sitta instigated widespread condemnation from activists and human rights groups.
Slow death, no anesthesia; Abu Sitta recalls horrors he saw in Gaza
Palestinian doctor Ghassan Abu Sitta spent 43 days under fire in Gaza. What he witnessed during his voluntary work in the besieged Strip’s hospitals left him with a lot to tell about the Israeli atrocities committed against civilians.
When he left Gaza because he could no longer perform surgeries due to a shortage of medical equipment, he decided to advocate for the Strip through other means.
Speaking to AFP last January, Abu Sitta detailed the testimony he provided to the British police regarding attacks against civilians and the types of weapons used, hoping it would lead to trials for war crimes.
Having worked for weeks in hospitals in #Gaza during the Israeli aggression on the Strip, renowned British-Palestinian plastic surgeon, Dr. Ghassan Abu Sitta bore witness to the horrific crimes that were committed there.#PalestineGenocide#GazaUnderAttackpic.twitter.com/aOVCQuh0lF
The results of the Israeli aggression on Gaza, where Abu Sitta arrived on October 9 as part of the Doctors Without Borders team, surpassed the horrors of all the wars he had worked in before, including Gaza, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and southern Lebanon.
“It’s like the difference between a flood and a tsunami; the scale is entirely different,” he expressed, emphasizing the large number of casualties, martyred children, the magnitude of the disaster, and the intensive bombings, causing the Gaza healthcare system to be overwhelmed within days of the war’s start.
The Palestinian doctor pointed out that from the beginning, the capacity was lower than the number of patients that had to be treated, adding that doctors had to make difficult decisions about whom to treat.
He recounted the case of a 40-year-old man with a head shrapnel injury who needed X-rays and examination by a neurosurgeon, but those were not available as told to the patient’s family who stayed around the stretcher he was placed on that night until his martyrdom in the morning.
Anesthesia and painkillers quickly ran out in hospitals, forcing Abu Sitta to perform painful cleaning procedures for wounds on injured individuals without the possibility of relieving their pain. He made it clear that this was the only available option, or else see the wounded succumb to widespread inflammation in the blood.
Abu Sitta also confirmed that he treated people with burns caused by white phosphorus, which is prohibited by international law, explaining that it is an injury that can be distinguished from other injuries and that phosphorus continues to burn into the deeper parts of the body until it reaches the bones.
Since leaving Gaza, the Palestinian doctor has spent most of his time alerting political leaders and humanitarian organizations to the genocide in the Gaza Strip. In this regard, he said that he is trying to help the patients in Gaza as much as he can by conveying their voices abroad.
He also noted that he informed the London police about the injuries he witnessed, the types of weapons used, and the use of white phosphorus, as well as the attacks against civilians.
Elsewhere, Abu Sitta, who narrated how he survived the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital massacre on October 17, concluded by stressing that “ultimately, justice will reach these individuals, after five or ten years, or when they are in their eighties when the balance of power in the world allows justice for the Palestinians.”
Student protests in support of Palestine have erupted at universities across the Americas and Europe, with actions ranging from tent camps and hall occupations to demands for academic boycotts and diplomatic actions against “Israel”.
Student protests have been escalating and expanding over the past few weeks in the Americas and across several European countries in support of occupied Palestine amid the ongoing Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip.
Dozens of pro-Palestinian students and activists in Mexico City set up tents in front of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), the country’s largest university, in solidarity with students protesting in the United States.
Students placed Palestinian flags over their protest camp and chanted slogans such as “Long live a free Palestine” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
The protesters raised several demands, including that the Mexican government cut diplomatic and trade ties with “Israel”.
Protests at University of Lausanne, Switzerland
In Switzerland, dozens of pro-Palestinian students took control of the hall in the Géopolis building of the University of Lausanne (UNIL), demanding an academic boycott of Israeli institutions and an immediate and permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, the Keystone-ATS news agency reported.
Organizers said in a statement that the action “follows the example of mobilization on campuses in Canada, the United States and France.”
“Our action is spontaneous and has no leader or leader,” they said, explaining that, “The people occupying the university building refuse to be complicit in the colonial genocide perpetrated by the Israeli apartheid regime. We call on everyone to join us, and on members of other universities and colleges to mobilize too.”
France’s prestigious Sciences Po University said, in a message to the staff, that it would close its main campus in Paris for one day, Friday, May 3rd, after pro-Palestinian student protesters took control of new buildings on campus.
The university management requested that staff “continue to work from home.”
Moreover, a student body committee of pro-Palestinian students announced on Thursday a “peaceful sit-in” at Sciences Po, and that 6 students were starting a hunger strike “in solidarity with Palestinian victims.”
In a letter received by its employees on Thursday evening, the human resources department of the Institut des Sciences Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po) said the buildings in the center of the French capital would remain closed on Friday, May 3rd.
In a scenario similar to the protests that have rocked several major universities in the United States, pro-Palestinian students at Sciences Po have organized several actions to protest the Israeli aggression on Gaza and the resulting humanitarian crisis in the besieged Palestinian enclave.
The Palestine Committee also demanded that the university administration “clearly condemn Israel’s practices” and “end any cooperation” with any institutions and entities accused of involvement in the systematic oppression of the Palestinian people.
Tensions continue at Columbia University
In the United States, tensions between Columbia University’s administration and students protesting “Israel’s” aggression against Gaza reached the point where dozens of New York police officers entered the campus to remove a protest camp and arrest protesters who had taken control of Hamilton Hall and renamed it the Hind Hall.
It was the second time in two weeks that the university administration called on the police to contain the protests and disperse protesters. The administration prevented students from entering their classrooms and threatened them with expulsion from the university. Police are now stationed on campus around the clock.
At the University of California-Berkeley, some 4,800 kilometers away, students have further continued to organize their demonstrations without any arrests or disruption of classes.
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell speaks during a debate on Iran’s retaliatory strike against “Israel”, on Wednesday, April 24, 2024, in Strasbourg, eastern France. (AP)
The top EU chief highlights that 35% of Gaza is now fully destroyed as he calls on “Israel” to “respect international law.”
The EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, compared yesterday between Gaza now and Germany during World War II, saying that “Israel” has exposed areas in the Gaza Strip to greater destruction than that dealt to cities in Germany back in the 1940s.
During his speech at a plenary session of the European Parliament in the French city of Strasbourg, Borrell cited the climbing casualties of the war on Gaza, saying, “I can say that more than 60% of the physical infrastructure has been damaged, and 35% fully destroyed.”
“The cities in Gaza have been more destroyed than the German cities during the Second World War – just imagine the comparison,” he noted, highlighting the “killing of 249 humanitarian workers and around 100 journalists in Israeli attacks on Gaza.”
It has been confirmed by the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate (PJS) that at least 140 journalists in Gaza have been killed since October 7.
Borrell sees that “Israel must respect international law, implement the International Court of Justice’s provisional measures, ensure the protection of all civilians, and allow humanitarian workers to do their lifesaving job without being targeted.”
Even though Borrell has been more outspoken and critical of “Israel” and its plans alongside the US, it’s noteworthy that the European Union and the United States have been the main allies of “Israel” in its ongoing genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza. Both entities possess the potential to exert pressure on “Israel”, calling for an immediate ceasefire and the unrestricted entry of humanitarian aid.
Palestinians have expressed doubt regarding the EU and US plans, fearing that such moves could be a prelude to international military presence on Palestinian soil and to the expulsion of Palestinians under different pretexts.
Hypocritically, images from the war in Ukraine were allowed to be featured in the exhibition, proving the EU’s clear double standards and selective humanity, particularly its stance on the humanitarian crises in Gaza. (Al Mayadeen English)
The European Parliament removed 14 photos taken by an Al Mayadeen correspondent in the Gaza Strip from a photo exhibition exposing Israeli crimes, revealing the EU’s crackdown on pro-Palestinian content.
As part of the Western media crackdown on Pro-Palestinian content, the European Parliament Secretariat removed 14 photos taken by Al Mayadeen Media Network, from a photo exhibition organized by a leftist parliamentary group.
Al Mayadeen‘s correspondent, Moussa Assi, explained that the organizers planned the exhibition, set on April 16th in Brussels, intending to feature photos revealing the aftermath of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Al Mayadeen Media Network was extended an invite by the organizers to feature photos showing the impact of war, particularly on Gaza’s children, and showcasing the widespread destruction, the condition of Gaza’s hospitals, and more.
He further added that the Parliament Secretariat argued they didn’t have sufficient time to review the photos before displaying them. However, the organizers of the exhibition confirmed they had submitted the photos within the designated timeframe. They asserted that the decision to remove the photos was politically motivated and influenced by pressure from right-winged parties within the European parliament.
On Tuesday, #AlMayadeen was banned from presenting pictures taken in #Gaza in a photo exhibition in Brussels, #Belgium, despite the photographs being coordinated beforehand, in yet another attack on the freedom of press and those who support the #Palestinian cause for liberation… pic.twitter.com/IqcceTl3HA
The organizers requested that our correspondent, a representative of Al Mayadeen Media Network, give a speech at the exhibition where the prohibited photos will be displayed on a screen in the background. However, the EU parliament desk employees intervened, demanded the photos’ removal, and proceeded to cut off the screen cables provocatively.
What happened further indicates that the European Parliament was adamant on preventing the broadcasting of any content that exposes Israeli crimes in Gaza, Hypocritically, images from the war in Ukraine were allowed to be featured in the exhibition, proving the EU’s clear double standards and selective humanity, particularly its stance on the humanitarian crises in Gaza.
Clear attempt to conceal the truth
Some members of the leftist parliamentary group emphasized that the decision does not reflect the stance of the party or the sentiment of the European public, which has shown increasing support for the Palestinian cause.
In his speech, Al Mayadeen’s correspondent mentioned that the European Parliament’s decision to remove the photos is a clear attempt to “conceal the truth” of what is happening in the Gaza Strip and the reality of “Israel’s” ongoing genocide in the Strip.
He referred to the decision as a direct attack on Al Mayadeen, which has been subjected to several attacks concerning the Palestinian cause in occupied Palestine, Lebanon, and other countries on multiple occasions. Our correspondent stressed that Al Mayadeen‘s commitment to always speak the truth has come at a cost, leading to censorship.
The Israeli occupation commits a total of 6 massacres in 24 hours only.
The Health Ministry in Gaza reported that the Israeli occupation committed a total of 6 massacres, killing 62 and injuring 91, in 24 hours only.
This brings the total number of Palestinians killed in the Gaza Strip since the Israeli aggression on Gaza started on October 7 to 33,037, in addition to 75,668 injuries.
Not found
A Palestinian man, Ashraf Abu Daraz, in Gaza says goodbye to his children and pregnant wife, killed in US-UK-EU-armed Israeli airstrikes in Rafah.
The UNSC voted for a ceasefire, the US and Israel know the rules of the US-led ‘rules-based order’ don’t apply to them. pic.twitter.com/ofluuPe3jZ— Afshin Rattansi (@afshinrattansi) April 4, 2024
Compounding the devastation, some victims are still trapped under rubble and on roads, with the Israeli occupation hindering the arrival of ambulance and civil defense teams.
Human Rights Watch declared that the Israeli airstrike on a six-story apartment building in central Gaza on October 31, 2023, amounts to a potential war crime. The attack resulted in the killing of at least 106 civilians, including 54 children, marking one of the deadliest incidents for civilians since October 7.
According to Human Rights Watch, there was no evidence of a military target near the building during the airstrike, rendering it indiscriminate and in violation of the laws of war.
Israeli authorities have not provided any justification for the attack. This incident underscores the significance of the International Criminal Court’s investigation into alleged war crimes committed by “Israel”, particularly given the Israeli military’s history of inadequately addressing such allegations.
Gerry Simpson, associate crisis and conflict director at Human Rights Watch, condemned the airstrike, emphasizing that it resulted in significant civilian casualties, including children playing football, individuals at the ground-floor grocery store, and forcibly displaced families seeking refuge.
“This strike inflicted massive civilian casualties without an apparent military target – one of scores of attacks causing overwhelming carnage, and highlighting the urgency of the ICC probe,” he stressed.
Farmers set fire to tyres in Brussels as EU officials meet to address concerns – video
Farmers have clashed violently with police in the European quarter of Brussels, spraying officers with liquid manure and setting fire to mounds of tyres, while the EU’s agriculture ministers met to discuss the crisis in their sector.
As farmers also protested in Madrid and on the Polish-German border, at least 900 tractors jammed streets in the centre of the Belgian capital, police said, with protesters throwing bottles and eggs and setting off fireworks while riot police fired water cannon.
Farmers from Spain, Portugal and Italy joined their Belgian counterparts for the latest show of force by a months-long, Europe-wide movement demanding action on high costs, low product prices, cheap non-EU imports and strict EU environmental rules.
Farmers blocked the streets of central Brussels by bringing at least 900 tractors into the city. Photograph: John Thys/AFP/Getty Images
The rolling protests, which on Saturday led to the French president, Emmanuel Macron, being heckled by furious farmers at the Paris agricultural fair, have unnerved leaders before European elections in June that are likely to produce major gains for far-right populist parties.
Ministers were meeting to debate European Commission proposals to ease the pressure on farmers, including simplifying the bloc’s common agricultural policy (CAP) by reducing farm inspections and exempting small farms from some green rules.
“We need something practical, something operational,” said the French agriculture minister, Marc Fesneau, adding that while there was room for “adjustments within the current rules,” meeting some demands “would require changing the legislation”.
Some protesters in Brussels threw bottles and eggs at riot police, who responded by firing water cannon. Photograph: Pier Marco Tacca/Getty Images
Fesneau said it did not matter whether the changes were made before or after the European parliament elections, but “what matters now is moving forward. We need to set a goal, lay the foundations of a CAP that reassures people.”
Germany’s agriculture minister, Cem Özdemir, said the EU needed to ensure farmers could make a fair living if they opted for biodiversity and environmental measures. He said the average farmer “spends a quarter of their time at their desks” because of the EU’s “bureaucracy monster”.
David Clarinval, the Belgian agriculture minister, said farmers’ complaints had been “clearly heard” but urged them to refrain from violence, while the Irish agriculture minister, Charlie McConalogue said the priority must be to slash red tape.
A farmer spraying manure at riot police in Brussels on Monday. Photograph: Harry Nakos/AP
The EU should ensure that policies were “straightforward, that they’re proportionate and they’re as simple as possible for farmers to implement”, he said, underlining that “we do respect the massively important work that farmers carry out every day in terms of producing food”.
The EU has already rowed back on several parts of its flagship green deal plan in an effort to appease farmers, scrapping references to farming emissions from its 2040 climate roadmap, withdrawing a law to cut pesticide use and delaying a target for farmers to leave some land fallow to improve biodiversity.
The bloc has also introduced safeguards to stop Ukrainian imports flooding the market under a tariff-free scheme introduced after Russia’s 2022 invasion.
Riot police out in force at an agricultural show in France on Saturday where the president, Emmanuel Macron, was heckled. Photograph: Chesnot/Getty Images
The protest was farmers’ second in Brussels in recent weeks.
“We are getting ignored,” said Marieke Van De Vivere, a farmer from Belgium’s Ghent region. She said ministers should “be reasonable to us, come with us on a day to work on the field, or with the horses or with the animals, to see that it is not very easy … because of the rules they put on us”.
Morgan Ody, from La Via Campesina small farmers’ organisation, said that for most farmers it was “about income. It’s about the fact that we are poor, and that we want to make a decent living,” Ody said.
She called on the EU to set up minimum support prices and exit free trade agreements that enable the import of cheaper foreign produce. “We are not against climate policies. But we know that in order to do the transition, we need higher prices for products because it costs more to produce in an ecological way,” she said.
Spanish farmers protested in Madrid on Monday. Photograph: JJ Guillen/EPA
Farmers also protested on Monday in Madrid, blowing whistles, ringing cowbells and beating drums as they demanded that the EU cut red tape and drop some of the CAP. “The new CAP is ruining our lives,” said Juan Pedro Laguna, 46.
Roberto Rodriguez, who grows cereal and beetroots in the central province of Avila, said it was “impossible to stand these rules, they want us to work on the field during the day and deal with paperwork at night – we’re sick of the bureaucracy”.
Polish farmers protesting against EU regulations and cheap food imports from Ukraine blocked a motorway at a busy border crossing with Germany on Monday and plan to protest in the Polish capital, Warsaw, on Tuesday.
Polish farmers blocked a busy motorway crossing at the border with Germany on Monday. Photograph: John MacDougall/AFP/Getty Images
Adrian Wawrzyniak, a spokesperson for the Solidarity farmers’ union, said that as far as he knew “there are also German farmers on the German side – the crossing is blocked from both sides. This is a show of joint solidarity.”
Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, said on Monday that farmers’ problems needed fixing at an EU level. “Poland is the first EU country [on the border with Ukraine], but in fact it is a problem of the EU as a whole, of EU agriculture as a whole, and it should be considered in this context,” he told a press conference.
The French daily newspaper Liberation has come under fire for publishing a cartoon that mocks fasting Palestinians in Gaza searching for food.
The cartoon by artist Corinne Rey depicts an emaciated Palestinian man chasing after rats and cockroaches amid rubble and destroyed buildings. A woman in the cartoon slaps his hands and admonishes him, stating: “Not before sunset.”
It was shared on X on Monday, with the caption: “Ramadan in Gaza,” referring to the Muslim holy month during which worshippers abstain from all forms of food and drink during the daylight hours.
Social media users slammed the illustration as “racist”, “dehumanising” and a “nauseating” example of public expression as hundreds of thousands of Palestinians face starvation due to Israel’s prevention of aid into the war-battered enclave.
“A prime example of how western and French media dehumanise Palestinians and disregard the current process of genocide and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip,” stated one user on social media.
Another critic of the cartoon wrote that the centre-left paper satirised “the fastest, most catastrophic, deliberate starvation of a population ever… mocking 2.3 million famished Palestinians under US-UK-EU-armed Israeli bombardment, half of which are children”.
The editor-in-chief of Libération is Dov Alfon, formerly of Israeli military intelligence Unit 8200.
Israel cut off all fuel, food, water, aid and electricity to Gaza on 9 October. Its relentless bombing of hospitals bakeries, supermarkets and pharmacies in the besieged strip has led to the complete collapse of the medical sector and forced people to find scraps of food in order to survive.
The UN and several aid agencies have repeatedly warned that Gaza is on the brink of famine, calling for Israel to allow in aid immediately.
At least 27 people have died from malnutrition and dehydration since the start of the war, including a 10-year-old child with cerebral palsy.
‘Repugnant example’
Rey took to X on Tuesday to defend her work, asserting that her drawing aimed to shed light on the despair experienced by Palestinians, “denounce the famine in Gaza”, and also offer a critique of religion.
Petit florilège (tout petit hein) de conneries, menaces et messages antisémites reçus suite à ce dessin publié hier dans Libé. Un dessin (que j’assume parfaitement!) qui souligne le désespoir des palestiniens, dénonce la famine à Gaza et moque aussi l’absurdité de la religion. pic.twitter.com/b3fRwQxyJj
Translation: Small anthology (very small eh) of bullshit, threats and antisemitic messages received following this drawing published yesterday in Libé. A drawing (which I fully take responsibilty for!) which highlights the despair of the Palestinians, denounces the famine in Gaza and also mocks the absurdity of religion.
While some users defended Rey’s cartoon as freedom of expression, others expressed dissatisfaction with what they called a misplaced priority amid the ongoing war.
“A population has been massacred for 4 months and those who are still alive are starving and this bourgeoisie finds it urgent to ‘criticise religion,'” said one user.
Several users also said the illustration was merely another example of systemic discrimation against Muslims and Arabs in French society, which many Muslims say has only increased with start of the war in Gaza.
The cartoon is a “repugnant example of how anti-Palestinian racism and anti-Muslim bigotry has infested large swathes of the left in French society,” one user said.
In February 2023, controversial French satire magazine Charlie Hebdofaced criticism for mocking victims of the Turkey-Syria earthquake, which claimed the lives of over 55,000 people and left tens of thousands injured.
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Genocides in Palestine & Plotted Pandemic for Lethal Vaccines
Fabio Giuseppe Carlo Carisio, born on 24/2/1967 in Borgosesia, started working as a reporter when he was only 19 years old in the alpine area of Valsesia, Piedmont, his birth region in Italy. After studying literature and history at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan, he became director of the local newspaper Notizia Oggi Vercelli and specialized in judicial reporting. For about 15 years he is a correspondent from Northern Italy for the Italian newspapers Libero and Il Giornale, also writing important revelations on the Ustica massacre, a report on Freemasonry and organized crime. With independent investigations, he collaborates with Carabinieri and Guardia di Finanza in important investigations that conclude with the arrest of Camorra entrepreneurs or corrupt politicians. In July 2018 he found the counter-information web media Gospa News focused on geopolitics, terrorism, Middle East, and military intelligence. In 2020 published the book, in Italian only, WUHAN-GATES – The New World Order Plot on SARS-Cov-2 manmade focused on the cycle of investigations Wuhan-Gates His investigations was quoted also by The Gateway Pundit, Tasnim and others He worked for many years for the magazine Art & Wine as an art critic and curator.
“To the angel of the church in Smyrna write: These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again.I know your afflictions and your poverty—yet you are rich! I know about the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan”. Saint John Apostle and Evangelist – Book of the Revelation (Rev. 2, 8-10)
In the cover image the prime minister of the Israeli Zionist Regime Benjamin Nethanyau and the “Pope of Freemasonry” Albert Pike
NB – some quotes of American persons have been translated from sources in Italian so forgive any stylistic errors or differences with the original ones
«The revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who testifies to everything he saw—that is, the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, andblessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near».
This Prologue to the Book of the Revelation (Apocalypse) of Saint John the Evangelist, the only Apostle who died without martyrdom as a reward for his loyalty to Jesus under the cross of Golgotha, reread in recent days, after almost a million deaths caused in recent years by the wars in Ukraine, Syria. Iraq and Libya (to name the best known) and after the genocide of the Israeli army in Palestine in which over 8 thousand children were massacred by bombs in a few weeks together with around 22 thousand adults, we should be inspired by a profound spiritual reflection also by virtue of the prophecy on Armageddon, the final battle of the armies foretold in the Holy Land in the same text on the Apocalypse which in Greek, it is good to remember it only means “revelation”, “prophecy” and not “catastrophe”.
They take on an equally tragic meaning if we think of the holocaust of millions of victims caused both by the pandemic triggered by a SARS-Cov-2 built in the laboratory and by the killer vaccines with which unscrupulous Big Pharma is testing the world population like a massive human guinea-pig to reach the transhumanist goal of eugenic health culture: denial of Nature and the Almighty God of the Judeo-Christian tradition, which has survived 7 thousand years of attempts at annihilation.
THE GENOCIDE OF THE PALESTINIANS AND THE HOLOCAUST OF THE VACCINATED
Therefore, the biblical reference in the Book of Revelation to “those who proclaim themselves Jews and are not, but belong to the synagogue of Satan” does not appear in vain in the case of the Zionist leader Netanyahu who is carrying out a genocide of Palestinians after having mass vaccinated his fellow Israelis for a gigantic transversal business between the Weapons Lobby and Big Pharma with American President Joesph Biden.
Modern telecommunications means – where not blocked as in Gaza to prevent reckless reporters from documenting the war crimes ordered by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu already renamed “the Hitler of the 21st Century” by Turkish lawyers who demand his indictment – have made the bloody genocide tacitly legalized by the West and carried out in the churches and hospitals of Palestine terrifying, bringing before the eyes and ears cries that implore revenge and make the sense of forgiveness waver even in Christians, all this satanic torment appears comparable screams from the silence imploded in the hearts of children torn by lethal myocarditis or in the brains devoured by turbo-cancer of the victims of adverse reactions to the mRNA Covid vaccines.
Precisely because their roar against death is silent, broken in the throat by a sudden illness of which political, health and judicial authorities too often do not want to detect and reveal traces of the FAILURE OF A SYSTEM. Precisely that of the New World Order which is seeking God’s mercy with the merciless human reason capable of killing an 8-month-old baby girl, Indi Gregory, although she had a concrete hope of being assisted.
THE CATACLYSM FORECAST BY THE “POPE” OF AMERICAN FREEMASONRY
If all this happening is not a coincidence but appears to be an international and historical conspiracy foreseen in very remote times by the American “Pope of Freemasonry”, a Southern general, about whom we have already written, who was among the Confederate supporters of the Civil War but also among the founders of the KuKluxKlan and among the followers of satanic rites: Albert Pike.
We have already mentioned his extensive correspondence with the 33rd degree Freemason of the Supreme Council of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite Giuseppe Mazzini who, thanks to the financing of the hooded friends of the London lodges ready to host him even though he was a fugitive terrorist in Europe, planned the Expedition of the Thousand of Masonic guerrilla Giuseppe Garibaldi with whom the Kingdom of Italy wrested a part of Rome from the Papal State in the gigantic and crude plot against Christianity and the Catholic Church, partly attenuated only by the faith of the Ruling Savoy Dynasty.
But we had missed some passages which in the light of today’s events take on monstrous relevance, furthermore proving the imprint of Freemasonry, like a Mark of the Beast, in every religious and political conflictual drift, prodigiously foreseen in detail by General Pike.
In these first episodes we will analyze the conspiratorial complicity of Freemasonry with Zionism. In the next one with Nazism and Jihadist Islamism, where in a previous investigation we have analyzed the role of hooded men between Capitalism and Communism.
«The Third World War will have to be fomented by taking advantage of the differences stirred up by the agents of the Illuminati between political Zionism and the leaders of the Islamic world. The war will have to be oriented so that Islam (including the State of Israel) destroy each other, while at the same time the remaining nations, once again divided and opposed to each other, will then be forced to fight each other until to complete physical, mental, spiritual and economic exhaustion».
This is what Pike wrote to Mazzini on 15 August 1871 in a letter according to the revelations made by the commodore of the Canadian navy William Guy Carr which he later reported in his famous 1954 book Pawns in the Game. He stated that he learned about the letter from the anti-Mason, Cardinal José María Caro Rodríguez of Santiago, Chile, the author of The Mystery of Freemasonry Unveiled (Hawthorne, California, Christian Book Club of America, 1971).
The Navy official can be considered very reliable as worked also for the Canadian Intelligence Service during World War II, and in 1944 he published Checkmate in the North, a book about an invasion by the Axis forces to take place in the area of the CFB Goose Bay (Canadian Forces Base Goose Bay).
Carr’s books often discuss a Luciferian conspiracy by what he called the “World Revolutionary Movement,” but he later attributed the conspiracy more specifically to the “Synagogue of Satan.”
The term was not a reference to Judaism as he wrote: “I wish to make it clearly and emphatically known that I do not believe the Synagogue of Satan (S.O.S.) is Jewish, but, as Christ told us for a definite purpose, it is comprised of ‘I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.’ (Rev. 2:9 and 3:9)
Albert Pike, the Pope of American Freemasonry
The Canadian commodore reported what we had already mentioned in the previous investigation on Pike and which we will try to contextualize both in the biblical, esoteric and historical context in the following lines.
«The First World War had to be fought to allow the “Illuminati” to overthrow the power of the czars in Russia and transform this country into the fortress of atheist communism. The differences stirred up by “Illuminati” agents between the British and German Empires were used to foment this war. After the war was over, communism had to be built and used to destroy other governments and weaken religions».
Citing Confederate General Pike who was Grand Master of the Mother Lodge of Charleston (but also, in all probability, the only Southerner to have had, until recently, a statue in his memory in the USA sculpted by an Italian but recently destroyed by vandals), the commodore added:
«The Second World War had to be fomented by taking advantage of the difference between fascists and political Zionists. The war had to be fought in order to destroy Nazism and increase the power of political Zionism, in order to allow the establishment of the sovereign state of Israel in Palestine. During the Second World War, a Communist International had to be established as strong as the whole of Christianity. At this point the latter had to be contained and kept under control until required for the final social cataclysm».
On 15 August 1871, as revealed by Carr, the Pope of American Freemasonry Pike revealed to Mazzini that at the end of the Third World War those who aspire to World Government would cause the greatest social cataclysm ever seen.
«We will unleash the nihilists and atheists and provoke a formidable social cataclysm which will clearly show, in all its horror, to the nations, the effect of absolute atheism, the origin of barbarism and bloody subversion».
And then again:
«Then everywhere citizens, forced to defend themselves against a world minority of revolutionaries, these destroyers of civilization, and the multitude disillusioned by Christianity, whose worshipers will be devoid of orientation in search of an ideal, will receive the true light through the universal manifestation of pure doctrine of Lucifer finally revealed to the public eye, a manifestation which will be followed by the destruction of Christianity and atheism conquered and crushed at the same time».
GEOPOLITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE THIRD WORLD WAR IN FRAGMENTS
If we carefully analyze what has happened in the last twenty years, rereading them with the lens of a geopolitical intelligence analysis, we can put together these dramatic events that prove the gradual increase of the Third World War “in a patchy pattern, in fragments, or in small pieces” as defined several times by Pope Francis.
September 11, 2001 – From the World Trade Center to the War in Afghanistan
Avoidable massacre of the attacks on the Twin Towers facilitated by the obstacles posed by the American counter-espionage of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to the investigations of the director of anti-terrorism of the FBI John O’Neill (who died in the World Trade Center where he was hired after being fired following sabotage of his professional activity). The hidden role of the Israeli counter-intelligence Mossad came to light immediately, recently with the disconcerting confirmation that two of the hijackers were collaborating with the CIA.
Palestinian President Abbas issued a decree outlawing the Hamas militias who defeated Fatah (a Palestinian political and paramilitary organization, part of the PLO, of which Yasser Arafat was leader) and therefore removed the Gaza Strip from the control of the Authority Palestinian national authority.
According to various intelligence experts including a former CIA director, Hamas, linked to the Sunni Muslim Brotherhood (sons of another Masonic history…), was financed by the USA and Israel precisely to lead to the Palestinian exodus plan that was configured in recent days after the attacks of 7 October which took the highly expert Israeli secret services (Shin Bet, Mossad and the military Aman) by surprise.
In 2014, ISIS founded by Caliph Al Baghdadi entered the war shortly after his liberation from Camp Bucca where he was detained by the US Army for terrorist activity in Iraq. He was believed to be a Mossad and CIA agent
February 20, 2014 – Start of the War in Ukraine
The second Orange Revolution financed by the Zionist Soros in Kiev explodes in all its violence due to the shooting of mysterious mercenary snipers on Ukrainian policemen and the crowd. It seems like a repeat of what the CIA hatched in 2002 in Caracas. The coup financed by NATO countries materializes with the escape of the legitimately elected president Viktor Fedorovyč Yanukovych to friendly Russia.
From there begins the Donbass Civil War which became a Global Conflict after the start of Moscow’s military operation to protect the pro-Russian victims of genocide by the neo-Nazi guerrillas of the Azov Battalion led by the Kiev Regime and also armed by Israel in an apparent, crazy paradox …
In July, however, the Israelis launched Operation Protective Edge to destroy clandestine tunnels into their country, triggering a resurgence of military clashes. Only on 28 August was a ceasefire declared by both sides but the electoral consultations were postponed and never agreed upon again.
October 2023 – Genocide Planned and Legalized in Gaza
Hamas captures hostages from an Israeli Rave Party and several kibbutz settlers in the illegally occupied territories. Israel responds disproportionately by bombing everyone, women, children, hospitals, churches, UN officials. Few Western politicians denounce a GENOCIDE which instead appears LEGALIZED by almost all NATO countries.
If we correlate the recurring subjects of these events it is easy to deduce that the Third World War in fragments has already been implemented for at least two decades with an enormous occult direction of that NATO evoked by Soros to embody the New World Order.
ANALYSIS OF THE SOCIAL CATALYSM: MANMADE VIRUS PANDEMIC
Let’s go back to the tired “forecasts” of the Freemason Albert Pike and reread a significant phrase:
«We will unleash the nihilists and atheists and provoke a formidable social cataclysm which will clearly show, in all its horror, to the nations, the effect of absolute atheism, the origin of barbarism and bloody subversion».
In 2004 the European Commission chaired by Romano Prodi, a Soros associate, financed the Wuhan Institute of Virology strengthened by the son of President Jiang Zemin, the Executioner of Tiananmen, also in light of an agreement on collaborations for research in the bacteriological field signed with the American president Bill Clinton in 1999.
Now even many US politicians admit their nation’s role in building the laboratory virus. This is denied by the National Intelligence Directorate led by Avril Haines who was deputy CIA director expert in bio-weapons when Fauci was carrying out experiments on Coronaviruses on behalf of the Obama-Biden administration together in Wuhan.
Even the Catholic Church genuflects to the Vaccine GOD.
Let’s reread Pike’s prophecy again, a truly disturbing name when associated with the almost homonymous Covid-19 protein.
«Then everywhere citizens, forced to defend themselves against a world minority of revolutionaries, these destroyers of civilization, and the multitude disillusioned by Christianity, whose worshipers will be devoid of orientation in search of an ideal, will receive the true light through the universal manifestation of pure doctrine of Lucifer finally revealed to the public eye, a manifestation which will be followed by the destruction of Christianity and atheism conquered and crushed at the same Time»
HISTORICAL ANALYSIS OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FREEMASONRY AND ZIONISM
The detractors of the military geopolitical analyst and writer William Guy Carr who refers to the diabolical plan of the Pope of American Freemasonry are based on the fact that Albert Pike in 1871 could not have known about the birth of Communism, nor of Nazism, nor of Zionism.
Nor even knowing about the two world wars. Unless you were among those who designed them.
This observation can easily be refuted by citing some historical references already mentioned and which we will highlight.
«In July 1782 the Order of the Illuminati allied itself with Freemasonry during the Congress of Wilhelmsbad, which the historian Freemason Albert Mackey defined as ‘the most important Masonic Congress of the eighteenth century’ – we read on the website Freemasonry Unmasked, full of anecdotes and authoritative historical sources – The participants in that Congress had to swear not to reveal the decisions they had made to anyone (see Nesta H. Webster, World Revolution, 1921, page 31)».
Wilhelmsbad Castle was owned by the Ashkenazi Jewish banker (of Khazar-European origins) Mayer Amschel Rothschild who, according to various historians, in 1777 brought together twelve of his most influential friends and convinced them that if they pooled their resources they could dominate the world: this is how the Bavarian Illuminati was born.
The French Revolution confirms their success with the annihilation of the first important Catholic Monarchy. It will be the experience of the Paris Commune of 1871, the regurgitation of the regime of terror, that will inspire Lenin in his plan for the subsequent Bolshevik and Communist revolution.
So Pike was not only still alive at the time but knew the details.
The Independent Order B’nai B’rith or Bené Berith (Hebrew: בני ברית, “sons of the covenant”) is a Jewish lodge founded in 1843 during the presidency of John Tyler and still existing and active. It was founded at the Sinsheimer Café, in the Wall Street neighborhood of New York, by Henry Jones and eleven other people on October 13, 1843. The original name was in German “Bundes-Brueder” (which means “League of Brothers”), in the current one which retains the initials (“BB”).
Most of the founders were German-Jews: that is, Ashkenazi like Mayer Amschel Rothschild but also like his descendant Walter Rothschild, eldest son and heir of the banker Nathan Mayer Rothschild, the first Jewish baron of England.
Walter Rothschild was among the promoters of the declaration for the formation of the Jewish state in Palestine, later earning the merit of becoming president of the Council of Deputies of British Jews from 1925 to 1926.
From these seeds we arrived at 1917 when a letter from the British Foreign Minister Arthur Balfour, addressed to the “Dear Lord Rothschild”, sanctioned Balfour’s declaration which committed the British government to supporting the creation in Palestine of a home for the Jews in respect for the rights of other resident minorities.
How did Albert Pike know all these things before they happened?
Very simple because he was among those who concerted them in 1860 when the Southern general through Young America planned the American Civil War to defend the right to slavery, Mazzini with Young Italy committed himself to the Expedition of the Thousand and Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount of Palmerston, British Secretary of State and exponent of the Grand Lodge of England guaranteed all financial and political support.
The first expressions of proto-Zionism took shape, for example, in the foundation of the Universal Israelite Alliance in 1860, an organization aimed at the emancipation of the Jewish communities in the Middle East and North Africa, and in the publication of various works, including Rome and Jerusalem, written in 1862 by the German Jewish philosopher Moses Hess, Derishat Zion by the Polish-Prussian rabbi Zvi Hirsch Kalischer, and the hymn Hatikvah, whose lyrics were written by Naftali Herz Imber and which later became the anthem of the State of Israel.
Zionism draws its roots from the new cultural environment generated in the context of the emancipation of European Jews starting from the French Revolution and throughout the 19th century and from the Haskalah.
The haskalah, with a small delay compared to other Enlightenment movements, arose in Germany and then spread throughout much of Europe and to a small extent also across the Atlantic. The father and inspirer of the movement was Moses Mendelssohn, close to Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, a free thinker of Protestant extraction and an energetic defender of the Jews in Germany. The latter introduced Mendelssohn into the world of Berlin intellectuals where he dedicated himself to the composition of philosophical essays and dissertations.
A varied and open movement, the haskalah probably did not close its doors even to exponents of the Frankist heresy, a sort of tail of the messianic movement of Shabatai Zevi which had long been in opposition to official Judaism, perhaps linked to lodges of freemasonry, another force of the times, definitely in relation to the Enlightenment philosophy.
Many Jews influenced by the haskalah and the closeness it brought with European culture were seduced by the possibility of assimilation by embracing Christianity. Just think of the family of Karl Marx, descended from rabbis who converted to Protestantism, as did Mendelssohn’s own daughters. Others, however, laid the foundations of the new science of Judaism, the Wissenschaft des Judentums.
THE LODGES INSPIRED BY THE SON OF THE BIBLICAL MURDERER CAIN
Today we add another detail by recalling the figure of John Theophilus Desaguliers (La Rochelle, 12 March 1683 – Covent Garden, 29 February 1744) who was an English scientist, religious and Freemason of French origins.
Desaguliers emigrated to England in 1694, due to the Edict of Fontainebleau, which revoked the freedom of worship of Protestants. He approached Freemasonry, becoming Grand Master of the First Grand Lodge of England in 1718, and Deputy Grand Master in 1723 and 1725. Under his leadership, the Grand Lodge of London and Freemasonry developed in an “astonishing” way in the islands British, to the point that «in 1740 there were already more than 180 lodges».
Each of the earliest Masonic texts contains some sort of history of the craft, or guild, of Freemasonry. The oldest work of this type, the Royal Manuscript, dating from 1390 to 1425, has a brief history in the introduction, which states that the “craft of Freemasonry” began with Euclid in Egypt, and arrived in England during the reign of ruler Æðelstan.
A little later, the Cooke Manuscript traces Freemasonry to Jabal, son of Lamech (Genesis 4, 20-22), and tells how this knowledge reached Euclid, from him to the children of Israel when they were in Egypt, and so on for an elaborate route to Æðelstan. This myth formed the basis for later manuscript foundations, all of which claim that Freemasonry dates back to Biblical times, and pegs its institutional consolidation in England during the reign of Æðelstan (927-939).
Shortly after the formation of the first Grand Lodge of England, James Anderson was commissioned to summarize these “Gothic constitutions” into a pleasing modern form. The constitutions produced by his work have a more widespread historical introduction than any previous one, and once again connect the history of what Freemasonry had become to its biblical roots, always inserting Euclid into the chain of narrative.
The first question that a connoisseur of Judeo-Christian history should ask is almost banal.
Why do the Freemasons, due to fabulous legendary and historical beliefs, trace Freemasonry to one of the descendants of the murderer Cain and not to the third son of Adam named Set from whom the Semitic culture was born?
In France, Chevalier (Knight) Ramsay’s 1737 conference added Crusader Freemasons to the family tree claiming that they had revived the craft with secrets recovered in the Holy Land, under the patronage of the Knights Hospitaller. At this point, the “history” of the profession of continental Freemasonry separated from that of Freemasonry in England which in the meantime had published its “charter”.
THE SCHSM ON THE GREAT ARCHITECT OF THE UNIVERSE
The Constitutions of the Free-Masons, “for the use of the lodges” in London and Westminster, was published in 1723. It was edited by the Presbyterian clergyman James Anderson, by order of John Theophilus Desaguliers, and approved by a committee of the grand lodge under its control. The work was reprinted in Philadelphia in 1734 by Benjamin Franklin, who in that year became Grand Master of the Pennsylvania Freemasons. It was also translated into Dutch (1736), German (1741) and French (1745).
Anderson was minister of the Presbyterian church in Swallow Street, London, which had formerly been a Huguenot church, and whose pastor in the 1690s was Desaguliers’ father. At the time of his meeting with Desaguliers, he appears to have presented himself as a Talmudic scholar.
In various historical testimonies that we summarize for brevity, Anderson himself seems to imply the existence of an Italian Grand Lodge.
In Naples in 1728 he saw the light of the first regular Masonic lodge established in Italy, La Perfetta Unione. Raised by the will of the Prince of San Severo, it had Egyptian symbols such as the pyramid, the Sphinx and the radiant sun in its emblem. Subsequently, the English lodge (“La Loggia degli Inglesi”) was established in Florence, founded in 1731 and Freemasonry spread rapidly, despite a series of papal prohibitions.
But already ahead the so-called Great Schism occurred. According to a widespread opinion, the schism between French and English Freemasonry originates from the general assembly of the Grand Orient of France in September 1877. Accepting the recommendation contained in a report by the Protestant pastor (and Freemason) Frédéric Desmons, the assembly decided by a majority of amend its constitutions by inserting the formula “its principles are absolute freedom of conscience and human solidarity”. This replaced the previous statement “its principles are the existence of God, the immortality of the soul and human solidarity”.
The reaction of the United Grand Lodge of England (UGLE) was the resolution of March 1878 which reiterated “That the Grand Lodge, while anxious to welcome in the most fraternal spirit the Brethren of any foreign Grand Lodge whose proceedings are conducted according to the Ancient cornerstones of the Order, among which the first and most important is the faith in T. G. A. O. T. U. [“the great Architect of the universe”, in English acronym], cannot recognize as ‘true and genuine’ Brothers all those who have been initiated in lodges that deny or ignore that faith.”
FREEMASONRY SIMILAR TO THE BEAST OF THE APOCALYPSE
Having concluded this long but necessary historical digression on Freemasonry implemented with various Wikipedia sources, let’s return to the beginning. To the book of the Apocalypse of Saint John and the disturbing esoteric symbolisms.
If we summarize the historical notes above we can easily conclude that the first promoters of Zionism in the USA were the founders of the B’nai B’rith Lodge composed of Ashkenazi Jews (as Adolph Hitler is also believed to be) that the historians of Jewish culture they define the “13th Tribe of Israel” as they derive from the diaspora of the Khazars who had converted to Judaism
While in Europe it spread thanks to the Rothschild Dynasty (Red Shield) which was the first to weave subversive plots with an anti-Catholic vocation from the birth of the Bavarian Illuminati up to the pact of terror for the French Revolution from which the liberation of the proto- Zionism together with that Masonic concept of “Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité” imposed by guillotining even the elderly nobles of the Catholic Vendée French region.
«Then everywhere citizens, forced to defend themselves against a world minority of revolutionaries, these destroyers of civilization, and the multitude disillusioned by Christianity, whose worshipers will be devoid of orientation in search of an ideal, will receive the true light through the universal manifestation of pure doctrine of Lucifer finally revealed to the public eye, a manifestation which will be followed by the destruction of Christianity and atheism conquered and crushed at the same time».
But following this hermeneutical path to the Book of the Apocalypse, one of the most important allegories comes to mind with disconcerting and terrifying impetus:
«The dragon stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority. One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was filled with wonder and followed the beast. People worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, “Who is like the beast? Who can wage war against it?» (Rev. 13, 1-4)
The prophet Saint John the Apostle and Evangelist delves into the concept with an aura vision
«Then I saw a second beast, coming out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon.It exercised all the authority of the first beast on its behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed» (Rev. 13, 11-12)
It is not really scary to note how traditional esoteric Freemasonry became manifest thanks to the Anglican political schism of the Protestants and allowed Pharisaic Judaism, defeated by the Diaspora after the Crucifixion of the Messiah awaited by the Jews, to be reborn in its Talmudic form with Judaism then became with Zionism the most powerful component of the New World Order?
We have historical clues that help identify Freemasonry as one of the two apocalyptic Beasts. But this theme will be explored in greater depth if and when we receive from the Holy Spirit the gift of the wisdom necessary to interpret it. Therefore today we cannot help but insinuate doubt…
POWER OF CHRIST IN THE PROPHECY OF SAINT JOHN THE APOSTLE
But it is precisely Chapter 12 of the Book of the Apocalypse (Rev. 12, 7-12) which comes to illuminate with a radiant dawn of hope the dangers of all of us Christians who strive to be among those “who listen to the words of this prophecy and put into practice the things that are written in it”:
«Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him».
“Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.”
Since Saint John was the only Apostle who died without martyrdom for his loyalty to Jesus Christ under the cross and also survived the hell of imprisonment on Patmos (where he received the visions and locutions collected in the Apocalypse), it is probably very useful to start believing him…
Fabio Giuseppe Carlo Carisio, born on 24/2/1967 in Borgosesia, started working as a reporter when he was only 19 years old in the alpine area of Valsesia, Piedmont, his birth region in Italy. After studying literature and history at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan, he became director of the local newspaper Notizia Oggi Vercelli and specialized in judicial reporting.
For about 15 years he is a correspondent from Northern Italy for the Italian newspapers Libero and Il Giornale, also writing important revelations on the Ustica massacre, a report on Freemasonry and organized crime.
With independent investigations, he collaborates with Carabinieri and Guardia di Finanza in important investigations that conclude with the arrest of Camorra entrepreneurs or corrupt politicians.
In July 2018 he found the counter-information web media Gospa News focused on geopolitics, terrorism, Middle East, and military intelligence.
In 2020 published the book, in Italian only, WUHAN-GATES – The New World Order Plot on SARS-Cov-2 manmade focused on the cycle of investigations Wuhan-Gates
His investigations was quoted also by The Gateway Pundit, Tasnim and others
He worked for many years for the magazine Art & Wine as an art critic and curator.
US President Joe Biden coughs as he delivers the State of the Union address in the House Chamber of the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on March 7, 2024. (AFP)
During his State of the Union address, the US President calls on “Israel” not to turn humanitarian assistance into “a secondary consideration or a bargaining chip.”
US President Joe Biden announced Friday during his State of the Union address that he is directing his military to lead the mission that will establish a temporary pier that will bring humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.
“Tonight, I’m directing the US military to lead an emergency mission to establish a temporary pier in the Mediterranean on the Gaza coast that can receive large ships carrying food, water, medicine, and temporary shelters,” he said during his speech.
“No USboots will be on the ground,” Biden claimed.
He added that the temporary pier would enable a massive increase in the amount of humanitarian assistance getting into Gaza, but stressed that “Israel” must play its part in the process for it to be successful.
Earlier, a senior Biden administration official said the temporary port will feature a pier that will “provide the capacity for hundreds of additional truckloads of assistance each day.”
According to the official, the shipments will be screened by the United States and partners in European Union member Cyprus.
Gazans are facing dire shortages of food, water, and medicine, with the United Nations warning of the risk of famine. The entire population of 2.2 million is in crisis or worse levels of food insecurity, according to the World Food Program.
Biden on Friday called on the Israeli occupation entity to “allow more aid into Gaza and ensure that humanitarian workers aren’t caught in the crossfire.”
“To the leadership of Israel I say this — Humanitarian assistance cannot be a secondary consideration or a bargaining chip. Protecting and saving innocent lives has to be a priority,” he said in his annual address.
The US President reiterated his claim that “Israel has a right to go after Hamas,” but mentioned that the Israeli forces also have “a fundamental responsibility to protect innocent civilians in Gaza.”
He added that the Palestinian Resistance movement Hamas could end the fighting by releasing the captives, “laying down arms, and surrendering those responsible for October 7.”
Biden addressed the families of captives held by the Resistance saying, “I pledge to all the families that we will not rest” until they are released.
He called the impact on Gaza “heartbreaking”, recalling that “this war has taken a greater toll on innocent civilians than all previous wars in Gaza combined.”
He also acknowledged that “more than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed. Most of whom are not Hamas. Thousands and thousands are innocent women and children.”
Biden claimed that his administration has been “working nonstop to establish an immediate ceasefire that would last for six weeks.”
According to the US President, the six-week truce would ensure the release of the captives held in Gaza, “ease the intolerable humanitarian crisis, and build toward something more enduring.”
He also reiterated his support for the creation of a Palestinian state, adding that “the only real solution is a two-state solution.”
“I say this as a lifelong supporter of Israel. My entire career, no one has a stronger record with Israel. I challenge any of you here,” Biden added.
Outside the US Capitol, where Biden delivered his speech, dozens of pro-Palestine protesters held a demonstration against the ongoing Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip.
Calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, the protesters blocked part of Pennsylvania Avenue and held a large Palestinian flag.
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) March 8, 2024
The demonstration coincided with a similar one outside the White House, where the crowd called on the Biden administration to end its support to the Israeli occupation entity.
The Washington Post reported Wednesday that the United States has clandestinely approved and executed more than 100 arms deals and foreign military sales to the Israeli regime since the onset of the war on Gaza in October 2023.
A photo posted by the Yemeni Military media depicting vehicles carrying the Al-Mandib-2 anti-ship cruise missile during the 21 September revolution commemoration parade, Sanaa, 2022 (Military Media)
US’ inability or restriction of the US Navy to counteract these disruptive and economically impactful acts should be a source of national embarrassment, says Rich Lowry, the editor-in-chief of National Review.
Rich Lowry, the editor-in-chief of National Review, wrote a piece in which he acknowledged that the sole superpower in the world [the United States] has failed to safeguard one of the most crucial global trade routes from “a band of third-world rebels”.
He gushed: “Welcome to the latest humiliation of a Biden-administration foreign policy premised on not being overly provocative toward our enemies.”
Following a prolonged series of operations by the Yemeni Armed Forces in Yemen, shipping firms have declared their intention to steer clear of the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab, a narrow passage linking the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden.
This marks “a setback for freedom of navigation”, a cornerstone of the U.S.-led global order, and a significant triumph for the Yemeni Armed Forces. They have capitalized on drones, missiles, and attempted ship seizures to gain an advantage over the world’s preeminent navy.
That’s the take offered by Lowry who further argued that a minor waterway is not being discussed but a critical route for East-West trade. Approximately 12 percent of global trade and a substantial volume of oil from the Gulf traverse the Red Sea, as per Lowry.
In Lowry’s view, the interruption of this trade essentially provided the Yemeni Armed Forces with “global reach”. Shipping insurance rates are increasing, and businesses are opting to avoid the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, a crucial shortcut linking Europe and Asia. Instead, they are opting for a longer and more costly route around the Cape of Good Hope.
The gist of Lowry’s argument is that the inability or restriction of the US Navy to counteract these disruptive and economically impactful acts should be a source of national embarrassment.
The Red Sea as a war zone
On Monday, and under the guise of securing international maritime trade routes, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced the establishment of Operation Prosperity Guardian, a 10-nation “multinational security initiative under the umbrella of the Combined Maritime Forces and the leadership of its Task Force 153, which focuses on security in the Red Sea.”
Earlier today, mobilizing efforts in the face of the Yemeni forces, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin invited dozens of nations to take steps to address the operation conducted in the Red Sea as he spoke at a defense ministerial to tout a new military operation to secure commerce in the waterway.
“We’re all here because many countries can directly contribute to our common efforts to keep strategic waterways safe,” Austin said, according to prepared remarks.
Calling Yemen’s attacks “reckless”, he described it as “a serious international problem” that needs “a firm international response,” which, as revealed earlier, will bring “together multiple countries to include the United Kingdom, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles, and Spain.”
Meanwhile, the Associated Press, which cited an unnamed defense official, reported that several other countries have also agreed to be involved in the operation but preferred not to be named.
While the main claimed reason behind establishing the maritime coalition was the Yemeni operations, which focused solely on Israeli ships and interests, the occupation entity was not named in the list of members of the newly created force.
No further details were unveiled regarding the task force or how it will conduct its operations, amid rising concerns that it might turn the Red Sea into a military confrontations zone and that its publicly declared mission is only part of its real objectives in the strategic trade route, but it is expected to become clearer in the coming weeks.
No compromise on Palestine
In response to Western warnings and pressure on Yemen to stop its operations, the head of Sanaa’s negotiating delegation, Mohammad Abdul Salam, affirmed that “the Red Sea is safe for everyone except ships affiliated with the Israeli enemy,” emphasizing that “Yemeni operations have a significant economic impact on Israel.”
Abdul Salam emphasized that “any actions taken by the Yemeni Armed Forces are linked to lifting the blockade on Gaza and halting the aggression against the Strip.”
“The Palestinian cause does not tolerate compromise, and we cannot accept what is happening to the people of Gaza,” he warned.
Additionally, Ali al-Qahoum, a member of the political bureau of the Yemeni Ansar Allah, echoed last week the same sentiment, underlining that Yemen will not abandon the Palestinian cause no matter what, despite American, Western, and Israeli threats.
The Yemeni official warned that “those who provide protection to Israel should bear the consequences,” stressing that Yemen “will spare no effort or resources in supporting Palestine and Gaza until victory and the eradication of Israel.”
Elsewhere, al-Qahoum made it clear that Yemen has all the defensive options to respond to any hostile actions by the US, “Israel”, and the West, with surprises that are beyond imagination.
He assured that Yemen possesses all the factors of strength and resilience that qualify it to be pivotal and influential in international equations, with elements of strength that make it steadfast in supporting Palestine.
Five million dollars to assassinate him.. Who is the spokesman for the Yemeni Armed Forces, Brigadier General Yahya Saree?
The definitive answer: Has Washington declared war on Sanaa in the Red Sea? / Reality with Khalil Nasrallah
Why did Saudi Arabia and Egypt not participate in the American naval alliance in the Red Sea?
Egypt and Saudi Arabia “We reject the alliance against Yemen” and America threatens to block the Renaissance Dam with the Emirates and rapid support in Sudan
Evening | Will the Red Sea Front expand the conflict or be a pressing factor to suppress it? | 12-19-2023
Special coverage | The New Middle East Project: An American Dream Relapsed Again | 2023-12-20
وأشار، خلال احتفال تكريمي أقامه حزب الله للشهداء مهدي محمد عطوي، حسين عباس فصاعي وابراهيم حبيب الدبق في كونين، أن «ما يحصل في غزة اليوم له ارتباط بكل قضايا أمتنا الأساسية، وبالقدس والمقدسات، وبكل قضية فلسطين، وبكل مواجهتنا مع هذا العدو المتغطرس على مستوى لبنان وكل المنطقة».
ولفت صفي الدين إلى أنّ «العالم كله يعلم اليوم أن ما يفعله الصهاينة في أطفال وشيوخ ونساء غزة إضافة إلى هذا الدمار فيها، هو فعل أميركي وأوروبي، وبالتالي، فإن كل زعيم دولي جاء إلى الكيان الغاصب ليؤيّد ويدعم وليشد على عضد هؤلاء الصهاينة، هو شريك في هذه الدماء والمجازر».
أكد رئيس المجلس التنفيذي في حزب الله، السيد هاشم صفي الدين، أنّ «مجازر غزة ستزيد من الشعوب الإسلامية والعربية تمسكًا وقناعة بالمقاومة، وستزيد المقاومين تمسكًا وقناعة واعتقادًا بصوابية ما ذهبوا إليه في المقاومة، وسيزيدنا جميعًا قناعة واعتقادًا ثابتًا راسخًا أنّ مع هذه العصابات الأميركية والأوروبية والإسرائيلية لا ينفع إلاّ لغة المقاومة والسلاح والصواريخ، ولذا سوف نكون حاضرين في كل جبهة بصواريخنا وسلاحنا».
وقال إنّ «ما حصل ويحصل في غزة يوصلنا إلى عدة نتائج، أحدها، أن أميركا ومعظم الدول الأوروبية والغربية مع أميركا، هي ليست دولًا، وجيوشها ليست جيوشًا لدول كما يقولون، وإنما هؤلاء عصابات ومافيا قتل وتجار دماء، وأميركا حقيقتها عصابة، والدول الأوروبية التي تحمي الكيان الصهيوني وتساهم في قتل الأطفال، هم عصابات وليسوا دولًا، ولا يجوز أن يتم التعاطي مع هذه الدول أنها دولًا حقيقية تؤمن بقوانين ومعايير إنسانية أو دولية أو تدافع عن حقوق الإنسان أو أي شيء من هذا النوع».
وشدد على أنّ «الذي يُساهم في قتل أطفال غزة على مرأى من كل العالم دون أن تتحرك مشاعره على الإطلاق، ليسوا أسوياء على المستوى الإنساني، وهم من الطغاة والجبابرة ومن الذين قتلت المشاعر الإنسانية في قلوبهم، ولذا ليس مسموحًا لأحد بعد الآن أن يأتي إلى بلداننا أو لأي سفارة غربية أو أميركية لتقدّم النصائح وفق معاييرها الخاصة على مستوى حقوق الإنسان والمطالب المختلفة التي يتحدثون بها ليلًا نهارًا».
وقال إنّ «الجواب الذي يجب أن يكون اليوم لكل الأميركيين والغربيين والصهاينة، هو أن المقاومين في بلدنا ومنطقتنا، متمسكون بسلاحهم وبمقاومتهم، وجاهزون دائمًا على خط المقاومة والجهاد والسلاح إلى آخر الطريق».
وأكد صفي الدين أنّ «كل ما يفعله وما سيفعله الأميركي والإسرائيلي ومن ومعهما مع الشعب الفلسطيني سواء في غزة أو في الضفة التي تنتفض اليوم، أو على مستوى التهديدات للمقاومين على امتداد منطقتنا، سوف يذهب مع الرياح».
وأضاف: «إذا كان الأميركي يستعجل الامتحانات والابتلاءات والتحديات، فعليه أن يعلم أنّ في أمتنا أبطالًا ومقاومين نفضوا غبار الذل وتاريخ المذلة عن أمتهم، وهم جاهزون في الميدان وكل مكان».
Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah speaks via a video link during a ceremony marking Prophet Muhammad’s birthday, in the southern of Beirut, Lebanon, October 2, 2023 (AP)
In a speech commemorating the birthday of Prophet Mohammad, Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah discussed several issues including Syrian displacement to Lebanon and Lebanon’s border with occupied Palestine, among other important issues.
The United States holds the responsibility for the displacement of Syrian citizens, Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said during a speech commemorating the birthday of Prophet Muhammad.
The Resistance leader called on officials to implement a unified national plan of action which they could present to the international community and later to the caretaker government, governmental institutions, the Lebanese Army, and Lebanese security forces, in order to resolve the crisis resulting from the displacement of Syrians to Lebanon.
He added that Lebanese political parties believe that the displacement of Syrians to Lebanon has become an economic, security, and demographic threat to Lebanon.
However, the leader did stress that the Lebanese people must treat displaced Syrians within the framework of laws and morals and not be driven into waves of hostility against them.
The leader said that addressing the issues resulting from the US’ role in Syria will greatly alleviate the burdens off Lebanon. Sayyed Nasrallah said the US created both security and economic pressures on the Syrian people forcing them out of the country.
In particular, the Ceasar Act has put great pressure on both Syria and Lebanon, as Sayyed Nasrallah reiterated that for the latter to survive, the “Ceasar must be lifted.”
He emphasized that if the United States were to eliminate its sanctions on Syria, hundreds of thousands of displaced Syrians would return to their country.
Furthermore, Hezbollah’s Secretary-General called on officials to produce statistics on Syrians in Lebanon, which the country has lacked since the beginning of the war on Syria in 2011. He also stressed the need to differentiate between those displaced and those who have been integrated into the country’s workforce.
Sayyed Nasrallah touched on the wave of Syrian migration to Europe through Lebanon, warning that the European Union would eagerly meet any Lebanese demands on the issue to prevent a further influx of refugees.
Finally, regarding this matter, the Resistance leader urged security forces to dismantle people smuggling networks in the country.
Addressing the issue of Lebanon setting its borders in stone, Sayyed Nasrallah underlined that the usage of the term “demarcating Lebanon’s land borders with occupied Palestine” is inaccurate because the borders were already demarcated.
Any mediation regarding the issue, if it occurs, will focus on the northern Ghajar region due to the issue of the two tents, Sayyed Nasrallah said.
Tensions along the occupied Palestinian-Lebanese border have been escalating for several months. The issue of tents erected by Hezbollah within Lebanese territories in the Shebaa Farms region continues to generate tension within Israeli security and military establishments, despite Hezbollah’s recent dismantling of one of the tents.
Tensions have recently risen between Lebanon and the Israeli occupation after the latter’s violations in the northern part of Al-Ghajar — a town at the border with Occupied Palestine — represented in the construction of a barbed wire fence and a concrete wall around the entire town.
Hezbollah in June set up two tents in the Lebanese Shebaa Farms. Commenting on the tents and in response to a question about what he would have done were he the current Israeli occupation Chief of Staff, Halutz indicated that three months have passed since the tents were set up, adding that calling for action now could lead the situation to spiral out of control. While he stressed that demarcation is the responsibility of the state, “it accepts mediation and negotiations. We are not concerned with acceptance or rejection,” suggesting that any mediation would focus on the northern Ghajar region.
Sayyed Nasrallah stressed the separation between the land border issue and the presidential issue.
“Some believe that we may make concessions on the land borders, that is, give up land, in order to gain support for our candidate, former Minister Suleiman Franjieh,” he said.
“This has no realistic basis.” Likewise, Sayyed Nasrallah said that some people link the land borders and the Iran nuclear deal, but “this has not been brought up on the Iranian-US negotiating table previously.”
“We do not compromise when it comes to our maritime or land rights,” he said. “Any step toward liberation will be taken in close cooperation between the state and the Resistance.”
Speaking separately of Lebanon’s gas blocks, Sayyed Nasrallah said: “All indicators are positive regarding Block 9, which is confirmed by the existing consortium’s bidding on Blocks 8 and 10.”
Going back to the presidential issue, Sayyed Nasrallah affirmed that “there was an opportunity in the dialogue that President Berri called for talks, but this opportunity was wasted by political pettiness.”
On the Prophet’s birthday
The leader commended “the great, magnificent, and beautiful Yemeni celebration of the Prophet’s Birthday, despite the difficult living and security conditions,” that the country is experiencing due to a US-Saudi-led blockade.
He called on Muslims to pay the event more attention, saying that the Prophet’s Birthday is the “greatest day of joy.”
At the same time, he condemned a terrorist bombing of a mosque by extremists in Pakistan during the special Muslim occasion.
He also urged the Arab nation to bear responsibility for the events taking place in Palestine, including the desecration of the al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied al-Quds. Sayyed Nasrallah stressed that if settlers’ incursions into the Muslims’ first Qibla continue, the Mosque’s compound will be divided between Muslims and Jews.
The leader also condemned states that seek to or have normalized relations with “Israel”, saying that they have abounded Palestine and strengthened the occupation by doing so, in what constitutes intolerable action.
“When a country normalizes, it must be condemned… it is an attack on Palestinian land and Islamic and Christian sanctities.”
Soft power weakens nations
On soft power and media warfare, the leader said that these two strategies have proven to be “more effective than military combat in weakening nations, and some countries have withstood military confrontations but lost in the soft and media war.”
Sayyed Nasrallah concluded: “When the Arab and Egyptian armies united and were supported by some countries in the October War, “Israel” trembled; this unity almost achieved a decisive historical victory,” in 1973.
After decades of setbacks, the upcoming integration of Iraq and Iran’s railways promises to boost bilateral trade, religious and cultural tourism, and economic prosperity – with significant regional and global implications.
The groundbreaking cross-border railway project connecting Shalamcheh in Iran to Basra in Iraq relaunched on 2 September.
The news came a belated 46 years after it was first announced in 1978 – a year before Iran’s Islamic Revolution took the world by storm.
In the aftermath of the revolution, and because of the outbreak of the subsequent Iran–Iraq War (1980-88), the railway initiative remained on hold for several decades. Although the project would have reaped significant benefits for both countries – spurring successive governments to pursue its completion – it is Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi and Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani who managed to strike the deal.
At the railway’s inauguration ceremony, Sudani helped lay the project’s foundation stone alongside Iranian First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber, who said the completion of the project would significantly boost trade exchanges between the two countries by connecting their respective railway systems and aligning these with international transport routes.
Map of Shalamcheh-Basra Railway
Tourism and trade relations
Upon its completion in two years, the Shalamcheh-Basra Railway will span 32 kilometers, include three stations, and a bridge connecting Iran with Iraq across the Shatt al-Arab – all constructed with Iran’s support.
Maytham al-Safi, information director at Iraq’s Ministry of Transport, tells The Cradle that “the railway line will eventually link to the Iraqi cities of Najaf and Karbala” in order to facilitate the transportation of pilgrims visiting shrine cities to and from Iraq.
Iraq and Iran share a border that stretches approximately 1600 kilometers, as well as numerous religious, cultural, and tourism similarities. Each year, around 3 million Iranians make pilgrimages to the Shia holy shrines in Iraq, while 2 to 3 million Iraqis visit Iran, home to the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad and the influential Qom seminary.
In 2018,about 24 percent of all tourists visiting Iran came from Iraq, the largest of any country. Iran also boasts a significant health tourism industry – ranking 46th globally – and Iraqis constitute the second-largest group of health tourists to Iran after Afghanistan.
Despite these significant cultural ties, the volume of trade between the two countries has remained dismal. Even in the most optimistic scenario, Tehran and Baghdad have achieved only 50 percent of their targeted $20 billion in trade.
Several factors have contributed to this: a decline in electricity trade; reductions in gasoline and diesel exports; competition from Iran’s commercial rivals like China, India, the US, Turkiye, and the UAE; excessive commercial bureaucracy between the two states; and a lack of efficient and rapid transit capabilities to Iraq.
Iran-Iraq trade decline
According to the latest statistics, non-oil trade between Iraq and Iran reached $8.9 billion in 2021, but over the past two years, Iran’s exports to Iraq have declined in 20 different categories. Farzad Pilten, head of the West Asia office of the Iran Trade Development Organization, noted a 60 percent decrease in gas exports and an 80 percent decrease in gasoline exports to Iraq.
Iran’s performance has lagged behind other exporters, slipping to fourth place in exports to Iraq after the UAE, Turkiye, and China.
The decrease in exports between Iran and Iraq can be attributed to various factors, notably the insufficient transportation infrastructure connecting the two countries. Much of this trade relies on a very inefficient transportation of goods by road. As Javad Hedayati, director general of Iran’s International Transit and Transport, explains, Iranian trucks transport goods to the shared border, where they are laboriously unloaded and handed over to Iraqi trucks:
“In this mode of interaction, trucks carrying cargo due to congestion sometimes have to wait for more than four days at the borders to receive their turn and unload their cargo, while the cost of stopping them at the border is more than $200 per day.”
The completion of the Shalamcheh-Basra Railway project promises to significantly boost trade by reducing transit costs by up to 20 percent, and help Iraq offset its staggering trade imbalance. In 2018, Iran exported approximately $9 billion worth of goods to Iraq, while Iraq’s exports to Iran amounted to a mere $58 million.
Iran’s transit hub ambition
Iran’s strategic goal of becoming a key regional transit hub is closely tied to its ideal geographical location at the crossroads of Asia and Europe. Recognizing this geopolitical opportunity, the Raisi administration – which has heavily prioritized the “Looking to the East” and “Neighborhood” policies – has embarked on ambitious plans to harness this potential.
Iran already has a domestic railway network that spans 14,300 kilometers, with plans to add an additional 10,000 kilometers via 36 ongoing rail projects. Impressively, the country has established seven cross-border connections to neighboring railway networks and achieved self-sufficiency in engineering services, railway construction, and rail production – even exporting domestically-produced railroad cars and train engines.
Iran is currently strategically positioned along two international railway routes: the East-West and International North-South Transport Corridors (INSTC). The east-west route connects ASEAN countries and China to European markets, while the INSTC transit route links Russia to India via Iran.
The Shalamcheh-Basra rail project particularly complements the East-West railway connection. Via Iraq, Iran will be able to connect to the Syrian port of Latakia and its transit capacities, which might be vital to Europe.
The Iran-Iran railway also opens up the possibility of connecting with other Persian Gulf states like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. There are reports that Saudi Arabia is exploring the idea of linking railroads to Iran through Kuwait and Basra, which would create a direct rail connection between Iran and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.
Iraq’s role in global transport
Iraq, on the other hand, stands to benefit from improved access to markets in Central Asian countries, Afghanistan, and Azerbaijan via its rail link to Iran. A southern Iraqi railway which already transports more than 6 million tons of cargo, could boost the exchange of goods to over 20 million tons upon completion of the Iran-Iraq rail connection.
Furthermore, Shia pilgrims from Azerbaijan would have easier access to the holy city of Karbala via this railway, generating transit and tourism income for Iraq. Hafez Sadatnejad, manager of the Shalamcheh-Basra railway project, adds that the rail link with allow for the transportation of 4 million pilgrims to the pilgrimage cities of Mashhad, Qom, and Karbala in both countries.
By integrating this railway with Iran’s considerable capacities in the Khorramshahr and Imam Khomeini ports, cargo from different countries can be efficiently transported to the country’s southern waters. Iran’s extensive port infrastructure plays a crucial role in its foreign trade, with a target of achieving a cargo handling capacity of 500 million tons within the next five years.
For Iraq, the railway link with Iran is part of a broader and more ambitious project that extends from China to Europe. As economist Maitham al-Amili explains to The Cradle:
“Despite what is said that the goal of the project is to facilitate the transportation of travelers between Iraq and Iran, it is part of a larger project that will contribute to diversifying Iraq’s financial resources by making it a transit corridor for millions of tons of goods if completed.”
On 20 August, the Iraqi Ministry of Transport announced an agreement with Turkiye to link Iraqi railways to Turkish railways via a 133-kilometre line, with the aim of linking the grand port of Al-Faw to Europe, all within what is known as the “Development Road.”
Amili believes that Iraq has a role in the new global transportation project that “extends from China through Iraq to Syria, by land and sea through the port of Al-Faw.”
A hard American veto
Iraq’s geostrategic location as a bridge between West Asia and Europe favors its position as “a major complement to the global transportation map linking Asian countries to the European Union,” says economist Nabil al-Marsoumi:
“Rail transport is the safest means of transport, in addition to being inexpensive, and it always brings economic prosperity to the countries that rely on it, as in China and other countries…the multiplicity of ports to Iraq will enhance the opportunities to encourage its industries and increase its exports, not only oil, but also in the agricultural, petrochemical, and other sectors.”
Mazen al-Ashaiqer, also an economist, warns that “Iraq needs to diversify its transport lines with neighboring countries, especially for passengers, with the increasing tourist traffic to and from the country, with added economic importance if a rail or sea connection with China is achieved, making it a corridor towards Europe.”
These ambitions come with notable challenges and geopolitical complexities. Political analyst Mahmoud al-Hashemi says that “there are major American obstacles that Iraq’s plans for sea and land connectivity with Iran and China will face.”
“The US is well aware of the positive impact of these projects on Iraq, but it wants this country to be part of its conflict with China, Iran, and Russia.”
A senior government source reveals to The Cradle that “there has been an international conflict going on for more than ten years to control international transport lines, at the center of which are Iraq and Syria, and its main poles are China, Russia, Iran, and the United States.”
He says that a transportation project is being sought by some countries to link China with Iraq and Iran, all the way to the port of Latakia on the Mediterranean Sea, to shorten the sea transport route via the Red Sea or the Atlantic Ocean to Europe, “But we cannot say that the Basra-Shalamcheh railway line is part of this project.”
The same source attributes the mobilization of US forces along the Iraqi-Syrian border and the arming of local tribes to “Washington’s attempts to block the railway project from Basra to the port of Latakia via the Syrian cities of Albukamal and Deir ez-Zor.”
This is in addition to the express land line that will connect Iran to Syria via Al-Qaim border crossing, as it will constitute a new victory in the soft economic war ongoing between China and Russia on the one hand and the US on the other hand.
Shalamcheh-Basra Railway and the region
The influence of US propaganda on shaping public opinion in Iraq regarding economic and security cooperation with Iran is a notable concern. Speaking to The Cradle, Iraqi journalist Hassan al-Shammari points out that both “local and international media are subject to an American media machine to direct public opinion in accordance with its policies.”
According to Shammari, “any observer of the Iraqi media will notice that they welcome, or at least turn a blind eye to, any projects between Iraq and Saudi Arabia, Jordan or Turkiye, for example, while an organized media attack is launched against any similar project with Iran.” He adds:
“This is what accompanied the announcement of the railway connection project with Iran, while there is no criticism of the railway connection with Turkiye within the development road project, or of the railway connection with Saudi Arabia.”
Opponents of the railway connection with Iran often express concerns about its potential impact on the grand port of Al-Faw. Former Basra governor Wael Abdul Latif and former Minister of Transport Amer Abdul-Jabbar have warned that the railway may divert shipping traffic to Iranian ports, leading to increased prices and a reduction in port efficiency.
However, as Iraqi government spokesman Bassem al-Awadi confirmed in a recent press conference:
“The government laid the foundation stone for the project after an economic feasibility study, ensuring Iraq’s economic and political security, and not compromising the country’s sovereignty and economy.”
As the Shalamcheh-Basra Railway project advances, it serves as a poignant symbol of progress toward enhanced shared prosperity for, and a new level of connectivity between, Iraq and Iran.
This often-overlooked region within West Asia is poised to leave an indelible mark on global trade and transportation in the years ahead, contributing to broader regional integration and ushering in a new era of economic and logistical cooperation.The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of The Cradle.
The United States of America decided in 2011 to destroy a politically and economically independent nation just because it does not comply with US administration’s policies in the Middle East.
USA ordered most of the world countries to dispatch terrorists in order to fight the safe civilians and army soldiers in Syria in 2011. Since the military war failed to subdue Syria, the operators in Washington escalated the pressures by passing a law that bans any economic cooperation with Damascus.
As a result of around 13 years of a terrorist war and an economic siege, the Syrian people suffered harsh living conditions deteriorating on a daily basis.
The Syrian laymen found themselves obliged to search for a source of an acceptable income even it costs them to take the risk of crossing the borders illegally and dangerously (via illegitimate boats).
Lebanon, Turkey, and Jordan were their main destination before they moved into Europe and other continents.
In the case of Lebanon, the situation was very dramatic since it has been suffering from an unprecedented socioeconomic situation in addition to fragile infrastructure and public services.
Around 2 million Syrian refugees in the 10452-square-kilometer small country with a population of 4 millions makes the Lebanese situation harsher.as the percentage of the Syrian refugees out of the total population is expected to be much higher during the upcoming years.
Thus, the overburdened nation finds itself obliged to seek a solution for this dilemma as the US administration and the European Union have rejected all the proposals to let the refugees back to their homeland.
The Lebanese caretaker government held last Monday a session to discuss the Syrian refugees crisis, assigning the foreign minister, Abdullah Abou Habib, to lead an official delegation to Syria to discuss the issue of the displaced.
After the session, the Minister of Culture Mohammad Al-Mortada published via X platform a post that explains the decisions of the Lebanese government, indicating that Lebanon has got fed up with the NGOs preventing the return of the Syrian refugees.
Al-Mortada warned that such organization would be dissolved, hinting that Lebanon would not be able to prevent boats carrying the Syrian refugees into Europe.
لمن لم يفهم من "المجتمع الدولي"ما تقرّر في جلسة اليوم، خذْ علماً بالاهمّ: ١- اليوم جرى انذار ادواتكم، اي "المنظّمات غير الحكومية" ان لبنان طفح كيله منهم ولن يرضى ان يستمر ارضاً مستباحةً من قبلهم وان عليهم ان يخضعوا للتنسيق والرقابة وإلاّ سيجري سحب العلم والخبر وحلّهم….عجّل… pic.twitter.com/qoeqxSP10S
— القاضي محمد وسام المرتضى وزير الثقافة (@JugeMMourtada) September 11, 2023
Two days later, Abou Habib contacted his Syrian counterpart, Faisal Mekdad. They agreed to hold a meeting between them shortly upon Minister Bou Habib’s return from New York, where he will participate alongside Premier Najib Mikati in the work of the United Nations General Assembly, and will meet there with the Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister, who will represent his country in UN meetings.
Lebanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdallah Bou Habib (photo from archive).
The Syrian Foreign Minister welcomed the visit of Minister Bou Habib and the accompanying delegation to Damascus, expressing his readiness for all cooperation that falls in the interest of the two countries.
The Lebanese Minister of Social Affairs Hector Hajjar told Al-Manar that Europe will recognize that Lebanon will be the transit stage of the Syrian refugees, adding that Lebanon will not be able to provide the displaced with the suitable living conditions.
Hajjar pointed out that the European states, mainly Cyprus, have notified the Lebanese authorities about their worries pertaining the flock of Syrian refugees into Europe illegally by sea or legally through airports.
Lebanese caretaker social affairs minister Hector Hajjar
One of the biggest announcements to come out of the G20 summit in New Delhi was the launch of an ambitious plan to build an economic corridor linking Europe with the Middle East and India via rail and sea.
A 325-word Memorandum of Understanding inked by India, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Germany, France, Italy, the European Union and the United States, outlines how this newly envisaged network would help boost trade, deliver energy resources and improve digital connectivity.
The so-called India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor, or IMEC, comprises two separate routes – an east corridor linking India to the Gulf monarchies and a northern corridor connecting the Arab states to Europe.
“Israel” is not a signatory but is mentioned in the MoU as one of the transit points for goods and services moving through the ship-to-rail network.
For “Israeli” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been desperately trying to normalize ties with Saudi Arabia, it didn’t matter whether Tel Aviv is a signatory or not. He jumped on the news coming out of New Delhi and declared that “Israel” was “a central junction in this economic corridor”, which would “change the face of the Middle East.”
Netanyahu isn’t the only one hyping up the project. Some in the mainstream media have already dubbed it a “game-changer”, and the White House claims the corridor is ushering in a “new era of connectivity.” But is the planned trade route any of those things?
There is no alternative to the alternative
The unveiling of IMEC was almost immediately characterized as a challenge to China’s Belt and Road Initiative [BRI].
The latter is the world’s largest infrastructure project that seeks to connect Asia with Africa and Europe via land and maritime networks with the aim of advancing integration, increasing trade and stimulating economic growth.
Naturally, this massive Chinese foreign policy undertaking is perceived as a major threat to US hegemony. Washington responded by peddling the narrative that the BRI is a debt trap as it leaned on ‘allies’ to abandon the Chinese program while trying to improve its own competitiveness on the global stage.
IMEC is supposed to be part of the Biden administration’s alternative to the BRI. It’s true that both initiatives share many of the same objectives and methods of implementation. In theory, at least, both are designed to connect manufacturers in Asia with consumers in the West, while implementing infrastructure projects along the corridors.
But the BRI has already lived up to the hype and will make for tough competition. The Chinese have invested around $1 trillion into the scheme that now extends across 150 countries, including IMEC signatories, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. And unlike “Israel”, these two countries are the actual “central junction” in the new economic corridor.
Here, it’s important to note that China is already Saudi Arabia’s largest trading partner and the biggest investor in the Kingdom’s economy.
Speculation about the Americans trying to rip India out of BRICS, while working to help New Delhi replace the Chinese as Riyadh’s key trading partner may very well be accurate. But these are unrealistic objectives.
The Chinese are investing billions into the Saudi economy while New Delhi is looking for cash injections from Riyadh. According to modest projections, the Saudis will cough up around $100 billion for India’s economy in the coming years while the current turnover of more than $50 billion is also the result of Riyadh’s investments in this partnership.
Furthermore, the West’s failure to ‘Ukrainize’ the G20 summit in New Delhi is just another reminder that India has no interest in abandoning its role in the expanding BRICS bloc. Instead, both India and Saudi Arabia, along with the rest of the Global South, have embraced multipolarity and are exploring numerous multilateral frameworks for advancing their national interests.
As such, China’s BRI and the billions it pumps into the Saudi economy will undoubtedly remain a priority for Riyadh. As the Saudis and Emiratis forge ahead with the diversification of their economic relations, including the expansion of ties with Iran, they are likely to seek the integration of the BRI and IMEC into a single global artery of logistics. This integration with existing networks is perhaps the only logical step for realizing IMEC’s true potential.
The main speedbump is the US, which wants to use the initiative as a political tool against China and Russia and grow its influence in the countries along the corridor rather than focus on mutual economic development.
Still No Framework for Normalization
With numerous transportation and logistics projects springing up across the Eurasia region, Gulf states haven’t failed to realize their infrastructure potential. The member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council are mapping out their own sea and land freight routes, which led to the revival of the massive Gulf Railway project.
The railway system, which is expected to be completed by 2025 and cost around $250 billion, will link all six GCC members. Presumably, this is the same railway system that “Israel” wants to plug in to guarantee its place in IMEC and normalize ties with Saudi Arabia.
In July, Netanyahu announced plans for the construction of a $27 billion rail expansion that could provide overland links to Saudi Arabia in the future. But the Saudis still haven’t responded to that announcement.
That same month, Biden himself said that “Israel” and Saudi Arabia were a long way from a normalization agreement. Meanwhile, his national security advisor, Jake Sullivan, admitted on the way to the G20 summit in India that there is still no actual framework for normalization.
When asked whether IMEC was part of normalization efforts between Riyadh and Tel Aviv, the State Department’s Matthew Miller said, “No, it is separate.”
It probably doesn’t help that the Biden administration has a tumultuous relationship with both the Netanyahu government and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman.
Some of the elements for normalization are undoubtedly on the table. However, nothing has been finalized.
Of course, it makes far more sense for the Gulf Railway project to be directed towards Syria and Lebanon, which are perfectly positioned for the role of a bridge in any future India-Europe economic corridor.
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UPROOTED PALESTINIANS: SALAM ALQUDS ALAYKUM 