From episode 10 of Imperialism: Decadent Parasitic and Doomed with Garland Nixon, comrade Joti Brar explains the nature of the Israeli-American relationship, the Israel lobby in America and ultimately what is Israel's real place in the American Empire.
PLUS: Garland's latest chat with Joti (Ep. 13)—Imperialism's tricks, its unstoppable downfall, and the false Trotskyist option—
DECADENT IMPERIALISM: WITH JOTI BRAR - US IMPERIALISM IS DYING IN GAZA AND UKRAINE
Garland Nixon Garland and Joti discuss how US imperialism and its network of corrupt vassal states is slowly but surely being brought down by its numerous (and incurable) flaws and pervasive corruption, not to mention its intellectual and leadership bankruptcy. Joti dwells on imperialism's maneuvers and stratagems to fool the masses through divide-and-conquer "culture wars", and by providing false revolutionary options (Trotskyism). The latter, says Joti is designed to capture the young, who yearn for justice and immediate solutions to the criminality and inequality they observe. Unfortunately, Trots, while usually sounding fiercely revolutionary deliver no real tactical or strategic substance. History has yet to see a Trotskyist revolution installing a socialist government in power.
In cynicism and power, the US propaganda machine easily surpasses Orwells Ministry of Truth.
Now the fight against anti-semitism is being weaponised as a new sanctimonious McCarthyism.
Unless opposed, neither justice nor our Constitutional right to Free Speech will survive this assault.
Things to keep in mind...
Neo-Nazi ideology has become one of the main protagonists of political and social life in Ukraine since the 2014 coup d'état. Meanwhile, fascist ideology and blatant lies also permeate the consciousness of most people in the West. Those in the comfortable top 10%, the "PMCs" (Professional Managerial Class), are especially vulnerable. They support and disseminate such ideas. They are the executors of the actual ruling class' orders, those in the 0.001%, who remain largely invisible. The PMCs are the political class, the media whores, the top military brass, some people in academia, and the "national security/foreign policy" industry honchos. Push back against these unethical, contaminated people with the truth while you can.
The views expressed herein are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of The Greanville Post. However, we do think they are important enough to be transmitted to a wider audience.
Since the overpaid media shills will never risk their careers to report the truth, the world must rely on citizen journalists to provide the facts that explain reality.
Unfortunately, most people take this site for granted. DONATIONS HAVE ALMOST DRIED UP… PLEASE send what you can today! JUST USE THE BUTTON BELOW
We have a friend who has 27 cats and a special account at the fish market and the sand market and that's who my daughter wants to be when she grows up. She wants to start something called a 'cat farm' which I've told her is not a thing, and also not desirable. She will adopt any cat she sees and now she's adopted a pregnant cat who has had kittens in our neighborhood. So now I have four (more) cats. At least they stay next door, with the chickens.
Indrajit's daughter's protegé. A furry portal into general empathy.
Yesterday one of these kittens—little Lyro, AKA Scoundrel—had some sort of eye infection and my daughter started bawling and yelling at the chickens for pecking him (they didn't). To me, this is another annoyance, but for her, it's very emotional. She really feels for the kitten. She has a deep sense of empathy. Children are born this way but, as adults, we're educated out of it.
This morning I chased the little bastard around to apply eye drops and then refreshed the cats' water. Every time I turn a tap I think about Gaza, where the taps have been turned off, on purpose. I think of that sniveling Keir Starmer saying ‘'Israel' has the right to defend herself’ by cutting off food and water to an entire human population. Something we wouldn't even do to street cats. What a world we live in.
Palestine
The vet comes to give these creatures their first shots and I think about 'Israel' systematically destroying every hospital in Gaza, turning them into mass graves and torture centers. And then I think about all the adults defending this, or saying 'it's complicated'. It's really not. Children understand that you shouldn't kill children. Adults don't want to be killed. The golden rule is not that complicated. And if you are doing evil shit, you can understand getting RPG'd, ‘an eye for an eye’ is another classic. This is all just basic empathy, available to a child. Something the most 'advanced' people seem to have lost entirely.
The sheer wordcount rationalizing this body count is revolting. People write essays and essays about why they're assholes. Liberals are really trying to attain the Zionist Zen state of being completely useless to everyone but the powerful, who get to carry on in the moral void. They make it out to be so ancient and difficult but it's really not. You can literally open any children's book and get the basic logic which is be nice to people. ‘But Hamas!’ the fuckwits will say, expecting you to shit your brains out upon hearing Arabic, like a Pavlovian war dog. ‘What about them?’
Hamas are just the orphans 'Israel' didn't kill, defending the next generation, with great discipline. Children's stories also have people fighting against great evil. They're called heroes. That's what Hamas are in this situation (shoutout Palestinian Islamic Jihad, PFLP, Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, and the whole Axis of Resistance). It's really not complicated. On one side you have the White Empire, which has been on the wrong side of everybody for centuries, now burying families alive in Palestine. On the other side you have guys in tracky bottoms and homemade weapons, trying to bring a better future alive. I'm simplifying because it's simple. Hamas are the good guys.
Mengzi
My kids listen to stories at night and the heroes are always the poor, the down-trodden, who remain kind and try to help their people through it all. The bad guys are the landlords, the rulers, who hoard and steal and hurt despite having more than enough. But then what are my stories, as an adult? Everything in the grown-up press lionizes landlords, rulers, and glorifies hoarding, stealing, and hurting as the basis of our very economy and social system. The poor are failures, the down-trodden deserve it, and kindness is folly. These are very serious opinions from very serious people. We complicate what is simple and call ourselves sophisticated. It's just sophistry. We are the villains in our own children's stories. What have we become?
It saddens me because we are born helpless and the yet very sight of a baby makes us helpful. We have a great core compassion in us. As Mengzi said:
The reason why I say that all humans have hearts that are not unfeeling toward others is this. Suppose someone suddenly saw a child about to fall into a well: anyone in such a situation would have a feeling of alarm and compassion—not because one sought to get in good with the child’s parents, not because one wanted fame among one’s neighbors and friends, and not because one would dislike the sound of the child’s cries...
The feeling of compassion is the sprout of benevolence. The feeling of disdain is the sprout of righteousness. The feeling of deference is the sprout of propriety. The feeling of approval and disapproval is the sprout of wisdom.
People having these four sprouts is like their having four limbs. To have these four sprouts, yet to claim that one is incapable (of virtue), is to steal from oneself. To say that one’s ruler is incapable is to steal from one’s ruler.
In general, having these four sprouts within oneself, if one knows to fill them all out, it will be like a fire starting up, a spring breaking through! If one can merely fill them out, they will be sufficient to care for all within the Four Seas. If one merely fails to fill them out, they will be insufficient to serve one’s parents.
This is what Mengzi called the 'sprouts of goodness,' or what I call the 'weeds of not being a dick.' You can see them everywhere. You can see the sprouts in children's kittens or children's stories, or a father chasing around a kitten he doesn't actually like or a grandfather reading 400 stories before bed and getting a foot in his face for his troubles. It's not that we lose this goodness. It is, like Master Meng said, stolen. The sprouts are cut, the earth is salted, and this is called growing up.
Serious adults tell us it's just not possible to practice basic decency, it's just not practical, and that this horrible thing we're witnessing is somehow fine. They'll say that we must debate this dumbassery endlessly, while everybody dies. And they'll say that you should not fight this monstrous violence with righteous violence, ignoring every hero in every story. What are we even doing here? We have deified the adult, discarded God, and now children are dying in front of us and we're supposed to think it's fine. It's not. If you literally put a child on the throne and left them alone, they couldn't rule this badly. Children are much closer to the golden rule, but the love of gold makes rulers blind.
Back To The Cat
I look at my daughter bawling because a kitten has a red eye and my first instinct is to tell her to grow up, but why? Grow up into what? I'm so practical and serious, but I'm fundamentally just lazy. I know what the right thing is, I just don't want to do it. Thank God there's a little tyrant at home to force me into shape sometimes. Alhamdulillah, we should all grow down.
—END—
How I Was Demonetized By Medium
Since October, my Medium earnings have dropped by two-thirds. I haven't changed quantity, quality, or even the general subject of writing, but you know what happened in October. Since then, I've gone from earning about $1,400 a month to $400. I went from adding 2,000 'followers' a month to as low as 6. These days, I'm lucky if 300 people read an article (there, indi.ca is like 1,000/2,000). As Marshal McLuhan said, the Medium is the message, and I'm getting the message loud and clear. STFU about Palestine.
The Medium
This is censorship by algorithm, by corporation, by White Empire itself. Normally the word 'censorship' is reserved for government actions but, like everything else, the White Empire (re: America) has privatized propaganda. Those outlets have, in turned outsourced the job to algorithms and HR departments. If you're on a platform you won't get distributed and if it's a publication you just won't get hired. That's how modern censorship works. It's been privatized, and the government is owned by 'the private sector' (ie, the rich) anyways. This is the state of modern propaganda.
For examples of egregious censorship and lies, just witness the tortured language in any American newspaper. They use the passive voice to hide their part in an active genocide. Hence you get The Intercept reporting that “The New York Times instructed journalists covering Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip to restrict the use of the terms “genocide” and “ethnic cleansing” and to “avoid” using the phrase “occupied territory” when describing Palestinian land, according to a copy of an internal memo obtained by The Intercept.” You see Arab journalists suspended from the BBC, or journalists in general suspended from the LA Times for protesting the murder of other journalists. Or you don't see Palestinian content on Facebook platforms because Meta systematically censors it. And then you see the US government trying to just ban TikTok completely. This is what the media would call censorship and propaganda if they were remotely objective. But they're not. They're just objects owned by the rich corporations that also own the government.
'Propaganda' and 'censorship' are terms that Empire uses against its enemies but this is, in fact, propaganda. People within the White Empire and especially America are the most propagandized people on Earth. British tabloids and the NYTimes spread lies about beheaded babies and mass rape and are backed by the US President and given Pulitzer Prizes for their war crimes. It's all one system. What I call the military-industrial multiplex, because media is a vital part of it. Truth is the first casualty of war, and they really focus on killing that fucker. Propaganda has always been a vital part of war, and—like most other functions—the White Empire has privatized propaganda. In typical propagandized terms, this is called the 'free press'. It is, in fact, bought and paid for, and used for specific purposes. Medium is just a subset of this phenomenon, and barely worth commenting on specifically.
Medium is just another part of this system, and a pliant one. Medium is a money losing company, the plaything of oligarchs. The lifeblood of Empire is money, and anytime it's the poor against the rich, powerless against the powerful, toy soldiers like Medium all get in line. It will be recorded ignominiously in history, but this isn't news. Big company craven and corrupt, who knew.
The Message
I had a good run on Medium, but it was honestly getting suspicious. I write about how much America sucks, and then pay 10% withholding tax to America. I've been promoted, 'curated', and have met directly with people at Medium. One month I had the highest traffic article on there. For a while, they somehow wanted me to do this. And I made, for me, a good deal of money. Usually by biting the hand that feeds me. They seem to like that. A lot of my writing was lyrical BDSM for white people.
My previous greatest hits were (the sadly dated) America Passports Are Worthless Now ($7,200), I Lived Through Collapse, America Is Already There ($4,200), and White People, You Need To Wash Your Butts ($3,100). There is a certain genre of criticism that actually supports their propaganda line, which is that they're more free than everybody else (just look at the criticism!). This is contained within a higher line of propaganda, which is that what matters above all is belief. Zizek is a piece of shit and I only quote him via the inestimable Mark Fisher, saying, “Cynical distance is just one way… to blind ourselves to the structural power of ideological fantasy: even if we do not take things seriously, even if we keep an ironical distance, we are still doing them.”
Ironic distance is not what I'm selling, but it's what Medium and much of my audience was buying. They could listen to an angry brown man and be absolved of their sins, to disagree with everything going on while still going along with it. It is this cynical distance that was shattered on October 7th. Because Hamas et al didn't just talk about liberation. They did it.
The Al Aqsa Flood
The Al Aqsa Flood of October 7th broke a lot of things. A lot of illusions were broken that day. The illusion of 'Israeli' military power, the illusion of Western democracy, the illusion of liberal values. Western universities were revealed as hedge funds, Western media were revealed as privatized propaganda, and Western online platforms were revealed as content plantations. Warren Buffett said ‘when the tide goes out, you see who's swimming naked.’ Well, when the flood comes in, you see who fucking sucks. Almost all western media, including Medium.
I totally understand why I'm getting censored for writing stuff like Why I Support Hamas, The Coming Destruction Of ‘Israel’, How Hamas Is Not A Terrorist Organization, and The Heroes Of Hamas. Hamas is public enemy #1, condemned everywhere from the nightly news to Saturday Night Live. I just think this is stupid. I take every condemnation from Empire as a reading recommendation and I've actually read about Hamas and read the statements from across the Resistance. And they're not bad at all, in fact, they're the good guys. They're the ones fighting againstgenocide. Isn't it obvious?
I'm referencing books and actual research here, whereas the propagandists just repeat the word 'Hamas' and expect people to be suitably terrified. Mooslem sounding. They don't quote from Hamas, they don't educate their viewers/readers one iota. They just repeat a lie often enough that it becomes the truth, and often enough it works. They literally just repeat the name 'Hamas' over and over and expect people to be scared because it sounds Arabic and Muslim. And in ordinary times, that's enough. But times are not ordinary anymore.
The Difference
The difference between what I do and what organizations like Hamas do is that they actually do something. I am—and I have no illusions about this—just a manic street preacher, holding a sign saying 'THE END IS NIGH' and holding out his hat for coins. This is actually how I explain my job to people, I tell them that I'm a beggar blogger. The Internet is my street and I just wander around there, muttering. Medium threw some coins in my hat for a while and then they kick it away, so be it. That's life on the street. But people like Hamas, Hezbollah, the Yemeni, and the Revolutionary Guards of Iran are street fighters. And they are inestimably more useful than me.
The point is not whether or not these groups are violent. Violence is a tactic, not a strategy. 'Non-violence' is a virtue preached to the powerless, while the powerful beat them. Gandhi's and MLK's idea of non-violent action has devoured by Empire and spit out as a political sedative. As Kwame Ture said, “In order for nonviolence to work, your opponent must have a conscience. The United States has none.” As Brother Ture also said, “Peace is the white man's word. Peace. Liberation is our word. But you'll want peace in the end.” As Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah of Hezbollah says, “I want to fight this enemy any way I can, until I achieve victory.” Or as Malcolm X said, “by any means necessary.”
The point is that the Axis of Resistance is doing something about the very problem I've been talking about. I talk about White Empire literally killing the entire planet and these people are doing something. More power to them. The people in the military-industrial multiplex watch countless films about Rebel Alliance, then turn on the TV and cheer for the Empire. It's quite a magical trick. The audience gets to rebel vicariously on one screen, while actual rebels are crushed viciously on another. But now they're losing control of the programming. The screen of screens is shattering. What the Axis of Resistance is doing, through action, is disrupting the narrative. They say the victors write the history, but you could equally say that those who write the history are winning. And the Resistance is writing history. In indelible blood rather than delible ink.
The Pathetic
Empire, instead of changing material reality (maybe don't commit genocide, the region will still sell you oil anyway) is trying to change immaterial media. Instead of trying to change the charnel, they're trying to change the channel. Like Elvis, they're just shooting the TV rather than doing something about their increasingly addled decline. Hence you get the massive, lockstep campaign around stupid but often repeated talking points. 'Beheaded Babies' (not true) and now 'Antisemitism on Campuses' (do I need to tell you?). It's all a ruse. A pathetic ruse, while people can see real children being buried alive and people being mass executed in hospitals. The information, an Al Aqsa Flood of information, there's just too much of it because it's actually happening. The truth seeps through.
Western social media simply cannot hold back society anymore, their mass media cannot hold back the masses, and their institutions cannot institutionalize brains. These people are obviously not arbiters of truth, they're now forever tainted by the Genocide of Gaza. The entire Western media will be remembered like Radio Rwanda during that genocide. As part of it. As the martyr Aaron Bushnell said, when he immolated himself in Washington DC, “This is what our ruling class has decided will be normal.” And then he cut through decades of bullshit with a burning conscience. In the light of so much human sacrifice, the flailings of Empire seem ever more absurd, and its failings fatal. They're drowning in the Al Aqsa Flood. As Allah has said (about the much more serious Day of Judgement, which applies to you too):
In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
Woe to every fault-finding back-biter, who amasses wealth, counting it over, thinking that his wealth will make him live forever. By no means! He shall surely be cast into the crushing torment. Would that you understood what that crushing torment is like. It is a Fire kindled by God. Reaching right into the hearts of men, it closes in on them from every side in towering columns.
This must be what it feels like being an imperial propaganda manager, or its privatized pawns in the 'free' press now. They're pushing all the usual buttons, but just foghorn sounds and farts come out, and they can't go out to dinner without being accosted by angry peasants. They don't look powerful, they look pathetic. And that, in itself, is a loss of power.
The Al Aqsa Flood
The attack on October 7th, what the Resistance calls the Al Aqsa Flood, broke the illusion of 'Israeli' military deterrence, broke the illusion of America's distance, and is breaking the illusions around almost every imperial institution, great, small, and medium.
The Empire has tried to bury this revelation with massive wartime censorship, but they just revealed themselves in what they removed, and ended up flooded anyways. It's simply too much. The Al Aqsa Flood was big and the intifada has only gone global. It's got their kids, on elite university campuses. It's messing up their dinners at home now. It's too much. There is no 'medium' solution to this. This is heavy stuff.
The horror now touches every delusion of western civilization, past, present, and future. As Gandhi said about the concept of western civilization, ‘it would have been a good idea.’ Instead all we got was superior violence, and now they can't even get the violence right. All they can do is kick the hat away from beggar bloggers, while real street fighters openly defy them. So truly I do not give a fuck and am not important at all. All praise to the Resistance. A drop of their blood is worth an ocean of ink. A moment of them doing something is worth an eternity of thinking about it. We all have to sacrifice to overthrow this Empire, and demonetization is nothing.
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Things to keep in mind...
Neo-Nazi ideology has become one of the main protagonists of political and social life in Ukraine since the 2014 coup d'état. Meanwhile, fascist ideology and blatant lies also permeate the consciousness of most people in the West. Those in the comfortable top 10%, the "PMCs" (Professional Managerial Class), are especially vulnerable. They support and disseminate such ideas. They are the executors of the actual ruling class' orders, those in the 0.001%, who remain largely invisible. The PMCs are the political class, the media whores, the top military brass, some people in academia, and the "national security/foreign policy" industry honchos. Push back against these unethical, contaminated people with the truth while you can.
The views expressed herein are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of The Greanville Post. However, we do think they are important enough to be transmitted to a wider audience.
Since the overpaid media shills will never risk their careers to report the truth, the world must rely on citizen journalists to provide the facts that explain reality.
Unfortunately, most people take this site for granted. DONATIONS HAVE ALMOST DRIED UP… PLEASE send what you can today! JUST USE THE BUTTON BELOW
I have almost nothing to add to the situation in Ukraine since my latest strategic update, except a few little thoughts that I will discuss below. But first, if you have not already read my latest strategic update on Ukraine, see the article here.
Kerch Bridge
The Kerch Bridge (Wiki)
Since the American funds for Ukraine have finally been released, we can expect many surprises in the next months. It was never seriously in doubt that the funds would eventually be released, but it was interesting to learn under what scheme they would push it through. The result was somehow… unspectacular. I expected something more dramatic. But here we are.
Speaker Johnson did a calculation of what would benefit him the most. He waited strategically to leverage the most concessions to him (backdoor concessions…), and when it was most favorable to him, he simply gave in. In the short term, he will now take some hits, but considering the long-term benefits (after a period when the media attention dies down), I’m sure he made a good deal for himself. Maybe he will get a well-paid job somewhere in several years? Or he will be a future presidential candidate? (In many years). Who knows. And it doesn’t matter.
What matters is that he, as an elected representative, should not be looking out for his own benefit but for what is best for America. And considering this, he should have “gone down fighting.” The funds will still be released. No questions about that. But it is about integrity…and saving lives. Remember? The funds (at least the few billion that are assigned to Ukraine) will be used to make sure that the Ukrainian male population dies and the rest of the young Ukrainians will be absorbed (stolen) by the Europeans.
So, nothing unusual or unexpected. Business as usual in politics.
What does this have to do with the Kerch Bridge? A lot. Even though the biggest part of the funds dedicated to Ukraine will be used to pay salaries, bribes, and villas abroad and for fleeing Ukrainian politicians after the collapse, there are still a few surprises.
I assume that the daily consumption of weapons and equipment by the Ukrainian army is not linked to any aid package from anyone. Otherwise, Ukraine would have collapsed long ago. So, the logistics supply chain is running autonomously, mainly sourced by the Americans but also from some European countries that can afford it. The guys from The Duran had a good point, obviously, by suggesting that a fair share of the $61bn would be used to close positions from already delivered weapons in their inventories.
We are talking about:
Small arms
Ammunition
Tanks and IFVs
Uniforms
Medical Equipment
Logistics Equipment
ATGMs
Air Defense equipment
Drones
Explosives
And far more
Since the Ukrainians have a very short life span from the moment they are mobilized, one needs to continuously deliver equipment, weapons, and ammunition to all the people kidnapped from the streets and thrown into the battle by force. Most of these weapons won’t be used since these people usually die before they see a Russian soldier.
We are talking about basic equipment for infantry or motorized brigades.
Still, there are some strategically relevant US weapons and equipment, like some types of ATACMS missiles, that the US can’t ship without the knowledge of the American public (or their representatives, who really don’t care about control).
The point is that Ukraine is collapsing now at a considerable pace. There is not much time left to do any critical damage to the Russians before Ukraine goes to Russia. Except for a few things…
Damaging Russia’s military and civilian infrastructure is now a high priority for the West, while possible. For the same reason, the West wants to kill able-bodied Ukrainians and steal the rest of the surviving young Ukrainians (making them refugees after the collapse of Ukraine).
Maybe the Europeans should stop listening to the Woke bullshit they are being fed, which implies that family and kids are undesirable, and instead, they should buy several bottles of wine, lock the bedroom door, and… solve the demographics problems Instead of forcefully incorporating poor young people from warzones where the West initiated the war…
However, these attacks against Russian infrastructure have little to no impact on the war. That’s known to everyone. Listen to the leaked tapes of the Bundeswehr discussing the value of damaging the Kerch Bridge… But it definitely has an impact on Russian resources. That is an economic perspective that needs to be taken into consideration during, and especially after, the war:
How many resources will Russia be forced to divert (during the war) from the military in order to mitigate the impact on its infrastructure?
And after the war?
How many resources will Russia be forced to expend to rebuild the parts of Ukraine that will become part of Russia then?
How many resources will be needed to solve the epic demographic situation after the male population dies or flees, and the youth perhaps disappear into the West and into Russia?
How many resources will be needed to mitigate the impact of the strikes against Russian infrastructure so that there is no impact on civilians? (eliminating protest potential).
And the most important question of all:
What could Russia have done with all those resources in a macroeconomic sense instead of simply repairing a capital stock that already existed?
And what will Russia’s competitors (yes, meaning other BRICS states) be doing at the same time with their resources in the new trade system instead of simply repairing broken stuff?
Even though it will keep the Russian economy very busy for decades and the Russians will be doing well with their domestically focused economy, they will suffer on the international markets compared to their competitors. In fact, their main export goods will remain their natural resources instead of finished goods, at least for the next few decades.
Keep this in mind. It is important. It is not really a significant problem for Russia because Russia is used to it. However, it is an advantage for their competitors in the West (and the East) in terms of securing foreign markets with their own goods made from Russian resources.
However, let’s get to the point: The Kerch Bridge. Is it used for military logistics or not? Is it a military target or not? Can it be destroyed? Will it be destroyed? What are the implications? Let’s discuss these things.
Is the Kerch Bridge used for military logistics?
I don’t have specific knowledge, but I would argue that some percentage of the military shipments to Crimea use this route. Logistics is a complicated subject, especially during wartime. From my point of view, it would be irresponsible not to use this route as long as it is available for all shipments, including military goods.
The same goes with the Kerch Bridge. Even though I don’t know, I’m sure that it still is being used for some military goods.
Here is the next point: Russia has a serious naval logistics problem. Even before the war, it was critical, for example, for supplying its Syrian bases by sea. It took Russia several years until it was able to supply Tartus and Khmeimim with its own military capabilities. For some time, it relied on chartered Russian and even Turkish civilian cargo ships. The problem was solved eventually.
Everyone is focusing on how many tanks, submarines, or frigates Russia produces. No one ever asked about how many auxiliary and logistics assets/equipment Russia produces to maintain the operability of these weapons.
To be clear, I believe Russia is meeting its goals for supply. But we need to keep in mind that Russia’s capabilities for doing that are determined by the available logistics infrastructure.
Why do I write this? Because the means to supply a peninsula with five million citizens and a large military garrison is incredibly difficult. Especially during wartime. There are means to do it. From 2014, prior to the opening of the Kerch Bridge, it was accomplished by air and ferries. But now we have war. Almost all logistics assets, including naval assets, are bottlenecks.
All the Ukrainian, seemingly senseless, attacks against “old” Russian landing ships, etc., always had a purpose. Many argued that an old Russian ship that was due for scrapping was sunk when such an event took place. But that is not accurate. These are not battleships but can be considered armored cargo ships. Their purpose is to transport goods from A to B. Even very old ships can fill this purpose.
I was the Head of Logistics for an international company for some time, that’s why I always keep my focus on logistics and not on propaganda. Russia is short of naval supply vessels. It was unnecessary in the past since there was no need for power projection. Operations like in Syria wouldn’t have been needed at all had there been no plans by the West to subjugate the world… But here we are.
I’m coming slowly but steadily to a conclusion: What “Ukraine” is doing in the Black Sea, be it against the Black Sea Fleet or against Crimea has nothing to do with Ukraine’s “interests” or the war in Ukraine. These are solely NATO operations to cripple Russia’s Black Sea Fleet capabilities.
So, yes, Russia should and most likely IS still supplying Crimea by the Kerch Bridge. Still, I would argue that it is for the purpose of risk management. It is to be expected that logistics over this bridge will be interrupted, so it would be madness to rely heavily on this bridge. I would argue (from experience) that we should expect a level of sourcing of 20% by the Kerch Bridge.
Is it a military target?
So, is the Kerch Bridge a military target? Yes, and an important one indeed. I’ll explain later in more depth, but for starters, think about the cargo volume (civilian and military) and civilians traveling between Krasnodar and Crimea daily/weekly/monthly. Roughly five million people need to be supplied. Disrupting this logistics artery for an extended period during wartime and during the holiday season would be disastrous. Everyone focuses on the question of whether it would influence the war or its outcome. Fine, but what about the people living in Crimea?
Don’t get me wrong here. I’m sure that contingencies have been in place since the beginning of the war, for example, through the Donetsk and Kherson regions and by ferries (which are scarce). However, these routes are vulnerable since they are going through a war zone. You can’t transport civilians by these routes due to the danger of attack.
What is my point? Simple: If this route breaks it would put an enormous strain on military logistics to keep Crimea supplied. In other words, Routes like the new railway route by land would need to handle both military logistics and civilian logistics simultaneously. Impossible? No, of course not. But there is a nice (rather not?) English word that I learned during a project in Birmingham, England, to describe the situation: Pain in the ass.
As everyone argues, it surely will not change the outcome of the war. But it is, in fact, the only means for the West to cause real and palpable pain to Russian logistics. There are no other means to achieve a similar effect.
Can it be destroyed?
During this war, we have learned a lot about the destructive capabilities of missiles, particularly regarding the destruction of infrastructure and the capabilities of air defenses. Not only in Ukraine but in the Middle East as well. To be fair, the theoretical capabilities of both Russian and Western air defense assets did not match the actual results seen on the battlefield. And that makes sense. In ideal environments, you always achieve better results than on the battlefield especially if your opponents are working together to find and exploit your weaknesses.
So, yes, if the West wants it, then hits on the Kerch Bridge will be accomplished.
Can it be destroyed? No, it cannot. The weapons available to Ukraine can’t destroy the pillars. If multiple ATACMS missiles hit one pillar at the same time, they could. But this scenario is almost impossible, given the air defense efforts around the bridge and the limited accuracy of the missiles.
It is almost certain that, in the case of a mass attack, one or more of the road spans and/or railway tracks would be damaged or destroyed. This could cause an interruption of several weeks or months, depending on how many spans and/or tracks were destroyed.
What is meant by the West when it says, “Destroy the bridge.” Make it entirely sink? That would be very difficult even without air defense, and you would need to plant tons of explosives on many pillars to make the structure itself collapse. With these missiles—impossible.
So, when the West talks about destroying the Kerch Bridge, it essentially means disrupting logistics for a certain period.
Will it be destroyed?
There is a finite probability that logistics over the Kerch Bridge will be interrupted for a period of time. Is it certain to happen? I don’t know. However, it would not change the outcome or the direction of the war. It would only be, as explained before, a “Pain in the ass”.
What are the implications?
Why is southern logistics so important for Russia? Why are these ATACMS missiles coming now and not earlier? The Southern front is calm. Is the southern military supply route important at all?
For now, it is less important than other areas of the war zone. The fact that the West is escalating efforts to destroy it now tells me one thing: Intelligence is in place that Ukrainian front lines and defenses on the east side of the Dnieper are going to collapse within the next few months, and Ukraine might be forced to withdraw across the Dnieper. At this point, southern logistics might become important again, depending on the ability of the Ukrainians to resist across the Dnieper in Zaporizhia and Kherson at the same time when Russia is rolling up the front lines in the north.
Honestly, I don’t know. But, seeing emphasis put on the southern logistics route by the West, I’d say this is directly connected to a potential advance on Odessa.
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t expect at ANY time that Russia will be approaching Odessa fighting. The Ukrainian Army will be gone BEFORE Russia reaches Odessa. Except for one possible event: If some chickens (Westerners) appear in Odessa. This might have catastrophic consequences, but I already wrote about that.
F16s
There is also talk about the imminent appearance of F16s in Ukraine. Since the Soviet planes that were available have already been supplied and almost all have been shot down, there was a need to bolster the fleet with new aircraft. The F16 makes a lot of sense because it is available in large numbers and it can carry the most important missiles. Trained pilots are also plentiful.
Due to inflation and multiple improvements to the aircraft, the price of an F-16 rose from around $15 million in 1998 to about $30-35 million by 2017. Now the price hovers around $63 million. (USAF)
It is not about survivability in a dogfight. It is simply to keep a platform in the air that can periodically strike targets behind Russia’s lines to cause some pain. Not to change anything but to cause some pain by attacking those targets that are not well-defended. It also boosts Ukrainian morale by maintaining the perception that they still have an active Air Force and are hitting Russian targets.
I think the question is not whether they will operate from Ukrainian soil or from NATO soil. Or whether NATO pilots will fly them or Ukrainians. It simply doesn’t matter as long these planes are operating in Ukraine and don’t attack the Black Sea Fleet or old Russian territory. The vectors of approach are also relevant. Will they approach directly from Romania, flying over the Black Sea? I don’t think this would be tolerated.
And what about the pilots? There is always the discussion about what planes Ukrainian pilots can fly and whether they can learn to fly NATO planes since they are used to flying only Soviet designs. Okay? Which Ukrainian pilots? Almost all of them turned already into ghosts of Kiev.
There is credible information that the Ukrainians sent a few guys with no motivation and education to the West to learn to fly F16s. The West is not even confident whether these guys will ever be capable of flying an F16. And if so, only after another year.
Who will fly these planes then, IF they appear? Of course: NATO mercenaries! Also, there is an almost unlimited supply of these planes. I think the babbling about the Dutch F16s, etc., is only a distraction. Yes, maybe they will be delivered, or maybe not. But there are more than enough available to make them vanish without account.
So, yes. They will possibly appear and continue what the Soviet planes did before. Maybe, slightly more effectively since they will be Western pilots with Western planes and Western missiles. So, maybe one or another missile will get through and destroy XYZ. And then, after using it for practice to calibrate Russian air defense algorithms, they will become targets for the turkey shoot again.
There is another aspect. Russia could soon start to advance deeply in the Dnieper direction and beyond. These troops will become more vulnerable to air-to-surface missiles since they will be mainly protected by short-range air means, which will not be calibrated to the new threat at first. Note: No one will use S-400 missiles to shoot down air-launched missiles against troops… Yes, that is a little sad but it is reality. Still, the missile carrier (the plane) definitely could receive a welcome gift from an S-400 battery.
Dnieper Bridges
Since the beginning, there has always been the question of why the Dnieper bridges are still standing. I answered that question very early on. You can read it from the beginning of BMA. It was always in Russia’s favor to fight the Ukrainian army on the East Side of the Dnieper instead of on the West Side. Why?
Friendly population
Short Supply Lines
Bordering with (old) Russia
Establishes Supply Lines
Strategic and Operational long-range air defense
Less need for Logistics Equipment
The absolute opposite applies to the Ukrainians.
Recently, rumors have circulated “explaining” why Russia hasn’t destroyed the bridges:
Asset for negotiations
I don’t think so.
Red lines by the West
I don’t think so.
No means to destroy it
It is a challenge to destroy the major bridges over the Dnieper, especially from a distance. If one hits only the spans, they can certainly be restored repeatedly, for military purposes. We saw that with the Antonivskyi bridge in Kherson. It was penetrated daily like Swiss cheese, and after a day or two, it was operational again for Russian military transport.
So, to destroy a bridge in a way that you can’t restore it quickly, the pillars need to be destroyed, and therefore, you need a missile/rocket with a lot of explosive energy or with a lot of kinetic energy to penetrate the pillars.
Of course, this does not apply to every kind of bridge architecture, but a lot of the Dnieper Bridges were constructed in the Soviet way with military and civil dual-purpose considerations.
So, yes – it is a challenge to destroy the Dnieper bridges. But it is possible. Especially since we can assume that the production of Kinzhals has been ramped up. I think they would be the best way to penetrate the Bridge Pillars effectively.
Still, these are scarce resources, and Russia will use them only on these Bridges after a strategic decision by the top leadership.
Waiting for the right moment to destroy them
I would argue that it would make sense to preserve these Bridges for after the war, since this will be Russia. And for Russian Army logistics for operations on the West side of the Dnieper IF needed. All of this will then be Russia, and these bridges will need to be restored, which is resource-intensive.
Nevertheless, I think that these bridges will be destroyed by the Ukrainians themselves anyway when they withdraw to the West side of the Dnieper, so this consideration doesn’t make sense at all.
Hence, there is still the possibility that Russia will delay the destruction until most of the Ukrainian army troops and equipment are on the east side. In other words, when the number of reinforcements is dwindling. Then Russia can isolate the whole grouping of Ukrainian forces on the east side from safety on the west side without the possibility of reinforcement or withdrawal.
This might occur within the next few weeks or months.
However, destroying the Dnieper bridges could be just one escalation step of many by the Russians. Some are tactical and will be done in response to escalation by Ukraine (the West). However, it is not very wise to escalate against Russia from a Ukrainian perspective. Since the West controls the playbook for Ukraine, their decisions are not to be measured by whether they are in Ukraine’s interest but whether they are in the West’s interest. And, again, everything that damages Russia or Ukraine (will be Russia again) is good. So, the West will continue the escalation.
Chasov Yar and Ocheretino
Russia has been targeting and slowly grinding down the best-defended Ukrainian frontline cities from the start of the SMO, instead of bypassing them through less defendable territories. This was the sole reason for forcing the Ukrainians to commit their best troops in such “meatgrinders” to attract them in the fastest possible way. The main stronghold for the Ukrainians in the Donbass region is currently Chasov Yar. If it falls, Russia has access to Kramatorsk and Slavyansk, which would be the last stand for Ukraine in the Donetsk region.
Ukraine is forced to commit everything possible to hold Chasov Yar, which is favorable to Russia. The remaining Ukrainian forces can be destroyed in one place. Russia plans its logistics around such meatgrinders to enable the best possible means of destroying everything inside such meatgrinder.
What does that mean?
Russian Air Defense and Electronic Warfare means are in place to protect the forward units from everything that flies on the frontlines. We can assume that Ukraine is concentrating some elite forces for battle in these places. So, everything should be done to protect Russia’s forward units against these possible threats.
Russia is concentrating its own air force assets (FABs?) and drone forces at such meatgrinders.
Russia is concentrating its artillery forces at such places.
Russia is also concentrating its reconnaissance means in such places.
In other words, Everything that is needed to protect its own forward troops and to inflict maximum damage on the enemy troops within the meat grinder to make it as effective as possible. Effectiveness is, of course, measured by the number of degraded enemy forces per period of time.
Now, is Chasov Yar a meatgrinder? I’d like to discuss this a little deeper.
If Ukraine is fully committed to holding Chasov Yar by all means, then the current Russian approach is insufficient to take the town. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that Russia is doing this or that wrong. I’m not qualified to say that. I’m only saying it won’t be sufficient to take the town by going right through the front door especially because the garrison can be supplied, for the time being, by multiple routes freely. It would be too costly to Russia.
I personally think that this is not even the Russian intention. I think Russia is going to take a foothold within Chasov Yar. And then develop the flanks to create larger wedges from the north and the south, which would enable Russia to create step-by-step another large meatgrinder with the potential of thousands or tens of thousands of Ukrainian casualties, before attempting to take the town. I drew my thoughts about how the flanks would need to be developed to create another meatgrinder for the purpose of destroying the Ukrainian Army.
Provided that there is intelligence in place, that Ukraine is lacking the strength the manpower to hold Chasov Yar at all, the plan could be to take the town directly without creating a meat grinder. Both are possible, but I’m rather inclined to support the scenario of creating another meat grinder. Especially after reports appeared that foreign legion troops could be deployed in Chasov Yar, it would be a great place from a Russian perspective to bury them there without moving in.
Is it necessary to take Chasov Yar by force at all? Maybe not. This leads me to the next topic. Ocheretino. In 2022, during the Russian operation to free the Lugansk People’s Republic, Russia managed to break through the Ukrainian lines and take a town on an important height, Popasnaya. And from this town, which was now behind Ukrainian lines, the Russian troops advanced in all directions, which resembled a blooming flower if viewed on a map.
The same applies now to Ocheretino. It also is on an important height and behind the Ukrainian lines. And this town fell. After it fell, Russia again started to advance in all directions, starting from Ocheretino behind the straight Ukrainian lines.
What is the implication of this? First, the length of the front line is now stretched by an order of magnitude. And there are another few such flowers in the making everywhere on the front lines from Kharkiv down to Zaporozhia. Every such flower will stretch the Ukrainian front lines and, by doing this, the demand for personnel to hold back the Russians.
And what resource is Ukraine lacking the most? Personnel. People.
The Russian forces can advance now in less-defended territory behind the Ukrainian main lines, complicating Ukraine’s defense far more.
All of what I just wrote now translates into one certain threat: Collapse.
I have no idea how many troops Ukraine has left, how many they can forcefully mobilize, or how many foreign legion mercenaries will be sent to the place to keep the lines from collapsing. But the question is not IF but WHEN. When will these facts lead to a total collapse of the Ukrainian forces on the east side of the Dnieper?
Again:
There is another meatgrinder in the making with the potential of eating tens of thousands of Ukrainians IF created.
The frontlines are being penetrated everywhere, and wedges, which translate into “flowers,” are being created everywhere. Which demands even more human resources to stabilize the front lines.
All of this raises the question of whether Chasov Yar, Kramatorsk, Sloviansk, etc., will need to be taken by force at all or will the Ukrainian forces on the east side of the Dnieper collapse earlier with a subsequent withdrawal to the west side of the Dnieper?
I have no answer for this but it makes sense to think these questions through.
I’m still curious whether we will see another vector of pressure in Kharkov and Sumy, from the Russian border. We’ll see.
Foreign Troops
There are ever more discussions and even indications that foreign troops might actually be deployed in Ukraine. Not just somewhere in Ukraine but directly in Chasov Yar. Is it true or not? Maybe. It doesn’t matter. We can say that roughly 1,000 additional troops (Ukrainian or Foreign) translate into 0.8-day prolonging of the war.
An example: 15,000 French troops (which I still doubt, except the foreign legion, which are mercenaries) translates into the prolonging of the war for = 15,000 x 0.8 = 12 days. The French would be gone (dead/wounded) in 12 days.
Okay, as long they do not set foot in Odessa. Then the Eifel Tower could be turned upside down suddenly…literally. All information is in place.
Before someone asks, 12 days prolongation of the war means 12 days prolongation of the war and not that when the French troops enter Ukraine, all of them would be dead after 12 days. There are a million questions to determine when and where they would fall. Would they be held in the rear to free up 15,000 Ukrainians? Then they would live a little longer and die step by step by constant drone and missile terror?
Would they be deployed to Chasov Yar? (Nonsense, it is not even logistically possible). Then, they would die within 12 days. Between this black-and-white scenario are many shades of grey.
So, I do not think so much about this Macronian nonsense. After all, I also believe that this whole operation was set up by Western Oligarchs as an operation to nudge the Germans ever more to “do something.” Which translates into “committing suicide.” But we will see.
Nuclear Weapons Drills
Odessa MUST NOT BE TOUCHED by any foreign troops. To highlight this fact in backchannels more information is trickling out. There are indications that Russia might start training with non-strategic (tactical?) nuclear weapons. Most likely, we are talking about command-level training and/or actual live-fire training with dummy weapons. I don’t know. But it is the clearest sign that everybody who touches Russian cities currently occupied by Ukraine, which are being marked as strategic (ODESA!!!!!!), will die. Not only the soldiers themselves but the leaders who gave the orders as well. I maintain my assessment from my previous article that I don’t expect such a scenario (10%).
Still, we could see a lot of Western mercenaries dying on the frontlines while trying to stabilize the collapsing front lines. But this doesn’t matter. Remember: 1,000 people = 0.8 days.
Aleks is the nom de guerre of the chief editor of Black Mountain Analysis. He is a geopolitical and economic analyst, an engineer, and an expert in logistics. His ethnic roots seem to be Serbian.
[i] Edited by Piquet (EditPiquet@gmail.com)
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Lili News 029
In cynicism and power, the US propaganda machine easily surpasses Orwells Ministry of Truth.
Now the fight against anti-semitism is being weaponised as a new sanctimonious McCarthyism.
Unless opposed, neither justice nor our Constitutional right to Free Speech will survive this assault.
Things to keep in mind...
Neo-Nazi ideology has become one of the main protagonists of political and social life in Ukraine since the 2014 coup d'état. Meanwhile, fascist ideology and blatant lies also permeate the consciousness of most people in the West. Those in the comfortable top 10%, the "PMCs" (Professional Managerial Class), are especially vulnerable. They support and disseminate such ideas. They are the executors of the actual ruling class' orders, those in the 0.001%, who remain largely invisible. The PMCs are the political class, the media whores, the top military brass, some people in academia, and the "national security/foreign policy" industry honchos. Push back against these unethical, contaminated people with the truth while you can.
The views expressed herein are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of The Greanville Post. However, we do think they are important enough to be transmitted to a wider audience.
Since the overpaid media shills will never risk their careers to report the truth, the world must rely on citizen journalists to provide the facts that explain reality.
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If the so-called “moderate” position of your nation’s political status quo is to accept, normalize, support and defend the sort of evil that is being inflicted upon the people of Gaza, then you should want to get as far away from that “moderate” position as possible.
What’s happening in Gaza should radicalize you. It absolutely should.
Right now, even as its own criminality hits fever pitch, the western political-media class is fretting with increasing shrillness about young people getting “radicalized” and turned against their government by the spread of information and ideas at campus demonstrations and on TikTok.
But young people should be radicalizing right now. Everyone should.
“Entire residential squares being blown up.” Netanyahu is unleashing hell on Rafah in direct opposition to Biden’s (public) opposition. https://t.co/wicnLDxLET
When you see US senators assist this horrifying onslaught by publicly threateningthe International Criminal Court if they dare to indict Israeli officials for war crimes, that should radicalize you.
When you see Israel shutting down Al Jazeera to quash news reporting about its criminality immediately before launching this mass atrocity, that should radicalize you.
When you see the US president publicly supporting and encouraging violent police crackdowns against protesters opposing his genocidal actions in Gaza, that should radicalize you.
If the so-called “moderate” position of your nation’s political status quo is to accept, normalize, support and defend the sort of evil that is being inflicted upon the people of Gaza, then you should want to get as far away from that “moderate” position as possible, and you should seek the complete annihilation of that political status quo.
Uhhh excuse me but is it not freakish and disturbing that we're now seeing US police forces and local officials taking it as a given that it is their job to stop the spread of political opinions they don't like? The NYC mayor has been saying the same thing. https://t.co/ytXNOzop0g
This obvious point is being aggressively attacked with rapidly intensifying frenzy by the empire and its lackeys.
After police violently shut down anti-genocide campus demonstrations in New York City, Mayor Eric Adams said “There is a movement to radicalize young people, and I’m not going to wait until it’s done… I’m not going to allow that to happen as the mayor of the City of New York,” as though preventing the spread of radical political opinions is something a mayor is elected to do in the United States.
NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtry ominously told the pressthat there is “some organization” who is “radicalizing our students,” and that the New York police force intends to “find out who that is.” Again, the implication being that it is the job of the police to control the spread of unauthorized political opinions.
In a talk at the McCain Institute on Friday, Senator Mitt Romney told Secretary of State Antony Blinken that Congress supports banning TikTok because it shares information that turns people’s opinions against Israel, saying such information has a “very, very challenging effect on the narrative.”
Incredible mask-off moment: Romney and Blinken say that the ban of TikTok was directly because "the emotion, the impact of images has a very challenging effect on the narrative", the narrative being "Israel's PR".pic.twitter.com/WkIGTAXG2X
A new report from The Intercept reveals that congressmen Mike Lawler and Josh Gottheimer called on the FBI to investigate campus protesters at a “centrist” political group called No Labels, suggesting there these demonstrations have a nefarious support system which the federal police should look into.
MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough went full Alex Jones on his show last week, telling his audience that these university protests have been happening because Qatar has “poured hundreds of millions of dollars into American universities to have a radicalizing effect on Middle Eastern studies.”
Empire managers and propagandists have been pushing the narrative that foreign governments are behind this new protest movement to radicalize young people against Washington and Israel, though as we discussed recently they humorously can’t yet manage to agree on which foreign government that is.
The imperial spinmeisters have been churning out these talking points about radicalization and nefarious support because that’s the narrative bludgeon they plan on using to stomp out the burgeoning antiwar movement the empire has created with its genocidal atrocities in Gaza. If they can establish a narrative that it is the government’s job to shut down political dissent and stop the spread of unauthorized political opinions, then they can justify doing pretty much anything to stop this movement in its tracks.
All to shut down something that absolutely should be happening. Young people should be cultivating radical political positions in response to an active genocide that’s supported by their government. An antiwar movement should be forming against the imperial murder machine as its murderousness gets more and more insane. People should be aggressively rejecting the political status quo that has allowed this nightmare to be unleashed upon humanity.
Everyone should be turning against the US-centralized empire right now. Don’t let the imperial manipulators dupe our society into believing this turn is anything but a correct and appropriate response to what the empire is doing.
Lili News 029
In cynicism and power, the US propaganda machine easily surpasses Orwells Ministry of Truth.
Now the fight against anti-semitism is being weaponised as a new sanctimonious McCarthyism.
Unless opposed, neither justice nor our Constitutional right to Free Speech will survive this assault.
All my work is free to bootleg and use in any way, shape or form; republish it, translate it, use it on merchandise; whatever you want. My work is entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, throwing some money into my tip jar on Patreon, Paypal, or Substack, buying an issue of my monthly zine, and following me on Facebook, Twitter, Soundcloud or YouTube. If you want to read more you can buy my books. The best way to make sure you see the stuff I publish is to subscribe to the mailing list on Substack, which will get you an email notification for everything I publish. For more info on who I am, where I stand, and what I’m trying to do with this platform, click here. All works co-authored with my husband Tim Foley.
This is a dispatch from our ongoing series by Caitlin Johnstone
Caitlin Johnstoneis a brave journalist, political junkie, relentless feminist, champion of the 99 percent. And a powerful counter-propaganda tactician.
In 1991, Frank Donner, former director of the ACLU’s Project on Political Surveillance, published a book entitled Protectors of Privilege, which provided a history of police suppression of left-wing and labor protests in the United States.
[Source: target.com]
A key chapter in the book focused on the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), whose reactionary political function was epitomized by two of its most notorious chiefs: William Parker and Daryl Gates, who were overtly racist and supported anti-democratic paramilitary policing practices.
The LAPD’s true colors were on display at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) at the end of April when its officers stood by for hours as hundreds of right-wing vigilantes attacked pro-Palestinian demonstrators in what Al Jazeeradescribed as a “really shocking and ugly scene of violence.” The LAPD then aggressively broke up the pro-Palestinian demonstrators’ encampment using flash bangs and riot gear, arresting around 200 of the anti-genocide protesters who were entirely peaceful. (none of the vigilantes were arrested).[1]
Pro-Israel attackers try to remove barricades at a pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of California, Los Angeles, on May 1, 2024. [Source: msn.com]
On May 2, a day after the break-up of the encampment, I visited the UCLA campus and witnessed students and university employees clearing the protest area.
Though many of the students were refusing to speak to any media, I managed to interview one, Lisa Cooper, who described herself as a seasoned organizer originally from New York who had joined the protesters in solidarity with them.
Cooper told me that she helped run a wellness center in the encampment that brought in acupuncturists who administered treatment to students who had either been physically attacked or were dealing with emotional trauma and the stress of living in the encampment while studying for mid-terms.
The students believed they had to do something in the face of the horrific atrocities going on in Gaza.
Cooper said that dissent was currently under siege in the U.S. and that the protests provided an opportunity to get people thinking about societal problems and realities, and that the students involved felt empowered by their experience, which they would take with them into other aspects of their lives.
“this is a public university that preaches the importance of education, and yet, topics like Palestine are not taught. A lot of the programming shows that people here are taking their education into their own hands, and learning what it means to teach each other and enact activist values.”[2]
University employees clearing material from protest encampment area at UCLA on May 2. [Source: Photo courtesy of Jeremy Kuzmarov]
According to Cooper, public protest is a right Americans enjoy under the U.S. Constitution and that this should not be forgotten.
Cooper said that the right-wing vigilantes who stormed the encampment were equipped with bear mace, projectiles and other weapons that they deployed against protesters, causing injuries to some of the students.
One protester had 16 staples inserted into his scalp.
UCLA employees clearing protest signs and other items from encampment after the LAPD violently dispersed the anti-genocide protests. [Source: Photo courtesy of Jeremy Kuzmarov]
Because the students did not want to call 911 and put themselves at risk of suspension or arrest, other students drove them to the hospital by car.
Cooper herself was not injured in the attack, but said that the vigilantes hurled racial slurs at her (she is African-American).
UCLA students clearing material from protest encampment on May 2. [Source: Photo courtesy of Jeremy Kuzmarov]
The main police units that broke up the encampment were officers of the California Highway Patrol (CHP) who, she said, are not required to wear body cam devices. CHP was backed up by the LAPD, whose presence was ubiquitous around the campus during my visit.
Cooper said that UCLA should be called to account for not allowing peaceful protests on public property.
UCLA President Michael Drake released a statement supporting the university’s decision to label the protest encampment as unlawful, noting that, “when it threatens the safety of students or everyone else, we must act.”[3]
MAY GOD PROTECT US FROM UNCLE TOMS—UCLA President Michael Drake [Source: thelantern.com]
Corporate media falsely accuse pro-Palestine protesters of "horrific violence".
During the vigilante attack, a group reportedly piled on one person who lay on the ground, kicking and beating the person until others pulled him out of the scrum. The editor of the UCLA Daily Bruin, Catherine Hamilton, was punched in the chest and upper abdomen by the vigilantes. Robert Reynolds of Al Jazeerareported that the vigilante mob, which called for a second Nakba, “appear[ed] to be all largely people who are not of student age and they’re not from the UCLA campus, but what they’re doing is trying to harass and attack the pro-Palestinian demonstrators.” The leaders of the anti-war encampment at UCLA said that “law enforcement simply stood at the edge of the lawn and refused to budge as we screamed for their help. The only means of protection we had was each other as the attack went on for more than seven hours.” “The university would rather see us dead than divest,” it added in a statement posted on X. The Los Angeles Public Defenders’ Union called the UCLA arrests “shameful and a complete failure of leadership.” President Garrett Miller said they are ready to “represent every person facing charges.” ↑
Dylan Winward, “Encampment Hosts Programming, Draws Counter-Protesters,” UCLA Daily Bruin, April 26, 2014, 2. Winward’s article detailed how Jewish Voices for Peace organized a passover seder in the encampment and shabbat service, dispelling the myth that somehow the students involved in the encampment were anti-semites. ↑
Anna Dai-Liu and Dylan Winward, “Pro-Israel counter-protesters attempt to storm encampment, sparking violence,” UCLA Daily Bruin, May 1, 2024, 1. ↑
Sam Mulick, “UCLA Community Responds to Palestine Solidarity Encampment,” UCLA Daily Bruin, APril 26, 2024, 3 quotes from students, the majority of whom had highly positive views of the encampment. This included numbers of Jewish students. One student quoted in the article expressed appreciation that students of this generation were politically active and cared about the plight of oppressed people in the world, while another said the encampment was an effective method to engage community members on the campus. Still another, a psychology student, Erin Lee, told The Daily Bruin that UCLA should offer more support to Palestinian students, and that the university had taken a direct role in the war in Gaza through its investments in companies affiliated with the Israeli military. She added correctly that while she thinks students in the encampment were sending a very powerful message, she doubts the UC system will respond to their actions. ↑
In cynicism and power, the US propaganda machine easily surpasses Orwells Ministry of Truth.
Now the fight against anti-semitism is being weaponised as a new sanctimonious McCarthyism.
Unless opposed, neither justice nor our Constitutional right to Free Speech will survive this assault.
Things to keep in mind...
Neo-Nazi ideology has become one of the main protagonists of political and social life in Ukraine since the 2014 coup d'état. Meanwhile, fascist ideology and blatant lies also permeate the consciousness of most people in the West. Those in the comfortable top 10%, the "PMCs" (Professional Managerial Class), are especially vulnerable. They support and disseminate such ideas. They are the executors of the actual ruling class' orders, those in the 0.001%, who remain largely invisible. The PMCs are the political class, the media whores, the top military brass, some people in academia, and the "national security/foreign policy" industry honchos. Push back against these unethical, contaminated people with the truth while you can.
The views expressed herein are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of The Greanville Post. However, we do think they are important enough to be transmitted to a wider audience.
Since the overpaid media shills will never risk their careers to report the truth, the world must rely on citizen journalists to provide the facts that explain reality.
Unfortunately, most people take this site for granted. DONATIONS HAVE ALMOST DRIED UP… PLEASE send what you can today! JUST USE THE BUTTON BELOW
Garland Nixon • Joti Brar
PLUS: Garland's latest chat with Joti (Ep. 13)—Imperialism's tricks, its unstoppable downfall, and the false Trotskyist option—
