WHO IS RESPONSIBLE ?

There are people of conscience who see what's going on in Yemen, and talk about how terrible it is something like that is going on " over there", and how lucky we are to live here. There is a definite disconnect between " us " and " them " in most people's minds. Well assholes, we are all interconnected, and all too often, the western world is directly responsible for what's going on " over there ". So read this, motherfuckers :

Saudi Arabia Escalates Genocidal, American-Backed War in Yemen

U.S. Rulers Maneuver as 14 Million Yemenis on Brink of Starvation

November 26, 2018 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

The Saudi-led coalition’s three-and-a-half-year-long war of aggression on Yemen has killed tens of thousands, pushed millions to the brink of starvation, and created the worst humanitarian catastrophe in the world today. This war has been enabled and supported by the U.S. and Britain from the start—with planes, bombs, intelligence, refueling, ships, special operations forces, and more.

In early November, the Saudi-led coalition escalated this murderous—and potentially genocidal—assault on Yemen’s port city of Hodeidah with near continuous airstrikes that have already killed hundreds.

Between 70 and 80 percent of Yemen’s food, medicine, and other aid comes through Hodeidah. This Saudi-led escalation is obviously aimed at seizing control of this lifeline in order to starve the Houthi movement and Yemen’s people into surrender (or strengthen the U.S.-Saudi position at any peace negotiations). But this criminal assault is already putting millions more Yemenis in danger.

In recent weeks, there have been temporary ceasefires, and peace talks between the Saudi coalition, Yemen’s Houthi movement, and the other parties involved have been scheduled to begin in December. But it is far from clear whether they will actually take place or what the outcome will be, so the danger of a renewed Saudi-led offensive looms ominously.

Starvation and Disease: Weapons of War, Backed by the U.S.

The Saudis have been waging a war whose strategy involves starving and sickening the Yemeni people. The Saudis have blockaded food, medicine, and other needed goods, while bombing Yemen’s food, water, and medical systems, and infrastructure. In other words, the U.S.-backed Saudi coalition is using starvation and disease as weapons of war—a savage, monstrous war crime.

On November 17, the Guardian reported that Hodeidah’s “largest public hospital was attacked three times in the last week, forcing patients—some of whom were still connected to medical devices—to run into the streets.” It also reported that the cost of basic food staples had doubled in the last eight months as incomes dropped. “For a country that’s dependent on imports for the basic needs of life, this is disaster,” one relief worker told the paper.¹

The number of Yemenis now on the brink of starvation has skyrocketed from 8.4 million to over 14 million. “Every ten minutes, a Yemeni child under the age of five dies from ‘severe acute malnourishment’ or preventable diseases, UNICEF reports.” Relief officials call this the worst famine in 100 years—on top of the worst cholera epidemic in modern history—which makes previous famines such as the 1944 Bengal famine which killed three million and the famine in Rwanda which took 800,000 lives pale in comparison.

Meanwhile, new studies have shown that the number directly killed in the war, mainly by U.S. and British bombs dropped by the Saudi coalition, is at least 57,000 people—over five times more than previously reported.

One heartbreaking reality: child marriages have sharply risen because destitute parents have been forced to marry off daughters they can no longer feed!

One aid worker called the situation in Yemen an “apocalyptic scenario.”

Sharp Differences Among U.S. Rulers Over How to Pursue Their Predatory Interests

On October 30, the State Department called for a “peaceful solution to the conflict in Yemen,” and Secretary of State Pompeo and Defense Secretary Mattis have called for a ceasefire by the end of November. The U.S. has also ended mid-air refueling of Saudi warplanes.

The heartless oppressors heading the imperialist state aren’t taking these steps because they suddenly give a damn about human life and suffering. And it is far from clear that the Trump/Pence regime itself is united on an approach. (See “Dissecting (and Revealing the Truth in) Trump’s Cold-Blooded Statement on Murder of Journalist Jamal Khashoggi: ‘The World Is a Very Dangerous Place’... and We’re Going to Commit Any Crime, Tell Any Lie, and Support Any Butcher to Keep ‘America First’!”) But to the degree the regime is pursuing this path, they are doing so because of the sharp contradictions the war in Yemen poses for them and Saudi Arabia.

Some in the U.S. ruling class fear that Yemen has turned into an unwinnable quagmire that (along with Khashoggi’s murder and other crises) may be gravely weakening the Saudi kingdom, which has been one of the linchpins of the U.S. empire—its Middle East domination in particular—since 1945. (One Washington Post columnist wrote, “The bottom line: Saudi Arabia is at an existential tipping point. The United States urgently needs to understand how the kingdom got into this grisly mess, and where it’s going.”)

Today, the U.S. rulers see Iran, whose reach is growing and contention with Saudi Arabia for influence is sharpening, as the main threat to their control of the Middle East. They may have concluded that continuing the war in Yemen could create openings for Iran, weaken Saudi Arabia, and make it more difficult for the Saudis to help spearhead the Trump/Pence regime’s full-court press against Iran’s Islamic Republic.²

The war in Yemen has also exposed the U.S., Britain, and France—supposedly the “good guys” in the world—as guilty of abetting some of the most massive, murderous war crimes taking place anywhere on earth. The horrors of this U.S.-Saudi war are being driven home to millions around the world who are now seeing pictures of emaciated, starving children. The exposure of such brutal atrocities has the potential to cause many all over the world to question the legitimacy of those who’ve carried them out, and this can have profound consequences for the rulers—as we’ve seen in previous wars like Vietnam.

So the imperialists are maneuvering, including calling for a ceasefire and peace talks. But they’re doing so in ways that further their imperialist interests and which leave open the possibility of further, genocidal escalations.

For example, when the U.S. suspended its mid-air refueling of Saudi warplanes, Mattis stated it was done in consultation with the Saudis, who can now refuel their own planes. He also made clear the U.S. would continue to back the Saudi war in Yemen, and “collaborate on building up legitimate Yemeni forces.” The U.S. didn’t end other forms of military support to the Saudis. It’s recently been revealed that the Pentagon is carrying out a secret operation in support of the Saudi military in Yemen, in addition to its deployment of Green Berets on the Yemen-Saudi border. (Yahoo News, 11/10) In short, while the Trump/Pence regime—or some elements of it—may be pressuring the Saudis to end the war, it’s attempting to do so without weakening them.

Further, the U.S. and the Saudis will attempt to advance their reactionary interests through whatever “ceasefires” or talks that take place. Pompeo and the Trump/Pence regime have put the burden of ending this U.S.-Saudi-UAE aggression on the targets of that aggression, Yemen’s Houthi movement. The Houthis are a religiously based reactionary movement in Yemen which has long opposed Saudi efforts to dominate that country. Now the U.S. is demanding that the Houthis have to stop fighting first, and only then will the U.S.-backed Saudi coalition cease its bombings and assaults.

(The Houthis have some ties with Iran, and a Houthi victory or Saudi defeat could open the door to greater Iranian influence. But calling Yemen a “proxy war” between Iran and Saudi Arabia, which the U.S. media repeatedly does, is a lie. It’s like calling Israel’s murderous assaults on Gaza a “war” rather than the one-sided slaughter that they are.)

Meanwhile, Pompeo has condemned Iran for doing nothing to “prevent the starvation” in Yemen—never mind that Iran has no boots or the ground or planes in the air over Yemen and the U.S. itself and Saudi Arabia bear overwhelming responsibility for the carnage.

In sum, the U.S. rulers are now seeking an end to the war in Yemen (which may or may not take place) on terms favorable to their imperialist interests, including to stabilize the barbaric, medieval kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and to better prepare for more aggression and greater crimes to come... against Iran.

This System Cannot Be Reformed, It Must Be Overthrown...

This war (and other wars) continue, despite exposure after exposure of their terrible toll because the U.S.-dominated system of capitalism-imperialism cannot function without exploiting labor, resources, and markets around the world, and politically and militarily dominating key strategic regions like the Middle East. Saudi Arabia and other blood-soaked oppressors like Israel and Egypt play key roles in America’s exercise of this dominance. The dynamics of their system compel the imperialists to compete, maneuver, and if need be go to war with other powers or forces—large and small—to maintain and extend their grip. This is why devastating reactionary wars can never be ended under this system—doing that requires a revolution to overthrow this system.

It is unacceptable—and unnecessary—that 14 million people in Yemen are forced to the brink of starvation by this war, among its other great horrors. On the basis of the reality of these horrors, the legitimacy of these regimes—U.S. and Saudi—should be laid bare, and the illegitimacy of this whole system of capitalism-imperialism brought to the fore. Their maneuvers to escalate their aggression against Iran need to be exposed, opposed, and resisted. Their “victories” strengthen their global empire of enslavement and oppression while their defeats and failure, in conjunction with what revolutionaries and masses of people do in relation to that, can weaken their ability to carry out further atrocities, and can contribute to exposing the illegitimacy of the whole setup, hastening its demise.

STOP Wars of Empire, Armies of Occupation, and Crimes Against Humanity!

---

1. “UK to push Saudis for Yemen ceasefire,” November 17. [back]

2. Vali Naser, a scholar and former official in the Obama administration, points to some of the rulers’ concerns in the wake of Khashoggi’s murder: “Middle East strategy is in deep trouble, now compounded by the murder of the dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Turkey last month. The administration’s recent pressure on the Saudis to seek a truce in their war in Yemen is a clear signal of just how much the credibility of Saudi Arabia, which is at the heart of that strategy, has shrunk…. The strategy’s goal was to work with the Saudis to contain Iran’s influence in the Middle East.” “A Saudi Murder Becomes a Gift to Iran,” New York Times, November 12. [back]

Now that you’ve read this article, take a moment to consider the crucial role this website plays. In this world of multiplying crises and growing horrors, there are answers, and there are solutions, but people are being systematically lied to and misled by this system’s representatives. Revcom.us/Revolution sharply exposes this system’s crimes, analyzes the need and possibility for an actual revolution and a whole different way the world could be, and shows how people can work now in a unified wayfor revolution. It is a key way for people to engage with and spread the work and leadership of Bob Avakian, the leader of this revolution and the architect of a new framework for revolution, the new synthesis of communism.

We urge you to become a sustainer of revcom.us and to donate generously. Thousands of dollars are urgently needed now to maintain, expand, and publicize our site, to support staff, dispatch correspondents, and more.

Click to donate to revcom.us:

CAN YOU SEE IT YET ?

It needs to emphasized a million fucking times that kkkanada is an imperialist country, with no lesser ambitions than any of the other ones. We can try to wash over it, but what's the point ? Reality needs to be heard and learned. Read this :

NOVEMBER 27, 2018 · 14:49

Canadian wars more about imperialism than ‘defending democracy’

Now that November 11 and the official “remembering” of our “heroes”, their “bravery” and “greatness” is over, it is a good time to take a deeper, more critical look at Canada’s participation in wars.

While on Remembrance Day we are told to  “thank a soldier for your freedoms” and the commemorations talk about “defending democracy”, the reality of wars’ connections to colonialism, imperialism, and oppression are ignored.

A Global News story about Nova Scotia university students visiting Canadian World War II soldiers’ graves in West Africa highlights the matter. The report ignored that The Gambia, where the Canadians were buried, was a British colony at the time and that Canadian forces legitimated European rule in Africa during the country’s only ‘morally justifiable’ war.

(Nazi expansionism’s threat to British interests, not opposition to fascism or anti-Semitism, led Ottawa to battle but WWII was ultimately justifiable.)

During the Second World War Canadians fought by land, sea and air in colonial Africa. Describing a support mission in 1943 a Hamilton Spectator headline noted: “Canada Supplied 29 Ships and 3000 of Her Sailors for North African Action”. Many Canadian fighter pilots also operated over the continent. “During the Second World War,” notes Canadian African studies scholar Douglas Anglin, “considerable numbers of Canadian airmen served in R.A.F. [Royal Air Force] squadrons in various parts of the continent, particularly North Africa.” More than a half-dozen Canadian pilots defended the important Royal Air Force base at Takoradi, Ghana, and others traveled there to follow the West African Reinforcement Route, which delivered thousands of fighter planes to the Middle East and North African theatre of the war.

After Germany invaded France part of the French government relocated to the south. The Vichy regime continued to control France’s colonies during WWII. In a bid to prod Philippe Pétain’s regime to re-enter the war alongside the Allies, Canadian diplomat Pierre Dupuy visited on three occasions between 1940 and 1941. Describing Dupuy’s mission and the thinking in Ottawa at the time, Robin Gendron notes, “for the Canadian government as for the Allies in general, the colonies had no separate existence outside of France. In practical terms, the colonies were France.” Later in the war Prime Minister Mackenzie King expressed a similar opinion regarding Britain’s colonies. “In December 1942,” Gendron reports, “King informed the British Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs that colonial policy must remain the responsibility of the colonial powers, and he reiterated this position in late 1944 when the British government asked for Canada’s input on the latest proposals for the postwar settlement of colonial issues.”

Without Canada’s major contribution to WWII Britain and France may not have held their African colonies. And during World War I, which is the origin of Remembrance Day, Canadians helped the British, French and Belgians expand their colonial possessions in Africa. As I detail in Canada and Africa: 300 Years of Aid and Exploitation, Canada was modestly involved in two African theatres of WWI.

In the lead-up to the Great War hundreds of Canadians, usually trained at Kingston’s Royal Military College, fought to help Britain (and the Belgian King) conquer various parts of the continent. Canadians led military expeditions, built rail lines and surveyed colonial borders across the continent in the late 1800s and early 1900s. More significantly, four hundred Canadians traveled halfway across the world to beat back anti-colonial resistance in the Sudan in 1884-85 while a decade and a half later thousands more fought in defence of British imperial interests in the southern part of the continent.

If we are going to learn anything from history, Remembrance Day commemorations should include discussion of Canadian military support for European colonialism in Africa and elsewhere. To really understand war and its causes, we must take a look at its victims as well as its victors.

Comments Offon Canadian wars more about imperialism than ‘defending democracy’

Filed under A Propaganda System, Canada in Africa

Tagged as colonialism, Congo, The Gambia

DIG A LITTLE

This is why you can't take anything at face value , and why words like " freedom" ,  "democracy " , and other imperialist buzzwords mean absolutely nothing out of context . Read this article dissecting a speech by asshole warmonger moron mass murderer trump.

Dissecting (and Revealing the Truth in) Trump’s Cold-Blooded Statement
on Murder of Journalist Jamal Khashoggi:

“The World Is a Very Dangerous Place”... and We’re Going to Commit Any Crime, Tell Any Lie, and Support Any Butcher to Keep “America First”

November 26, 2018 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

“America First!” That’s how Donald Trump began and ended his November 20 statement addressing Saudi Arabia’s gruesome murder and dismemberment of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul, Turkey, on October 2.

Khashoggi’s murder had sparked a global furor and created what the Washington Post called a “foreign policy crisis” for the U.S. Trump had dodged and double-talked around the issue of who was responsible for the killing for weeks. But growing evidence and even a CIA assessment that Trump ally Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) had ordered the assassination—along with the way in which the Khashoggi furor was turning global attention toward the towering war crimes being committed by the U.S. and Saudi Arabia in Yemen—forced Trump’s hand.

Trump didn’t back down from his support for MBS and the blood-soaked, medieval Saudi kingdom. He doubled down. And in the course of his lie-filled, fascist rant, he laid bare some truths about what this country is all about, what it really brings to the world, and the serious difficulties America’s empire is mired in.

Just titling a statement about this brutal murder “Standing with Saudi Arabia” and starting and ending it with declarations of “America First!” spoke volumes and sent a barbaric message. This made clear that he and his regime weren’t going to let Jamal Khashoggi’s murder, concern for traditional norms like abiding by international law, professed concerns for human rights and press freedoms, and a little thing like the truth get in the way of their pursuit of naked imperialist domination and plunder. Instead, they stood ready to commit any crime, tell any lie, and embrace any ally, no matter how barbaric, if that advanced the interests and overcame the obstacles faced by their predatory system.

“The world is a very dangerous place!” Trump continued. But he wasn’t talking about how the U.S. has made it that way for decades by launching wars of aggression—in Korea, Vietnam, Central America, Iraq, Afghanistan—that have slaughtered tens of millions.

No! He was talking about the dangers to America’s global dominance, to America First, that were growing because of the contradictions rending the old “liberal [read: imperialist] world order.” Wars like the U.S. invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq were meant to secure American pre-eminence. Instead, they ended up contributing to a world in which American dominance and empire is being challenged from many different directions—by China, North Korea, Russia, and Iran, by reactionary Islamic fundamentalist militaries, by rival imperialists in Europe. And Trump represents one extreme—imperialist—answer to that; the one in power, and determined to hammer into place a fascist regime.

Targeting Iran—Not for Khashoggi’s Murder but for Challenging American Dominance

These challenges are especially acute in the Middle East, and Trump immediately pivoted—not to anything that had anything to do with Jamal Khashoggi or his murder—but to one of those dangers for “America First”—Iran. “The country of Iran, as an example, is responsible for a bloody proxy war against Saudi Arabia in Yemen,” Trump claimed, and then he ran out a litany of other offenses in Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria. And it’s true—since the revolution of 1979 that overthrew the U.S.-backed Shah, Iran’s reactionary Islamic Republic hasn’t been under the U.S. thumb and has extended its reach and influence across the region—in sharp competition with Saudi Arabia—and does threaten the U.S. death grip on the Middle East’s 400 million overwhelmingly oppressed and impoverished peoples.

While this naked imperialist geostrategic obsession with “solving the Iran problem” is shared by the entire U.S. ruling class, there are sharp contradictions over how to do that. These contradictions found expression in Trump’s reversal of the nuclear agreement negotiated by Obama, but extends even into Trump’s own “team.” One point of this speech, as we’ll get into, was to set terms on that for the whole ruling class.

Saudi Arabia, by contrast, is a bulwark for the American empire and a key spearhead of the escalating and dangerous U.S. offensive against Iran—a role the Khashoggi murder has seriously complicated. This—not business interests—is at the core of Trump’s “bond” with MBS, and Trump made it clear he’d do everything in his power to try and ensure that Khashoggi’s murder would not be allowed to weaken that bond or their joint offensive against Iran.

Green-Lighting Mass Murder in Yemen

Trump’s lies regarding Yemen were especially outrageous—and revealed the enormity of the crimes this fascist regime is willing to carry out in service of “America First.” After blaming Iran for starting the war in Yemen (a blatant lie—Saudi Arabia launched the war in March 2015), he claimed “Saudi Arabia would gladly withdraw from Yemen if the Iranians would agree to leave. They would immediately provide desperately needed humanitarian assistance.”

Say what? Iran may have provided Yemen’s Houthis, who are fighting the Saudis, some minimal military aid and political support. But they can’t “agree to leave” Yemen, because their forces have never been shown to be in Yemen! But Saudi Arabia and its allies are in Yemen: 150,000 troops and 100 warplanes which have conducted close to 20,000 bombing raids.

These Saudi forces are deliberately destroying Yemen’s food, water, and health systems and blocking humanitarian relief—in short, using starvation and disease as weapons in a war that’s murdered 50,000 people, starved 85,000 children to death, and pushed 14 million people to the brink of famine! And America and its planes and its bombs and its special forces are in Yemen too, making the slaughter possible and helping turn Yemen into the worst humanitarian crisis in the world today!

In the face of these monstrous horrors, Trump’s lies turned reality on its head and green-lighted further Saudi aggression there, aggression which now threatens to cut off Yemen’s only lifeline for humanitarian aid, the port of Hodeidah.

Hawking a Shameful, Chauvinist Bargain: American Jobs for Middle East Blood

Trump then went on to heap praise on Saudi Arabia. This longtime U.S. ally under both Democrats and Republicans is one of the most oppressive states in the world. Women have virtually no rights and people who violate even minor tenets of Islamic law or who dissent against the ruling House of Saud are publicly whipped or beheaded on a very regular basis. But Trump didn’t care about any of that: he crowed that the “Kingdom agreed to spend and invest $450 billion in the United States. This is a record amount of money. It will create hundreds of thousands of jobs, tremendous economic development, and much additional wealth for the United States.”

These are widely exposed lies (the Saudis have reportedly only pledged to buy $14.5 billion in U.S. arms), but Trump was dangling this to whip up and unite people around bellicose chauvinism and a poisonous bargain: “Don’t think about the murdered journalist, the starving children, the war-ravaged environment... just think about your own country and your own economic position, and support whatever crimes we deem necessary and you’ll get a share of the spoils of global plunder.”

Trump Finally Gets to Khashoggi...

Only after all this—after setting down an ideological orientation of “America First” and a strategic orientation of the need to work with Saudi Arabia to crush Iran—only then did Trump even bring up Khashoggi. First there’s some disingenuous double talk about how this “was a terrible crime” that “our country does not condone.” OK, box checked, the U.S. does not officiallysupport chopping up dissidents into little pieces.

But right from there, in classic Trumpian style, he brings up that some “say that Jamal Khashoggi was an ‘enemy of the state’ and a member of the Muslim Brotherhood.” Read between the lines and Trump is saying that Khashoggi got what he had coming (and by the way, Trump implies that the "enemies of the people"—journalists—in the U.S. deserve the same treatment).

Then the real kicker: Trump says “... it could very well be that the Crown Prince had knowledge of this tragic event—maybe he did and maybe he didn’t!” In other words, even if MBS did it, it doesn’t matter because our imperialist interests come first, and “the Kingdom ... has been a great ally in our very important fight against Iran. The United States intends to remain a steadfast partner of Saudi Arabia to ensure the interests of our country, Israel and all other partners in the region.”

Here again, Trump is blustering, but also revealing some of the profound strategic weaknesses and challenges the U.S. faces in the Middle East: most of its allies, including Saudi Arabia, are widely hated, internally fragile tyrannies presiding over viciously oppressed, and repressed, populations. The exception as regards this "internal fragility" is the settler-colonial state of Israel, America’s main military bastion in the region. But even in the case of Israel, its merciless ethnic cleansing has failed to break the resistance of the Palestinian people, and its assaults on Palestinians are increasingly condemned all over the world, including by a growing number of Jewish people.

Trump Threatens His Ruling Class Critics—Go Ahead, Make My Day!

Trump concludes by threatening his ruling class critics—none of whom saysthe U.S. should not have an extremely close alliance with Saudi Arabia or should not be putting a heavy squeeze on Iran, or rules out war with Iran. They just favor the traditional global norms and alliances as the best way to maintain U.S. imperialist control. In particular, these critics—ranging from the Democratic Party to Republican senator and Trump supporter Lindsey Graham, along with perhaps forces in his own administration—are concerned that MBS may be recklessly propelling the U.S. toward another war, which could end up weakening the U.S. hold on the Middle East... and perhaps worse. They are further worried that the whole incident weakens the legitimacy of MBS and the Saudis in any future conflict with Iran and is already having unpredictable and negative consequences, from the viewpoint of U.S. imperialist interests, in other power relations and arrangements in that part of the world. And they’re worried that brazenly ignoring any pretense of human rights, justice, truth, and nakedly practicing might-makes-right politics will expose the core nature of U.S. capitalism-imperialism and call its legitimacy into question—at home and around the world.

Trump seems to “acknowledge” these concerns (“I understand there are members of Congress who, for political or other reasons, would like to go in a different direction—and they are free to do so. I will consider whatever ideas are presented to me...”) only to forcefully dismiss them: “...but only if they are consistent with the absolute security and safety of America. ... As President of the United States I intend to ensure that, in a very dangerous world, America is pursuing its national interests and vigorously contesting countries that wish to do us harm. Very simply it is called America First!” In other words: This is what we are doing. If you agree I will listen to your ideas, if you don’t agree, shut up. And Trump’s warning that “The world is a very dangerous place” is aimed at reminding people, including people in the ruling class and even including people within the regime, what time it is.

He has told the world. Again. And what will we do?

Trump’s Statement on “Standing with Saudi Arabia”

The following is the text of the November 20 “Statement from President Donald J. Trump on Standing with Saudi Arabia”:

America First!

The world is a very dangerous place!

The country of Iran, as an example, is responsible for a bloody proxy war against Saudi Arabia in Yemen, trying to destabilize Iraq’s fragile attempt at democracy, supporting the terror group Hezbollah in Lebanon, propping up dictator Bashar Assad in Syria (who has killed millions of his own citizens), and much more. Likewise, the Iranians have killed many Americans and other innocent people throughout the Middle East. Iran states openly, and with great force, “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!” Iran is considered “the world’s leading sponsor of terror.”

On the other hand, Saudi Arabia would gladly withdraw from Yemen if the Iranians would agree to leave. They would immediately provide desperately needed humanitarian assistance. Additionally, Saudi Arabia has agreed to spend billions of dollars in leading the fight against Radical Islamic Terrorism.

After my heavily negotiated trip to Saudi Arabia last year, the Kingdom agreed to spend and invest $450 billion in the United States. This is a record amount of money. It will create hundreds of thousands of jobs, tremendous economic development, and much additional wealth for the United States. Of the $450 billion, $110 billion will be spent on the purchase of military equipment from Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and many other great U.S. defense contractors. If we foolishly cancel these contracts, Russia and China would be the enormous beneficiaries – and very happy to acquire all of this newfound business. It would be a wonderful gift to them directly from the United States!

The crime against Jamal Khashoggi was a terrible one, and one that our country does not condone. Indeed, we have taken strong action against those already known to have participated in the murder. After great independent research, we now know many details of this horrible crime. We have already sanctioned 17 Saudis known to have been involved in the murder of Mr. Khashoggi, and the disposal of his body.

Representatives of Saudi Arabia say that Jamal Khashoggi was an “enemy of the state” and a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, but my decision is in no way based on that – this is an unacceptable and horrible crime. King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman vigorously deny any knowledge of the planning or execution of the murder of Mr. Khashoggi. Our intelligence agencies continue to assess all information, but it could very well be that the Crown Prince had knowledge of this tragic event – maybe he did and maybe he didn’t!

That being said, we may never know all of the facts surrounding the murder of Mr. Jamal Khashoggi. In any case, our relationship is with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. They have been a great ally in our very important fight against Iran. The United States intends to remain a steadfast partner of Saudi Arabia to ensure the interests of our country, Israel and all other partners in the region. It is our paramount goal to fully eliminate the threat of terrorism throughout the world!

I understand there are members of Congress who, for political or other reasons, would like to go in a different direction – and they are free to do so. I will consider whatever ideas are presented to me, but only if they are consistent with the absolute security and safety of America. After the United States, Saudi Arabia is the largest oil producing nation in the world. They have worked closely with us and have been very responsive to my requests to keeping oil prices at reasonable levels – so important for the world. As President of the United States I intend to ensure that, in a very dangerous world, America is pursuing its national interests and vigorously contesting countries that wish to do us harm. Very simply it is called America First!

Now that you’ve read this article, take a moment to consider the crucial role this website plays. In this world of multiplying crises and growing horrors, there are answers, and there are solutions, but people are being systematically lied to and misled by this system’s representatives. Revcom.us/Revolution sharply exposes this system’s crimes, analyzes the need and possibility for an actual revolution and a whole different way the world could be, and shows how people can work now in a unified wayfor revolution. It is a key way for people to engage with and spread the work and leadership of Bob Avakian, the leader of this revolution and the architect of a new framework for revolution, the new synthesis of communism.

We urge you to become a sustainer of revcom.us and to donate generously. Thousands of dollars are urgently needed now to maintain, expand, and publicize our site, to support staff, dispatch correspondents, and more.

Click to donate to revcom.us:

LIBERAL VALUES ?

For those who are still delusional enough to believe in asshole hillary clinton, read this :

 Hark, The Great Champion of “Liberal Values and Women’s Empowerment” Speaketh…:

Hillary Clinton to 65 Million Desperate Refugees: STAY PUT, SHUT UP, AND DROP DEAD

November 26, 2018 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

There are 65 million refugees in the world today, forced out of their homes because of wars, poverty, and ecological destruction and desperately seeking a place where they can survive. These conditions have resulted from this system, rooted in the expand-or-die competition of capitalism and the imperialist rivalry over control of the world to serve that end. Those fleeing are so desperate that they risk a nameless death of thirst in the deserts or drowning on the high seas.

And what does Hillary Clinton, that supposed champion of liberal values and women’s empowerment, say should be done about this? Let’s let her speak for herself.

In an interview with the Guardian, Clinton advised Angela Merkel, the current head of Germany, “I think it is fair to say Europe has done its part, and must send a very clear message—‘we are not going to be able to continue [to] provide refuge and support’—because if we don’t deal with the migration issue it will continue to roil the body politic.”

Let’s break this down and get to the reality behind those words.

“Europe has done its part”?! That’s a huge part of the problem!

Yeah, “Europe has done its part.” Let’s look at that “part.”

Start with the Atlantic slave trade. European capitalists kidnapped tens of millions of Africans and shipped them to the Americas, to sell as slaves. The ships came back with slave-produced goods and stolen treasure to invest in the newly rising capitalist mode of production. This went on for centuries—hand-in-hand with the literal genocide of Native Americans. This ushered in what Karl Marx ironically called the “rosy dawn” of capitalism, beginning a process through which a handful of countries became super-wealthy and powerful at the expense of the world’s peoples. And it spawned Europe’s monster child, the USA, which went on to outdo the European powers in genocide, predatory wars, exploitation, and oppression across the globe.

Then there’s the specific “part” that Europe and the U.S. have played in the history of horrors in Africa, where so many of those seeking refuge in Europe come from. In the 1884-85 Berlin Conference, the European powers carved up Africa, literally drawing up borders and allotting different parts to different colonizers. This division set the terms for the barbaric exploitation of Africa’s land, mineral wealth, and people, as well as the tearing up of the social fabric of communities of the oppressed—and all this goes on to this day. In the Congo alone—seized by Belgium—an estimated 10 million Congolese people were sacrificed on the altar of capital in the late 1800s. Similar truths could be told about the Middle East, South Asia, and other parts of the world.

Then there’s the “part” that Europe and the U.S. play in global climate change, caused in large part by the use of oil and other fossil fuels that their system of capitalism-imperialism is addicted to. Tens of millions of people from sub-Saharan Africa and other oppressed areas of the world are being forced to look for refuge because intensifying droughts, floods, and other effects of climate change have made their homelands unlivable. In the face of warnings from scientists about the looming catastrophe that climate crisis poses for the planet’s environment and humanity, all these powers are continuing on this disastrous course.

And look at all the wars of conquest, bombings, invasions, backing of reactionary coups, and other military actions that all these imperialist powers have carried out and continue to carry out in pursuit of their interests—against each other, any threats to their interests (including from reactionary forces like the fundamentalist jihadists), and against the masses of oppressed people. Whether in the Middle East, Central America, or other places, these reactionary wars have devastated whole countries and regions and forced countless millions into a desperate search for safety and means of survival.

Yes, Europe (and the U.S.) has “done its part.” It has created a world where there’s an enormous concentration of wealth and power in a handful of countries—and a hellish nightmare of massive poverty, dislocation, reactionary violence, and suffering in large parts of Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East. This is what has caused the human flow of tens of millions seeking refuge and a way to survive.

Hillary Clinton’s Special Bloody Role in Today’s Refugee Crisis Horror

And let’s not forget the “part” that Hillary Clinton played as Secretary of State under Obama. Clinton was a big proponent of taking advantage of an internal uprising in Libya to launch a war aimed at Libya’s regime, headed by Muammar Qadaffi. Qadaffi himself was a reactionary who at one time posed an obstacle to American imperial designs, but had long since capitulated. But Clinton and Obama decreed that he would still have to pay, and now was their chance to violently reassert their power and tighten the imperialist noose around Libya's neck. After Qadaffi was seized by a crowd and abused and lynched in a truly horrific manner, Hillary Clinton laughed and gloated: “We came, we saw, he died.”

Meanwhile, U.S.-led NATO bombing left Libya in shambles. Rival warlords fought each other, and Islamic jihadists seized ground within the chaos. Meanwhile, the United Nations estimates that some 400,000 Libyans have had to flee their homes, a quarter of them becoming refugees driven from the country altogether.

Libya itself, rent by chaos, has become a major route for refugees from sub-Saharan Africa trying to get to Europe. European powers have responded by backing the puppet Libyan regime in setting up a Coast Guard, which routinely opens fire on and rams boats filled with refugees in the international waters of the Mediterranean, endangering and killing many. In June of this year, more than 100 people, including babies, drowned when Libyan ships “intercepted” a boat full of refugees. In a report on the incident, the British paper Telegraph noted, “Libya is the main departure point for most migrants trying to reach Europe. More than 1,000 people have drowned or gone missing in the Mediterranean already this year.” Refugees who are captured on land and at sea—as many as a million people, often children unaccompanied by parents—are being held in concentration camps in Libya. They are beaten and starved, and some are even literally auctioned off as slaves.

Yes, Europe—and “Madame Secretary”—have certainly “done their parts.”

Hillary Clinton’s Offer to Refugees: Nothing.

And Hillary Clinton’s “solution”? “We’re not going to be able to provide refuge and support.” In other words—stay home, shut up, drop dead!

On this, the main point is not Hillary Clinton and whatever she might or might not think needs to be done (or might or might not now wish she had said in answering this question). The main point is that the system she has dedicated herself to serving has no answers to this problem of tens of millions of refugees driven from their homes by the very workings of that system itself and the crimes that system has perpetrated.

“Roiling the Body Politic”

Clinton warns that letting in more refugees will “continue to roil the body politic”? Well, the “body politic” in Europe, and in the U.S., badly needs a lot more “roiling.” In fact, it needs much more than roiling; it needs revolution, communist revolution, to turn this whole world right-side up. There actually IS a solution to this madness—there is a system in which the world’s people could share the planet and its resources and deal with the catastrophes and horrors that it would inherit from capitalism. The blueprint for that solution can be found here in the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America, authored by Bob Avakian. The road to that solution can be found here in the speech given this summer by BA. The whole body of work of this architect of the new communism can be gone into here. And some of BA’s thinking on this madness can be accessed here, in answer to a question posed during his speaking tour this summer.

We need a revolution and, yes, we need “roiling” as part of that. We need—humanity needs—people right now protesting against both the vicious fascist attacks on immigrants launched by Trump and the kinds of solutions proffered by top Democrats like Hillary Clinton.

Now that you’ve read this article, take a moment to consider the crucial role this website plays. In this world of multiplying crises and growing horrors, there are answers, and there are solutions, but people are being systematically lied to and misled by this system’s representatives. Revcom.us/Revolution sharply exposes this system’s crimes, analyzes the need and possibility for an actual revolution and a whole different way the world could be, and shows how people can work now in a unified wayfor revolution. It is a key way for people to engage with and spread the work and leadership of Bob Avakian, the leader of this revolution and the architect of a new framework for revolution, the new synthesis of communism.

We urge you to become a sustainer of revcom.us and to donate generously. Thousands of dollars are urgently needed now to maintain, expand, and publicize our site, to support staff, dispatch correspondents, and more.

UNDEFEATED

It is too easy to write off the fight for Palestinian freedom as a lost cause , but as long as the people keep fighting, they have not lost. And they continue to resist despite all of the odds being stacked against them. Stand with them.

Urgent Call: Gaza under attack! Stand with Palestine, Stand with the Resistance

 November 15, 2018 C. Kistler Gaza, Mohammed al-Tatari, Mohammed Odeh, PFLP

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine calls in an urgent action for the friends of Palestine, movements for justice and liberation and the Palestinian and Arab communities everywhere in the world to stand with Gaza under attack at this critical moment. We issue this call in honor and mourning for our two heroic comrades, Mohammed al-Tatari and Mohammed Odeh, martyred today by Zionist occupation forces who attacked them as they fought for the freedom of their land, Palestine, and all of its people.

Martyred Comrade Mohammed al-Tatari

This murder at the hands of the colonial forces comes after an attack yesterday, in which Zionist forces sought to invade the Gaza Strip in an undercover operation to kidnap or assassinate leaders of the Palestinian resistance. They killed 7 Palestinians who died fighting to defend their land – but the Palestinian resistance did not let them get away with their crime. The resistance has held fast, fighting heroically against one of the most heavily armed powers in the world and striking powerful blows against the assassins and murderers.

Tonight, the bombs are once again striking Gaza. Zionist forces are shelling and bombing television stations and universities, and they are threatening to begin once more attacking hospitals. This comes as the latest vicious military assault directed against Palestinians in Gaza, after the wars of 2009, 2012 and 2014 and countless bombing raids and assassinations, amid 11 years of a brutal and relentless siege.

Martyred Comrade Mohammed Odeh

This attack is an attempt to suppress the achievements of the Great March of Return, in which thousands of Palestinians in Gaza have demanded their fundamental right to return and to break the siege. Against this popular movement, the Zionist forces have unleashed their snipers, taking the lives of over 200 Palestinian demonstrators. Despite all of these assaults, the Palestinian people of Gaza remain committed to the resistance, refuse to relinquish their defenders and are steadfast in the struggle for return and liberation.

Palestinians in Gaza are not alone! And they must not be left alone. This attack is not only carried out by the Israeli occupation alone, but by the imperialist powers like the United States, France and Britain that arm and support the settler colonial racist state to the hilt. The reactionary Arab regimes that plot how to dismantle Palestinian rights and existence while raining destruction and death on Yemen are also complicit in this onslaught.

Now is the time to act. Take to the streets and the squares, organize, demonstrate, protest and mobilize to stand with the Palestinian people in Gaza under attack, yet who continue to resist despite all odds. Build the boycott of Israel and confront imperialism everywhere it exists. Stand with the Palestinian people, the Palestinian resistance and the Palestinian cause – the struggle for return and the fight for liberation, from the river to the sea!

Source: http://pflp.ps/english/2018/11/12/urgent-call-gaza-under-attack-stand-with-palestin

CANADIANS SPREADING HOMOPHOBIA WORLDWIDE

The best part of this story is that one of the homophobic reverends is named Badcock. Read.

NOVEMBER 21, 2018 · 06:46

The Canadian missionary connection to Tanzania’s homophobia

Canadians should express their solidarity with Tanzanians facing politically inspired homophobia. But, we must also be suspicious of journalism that ignores Canadian complicity in the promotion of anti-gay ideology.

Last weekend the Globe and Mail and CBC both reported on a Christian politician in Dar es Salaam who announced a scheme to track down and arrest gays. Titled “Tanzania’s homophobic crackdown casts a shadow on Canadian aid”, the Globe story insinuated that Ottawa should sever assistance to the country in protest while the CBC noted, “official anti-gay prejudice in Tanzania is causing Canadian officials to reassess this country’s relationship with one of Canada’s biggest aid recipients.”

While raising the subject of “Canadian aid”, the Globe and CBC both ignored how this country’s “assistance” to the region has, in fact, fostered the social conservatism that the stories bemoan. For example, while the Stephen Harper Conservative government was in power international aid funding for religious NGOs increased substantially. In an MA thesis titled “Canadian Foreign Aid and the Christian Right: Stephen Harper, Abortion, and the Global Culture Wars in Sub-Saharan Africa, 2006-2015” Erin Jex details Ottawa’s support for socially conservative forces on the continent. In a high-profile example Crossroads Christian Communications, an Ontario group that listed “homosexuality” with pedophilia and bestiality as a “sin” and “perversion”, was granted more than half a million dollars for a project in Tanzania’s neighbour Uganda.

But Canada’s contribution to social conservatism in Tanzania goes back over a century. During the 100th anniversary of Tanzania’s St. Philip Theological College in 2014 Ontario Anglican Reverend Gary Badcock claimed homosexuality was a “first world” problem and that homosexuals would steal their children. A Western University professor, Badcock delivered the keynote speech because St. Philip Theological College was founded by a graduate of Huron College (now part of Western) in London, Ontario. Thomas Buchanan Reginald Westgate was a Canadian missionary who joined the Church Missionary Society in German East Africa (Tanzania) in 1902. With the support of the Ontario branch of the Church Mission Society, Westgate remained in the German colony for over a decade. As I detail in Canada and Africa: 300 years of Aid and Exploitation, Westgate worked with a German colonial administration that killed hundreds of thousands between 1905 and 1907. The Watford, Ontario, born missionary translated parts of the Old Testament into Cigogo, the language spoken by the Gogo nation in central Tanzania. He promoted a Christian ideology antagonistic to homosexuality in what would become a British colony. (Three-dozen former British colonies have some version of the United Kingdom’s 1533 Buggery Act, which makes homosexuality illegal.)

Another Ontario native by the name of Marion Wittich (later Marion Keller) set off with her husband to proselytize in Tanzania in 1913. Her husband died in Tanzania and several years later she remarried a man by the name of Otto Keller, a German-born US émigré, who the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada (PAOC) sponsored to set up a mission station in Kenya, which borders Tanzania. In 1914 Otto Keller claimed that “here [Africa] we see the power of the devil in an astonishing form, almost beyond belief. The noise of drunken men and women, fulfilling the lusts of the flesh come to our ears. All seemingly bound and determined to fulfill the cup of their iniquity.” By the time Marion Keller died in 1942, the socially conservative PAOC had over 200 branch churches in Kenya.

PAOC missionaries served in a number of colonies and set up a publishing house in 1928 that distributed Pentecostal literature in numerous African languages. PAOC remains active across the continent and promotes anti-gay views. A registered charity, it has also received substantial sums from Canada’s international development agency.

The first Canadian missionary arrived on the continent in 1860 and by the end of the colonial period as many as 2,500 Canadians were proselytizing across Africa. The largest interdenominational Protestant mission on the continent was founded in 1893 by Torontonians Walter Gowans and Rowland Victor Bingham. The Sudan Interior Mission, which initially focused on Nigeria but operated across Africa, was boldly fundamentalist. In a book about the organization titled Evangelical Christians in the Muslim Sahel, Barbara M. Cooper notes that to be a SIM missionary one had to accept that “the Bible is the ‘inerrant’ word of God (a rejection of historically grounded Biblical criticism); God consists of three persons (father, son, and Holy Spirit); all humans suffer from original sin and must be reborn; humans will go to heaven or hell in the afterlife as a consequence of their spiritual condition (their rebirth or failure to be ‘born again’); Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary, he atoned for human sin with his bodily resurrection, and his second coming is imminent; Satan exists literally (not simply figuratively) and acts in the world; the Christian church is the whole body of those who have been reborn (implicitly excluding Christians who are not ‘born again’); and Christ’s great commission was to order his followers to share these ‘truths’ to every people (therefore to be a Christian is to evangelize).” A registered Canadian charity, SIM remains active across the continent.

In addition to its ability to offer tax credits for donations, SIM has received significant sums from Canada’s international development agency.

To support Tanzanians facing politically inspired homophobia Canadians should press Ottawa to re-evaluate its relationship — both charitable status and aid funding —to anti-gay groups. And, to set the record straight, perhaps the Globe and Mail could publish a follow-up piece headlined “Tanzania’s homophobic crackdown casts a shadow on Canadian missionaries in Africa.”

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Tagged as Christianity, Huron College, Pentecostal Assemblies, SIM