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amarynth
KeymasterYes indeed thanks! Does not help to run a quiet boycott of RT lol. We cannot live with them, and we cannot live without them. It is there that I saw it first.
Circling out: Max Blumenthal of the GrayZone says: YouTube just BANNED us from livestreaming the #DNC2024 Our first stream from Chicago protests was removed on bogus grounds and we were suspended for a week But amid this political purge, we got into the arena to challenge the media hacks and officials that authorized the Gaza genocide
amarynth
KeymasterAnd now the sharks circling out is formal.
Here is DD Geopolitics: U.S. Investigates Americans Tied to Russian State Media Ahead of 2024 Elections
The Department of Justice has launched a broad investigation into Americans working with Russian state television, targeting their alleged roles in influence operations ahead of the November elections.
The F.B.I. recently raided the homes of Scott Ritter, a former U.N. weapons inspector, and Dimitri K. Simes, a former adviser to Trump’s 2016 campaign. The former is being investigated under FARA, and the latter is being investigated for violations of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Both have ties to Russian media outlets like RT and Channel One, with Simes currently hosting a talk show in Russia.
“The only reason why I can believe that they’re doing this is if there’s some national security interest where they believe somehow I am actively conspiring with Russia against the interests of the United States, that I have become more than just a propagandist, that I become something more like, you know, a weapon of disinformation.” – Scott Ritter
And Maria Z posted something that I cannot find now … in her way wondering if the various organizations dealing with freedom of the press is taking notice.
amarynth
KeymasterCircling out.
🚨🇺🇸🇬🇧 BREAKING: YouTube has REMOVED all episodes of George Galloway’s show in which Scott Ritter or I appeared as guest hosts. pic.twitter.com/YsNneJxDe2
— Jackson Hinkle 🇺🇸 (@jacksonhinklle) August 21, 2024
amarynth
KeymasterJudging Freedom, Napolitano is now on Rumble. I don’t see him updating on Youtube.
https://rumble.com/c/JudgingFreedom
The Scott Ritter debacle is circling out.
amarynth
KeymasterI once was a target of this type and other types of terrorism. ‘Nuff said.
There is another interesting statistic. 94% of israelis vote for zionist parties. So I don’t feel sorry for them.
It is the issue of staring into the abyss. It does not end well for anyone. Better to strike them openly with a storm of drones right into occupied Tel Aviv.
We cannot discriminate between terrorism into Russia, and then then disassociate from this terrorism. Well, at least I cannot. But then you know I don’t worry too much about differences between these kinds of opinions .. you are welcome to yours … to express it, and to use it the way you want. lol.
amarynth
KeymasterHow not to be simply law abiding – if the laws are just.
Speak about Scott as much as you want. For me, he is an example of how not to do things when there is a war on. But I have nothing against him as a person – too much naivete in war time and it is dangerous for friends and family.
amarynth
KeymasterBritish-owned Lonmin mine in the platinum belt of South Africa and a massacre.
34 South African mineworkers were massacred by police, on this day in 2012. It was the worst massacre since the apartheid regime’s repression of the 1976 Soweto uprising.
The killings were also a political turning point as many workers started to lose faith in the increasingly neoliberal African National Congress (ANC). As a result, the Economic Freedom Fighters, led by Julius Malema, burst onto the scene and is still contending with the ANC.
The strike began in August 2012 demanding a pay raise. The government-allied union, the National Union of Mineworkers, did not approve the walkout but workers still went ahead with a wildcat strike.
Government repression resulted in the killing of 34 miners whose families are still seeking justice. This is the worst massacre to have been carried out by an ANC government.
The current President was deeply involved. Here is the statement of the mineworker’s union.
Four reasons why NUMSA rejects Cyril Ramaphosa’s un-apology for Marikana
The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa, (NUMSA) rejects the un-apology made by the Deputy President of the country and the ANC, Cyril Ramaphosa, regarding his role in the Marikana Massacre. Ramaphosa was the chairperson of Lonmin mines, at the time of the massacre and Deputy president of the country.
In the email which he sent to Lonmin’s chief commercial officer, Albert Jamieson the day before the fateful killing of workers on August 16, 2012, Ramaphosa described the strike action taken by the miners as ‘dastardly criminal acts’ which required ‘concomitant action’ to address the situation. Ramaphosa’s apology nearly five years later are just empty words. There is no substance to his expression of regret and below are five reasons why:
1. At the time that the miners of Marikana were shot down by South African police Ramaphosa was Deputy president of the country, as well as chairman of Lonmin mines. The labour dispute which sparked the violent strike at Marikana was precipitated by poor wages, and poor working conditions of miners in the area. Ramaphosa’s past experience as a trade unionist and founder of NUM did nothing to improve the conditions of miners in Marikana.
Under his watch as a Lonmin executive the majority of miners lived, and continue to live in the same hovels which existed under Apartheid. It was the dehumanizing experience of living in squalor, in shacks with no water, no electricity or basic sanitation services, that the demand for a living wage of R12500 was made. Ramaphosa had the power as an executive to make decisions which could have vastly improved the lives of the miners, but he chose not to.
Instead, when the interests of White monopoly capital were threatened and workers were forced to go on an illegal strike, because their trade union of choice, the National Union of Mineworkers (which he helped establish), had abandoned them, instead of using his skills as a negotiator in the union, he called for and colluded with the minister of police to end the strike, by any means necessary. During the Farlam Commission hearings it was found that the state planned for the massacre by ordering several mortuary vans in advance, therefore any claims by officials that the killings were unintentional are hollow.
2. The National Minimum Wage is further evidence that Ramaphosa is lying when he claims that he cares about workers. He has been spearheading a campaign, on behalf of big business to legalize R20 per hour as a minimum wage so that workers in South Africa can be exploited far more than they are already. There can be no radical economic transformation when workers are earning less than R3500 per month, and yet that is precisely what Ramaphosa is advocating for.
We live in a country of extreme inequality, rampant poverty, and an unemployment rate of at least 25%. The miners of Marikana were shot and killed, for daring to demand a living wage of R12500 as a living wage, and the deputy president responds by implementing a minimum wage which will have no impact on alleviating poverty and inequality.
3. Ramaphosa, and the ANC which he leads have spent the last 23 years defending and protecting White monopoly Capital, and they will continue to do so. On the one hand Ramaphosa claims that radical economic transformation is an imperative, but at the same time, he keeps celebrating the NDP (National Development Plan) as the vehicle through which this transformation will be achieved. The NDP, and its predecessor GEAR are neo-liberal economic policies which have been harmful to workers and their families for the last 23 years.
The ANC as the governing party, has refused to use its majority in parliament to implement policies of nationalization which would radically transform the lives of the African majority immediately. They have refused to nationalize the land; the banks as well as the commanding heights of the economy. Instead they continue to pursue neo liberal capitalist economic policies which are responsible for the suffering of workers and their families.
The ANC is fighting to ensure that this oppressive economic system which is characterized by low pay, and poor working conditions continues, because they want to please ratings agencies and foreign investors – they don’t care about African majority which elected them into power.
4. Ramaphosa and the ANC have launched a shameless attack on the working class. The Deputy President is driving legislation to limit the right to strike. This former trade unionist is fighting to undo all the work that workers in South Africa fought and died for under Apartheid.
Whilst the lives of millions of South Africans haven’t changed much since the days of Apartheid, Ramaphosa has undergone a personal radical economic transformation of epic proportions. He has gone from trade union leader, to big business billionaire and union basher. That is his legacy, 23 years after the end of Apartheid.
He is promoting the kind of radical economic transformation which empowers a small elite at the expense of the African working class majority.
As NUMSA we cannot take the utterances of the Deputy President seriously. Ramaphosa and the ANC that he leads do not have any solutions for the working class. For the last 23 years the ANC has bent over backwards in an attempt to please big business, for example, by commercializing the roads through e-tolls and allowing labour brokers to flourish.
They even went as far as implementing a Youth Wage subsidy, where they basically pay employers for hiring young people and exploiting them with poor wages! It was the ANC’s senseless pursuit of rampant capitalism which eventually forced NUMSA to reject President Jacob Zuma and the ANC.
When we criticize Ramaphosa, we are not narrow in our analysis. We cannot support anyone from the ANC because we know that the ANC does not have any solutions for the challenges facing the poor and the working class of South Africa. It is bizarre therefore, that given extensive evidence to the latter, that any credible labour or leftist movement would still remain in the alliance when the governing party, has done nothing but show workers the middle finger!
NUMSA does not suffer from this kind of ideological confusion. We are proud of our reputation in the labour movement as a truly militant, worker driven formation. After 30 years in the battle for workers, we remain the largest worker led formation in the country and our revolutionary principles back this up.amarynth
KeymasterI like Ray .. what he says Zion is willing to do is chilling!
amarynth
KeymasterYeah, there are two ways that the Scott Ritter thing can go. They can start rolling up his friends and those ones should be prepared. I have spoken here and there. Some of us have hard experience with these kinds of issues, and they are not legal issues. Raided? I once laughed and told the raiders that if they wake my kids, I’m gonna beat them up or call their mothers and tell them what they are up to. Or, they can ‘Assange’ him, depending on what the objective is, because Scott so far says it is to keep him quiet or to stop his big anti-war demonstration. This is not all that it could be. And he sticks to the legal issues. When is someone going to say to him that his American Dream does not exist any longer?
Yes, a pre-emptive strike I would guess is first on the list of possibilities and this has been raised in many places. But nuclear? We are dealing with decidedly insane people.
amarynth
KeymasterMost of the discussions coming through now, that we have visibility to, are repeats and those that discuss the issues are mainly speculating. I’ll try and put something out tomorrow to list the speculations, but there is nothing new, except Iraq targeting the US base.
There is a major push from Egypt, Qatar, and the United States to get Israel and the Hamas movement to resume talks on the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip on August 15 in Doha or Cairo.
This bit is from TASS
“We have called on both sides to resume urgent discussion on Thursday, August 15 in Doha or Cairo to close all remaining gaps and commence implementation of the deal without further delay, Amir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, President of Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, and President of the United States Joe Biden said in their joint statement released by Amir’s Office.
Intermediaries informed about their readiness to present the final draft of the agreement on ceasefire in Gaza and liberation of Israeli hostages.
“The three of us and our teams have worked tirelessly over many months to forge a framework agreement that is now on the table with only the details of implementation left to conclude,” the leaders stressed. “As mediators, if necessary, we are prepared to present a final bridging proposal that resolves the remaining implementation issues in a manner that meets the expectations of all parties,” they added.
Just a watchlist item. Iran said they will not do anything to scuttle peace talks, but really, they still will take revenge.
So, we are waiting.
Jordan the mangy dogs announced that they will allow Israel use of its airspace to repel Iranian strikes. In reality, this may be a lie, or it may not be a lie.
amarynth
Keymaster
amarynth
KeymasterAHH, perhaps this is a crisis but also an opportunity. The younger Africans are never going to accept the leaders who are still in the pockets of the hegemon and stuff their own pockets . I don’t like to see this crisis (in any of the countries) develop in the terrible violence that we’ve seen. But there is in general now more education which leads to pushback against hegemonic tactics.
However, this is not the way to win friends and influence people, and multipolarity is a far way off.
U.S. SENATOR'S FREUDIAN SLIP ON AFRICAN MINERALS?
Looks like a US senator had a Freudian slip, a psychological term for an unintentional error that reveals subconscious thoughts.
During a US Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on ‘strategic competition’ with China on 30… pic.twitter.com/E9H9dFyvSw
— African Stream (@african_stream) August 7, 2024
amarynth
KeymasterI did not check out the video but agree. Back in Saker days I wrote a few pieces about RT and the one was titled: Yellow, yellow, Yellow. Some even got to them.
amarynth
KeymasterMali Cuts Ties with Ukraine After Ambush on Wagner Troops and Malian Soldiers pic.twitter.com/IXtMd1eGHz
— Richard Medhurst (@richimedhurst) August 7, 2024
amarynth
KeymasterHere is more about Ritter:
Scott Ritter @RealScottRitter explains what he knows about the FBI raid on his home
"This has a chilling effect on freedom of speech" pic.twitter.com/gPcWoESFQk
— Chay Bowes (@BowesChay) August 7, 2024
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