Month: January 2024

In a landmark ruling handed down on Jan. 26, the UN’s International Court of Justice (ICJ) found there was “plausibility” to South Africa’s claims that the Palestinian population needs protection from genocide. The Court thus issued six orders to Israel to prevent the commission of any genocidal acts in Gaza, and to enable the “provision of basic services and humanitarian […]

There is a profound irony in the reaction to the preliminary ruling issued on Jan. 26 by the International Court of Justice in the case brought by South Africa, asking that Israel be found guilty of genocide, and be ordered to stop the genocidal attacks on the Palestinians in Gaza. The irony is that the ruling has been disparaged by […]

A scandal broke out on Jan. 26 when allegations emerged that some staffers of the UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees) may have participated in the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on Israel, and those individuals were promptly fired. However, the claims, as well as the timing of their release, are suspicious, because they come from Israeli sources, […]

Paris was under “siege” on Jan. 29, as farmers blocked the major access points to the capital with their tractors and bales of hay, and many planned to stay until the EU summit in Brussels on Thursday. This spectacular action followed days of protest actions throughout the country. The new Prime Minister Gabriel Attal did offer them a few concessions, […]

The BSW (Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht), initiated by former Linke politician Sahra Wagenknecht, held its official founding convention on Jan. 27 in Berlin. Some 400 delegates discussed the programmatic priorities, which are: an end to weapons deliveries to Ukraine and an instant ceasefire there; restoring cooperation with Russia, together with the lifting of sanctions and the resumption of natural gas imports […]

The Italy-Africa Conference opened on Jan. 29 in Rome, to launch the Italian government’s much touted “Mattei Plan” (named after the late industrialist and anti-imperialist leader Enrico Mattei). However, the title should have been “EU-Italy-Africa”, as Prime Minister Meloni (and her Foreign minister Antonio Tajani) invited the entire EU leadership: Ursula von der Leyen, Charles Michel and European Parliament chairman […]

The Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) sent President Joe Biden an “Alert Memorandum” on Jan. 25, warning him once again, that the intelligence on Ukraine he has been receiving since the beginning of the conflict with Russia has been dangerously wrong. The VIPS is a group of former officers of the U.S. intelligence community, many of them whistle-blowers, who […]

In the midst of the extraordinary ferment taking place internationally against the Wall Street and London authored neoliberal policies, an estimated 1.5 million Argentines took to the streets to march and protest on Jan. 24 as part of the 12-hour strike called by the trade union federation CGT and the allied CTA against the fascist economic policies of radical Libertarian […]

Simultaneous with the annual get-together of the world’s billionaire club in Davos, representatives of the entire “Global South” were meeting in Kampala, Uganda, to discuss the emergence of a more just world system, in which their nations and peoples, too, can develop. The 19th summit of the Non-Aligned Movement, with its 120 member countries and 20 observer states, took place […]

The annual meeting of the World Economic Forum that took place on January 15-19 proceeded along the usual lines: a public circus to provide fodder for media headlines and pictures, and a non public level of discussions to deliberate on actions in the interest of the WEF “stakeholders”, i.e., the billionaire elite running the global financial system. On the public […]