Inside Stories

The world is standing at the precipice of potential global conflict following accusations that the Syrian Army used chemical weapons on April 7 in Eastern Ghouta to cap what clearly was its inevitable victory against the last major jihadist hold-out in the country.
The alleged incident remains muddled in terms of material evidence, yet reports by Western-sponsored NGOs like the White Helmets and opposition media activists quickly prompted threats of a full-fledged military assault by the United States and its junior partners.

LONDON — Jeremy Corbyn, the left-wing leader of the British Labour Party, has shown that his long-time support of the rights of the Palestinian people remains unwavering, especially given the stream of reports of atrocities committed by apartheid Israel against the dispossessed people of Palestine residing on the Gaza Strip.

WASHINGTON — World powers are reacting with increased urgency and alarm following scandal-plagued U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats of an imminent military strike against Syria following an alleged weekend chemical attack in Douma. Trump claimed that the war-torn country’s allies, including Russia and Iran, are bound to “pay a price” for the incident, which is yet to be investigated by international monitors.

Western neoconservatives and hawks are driving the international situation to increase tension and danger. Not content with the destruction of Iraq and Libya based on false claims, they are now pressing for a direct U.S. attack on Syria.
As a dangerous prelude, Israeli jets flying over Lebanese airspace fired missiles against the T4/Tiyas Airbase west of Palmyra.
 

SAN FRANCISCO (Analysis) – Google — the advertising and search engine monolith that once touted its official commitment, “Don’t be evil” — has thrown its full weight behind the U.S. military-industrial complex’s fast-advancing unmanned drone program – and more than three thousand of its employees will have none of it.

MANILA, PHILIPPINES (Analysis) — ISIS’ inevitable decline in Iraq and Syria, the credit for which is almost always wrongly bestowed upon the Trump administration, has provided windows of opportunity for the global terror group to spawn insurgencies in other locations.

GAZA — Tens of thousands of residents in the besieged Gaza Strip plan on returning to the Israeli-controlled border Friday in defiance of menacing promises from Tel Aviv to use massive and disproportionate force. The event will occur exactly one week after the Israelis massacred 17 unarmed demonstrators with live ammunition on Palestinian Land Day.
The protest is the latest in a six-week-long set of nonviolent protests meant to commemorate the continuing dispossession of the Palestinian people and the absorption of ancestral Palestinian land by the country now known as Israel.

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA — Youth Day, as it is known in South Africa, is a national holiday commemorating the anniversary of the 1976 Soweto uprising against the white-minority apartheid government. Arriving almost an hour late to the rally at a soccer stadium in the all-black township, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela approached her ex-husband’s successor, President Thabo Mbeki as he sat with other government officials on a dais, and leaned in to kiss his cheek.

GAZA – Over the weekend, outrage took hold as the state of Israel authorized more than 100 snipers to fire upon the demonstrations of unarmed Palestinians in Gaza. The Palestinians, participating in the “March of Great Return” to demand the right for exiled Palestinians to return to their ancestral lands, were fired upon while fleeing and even praying. 17 Palestinians were killed and over 1,400 were injured.

This article is Part III of a series exploring the past of soon-to-be National Security Adviser John Bolton and what his appointment will mean for U.S. foreign policy, with a focus on the Middle East, Latin America, and the Koreas. Part I examined Bolton’s past advocacy for Israel, often at the U.S.’ expense.