The Jamal Khashoggi kill drama was instructive regarding the shameless imperial hypocrisy of the United States’ media and politics culture. Before it disappears completely down Orwell’s memory hole (if it hasn’t already), let’s review some of the key lessons.
Category Archives: Near East
Chemical weapons were used in Aleppo
Russian specialists have confirmed that chemical weapons were used by the rebel forces in Aleppo last night, the Interfax News Agency reported this evening.
“Syrian terrorists use homemade mines filled with toxic agents in improvised manner,” the Russian chemical defense troops spokesman said.
The Russian specialists believe that chlorine gas was used by the rebels; however, they are referring the case to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
According to a security source in Aleppo city, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) has closed off the areas that were targeted with chemical weapons in order to let the OPCW examine the sites.
The rebel forces, including the Turkish-backed National Liberation Front (NLF), have denied carrying out this chemical weapons attack, despite accusations from the Russian and Syrian governments.
The Russian Air Force responded to the chemical weapons attack by destroying the launching sites for the jihadist rebels in the town of Khan Touman and Rashideen 4 suburb.
Over 100 people have now been confirmed dead or wounded as a result of the chlorine gas attack launched by the rebels on Aleppo city last night, Al-Mayadeen reported.
New Wave of Strikes / Protests in Iran Need Solidarity from International Socialists and Progressives
During the past two weeks, the ongoing wave of protests and strikes in Iran have gained a new intensity.
On the one hand, the impact of the second and more cruel wave of the U.S. Trump administration’s sanctions on Iran is truly breaking the backs of the masses. Although the sanctions which are aimed at stopping Iran’s oil exports, technically do not include food and medicine imports, the way in which they prevent banking transactions between Iran and the rest of the world, practically prevents payment for food and medicine. Thus the majority of Iran’s 82 million people are suffering from the shortage of food, medicine and basic services. In addition they face the sharp decline in the value of the currency, rial, astronomical inflation, more lay offs and non-payment of wages, which are also related to the problems of Iran’s economy prior to the re-imposition of the sanctions. Given the massive decline in the value of the rial, the minimum wage is now down to the equivalent of $100 per month for a family of four, which is lower than the World Bank’s definition of absolute poverty ($2 per day for each person).
Disease and Famine as Weapons of War in Yemen
by Amir M. Mohareb, M.D., Louise C. Ivers
How can the medical community take stock of the humanitarian disaster in Yemen? The 3-year-old war intermittently garners attention from Western media — for example, in August, when an air strike on a school bus killed more than 50 civilians, mostly children — but is woefully underreported relative to the magnitude of the ongoing crisis. Such neglect highlights the numbing of our collective sensitivity to atrocity. Although the human toll of any war is dreadful, the infliction of suffering in Yemen has particularly toxic characteristics that we believe demand attention from health care providers worldwide: the destruction of health care facilities and the spread of disease and hunger as apparent means of waging war.
With Nearly 400,000 Dead in South Sudan, Will the US Finally Change Its Policy?
The Trump administration has remained largely silent about the ongoing conflict in South Sudan, maintaining a quiet diplomacy with the country’s leaders despite a recent report that nearly 400,000 people have died in the country’s civil war.
