“Serbia’s striking university students protested outside the Balkan country’s top court on Sunday to draw their attention to what they say have been violations of their civil rights under the populist authorities, including pressure from the secret service. The rally began with thousands of people standing in silence for 15 minutes in front of the Constitutional Court in the capital, Belgrade, to commemorate the victims of a concrete canopy collapse in the northern city of Novi Sad in November which triggered almost daily anti-corruption protests. A separate rally was also held in the southern city of Nis. The ongoing protests reflect wider discontent with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic’s increasingly autocratic rule. Vucic formally says he wants to steer Serbia toward European Union membership but he has faced accusations of curbing democratic freedoms rather than advancing them.” (01/12/25)
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“Trump and Obama were seen happily chatting and laughing together at the funeral for Jimmy Carter. If these guys don’t buy into the story that they are on opposite sides of a ferocious battle of existential importance between two wildly different ideologies, then why should you? … I saw Alex Jones proclaiming on Twitter that ‘Elon Musk just took down the New World order!’ One of the dumbest psyops in history is this idiotic faux populist faction being marketed to rightists which claims that a brave revolutionary movement is being led against the establishment by a plucky band of billionaires, defense contractors, Zionists, and DC swamp monsters. … Trump says he’s ‘the best friend that Israel ever had’. Anyone who still believes this asshole presents a threat to the establishment is a drooling moron who deserves to have their feelings hurt.” (01/10/25)
“Since the fall of a brutal dictator in Bangladesh last July, the interim government set in its place has insisted that the task of reinventing society belongs to the people. This week it put that ideal to work. On Tuesday, officials dispatched eight venerated local movie directors throughout the South Asian country to mentor a new generation of filmmakers. Remembering Monsoon Revolution – a reference to the student-led movement that ousted Sheikh Hasina after 15 years of hard reign – is the first of seven initiatives meant to forge a new sense of nationhood through art and archiving. The focus on cultural production underscores that rebuilding nations involves more than organizing elections or fixing broken economies. ” (01/10/25)
“A glance across America and Europe leads to an unmistakable conclusion: Revolution is in the air. The failures of democracies are sparking internal upheavals. Thankfully, spasms of violence and bloodshed are few, but a toxic brew of overbearing governments, shrinking freedoms and undeniable decline is producing demands for big changes. A common thread from California to Great Britain, France and Germany is that liberal underpinnings have morphed into sloppy socialism, unchecked immigration, cultural clashes and restraints on critical speech. Collectively, the conservative blowback reveals that the time allotted for an indulgent detour has expired and a new consensus is taking shape, whether entrenched leftists like it or not. You can thank Donald Trump and the 77 million Americans who elected him for this development.” (01/11/25)
Source: Center for International Policy
by Muhammad Shehada
“Over the past months, outgoing Secretary of State Antony Blinken has given several interviews in which he repeatedly claims that Hamas, rather than Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has been the key obstacle to achieving a ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza. This messaging has been echoed by other Biden administration officials and surrogates. At a workshop in Geneva in November, a recently retired US ambassador, who had just returned from meeting White House officials, claimed, ‘There are currently three ceasefire deals on the table and Hamas isn’t responding to any of them.’ … To my surprise, a former senior Israeli security official in the room rushed to challenge this claim, which he described as ‘a shameful attempt to rewrite history and blame Hamas rather than Netanyahu for the obstruction of ceasefire talks.'” (01/11/25)
“It is absolutely critical to understand that everybody is a product of their times, and we are all affected by our cultural surroundings. Current philosophies, our education, the environment of the world in which we grow up… all become part of our thoughts and actions. It is extremely difficult, indeed, it’s impossible, even for historians, to fully remove ourselves from our ‘historical surroundings’ (our ‘zeitgeist’) put ourselves into other time periods, and think like those people thought. Leftists [sic] are especially bad in their utter failure to understand this. They judge everybody in history by THEIR current ‘moral’ standards, and unsurprisingly, everybody but THEM comes up short — Columbus, our Founding Fathers, etc. It is a grievous error, but they must do it to accomplish their goals.” (01/11/25)
“Earlier on Wednesday, January 8th, I saw a prominent Zionist commentator and Twitter/X User post, ‘Has Greta Thunberg taken her keffiyeh off to address the fires in LA yet or are there too many Jews living here for her to be concerned?’ The weird implications about a mythical antisemitic malice that climate activist Greta Thunberg has to supposedly fuel her anti-genocide and ecocide beliefs aside, the post is equally embarrassing in its lack of understanding about the exacerbators of Los Angeles’[s] most destructive fires in the metropolitan area’s history. Sadly, the disconnect that this post showcases is representative of many people and institutions, not only in explicitly pro-Israel spaces but also in the environmental movement.” (01/11/25)
“Over the past several years, Democratic politicians have convinced themselves that they never have to answer any unfriendly questions, and amid the tragic infernos in California, this refusal is rightfully sparking outrage. The mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, is just the latest know-nothing Democrat to play dumb when asked perfectly legitimate questions. After cutting short a trip to Ghana, Bass just stood silent when asked if she should have been in the city she leads instead of globetrotting. Bass did hold a press conference later, presumably an occasion to answer reporters’ queries. But she used it to once again insist that this was not the time to question her leadership. Likewise, California Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, a leading advocate of using California’s resources to thwart the Trump agenda and contender for most tone-deaf politician in America, held a press conference as the fires raged.” (01/10/25)
“Three weeks from now, the Democratic National Committee will convene in National Harbor, Maryland, to elect a new party chair and other national officers. For Democrats reeling from the defeat of Kamala Harris, this will be their first opportunity to anoint a fresh face for the national party to replace Jaime Harrison, who is stepping down. A new chair, particularly one elected via an open vote and not merely picked by an incumbent president, as is the party’s tradition, could also change how Democrats operate at both the national and state level. So, while some joke that the race for DNC chair is the ultimate high school class president election, whoever holds the office will have a significant role in how Democrats respond to Trump, how they rebuild, what changes they make to their media, technology, and fundraising practices, and how the 2028 presidential selection process plays out.” (01/10/25)
“As President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take America back (again!) to greatness, there’s been much talk of Elon Musk’s new DOGE, or Department of Government Efficiency, and whether it will dare tackle Pentagon spending in useful ways. Could it curb rampant fraud, waste, and abuse within military contracting? Will the Pentagon finally pass a financial audit after seven consecutive failed attempts? Might the war in Ukraine finally sputter to an end, along with U.S. taxpayer support for that country of roughly $175 billion over the last three years? ‘Efficiency’ may be the word of the hour, but a more ‘efficient’ imperial military, with a looser leash to attack Iran, bottle up China, and threaten Russia would likely bring yet more unrest to a world that’s already experiencing war-making chaos. When military ‘lethality’ becomes the byword of even the Democrats, as was true with Kamala Harris’s campaign.” (01/09/25)
