Bulletin N° 1159
Subject : ‘State and Revolution’, 21st-century style.
Grenoble
February 8, 2025
Dear Colleagues and Friends of CEIMSA,
In our previous bulletin, we’ve shown how the authors Cook and Herzman demonstrate in the first two chapters of their book, The Medieval World View the influence of the classical heritage on thinking in this period of European history, second only to the influence of the Bible.
In philosophy, in the concept of empire, in literature, law, language, art, and architecture, the classic heritage is one of the wellsprings of medieval culture.(p.49)
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The achievements of biblical and classical thinkers took place independently of one another. For example, the Greek historian Herodotus traveled throughout the Near East, writing extensively about the Egyptians and Persians while hardly mentioning the Jews. Yet by the time he made his journey, the Pentateuch was complete and the prophecies of Isaiah and Jeremiah were already recorded. By the time of Augustus, there were Jewish settlements throughout the Mediterranean and the Old Tesatment had been translated into Greek. Nevertheless, writers like Vergil remained largely ignorant of Jewish history and literature. However, with the spread of Christianity beginning with Saint Paul, the two cultures began to interact with one another; Paul himself was a Jew, a Christian, Greek-educated, and a Roman citizen.(pp.49-49)
In the concluding chapters 3 and 4 of Part I the authors discuss the spread and development of early Christianity as a ‘foundation” of the Middle Ages.
The Beginnings of Christianity
By the middle of the fifth century, Christianity was the dominant religion of the Roman Empire. Doctrine was rather well defined through the actions of synods and especially four great councils. The Church has attained great wealth, and its leaders were among the most important persons of the Empire. By this time there was also a rich body of Christian traditions preserved in liturgy, art, and stories of its holy men and women. To understand this extraordinary growth and development, we need to go back to the infancy of Christianity.
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We know about the earliest Christians primarily from two sources –the Acts of the Apostles and the letters of Paul. Together they present a picture of both doctrinal and institutional development in the years immediately after Christ’s earthly ministry. Immediately after Jesus’ Passion and resurrection, there were few who accepted him as the son of God; Acts suggested that they may not have been more than 120 in all. Yet within just a few years, several thousand Jews in and around Jerusalem came to believe that Jesus was the Messiah. With the conversion and apostleship of Paul (c.a.d. 33) came the spread of Christianity among the Gentiles (non-Jews) in the eastern Mediterranean. Paul began his Christian ministry preaching Christ to the Jews; but when he found that his teachings were not accepted by most Jews, he acted accordingly:
‘It was necessary,’ they [Paul and his fellow missionaries] said, ‘that the word of God should be declared to you [the Jews] first. But since you reject it and thus condemn yourselves as unworthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles. For these are our instructions from the Lord: ‘I have appointed you to be a light for the Gentiles, and a means of salvation to the earth’s farthest bounds.’ (Acts 13:46-47)
Paul taught these gentile Christian converts that they were not bound by Jewish laws such as those concerning circumcision and dietary regulations. By the end of the first century A.D., Christianity was no longer centered in Palestine, although this is in large part because of the Roman’s destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 after a Jewish revolt against Roman rule. Most Christians by the year 100 were Gentiles.
This predominantly gentile Church … soon completely broke away from Judaism and became a separate religion. This is of the greatest significance in Christian history, for Christ was a Jew, and all his earliest followers were Jews who adhered to the laws of the Old Testament. With the advent of Paul’s gentile mission, there were Jewish Christians who adhered to the Law and gentile Christians who were free from it. By 100, the two religions, Judaism and Christianity, were almost completely separated; and one finds in some Christian writings of that time the beginnings of anti-Semitism. This anti-Jewish attitude became firmly implanted in Christianity and was an important element in the Church throughout the Middle Ages and far beyond. One early passage that indicated the beginnings of anti-Semitism is found in the letter of Saint Ignatius of Antioch (martyred 107) to the Magnesians:
‘. . . So lay aside the old good-for-nothing leaven [of the Old Testament], now grown stale and sour, and change to the new, which is Jesus Christ. . . . To profess Jesus Christ while continuing to follow Jewish customs is an absurdity. The Christian faith does not look to Judaism, but Judaism looks to Christianity, in which every other race and tongue that confesses a belief in God has now been comprehended.’
Despite the separation from Judaism, Christians continued to accept the Old Testament, although they followed Paul in giving a specifically Christian meaning to it, that is to say, they saw the events of the Old Testament in terms of their relationship to Christianity.
Perhaps even in Paul’s lifetime, there were some converts to Christianity who attempted to combine their new religion with a philosophy that had developed in the eastern part of the Roman Empire called Gnosticism. Although not all Gnostics had identical beliefs, there are certain general conceptions common to them. The basic tenet of Gnosticism is the complete opposition between the maternal and spiritual realism: Gnostics saw all material things as intrinsically evil and all spiritual things as intrinsically good. Thus the Gnostics view of the story of creation in Genesis was that it is about an evil god or a rebellious spirit since it is the story of the making of evil things. Gnostics interpreted the New Testament to be about a pure spirit who only appeared to be human. Obviously, Gnostic interpretations of Scripture were seen by most Christians as dangerous and misleading; and Gnostic interpretations were generally rejected by Christian communities. The rejections of Gnostic interpretations of Scripture, however did not mean that the philosophy of Gnosticism disappeared from, Christianity. In the fourth century, for example, the young Augustine, before his conversion to Christianity, was an adherent of a Gnostic group called the Manichees (after the Gnostic teacher Mani). Some scholars have argued that some later forms of Christian asceticism were influenced by Gnostic views. And as late as the twelfth century, there was a major outbreak of Christian Gnosticism in sountern France and northern Italy call the Albigensian (after the French city of Albi) or Cathar movement (from the Greek word meaning ‘the pure ones’).(pp.50-53)
The authors go on to describe how the formal institutionalization of early Christianity made a permanent impact on medieval European culture.
The Development of Church Offices
By the fifth century, a full-fledged theory of papal jurisdictional supremacy emerged. Pope Leo I (the Great, r. 440-61) is perhaps most responsible for the so-called Petrine theory, the ultimate foundation of claims of papal supremacy. Leo argued from Matthew 16:18-19 that Peter received the power to govern the Church from Christ and that this power was inherited by Pater’s successors. Peter was believed to have founded and led the Christian community in Rome, and thus the bishops of Rome were his successors. His claim was recognized by the Fourth Ecumenical Council (Council of Chalcedon) in 415: ‘Peter has spoken through Leo;’ Leo explained the meaning of Matthew 16:18-19 in a sermon preached on the third anniversary of his becoming pope:
‘The dispensation of Truth therefore abides, and the blessed Peter persevering in the strength of the Rock, which he has received, has not abandoned the helm of the Church, which he undertook. For he was ordained before the rest in such a way that from his being called the Rock, from his being pronounced the Foundation, from his being constituted the Doorkeeper of the kingdom of heaven, form his being set as the Umpire to bind and to loose, whose judgments shall retain their validity in heaven, from all these mystical titles we might know the nature of his association with Christ. And still today he more fully and effectually performs what is entrusted to him, and caries out every part of his duty and charge in Him and with Him, through Whom he has been glorified. And so if anything is rightly done and rightly decreed by us, if anything is won form the mercy of God by our daily applications, it is of his works and merits whose power lives and whose s authority prevails in his See. . . . For throughout the Church Peter daily says, ‘Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God’ (Mt 16:16), and every tongue which confessed the Lord, accepts the instruction his voice conveys.’
Christian and Pagan
Almost all the earliest Christian convents had come from the lower strata of society, including many slaves. The instability of the Empire after A.D. 180 and a changing and generally more pessimistic world view developing in the late second and third centuries provided a context for the conversion of significant numbers of well-educated, upwardly mobile people to Christianity. Educated converts did not simply abandon all knowledge they had accumulated in pagan schools, and consequently they were often interested in defining the relationship between pagan learning and Christian revelation. Justin Martyr, toward the end of the second century, believed that much of the wisdom of the great pagan thinker’s was compatible with Christian teaching. He even believed that men such as Socrates had some limited revelation form God and like the great Old Testament figures, were ‘Christians before Christ.’ It was in the center of Greek leaning, Alexandria, that the study of pagan works and the tools of critical scholarship developed by the Greeks were put to the service of Christianity.. The foundation had been prepared by a group of Greek-speaking Jewish philosophers, the most important of whom was Philo (20 B.C.-A.D. 50), who were concerned with reconciling Jewish tradition and Greek thought.
The most important Christian in these developments was Origen (d.254). Some of his theological speculations, such as his belief that at the end all people would be saved, led to controversies over his writings for centuries after his death.(pp.55-57)
Persecution and Triumph
The early Church faced persecution. Christ himself was put to death by a Roman governor at the instance of the Jewish leadership in Jerusalem. The apostles and their followers in Jerusalem faced the possibility of persecution once they became numerous enough to be a perceived threat to Judaism by the religious leaders.
The first Christian martyr was the deacon Stephen, killed by the Jews c.35. This first martyr story is recorded by Luke in Acts of the Apostles:
‘At [Stephen’s preaching] they [the Jews] gave a great shout and stopped their ears. Then they made one rush at him and flinging him out ot the city, set about stoning him. . . . So they stoned Stephen, and as they did so, he called out, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’ Then he fell on his knees and cried aloud, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them,’ and with that he died.’(Acts 7:57-60)
Stephen’s last words are presented to remind the reader of Christ, who uttered similar words of forgiveness to his killers from the cross. James was the first of the apostles to be martyred, and that too took place in Jerusalem c.44.
The most famous of the early persecutions of Christians, and the first launched by a Roman emperor, took place during the reign of Nero. He had been accused by some of having started a great fire in Rome in the year 64 and needed a scapegoat. So he blamed the fire on a small, weak and unpopular Christian community. The persecution was confined to Rome and was not an attempt to wipe out the infant religion. However, both Peter and Paul were probably martyred during this persecution, Peter in the circus of Nero in a place called the Vatican, where four hundred years later a great basilica was build in his honor.
For almost two hundred years after Nero, there were scattered Christian persecutions, but all were short-lived and local. Most occurred in response to local problems (a bad crop, for example, where the populace may have believed that the Roman gods were punishing them for tolerating nonbelievers in their midst) or because the Christians were different from other Roman citizens. Christians generally refused to serve in the army, go to the cruel entertainments so popular with the masses, or sacrifice to the Roman gods (considered as much a patriotic as a religious act). Sometimes Christians were harassed by being ‘rounded up’ for questioning. Probably the attitude of the Emperor Trajan (r.98-117) was typical of imperial policy toward Christians in this period. In the following text, he is answering a provincial governor who had expressed concern about the Christian ‘problem’:
‘You have acted quite properly, Pliny, in examining the case of those Christians brought before you. Nothing definite can be laid down as a general rule. They should not be hunted out. If accusations are made and they are found guilty, they must be punished. But remember that a man may expect pardon from repentance if he denies that he is a Christian, and proves this to your satisfaction, that is by worshipping our gods, however much you may have suspected him in the past. Anonymous lists should have no part in any charge made. That is a thoroughly bad practice, and not in accordance with the spirit of the age.’
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In the year 250, a new type of persecution began under the Emperor Decius. He ordered all citizens of the Empire to sacrifice to the roam deities under penalty of death. This decree was intended to wipe out Christianity. Fortunately for the Christians, this persecution was short-lived because Decius died in 251. However, a similar persecution was ordered by the Emperor Valerian in 258, and it lasted until 261. Among the victims of these persecutions was the deacon Lawrence. His story and those of other martyrs remained popular throughout the Middle Ages, as evidenced by their frequent appearances in sculpture, painting, and stained glass. His life continued to be rewritten and embellished.
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The genre of literature that recites the lives of saints is called hagiography …. [It] was extraordinarily popular n he Middle Ages. The stories were colorfully written with much action and adventure. The Heroes and villain were as easy to spot as they are today in white-hat/black-hat cowboy movies. These writings were not attempts to provide biographies of holy people but rather were attempts to edify, instruct in the virtues and present idealized models for imitation. The disregard for historical accuracy is obvious . . . . Even a casual tourist visiting the churches and museums of Europe cannot fail to see evidence of the enormous popularity of the stories of the saints in the Middle Ages. However, interest in the lives was more than merely entertainment and edification for the masse. The greatest writers of the Middle Ages, among them Bernard of Clairvaux; Bonaventure, and Chaucer, also wrote or rewrote saints’ lives. Of equal importance these hagiographical conventions were often incorporated even into secular literary genres as well.
The growing Christian Church survived the persecution of Decius and Valerian, and was generally left in peace during the next fifty years. In fact, it is known that there were some buildings constructed for Christian worship in the latter half of the third century. However, Emperor Diocletian (r.284-305) who did much to rebuild the Roman Empire, was concerned that the primary loyalty of Christians was not to the state, and began the most serious and wide-ranging persecutions in 303; they continued –with some interruptions—until his successor Constantine’s Edict of Milan in 313. Thousands of Christians died in Diocletian’s attempt to rid the empire of Christianity, and many books and pieces of church property were destroyed. Out of this persecution, too, came some of the Church’s most famous martyrs, including Lucy, Margaret, Catherine of Alexandria, Vincent, and Sebastian. An account of one bishop’s encounter with the persecutors, written by a contemporary, perhaps gives the best picture of what was involved:
‘The magistrate Magnilianus said to him: ‘Are you Felix the bishop?’
‘I am,’ answered Bishop Felix.
‘Hand over whatever books or parchments you possess,’ said the magistrate Magnilianus.
‘I have them,’ answered Bishop Felix, ‘but I will not give them us.’
The magistrate Magnilianus said: ‘Hand the books over to be burned.’
‘It would be better for me to be burned,’ answered Bishop Felix, ‘rather than the divine Scriptures. For it is better to obey Good rather than men.’
The magistrate Magnilianus said: ‘The emperor’ orders come before anything you say.’
Bishop Felix answered: ‘God’s commands come before those of men.’
After Diocletian’s retirement in 305, there was civil war among several claimants to the imperial title. Among them was Constantine, son of one of Diocletian’s caesars (assistant emperors). He was proclaimed emperor by his army in York, England, in 306; but he became effective ruler of the western half of the Empire only after defeating his rival Maxentius at the battle of Milvian Bridge on the outskirts of Rome in 312 and did not rule the entire Roman Empire until 323. According to tradition, on the eve of the battle, Constantine has a vision of the Cross and heard a voice telling him he would conquer by the sign. He had Christ’s monogram marked on his soldier’s shields the next morning. Whatever the historical accuracy of this popular story, Constantine and his co-emperor issued the Edict of Milan in 313, which brought Diocletian’s persecution to an end and granted toleration to all religions. In the years following the edict, Constantine came more and more to favor Christianity, although he was not baptized until just before his death in 337. Among his favors to Christianity were the proclamation of Sunday as a holiday, the elimination of branding on the face as punishment because humans are made in the image of God, the grant of exemptions from government service to the clergy, and gifts of buildings and property to the Church.
Although some historians have argued that Constantine’s conversion to Christianity was politically motivated and perhaps even a political ploy, there seems to be no good reason to doubt the sincerity of his adherence to Christianity. But if Constantine had hoped that Christianity would cement his empire together, he realized soon after the Edict of Milan that there were serious divisions within the church. One issue arose directly from the persecution of Diocletian. Unlike Felix, some clergy submitted Christian books to the Roman authorities to be burned, and some even sacrificed to pagan gods in order to escape execution. After the persecution, some of the priests and bishops wanted to take up their offices in the Church again. In North Africa, a dispute broke out because some Christians (who later came to be called Donatists, after Donatus, a bishop who replaced one of the ‘traitors’) refused to recognize these ‘traitors’ as priests and bishops. The bishop of Rome, a synod of bishops meeting in France, and Constantine himself (in 316, long before he was baptized) condemned Donatism; the emperor even used his imperial power to attempt to put an end to it. This is the fist instance of an emperor using political authority to try to settle an essentially internal, theological controversy among Christians. Despite continued imperial support of the orthodox position, Donatism persisted in North Africa until the Moslem conquest in the seventh century. In the fifth century, the North African Bishop Augustine was a strong opponent of Donatism and wrote powerful treatises supporting the orthodox position.
The Donatist and orthodox views represented two competing beliefs concerning the nature of the Church. The Donatists perceived the Church to be a community of saints, the holy ones of God, and sinners were to be excluded. On the other hand, the orthodox position was based on a broader conception of the Church as a mixed body of saints and sinners, all benefiting froml the community and the sacraments. Furthermore , the clergy were believed to administer the sacraments validly even if they were not of good character; ultimately it was Christ who administered the sacraments, and he could give grace in the sacraments even through unworthy agents. The victory of the orthodox position was of great importance to the development of the church, whose membership for much of the medieval period consisted of virtually the entire population of Western Europe. However, on occasion, church reformers attacking clerical corruption in the Middle Ages came very close to the Donatist position. Among these are the eleventh-century reformer Cardinal Humbert and the fourteenth –century English theologian John Wyclif. A number of popular heresies in the Middle Ages also included Donatist tenets.
The Donatist problem was not, however, the most fundamental theological problem Constantine had to face. A priest from Alexandria named Arius (d.c.336) argued that Christ was not coeternal with the Father but rather with the first fruit of creation; ‘There was a time when he [Christ] was not.’ He emphasized distinctions between God and Father and God the Son and spoke of them as being of different ‘substance,’ a philosophical term best rendered in modern English as ‘essence’ or ‘being.’ Encouraged by his ecclesiastical advisors, Constantine summoned a council of bishops, almost entirely from the Eastern part of the Empire, which met at Nicaea in Asia Minor in 325. Constantine himself presided over this gathering, now referred to as the first Ecumenical (from the Greek work meaning ‘the inhabited world’) Council although he was not a baptized Christian at the time. The Council condemned Arianism and approved a statement concerning the proper relationship of God the Father to his Son probably suggested by Constantine himself although based on the advice of trusted bishops. This formula was incorporated in a statement of belief call the Nicene Creed…(pp.60-69)
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Only in the seventh century did Aryanism disappear as the Germanic tribes gradually accepted the orthodox (Nicene) position of the relationship of the Father to the Son.(p.71)
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After Constantine, the Empire continued to be ruled by Christians except for the two-year reign of the Emperor Julian the Apostate (r.361-63). The importance of Constantine’s conversion and the beginning of imperial support for Christianity after three centuries of neglect or persecution is hard to overestimate. Among the most immediate changes were the number and kind of converts. Until Constantine, Christians were a small minority but highly dedicated to their faith, as evidenced by the willingness of many to be martyred; when people became Christians, they obviously did not do so for any material advantages. But with imperial acceptance of Christianity, countless thousands converted because Christianity was the religion of the emperor and thus perhaps a good way to get ahead in the Empire. Those ready to die for he faith had to learn to deal with and accept many ‘lukewarm’ Christians.
In fact, now that Christianity was a safe and even favored religion, now that martyrdom with rare exceptions was no longer possible, how could those deeply devoted Christians show their willingness to lose all for Christ, as the venerated martyrs had done? One reaction was the growth of asceticism (from the Greek word meaning ‘athletic training’), a vigorous self-denial of worldly pleasures, which was sometimes viewed as a kind of ‘daily martyrdom’…. The ascetic movement was not confined to men and women living as hermits or in monastic communities in the deserts of Egypt, Palestine, and Syria. In fourth-century Rome, for example, there were widows and unmarried women, often from prominent families, vowing celibacy and poverty sometimes voluntarily living in poor and even squalid conditions.
Another’ significant change after Constantine occurred in the role of the bishop. The bishops began to wear insignia once used only by imperial civil servants, and they were often regarded by the emperor and others as the religious counterparts to imperial officials. Even the ‘throne’ or cathedra that came to be used by bishops in their churches was modeled on the set of high-ranking imperial officials. (The word ‘cathedral,’ meant church that is the seat of a bishop, drives from this piece of imperial regalia adapted to Christian use.) The bishops of Rome, of course, also adopted the imperial regalia; in addition, the pope began to use the title and privileges once held by the chief pagan priest of Rome –the pontifex maximus. The popes also sponsored large building projects, including the construction of churches on the spots where famous Christians had been martyred. Among these was the Church of St. Peter, built on the site of Nero’s circus in the Vatican. The pope came to live in a palace called the Lateran, which was bequeathed by Constantine to the bishops of Rome. It was next to this palace that the cathedral of Rome, St. John in the Lateran, was built. For most th the Middle Ages, the residence of the pope was the Lateran palace. Only in the fifteenth century did the popes permanently move to another papal palace in the Vatican.
The Church began to acquire wealth from both imperial and private gifts. The fact that the bishop was the head of a wealthy corporate community added to the importance of episcopal office. The control of wealth by the Christian clergy meant that they were important to the economy and governance of the Empire. This is one reason the emperors were so interested in the disputes within Christendom.
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On the other hand, bishops sometimes sought to exercise their spiritual authority over a Christian emperor to influence essentially political policy. The best example of this involves the Emperor Theordosius (d.395) and the bishop of Milan, Saint Ambrose (d.397). For political reasons Theodosius carried out a massacre of the Greek city of Thessalonica … in the year 390. When the emperor returned to Milan, his capital, Ambrose chastened him and forbade him to enter the cathedral of Milan until he did public penance for his sin. On another occasion, a group of zealous Christian monks had burned a synagogue in the Eastern part of the Empire, Theodosius ordered the local bishop to restore the synagogue with Church funds. Ambrose’s biographer Paulinus recounts what happened upon the emperor’s return to Milan:
‘moreover, after he [Theodosius] had returned to Milan, he [Ambrose] preached on this very topic in the presence of the people, and the emperor was present in the church at the time. In this sermon he introduced the person of the Lord as speaking to the emperor: ‘I made you emperor from the lowest; I handed over to you the army of your enemy; I gave to you the supplies which he had prepared for his own army against you; I reduced your enemy into your power; I established one of your sons on the throne of the empire; I caused you to triumph without difficulty –and do you give triumphs to me over my enemies?’ And the emperor said to him as he was descending the pulpit; ‘You spoke against us today, Bishop.’ But the bishop replied that he had not spoken against him but for him. Then the emperor: ‘Indeed, I issued a stern order against the bishop concerning the rebuilding of the synagogue; Moreover the monks must be punished.’
Ambrose forced Theodosius to recall the order to rebuild the synagogue by refusing to celebrate mass until he received Theodosius’s promise of obedience in this matter. This same Theodosius was the first emperor to persecute people who were not orthodox Christians, i.e. both heretics such as the Arians and pagans. In 391, he issued a decree that was designed to effectively prohibit paganism:
‘No person shall pollute himself with sacrificial animals; no person shall slaughter an innocent victim; no person shall approach the shrines, shall wander though the temples, or revere the images formed by mortal labor, lest he become guilty by divine and human laws. Judges shall also be bound by the general rule that if any of them should be devoted to profane rights and should enter a temple for the purpose of worship anywhere, either on a journey or in a city, he shall be immediately compelled to pay fifteen pounds of gold.’
Thus in less than a century Christianity had gone from a minority, persecuted religion to the official religion of the te Roman Empire, the religion required of all public officials.
Throughout the Middle Ages, people were aware that the conversion of Constantine marked a (perhaps the) major change in the history of the Church. Reformers and critics of the Church often lamented that Constantine’s favors to the Church and all the consequences of imperial favor had ultimately led to a corruption of Christian values and Christian ecclesiastical offices. For example, Dante, meeting avaricious popes in hell, moans: ‘Ah, Constantine, to how much evil gave birth, not thy conversion, but that dower the first rich father had from thee!’
Similarly, here are the words of the important fifteenth-century Bohemian reformer John Hus:
‘This [spiritual poison] was intimated when Emperor Constantine first enriched the Roman bishop, having given him estates; for a voice was heard from heaven saying:’Today poison has been poured into the Christian communion.’
A widely held belief in the Middle Ages was that Constantine actually conferred upon the pope the authority to govern the Western half of the Roman Empire; the legend was put in written form perhaps in the eighth century. This so-called Donation of Constantine was from time to time a major point of dispute between the Holy Roman Emperors and the popes. Elaborate theories of church-state relations relied on the donation. Some writers such as Dante denied the legality and thus the validity of the transferal of imperial power to the pope. However, it was not until the mid-fifteenth century that the Italian humanist Lorenzo Valla demonstrated authoritatively that the Donation of Constantine was a forgery.(pp.72-75)
In these first four chapters, the authors have described what they believe to be the “foundations of medieval Europe. In the third chapter they explain the development of Christian doctrine and institutions and analyze the interaction between classical and biblical culture within a Greek cultural and linguistic framework. In the final chapter of Part I, titled “The Latin Fathers: Jerome and Augustine,” we are intoduced to specific aspects of the early Christian heritage of medieval western Mediterranean culture.
. . . virtually all the Christian writings before the fourth century were in Greek, even in the western Mediterranean. It was only in the fourth and fifth centuries, as the Roman Empire became permanently divided between East and West, that a theological tradition developed in the Latin-speaking West.
The first major figure was Saint Jerome (c.342-420). . . . . Although there were Latin versions of Scripture before Jerome, it was he who retranslated most of both Testaments from their original languages into the version that became standard in the West for more than a thousand years. This translation is usually referred to as the Vulgate (from the Latin vulgus meaning ‘common’), because it was the Bible common to medieval Europe. Jerome’s introductions to and commentaries on many books of the Bible also became standard starting points for biblical commentary in the Middle Ages. Anyone who has ever studies a foreign language can appreciate how a translator has to use certain metaphors and approximations of meaning. Jerome’s choices as a translator determined how people understood and knew the Scriptures; and since his translations remained authoritative for so long, any errors he made were a part of the received biblical tradition in the West throughout the Middle Ages.
Jerome wrote several important works other than his biblical scholarship. Having been educated in the pagan classics like many other Christians, he was concerned with the proper relationship between them and Scripture. While his viewpoint does not remain entirely consistent from one mood or period to another, the overall tone is clear: classical writings can be used by Christians, though with caution and in a role subordinate to Scripture.
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In other words, one is not to reject or ignore the wisdom of the Greeks or Romans, but must select only those elements from the classical heritage that are useful in one’s attempt to achieve salvation.(pp.79-81)
Saint Augustine lived during the decline of the Roman Empire in the West. He was born in North Africa in 354; he traveled to Italy and was converted to Christianity in 386, under the influence Ambrose, the bishop of Milan. Augustine returned to North Africa, where he became bishop of Hippo. He died in 430, as Vandal invaders were approaching the city.
The importance of the writings of Augustine to the Middle Ages and beyond cannot be overemphasized. He is one of the two or three most influential thinkers in all of Christian thought, and perhaps the seminal figure in determining the way the Middle Ages looks at reality. He wrote on almost every topic, and even to survey what he has done in any complete fashion would impossible; but by examining three of his important works, one can see something of both the breadth and depth of his influence. On Christian Doctrine contains his theory of how to read Scripture. The Confessions is his autobiography, the pattern of his conversion to Christianity. The City of God is an interpretation of all of history in terms of the struggle between the heavenly and the earthly, the city of God and the city of man.
To understand the influence of On Christian Doctrine, one must first recall what has been said about the absolute centrality of the Bible to the Middle Ages. … Perhaps at no time in history has a culture been so influenced by a single book.
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Not only was the Bible itself known in a way all but foreign to modern readers, but much of the scholarly writing in the Middle Ages consisted of commentary on its various parts.
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The Bible, then, was known, studied, and upon. Many of its books considered most important were actually know by heart by the great scholars and thinkers. It was able to reach those who could not read as well as those who could, through preaching and through the visual arts. As modern scholars such as Emile Mâle have shown, most of the sculpture, stained glass, and painting of the Middle Ages was an examination and interpretation of biblical narrative.
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On Christian Doctrine is an important document both to the history of ideas in general and the history of literary theory in particular, defining a literary aesthetic influential to the entire Middle Ages; Augustine presents a distinction at the beginning of Book 1 that provides a basis not only for subsequent arguments in this work but to his thought as a whole. He distinguishes between the use and enjoyment of any object:
‘To enjoy something is to cling to it with lover for its own sake. To use something, however, is to employ it in obtaining that which you love, provided that it is worthy of love. For an illicit use should be called rather a waste or an abuse. Suppose we were wanderers who could not live in blessedness except at home, miserable in our wandering and desiring to end it and to return to our native country. We would need vehicles for land and sea which could be used to help us reach our homeland, which is to be enjoyed. But if the amenities of the journey and the motion of the vehicles itself delighted us, and we were led to enjoy those things which we should use, we should not wish to end our journey quickly, and, entangled in a perverse sweetness, we should be alienated from our country, whose sweetness would make us blessed. Thus in this material life, wandering from God, if we should wish to return to our nave country where we can be blessed we should use this world and not enjoy it, so that the ‘invisible things’ of God ‘being understood for the things that are made’ (Rom. 1:20) may be seen that is, so that by means of corporal and temporal things we may comprehend the eternal and spiritual….
The things which are to be enjoyed are the Father, eh Son, and the Holy Spirit, a single trinity, a certain supreme thing common to all who enjoy it.’
This quotation obviously has far-reaching implications in that it helps to explain the proper attitude toward anything whatsoever, whether it be money, property, sex, or God. To see this as the beginning of a theory of aesthetics, however, is perhaps not so obvious. Augustine believed that this attitude must also govern one’s approach to language. Words too are to be used rather than enjoyed, which means that one must not see them as things in themselves, but as signs pointing to something else. In one sense of course this is obvious, in that words are referential. It would be self-defeating , when reading the word ‘horse,’ to concentrate on the word itself, rather than on the four-legged animal to which the word refers. But when reading Scripture, Augustine tell us, one is to go beyond merely seeing the object that the world refers to; one must see words themselves as pointing toward a spiritual truth that exists behind the physical reality. He is elaborating a theory of symbolism. In Scripture, the language is a means of leading the reader from the visible to the invisible. It is no accident that Augustine quotes Paul –‘Invisible things are understood by the things that are made’ (Rom. 2:20)—no less than six times throughout On Christian Doctrine. He tells us about both ways of seeing words as signs:
‘There are two reasons why things written are not understood: they are obscured either by the unknown or by ambiguous signs. For signs are either literal or figurative. They are called literal when they are used to designate those things on account of which they were instituted: thus we say bos (ox) when we mean an animal of a herd because all men using the Latin language call it by that name just as we do. Figurative signs occur when that thing which we designate by a literal sign is used to signify something else: thus we say ‘ox’ and by that symbol understand the animal which is ordinarily designated by that word but again by that animal we understand an evangelist, as is signified in the scripture, according to the interpretation of the apostle, when it says, ‘Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treaded out the corn;’
Augustine believes, then, that discovering the spiritual meaning that the words of Scripture point toward is the task of the serious student of Scripture. Much of On Christian Doctrine
is devoted to ways in which this is to be done. The qualities of the mind that Augustine sees as necessary to this task are intertwined with the very quality of one’s life; he is concerned
with showing that understanding Scripture is always more than simply an academic study. To understand the spiritual meaning of Scripture, one must lead a life spiritually in accord with Scripture. In talking about how it is possible for one to misunderstand the spirit behind certain sections of the Old Testiment, he tells us:
‘Again caution must be exercised lest anyone think that those things in scripture which are neither vice nor crimes among the ancients because of the conditions of their times, even when such things are taken literally rather than figuratively, may be transferred to our own times and put in practice. Unless he is dominated by cupidity and seeks protection from it in the very scriptures by means of which it is to be overthrown, no one will do this. The wretched man does not realize that these things are so arranged for this purpose: that men of good hope my profitably see both that the customs which they disdain may have a good use and that the customs which they themselves embrace may be damnable if charity moves the first and cupidity accompanies the second.’
Augustine is saying that one’s own cupidity is the biggest obstacle to understanding Scripture. His theory helps to explain why certain parts of Scripture seem obscure; until one is able to pierce beneath the veil of the story itself to see the spiritual truth it contains one may indeed think that much of the surface story of Scripture is strange and unintelligible. And Augustine wants the reader to know both the difficulty of that enterprise and the importance of devoting one’s life to its completion.
A question that logically follows however is why Scripture should have been written in such seemingly obscure fashion. Why does God not present spiritual truth simply, rather than in the roundabout fashion that Augustine has described? His answer to this question is one of the most important sections of the work, and one of the most influential statements on aesthetics for the Middle Ages:
But many and varied obscurities deceive those who read casually, understanding one thing instead of another; indeed, in certain places they do not find anything to interpret erroneously, so obscurely are certain sayings covered with a most dense mist. I do not doubt that this situation was provided by God to conquer pride by work and to combat disdain in our minds, to which those things which are easily discovered seem frequently to become worthless. For example, it may be said that there are holy and perfect men with whose lives and customs as an exemplar the Church of Christ is able to destroy all sorts of superstitions in those who come to it and to incorporate them into itself men of good faith, true servants of God, who, putting aside the burden of the world, come to their holy laver of baptism and, ascending thence, conceive through the holy spirit, and produce the fruit of a twofold love of God and their neighbor. But why is it, I ask, that if anyone says this he delights his hearers less than if he had said the same thing in expounding that place in the canticle of canticles where it is said of the church , as she is praised as a beautiful woman, ‘Thy teeth are as flocks of sheep, that are shorn, which come up for, the washing, all with twins, and there is no one barren among them?- Does one learn anything else besides that which he learns when he hears the same thought expressed in plain words without similitude? Nevertheless, in a strange way, I contemplate the saints more pleasantly when I envisage them as the teeth of the church cutting off men from the errors and transferring them to her body after their hardness has been softened as if by being bitten and chewed. I recognize them most pleasantly as shorn sheep having put aside the burden of the world like so much fleece, and as ascending from the wash, which is baptism, all to create twins, which are the two precepts of love, and I see no one of them sterile of this holy fruit.’
This statement describes a movement from the visible to the invisible: Augustine makes it clear that the purpose of figurative language is not the pleasure to be gained in the language itself, but the intellectual truth to which the figurative language leads. The example he uses, by virtue of its jarring effect on a modern sensibility, reinforces this. The image takes the reader on a bizarre ride through the intestinal tact of a sheep, which can make sense only when one solves the intellectual puzzle it presents: how can a mean b? Augustine would claim that the reader gains intellectual satisfaction from the discovery or truth which is a satisfaction separate from contemplation of truth itself; and the difficulty of the image increases the satisfaction. At the beginning of the above question Augustine states explicitly that those things which are easily gained are not greatly valued. Conversely, one values the intellectual truth behind what he calls a ‘most dense mist’ precisely because of the work that one must put into uncovering it. This example may seem rather extreme, but it illustrates all the more forcefully a significant difference between medieval and modern aesthetic theory; the function of imagery to Augustine was not to arose a spontaneous emotional attitude in observers, but rather to encourage them to ‘seek an abstract pattern of philosophical significance beneath the symbolic configuration.’(pp.81-87)
Following a brief discussion of Augustine’s two other major works, the authors conclude their treatment of the “Latin Fathers” in chapter 4 by emphasizing Augustine’s contribution to medieval culture – by way of both his political and aesthetic theories. “Deeply influenced by Paul, [Augustine] argues that the subjugation of humans to other humans, including the formation of government itself, is a result of sin….”
‘Now, as our Lord above says, ‘Everyone who commits a sin is sin’s slave,’ (John 8:34) and that is why, though many devout men are slaves to unrighteous masters, yet the masters they serve are not themselves free men: ‘for when a man is conquered by another he is also bound as a slave to his conqueror’ (2 Peter 2:19). And obviously it is a happier lot to be a slave to a human being than to lust; and, in fact, the most pitiless domination that devastates the hearts of men is that exercised by this very lust for domination, to mention no others. However, in that order of peace in which men are subordinate to other men, humility is as salutary for the servants as pride is harmful to the masters. And yet by nature; in the condition in which God created man, no man is the slave either of men or of sin. But it remains true that slavery as a punishment is also ordained by that law which enjoins the preservation of the order of nature, and forbids its disturbance; in fact, if nothing had been done to contravene that law, there would have been nothing to require the discipline of slavery as a punishment.’
Humans would have no need for government had it not been for the fall; government is thus a kind of punishment. This becomes more explicit when Augustine talks of the rule of the wicked, as in the following passage on the infamous Emperor Nero:
Yet even to men like this the power of domination is not given except by the providence of God, when he decides that man’s condition deserves such masters. God’s statement on this point is clear, when the divine Wisdom says, ‘It is through me that kings rule, and through me that tyrants posses the land.’-
This generally negative attitude toward the state became especially influential in the eleventh century when the papacy asserted itself vis-à-vis the major secular power of the time. Papal apologists argued for the inherent superiority of the Church over the state on the basis that the state is a result of sin while the Church on earth is a representation of the heavenly city to which all should aspire. Only with the revival of Aristotle in the thirteenth century did this view face a serious philosophical challenge.(pp.111-112)
Thus the first part of Cook and Herzman’ book on the medieval world view argues that the culture of the Middle Ages was in many ways derived from Biblical narratives, as well as from Greco-Latin classical writings and institutions, including elements from early Christianity. These influences, coupled with contemporaneous events for over a millennium in medieval European history, produced, in turn, major cultural influences on social conditions in our own "modern" times and contribute to cultural forces which challenge the imperial hegemony today. From this analysis of the foundations of the "medieval world view", we will procede to the authors’ description of the mentalities which characterized life in the Early and High Middle Ages, and which constitute the medieval heritage of our contemproary historiical era in flux.
The 27+ items below include essays and articles that have circulated recently in the Anglophone social media and which reflect some of the more important problems we face today, in a world of corporate domination, imperial collapse, and oligarchic machinations. The barbarism and downright sadistic orgies of mass murder, supported by a silent collaboration, speak volumes to the brutalizing effect of our so-called "civilization" and its structural inequalities, to which we have been indoctrinated and have been made to accept as a “normal” part of our daily lives. The self-deception we are witnessing is mind-boggling. It shall come back to haunt us!
Sincerely,
Francis McCollum Feeley
___
Professeur honoraire de l'Université Grenoble-Alpes
Ancien Directeur des Researches
Université de Paris-Nanterre
Director of The Center for the Advanced Study
of American Institutions and Social Movements
(CEIMSA-in-Exile)
The University of California-San Diego
http://www.ceimsa.org
a.
“Capitalism, Christian Right, and Genocide: USA Today”
https://www.youtube.com/live/HJwA7rfGqO0?si=dn2kWoAQE_wNSmG_
with Chris Hedges
(1:27:37)
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“‘A Titan of a Human Being’: Remembering Francis Boyle, International Law Expert and Medical Freedom Advocate”
by Michael Nevradakis, Ph.D.
Francis Boyle, J.D., Ph.D., an expert on international law who warned about the dangers of bioweapons research and the proposed World Health Organization pandemic treaty, died Jan. 30 at Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana, Illinois.
Francis Boyle, J.D., Ph.D., an expert on international law who warned about the dangers of bioweapons research and the proposed World Health Organization (WHO) pandemic treaty, died Jan. 30 at Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana, Illinois. He was 74.
Boyle was a professor of international law at the University of Illinois, an international lawyer and a bioweapons expert who drafted the Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989. He authored several books, including “Resisting Medical Tyranny: Why the COVID-19 Mandates are Criminal,” and “Biowarfare and Terrorism.”
As an international lawyer, Boyle argued cases before international bodies and represented countries and entities including Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Palestinian Authority, and the Blackfoot and Lakota nations.
In recent years, Boyle voiced support for the theory that COVID-19 originated from a lab leak, and argued against high-risk biological weapons labs and gain-of-function research which may have contributed to the virus’s origins.
Until recently, Boyle was teaching and was involved in several legal cases, including one challenging mRNA COVID-19 vaccines.
Mary Holland, CEO of Children’s Health Defense (CHD), said Boyle “was a lifelong fighter for truth, justice and peace.”
“He was a dear friend to CHD, offering information and advice on many issues, particularly bioweapons where his expertise was unique. We will miss his kindness, wisdom and guidance,” Holland said.
Shabnam Palesa Mohamed, executive director of CHD Africa and founder of the health advocacy organization Transformative Health Justice, praised Boyle’s work defending international human rights.
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« Les vaccins à ARN messager auto-amplificateur arrivent… »
par Bernard Rentier
J’avais lancé une alerte à ce sujet il y a tout juste un an. En y retournant, le lecteur trouvera une explication de ce qu’on entend par « ARN messager auto-amplificateur » et les raisons de mon inquiétude à l’annonce de la mise en application de ce concept dans la vie réelle.
Je résumerai en rappelant que ce qui est demandé aux ARN messagers utilisés comme « vaccins », c’est de pénétrer dans nos cellules (lesquelles ? On ne le sait toujours pas avec certitude ni précision) et d’y commander la production d’une protéine qui sera, elle, le vrai vaccin. Cette étape échappe à tout contrôle et on compte sur la nature pour bien faire les choses en roue libre…
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“Vaccinated vs. Unvaccinated: Serious and Irreversible Neurological, Developmental, and Immune-Related Health Risks”
by Nicolas Hulscher
This is likely one of the primary reasons that prevents Four Studies Reveal the Grave Consequences of Childhood Hyper-Vaccination.When studies compare vaccinated to unvaccinated children, they find serious and irreversible neurological, developmental, and immune-related health risks.
Big Pharma and our regulatory agencies from conducting such studies — their flawed business model of pushing inadequately tested injections would collapse as parents learn the true risks of vaccination. It’s important to remember that ALL of the routine childhood vaccines were licensed WITHOUT proper long-term, placebo-controlled trials:
.
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“'Dismantling' USAID Is A Distraction From The Real Agenda”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGb6lCvWQeU&si=vxK4r20_mSxo2XAa
with Whitney Webb
(7:17)
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“USAID is a Deep State Trojan Horse”
https://corbettreport.com/usaid-is-a-deep-state-trojan-horse/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
with James Corbett
(19:53)
The Trojan horse was the earliest recorded military psyop. That psyop continues to be deployed on unsuspecting populations and it is just as useful as ever, but today’s tricksters have donned the mantle of philanthropy, and their Trojan horses are not wooden statues but non-governmental organizations offering “aid” to foreign nations. In today’s edition of The Corbett Report, we’ll learn about how NGOs are the deep state’s Trojan horses.
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“Is Elon Musk Staging a Coup? Unelected Billionaire Seizes Control at Treasury Dept. & Other Agencies?”
by Democracy Now!
(12:46)
+
“Senator Kennedy's Defense Of Elon Musk's DOGE Left The Room Speechless”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrMsthVAR9w
by Tech Chasm
(16:24)
+
“Be Careful: This Is Serious”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4-R5tfwUOA
with Richard Wolff
(1:00:45)
=======
b.
“Doctor turned congressman rebukes Fauci's 'ideological bull****' remark”
by JACKSON WALKER
Rep. Rich McCormick, R-Ga., rebuked Dr. Anthony Fauci's comments about Americans' “ideological bulls…." during a hearing Monday.
Fauci testified before the House Oversight Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic Monday regarding his response to the pandemic while at the helm of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Rep. McCormick, who served as an ER physician during the pandemic, played audio from an interview during which Fauci blamed “ideological bulls…” for apprehensions toward the COVID-19 vaccine by the public.
Are all objections to COVID vaccinations ideological bulls---, Dr. Fauci?” the representative asked.
“No they’re not and that’s not what I was referring to,” Fauci countered.
Rep. McCormick continued by noting “Americans should take great offense” to Fauci’s words considering the hardship COVID-19 vaccine requirements placed on some. These mandates have caused Fauci to earn a reputation as “Doctor Fear,” the representative said.
This fear you created will continue to have ripple effects over generations to come and you have already seen its effects in education and the economy and everything else,” Rep. McCormick said. “I disagree with you because I disagree with fear.”
The fiery remark was not the only one to stir emotions during the hearing. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., sparked chaos during the hearing after refusing to refer to Fauci as a “doctor.”
+
“Senator Rand Paul: “Fauci’s Preemptive Pardon Could Backfire, Not Supported by the 5th Amendment Anymore”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGNFSH988XY
by The Hill, with Rand Paul
(10:09)
+
“Who Took Over Epstein's Empire?”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jyx4yEVl61w&si=HbNFItrpqQ75We8b
with Whitney Webb
(16:04)
Whitney Webb has been a professional writer, researcher, and journalist since 2016. She has written for several websites and, from 2017 to 2020, was a staff writer and senior investigative reporter for Mint Press News. She currently writes for Unlimited Hangout and contributes to The Last American Vagabond. She hosts an independent podcast called Unlimited Hangout and is the author of the books 'One Nation Under Blackmail' Vol 1 and 2. Her work aims to highlight under-reported issues and find common ground between people of different political persuasions regarding corruption, government overreach, the lack of accountability for militaries and intelligence agencies, and the military industrial complex.
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c.
“The Geopolitics of Elite Insanity. “Transforming the Entire World into A Planetary Technocracy”
(Part III: The dangerous delusion that governments, including BRICS governments, are sovereign and can stop the technocratic takeover)
https://www.globalresearch.ca/geopolitics-elite-insanity-part-iii/5878411
by Robert J. Burrowes
As the geopolitical order is being rapidly reshaped to better serve Elite interests, most analysts writing on the subject are being suckered into perceiving the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa recently expanded to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates) as some sort of ‘alternative’.
See, for example:
Ben Norton’s claim that ‘BRICS… will change the world’ in ‘BRICS expands with 9 new partner countries. Now it’s half of world population, 41% of global economy’.
Professor Jeffrey D. Sachs’ claim that ‘BRICS is… a potential opening for a far more peaceful and secure world order…. [and] can be a boon for all countries’ in ‘The BRICS Summit Should Mark the End of Neocon Delusions’.
The claim of Alfred de Zayas, the first UN Independent Expert on the Promotion of a Democratic and Equitable International Order, that ‘BRICS represents a “new dawn” of multipolarity’ and ‘the very existence of BRICS and the future-oriented Kazan Summit offer an alternative to Western nihilism.’ in ‘The BRICS Summit in Kazan: A Manifesto for a Rational World Order’.
And Abayomi Azikiwe’s claim that ‘BRICS represents a historical pattern of efforts to build alternatives to the existing world capitalist system…. BRICS Plus Summit is a manifestation of the international movement towards ending the domination of the world’s peoples by international finance capital.’ in ‘BRICS Declaration Reinforces Call for Multipolarity: Kazan summit rejects unilateralism advanced by the West’.
Of course, more astute analysts are clearly seeing through the facade and exposing how the BRICS countries are simply implementing the same technocratic program as countries outside the BRICS. See, for example, Riley Waggaman’s ‘Would you like to know what BRICS just declared?’
The point is simple: Beneath any superficial differences between what BRICS countries (sometimes now referred to as BRICS+ given the recent accession of another five members) might be doing that appears to be reshaping planetary geopolitics into a multipolar world order that will somehow supersede the US-led unipolar world order, lies a deeper and darker truth.
This truth is that the Global Elite is rapidly and progressively transforming the entire world into a planetary technocracy populated by transhuman slaves. This means that perceptions that are limited to longstanding worldviews that see the world as statist and/or capitalist/socialist, for example, miss or misperceive the profound changes that are taking place.
No government, including those of the BRICS countries, is resisting these profound changes. No government, including those of the BRICS countries, will resist these profound changes.
The geopolitical world does not revolve around sovereign nation-states because no nation is sovereign. That is, no government of a nation-state is able to exercise independent and ultimate authority over all of its (internal and external) affairs.
Of course, this has long been the case as explained by preeminent historian Professor Carroll Quigley in his classic work published in 1966. See Tragedy and Hope: A History of the World in Our Time. pp.5-6.
‘[T]he powers of financial capitalism had another far-reaching aim, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole. This system was to be controlled in a feudalist fashion by the central banks of the world acting in concert by secret agreements arrived at in frequent private meetings and conferences. The apex of the system was to be the Bank for International Settlements in Basle, Switzerland, a private bank owned and controlled by the world’s central banks which were themselves private corporations…
‘It must not be felt that these heads of the world’s chief central banks were themselves substantive powers in world finance. They were not. Rather, they were the technicians and agents of the dominant investment bankers of their own countries, who had raised them up and were perfectly capable of throwing them down. The substantive financial powers of the world were in the hands of these investment bankers (also called ‘international’ or ‘merchant’ bankers) who remained largely behind the scenes in their own unincorporated private banks. These formed a system of international cooperation and national dominance which was more private, more powerful, and more secret than that of their agents in the central banks.’
Apart from Quigley’s extensive and invaluable book, you can read a reasonable summary of how Elite power – politically, economically, socially and militarily – was gained and is being exercised in Historical Analysis of the Global Elite: Ransacking the World Economy Until ‘You’ll Own Nothing.’
Of course, in the case of ‘democratic’ countries at least, you are meant to believe that ‘your’ government is, indeed, free to make decisions governing your security and well-being and that you have certain rights, including voting rights, to have a say in determining the government of the country in which you live.
To conceal the reality that no nation is sovereign, governments have long been empowered to make decisions about minor matters (which may still have critical impact on some populations) that have no bearing on the fundamental Elite program while any significant ‘decisions’ made by governments are confined to endorsing Elite directives and mobilizing the relevant agents in government, bureaucracies, the media, the military and elsewhere to implement the latest components of the Elite program.
So until you recognize that governments at all levels – and the international institutions with which you are most familiar, starting with the United Nations and the World Health Organization – are merely window-dressing or ‘shadow puppets’ that are designed to distract you from the real bases of power in the world system, then you will continue to misunderstand what is happening, who is driving it and how it is being done. And any effort you make to resist the rampant violence and injustice inherent in what is happening, will fail.
And that is precisely what the Elite intends.. . . .
+
“Tulsi Won’t Call Snowden A ‘Traitor’ & Senators FREAK OUT!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dC8kCYMq7c&si=_ek4ORs6NaoNLQyS
with Jimmy Dore
(10:43)
During her confirmation hearing to become Director of National Intelligence in the Trump administration, former Democratic Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard was asked repeatedly by Democratic Senators whether she considers Edward Snowden a traitor and if she stands by her previous assessment of him as “brave.” Not that they gave her much of a chance to answer since they mainly were using the opportunity to grandstand and gush over the wonders of the intelligence community.
+
“Knowing your rights under Trump's Palestine crackdown”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhqWPzovol0
by The Electronic Intifada, with Abed A. Ayoub
(29:59)
US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday pledging to deport college students on educational visas who take part in protests in support of Palestinian rights – all under the guise of combating anti-Semitism. This comes after the unprecedented crackdown on students protesting the Israeli genocide in Gaza, armed and supported by the Biden administration, on American college campuses last spring. Meanwhile, Harvard University has settled a lawsuit brought by Zionist students who alleged that Palestine solidarity activism on campus is a form of harassment. In addition to awarding the pro-Israel student group financial compensation, Harvard has agreed to implement the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s so-called definition of anti-Semitism. The IHRA definition, which is aggressively promoted by Israel and its lobby, conflates criticism of the Zionist state with anti-Jewish bigotry. We are joined by Abed Ayoub, executive director of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), to talk about the US government’s escalating attack on those who speak up for Palestinian rights and what we can do to protect ourselves individually and collectively. This is a segment from The Electronic Intifada's livestream on day 12 of the Gaza ceasefire. Ali Abunimah, Nora Barrows-Friedman, Jon Elmer and Asa Winstanley were joined by Abed A. Ayoub, executive director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC). You can watch the full broadcast here: https://youtube.com/live/pgQQWID5-u0
=======
d.
“RFK Jr. Has Exposed The Black Heart Of The American ‘Health Care System,’ The Political Class' Shameful Complicity, The Grim Truth About ‘Autism,’ And The Money Laundering Mill They Call ‘Science’"
by Celia Farber
When He Said "By The Way Bernie..." It Was Check Mate, Game Over, No Matter The Vote.
+
“The HHS Confirmation Hearings of RFK”
by CHD.TV
(1:02:00)
+
“The HHS Confirmation Hearings of RFK - 2”
by CHD.TV
(3:39:13)
+
“The HHS Confirmation Hearings of RFK - 3”
by CDH.TV
(3:10:09)
+
“Mainstream Media Admits Massive Surge In Deaths Among Young Adults: Introduces A Post-Covid "Generational Despair," And Lists Everything Except mRNA As Contributing Factors”
by Celia Farber, et al.
Same Article Says Drug Overdose Deaths Are Down, AND That Overdoses Are Part Of The Explanation For The Excess Deaths
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e.
“My imprisonment in Switzerland”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGsMNLIteXw
with Ali Abunimah
(1:37:52)
+
« Au cœur de Paris, les colons israéliens mettent en vente la Cisjordanie »
par Marie Gréco
Blast a obtenu la preuve que des agents immobiliers israéliens proposent, en France, des biens construits dans les colonies israéliennes illégales, au cœur des territoires palestiniens. Une violation manifeste du droit international qui n’a pas fait ciller les autorités françaises.
+
“News highlights on day 12 of the ceasefire in Gaza”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=074EvK0Ux4s
by Electronic Intifada, with Nora Barrows-Friedman
This is a segment from The Electronic Intifada's livestream on day 12 of the Gaza ceasefire. Ali Abunimah, Nora Barrows-Friedman, Jon Elmer and Asa Winstanley were joined by Abed A. Ayoub, executive director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC). You can watch the full broadcast here: https://youtube.com/live/pgQQWID5-u0
(21:59)
+
“Israel Lost the War - What are the Consequences”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8EPJuyptqQ&si=Vzw9sn-kHc-1oi4q
with Alastair Crooke, Alexander Mercouris and Glenn Diesen
(59:46)
+
“Israel retreats from Netzarim corridor as prisoners go free in Gaza”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCYRFGT9irk&si=7-gRrir-fVCemuQ6
by Electric Intifada, with Jon Elmer
(21:01)
Jon Elmer reports on the second prisoner exchange of Phase 1 of the Gaza ceasefire and the Israeli military evacuating parts of the Netzarim corridor for Palestinians to return to northern Gaza. This is a segment from The Electronic Intifada's livestream on day 12 of the Gaza ceasefire. Ali Abunimah, Nora Barrows-Friedman, Jon Elmer and Asa Winstanley were joined by Abed A. Ayoub, executive director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC). You can watch the full broadcast here: https://youtube.com/live/pgQQWID5-u0
+
“Footage shows Yahya Sinwar on Gaza's frontlines”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxU7GPyo34E&si=z8uVdR61h1VG1yod
by Electric Intifada, with Jon Elmer
(10:17)
+
“Breaking news and analysis on day 12 of Gaza ceasefire”
https://www.youtube.com/live/pgQQWID5-u0?si=nRZpUESRQzEBIs99
by Electric Intifada, with Nora Barrows-Friedman
(2:25:22)
+
“How Palestinians struck painful blows at Israeli army in final battles”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgdEr9kjD3s&si=hweFdoA6TdErnt6Y
by Electric Intifada, with Jon Elmer
(16:27)
Jon Elmer reports on the combat videos from the final days of the war in northern Gaza that the Qassam Brigades released after the ceasefire. The battles in Beit Hanoun were a devastating series of resistance ambushes (18 operations on film) that inflicted heavy losses on the Israeli military in the same town the war began in 450 days earlier. This is a segment from The Electronic Intifada's livestream on day 12 of the Gaza ceasefire. Ali Abunimah, Nora Barrows-Friedman, Jon Elmer and Asa Winstanley were joined by Abed A. Ayoub, executive director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC). You can watch the full broadcast here: https://youtube.com/live/pgQQWID5-u0
+
“Unprescidnetred Chaos IS Looming Over Israel As Iran Is Ready To Attack”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xGqvtdqz1g
by Kamil Kerimov, with Jeffrey Sachs
(23:26)
=======
f.
“Trump Pressures Middle East as Turkey and Iran Challenge US Power”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkKjjHgsEh0
with Nima Alhorshide and Larry Johnson
(13:37)
+
“Trump’s Middle East Chaos Israel Pushes for Syria’s Fragmentation”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4XfhuMdXFI
with Chas Freeman
(22:59)
+
“Trump THREATENS Iran, Gives Netanyahu ULTIMATUM! Huge”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yimn2lDhlRE
by Kamil Kerimov, with John Mearsheimer
(22:54)
+
“Trump ABANDONS Israel as Hezbollah DESTROYS Zionist Forces NETANYAHU IN PANIC”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rViNwpPDW7w
with Nima R. Alkhorshide and Scott Ritter, Feb 2, 2025
(18:49)
+
“Trump’s Weakness Spells Disaster”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwdTG0xxlf8
with Nima Alhorshid, Lawrence Wilkerson, and Scott Ritter, Feb 2, 2025
(49:07)
=======
g.
“FULL EVENT: Tulsi Gabbard Faces Tough Questions During Senate Intel Committee's Confirmation Hearing”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxN57yt6oKE
by Forbes Breaking News
(2:36:29)
Tulsi Gabbard, President Donald Trump's nominee to be Director of National Intelligence, testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee.
+
“Gabbard REVEALS Snowden Stance, Patel Goes AGAINST Trump, RFK Jr. Won't Back Down
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6y4OsQMomlI
by The Hill, with Aaron Maté
(11:31)
+
“Tulsi Gabbard is in Danger with GOP Senators
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqK4fn6QO3E
by The Hill
(12:08)
+
“Tulsi Gabbard Exposed Jake Sullivan’s Al-Qaeda Email During Senate Hearing”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBUlCDDWWTU
by Reuters
(9:27)
=======
h.
“What's Coming is WORSE Than a Recession”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVAQoLZKSRw&si=jN7es0YVrsfeuASu
with Richard Wolff
(45:45)
+
“US Threatens BRICS Trying to De-Dollarize – What Happens Next is Terrifying”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mL_-vOaudeA
with Sean Foo
(14:52)
Trump's trade war just can't stop escalating. After hitting China, Mexico and Canada with brutal tariffs, the US is now coming after BRICS. The threat is simple. If BRICS dares to de-dollarize and dump the dollar in global trade, the US will impose a hundred percent tariff on their exports. This is shocking and would backfire on the US economy.
+
“Trump in BIG TROUBLE as Putin, Iran & China's BRICS Move STUNS US Deep State”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vRJWLVIfoQ
with Pepe Escobar
(15:48)
Geopolitical analyst Pepe Escobar reveals a stunning reality that everyone is missing as Trump gets deeper onto a war footing with the growing BRICS alliance. In this must-watch video, Mr. Escobar details just how Russia, China and Iran laid the foundations to withstand anything the Trump regime throws at them, and why Trump is making a big mistake that is already causing the US empire of chaos to pivot back West.
In this video:
• Putin and Iran's New Deal Unveils BIG BRICS Move to Foil Trump
• The Role of China in cementing Eurasia's rise
• An assessment of Trump's impotence to counter this move
Watch now to uncover the truths mainstream media won’t tell you about this monumental moment in geopolitics.
+
“2 European Countries Just Applied to Join BRICS....BIG SHOCKER”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NPQOaFMhPA
by The New Citizen
(11:43)
+
“BRICS EXPANDS US LOSES CONTROL AS INDIA AND RUSSIA REDEFINE GLOBAL TRADE”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w81QoQ0VDDY
by The Face of War, with Pepe Escobar
(19:45)
+
“HOLY! U.S. Just Started a SHOWDOWN With China: Global Economy to Change Forever”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSQydtTwhtI
by Sean Foo
(13:51)
The US just made a bold move. They commanded Panama to push China out of the canal. Worse, Panama has declared their intention to exit China's Belt Road Initiative to comply with the US. This economic confrontation has gone global and is now on an endless escalation ramp-up.
Timestamps & Chapters:
0:00 US Corners Panama Canal
2:51 Showdown With China
6:13 China WILL Respond Big
8:57 Big Trade Retaliation Coming
11:56 US Economy To Get Hit
+
“Trump Is Not Prepared for What’s About to Happen”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yEQ3ierPww
by Business Core, with Richard Wolff
(1:01:37)
Richard D. Wolff is a renowned American economist and professor emeritus from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He is widely recognized for his critical analysis of economic inequality and his promotion of worker cooperatives as a solution to empower individuals and tackle systemic economic challenges. Through his books, lectures, and public appearances, Wolff delves into themes like economic democracy and alternative economic systems.
If you found this video insightful, share it with a friend! Don’t forget to subscribe to the channel for more content on investing, business, the stock market, personal finance, building wealth, passive income, and other financial topics.
+
“SURPRISING Truth About BRICS and Global Affairs”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQ4Y9flzfJA
with Pepe Escobar
(45:29)
The BRICS alliance is growing stronger, challenging Western dominance and reshaping the global economy. In this exclusive interview, Pepe Escobar breaks down the BRICS expansion, the alternative payment system, and the growing shift toward dedollarization. With Indonesia joining BRICS as a full member, the alliance now has a powerful Southeast Asian presence alongside Russia, China, Brazil, South Africa, and India.
🔴 What does BRICS' expansion mean for US foreign policy?
🔴 Is the US launching an economic war against BRICS?
🔴 Will the BRICS financial system replace the IMF and World Bank?
🔴 How are China and Russia leading the BRICS economic strategy?
The BRICS New Development Bank plays a crucial role in financing global trade and development, while alternative payment systems like BRICS Pay and a BRICS common currency could weaken US sanctions and dollar dependency. The BRICS trade alliance is also fueling growth in Russia-China trade, while ASEAN nations like Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia are moving closer to BRICS.
Meanwhile, Trump's tariffs on BRICS and aggressive rhetoric signal a new phase in the War on BRICS. As the global south economy gains momentum, BRICS nations are countering geopolitical shifts with new trade policies and financial independence strategies. Will BRICS succeed in building a multipolar world and reshaping international trade?
+
“You Have No Idea What Black Rock Has Planned For You”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQNz4T5gh6s
with Whitney Webb
(17:03)
=======
i.
“China's DeepSeek Just Won the AI War, Trump and US Tech is in Panic Mode”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjcpvWBV9dw&si=512LjuznF1-2uimb
by Danny Haiphong and
(15:19)
China just changed everything in the world of AI and high-tech with its release of the open source AI model DeepSeek. Why is everyone from Donald Trump to investors on Wall Street shaking from this new AI model? What does DeepSeek tell us about US-China competition and its geopolitical implications? This video answers these questions and more!
+
“Wolff’s Response to DeepSeek”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIllymvhRTo
with Richard Wolff
(13:46)
+
“Major G7 Country Bans China’s DeepSeek: Fatal Mistake For Western Economies”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHAS3sJoy0w
by
(12:29)
+
“How China Is Slowly Taking Over The International Banking System”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOBPnBYTH5E
with Yanis Varoufakis
(11:12)
The Dollar Under Siege: Yanis Varoufakis Exposes China’s Plan!, Is the U.S. Dollar Losing Its Global Power? Yanis Varoufakis Explains!, China’s Bold Move Against the U.S. Dollar – What Happens Next?, Yanis Varoufakis: The Shocking Truth About China’s Challenge to the U.S., The End of U.S. Dollar Dominance? Yanis Varoufakis Weighs In!, China vs. The Dollar: Yanis Varoufakis Reveals the Real Battle!, The Hidden War on the U.S. Dollar – Yanis Varoufakis Breaks It Down!, Is China Replacing the Dollar? Yanis Varoufakis Sounds the Alarm!, The Global Financial Shift No One is Talking About – Until Now!, Yanis Varoufakis: How China Plans to Dethrone the U.S. Dollar!, The Rise of China’s Currency – What It Means for the U.S. Dollar!, Is the U.S. Losing Its Financial Empire? Yanis Varoufakis Explains!, Yanis Varoufakis Warns: The Dollar's Global Reign Is Under Threat!, The Biggest Threat to the U.S. Dollar – Yanis Varoufakis Reveals All!, Why the U.S. Dollar Could Collapse Sooner Than You Think!, China’s Secret Plan to End U.S. Financial Dominance!, The Dollar’s Worst Nightmare: China’s Financial Revolution!, How China is Reshaping the World Economy – And the U.S. Dollar!, Yanis Varoufakis: The Future of Money is Changing Fast!, Is the World Moving Away from the U.S. Dollar? Yanis Varoufakis Speaks!, The Dollar’s Decline: How China is Taking Over the Global Economy!, What Happens If the U.S. Dollar Loses Its Reserve Currency Status?, Yanis Varoufakis on the Biggest Economic Shift of Our Time!, The Shocking Reality of China’s Economic Power – What It Means for You!, The Dollar Under Attack? Yanis Varoufakis Explains China’s Strategy!, How China is Reshaping Global Trade – And Leaving the U.S. Behind!, The Financial Battle of the Century: China vs. The U.S. Dollar!, What If the U.S. Dollar Is No Longer King? Yanis Varoufakis Explains!, The Future of Global Money – Will the U.S. Dollar Survive?, The Dollar’s Decline: Is This the Beginning of the End?
=======
j.
“Trump Pushes Europe Collapse As US Profits From NATO's Destruction War In Ukraine”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekQEzuvhc2k
by The Face of War, with Andrei Martyanov
(23:14)
+
“ODESSA on FIRE┃Hotel 'BRISTOL' with Officers From European Intelligence Agencies Was Blown To PIECES”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLzkou6_0_U
by Borzzikman
(8:35)
On the night of February 1, the Russian Aerospace Forces, together with the missile forces, launched a massive missile strike on military installations in Ukraine. It is noteworthy that this Russian missile attack is still ongoing. While you're watching this video, Russian ballistic and cruise missiles continue to rain down on the military installations of the Ukrainian Army and NATO forces. It is reliably known that seven units of Tu-95MS and five units of Tu-22M3 strategic bombers are participating in this attack. Moreover, the Russian military also deployed three units of Stealth Su-57M fighter jets with the latest 5th-generation 'AL-51F1' aircraft engines, which have a flat nozzle and a reinforced thrust vector.
+
“Russia Prepares to Negotiate With the US”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QK2FDlrEf9w
with Dmitry Polyanskiy, Alexander Mercouris, and Glenn Diesen
(29:46)
+
“EU Wants to Punish Russia and Wants Russian Gas”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdcDLIO4-cQ
by The Duran
(16:24)
+
“MAJOR Escalation: Poland Took a Gamble By Challenging Russia! The Boundaries of Europe are Changing!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkrjrOmzF6c
by BORZZIKMAN
(10:57)
+
“Only Unconditional Surrender: Russia Refused To Stop The Offensive! Putin Decided To Go All The WAY!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3z5MgCG4COY
by BORZZIKMAN
(9:00)
Over the past 30 days, the offensive pace of the Russian Army in all key areas of the front has increased significantly. The advance of Russian troops is being recorded in Kursk, Kharkiv, Pokrovsk, Kurakhovo, and even Zaporizhia directions of the front. In an attempt to save the situation, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, General Alexander Syrskyi, better known as the 'Butcher', continues to throw unprepared forcibly mobilized Ukrainian soldiers into battle.
+
“Behind The Curtain: Ever Wonder Who Was Behind The Hollywood/Zelensky PR Ops? USAID Paid At Least $4 Million To Ben Stiller and $ 5 Million To Sean Penn Just To MEET Zelensky”
by Celia Farber
This Is Important—The Truman Show/War/Hollywood Propaganda Machine Is Being Exposed Like Never Before
=======
k.
“NATO's Dead End”
https://www.youtube.com/live/Ear_jkEZtlk
by Dialogue Wroks, with Andrei Martyanov
(55:35)
+
“Peace With Russia Is INEVITABLE. NATO Is In Terminal Decline”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcsFnM5ShwY
with Ray McGovern
(20:44)
[Part 2 of 3] A general peace in Europe with Russia is not a question of if but when even if the neocons left and right of the Atlantic are trying everything to prevent it. The only question is how to get there faster to save thousands of lives. Ray McGovern, a former CIA analyst and long-time political activist for a sane US foreign policy explains why the way to peace might be one that gives Russia everything it demands (and would enforce anyhow) while packaging it as a "great deal" for Donald Trump.
+
“Trump Faces Iran Russia Alliance As Middle East Power Shifts And US Influence Crumbles”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYkkQTjbn5Q
by The Face of War, with Scott Ritter
(18:16)
+
“Russia Redraws Ukraine’s Borders As Poland And Germany Face Isolation”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjicVGYVoHs
by Dialogue Works, with Scott Ritter
(17:13)
=======
l.
“The Secrets of Palestine You Were Never Told”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpq_uWfLq00&t=37s
by India & Global Left, with Ilan Pappe
(1:02:08)
The Secrets of Palestine You Were Never Told (w Ilan Pappe). Top Israeli historian Ilan Pappe explains how Palestine was in 1917. This in-depth look at the history of Israel-Palestine covers topics such as the Mandate, colonialism, the Nakba, diplomacy, and Arab nationalism. He also discusses Palestine resistance, Hamas, and Political Islam. Israeli Historian Ilan Pappe shares the history of the Israel-Palestine occupation. #israel #palestine #britain #france #gaza #history #nakba1948
+
“The Untold Truths of the 1948 Palestinian Nakbar”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldIfup1F8D4&t=25s
by The UN Palestinian Rights Commpittee
(8:46)
In this
statement, delivered at the UN Forum on the Question of Palestine in 2017, Ilan
Pappé delves into the events of 1948 that led to the Palestinian Catastrophe. He
begins by recounting the role of the United Nations, which appointed the United
Nations Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP) in 1947. This committee,
comprising members who were largely unfamiliar with the region, "totally
misunderstood either the Palestinian position or the general Arab League
position on the Palestine question." Pappé explains how the Jewish
community in Palestine initiated a process of ethnic cleansing in early 1948,
even before the end of the British Mandate on May 15. By April, over 150,000
Palestinians had been expelled from urban areas, with the massacre at Deir
Yassin on April 9 exemplifying the brutality of these expulsions. By the time
Arab nations intervened on May 15, 250,000 Palestinians were already refugees.
Pappé highlights the systematic destruction of Palestinian villages, stating
that "half of Palestine's population was expelled, half of Palestine's
villages were demolished, and most of the Palestinian towns were wiped
out." He concludes by emphasizing the need for acknowledgment,
accountability, and acceptance in any peace process. Pappé asserts that the
international community must recognize the "catastrophe of 1948" and
hold Israel accountable for the ethnic cleansing that occurred. Only through
this acknowledgment can there be hope for a just resolution and acceptance of
Israel as part of the Middle East. "The Israelis can ask both the
Palestinians and the Arab world to accept them as an organic part of
Palestine," he states, envisioning a future where past wrongs are
addressed and true peace can be achieved. To mark the anniversary of the 1948
War and subsequent uprooting and mass displacement of Palestinians, known in
Arabic as Al-Nakba (the Catastrophe), the Committee convened the UN Forum on
the Question of Palestine "70 Years after 1948 – Lessons to Achieve a
Sustainable Peace" on 17-18 May 2018. More details about the event: https://www.un.org/unispal/united-nat... To watch the complete session: 
• UN Forum on the Question of Palestine...
+
“Former US Official Reveals SHOCKING Truth About Middle East Policy”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGpAQYVqKE0
with Jyotishman, Scott Ritter, and Chas Freeman
(1:08:46)
Former US Official, Chas Freeman, reveals shocking truths about US Middle East Policy in an eye-opening interview with Scott Ritter. Learn about the behind-the-scenes actions of the US Security Council, Pentagon, CIA, and military in shaping diplomacy in the Middle East. Also, learn about their own personal experiences during the Gulf War, in Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and more….
+
“Israel Defeated, Hezbollah Crushes IDF as Gaza Resists Genocide”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gT0tn8mCdug
by THE FACE OF WAR, with Mohammed Marandi
(21:26)
+
“A Lonely Netanyahu in DC.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqu8KboN7Y0
with Judge Napolitano and Prof. Jeffrey Sachs
(24:24)
=======
m.
“Trump Will MELT DOWN When He Realizes This” - Richard Wolff’s Dire Warning”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJMOKeZcJ24
with Richard Wolff
(16:32)
+
“We deceived people into believing Russia could be defeated”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flrFZ1p4IxI
with George Galloway
(20:15)
+
“‘NATO sees US as inferiors!’ Ukraine Soldier’s Stunning Rebellion against US-led West”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJC1_oBjWe4
by Times Of India
(3:27)
Six Ukrainian soldiers who surrendered to Russian forces on January 6 shared their ordeal and criticised the training provided by their Western allies. Alexander Bychko, one of the captives, claimed that Ukrainians were treated as "second-class citizens" by British and French forces during training. He described NATO instructors' outdated methods, particularly their failure to adapt to modern warfare involving drones.
+
“Tucker Schools Piers Morgan on NATO Aggression!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9EA1yWEF2Q&si=HZtWamH6TSZWdoMd
with Jimmy Dore
(7:42)
=======
n.
“Is America Losing Everything?”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VL9PgVCvGNc
with Nimo Alkhorshid and Col Jacque Baud
(LIVE)
+
“Tariff Wars”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIYqK5Hbc5A
with George Galloway
(2:09:34)
06:19 Menu #usaid #musk #ukraine #netanyahu #trump
07:46 Monologue #rubio #ukraine #russia #usaid #musk #ukraine #netanyahu #trump
31:28 Iosefina Pascal on #romania #georgescu #eu #nato #election
56:40 Prof Seyed Marandi #iran #russia #usa #azerbaijan #syria #tulsigabbard
1:49:58 Gayatri Galloway on social media
Follow Iosefina Pascal on X: https://x.com/iosefinaoficial
Follow Professor Seyed Marandi on X: https://x.com/s_m_marandi
Follow Gayatri Galloway on
Instagram: 
/ gayatrigalloway
+
“China Redefining the Global Game”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekgFSdIQW5A
with Nima Alkhorshid and Alex Krainer
(56:29)
+
“Trump Faces China’s Rise As BRICS Destroys US Dollar And Reshapes Global Power”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuiHrB53I-k
by The Face of War, with Pepe Escobar
(23:33)
=======
o.
“UK Shocking Authoritarian Move To Silence Palestine”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2k6pmbagWKM
by Double Down News
(12:24)
+
“Dismantling regime change machinery”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zStZiLu_F_U&t=93s
with Duran
(41:14)
The video discusses the potential dismantling of USAID and other regime change agencies by the Trump administration and Elon Musk. It explores the implications for US foreign policy, international relations, and the potential pushback from the deep state.
+
“The Jaw-Dropping Exposure Of "USAID" (One Of Its Names,) That Is Already The Octo-Mom Of ALL Previous American Political "Scandals"—The Tip Of The Iceberg Is Above Water—Dems Screams Fall On Deaf Ears”
by Celia Farber
In 2023, USAID Funded "Training And Support" For 6,200 Journalists, and Bankrolled Media In 30 Countries (That We Know So Far) Jamie Raskin Says USAID Fights "Disease, Corruption," And FOR Democracy!
=======
p.
“John Kiriakou, CIA whistle blower” - Part 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2v0A5vzBPE
by Philip Maior
(54:51)
John Kiriaqoou Talks to Fort Collins Community Action Network about his experiences in the CIA and prison.
+
“John Kirakou” – Part 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHOuaJ32jic
by Philip Maior
(50:14)
CIA whistle blower John Kiriaqou talks to Fort Collin Community Action Network about his experiences working for the CIA and offers a fascinating look inside federal prison.
=======
q.
“How Los Angeles Plans to Become a “Smarter City” by the 2028 Olympics
https://www.globalresearch.ca/los-angeles-smarter-city-2028-olympics/5876967
by Phil Goldstein
LA recently released a smart city roadmap that envisions a highly digital and connected future.
The city of Los Angeles has Olympic-level ambitions for its development as a smart city over the next year seven years.
The city, which is set to host the 2028 Summer Olympics, recently released a smart city blueprint that outlines how it plans to evolve and become a more connected and equitable city in time for the games. The plan was shared with members of the Los Angeles City Council in June.
The plan envisions a city that is easy to get around without a car via a unified digital payment platform for Metro rail, buses, bikes and shuttles. “Ethical proactive technology” will help identify “fire, violence, or other risks to the health and safety of L.A. residents” even before a 911 call. The city will deploy “ubiquitous, ultra-high speed 5G connectivity” across its environs. It calls for the deployment of smart wayfinding kiosks and 10,000 public electric vehicle charging stations.
“It’s close enough to provide a target, but it’s also far away enough to accomplish some pretty aggressive goals,” LA CIO Ted Ross tells StateScoop about the plan. “So the idea of electronic vehicle charging being spread across the city — that’s not something you can do in a year. But it’s certainly something that, within the next seven years, you could be in a very solid place to receive people with electric cars.”
How LA Plans to Enhance Its Smart City Capabilities
The plan outlines five components of LA’s smart city visions, including infrastructure data tools and practices, digital services and applications, connectivity and digital inclusion, and governance.
READ MORE: Critics Warn of ‘a Dragnet of Surveillance’ as U.S. Pushes Ahead with Plans for More ‘Smart’ Cities
For each of those areas, the plan identifies the city departments that will be involved in implementing specific projects as well as the strategic challenges and goals the city is setting.
In infrastructure, for example, the plan identifies a lack of smart city situational awareness as a challenge, noting that there “remains a lack of monitoring, inventory, and situational awareness among our key utility systems, which can result in increased utility outages for the public and delays in restoration.” The city will also need to “deploy entirely new next-generation infrastructure to support emerging demands,” including new fiber-optic infrastructure, electric vehicle charging infrastructure and alternative energy solutions.
+
“THIS Is How LA Should Recover From Fires!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvjuuZeTrmQ&si=I8Hosp3PhbHU6ifW
by The Jimmy Dore Show, with Elaine Culotti
(14:29)
+
“POLL: Voters LIVID w/ LA Mayor Karen Bass Over Fires!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbGSet6kiPo
with Jimmy Dore
(1844)
+
“The Anti-Democratic Fraud Called ‘Meritocracy’”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILljYRz_G-I&si=gatsLrDQp_CIiR_t
with Richard Wolff
(8:02)
Today's Wolff Responds, Professor Wolff gives thoughts on the myth that America is a system built on rewarding people based on merit.
=======
r.
“WEF Davos 2025 – More Grotesque Than Ever. Robotizing and Depopulating”
https://www.globalresearch.ca/wef-davos-2025-more-grotesque-than-ever/5877695
by Peter Koenig
The usual World Economic Forum (WEF) show that captures and dominates all of Davos for a week starts on Monday, 20 January and lasts until Friday, 24 January. It is an ever-increasing nuisance for the population of Davos, an otherwise lovely winter resort place, converted every year into a high-end bordello – for the little carnal pleasures of the rich and famous attending the WEF glamour show.
This year, the elite participants are to be protected and defended from illusionary terror attacks by nothing less than Swiss Army fighter jets. BRAVO!
The 2025 Davos Forum will run under the theme of ‘Collaboration for the Intelligent Age’, which will encompass five “distinct but highly interconnected thematic priorities”, the WEF says on its website.
· Rebuilding trust
· Reimagining growth
· Investing in people
· Safeguarding the planet, and
· Industries in the intelligent age
All of that could easily be summarized in how to robotize humanity – except, of course, the crème of the crop. The elite, those who attend this fiasco show, have nothing to worry. They will remain untouched from the dehumanization process. Unless of course, they fall out of line and favors with their erstwhile Masters. Then their punishment may be severe.
Primarily, it is the plebs they want to reduce, control, and enslave – those that survive this entire dehumanization process.
Reducing means continuing promoting the climate change hoax that kills agriculture, causes famine, diseases, and death; and simultaneously, inventing viruses that require kill-shot vaxxes and death.
Add to this the fully biometric control with digital ID’s and digital vaxx certificates.
This is all shoved under the roof of the sacrosanct United Nations (UN), which during the last few decades has become utterly corrupt and sold to the dark monsters, alias, Deep State, also called the Men in Black with Red Ties.
They would delegate to Mr. Tedros, Director-General of the WHO, powers to decide over health, disease, and death of the 193 UN member nations.
Let us repeat this point: depopulating, robotizing, enslaving and digitally controlling the survivors, is confining the populus into a Digital Gulag.
Do not be fooled, ‘Collaboration for the Intelligent Age’ is code lingo for Digital Gulag.
They will never achieve it.
We, the People, MUST act and be part of this non-violent but active resistance: ignoring what they are doing, shedding fear from our minds and souls, no hatred, be self-assured, as our mind is the most powerful asset each one of us has. Imagine the collective power of eight billion people!
Maybe that is why security is the WEF’s biggest concern this year. More than ever, so-called “terror attacks” is what they fear most, even false flags would do to keep the lies flying.
In an interview a couple of days ago, the Davos police chief answered a journalist’s question why this year the Swiss Army even put fighter jets at disposal of the WEF’s protection. The Police officer said something to the effect, that this year the security system had to be enhanced because of increased terror threats and for the protection of prominent personalities. He mentioned some hundred heads of states attending [not much different from other years].
=======
s.
“Global Warfare: ‘We’re Going to Take out 7 Countries in 5 Years: Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan & Iran.””
by Democracy Now!
(14:59)
Video Interview with General Wesley Clark.
This interview serves as a reminder regarding the diabolical timeline of America’s hegemonic project. Is Iran the next target “to be taken out”?
All these countries including Lebanon and Iran are on the Pentagon’s drawing board. These seven countries have directly or indirectly been the object of US aggression.
America’s hegemonic military agenda has reached a dangerous threshold.
Washington’s stated objective (according to General Wesley Clark) is to take Lebanon and Iran, with the support of Israel.
And Israel’s diabolical objective is “To Take Out” Palestine, with the support of the US, as part of “The Greater Israel Project”.
+
“Towards a WW III Scenario. The Privatization of Nuclear War”
https://www.globalresearch.ca/nuclear-war-propaganda-dangers-safe-use/5853796
by Michel Chossudovsky
At no point since the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6th, 1945, has humanity been closer to the unthinkable – a nuclear holocaust which could potentially spread in terms of radioactive fallout Worldwide .
All the safeguards of the Cold War era, which categorized the nuclear bomb as “a weapon of last resort”, have been scrapped. “Offensive” military actions using nuclear warheads are now described as acts of “self-defense”.
The August 6-8 2003 “Privatization of Nuclear’ War secret meeting was held behind closed doors at Strategic Command Headquarters at the Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska.
It was conducive to a $1.3 trillion dollar nuclear weapons program initiated under the Obama administration, which is slated to increase to 2 trillion dollars by 2030.
SEE:
Hiroshima Day, August 6, 2024
“Towards a World War III Scenario:The Privatization of Nuclear War”
by Michel Chossudovsky
=======
t.
“European Union Facilitates Slave Trade in North Africa”
https://www.globalresearch.ca/european-union-facilitates-slave-trade-north-africa/5878891
by Peter Koenig
Knowing Europe’s horrendous colonial history and today’s European Union’s (EU) ever-growing tyranny, there is little surprise in the EU’s facilitating slave trade in Northern Africa, mostly through Europe-NATO’s destruction of today’s chaotic Libya. The latter with the support of the then Obama Government.
Imagine this: A coalition of humanitarian organizations has alleged that sub-Saharan African migrants in Tunisia are being apprehended and sold to Libyan traffickers, and that the process is facilitated by agreements with the European Union and Italy, according to a report released on Tuesday (28 January 2025). It claims they are detained by authorities, held in detention centers, and subsequently sold off for as little as $12 each. See this from RT for full article.
The report states, “State Trafficking: Expulsion and Sale of Migrants from Tunisia to Libya,” is based on the account of dozens of people from countries such as Cameroon, Chad, Sudan, Guinea, and Ivory Coast, who claim having been enslaved and shipped from Tunisia to Libya.
One migrant said, “They sold us to the Libyans. I really mean buying and selling, like for objects, they sold us like slaves.”
+
“Conversation with Eugene Rogan, The Arabs: A History”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vsX4iQouOc
with Jeffrey Sachs and Eugene Rogan
(58:32)
Join Professor Jeffrey Sachs and historian Eugene Rogan, professor of Modern Middle Eastern History at Oxford, as they delve into the complex history of the Arab world, from the Ottoman conquest in 1516 to today’s geopolitical crises of the modern Middle East. Through the lens of his acclaimed book The Arabs: A History, Rogan brilliantly examines the long history of foreign domination, the rise of Arab nationalism, the roles of Europe and the US as outside powers, and the unresolved conflicts shaping the Middle East until today.
Together, they offer us a masterclass in history that sheds light on the urgent questions of war, power, and the possibility of peace in the region. From Ottoman rule to European colonialism, the impact of the Balfour Declaration, and the ongoing Israeli Palestinian conflict, the conversation provides crucial historical context for today’s challenges.
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u.
“Thirty Years of Middle East Lies Just Keep Coming Back to Bite Us”
https://www.globalresearch.ca/thirty-years-middle-east-lies-keep-coming-back/5878919
by Jonathan Cook”
The West’s 'war on terror' was built on a series of deceptions to persuade us that our leaders were crushing Islamist extremism. In truth, they were nourishing it
The story: Did you believe it 30 years ago when they told you that the Oslo Accords would bring peace to the Middle East? That Israel would finally withdraw from the Palestinian territories it had illegally occupied for decades, end its brutal repression of the Palestinian people, and allow a Palestinian state to be created there? That the longest runing sore for the Arab and Muslim worlds would finally be brought to an end?
The reality: In fact, during the Oslo period, Israel stole more Palestinian land and expanded the building of illegal Jewish settlements at the fastest rate ever. Israel became even more repressive, building prison walls around Gaza and the West Bank while continuing to aggressively occupy both. Ehud Barak, Israeli prime minister of the time, “blew up” – in the words of one of his own main advisers – the US-backed negotiations at Camp David in 2000.
Weeks later, with the occupied Palestinian territories seething, opposition leader Ariel Sharon, backed by 1,000 armed Israeli troops, invaded occupied Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa mosque – one of the holiest places for Muslims in the world. It was the final straw, triggering an uprising by Palestinians that Israel would crush with devastating military force and thereby tip the scales of popular support from the secular Fatah leadership to the Islamic resistance group Hamas.
Further afield, Israel’s ever-more abusive treatment of the Palestinians and its gradual takeover of al-Aqsa – backed by the West – served only to further radicalise the jihadist group al-Qaeda, providing the public rationale for attacking New York’s Twin Towers in 2001.
Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, U.S. president Bill Clinton, and PLO chairman Yasser Arafat. (From the Public Domain)
+
“After Trump’s ‘Clean Out’ Gaza Talk, Hamas Reveals Own Plan With New New Message: ‘Except Israel…’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSEE69ZCRzc&si=AbZMykl_1vHuOXOD
by Hindustan Times
(3:07)
A senior Hamas political bureau official has opened up about the group's future in Gaza. Moussa Abu Marzouk told Al Arabiya that Hamas is not necessarily seeking to govern Gaza. This amid the aftermath of the devastating war with Israel that started on Oct 7, 2023. Watch for the details.
+
“Trump Shifts US Policy On Israel As Gaza Resistance Grows And Netanyahu Loses Control”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aDU5IA_CnA
by The Face of War, with Scott Ritter
(20:02)
+
“Israel in TEARS: IDF Collapses as Gaza, Yemen, Iran & Lebanon HIT BACK”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOrH3oTX94k
with Danny Haiphong and Mohammad Marandi
(22:04)
Israeli troops exited Gaza in literal tears after suffering one of its biggest defeats in the history of Israel. Professor Mohammad Marandi explains how this disaster unfolded with the aid of Yemen, Lebanon, and Iran, and what it means for the future of West Asia.
+
“Israels Own AI Bot GOES ROGUE & Attacks Israel!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ienRbr2D6N4
with Jimmy Dore
(13:01)
+
INTERVIEW: “Hell no, we won't go”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYbxQQL2CZs
with George Galloway and Richard Wolff
(23:14)
+
“Trump's Gaza remarks is the essential logic of Zionism”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYbxQQL2CZs
by Electronic Intifada
(29:31)
This is a segment from The Electronic Intifada's livestream on day 19 of the Gaza ceasefire. Ali Abunimah, Nora Barrows-Friedman, Jon Elmer and Asa Winstanley were joined by Asem Alnabih, spokesperson for the Gaza City Municipality. You can watch the full show here: • Breaking news and analysis on day 19 ...
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v.
“The Dark Forces in Control of the Anglo-American-Zionist Empire Are the Source of the World Crisis”
https://www.globalresearch.ca/anglo-american-zionist-empire-source-world-crisis/5877240
by Richard C. Cook
Today’s spreading world crisis dates in its current phase from over 500 years ago, when the small island nation of England, having renounced Catholicism over King Henry VIII’s marital woes, embarked under his daughter Elizabeth I on an occult project of world conquest.[i]
This goal was to be accomplished through worldwide mercantile colonization, including heavy involvement in the international slave and drug trades, and war against a succession of leading European continental powers: Spain, France, Holland, Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottomans, and Russia. The rival that could not be immediately suppressed was the U.S., which declared independence in 1776. So recapture of the U.S. also became a priority.
The nation that resisted most vigorously was France. England attacked France by ruining its currency via credit bubbles, leading directly to the destruction of French society through the Seven Years War and economic collapse, followed by the French Revolution. The looting of India and China also helped fuel the growth of England’s empire, feeding generations of estate-building by the gentry in the fabled English countryside. See this.
By 1694, when the privately-owned Bank of England was founded, what soon became Great Britain had been taken over by international financial predators practicing the system of fractional reserve banking that utilized usury augmented by compound interest to generate unending undeserved profits. This was a method of grand larceny accomplished by creating paper money “out of thin air” with a small amount of gold as backing (i.e., the “gold standard).
Image: Title page of the first quarto of The Merchant of Venice (From the Public Domain)
Title page of the first quarto for the Merchant of Venice (1600)
Jewish bankers became prominent in operating this system which had first appeared as a force in the empire of Venice (see Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice). The Rothschild family out of Germany gradually became the system’s most visible controlling force throughout Western Europe.[ii] (The Rothschilds of London set the price of gold well into the 20th century.)
Starting around 1835, the Rothschilds began to infiltrate the U.S. under their agent August Belmont (neé Aaron Schönberg), with the Morgans and the Rockefellers setting up the infamous “Money Trust” as U.S. partners. The Rothschild’s headquarters was and is the square-mile “City of London.” The British “Royals” are their sponsors and puppets, enjoying incredible wealth as a still-ongoing payoff for the bankers’ veneer of legitimacy.
The British had been able to use the bankers’ money to bribe European statesmen into joining the British-led coalitions that destroyed Napoleon, who was trying to wrest Europe from banking control. By influencing the Russian Czar Alexander I (after assassinating his predecessor Paul I), Britain was able to goad Napoleon into invading Russia, a mistake that led to his downfall and to Britain’s being able to mold and fashion its modern empire during the rest of the 19th century.
Meanwhile, back in the U.S., first Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, lusting after America’s own empire, foisted on the country a financial system where national government debt would be used to capitalize a central banking system through the First Bank of the United States. This piece of idiocy was in imitation of the Bank of England. The result today is devastating U.S. sovereign debt of over $36 trillion. Repetition by governments around the world has created a crushing burden of debt that reached over $300 trillion worldwide by 2023.
This debt can never be liquidated, often with only the interest paid off, or else rolled over with more debt that crushes populations with inflation and makes every nation a predatory insect against all others. Another effect of massive sovereign debt is to create constant pressure for nations to sell off public assets like public land, utility systems, and even roads and other infrastructure to banks, investment funds, and other financial institutions keyed to private profit, not the public good. This is a way of life throughout the Collective West and its financial colonies.
Returning to history, Britain tried but failed to destroy the U.S. via the American Civil War, but President Abraham Lincoln saved the Union by issuing interest-free Greenbacks. After buying American assets for pennies on the dollar in the Panic of 1837, Rothschild agent August Belmont had risen to become chairman of the Democratic Party which ran General George McClellan against Lincoln in the election of 1864 with the aim of ending the Civil War in the South’s favor.
Britain supplied the South with its weapons. The Times of London editorialized that the U.S. government must be destroyed, due to its policy of creating an indigenous U.S. currency in contrast to interest rates of 30-50 percent demanded by the New York-London Rothschild banks to keep Union armies in the field. Lincoln was assassinated by a conspiracy run by British intelligence out of Montreal. Pinning the blame solely on John Wilkes Booth was a prelude to the “lone assassin” narratives that continue today.
The U.S. was able to develop its railroads and industry, particularly mining, only by using Rothschild gold-backed money. This allowed the domestic Money Trust to take over U.S. industry, leading to the Rothschilds’ seizure of the U.S. through the Federal Reserve “Insurrection” of 1913. Thus the British and its bankers were able to monetize U.S. industrial might in order to activate the process of annihilating Germany. This was Britain’s main 20th century geopolitical project which continues as a major imperial enterprise today.
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w.
“Ex-CIA Agent Bob Baer Unveils CIA Secrets, Terrorism Insights, and Geopolitical Views”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2_6ZWXXFr4
by Vail Symposium
(1:25:49)
CIA field officer Bob Baer shares his experiences and insights on intelligence, terrorism, and geopolitics. Greg Dobbs, a three-time Emmy award winner and global affairs speaker, introduces Bob Baer and highlights his extensive career in the CIA, including his postings in the Middle East and his receipt of the Distinguished Intelligence Cross.
Baer recounts his experiences in some of the world's most dangerous regions, including leading operations in the Middle East. He shares stories about tracking terrorists and dealing with high-stakes situations, such as running an assassination team aimed at Saddam Hussein and encountering the FBI for crossing interstate borders in a mission that quickly falls apart. Baer also discusses the complexities and dangers of intelligence work, including his interactions with various factions and the risks involved in covert operations.
One of the key topics is Baer's view on the inefficiencies and bureaucratic challenges within the CIA, especially regarding covert actions. He highlights the agency's reluctance to engage in such operations and the difficulties in obtaining support for critical missions. Baer also touches on the internal politics and the White House's role in influencing CIA operations, particularly in Iraq and against Saddam Hussein.
Baer also speaks about the movie "Syriana," where George Clooney portrays a character based on him. He shares anecdotes about the film and how it represents his life and work in the CIA.
The conversation delves into the role of intelligence in current geopolitics, emphasizing the importance of ground-level insights and the challenges of collecting reliable information. Baer discusses the limitations of technical intelligence, such as satellite imagery and intercepts, and the necessity of human intelligence, which often involves dealing with unsavory characters and navigating complex local dynamics.
Baer provides his perspective on the current geopolitical landscape, including the conflict in Ukraine and the role of Russian intelligence. He expresses concerns about the potential escalation of conflicts and the implications of intelligence failures. He also shares his views on the Middle East, including the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the influence of Iran, and the ongoing challenges in the region.
The discussion also covers Baer's experiences with the Iranian regime and their involvement in terrorist activities, such as the Pan Am 103 bombing. Baer highlights the complexities of dealing with state-sponsored terrorism and the challenges of gathering and acting on intelligence in such environments.
Baer shares his thoughts on the evolving nature of warfare and terrorism, particularly the use of drones and improvised explosive devices (IEDs). He emphasizes the democratization of warfare, where non-state actors can develop and deploy sophisticated weapons with relatively low resources.
The event concludes with Baer reflecting on his career and the personal sacrifices involved in intelligence work. He discusses the impact on his family life and the isolation that comes with being a CIA officer. Baer also provides advice for those considering a career in intelligence, emphasizing the need for curiosity, resilience, and a willingness to navigate the complexities of global politics.
Overall, the event provides a comprehensive look into the life of a CIA officer, the challenges of intelligence work, and the intricacies of global geopolitics. Baer's candid and insightful commentary offers a unique perspective on the inner workings of the CIA and the broader implications of intelligence in shaping world events.
Chapters:
+
“A CIA Agent’s Stunning Confessions Before His Death | Spies, Hoods, And The Hidden Elite: “I WasThere When JFK Got Shot”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3z5MgCG4COY
by Documentary Central
(1:58:50)
See the other stunning JFK confession, recorded by Netherlands executive producer Willem Jan Dankbaar - https://bit.ly/415vhb0
Interviewed just days before his death, CIA contract agent and underworld figure Chauncey Marvin Holt chronicles his career in the twilight world of bootlegging, bookmaking, gunrunning, money laundering, espionage, and assassinations.
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x.
News from Underground by Mark Crispin Miller
“In memory of those who “died suddenly” in the United States and worldwide, January 27-February 3, 2025”
by Mark Crispin Miller
Movie industry exec Lindsay May (C); comic Ken Flores (28); baseballer Rich Dauer; hoopster John Shumate; TV producer Allyce Ozarski (41, C); music exec Ben Vaughn (49); broadcaster Bill Weber; & more
+
“Patti Smith collapses onstage; Dave Matthews cancels shows; Death from Above 1979 postpones show; "unwell" Mayor Eric Adams "limiting appearances"; UK: snooker star Ricky Walden quits German Masters”
by Mark Crispin Miller
NO: Ski great Jarl Magnus Riiber retires at 27; Bangladeshi singer Sabina Yasmin collapses on stage; AU: Skyhooks guitarist "Bongo" Starkie has leukemia, DJ Kyle Sandilands has brain surgery
+
“Angelina Jolie has Bell's palsy; Andie MacDowell has piriformis syndrome; Karine Jean-Pierre's mom has colon cancer; soap star Colin Egglesfield has prostate cancer; rapper Bhad Babie has blood cancer”
Actress Lili Reinhardt "spent the last year dealing with an unknown illness"; NFL/Penn State's Brian Milne has lymphoma (again); "Bachelorette" star's husband, Kevin Manno, has thyroid cancer; & more
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“Mortality Rates Among Young Adults Spiked During Pandemic — But Why?”
by The Defender, Brenda Baletti, Ph.D.
Mortality rates among adults ages 25-44 skyrocketed in the last several years, because of drug use and “other external and natural causes,” according to a paper published today in JAMA Network Open. The paper didn’t account for COVID-19 pandemic countermeasures like vaccines and lockdowns, critics said.
Mortality rates among adults ages 25-44 spiked between 2020 and 2023, coinciding with the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a paper published today in JAMA Network Open.
The paper examined excess mortality among early adults in the U.S. from 1999 to 2023 and concluded that early adult mortality has “risen substantially” in two stages, from 2011 to 2019 and 2020 to 2023.
Excess mortality among this group peaked during the pandemic years and then decreased, but not to pre-pandemic levels.
The biggest driver of excess mortality by 2023 was “drug poisoning,” they reported. However, they said that “other external and natural causes exceeded what prior trends would have projected.”
The authors concluded there is a “worsening” mortality crisis among this age group and policy conclusions ought to address the intensifying causes of excess mortality — which they said were opioid use, alcohol consumption, traffic safety and dietary risks.
They also noted that the two “distinct phases” of increased mortality before and after 2020 “may also suggest” a “need to attend to the ongoing consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic,” which they said were long-term effects of infection, medical disruption and social dislocation.
Dr. Pierre Kory, who has written several op-eds calling attention to the explosions in excess mortality and their temporal associations with the vaccine rollout slammed the paper for not mentioning the likely impact of the vaccines.
“To read papers like this where the possible impact of the vaccines are not (and cannot) be mentioned makes it anti-science and essentially uninterpretable because one of the likely major variables can never be examined or discussed,” he said.
“To wit, in the conclusion there is no mention of the mRNA campaign’s potential influence,” he said. Instead, they safely say there may be a need to attend to the ongoing consequences of the pandemic.
All-cause mortality researcher Denis Rancourt, Ph.D., who has extensively analyzed the links between pandemic countermeasures and all-cause mortality said research like this also fails to even question the fundamental causes of death.
The authors report on proximal causes of death like drug and alcohol use but don’t mention the fundamental causes of death like, for example, the loss of employment and loss of meaning that happened as a result of lockdowns, he said.
Articles like these, Rancourt said, are “purposefully not saying the important things.”
“It’s horrendously dishonest that these are the kinds of articles that get published in the opinion-leading journals,” Rancourt added. “It’s just completely dishonest that we’re going to be polite and diplomatic and just not really talk about what’s going on here.”
Kory added that other data, including deaths reported to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System or VAERS and “the inexplicable and unprecedented rises in group term life insurance claims among young people 25-44, which occurred suddenly in the 3rd quarter of 2021 when mandates were all the rage,” raised important questions about the temporal relationship between vaccine rollouts and excess mortality that weren’t addressed in the paper.
+
“FDA Lab Uncovers Excess DNA Contamination in COVID-19 Vaccines”
by Maryanne Demasi
Explosive revelations as a study conducted at FDA's own lab found residual DNA levels exceeded safety limits by 6 to 470 times. Experts say it's a 'smoking gun.'
An explosive new study conducted within the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) own laboratory has revealed excessively high levels of DNA contamination in Pfizer’s mRNA COVID-19 vaccine.
Tests conducted at the FDA’s White Oak Campus in Maryland found that residual DNA levels exceeded regulatory safety limits by 6 to 470 times.
The study was undertaken by student researchers under the supervision of FDA scientists. The vaccine vials were sourced from BEI Resources, a trusted supplier affiliated with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), previously headed by Anthony Fauci.
Recently published in the Journal of High School Science, the peer-reviewed study challenges years of dismissals by regulatory authorities, who had previously labelled concerns about excessive DNA contamination as baseless.
The FDA is expected to comment on the findings this week. However, the agency has yet to issue a public alert, recall the affected batches, or explain how vials exceeding safety standards were allowed to reach the market.
The Methods
The student researchers employed two primary analytical methods:
NanoDrop Analysis – This technique uses UV spectrometry to measure the combined levels of DNA and RNA in the vaccine. While it provides an initial assessment, it tends to overestimate DNA concentrations due to interference from RNA, even when RNA-removal kits are utilised.
Qubit Analysis – For more precise measurements, the researchers relied on the Qubit system, which quantifies double-stranded DNA using fluorometric dye.
Both methods confirmed the presence of DNA contamination far above permissible thresholds. These findings align with earlier reports from independent laboratories in the United States, Canada, Australia, Germany and France.
Expert Reaction
Kevin McKernan, a former director of the Human Genome Project, described the findings as a “bombshell,” criticising the FDA for its lack of transparency.
“These findings are significant not just for what they reveal but for what they suggest has been concealed from public scrutiny. Why has the FDA kept these data under wraps?” McKernan questioned.
While commending the students’ work, he also noted limitations in the study’s methods, which may have underestimated contamination levels.
“The Qubit analysis can under-detect DNA by up to 70% when enzymes are used during sample preparation,” McKernan explained. “Additionally, the Plasmid Prep kit used in the study does not efficiently capture small DNA fragments, further contributing to underestimation.”
In addition to genome integration, McKernan highlighted another potential cancer-causing mechanism of DNA contamination in the vaccines.
He explained that plasmid DNA fragments entering the cell’s cytoplasm with the help of lipid nanoparticles, could overstimulate the cGAS-STING pathway, a crucial component of the innate immune response.
“Chronic activation of the cGAS-STING pathway could paradoxically fuel cancer growth,” McKernan warned. “Repeated exposure to foreign DNA through COVID-19 boosters may amplify this risk over time, creating conditions conducive to cancer development.”
Adding to the controversy, traces of the SV40 promoter were detected among the DNA fragments. While the authors concluded these fragments were “non-replication-competent” meaning they cannot replicate in humans, McKernan disagreed.
“To assert that the DNA fragments are non-functional, they would need to transfect mammalian cells and perform sequencing, which wasn’t done here,” McKernan stated.
“Moreover, the methods used in this study don’t effectively capture the full length of DNA fragments. A more rigorous sequencing analysis could reveal SV40 fragments several thousand base pairs long, which would likely be functional,” he added.
Regulatory Oversight Under Scrutiny
+
“The True Efficacy of COVID-19 ‘Vaccines’ A Critical Examination”
https://www.globalresearch.ca/true-efficacy-covid-19-vaccines-critical-examination/5878866
by Dr. Mark Trozzi
Analyzing the data, real-world effects, and the medical establishment’s response.
Language, Definitions, and Medical Manipulation
Language evolves organically, yet in the context of COVID-19, language has been manipulated to serve political and corporate interests. The term “vaccine” was redefined to accommodate genetic injections, creating an illusion of traditional immunization. This Orwellian shift demands rejection, as words should not be altered to fit an agenda but should remain rooted in truth. Read here.
The Science Behind mRNA and Viral Vector Injections
Unlike traditional vaccines, the Pfizer and Moderna injections use lipid nanoparticle-delivered modified messenger RNA (mRNA). This synthetic mRNA, modified at the molecular level to be more durable, instructs human cells to produce spike proteins—an approach that raises concerns about long-term effects. Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca employ adenovirus-based delivery systems, which similarly introduce genetic material into human cells, prompting them to manufacture spike proteins. These methods were deployed without sufficient long-term studies, raising ethical and medical questions. Read here.
Adverse Events and Unprecedented Injury Reports
Historical vaccine data show minimal adverse events over decades, yet 2021 saw an astronomical rise in reported injuries. The Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) is widely acknowledged to be underreported, with estimates suggesting actual numbers could be 100 times higher. If 60,000 deaths were reported, the real figure could be in the millions. Despite this, regulatory agencies and mainstream media continue to downplay or ignore these alarming statistics. Read here.
Predictable Inefficacy and Increased Susceptibility to COVID-19
From the outset, researchers warned that coronavirus “vaccines” had a history of failure. Prior animal studies showed that coronavirus vaccine attempts often resulted in worsened disease outcomes due to antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE). This occurred when antibodies facilitated viral entry rather than neutralizing it. Real-world data has now confirmed that multiple doses of the COVID-19 injections increase susceptibility to the virus rather than prevent infection. Read here.
The Evolutionary Consequences of Mass Injections
Vaccinating during an active pandemic—especially with a rapidly mutating virus like a coronavirus—drives viral evolution, creating more resistant and potentially dangerous variants. The injected population effectively became human petri dishes where viral adaptation accelerated. This was predicted by experts who were dismissed and censored despite their warnings being rooted in fundamental virology. Read here.
Children and Natural Immunity: A Missed Opportunity
Children have inherently strong immune systems, particularly against respiratory viruses. Their limited ACE2 receptors make it difficult for coronaviruses to establish severe infections. Instead of allowing them to develop robust, lifelong immunity naturally, authorities imposed lockdowns and injections, leaving them more vulnerable upon re-exposure. Herd immunity was distorted to justify lockdowns rather than leveraging it as a natural protective mechanism, as it has been used historically. Read here.
The Malfeasance of Health Agencies
Regulatory agencies such as the FDA, CDC, and Health Canada manipulated data to create the illusion of efficacy. PCR tests, known for their sensitivity to cycle threshold manipulation, were misused to categorize the unvaccinated as infected while ignoring those newly injected who later tested positive. This distortion of data fueled the narrative that the injections were effective when, in reality, they correlated with rising cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. Read here.
Real-World Observations: The Cleveland Clinic Study and Amish Communities
The Cleveland Clinic’s large-scale study demonstrated that each additional COVID-19 injection increased the likelihood of contracting the virus by approximately 17%. Similarly, observational data from Amish communities—who did not partake in lockdowns or mass injections—showed significantly lower infection and mortality rates. These findings underscore the failure of the mass injection campaign and the effectiveness of natural immunity. Read here.
Calls for Accountability and Restoration
Given the overwhelming evidence, the global medical establishment must acknowledge that the COVID-19 injection campaign has failed. The following actions are necessary:
· Immediate cessation of COVID-19 injections.
· Comprehensive treatment programs for those injured by these injections.
· Full restoration of medical professionals who were ostracized for opposing harmful policies.
· Transparent investigations into the handling of the COVID-19 crisis.
· Restoration of human rights, medical ethics, and the rule of law.
The Path Forward
The COVID-19 crisis has revealed systemic corruption within global health institutions. Moving forward, truth and medical integrity must guide public health decisions. Society must demand accountability, reject coercion, and return to principles of informed consent and ethical medicine. Only then can we prevent future public health disasters driven by political and corporate interests rather than genuine scientific inquiry. . . . .
+
“Czech Republic Data: Vaccinated Women Are 66% Less Likely to Give Birth Compared to Unvaccinated Women”
by Steve Kirsch
Executive summary
“In 2023, about 114 children were born per thousand unvaccinated women aged 18–39. Only about 42 children were born to vaccinated women per thousand vaccinated women aged 18–39″ Source.
In plain English, in 2023 in the Czech Republic (where they keep meticulous safety data), vaccinated women are 66% less likely to give birth compared to unvaccinated women (OR=.=341).
That’s a disaster.
But the government doesn’t want to take any blame for it, so they don’t talk about it and they make sure that the media doesn’t cover it. They claimed this is a normal trend for birth rates to decline and they DO NOT MENTION that the rates between vaccinated and unvaccinated continue to diverge.
In the meantime, our CDC keeps recommending the COVID shots for pregnant women here in the US.
Apparently no US Senator had a problem with this data since it wasn’t brought up at RFK’s confirmation hearing what he would do to reign in the outlandish recommendations of the CDC. I wonder how the US Senators would explain the divergence in birth rates?
+
“‘Controversial’ Singer Iyah May Goes Viral For Lyrics About Vaccines & Gaza!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuvcfWgNuU8
with Jimmy Dore and Iyah May
(12:53)
=======
z.
“UAE Gives Safe Haven to 5,000 Israeli War Criminals”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q86TZsSj2zE
by the CJ Werleman Show
(9:53)
+
“Make Gaza Beautiful Again!”
with James Corbett and James Pilato
(29:11)
+
“Airbrushing Auschwitz”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ypLIm4ExCQ
with George Galloway
(2:22)
The only ones not invited to the 80th anniversary of the Auschwitz liberation were the ones who liberated it. Russians.
+
“Sunday Strip: When the headlines are so Hilarious...”
+
“False Flag Weekly News”
https://kevinbarrett.heresycentral.is/2025/01/ffwn-trump-vs-the-world-with-cat-mcguire/
with Cat McGuire
+
“How to REALLY Resist Digital ID”
with James Corbett
(47:07)
=======
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CHD.TV –February 1, 2025-02-01
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