Global

I clearly remember my first day at an UNRWA school in a refugee camp in Gaza. I was five years of age. It felt like my life was over. 

 The distance from Block 5 of the Nuseirat Refugee Camp to the New Camp – located within the municipal boundaries of Nuseirat - was long, exhausting and terrifying. 

 I had to walk for several miles, on a very dusty journey that compromised my new, specially tailored red suit and orange sandals. 

 On the arduous journey, passing through citrus orchards and heaps of sand, I was accompanied by hundreds of children, some more experienced and confident, and others, like me, crying all the way to the UNRWA Elementary School for Boys. 

 On the way, I learned about the 'crazy man of the orchard', the disheveled guard who chases after unruly children whenever they try to pluck orange fruits from the Hirthani trees. I also learned about the unleashed dogs that belonged to some Bedouin tribe, whose bites may result in many rabies injections and terrible pain. 

"When someone shows you who they are,” Maya Angelou said, “believe them the first time."

 That should apply to foreign-policy elites who show you who they are, time after time.

 Officials running the Pentagon and State Department have been in overdrive for more than 250 days in support of Israel’s ongoing slaughter of Palestinian civilians in Gaza. Supposedly dedicated to defense and diplomacy, those officials have worked to implement and disguise Washington’s war policies, which have taken more lives than any other government in this century.

The term is “banal militarism” – that is to say, violence and the preparation for violence so utterly commonplace that most people don’t even notice. Banal militarism is as American as apple pie. It’s also global in scope.

As Richard Rubenstein writes: “Part of the reason for the relative immunity of militarism to criticism is the extraordinary cultural power in American society of pro-military institutions and ways of thought. What some analysts call ‘banal militarism’ is omnipresent, so much so that it becomes virtually invisible, part of the air that one breathes.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is often criticized for failing to produce a vision for the ‘next day’, meaning the day following the end of the Gaza war. 

Some of these criticisms emanate from Israel’s traditional western allies, who are wary of Netanyahu’s personal and political agendas, which are fixated on delaying his corruption trials and ensuring that his extremist allies remain committed to the current government coalition. 

The criticism however is loudest in Israel itself. 

The great former California Public Utilities Commission Chair LORETTA LYNCH gives us a deep dive into the brutal battle over the Diablo Canyon nukes and the additional $400 million the once-green Governor Gavin Newsom wants to hand his pals at Pacific Gas & Electric.

MYLA RESON, TATANKA BRICCA, PAUL NEWMAN, RON LEONARD, LINDA SEELEY and STEVE CARUSO jump into this truly electrifying mega-theft being perpetrated on the people of California.

We then hear from KEN STERN on the dark, dire history of the trials of LEONARD PELTIER and the reality of his last parole hearing.

As we explore the horrific 50-year injustice done to this beloved AIM activist, JAMES STARKEWOLF reminds us of the early travesties accompanying this horrible persecution.

We hear further about the possibility of having Congress appoint a new member to the Parole Board that might restore Leonard’s freedom.

MYLA RESON then fills us in on the vital upcoming election at the Pacifica Radio Network.

VINNIE DESTEFANO gives us a quick update on the case of JULIAN ASSANGE.