The US has been building up militarily in the region for a while. Their strategy includes the Trans-Pacific Partnership; a new major military base in Australia; remilitarizing the Philippines & re-establishing US bases there; remilitarizing Japan, allowing the country to deploy troops abroad for the first time since WWII, & incorporating it into an offensive naval & troop force allied with the US; annual joint military maneuvers with several South & Southeast Asian countries including the Philippines, the military dictatorship of Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, & now India.

India already has a dangerous military alliance with Israel including substantial arms deals & long-term contracts to train paramilitary death squads in Kashmir–& of course to use against its own increasingly dissident peoples.

There have been massive antiwar protests against these maneuvers in both the Philippines & Japan. But if this military buildup–which not only strengthens US military might but militarizes all the countries in the region–is to be stopped, there have to be antiwar protests in the US, India, the other countries of South & Southeast Asia, Australia, & all over the world. We only need look at the killing fields of the Middle East to see where this is headed.

(Photo of Obama & Modi from Press TV file)

To Iraqis, the Green Zone represents the US occupation which Obama declared ended in 2011. It is a monstrous edifice which was also the focus of protests during the Arab uprisings in 2011. It will be a glorious day when Iraqi protesters have razed it to the ground & send the whole lot of criminals packing.

Iraqi military forces opened live fire & used tear gas against the protesters. Media reporting on the protest is canned from one media source to the next & comes straight from the military. They say “dozens” of protesters were injured & that “authorities could not immediately verify reports that several civilians had been killed.” A media that wasn’t embedded up the ass of the US Pentagon would consider it a matter of journalistic integrity & responsibility to find out just how many were injured & killed. When soldiers are shooting live ammo, it is likely there were fatalities. Borrowing a page from the Israeli army, military authorities actually claimed some Iraqi soldiers were stabbed.

It was reported that protesters appealed to the soldiers by chanting “Oh army, the country is hurt! Don’t side with the corrupt!” It is a profound political tragedy that international antiwar forces are too weak to provide massive solidarity with the Iraqi people. No political mission is more imperative than rebuilding that movement. On May Day, in the state of Odisha, India, protesters carried a banner saying “American attackers should lick Iraqi dust!” We second that.

Our fullest solidarity & deepest respect to the Iraqi protesters standing against one of the most powerful & barbaric military forces in the world.

(Photo of protesters by Khalid al Mousily/Reuters)

Thank God you’re safe in Chittagong.

(Photo from EPA)

The award ceremony/pro-Israel rally was hosted by Sheldon Adelson, (the right-wing gambling magnate who just endorsed Drumpf) & Shmuley Boteach, a crazy-pants, right-wing Zionist rabbi who actively promotes illegal settlements in the West Bank. The guests at this vampire’s ball included Chris Christie, notorious for a million idiocies & his support for Drumpf; Elie Wiesel, the guy who milks his holocaust experience for all it’s worth in honoraria & who accused Palestinians of using their children as human shields to justify Israeli carpet bombing in 2014; Alan Dershowitz, who leaves a sulfurous odor wherever he appears; Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, whose endorsement of Bernie Sanders was lauded by his supporters despite her many right-wing associations; Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the notorious Islamophobe making a bundle posing as a feminist reformer.

Another person present was John Prendergast, always referred to in media as a human rights activist but who is almost certainly a CIA operative based in Africa (second from the left in this photo). He’s always seen with George Clooney on the occasions when Clooney leaves his red carpet lifestyle to war monger for US intervention into Darfur. Prendergast plays a central role in the conflict with Sudan over Darfur (a region in Sudan) & was a key US operative in the secession of South Sudan from Sudan. It is certainly relevant that Israel has considerable investments (i.e., plunder operations) in South Sudan. He is also involved as an operative in other African countries.

It’s just a fact in politics that you can’t play both sides of the street. When Penn associates with the most right-wing & corrupt elements in world politics, we can assume that is where his political commitments are. It’s the old “if it walks & talks like a dirt-ball it must be a dirt-ball” thing.

(Photo by Ben Gabbe/Getty Images)

{Thank you to Faranak Karimpour for the info about the pro-Israel rally}

The film was mocked & pilloried by reviewers as white savior genre so despicable & artistically bereft it became camp & so racist it had no meaningful role for Africans except as pitiable backdrops to two white people getting it on. It is considered a major disaster, a cinematic nightmare by all reviewers.

A film bombing out is not news. What is interesting about this film bombing out so ignominiously is Sean Penn’s political role as a white savior in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake. He marched into Haiti playing the great white knight in tow with Bill Clinton (who was stealing the country blind from millions donated for relief), Hillary Clinton as US Secretary of State, former Haitian dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier, & Haitian president & former death squad member Michel Martelly. Penn used his celebrity & liberal reputation shamefully to facilitate their criminal efforts to take advantage of the earthquake to turn Haiti into a sweatshop haven–& to repress political opposition to those schemes.

Penn has been feted from here to Kingdom Come for his so-called humanitarian work in Haiti when he is nothing but a low-level sniveling shill for sweatshops & white supremacy.

This tawdry white supremacist film bombing out serves one purpose very well & that is to expose the racist posturing of Sean Penn. May he fry in hell for all eternity for his crimes against the people of Haiti.

(Photo by Clemens Bilan/EPA)

I told them he had several health issues he was being medicated for, including heart-worms. Of course I couldn’t keep their dog & they seemed quite loving toward him but I asked why they let him run free all over the streets. She didn’t understand my concern. They didn’t even have a fenced-in yard to keep him in.

This morning Maxie/George showed up on my doorstep at 7am & is likely going to do that from now on–claiming two families & having all sorts of fun here with other dogs & at the dog park. The problem is he has to cross a major road to get here & stands a good chance of getting hit.

A rescue friend tells me just to dognap him & quite frankly, for his welfare, I would. But they live three blocks from me. I’m thinking to suggest they let me pick him up in the morning when they leave & let me dogsit him while they’re gone. Send your blessings the little guy’s way & hope they let me.