This grieving boy lost his brother in the massive bombing of Idlib province in Syria. He’d probably feel a whole lot better about it if he knew it was Assad’s or Russian bombers defending the homeland rather than US bombers trying to take out Assad. But he’s just not up on the raging debates among leftists who refuse to organize antiwar protests because they’re hoping Russia will save Assad.

With every new such blunder, the left makes itself irrelevant to social change. While Idlib & Aleppo burn.

Rebuild the international antiwar movement to demand “End the bombing in Syria & Iraq!”

(Photo by Khalil Ashawi/Reuters)

Somebody has been bombing Idlib province, Syria to smithereens. Media reports that the massive bombing, including of medical facilities, is “apparently” by forces loyal to Assad but “It was unclear whether the attack was conducted by Russian or Syrian fighter jets.”

According to the Russian Defense Ministry (quoted in RT, the Russian news outlet), it isn’t Russian bombers. They claimed “No combat missions, let alone airstrikes, have been performed by the Russian Air Force in Idlib province.”

The US State Department said “We’re still looking into what happened in Idlib. We don’t have a great sense or complete knowledge of who’s responsible. We’re going to continue to work closely…with the Russians to try to figure out what happened….Obviously, the images coming out of Idlib are very troubling.”

Well isn’t that interesting!? All those images coming out of Idlib from fleets of surveillance drones & the US can’t identify whose air force has been bombing the hell out of the place for days!? And what’s this new collaboration between the US & Russia? Isn’t the official story that they’re on opposing sides? Russia is there to protect Assad & the US is there to take him out?

Somebody is bombing Syria & every government involved knows who. Whether it’s the Assad, Russian, or US air force (or more likely all three of them), or even evil fairies from outer space, the response is not to quibble over which air force is guilty but to demand the end of bombing in Syria & the withdrawal of all military involvement.

The left has put itself in a miserable position when it posits the Russian role as defending a democratically elected dictator. How can it explain the new alliance between the US & Russia?

Rebuild the international antiwar movement to demand “End the bombing of Syria!”

(Photo by Khalil Ashawi/Reuters)

The post about Meir Ettinger–the Israeli guy picked up as a suspect in the firebombing murder of the Dawabsheh family but set free with a tsk-tsk–is evoking some very unsavory comments–most of which I am furiously deleting. Two of them hailed Hitler & Nazism for the Jewish holocaust; others called for burning him alive, hanging him, torturing him.

The culture of impunity in Israel for the murder of & assaults on Palestinians is the problem because it fosters psychos like Ettinger. It includes arresting him but not charging him with a crime or prosecuting him. None of the Israeli media, even the most reactionary, questioned his guilt. That’s what a court of law is for.

For activists (thank heavens none of them were my Facebook friends) to call for barbarisms against this guy is an outrage. Those are the methods of the Israeli & US governments, their Mossad & CIA–not of activists who want to see justice & believe the way forward for humanity is to end barbaric practices like hanging & torture.

I really wanted to give everyone a report on the opening of Parliament with Betty & Phil Windsor. I get such a kick out of feudal pomp that I actually watched the whole damn thing on CNN hoping for a few chuckles & kernels of insight into feudalism. But it was like being at the Vampire’s Ball & I was left to wonder if the planet has been taken over by the undead.

The kiss-ass commentators on CNN tried to give dignity to groveling but it’s hard to drool & maintain composure at the same time. They kept insisting, in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, that the opening of Parliament is a party environment–raising the question if partying under feudalism is a more restrained affair than under capitalism? Or is the difference in party style between oligarchs & working stiffs? Do you think a little booze would help?

Obama called Drumpf’s economic policy proposals ‘crazy’. That’s from the man who bailed out Wall Street & the auto manufacturers & let millions of homeowners be foreclosed on. He’s a real stand-up comedian that guy. But he does know crazy.

Received this message from a caring friend & former coworker: “I’m seeing some very sad posts on your page!!!!! please don’t get lost in every bad thing on Earth—it will destroy you !!! hoping you do enjoy life.”

Rest assured, I’m not one to get lost in sadness. Three things operate to prevent that: firstly, adrenalin & outrage pumping at the rate 2/40 a second that human beings are subject to such violence; & secondly, a belief that working people can change the world to make it suitable for human beings to live & love in. If my energy ever flags–& in several decades of activism it has–I think of children & the world they deserve to live in. And thirdly, the political companionship of so many others from around the world who feel the same outrage & share the same convictions that a humane world is possible.

This drawing is titled “Mourning” by Rollie Mukherjee which is appropriate for the Indian occupation of Kashmir where grief & resistance go hand in hand.

Kashmiri human rights activist Khurram Parvez said: “To express it’s commitment on the International Week of the Disappeared, the Indian army disappeared 27 year old Abdul Wahid on 21 May 2016. Based on the testimonies of locals at Kishtwar, it is feared that army may have killed Wahid, as they heard gunshots & then disposed of his body in a rivulet. People in these far flung areas of Chenab valley are suffering unheard.”

Vampires: the lesser evil in US politics.