Given that Assad supporters are on a political continuum from reactionary stupid to fascist, it was certain they would come out slugging for the Iranian theocracy & claiming protesters are in their majority rightwing. It isn’t just that Assadist politics are always, in every instance on the side of state power (even in those states engaged in genocide & vigilante executions of the poor)–as in Syria, Venezuela, the Philippines, Burma–but that the Iran regime is paying a central military role in the counterrevolution in Syria, including with child soldiers, because it is terrified of revolution in Iran.

Those who follow Assad’s stable of fascist ideologues like Vanessa Beeley, Eva Bartlett, & Tim Anderson sarcastically predicted what their line would be on the Iranian protesters because their politics are simple-minded fascist politics. Even though their rationales for supporting Assad are rooted in Islamophobia & anti-Semitism, they put all their secular crap about Assad aside to support the theocracy in Iran because of its role in Syria & because they cannot break from groveling before state power.

This is how Usman A Khan Tahir brilliantly satirized what the Assadist line would be when the protests first erupted one week ago & this is exactly what the Beavis & Buttheads of the Assad dictatorship are promoting today. Usman is brilliant but they are also predictable like a broken record of anthems to state power (because that’s where the money is):

“To the Wahabbi/Zionist protesters in different cities of Iran: leave the regime alone. This CIA-backed attempt to disrupt Tehran will be defeated by the ‘Axis of Resistance’. #HandsOffIran #HandsOffKhamenei #HandsOff_IRGC”

Tango Graffiti predicted that Assadist publications Global Research, Moon of Alabama, & Mint Press would soon deluge us with articles pushing that line. Yup, they’re already hot off the press. It’s called the Assadist school of falsification.

Couldn’t find videos on YouTube of Kashmiri woman rapper Mehak Ashraf but did find this rapper discussing rap & resistance politics:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF8L-e4FX9w

The US does not support anti-regime protests in Iran, no matter what Trump & Nikki Haley blither. The US has always lived compatibly with theocracies, dictatorships, military juntas. It cannot abide popular democratic movements & uprisings. The evidence is in its response to the Arab Spring uprisings which we are witnessing in carnage in Syria, Yemen, Egypt, Bahrain.

Trump talking through his ass & Nikki Haley talking through her clenched teeth said the US will suspend millions in dollars of aid to Palestinians unless they agree to peace negotiations with Israel. The monumental cynicism & dishonesty of that threat is breathtaking. The corrupt Mahmoud Abbas & other PA officials may get millions to pay for mansions & an aristocratic lifestyle in return for selling Palestinian self-determination down the drain but Palestinian working people get squat. When the US bankrolls the military occupation, expropriation of Palestinian lands & new Israeli settlements, the brutalization of Palestinian protesters including teens & little kids, the incarceration of protesters including teens & little kids, & the carpet bombing of Gaza, it is odious that the US would attempt to lay the onus for conflict on Palestinians.

Stand with the Palestinians who have endured 70 years of vilification & damn lies about their freedom struggle. Honor the economic boycott by checking every product you buy to make sure its country of origin is not Israel. The only possible peace is a democratic secular state where Palestinians & Jews will live as brothers & sisters.

A powerful & poignant moment at the funeral last Monday of 17-year-old freedom fighter Fardeen Ahmad Khanday killed in the Indian occupying army’s “Operation All Out” offensive. Thousands attended his funeral prayers. Two other militants were killed along with five counterinsurgency troops.

May they Rest In Peace.

End the occupation. Self-determination for Kashmir.

The US is reducing military aid to Pakistan by $255 million, not eliminating aid entirely despite Trump’s loud-mouthing. It’s a disputed question how much aid the US has actually given to Pakistan because some is direct military aid ($15 billion since 9/11/2001) & billions are in the amorphous category of “non-military” aid which gets funneled through NGOs & USAID which uses it to bribe officials, maintain a spy network, maintain torture centers, & for other such vile purposes. It’s a very familiar process from Afghanistan & Iraq.

Trump’s reduction in military aid does not represent a dramatic “Trumpian” shift in US policy toward Pakistan since under Carter in the 1970s & old man Bush in the 1990s aid was suspended temporarily because of Pakistan’s nuclear program. The greatest reductions have been under Obama starting in 2010 when total aid went from $4.5 billion a year to 2016 when it declined to $794 million. It still remains one of the biggest recipients of US military aid along with Israel, Egypt, Jordan, & Iraq.

It’s not entirely clear what the US is up to regarding Pakistan since it plays a vital role as a US ally in the Afghanistan War. But it also appears Pakistan plays both sides of the street in its association with the Taliban. Pakistan is not often discussed fully enough though it is clearly an important player in Middle East & South Asian politics. This military aid dispute going on between the US & Pakistan is an occasion to examine conflicts & developments in the political relationship between the two countries since it is of considerable importance to Afghans, Kashmiris, Pakistanis & to democratic struggles in the Middle East & South Asia.

My annual commentary on Betty Windsor’s Christmas address will necessarily be brief this year due to the sheer volume of banalities she shoveled into her annual five-minute homily to the nation. The 2017 address was a sustained meditation on home & family. It’s no small feat to render a cliché profound but our Betty did her best. Which unfortunately was not good enough.

She spoke warmly of her children, who she referred to by their titles. She spoke most affectionately of Phil’s “unique sense of humor”–a wit so brim full of racism, misogyny, & idiocy that it has nearly brought the Commonwealth to collapse on more than one occasion. She said after 70 years of marriage & in his nineties, Phil has now found it time to slow down. At full speed, it was never clear if Phil was alive or just a masterpiece of taxidermy rolled out for pomp & circumstance. But that’s another matter. She also spoke warmly of Commonwealth leaders for their “inspiring way of bringing people together,” not realizing that the cheering throngs that greet her titled kids are unemployed & prison inmates forced under compulsion of execution to act the serf. Except Justin Trudeau, who is a natural-born sycophant & loves to grovel when they visit Canada.

Betty has lost none of her wooden charms & feigned empathy. But that’s just the way of feudalism. Time to raze it to the ground.

(Photo is screenshot of Betty’s address)