If you send hundreds of thousands of soldiers to war, some of them are going to get killed–especially if as a matter of military policy they engage in war crimes, as do the US, Indian, Israeli, European, Burmese, & all other militaries. This orgy of international condemnations over Pulwama are exposed by the silence on massive human rights crimes against Kashmiris under occupation & the pogroms Kashmiris are now facing in India. If we want to end soldier deaths, we make no concessions to militarism & demand the immediate, unconditional withdrawal of all foreign troops from wherever they are deployed.

If the Catholic high school student’s $250-million lawsuit against the Washington Post for a new McCarthyism & bias against Trump is not thrown out of court, we can sue the same paper, the NY Times, & for that matter the US Congress for bias toward Palestinians. Bias is the very nature of a so-called free press.

That little matter of beheading & dismembering journalist Jamal Khashoggi last October (as well as beheading many other dissidents) has not impeded Mohammad bin Salman’s role in international politics one iota. He was a welcome attendee at the 2018 G20 summit in Argentina last November/December, was just feted in Pakistan by reform Prime Minister Imran Khan with fighter jet flyovers, 21-gun salutes, banners in the streets, red carpet receptions & honor guard ceremonies, & is now in India for talks on terrorism, investment, & trade. In return for not mentioning Saudi Arabia’s oppressive & murderous politics, Pakistan signed $20-billion in deals with the Saudis.

Saudi Arabia claims it will try to broker tensions between Pakistan & India but of course that could only be at the expense of the Kashmiri freedom struggle & by denouncing terrorism in Kashmir, despite the fact that there only a few hundred armed militants in Kashmir. The point is to impugn struggles against colonialism & occupation by exaggerating the scale of terrorism in Kashmir. MBS & Modi are expected to set up a Strategic Partnership Council to plan joint naval exercises & defense cooperation. This would be in concert with a similar cooperation set up last year between India & the US & between India & Israel. MBS will be off to China next in the Saudi campaign to forge partnerships for trade, investment, & against any popular initiatives for democracy. The irony of Modi feting MBS while conducting pogroms against Muslims speaks to the real purpose of the Islamophobic war on terror: not Islam theologically so much as political resistance to tyranny among Muslims.

(Photo on left is Imran Khan with MBS & on right is Modi with MBS)

Indian counterinsurgency troops in Kashmir & within India are trained by Israeli special forces commandos. India is also a major purchaser of Israeli military equipment, including weapons systems, missiles, & unmanned aerial vehicles. It is through militarism that the US is also involved in the nexus of colonial occupation in Kashmir.

Pellet munitions are trucked by convoys into Kashmir from India where they are dispensed to police & counterinsurgency troops. This collage of pellet victims is from the 2016 uprising when the Indian occupying army went on a rampage. The photos show the scale of facial injuries & disfigurement caused by pellets. Even though they are called non-lethal, they are clearly intended to inflict maximum harm, including to children, by blinding, disfiguring, injury to internal organs, lifelong pain & health problems, demoralization, & death.

Stand with Kashmiris in demanding the end of pellet guns & the immediate, unconditional withdrawal of all Indian troops. End the occupation. Self-determination for Kashmir.

(Photo collage from 2016 by Freedom For Kashmir)

Before their humanitarian role with Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh at the peak of the 2017-2018 genocidal onslaught, I knew nothing about the Sikhs. Now again they are playing an exemplary role in helping Kashmiris escape pogroms in India. It seems the least we can do to honor them is to learn more about them & try to emulate their respect & love for all humankind.

Syrian civilians in Hama province (just south of Idlib province) fleeing from intensified rocket & artillery fire by the Assad regime & Iranian-backed militias. At least twenty towns & villages in the province are under escalated fire, causing many civilian deaths & large-scale civilian displacement. Or do Assad’s propagandists Beeley & Bartlett again claim these are only “crisis actors” mugging for the camera as they did injured & traumatized civilians in Eastern Ghouta?

(Photo by Anas Aldyab)

A war-traumatized child from Idlib, Syria during aerial bombardment by Syrian & Russian war planes & artillery fire from the Syrian army & Iranian-backed militias. Some dare call this liberation. Those with antiwar principles call this genocide & the destruction of a revolution against dictatorship.(Photo by

(Mohammad Alwesh)

A brief history of blackface in America. For those who don’t see Mark Twain’s “Huckleberry Finn” as a classic of the white savior genre in literature & cinema, he was a devotee of the minstrel show.

https://www.facebook.com/HuffPost/videos/2054792894609387/UzpfSTE2MjUyMjkwNjE6MTAyMTYwMDUxNDQ5NTQ1MjE/

Israeli historian Ilan Pappé says Israel’s presence in Palestinian Territories is not occupation; it’s colonization.

https://www.facebook.com/QudsNen/videos/vb.163904570396800/2562490373824054/?type=2&theater