India’s vote for Palestinian self-determination at the UN is not a minor contradiction to its colonial occupation of Kashmir or something to be lauded despite its sarcastic character. The resolution itself is a disgrace with its bantustate perspective oblivious to Israeli ethnic cleansing & genocide. India is mocking Palestinian self-determination & attempting to counter opposition to its Kashmiri policy. This must make Indian nationalists & some liberals feel quite smug but it doesn’t account for weapons sales, special forces training, & common colonial perspectives between India & Israel.

Actress Priyanka Chopra released a video of herself visiting a Rohingya refugee camp. It was so touching to hear her express sympathy in place of outrage for the trauma they sustain. Now if we can just get her to take a similar tour through Kashmir maybe she’ll withdraw her nationalist & snotty support for the occupation & siege. Her father served as an officer with the Indian Army in Kashmir so, not being a rebel, it’s unlikely she will reverse her nationalist views in that regard. Color me skeptical about her support for the Rohingya refugees since she has not expressed opposition to the Indian government’s persecution of Muslims nor for their attempts to deport Rohingya refugees.

Uyghur activists claim that in East Turkistan China is demolishing mosques or turning them into barrooms & that Uyghur women are being forced to marry Chinese men. Chinese officials & Stalinists call that fake news. So who do we believe? Those who massacred unarmed student protesters in Tiananmen Square, have an immense gulag for political dissidents, & use extreme violence against democracy protesters in Hong Kong & mainland China? Or do we hear those who sustain & oppose the deadly force of genocide?

Chinese official responds to journalist about the Uyghur concentration camps: the first & last resort of genocidaires is denunciation of fake news & of ‘Islamic terrorism’.

Indian Council General for NY Sandeep Chakravorty told a group that in Kashmir India should follow the Israeli model of colonizing. Jews kept the ‘culture alive for 2,000 years outside their land’ as India has to keep ‘Kashmiri culture alive & Kashmiri culture is Indian culture, Hindu culture’. Apparently he doesn’t talk to India’s UN guy who just voted for self-determination for Palestinians. Apparently he also doesn’t know squat about human history. According to his historical method, Irish-Americans, Irish-Australians, or Irish-Mexicans can lay claim to the Rhineland from whence their ancestors came a few thousand years ago. We can wear those lederhosen as well as any German. Chakravorty has several advanced degrees including in forest management. History must not have been part of the curriculum. He should have stuck to being a forest ranger since his understanding of human history is fascist, nationalist, & complete fabrication.

113 days Kashmir caged: by Rollie Mukherjee.

The number of international refugees due to war, genocide, political repression & persecution, climate change, & plunder is close to 300 million & expected to rise to nearly a billion in the next few decades. When was the last time we saw any substantial reporting about their situation? About where they’re living since they’re denied asylum? About how many have drowned trying to cross oceans? About what happens to them when they have no place to go? For that matter, when was the last time we saw any credible journalism about the wars creating a substantial majority of those refugees? Why are their lives of so little importance? Is it the ethos of ‘if we don’t report it, then it isn’t happening’? Or is it mainly to hide the criminalities & growing rightwing extremism that is taking over so many governments. We are living in the barbaric phase of capitalism.

When India calls Kashmir a union territory, they mean a colonial possession. Like Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands, & Samoa to the US. Like Hawaii was before the US forced it to become a state. Colonial relations & barbarities will prevail until India is forced to withdraw all its troops.

According to Indian media, Pakistani-sponsored terrorists are lobbying grenades right & left in Kashmir. There probably have been explosions where several have been killed or injured. But we have ‘been there, done that’ with US-NATO occupations from Iraq to Afghanistan to Syria & know this is the work of agents provocateurs attempting to divide & conquer occupied nations, especially by religious affiliations. It is highly unlikely that isolated militants are able to move freely around Kashmir with grenades or rifles whilst there are nearly a million troops every few meters, road blocks & checkpoints everywhere, & where even small children are frisked.

“Deployment of navy force in Kashmir to curb terrorism: Where is navy required in Kashmir? Dal lake or Jehlum river”

–Hayat Ummer on India deploying Navy special force commandos to Kashmir