Sitting In The Dock At The Hague...

 

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and others like him never need worry about going to prison for committing war crimes. Must be nice.

The Hague Invasion Act and the Hypocrisy of Joe Biden

by Coast Watcher

Last week, President Joe Biden described Russian President Vladimir Putin as “a war criminal” for ordering attacks on innocent civilians in Ukraine. A few days ago, Biden announced at the end of his remarks:

“For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power,” Biden said on Saturday at the Royal Castle in Warsaw. The White House and the State Dept. have been scrambling to explain away Biden’s remark. (...)

It was the second time that Biden confirmed that the purpose of the draconian US sanctions on Russia was never to prevent the invasion of Ukraine, which the US desperately needed to activate its plans, but to punish Russia and get its people to rise up against Putin and ultimately restore a Yeltsin-like puppet to Moscow. Without a cause those sanctions could never have been imposed. The cause was Russia’s invasion.

--Joe Lauria, Biden Confirms Why the US Needed This War

Whatever the justification for accusing Putin of such crimes, Biden’s hypocrisy is breathtaking. Threatening to take out another leader is an act of war. The CIA has assisted many such coups d'etat--such as the 2014 overturn of the Ukrainian election. This is a war crime. And not many Americans are aware that the United States has created a legal fig-leaf for invading an allied country should it dare put an American on trial for the same kind of crimes Biden accuses Putin and his military of doing.

Titled "The American Service-Members Protection Act"  (or "The Hague Invasion Act"), President George W. Bush signed it into law in 2002. That was the same year the International Criminal Court (ICC) began operations at The Hague, Netherlands. The International Criminal Court was founded by the 1998 Statute of Rome as the first permanent judicial body to try persons accused of war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity. The United Nations Security Council can also entrust the ICC to conduct trials in certain cases.

The American Service-Members Protection Act allows the United States to help bring those accused of war crimes to justice—should such a measure be assessed as being in America’s best interests. What really should set alarm bells ringing is the tiny fact that the law also allows the US military to invade the Netherlands, specifically The Hague, should the ICC ever dare to put an American on trial. 

Consider that for a moment. The Netherlands is a founding member of NATO since it was established in 1949 at the start of the original Cold War. The United States, its ally, has made it legal to invade and attack the Netherlands should the ICC even attempt to allow justice to prevail against US service personnel or citizens.

The Hague Invasion Act also allows the US to withdraw military assistance for any of the 138 ICC signatory countries unless they agree not to extradite Americans to stand trial at The Hague. It also prohibits ICC officials from conducting investigations in US territories. The American government has explicitly stated that it will arrest any such official that sets foot on US soil and has promised sanctions against any official who attempts to investigate American war crimes elsewhere.

So what exactly constitutes a "war crime"? According to the Geneva Conventions:

War crimes include the following serious violations of international humanitarian law:

(i) Grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions:

In the case of an international armed conflict, any of the following acts committed against persons or property protected under the provisions of the relevant Geneva Convention:

• wilful killing;

• torture or inhuman treatment, including biological experiments;

• wilfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health;

• extensive destruction or appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly;

• compelling a prisoner of war or other protected person to serve in the forces of a hostile Power;

• wilfully depriving a prisoner of war or other protected person of the rights of a fair and regular trial;

• unlawful deportation or transfer;

• unlawful confinement;

• taking of hostages.

Basis for the war crimes listed above

This list of grave breaches was included in the Geneva Conventions largely on the basis of crimes pursued after the Second World War by the International Military Tribunals at Nuremberg and at Tokyo and by national courts.

https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/customary-ihl/eng/docindex/v1_rul_rule156

The American government has killed, tortured, and imprisoned millions of people across the globe in various wars, military interventions, and regime changes, yet its so-called leaders can stand up in front of us with straight faces and have the nerve to call Putin a war criminal. It takes one to know one! In their hubris they know they can do exactly the same or worse things and that there's little to no chance of any country ever daring to put an American on trial for his/her war crimes. 

What’s even sadder is that NATO and most other countries go right along with it as if it's no big deal. War crimes are atrocities only committed by non-Americans apparently. Any American who commits a war crime will never be punished by the ICC. They'll walk free.

https://popularresistance.org/america-plea-bargains-for-its-crimes-of-torture/

What's the use of an international war crimes court that has no ability to punish those who commit war crimes? What's the use of not punishing war criminals who commit such acts as waterboarding, of holding and torturing their prisoners without charges for decades? You do remember the American government owns and operates Guantánamo Bay, don't you? 

Remember the prisoners being tortured and humiliated by US service personnel at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq? Remember the shocking photo of that poor guy being held naked on a dog leash while a female soldier used electric shocks and taunted him with sexual abuses? Those are war crimes by any name.

The US building biolabs in the Ukraine and working on deadly pathogens there over the past eight years? Nah, that's just a walk in the park. Nothing to see here, folks--move along now before we decide to disappear you to Gitmo, too.

BIO: Coast Watcher sometimes can't believe the audacity and evil intent of world leaders. Perhaps it's good they're starting to let their facades slip. We know more about the inner workings of these murderous cabals than ever before. What's keeping us from building guillotines to rid us of these tyrannical psychopaths?

From a comment on Caitlin Johnstone's Re-visiting Russiagate in Light of the Ukraine War

What we do know about the US biological weapons involvement in Ukraine. And this is just a thumbnail sketch…

1991 – the US launches the Nunn-Lugar program for the former Soviet countries to control/eliminate Soviet weapons of mass destruction including bioweapons. The Pentagon's Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) was named as the program’s main executor.

1993 – the Ukraine-US Agreement on the Prevention of Proliferation of WMD is signed.

2005 – an additional protocol is signed to the agreement between the Ukrainian Health Ministry and the DTRA on the prevention of the proliferation of technologies, pathogens and know-how that can be used to develop bioweapons. This is the start of the transfer of the Ukrainian military biological potential into US specialists' hands.

2000s – large US military-industrial companies are engaged in military biological activity in Ukraine.

2005-2014 – Black & Veatch Special Projects, a DTRA contractor, builds and upgrades 8 biolabs in Ukraine instead of eliminating military biological infrastructure, as was originally claimed. One of the facilities, a biolab in Odessa, has been financed since 2011 for the study of “pathogens that can be used in bioterrorism attacks.”

2007 – US DoD employee Nathan Wolfe founded Global Viral Forecasting Institute (subsequently - Global Viral), a biomedical company. The mission stated in the charter is non-commercial study of transborder infections, including in China.

2009 – Rosemont Seneca Partners is established by former US Secretary of State John Kerry’s stepson Christopher Heinz and US President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden.

2014 – Anti-constitutional coup d’etat in Ukraine.

2014 – Hunter Biden joins the Board of Directors of Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian energy company.

2014 – Metabiota, a private commercial organization specializing in the study of pandemic risks is detached from Global Viral. Neil Callahan and John DeLoche, employees of Hunter Biden’s company Rosemont Seneca Partners are appointed to the board of Metabiota. Global Viral and Metabiota begin to get funding from the US Department of Defense.

2014 - Metabiota shows interest in Ukraine and invites Hunter Biden to "assert Ukraine's cultural & economic independence from Russia".

2014 - Metabiota and Burisma Holdings begin cooperation on an unnamed "science project in Ukraine".

2014 - Metabiota, Global Viral and Black & Veatch Special Projects begin full-fledged cooperation within the US DoD programs.

2014-2016 - Implementation of Metabiota and US DoD contracts, including a $300,000 project in Ukraine.

2016 – US citizen Ulana Nadia Suprun, a descendant of Ukrainian Nazis, is appointed Acting Health Minister of Ukraine. The US DoD and Ukraine’s Health Ministry cooperation program is greatly expanded.

2016 – an outbreak of swine flu among Ukrainian Defense Ministry personnel guarding a biolab in Kharkov, Ukraine; 20 dead. The incident is hushed up.

2016 – former US Assistant Secretary for Defense Andrew Weber is appointed head of Metabiota’s global partnerships department.

2016 – EcoHealth Alliance, a Global Viral founder Nathan Wolfe’s structure, is engaged in the study of bat-transmitted coronaviruses at the research center in a Wuhan laboratory, China.

2016 – the DTRA and Ukraine’s Health Ministry extend the contract after getting approval from the Ukrainian Defense Ministry.

2019 – the COVID-19 mutated bat coronavirus pandemic begins with an outbreak in Wuhan.

February 24, 2022 – launch of the Russian Army’s special operation in Ukraine.

February 24-25, 2022 – rapid elimination of strains in biolabs in Ukraine.

March 8, 2022 – US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland openly acknowledges the existence of cooperation between the US and Ukraine in pathogens.

(Original source:  https://t.me/MariaVladimirovnaZakharova/2246  and more at https://canadianpatriot.org/2020/04/11/the-project-for-a-new-american-century-and-the-age-of-bioweapons-20-years-of-psychological-terror/)

Other related articles:

Hague Invasion Act Becomes Law https://www.hrw.org/news/2002/08/03/us-hague-invasion-act-becomes-law#

Legally, the US Military Can Break People Out of The Hague https://www.wearethemighty.com/popular/us-can-invade-the-hague/

Biden Confirms Why the US Needed This War  https://consortiumnews.com/2022/03/27/can-russia-escape-the-us-trap/ 

Urging Regime Change in Russia, Biden Exposes US Aims in Ukraine https://mate.substack.com/p/urging-regime-change-in-russia-biden

International Law is a Meaningless Concept When It Only Applies to US Enemies https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2022/03/17/international-law-is-a-meaningless-concept-when-it-only-applies-to-us-enemies/#comments

The Lie of American Innocence  https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/the-lie-of-american-innocence-686

More Evidence that the US Is Trying to Prolong this War https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/more-evidence-that-the-us-is-trying?s=r 

The Impact of Ukraine on Yemen  https://scheerpost.com/2022/03/23/the-impact-of-ukraine-on-yemen/

Washington Should Think Twice Before Launching a New Cold War https://scheerpost.com/2022/03/22/washington-should-think-twice-before-launching-a-new-cold-war/ 

From Moscow to Washington, the Barbarism and Hypocrisy Don't Justify Each Other https://scheerpost.com/2022/03/23/from-moscow-to-washington-the-barbarism-and-hypocrisy-dont-justify-each-other/ 

Yes It's a Proxy War  https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2022/03/26/yes-its-a-proxy-war-notes-from-the-edge-of-the-narrative-matrix/

America Plea Bargains for its Crimes of Torture https://scheerpost.com/2022/03/24/john-kiriakou-the-us-plea-bargains-for-its-crimes-of-torture/ 

Bush War Crimes, Guantanamo In Spotlight at Ketanji Brown Jackson Hearings https://therealnews.com/bush-war-crimes-guantanamo-in-spotlight-at-ketanji-brown-jackson-hearings

US Lied About "Dangerous Pathogen" Research in Secret Ukrainian Biolabs https://popularresistance.org/u-s-lied-about-funding-dangerous-pathogen-research-in-secret-ukrainian-biolabs-newly-leaked-documents-reveal/

US Funds Nazis and Brings Back Firing Squads. Literally (video) https://www.rokfin.com/post/79671

 Seen on Twitter:

I’ll believe the United States cares about human rights when it repeals the Hague invasion act and Bush, Obama, Trump, Clinton and Biden get on the next flight.

— Dilan (@dilanpcook) March 22, 2022

Ukraine is the battlefield chosen by US/NATO for its long-planned war with Russia.This This was made clear by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at a press conference earlier today. He stated: 1/

— David North (@DavidNorthWSWS) March 23, 2022

"Since 2014, Allies have trained Ukraine’s armed forces, and significantly strengthened their capabilities. They are putting that training into practice now, on the front lines, with great bravery. In the last months, Allies have stepped up military support. 2/

— David North (@DavidNorthWSWS) March 23, 2022

"Providing anti-tank and air defence systems, drones, fuel and ammunition. As well as financial aid." Stoltenberg made no effort to conceal NATO's massive buildup of Ukrainian military forces over the last eight years. 3/

— David North (@DavidNorthWSWS) March 23, 2022

they’re all war criminals

— #GayUnemployedWaiter (@PaulSorrentino3) March 23, 2022

The azov batalion only they are everywhere ! pic.twitter.com/bmjS4MSeg5

— Юлиан Стефанов 1244 (@YulianSMarinov) March 19, 2022

The Eleventh Reagan Administration

 The Eleventh Reagan Administration

by C.A. Matthews

My predictive skills are uncanny when it comes to what politicians will do next. Sometimes I even amaze myself. I'm almost never surprised by what they say or do. What's my secret?

It's simple. I read a lot, and I make note of a politician's past behaviors and stands on issues. Nine times out of ten, they'll do the same in a similar situation. The tenth time? Well, they may do something a little bit different, but rarely will they do anything that's the complete opposite of what they did before.

For instance, I could tell you that Joe Biden wasn't going to do a darn thing to help immigrants get out of for-profit detention centers or listen to the cries of Black Lives Matter activists or work to defund the police. How did I know all this for a fact? 

Think about it. Do you recall the bill that Biden had a hand in passing through Congress that he likes to brag about the most? If you said the "Biden Crime Law" of 1994  then you're right. He loves locking up people, particularly poor people of color. And his vocal anti-desegregation stance in the 1970s where Biden said he didn't want his children going to integrated schools demonstrates he isn't interested in doing anything to improve the lives of African-Americans.

Will Biden ever expand Medicare to all Americans regardless of age or financial status? Will he ever consider a Universal Basic Income (UBI)?  Will he give students a break and grant them student loan forgiveness? (He said he'd give $10,000 in loan forgiveness during his campaign). In 1995, Biden sought to cut Social Security. In 2005, he fought to deny bankruptcy for student loan defaults. What do you think? Yeah, I don't think he's too worried about the poor, those without private health insurance, or debt-laden ex-students.

Can you see why I'm never surprised by Biden now? In fact, nothing about the last eleven presidential administrations has been particularly surprising to me. By looking at the behaviors of the past six neoliberals to sit in the Oval Office, one can safely predict what will happen more or less in Biden's term. We can expect more tax breaks for billionaires. More banks will be bailed out. More wars will be started to distract the voters away from how miserable their current hardscrabble existence is. More legislation will be passed that is against the workers, against unions, against the poor and downtrodden.

The strongest thread that winds throughout the actions of Presidents Reagan through Biden is their enthusiastic support of the status quo, the oligarchy, the billionaires. Every move they make (or don't make) keeps the money flowing upwards into the coffers of the billionaires. It never "trickles down." Regulations are relaxed or eliminated altogether that cut into corporate profits.  These presidents have each exited  high office with much more money in their bank accounts than they had before they entered .

There's no mistake. A president only makes $ 400,000 a year, and yet Obama bought a mansion worth $11.75 million on Martha's Vineyard immediately upon leaving Washington. It's pretty obvious that doing as you're told by your rich donors while in the White House pays well. 

I know what's bothering some of you. You're thinking: Why do you say these presidents are all like Reagan when some of them are Democrats? How can you say they're more alike than they are different when they have different party memberships?  

To find my answer to these questions, read the opening paragraphs of this article again. I'm "color blind" in the fact that I don't care what party or political faction an elected politician claims to belong to. I simply observe their behavior and make note of it and then compare their actions with other recent presidents. From what I've observed, political party affiliation makes little difference in how a politician may act.

Don't believe me? Two names prove my point: Manchin and Sinema.

Are either of these  senators "Democrats" if they thwart every bill their party attempts to pass? How does their supposed party alliance affect their behaviors? It doesn't. They're following orders from the oligarchs to maintain the status quo.

Note what Biden does in the coming months and then do some reading about the past "Reagans" and make note of their actions. Contrast and compare. Can you make some predictions of what Biden will do next? 

The duopoly of the United States of America makes things both easier and harder to understand when it comes to our presidents' behaviors. It's easy because our two so-called "major" political parties are basically one and the same. They both work hard to increase and protect the wealth of the 1%, the Wall Street mavens, and the Military-Industrial Complex. 

It's harder to understand because by allowing the banksters, billionaires, and warmongers to run our country, we're endangering the entire world. We are forever being drawn into military conflicts and potentially nuclear warfare. The US military is the single most polluting agency on the planet. The rising temperatures, rising ocean levels and melting tundra, releasing methane into the atmosphere further warming the planet, will eventually cause mass extinctions and destroy all life.

Why would any sane human being risk nuclear war and exacerbate the climate emergency? I find it impossible to understand. Profits alone can't explain an entire civilization's suicide, can it? 

We must extract ourselves out of this infernal Möbius loop before it's too late for the planet and humankind. We can't survive another Reagan administration.

Related articles:

https://www.dailyposter.com/biden-reversal-gives-wall-street-a-big-win/  

https://www.directleft.com/p/joe-biden-praises-mitch-mcconnell

https://truthout.org/articles/both-gop-and-democratic-party-want-us-to-surrender-to-covid-for-capitalism/

https://popularresistance.org/on-the-biden-plantation/

https://www.thoughtco.com/presidential-salaries-through-the-years-3368133

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violent_Crime_Control_and_Law_Enforcement_Act 

https://scheerpost.com/2021/09/15/biden-listen-to-the-radicals-or-risk-failure/

 Should Biden by primaried by the left? https://youtu.be/v2pCCuw8I4c

***

The hospital industry wants you to believe that Covid-19 is the reason for the so-called ‘nursing shortage.' But health care workers who've been fighting for safe staffing for decades know the real reason: Unfettered greed. 

The New York Times just released a powerful video that shares the stories of nurses on the frontlines and the grave consequences of hospitals placing profits before people.

Will you support us in our fight for safe staffing by sharing this video with your family and friends?

Share on Facebook »

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The hospital industry has been neglecting nurses and deliberately short-staffing hospitals for years. Now, the Covid-19 pandemic has exposed these practices and the nurse staffing crisis they have created. As registered nurses face increasingly unsafe working conditions, moral distress, and injury, many are leaving the bedside. 

There is still time to reverse this crisis and ensure nurses have the protections and dignity they deserve. We are calling on Congress and the Biden administration to adopt federal policies that value the vital work of direct patient care RNs and that ensure employers meet their legal obligations to provide safe and healthy workplaces.

We need your help to inform as many people as possible about this serious issue. Will you share this powerful video and join us in the fight for safe staffing?

Share on Facebook »

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Even if you’re not a nurse or other frontline health care worker, you can still play a vital role in helping spread awareness of this serious issue.

Thank you for standing with us,

Michelle Mahon, RN
Assistant Director of Nursing Practice
National Nurses United

 ***

Last week marked one year since Joe Biden was sworn in to become the 46th president of the United States.    After four years of devastating policies under Trump, Joe Biden and his administration faced the extremely difficult task of building a fair, functional, and humane immigration system.    In the year since, the Biden Administration has made progress on implementing immigration policies that have extended protection to communities that need them the most, but much remains undone.   Some of the notable actions President Biden carried out early included a series of executive orders to end the Muslim and African bans, fully reinstate DACA and end the construction of Trump's wasteful and offensive border wall. He also ended the “Public Charge'' rule that served as a wealth test used by the previous administration to punish immigrants, and created a task force to reunite children with their parents that were separated under the Trump Administration.    However, on bigger items such as providing a path to citizenship for undocumented workers, restoring the asylum system, creating new paths for legal immigration, and fully protecting Dreamers, TPS holders, and other essential workers, the President has failed to live up to his promises.    Our new report recaps the Biden Administration’s first year and looks to the future with an in-depth examination at what still needs to be done.   Read the report>>>   The report covers topics such as DACA, TPS, COVID-19, the Remain in Mexico (MPP) policy, Title 42, the disproportionately inhumane treatment of Black migrants, legislation, right wing and GOP developments, and more.

So as we enter the second year of the Biden Administration, the task on immigration is clear: the President and his team need to do more. Our report carefully outlines what has been done and what policies still need to be implemented. 

The Biden Administration needs to review the unfulfilled promises and rethink its strategy on how to deliver. Effort is no longer enough as immigrants need real results. 

Read our report here>>

Immigrants dedicate their lives to our country in many ways. Nothing has shown that more than the COVID-19 pandemic as essential workers continue to show up every single day to keep our country going during these turbulent times. Additionally, many immigrant communities were key organizers in Joe Biden’s campaign. 

It is time to find a way to deliver. 

Support our work to hold the Biden Administration accountable for the promises they made on immigration and ensure they build a fair and humane immigration system by donating to our organization today. 

Click here to donate>> 

In solidarity, 

Juana

 

***

Three years ago Trump & co began the horrific and racist Remain in Mexico program. Since then it’s forced 67,000 vulnerable children and families to wait in constant peril in danger. 

There was never supposed to be a three-year anniversary of Remain in Mexico.

One person has a critical role in ending it. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas has a track record of leading with compassion, implementing DACA, and even receiving an award from immigrant groups for his work on refugee rights. On the anniversary of this horrific policy's beginning, let’s call on him to live up to this legacy:

Can you add your name to help end the racist Remain in Mexico program today on the anniversary of this cruelty?

take action

As a child of refugees himself, Secretary Mayorkas benefited from having a functional process to accessing safety in the U.S. Right now, Mayorkas has the opportunity to provide the same for thousands of other families and show that we are still a country where children and families can find the refuge they deserve.

Secretary Mayorkas has the opportunity to make a clear statement that families seeking safety deserve better. On the anniversary of the start of the Remain in Mexico policy, we must demand Secretary Mayorkas fulfill the promises made to families just like his: