Social media is not conducive to nuance. In the interest of reach, cut and dried positions are more effective and binary moral judgement expected. This leads to over-simplification of complex issues, and to skipping over facts inconvenient to your chosen narrative.
There are issues affecting two high-profile people where it is worth considering the detail before coming to a firm view – and in doing so perhaps acknowledging that we may not have sufficient information to make that view more than provisional.
I want to look at the furores around Karim Khan and Delcy Rodríguez.
Karim Khan has been dismissed as Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, by the Bureau of the Court (consisting of the diplomatic representatives of its member states). This follows a lengthy investigation in which three judges found there was no evidence that met the standard of criminal proof, set against member state committee reports that argued in effect that in cases of workplace harassment, the standard of criminal proof is not applicable.
The essential background is that Khan had requested and obtained arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and two Israeli ministers, pursuant to charges of war crimes against them.
The allegations against Khan did not emerge until after the Netanyahu arrest warrant.
The effort to remove Khan was undoubtedly promoted within the ICC structures by those governments aligned with Israel. The Israeli government itself appears to have been actively pushing for Khan’s removal.
The very well-connected Israeli journalist Guy Azriel, from right-wing Israeli TV channel i24NEWS, has posted that a team of Israeli diplomats was involved in promoting the allegations against Khan. Azriel is a former Israeli diplomat himself and well plugged in.
🚨Against the backdrop of the dismissal of International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan, a senior Israeli official tells me that Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar played an active role in efforts to advance the move. According to the official, Sa’ar oversaw a dedicated…
— גיא עזריאל Guy Azriel (@GuyAz) July 24, 2026
The ICC has of course suffered from massive pressure from Israel and the United States, with sanctions applied to its judges and personal threats made directly against both judges and staff.
Karim Khan has stated that his family were threatened by Israel. But just as I noted that the allegations against Khan only emerged after the obtained arrest warrants against Netanyahu, we should note that Karim Khan only spoke about this after the sexual allegations.
Yet none of this makes the allegations against Karim Khan automatically untrue. All of that could be true, but the sexual harassment genuine.
That is the viewpoint of Em Colquhoun in this opinion piece in the Canary. Colquhoun also notes correctly that the ICC has a long history of pro-Western narrative bias in its targets for prosecution, and ludicrously targeted Hamas figures for prosecution as “balance” to the Israel warrants.
On December 3 2023 I wrote extremely critically of Karim Khan:
I saw the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court shuttled around Israel and the West Bank in a fleet of armored Toyotas, looking like the most arrogant of VIPs, while refusing to act against Israel and seeking to “bothsides” the genocide unfolding before our eyes.
I realised that Karim Khan KC, brother of an ex Tory MP, himself should by rights be charged with complicity in war crimes.
Karim Khan is not a standout crusader for justice who sought to redress the balance of ICC prosecutions. He only sought the Netanyahu charges when the war crimes of the Israelis in Gaza became so blatant that they could no longer be avoided. The limited number of warrants in circumstances where the entire Israel cabinet and senior IDF command are plainly implicated in Genocide, alongside thousands of soldiers, is glaring. But Khan did appear assiduously to be pursuing the warrants against Netanyahu, Smotrich and Ben Gvir, and Israel was sufficiently worried to actively seek to displace him, with eventual success.
I part with the Canary article where it argues that where the truth of the sexual abuse allegations is not plain, the appearance of impropriety is sufficient to warrant dismissal.
What? This is extraordinary. “It doesn’t matter if you did it, it looks like you could have done it” is an extraordinary measure of guilt. What does it mean in practice?
In my diplomatic career, I frequently travelled in many countries and to many conferences with female staff who often were subordinate to me, and we would quite normally stay in neighbouring hotel rooms. I never had any non-professional relationship with any of the staff concerned and no allegation was ever made against me. But if one had been, I don’t see how I could have avoided Colquhoun’s appearance test.
What would be the consequences in practice? A man could never be alone in a room with a junior colleague, could never travel for work with one? Otherwise there is the appearance of impropriety?
This is nonsense. It is not just nonsense, it is nonsense of a return to Victorian societal standards and actually a threat to the advances in women’s professional status.
The problem with the conveniently timed allegations against Khan is that we have seen the playbook often. The state weaponises sexual allegations, and the agency of apparently left-wing commentators like Colquhoun, to undermine and even destroy those whom the state sees as a threat – as Khan had somewhat unexpectedly become.
Let me give you a personal anecdote.
When I was attempting to stop the acceptance of intelligence from torture by Western intelligence services in the War on Terror, I was suddenly faced with 18 disciplinary charges. They were sprung on me at a meeting in FCO personnel department, where I was told that they would be investigated if I did not accept reassignment to a less controversial Ambassadorship.
I did not accept and an investigation commenced.
One of the charges was that I had extorted sex from visa applicants. I was astonished by this accusation. After months of investigation I was eventually faced with a visa application form as the evidence against me. It had written on it – I do not know by whom, but not by me – “Ambassador says approve”.
The application form was for a young lady named Albina Safarova – a person I had never met in my life. Furthermore it eventually transpired Ms Safarova had not made any complaint against me and had not claimed I had ever met her. The only “evidence” of any kind was “Ambassador says approve”, written by an unknown hand on an application form.
There is more. I started to get messages from many people who had worked for me. It became obvious the FCO was systematically contacting all the women I had worked with in my 22-year career with them, and was encouraging them to make accusations against me.
They could not find one person to accuse me. Many of those contacted still worked for the FCO. It was made plain that their employer would like them to make complaints, yet none did.
In my own case, I know for certain that the state fabricated a sexual abuse accusation against me because I was seen as having become a threat.
This happened to me in 2003. I suspect in today’s peculiar atmosphere the state may have had more success in getting me completely cancelled, despite the complete lack of relevant evidence and the absence of any woman actually accusing me of anything. Doubtless there were situations where Em Colquhoun could have discerned an appearance of impropriety, even though nothing actually happened.
I was eventually cleared of all 18 charges. It is impossible accidentally to make 18 separate accusations against somebody, all of which turn out to be untrue. I was disciplined for having revealed the allegations existed, and eventually forced out.
I subsequently saw sexual allegations weaponised against close personal friends of mine, each of whom was seen as a threat to the State – including Julian Assange and Alex Salmond. I know that I was innocent, and everything I know of their cases makes me believe those two were also. Otherwise, you have to believe that people who have dedicated their lives to anti-imperialist causes are routinely, sexual psychopaths. This is akin to believing Jeremy Corbyn is an anti-Semite.
You would also have to explain why Murray, Assange and Salmond have faced formal investigation when nobody on the Epstein list has – and then further explain why all the resources of the Deep State, fully deployed, were unable to convict the anti-Imperialists.
We do not know how events in the ICC will play out. There is no doubt whatsoever that the UK, EU and allies will seek to obtain the appointment of a Zionist prosecutor who will deprioritise or even drop action against Netanyahu. I expect they will succeed; but we shall see.
I do not know the truth about the Karim Khan allegations. It is important to repeat that. But I am deeply, deeply suspicious of their timing. Any abuse of power imbalance at work, if it existed, is very bad. It has come to be a part of the narrative surrounding the ICC’s actions against Netanyahu. We also have the facts of the Genocide in Gaza and Lebanon, and the scale of the everyday sexual abuse of Palestinian detainees.
So we have potentially two wrongs, the just resolution of which has come into conflict through circumstance and timing.
The first potential wrong is an individual instance of sexual abuse in the workplace by Karim Khan. I do not know if this is true or not. But I do know it has been weaponised by those seeking to stymie the investigation of the second wrong. The second wrong is Genocide and war crime on a mass scale. I do know for certain that this is real.
If pursuing the first alleged wrong does indeed come to prevent justice for the definite crime against humanity, it is difficult to see that as a desirable outcome.
Now, gentle reader, I give you an elegant segue. Let nobody think I do not work at my writing.
Just as Karim Khan was removed as prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Venezuela announced it was withdrawing from it. Left-wing commentators immediately seized on this as further evidence that Venezuela is under Trump’s direct control. Yet the withdrawal decision was pronounced by new Foreign Minister Felix Plasencia, a man of impeccable left-wing credentials who survived Chávez’s extremely thorough purge of the diplomatic service and earlier served as Foreign Minister under Maduro. The reasons Plasencia gave were impeccably left-wing and entirely valid, relating to the ICC’s Western bias and disproportionate action against leaders from the Global South.
If Venezuela had done this a year ago, it would have seemed a move consistent with the values of the Bolivarian revolution. But happening now, it all seems too convenient that it aligns, in practical effect if not in expressed motivation, with Donald Trump’s campaign against the ICC. It does so at a time when US and Israeli troops have been in the country providing earthquake relief.
The presence of the Israelis had sparked the first demonstration in Caracas by hitherto loyalist Chavista elements against a policy of Delcy Rodríguez’s government.
There has been much written recently about the appropriation of Venezuelan oil revenues by the Trump administration. This remains an entirely illegal arrangement, with no founding agreement by the Venezuelan government and based on straight military force. The US still has naval ships off the Venezuelan coast to intercept any tanker not carrying oil to a US Treasury-approved destination.
The USA has been illegally selling Venezuela’s oil. It has not physically occupied the oilfields, but Venezuela has been filling tankers with oil for which the US Treasury has collected the payment. Trump has boasted repeatedly of the huge amounts of money his administration has made from Venezuelan oil. The Financial Times this week ran an article on Venezuela’s missing oil money.
The answer to this question is a prime example of the truth taking us away from the simple narrative that gives a comfortingly clear picture. The answer will surprise you. I have direct first-hand knowledge of this from my time in Venezuela and from access to the highest levels of government there.
The US Treasury has been paying Venezuela its oil revenue regularly and promptly. It has been paying 97.5% of it into the Venezuelan treasury within one week of receipt. 2.5% of it has been retained by the US Treasury as a “fee”. The idea of a transaction fee for illegal military seizure of control of the asset is a blatant racket, but that is the extent of the American depredation.
So the total amount the USA has stolen from Venezuela is about $300 million to date, not the billions Trump has claimed. In fact the US naval operation to blockade Venezuelan tankers (and kidnap President Maduro) will have cost much more than the money the US has made from its illegal venture. It is however not in anybody’s interest to say so, of which more in a moment.
There had been an initial period when the money was going to a personal account in Qatar rather than the US Treasury, and no doubt at that time Trump was considering what he could get away with. But that only lasted a couple of weeks, and that money was recovered quickly into the new arrangement.
I can only state for certain that 97.5% was being paid over within a week for the first four months of the period, until I left Venezuela. But it is my understanding that it has continued smoothly.
There is more. The US has been selling the Venezuelan oil at a 5% discount to the world price. How you calculate a benchmark price for Venezuelan crude before applying the discount I am not sure, as the stuff is quite particular. But – and here we get into the realms of inconvenient facts a lot of my audience will not wish to hear – this compares to the 15% discount that China was imposing when it was the main recipient of Venezuelan crude.
On top of which, China was making payment not within a week, but with a delay of months and sometimes years. Plus China was deducting money at source for repayment of Chinese loans to Venezuela. These loans were genuine and for excellent infrastructure projects, but obviously the deduction of repayments from oil revenues hit Venezuelan government fiscal flexibility hard.
So the truth is that Venezuela is (even apart from the price bonanza from the Hormuz closure) getting a great deal more revenue from the United States than it was from China (and Russia) and getting it much quicker. That is an inconvenient fact if ever I heard one.
The Rodríguez government does not trumpet this, as it does not wish to appear complicit or happy with a client relationship that is imposed on it and illegal. The Trump Administration does not trumpet this, because it wishes its base to believe it is making billions out of Venezuela, not engaged in a military-led venture that is actually costing billions.
That is why the whereabouts of Venezuela’s money is a mystery. I know the answer because I was told and shown at the highest levels of government. I actually both phoned and emailed the Financial Times to try to tell them the answer to their front-page question, but they did not reply to me.
However, the basic and rather dull answer is that Venezuela’s money is in Venezuela.
I would add to this a point which Delcy Rodríguez made to me personally. Venezuela had never voluntarily stopped selling oil to the United States. The USA imposed sanctions on Venezuela, not the other way round. In a free world, the United States would be the largest destination for Venezuelan oil and is the country’s most obvious economic partner – a point made by Anya Parampil in her excellent book Corporate Coup: Venezuela and the End of US Empire.
The difficulty is the United States’ unwillingness to engage in fair trade with anyone.
What Venezuela desperately wants is the normal ability to trade fairly with any other country, including the ability to supply Cuba. It has been prevented from doing so because the Western powers are desperate to destroy any state running an alternative economic model – which if capitalism were genuinely an economically superior system, they would have no need to do. China did not impose the sanctions on Venezuela, but exploited its advantage from them.
The USA has imposed a classic Imperialist resource-extraction operation.
The imperial extraction does not lie primarily in the headline price paid for the crude. The oil can only be sold through and to US-approved companies, which capture the larger margins in trading, refining, shipping, financing and marketing. Venezuela receives payment for the raw commodity (minus the small fee), but is locked out of the higher-value stages and denied the freedom to sell to other buyers. That is how classic resource imperialism frequently works: control of commodity access, logistics and the value-added chain rather than simple open seizure of the export revenue.
There was a stunning Freedom of Information release last week of a CIA note that indicated that the CIA did not believe that the Venezuelan elections from 2006 to 2020 were significantly affected by election fraud. So the imposition of the vast bulk of Western sanctions which crippled Venezuela over that period – and at one point caused devastating famine and mass emigration – were knowingly based on a lie.
My own investigations in Venezuela led me to believe that opposition claims that they won the 2024 Presidential election – claims promoted by all the Western powers – were equally untrue and the “evidence” incomplete and often forged.
Venezuela has obtained very little by way of sanctions relief from the Trump administration, and appallingly it has received no sanctions relief at all from Western nations to help it cope with the devastating earthquake. This has made it difficult for the relief charities to pay for anything, move goods and equipment to Venezuela or operate there at all. The Western media has delighted in making claims of government inefficiency in earthquake response, while never mentioning the crippling effect of decades of sanctions on government supply chains.
In truth, the resilience of Caracas has been extraordinary. I am in contact with the team I assembled in Caracas and a score or so of other friends and contacts. Mobile phone contact was never cut to the large majority and only for a few hours to those who did lose access. Electricity has been almost constant, and so has potable water supply.
What is more, the massive Russian- and Belarusian-built social housing blocks – which I had greatly feared would have collapsed with huge loss of life – withstood the earthquake comparatively well. It was the modern glass and steel blocks in the wealthier areas which proved most prone to disaster. That may be due to those areas being on flatter alluvial land more prone to shake.
Of all the decisions for which Delcy Rodríguez has been criticised from the left, the one with which I struggle most has been the acceptance of an Israeli earthquake relief team, with accompanying IDF PR personnel. For Israel, which buried tens of thousands of children under rubble, to be parading its assistance in digging people out of rubble, is too much for me.
But consider this. You are Delcy, and your capital has just suffered as much catastrophic damage and loss of life in an hour as Gaza did in many months. You have thousands of people potentially alive and desperate to be dug out. Could you turn down any offer of specialist relief in those circumstances? It was an agonising decision to be forced to make. I received a personal assurance from the Venezuelan government that the Israeli deployment was temporary and had a time limit which, if true, means they have already gone.
I have struggled with this. But ask yourself this question before you condemn, as I asked myself:
If your own children were buried under rubble, and an Israeli rescue team to hand, would you forbid them to dig your children out? When you have considered that question, then you can condemn the Venezuelan government.
I would not, I think, have allowed the Israelis to come and conduct an exercise where I suspect propaganda value to them was in the event greater than any real help: but I am not on the ground to verify what they really did.
It is worth noting here that repeated speculation that Venezuela is about to normalise diplomatic relations with Israel is so far unfounded. I was told in person by the recently departed foreign minister that Venezuela had made plain to the Trump administration that, in its new enforced relationship with the United States, a red line on the Venezuelan side was the anti-imperialist alignment of its foreign policy. That appears to be the case, as reflected at the UN, where Venezuela has not switched to the US camp. [This paragraph was amended on 28 July to reflect the fact that, while it participates in all committees and debates at the UN, Venezuela is currently suspended from voting in the General Assembly due to arrears].
Delcy Rodríguez’s point that Venezuela never voluntarily stopped trading with the USA is also relevant to its position with the IMF. Venezuela never left the IMF. Chávez said that he would, but then changed his mind. Maduro also did not leave the IMF.
Contrary to much disinformation, Venezuela has therefore not rejoined the IMF. Nor has Venezuela accepted an IMF loan, a Structural Adjustment Programme, or any IMF budget-monitoring mechanism. What Venezuela has done is to take some 500 million dollars in Special Drawing Rights to which Venezuela was entitled. Access to these had been blocked by financial sanctions, which were voided by the slight easing under Trump.
The money was Venezuela’s share of a general release to assist developing countries through the COVID years. Venezuela was simply blocked from its share. It was, in effect, Venezuela’s own money. To portray taking this as some “betrayal” of socialist values is ludicrous.
I have no reason to adjust the assessment of Delcy Rodríguez that I reached after careful study. In fact I have the strongest reinforcement, in that I now know with absolute certainty that Delcy Rodríguez did not betray Maduro. I have had direct access to documentary, eye-witness, audio and visual evidence that conclusively showed me that:
- Maduro was aware of his likely kidnap and stood down armed resistance.
- In the preceding weeks Rodríguez had been approached to cooperate with Maduro’s removal and had adamantly refused.
- On the night of his kidnap Rodríguez was present, furious, refusing US overtures and seeking every avenue for Maduro’s immediate release.
I believed these things to be true from first-hand accounts before I wrote my last major article on Venezuela: I am now absolutely certain they are true.
Venezuela abjured the path of armed resistance to the poised US forces. Venezuela is a quarter the size of Iran, has far weaker armed forces and is within direct bomber range of the United States. It is a pacific country and has chosen to try to ride out the Trump storm, while maintaining the key benefits of the Bolivarian Revolution – especially free and universal education, free healthcare, widespread pensions and the commune system.
The Chavista system already drew much criticism from the international Left for simply aiming to spread these social benefits from oil revenues, while allowing capitalists to dominate the rest of the economy. Communal ownership of means of production and distribution was growing organically, particularly through the communes, but there has been no fundamental change to the capitalist sector in a mixed economy. It is this factor which makes accommodation with US capitalist firms possible.
This is dependent on the Venezuelan government tolerating US predator capitalism and the US government tolerating Venezuelan wealth distribution. This is the basis on which Rodríguez has been avoiding war and waiting for Trump to pass. It is the basis on which Trump has been exerting no pressure for regime change in Caracas, where he said again this week that Venezuela was “not ready” for early elections.
Where there is room for genuine criticism from the Left is that this approach effectively cooperates with imposed American imperialism in key economic sectors; that the US is seeking to expand its monopoly into other Venezuelan mineral resources; and that imagining this is temporary and the Democrats would now be any better is probably illusory.
But a devastating war is the only currently available alternative, and that definitely would destroy Chávez’s social achievements.
There is no plain right or wrong answer. All of Rodríguez’s options are bloody awful, compounded by the rightward shift of Latin American governments and the new US-backed electoral fraud next door in Colombia. Those who have romantic notions of wearing bandanas and brandishing AK-47s in mountains and jungles have for the most part not seen children die in agony. This is not easy.
I have addressed two apparently disparate topics. What unites them is simple. In both cases the available facts are messy, the moral weights pull in more than one direction, and the political incentives of powerful actors are obvious. Social media, and much of what now passes for political commentary, cannot tolerate that. It demands a clear good guy, a clear villain, and the suppression of any fact that complicates the story.
That demand is not moral clarity. It is intellectual laziness dressed up as principle. It produces the spectacle of people who will not look at the timing of the allegations against Khan, or at the actual flow of Venezuelan oil money, or at the evidence of Rodríguez’s conduct on the night Maduro was taken, because those facts make the preferred narrative less comfortable.
There are truths that conflict. There are sometimes choices in which every available option is bad. Facing that reality, weighing what is known against what is only alleged, and then deciding, is the actual work of political and moral judgement. Declaring the complexity itself illegitimate, and treating those who acknowledge it as morally suspect, is the opposite of seriousness.
The age we are in rewards the opposite. That is not a reason to join in. An important concomitant of this viewpoint is that I absolutely have no claim always to be right. If I have guided you through the facts and some key issues around them, and helped stimulate you to form your own opinions, then I am very happy.
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The Zio-Monsters genocide on the Palestinian people is about to escalate, and journalists are being fired so they can’t cover it.
https://nitter.poast.org/Kathleen_Tyson_/status/2081585712172810259#m
– “…about to escalate”
It could be this:
– Israel to open Gaza concentration camps in “matter of weeks” (2 July 2026):
https://www.thecanary.co/skwawkbox/2026/07/02/israel-to-open/
Clark.
Maybe, however if there’s no journalists to report the war crimes of the Zio-Monsters, then we won’t know what other atrocities will be committed, we know the Zio-Monsters love to bomb journalists reporting their war crimes – maybe their employers have been gotten to.
Meanwhile – England’s slide into complete Israeli obedience continues apace.
“The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) wants to sentence five more Palestine activists as terrorists for committing criminal damage, it can be revealed.
Brendon O’Hagan, Amanda Kelly, Hmeera Atiqnisar, Mohammed Malik, and Alma Yaniv were convicted of criminal damage last month for a protest at a Barclays bank branch in Burnley in 2024.
It was carried out in the name of Palestine Action almost a year before the group was banned under terrorism laws.
In the agreed facts of the case, the prosecution’s lawyers acknowledged that Barclays provided investments and loans to Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest arms firm.”
https://www.declassifieduk.org/five-more-palestine-activists-could-be-sentenced-as-terrorists/
Smash a few windows and spray a bit of paint around and you are a terrorist.
Be a leader of ISIS and on the wanted list and you will be welcomed at Downing street.
And then there is USrael. Unbelievable.
Stevie Boy.
Meanwhile.
Remember there’s still an arrest warrant out for this war criminal – I wonder if they’d force Putin’s jet to land? a silly question of course they would.
“War crimes fugitive Benjamin Netanyahu is on his way to US
An arrest warrant for him was issued by ICC in November 2024 for a litany of horrific crimes
Today, three ICC member countries—Greece, Italy and France—have permitted him to use their airspace”
And our favourite nazi, Jewish piano player is in Downing Street to tell Burn’em how much of our money we have to pay him to keep killing Ukrainians. Ain’t it lucky we got so much spare cash we can afford to give it to scum sucking shites like zelensky.
@ Stevie
” Ain’t it lucky we got so much spare cash we can afford to give it to scum sucking shites like zelensky.”
Aye, and ain’t it just incredible that those brave, honourable Ukrainian 1st Line Defenders against the terrible Red Horde battering at the Gates of Europe can still find time and resources to contribute to the US of Zion’s UNPROVOKED war against Iran by attacking one of the latter’s ships AND get involved in affairs in Syria. Is there no end to their heroism, their self-sacrifice, their sheer wonderfulness?
Burnham is shaping-up to be even worse than Gormless: a better actor than Ol’ Woodentop, but every bit as ‘ wit’ da programme ‘, therefore more dangerous.
Oh wait…..he’s going to give us a 83p a day reduction in our energy bills: alas, he’s not able to prevent the next seemingly ” just one of those things ” ” act of God ” rise in those energy bills.
He might say the name ” Gaza ” now and again; he might even say something like ” e83d8dh82h9Aa??n=!!**8mhm800”(*(*(—??”88@6464 ” on the subject – and pledge to say that again at some point in the future, ie when he’s less busy being a c**t. A Northern c**t, but a c**t just the same
Yeah the arab states keep playing the role of the wilful slaves alright, one thought that 3 years of Genocide would change their mind on israel. Nope, they only becamse more infatuated with the arab killers in Israel, now lining up to kill some fellow muslims in Iran:
“Israel has reportedly stepped up security coordination with several Arab states as it prepares for the possibility of renewed war with Iran, Israeli media reported on Monday,”
https://www.newarab.com/news/israel-arab-states-step-security-coordination-against-iran
As Norman Finkelstein recently said about the Emirates: “they are braindead”, “retarded”.
Video: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DUvH_ZgjaaM/
Where is Maduro? How come no journalist has tried to speak with him? Is he still in jail in New York? Traded to Russia?
I’ve found this, dated Thursday 23 July:
https://www.latintimes.com/polymarket-traders-see-rising-odds-cilia-flores-release-speculation-grows-over-possible-598302
– [Polymarket] betting increased after a US judge on Wednesday set a date for Maduro and his wife, to go on trial in New York, where they will face charges of drug trafficking.
The same source says he has an Instagram account, and on 23 June said he had posted to it:
https://www.latintimes.com/maduro-breaks-silence-new-york-detention-praising-chavez-bolivar-his-own-father-597986
Thanks for that Clark, very interesting to read a presidential note to his people, family and us.
Would it be a possibility to contact lawyers and ask for an interview before his trial?, preferably with a learned gentleman such as Craig, or Peter Orbone.
Just a thought, would the orange destroyer allow it?
This is a hypothetic speculative suggestion only.
They are still in prison, and their trial has been postponed to June 1, 2027. Note how Reuters claims that a US commando “captured” Nicolás Maduro and his wife, when in fact they were blatantly and illegally kidnapped:
https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/venezuelas-maduro-due-back-us-court-drug-trafficking-case-2026-07-22/
Venezuela cannot vote in the UN General Assembly resolutions, and has not been able to for some years, due to having its funds frozen by US sanctions. So it has not voted for nor against any resolutions.
Fair point. The Venezuelan mission to the UN is fully active and participates in committees and in debates, including at the General Assembly, but is currently suspended from voting in the General Assembly due to arrears. I met with their diplomats in NY on the C24 and 4th cttee last year..
Is the US not in arrears to the UN to tune of some $4bn? Seems to be the UN component of it’s general “debtor strategy” (if you owe the bank $1000 you have a problem, if you owe it $1m the bank has a problem). Excellent article btw, very thought provoking.
I can’t help thinking that when Trump backs off from Iran and pretends he won, that Cuba may be come
a Trophy ‘Win’ for the neo- Cons.
I suspect that if I think I know that – The Cuban’s will know that and prepare accordingly and turn it into a
current Day Bay of Pigs debacle.
Hopefully.
Trump does these ‘In and Out ‘ raids for publicity stunts for the Folks Back Home.
They can’t do occupation and their smaller best mates are finding out the same thing.
If you take an area you have to occupy that area to prevent it being taken back.
Reading this I am glad to financially back Craig (in a modest but regular way) over other spends I could do. This is a masterpiece of research journalism.
Cliff I could not more concur with your post, Craig is a Goliath compared to the MSMs run of the mill’ I want to keep my job’ compliant collaborators in our current malaise.
Craig needs our support and we all need to recognise this, east west north and south.
I shall carry on funding Craig with a monthly, what i can afford, sum, a good investment for my grandchildrens future.
Cliff, I am in full agreement.
I came here to say something similar.
A marvellous piece – lit up bright by his research, his insights into Venezuela and his insights from his career. I don’t think it could have been improved upon.
I have been educated yet again.
Bravo Craig.
+1 it’s an outstanding example of critical journalism.
Sociopaths prefer games that are rigged in their favor.
@Feral – “Sociopaths prefer games that are rigged in their favor.”
Welcome to the real world. There is no clean state or hierarchical authority structure – or one that encourages the making of decisions on the basis of mutually respectful liberal debate without dirty behaviour for that matter.
Scumbags gonna scumbag. We live in what has aptly been termed a c*ntocracy. Or sociopathocracy as a social worker might call it when drunk, before they go and do their job as part of it the following morning.
” It demands a clear good guy, a clear villain, and the suppression of any fact that complicates the story.”
Politics as football.
Delcy Rodriguez’s position reminded me of this cartoon of an earlier ruler in a similar plight.
re: Khan
German altern. news blog NACHDENKSEITEN has this piece on the case published before the ultimate dismissal.
machine-transl.
“The ouster of chief prosecutor Karim Khan is a coup against international law.”
Karim Khan was the first chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to request an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Shortly afterward, allegations of sexual assault against him surfaced. On July 24, the decision was made to remove him. What appears to be a mere personnel decision is a frontal assault on international law. Can political pressure bring down the world’s top prosecutor because his investigations got too close to powerful states?
By Manuel Loomans
https://archive.is/wA4J3
original
https://www.nachdenkseiten.de/?p=154206
I was mildly surprised about the level of scrutiny and criticism despite it being of German origin.
Which doesn´t mean anything German would fail the test.
But as I said in the past: In Germany you will find it easier to express criticism of the Ukrainian government than the Israeli genocide and in general the treacherous nature of Israel´s foreign policy. Which is one of the reasons why e.g. Epstein has eventually remained a fringe topic in German media. Very sadly so.
The left-wing Venezuelan author and activist Federico Fuentes argues that, before his abduction, Maduro (and Rodriguez) had effectively presided over the emergence of a new capitalist elite, betraying the promise of Chavismo, which “explains the Rodríguez government’s willingness to subordinate itself to US imperialism and accept its terms of administering a protectorate”.
Among many other things, he says:
“Rather than help traditional Chávez-voting sectors, the Maduro government instead stepped up its policing of these neighborhoods through its “Operation Liberate the People” and creation of the elite death squad FAES (Special Action Forces). The result was a dramatic rise in police killings of predominately young Black men in those neighborhoods: from about fifteen hundred to twenty-five hundred a year in 2014 to 2015 to five thousand to fifty-five hundred a year between 2016 to 2018, making Venezuela’s security forces the deadliest in the region on a per capita basis.”
https://spectrejournal.com/on-us-intervention-and-the-venezuelan-state/
The left-wing Venezuelan author and activist Federico Fuentes argues that, before his abduction, Maduro (and Rodriguez) had effectively presided over the emergence of a new capitalist elite, betraying the promise of Chavismo, which “explains the Rodríguez government’s willingness to subordinate itself to US imperialism and accept its terms of administering a protectorate”.
Among many other things, he says:
“Rather than help traditional Chávez-voting sectors, the Maduro government instead stepped up its policing of these neighborhoods through its “Operation Liberate the People” and creation of the elite death squad FAES (Special Action Forces). The result was a dramatic rise in police killings of predominately young Black men in those neighborhoods: from about fifteen hundred to twenty-five hundred a year in 2014 to 2015 to five thousand to fifty-five hundred a year between 2016 to 2018, making Venezuela’s security forces the deadliest in the region on a per capita basis.”
https://spectrejournal.com/on-us-intervention-and-the-venezuelan-state/
Federico Fuentes isn’t Venezuelan. He’s Chilean, a product of top U.S. and British universities… It’s no surprise that a website run by US Marxist extremists is spreading his anti-Maduro propaganda!
Thanks for the correction. The linked article describes Fuentes as a “Venezuela solidarity activist”, which I incorrectly read as “Venezuelan”.
But you may be confusing him with a Chilean scientist of the same name.
If this Facebook clip refers to the same person, he appears to be an Australian who worked for a Chavista think-tank.
https://www.facebook.com/federico.fuentes.370/posts/ive-been-bustedaustralian-political-candidate-worked-for-think-tank-that-shaped-/10164735863840850/
p.s. What is a Marxist extremist??
Fighting article by Former Vice President Elías Jaua on Venezuela Analysis showing what needs to be done to build resistance against USA colonisation at a time of having to absorb the shock of the recent earthquakes. How the Rodriguez government reacts to such developments will of course test where their loyalties actually lie.
1. Regain the right to political, institutional, and legislative self-determination.
2. Regain economic sovereignty: freely trade our resources and products.
3. Demand the withdrawal of military troops and security agents from the United States and the State of Israel, and the cessation of any type of foreign military operation within Venezuelan territory.
4. Build a model and a plan for political, economic, and social development based on inclusion and social equality, agreed upon by all political currents.
5. Exercise our right to maintain peaceful and cooperative relations with all nations of the world that share the principles of humanity and international coexistence.
https://venezuelanalysis.com/opinion/the-urgency-of-shedding-illusions/
This Is Stunning Work Craig..And All Hearbreaking at the Same Time…
Thank for This
Keep up the creative Writing Too
This was in the news that a new gas stations francise emerged in the states of PA and NJ, called Freedom Fuel. They sell gas at below average prices and, curiously, Donald Trump is promoting them. Maybe this some connection to the Venezuelan oil?
Unfortunately this is yet another proof of what a great power and leverage the Israelis have, as they now quietly brag that they played a critical role in ousting Khan with the vote within the ICC – Israel is not even a member of the ICC – meaning, Israel initiated the voting idea itself then influenced most likely the US first and the US in turn influenced their proxy states to vote against Khan.
Almost comical to watch the Western world first create the ICC and hail it….only now to tarnish and demolish it bit by bit. Who will run the ICC now? Will it collapse altogether? The two deputy directors at the ICC are under sanctions.
https://www.icc-cpi.int/about/otp/who-s-who
On Venezuela, that state is steadily turning into a puppet regime just like that, latest example: leaving the ICC. Chavez must roll in his grave. Delcy Rodriguez have no integrity or dignity whatsoever, she should step down instead of engaging in this humiliating treasonous relationship with the US.
“Delcy Rodriguez have no integrity or dignity whatsoever, she should step down instead of engaging in this humiliating treasonous relationship with the US.”
Let’s look at the alternative, shall we? Delcy Rodriguez stands up to the bullies in the USA, there is another unfortunate assassination and she is replaced b a US puppet. What precisely would that have achieved? Since you are all so fired up about Venezuela, why are you not out there doing something about, like Craig, instead of pontificating from the comfort of your armchair about how other people should go and get themselves killed? I present you with the Donald Cross for bravery far away from any enemy.
Cross or is it a Star !
Bayard
The alternative is for her to step down yes since she will now not only tarnish her own reputation by being an obvious proxy of a foreign power, she will of course also tarnish her own socialist party. Who want to vote for a fake compromised socialist party that carry out the politics of a far right madman like Trump?! You really believe Chavez would approve of this development?
Again, Delcy quit ICC on behalf of the US, surely you do not believe this was an independent idea from Delcy herself? Earlier this year Delcy also condemned Iran for the war (not Israel, not the US), Delcy have further strengthened the ties with Israel:
https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2026/7/10/venezuelas-turn-to-israel-is-about-survival-not-conviction
“Standing up to the bulles” as you said? Simply preposterous.
Not sure why you are so keen to defend US puppet regimes. When I in 2023 called out the inaction and complicity by the US puppet arab states regarding the Genocide, you responded in the same arrogant fashion, now 3 years later, we for sure who was right, you should have listened:
Bayard November 2023: “Just because the Arab states appear to be doing nothing doesn’t mean that they are doing nothing. The leaders of the world’s nations do not have an obligation to let us armchair warriors know what they are doing. Publicising your intentions in politics is rarely a good idea, unless what you are doing is spreading propaganda.”
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2023/11/palestine-can-reunite-and-reinvigorate-scottish-independence/comment-page-2/#comment-1050476
The Venezuelan government did not condemn Iran for the war. The article you link to mischaracterises the Venezuelan government statement, and you then compound this by mischaracterising what the article said!
A perfect example of twisting fact to fit a simple binary.
Craig
Speaking on mischaracterising. I linked to the Al-Jazeera article to show how Venezuela had further strengthend the ties with Israel. I did not say that you could find the actual condemnation in the link.
Here, one can read the statement in full. Venezuela condemned Iran’s response, calling it “undue and reprehensible “, meanwhile Venezuela did not even mention US and Israel by name in the same statement, nor did they claim the assault on Iran was illegal:
https://x.com/TheCradleMedia/status/2027814512359841864
One can compare that statement with the statement Venezuela released during the 2025 Israel/Iran war. Totally different tone regarding Israel:
“Venezuela Condemns Israeli Military Aggression Against Iran”
https://www.telesurenglish.net/venezuela-condemns-israeli-military-aggression-against-iran/
“A perfect example of twisting fact to fit a simple binary.”
Plenty of binarists amongst the commenters on this blog.
“On Venezuela, that state is steadily turning into a puppet regime just like that, latest example: leaving the ICC.” — Jack
“Again, Delcy quit ICC on behalf of the US, surely you do not believe this was an independent idea from Delcy herself?” — Jack
The decision was made in 2025 while Nicolás Maduro was in power…
“The decision was made in 2025 while Nicolás Maduro was in power…”
Spoilsport!
Made in Quebec
As far as I know The Venezuelan Governments were always willing to trade with the US.
They worked closely with Aramco.
Their oil was refined in the US as well and still is.
If you have a mighty power sat on you you have to negotiate – you dn’t have much chice.
Unless you are China of course?
“The alternative is for her to step down yes since she will now not only tarnish her own reputation by being an obvious proxy of a foreign power, she will of course also tarnish her own socialist party. ”
If she steps down, she simply hands the problems over to someone else to try and solve. What would that achieve? or are you suggesting she steps down and hands the reins of government to Guaido? Stepping down will solve nothing and would simply be running away from the problems she currently faces. If she did that, she really would be a coward.
“You really believe Chavez would approve of this development?”
What I know about Chavez leads me to believe that he was more interested in the welfare of ordinary Venezuelans than those matters of international political ego that mean so much to you and others. As such, I expect he would see that Delcy is doing a very hard job the best she can for those same ordinary Venezuelans, unlike someone who is “prepared to stand up to the US” and ends up plunging Venezuela into a civil war.
“Not sure why you are so keen to defend US puppet regimes. ”
That Venezuela is a US puppet regime is a figment of your imagination, therefore defending Delcy Rodrigues is not defending a puppet regime. I am unsurprised that you should think that my pointing out the realities of international politics is “defending US puppet regimes” in the Gulf as that is exactly what a simplistic dualist thinker would take from my comment, rather than the actual thrust, which was that no regime has the duty to keep the 33st Chairborne informed and that absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. The other point, that you continually fail to grasp, is that the US and its satellites are the only countries that care so little for their citizens’ welfare that they rush into military conflict at the drop of a hat. Other countries have more sense. Even Churchill, who you no doubt admire, him being a warmonger par excellence, said that “jaw jaw” was better than “war war”.
“now 3 years later, we for sure who was right, you should have listened:”
We are sure of nothing of the sort, as we still don’t know what is really going on. The only thing we do know for sure is that it isn’t what we are being told. Craig is probably one of our best sources of information but I quote “An important concomitant of this viewpoint is that I absolutely have no claim always to be right. ” Unlike you.
All any of us can do is wait for Trump to pass, hopefully in the next two years. Then we will have a new reality to contend with, which may or may not be better.
A thread in the general discussion forum about policies and statements from Andy Burnham’s “Liz Truss meets Mickey Mouse” administration in Britain.
The link doesn’t work. No matter. It caused me to dig further and find out that Fitzwilliam College is an interesting place, set up for less well off students and having a tradition of being avant-garde, in customs, outlook and architecture. Burnham would likely have enjoyed himself there. He studied English literature, not PPE as many aspiring politicians do (and his favourite novel was George Eliot’s Middlemarch). While the contrast between the wealth at Cambridge and the poverty of the North-West radicalised him internally, he only became politically active after graduation when he moved to London.
Now, some might scoff, what good is all the above? My answer: it helps to know our PM’s background. Better than a link that doesn’t work, anyway. 😁
Dear M.J. My brother studied English at Fitzwilliam College because the UCAS reference from his headmaster was so libellous that no other Cambridge College would interview him. Fitzwilliam is a poor college, without the ressources from students found in wealthy colleges like Kings, Johns or of course Trinity. But it did admit fewer public school pupils than other colleges, probably because it is seldom a first choice on application forms. My brother, within 2 weeks, had made friends with the College secretary and so got to see his headmaster’s letter.
At least Burnham has read Middlemarch, unlike Johnson and Truss and Vance. But Middlemarch is not short of political corruption nor of hypocrisy.
Thanks Q.H., it’s worth knowing such things – that Fitzwilliam appears to be a poorer sister to other Cambridge colleges. OTOH that means that through it, more people from less well off backgrounds can go to Cambridge. Maybe there should be more Fitzwilliams founded, at Oxford as well as Cambridge! Maybe the zillionaires in America who have no idea what to do with their wealth should consider setting them up – do penance by doing a Carnegie, to to speak!
Corr. ‘to to speak’ -> ´so to speak’
The correct forum page is: “Garbage and vileness: policies and statements from Burnham administration “.
So far Brian is the only one to contribute to it.
After Labour’s latest change of masks we have a cabinet that’s even more rightwing and Israel First than Starmer’s. However, oor Andeh went to little old Fitzwilliam, Cambridge, so this cabinet probably doesn’t reflect his own ideology.
Saint Andy of oop northland will support the poor, that’s the poor Ukrainians, the poor Israelis, the poor immigrants, but not the workshy, scrounging, benifit claimants in our lovely democracy.
Of course, some citizens are to be applauded. Well done girl what a fine example.
https://x.com/garrypickles/status/2081021076952289352
Applauded by who? This ‘new-look’ Labour cabinet have been merciless in helping Israel to genocide Muslim women, smearing any British Muslim women who object as antisemites and terrorists.
Oor Andeh is following Sir Keir in using a British Muslim woman Home Secretary to legitimate their demonization.
I keep thinking in relation to the Rodriguez situation in particular though also in relation to Karib Khan, is it possible to pass valid judgements on the moral conduct of a person who is a having to make decisions with a gun pointed at their heads?
” ….is it possible to pass valid judgements on the moral conduct of a person who is a having to make decisions with a gun pointed at their heads?”
Not valid, no, unless the gun and gun holder are taken into account, however that doesn’t stop people doing it as comments above ad nauseam show.
The question is also how to view the ICJ (that analyze the Genocide accusation), there have of course been doubts from the start – could they really be trusted? Are they next to be dismantled?
If the ICJ finally conclude that Israel did not commit genocide, could one really be sure that that conclusion was not tainted by israeli/US influence, pressure?
For some reason the US and Israel is suspiciously silent with criticism against the ICJ, perhaps already in their pocket?
Also odd how little criticism from international jurist bar organisations regarding the crackdown against the ICC.
Thank you ! Sobering here in Canada too… one small critique is that whatever accounts “Venezuela’s” billions are actually sitting in are permissioned and can be instantly shut off like Russia’s in Feb 2022
Eric
The question for Venezuela ( after its forgotten earthquake) is whether they can spend their income as they like?
On say digging out the dead from the rubble and re-building?
The Gulf States a have to spend their money in the US or US projects in The Gulf.
Very interesting article which adds much to our understanding.
Regarding the Israeli aid teams this is a standard piece of Zionist PR. They have a small specialist medical team ready and waiting so that they can usually arrive first before the serious emergency teams and scoop all the publicity. They rarely stay for more than three weeks. (It was even less in Haiti where they arrived after Cuba which already had a permanent team operating. Cuba subsequently had a total of five teams, but special envoy Bill Clinton ignored them and only ever made glowing reference to Israel’s.) As soon as the media departs (and the real graft begins) Israel’s team returns home where it is feted as heroes. If they can, they often manage to get some new born child named ‘Israel’ in their honour.
That seems exactly right Richard. They stayed three weeks then left.
I’m not sure this is being fair to Israel. Here’s what I gathered from AI: in 2016, the World Health Organization (WHO) formally recognized the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Medical Corps field hospital as the world’s first and only “Type 3” field hospital. A Type 3 classification means the facility is verified to provide specialized inpatient surgical care, intensive care beds, and the ability to operate self-sufficiently in extreme disaster zones for extended periods. This designation is awarded by an independent panel of international medical experts, not by Israeli public relations teams. Israeli field hospitals deployed to major disasters (such as earthquakes in Turkey, Nepal, and Haiti) typically include operating theatres, intensive care units, advanced laboratory equipment, X-ray machines, and pharmacies. Deployments routinely consist of over 100 to 200 personnel, including surgeons, pediatricians, trauma experts, search-and-rescue specialists, and logisticians, rather than just a “small team.”
Concerning the claim that Israel arrives early and leaves quickly frames a standard medical necessity as a cynical ploy, in disaster medicine, the first 72 hours—the acute phase—are critical for saving lives from crush injuries and trauma. Field hospitals are intentionally designed as temporary, mobile crisis interventions to stabilize patients until local infrastructure can recover or long-term NGOs can take over. Remaining deployed indefinitely is rarely the mandate of emergency military medical corps from any nation.
The rapid arrival of the Israeli field hospital in Haiti was widely documented by international media because it was one of the first fully functional surgical facilities operating on the ground when local hospitals had collapsed. Political decisions by foreign diplomats regarding who to publicly praise do not change the clinical reality of the medical care delivered by either Cuban or Israeli personnel.
All this is not to deny that the above does not justify genocide or apartheid against Palestinians, and it is right to fight them with sanctions till Israel fully democratises.
In your determination to praise this scum, did you forget they haven’t excavated a single being from under the rubble in Gaza? Or Lebanon or Iran?
Most likely you didn’t forget.
And regarding rightfully fighting Israel with sanctions, have you seen who Burnham has appointed as UK Trade Envoy to Israel? (Again, my guess would be that you have).
Yeah, we’re in the realm of ” you know, below all that bloody silly ” living space ” stuff and a rather excessive dislike of those not blessed with the attributes of Aryan superiority, that Hitler chap had some damn decent qualities, eg was Vegetarian, liked small children, well, small Aryan children, knew how to organise a spiffing rally and certainly got his country’s trains running like clockwork: even those to other countries; in fact, he was able to shave an good 20 mins off the Berlin to Belsen express ”
No, M.J, there are times in History when a particular group of people’s crimes are so heinous, so immense they completely nullify whatever nuggets of decency they may have shown previously*. We are living in such a time now
* as others have said……there is a great deal of doubt even regarding those Israeli Salvage Teams’ motivations – and efficacy
If I understand correctly, Burnham’s policy is to continue commercial partnerships with Israel. The reason for appointing Lord Austin is to create and preserve British jobs.
However, as with apartheid South Africa, people wanting to do away with the racist system will continue to encourage sanctions. As Burnham finds his feet, things may change. Let’s wait and see.
” However, as with apartheid South Africa, people wanting to do away with the racist system will continue to encourage sanctions. “, yes, maybe because the BDS policy towards the S.A Gov was what brought an end to Apartheid – that plus making it a pariah + the raising of awareness by high-profile musicians like Peter Gabriel, Jerry Dammers/Specials and others. Where are such people now? Where are loud-mouthed self-aggrandisers Geldof & Bonehead?
Where, in general is there any real sense of people fortunate/talented ( just another type of good fortune ) to have gained success ergo mass public recognition giving a fuck about the truly awful state of global affairs? A few anodyne words of criticism at award ceremonies won’t change anything.
Pop Culture like everything else has been rinsed of any broader-than-$$$$$ meaning. Just as the music itself has been machine-tooled to slick, homogenised studio gimmickry * perfection * and soulless ennui. Check fuckn Madonna for confirmation. ”
” Like A Zombie, oooo rhinoplastied for the 44th time….”
Try to imagine now a Concert For Gaza on the scale of Band Aid; or even one of Peter Gabriel’s WOMAD Festivals dedicated to the same cause. Try as you might, you’ll find it almost impossible to imagine it ever happening
The poison has penetrated so deep it takes great effort not to succumb to despair and impotence in the face of the evils being perpetrated and the craven cowardice and moral decay that permits it
Robert,
Boy George encapsulates the attitude of British celebrities to the crime of the century.
‘It’s not black and white. It’s incredibly complicated!’
M.J.
I know Sir Keir will always be number one, but where do Lord Austin and Senator Graham rank among the degenerate Genocide supporters you most admire? Top fifty?
@ Zoot
Aye, I forgot about that fat, useless, whore Goy Gorge who’ll do anything for £s & attention – ideally from his POV – both. Beneath contempt, ditto fatuous fanny-flavoured candle punting idiot Paltrow
He’s found his feet by surrounding himself with Zionists both in his cabinet and outside of it, the world of SAPDS and lobbyists. this is all well documented so wake up and smell the coffee, please.
No disaster allowed to go to waste, all great PR for the genociders, just like the White Helmets drumming up publicity for ISIS.
BTW the field that these field hospitals are designed to work in are battlefields, go figure.
Maybe you’d like to praise China for the aid packages they have providied: generators, tents and foods.
Israel is an apartheid, genocidal state. There is no need for any half decent person to be fair to these bastards.
“Maybe you’d like to praise China for the aid packages they have provided: generators, tents and foods.”
Of course! Fair’s fair.
It’s just as commendable as the free medical education provided by Communist Cuba to African students (one of the most impressive things I’ve ever learned about).
It is unfortunate, however, that in the years following the first intifada in 1987, the informal, humanitarian-focused “Open Bridges” setup gradually ceased, under which framework Jordan and Israel had permitted West Bank Palestinians and visitors from various Arab countries (even those technically at war with Israel) to cross the Allenby Bridge for trade, family visits, and medical treatment in Israeli hospitals. Because communication infrastructure was primitive at the time, Israeli military radio or loudspeakers at the border would occasionally broadcast approved entry permits or visa readiness for arriving travellers.
PS. A friend brought this worthwhile video to my attention:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBmrT3uqmeM
The gap between the outlook of humanitarian efforts (which are unfortunately not directed towards Palestinians in Palestine, who are currently treated collectively as a mortal enemy) may represent a division within Israel, which Ilan Pappé calls the “State of Israel” and the “State of Judea”. The latter is more likely responsible for the inhuman treatment of Palestinians in the genocidally vengeful and ongoing reaction to the revolt of Gaza concentration camp.
However sanctions, to end apartheid and genocide, will unfortunately likely affect the whole country, as in apartheid South Africa.
“Concerning the claim that Israel arrives early and leaves quickly frames a standard medical necessity as a cynical ploy, in disaster medicine, the first 72 hours—the acute phase—are critical for saving lives from crush injuries and trauma.”
Some idea of how many lives were actually saved from crush injuries and trauma by the Israeli military would help put things in perspective.
We could then compare those lives saved with the number of Palestinians killed by Israel in Gaza and the West Bank over the period Israel’s team was in Venezuela.
I was disappointed when I heard the US was collecting the entire sales of Venezualian oil. I am pleasantly surprised to learn that the US returns 97.5% of within 1 week. Venezuela could have shot down a couple of helicopters and had a firefight with special forces. The US is so close and with a large navy contingent offshore the the US would have done what its military is still good at doing. Turning Venezuala’s infrastructure and Caracas into rubble. Venezuala could then have inaugurated a guerilla war in its jungles and the US would have had another quagmire lasting years or decades. The choice Delcy made seems to be the most pragmatic one available to her and certainly better for the general population of Venezuela. With Trump as President 2.5% extortion seems like a small enough price to pay.
“The US is so close and with a large navy contingent offshore the the US would have done what its military is still good at doing. Turning Venezuala’s infrastructure and Caracas into rubble. Venezuala could then have inaugurated a guerilla war in its jungles and the US would have had another quagmire lasting years or decades.”
There do seem to be some people commenting on this blog who are very disappointed with Ms Rodriguez for not doing just that. “Damn the Venezuelans, I want to see dead US military!”
Delcy is a Quisling by any measure, sooner or later Trump will kick her out and she will be remembered as a disgraced traitor to the venezuelan nation.
And it is just getting worse and worse:
Venezuela resumes oil supplies to Israel — Bloomberg
https://tass.com/economy/2084913
This is from a nation that was one of the most critical of Israel in the whole world.
Pardon me but I do not see an analogy with Quisling. If Delcy is Quisling, then Trump is Hitler, right? But Hitler never kicked Quisling out.
Definition: Quisling “a person who helps an enemy that has taken control of his or her country”
But why would Trump kick her out if she helps him?
Just prior to coming on here I went onto JVLs website to check out any new articles they’d reposted since I was last on there a few days ago and, as such, came across an article by David Hearst, the editor-in-chief of Middle East Eye, posted on MEE a couple of days ago (and reposted by JVL yesterday) headlined Karim Khan dared to hold Israel to account – and that’s why he was brought down, which begins as follows:
There was a revealing post in the welter of reaction that followed the all too predictable dismissal of the Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Friday.
It was made by Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, who warned New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
Mamdani had just called the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a war criminal who should be arrested the next time he arrives on US soil, although Mamdani admitted he did not have the powers to do so.
Danon repeated the claim – that now appears to be established as fact – that Khan used the warrants against Netanyahu and his former defence minister to cover up his alleged sexual misdemeanours.
As Middle East Eye investigation made clear, Khan launched the meticulously prepared warrants six weeks before he was even aware of the allegations…..
Yep, the zionists never miss an opportunity to embroider what could very well be a big stitch-up. And David reminds us of the experience of Khan’s predecessor Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda:
The former prosecutor described in an interview with Al Jazeera a meeting with the then Mossad chief, Yossi Cohen, in a New York hotel during a UN General Assembly meeting.
“What was clear was that they did not want the investigations into the situation in Palestine to go on,” she said. “That’s the bottom line.”
Asked whether Cohen had told her Israel could “take care” of her and warned that proceeding could compromise her family’s security, Bensouda replied: “He did. He did.”
And a bit further on in the article it says the following, which was presumably concocted and contrived to add to what Danny Boy Danon claimed:
Finally, Netanyahu himself “revealed” four other women were preparing to testify against Khan. This was hours before The Guardian claimed there was a second woman about to come forward.
Netanyahu’s claim never came to pass.
https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/karim-khan-dared-hold-israel-accountable-and-why-he-brought-down
NB I wasn’t aware of this Guardian claim/article, and haven’t checked it out yet, so I can’t comment.
OMW, I just found the Guardian article (posted July 16th), and in an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour Sarah, a lawyer who worked directly for Khan, described his behaviour as “an escalation of attempts”. She said “it was kind of like encroachments on the boundaries slowly – not just physically, but emotionally as well”.
She alleged that on one occasion, while on an official visit to Colombia, Khan came into her hotel room. She said that, as she pretended to be asleep, he “started to put his hand down my leggings, to grope me, to put his tongue in my ear”.
Well I’m speechless, except to say it sounds like complete and utter WWOTT bollox!
ICC staffer talks publicly about alleged sexual abuse by chief prosecutor Karim Khan
https://www.theguardian.com/law/2026/jul/16/icc-staffer-talks-publicly-about-alleged-sexual-abuse-by-chief-prosecutor-karim-khan
So when did she first come forward with her claims? Presumably some time in the weeks *after* the arrest warrants were launched.
Well I just listened to the first thirty minutes of the Amanpour interview (linked to at the beginning of the Guardian article), and I have to say that Sarah comes across as the genuine article, but if she’s not, she’s a brilliant actor and deserves an Oscar. But, given that she DOES come across as completely genuine and truthful, I can’t help wondering how it is that the three judges who investigated the case found Khan, in effect, not guilty.
Anyway, here’s the link again re the interview, and it gets going on the allegations about three minutes in:
Exclusive: Lawyer goes public with sexual misconduct claims against ICC chief prosecutor. He denies the allegations
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/07/16/europe/icc-prosecutor-allegations-interview-un-investigation-amanpour-intl (July 16th – 46 minutes)
PS Turns out Khan didn’t just come into her hotel room and stick his tongue in her ear etc, and Sarah pretend to be sleeping, and there’s a bit more to it than that, but Amanpour didn’t ask her what then happened unfortunately. I mean did she just keep pretending she was asleep, and then at some point Khan left her room? Or what? Then there’s his security team, who would surely have known where he was and how long he was in there. Then again, perhaps they didn’t want to risk losing their jobs….
“there’s a bit more to it than that” Indeed.
Thank you for this article. I’m very impressed with your willingness to tell the truth even when it doesn’t lead to black-and-white conclusions. Which begs the question, why should we even want such conclusions? Real life doesn’t generally have them! The more clear-cut the conclusions the more likely the commentator is leaving things out.
You may very well end up confused and befuddled – I was when I read it earlier – but here’s a link to the MEE investigation David Hearst cited in the article he posted several days ago. It was published on August 1st last year, and it’s pretty long and difficult to take it all in, but it shows that there was contradictory behaviour by Sarah, referred to in the piece as the complainant….. But, even so, she comes across as so honest and genuine and unsophisticated in her CNN interview that it’s really, really hard to conceive that she is lying and acting, as such:
Exclusive: How Karim Khan’s Israel war crimes probe was derailed by threats, leaks and sex claims
https://www.middleeasteye.net/big-story/exclusive-karim-khan-israel-war-crimes-probe-derailed-threats-leaks-sex-claims
Just spotted this in a list of several articles on MEE, posted today, which I don’t suppose received much coverage by the MSM in the US, if any:
US prosecutor who helped ICC’s Karim Khan seek Israeli arrest warrants breaks her silence
Brenda Hollis, who supervised the team that built war crimes cases against Israeli and Hamas leaders, defends Khan’s handling of the Palestine file
Brenda Hollis, the US prosecutor who supervised the International Criminal Court (ICC) team that built the war crimes cases against Israeli and Hamas leaders, has defended Karim Khan’s handling of the Palestine investigation, rejecting the Israeli claim that the arrest warrant applications were rushed to distract from misconduct allegations.
Following Khan’s removal by the court’s Assembly of States Parties (ASP) last Friday, Hollis said that “regardless how you assess the removal of Karim, it should not be allowed to be conflated with the requests for arrest warrants for Hamas and Israeli leaders”.
“Let it be clear to all that he dealt with the situation in Palestine in accordance with his mandate,” she wrote in a post on LinkedIn.
“The requests for arrest warrants were not hurried, last-minute submissions. They were the result of ongoing investigations. They were based on law and sufficient credible evidence and finalised after thorough internal and external review.”
Hollis said she was in a position to know because she had run the team that prepared them….
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/us-prosecutor-who-worked-karim-khan-breaks-silence-netanyahus-arrest-warrants
And when I came across the headline to the following story on MEE last night, my very first thought was ‘How the feck did I not hear about THAT at the time – ie a couple of weeks ago, and then the reason why occurred to me. And when I then read the article it said as much:
UK school with hundreds of Muslim students evacuated after bomb threat
Police sweep Hamd House School in Birmingham after threat received via email
A British school with hundreds of Muslim students was evacuated after it was subjected to a bomb threat on Tuesday, local media reported.
Birmingham Live reported Hamd House School, in Birmingham, was swept by police on the final day of the academic year due to the threat.
The school has 450 pupils aged between 11 and 16. It is a private school run with a Muslim ethos.
The bomb threat was sent in an email to the school on Tuesday morning, with schools regulator Ofsted copied into the correspondence.
“School was full and pupils were celebrating the last day before summer….
Mend, an NGO which monitors and combats Islamophobia in the UK, said there had been “near silence” on the incident.
It wrote on X: “Ask yourself what the reaction would be if 450 children at any other school were threatened this way….
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/uk-school-hundreds-muslim-students-evacuated-after-bomb-threat
Yes, and if it had been a JEWISH school it would no doubt have been front-page headline news etc by the whole of the MSM (and Iran being blamed of course).
Interesting article with some figures on contributions.
“Two earthquakes, 5,200 dead — and within hours, the warships waiting off Venezuela’s coast turned ‘counter-narcotics patrol’ into ‘humanitarian mission’. … Welcome to disaster imperialism, where the invasion arrives dressed up as rescue — and stays, in SOUTHCOM’s words, “until we’re done”.”
https://www.ukcolumn.org/article/disaster-imperialism-galore
Thank you for your objective analysis. Whilst we mostly search for virtues that reflect our personal beliefs wether consciously or not, politics appears bereft of any. Almost as if successful politicians are required to suspend principles, morals or ethics in order to survive. Unfortunately it reinforces the cynical, never trust a politician.
I don’t think most of them had any principles and morals and ethics in the first place Alan. And the ones that DO generally don’t get very far, or, if they do, they are smeared and demonised and ‘transformed’ into the opposite of what they are. Think Jeremy Corbyn, and Ken Livingstone, when he was leader of the GLC, and later on as well – eg being transformed into an antisemite based on lies. And the zionists are really REALLY turning it on recently regards Mamdani:
Are They Trying To Get Mamdani Killed?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQnu6rC2nq0 (Owen Jones – 34 minutes, posted two days ago)
Just pure evil at work.
I just checked out a vid on youtube with Judge Napolitano interviewing Max Blumenthal, posted twelve hours ago, which is well worth watching, and at one point they talk about Mamdani and a guy called Sid Rosenberg, who I’ve never heard of before, and how he’s on a crusade against Mamdani. I didn’t catch everything Max was saying about him, and he may very well have mentioned it, but when I did a search on youtube afterwards for this Sid Rosenberg, I learnt that he recently called Mamdani a cockroach. The Judge plays several short clips of him on Fox News spouting on about destroying Iran, and afterwards I found several vids of him calling Mamdani a Jihadist and a terrorist etc, etc, and the guy comes across as a deranged psychopathic mega-cnut. Anyway, here’s a link to the Judge’s interview with Max, and a couple of relatively short vids of El Sid spouting his venomous B/S:
Max’s legal battle advances – Live with Judge Napolitano
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GxO2mQJmnI (22 minutes)
Actually the first one isn’t that short (33 mins), but the first eight mins is more than suffice:
Fox Apologized for Sid, He’s Doubling Down on Mamdani
And in this one you can see what a mega-narcissist he is, as well as a mega-cnut:
“I REVOKE My Apology!” Sid Rosenberg BLASTS Zohran Mamdani In Scathing Speech!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwuJHhminVM (JNS TV 10 minutes)
Sometimes one wonder if zionism should be seen not as a political ideology but rather as an organized crime outfit, the way zionists talk and act is reminiscent of how the mob (or sect) rule by persecution, harassment, stalking, slander, threats.
Bet they will go after Abdul El-Sayed in the Michigan race if he win.
I also read that Trump said that the only reason they seek to crush the ICC is to protect israelis:
Reuters: “Trump says ICC campaign aimed at defending Netanyahu not himsel”
https://www.reuters.com/world/trump-says-icc-campaign-aimed-defending-netanyahu-not-himself-2026-07-31/
Just spotted this article by Jonathan Cook in my inbox a bit earlier (posted a couple of days ago) about the campaign against Karim Khan and his predecessor and the ICC, and yes, they act exactly like the mafia, and do so because THAT is exactly what they are. Here’s the headline and a few clips:
With Karim Khan’s dismissal, the elimination of the war crimes court is near-complete
Millions of people around the world will now find themselves even more exposed to the criminal actions of predatory states. Unlike Khan’s accuser, they are unlikely to ever get their day in court
Khan is not the first ICC chief prosecutor to face extreme pressures – and, as with Khan, those pressures surfaced at the very moment Khan’s predecessor tried to take on Israel over its war crimes.
Fatou Bensouda faced a “covert war” waged against her by Israel for the best part of a decade, according to an investigation by the Guardian in May 2024, just as Khan issued his arrest warrant for Netanyahu.
The Guardian’s report, published nearly three years after Bensouda had completed her nine-year term at the ICC, revealed that, during that time, she had faced threats to herself and her family, the monitoring of her communications, and an intimidating visit to her home….
She also says certain “authorities” – she does not name them – warned her that she was going too far in investigating Israeli crimes and that “you could be harmed or you could be killed, or family members could be harmed in some way.”….
Between 2019 and 2020, during Trump’s first presidency, the US imposed severe visa restrictions and financial sanctions on Bensouda. Mike Pompeo, then US secretary of state, linked the sanctions to the Palestine case: “It’s clear the ICC is only putting Israel in [its] crosshairs for nakedly political purposes.”
Khan might well have avoided pursuing Israel indefinitely had it not been for the events that followed 7 October 2023….
https://jonathancook.substack.com/p/with-karim-khans-dismissal-the-elimination?publication_id=476450&post_id=208978368&isFreemail=true&r=62467a&triedRedirect=true
Allan Howard
Thanks for the article, another case is of course Richard Goldstone – a well renowned south african judge (a jewish zionist at that) – that in 2009 headed a UN team that concluded that israel engaged in targeting civilians. Then, after a pro-zionist campaign and most certainly threats against Goldstone personally, Goldstone disgraced himself by capitulating, claiming in an op-ed that Israel had not deliberately targeted civilians. It was like he had a gun to his head. Since then he has been completely silent about Israel.
Talking of stalking Jack, Caitlin Johnstone posted the following in a recent article, which is quite mind-blowing, but actual proof that gang-stalking happens (not that I personally needed proof that it does!):
Today In Dystopia: eBay CIA Gangstalkers, Shredding Rare Books To Train AI
Today in dystopia, billionaire corporations and plutocrats can hire trained CIA operatives to psychologically terrorize ordinary citizens who criticize them.
E-commerce giant eBay has just agreed to pay $56 million to settle a lawsuit for damages caused by the company’s shockingly aggressive gangstalking operation against a Massachusetts couple who criticized the company’s wealthy executives on their private website. The Boston Globe reports that in 2019 a former CIA employee who worked as eBay’s global security chief orchestrated a protracted series of psychological operations against the couple, in which “people working for eBay bombarded them with online threats and bizarre deliveries including a bloody pig mask, live spiders, and a funeral wreath.” The operations reportedly also included “following the couple around town and trying to attach a tracker to their car”.
The couple, Ina and David Steiner, came under fire for their criticisms of the fact that eBay’s then-CEO Devin Wenig was paid 152 times more than the typical eBay employee. The Boston Globe reports that Wenig repeatedly told his employees that he wanted to “take her down”, in reference to Ina Steiner….
https://caityjohnstone.medium.com/today-in-dystopia-ebay-cia-gangstalkers-shredding-rare-books-to-train-ai-a58c89744074
Thank you for this post. In the era of easy “news mash” that focuses on exploiting polarisation, the very needed balance is in short supply.
I have come to this place thru Julian’s Sub-stack “News Forensics” and I am very grateful to find this blog. This article removed many doubts regarding the role of the present president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodriguez. I have been fiercely skeptical of her intentions and what happened that night when Maduro was violently captured and kidnapped by the most evil player on the earth.
It is true that in the present world where there is no one to support a small country such Venezuela, one can not survive the force of evil imperial force the US, which never stops to appropriate resources of other countries. So, Venezuela has no alternative to accept imperialist control to save its social programs. But, waiting for Trump to pass and Democrats to take reigns is not going to benefit in anyway to the have-nots of Venezuela. Only this it gets is some reprieve from imperial onslaught in its fiercest form.
Looks like the ICC is about to lose 15% of its funding as the qpq (or Yen pro quo): https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-31/yen-s-intervention-rally-stalls-as-traders-alert-for-more-action