Algeria minister calls on critics of new constitution to leave country

The Algerian Minister of Youth and Sports Sid Ali Khaldi sparked widespread controversy after calling on critics of the constitutional amendments, which will be voted on in a referendum early next month, to leave the country.

The minister announced in televised statements: “Our constitution is good. The first of November is the date for the referendum on the amendments, and those who are not satisfied with the situation in Algeria can go live in another country.”

These statements sparked a wave of indignation and criticism on social media platforms, between those who considered the minister’s comments provocative, and those who believe that this type of remark could not come from a senior government official.

Many compared these statements with other provocative remarks made by former Trade Minister Amara Benyounes, who proclaimed during Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s election campaign: “I curse the fathers of those who do not like us.”

The governor of Oran responded inappropriately on Thursday when a teacher drew his attention to the deteriorating situation of the school she had been working in for 30 years. Many Algerians expressed their solidarity with the teacher, prompting Prime Minister Abdelaziz Djerad to apologise to her implicitly.

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20201024-algeria-minister-calls-on-critics-of-new-constitution-to-leave-country/

The ‘left-wing anti-Semitism’ hoax

We are now only ten days away from the US presidential election.

Like it or not, the election affects us in the UK almost as much as those in the US. Such is the influence that the US has had on British policy for decades.

The news recently broke that Trump’s dying campaign has received a boost of $75 million, reportedly to be used for attack ads against his rival, Democrat candidate Joe Biden.

This eye-watering donation came from Israel lobby financiers Sheldon and Miriam Adelson. Sheldon Adelson is a casino magnate, who according to Forbes has a net worth of more than $32 billion.

The Adelsons may be the world’s largest single funder of the Israel lobby. They work closely with the State of Israel and are fans of the hard-right racist government of Benjamin Netanyahu.

They have pumped untold millions into pro-Israel propaganda groups, mostly in the US.

But like any rich donor to politics, the Adelsons expect a return on their investments. Adelson is Trump’s biggest donor, and since 2016, he’s pumped hundreds of millions into his presidential election campaigns and into Republican races for Congress.

In return for all this, Adelson has found Trump very willing to agree to his fanatically anti-Palestinian demands.

As Phil Weiss at Mondoweiss recently explained, the Adelsons’ latest donation to Trump was widely reported, but few reported on: “The Adelsons’ number one issue, Israel, or the fact that Miriam Adelson is Israeli, or that the Adelsons are close to Netanyahu, or that our transactional president has done just about everything Israel wants.”

Weiss iterates a long list of concrete political achievements that Adelson has obtained in return for his millions: “Moving the [US] embassy to Jerusalem, defunding the UN refugee agency serving Palestinians, closing down the Palestinian mission in Washington, recognising Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights, giving legal validity to Israel’s colonisation of the West Bank, lately harsh sanctions and belligerent language aimed at Iran, and on and on.”

One of the key tactics that the Israel lobby has always used is false allegations of anti-Semitism. These have escalated in recent years, on both sides of the Atlantic. Even as the lobby seems to be losing its power to intimidate critics of Israel on the popular and mass levels, so, too, the intensity and desperation of its attacks grow.

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20201024-the-left-wing-anti-semitism-hoax/

US Sending Coast Guard Cutters to the Western Pacific to Counter China

Coast Guard will evaluate basing Cutters in American Samoa

National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien said on Friday that the US is deploying Coast Guard ships to the western Pacific to counter China. O’Brien accused China of harassing vessels in the region, threatening sovereignty, and illegally fishing.

O’Brien said the Coast Guard “is strategically homeporting significantly enhanced Fast Response Cutters … in the western Pacific.” The cutters will conduct “maritime security missions” with US partners in the region who have limited offshore capabilities.

O’Brien said the Coast Guard plans to evaluate the possibility of basing cutters in American Samoa. “If the survey is favorable, the United States could further expand its presence in the South Pacific,” he said.

O’Brien described China’s activity in the region as “destabilizing and malign.” The advisor described the US as a “Pacific power” that promotes a “free and open Indo-Pacific region where like-minded nations uphold the international rules-based order.”

It’s not clear how far west the cutters will go, but O’Brien’s language suggests the South China Sea, where the US has involved itself in a maritime dispute between Beijing and several Southeast Asian Countries. The US regularly sails warships into the waters to counter China’s claims.

Earlier this week, the US, Japan, and Australia held joint naval exercises in the South China Sea. The week before, the US aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan entered the disputed waters for the third time this year.

https://news.antiwar.com/2020/10/23/us-sending-coast-guard-cutters-to-the-pacific-to-counter-china/