General

The Ukraine Question and the Trump Administration

I have to say that I am surprised by Dugin’s idea that all of Ukraine should be under Russian control, and I assume that he is tuned into what the Russian government wants. If Trump agreed to that, it would be widely seen as surrender. I had assumed that it was only the predominantly Russian Donbass that was the issue and that what Russia wanted was to combat Western expansion and a neutral Ukraine. Ending the war on terms satisfactory to both Russia and the U.S. may be very difficult.

From Arktos:

The Ukraine Question and the Trump Administration

Alexander Dugin argues that Russia’s uncompromising stance on fully integrating Ukraine into its sphere is a geopolitical imperative, driven by existential necessity rather than expansionist ambitions, and must be clearly communicated to Western leaders like Trump to avoid disastrous misunderstandings.

When we say that all of Ukraine should be part of a unified Russian space, we are not making excessively extreme demands. This is not maximalism. The current state of Ukraine is incompatible with the very existence of Russia. And if this issue is frozen once again, even if we include all our new territories within administrative boundaries, it still solves nothing. They will rearm and attack again. No one can guarantee otherwise.

But even such a proposal for a truce is not being offered to us.

Therefore, negotiations with Trump about Ukraine from our side will be conducted as follows: Ukraine is ours; everything else is negotiable. Deal? Of course, it won’t be handed to us. But we don’t need it to be. We will liberate it ourselves, no matter what.

The only question is whether we can avoid nuclear war along this path or, unfortunately, not.

It would be better to avoid it, but we are ready for anything. Ukraine, for us, is not a desire to gain more but an existential threat to lose everything. And this is not a hypothesis; it’s a fact.

It is very troubling that the seriousness of our situation is not understood in the West. Biden’s globalists have managed to shift the Overton window so far toward the reality of dealing a strategic defeat to Russia that this trend has become central. Those who are more reasonable and closer to Russia say: maybe its not worth trying to defeat Russia, as the cost would be too high. But those who are enraged by us, riding a wave of Russophobia, proclaim: let’s deliver this strategic defeat; Russia won’t dare to launch a nuclear strike; it’s a bluff. Bluff or not, this will only be known when it’s too late.

All of this, this mental map, creates a serious threat to the Trump administration’s relations with Russia — the Russophobia hypnosis is too dense and effective. This was the plan. Out of the best intentions, Trump might say: Moscow, take all within the LBS (Line of Contact). And that’s enough. Deal?

But for us, this is entirely unacceptable. It is an inevitable new war and a very likely collapse of Russia itself. Because that’s a defeat. In every sense. Trump might think he’s giving us what we want. But for us, this will be a direct challenge, blackmail, and a call to surrender.

This is a very dangerous situation where geopolitical realities clash with artificial mental clichés. Altogether, it creates an extremely dangerous cognitive dissonance.

Washington must understand that Russia needs all of Ukraine, and that’s it. Then, let “comrade nuclear weapon” speak.

It’s unfortunate to start a dialogue with the new American administration, generally opposed to globalism and anti-traditional values, on such a hardline note. But this is yet another trap left by the globalists. Perhaps Trump does not understand it. And we, while maneuvering diplomatically, hesitate to call things by their names. It’s better to be straightforward with Trump. Ukraine is ours (all of it), and this is not up for discussion. We are fighting there with conventional arms until victory. What sacrifices we bear are our concern. Occupy yourselves with something else.

Sanctions may remain; relations need not be renewed. That’s for later. But Ukraine will be ours, entirely and unconditionally.

Because without this, we will perish. And we do not want to perish. If we must die, everyone else will, too.

Again, there is no extremism here — just the cold laws of geopolitics, clearly described from both sides: by us and by Brzezinski. The detachment of Ukraine from Russia has been an imperative of the entire Atlantic school of geopolitics since its founding — since Mackinder (and even earlier). It’s simply a law. For the Eurasian school, the opposite axiom is true: Ukraine will either be Russian, or there will be no Ukraine, no Russia, or anyone else at all.

A very delicate situation is unfolding. With Biden and the globalist fanatics, everything was clear. They put forward unacceptable demands, and our demands seemed unacceptable to them. With Trump, it’s a different matter. What appears as a “gift” to him will be, for us, a declaration of war.

Therefore, it is essential to explain all this to Trump clearly and unambiguously, without pathos or emotion. If we let our “sixth column” handle this negotiation track, they will surrender everything immediately. But our people, I think, understand this. However, the new Trump administration in Washington, which even theoretically cannot be free from neocons or deep state appointees, may easily mistake one thing for another.

I believe the most direct solution would be to declare Russia’s true plans for Ukraine now during Washington’s transition. Russia will stop only after Kiev’s unconditional surrender and full control over the entire territory. Ukraine is Russia. This is our nuclear stance.

Jim Jordan: Where did those 10 million votes go?

Jordan: in 2020, Pennsylvania had like 2.something million ballots come in with no signature verification which is against PA law …

James Esses: America’s children are safer with Trump

[53% of White women voted for Trump, despite all the propaganda.]

America’s children are safer with Trump

The new pushback against radical gender ideology in Washington

Adam Gray/AFP/Getty

Support James’ work

When I woke up last week to find a notification on my phone announcing that Donald Trump had become the forty-seventh President of the United States of America, I felt an enormous sense of relief. Why? Because I knew, based on my extensive work, that the children of America are going to be safer than they were before the election.

Safe from what, you ask?

From the nefarious ideology —radical gender theory— which teaches them they may be trapped in the wrong body and the only path to happiness is through irreversible medical and surgical interventions, which will render them mutilated and infertile.

Kamala Harris and Tim Walz would have been an absolute disaster for the safeguarding of children, and biological reality more broadly.

Official documents that were released on behalf of the Biden-Harris Administration referred to women as “birthing people”.

Back in 2019, when Kamala Harris first put herself forward to become the Democratic nominee for the 2020 election, she said that she supported “providing essential medical care to deliver transition treatment” in prisons.

In other words, she wanted to allow violent, even predatory, males to be housed in female prisons, if they were ‘transitioning’. That’s right. Men in women’s prisons.

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Crucially, in her role as Vice President, Kamala Harris also propped up Joe Biden and enabled the President of the United States to push radical gender ideology on everybody else, from the highest office in the land.

The Biden-Harris administration referred to Florida’s decision to stop children being harmed through puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones as “close to sinful”and also put out a message on the ‘Transgender Day of Visibility’, stating that ‘trans people’ are “made in the image of God”?

Biden, Harris, and other Democrat elites also presided over a Health and Human Services Department, which “unequivocally” gave its support to “gender affirming care for minors” —including double mastectomies to young girls. They even appointed ‘transwoman’ (i.e. male) Rachel Levine as the US Assistant Secretary for Health.


 

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Tim Walz, Kamala Harris’ running mate, was even worse. He really was a full-blown radical ideologue on these issues, completely disconnected from the fact that there is a stunning lack of medical and scientific evidence to support this radical ideology.

In one podcast interview, from October of this year, Walz attacked Trump’s stance on gender ideology, accusing him of “hate”, as well as patronising older voters by saying those who disagree with radical gender ideology “don’t really understand”.

Oh they understand, alright.

They understand what we understand —this is child abuse.

In fact, in 2023, in his role as Governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz signed legislation that made Minnesota a ‘trans refuge’.

This prohibits Minnesota from co-operating in the prosecution of parents from other jurisdictions who take their children to Minnesota to receive things like puberty blockers, hormones, and surgery.

Walz, the man who liked to describe others as “weird”, then signed an executive order guaranteeing access to ‘gender affirming’ treatment for children.

He even signed into law the mandatory provision of menstrual products in all school toilets —including boys’ toilets.


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Comparing Trump and JD Vance with these two is like comparing night and day. So too is comparing them to many other so-called ‘conservatives’ around the globe who have consistently failed to protect our children from this hideous ideology.

During the campaign, Trump brought his strong opposition against radical gender ideology to the very forefront, launching a number of adverts highlighting the damage caused under Biden and Harris, saying: “Kamala is for they/them. Trump is for you.” 


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Trump set out a comprehensive plan for tackling this ideology back in 2023, which he is now going to pursue when he formally returns to the White House in January.

In a hard-hitting video, he has pledged to “ban” doctors from medically transitioning children, which he properly referred to as “child abuse” and “child sexual mutilation.”

He’s reiterated his opposition to puberty blockers, declared that on Day One he will issue an Executive Order instructing every federal agency to cease all programmes that promote the idea of sex and gender transition, stop taxpayer dollars promoting and paying for these procedures, and pass a new law banning child sexual mutilation in all fifty years.

Strikingly, he has also promised to launch an investigation into the medical and pharmaceutical industries, which have quite clearly covered up the enormous and sickening damage that is being done to children to make money for this industry.

It really is outrageous.

Trump says he will also give a green light to former patients to sue their doctors if they regret what happened to them after many medical professionals, biased teachers, parents, and others nudged them down the pathway to transition.

He also says that, under his command, radical gender ideology will be rooted out of schools altogether, with “severe consequences” for any schools who “suggest to a child that they could be trapped in the wrong body”.

Listen. I’ve been working in this area for a long time and this is possibly the single strongest statement I have ever seen on this issue, anywhere in the world.

Of course, the legacy media and liberal establishment have been quick to try and use these powerful and much-needed statements by Trump as a stick to beat him with.

CBS reported there was “fear” amongst the ‘LGBT community’ in Minnesota following Trump’s remarkable victory last week; and MSNBC called him a “transphobic” while CNN claimed he is trying to “stoke a culture war”.

As usual, as Matt Goodwin has noted, the very liberal authoritarians who imposed this radical and unscientific theory on everybody else are now trying to use the language of ‘culture wars’ to try and shut down people who disagree with their agenda.

What about Trump’s running mate, JD Vance?

He has also made his position crystal clear, including when he appeared on Joe Rogan’s influential podcast less than a week before polling day.

Vance rejected outright the notion of men identifying as women being able to compete in women’s sports and athletics, saying they “cross a line”.

He continued to make a profound point, namely that many young people today identify as ‘trans’ as a form of social signifier, as a way to “reject White privilege”.

Showing how knowledgeable he is on the subject matter, Vance and Rogan even entered into a discussion on ‘autogynephilia’ – a mental health condition whereby men become sexually aroused at the thought of themselves as women.

Vance said: “Yeah, and you’re expected to empower them at the expense of young women who are very often much more vulnerable, for obvious reasons, than young men.”


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Trump and Vance’s emphatic victory, in short, could not have come at a better time, given how divided America remains on this issue of gender ideology.

For example, some 27 States have banned ‘conversion therapy’, whereas 18 States have restricted or banned medical transitioning for children.

Trump’s strong opposition to radical gender ideology, which he has just set out again in a new video, should also not be seen in isolation.

Since winning the election, he’s pledged a host of measures that are designed to defend the family, protect free speech and push back against the radical Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) agenda which is infiltrating our institutions.

For example, as part of his ‘Agenda 47’ manifesto, he has promised to eradicate DEI from universities altogether.

And what is also incredible is that Trump is doing all this, after various sex scandals, sexist comments, and his stance on abortion, with strong support from women.

As we noted last week, Trump and Vance were helped over the line on election day by many female supporters, including many who consider themselves feminists.

In the exit polls, while 45% of women overall supported Trump (far higher than many had predicted), a majority of White women (53%) also backed Trump.

This is extremely revealing and speaks to the support Trump has when it comes to pushing back against critical race theory and other divisive ideologies.

Many ordinary women, many wives, many mothers, also hate this stuff —a point liberal progressives routinely overlook if not ignore.


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Equally, when comparing 2024 and 2020 data, there was a 14-point pivot amongst women under 30 towards Trump when compared to the 2020 election against Biden.

This, I suggest, reveals that many women believe Trump will be better not only for their own lives but for those of their families and children.


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It’s fair to say then that I am, in many ways, jealous of the United States.

Because unlike here in Britain and indeed Europe, Americans are about to be led by an administration that firmly rejects the nefarious ideology that is still, even to this day, harming so many children and damaging our social fabric.

I mean, imagine the conversation between Donald Trump who is now rapidly moving to ban radical gender ideology in schools and our own hapless Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who believes 1 in every 1,000 women has a penis.

I firmly believe, then, that children in America are much safer today than they were before the election last week.

For that reason alone, I’ll always be eternally grateful to the American people for making this decision and let’s just hope it has major ripple effects across the Pond.

Alain de Benoist on Trump’s Victory

Arktos Journal

Alain de Benoist analyzes the results of the American presidential election. While he welcomes the victory of the people over the Establishment, he nonetheless cautions against excessive optimism regarding the potential positive consequences of Donald Trump’s victory for France and Europe, as well as the illusion of attempting to transplant “Trumpism” to Europe.

Breizh-info.com: What is your initial analysis of Donald Trump’s decisive victory?

Alain de Benoist: General de Gaulle, when people praised the American political system to him, replied, “In France, the Supreme Court is the people.” Donald Trump was the candidate of the working class, which is why he won. His victory is all the more significant because, beyond the vote of the electoral college (which isn’t truly democratic), he won the majority of the popular vote, with a substantial lead over his pitiful rival, something he hadn’t achieved in 2016 or 2020 (and something no Republican candidate had managed since 2004). Put differently, Trump’s victory is, above all, the people’s victory over the Establishment. In France, we would refer to this as “peripheral France.” Across the Atlantic, it’s more like continental America winning over maritime America.

Finally, and this has been less emphasized, it’s also a victory of concrete references over abstraction. Trump spoke of America — a very specific reality — while his opponent spoke of broad universal notions like “democracy,” the fight for “freedom,” and “civilization,” which, like all terms without a particular, singular content, are mere mantras devoid of meaning.

Breizh-info.com: In your opinion, how will the Trump presidency affect relations between the U.S. and Europe, especially on critical issues like Ukraine, European defense, and protectionism? Some believe Trump might encourage a form of strategic independence in Europe. Do you think a second term could accelerate a desire for greater autonomy in defense and foreign policy in Europe?

Alain de Benoist: Relations with Europe will change. Donald Trump is notoriously indifferent to the transatlantic link. He believes NATO costs Americans too much and yields them little. Will this shake up Europeans who have tended to imagine that “if there’s trouble, we can count on our American allies”? Sometimes you can count on that, but often, surely not. Trump wants to break away from the “democratic missionary” role to re-found America on the classic logic of great powers. He wants to end wars that lead nowhere. Regarding Ukraine, his initiatives are likely to displease Zelensky — not because Trump sympathizes with Putin but because he wants to end a war that hasn’t met its objectives and which Ukraine has already lost. But those expecting him to develop a policy that will make Russia “acceptable” again will be disappointed. Similarly, in the Middle East, he’s unlikely to support the armed confrontation with Iran that Netanyahu dreams of. Russia will remain an enemy to Americans, but the main rival is China, and it’s clear that Trump wants to focus on it.

Protectionism is another question. Trump has never concealed his intention to raise tariffs on goods exported to the United States. The Chinese fear their goods will be taxed at 60%, whereas they’re currently taxed at only 20%. Europeans are also in his sights; Trump won’t grant them favors. Generally, the new president will likely maintain good relations with some European countries, but he won’t address Europeans as a whole. He’ll stick to bilateral relations that better defend his interests.

As for whether, in this new context, Europeans will demonstrate a “greater willingness for autonomy in defense and foreign policy,” one can only hope. At best, they’ll move in this direction hesitantly. The European Union is now in a terminal phase. Its greatest failing, to use the distinction I made earlier, is draining the word “Europe” of any substantial content (identity, power, borders, principles) to make it synonymous with “universal values,” which, when applied to concrete situations, mean absolutely nothing.

Breizh-info.com: Trump is often seen as a symbol of resistance to globalization and “wokeism.” Do you think his re-election could galvanize nationalist movements in Europe and strengthen populist right-wing political figures?

Alain de Benoist: I doubt it very much. I completely understand the sympathy that certain nationalist circles feel toward some of Trump’s positions. The support shown to him by Giorgia Meloni and Viktor Orbán is also understandable. But does this mean Trump should be taken as an example? Not for a second, as political life is so different in America and on this side of the Atlantic. Just as African people are not Europeans with darker skin, Americans are not Europeans who speak English. The deep-seated reasons for Donald Trump’s success stem from realities very foreign to Europe. The role played by Elon Musk, the place of evangelical Christians (and Christian Zionists), who idolize the Bible and the Constitution, and the brutal tone of Trump’s interventions — none of these have an equivalent in Europe. Lazy minds react emotionally to buzzwords — immigration, wokeism, etc. — but they only see one aspect of things. Any attempt to “do like Trump” in Europe is, in my view, doomed to failure. Europeans should rather worry about what it means for us if America wants to “become great again.” If it succeeds, then we will truly be threatened.

Breizh-info.com: How do you see the dynamic between the United States, China, and Russia evolving? Could Europe find itself more isolated, or might it seek a new form of strategic partnership?

Alain de Benoist: The United States will continue to see Russia, and especially China, as the primary threats to their already shaky hegemony. Immediately, having failed to “bring Russia to its knees,” they’ll disengage from the European theater, which now holds little importance for them. They’ll only do everything they can to prevent Europe from becoming a power, that is, a rival. Europe will be left to face its responsibilities, which it is visibly unable to assume. The main risk for Europe isn’t “isolation” but continuing to count for nothing. This will persist until we see the necessary systemic shift we need.

Breizh-info.com: With Trump’s strong stance on immigration, do you think such an approach could inspire more restrictive migration policies in Europe?

Alain de Benoist: Perhaps, yes, but again, we must not transpose what cannot be transposed. Talking about immigration in itself is using a catch-all term that, on its own, means nothing. The immigration issues in the United States and Europe are fundamentally different. Latino immigrants, who seek to cross the Rio Grande by any means, are Catholics, not Muslims. They generally admire the country where they want to settle and seek to integrate. These are already significant differences (this explains why Trump won the votes of 12% of Blacks and 45% of Latinos). The question of borders also arises differently for both historical and geographical reasons. Finally, we cannot overlook the fact that, ultimately, it’s the general mobility spurred by the expansion of the capitalist system that is the fundamental cause of the social pathologies related to immigration that we experience.

Breizh-info.com: More broadly, Donald Trump’s victory reflects a significant divide in the United States. Do you think a secession of the country in the coming decades is possible?

Alain de Benoist: It is indeed a real problem. We’re seeing a return and intensification of political polarization in the United States that we aren’t accustomed to. The historical Democratic vote in the South (the “Dixiecrats”), due to historical reasons (Lincoln was a Republican), had long resulted in blurring the lines between Democratic and Republican platforms to the point of making them indistinguishable, especially for foreign observers. The South’s gradual shift to the Republicans changed this dynamic. Polarization took its toll, and today, Democrats and Republicans no longer speak to each other. There are now two Americas that feel only hatred for each other. In the medium term, anything is possible, starting with a civil war in this heavily armed country (there are more handguns than residents), which I personally see as a far more likely possibility in the U.S. than in Europe. In the weeks leading up to the presidential election, there was already more than enough anxiety about what might happen if Trump had not been elected. These passions aren’t likely to fade soon. Trump would be wise to have good bodyguards…

Breizh-info.com: Finally, Trump’s victory is a slap in the face to the mainstream media establishment, which, in France and internationally, campaigned for Harris. Do you think this latest defeat for the media caste will lead them to new approaches or views on world evolution, or has ideology blinded them irreparably?

Alain de Benoist: The symbol of the Democratic Party is the elephant [?]. And, as we all know, an elephant Trump-ets a lot! I admit, watching the pinched faces, furrowed brows, and labored explanations of the media circus masters, who already imagined Kamala Harris moving into the White House after a “close election,” was a delightful spectacle. No early signs shook them, and Hillary Clinton’s 2016 defeat didn’t serve as a lesson either! They can’t understand how it’s even possible that Trump won. More precisely, they can’t grasp that Trump won not in spite of but because of everything they find abhorrent about him. You’re right; these people are blind. They are blind because they live in an echo chamber and can’t see that the real world increasingly diverges from their wishful thinking. They are politically, morally, physically, and intellectually incorrigible. They dance and prattle on the Titanic’s deck, unaware that their world is collapsing and that the one to succeed it will be even harsher. They pull out ritualistic terms — “populism,” “hate speech,” “systemic racism,” “toxic masculinity” — but no one cares. Let them babble, let them sleep. History is being written without them — elsewhere.

(Translated from the French by Heinrich Matterhorn)

This interview was originally published here.

Mondoweiss: “No, there were no ‘antisemitic pogroms’ in Amsterdam. Here’s what really happened.”

Link to entire article.

… Why is school out in Gaza? There are no children left there!” …

Headlines across U.S. news coverage, especially, signaled similar alarm: “Violent Attacks in Amsterdam Tied to Antisemitism”, “‘Scooter Youths,’ Not Soccer Fans, Hunt Jews in Amsterdam”, “Israeli soccer fans suffer ‘anti-Semitic attacks’ in violent Amsterdam incident: Officials”, “Amsterdam bans protests after ‘antisemitic squads’ attack Israeli soccer fans”, “Israeli Soccer Fans Targeted in ‘Antisemitic’ Attacks In Amsterdam”.

But that’s not what happened.

On November 5th, hundreds of Maccabi Tel Aviv fans – reportedly accompanied by Mossad agents – had flown into the city for a game against Ajax FC. It was reported, in the preceding days, that pro-Palestinian groups were planning a large protest outside the stadium against the presence of the Israeli football team. In the two days before the game, there were many reported incidents of violence and intimidation from the Israeli fans – including anti-Arab chants, attacking taxi drivers, ripping down Palestinian flags and attacking homes with any Palestinian imagery.

Emerging video evidence and testimonies from Amsterdam residents (herehere and here for instance) indicate that the initial violence came from Maccabi Tel Aviv fans, who also disrupted a moment of silence for the Valencia flood victims.

But despite that footage and Amsterdammer testimonies, coverage – across international media, especially in the United States – has failed to contextualize the counter-attacks against the anti-Arab Israeli mob.

Where there have been mentions of the actions of the Maccabi fans, the critical context of anti-Arab violence and chants is simply an additional detail versus the foundation of the counter-violence. The context of the violence and racism against Arabs is also downplayed, with less severe language being used to describe it.

Note this excerpt from a Reuters report on the Amsterdam incident:

Videos on social media showed riot police in action, with some attackers shouting anti-Israeli slurs. Footage also showed Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters chanting anti-Arab slogans before Thursday evening’s match.

Wishing death to Arabs at the hands of the IDF and mocking dead Palestinian children, we are told, is a slogan. Forcing Israelis to say “Free Palestine!” is a slur. Through the use of these two words, the weight of violence and of blame is immediately shifted to those victimized.

Then there’s this Channel 4 news report, which shows a bit of a masterful narrative manipulation. It begins with images of people draped in Palestinian flags, marching in the streets of Amsterdam, with the voiceover talking about the ‘shocking’ violence, and how “men on scooters hunted down Israelis to beat them”. We immediately see footage of random Israelis being beaten in the streets and then a jump to the Dutch PM condemning these actions. When presented this way, it is shocking – your initial introduction to this story is that Israeli Jewish football fans were ‘hunted’ and assaulted in the streets by pro-Palestinian hooligans.

A little over a minute into the three-minute report, we move onto what is the critical context: 36 hours of violence and racist slurs and chants by the Maccabi fans. The report spends about 40 seconds going over it, only to return to framing the incident as antisemitic. It concludes with a brief acknowledgement that Maccabi fans have a history of anti-Arab, anti-Palestinian racism but its final note is about the historical memory of Jews with regards to being ‘hunted and chased’ in the streets.

Never mind the present experience of Arabs, of Muslims being exterminated in their homes, hospitals, schools and tents by a Jewish military.

It’s also worth mentioning here that during the course of writing this piece, Sky News posted and deleted a video report on the racist Israeli mob’s instigation and violence — only to repost the report, with its content and copy edited to center the “antisemitism” framing. In other words, a real-time manufacturing of a story to fit a specific narrative, despite all the evidence available. Few things have captured the intentional complicity of the news media, in the genocide of Palestinians, as transparently and poignantly as this.

The coverage of events in Amsterdam reveals a troubling, but transparent and tired pattern: it serves as a rhetorical tool to justify violence against Arabs and Muslims, whether in Gaza or within the streets of Europe.

The coverage of events in Amsterdam reveals a troubling, but transparent and tired pattern: it serves as a rhetorical tool to justify violence against Arabs and Muslims, whether in Gaza or within the streets of Europe. Each narrative, whether centered around October 7th or November 7th, invariably positions Jewish suffering and historical trauma at its core, thus reinforcing the notion of a Jewish right to violence. Any contextualization that portrays Israelis or Jewish Zionist  as aggressors threatens to disrupt this carefully curated monopoly on suffering.

In the case of Amsterdam, the media framing and sensational headlines reinforce an image of the Israeli mob as victims, besieged by an enraged Arab mob that “hunts Jews” in the streets. The timing—occurring just before the anniversary of Kristallnacht—adds a haunting resonance that has allowed the narrative of Jewish persecution to be put at the center of coverage and condemnation.

This framing, both directly and indirectly, echoes Israeli and Zionist propaganda reliant on manufactured antisemitism and long-standing racist tropes about Arabs and Muslim; it perpetuates a narrative of eternal victimhood that is wielded to justify the ongoing extermination of 2.2 million Palestinians. And thus our media gives permission for violence – American, European and Israeli – toward Arabs and Muslims. It gives permission for the U.S.-backed Israeli eradication of Palestinians because, we are told again and again, that Jews are not safe anywhere.

This has lent itself to fabricated stories – about beheaded babiesbabies in ovensmass rapes of Israeli women, command centers under hospitals, UNRWA involvement in October 7th, journalists as “terrorists”, unfettered antisemitism on college campuses and pogroms against Jews in Amsterdam – defining American, Canadian and European coverage of the genocide of Palestinians. The claims and experiences of Israelis, of pro-Israel Jews are presented as sacrosanct, to question them is antisemitic; it is to deny and support the sort of dehumanization and violence that led to the Jewish Holocaust.

The claims and experiences of Palestinians, of Arabs and Muslims, might be tragic but we must always consider Jewish suffering and trauma first and foremost – that is what must always be protected, always at the helm of our outrage.

The coverage of the anti-racist counter-attacks in Amsterdam exemplified that: on the same day Western leaders flocked to condemn a non-existent pogrom against Jews, the UN Office on Human Rights released a report indicating that 70% of those killed in Gaza are women and children – mainly children, between the ages of 5 and 9. And the lack of condemnation, of outrage – even acknowledgement – of that from Western leaders and newsrooms, who are culpable in that 70%, is why there is condemnation of a pogrom that never happened.

Lithuanian Politician labeled “anti-Semitic” in ruling coalition

Party Whose Leader Is Known for Antisemitism to Join Lithuanian Government

On Friday, the Social Democrats’ deputy leader, Gintautas Paluckas, who is on course to be prime minister, said his party had concluded an “agreement in principle” on a coalition that includes Dawn of the River Neman, a new party that the American Jewish Committee, the global advocacy group, has denounced as “explicitly antisemitic.”

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Gintautas Paluckas, right, with his party’s leader, Vilija Blinkeviciute.
Gintautas Paluckas, right, who is on course to be prime minister, with the Social Democrats’ leader, Vilija Blinkeviciute, in Vilnius last month.Credit…Ints Kalnins/Reuters

Dawn of the River Neman, which finished third in last month’s election with 20 seats, is led by Remigijus Zemaitaitis, 42, a lawyer and former legislator. He gave up his seat in Parliament this year to avoid impeachment after the Constitutional Court ruled in April that he had violated his oath by making openly antisemitic statements relating to World War II and Israel.

Statements by him that the court condemned included a comment on social media that Israel’s treatment of Palestinians made it easy to understand why people would violently target Jews. He has also claimed, against all evidence, that a June 1944 massacre by the Nazis in the Lithuanian village of at Pirciupiai was the work of “Lithuanian Jews together with the Russians.”

He faces separate criminal charges for inciting ethnic hatred and approving or denying crimes proven under international law.

The Social Democrats had been under strong pressure to form a coalition government with several other small — and less toxic — parties. But personal rivalries prevented that, leaving Mr. Zemaitaitis as a kingmaker. Analysts said he was unlikely to be made a cabinet minister, but he will secure several ministerial posts for members of his party, whose name refers to the country’s major river.

His party’s inclusion in the coalition stirred outrage from centrists. “It is disappointing that this was done by a traditional party,” said Vitalijus Gailius, vice president of center-right Liberal Movement, warning that Lithuania’s international reputation would suffer.

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Four people cast ballots at a line of voting booths.
Voting in Utena, Lithuania, last month.Credit…Ints Kalnins/Reuters

Lithuania’s fractious politics are part of a wider trend across much of Europe, where mainstream parties traded power for decades but have in recent years lost out to upstart rivals at both ends of the political spectrum.

That has made it difficult to exclude politicians viewed as extremists, erasing a longstanding taboo on cutting deals with them. In the Netherlands, a party led by Geert Wilders, an often incendiary critic of Islam and immigrants, entered a coalition government this year after garnering the most votes in a parliamentary election.

The shift has also led to unstable minority governments. France’s Parliament has been split into three rough blocs since snap elections that President Emmanuel Macron called in July. He rejected a coalition deal with a leftist bloc that won the most seats, and also shunned the far-right National Rally.

In Lithuania, where Nazi Germany’s occupation led to the slaughter of about 95 percent of the more than 200,000 Jews living in the country before World War II, virtually nobody is denying the Holocaust.

But nationalist politicians have long sought to play down the role played by ethnic Lithuanians in the murder of Jews. They insist that such historical accounts were propaganda by the Soviet Union, which also invaded and annexed all three Baltic States in the 1940s, and later by Russia.

In addition, condemnation of Mr. Zemaitaitis by rival politicians, the courts and foreigners has played into a sentiment in the Baltic States that their countries have been unfairly branded as fascist collaborators because they resisted Stalinist rule, a view promoted for decades by Moscow.

People arrange and count ballots on a wooden table.
Counting ballots at a polling station in Vilnius last month. Lithuania’s fractious politics are part of a wider trend across much of Europe.Credit…Petras Malukas/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Mr. Zemaitaitis mostly avoided antisemitism during the election campaign, and focused on denouncing the two dominant parties, particularly Homeland Union, the main conservative party, as elitist and out of touch with voters. He promised tax breaks for large families and a bigger role for the state in business and finance.

Unlike right-wing populists elsewhere in Europe, like Prime Minister Victor Orban of Hungary, he has not demanded a halt to military support for Ukraine or voiced sympathy for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. But he has frequently lashed out at the United States and what he describes as its intrusive meddling.

Lithuania’s mainstream parties have long condemned Mr. Zemaitaitis over his antisemitic remarks. But a move by Homeland Union to impeach him and strip him of his seat in Parliament backfired when he presented himself as a victim of cancel culture and formed his own party.

Claiming that Lithuania risks losing its sovereignty to foreign powers, particularly the United States, he responded to criticism by American Jewish groups last month by saying, “They are explicitly instructing the Lithuanian people to surrender, capitulate and obey them!” He asked: “Will we allow U.S. Jews to continue to rule and threaten us?”

Dovid Katz, a Brooklyn-born authority on Yiddish who lives in Vilnius and edits an online journal, Defending History, said his Lithuanian friends were “shocked, dumbfounded and embarrassed” by voters’ support for Mr. Zemaitaitis.

But he added that he was himself “not altogether surprised that bottled-up, tired-old-playbook antisemitic tropes that have for many years been in the public domain” would “find a political champion in the form of a populist, young, handsome, seductive white male at this juncture in history.”

Nikki Haley and Mike Pompeo out

Trump Announces Nikki Haley and Mike Pompeo Will Not Serve In His Administration

Another indication that Trump II will not be like Trump I. In a good way. And “conspiracy theorist” RFK, Jr. will be in the administration. Imagine what he could do as Secretary Health, Education, and Welfare. No more rotating doors between government regulators and big pharma. And not RFK, Jr.’s statement: Pompeo “has the most bellicose and belligerent militarized foreign policy of any individual in our country.”

*   *   *

At one point Friday the Twitter hashtag “#NoPompeo” was trending number one nationally.

Pompeo has also criticized Trump on numerous occasions since he left the White House. Pompeo said in 2023 that Trump was not a true conservative leader and suggested he could do a lot better as President.

Following a disappointing result for Republicans in the 2022 midterms, Pompeo mocked Trump’s famous “you’re gonna get tired of winning” line.

 

Pompeo also appeared to attack Trump after special prosecutor Jack Smith indicted him in 2023 during his classified documents case.

Haley was also an ardent critic of the former President, especially while running against him in the 2024 Republican primary.

Despite serving as his U.N. Ambassador from 2017 to 2018, Haley ran against Trump in the primary, claiming he could not beat Biden. (RELATED: Trump Denies Media Scoop Key Rival Being Considered For Vice President)

At one point Friday the Twitter hashtag “#NoPompeo” was trending number one nationally.

Pompeo has also criticized Trump on numerous occasions since he left the White House. Pompeo said in 2023 that Trump was not a true conservative leader and suggested he could do a lot better as President.

Following a disappointing result for Republicans in the 2022 midterms, Pompeo mocked Trump’s famous “you’re gonna get tired of winning” line.

Pompeo also appeared to attack Trump after special prosecutor Jack Smith indicted him in 2023 during his classified documents case.

Haley was also an ardent critic of the former President, especially while running against him in the 2024 Republican primary.

Despite serving as his U.N. Ambassador from 2017 to 2018, Haley ran against Trump in the primary, claiming he could not beat Biden. (RELATED: Trump Denies Media Scoop Key Rival Being Considered For Vice President)

Haley’s failed campaign was backed by a number of establishment groups from both sides of the political aisle including the Koch Brothers and Jeffrey Epstein-linked Democratic megadonor Reid Hoffman, according to reporting from the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Pompeo’s and Haley’s rejections come as Trump assures voters that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will be involved in his presidency in “whatever capacity he would like.”

Kennedy previously criticized Trump for nominating Pompeo in the first place, saying he “has the most bellicose and belligerent militarized foreign policy of any individual in our country.”