War

[Montuno]

Society

Western Sahara, the Spanish turn, and the unknowns of the future :

It was one more province of Spain and has been waiting for decades for the self-determination referendum promised by the United Nations, but according to the suddenly turn of Spanish government, the autonomy proposed by Morocco seems to be its most "serious, realistic and credible" future alternative for Western Sahara.

A turn to 40 years of positioning with respect to the former colony that raises many questions about the future of the territory, but also about respect for International Law and the consequences in bilateral relations with the rest of the Maghreb

Today - 11:16 CEST
Madrid


“The decision is only understood as the price that Spain has had to pay to restore its bilateral relations with Morocco ”, reflects Abdula Arabi, Delegate of the Polisario Front for Spain, “and we are not against it, we understand that the two countries are obliged to be understood. But even if a country can pronounce itself for or against a solution, this does not change the political and legal situation in Western Sahara at all”.

This situation passes through the framework of International Law and the United Nations, where the question of the Sahara continues to be treated as that of a territory pending decolonization. "Absolutely nothing is going to change except that Spain is no longer going to be able to play any constructive role in the search for a peaceful, just and lasting solution," warns Sidi Mohamed Omar, who is the voice of the Saharawi people at the UN. "Furthermore, this position will encourage Morocco, which will have no incentive to get involved in the peace process and will further complicate the task of the Secretary General's special envoy, Steffan de Mistura", adds who is also the coordinator with MINURSO and doctor in conflict resolution.

From a legal point of view, Spain, by continuing to be recognized as the administering power, is obliged to protect the Saharawi population and promote the right to self-determination, but "it is doing just the opposite because autonomy equals integration, and supporting it is support the armed occupation”, reflects the professor of International Law at the University of the Basque Country Juan Soroeta. “It is serious because Spain explicitly says that it supports the violation of International Law, we will see what face the government will show if in a few months the European Justice confirms the cancellation of the fishing and agriculture agreements with Morocco because the Sahara does not belong to it.”

Jorge Dezcallar is one of the most prestigious diplomats in our country. "I was very surprised to learn of something like this through a statement from the Royal Palace of Morocco citing a letter from the President of Spain that was from four days before... I think things have not been explained well," recalls the former ambassador in Rabat for four years. “You have to have good relations, the problem is at what price and what degree of trust do you put in the other party and here it has seemed that the pressure from Morocco has led to this change in attitude, which projects an image of weakness of our country".


Ceuta, Melilla, and the Algerian partner

He also does not like that there are those who interpret that Morocco renounces its historical claim on Ceuta and Melilla ("they will never give up, perhaps the issue will be stopped for two or three years but that has a very clear expiration date") and warns of the possible effect on the in the other great power of the Maghreb (“the relationship with Algeria has obviously known better times than the current one”).
Algeria has already called its ambassador to our country for consultations and some point to gas supply as the next field in which a response from the Maghreb country could arrive. For Gonzalo Escribano, director of the Energy and Climate Program of the Elcano Royal Institute, "Algeria has always been characterized by fulfilling the contracts signed in the long term", and "in the medium term Italy will continue to be a priority partner for Algeria as it already is".


Realpolitik versus referendum

Gas, the relationship with Algeria and Morocco, the future of Ceuta and Melilla, Spain's historical responsibility with Western Sahara... Everything has moved with a decision that for some, such as Ambassador Dezcallar, has not been known to tell but can understand by realism: “Morocco is never going to organize the referendum, and there is something called realpolitik because the world of ideals is one thing and the world of realities is another”; while for others it does not contribute anything because the solution has been on the table for a long time: "It is very simple: there is a specific agreement between the parties to make a referendum with this census", claims Professor Soroeta. "The census is already done by the UN, but the referendum is not held because France vetoes it." If our neighboring country stopped doing it, he concludes, "you vote and the problem is over"

• Occidental Sahara
• Sahara

https://cadenaser.com/2022/03/26/sah...tas-de-futuro/

 

[Montuno]

MARCH 20, 2022

EUROPA PRESS
WESTERN SAHARA WAR :

Polisario Front reports an attack against Moroccan positions at the separation wall in Western Sahara

Archive - Polisario Front militiamen next to a flag of the self-proclaimed Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) - STR/DPA - ARCHIVE

MADRID, March 20. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Polisario Front has reported an attack against Moroccan forces deployed in the Mahbes region, at the separation wall erected by Morocco in Western Sahara.
During the day on Saturday there were "intense" attacks on Moroccan forces, as reported by the Ministry of Defense of the self-proclaimed Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) and reported by the Saharawi news agency SPS.
Saharawi militias bombed "positions of the Moroccan occupying forces in the Lakaad region in the Mahbes sector" following similar offensives launched in the Akrara Chedida, Yebilat Lajdar and Akrara el Forsik regions, in the El Forsia and Mahbes sector .

The Moroccan forces "have suffered significant human and material losses along the wall of shame since the violation of the ceasefire and the resumption of the armed struggle on November 13, 2020", assured the Polisario Front.

Morocco raised the separation wall from Western Sahara to prevent incursions by the Polisario Front militias, with which it has been at open war again since November 2020 after the parenthesis of the ceasefire signed in 1991.

To read more

• Morocco
• Sahara
• Polisario Front

https://www.europapress.es/internaci...320140553.html

 

[Montuno]

The longest military separation wall in the world, about 3,000 km (1,800 miles), mined and bunkered with artillery :

Moroccan Wall , Security Wall or Western Sahara Wall is a set of eight defensive walls of a length greater than 2,720 km built by Morocco in the occupied territory of Western Sahara . It is a military zone with bunkers , fences and minefields , built in order to protect the territory actually occupied by Morocco from incursions by the Polisario Front , and to prevent the return of Saharawi refugees to the territory.

Vicinity of the defensive wall near Tifariti .

Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic

Occidental Sahara

security wall

1980

Moroccan Army

3 meters

Since the Western Sahara War

Moroccan walls in the territory of Western Sahara. In yellow the territory controlled by the SADR .

[ edit data at Wikidata ]

CharacteristicsEditConstruction was inspired by the Bar Lev Line , built by Israel along the Suez Canal ; the wall was built by the Moroccan army, with the help of Israeli experts and financial assistance from Saudi Arabia . [SUP][ 1[/SUP] ]
The construction was carried out in several phases, each of which expanded the territory controlled by the Moroccan army. Thus, in many places the wall is actually a consecutive set of different walls.
Every four or five kilometers a military company is deployed, generally infantry , but also other corps, such as paratroopers . Every 15 km there is a radar to inform nearby artillery batteries , towards the interior it is mined territory, wired, in addition to having obstacles, such as sand or stone walls (normally less than 1 meter). There is talk of a figure between 10 and 40 million mines.
It is defended by some 100,000 Moroccan soldiers. [SUP][ 2 ][/SUP] To counteract any possible surprise attack in the desert, the Moroccan army has put in place a surveillance system along the entire length of the wall, ranging from simple alarm systems to Rasura and AN/PPS type radars. -15 that can detect movement in a radius of up to 60 kilometers.


ContextEditThe wall began to be built in 1980 to keep out of the reach of the Sahrawis the two-thirds of Western Sahara, where the Bucraa phosphate mines are located, as well as the coastal area, which is rich in fishing. The territory beyond the wall is under the control of the Polisario Front, in what they call Liberated Territories , and a hostile zone, part of the Sahara desert that has almost no economic importance.
According to the Moroccan government, its objectives are intended to be:

• Protect the most important cities from Saharawi military actions
• Protect phosphate deposits and fish wealth
• Create a concentration of forces for a better defense
• Eliminate or reduce the element of surprise
• Obstruct any offensive or armed action
• Limit the effect of guerrilla warfare

international contextEdit
Women protesting against the wall.


In Europe , the most opposed to the wall and, therefore, to Moroccan sovereignty over the Saharawi territory, have been mainly human rights and humanitarian organizations, although they have a small political support, mainly Spanish and Italian . Demonstrations have been held in the vicinity of the wall with the support of the Polisario Front and in the vicinity of Tifariti for the past two years .
In Africa , Algeria is a traditional ally of the Saharawis, and is a strong supporter of the territory's independence, and therefore very critical of the occupation protected by the wall. This country supports the Polisario for various reasons. In the 1960s , Morocco wanted to extend its territory not only to the former Spanish colony but also to Mauritania , Senegambia and neighboring areas of Algeria, which caused fighting with the latter between September and October 1963 (known as the War of the Sands). ).
Parts of the Moroccan wall go inland for several km. in Mauritanian territory in two areas of its route.
The OAU and the UN with MINURSO repeatedly try to achieve a peaceful end to the situation since the 1991 ceasefire , which manages to end decades of estrangement and alienation of families, separated by the largest wall in the world in active, highly militarized furthermore, from the very beginning of its construction as such.

https://es.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muro_marroquí

​​​​​

​​​​​

The Moroccan Western Sahara Wall or Berm is an approximately 2,700 km (1,700 mi) long structure, mostly a sand wall (or "berm"), running through Western Sahara and the southwestern portion of Morocco. It separates[SUP][1][/SUP] the Moroccan areas (the Southern Provinces) on the west from the Polisario-controlled areas (Free Zone, nominally Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic) on the east.


The main function of the barriers is to exclude guerrilla fighters of the Polisario Front, who have sought Western Saharan independence since before Spain ended its colonial occupation in 1975, from the Moroccan-controlled part of the territory.[SUP][2][/SUP]

According to maps from the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO)[SUP][3][/SUP] or the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR),[SUP][4][/SUP] in places the wall extends several kilometers into internationally recognized Mauritanian territory.[SUP][5][/SUP]
NamesEditThe Moroccan Western Sahara Wall is also called Western Sahara berm, Western Sahara separation barrier.
Physical structureEditThe fortifications lie in uninhabited or very sparsely inhabited territory. They consist of sand and stone walls or berms about 3 m (10 ft) in height, with bunkers, fences, and landmines throughout. The barrier minebelt that runs along the structure is thought to be the longest continuous minefield in the world.[SUP][6][/SUP] Military bases, artillery posts and airfields dot the Moroccan-controlled side of the wall at regular intervals, and radar masts and other electronic surveillance equipment scan the areas in front of it.

The following is one observer's description of the Berm from 2001:

Physically, the berm is a 2 m (6 ft 7 in) high wall (with a backing trench), which rides along a topographical high point/ridge/hill throughout the territory. Spaced out over every 5 km (3.1 mi) are big, small and medium bases, with approximately 35–40 troops at each observation post and groups of 10 soldiers spaced out over the distance as well. About 4 km (2+1⁄2 mi) behind each major post there is a rapid reaction post, which includes backing mobile forces (tanks, etc). A series of overlapping fixed and mobile radars are also positioned throughout the berm. The radars are estimated to have a range of between 60 and 80 km (37 and 50 mi) into the Polisario controlled territory, and are generally utilized to locate artillery fire onto detected Polisario forces. Information from the radar is processed by a forward-based commander, who contacts a rear-based artillery unit.[SUP][7][/SUP]​

In all, six lines of berms have been constructed.[SUP][8][/SUP] The main ("external") line of fortifications extends for about 2,500 km (1,600 mi). It runs east from Guerguerat on the coast in the extreme south of Western Sahara near the Mauritanian town of Nouadhibou, closely parallelling the Mauritanian border for about 200 km (120 mi), before turning northwards beyond Techla. It then runs generally northeastward, leaving Guelta Zemmur, Smara, again crossing Mauritanian territory and reaching Hamza in Moroccan-held territory, before turning east and again closely following the Algerian border as it approaches Morocco. A section extends about 200 km (120 mi) into southeastern Morocco.[SUP][9][/SUP][SUP][10][/SUP]

Significant lines of fortifications also lie deep within the Moroccan-controlled area.[SUP][11][/SUP] Their exact number and location are a source of some confusion for overseas commentators.[SUP][12][/SUP]

All major settlements, the capital Laayoune, and the phosphate mine at Bou Craa lie far into the Moroccan-held side.


HistoryEditConstructionEdit


System of the Moroccan Walls in Western Sahara with chronology of their construction

The fortifications were progressively built by Moroccan forces starting in 1980, with help from South African, South Korean and Israeli advisors and formally ending on 16 April 1987.[SUP][8][/SUP] The wall was built in six stages, and the area behind the wall was expanded from a small area near Morocco in the north to most of the western and central part of the country gradually. The walls built were:

• 1st wall (Aug 1980 – Jun 1982) surrounding the "useful triangle" of El Aaiún, Smara and the phosphate mines at Bou Craa, built with the help of South African military engineers and Portuguese and French renegade mercenaries (c. 500 km (310 mi)).
• 2nd wall (Dec 1983 – Jan 1984) surrounding Amgala (c. 300 km (190 mi)).
• 3rd wall (Apr 1984 – May 1984) surrounding Jdiriya and Haouza (c. 320 km (200 mi)).
• 4th wall (Dec 1984 – Jan 1985) surrounding Mahbes and Farciya (c. 380 km (240 mi))
• 5th wall (May–Sep 1985) surrounding Guelta Zemmur, Bir Anzarane and Dakhla, again with the help of South African and Israeli experts (c. 670 km (420 mi))
• 6th wall (Feb–Apr 1987) surrounding Auserd, Tichla and Bir Ganduz (c. 550 km (340 mi))
• 7th wall (Nov-Dec 2020) from 6th wall to Mauritanian frontier (c. 14 km (8.7 mi))[SUP][citation needed][/SUP]

2005 expulsion incidentEdit


Sahrawi women hold a protest in Western Sahara on the eastern side of the wall.

In the summer of 2005, the Moroccan Army accelerated the expulsion (started in late 2004) of illegal immigrants detained in northern Morocco to the eastern side of the wall, into the Free Zone. The Polisario Front and the MINURSO rescued several dozen lost in the desert, who had run out of water. Others died of thirst.[SUP][13][/SUP] By October, the Polisario had received 22 immigrants in Mehaires, 46 in Tifariti and 97 in Bir Lehlu. They were from African countries (Gambia, Cameroon, Nigeria, Ghana, etc.), except a group of 48 who were from Bangladesh.[SUP][14][/SUP][SUP][15][/SUP]
The Thousand Column demonstrationEdit

Since 2008, a demonstration called "The Thousand Column" is held annually in the desert against the barrier by international human rights activists and Sahrawi refugees. In the 2008 demonstration, more than 2,000 people (most of them Sahrawis and Spaniards, but also Algerians, Italians, and others) made a human chain demanding the demolition of the wall, the celebration of the self-determination referendum accorded by the UN and the parts in 1991, and the end of the Moroccan occupation of the territory.[SUP][16][/SUP]

In the 2009 edition, a teenage Sahrawi refugee named Ibrahim Hussein Leibeit lost half of his right leg in a landmine explosion.[SUP][17][/SUP][SUP][18][/SUP] The incident happened when Leibeit and dozens of young Sahrawis crossed the line into a minefield while aiming to throw stones to the other side of the wall.[SUP][19][/SUP][SUP][20][/SUP]
EffectEditEffectively, after the completion of the wall, Morocco has controlled the bulk of Western Sahara territory that lies to the north and west of it, calling these the kingdom's "Southern Provinces". The Polisario-founded Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic controls the mostly uninhabited "Free Zone", which comprises all areas to the east of the barrier. Units from the United Nations mission MINURSO separate the two sides, and enforce cease-fire regulations on their troops.
External reactions and opinionsEditWestern attention to the wall, and to the Moroccan annexation of the Western Sahara in general, has been minimal, apart from Spain. In Africa, the annexation of Western Sahara by Morocco has attracted somewhat more attention. Algeria supports the Polisario Front "in its long-running desert war to oppose Moroccan control of the disputed area".[SUP][21][/SUP][SUP][22][/SUP] The Organization of African Unity/African Union (AU) and United Nations have proposed negotiated solutions.

The AU's stance on Western Sahara led to Morocco's exit from the organization. After a 33-year absence, Morocco rejoined on 30 January 2017, despite 9 member states voting against, but 39 supporting.[SUP][23][/SUP] Morocco was re-admitted with the understanding that Western Sahara will remain an AU member. The membership of relatively wealthy Morocco was welcomed by many members, as the AU has been criticized for being overly dependent on non-African donor funding.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moro...rn_Sahara_Wall

 

[Montuno]

UKRANIE WAR.

Very extensive, detailed, and illustrated (with maps and videos) analisis of the 30th day of Putin's invasion of Ukraine, in Spanish, English and French, from the prestigious military digital magazine "EJERCITOS". :

​​​​​https://www.revistaejercitos.com/en/...crania-dia-30/

 

[ButterflyEffect]

I was replying to Hemp in the post that evoked your comments. On appearance , I think it was easy to misconstrue. Not the words, but the order in came in. Sometimes that happens. I doubt it was your intent.

These threads do get off subject. While they might get buried in nonsense, they also rise to the top in the process.

I use the ignore feature to quite some of the nonsensical chatter. You’ll hear comments about only hearing one side, but that’s just more nonsense to keep their audience. They love telling you to ignore the media and to believe what they say. I guess somebody did it to them. Short answer though. Use the “ignore”. Another one will come along anyway. Spouting the same nonsense over again. You won’t miss them. I certainly wouldn’t take grow advice from them. They’re useless to me. I think you’ll maybe find the same thing.

Definitely was not my intent. These threads are a bear to track at times.

Great advice my friend. I don't generally like to ignore people unless they turn into broken records. Usually, I like to simply taunt the hell out of them. I figure if they can bring absolutely nothing to the table then I can do the same by toying with them.

Where is this ignore button?

 

[CosmicGiggle]

......... nazi conspiracy theory of cultural marxism just like much of the american far right,...........

What 'conspiracy theory', this 3rd generation, lifelong LIBERAL Democrat saw it first hand when I checked out the original #BLM website in 2018 and Democrats.org saying they support #BLM on their site.

 

[Montuno]

Energy, Russian gas and the Ukranie War

Spain and Portugal get the EU to recognize the "Iberian exception" to curb energy prices

• The measure will allow the price of gas to be reduced immediately and will have a direct impact on the price of electricity
• Sánchez has recognized that in a month this reduction could be applied to the bill and consumers will notice it

25.03.2022 | 7:55 p.m.

ByDIANA FRESNEDA

​

The Heads of State and Government of the European Union (EU) have agreed this Friday to recognize Spain and Portugal as an "energy island" , which will allow the price of gas to be reduced immediately and will have a direct impact on electricity. The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, had been demanding in recent days that the Twenty-seven take into account the special situation of the Iberian Peninsula in terms of energy and, after a tense debate, and given the refusal of countries such as Germany or the Netherlands, he has finally achieved this goal.
"Finally, the singularity of the Iberian Peninsula is being recognized in European energy policy", Sánchez stressed at the end of the meeting, where he appeared together with the Portuguese Prime Minister, António Costa, to symbolize the unity of criteria of the two countries in their demands. It is an "exceptional and temporary" measure , said Sánchez, which must have the final approval of the European Commission. "At the beginning of the week we will send the proposal to the Commission and, from there, we are committed to being able to act immediately," he added.

The European summit began this Thursday with a marathon day that ended at dawn and continued this Friday to address the energy debate, where the Twenty-seven started divided: on the one hand, the southern countries, led by Spain, who were pressing to put a a cap on energy prices and decoupling electricity from gas; and against others such as Germany or the Netherlands, which opted for "accelerating energy efficiency measures, the implementation of renewables and interconnections".
According to sources from the Spanish delegation to RTVE, there have been moments of tension on this second day of the summit, which have led the head of the Spanish Executive to get up from the table and request a technical stoppage . The reason has been a tweet from a France24 journalist, in which it was pointed out that Sánchez was threatening to veto the conclusions, something that the same sources have denied, pointing out that his attitude has always been "constructive".
"What happens in the Council, stays in the Council", Sánchez later highlighted when asked about this statement. "We have had a constructive debate, always intense, but nothing was due to that leak," he added. Later, in statements to journalists, Sánchez has recognized that in a month this reduction could be applied to the bill and consumers will notice it .


Commitment to recognize Spain and Portugal as an energy island

The Spanish president has spent weeks demanding a "common and ambitious response" from the EU to put a stop to the exorbitant prices of electricity and in recent days he has made a European tour to obtain the maximum support from his European partners. Faced with the refusal of part of the Council, Sánchez lowered his claims and this Thursday demanded for Spain and Portugal a "particular response" as it is "an energy island" and has a "minimal interconnection with the European energy market below 3%" .

Sánchez demands in Brussels a "particular" response for Spain and Portugal as an "energy island"

Finally, and after seven hours of debate, their replies have been attended by the Twenty-seven. "We have agreed a special treatment for the Iberian Peninsula so that they can manage this very specific situation in which they find themselves and manage energy prices," said the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. The German has said that Spain and Portugal are in a "very special" situation because their energy mix has a high proportion of renewables, but "very few interconnections" with the rest of the countries of the Union.
The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, for his part, one of the most critical of the Spanish position, has highlighted that Sánchez has "very successfully represented the interests" of Spain. "Together with his Portuguese colleague, they have guaranteed that there are options for the governments of Portugal and Spain to act ," Scholz pointed out at a press conference. While the Netherlands, which was one of the most reluctant to this measure, has said that it was not against the proposal, but rather taking it hastily, without knowing what consequences it would have.

02.39 min​

Agreement in the EU for the "Iberian exception": Is Spain an energy island?


The European solution will be decisive for Spain

The truth is that the result of the Council was decisive for Spain. Based on what was decided this Thursday and Friday in Brussels, the Government would act on the package of measures that will be approved on Tuesday the 29th in the Council of Ministers to put an end to the discontent on the street. It will be a package negotiated in turn with the parliamentary groups of the Congress of Deputies and with the main economic actors and sectors involved.
In this sense, and although Sánchez has recognized that the result of the summit "meets expectations", he has indicated that a European solution to high energy prices "is still required" . "That is why we have proposed three urgent measures from Spain, in addition to recognition as an energy island: joint purchases of gas, putting a cap on the price of gas and a reform of the energy market more appropriate to the present."
At the moment, the only agreement that has been closed by the Twenty-seven to reduce dependence on the supply of fossil fuels from Russia is that the supply of liquefied natural gas from the United States (USA) to the European Union will be increased. However, the heads of state and government of the European Union have avoided specifying a new package of sanctions against Moscow, despite the fact that the United States and the United Kingdom have announced more retaliation.

• 
• 
• 

• 
  
  Europe's dependence on Russian gas: what are the alternatives?
  
  25.02.2022
• 
  
  Ribera trusts in an agreement in the EU on the price of gas: "The particularity of Spain cannot be diluted"
  
  25.03.2022
• 
  
  The EU postpones new sanctions on Russia and urges to stop "war crimes" immediately
  
  25.03.2022
• 
  
  This is how gas arrives in Spain: a diversified supply and a large supply capacity by sea
  
  15.11.2021
• 
  08.29 min​
  
  
  RNE's mornings with Íñigo Alfonso - Russia's energy dependency and Europe's alternatives
  23.02.2022

 

[Montuno]

anders brevik was another believer in the nazi conspiracy theory of cultural marxism just like much of the american far right, and famous idiots like jordan peterson.

Spanish woman, bisexual, Muslim-Sunni-Maliki-Analusi-Saharahui, and Marxist, is looking for Ultraright and Nazi machoman with whom she can share whatever the Conspiranoid Conspiracy of Cultural Marxism and the Plan to End the White Race and White Nations may have in mind:

-"Me vas a comer lo que viene siendo to' el higo, NaziMan..."


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult...spiracy_theory

Cultural Marxism is a far-right antisemitic conspiracy theory which claims that Western Marxism is the basis of continuing academic and intellectual efforts to subvert Western culture.[SUP][1][/SUP][SUP][2][/SUP][SUP][3][/SUP] The theory claims that an elite of Marxist theorists and Frankfurt School intellectuals are subverting Western society with a culture war that undermines the Christian values of traditionalist conservatism and promotes the cultural liberal values of the 1960s counterculture and multiculturalism, progressive politics and political correctness, misrepresented as identity politics created by critical theory.[SUP][2][/SUP][SUP][3][/SUP][SUP][4][/SUP]

A contemporary revival of the Nazi propaganda term "Cultural Bolshevism",[SUP][5][/SUP] the conspiracy theory originated in the United States during the 1990s.[SUP][6][/SUP][SUP][7][/SUP][SUP]: Abstract [/SUP] While originally found only on the far-right political fringe, the term began to enter mainstream discourse in the 2010s and is now found globally.[SUP][7][/SUP] The conspiracy theory of a Marxist culture war is promoted by right-wing politicians, fundamentalist religious leaders, political commentators in mainstream print and television media, and white supremacist terrorists.[SUP][8][b,][/SUP] Scholarly analysis of the conspiracy theory has concluded that it has no basis in fact.[SUP][7][/SUP][SUP][9][/b][/SUP]
OriginsThe conspiracy theory of Marxist cultural warfare originated in the essay "New Dark Age: Frankfurt School and 'Political Correctness'" (1992) written by Michael Minnicino,[SUP][1][/SUP][SUP]: 30–40 [/SUP] published in the Schiller Institute's Fidelio magazine, a journal associated with the fringe American right-wing political activist, conspiracy theorist, and perennial presidential candidate Lyndon LaRouche.[SUP][10][/SUP][SUP][11][/SUP] In a speech to the Conservative Leadership Conference of the Civitas Institute in 1998,[SUP][12][/SUP][SUP][discuss][/SUP] Paul Weyrich presented his conspiracy theory equating Cultural Marxism to political correctness.[SUP][13][/SUP] He later republished the speech in his syndicated culture war letter.[SUP][14][/SUP] In the United States, the conspiracy theory is promoted by religious fundamentalists and paleoconservative politicians such as William S. Lind, Pat Buchanan and Paul Weyrich[SUP][15][/SUP] as well as the alt-right, neo-Nazi and white nationalist organizations.[SUP][16][/SUP][SUP][17][/SUP][SUP][18][/SUP] It has been described as "a foundational element of the alt-right worldview".[SUP][19][/SUP]

For the Free Congress Research and Education Foundation, Weyrich commissioned Lind to write a history of Cultural Marxism, defined as "a brand of Western Marxism [...] commonly known as 'multiculturalism' or, less formally, Political Correctness"[SUP][20][/SUP] which claimed that the presence of openly gay people in the television business proved that Cultural Marxists control the mass media; and that Herbert Marcuse considered a coalition of "Blacks, students, feminist women, and homosexuals" as a feasible vanguard of cultural revolution in the 1960s.[SUP][21][/SUP] Moreover, the historian Martin Jay said in the Dialectic of Counter-Enlightenment: The Frankfurt School as Scapegoat of the Lunatic Fringe (2011) that Political Correctness: The Frankfurt School (1999), Lind's documentary of conservative counter-culture, was effective Cultural Marxism propaganda because it "spawned a number of condensed, textual versions, which were reproduced on a number of radical, right-wing [web] sites."[SUP][1][/SUP] He further writes:

These, in turn, led to a plethora of new videos, now available on YouTube, which feature an odd cast of pseudo-experts regurgitating exactly the same line. The message is numbingly simplistic: All the 'ills' of modern American culture, from feminism, affirmative action, sexual liberation, racial equality, multiculturalism and gay rights to the decay of traditional education, and even environmentalism, are ultimately attributable to the insidious intellectual influence of the members of the Institute for Social Research who came to America in the 1930s.[SUP][1][/SUP]​

Interpretation of the Frankfurt School as a conspiracySee also: Frankfurt School

Joseph Goebbels views the Degenerate Art exhibition. The Cultural Marxism conspiracy theory is often compared to the antisemitic Nazi propaganda about "cultural Bolshevism" and "degenerate art".

The conspiracy theory claims that an elite of Marxist theorists and Frankfurt School intellectuals are subverting Western society. While parts of the conspiracy theory make reference to actual thinkers and ideas selected from the Western Marxist tradition, they severely misrepresent the subject and give an exaggerated interpretation of their effective influence.[SUP][22][/SUP][SUP][23][/SUP][SUP][24][/SUP][SUP][5][/SUP] In reality, a group of German Marxist scholars, the majority of whom were Jewish, founded the Institute for Social Research in Frankfurt in 1923, which came to be known as the Frankfurt School.[SUP][25][/SUP][SUP][26][/SUP][SUP][27][/SUP] In their research, they sought to explain the failure of the German Revolution of 1918–1919, why capitalism remained the economic system in Germany, and, eventually, why German workers turned to Nazism instead.[SUP][25][/SUP][SUP][28][/SUP] After 1933, the majority of the Frankfurt School intellectuals relocated to the United States, where their theories had a limited impact on left-wing circles.[SUP][25][/SUP] While the influence of the Frankfurt School and critical theory are generally viewed by most political scientists to have had a considerable range within academia, they were directly in opposition to the theories promoted by postmodern philosophers, who are frequently identified by proponents of the conspiracy theory as leading examples of Cultural Marxism. In addition, none of its members were part of any kind of international conspiracy to destroy Western civilization.[SUP][1][/SUP][SUP][29][/SUP][SUP][30][/SUP]

Academic Joan Braune explains that Cultural Marxism in the sense referred to by the conspiracy theorists never existed, and does not correspond to any historical school of thought. She also states that Frankfurt School scholars are referred to as "Critical Theorists", not "Cultural Marxists", and points out that, contrary to the claims of the conspiracy theory, postmodernism tends to be wary of or even hostile towards Marxism, including towards the grand narratives typically supported by Critical Theory.[SUP][9][/SUP]

The British scholar Stuart Jeffries noted that the theories promoted by the Frankfurt school had "negligible real-world impact", and have been criticized for what Jürgen Habermas called a "strategy of hibernation", noting that they were mostly content to complain about the world rather than attempting to change it.[SUP][25][/SUP] Jeffries wrote: "The Frankfurt conspiracy theory, which has captivated several alt-right figures including Trump[SUP][clarification needed][/SUP], Jordan Peterson and the late Andrew Breitbart, founder of the eponymous news service, turned this history on its head. Rather than impotent professors issuing scarcely comprehensible jeremiads from the academy, the likes of Adorno, Horkheimer, Erich Fromm and Herbert Marcuse were a crack cadre of subversives, who, during their American exile, performed a cultural takedown to which 'Make America Great Again' is a belated riposte."[SUP][25][/SUP]
Main promotersAccording to Joan Braune, Lecturer in Philosophy at Gonzaga University, Paul Gottfried, William S. Lind and Kevin MacDonald are three of the main proponents of the Cultural Marxism conspiracy theory.[SUP][9][/SUP] According to political scientist Jérôme Jamin, the three people most responsible for originating and promoting the conspiracy theory are William Lind, Pat Buchanan and the far-right terrorist Anders Behring Breivik.[SUP][31][/SUP]

Andrew Breitbart, founder of Breitbart News, was also a proponent of the conspiracy theory.[SUP][9][/SUP] Breitbart News has published the idea that Theodor Adorno's atonal music was an attempt at inducing the population to necrophilia on a mass scale.[SUP][32][/SUP] Pat Buchanan has promoted the Cultural Marxism conspiracy theory as meant to "de-Christianize" the United States.[SUP][33][/SUP]Paul Weyrich promoted the conspiracy theory[SUP][15][/SUP][SUP][discuss][/SUP] as a deliberate effort to undermine "our traditional, Western, Judeo-Christian culture" and the conservative agenda in American society, arguing that "we have lost the culture war" and that "a legitimate strategy for us to follow is to look at ways to separate ourselves from the institutions that have been captured by the ideology of Political Correctness, or by other enemies of our traditional culture."[SUP][12][/SUP][SUP][14][/SUP][SUP][34][/SUP]
Development of the conspiracy theoryNew Dark Age: The Frankfurt School and 'Political Correctness' (1992)


In the essay "New Dark Age: The Frankfurt School and 'Political Correctness'" (1992), Michael Minnicino argues that the Jewish intellectuals of the Frankfurt School promoted modern art in order to make cultural pessimism the spirit of the counterculture of the 1960s.[SUP][35][/SUP][SUP][36][/SUP] The historian Martin Jay pointed out that Daniel Estulin's book cites Minnicino's essay as political inspiration for the Free Congress Research and Education Foundation.[SUP][1][/SUP]

Minnicino argues that late twentieth-century America has become a "New Dark Age" as a result of the abandonment of Judeo-Christian values and Renaissance ideals, which he claims have been replaced with a "tyranny of ugliness." He attributes this to a purported Counter-Renaissance campaign, an alleged plot to socially and psychologically weaken America, carried out in three stages by Georg Lukács, the Frankfurt School, and elite media figures and political campaigners.[SUP][5][/SUP]

According to Minnicino, there are two aspects of the Frankfurt School plan to destroy Western culture: firstly, a cultural critique, by Theodor Adorno and Walter Benjamin, to use art and culture to promote alienation and replace Christianity with socialism, including the development of opinion polling to brainwash the populace and the development of advertising techniques to control political campaigning; and secondly, an attack on the traditional family structure by Erich Fromm and Herbert Marcuse by promoting women's rights, sexual liberation, and polymorphous perversity to subvert patriarchal authority.[SUP][5][/SUP]

To achieve these aims, Minnicino claims, the Frankfurt School initiated, and supported, a "psychedelic revolution", distributing hallucinogenic drugs to encourage sexual perversion and promiscuity amongst young Americans,[SUP][5][/SUP] and were instrumental in the development and planning of the radio, television, film, music, advertising, and opinion polling industries to manipulate, pacify, and control the population.[SUP][35][/SUP]
The Roots of Political Correctness (1999)


In William Lind's version of the conspiracy, Cultural Marxism is synonymous with political correctness, a supposedly un-American and barbaric project opposed to Christian values. According to Lind's analysis, Lukács and Gramsci aimed to subvert Western culture, since it was an obstacle to the Marxist goal of proletarian revolution. According to Lind, the "Cultural Marxists" of the Frankfurt School, began to focus (under Max Horkheimer) on psychological repression within Western societies, aiming to remove social inhibitions (and destroying Western culture) using four main strategies. First, Horkheimer's critical theory would undermine the authority of the traditional family and government institutions, while segregating society into opposing groups of victims and oppressors. Second, the concepts of the authoritarian personality and the F Scale, developed by Adorno, would be used to accuse Americans with right-wing views of having fascist principles. Third, the concept of polymorphous perversity would undermine Western culture by promoting free love and homosexuality. Finally, Marcuse's Repressive Tolerance is caricatured by Lind as an argument to silence the right, and allow only the left to be heard. Thus, Lind interprets the Frankfurt School's move to America from Nazi Germany as a sinister plot to establish a totalitarian system in the United States, based on political correctness.[SUP][5][/SUP]
The Frankfurt School: Conspiracy to Corrupt (2008)


In Timothy Matthews' version of the conspiracy, originally published in The Wanderer in December 2008, the Frankfurt School came to America to carry out "Satan's work". According to Matthews, the Frankfurt School, under the influence of Satan, seek to destroy the traditional Christian family by starting a culture war, using critical theory and Marcuse's polymorphous perversity to encourage women's rights, homosexuality, and the breakdown of patriarchy by creating a female-centered culture.[SUP][5][/SUP]

The article accused the Frankfurt School of instigating:[SUP][5][/SUP]

1. The creation of racism offences
2. Continual change to create confusion
3. The teaching of sex and homosexuality to children
4. The undermining of schools' and teachers' authority
5. The destruction of American national identity through immigration
6. The promotion of excessive drinking
7. Emptying of churches
8. An unreliable legal system with bias against victims of crime
9. Dependency on the state or state benefits
10. Control and dumbing down of media
11. Encouraging the breakdown of the family

Despite a lack of a link between the list and any academic movement, conspiracy theorists use Matthews' allegations to promote the Cultural Marxism conspiracy theory in right-wing and alt-right news media as well as in far-right internet forums such as Stormfront.[SUP][5][/SUP]
Righteous Indignation (2011)


In Andrew Breitbart's interpretation of the conspiracy, which is similar in most respects to that of Lind, the "Democrat-Media Complex" represents an alliance between the Frankfurt School and American progressives, starting with Franklin Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson. According to Breitbart, these politicians acquired a twisted view of human nature from the works of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Georg Hegel, and Karl Marx, and implemented a left-wing agenda by attacking the Constitution of the United States. Breitbart insinuates that George Soros funds the alleged cultural Marxism project.[SUP][5][/SUP]

Breitbart attributes the spread of the ideas of the Frankfurt School from universities to a wider audience to "trickledown intellectualism", and claims that Saul Alinsky introduced cultural Marxism to the masses in his 1971 handbook Rules for Radicals. Woods argues that Breitbart focuses on Alinsky in order to associate cultural Marxism with the modern Democratic Party, and Hillary Clinton.[SUP][5][/SUP]
Aspects of the conspiracy theoryOthering of political opponents


In "Taking On Hate: One NGO's Strategies" (2009), the political scientist Heidi Beirich said that the Cultural Marxism theory demonizes the cultural bêtes noires of conservatism such as feminists, LGBT social movements, secular humanists, multiculturalists, sex educators, and environmentalists, immigrants and black nationalists.[SUP][37][/SUP] In Europe, the Norwegian far-right terrorist Anders Behring Breivik quoted Lind's culture war conspiracy in his 1,500-page political manifesto 2083: A European Declaration of Independence, stating that the "sexually transmitted disease (STD) epidemic in Western Europe is a result of cultural Marxism"; that "Cultural Marxism defines Muslims, feminist women, homosexuals, and some additional minority groups, as virtuous, and they view ethnic Christian European men as evil"; and that the "European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg is a cultural-Marxist-controlled political entity."[SUP][38][/SUP][SUP][39][/SUP][SUP][40][/SUP] About 90 minutes before killing 77 people in the 2011 Norway attacks, Breivik e-mailed 1,003 people his manifesto and a copy of Political Correctness: A Short History of an Ideology.[SUP][38][/SUP][SUP][39][/SUP][SUP][41][/SUP]

In "Collectivists, Communists, Labor Bosses, and Treason: The Tea Parties as Right-Wing, Populist Counter-Subversion Panic" (2012), the journalist Chip Berlet identified the culture war conspiracy theory as the basic ideology of the Tea Party movement within the Republican Party. As a self-identified right-wing movement, the Tea Party claims they are suffering the same cultural subversion suffered by earlier generations of white nationalists. According to Berlet, the populist rhetoric of regional economic elites encourages counter-subversion panics, by which a large constituency of white middle-class people are deceived into unequal political alliances to defend their place in the middle class. Moreover, the failures of free-market capitalism are scapegoated onto the local collectives, communists, labor organisers, non-white citizens and immigrants by manipulating patriotism, economic libertarianism, traditional Christian values and nativism.[SUP][42][/SUP]

In "Cultural Marxism and the Radical Right" (2014) and in "Cultural Marxism: A Survey" (2018), the political scientist Jérôme Jamin refers to conservative politician and media pundit Pat Buchanan as the "intellectual momentum"[SUP][31][/SUP] of the conspiracy theory, and to Anders Breivik as the "violent impetus".[SUP][31][/SUP] Both of them relied on William Lind, who edited a multi-authored work called "Political Correctness: A Short History of an Ideology" that Jamin calls the core text that "has been unanimously cited as 'the' reference since 2004."[SUP][31][/SUP] Jamin further explains:

Next to the global dimension of the Cultural Marxism conspiracy theory, there is its innovative and original dimension, which lets its authors avoid racist discourses and pretend to be defenders of democracy. As such, Cultural Marxism is innovative in comparison with old styled theories of a similar nature, such as those involving Freemasons, Bavarian Illuminati, Jews or even Wall Street bankers. For Lind, Buchanan and Breivik, the threat does not come from the migrant or the Jew because he is a migrant or a Jew. For Lind, the threat comes from the Communist ideology, which is considered as a danger for freedom and democracy, and which is associated with different authoritarian political regimes (Russia, China, Cambodia, Cuba, etc.). For Buchanan, the threat comes from atheism, relativism and hard capitalism which, when combined, transform people and nations into an uncontrolled mass of alienated consumers. For Breivik, a self-indoctrinated lone-wolf, the danger comes from Islam, a religion seen as a totalitarian ideology which threatens liberal democracies from Western Europe as much as its Judeo-Christian heritage. In Lind, Buchanan and Breivik, overt racism is studiously avoided.[SUP][2][/SUP]​

In 2017, it was reported that advisor Richard Higgins was fired from the United States National Security Council for publishing the memorandum '"POTUS & Political Warfare" that alleged the existence of a left-wing conspiracy to destroy Donald Trump's presidency because "American public intellectuals of Cultural Marxism, foreign Islamicists, and globalist bankers, the news media, and politicians from the Republican and Democratic parties were attacking Trump, because he represents an existential threat to the cultural Marxist memes that dominate the prevailing cultural narrative in the US."[SUP][43][/SUP][SUP][44][/SUP][SUP][45][/SUP]

In "Liberalism and Socialism Mortal Enemies Or Embittered Kin?" (2021), professor Matthew McManus said that "the objectives of proponents of conspiratorial views about Cultural Marxism were (and are) not to give a current account of Critical Theory, but to advance a conservative version of US liberalism against the scapegoat of global conspiracy theory." and "In short, what Critical Theory provides to those who use "critical theory" to signal a socialist threat to liberalism is not only a link to Marxist thought, but also a straw man against which to advance neoliberal politics."[SUP][46][/SUP]
Political correctness and antisemitic canards


In the speech "The Origins of Political Correctness" (2000), William S. Lind established the ideology and the etymology of the Cultural Marxism conspiracy theory. Lind wrote:

If we look at it analytically, if we look at it historically, we quickly find out exactly what it is. Political correctness is cultural Marxism. It is Marxism translated from economic into cultural terms. It is an effort that goes back not to the 1960s and the Hippies and the peace movement, but back to World War I. If we compare the basic tenets of Political Correctness with classical Marxism, the parallels are very obvious.[SUP][47][/SUP]​

Concerning the real-life political violence caused by the conspiracy theory, law professor Samuel Moyn called it an antisemitic canard in the 2018 editorial "The Alt-Right's Favorite Meme is 100 Years Old". About the origins and history of the conspiracy theory, Moyn wrote:

Originally an American contribution to the phantasmagoria of the alt-right, the fear of 'cultural Marxism' has been percolating for years through global sewers of hatred. Increasingly, it has burst into the mainstream. Before President Trump's [NSC] aide Rich Higgins was fired last year [2017], he invoked the threat of 'cultural Marxism' in proposing a new national security strategy. In June, [retired congressman] Ron Paul tweeted out a racist meme that employed the phrase. On Twitter, the son of Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil's newly elected strongman, boasted of meeting Steve Bannon and joining forces to defeat 'cultural Marxism.' Jordan Peterson, the self-help guru and best-selling author, has railed against it, too, in his YouTube ruminations.[SUP][48][/SUP]​

According to Moyn, "[t]he wider discourse around cultural Marxism today resembles nothing so much as a version of the [Jewish Bolshevism] myth updated for a new age." Moyn concludes: "That 'cultural Marxism' is a crude slander, referring to something that does not exist, unfortunately does not mean actual people are not being set up to pay the price, as scapegoats, to appease a rising sense of anger and anxiety. And for that reason, 'cultural Marxism' is not only a sad diversion from framing legitimate grievances but also a dangerous lure in an increasingly unhinged moment."[SUP][48][/SUP] Maxime Dafaure likewise states that Cultural Marxism is a contemporary update of antisemitic conspiracy theories, such as the Nazi concept of "Cultural Bolshevism", and is directly associated with the concept of "Jewish Bolshevism".[SUP][49][/SUP]

In the essay "Cultural Marxism and the Cathedral: Two Alt-Right Perspectives on Critical Theory" (2019), the academic Andrew Woods notes that such comparisons are the most common way to analyze the antisemitic implications of the conspiracy theory, but he takes issue with calling it nothing more than a modern iteration of Cultural Bolshevism, saying that its antisemitism is nonetheless "profoundly American".[SUP][5][/SUP][SUP]: 47 [/SUP] According to philosopher Slavoj Žižek, the term Cultural Marxism "plays the same structural role as that of the 'Jewish plot' in anti-Semitism: it projects (or rather, transposes) the immanent antagonism of our socio-economic life onto an external cause: what the conservative alt-right deplores as the ethical disintegration of our lives (feminism, attacks on patriarchy, political correctness, etc.) must have an external cause—because it cannot, for them, emerge out of the antagonisms and tensions of our own societies."[SUP][50][/SUP]

Rachel Busbridge, Benjamin Moffitt and Joshua Thorburn describe the conspiracy theory as being promoted by the far-right, but that it "has gained ground over the past quarter century" and conclude that "[t]hrough the lens of the Cultural Marxist conspiracy, however, it is possible to discern a relationship of empowerment between mainstream and fringe, whereby certain talking points and tropes are able to be transmitted, taken up and adapted by 'mainstream' figures, thus giving credence and visibility to ideologies that would have previously been constrained to the margins."[SUP][7][/SUP]
Terrorism




The counterfeit police identity card used by Breivik to commit the 2011 Norway attacks, which he justified as defense against Cultural Marxism.[SUP][38][/SUP][SUP][39][/SUP][SUP][41][/SUP]
In 2011, the conspiracy theory received renewed attention after 77 people were murdered during the Norway attacks. On July 22, 2011, Anders Breivik justified his terrorism by citing Marxist cultural warfare as the primary subject of his political manifesto.[SUP][51][/SUP] Breivik wrote that the "sexually transmitted disease (STD) epidemic in Western Europe is a result of cultural Marxism", that "Cultural Marxism defines Muslims, feminist women, homosexuals, and some additional minority groups, as virtuous, and they view ethnic Christian European men as evil" and that the "European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg is a cultural-Marxist-controlled political entity."[SUP][41][/SUP][SUP][40][/SUP]

A number of other far-right terrorists have espoused the conspiracy theory. Jack Renshaw, a neo-Nazi child sex offender convicted of plotting the assassination of Labour MP Rosie Cooper, promoted the conspiracy theory in a video for the British National Party.[SUP][52][/SUP][SUP][53][/SUP][SUP][54][/SUP] John T. Earnest, the perpetrator of the 2019 Poway synagogue shooting, was inspired by white nationalist ideology. In an online manifesto, Earnst stated that he believed "every Jew is responsible for the meticulously planned genocide of the European race" through the promotion of "cultural Marxism and communism."[SUP][55][/SUP]
Fomentation


Following the Norway attacks, the conspiracy was taken up by a number of far-right outlets and forums, including alt-right websites such as AltRight Corporation, InfoWars and VDARE which have promoted the conspiracy. The AltRight Corporation's website, altright.com, featured articles with titles such as "Ghostbusters and the Suicide of Cultural Marxism", "#3 — Sweden: The World Capital of Cultural Marxism" and "Beta Leftists, Cultural Marxism and Self-Entitlement".[SUP][18][/SUP]InfoWars ran numerous headlines such as "Is Cultural Marxism America's New Mainline Ideology?"[SUP][9][/SUP] VDARE ran similar articles with similar titles such as "Yes, Virginia (Dare) There Is A Cultural Marxism—And It's Taking Over Conservatism Inc."[SUP][18][/SUP]

Neo-Nazi and white supremacists also promoted the conspiracy and help expand its reach. Websites such as the American Renaissance have run articles with titles like "Cultural Marxism in Action: Media Matters Engineers Cancellation of Vdare.com Conference".[SUP][18][/SUP]The Daily Stormer regularly runs stories about "Cultural Marxism" with titles such as "Jewish Cultural Marxism is Destroying Abercrombie & Fitch", "Hollywood Strikes Again: Cultural Marxism through the Medium of Big Box-Office Movies" and "The Left-Center-Right Political Spectrum of Immigration = Cultural Marxism".[SUP][56][/SUP] Similarly, Richard B. Spencer, head of the National Policy Institute, has promoted the conspiracy theory.[SUP][18][/SUP]
Entering the mainstream discourseIn the late 2010s, Jordan Peterson popularized Cultural Marxism as a term by moving it into mainstream discourse.[SUP][10][/SUP][SUP][18][/SUP][SUP][57][/SUP] Several writers stated that Peterson blamed the conspiracy for demanding the use of gender-neutral pronouns as a threat to free speech,[SUP][10][/SUP] often misusing postmodernism as a stand-in term for the conspiracy without understanding its anti-semitic implications, specifying that "Peterson isn't an ideological anti-Semite; there's every reason to believe that when he re-broadcasts fascist propaganda, he doesn't even hear the dog-whistles he's emitting".[SUP][57][/SUP][SUP][58][/SUP] Former Breitbart contributors Ben Shapiro and Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, have promoted the conspiracy theory, especially the claim that Cultural Marxist activity is happening in universities.[SUP][9][/SUP][SUP][59][/SUP][SUP][7][/SUP][SUP][8][/SUP]

Spencer Sunshine, an associate fellow at the Political Research Associates, stated that "the focus on the Frankfurt School by the right serves to highlight its inherent Jewishness."[SUP][60][/SUP] In particular, Paul and Sunshine have criticized traditional media such as The New York Times, New York and The Washington Post for either not clarifying the nature of the conspiracy theory and for "allowing it to live on their pages."[SUP][60][/SUP] An example is an article in The New York Times by David Brooks, who "rebrands cultural Marxism as mere political correctness, giving the Nazi-inspired phrase legitimacy for the American right. It is dropped in or quoted in other stories—some of them lighthearted, like the fashion cues of the alt-right—without describing how fringe this notion is. It's akin to letting conspiracy theories about chem trails or vaccines get unearned space in mainstream press."[SUP][60][/SUP] Another is Andrew Sullivan, who went on "to denounce 'cultural Marxists' for inspiring social justice movements on campuses."[SUP][60][/SUP] Paul and Sunshine concluded that failure to highlight the nature of the Cultural Marxist conspiracy theory "has bitter consequences. 'It is legitimizing the use of that framework, and therefore it's coded antisemitism.'"[SUP][60][/SUP]

The theory was embraced in a National Security Council memo written in August 2017 by Rich Higgins entitled "POTUS and Political Warfare".[SUP][25][/SUP] Higgins wrote: "Cultural Marxism relates to programmes and activities that arise out of Gramsci Marxism, Fabian socialism and most directly from the Frankfurt School. The Frankfurt strategy deconstructs societies through attacks on culture by imposing a dialectic that forces unresolvable contradictions under the rubric of critical theory."[SUP][25][/SUP] Higgins claimed that a variety of groups opposed to the Trump administration were all influenced by what he called "cultural Marxism" and that "attacks on President Trump...operate in a battle-space prepared, informed and conditioned by cultural Marxist drivers."[SUP][25][/SUP] The memo was read by Donald Trump Jr. who passed on a copy of it to his father.[SUP][25][/SUP]

Sociologists Julia Lux and John David Jordan assert that the conspiracy theory can be broken down into its key elements: "misogynist anti-feminism, neo-eugenic science (broadly defined as various forms of genetic determinism), genetic and cultural white supremacy, McCarthyist anti-Leftism fixated on postmodernism, radical anti-intellectualism applied to the social sciences, and the idea that a purge is required to restore normality." They go on to say that all of these items are "supported, proselytised and academically buoyed by intellectuals, politicians, and media figures with extremely credible educational backgrounds."[SUP][61][/SUP]Dominic Green wrote a conservative critique of conservatives' complaints about Cultural Marxism in Spectator USA, stating: "For the Nazis, the Frankfurter [sic] School and its vaguely Jewish exponents fell under the rubric of Kulturbolshewismus, 'Cultural Bolshevism.'"[SUP][60][/SUP]
Australia


Shortly after the Norway attacks, mainstream right-wing politicians began espousing the conspiracy. In 2013, Cory Bernardi, a member of the ruling Liberal Party, wrote in his book The Conservative Revolution that "cultural Marxism has been one of the most corrosive influences on society over the last century."[SUP][62][/SUP] Five years later, Fraser Anning, former Australian Senator, initially sitting as a member of Pauline Hanson's One Nation and then Katter's Australian Party, declared during his maiden speech in 2018 that "Cultural Marxism is not a throwaway line but a literal truth" and spoke of the need for a "final solution to the immigration problem."[SUP][7][/SUP]
Brazil


In Brazil, the government of Jair Bolsonaro contained a number of administration members who promoted the conspiracy theory, including Eduardo Bolsonaro, the president's son who "enthusiastically described Steve Bannon as an opponent of Cultural Marxism."[SUP][9][/SUP]
United Kingdom


During the Brexit debate in 2019, a number of Conservatives and Brexiteers espoused the conspiracy theory.[SUP][63][/SUP][SUP][64][/SUP]

Suella Braverman, the Conservative Member of Parliament (MP), said in a pro-Brexit speech for the Bruges Group, a Eurosceptic think tank, that "[w]e are engaging in many battles right now. As Conservatives, we are engaged in a battle against cultural Marxism, where banning things is becoming de rigueur, where freedom of speech is becoming a taboo, where our universities — quintessential institutions of liberalism — are being shrouded in censorship and a culture of no-platforming." Her usage of the conspiracy theory was condemned as hate speech by other MPs, the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the anti-racist organization Hope Not Hate. After meeting with her later, the Board of Deputies of British Jews said that she is "not in any way antisemitic." Braverman was alerted to this connection by journalist Dawn Foster, but she defended using the term.[SUP][65][/SUP] Braverman denied that the term Cultural Marxism is an antisemitic trope,[SUP][63][/SUP][SUP][66][/SUP] stating during a question and answer session "whether she stood by the term, given its far-right connections. She said: 'Yes, I do believe we are in a battle against cultural Marxism, as I said. We have culture evolving from the far left which has allowed the snuffing out of freedom of speech, freedom of thought.'" Braverman further added that she was "very aware of that ongoing creep of cultural Marxism, which has come from Jeremy Corbyn."[SUP][67][/SUP][SUP][68][/SUP]

Nigel Farage has promoted the cultural Marxist conspiracy theory, for which he has been condemned by other MPs and Jewish groups such as the Board of Deputies of British Jews, who said he used it as a dog-whistle code for antisemitism in the United Kingdom. Farage said that the United Kingdom faced "cultural Marxism", a term described in its report by The Guardian as "originating in a conspiracy theory based on a supposed plot against national governments, which is closely linked to the far right and antisemitism." Farage's spokesman "condemned previous criticism of his language by Jewish groups and others as 'pathetic' and 'a manufactured story.'"[SUP][64][/SUP]

In The War Against the BBC (2020), Patrick Barwise and Peter York write how the Cultural Marxism conspiracy theory has been pushed by some on the right as part of an alleged bias of the BBC. Yasmin Alibhai-Brown cites Dominic Cummings, Tim Montgomerie and the right-wing website Guido Fawkes as examples of "relentlessly [complaining] about the institution's 'cultural Marxism' or left-wing bias. This now happens on a near-daily basis."[SUP][69][/SUP]

In November 2020 a letter signed by 28 Conservative MPs published in The Telegraph accused the National Trust of being "coloured by cultural Marxist dogma, colloquially known as the 'woke agenda'".[SUP][70][/SUP][SUP][71][/SUP] The use of this terminology in the letter was described by the All-Party Parliamentary Group Against Antisemitism, Jewish Council for Racial Equality, anti-racist charity Hope Not Hate and the Campaign Against Antisemitism as antisemitic.[SUP][72][/SUP][SUP][73][/SUP][SUP][74][/SUP]
United States


While acting as an aide to the then-President Donald Trump, Rich Higgins wrote a memo framing Trump's 2016 presidential campaign as "a war on Cultural Marxism that needed to be sustained during his presidency." Higgins wrote of a "cabal", an antisemitic trope,[SUP][75][/SUP] promoting Cultural Marxism that included "globalists, bankers, Islamists, and conservative Republicans" and had captured control of the media, academia, politics and the financial system as well as controlling attempts to tamp down on hate speech and hate groups through the Countering Violent Extremism government programs. Higgins also asserted that the Frankfurt School "sought to deconstruct everything in order to destroy it, giving rise to society-wide nihilism."[SUP][9][/SUP][SUP][76][/SUP][SUP][43][/SUP]Matt Shea, a Washington Representative from the Republican Party, is a proponent of the conspiracy theory as outlined in a conspiracy-minded seven-page memo by Higgins, the National Security Council staffer in the Trump administration who was fired after the document became public in July 2017.[SUP][9][/SUP][SUP][77][/SUP]

 

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Air News
A US Air Force aircraft conducts a reconnaissance mission in Ukrainian airspace

26 November, 2018 Drafting 5504 Views 3 comments Airspace , United States , Kerch Strait. , Air Force , Italmilradar. , RQ-4 Global Hawk , Russia , Ukraine


A United States Air Force (USAF) aircraft is conducting a reconnaissance mission in Ukrainian airspace near the Crimean peninsula this Monday morning, amid escalating tensions between Ukranian navy ships. Ukraine and Russia.

According to ItaMilRadar (the system that monitors the movements of military aircraft), a Northrop Grumman RQ-4B unmanned aircraft, of the United States Air Force, from the Naval Air Station (NAS) of Sigonella, in Italy, performs a surveillance mission in the south and east of Ukraine.
In addition, another reconnaissance plane, in this case a Boeing RC-135V Rivet Joint, from Souda Bay Air Base, is carrying out a similar mission over the Black Sea off the Crimean peninsula.
The RC-135V Rivet Join SIGINT (Signal Intelligence) has been observing the activity of the Russian Armed Forces in the controversial Crimean peninsula and the RQ-4B unmanned aircraft has checked the situation in the territory controlled by pro-Russian groups and anti-government groups in eastern Ukraine along the Russian border.

​RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned reconnaissance aircraftRussian and Ukrainian troops have been in a tense standoff since Sunday in a key area of ​​the disputed Crimean peninsula. The kyiv government accuses Moscow of blocking the passage of three of its warships and holding them for several hours.
Since Sunday, the Ukrainian armed forces have been on high alert after the events in the Kerch Strait and the attack on Ukrainian warships.
“Following the decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine regarding the application of martial law, the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces has ordered that AFU units be placed on high alert,” says a statement from the Ukrainian Defense Ministry.

​
The National Security Council, under the presidency of Petro Poroshenko, has approved the introduction of martial law for a period of 60 days. The government considers it necessary to introduce a special legal regime in Ukraine in order to create conditions for repelling armed aggression and ensuring national security, eliminating threats to Ukraine's independence and territorial integrity.

http://galaxiamilitar.es/un-avion-de...reo-ucraniano/

 

[Montuno]

​

Ukrainian soldier carrying a Javelin man-portable anti-tank guided missile.​

Articles News
The Ukrainian army needs 500 anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles a day.

26 March, 2022 Drafting 968 Views 0 comments CNN , Army , United States , Javelin Missile , Missiles , Stinger Missiles , NATO , Russia , Ukraine


According to CNN, Ukraine has updated its list of military equipment that it requests from the United States with hundreds more missiles that were not included in the last list. The newly updated list includes an increased number of FIM-92 Stinger anti-aircraft missiles and FGM-148 Javelin anti-tank missiles, with Ukraine saying it needs 500 of each a day.
So far, the United States and other NATO countries have sent Ukraine about 17,000 anti-tank missiles and about 2,000 anti-aircraft missiles, Jak Connor writes. Also, the $350 million military aid package approved by the US at the end of February did not arrive in Ukraine until a couple of days ago, and two other packages are starting to arrive as well. The current packages in transit bring the total amount of aid the US has provided to Ukraine to $1 billion.
Unable to verify, it is said that the Ukrainian army now has 43 more tanks than at the beginning of the war: until March 24, since the beginning of the war, the Russian army is said to have lost about 530 tanks, while that the Ukrainian army has lost 74 of its own, but has captured 117 Russians.

Since the beginning of the war (February 24, 2022), the Russian army has lost about 530 tanks, while the Ukrainian army has lost 74 of its own, but captured 117 Russian ones.Another Russian general killed in Ukraine, says kyiv
kyiv declared on Friday, March 25, to have killed a Russian general again in combat in southern Ukraine, according to an adviser to the Ukrainian presidency, Oleksiï Arestovytch, reports AFP. “Our troops (…) killed the commander of the 49th Army of the Russian Southern District, General Yakov Rezantsev, in a shelling of the Chornobaivka airfield”, located in the Kherson region (south), an Arestovych said in a video message. .
Russia has so far confirmed the death in Ukraine of General Andrei Sukhovetsky, deputy commander of the 41st Army after serving in Syria in 2018-19. But another Russian general, Vitali Guerassimov, was also reportedly killed in combat, according to kyiv. "Another two-star general has died today on the Russian side, the second in twelve days," retired US General Mark Hertling told CNN on March 8, noting that the Russian military was making "repeated mistakes" and "was communicated by unencrypted means.
Alexander Grinberg, an analyst at the Jerusalem Institute for Security and Strategy (JISS), points out that while the conditions of Guerassimov's death remain unknown, Sukhovetsky was apparently killed by a sniper: "He was killed two days after (the start of) the operation because no one had really considered war” in Russia, he explained to AFP. Elie Tenenbaum, a researcher at the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI), considers that the presence on the ground of officers of this level testifies that Moscow "asks generals to lead their troops and take risks" to compensate for a difficult moral situation of the troops.

Alain Henry deFrahan
http://galaxiamilitar.es/el-ejercito-de-ucrania-necesita-500-misiles-antitanque-y-antiaereos-al-dia/

 

[armedoldhippy]

What 'conspiracy theory', this 3rd generation, lifelong LIBERAL Democrat saw it first hand when I checked out the original #BLM website in 2018 and Democrats.org saying they support #BLM on their site.

you don't have to agree on every plank in a platform to decide that a group is worthy of support. i don't agree with a LOT of the Democratic party's agenda, but they seem to be safer for the nation and democracy itself than the right-wing horses asses in the forefront of the GOP these days. so, i vote DEM in POTUS elections. actually, my senators & congressmen from here in east TN suck mule meat as well...we'll see who they put up to run this year. got a silly twit running for TAX APPRAISER here locally putting up ads proclaiming that she is "a solid conservative GOP member". WTF does that have to do with property values & taxes? in her initial run, it was "I STAND WITH TRUMP!" which, incidentally, has nothing to do with the job she wants either...

 

[Montuno]

March 27, 2022 - Updated: 00:03​

UKRAINIAN WAR >
Russian casualties in the first month of the invasion: 7,000 dead, 270 tanks and 50 aircraft


The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense offers higher figures, which even exceed Soviet losses in its ten years of war in Afghanistan.

Destroyed battle tank in Ukraine. Photo Ministry of Defense of Ukraine

Gines Soriano | Thursday , March 24, 2022, 06:00

The balances of losses of the forces at war due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has already been a month old, follow one another. In some cases, such as the death of five Russian generals, casualties come with names and surnames. But in general it is about urgent data that must be taken with care, as usually happens with any conflict of this entity, and in which it is key to indicate the sources well. In the following paragraphs, some of the information that is now available is reviewed.

The images of destroyed, damaged and captured material that appeared in different media, mainly social networks, show that Russia has lost more than 1,700 military equipment since the beginning of the invasion, mainly vehicles. Among them, the destruction or capture by the enemy of 548 trucks and SUVs stands out; 270 main battle tanks (mainly T-72 , followed by T-80 and T-90 ); 258 infantry fighting vehicles ( NMP , BMD and BTR ); 177 armored fighting vehicles (most notably MT-LBs ); 78 armored personnel carriers ( BTR-80 , BTR-D and BTR-MDM); 12 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected ( MRAP ) vehicles; 57 Infantry Mobility Vehicles ( GAZ Tigr and Iveco LMV ); 46 engineering vehicles; 45 self-propelled artillery pieces; 41 pieces of towed artillery; 32 multiple rocket launchers; 40 surface-to-air missile systems; 14 aircraft ( Su-25 , Su-30SM , Su-34 and AN-26 ); 35 helicopters ( Mi-8 , Mi-24V/P , Mi-35M , Mi-28 and Ka-52 ), and 15 unmanned aerial vehicles ( UAV). A Project O3160 patrol boat , which has been damaged, has also been accounted for.

14 Iveco LMV like the ones Spain has:​

Among these Russian losses evidenced by photographs and videos, and collected by Oryxspioenkop.com , there are 14 Iveco LMV vehicles , which is a model that, among others, the Spanish Army also has .

As for the loss of Ukrainian material, evidence has been collected in images of just over half a thousand items, including 163 trucks and SUVs, 73 battle tanks (especially T-64 ), 59 armored combat vehicles, 54 infantry fighting vehicles, 7 armored personnel carriers, 29 infantry mobility vehicles, 12 self-propelled artillery pieces, 18 surface-to-air missile systems, 12 aircraft ( MiG-29 , Su-27 , Su-25 and An- 26 ), a Mi-24 helicopter , 8 unmanned aerial vehicles ( UAVs ), and 13 boats.

It must be taken into account that the Ukrainians are collecting more evidence in their country about the enemy's losses on the ground, and not so much about their own, which they are not so interested in showing, which may explain to some extent the notable difference in losses collected, which are to the detriment of the Russians.
It should also be considered that this balance includes only material that has been imaged and published, so it is reasonable to think that the losses on both sides will be greater. In some cases, moreover, it may be difficult to ensure that it is not a repeated material. At this point it should be noted that the compilation is compiled by a team headed by defense information specialist Stijn Mitzer , and not by amateurs.

Another source that these days is offering data on the balance of losses in this war is the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine , although it is the invaded part, so it is logical to think that its figures are swollen. At the moment, he assures that among the Russian troops there are already more than 15,000 dead, as many as those suffered by the Soviet Union in almost ten years of invasion of Afghanistan. In addition, he affirms, they have lost more than half a thousand combat tanks (compared to less than 400 in Afghanistan), more than 1,500 armored vehicles of different types (compared to just over 1,300 in the Afghan theater) and, among others, 99 planes and 123 helicopters (in Afghanistan 118 and 400, respectively).
The CIA , according to information published a week ago by The New York Times , calculated up to that moment that 7,000 Russian soldiers had already died from an invading force of just over 15,000 soldiers.


Ukrainian casualties:​

On the side of Russian sources, it is striking that the national newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda published this week a balance of Russian casualties with almost 9,900 dead soldiers and more than 16,000 wounded, which greatly exceeds the number of deaths among its ranks that is providing Moscow. In the first week and a half of fighting, Moscow only acknowledged a little less than 500 dead soldiers, while Ukraine claimed that 12,000 had already been killed. In any case, the piece citing almost 10,000 fallen, published in the digital version of the Russian newspaper, was immediately eliminated, alleging that they had suffered a computer attack, which cannot be ruled out due to the threats that the Kremlin has received from groups such as Anonimus, and given the existence of precedents of other similar attacks.

Ukraine has also been offering figures of its own fallen (1,300 in the first 15 days of the offensive) that from other areas, such as US experts, estimate that in reality it must be multiplied several times.

In the balance of deaths, the death of five Russian generals stands out, according to Ukraine, some confirmed by the Kremlin itself . They are General Magomed Tushaev , from the Chechen 141st Tanks ; of Andrei Sukhovetsky , whose death has been acknowledged by Moscow, and who was deputy commander of the 41st Combined Arms Army of the Ground Forces ; of General Vitaly Gerasimov , chief of staff and first deputy commander of the 41st Combined Arms Army of the Ground Forces , a discharge also recognized by the Russian Defense Ministry; of General Andrei Kolesnikov , commander of the29th Combined Arms Army Eastern Military District , whose death has been confirmed by NATO officials , and Brigadier General Oleg Mityaev , commander of the 15th Motorized Rifle Division .

On the Russian side, information about fallen senior officers is scarcer. These include the death of Ukrainian Brigadier General Dimitri Krasílnikov​

https://www.infodefensa.com/texto-di...e-50-aeronaves

 

[Montuno]

• COVER PAGE
• AFRICA

[FONT=var(--fontSite]The dilemmas of Morocco before the war in Ukraine[/FONT]

Antonio Navarro Amuedo;
Rabat - MOROCCO 07/202208:08 a.m.

El presidente de Rusia, Vladímir Putin (d), y el rey Mohamed VI de Marruecos (i), asisten a una ceremonia de firmas tras su reunión en el Kremlin de Moscú (Rusia). EFE

The King of Morocco and Russian President Valdimir Putin in Moscow in a 2015 image. [COLOR=var(--color-eta,#000)]GETTY[/COLOR]

• [FONT=var(--fontSite][FONT=var(--fontSite]You can follow on NIUS all the news about Russia's invasion of Ukraine[/FONT][/FONT]
• [FONT=var(--fontSite][FONT=var(--fontSite]Preserving good relations with Moscow and discomfort over the timid position of the EU regarding the Sahara explain Morocco's neutrality[/FONT][/FONT]
• [FONT=var(--fontSite][FONT=var(--fontSite]Concern in Morocco about the social consequences of the rise in prices as a result of the war[/FONT][/FONT]

[COLOR=var(--color-texto-articulo,#000)]Why did Morocco abstain from voting against Russia in the United Nations General Assembly last Wednesday? Why did the firm North African ally of the United States and France avoid condemning Moscow for the Ukrainian aggression? The explanation for Moroccan neutrality points to a strategic calculation – Russia has come to stay in Africa and continues to be Algeria's main military partner – and the accumulated discomfort in Rabat towards some of its European partners due to its position on the issue of Western Sahara. , the cornerstone of all Moroccan majzén policies.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=var(--color-texto-articulo,#000)]Without apparent detriment to its good relations with the United States and France - its main traditional partners -, Morocco has been developing in the last decade a diplomacy characterized by the overcoming of the old axes and alliances and the diversification of alliances, as well as the lack of complex . This explains the good relations of the North African country at the same time with countries such as Israel -the two States normalized their relations at the end of 2020- , Russia, China, Turkey or Qatar, while trying to preserve its traditional good relations with the Union. European, long the first trading partner and investor in Morocco.[/COLOR]
[COLOR=var(--color-texto-articulo,#000)]The resolution in their favor of the Saharawi conflict is the great concern -above any other- of the Moroccan authorities. Despite the good moment in relations between Rabat and Moscow, the authorities of the Maghreb country know that Russia has been a traditional ally –since Soviet times- of Algeria, its archenemy.[/COLOR]
[COLOR=var(--color-texto-articulo,#000)]From Rabat , a condemnation of Russia is considered risky , since this could make Moscow's military support for Algeria much more determined in the diplomatic and war conflict for control of the territory that was a Spanish colony until 1975. The Russian Federation continues to be the first partner military of the Algerian regime (not in vain, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Algerian imports of Russian weapons increased by 64% between 2016 and 2020).[/COLOR]

[COLOR=var(--color-texto-articulo,#000)]The Moroccan authorities are also aware that, beyond its alliance with Algiers, Russia has come to the whole of Africa to stay. In recent years, Russian investments have multiplied -in fields ranging from military to energy- in the continent, while Moscow's tentacles are growing hand in hand with non-state agents such as the Wagner Group militias, present in countries like Libya, Mali or Burkina-Faso.[/COLOR]


[FONT=var(--fontSite]Distances with Europe[/FONT]

[COLOR=var(--color-texto-articulo,#000)]On the other hand, Morocco does not forget the timid attitude of some of its main European partners, starting with Spain, followed by Germany, regarding the Saharawi issue. Since the US Administration took the step in November 2020 to recognize Moroccan sovereignty over the territory of Western Sahara -which the current one of Biden has not reversed- Rabat has been waiting for its neighbors to support its autonomy proposal for the former Spanish colony.[/COLOR]
[COLOR=var(--color-texto-articulo,#000)]Not in vain, on the occasion of the last speech given on the occasion of the anniversary of the Green March, the King of Morocco, Mohamed VI , warned that he would only maintain commercial relations with those countries that recognized the Moroccan nature of the Sahara and asked his partners for positions " bold” and “clear”. The scant appetite of the United States for the Middle East – with its hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan and its role in the conflict in Yemen as recent examples – does not go unnoticed in Rabat either.[/COLOR]
[COLOR=var(--color-texto-articulo,#000)]For this reason, in last Wednesday's vote Rabat wanted to mark distances and claim an autonomous position . A neutrality that on February 26 the Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs revealed when referring to the war conflict as "military escalation" and "situation between the Russian Federation and Ukraine", although defending "the non-recourse to force for the solution of controversies between States" and expressing its "firm attachment to respect for the territorial integrity, sovereignty and national unity of all the Member States of the United Nations".[/COLOR]
[COLOR=var(--color-texto-articulo,#000)]For the researcher of the Moroccan Center for Social Sciences Abdellah Rami in statements collected by the local newspaper Libération, “Morocco is in a particular situation. He balances the pros and cons based on his conflict with Algeria. He doesn't want to put all his eggs in Washington's basket. In fact, Rabat is taking into account the balance of forces on the international scene and recognizes emerging forces such as China and Russia”.[/COLOR]
[COLOR=var(--color-texto-articulo,#000)]“He must not let things get out of balance on the Algerian side by leaving them a free field. In other words, Morocco must not offer Algiers the opportunity to strengthen its relations with Moscow , even if these are not very solid”, Rami settles. “Prudence”, summed up the expert.[/COLOR]
[COLOR=var(--color-texto-articulo,#000)]Different is the opinion of the Colombian political scientist Clara Riveros , president of the CPLATAM think tank and a good connoisseur of the Moroccan political reality. “Morocco's position can be not only interpreted but questioned and interrogated. The country defends its territorial integrity with nails, teeth and everything that is necessary, whether they are legitimate mechanisms (diplomacy) and illegitimate (for example, generating a migration crisis in Ceuta as retaliation against Madrid). So how not to condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine and opt for the comfort of a presumed 'neutrality'?What serves Putin more than the territorial integrity of the sovereign state of Ukraine, attacked and devastated by the invader? Does the revenge and the settling of scores with Europe continue?” Riveros asks.[/COLOR]
[COLOR=var(--color-texto-articulo,#000)]“What would Moroccan diplomats, politicians and citizens think and mainly feel if, in the name of 'neutrality', the United States government decided to backtrack on recognizing the Moroccan nature of the Sahara? Not voting condemning the Russian invasion in Ukraine seems more like a mistake in Morocco's foreign policy. Russia will possibly appreciate her position and maybe Morocco will get some incentive. Will it be worth it?”, questioned again, in statements to NIUS, the consultant.[/COLOR]
[COLOR=var(--color-texto-articulo,#000)]For his part, for the Moroccan diplomatic adviser Samir Bennis , Morocco should have voted the resolution against Russia in the UN General Assembly. “ Supporting a resolution promoted by the United States is in line with Morocco's foreign policy : the defense of the countries' territorial integrity and sovereignty, non-interference in domestic affairs and refraining from the use of force between States. ”.[/COLOR]


[FONT=var(--fontSite]Concern about rising prices[/FONT]

[COLOR=var(--color-texto-articulo,#000)]Beyond the Saharawi question -and in the short and medium term-, there is fear among the Moroccan authorities about the social consequences of the inevitable rise in prices that the Ukrainian crisis will bring about in an already worrying scenario after two years of the pandemic.[/COLOR]
[COLOR=var(--color-texto-articulo,#000)]Moroccan society will have to face a deterioration in its purchasing power in an already difficult circumstance such as the current one. Let us remember that in the first weeks of the year, when nobody thought that the Russian armed forces would invade Ukrainian territory, discontent was already felt in the streets of some of the Moroccan cities due to the rising cost of living. One of the direct economic consequences for Morocco –as well as for the rest of the countries in the region- will be the inevitable reduction in wheat imports from Ukraine.[/COLOR]
[COLOR=var(--color-texto-articulo,#000)]On a strictly energy level, the loser in the equation is Morocco , which sees increasing difficulties in guaranteeing its gas supply in the new scenario that opens with the war in Ukraine. Algeria, which, as expected, has not reversed the decision to close the Maghreb Europe gas pipeline, will have to increase exports to its European partners. An opportunity for the military regime to increase its income at the expense of its main partner.[/COLOR]


[FONT=var(--fontSite]Increased migratory pressure in Melilla[/FONT]

[COLOR=var(--color-texto-articulo,#000)]While the world looks alarmed at Ukraine, Morocco demands attention from its European neighbors. It has done so in recent days, increasing migratory pressure on the borders of the autonomous city of Melilla, where in just 48 hours, Wednesday and Thursday of last week, almost five thousand young sub-Saharans climbed the border fence with the intention of access to Spanish soil. Between the two massive assaults almost 900 individuals reached Melilla territory.[/COLOR]
[COLOR=var(--color-texto-articulo,#000)]The other side of the coin is currently located on the borders of Ceuta with Morocco, where almost ten months ago there was a real human invasion thanks to the inhibition of the Moroccan security forces and now calm reigns. The same ones that have reinforced in recent months the security at the border fence, also installing the concertinas that Spain does not want to avoid jumps towards Ceuta soil. This week marks two years since Morocco decided to close the land borders with Spain, including the steps with the two autonomous cities and maritime connections.[/COLOR]
[COLOR=var(--color-texto-articulo,#000)]But before Melilla it had been the Canary Islands. The entry of irregular migrants into Spanish territory through the archipelago arriving from Moroccan territory increased by 134.8% in the first two months of 2022 compared to the same period last year. According to figures from the Fortnightly Report on Irregular Immigration from the Ministry of the Interior, a total of 5,496 immigrants arrived on board 115 small boats in the Canarian autonomous community, which contrasts with 5,496 in 2021. [/COLOR]
[COLOR=var(--color-texto-articulo,#000)]In addition, 75.1% of the people who entered Spain irregularly in the aforementioned period did so in a small boat through the Canary Islands. In the national group in January and February irregular arrivals increased by 73.2% compared to the same period in 2021.[/COLOR]
[COLOR=var(--color-texto-articulo,#000)]With a volatile international scenario and a social panorama that deteriorates for weeks in the North African country -and in the neighboring Sahel- months of tension are expected on the Spanish borders with Morocco , with which the Spanish authorities continue without having managed to normalize the relations despite the good words that have come for months from La Moncloa and Santa Cruz.[/COLOR]

[FONT=var(--fontSite][COLOR=var(--color-eta,#000)]PLUS[/FONT][/COLOR]

• Tension in the biggest jump in history in Melilla: "Take him, take him, everyone on the fence!"
• The deterioration of the standard of living pushes Moroccans into the streets
• Zelensky promises to punish attacks against civilians in Irpin: "We will not forgive. We will not forget"

[FONT=var(--fontSite]TAGS[/FONT]

• Vladimir Putin
• Mohammed VI
• Russia
• Morocco
• Ukraine
• War

https://www.niusdiario.es/internacio....html?amp=true

 

[Microbeman]

Pretty dum statement by the (senile) commander and (in) chief but I can't really disagree. They should maybe set the maximum age to run for office at 55 - 60 worldwide. Old boys running the show is getting old.

 

[ButterflyEffect]

you don't have to agree on every plank in a platform to decide that a group is worthy of support. i don't agree with a LOT of the Democratic party's agenda, but they seem to be safer for the nation and democracy itself than the right-wing horses asses in the forefront of the GOP these days. so, i vote DEM in POTUS elections. actually, my senators & congressmen from here in east TN suck mule meat as well...we'll see who they put up to run this year. got a silly twit running for TAX APPRAISER here locally putting up ads proclaiming that she is "a solid conservative GOP member". WTF does that have to do with property values & taxes? in her initial run, it was "I STAND WITH TRUMP!" which, incidentally, has nothing to do with the job she wants either...

Tennessee? I truly am sorry Although I understand that it's a very beautiful state.

I, too vote Dem because I see them as the lesser of the two 'evils', so to speak. Plus, I used to think of myself as pretty centered but the GOP literally has nothing to offer other than grievance politics. The Dem platform is pie in the sky a lot of the time but at least they have ideas about keeping a society functioning. Plus, I'm not a big fan of hypocrisy. so there's that. I do very much like the free market and I see the GOP as far more of a threat to it than any other group.

 

[h.h.]

Definitely was not my intent. These threads are a bear to track at times.

Great advice my friend. I don't generally like to ignore people unless they turn into broken records. Usually, I like to simply taunt the hell out of them. I figure if they can bring absolutely nothing to the table then I can do the same by toying with them.

Where is this ignore button?

It’s in your settings. Top right corner of the page.
Sometimes the banter seems called for, but it’s pointless. When someone’s talking nonsense they read on Twitter.

 

[audiohi]

 

[flylowgethigh]

Do you hear the chinese coming to take care of the Saudi hootie problem? They don't take xiden's calls anymore, but probably have a hotline with Putin and xi.

https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/ma...facility-jeddah-after-reported-missile-strike

 

[ButterflyEffect]

It’s in your settings. Top right corner of the page.
Sometimes the banter seems called for, but it’s pointless. When someone’s talking nonsense they read on Twitter.

Thanks. I'll give it a whirl after the next site update.

I've made a hobby out of fucking with them whenever I can. I do it to people in my orbit now, so no one's immune. I'm an even bigger asshole in person when it comes to suffering someone else's dangerous ignorance and gullibility. So for me, it's all about the sport of it. I don't feed them by using facts or truth or evidence. That stuff doesn't work. In fact, paradoxically it has the opposite effect. It could be Oppositional Defiant Disorder but frankly, when people commit to a belief so wholly and publically, they'll do anything to maintain that front.

 

[h.h.]

Thanks. I'll give it a whirl after the next site update.

I've made a hobby out of fucking with them whenever I can. I do it to people in my orbit now, so no one's immune. I'm an even bigger asshole in person when it comes to suffering someone else's dangerous ignorance and gullibility. So for me, it's all about the sport of it. I don't feed them by using facts or truth or evidence. That stuff doesn't work. In fact, paradoxically it has the opposite effect. It could be Oppositional Defiant Disorder but frankly, when people commit to a belief so wholly and publically, they'll do anything to maintain that front.

Then everybody’s trolling. I like a quote from Robin Williams. ‘Joke them if they can’t take a f***”