Are economic sanctions a violation of human rights?

Here are some quotes from CPNN articles that raise this question.

2017: (We are) “convinced that ending the Korean War officially is an urgent, essential step for the establishment of enduring peace and mutual respect between the U.S. and the DPRK, as well as for the North Korean people’s full enjoyment of their basic human rights to life, peace and development – ending their long sufferings from the harsh economic sanctions imposed on them by the U.S. Government since 1950.”

2019: “Alfred de Zayas, the first UN special rapporteur to visit Venezuela in 21 years, told the Independent(1/26/19) that US, Canadian and European Union “economic warfare” has killed Venezuelans, noting that the sanctions fall most heavily on the poorest people and demonstrably cause death through food and medicine shortages, lead to violations of human rights and are aimed at coercing economic change in a “sister democracy.”

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky will skip a NATO meeting in Lithuania in July unless the alliance provides Kiev with the security guarantees it wants, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter. 

Zelensky has “made clear to NATO leaders that he will not attend the Vilnius summit without concrete security guarantees and a road map for accession,” the newspaper said. 

Ukraine formally applied to join the US-led bloc in September 2022, arguing that the collective defense it provides to members is necessary for Kiev’s security against Russia. Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty stipulates that an armed attack against one NATO member “shall be considered an attack against them all.” 

Ukraine blocked all initiatives of IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi on security of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant (ZNPP), including the one regarding establishment of an operational and physical nuclear security zone at the power plant, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said Wednesday.

"It is necessary to note regarding Ukraine that it did not become a surprise for us. Kiev blocked all initiatives of IAEA Director General, aimed at reinforcement of security of the ZNPP: first, the trilateral agreements project, followed by the format of two separate agreements - between Russia and the IAEA and between Ukraine and the IAEA. The Ukrainian authorities rejected [Grossi’s] proposal on establishment of the operational and physical nuclear security zone around the power plant. This initiative of Rafael Grossi, announced after his visit to the ZNPP on September 1, 2022, contained a number of important elements, which, if implemented, would have contributed to cessation of Ukrainian attacks on the power plant," Grushko said in a commentary, published on the Russian Foreign Ministry’s website Wednesday.

The Chernobyl nuclear disaster in April 1986 was the first very serious energy reactor accident to occur on the planet. (I leave aside the Windscale UK fire). The second was Fukushima in 2011. Both involved nuclear (not steam) explosions that contaminated the biosphere with the contents of the reactors, hundreds of tons of Uranium fuel contaminated with the radioactive fission products like Caesium-137, Strontium-90 and activation products like Plutonium-239. Focusing on Chernobyl, the disaster arguably destroyed the Soviet Union, caused more than a million cancer deaths in Europe, together with a significant increase in genetic diseases, and premature ageing in the most exposed populations like those of Belarus and Ukraine.

What the accident also revealed was the failure of the radiation risk model based on the Hiroshima cancer lifespan study to predict or explain the health effects. Since, in the West anyway, the legal limits for exposure, based on this risk model (that of the International Commission on Radiation Protection, ICRP), were challenged by what was clearly emerging from the contaminated territories as a health meltdown, the cover-up cavalry took over. I was in Kiev in 2001 at the World Health Organization conference giving an invited paper on infant leukemia, where I saw the IAEA scientists controlling the information.

From the audience Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian doctors and researchers were trying to show what was happening, whilst the IAEA and WHO controllers were trying to shut them up. It was theater, and recorded for posterity by Wladimir Tchertkoff in his video documentary "Nuclear Controversies." Tchertkoff died last week; another one bites the dust. In 2001, there was Alexey Yablokov, Wassily Nesterenko, Elena Burlakova, another brave scientist who consistently showed that the fallout from Chernobyl and other radioactive contamination was systematically destroying life on Earth.

International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi has proposed a five-point plan to help ensure safety and security at the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant. Renowned nuclear expert Chris Busby says Grossi’s concerns about the plant’s safety are fully justified, but that much more needs to be done.

In an address before the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday, Rafael Grossi outlined measures which should be taken to prevent a deadly incident at the ZNPP – key among them an immediate halt to attacks of any kind against the facility.

Other necessary measures, he said, include a commitment that the plant won’t be used to store heavy weapons or launch attacks, the preservation of the safety of onsite backup cooling systems and offsite power connections, and assurances that no actions are taken which could undermine these principles.

Grossi characterized the situation at the plant as "extremely fragile and dangerous," and urged for the measures to be implemented immediately. As usual, he did not attribute responsibility for the deterioration of the security situation around the plant, which has been controlled by Russia since March 2022, and regularly shelled by Ukrainian forces since then.

An apparent attempt by Ukrainian militants to reprise last month's raid on Russia's Belgorod Region has been foiled by the timely intervention of Russia's military and border security forces.

Early on June 1, units of the Russian armed forces and the border guard, as well as other elements of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB, the agency in charge of Russia's border security), have repelled three attempts by Ukrainian forces to invade Russia's territory near the town of Shebekino.

"This morning, the Russian armed forces .. thwarted a new attempt by the Kiev regime to carry out a terrorist act against the civilian population of the city of Shebekino, Belgorod Region," the Russian Ministry of Defense said in a statement issued today.

The Russian Ministry of Defense has released a unique archive of documents detailing the atrocities and horrifying cruelty perpetrated by the Nazis during their occupation of the city of Kherson, Ukraine during World War II.

The documents, published on the Ministry's website this week, feature a report by Lieutenant-General Mikhail Rudkov, the head of the political department of the Third Ukrainian Front, dated April 3, 1944. The report lays out in detail the Nazi occupation forces' cruelty, including their torture and execution of tens of thousands of civilians, the looting, plundering and destruction of city property, and their attempts to impose a new political and ideological order in the occupied territory.

The document is accompanied by a forensic medical examination report, conducted after the exhumation of the bodies from mass graves seven kilometers outside the city.

The politician, who served as Ukraine's prime minister in three governments before being ousted on the eve of the 2014 Euromaidan coup d'état, has become an outspoken critic of the country’s post-coup authorities.

Ukrainian lawmakers’ decision to officially mark Victory Day on May 8 instead of May 9 is a slap in the face to millions of Ukrainians whose forefathers fought against the Nazis, former Prime Minister Nikolay Azarov has said.

"The Rada parliament has officially canceled the celebration of Victory Day on May 9, replacing the holiday with the pan-European Day of Remembrance on May 8. It’s easy to guess that this is not just a perfunctory transfer of a date, with the new holiday, in line with decommunization, to be devoid of any mention of the contribution of the Red Army in the defeat of Nazism in which the people of Ukraine also played a major role," Azarov wrote in a social media post.

Stressing that it would be impossible to discuss the contribution of the Western allies and Soviet Ukrainians in the anti-Hitler coalition by singling out the latter from the rest of the Red Army, Azarov expressed concern that after the passage of the new law, celebrations dedicated to the Great Patriotic War on May 9 may ultimately be banned entirely, just "as they were in Latvia under the pretext of a ban on the glorification of totalitarianism."

On the 19th of May, the Financial Times quoted the British Minister of Defense, Ben Wallace, stating that the West could face the threat of full-scale war with Russia and China by the end of the decade and proclaimed defence preparation a paramount task for Western countries.

One has to wonder what universe Mr. Wallace and his boss, Rishi Sunak, are living in since Britain is engaged in war with Russia right now, has, with every step, every hostile action, set itself up for a full-scale war, a full-scale catastrophe, which they cannot prevent. Why Britain would go to war with China as well as Russia when China has not threatened it and is oceans away, no one can explain in rational terms. Yet, this is the British rhetoric, the fetishistic parroting of the words of their lord and master, the USA.

Many argue that statements, a war is not happening, that it is something that exits only in the future, are desperate attempts to fool the British people, to lie to them about their government’s intentions and what is coming. Others argue that they are signs that the British government has no sense of reality. But, in the end, one has to conclude that they are both at the same time.

A recently retired Mossad spy was killed along with two Italian intelligence and a Russian woman in a mysterious accident on Italy’s Lake Maggiore in which a boat carrying dozens of intelligence officers capsized.

The incident took place on May 28 evening. Officials in the Lombardy region claimed that a “whirlwind” made the 52-foot boat overturn and sink, while Italian investigators said a sudden change in weather appeared to be the cause of the accident, ruling out any foul play.

Another factor may have been the fact that the boat, named the Gooduria, was said to be carrying eight more people than its 15-person limit at the time of the incident.

The survivors either swam to shore or were rescued by other boats. Ten serving Israeli intelligence agents were evacuated from hospitals and put on a military plane back to Tel Aviv. They reportedly left in such a hurry that they left behind their rental car on the lakeside.

Auditors reviewing New York State Voter Data have uncovered so much fraud, so many invalid registrants, so much manipulation of vote totals, and a secret algorithm embedded in the database, that the "State of New York" can no longer be considered a legitimate state, as it has no legitimately elected Government at almost any level.

“Through auditing the voter roll databases, obtained directly from state and local boards of elections, auditors have uncovered millions of invalid registrations, hundreds of thousands of votes cast by legally invalid registrations, massive vote discrepancies, and the clear presence of algorithmic patterns reverse engineered from within the state’s own official records.

To be absolutely clear, there is no known innocent purpose or explanation for why these algorithms exist.

Auditors have been told by cyber-intelligence experts they indicate a ‘Total Loss of Control’ data breach, the most severe kind of data breach recognized by our federal government. The law says it renders the affected NYSVoter database completely untrustworthy."

Germany’s populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) has surged ahead of the country’s Green party in support, and is now only 2.5 off the ruling Social Democratic Party (SPD).

According to an Insa survey poll published on Wednesday, AfD now enjoys 18 per cent support among the public, its highest level since 2018 during the wake of Europe’s previous migrant crisis.

The result puts the party firmly ahead of the German Green party, a member of the governing coalition, which it has been sitting  at around 15 per cent for the last number of months.

Such fortunes appear to have once again shifted significantly, with Die Welt writing that the Greens have now fallen to just 13 per cent in the polls, a fraction of the 23 per cent public support they boasted at times back in 2022 and the lowest level of support since 2018.

The Biden administration plans to spend $1.5 million in taxpayer funds on a program aimed at "empowering" female climate change activists in northern Kenya, documents reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon show.

President Joe Biden's U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) on May 22 unveiled the funding opportunity, which is aimed at "empowering women to adapt to climate change in northern Kenya." Women in the area, the agency wrote in its notice, live in "traditionally patriarchal communities" and therefore lack the ability to steer the African nation's fight against climate change. As such, the agency is putting big money behind a program that will "empower women, improve their participation in decision making, and enhance adaptive capabilities to climate change."

The funding announcement comes roughly one year after USAID released its 2022-2030 climate strategy, which outlines a $150 billion "whole-of-Agency approach" to building an "equitable world with net-zero greenhouse gas emissions." As part of that approach, USAID pledged to help "women, youth, and other marginalized and/or underrepresented groups" increase their "meaningful participation and active leadership in climate action." The agency has since set aside millions of dollars to inspire and support overseas climate activists—in addition to its northern Kenya grant, USAID in March announced a program that will help disabled people in the Central Asian country of Tajikistan become "climate leaders," the Free Beacon reported.

Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia announced Wednesday that the tapes showing the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the Capitol building would be released to more journalists.

John Solomon of JustTheNews.com, Julie Kelly of American Greatness and an unnamed outlet will receive “unfettered access” to the over 41,000 hours of video footage of the Capitol riot, the Georgia congresswoman posted on Twitter.

A Republican-led effort to overturn President Joe Biden’s student debt relief plan narrowly cleared a key procedural hurdle in the Senate on Wednesday as several moderate Democrats broke with the White House and backed the measure.

On a 51-46 vote, the Senate advanced legislation that would repeal Biden’s debt cancellation program and nullify the pause on monthly payments and interest.

Conservatives and traditionalists are often exasperated at the ongoing woke cultural revolution in their midst.

How can America be turned upside down, as it is, when there is little public support for the things happening around us?

They don’t see much backing for the current wide-open borders and unchecked illegal immigration, yet it continues.

Conservatives feel that most Americans reject the trend of biological men dominating female sporting events.

They fear American jurisprudence has become now vastly weaponized and warped.

The box office numbers and audience reviews for “woke” movies have been tanking—and efforts to negate that problem are clearly part of the Hollywood machine’s promotion budget these days. This has never been more obvious than in the case of the live-action release of Disney’s “The Little Mermaid.”

The Internet Movie Database (IMDb), one of the top sites people turn to in order to decide whether or not they want to see a film, has taken unorthodox measures to curb the influx of terrible reviews the movie is getting.

In the audience review section for the Disney film, IMDB added the note:

Our rating mechanism has detected unusual voting activity on this title. To preserve the reliability of our rating system, an alternate weighting calculation has been applied.

So, because the audience doesn’t like the film at such a high rate, the website has decided that it should alter the actual review numbers to make it look like the people like the movie, after all.

Deadline reported IMDb added a note that not all votes have the same weight on the final rating, but they didn’t want to say how they calculated the score. Essentially, IMDb admits they decided to alter the numbers in an arbitrary way. 

An important weapon in the Biden Administration’s quest to completely destabilize America’s borders has been the talking point that its immigration policies are designed to help the less fortunate of the world, children in particular. It has proven to be an effective shield against those who would question the wisdom of importing the world’s poverty problem en masse.

Like most ideas of the radical Left, however, even the most noble-sounding policies end up hurting the very people they are said to be meant to help. For children making the dangerous journey north to the United States, Joe Biden’s policies mostly offer them the threat of slavery, abuse, and death.

The latest proof of this assertion comes from a leaked memo from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). It reveals that, as of May 31, the federal government ended familial DNA testing at the southern border. Don’t expect to hear about this on the news, but it is a move that will have tragic consequences while also revealing the galling cruelty and hypocrisy of the Biden Administration.

For those who do not follow the border crisis closely, child trafficking has been a growing problem. Because recent U.S. immigration policy has favored family units over individuals crossing illegally, cartels have begun to “rent” children to their migrant customers looking to enter the United States. Once the migrants successfully cross the border, the children are then recycled back to Mexico and assigned to another client.

It is not often that Republicans and Democrats in the United States find common ground, but this week, officials from both major parties pursued a shared cause – bashing a New York law school graduate for a speech criticising Israel.

Democratic Congressman Ritchie Torres called The City University of New York (CUNY) School of Law graduate “crazed”; former Republican candidate for governor Lee Zeldin described the speech as “raging antisemitism”; Mayor Eric Adams characterised it as “words of negativity and divisiveness”.

The House voted Wednesday evening to lift the nation’s debt ceiling and begin to curb government spending, despite resistance from conservatives following weeks of negotiations between Republicans and Democrats.

The vote to pass the debt ceiling bill was 314-117, with some of the House’s most conservative Republicans opposing it as not going far enough to establish fiscal discipline.

A total of 149 Republicans and 165 Democrats voted for the legislation, while 71 Republicans and 46 Democrats voted against it. Another four House members didn’t vote.

Webmaster addition: The government takes half the wealth of the people (when you include all the hidden and employee taxes) and is still $31 trillion in the hole. Does that sound like good management?

Project Veritas, the undercover journalism organization, is suing its founder James O’Keefe.

Project Veritas is asking a federal judge to stop James O’Keefe III from working as a journalist. While Project Veritas is not paying O’Keefe, they argue in the lawsuit that he shouldn’t be allowed to work and his company should be shut down.

“Being known as the founder of an organization does not entitle that person to run amok and put his own interests ahead of that organization,” the lawsuit states. “Defendant James O’Keefe (‘O’Keefe’) failed in his duties to Plaintiff, Project Veritas, causing it serious and significant damage. O’Keefe must be held accountable, as must the organization O’Keefe created, Defendant Transparency, LLC., O’Keefe Media Group (‘OMG’) for suborning his violations.”

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy has given three more news outlets unfettered access to the January 6th footage. Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) celebrated this development on her Twitter account, reinforcing the commitment to transparency that many in the GOP have called for.

“I’m excited to share the good news that just as I promised the J6 tapes are being released!” Greene tweeted. She went on to name the three outlets receiving access to the footage: John Solomon Reports, Julie Kelly, and a third outlet yet to be disclosed.

The U.S. government has given Chinese and Russian entities at least $1.3 billion for various research programs over the past five years, according to an analysis released Wednesday by Republican Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst and watchdog group Open the Books.

The analysis revealed that millions of taxpayer dollars have been given to, among others, a Chinese software developer for military tech support, a Russian health insurance provider that has since been sanctioned and Chinese agriculture companies. And it showed the federal government gave $2 million, more than previously reported, to the Chinese state-run Wuhan lab studying bat coronaviruses.

"Washington’s continued spending is so out of hand, it is losing track of Americans’ hard-earned taxpayer dollars, but I am creating accountability for every penny," Ernst said in a statement after releasing the report. 

"It is gravely concerning that no one in Washington can actually account for millions sent to Russia and China for pointless projects," the Iowa Republican continued. "But I have the receipts. I’m shining a light on this reckless spending, so bureaucrats can no longer cover up their tracks and taxpayers can know exactly what their hard-earned dollars are funding." 

A 174-page report released by the Office of the Attorney General in August 2021, made public before voters reelected Attorney General Ken Paxton to a third term in November 2022, disproved claims presented by Democratically-aligned counsel hired by the House General Investigating Committee.

Another report released Saturday by an outside law firm, Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP, also concluded, "significant evidence to show the actions of the OAG toward the Complainants were based on legitimate, non-retaliatory, business grounds."

The report came in the hours after the impeachment vote. 

Instead, Paxton said the House GIC orchestrated a secretive investigation and presented inaccurate information, "falsehoods, and misstatements" without interviewing or requesting information from the OAG on Wednesday. Its findings were used to issue 20 articles of impeachment and the basis to impeach AG Paxton 48 hours later. The House voted 121-23 late Saturday to impeach an attorney general for the first time in Texas history.