Can 2024 be any worse?
New Year’s Day always brings a degree of optimism. It’s a fresh start. And the New Year can’t be as bad as the one just concluded, can it?
2023 saw the war in Ukraine drag on even though it became clear after its expected failed offensive that Kiev cannot win the war, and after the Ukrainian side admitted it had a deal with Russia just after the war started that would have saved hundreds of thousands of soldiers’ lives. Ukraine would have lost less territory too had the U.S. not scotched the deal.
And 2023 saw the start of a genocidal war by Israel against Gaza in a renewed push to complete Israel’s 1947 dream to control all of historic Palestine by driving even more Palestinians off their land.
In 2023, Julian Assange spent his fourth year in London’s Belmarsh Prison awaiting a decision on whether he will be extradited to the United States.
It was a tough year for Consortium News too. In June, our late board member Sen. Mike Gravel was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. It was just four days after another former board member, the great whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg had died. And on Saturday we lost yet another member of our board, the magnificent journalist John Pilger.
New Year’s fireworks on Monday in the harbor of John Pilger’s hometown, Sydney, Australia. (City of Sydney/YouTube)
Some good news is that through the generous support of our readers and viewers Consortium News will push ahead into its 29th year as strong as ever. Our Winter Fund Drive continues until Jan. 15, so if you haven’t yet donated, please consider doing so (deductible on your 2024 taxes).
It will help ensure our continued coverage of Assange’s historic press freedom case and the continuing historic crises in Gaza and Ukraine. Hopefully those wars will end, justice will be served for Assange and the world will try to come to its senses in 2024.
Please DONATE to CN’S Winter Fund Drive
“New Year’s Day always brings a degree of optimism. It’s a fresh start. And the New Year can’t be as bad as the one just concluded, can it?”
…. “One-Hundred Percent (100%), It Can!!! Imo, it is; and, we’re only 3-Days into the New Year, 2024.
“2023 saw,” the Deep $tate gettin’ it’s freak on! Invest$ting in deception, destruction, death aka Wars. The Deep $tate’s “endless game of whack-a-mole” w/Congress. Imo, the Deep $tate’s rendered Congress, powerless. Basically,“the necessity of congressional authorization of all presidential acts of war,” is NOT necessary. The Deep $tate’s supplying weapons, ammo, bombs, fuel; NOT USG Armed Forces aka “Boots on the Ground.” Consequently, limits, on $upporting & $upplying WARS, do not exist.
Imo, the Deep $tate’s collaboration w/Congress ends @ the NDAA. Everybody, knows, that’s “Done & Du$ted,” @ $886.3 Billion Dollars, for FY 2024!!!
“2023 saw” I$rael’s Declaration of War; AND, the USG’s “Commitment to Israel engraved in the Rock!!!” POTUS + WH = ALL In!!! Hence, it’s “Let’s Go, Brandon; But, We Know What They Say’n:” “Biden. Biden. You can’t hide. We charge you w/genocide.”
“2023 saw,” the inhumanity shown by the USG of Julian Assange. POTUS could end the persecution, extradition, prosecution of Julian Assange, in a f/heartbeat. Problem is, POTUS has NO heart!!! Imo, POTUS is a political corpse posing as POTUS, masquerading as human; AND, shuffling for Re-Selection, in 2024.
“2023 saw” a whole lotta personal & professional heartbreak; and, it’s “Onward & Upwards,” [SOME GOOD NEWS] through generous support of our readers & viewers, Consortium News “LIVES!” 2024 marks CN’s 29th Year, “as strong as ever.” CHEERS! “L O N G Live, Consortium News.”
Keep It Lit! Ciao.
Development of the Global South was certainly an encouraging sign from the past year, with that trend expected to continue. The Globe is shifting and re-aligning, the old unipolar fading and turning desperate. Here’s a comment on the Brics from Scott Ritter in an analysis looking at what he considers the 5 most important developments of the year:
“The South African-hosted BRICS Summit proved to be the perfect counterpoint to the combined pathos of the G-7 Summit in Hiroshima, Japan, and the NATO Summit in Vilnius, Lithuania. In Japan and Lithuania, western impotence was on full display for the world to see. In sharp contrast, the virility of the BRICS phenomenon provided a multilateral alternative that proved to be attractive to many nations, including the six that were accepted into BRICS as part of its expansion strategy (Argentina, Egypt, Iran, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, although Argentina withdrew its membership package following the election of Javier Milei as president in December 2023), and the fourteen other nations who have formally submitted applications to join in 2024, when Russia takes over the chairmanship. BRICS has surpassed the G7 in terms of collective economic clout, and the geopolitical influence of its collective membership is such that it will exceed both the G7 and NATO forums in terms of overall international relevance in the years to come.”
hxxps://www.rt.com/news/589760-israel-hamas-us-ukraine/
Education and communication have been a growing phenomenon since the Occupy movement. Though brutally suppressed, fueled by iNet approximately ten years of miniscule progress have occurred, at least in my opinion.
Consider how quickly the Commons joined… as Earth observed!
George Floyd demonstrations happened similarly; of note: spontaneously… without requesting local jurisdiction “Permits to Assemble” (inviting infiltration).
Upcoming elections should continue this hopeful process… but… Process is just That, a Series of Events.
(Also happens to rhymes with: Progress).
Tnx CN (& base) for providing an engine for liberty reclaimed!
Expect the unexpected for 2024. My sense is that it will be turbulent, but it is a passage year through the great upshift in human consciousness. Old systems are breaking down, but in the space that they leave, new systems will come in. This is the year of tremendous upheaval and change. I recommend everyone read the new book by Ervin Laszlo and David Lorimer, “The Great Upshift”, especially if you can only see doom and gloom ahead.
There are visionaries who have been developing systems and processes to take us into the paradigm of interbeing instead of our existing one of separation. This paradigm shift has already begun. Ervin Laszlo and David Lorimer have invited many to write a chapter in this book. I took part in a book launch webinar for it on Zoom, and it was deeply engaging and interactive. There were many new ideas from people all over the world, and innovative ideas that I’ve held for some time were recontextualized in a greater framework.
I would like to express my appreciation for Consortium News, which has been a major source of reliable news for me. I would also like to give my condolences to the staff at Consortium News for the deaths of three of your board members, Sen. Mike Gravel, Daniel Ellsberg, and John Pilger. Although you may ormay not believe that we who are alive on Earth can receive spiritual help and guidance from the other side from those who have died, and you may not believe that there are angelic beings who we can reach out to for assistance, or that we are part of a space family that we can also contact for inspiration, moral support, guidance and help, you probably accept that their spirit lives on in your work, and your mission is deepened and strengthened by their contributions.
May kindness, goodness, friendship, compassion and equality prevail, so that peace can grow and flourish. While we face these storms that challenge our character and test our mettle, let us open ourselves to each other for love and support, and to guide and comfort us through this great paradigm upshift aswe act to dispatch the old ideas that threaten our future.
Thank you CN for being a bulwark of truth! Though I have to admit to having a deep pessimism about the current political situation domestically and internationally, one way I could possibly see things changing slightly is if the predicted recession occurs sooner than later and voters start being semi-rational because of the negative economics. Not a strong hope that this would necessarily lead to political improvement, but a chance…
Expecting it will get worse, I am grateful that Consortium News will be here to help in 2024.
If humanity, as is its claim, is the exceptional animal species, why it is that its behavior towards its fellow humans is so sacrilegious?
“The past is not something to be forgotten, but something to be learned from.”
What ‘Israel’ has NOT learned from the past is that it is now addicted (PTSD) to eternal vigilance through vengeance!
One thing a change (resetting) of the chronological calendar year, by the mind of man, will NOT bring about is: there is never “a fresh start” to anything in the past; not in the ever expanding universe wherein humanity is but an infinitesimal, insignificant part.
Hope and Reality are mutually exclusive, as historical social reality keeps on reminding those of us open enough to want to learn and face truth as it is in this reality of our time.
If they were not incompatible, the ‘present’ would not benignly keep on repeating past mistakes, expecting (hoping for) progressive evolution.
“Hope is a fragile thing, but it is what keeps us going in the darkest of times.”
Some additional, pertinent Primo Levi quotes:
“The greatest act of resistance is to continue living.”
Long live Palestine, in peace, between all the peoples’ living within its historical parameters. Now, this is the expression of ‘hope‘ of one, but in reality, not lone individual!
“We must remember, not out of hatred, but out of a commitment to justice” for all, NOT just us!
“We must teach the next generation the importance of empathy and compassion.”
In this ‘Israel’ has failed miserably! It has instead instilled in its progeny, how to be heartless monsters!
“The road to healing begins with acknowledging the truth.”
“We must confront the darkness within ourselves if we are truly to understand the atrocities of the past” as well as those ongoing, and that means openness and willingness to look in the mirror of time!
Note: all quotes are from Primo Levi
Sadly, experience says that there is no situation that is so bad that it cannot be made worse.
That is up to us …
“Can 2024 be any worse?”
Er, yes. (Just going on analysis of the past years since September 11th, 2001.)
“Imagine”!
Yes Em, i can “imagine” asking western leaders for “help” and telling them “all you need is love” and “give peace a chance”. But probably there would be “no reply”, so there will have to be a “revolution”.
If Bolton, Lindsey Graham, and the other usual suspects, and their lackeys and mouthpieces elsewhere, get their way. it certainly will!
Mmmm observer. Leopards – spots.
This movie, produced in 2018, based on a true story, about the UN in Iraq, after the US invasion of 2003; overseeing the Oil for Food program.
Even more pertinent today!
hxxps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDWeh3E0Rc0
Many thanks Em. Looks good. I’m sure i shall enjoy.