BANGKOK, Thailand -- More than 3,800 U.S. troops led 30 countries' forces and observers through Cobra Gold, the Pentagon's biggest Asian military exercise, trying to keep Thailand's coup-empowered army allied with Washington while Beijing increases its political, economic, and cultural influence.

"There has been resentment among Thai military officers and conservative politicians because of what is perceived as [Washington's] high-handed, tutelary policy about what Thailand should and should not do -- with regard to coups," said Paul Chambers, a Southeast Asian Studies lecturer at Naresuan University in Thailand.

"The negative policy in Washington toward coups [in 2006 and 2014]...contributed to some extent in Bangkok moving toward a realist policy of 'hedging' whereby a state creates balance between two great powers, in this case China versus the U.S.," Mr. Chambers said in an interview.

"The Thai military establishment does not like the United States for talking and pressing about military non-intervention in politics, and for the need to return democracy to the Thai people," former foreign minister Kasit Piromya said in an interview.

No doubt everyone grows old in their own way.

But once you actually hit it — that three letter word, “old” — watch out: “An aged man is but a paltry thing,/A tattered coat upon a stick . . .”

So wrote William Butler Yeats, back in the last century, conjuring a mystical journey to the spiritual city of Byzantium in order to escape his entrapment in that word, and in the world that values only youth. Hey Bill, how does it feel to be so old?

Feminism has a crucial role to play in modern life, but I sometimes wish it would leave our fairy tales alone. The results of its revisionist meddling are too often unconvincing and unsatisfying.

Remember last year’s Maleficent? It turned an age-old story on its head by revealing that the fairy (Angelina Jolie) who turned a princess into a “Sleeping Beauty” was not evil at all. No, she was merely wronged and misunderstood. Worst of all, we learned that the somnambulant princess could not be awakened by a kiss from the handsome prince, but only by a motherly peck from that same fairy.

How heartwarming. And how utterly unromantic.

Thank goodness Disney’s new live-action version of Cinderella doesn’t wear its feminism on its sleeve. It has nods to modern sensibilities, to be sure, but they’re handled with a lighter touch.

I call it “naked insanity,” as in: the emperor has no clothes.

He has no sane and transcendent values, no wisdom — not when it comes to survival. Global governance is consumed by power. Those who have it insist on keeping it, no matter the cost. Hence: nuclear weapons . . . and the threat to use them! Hence: climate change, a.k.a., ecocide.

I stroke the unknown,

the dark silence, the

soul of a mother. I

pray, if that’s what

prayer is: to stir the certainties of

pride and flag and brittle

God, to stir

the hollow lost.

I pray open

the big craters

and trenches of

obedience and manhood.

This is the beginning of a poem I wrote a few years ago. I called it “The Gods Get in Touch with Their Feminine Side,” by which I meant “Mom! The world’s all messed up. Can you fix it?”

Now is the time

to cherish the apple,

to touch the wound and love even

the turned cheeks and bullet tips,

to swaddle anew

the helpless future

and know

and not know

what happens next.

Over 9,000 Palestinian women have been killed since the start of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip.

It’s a huge victory for democracy that needs to be celebrated, with tangible progressive impacts for years to come…and outcome that could only have happened with grassroots election organizing..

The legendary JOHN BRAKEY then fills us in on the battles for democracy in Arizona, where the outcome for 2024 could decide the Presidency.

JAN PERELMAN, running for Congress in Florida, reports on killer developments in that uniquely tortured state.

MYLA RESON inserts her concerns about the Sunshine State’s horrendous nuclear power plants.

We then hear from DOROTHY REIK and DR. RUTH STRAUSS about the latest assault on birth control and abortion pills as approved by the FDA, now in front of the US Supreme Court.

We open our section on political prisoners with STEVE DONZIGER, who continues to be prosecuted by Chevron for his powerful work for social and ecological justice.

VINNIE DeSTEFANO updates us on the attempts to bring JULIAN ASSANGE to the United States for further torture and persecution.

TATANKA BRICCA reminds us of the horrific forever attack against LEONARD PELTIER.

Logo
March 27, 2024 | 7:00 PM Eastern/ 4:00 PM Pacific

Get energized with our ongoing Power Up Communities! campaign. Join us and learn how the US electricity system works, uncover the hidden world of Public Utility Commissions, and understand why state agencies are so critical to our clean energy future.

Here is a scary piece of information. In Gaza, there are 37 mothers a day who are murdered by the occupation Israeli Death Forces (IDF).  I contemplate this number on the heals of Mother’s Day, which the world celebrated few days ago.

As of Monday, at least 32,333 people have been killed, including more than 13,000 children and 8,400 women. The injured are more than 74,694 people, including at least 8,663 children and 6,327 women. The missing are more than 8,000

My sister-in-law Wafa wrote to me from Canada to say that for the last 172 days, each day in Gaza is more barbaric than October 7. I can't agree with her more! Nearly three years before October 7, Hamas has repeatedly warned Israel not to evict Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah’s neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem, attack worshippers at Al-Aqsa Mosque, abuse Palestinian political prisoners, or bomb civilian targets in Gaza. Israel ignored the warning and bombed a 15-story residential building in Gaza, which is home to dozens of families and tens of local and international media offices. 
 
The Israeli narrative about what truly happened on October 7 is exaggerated. Most people on that day were killed by the trigger-happy IOF. If in doubt, check out the Israeli daily Haaretz!  For the last six months, the world is still waiting for Israel to produce any evidence of its clams about the "40 beheaded babies" and the "100s of raped women." I doubt it would happen because it never happened. 
 
Every day in Gaza is more barbaric and more brutal than October 7.

Pages

Subscribe to ColumbusFreePress.com  RSS