Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Chris Hedges has written this on X when referring to the sanctions put on United Nations Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese by the United States of America:
The attack against Albanese presages a world without rules, one where rogue states, such as the U.S. and Israel, are permitted to carry out war crimes and genocide without any accountability or restraint. It exposes the subterfuges we use to fool ourselves and attempt to fool others. It reveals our hypocrisy, cruelty and racism. No one, from now on, will take seriously our stated commitments to democracy, freedom of expression, the rule of law or human rights. And who can blame them? We speak exclusively in the language of force, the language of brutes, the language of mass slaughter, the language of genocide.
I think that Hedges is right. Apart from those who will deliberately refuse to acknowledge what is really happening, the vast majority of people will realise that a state that deliberately sanctions those people who call out the perpetrators of genocide is, itself, on the side of those committing that act.
What he had to say reminded me of another article that I thought powerfully evoked the reaction that people are having to the world around them at present, this one being written by Guardian journalist and editor, Archie Bland, who said:
Those people have been told that Gaza protests are hate marches; they can see it's not true. They have been told that US campus protesters are largely motivated by antisemitism; they can see it's not true. They have been told that Palestine Action is a terrorist organisation because it spray painted military aircraft; they can see it's not true. They have been repeatedly told, by Benjamin Netanyahu, that opposition to Israel's war is antisemitic; they can see it's not true. They have been told that the British government finds Israel's actions “intolerable”; they can see it's not true.
Bland uses reiteration in that piece to good effect. The fact is that most people now know that what they are being told by politicians is not true. This, of course, is also the case with regard to matters far beyond the conflict in Gaza, but something has to crystallise that feeling in people, and Gaza might be it, as Hedges also suggests.
No one with any sense has ever believed everything that a politician has said. However, we rarely expected them to say something that was glaringly obvious contrary to the truth in a way that was readily apparent to anyone who gave a moment's thought to the issue in question. That, however, is now commonplace.
It is now the case that politicians don't just 'spin'. They promote blatant untruths to promote the abuse of people, and seemingly think we should accept such statements as being not just true but an honest reflection of their opinions. Tellingly, this is the case here in the UK as much as it is in the USA. We have reached the point where legislation could be presented to parliament saying that black is white, and I would expect a whole pile of Labour MPs to go into media studios to argue that this is, indeed, the case.
When truth departs - as it is doing from the political field - we are in very deep trouble.
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Rogue States? These books will change how you see the world:
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, 3rd Edition (2023)
by John Perkins https://amzn.eu/d/dtQdJwt
The Invisible Doctrine: The Secret History of Neoliberalism (& How It Came to Control Your Life) (2025)
by George Monbiot and Peter Hutchison https://amzn.eu/d/a61zjnD
I have read a lot of Chris Hedges’ writing. He is an ordained Presbyterian minister which one can see in his style. He also worked in American prisons. Whether one agrees with all of his statements, one can’t doubt the sincerity and moral force of his writing. He speaks truth to power.
Excellent blog. One small point, third line from the bottom, should “studies” be “studios”?
Yes. Now corrected. Thanks.
The more we analyse it, the more we can see that countries are acting in exactly the same ways that led to WW2
I don’t think we’ll see warfare in western Europe, but war will be the norm in most of the rest of the world.
I have 2 questions for the Guardian- the first I already know the answer to, but the second is still something of a puzzle to me.
1. If Archie Bland is right (and he is), why did the Guardian spend YEARS dancing to Israel’s propaganda tunes, as it helped destroy Corbyn and the Labour left, downplayed the accelerating violence against Palestinians in the Occupied Territories in West Bank, & the land grabs in E Jerusalem? Why did the Guardian join in the weaponisation of antisemitism from 2015 onwards, in a way that has increasingly endangered UK diaspora Jews by conflating their interests and loyalties (as Netanyahu does) constantly and deliberately with Israel and the IDF? Why did Jonathan Friedland write so many appalling articles and editorials with the support of Katherine Viner, when anyone with their eyes and ears open could see “it was not true”. Why did they avoid calling out war crimes and genocide for SO LONG? Did the experience of watching hard drives being destroyed by angle grinders in the era of Snowden and Assange, upset them so much that they abandoned their journalistic principles?
2. Why, so late in the day, have they changed their minds? Are they sudden converts to “the truth”? Whose tune are they now dancing to? Who gave permission for the change? Because it is the “editorial” stance that changed, not just that there are more hard hitting Opinion articles like Archie Bland’s.
The BBC is clearly still under tight top-down control despite a staff revolt, but the Guardian has shifted, unable to hold its ridiculous editorial line protecting Israel any longer, in the face of… what exactly?
An overwhelming flood of truth? (But see Qn 1)
Some outside influence I am not aware of?
A moral conversion – did they watch a disturbing documentary and have an epiphany? Did someone get a phone call from Gaza or the West Bank?
If there has been a moral conversion (which I doubt), then perhaps they could ignore a recent MOD D notice and start asking awkward questions about the role of the RAF and “special forces” in the conflict. The total absence of coverage of this issue is, for me, proof that there is something deeply distrurbing going on, involving UK military personnel. (Again)
Incidentally, today’s Jewish Chronicle has a picture of Starmer & Lammy on the front page, with the headline, “Revealed: Jewish support for Labour slumps” with several pages on that theme. And that’s what happens when Lammy just uses the word “intolerable” and wrings his hands a bit more vigorously…
(Print edition only so far)
In response to RobertJ: To be fair to the Guardian, critical columnist Owen Jones and their international security editor, Jason Burke, who is Jewish, presently based in Jerusalem, (but who previously worked out of Johannesburg, Paris, New Delhi and Kabul) have consistently exposed the appalling genocidal behaviour of the Israeli Defence Force cheered on by the immoral Israeli government. For Burke in particular, reporting from inside the lions’ den, providing consistently critical copy, is brave journalism. He covers Gaza.
I think my post made quite clear that it referred to the editorial stance of the paper rather than individual less senior columnists and opinion columnists.
I’m interested in what the editors publish, not what they say or think in private, and I’ve been reading the paper for around half a century.
My reference to Jonathan Friedland was also a carefully chosen one, he is a significant senior editor and I read his many articles about Jeremy Corbyn carefully as they weaponised antisemitism against him in a way that has, IMHO, made diaspora Jews less safe and helped wreck the Labour Party.
If the Guardian want to defend themselves then they should do so publicly, in print, in their paper so that I, as an ordinary member of the public without access to the corridors of power or the opinion formers that inhabit them, can assess for ourselves how convincing their arguments and actions are.
Thanks
I admit I read your article that way.
Some more in-depth analysis here:
https://www.jewishvoiceforlabour.org.uk/article/guardians-editor-in-chief-caves-to-pro-israel-pressure/
particularly of Kath Viner, and over a long period of time.
We are in deep trouble. We passed the point where legislation could be passed saying black is white towards the end of the Sunak government last year.
Section 2(1) of the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Act 2024 said in bald terms “Every decision-maker must conclusively treat the Republic of Rwanda as a safe country.” Whether or not that is true.
And it is not true. The Supreme Court ruled in 2023 that Rwanda is not a safe country. The Foreign Office advises against all but essential travel to parts of Rwanda, because it is not safe. The president has been in post for 25 years, with the constitution changed to permit him to remain in office past the usual limit of two seven-year terms; and he claimed over 99% (!) of the votes in 2024, the fourth consecutive election where he claimed over 90% of the votes. It is effectively a one party state, with the press controlled by the government, and where many opposition politicians and journalists have been arrested or murdered.
Agreed
Parliament has already voted that black is white when they voted to define Rwanda as a safe country despite the fact that the courts had found that it wasnt.
Its all in the Goebbel’s playbook – the bigger the lie the more it will be believed. Trumps base know he lies all the time = but thats what they love about him.
When I’m campaigning, and people say to me on the doorstep, ” It’s a waste of time voting. These politicians , are all the same.” While I have always argued that this isn’t the case, you can see their point of view, especially nowadays more than ever. In my engagement with politics, now over sixty years, I have never seen so many lies being promoted as truth. In most cases these are easily disprovable, but in general the M.S.M aren’t interested, which makes me believe they are complicit in this farrago of lies. One of the problems is that politicians who are reasonably honest, find it difficult to get people to believe what they say, because of the barrage of untruths promoted by scoundrels.
Although it might do some good if more MPs did a media studies course, I think you meant media studios!
Corrected
Thanks
Why no proper perspective or even curiosity about how we might get out of this dire economic mess?
Paul Johnson is now all over Dan Neidle :
‘We can have bigger state and more tax on average earners. We can have smaller state and real cuts in public services/benefits. Thats it. The choice’
https://x.com/PJTheEconomist/status/1942682486468735035
Total drivel
“T.I.N.A.” is alive and well.
While we await:
1. evidence of misuse of UK intelligence in civilian-targeted operations;
2. findings from ongoing court cases and possible inquiries on whether the intelligence overflights or arms exports have facilitated unlawful actions;
we can keep the pressure on for increased transparency and for the UK to suspend or revoke further military cooperation with Israel.
Thanks for sharing Richard – I can highly recommend Chris Hedges recent book a genocide foretold. He is an excellent writer and I have enjoyed all his books starting with “war is a force that gives us meaning” when he was a war correspondent in the late 90’s.
Yesterday, Brussels, European Commission’s External Action Service (sits on the site of the 1st European building which housed the old Iron & Steel org).
Partner inside talking to an EU functionare who said : “I hate this life, I hate the situation we are in” -referring to a multipliticy of events including Gaza.
There you go, EU, this is what one person thinks of the current situation & I’d hazard a guess many many others both in the EU institutions and in, for example UK government institutions.
The politicos are completely out of line with what much of the population thinks & feels. In many cases they have been captured by vested interests, which makes them muc much worse than prostitutes (who I do not regard as bad – just unfortunate people).
The politicos are completely out of line.
Do they know it?
Do they care?
Prostitutes prostitute just to live; politicians are hardly poor these days – they’re just greedy.
Francesca Albanese is a prime example of what happens if you have total integrity and speak truth to power. Now the most powerful political forces on the planet, The US White House, is trying to bring her down and get her removed as a UN rapporteur because she had exposed Israel’s utterly immoral behaviour in all its detail.
Another brave woman is Zarah Sultana MP, who as a Labour back bencher last summer backed an SNP amendment cancelling policy limiting support to only two children. For her grievous political sin, she was suspended from the Parliamentary Labour Party. She refused to shut up, and did not grovel to get re-admitted. Instead, she continued to speak it on welfare cuts, and on Gaza, especially on immoral military sales to Israel. Finally last week she quit Labour, to team up with Jeremy Corbyn, the former Labour Party leader, who had refused to withdraw his accusations about the biased media coverage of antisemitism in the Labour Party, and he too was suspended by Starmer.
Corbyn too has spoken out vehemently for the Palestinians and against the Government of Israel.
The common theme uniting all three of these brave public figures who have spoken out is their opposition to the malign activities of the Government of Israel.
And there has been significant retribution.
Some people have asked why the Guardian has taken a (slightly) stronger stand against genocide.
I would suggest that liberal establishment types are worried that they might find themselves on the wrong side of history. Consequently they are engaging in hand wringing and pitching woe at their readers in the hope their silence or active complicity will be forgotten.
I doubt there is any real sense of grief or solidarity behind the headlines, let alone a will to do anything about it.
Can I respectfully suggest to Stephen Ferry that only if you have not met or communicated with Guardian journalists, could you come to that malign conclusion.
I regularly am in touch with a dozen or so reporters and editors on the Guardian, and unless they are very good actors, many of them really care about issues like Gaza.
It is true at senior editorial level there might be pushback, but Guardian editor Kath Viner spent considerable time in Palestine in her youth, and she has carried many news reports on the atrocities committed by the Israeli military in Gaza and the West Bank (often putting them on the front page when other papers hide the story deep inside the paper or don’t cover it at all).
It is true that Jewish senior commentator Jonathan Friedland has been out of step, giving some support for Israel and a lot of support for British Jewry
DrDavidLowry,
A post by RobertJ with the below link might be of interest.
https://www.jewishvoiceforlabour.org.uk/article/guardians-editor-in-chief-caves-to-pro-israel-pressure/
I would assume that states that support rogue states are rogue as well.
As Chris Hedges says, no one will take us seriously on our commitments to democracy , human rights etc. It appears that rule of law per the west is supporting genocide in Gaza.
Good point
What a disgrace our government is.
The majority of the population are now aware of Israel’s brutal crimes in Gaza, and angry about it.
Our government makes a few deprecating noises, but actively assists Israel, particularly with regard to air bases. When Israel should be ostracised by the world, like South Africa in the apartheid era, major Party politicians and most of the MSM maintain the fiction that Israel is an “ally” of the UK. The Home Secretary is photgraphed half-smiling next to the grinning, hate-promotong Israeli Ambassador at a “celebration” of Israel.
What can we do? We already try to avoid buying anything from Israeli companies, but that has little effect. Huge numbers march through London, but they just ignore that. Serious protest, such as direct action, is persecuted ( along with journalists) , and the security services and justice system are handed over to Israeli influence.
It’s intolerable, and beyond outrageous. Can anythng put a stop to it?
Sanctions
Start with doing them yourself. It’s small, but that’s how everything starts.
I don’t want to distract people’s attention from the UK butler glut,
https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2025/07/12/the-fts-big-issue-the-crisis-in-the-market-for-butlers/
but another example of our national moral and truth deficit, can be found here:
https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/fury-developers-100m-pay-off-10338618
The Competition and Markets Authority, one of our so-called regulators, is holding a very short public “consultation”, on whether to take a £100m bung from the 7 largest housebuilders in the UK, (a mere £14m per company) to drop their 2 yr long investigation into “anti-competitive” practices (criminal activity to you and me).
https://connect.cma.gov.uk/consultation-on-proposed-commitments-in-the-investigation-into-suspected-anti-competitive-conduct-by-housebuilders
The consultation ends on 24th July, & can be done by email.
Anyone here fancy giving the CMA some moral guidance?
Crime, corruption, bribery, regulatory capture, out on the surface, in full view.
Reminder to self – don’t forget to nip down my local cop shop to make my monthly cash payment to their widows & orphans fund…
Other books people may be interested in reading;
A graphic novel; ( ie written like a comic but of serious content) “Palestine” by Joe Sacco
Gideon Levy “The killing of Palestine”
Beinart ” Being Jewish after the Destruction of Gaza; A Reckoning
There is also an online campaign to nominate Albanese for the Nobel Peace Prize by “Avaaz” Worth signing on to to avoid those two sycophantic war criminals Netanyahu and Trump from forever disgracing the award.
I have signed the Avaaz petition
I’m searching but not finding this.
A link please?
https://secure.avaaz.org/campaign/en/stand_with_francesca_loc/
It doesn’t like my personal email domain. Oh well, I tried.
It’s really annoying when sites do that…
A lot do not recognise .org.uk