A Look-Back at 2023 (Part 2 of 2)

 

Again, the most pressing issue of 2023, aside from Gaza and Russia/Ukraine war, is the rearing reptilian head of the censorship-industrial complex. Those in power have been pulling out all the stops. This is not only happening in Australia and the United States, but throughout Europe and certain countries in Latin America.  

For example, the censorship of Glenn Greenwald’s show, System Update, on the free speech space Rumble, has been banished from the Brazilian internet. Glenn attempts to report on all sides of an issue. I know he pays attention to his audience and their opinions, both right and left, on American politics, and his views on Gaza and Ukraine. Glenn certainly does not espouse disinformation, but facts that are contrary to the establishment narrative. Those in power only desire their narrative to be in the public consciousness, and facts are suppressed for obvious reasons.  

Fortunately, I have time to read alternative news sites and opinions. Your basic jobholder has not the time, and between three jobs, only has an hour a day, viewing corporate media. Legacy media is the megaphone for the establishment narrative: it is the propaganda machine to sway public opinion for their dubious ends.  

X (once Twitter) has proved to be one of the platforms where opinions on critical issues can be expressed. It is not perfect, but aside from Rumble and a few other sites, one can feel free to express their opinions. One must ask: will this continue in 2024?  

This issue is important for me personally because free speech is really the cornerstone of a healthy democracy. I have written on this issue all year, and the censorship is visibly getting much worse. At this stage one can only hope.   

One of the biggest news stories published in 2023 would have to be Seymour Hersh’s sub stack piece, How America Took Out the Nord Stream Pipeline: 

How America Took Out The Nord Stream Pipeline (substack.com)  

This work of wartime sabotage was said to be a “mystery” by The New York Times, though without too much thinking, the eradication of Russia’s central gas line to Germany, was a coordinated act by the US and one of their NATO allies to “weaken” Russia economically and a bold move to enter the European gas market for the United States. I found it hilarious and disturbing how the legacy media began blaming Putin for the incident. Why would he blow up his own pipeline? Mainstream pundits hailed that it “came right out of the Russian playbook,’ pushing this lie. (I have never read the Russian Playbook) This act of eco-terrorism, was most certainly the work of the US military.  

Certain events around the planet in 2023 have ebbed to the back recesses of our memories because of the intended genocide by Israel on Palestine, killing over 20,000 people (about the seating capacity of Madison Square Garden) and over 7,000 children. The number of journalists targeted and murdered by the IDF is a wartime record in terms of time, and number. The only reason a dictatorial regime will kill journalists is to prevent information (in this case war crimes) from reaching the people.  

What I find astonishing, and criminal, is the amount of intelligent people across the planet making excuses for Israel’s diabolical actions. To quote a well-known cliche,’ These genocide apologists will find themselves on the wrong side of history once the dust settles. Israel has a right to defend itself is the main tired argument. Israel has occupied Palestine for 70 years, and the ‘occupied’ has a human right, according to the UN, to fight against the occupiers.  

As I have said many times, people view October 7 as an event that occurred out of a vacuum. This was also true when Russia invaded Ukraine. The problem, when one tries to place any conflict into context, they are automatically attacked as “taking sides,” etc. This comes from ignorance and intentional bias. That said, Israel has admitted their efforts to ethnically cleanse Palestine. And with the blessing and military support from the criminals in DC., particularly the Biden administration, in time this insane and evil goal might well be achieved.  

Shame on the lot of you.  

As said above, any other events in 2023 pale in comparison to the crimes in Gaza. An effort to write anything else feels to be useless endeavor.  

Peace.