One question we don't ask about those civilians trapped beneath Mariupol

It should be an obvious question, but we are so bedazzled by our own propaganda that it never occurs to us. Who has them trapped? Why, the Russians, of course! Well, think about it. International media is obviously on the scene, as you can readily see for yourself when CNN or al Jazeera post footage of the occasional successful “rescue” of civilians from Azovstal. Those are Russian troops helping those civilians to the buses. So if it’s not the Russians trapping them, who else could it be? Maybe those guys who until very recently were acknowledged by CNN, BBC, NYT, the Guardian etc, to be the kind of folks who executed collaborators and used civilians as human shields? That would be the Azov battalion, the same guys doing the same crimes outlined in at least half a dozen Amnesty International reports from 2014 on. The problem is that the collective West has been brainwashed by its own bullshit. Ukraine is winning this war. In fact, no less an authority than US Secretary of State Tony Blinken announced Ukraine’s victory in early April. Yup, they just need a few more billions in US made munitions to put the finishing touches on this glorious triumph of good over evil. Except that was all bullshit, and still is, as confirmed in stories beginning to seep into Western media. Check out this story from Agence France Presse, the France based major news agency. “For every 300 artillery rounds they fire at us, we fire back three.” That’s a wounded Ukrainian soldier talking. They’re ordered to “hold the line.” They are being slaughtered, and the more we drag out this war, the more Ukrainians will die. That Russia had effectively won this war was evident in the first few days. Remember that 50 mile-long Russian convoy that was “trapped” north of Kyiv for ten days? We were treated to all sorts of speculation from Western experts about poor morale, Russia running out of fuel and supplies, etc. Seemed plausible at the time… Except. For ten days, that 50 mile-long sitting duck was not attacked by Ukrainian forces on the ground, from the air, or from long-range artillery. Instead, they tied down tens of thousands of Ukrainian troops waiting for an assault on Kyiv that never materialized, while the Russians created a land bridge to Crimea. Then that 50 miles of Russian heavy weapons made their way to the south, where, two months later, they’re decimating what’s left of the Ukrainian army. The retired US Army generals on CNN told us this was evidence of a heroic Ukrainian victory and was labelled a “Russian retreat.” Telling the truth would have killed the twenty billion in US military exports that have ensued. Why kill Lockheed and Raytheon profits when you can kill people instead? That’s where we’re at. We can keep escalating this war to the brink of global nuclear catastrophe, or we can change course and bend our efforts to making peace.

The tyranny of stereotypes

Everybody knows what a native community looks like. Gas-sniffing juveniles, gang-banging teens, drunken adults passed out in public at high noon...

Well, not really.

Most native communities I've ever seen are virtually indistinguishable from their non-native neighbours. But we don't ever hear about them. That's just not news!

No, what we hear about are a few isolated and dysfunctional communities that provide 100% of the bad-news stories about natives.

Which is not to suggest that there isn't much to be done, but the big picture is not nearly as bleak as you might assume after reading a few mainstream stories about our native brothers.

And Mexicans. They'll be the ruin of America, God help us all...

No less an authority than Donald Trump has given Latinophobia a new lease on life. I know for a fact that Mexicans are prized among Canadian employers of Temporary Foreign Workers for their honesty and their work ethic. Could that be because the Darwin effect strands all the unmotivated lazy and shifty ones south of the 49th parallel?

Seems unlikely.

While there's no question that a few bad apples come over in the barrels of both legal and not-so-legal Latinos, you can't deny the contribution they've made to America.

In fact, I've got Mexicans in my very own extended family. Back in the day my dear Uncle Jack and his wife, who were as middle-America as apple pie, after having a couple of kids of their own, adopted a number three from Mexico.

That kid from Mexico had his chance at the American Dream and batted it out of the park. The company he created has been voted one of the best employers in his state.

And we're not talking landscaping; we're talking high-end social services.

He's a success story that's done nothing but contribute to his local community, and every one of the 150 plus professionals who work for him are Americans.

Like Pope Francis said the other day, most of us were foreigners at one time... let's not be so quick to judge foreigners.

That's why I'm a little suspicious of stories like this. Syrian and Iraqi refugees in Finland are allegedly turning up their noses at Finnish hospitality and high-tailing it back to Sweden.

Let's look at the stereotypes being promoted here; Syraqi refugees are fussy ingrates just looking for the best deal on welfare payments etc. We should not rush to judgement on the verity of their refugee claims.

The story appears at Arab News, a news site financed by Saudi Arabia. It is sourced from France 24, the web portal of France's AFP news conglomerate.

Both France, which has been working overtime to dissuade refugees from arriving there, and Saudi Arabia, which has been working overtime at creating refugees in Iraq and Syria, have a vested interest in portraying these refugee throngs as opportunists looking for an easy life in the EU.

And so the stereotype of the Middle East refugee as shifty malingerer takes root, at least among that segment of the population predisposed to think that way in the first place.

I have no doubt that a few shifty malingerers among those refugees will be exposed in the fullness of time. And when they are, they'll get an inordinate amount of attention in our media. But, there were no doubt a few of those shifty malingerers among the European immigrants who flooded into America post WW II.

So the point is, you'll always be able to find a story or two to justify the stereotypes.

But the truth of the matter lies elsewhere.

We need to remember that we were indeed, most of us, foreigners at one time.

And we have to get past the stereotypes.

Egypt intercepts US missiles bound for Gaza

It's long been obvious to all who have eyes to see that if those enterprising folks who run the Gaza tunnels can squeeze a full size Mercedes sedan through there, they can certainly accommodate much else besides.

Agence France-Presse is reporting the seizure of a cache of US made surface-to-air and anti-tank missiles in the Sinai just on the Egyptian side of the Gaza border. The weapons are most likely residual fall-out from the the collapse of the security infrastructure in Libya over a year ago.

This story raises a number of questions. According to AFP the discovery was the result of a "tip," which would immediately raise the question of who provided the tip and why.

It should also raise the question of how much US and NATO ordinance has already found its way into Gaza. It was evident during the recent Operation Pillar of Cloud  that IAF helicopters were being held back from the skies over Gaza. Was this a silent acknowledgement that the IAF Apaches are sitting ducks for the Stinger missiles that have found their way into the territory?

The presence of significant stock-piles of advanced weaponry in the coastal territory would also explain Netanyahu's haste to wind down hostilities, and the cockiness of the Hamas administration afterwards.

Could it be that the presence or presumed presence of those American missiles allowed Hamas to bluff the IDF into a stand-down?