Habib Siddiqui

  The rise of far-right politician Giorgia Meloni has left many outside Italy asking how her brand of what many argue is fascism can achieve such prominence in a country that has experienced life under the dictatorship of Benito Mussolini. The answer can be traced back to a recent normalisation of reactionary politics. In truth, the existence of a far-right government in Italy is  not entirely without precedent  in the post-war era. Between 1994 and 2011 a speciously  labelled “centre-right” alliance  – consisting of Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia (FI), various iterations of a small Christian democratic or centrist wing, Umberto Bossi’s Northern League (LN) and Gianfranco Fini’s National Alliance (AN) – governed Italy four times. The National Alliance was the predecessor party to  Meloni’s Brother’s of Italy Berlusconi takes a revisionist view of  Mussolini’s role in Italian history . He believed him to be one of Italy’s “greatest statesmen” and an e...

  The introduction of an Israeli Mossad agent as the latest Marvel movie character crosses the line, even by Hollywood’s poor moral standards. However, the Israeli superhero, Sabra, must be understood within the rational progression of the Israelification of Hollywood, a phenomenon that is surprisingly new. Sabra is a relatively old character,  dating  back to a Marvel comic, the  Incredible Hulk , in 1980. On September 10, however, it was  announced  that the Israeli character will be included in an upcoming Marvel film, ‘ Captain America: New World Order ’. Expectedly, many pro-Palestine activists in the United States and around the world fumed. It is one thing to introduce an ordinary Israeli character, with the mere aim of normalizing Israel, an unrepenting apartheid state, in the eyes of Marvel’s impressionable young audiences; but it is far more sinister to normalize a state intelligence agency, the Mossad,  known  for its numerous bloody as...

  The Italian Parliamentary election has concluded and the neofascist, Giorgia Meloni, is ready to emerge as the new prime minister of a divided country with no clear mandate from around 60 percent of eligible voters, in one of the lower voter turnouts in history. The choices were quite grim and the system rigged along the lines of the anti-democratic US election model after years of CIA influence in working to create a bipolar schizophrenic and easily destabilised political system. Berlusconianism, the creation of a disastrous neoliberal and US/NATO controlled Democratic Party modelled after the United State’s own corporate driven party, and a general malaise and degradation of Italian culture overall have contributed to create the ingredients for the Steve Bannon groomed Meloni to rise to the top, like a toxic slime on the surface of a sea of contaminated waste. Italy has become like a country of spoiled children that has lost its identity. It has been colonised and lobotomised b...

  Israeli soldiers escorted dozens of extremist settlers into the courtyards of   Al-Aqsa Mosque   through the Mughrabi gate on the morning of 26 September, forcing Muslim worshippers out of the holy site as they performed dawn prayers. Israeli troops also attacked Palestinian journalists covering the incursion in the Old City of occupied Jerusalem. As a result of the hostilities, at least two Palestinians needed medical attention, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society. The  latest breach  of Al-Aqsa Mosque comes in celebration of the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah, which began on Sunday. Over the past weeks, several Jewish supremacist groups urged settlers to storm the mosque during Rosh Hashanah, while Palestinian resistance groups have said that worshippers must maintain a presence at the complex to protect it from attack. Just last week, far-right Israeli member of the Knesset (MK), Itamar Ben Gvir, stormed Al-Aqsa and toured its courtyards unde...

  Hundreds of   Israeli   settlers stormed the Al-Aqsa compound in occupied East Jerusalem on Monday as the Jewish New Year began over the weekend, amid Palestinian   protests .  On Monday morning, hundreds of settlers entered Al-Aqsa compound from the Mughrabi Gate under strict protection from security forces and toured the site. Wafa news agency  reported that Israeli forces had barricaded several gates leading to Al-Aqsa compound, including the Damascus Gate, the Via Dolorosa route and other entry points to Al-Aqsa. The Islamic Waqf, a Palestinian-Jordanian body that runs the affairs of Al-Aqsa compound, said that Israeli settlers stormed the site in groups of 50 people, while Israeli forces barred Palestinian entry to the site. Waqf said that Israeli forces had assaulted Palestinians in the Al-Aqsa compound, arrested six Palestinians and drove some of them out, firing tear gas canisters inside the site. An older Palestinian man lost consciousness w...

  Hostility towards   Russia’s troop mobilisation   continues as violence broke out in an impoverished ethnic-minority region and a gunman opened fire at a recruitment office, seriously wounding the commandant. A young man entered a military enlistment centre in the Siberian city of Ust-Ilimsk and shot the commander at close range on Monday morning. KEEP READING list of 4 items list 1 of 4 What if Vladimir Putin used nuclear weapons in Ukraine? list 2 of 4 Zelenskyy ‘shocked’ by Israel’s failure to give Ukraine weapons list 3 of 4 China, India call for negotiated way out of Ukraine war list 4 of 4 Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 215 end of list Russian media reports said the attacker walked into the facility saying: “No one will go fight,” and “We will all go home now.” Local authorities said the commandant was in intensive care in “extremely grave” condition. The man, identified in the media as 25-year-old resident Ruslan Zinin, was reportedly upset a call-up...

  Most American and British adults do not know anything about the documents that the United States government is prosecuting WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange for publishing, according to a poll by Morning Consult. Both populations are apathetic or unaware when it comes to whether Assange should be extradited and face a US trial. In fact, nearly half of US adults polled said they had “never heard” of Assange. The lack of awareness of Assange and the case against him is likely why only a minority in the US and United Kingdom support the prosecution. Meanwhile, in Australia, almost half of adults said Assange “should not be extradited from the UK to the US, and he should be released from jail.” That reflects how the case has become a significant political issue in the country during the past year. The US Justice Department charged Assange with 17 counts of violating the Espionage Act. Each Espionage Act charge stems from the publication of documents, which WikiLeaks obtained from US A...