The opposition in Germany demands investigation, following new media reports about right-wing networks in German armed forces (link to ntv news in German). According to a news summary in English by WSWS, testimonies painted a picture “of conspiratorial soldiers, who apparently were even willing to consider targeted killings of political opponents.” This is especially disturbing because Germany also has a history of earlier hidden organisations, linked to German armed forces or secret services, making death lists of political opponents and being covered up by the state. It highlights the general question about the risk of extremism within armed forces and similar organisations.

Last year, Thomas Hedges wrote in The Guardian about the trillions of US Dollars in taxpayer money that has gone unaccounted for since the 1990s:

“Over the last 20 years, the Pentagon has broken every promise to Congress about when an audit would be completed,” the director of the Audit the Pentagon coalition, Rafael DeGennaro, told the Guardian. “Meanwhile, Congress has more than doubled the Pentagon’s budget.”

Now the Pentagon has finally conducted its first-ever comprehensive audit – and unsurprisingly failed it. Barbara Lee comments:

The unchecked waste, fraud, and abuse at the Pentagon is an insult to the American people.

Today, it is 100 years since the end of World War I. Armistice Day – the 11th November – was a holiday of peace, and in some places still is. However, there are examples where the holiday’s name has been changed to “Veterans Day”. It has even happened that Veterans For Peace groups are not welcome. Read about the true meaning of Armistice Day, about Veterans For Peace reclaiming Armistice Day and a warning that we are heading for another tragedy like WWI.

Let’s hope that the world leaders are serious in their commemorations today. Will they now for example end the arms race and (often illegal) wars that many of them are involved in and take the profit out of war? Or will they just blame nationalism?

In a recent article in the Swedish newspaper Göteborgsposten, Håkan Boström writes that:

The ambition of those in power to protect the free society must not in itself be a threat to freedom.

Read his article (in Swedish) or download the report ”Smearing Sweden – International Influence Campaigns in the Swedish Election 2018”, funded by a Swedish government agency.

Human Rights Watch recently released a report on arbitrary arrest and torture under the Palestinian Authority and Hamas. Also Amnesty International reports about severe human rights abuses in Palestine with impunity even for torturing a detainee to death.

In 1948, Colonel André Sérot served with UN forces in Palestine and was murdered together with the UN mediator Count Folke Bernadotte. Watch an interview in French with André Sérot’s daughter, Monique Sérot.

This month, it is 70 years since the murder of Count Folke Bernadotte while serving as UN mediator in the Arab–Israeli conflict. Not a single one of the assassins was charged with the crime, despite that they were known (some of them have even discussed it on TV). As Miko Peled writes: “Everyone is keeping strangely quiet about this, even the Swedes.”

Instead, Sweden this year decided to start a strategic cooperation with Israeli “defence industry” (link to Swedish content).

Folke Bernadotte. Photo: Scoutförlaget [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Reprieve is working to save victims of torture in Bahrain from execution. See the urgent petition.

A recent decision in the European Council may enable Morocco to export goods from the occupied Western Sahara to the EU. The decision will be put to the vote in the European Parliament, which is likely to happen in the autumn. Read more in Swedish on the web site of Tidskriften Västsahara. For a background on how Western Sahara’s natural resources are plundered, see for example a broadcast in English on Democracy Now.

Watch the videos 9/11 Father Seeks Justice and Lawyers Petition for 9/11 Grand Jury.