Mitja Stojisavljevič

On this day in 1999, NATO began bombing its illegal bombing campaign of Yugoslavia without permission from the UN Security Council. Between 1200-2500 civilians were killed and 5000 were wounded. During the 3 months of bombing, NATO dropped between 10-15 tonnes of depleted uranium bombs. After years of supporting right-wing nationalist forces to undermine and weaken the integrity of Yugoslavia, NATO begun its campaign to break up the socialist state. Though it claimed to be intervening to stop ethnic cleansing, the Assistant to US Secretary of Defense Strobe Talbott revealed the real reason for the war: "It was Yugoslavia's resistance to the broader trends of political and economic reform, not the plight of Kosovar Albanians, that best explains NATO's war.” NATO openly bragged about its destruction of Yugoslavia’s infrastructure, with its spokesperson Jaime Shea proudly saying in 1999 “And the fact that the lights went out in 70% of the country…we can turn the power off whenever we need to and whenever we want to.” Between the 24th of March and 5th of June 1999, 78 industrial sites and 42 energy installations in Yugoslavia were damaged by bombing or missile strikes. The air strikes destroyed over 20 chemical and petrochemical installations, accounting for around 70% of Yugoslavia’s oil-processing capacity.

Bernie has addressed this many times, including in one of my all-time favorite Bernie moments during a 2017 CNN debate with Ted Cruz. WATCH: Bernie takes on a Denmark-born economist from the conservative Peterson Institute. The economist starts by attacking Bernie's approach. See what happens next...

Israeli occupation Knesset's National Security Committee approved yesterday a final draft of a bill that would mandate the death penalty for Palestinian prisoners. The bill, which has been a key demand of far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, is now cleared for its final second and third readings in the full Knesset, which could happen as early as next week.   𝗞𝗲𝘆 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙚𝙜𝙞𝙨𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙧𝙤𝙙𝙪𝙘𝙚𝙨 𝙨𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙡 𝙨𝙞𝙜𝙣𝙞𝙛𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙄𝙨𝙧𝙖𝙚𝙡'𝙨 𝙡𝙚𝙜𝙖𝙡 𝙛𝙧𝙖𝙢𝙚𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙠 𝙧𝙚𝙜𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙘𝙖𝙥𝙞𝙩𝙖𝙡 𝙥𝙪𝙣𝙞𝙨𝙝𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩:  •Targeted Application: The law specifically does not apply to Jewish Israelis. •Mandatory Sentencing: If convicted, judges would be required to impose the death penalty; they would no longer have the discretion to issue life sentences instead. •Execution Method & Timeline: Executions would be carried out by hanging within 90 days of a final verdict. •No Right to Appeal or Pardon: The current draft removes the right to appeal the sentence and bars any reduction or pardon once the penalty is imposed. •Judicial Threshold: In military courts, a simple majority of judges—rather than a unanimous decision—would be sufficient to hand down a death sentence. •Retroactive Power: The law could be applied retroactively to prisoners already in custody, including those detained during and after the October 2023 attacks. 

BREAKING: Just five minutes before Trump's announcement to halt the attacks on Iran, massive trades reportedly hit the market. In one move, $1.5 billion in S&P 500 (ES) futures was bought while $192 million in oil (CL) futures was sold. These orders were 4–6x larger than anything else at the time. The trader seemingly made huge gains. Unusual.