February 4, 2026

LIST of Articles DWF NEWS 2/4/26

Subject line: "Official Bad Guy of the Day" propaganda tool

Is Trump executing the UN for his so-called 'Board of Peace'?

UN Says It's in 'Imminent Danger' of Financial Collapse

Eric Zuesse         The Duran

The "democratic" West is now jailing citizens for opposing Israeli genocide

Across the West, speaking for Palestine is now a crime

Ali Abunimah        The Electronic Intifada

'Official Bad Guy of the Day' propaganda tool for US empire's warmongering

Why Don't You Criticize Iran?

Caitlin Johnstone     caitlinjohnstone.com.au

Opinion: The open heart and door of liberty

Robert Rees         Deseret News  

The Altar of Power: How Christian Nationalism Betrays the Constitution

Robert Rees

Earth Constitution's World Parliament seeks to replace the undemocratic UN Security Council

Global survey: Citizens in most countries lean toward a world parliament

Democracy Without Borders 

[and] Global citizens support a world parliament: leaders need to catch up 

George Papandreou   

WORLD PUBLIC INTEREST JOURNALISM

Editor: Since the US under President Trump has withdrawn critical funding to the UN, it would be timely for China and India to step in and make sure the UN is adequately funded, and also to assume a leadership role at the UN by replacing the criminally-inclined U.S. government.

A large portion of the world public favors the establishment of a democratic World Parliament. The Earth Constitution movement is currently working towards replacing the failed UN Security Council with a Provisional World Parliament consisting of a House of Peoples and a House of Nations.

The base of the Statue of Liberty stating "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breath free" could be a message coming from the Earth Constitution applied for the whole world, as could Rees's message on immigration to decide "who belongs." With the Earth Constitution, all people worldwide "belong," have worth, deserve to be treated with dignity and care.

We are all world citizens, with certain basic human rights no matter what country we come from. ~ Roger Kotila, PhD

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Is Trump executing the UN for his so-called 'Board of Peace'?

UN Says It's in 'Imminent Danger' of Financial Collapse

Eric Zuesse         The Duran

EXCERPTS

António Guterres said the organisation's money could run out by July. The United Nations is at risk of "imminent financial collapse" due to member states not paying their fees, the body's head has warned.

...He wrote in a letter to all 193 member states that they had to honour their mandatory payments or overhaul the organisation's financial rules to avoid collapse.

It comes after the UN's largest contributor, the US, refused to contribute to its regular and peacekeeping budgets, and withdrew from several agencies ...

Trump has separately been accused by critics of seeking to replace some functions of the UN with his Board of Peace to oversee regeneration efforts in Gaza. 

... The US officially left the UN's World Health Organization last week. It had refused to pay its 2024 and 2025 dues despite, WHO lawyers say, being legally obliged to do so.

Then, during 21 August to 7 October 1944, the Dumbarton Oaks Conference, between the U.S., UK, and USSR, issued, on 9 October 1944, “Proposals for the Establishment of a General International Organization”, the initial working document at the San Francisco Conference, which took place during 25 April to 26 June 1945, at which the new U.S. President, Harry Truman, who opposed FDR’s U.N. plan, did all he could to weaken it, so that the U.N. Charter that resulted has no enforcement mechanism and doesn’t even define the key concept, which is “aggression.” It also left as a mess the issue of funding the organization, which weakness now is being taken advantage of by the U.S. empire, led by Trump himself, to bring down the U.N. and its international-laws-based international order, and to replace that with the U.S. Government’s on-the-fly-created-and-modified international-rules order — whatever the U.S. President wants it to be at the particular time.

This U.S.-Government replacement of the U.N. is entirely consistent with what had been President Truman’s intent, which was to produce ultimately an all-inclusive U.S. global empire or world dictator.    READ MORE

https://theduran.com/u-n-says-its-in-imminent-danger-of-financial-collapse/

The "democratic" West is now jailing citizens for opposing Israeli genocide

Across the West, speaking for Palestine is now a crime

Ali Abunimah         The Electronic Intifada

EXCERPTS

Exactly a year ago today, I was abducted from a Zurich street by plainclothes police, bundled into an unmarked car and taken to prison. 

I was walking with one of my hosts toward a venue where I was scheduled to speak at an event organized by Swiss activists about Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

During my detention, Swiss intelligence officers tried to question me without my lawyer present – an apparent attempt, I told Swiss academic Pascal Lottaz in a recent interview, to manufacture grounds for my arrest retroactively. After three days in detention, I was handcuffed, caged in a police van, taken to the airport and expelled.

Among the most shocking cases is that of Leqaa Kordia, a Palestinian woman and the last person still held in US federal detention in connection with protests at Columbia University.

Last week, a court in the French city of Nice sentenced Amira Zaiter, founder of activist group Nice to Gaza, to 15 months in prison for “anti-Semitic” social media posts. Zaiter admitted to calling Illan Choukroune, a French citizen who served in the Israeli army, a “genocidaire.”

In October, UN experts called on Germany to stop criminalizing, punishing and suppressing Palestine-related speech. “We are alarmed by the persistent pattern of police violence and apparent suppression of Palestine solidarity activism by Germany,” the independent special rapporteurs said.

Australia appears to be following Britain’s lead, where people are routinely arrested for holding signs opposing genocide and supporting Palestine Action – the protest group arbitrarily banned by the government as “terrorist.”

Meanwhile, anyone is free to hold a sign in British streets stating “I support genocide,” without fear of arrest. READ MORE

 https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/across-west-speaking-palestine-now-crime

'Official Bad Guy of the Day' propaganda tool for U.S. empire's warmongering

Why Don't You Criticize Iran?

Caitlin Johnstone     caitlinjohnstone.com.au

EXCERPTS

This is why it’s so baffling to a westerner to see another westerner criticizing western warmongering instead of the Official Bad Guy of the Day. They don’t normally encounter such criticisms. They haven’t been trained to expect it.

Any time things heat up with an empire-targeted government I always get people demanding to know why I’m not critical of that government.

“Why don’t you criticize Iran? You spend all your time criticizing the west and Israel; you’re a hypocrite if you don’t criticize Iran.”

It flabbergasts them that I’m not saying harsh things about the latest Official Bad Guy of the Day. Everyone on TV is criticizing Iran. Both mainstream political parties are criticizing Iran. Their favorite mainstream political podcasters and online pundits are criticizing Iran. So why isn’t Caitlin Johnstone criticizing Iran? There must be something nefarious and treasonous about her.

It never occurs the them that the only reason we’re hearing so much about the Official Bad Guy of the Day is because the US is ramping up aggressions on the targeted country, and the imperial media are manufacturing consent for those hostilities. 

It never occurs to them that someone can simply oppose the warmongering agendas of the US empire on principle, because those agendas are reliably disastrous and the US empire is the most tyrannical power structure on earth.

This is why it’s so baffling to a westerner to see another westerner criticizing western warmongering instead of the Official Bad Guy of the Day. They don’t normally encounter such criticisms. They haven’t been trained to expect it.

All they’ve been trained to expect is criticism of Tehran, Putin, Hamas, Maduro, or whoever the empire happens to be angriest at on any given day. So any divergence from their conditioned expectations looks strange and suspicious to them. It looks like something bad is happening.

READ MORE

https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/01/31/why-dont-you-criticize-iran/

Opinion: The open heart and door of liberty

Robert Rees         Deseret News   January 28, 2026

EXCERPTS

The United States has long been a refuge for those fleeing violence, persecution or instability. When the wealthiest nation in history signals that its compassion has limits, the consequences ripple far beyond its borders

In January, Donald Trump announced the most extreme legal immigration policy in U.S. history. Strangely titled “Protecting the American People Against Invasion,” the policy not only bans citizens from 93 countries (including 70% of African countries) but also severely restricts the migration of spouses and minor children of American citizens from many of these same countries.

According to the Cato Institute, this ban, along with previously barred immigrant visas from 40 countries, “brings the number of banned nationalities up to 93, ... equaling nearly half of those who immigrated legally from abroad in 2024.”

For two and a half centuries, the United States has stood as a “shining city on a hill,” a beacon to the world, defined not only by its Constitution and its economic dynamism but also by its willingness to open its heart and its doors to those from across the world seeking a better life. The American story is, at its core, an immigrant story. From the earliest settlers to the millions who arrived through Ellis Island and since, the United States has been shaped, strengthened and continually renewed by those who came from beyond our borders.

Few symbols capture this ethos more powerfully than Emma Lazarus’s poem engraved at the base of the Statue of Liberty, “The New Colossus,” whose words — “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free” — have long served as a moral measurement of our generosity and compassion. They articulate a promise that the United States has aspired to uphold: that liberty is not a privilege reserved for the few but a refuge offered to the many.

A country that stops welcoming new immigrants risks stagnation — economically, culturally and demographically.

The irony, of course, is difficult to ignore. The architects of these restrictive policies are themselves descendants of immigrants — people whose families once crossed oceans and continents, fled danger and hardship, and sought refuge or opportunity on these shores. Their ancestors were not uniformly wealthy, educated or highly skilled. Many arrived penniless. Many spoke little English. Many were viewed with suspicion by those already here. Yet they were allowed to stay, to work, to build and ultimately to contribute to the nation’s growth and richness.

The United States now faces a choice. It can continue down a path of restriction, narrowing the definition of who belongs. Or it can reaffirm the values that have guided it for centuries — the values embodied in Lazarus’ poem and in the countless stories of those who came seeking freedom. READ MORE

Robert Rees, Ph.D., is the former director of Latter-day Saint Studies at Graduate Theological Union and the co-founder and president of Fast-Forward for the Planet, a Utah nonprofit.

https://www.deseret.com/opinion/2026/01/28/open-heart-door-liberty-refuge-american-immigrants/

The Altar of Power: How Christian Nationalism Betrays the Constitution

Robert A. Rees

 “If it has been demonstrated that I have been willing to die for a ‘Mormon,’ I am bold to declare before Heaven that I am just as ready to die in defending the rights of a Presbyterian, a Baptist, or a good man of any denomination; . . . It is a love of liberty which inspires my soul — civil and religious liberty to the whole of the human race.”—Joseph Smith, 1843

For a movement that claims to revere the Constitution, the so-called “Christian Nationalist” movement allied with the present administration and led by the President and many in his cabinet and top officials, seems remarkably eager to ignore what our founding  document actually says about freedom of religion and our long adherence to national neutrality about its specific religious expressions and traditions. As Thomas Jefferson said so succinctly, “The constitutional freedom of religion [is] the most inalienable and sacred of all human rights.”

If the current administration has not violated the letter of the First Amendment, in its collective official greetings this past Christmas, it was certainly indifferent to the spirit of that amendment, beginning with the President, who effectively transformed his podium into a pulpit by saying, “The First Lady and I send our warmest wishes to all Americans as we share in the joy of Christmas Day and celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.”

Such sentiments were echoed by The Department of Homeland Security’s official social media declaration, “Rejoice America, Christ is born!” and “We are blessed to share a nation and a Savior,” accompanied by videos featuring crosses and mangers. The Department of Labor posted, “Let Earth Receive Her King,” while Secretary of State Marco Rubio used his official platform to preach that the "message of Christmas is the hope of Eternal Life through Christ." And "Secretary of War," Pete Hegseth, emblazoned an American flag with a message celebrating the birth of "our Lord and Savior."

As a devoted Christian, I was offended by the use of the possessive pronouns in these and similar official messages, as I assume were Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Native American, and other-believing citizens who have found solace and security in the words of our Constitution. Even though most Christians express such Christmas greetings, they are sensitive as to how other believers or non-believers might hear them spoken and therefore don’t express them from political podiums, at political gatherings, or in official government communications.

Since his return to power, Trump and his allies have worked tirelessly to recast America as a country whose identity is inseparable from a specific, politicized brand of Christianity. This isn't merely about personal piety; it is a calculated effort to use the federal government to endorse and support fundamentalist Christian theology and doctrine, thereby crossing a constitutional line that has stood for two hundred and fifty years.

This performance of piety, however, is deeply selective. Trump presents himself as a warrior against shadowy forces supposedly bent on erasing Christianity, but the inconsistency of this crusade is revealed by his selective actions and silences. For example, Trump’s “Muslim ban” directives of his first and second terms indiscriminately banned all immigrants from groups of Muslim-majority countries.

The most recent hypocritic example is Trump wishing for “Peace on Earth” New Year’s Eve and then ordering a violent, armed incursion into Venezuela to capture its president and first lady two days later. Beyond that is his new “Board of Peace” which he controls and on which he has invited to sit, among others, noted “peace-maker,” Vladimir Putin!

The Founders understood something that today’s White Christian nationalists refuse to accept: the moment the government begins privileging one religion, it diminishes all others. The United States has flourished precisely because faith was never imposed. Faith thrives in freedom; it withers under coercion or exclusivity.

If America is to remain a nation where all people have the choice to worship freely—or not worship at all—it will require rejecting Trump’s narrow,  exclusionary understanding of religious diversity. We must reaffirm the pluralism that is one of our greatest strengths and insist that our leaders serve all citizens, regardless of how, to whom, or even if they pray.

Robert A. Rees, Ph.D., is an independent scholar and humanitarian.

Earth Constitution's World Parliament seeks to replace the undemocratic UN Security Council

Global survey: Citizens in most countries lean toward a world parliament

Democracy Without Borders 

[and] Global citizens support a world parliament: leaders need to catch up 

George Papandreou 

Global survey: Citizens in most countries lean toward a world parliament

Democracy Without Borders 

EXCERPTS

As democracy faces pressure around the world and confidence in international law drops, a new global survey reveals that citizens in a vast majority of countries support the idea of creating a citizen-elected world parliament to deal with global issues. The survey, commissioned by Democracy Without Borders and conducted across 101 countries representing 90% of the world’s population, finds that 40% of respondents support the proposal, while only 27% are opposed. 33% selected a neutral stance. It is the largest poll ever carried out thus far on this subject.

Support is strongest in countries of the Global South, especially Sub-Saharan Africa, and among groups often underrepresented in national political systems—young people, ethnic minorities, and those with lower income or education levels. In 85 out of 101 countries surveyed, more respondents support the idea than oppose it.

The findings come at a time when the international system is under increasing strain from climate change, war, geopolitical conflicts, authoritarian resurgence, and stalled global cooperation. The results suggest that many citizens—especially in less powerful countries—see a world parliament as a pathway to fairer and more effective global governance.

“Whether it is climate change, economic justice or peace and security, the global issues we face require global democratic solutions. A world parliament is about dignity and equality on a global scale,” commented Ivone Soares, a Member of Parliament from Mozambique which, together with Türkiye, shows the strongest support in the survey.

The Executive Director of the Brazilian think tank Plataforma CIPÓ, Maiara Folly, noted the survey shows that “citizens across the Global South are at the forefront of calls for a democratic world parliament.” She added that the proposal aligns with Plataforma CIPÓ’s “vision of the need for more transparent, participatory, and results-oriented global governance—one in which citizens and those who represent them, including parliamentarians, play a stronger role, particularly in strengthening oversight and accelerating the implementation of internationally agreed commitments.”

Democracy Without Borders, an international civil society organization, advocates for the establishment of a UN Parliamentary Assembly as a step toward a democratic world parliament. The organization says the survey results reinforce the urgency for democratic governments to consider this long-standing proposal.  READ MORE

www.democracywithoutborders.org/40121/global-survey-citizens-in-most-countries-lean-toward-a-world-parliament/

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Global citizens support a world parliament: leaders need to catch up

George Papandreou

 A new global survey delivers a message that policymakers and institutions can no longer afford to ignore: people across the world are ready to discuss the idea of a democratically elected World Parliament and many already support it. They are ahead of their governments when it comes to re-imagining democracy and international politics.

Commissioned by Democracy Without Borders and covering 101 countries representing 90% of the world’s population, the survey finds that 40% of people globally support creating a World Parliament to address global issues. Only 27% are opposed, while a significant 33% remain neutral.

For the first time at this scale, we see clear evidence that a relative global majority supports the idea of a citizen-elected World Parliament – not as an abstract utopia, but likely as a response to real and shared challenges: climate breakdown, wars, pandemics, inequality, and the democratic deficit at the global level. Even more striking is that opposition globally remains a minority, while a large share of citizens remain open, undecided, and ready for dialogue.

People are ahead of their governments when it comes to re-imagining democracy and international politics

What stands out most powerfully is who supports this idea. Support is strongest among young people, among those with fewer economic and political privileges, among ethnic minorities, and among citizens living in regions that have historically been marginalized in global decision-making. In other words, those who experience exclusion most directly are calling most clearly for democratic inclusion – not less democracy, but more.

Equally revealing is where skepticism is strongest: in wealthy, stable democracies that have long held disproportionate influence over global institutions. This is not to be seen a rejection of democracy. It is a reminder that privilege may breed complacency, and that those who benefit from existing arrangements may underestimate how urgently democratic change is needed.

One third of respondents worldwide chose a neutral position. This is not apathy. It is a democratic opening. It signals unfamiliarity, not hostility, of- a public that has not yet been invited into a serious conversation about how global decisions are made, and who gets to shape them.

But whatever the case, the data from this survey highlights a common desire: to either gain or to maintain empowered voices. That is a democratic demand. 

These findings matter deeply at a time when authoritarianism is advancing and multilateral institutions such as the UN are under strain. It disputes the view that citizens somehow are in search of an authoritarian saviour.

Democracy remains humanity’s most powerful shared aspiration

It reminds us that democracy remains humanity’s most powerful shared aspiration – including at the global level. 

People living under restricted freedoms see global democratic representation not as a threat to sovereignty, but as a potential extension of their rights and dignity. That alone should challenge many assumptions held in established capitals.

A World Parliament is not a finished blueprint. It is a democratic challenge. A challenge to think in new and innovative ways about how democracy can serve us at the global scale. Democracy is alive when we ask the right questions and do so together. The survey demonstrates readiness for debate, for imagination, and for institutional courage.

The challenge is clear. We can continue to govern a deeply interconnected world with structures designed for another century, leading to catastrophe – or we can listen to the voices captured in this survey and begin the hard, hopeful work of democratizing globalization itself.

The future of democracy will not be saved by nostalgia for national institutions alone. It will be secured by extending democratic principles and culture wherever power is exercised – including globally.

This survey shows that the world’s citizens are ready to have that conversation.

Now it is time for leaders to catch up. Read More 

https://www.democracywithoutborders.org/40397/global-citizens-support-a-world-parliament-leaders-need-to-catch-up/

George Papandreou is a Member of the Greek Parliament and former Greek Prime Minister. He is General Rapporteur for Democracy of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.