Three years on, January 6 Capitol riot reverberates in US courts, 2024 race
Shattered glass. Clashes with police. Angry protesters scaling walls outside the United States Capitol. The images from the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021, remain some of the most memorable in modern political history. That day saw thousands of supporters of then-President Donald Trump storm the building in an effort to overturn his election defeat, forcing legislators to flee for safety. But three years on, the country continues to grapple with the ramifications. On Friday, the eve of the riot’s anniversary, current President Joe Biden evoked the violence in a campaign speech near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, warning of its enduring effects on US democracy. “Three years ago tomorrow, we saw with our own eyes the violent mob storm the United States Capitol,” he said. “For the first time in our history, insurrectionists had come to stop the peaceful transfer of power in America — the first time.” Biden also took a jab at Trump, calling him out for inaction on January 6 and election-related lies. “It was among the worst derelictions of duty by a president in American history.” How the insurrection is viewed remains a bitter point of contention, dividing the US public largely along partisan lines. Trump has maintained that the 2020 election was “stolen” from him, a falsehood that helped fuel the Capitol riot. This March, Trump faces a federal indictment for his role in trying to overturn the 2020 results. He is currently seeking a second term in the 2024 presidential race, as is Biden, the Democrat who defeated him in 2020. In addition to Trump’s case, lengthy prison sentences continue to be handed down to participants in the Capitol riot. On Thursday, Christopher Worrell, a member of the far-right Proud Boys group, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for his role in helping to breach the Capitol. He joined other prominent far-right figures — including ex-Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and Stewart Rhodes, head of the Oath Keepers militia — in facing a decade or more in prison. On the third anniversary of the Capitol riot, here’s all you need to know about how the insurrection continues to reverberate across the US. Trump, who has denied any wrongdoing in the Capitol riot, is the 2024 Republican presidential frontrunner [File: Scott Morgan/Reuters] Trump case In August, the former Republican president was indicted in a federal case brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith, a former prosecutor appointed to investigate his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. Trump faces four criminal counts as part of the indictment: conspiracy to defraud the US, conspiracy against rights, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding and obstructing an official proceeding. US prosecutors argued that Trump “attempted to exploit the violence and chaos at the Capitol by calling lawmakers to convince them, based on knowingly false claims of election fraud, to delay the certification” of the election results. Trump has pleaded not guilty to the charges and denied any wrongdoing. The ex-president has also accused prosecutors of conducting a politically motivated “witch hunt” to derail his 2024 re-election bid. The federal case is set to begin on March 4, a day before “Super Tuesday”, when more than a dozen states are expected to hold their 2024 election primaries. Criminal charges In early December, the Department of Justice released its most recent tally of the criminal charges that resulted from the January 6 riot, noting that more than 1,237 people have been charged. Of those, more than 700 defendants pleaded guilty to a variety of charges. About 450 have been sentenced to prison. So far, the most serious riot-related charge has been seditious conspiracy. A relatively rare charge dating to the Civil War era, seditious conspiracy is used to prosecute two or more defendants accused of plotting to overthrow the US government, launch a war against it or hinder its authority, including the execution of its laws. Seditious conspiracy is notoriously difficult to prosecute. Nevertheless, Rhodes and Tarrio were both convicted of it last year, receiving 18- and 22-year prison terms respectively — the longest sentences to date. On Thursday, in an address ahead of the January 6 anniversary, US Attorney Matthew Graves described “scenes often reminiscent of a medieval battle”, where police were forced to engage in hand-to-hand combat with rioters armed with “dangerous weapons, including firearms”. “The siege of the Capitol is likely the largest single-day mass assault of law enforcement officers in our nation’s history,” Graves said. He noted that the 140 reports of physical injury among police officers likely represent an undercount. Political polarisation Meanwhile, a notable percentage of Americans continue to believe the false claim that the 2020 election was stolen through widespread voter fraud — an idea spread by Trump and his allies. Critics say this belief helped motivate the thousands of rioters who attacked the Capitol on January 6. A recent Washington Post-University of Maryland poll found that 36 percent of respondents still “do not accept Biden’s victory as legitimate”. Eight in 10 Trump voters and 72 percent of Republicans overall said they believed too much was made of the riot and it is “time to move on”. That contrasts with only 14 percent of Democrats, the poll found. Respondents were also starkly divided over whether Trump is guilty of conspiracy to defraud the US, the charge accusing him of lying to illegally try to overturn the election. While 56 percent of Americans overall said they believe Trump is “probably/definitely guilty” of the conspiracy charge, only 18 percent of Republicans agreed, compared with 88 percent of Democrats, the survey said. Rioters attacked the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on January 6, 2021, as Congress was certifying Electoral College votes [File: John Minchillo/AP Photo] Effect on 2024 race Trump is currently the frontrunner for the Republican nomination in the 2024 race, leading his party rivals by a wide margin. That means he is likely to face Biden again in November, though the four criminal indictments he faces could complicate his campaign. Meanwhile, the top court in
Sudan’s army chief al-Burhan says ‘no reconciliation’ with paramilitary RSF
Abdel Fattah al-Burhan rejects latest peace efforts, saying RSF fighters are ‘committing war crimes’ across country. Sudan’s army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has promised to continue a nine-month war between the military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), rejecting the latest peace efforts. RSF head Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo agreed earlier this week to a ceasefire proposed by civilian groups, contingent on the military also agreeing. But observers responded sceptically in light of the paramilitary force’s prior unfulfilled promises. “The whole world witnessed these rebel forces committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in West Darfur and the rest of Sudan. For that reason, we have no reconciliation with them, we have no agreement with them,” al-Burhan, who is also Sudan’s head of state, told troops gathered in Port Sudan in video released by his office on Friday. He was referring to ethnic cleansing in and around the West Darfur city of El Geneina. The United States has accused both the army and RSF of war crimes, and it says the RSF is also responsible for crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing. The war that began on April 15 has devastated wide swaths of Sudan and displaced more than 7.5 million people. ‘Coward’ With the RSF appearing to gain the upper hand in the fight, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, an African trade bloc, got al-Burhan and Dagalo last month to agree to an in-person meeting. But al-Burhan on Friday ruled that out and called his rival a “clown”, “traitor” and “coward”. He rejected the ceasefire deal Dagalo signed in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, this week. Al-Burhan also criticised leaders of African countries including South Africa, Ethiopia and Kenya who received Dagalo as a statesman during visits this week and Sudanese politicians who met him in Ethiopia. “He is humiliating the Sudanese people, he is killing them, insulting them, and some people are clapping for him and laughing with him,” al-Burhan said. The RSF has faced growing popular resistance in northern Sudan after it last month raided Gezira state and ransacked farming villages. Al-Burhan said he would arm Sudanese people who wanted to fight the RSF and urged them to join the military. The country faces the threat of falling under “bondage and colonialism”, al-Burhan said. It was an apparent reference to the United Arab Emirates, which the army accuses of supporting the RSF. Dagalo has shared photos in which he was disembarking from a jet owned by an Emirati airline that flight records show has gone to the places on his regional tour. Adblock test (Why?)
T20 World Cup 2024: India vs Pakistan scheduled on June 9 in New York
India and Pakistan will face each other in New York in their group-stage match at the T20 World Cup 2024. The cricketing rivals have been scheduled to play at the 34,000-seat modular stadium in Long Island on June 9. Tournament co-host, the United States, will open the ninth edition of the event against its North American neighbour, Canada, on June 1 in Dallas. The defending champions, England, are in the same group as Ashes rivals Australia, and will play each other on June 8 in Barbados. The International Cricket Council (ICC) announced the schedule on Friday, six months before the expanded 20-team tournament, which runs until June 29 when joint co-hosts, the West Indies, will host the final in Barbados. The top two teams from each of the four groups will progress to the Super Eight round in an event that will comprise 55 matches. “The T20 World Cup 2024 marks an exciting expansion of our sport with more teams than ever before set to compete in this event,” ICC chief executive Geoff Allardice said. Pakistan’s Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam celebrate after beating India in the Super 12 stage in 2021 [File: Hamad I Mohammed/Reuters] “It’s going to be an incredible spectacle bringing together teams from Africa, the Americas, Asia, East-Asia Pacific and Europe.” Florida completes the three US venues to host group stage matches, although the tournament thereafter will solely be staged in the Caribbean. The schedule for the 2023 Cricket World Cup, the one-day international equivalent ICC event, was only announced four months before the tournament, leaving fans irked by the timeframe for which to make travel arrangements. Presenting the 2⃣0⃣ teams that will battle for ICC Men’s #T20WorldCup 2024 🏆 ✍: https://t.co/Oqz5IqMMV4 pic.twitter.com/PdPo5r8Zf4 — T20 World Cup (@T20WorldCup) November 30, 2023 Cricket West Indies chief executive Johnny Graves said Friday’s announcement marked a “significant milestone” in their preparations. “We know that teams, fans and cricket enthusiasts worldwide have been eagerly awaiting this announcement,” Graves said. “Now that it is available, it provides a roadmap for the thrilling journey that lies ahead.” India were defeated finalists on home soil at the recent 50-over World Cup as Australia upset the odds to win by six wickets in Ahmedabad. They were also left frustrated in the 2021 T20 World Cup, finishing just outside the qualification spot from their Super 12 group. Pakistan topped that group, beating India by 10 wickets on the way, but were knocked out at the semifinal stage by Australia. They finished fifth in the group to miss out on a place in the last four at the 2023 50-over tournament in India, where the host nation exacted revenge for the 2021 defeat. Adblock test (Why?)
Al Jazeera journalist Samir Sassi released in Tunis two days after arrest
Sassi was arrested on Wednesday at his house. The Al Jazeera journalist, Samir Sassi, has been released by a court in Tunis, following his arrest on terrorism charges earlier this week. Police first entered Sassi’s house late on Wednesday evening, searching his computer and confiscating his mobile phone and those of his wife and four children. Speaking to the press agency AFP, Sassi’s lawyer, Ayachi Hammami – a prominent former member of parliament and human rights activist, confirmed that his client had been released. Speaking separately, a source with knowledge of the matter suggested to Al Jazeera that no further action was presently being considered by authorities, “for now, at least,” they added. Responding to Sassi’s release, Khaled Drareni, the North African representative of the press freedom organisation, Reporters Sans Frontieres told Al Jazeera, “We condemn the unjustified arrest of Samir Sassi, and continue to call on the Tunisian authorities to cease all forms of harassment against journalists. “In our view, this latest arrest is further evidence of the authorities’ strategy of threatening press freedom in the country and creating a climate of fear for journalists,” he said. Prosecutions of journalists and opponents of the government have continued apace since the introduction of Decree Law 54, ostensibly intended to combat misinformation online. Its provisions have increasingly been used to muzzle criticism of Saied’s presidency. At the time of writing, more than 20 journalists and activists were awaiting trial after being charged for online offences. Police recently arrested three journalists – Khalifa Guesmi of Mosaique FM, Chadha Hadj Mbarek, and well-known radio journalist Zied el-Heni on December 28, charging him with insulting Tunisian Commerce Minister Kalthoum Ben Rejeb, on his radio programme, Emission Impossible. “The detention of journalists in such a reckless manner reflects an authoritarian mindset of the authorities tracking anyone who expresses their opinion,” Mahdi Jlassi, president of the National Syndicate of Tunisian Journalists (SNJT), told Al Jazeera. “What’s alarming in Samir Sassi’s case is that he was interrogated for 48 hours under the terrorism law, deprived of his right to have a lawyer present during the interrogation. “This constitutes a blatant violation of fair trial conditions. This breach, along with the disregard for procedures, the right to defence, the right to a fair trial, and ensuring the presumption of innocence … all are characteristics of political trials and trials based on opinion in Tunisia for over two years.” The United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk said last year he was “deeply concerned” about the crackdown on media in Tunisia, with vaguely worded legislation used to criminalise criticism. The SNJT is currently planning on staging a protest outside the country’s principal court in Tunis when el-Heni, the radio journalist, appears there on Wednesday. Adblock test (Why?)
Video shows rare Sumatran tiger cub and mother on first days together
NewsFeed A rare Sumatran tiger has been born at Rome’s Bioparco Zoo. Shown with her motherin video released by the zoo on Jan 5, the cub isn’t ready for public viewing just yet. The birth is a proud moment for the zoo’s conservation efforts as the Sumatran tiger species is at risk of extinction. Published On 5 Jan 20245 Jan 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
Hezbollah chief warns Lebanon could be ‘exposed’ to more Israeli attacks
Nasrallah again pledges retaliation for killing of Hamas deputy chief al-Arouri, says Hezbollah ‘cannot be silent’. The head of Lebanese armed group Hezbollah has said that all of Lebanon will be exposed if the group does not react to the assassination of Hamas deputy chief Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut this week. Speaking in a televised address for the second time in less than a week, Hassan Nasrallah reaffirmed that Hezbollah “cannot be silent about a violation of this level”. “This means that all of Lebanon will become exposed, all cities, villages, and figures will become exposed,” he said. “The murder of al-Arouri … will certainly not go without reaction and punishment.” Al-Arouri was killed in an alleged Israeli attack on a southern suburb of Beirut on Tuesday, a stronghold of Hezbollah. Nasrallah’s comments come as Lebanon filed a complaint to the United Nations Security Council over the assassination of al-Arouri, calling it the “most dangerous phase” of Israeli attacks on the country. The complaint said Israel used six missiles in the attack that killed al-Arouri and added that Israel uses Lebanese airspace to bomb Syria, the Reuters news agency said, citing the document dated January 4. This is not the first time that Nasrallah promised retaliation. He had on Wednesday warned Israel against expanding its war, saying there would be “no ceilings” and “no rules” to his group’s fighting if Israel chose to launch a war on Lebanon. “Whoever thinks of war with us – in one word, he will regret it,” Nasrallah said. ‘670 military operations’ Al Jazeera’s Imran Khan, reporting from Beirut, said Nasrallah reiterated a promise to retaliate. Nasrallah said al-Arouri’s killing “will not go unanswered or unpunished”, and that Hezbollah fighters will use the “right place and the right time, and the field will respond”, Khan said. Nasrallah also said “We have full knowledge of where Israeli military positions are,” and the Israelis “aren’t revealing the true number of their casualties, and the destruction of their equipment”, our correspondent added. In his remarks, the Hezbollah leader said Lebanon’s southern border with Israel was a “key part” of the war, and that the group’s current operations along the border opened a “historic opportunity” for Lebanon to liberate its land occupied by Israel. He added that the Islamic resistance in Iraq also has a “historic opportunity” to get rid of the United States presence in that country. Nasrallah said Hezbollah fighters had conducted approximately 670 military operations on the Lebanon-Israel border, adding that the group destroyed a “large number of Israeli vehicles and tanks”. He also said if the Israeli military managed to achieve its military goals in Gaza, it would then turn to Lebanon. Since October 8 – a day after Israel launched its war on the Gaza Strip – continuing clashes between the Israeli army and Hezbollah along the Israel-Lebanon border have resulted in the deaths of dozens of Lebanese civilians and more than 140 Hezbollah members. Israel and armed groups in southern Lebanon, particularly Hezbollah, have engaged in frequent back-and-forth exchanges across the United Nations-patrolled border. Adblock test (Why?)
Eleven miners trapped after collapse of Zimbabwe mine
Mine accidents are not uncommon in Zimbabwe where disused mines often attract young unemployed men. Eleven subsistence mine workers are trapped in an underground shaft after a ground collapse at Zimbabwe’s Redwing Mine, 270 km (167.77 miles) west of the capital Harare, authorities said on Friday. The incident took place on Thursday morning, with initial assessments pointing to earth tremors as the possible cause of the accident, Zimbabwe’s mines ministry said in a statement. Metallon Corporation, which owns Redwing Mine, confirmed the incident in a separate statement. The company has deployed a rescue team to bring the trapped miners back to the surface, it added. “The team has made several rescue attempts. However, the ground remains unstable, rendering rescue operations unsafe. Our teams are diligently assessing ground conditions to make sure the rescue operations proceed safely as soon as possible,” Metallon said. Mining operations at Redwing have been undertaken by subsistence miners carrying out unsanctioned work since the mine was placed under corporate rescue in 2020, the company said. Mine accidents are not uncommon in Zimbabwe. For years, many unemployed young men in Zimbabwe’s gold-rich areas have earned a living by working in unregulated mines with little to no safety procedures. At least nine people died in September after the collapse of Bay Horse Mine, a disused gold mine in Chegutu, about 110km (70 miles) west of Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare. Adblock test (Why?)
Facing high rates of sexual violence, Colombia turns to salsa as therapy
Cali, Colombia – As the only sister to nine brothers, Carmen Diaz enjoyed a boisterous childhood in the port city of Buenaventura, Colombia. Together with her siblings, she would wreak havoc around the house or go out in the streets and kick a ragged ball around for hours. “I adored playing football,” said Diaz, who asked to be called by a pseudonym. But her joyful, rambunctious childhood came to an end when her uncle started to sexually abuse her, she said. The assault continued over multiple occasions. When she told her parents about what happened, they refused to believe her and instead accused her of lying. Feeling distraught, Diaz decided to run away from home at the age of 13. Diaz ended up sleeping on the streets of the nearby city of Cali and became addicted to drugs. Eventually, she found shelter through the city’s social services, which connected her with resources for minors. That’s how she discovered her lifeline: salsa dancing. It was part of an experimental therapy project run by the local nonprofit, Mi Cuerpo Es Mi Historia, a name that translates to “My body is my story”. The project combines salsa dancing and psychotherapy to help survivors of sexual violence express their emotions and process their trauma over the course of several months. “Dancing can help to heal trauma,” said project founder Martha Isabel Cordoba Arevalo, a psychologist and avid dancer who was born and raised in Cali, known as the world capital of salsa. “When survivors do not want to speak about what happened to them, or if they are not able to, movement gives them a different way of expression.” Children attend a dance class run by Mi Cuerpo Es Mi Historia in Buenaventura, Colombia [Fanny Aparicio/Al Jazeera] Over the past decade, Mi Cuerpo Es Mi Historia has worked with approximately 700 young girls, mostly through referrals from city services. Treatment starts with performance classes, focusing on acting, singing or dancing. Then, the next step is to let participants explore topics they chose through performance techniques. By the end of the programme, organisers hope the art can be an outlet for participants to understand and cope with their experiences. Recovering from trauma, however, is never easy or straightforward. Arevalo remembers meeting Diaz, now 28, when she was only a teenager, newly referred to the programme. She observed that Diaz seemed aggressive — hurt by all that she had endured — and did not want to interact with the programme’s psychologists. “I was afraid of men,” said Diaz. “The male psychologists I spoke to, they made me scared.” But Arevalo soon discovered that Diaz had a natural talent for salsa. Week by week, the teenager seemed more relaxed. The fast pace of salsa’s tumbao beat kept Diaz’s mind — and her heels — busy, as she flicked across the dance floor, her body swaying to the sound of trumpets and timbales. “When I was dancing, I felt free and happy,” Diaz said. “It was the best treatment for me. I don’t feel like a victim any more. I am a survivor.” A growing body of research supports the claim that dance and movement can have benefits for the mind, as well as the body. A review of 41 studies published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology in 2019 found that dance movement therapy reduced anxiety and depression, “consistently” improving related conditions. Dita Federman, a dance movement therapist who has researched sexual abuse, argues this unconventional treatment method can reach some patients in ways other interventions cannot. “It can be crucial in helping some patients,” said Federman. “Dance therapy can lead to increased heart rate, using coordinated movement and balance, and what happens while dancing is that people are more likely to recall and express past memories.” The city of Cali, Colombia, is famous for its fast-paced brand of salsa dancing, and dancers often fill the streets for events like the annual Cali Fair [File: Jaime Saldarriaga/Reuters] But Arevalo cautioned that addressing sexual violence is extremely complex and that no simple solution exists. “You need time and resources, and you need trained professionals in order to make deep modifications or restorations of lives,” she said. “Not everyone has that luxury.” Federman also warned that, in every type of therapy, there is a risk of re-traumatisation. Dance is no exception. “It should be done very slowly, without directly questioning [the survivors] for emotional material,” she said. “If it comes up from them, then it comes up. But it shouldn’t be forced.” And while there has been research into its efficacy, Federman said knowledge about dance movement therapy remains limited because of the difficulty in obtaining permission to study survivors of sexual violence. “There’s so much we don’t yet know,” she said. But proponents believe dance therapy could help make small steps in responding to the stark levels of gender-based violence in Colombia. One third of women in the Latin American nation have suffered physical or sexual violence at the hands of a partner, according to the United Nation’s Global Database on Violence. Colombia’s six-decade-long internal conflict has also contributed to high rates of sexual violence. In September, the Special Jurisdiction for Peace — a court set up to investigate crimes committed during the conflict — announced that at least 35,178 people had suffered gender-based violence between 1957 and 2016. Right-wing paramilitary groups were responsible for the largest number of incidents, at approximately 33 percent. Women made up the vast majority of the victims, comprising 89 percent overall. “The bodies of women have been used as a target of war,” said Arevalo. To reduce the risk of re-traumatisation, Arevalo avoids using “direct” dance partners in her sessions with young survivors. Instead, the dancers learn their steps in a larger, coordinated group. And when they pair up, they often use a technique called “mirroring”, whereby dancers replicate their partner’s moves at a distance. Arevalo said there is also plenty of room for individual improvisation in salsa, which can be
Shipping giant Maersk to avoid Red Sea routes for ‘foreseeable future’
Due to ‘volatile’ situation amid Houthi attacks, ships will go around Africa, increasing journey times and shipping costs. Container shipping giant Maersk has announced it will divert all vessels around Africa instead of using the Red Sea and the Suez Canal for the “foreseeable future”. Maersk said on Friday that the decision was due to the volatile situation in the Red Sea as Yemen’s Houthis continue to attack vessels that pass through the busy waterway. “We have therefore decided that all Maersk vessels due to transit the Red Sea/Gulf of Aden will be diverted south around the Cape of Good Hope for the foreseeable future,” the Danish company said. The trip around Africa can add about 10 days to journey times and requires more fuel and crew time, increasing shipping costs. “The situation is constantly evolving and remains highly volatile, and all available intelligence at hand confirms that the security risk continues to be at a significantly elevated level,” Maersk added. The Houthis have said they are targeting vessels linked to Israel in the Red Sea shipping lane in solidarity with Palestinians who are facing relentless bombardment in the ongoing war on Gaza. Armed men stand on the beach near a commercial ship seized by Yemen’s Houthis off the coast of al-Salif, Yemen [File: Khaled Abdullah/Reuters] On Tuesday, Maersk said it would pause all vessels that would cross through the Red Sea following an attack on one of its ships, the Singapore-flagged Maersk Hangzhou, by Houthis, and has since begun redirecting ships. The company also rerouted four out of five southbound container vessels already passing through the Suez Canal back north for the long journey around Africa on Thursday. “While we continue to hope for a sustainable resolution in the near future and do all we can to contribute towards it, we do encourage customers to prepare for complications in the area to persist and for there to be significant disruption to the global network,” Maersk said. Since November, at least 25 commercial vessels operating in the southern Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden have been attacked. Last month, the United States launched a multinational operation to safeguard commerce in the Red Sea. However, due to continued attacks, many shipping companies are still diverting vessels around Africa. On Wednesday, a coalition of 12 countries, led by the US, issued a statement calling on the Houthis for an “immediate end of these illegal attacks and release of unlawfully detained vessels and crews”, and warned of “consequences”. The waterway is the main route for about 12 percent of world trade, according to the International Chamber of Shipping. The Red Sea connects the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean and Europe to Asia. Adblock test (Why?)
The (not so) surprising revelations of the Epstein list
What do former United States presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump have in common with Hyatt Hotels executive chairman Thomas Pritzker and celebrity lawyer Alan Dershowitz? In addition to being white American men who have usurped a disproportionate share of the planet’s wealth, they were among the first names recently exposed in previously sealed court documents identifying associates of paedophile financier and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, who died by suicide in a US prison in 2019. Assorted other members of the international elite were also named, including Britain’s Prince Andrew and the late Michael Jackson. More than 150 identities in total are expected to be released. Of course, the naming of names in itself does not constitute a criminal accusation and while media outlets have raced with orgasmic fervour to exploit the tabloidesque potential of the news story, we are not actually talking about any shocking revelations here. After all, in a world defined by US-led patriarchal capitalism – in which women suffer a particular sort of objectification and commodification – it’s no surprise that those at the top of the hierarchy would fully endorse the whole brutal arrangement. Take Donald Trump, for example, who has faced all manner of rape and sexual harassment allegations while also intermittently emitting lewd comments about his own daughter, among them: “If Ivanka weren’t my daughter, perhaps I’d be dating her.” Is it so astounding, in the end, that he would hobnob with the likes of Epstein? Meanwhile, Bill Clinton’s name appears no fewer than 73 times in the documents released thus far, including in Epstein victim Johanna Sjoberg’s testimony, according to which Epstein once informed her that Clinton ”’likes them young’, referring to girls”. Tell us something we didn’t know. Anyway, ethics have never been the strong point of any head of state of a global superpower that has long been dedicated to, well, slaughtering and otherwise making life hell for folks worldwide. For his part, billionaire Thomas Pritzker of the Hyatt Hotels empire comes up in the unsealed court documents as one of the men whom Epstein victim Virginia Roberts Giuffre was allegedly forced to service. He is also an “amateur scholar of Chinese history,” as per his bio on the website of the Washington, DC-based Aspen Institute – just another charmingly cultured super-capitalist whose existence is predicated on crippling inequality and other nice things. And then, of course, there’s criminal lawyer and former Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz, who appears in the documents as someone Epstein “required” an underage woman to have sex with various times, according to the woman’s allegations. As Al Jazeera reported on January 4, Dershowitz furthermore “played a significant role in negotiating an agreement that provided immunity from federal prosecution in the Southern District of Florida not only for Epstein but also for ‘any potential co-conspirators of Epstein’, the documents say”. Of all the contenders on the so-called “Epstein list” to date, the Dershowitz case is perhaps the most deserving of consideration at the present moment, given that he has potentially been tapped by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to defend Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague. Israel will appear before said court to contest the accusation, made by South Africa, that it is committing genocide in the Gaza Strip, where the Israeli military has killed more than 22,000 Palestinians in less than three months. In other words, the “genocide” case is a no-brainer in theory. But Dershowitz happens to specialise in that brand of “criminal law” that defends criminals against fact and logic. He has already brandished his beyond-fanatically Zionist credentials on numerous occasions – like during the summer 2006 Israeli war on Lebanon that killed 1,200 people in 34 days, the vast majority of them civilians. One week into the assault, Dershowitz took to the pages of the Wall Street Journal in an appeal titled “Arithmetic of Pain”, where he proposed a “continuum of civilianality” to basically argue that, contrary to international opinion, there simply weren’t that many bona fide “civilians” in places like Lebanon. On the Dershowitzian “continuum”, not even women and children could “always be counted as civilians, as some organisations do”. Such notions will no doubt come in handy in the event that Dershowitz does indeed become the face of Israel at the ICJ. In 2012, during Israel’s brief “Pillar of Defence” offensive in the Gaza Strip, Dershowitz took media outlets to task for their failure to specify that Israel only commits “lawful actions” while Hamas only commits war crimes. In this particular offensive, Israel killed 87 Palestinian civilians in eight days, among them 35 children and 14 women – at least in the view of those of us who continue to subscribe to the concept of “civilians”. Fast forward to the current genocide, and Dershowitz has predictably slammed “radical feminists” for obsessing over the Epstein stuff rather than “condemning Hamas”. To be sure, the Epstein list comes not so much as a shock as a reminder that lots of horrifying behaviour is being conducted by the powers that be in a nasty system where elite domination remains above the law. But as the tabloidesque coverage rolls on, remember that this is not really news at all. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance. Adblock test (Why?)