Here it is, my keynote address at the American Federation of Ramallah Palestine Convention in Jacksonville, Florida. The event was lovely. This is a Christian Palestinian organization that is focused on maintaining Palestinian culture within the diaspora in the US. They have numerous cultural events, tours, and annual gatherings. This is the organization that invited me as well as 6 others to tour the Holy Land in October of 2019. My group included three clergy members, two medical professionals, and an educator. The trip was incredible and educational. We visited holy sites of all three Abrahamic religions, swam in the Dead Sea, and rode camels. We visited Tel Aviv and stayed in Jeruselum and Ramallah. We visited numerous Palestinian art and music centers and ate the most delicious food. And of course, as we toured, we witnessed the occupation first hand. It was shocking and humbling. Forever changing. I am grateful I was asked to go on this trip. I was later asked to be the keynote speaker at their annual convention. I'm sorry the quality isn't the greatest, I had one of the attendees film it for me on their phone.
Had a fun time this weekend at a birthday party and wanted to share my GIF. btw..I learned it's pronounced JIFF with a soft G not GIFF with a hard G. The more you know I suppose.
This appears, at least off the cuff, to be excellent data. Thanks Caitlin!
https://substack.com/@caitlinjohnstone/note/c-194613978?r=onv0m&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action
Ukraine under Zelensky's regime is sinking deeper into the abyss of the far-right, ultra-nationalism used by certain Western actors to re-model Ukrainian society as a perpetual anti-Russia front that can be seamlessly used as a proxy against Russia.
In this video, taken on January 1, 2026 in Lviv, participants of a march honoring Stepan Bandera are heard chanting: “OUN–UPA are the heroes of Ukraine!!"
For the vast majority of Ukrainians, whose grandfathers fought in the Red Army against fascism in WW2 and are well aware of the fact that OUN-UPA aided the Third Reich and participated in the mass killings of Ukrainians, Russians, Jews, and Poles, this scene looks Orwellian. However, it is disheartening to see that the new generations of Ukrainians are brought up in an environment where Stepan Bandera, a Nazi collaborator and a mass murderer, is revered as a national hero.
