Palestine Open Thread 2024-224

News & views related to the war in Palestine ...

Ukraine Open Thread 2024-223

News & views related to the war in Ukraine ...

Open (Neither Ukraine Nor Palestine) Thread 2024-222

News & views not related to the wars in Ukraine and Palestine ...

Israel's Pager Attack - A Sophisticated One-Times Shot With Little Effect

Yesterday's terrorist attack by Israel against Hizbullah in Lebanon was quite sophisticated.

Back in February Hizbullah had urged its affiliates to avoid smart-phones, which can be controlled by foreign intelligence services, and to instead use pagers to receive text messages and alarms when necessary.

Israel must have recognized that suggestion as a chance to infiltrate the supply chain for these communication tools.

It somehow managed to manipulate pager shipments to Lebanon some of which would be acquired by Hizbullah and its affiliates. Yesterday specific encoded messages were sent to the manipulated pagers. Some moments later they started to blow up. Eleven people were killed and some 4,000 were wounded.

Not all people killed or wounded were members of Hizbullah. Pagers are also used by emergency and volunteer services. Western media avoid to call this attack a terrorist operation. But just ask yourself how they would describe the attack if this had happened to the other side of the conflict.

Pagers are not an exclusive means of Hizbullah. The attack was indiscriminate. The explosions happened in many situations of daily life - during visits in shops (vid), in driving cars in the middle of traffic, near to bystanders including children.

The pagers were sold under the brand name of Gold Apollo, a Taiwanese company specialized in such devices. But, according to the company, the devices sold in Lebanon were manufactured under license by the Hungarian company BAC Consulting KFT.

Cont. reading: Israel's Pager Attack - A Sophisticated One-Times Shot With Little Effect

Israel's Threat To Wage War On Hizbullah Is Getting More Serious

Yesterday the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahoo threatened to fire his Defense Minister Yoav Gallant:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was set to oust Defense Minister Yoav Gallant from his position, a senior political official said on Monday. Netanyahu planned to add Gideon Saar's New Hope party to the coalition adding four seats to his Knesset majority.

The move raised concern among the families of hostages currently held in Gaza because of Saar's position opposing a deal with Hamas that would see hostages freed. Stocks fell and gas prices spiked amid expectations of the government reshuffle.

The rift between Netanyahu and Gallant has widened in recent months after the defense minister opposed the prime minister's refusal to agree to a deal that would free hostages. The position of the Defense Ministry, the IDF, Shin Bet and Mossad is that Israel can deal with the security risks that would emerge from such a deal and that the release of hostages must be a priority.

Gallant, despite being as radical as Netanyahoo, is the only asset the U.S. government still has in the cabinet:

U.S. officials are concerned over the possible Gallant ousting, claiming he is the 'only adult in the room' in Netanyahu's government after the relations between the prime minister and U.S. President Joe Biden have again soured ...

Gallant is opposed to several of Netanyahoo's policies:

• He wants a ceasefire deal in Gaza that would allow the hostages to be freed. Netanyahoo rejects a ceasefire.
• He wants to prevent a law that would exempt Haredi men from military service. The Ultraorthodox members of the cabinet press Netanyahoo to pass the exemption.
• He is skeptical about an attack on Hezbollah in Lebanon. Other parts of the coalition are pressing for it.

After being threatened to be fired Gallant conceded on the last point:

Cont. reading: Israel's Threat To Wage War On Hizbullah Is Getting More Serious

West Experiences Blowback From Fostering Fascists In Ukraine

At the start of the Special Military Operation in February 2022 I warned of the blowback that, I asserted, would likely come if the West continued to pamper Nazi groups in Ukraine:

The U.S. aim is to create an insurgency in the Ukraine.

The Coming Ukrainian Insurgency - Foreign Affairs
Russia’s Invasion Could Unleash Forces the Kremlin Can’t Control

Since 2015 the CIA has trained Ukrainian groups for exactly that purpose.

CIA-trained Ukrainian paramilitaries may take central role if Russia invades - Yahoo

CIA support for Ukrainian Nazis has a long history.

Op-Ed: The CIA has backed Ukrainian insurgents before. Let’s learn from those mistakes - LA Times

A new Nazi insurgency in eastern Europe is an exceptionally bad idea. Fascist groups from everywhere would join in. A few years from now it may well lead to Nazi terror in many European countries. Have we learned really nothing from the war on Syria and the ISIS campaign?

Me and Ivan Katchanovski were probably the only ones who had warned of this:

Katchanovski adds that, “This is also going to have a dangerous effect on Ukraine and potentially other countries because now, basically, Nazis in Ukraine are made into national heroes.” He also noted that Azov (as well as Western governments) has consistently pressured Zelensky — including with threats, and even before Russia invaded — not to seek a peace deal with Russia or withdraw forces from the Donbas region. In February, Azov branded Zelensky a “servant of the Russian people” after he suggested that he might negotiate with Moscow.

Katchanovski said that the valorization of the Azov Regiment is comparable to how the West initially supported the predecessors of the Taliban in their fight against the Soviet Union’s intervention in the war in Afghanistan in the 1980s, and also risks inspiring yet more far-right activists from other countries to join the conflict in Ukraine in order to gain military experience, potentially causing a blowback effect if they make it home.

Yesterday one avid U.S. supporter of the fascists in Ukraine tried to assassinate the Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump:

Cont. reading: West Experiences Blowback From Fostering Fascists In Ukraine

Palestine Open Thread 2024-221

News & views related to the war in Palestine ...

Ukraine Open Thread 2024-220

News & views related to the war in Ukraine ...

The MoA Week In Review - OT 2024-219

Ukraine:

• Sep 11 - Ukraine SitRep: End Of The Kursk Incursion - Long Range Missiles - Ending The War
  Related:
  - Zelenskyy’s power grab is bad for Ukraine - Politico
  - The NATO/Ukraine Defeat in Kursk (and Beyond) - Gordon Hahn
  - Ukrainians warn of being surrounded as Russia advances in east - BBC
  - Ukraine’s Kursk offensive was seen as a major success, but it came at a huge cost - CNN

War with Russia:

• Sep 8 - Ukraine - CIA/MI-6 Chiefs Push For New Terror Campaign Against Russia
• Sep 13 - Vladimir Putin Does Not Make Empty Threats
• Sep 14 - Biden Admin Decides - For Now - Against Long Range Strikes On Russia
  Related:
  - RAY McGOVERN: Conditioning Americans for War With Russia - Consortiumnews
  - Putin Calls for Sanctions Revenge, Threatens to Cap Uranium Exports - Naked Capitalism
  - A True Shock? Economist Jeffrey Sachs Reveals Secret at Heart of U.S.-Russian Relations - The Racket

Election:

• Sep 10 - Harris And Trump Debate Whatever
  Related:
  - THE HOLES IN HARRIS'S DEBATE VICTORY - Seymour Hersh
  - Evangelicals for Harris is Astroturf - American Conservative

Palestine:

• Sep 9 - Zionists Are Calling For More War And May Well Get It
  Related:
  - Infected wounds, maggots and no escape. Gaza’s humanitarian crisis hits new lows as sanitary conditions plummet - CNN
  - Israel seeking to close down Unrwa, says agency’s chief after school bombing - Guardian
  - Why did a British Jewish newspaper publish fake Israeli intelligence? - 972mag
  - Ballistic missile fired by Yemen’s Houthis hits Israel sparking fire - AlJazeerah
  - Inside the Movement to Settle Southern Lebanon - Jewish Currents

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Other issues:

Cont. reading: The MoA Week In Review - OT 2024-219

Biden Admin Decides - For Now - Against Long Range Strikes On Russia

It seems that Biden administration for once decided to listen to what President Putin of Russia had to say.

Putin had warned of a war between Russia and NATO should the U.S. and its allies allow Ukraine the use the long-range weapons they donated against targets in Russia. Putin correctly asserted that these weapons can only be programmed and fired by trained personnel from the donor country.

Deciding against allowing such strikes was the right thing to do but it could unfortunately be revised on a later day:

Sir Keir Starmer was set to leave Washington on Friday night without any announcement on allowing Ukraine to fire long-range missiles into Russia.

The Prime Minister held talks with Joe Biden in the White House to discuss pleas from Volodymyr Zelensky to let the country use the Storm Shadow missiles.

But John Kirby, a spokesman for the US national security council, said there would be no announcement on long-range missiles after the meeting. He did not rule out one at a later date.

Foreign Office sources had briefed against expecting the green light at the end of Starmer’s visit, but it will come as a disappointment to leave without a decision.

After the meeting, Sir Keir said the pair had come to a “strong position” but suggested a final decision on Storm Shadow had been deferred to the UN General Assembly at the end of the month.

There seems to have been a fight within the Biden administration where a hawkish part within the State Department and National Security Council had been briefing media towards a decision in favor of deep strikes while the Pentagon was strongly against any further provocation of Russia.

The generals know what Russian weapons could do to their assets should Russia decide to let someone shot back at them.