The Arabs Are Reunited And Israel Is Out
Just ten weeks ago I was in awe. "This is huge!" I wrote about the surprising news of the restoration of ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran after mediation by China (and Russia).
With that it was obvious that the conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Yemen between Iran friendly and Saudi sponsored forces would be coming to an end. But no one predicted the speed with which that is now happening.
Today President Assad of Syria was welcomed back in Saudi Arabia to a summit of the Arab League.
Syria's Assad shakes hands, kisses cheeks with onetime foes at Arab League summit
Every handshake would count, and Syria's President Bashar al-Assad had plenty of them at Friday's Arab League Summit - along with hugs and kisses - from his onetime foes in the region.As he strolled into the summit venue in the Saudi city of Jeddah on Friday afternoon, a beaming Assad extended his arms to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who grabbed them both and kissed Assad once on each cheek.
It was a symbolic moment, sealing Assad's reintegration into the Arab fold after being suspended from the League and isolated by most of the region for over a decade over his crackdown on protests against him.
Attempts by the U.S. and the neoconned foreign minister of Germany Annalena Baerbock to prevent this have failed. Even countries still somewhat hostile to Syria - Qatar, the United Emirates and Marocco - refrained from vetoing the step. Arab unity is more important to them than some out-of-area interests.
As Juan Cole summarizes:
Washington is now the skunk at the diplomats’ party. The Iranians were never likely to trust the Americans as mediators. The Saudis must have feared telling them about their negotiations lest the equivalent of another Hellfire missile be unleashed.
...
Where two sides are tired of conflict, as was true with Saudi Arabia and Iran, Beijing is clearly now ready to play the role of the honest broker. Its remarkable diplomatic feat of restoring relations between those countries, however, reflects less its position as a rising Middle Eastern power than the startling decline of American regional credibility after three decades of false promises (Oslo), debacles (Iraq) and capricious policy-making that, in retrospect, appears to have relied on nothing more substantial than a set of cynical imperial divide-and-rule ploys that are now so been-there, done-that.
Withe Arabs united Israel is now an isolated outlier. Salman Rafi Sheikh analyses the new situation it finds itself in:
While the US and Israeli officials have stated that the Iran-Saudia deal doesn’t impact the politics and the possibility of the possible extension of the Abraham Accords, it remains that the deal has not materialised despite various rounds of talks. While one of the key reasons is the change of government in the US, with the Biden administration not sharing the Trump administration’s enthusiasm for both peace in the Middle East and deep ties with Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia, too, is not keen to make this deal. In other words, the China-led ‘new’ peace process in the Middle East is nothing short of a setback for Israel.
...
As irony would have it – and as it may further complicate the US position – China recently offered its services to mediate between Israel and Palestine to develop a realistic peace plan. If the US fails to convince Saudia, Israel, fearing increasing isolation, may ultimately move towards China for a new peace process.
The Saudis are even rebuilding their relations with Hamas, the Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood entity which the U.S. has declared to be a 'terrorist group':
For Israel, this move is a major setback for two basic reasons. First, it shows that the Saudi state is not mindlessly pursuing talks with Israel. In fact, Saudi moves are aimed at squeezing regional space for Israel in order to force it to make difficult choices. Secondly, the report shows that Saudi Arabia is actively countering the US in the Middle East. Establishing ties with Hamas directly confronts the US insofar as the Saudis do not consider Hamas as a terror group, at least in the same sense as Washington and Jerusalem evidently do.
...
For Israel, this is a challenging situation. It can either stick to its traditional way of geopolitics and pursue its interests aggressively and risk wider confrontation, or it can turn to China for the ‘new’ peace process. The latter option will, however, further undermine the US position in the Middle East.
I do not see much hope for any talks with Israel as it can not commit to any reasonable solution. Jonathan Cook provides that it is falling apart:
The surprise is that Israel’s woes spring not, as generations of its leaders feared, from outside forces – a combined attack from Arab states or pressure from the international community – but from Israel’s own internal contradictions.
...
Israel’s long-term problem is underscored by the current, bitter standoff over Netanyahu’s plan for a so-called judicial overhaul. The Israeli Jewish population is split down the middle, with neither side willing to back down. Rightly, each sees the confrontation in terms of a zero-sum battle.And behind this stands a political system in near-constant paralysis, with neither side of the divide able to gain a stable majority in the parliament. Israel is now mired in a permanent, low-level civil war.
Israel's problem, since its founding, are the two distinct groups that it attempted to unite under the roof of Zionism. The more secular and liberal European Ashkenazi have mostly led the country while the Middle Eastern Mizrahim and Ultra orthodox Haredim played a side role. But they have the higher birthrate and are on their way to become the majority. The aims these different groups have are incompatible and feed a permanent conflict:
For decades, the Ashkenazi leadership assumed the religious right, especially the Mizrahim and Haredim, would accept their inferior status in Israel’s Jewish hierarchy so long as they were bought off with privileges over the Palestinians.But the religious right is now greedy for more than the right to oppress Palestinians. They want the right to shape Israel’s Jewish character too.
The religious fervor the Ashkenazi establishment hoped to weaponize against the Palestinians, especially through the settlement enterprise, has come back to bite it. A monster has been created that increasingly cannot be tamed – even by Netanyahu.
The new Middle East has now only one entity that is swimming against new the Zeitgeist current. That entity is disunited and unable to decide on anything. There is no one on the Israeli side with whom China, or anyone else, could make a deal over Palestine that would stick.
Should the Mizrahim and Haredim win, which they likely eventual will, the more secular Ashkenazi may even start to leave. Israel's capabilities would leave with them. A reabsorption of a less capable and rich Israel into a wider Middle East might then become possible.
It would an astonishing development.
But so is the current one.
Posted by b on May 19, 2023 at 16:54 UTC | Permalink
next page »Beautiful post. Beautiful situation. Lovely situation.
Posted by: too scents | May 19 2023 16:59 utc | 1
As I predicted decades ago:
The circle turns.
The powerful become weak.
The mighty are brought low.
The weak rise to power ...
israel will fall
Palestine will rise.
Posted by: Arch Bungle | May 19 2023 17:07 utc | 3
The changing of eras. Something few understand. Power moving from west to east. The global times cartoon of and American being led off in a straight jacket screaming sanctions, sanctions. G 7 is supposedly to lay on more sanctions. Watching collapse of Empire is very much comic book stuff in some ways. Though more death and destruction to come before this is over.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | May 19 2023 17:07 utc | 4
"The more secular and liberal European Ashkenazi have mostly led the country while the Middle Eastern Mizrahim and Ultra orthodox Haredim played a side role"
Thank you B, a very informative post.
Posted by: Dave Oneil | May 19 2023 17:11 utc | 5
The Syria/Israel/Lebanon/Turkiye/Jordan nexus will be hit hard by water poverty and heat as the physics of fossil carbon dioxide increase bite.
Made so much worse in the Middle East by unconstrained population increase in Muslim countries.
Those who can migrate out of the most stressed countries will.
Europe and USA will look increasingly attractive for many Israelis.
Syria will regain it's stolen land...the Palistinians...well, we'll see.
Posted by: Powerandpeople | May 19 2023 17:17 utc | 6
thanks b!
great news and great reporting. You are one of the best. in the world
Posted by: migueljose | May 19 2023 17:19 utc | 7
“Israel is now mired in a permanent, low-level civil war.”
Guess this is why US of A and Israel are so close; we have a lot in common.
Posted by: drsmith | May 19 2023 17:19 utc | 8
(((waiting for Israel to ask USA for another $5 Billion in Military Aid...)))
...even though Israel has $200 Billion in their central bank
Posted by: Dulles_Did_Dallas | May 19 2023 17:23 utc | 9
While Zelensky is stinking up the room in Jeddah it is important to recall he was reported to have been invited by King Salman and not Prince MbS.
Posted by: too scents | May 19 2023 17:25 utc | 10
If, as it seems now possible, the Mizrahim and Haredim win, will the "Global Community" allow a government of messianic zealots to possess a vast nuclear arsenal?
Posted by: D O'Negal | May 19 2023 17:29 utc | 11
Powerandpeople | May 19 2023 17:17 utc | 6 "will be hit hard by water poverty and heat as the physics of fossil carbon dioxide increase bite."
So many have been sucked into that bullshit. The climate has always changed. The fact that oxygen and nitrogen make up 98% of the atmosphere and carbon is just a portion of the remaining two percent brings a reality check.
Here in Australia, towns built on food plains getting flooded and the woke screaming climate change. Well what the fuck is a flood plain. I cannot get over the idiocy of the woke.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | May 19 2023 17:32 utc | 12
Israel cannot survive long term any more than the crusader kingdoms could. Maintaining nuclear capabilities needs lots of resources and they need to do it forever to keep the vast Arab world at bay.
Might take decades though, and maybe a very destructive war so I'm not holding my breath.
Posted by: Neofeudalfuture | May 19 2023 17:40 utc | 13
Israel abandoning the Khazarian Mafia dominated U.$., now that would be poetic.
Posted by: William Haught | May 19 2023 17:47 utc | 14
Zelensky accuses some Arab leaders of turning 'blind eye' - CNN
You don't go to an Arab home and accuse them of...infidelity
Posted by: ostro | May 19 2023 17:52 utc | 15
B., thank you so much.
Nothing of this sort of news is available on MSM presstitute channels.
I am so thrilled, having lived in MEast for about 20 years, that things are now finally going in a positive direction. I was desperate previously about the destruction of the old civilizations, dear Palestine too.
Immensely grateful to China, Rossia for their efforts towards peace making and kicking out the warlord hegemon out of the global game.
I hope I see the liberation of the occupied Palestine. And the rest of the more than 80% of our planet uniting in a front against the war criminals.
Posted by: agnaby | May 19 2023 17:54 utc | 16
and Ziocons themselves being Zioconed in turn.
Posted by: William Haught | May 19 2023 17:54 utc | 17
Posted by: William Haught | May 19 2023 17:47 utc | 14
Israel abandoning the Khazarian Mafia dominated U.$., now that would be poetic.
I believe that B doesn't want that anti-Semitic rhetoric to appear on this board to mess up legitimate debate.
Posted by: Inkan1969 | May 19 2023 17:56 utc | 18
thanks b....
i guess these terrorists labels on hamas and iranian revolutionary guards don't work... of course zelensky, cia and friends will never be labeled terrorists, which is what they are..
i was made aware of the changing demographics in israel some time ago.. it seems to be happening as predicted..
china stepping up to play the role of world leader is extremely interesting here.. if they can get beyond the usa's constant tendency to play favourites, the world will be a better place...
kudos to assad for defying the west and for the arab nations to sticking the finger out to the west too.. the west deserves it..
Posted by: james | May 19 2023 17:56 utc | 19
"It would an astonishing development.
But so is the current one."
Very much so.
Tectonic shifts all over - but these do tend to produce earthquakes and volcanic activity at times. Rarely smooth - but the Saudi/Iran shift is truly astonishing and can only be positive for the peoples of the region.
Posted by: Don Firineach | May 19 2023 17:57 utc | 20
"..they have the higher birthrate and are on their way to become the majority..."
The majority of a minority.
The various Zionist communities are outnumbered by the Palestinians in what is now a de-partitioned Palestine made up, once more, of the origonsal mandate territories, including the West Bank, Gaza, the Golan and the 'Israel' of 1948.
And to those Palesinians must be added the millions descended from the refugees driven from their homes by Zionist terror (with British connivance*) during the Naqba.
In short: the only solution is One State in which, for those who believe it matters, which is to say racists, the majority will be, in religious terms, Christian and muslim, and in ethnic terms Palestinian Arabs.
This is likely to lead to the wholesale emigration of the fascists, currently a political majority among Israelis, and Zionists generally.
This will be wonderful news for all the idiots in the "west" who fear that their 'white' race will be outnumbered: immigrants with white skins, like the South Africans who couldn't bear majority rule, the Rhodesians, the colons from Algeria and, of course, the slavophobic Ukrainians.
De Gaulle prophesied it. It is inevitable. Perhaps now the "west" will regret the way that it enabled Israel to acquire and build nuclear weapons- among the fanatics gathered around the 'moderate' Netanyahu are plenty prepared to use them.
*https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/nakba-palestine-britain-secret-memos-knew-what-happen
Posted by: bevin | May 19 2023 18:02 utc | 21
The present for the barflies is the poem of one of my favorite pets, Iraq, 'the rain' by Badr Shaker Es Sayyab:
https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/rain-song-7/
Your eyes are two palm tree forests in early light,
Or two balconies from which the moonlight recedes
When they smile, your eyes, the vines put forth their leaves,
And lights dance . . . like moons in a river
Rippled by the blade of an oar at break of day;
As if stars were throbbing in the depths of them . . .
And they drown in a mist of sorrow translucent
Like the sea stroked by the hand of nightfall;
The warmth of winter is in it, the shudder of autumn,
And death and birth, darkness and light;
A sobbing flares up to tremble in my soul
And a savage elation embracing the sky,
Frenzy of a child frightened by the moon
NB, I am sorry, I have forgotten that my moniker here was 'stranger' when posting, 'agnaby' means the same in arabic which I speak, I am not a troll.
Thank you all.
NB: have you heard about planned meeting July of NATO when they will discuss the attack on Rossia, and unleash planning which already exists?
It is as if archways of mist drank the clouds
And drop by drop dissolved in the rain . . .
Posted by: agnaby | May 19 2023 18:06 utc | 22
Zelensky accuses some Arab leaders of turning 'blind eye' - CNN
Posted by: ostro | May 19 2023 17:52 utc | 15
Not only that, he also said that Ukr is like Israel, attacked by terrorists every day. Could he be talking from his head now since there's that hollywood writers strike going on?
Posted by: rk | May 19 2023 18:07 utc | 23
"...kudos to assad for defying the west .." [email protected]
And to Russia which by intervening to save Assad changed-it is now becoming clear-everything. Russia's Syrian policy may be the best guide that there is to the thinking behind the SMO- a minimum of military force designed to produce, not battlefield victories but strategic shifts of lasting, epochal significance.
We cannot be sure but it is clear that much has changed since Russia took that fateful step to break with its 'partners' (Turkiye included) and assist the Syrian Arab Army rolling back the Daesh terrorists who included veterans not ony of Iraq but of Bosnia, Kosovo, Chechnya and the Uighur jihadists so beloved by Ottawa.
Posted by: bevin | May 19 2023 18:11 utc | 25
It seems as though the overarching trend is what I'll refer to as The Great Turning Away. Namely that the RoW has had enough of the USA and it's vassals meddling and sabotaging which has led to (among other things) to a degree of reconciliation and cooperation. Therefore, the backing away slowly and arming to the teeth phase is well under way. After the Rape of Libya there cannot be many nations left that have not "seen the light". Sure the EU vassal states will keep doing the bidding of the handlers, but even that has a shelf life as their populations become increasingly restless...
Posted by: Chevrus | May 19 2023 18:14 utc | 26
I apologize to all the barflies, it got messy, but basic message is the same, though I forgot my moniker here.
B. can I keep my 'agnaby'( means 'a stranger') moniker in future, I am not a troll, just forgot.You have my data.
Sorry,I know you have a lots to do, appreciate it.
Posted by: stranger | May 19 2023 18:18 utc | 27
Posted by: bevin | May 19 2023 18:11 utc | 25
Russia's Syrian policy may be the best guide that there is to the thinking behind the SMO- a minimum of military force designed to produce, not battlefield victories but strategic shifts of lasting, epochal significance.
That's cold comfort to the thousands of Russian troops killed and wounded for the goal of not-battlefield-victories, as well as their families.
Posted by: Inkan1969 | May 19 2023 18:28 utc | 28
@ bevin | May 19 2023 18:11 utc | 25
good point!
@ Inkan1969 | May 19 2023 18:28 utc | 28
someone has to stand up to the bully... what do you propose??
Posted by: james | May 19 2023 18:39 utc | 29
It may be cold comfort, but sometimes that is the best we get in this world.
From what I can tell, Putin has gotten maximum gains for Russia for minimal casualties. Not only that, nuclear war has been averted.
The change in international relations over the last year and a half has been PROFOUND. Respect for Russia (and China) has skyrocketed world wide.
Casualties suck. Unfortunately they are part of the game.
Posted by: Woke American | May 19 2023 18:42 utc | 30
@ agnaby | May 19 2023 18:06 utc | 22
Lovely comment thank you. I don't think you're committed to the old name, I like this new one personally, "agnaby" - I don't think anyone could ever think of you as a troll from the quality of your comment.
Make more comments...don't be a stranger!
Posted by: Grieved | May 19 2023 18:54 utc | 31
Thanks for the posting b
It was worth banging through a few minutes of DNS Not Found to get here
At the end you wrote
"
A reabsorption of a less capable and rich Israel into a wider Middle East might then become possible.
"
I would like to believe this is possible but three quarters of a century of empire jackboot in the region make that a very hard slog.
I am not saying I have another solution for the diaspora of folks that want to continue allegiance to that religion and associated clan behavior together in one or more regions on our planet. What I will say is that this religion and groupings need to lose the elitist mentality and learn to get along with other groupings in our multipolar world.
China is secular and is not only leading our world but providing an example of how to manage a secular government in a sea of religions.
Posted by: psychohistorian | May 19 2023 18:56 utc | 32
Posted by: Woke American | May 19 2023 18:42 utc | 30
espect for Russia (and China) has skyrocketed world wide.
Posted by: Inkan1969 | May 19 2023 18:56 utc | 33
Posted by: psychohistorian | May 19 2023 18:56 utc | 32
China is secular and is not only leading our world but providing an example of how to manage a secular government in a sea of religions.
The Chinese Communist Government is not secular, it's "officially athiest", and its idea of management of people with religious beliefs is repression.
Posted by: Inkan1969 | May 19 2023 19:01 utc | 34
"Iran friendly and Saudi sponsored forces"
And b makes snide remarks about NYTimes and company. The legions of propaganda writers world over work from the same playbook.
Juan Cole is wrong. The victory and the prize belongs to KSA, and the "clown prince" (per b the 'geopolitical analyst'). It is obvious when you see that KSA/MsB is the only entity present in each of the factional grouping, including the Russian centered one. Iran is following the dictat of Moscow (surprise) to get along with KSA as it serves Russia's interest and also China's.
Asad also made "Arab solidarity" noises, and the "Ajam" are not included. The main losers are USA, Turkey, Israel, and Iran.
The winner is KSA. The Clown Prince turned out to be an astute "geopolitical" actor after all, and the House of Saud has cleaned itself of US stooges.
Posted by: forthewin | May 19 2023 19:05 utc | 35
33.
Ah yes, Gallup, that oft vaunted group of consent manufacturers. As they say,'Lies, damned lies, and statistics'.
But do tell us more about how the world loves Maerican coercion.
Posted by: Doctor Eleven | May 19 2023 19:07 utc | 36
I remember that Nasrallah said that Israel could be gone in five years. And b's formulation could provide the way:
Should the Mizrahim and Haredim win, which they likely eventual will, the more secular Ashkenazi may even start to leave. Israel's capabilities would leave with them. A reabsorption of a less capable and rich Israel into a wider Middle East might then become possible.
I don't see much problem for these wanderers to move elsewhere...they always have the USA to continue to receive privileged accommodation. And they now don't have Crimea to withdraw to. Guess it'll have to be New York. I'm sorry for all the innocent Jews that the Zionists have long used as dupes and human shields, after their fashion. But it's very hard to feel sympathy for Israel's plight, homemade as it is from greed and overreach.
Nasrallah spoke on May 12, a day before the ceasefire. It's a good read. He lays bare how Netanyahu postured to restore Israel's deterrent strength, and failed utterly, because the first thing the resistance did in response to the assassinations was to unite in solidarity and coordinate their reprisal.
Hassan Nasrallah: In Gaza, Netanyahu suffered a resounding failure
"Everyone must closely follow the events currently unfolding in Gaza because it is an important battle whose consequences will be felt not only in Gaza but throughout Palestine, in the West Bank, Lebanon, and throughout the Middle East."
Israel is a mess. And it is in a resurgent neighborhood.
Posted by: Grieved | May 19 2023 19:09 utc | 37
34.
Ah sort of like Ukraine? Oh, not like that at all, you mean.
Posted by: Doctor Eleven | May 19 2023 19:12 utc | 38
Interesting. Possibly a bit too optimistic, but thanks b
Posted by: Observer | May 19 2023 19:13 utc | 39
Inkan1969 @34
Yes, b's blindness to the tyrannical nature of the CCP's (should be renamed the "CFP" now they allow the private means of production and distribution) is either a genuine puzzle... or a red-flag.
Posted by: Observer | May 19 2023 19:17 utc | 40
@ Inkan1969 | May 19 2023 18:56 utc | 33
you want folks here to challenge the propaganda? they do regularly with facts... now, i know the fading unipolar empire don't like facts to get in the way of their ongoing narrative... it is very nice to have you here at moa to regularly wax on with the empires narrative...
Posted by: james | May 19 2023 19:22 utc | 41
there has been a ton of mayhem, murder and debauchery thanks the british empire and after that the american empire... of that we hear silence from these same folks..
Posted by: james | May 19 2023 19:24 utc | 43
40. Yes, very 'tyrannical'.
Remind me how many countries China has bombed, invaded, instigated coups in or embargoed in the last century.
For bonus points juxtapose this list against Maerica the Freeeeeeeee.
Thanks.
Posted by: Doctor Eleven | May 19 2023 19:24 utc | 44
Peter AU1 | May 19 2023 17:32 utc | 12
You are not alone in having misconceptions about the part of reality which is the specialty of physicists.
The greenhouse effect depends on CO2 being semitransparent to heat at some altitude and opaque from ground level.
Air is transparent all the way. Reality check done!
Posted by: petergrfstrm | May 19 2023 19:24 utc | 45
My take on it is that Gallup has been proven to not be a source that can be relied upon for what is true.
The Middle East is turning away from US/Israel, and towards Iran/China/Russia.
India is conducting more trade with Russia than ever before. A LOT more.
Central Asia is turning towards China and Russia as permanent economic partners. The US has accomplished a few successes, for example in Kazakhstan and Pakistan, but not many.
South America is definitely turning away from the US. Some of the replacement is with Russia, most with China.
Africa is moving steadily from the US towards Russia, especially South Africa.
Posted by: Woke American | May 19 2023 19:25 utc | 46
Zelensky accuses some Arab leaders of turning 'blind eye' - CNN
Posted by: ostro | May 19 2023 17:52 utc | 15
Right after the venerated foreign minister of Germany, Annalena Baerbock, lectured them about how to handle Assad. I'm sure the Saudis are utterly delighted.
Posted by: Katharina | May 19 2023 19:26 utc | 47
'The Syria/Israel/Lebanon/Turkiye/Jordan nexus will be hit hard by water poverty and heat as the physics of fossil carbon dioxide increase bite.'
What physics would that be, then, Powerandpeople? Post 6.
The physics that has seen no meaningful warming for over 20 years?
The physics that has seen a substantial reduction in major weather events over the same period?
The physics that has been so wrong that the proponents of the climate scam had to drop the term 'global warming’ because there wasn’t any, and replace it with ‘climate change', a nebulous term which is impossible to prove.
Talking of nebulous, no one has worked out the effect of clouds on climate, so the model is flawed and is not verifiable.
QED it’s not science. So it can’t be physics.
The beneficiaries of this nonsense are the global parasite (so called elite) class, definitely not the People.
Posted by: Bonzodoug | May 19 2023 19:28 utc | 48
But they have the higher birthrate and are on their way to become the majority.
Lol. This is taboo where I live (lest one wants to be branded anti-Semite) but between each Ultra orthodox Haredim sibling there's only about a year and given that contraception is forbidden "higher birthrate" barely fits the description.
I could be wrong but the more "liberal" Ashkenazi (Netanyahoo (Poland), Sharon (Belarus), Lieberman (Moldavia), ...) are also the real fanatics.
It's hard to imagine the rapprochement between the KSA and Iran is not seen as something that should be stopped and turned back in Tel Aviv, Langley and London. After all, the 9/11 operation had a lot of Saudi operatives but the brutal event barely scratched the KSA and it was instead used to attack Afghanistan, Iraq and now Iran. I wonder if it would be salvageable to attack the KSA to make it follow a more "favorable course" but my guess is they'll find other ways that may be as brutal.
Posted by: xor | May 19 2023 19:30 utc | 49
@petergrfstrm | May 19 2023 19:24 utc | 45
This is not a thread of "global warming" but you are talking BS and making the mistake of appealing to authority. Peter AU1 is right, except he overstates the presence of CO2, the correct number is 400 parts per million, and it has been much, much higher in the past. It makes no difference.
I enjoyed watching Assad in Riyadh, things are really moving in the Arab world. The next step is to remove the US from the Arab countries, in particular from Syria.
Posted by: Norwegian | May 19 2023 19:33 utc | 50
Maybe it is time for Western Europe to retake the Holy Lands. They can swing through and plunder Istanbul on the way. Then they’ll have the Black Sea Fleet bottled up for sure.
Posted by: Cato the Uncensored | May 19 2023 19:36 utc | 51
@Norwegian | May 19 2023 19:33 utc | 50
I meant Assad in Jeddah, sorry.
Posted by: Norwegian | May 19 2023 19:37 utc | 52
Gallup has been a joke for decades, especially the marketing business.. It's known to be completely unreliable and subject to coercion and PC...
Posted by: pyrrhus | May 19 2023 19:40 utc | 53
Very interesting times as we enter a historic bottleneck of prophecy. Ezekiel suggests that Israel, regathered in unbelief must pass under the rod one more time. The time of Jacobs Troubles. Worse than any that have come before in the Christian age.
The Mainline institutional Christian "Church" claims that God has "spun" the promises made to Abraham to exclude Israel and to now apply to the "Church" (the new Israel ?). How very much this god is like our own politicians. The one constant of the Church age since Jesus ascended to the Throne of heaven has been periodic persecution of the Jews.
How Ironic is it that Islam itself might be a Jewish/Christian/Zorastrian heretical cult ?
Is Russia being raised up to be the prince leading the final chastisement - It would not be the first time that God has raised up another nation to be his instrument. Ez 38/39 ? The strand in Russian Orthodox thinking that sees itself as the 3rd Rome is pretty intriguing.
Curiously, at least Saudia Arabia and Egypt are omitted from the list of countries who will descend on Israel.
In the end God will judge ALL the nations and rule over all as the King of his chosen, the very people who pierced him, and the people he has grafted into the vine.
Or Israel will disappear ! Everyone will have to radically rethink. That will be especially true if all the terrible Jews are finally erased, but the world just gets worse and even darker. Who will people have to blame then ?
This is the bottleneck. All the speculations of 2000 years, passing through the bottleneck of our times, waiting to see what emerges out the other side - to prove or disprove prophecy. Recall the Bibles prescription for false prophets - to be stoned to be cast out.
What God does he does for his own names sake. We deceivable humans must be careful about our dogmas. We study the word and watch events and donot give our loyalties to the idols of our time
Posted by: Dan Farrand | May 19 2023 19:45 utc | 54
arab league speech
Like the Isrealis of today, we, too, are suffering every day from Rocket and Drone attacks from terrorists.
-Zelensky
i bet that went down swimmingly
Posted by: hankster | May 19 2023 19:45 utc | 55
Wise Israelis warned of this situation in the heady days following the 1967 War, they counseled making a lasting and secure peace. Instead, the Likudniks enbarked on a facts-on-the-ground strategy which has failed to make Israel secure not peaceful.
It’s time to heed those wise Israelis from 1967. The sole basis for a secure and prosperous peace for the Jewish State is UN Resolution 181.
UNR 181 described the only internationally recognized boundries between the Jewish and Arab states. 181 is the best hope for theJewish State.
Posted by: Exile | May 19 2023 19:53 utc | 56
But no one predicted the speed with which that is now happening
They're moving with bated breath, b, can't you feel it? I can. Decades of oppression and division are being sorted out in real time in meat space. Anxious, but determined, the end-game is nigh.
Posted by: john | May 19 2023 19:55 utc | 57
@ Inkan1969 | May 19 2023 19:01 utc | 34 who thinks China is atheist
I posit that you don't understand the difference between spirituality and religion.
China is all about spirituality but is multipolar regarding religions by allowing them existence but denying them any control of government.....its called secular
You write like a kill all the non-believers type monotheist, is that correct?
Posted by: psychohistorian | May 19 2023 20:05 utc | 59
for all the doomsplainers naysaying China and Iran (and Russia saving Syria), there's an article at Counterpunch today by state department chat bot Chloe Atkinson denouncing KSA, Iran and China for all the head chopping they do.
Dear sweet thang, does the West fund terrorist groups inside Iran and China? among a whole host of other evil stuff, like Stuxnet which is so mindbogglingly stupid? does the West arm Israel and support its nuclear weapons-related-program activities?
people need to stop worrying about what China is or is not doing and worry about countries that shell the ZPP reactor and dump DU all over Ukraine.
i am a little bit more skeptical about the long term b/c of what Israel and co can get up to, but how could the Yemenis not being bombed be bad? or Iran and KSA not being in a state of war? oh, and there's a little problem called capitalism.
but these recent developments are only bad if one is a warmongering poisonous windbag of noxious farts.
but but but china is aggressing Taiwan! what about Tibet? and Wiggers! Wiggers! Wiggers! so says the gang gathered at Hiroshima.
Posted by: rjb1.5 | May 19 2023 20:06 utc | 60
China is likely not a beacon to the world, but no such thing exists in any case. However, whenever someone uses CCP, you can disregard all else they say on the matter because they’ve taken up the terminology of anti-China propaganda.
It is the Communist Party of China not the Chinese Communist Party.
Posted by: Lex | May 19 2023 20:09 utc | 61
Posted by: psychohistorian | May 19 2023 20:05 utc | 60
If I was that type, then I would not have objected to the government (China the culture is all about spirituality, but not the government) taking a "kill all the non-believers of the Communist Party of China" approach. Thank you for the correction, Lex.
Posted by: Inkan1969 | May 19 2023 20:16 utc | 62
Israel's real problem is that zionism is not Judaism. Judaism, in its truth is a religion, a living Faith unto God. Zionism is not, it is a mockery, a perversion. It is a lie.
While I agree with the article and the described fault lines of Israeli society, but it is not correct to write a gap between Ashkenazi and Haredi. The Haredi are mostly Ashkenazi. This are talmudic tribes gathered around Rabbis, scholars with peculiar view they developed while living in Europe. Of course are a lot of secular Jews of Ashkenazi origin, but they are the most religious in the same time. Mizhachi are much less dogmatic in booth directions.
I deeply recommend to read „Altneuland“ by Theodor Herzl. It’s the founding myth of the secular Israel. It’s like Jule Verne. 19th century science fiction. Quite simple to read but with strong opinions about how this country should be. I had tears in my eyes when I read the three recommendations of Herzl for the new Jewish state: the people living there already should be happy that you come there; don’t found a state, be something like a cooperation and third and most of all, don’t listen to the Haredi. Israel failed in all three points. So it is no wonder that this book nobody ever read and Herzl is described as a bit crazy in the schools. Even while Tel Aviv is the Hebrew name of the book and gave the city their name.
Posted by: rico rose | May 19 2023 20:21 utc | 64
@petergrfstrm | May 19 2023 19:24 utc | 45
and of course the floods in Italy, NZ et al are not happening and the wildfires in Alberta are also not happening. more importantly, they are not not happening because of anything related to human activity.
and the petrochemicals which are not coming from the Alberta tar sands which are not causing the fires are also not in everything in the typical household in the US/Canada. just look at all the chemicals that were not in that train in E Palestine, Ohio.
and the EPA and the train co did not just burn that shit up in Ohio no matter the consequences because they are run by incompetent know-nothing head in the sand fuckwits like Norwegian and PeterAU1.
but there's an open thread for this. beside the obvious fact that China, KSA, et al are all facing the same environmental catastrophe of capitalism and equally as the US, could care less. shooting guns and signing peace treaties are way more interesting than worrying about water. gotta keep building those belts and roads for no fucking reason whatsoever than economic competition.
Posted by: rjb1.5 | May 19 2023 20:26 utc | 65
I would like to add, that no small part of the reason for the massive protests that simply will not go away is the fact that something in the grain of the human beings who have been brought to the land instinctively knows that something is not right. Something in their very fiber resists and pulls away from the lies of the false, especially when they just keep on seeing the opposite of what they have been told by their rulers.
Posted by: too scents | May 19 2023 17:25 utc | 10
While Zelensky is stinking up the room in Jeddah it is important to recall he was reported to have been invited by King Salman and not Prince MbS.
Do you have a source for that claim? I understand that King Salman is very infirmed, to the point that MbS is enough in control that Salman could not make this invitation over MbS's objection.
Also:
b seems to be characterizing the rapprochement between SA and Iran/Assad as a realignment, but maybe it's SA trying to please all sides instead.
Posted by: Inkan1969 | May 19 2023 20:31 utc | 68
@ Inkan1969 | May 19 2023 20:16 utc | 63 who continues to twist words to say China is killing those it will not allow to control government.
I have some anthropological education and have shared here at MoA my recent reading of The Dawn Of Everything by Graeber/Wengrow about the 40K years of humanity's forms of social organization before patriarchy became dominant in the West and monotheism was created to sanctify that perversion. Your ignorance of the historical context of your religious beliefs is sad but prevalent.
Which form of monotheism do you support?
Posted by: psychohistorian | May 19 2023 20:32 utc | 69
sln2002 | May 19 2023 19:24 utc | 42
f-16 gift to selenski makes as much sense as satisfying his whining for patriots.
european f-16's are not sustained to the level of usaf f-16, which has not maintained combat readiness for 11 years running.....
who sends the spares, and equipment and hundreds of runway walkers picking up pebbles?
this is not the thread for usa terror in the donbas
Posted by: paddy | May 19 2023 20:37 utc | 70
Posted by: rjb1.5 | May 19 2023 20:26 utc | 66
it should go w/o saying, but nothing is being or can be solved by KSA, Iran, Yemen, etc., warring w/each other, which is the greatest man-made environmental catastrophe of all. people can't address global warming while the US war pigs are stampeding the world over the cliff. just to maintain their hegemony.
Posted by: rjb1.5 | May 19 2023 20:37 utc | 71
Posted by: Inkan1969 | May 19 2023 20:31 utc | 69
people dying is what ultimately matters.
not governments jockeying for position in a contrived jousting contest.
which government proudly announces, constantly, "WE DON'T DO BODY COUNTS"? The Trump government. The biden/aoc/mccarthy gov't.
Posted by: rjb1.5 | May 19 2023 20:40 utc | 72
Posted by: Inkan1969 | May 19 2023 20:31 utc | 69
the USG invents Chinese superadvanced war balloons with which to terrorize a gullible populace. among a host of innumerable lies.
that's called a war crime.
dudn't matter what China is doing. getting people to worry about what another country is doing on the other side of the planet is pure distraction. everything about it is total lying bullshit. the truth of the US is its suicide rates, its cops gunning kids down in the streets, its homeless. there's not some other truth about western democracy.
now i've got to go stand in line for my fentanyl strips. b/c the west is full of social mobility. I can choose to use those fentanyl strips to avoid certain drugs or to find certain drugs. it's a land of opportunity! hope i don't run out of Narcan by the end of the month.
Posted by: rjb1.5 | May 19 2023 20:54 utc | 73
Posted by: psychohistorian | May 19 2023 20:32 utc | 70
It doesn't matter what monotheism I support since I have no interest in converting other people to it. I acknowledge its role in perpetuating patriarchy but I do not want to contribute to that. I agree that patriarchy is a perversion; in the meantime Putin rails that his opponents in the West are men who drink beer with a large set of female hormones.
Posted by: Inkan1969 | May 19 2023 21:06 utc | 74
Normally I love your German English b, but the last few sentences could be re-edited thus:
The new Middle East has now only one entity that is swimming against the current Zeitgeist. That entity is disunited and unable to decide on anything. There is no one on the Israeli side with whom China, or anyone else, could make a deal over Palestine that would stick.
[...]
It would be an astonishing development.
But so is the current one.
Posted by: Patroklos | May 19 2023 21:30 utc | 75
Nice write up there, b.
Some things might be or not be, but one should hope that this emerging coherent Arab unity is holding long enough.
It needs a lots of work and a genuine reconciliation among Arabs and all around Muslim World. So it remains carefully watched.
For it to become compact enough means to be resistant towards the 'US via Israeli' future tryouts to destabilize it.
A rotten game there. Israelis must decide for themselves what do they want and where do they want to be.
Posted by: whirlX | May 19 2023 21:32 utc | 76
I am less sanguine than B about Israel's reabsorption into the Middle East as he anticipates. The Haredim are not necessarily the most fanatical Zionists - some of them even oppose the physical existence of Israel. Born-again fundamentalist Jews from the West, who make up a considerable proportion of settler immigrants and are Zionist fanatics, may well have the education, skills and outside contacts to keep Israel going as a crazed uber-cyber police state super-ghetto, monitoring its own citizens' thinking and behaviours, for another generation. The Haredim (Ashkenazi in origin, with Sefardi and Mizrahi followers and converts, and these people cast as inferior to Ashkenazim) will try to pursue their own ways of life. Israel will continue to impoverish itself (and growing dependent on outsiders) supporting all these religious groups who don't believe in teaching their menfolk anything other than reading and studying the Talmud, and maybe some basic crafts that don't take time away from religious study. Eventually these groups will be at loggerheads with the settler immigrants and their supporters, who will refuse to continue propping up the Haredim way of life, and there may well be a religious civil war. The outcome is sure to be the death of the whole Zionist project, and a gruesome one at that.
Posted by: Refinnejenna | May 19 2023 21:38 utc | 77
Sorry folks, I was typing very quickly @ 79 and trying to get my long-winded comment up on my smartphone before I get timed out again!
Posted by: Refinnejenna | May 19 2023 21:40 utc | 78
Q2 is going to end with a bang. May 7, the day that the Arab League unanimously voted to restore Syria membership (which US promptely condemned), Jake Sullivan arrived in Jeddah with his intelligence community entourage to review "strategic relations" with MbS, IN, and UAE security guards. The White House did not elaborate, because Axios is promoting this roadshow launched by Blinken Inc: I2U2
[...]But an Indian outlet describes the principal project predicated on financing Israel's stake in this Quad rail link between west Asia (Iran, Oman, Dubai, UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait) and India—multi-modal BRI but better—which is funny because IN signed a €3B order for Siemens locamotives in January that's supposed to fill out domestic capacity. Also, SCO is already running E-W cargo 24/7, and Putin inked N-S Trans-Iran this week.
It reinforces the [Trump-Kushner-]Biden-Harris Administration’s goal to build on the Abraham Accords and other normalization agreements and advance Israel’s economic integration into the broader region. It further sets a standard for working together to deliver solutions to the region’s most pressing challenges
[...]
OK. Ending the week of May 20 "Big Israel" Zelensk* drops into the Arab League Summit (united to bring an end to Israeli settlement policy) before his close-up for the 9-heads of the G7 PRICE CAP COALITION Summit, talking smack about "enhancing bilateral relations" (the exact phrase Xi used to differente his phone call from China's position on UA conflict) and "the treatment of Muslim Tatars living under Russian occupation in the Crimean Peninsula." In a tweet, he said he hopes to "enhance bilateral relations and Ukraine's ties with the Tatar Arab world."
No wonder Time leads with a stupid question: Why Zelensk* Is Attending the Arab League Summit in Saudi Arabia? Well, my answer, having read the G7 Summit manifesto is: A lot of damage brain grey percolated in those 10 days between Kinzhal strikes, the Bakhmut route, and Borrell's insane attack on IN "substantially transformed" petroleum exports; Of course, his guarantors sent him on a mission to piss on "Russia's war enablers".
ICYMI, Hiroshima is the symbol of peace
Posted by: sln2002 | May 19 2023 21:47 utc | 79
arab league speech
Like the Isrealis of today, we, too, are suffering every day from Rocket and Drone attacks from terrorists.
-Zelensky
i bet that went down swimmingly
Posted by: hankster | May 19 2023 19:45 utc | 56
It does make you wonder if Zelensky passed his Western/Woke education. The most fervent Arab tolerator of Israel wouldn't pee on Israel if she was on fire.
Posted by: rjb1.5 | May 19 2023 20:26 utc | 66
"Floods on the southern slopes of the Italian Alps and in the Mountain Valleys of New Zealand"???
Dad gum it. Never heard of such before. 'Tis a miracle.
Fires in Alberta ?? The Media won't tell you, and especially the Canadian Government controlled Media, but the majority of the fires are arsons. Akin to the blocking of highways and gluing skanky bodies inside art galleries.
Canada has been on fire since they pushed the Railway through in 1886, when the only practical clearing of right-of-way was torching the forests in the way. The scars from 137 years ago are still seen in all the valleys today.
Posted by: kupkee | May 19 2023 21:47 utc | 80
"What I will say is that this religion and groupings need to lose the elitist mentality and learn to get along with other groupings in our multipolar world."
Posted by: psychohistorian | May 19 2023 18:56 utc | 32
It is not a religion, it is an ideology. Getting along with with others is not a part of that ideology. They are "chosen" remember.
Posted by: Bluedog57 | May 19 2023 21:50 utc | 81
Thank you so much, b for this good news of friendship between Arab states, always a better thing than conflict!
I have a small germ of hope for Israel, in that there are threads of hope submerged during my lifetime by the negativity I can't hope to properly describe, conflict and aggression on both sides but most particularly causing the somewhat artificial state to react in ways perhaps understandable, but that have served to make matters worse for it, it does now seem.
So, bearing in mind that I know very little, have never visited either Israel or Palestine as we currently know them, I would wish that their history might end much as did those Greek epics -- in peaceful pursuits, not the madness of war. So may it be for the future!
If, as it seems now possible, the Mizrahim and Haredim win, will the "Global Community" allow a government of messianic zealots to possess a vast nuclear arsenal?Posted by: D O'Negal | May 19 2023 17:29 utc | 11
Perhaps, DO'Negal, such a community would not wish to possess such an arsenal? I do not know either group, but I have and have read Buber's 'Tales of the Hasidim', also 'The Prophetic Faith'. And I remember that there was an agreement between what the Old Testament called Canaanites and the Israelites whereby the tombs of Abraham and Sarah were given over and still form a common holy place for both. I would also reference Christ's encounter with the Canaanite woman for Christians.
I myself love and have referenced Martin Buber's I and Thou as an important understanding of language for everyone. A Jew he was. Perhaps we could go right back to these milestones of common understanding?
Posted by: juliania | May 19 2023 22:17 utc | 82
Got a glimpse of CNN today and they're going bonkers right now over Syria being readmitted into the Arab League. ROFL
I'm glad that China, Russia and friends are making head way into bringing peace throughout the Middle East. Watching these so called Western leaders and their media lackeys losing their minds over it is really telling to those that are paying attention. Unfortunately, there's so few of us that do; most people just parrot what they're told.
re: Gallup poll @ Doctor Eleven | May 19 2023 19:07 utc | 36:
I cannot emphasize more on what Doc 11 stated. Whenever I hear of these "polls" I'm reminded of a conversation with a coworker many years ago about this one incident with a customer. A client calls in for support screaming for blood (and rightly so) and he told his client that he'll escalate the problem where 100% of his department will work on the client's problem, which did the trick to calm the client down. However, this client didn't ask the most important question which my coworker willfully neglected to tell this client that his "department" only consisted of ONE person, himself. ROFL
Posted by: Ian2 | May 19 2023 22:39 utc | 83
Posted by: Dan Farrand | May 19 2023 19:45 utc | 55
Sir, I will politely suggest that you speak of what you do not know. I am reminded of the passage in the Gospel of Mark which begins with Sadduccees asking a question of Christ, to which he replies: "Is not this why you are wrong, that you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God?..." and ends, "...have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the burning bush, how God said to him, 'I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living; you are quite wrong."
This is how Jesus spoke to those who would argue with him in terms that belittled his teachings. If you are Christian, you need to understand what he is saying, and not discount the great teachers who came before him. Moses is one of those.
Posted by: juliania | May 19 2023 22:47 utc | 84
In 1971, I had a college history professor who suggested that the British favored an Israeli state becasue "it would be a thorn in the side of Arab unity." In the 21st century, if the thorn is removed, then what?
Posted by: Tmartin | May 19 2023 22:54 utc | 85
Posted by: Inkan1969 | May 19 2023 18:56 utc | 33
Who owns gallup surveys you twit, if you can't troll better than this shut up, spouting American propaganda does nothing for world peace. Russia is not isolated America is going down the track of all failed despots who tried to rule the world, good riddance unfortunately at 76 years old I may not live long enough to see the end but I pray to keep fit enough just to see the day their power to cause death and destruction, mayhem and misery around the world for their greedy MIC and their rapacious corporate greed ends
Posted by: les-1946 | May 19 2023 22:56 utc | 86
Posted by: les-1946 | May 19 2023 22:56 utc | 88
Well, what if you see Putin and the CCP end within your lifetime instead?
Posted by: Inkan1969 | May 19 2023 22:58 utc | 87
Lots of comedy on this thread. Those that've followed Alastair Crooke's weekly al-Mayadeen columns I excerpt and link to will be way ahead of the curve and understand the nature of the ongoing soft civil war within Occupied Palestine and the return of Syria to the Arab League. The Jews have always been divided even before the Tablets were broken and Mosaic Law scorned. IMO, Yahweh knows they'll never be deserving, so their fate is sealed. The one real Revolutionary who tried to get Hebrews to unite by doing the right thing was instead accused of trying to become King and denounced in that manner to the Roman overlords thus condemning him to death as were all others who tried to reimplement debt forgiveness.
The Cradle has many news items about the West Asian situation, this one from today, "Years after Trump’s ‘f*** him’ remark, Netanyahu’s rift with Washington grows", which is loaded with reminders why Netanyahu is so despised yet remains Top Jew primarily because he's so despicable, which in Occupied Palestine is a vote getter. Since the Zionist Wave began, their terrorists have always been revered and held high office. Eventually, Palestine will return and Israel will join Ukraine in the history texts as artificial entities that should never have been given life.
In the 21st century, if the thorn is removed, then what?Posted by: Tmartin | May 19 2023 22:54 utc | 87:
They'll double down on the chaos. Not sure how they'll attempt to do it but rest assured they're working hard to find a way.
Posted by: Ian2 | May 19 2023 23:12 utc | 89
The sons of Ishmael, Esau, Lot and Laban, huh? Psalms 83 comes to mind... for the enemies gather together and form a tumult, he he he... Assyria (Germany) is with them.
)
Too bad the sons of Manasseh (USA) do not know their history, and that they like Ephraim (Britain), got the Abraham blessings in 1805 or thereabouts when all of a sudden they go RICHES... but now God is against them, and Isaiah's words are coming forth. The sons of Judah (Jews) will fall with these two other brothers.
Posted by: Arcticman | May 19 2023 23:19 utc | 90
"...That's cold comfort to the thousands of Russian troops killed and wounded for the goal of not-battlefield-victories, as well as their families..." [email protected]
You mistake war for professional sports. Battlefield victories are important only if they contribute to the final strategic adjustments which amount to Victory.
The Wehrmacht had plenty of victories to inscribe on its banners by 1945. But none mattered either to the dead or their families.
What matters, to those who find consolation in such things, is the final outcome: in the case of Syria the consolidation and potential rebuilding of the young state. In the case of the SMO a new world order in which no single nation dictates to the rest and collects tribute from their workers in the form of loan repayments and terms of trade skewed to benefit the metropolitan oligarchy.
On the tombs of the Russian dead in this war it might be truly said that they gave their lives to defeat an evil revived and earned the thanks of generations which will benefit from their sacrifices.
Posted by: bevin | May 19 2023 23:45 utc | 92
"A reabsorption of a less capable and rich Israel into a wider Middle East might then become possible."
I don't think that's possible. Avi Shlaim's wonderful book 'The Iron Wall' is quite clear. Israel is largely a sort of jihadi state, where individual action from extremists rules the roost. and the state has always gone along with the extremist ideology. He shows clearly how individual action from Jewish villages against neighbouring Arab states started again within six months after the ceasefire in 1949. And the new Israeli government did nothing to stop it. It's the same today with the west bank settlements.
No. What will happen is that Israelis, mainly Ashkenazim, when something goes wrong, will just pick up their second passports (they all have them, since 2006 at least), and fly out. The rest, mainly Mizrahim, will be forced to submit as a minority population. There will be no deal. It'll be the history of the Crusades all over again. I never thought I'd see it in my lifetime; now I'm beginning to wonder.
Posted by: laguerre | May 20 2023 0:04 utc | 93
"Withe Arabs united Israel is now an isolated outlier."
Clever b. has invented a new space saving word, withe, a compaction of with the. He has taken the old configuration of two words that required eight characters of space and turned it into just five characters, withe.
Posted by: Bart Hansen | May 20 2023 1:07 utc | 94
@ Powerandpeople # 6
Are you effin' serious ??!!? " . . . physics of fossil carbon dioxide increase bite."
Global warming, having to be changed to 'Climate Change' (i.e. WEATHER !!) when temps went down so much even the inappropriately placed measuring stations (Tarred roofs beside heat exhausts, Airport runways catching plane exhaust heat, etc., etc) couldn't disguise it is, and always has been, a HOAX. Read up on 'The Club Of Rome's'(elite, parasitic 1%) "Limits to Growth" They decided that 'Global Warming' "WOULD DO" as the excuse to herd humanity into tightly surveilled cities, an end to farming (thus food to feed all) & along with outbreaks of disease (Covid & the mRNA Gene Therapy)& limited wars would reduce the population by 90% & control the rest in digital prisons/15 minute cities. And that is the be all & end all of the entire 'Carbon Hoax' which is the title of an introductory primer by Howell Woltz - worth the read
Cheers
Posted by: Kiwikris | May 20 2023 1:35 utc | 95
@Bevin #96
" . . . On the tombs of the Russian dead in this war it might be truly said that they gave their lives to defeat an evil revived and earned the thanks of generations which will benefit from their sacrifices."
And they all seem to be aware that they are reshaping the world into a multipolar one not the 'Rules Based' tyranny imposed by the West
Cheers
Posted by: Kiwikris | May 20 2023 1:44 utc | 96
In 1971, I had a college history professor who suggested that the British favored an Israeli state becasue "it would be a thorn in the side of Arab unity."
Posted by: Tmartin | May 19 2023 22:54 utc | 87
I believe it's now known that wasn't what happened, particularly in relation to the Balfour Declaration but also afterwards. The British govt in London, pulling out all stops to survive the 1WW, didn't much care about the Arabs, and were happy to make various contradictory promises. However they had the Zionists in the room with them in London, and perhaps there were issues of finance paying for the war. Lloyd George, PM, was also an evangelical Christian of the Christian zionist sort. The Zionists were waiting outside the cabinet room when the Declaration was made, and things moved on from there, to consolidate the position.
Posted by: laguerre | May 20 2023 1:52 utc | 97
How I wish my grandfather, who was born in Nazareth and fled his parents lands alone at eight to reach Egypt where he knew no one - how I wish he could be here with me to read this article and see how history unfolds towards hopefully a just return of the pendulum.
Posted by: melkiades | May 20 2023 2:38 utc | 98
Posted by: bevin | May 19 2023 23:45 utc | 96
You mistake war for professional sports. Battlefield victories are important only if they contribute to the final strategic adjustments which amount to Victory.
The Wehrmacht had plenty of victories to inscribe on its banners by 1945. But none mattered either to the dead or their families.
But that's an example of an aggressor army winning many victories on foreign territory but the territory's residents ultimately winning. Similar to the British winning many battles in the US Revolution and then losing the war, and the Americans winning many battles in Vietnam and then losing the war. Here, it's the Russian trying to win battles on Ukrainian territory. The Russians are more analogous to the Wehrmacht and the Brits and the Americans.
In the case of the SMO a new world order in which no single nation dictates to the rest and collects tribute from their workers in the form of loan repayments and terms of trade skewed to benefit the metropolitan oligarchy.
And also:
Posted by: Kiwikris | May 20 2023 1:44 utc | 100
And they all seem to be aware that they are reshaping the world into a multipolar one not the 'Rules Based' tyranny imposed by the West
A multipolar world is not a world where no single nation dictates to the rest. A multipolar world is a world were many many larger nations are dictating to the smaller ones and collecting tribute from them.
And honestly, telling surviving families that their sons and daughters died to form a so called new world order feels as compelling as telling the surviving families of Vietnam war casualties that their sons and daughters died to enfore the Truman doctrine.
A multipolar world
Posted by: Inkan1969 | May 20 2023 3:29 utc | 99
Posted by: Inkan1969 | May 20 2023 3:29 utc | 103
(I'm sorry, that last "a multipolar world" should've been deleted.)
Posted by: Inkan1969 | May 20 2023 3:31 utc | 100
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