What to believe about the European Council's support of VdL's "independent" pro-Israel stance?

European Council Press release 14 October 2023 20:54

Invitation letter by President Charles Michel to the members of the European Council ahead of their video conference of 17 October 2023

Hamas’ brutal terrorist attacks against Israel last Saturday resulted in the tragic loss of over a thousand innocent Israeli civilians. Hostages must be released immediately and without any preconditions. There is no justification for terror.

We stand in full solidarity with the people of Israel and the victims of the terrorist attacks. Israel has the right to defend itself in full compliance with international law, in particular international humanitarian law. ...

Posted by: too scents | Oct 15 2023 12:42 utc | 1

Mali delegation is signing a deal for the construction of nuclear reactors.

Breaking 🚨- Mali 🇲🇱 signed a nuclear ☢️ deal with Russia

On Friday October 13th, 2023, on national television, the government announced that they signed two memoranda of understanding with the Russian federation. Here’s what the journalist was reading,

“The high-level Malian delegation led by the Minister of Economy and Finance continues his mission in Moscow. Two memoranda of understanding have been signed today, they are about in particular geological research, but also and above all civil nuclear power. Thanks to these memoranda of understanding, Mali will very soon take its first steps in civil nuclear power, with the key being the construction of four 57 megawatt nuclear power plants.

Our country will also be able to have an extra-mining case which will list all the mining substances which exist throughout the entire national territory. During this day, the country's supply of fertilizers for the next agricultural season from Russia was also discussed. The Russian company responsible for the distribution of fertilizers is ready to supply Mali with the full quantities that the country needs as quickly as possible, and to continue our country's supply of wheat. We will come back to this later in full details with our special envoys.”

Alright, folks, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Burkina Faso 🇧🇫, and Mali 🇲🇱 both embark on nuclear energy on the same day. Remember,
@CapitaineIb226
said that the federation between our two countries is well in progress and that any state is welcome to join. Now we have Niger on board. It’s important that you know that we have uranium, it’s that we haven’t started mining them yet. I guess those who thought they would control our raw materials ad vitam aeternam are in for a big surprise. We know they are hitting us with terrorism because we said no to them. But that’s not a problem. We’ll settle the score with the terrorists.

Anyway, if uranium is good for Mr colonizer or Mr imperialist, then it’s also good enough for us. The Alliance of Sahel states (AES) are going to work wonders. This is not the generation of our forefathers or our parents, this is our generation. Frantz Fanon said, “Each generation must in a relative opacity discover its mission, fulfill it or betray it.” We have discovered our mission, which is to liberate ourselves from bondage, we will, and we will not betray it. Long live Burkina Faso 🇧🇫- Mali 🇲🇱- Niger 🇳🇪 and long live Africa! A luta continua!

Posted by: unimperator | Oct 15 2023 13:01 utc | 2

This includes a bit of history on Gaza which is of interest

Chartbook 245: Gaza, beyond de-development to disposability and destruction

Posted by: b | Oct 15 2023 13:09 utc | 3

Add this, because in the week to come G7 will spread this "intentionality" sh!t all over the ruins and corpses in Gaza, while waiting for Israel to begin a bogus ground offense.
IDF denies striking Gaza evacuation convoys ‘on purpose’

The Israel Defense Forces have denied deliberately killing civilians trying to flee north Gaza in [IDF] airstrikes, saying any information coming from the Hamas-controlled Palestinian enclave [a/k/a "first nation" reservation] should be treated with “extreme caution and suspicion” as it serves their “propaganda purposes.”

While not completely ruling out the possibility of a “freak accident,” IDF spokesperson Lt. Colonel Jonathan Conricus insisted on Sunday that “there was no targeting of vehicles, there was no targeting of civilians” referring to Friday's incident, in which dozens of people were killed or and injured.

The spokesman demonstrated a video showing cars driving down Salah al-Din road, following an Israeli evacuation order, before an explosion hit one of the vehicles.

“I’m not a forensic expert, I won’t be able to say if this is a roadside IED [?!] or if this is a strike from above. But what I am able to say with confidence, because we have asked, is that the IDF did not purposely strike in that area,” Conricus said..
[...]

Posted by: sln2002 | Oct 15 2023 13:10 utc | 4

What to believe about the European Council's support of VdL's "independent" pro-Israel stance?

...
https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2023/10/14/invitation-letter-by-president-charles-michel-to-the-members-of-the-european-council-ahead-of-their-video-conference-of-17-october-2023/

Posted by: too scents | Oct 15 2023 12:42 utc | 1

Tools will be used to fix things.

Posted by: Bemildred | Oct 15 2023 13:11 utc | 5

https://ragheadthefiendlyterrorist.wordpress.com/2023/10/15/a-brief-history-of-operation-al-aqsa-flood/

Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | Oct 15 2023 13:15 utc | 6

I took the trouble to look this up again since the subject keep coming up:

The Third Temple's Holy of Holies: Israel's Nuclear Weapons

Posted by: Bemildred | Oct 15 2023 13:24 utc | 7

Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | Oct 15 2023 13:15 utc | 6

Heh, thanks, anything to make me laugh these days must be good. That cracked me up.

Posted by: Bemildred | Oct 15 2023 13:27 utc | 8

George Soros migration strategy finally revealed:

1. Pay Palestinians to STAY in Gaza- No rubber boats for them- Stay and kill Israelis
2. Pay North African Muslims to LEAVE, provide Rubber rafts so they migrate to Italy en
transit to France and the UK

Posted by: william paul | Oct 15 2023 13:45 utc | 9

They write letters.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexkonrad/2023/10/12/vc-firms-sign-statement-israel

https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/hollywood-open-letter-israel-support-hamas-war-1235753904/

Posted by: too scents | Oct 15 2023 14:08 utc | 10

Question : How stretched is NATO ?

My guess is NATO is seriously over committed. Thoughts ?

Posted by: Exile | Oct 15 2023 14:21 utc | 11

Question : How stretched is NATO ?

Posted by: Exile | Oct 15 2023 14:21 utc | 11

---

It depends upon what their potential adversary can field.

For example, consider this new video that presents with some detail China's fibre-optic sonar and ocean penetrating lasers. Is NATO up to date?

https://youtu.be/y4zbSjapGMA?t=905

Posted by: too scents | Oct 15 2023 14:32 utc | 12

Related to G Doctorow's second piece this news that has just come in:

A group of US senators is heading to the Middle East to "support" normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel.
Saudi suspended talks on normalization due to current Israel crimes in Gaza.

According to NBC, the US administration does not want "a pause" in the process of normalization between Saudi and Israel.

In order to better understand this US policy I recommend this enlightening article by As`ad AbuKhalil, a Lebanese-American professor of political science at California State University, Stanislaus:

How a DC Think Tank Helped Cause the Gaza ‘Deluge’
https://consortiumnews.com/2023/10/12/how-a-dc-think-tank-helped-cause-the-gaza-deluge/

Posted by: JB | Oct 15 2023 14:36 utc | 13

Exile | Oct 15 2023 14:21 utc | 11
Question : How stretched is NATO ?

My guess is NATO is seriously over committed. Thoughts ?

Having worked around NATO for some time I don't believe they are stretched at all. Now no one wants to feel any pain so the bare minimum is offered. If the situation gets real you can count on a lot people doing a lot of work to wage a ground war. Everyone has experience with that and not much changes over time.

Having said that, imo no one plans for a ground war. Air Power is the answer to all questions. I believe that remains true even now. It is not the billion dollar stealth airplanes to carry the day but the 1000 dollar drone. you can buy a lot of drones for a billion dollars and defending against them will be challenging. I do hope that the planners and engineers who develop AI enhanced drones with kill capability meet that same fate, just like Dr Guillotine lost his head when the tide turned against him.

so, I think there are some sane people left who do not want to escalate the conflict and are using any excuse they can come up with. when the shit hits the fan all hell will be let loose.

my 2 cents

Posted by: dan of steele | Oct 15 2023 14:37 utc | 14

In this piece, the author does a great job of connecting many dots - the result is a very hopeful picture for Palestine & others who prefer peace & justice, to western backed barbarism.

Israeli Conflict Takes Eschatological Turn + Ukraine War Updates
Simplicius the thinker
Oct 15
....."But there’s another larger dimension to this, which MoA’s great new article touches on. It’s an eschatological one."

https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/israeli-conflict-takes-eschatological

Posted by: Toby C | Oct 15 2023 14:39 utc | 15

What are the odds of a second Arab Spring in Egypt? Sisi is unpopular. The economy is in terrible shape. Inflation is high. The elections are obviously a sham and there is popular support for the Palestinian cause.

Posted by: team10tim | Oct 15 2023 14:51 utc | 16

How a DC Think Tank Helped Cause the Gaza ‘Deluge’
https://consortiumnews.com/2023/10/12/how-a-dc-think-tank-helped-cause-the-gaza-deluge/

Posted by: JB | Oct 15 2023 14:36 utc | 13

Thank you for that, one of the people I look for, As`ad AbuKhalil.

The Izzies really have swallowed their own bullshit whole.

Posted by: Bemildred | Oct 15 2023 15:13 utc | 17

What are the odds of a second Arab Spring in Egypt? Sisi is unpopular. The economy is in terrible shape. Inflation is high. The elections are obviously a sham and there is popular support for the Palestinian cause.

Posted by: team10tim | Oct 15 2023 14:51 utc | 16

The odds would be pretty good, the King of Jordan looks sweat-bedewed too.

Posted by: Bemildred | Oct 15 2023 15:15 utc | 18

Feeds are broken.

https://www.moonofalabama.org/atom.xml
https://www.moonofalabama.org/index.rdf

Posted by: Thelonius | Oct 15 2023 15:21 utc | 19

Arab Springs require CIA coordination, people, tools, logistics, money, behind the scenes preparation,time.

I'd say an Egypt Arab Spring would run counter to the company's desires at this time.

But what do I know?

Posted by: Chaka Khagan | Oct 15 2023 15:23 utc | 20

Hey, Joe! Where are you going with those chips in your hands? The chip makers don't make any money if they don't sell them to buyers, you know!

Seriously, if the chip makers can't sell their chips to Chinese buyers, those buyers will learn to make what they need themselves. The US government has been shafting US manufacturers this way for a long time. This is one reason why American workers get poorer and poorer, more and more of them homeless.

Posted by: lester | Oct 15 2023 15:35 utc | 21

Chartbook 245: Gaza, beyond de-development to disposability and destruction

Posted by: b | Oct 15 2023 13:09 utc | 3

THANK YOU b!!!!!

The history of that will be my first read this morning, even before my usual church readings. And before all of that, I went to news on CBS for the first time looking at or listening to mainstream news since before the turn of the century. I kid you not, and on my Sunday too! The report on Gaza was good! No US government input! (ABC had that - I switched it off NBC had a horror special on climate change; I watched a bit, then switched that off).

People in Gaza --- GOD BLESS YOU AND KEEP YOU SAFE

THANK YOU b!!!!!!

Posted by: juliania | Oct 15 2023 15:35 utc | 22

More about the history of Gaza by Maha Nassar, associate professor in the School of Middle Eastern and North African Studies, University of Arizona.

https://consortiumnews.com/2023/10/13/history-of-the-gaza-strip/

Posted by: JB | Oct 15 2023 16:01 utc | 23

I took the trouble to look this up again since the subject keep coming up:
(link to some balderdash)
Posted by: Bemildred | Oct 15 2023 13:24 utc | 7

Sorry, but you've been misled. "Israel" doesn't have any nukes. Look up Mordechai Vanunu. You'll discover that this FAKE nuclear whistleblower was very publicly & 'violently' kidnapped by 'Mossad', in a country outside "Israel" and smuggled back to "Israel" to be punished. It made headlines worldwide.

Ahem,
Could a 4-year old imagine a better way to keep something secret, than being caught staging a kidnapping? It's too good to be true and reminds me of the Mythbusters motto: "If a thing's worth doing, it's worth OVERDOING.

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Oct 15 2023 16:08 utc | 24

Posted by: JB | Oct 15 2023 16:01 utc | 23

Thank you, JB but that is the official story which most of us know. It doesn't even start with the provocation of settlers raiding the Al- Aksa mosque, which most of us here know also.

b's link is much, much better. The tunnel economy is well explained; I had no idea it was so developed!

Thank you again, b.

Posted by: juliania | Oct 15 2023 16:15 utc | 25

I will add, the comments to Alan Tooze's article which b has linked at 3 above are also well worth reading. You can see the pro's and con's in miniature there, and those supporting his article are glaringly more persuasively founded.

Bravo, Gaza. That is a history to be proud of.

Posted by: juliania | Oct 15 2023 16:19 utc | 26

Reuters:

A commando unit attacked the Israeli army's southern Gaza headquarters and jammed its communications, preventing personnel from calling commanders or each other, the source said.

If Israel manufactured a "security failure", such as withdrawing 3/4 of their troops from the Gaza border after receiving repeated warnings about something BIG
being imminent,
then
the IDF would have, as part of their preparation for a "security failure",
written the above excuse about disrupted communication
ahead of time.

Posted by: librul | Oct 15 2023 16:22 utc | 27

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Oct 15 2023 16:08 utc | 24

I am well-aware of the Vanunu story. I will give you that the nukes are old and may well be "unreliable", which poses a problem, and that the Izzies habitually overstate their strength, just like Uncle Sugar, and that the crazy-guy strategy was always a bad strategy. I would be happy to find out it is all a hoax, but not willing to bet the farm on it. If you have evidence, trot it out.

Posted by: Bemildred | Oct 15 2023 16:23 utc | 28

Thanks also for the two Michael Hudson links, b. So much to read this week; as a reader I love it!

Posted by: juliania | Oct 15 2023 16:28 utc | 29

thanks b.. amazing work and service you provide.. i hope people support you when you ask for financial support...

ditto @ julianias comment... b's link @ b | Oct 15 2023 13:09 utc | 3 is really worth your time to read... highly recommend it..

Posted by: james | Oct 15 2023 16:33 utc | 30

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Oct 15 2023 16:08 utc | 24

uh how did South Africa get nukes?

Posted by: pretzelattack | Oct 15 2023 16:51 utc | 31

thanks b.. amazing work and service you provide.. i hope people support you when you ask for financial support...

Posted by: james | Oct 15 2023 16:33 utc | 30

Yes. That chartbook as #3 overs a lot of ground, too.

Posted by: Bemildred | Oct 15 2023 16:55 utc | 32

Posted by: juliania | Oct 15 2023 16:15 utc | 25

I appreciate your reaction, but most people don't know much, or anything, about Gaza, so all relevant information should be welcome to the interested.

The piece b linked to is, indeed, informative, but it is from an economic angle, and therefore lacking.

The History of Gaza on consortiumnews, which is a brief overview, complements it and adds some important facts that a careful reader will immediately notice.

Posted by: JB | Oct 15 2023 17:00 utc | 33

Posted by: team10tim | Oct 15 2023 14:51 utc | 16

LOL. Evidently, you don't remember what happened to Morsi.

Posted by: sln2002 | Oct 15 2023 17:03 utc | 34

...
I would be happy to find out it is all a hoax, but not willing to bet the farm on it. If you have evidence, trot it out.

Posted by: Bemildred | Oct 15 2023 16:23 utc | 28

Sorry, no evidence. Just logic, commonsense and an abundance of first hand experience of how mendacious and untrustworthy jews can be...

Watch Iran. If Iran is attacked by anyone, the Parasite Statelet will be in the crosshairs of Iran's response.

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Oct 15 2023 17:06 utc | 35

Today is GE Day in Poland.

Posted by: sln2002 | Oct 15 2023 17:10 utc | 36

The Michael Hudson piece on BRICS banking has an important footnote linking to Putin's Valdai address. I went to it and discovered that indeed, Putin's opening remarks are about economic factors, and he specifically mentions '... a cage of obligations ...'. Boy, after reading the essay at b's link at 3, does that sound like Gaza!?!

Even if you don't have 4 hours to spend on Putin's magnificent address, please do read those opening passages. I just did, and even in a re-read it doesn't take long to do so.

One thing Clinton did get right :- It IS "the economy, stupid!!"

It's not an iron curtain. They have been constructing an economic cage for everyone! I have faith that people are recognizing this now; people at large can be as inventive as the tunnel occupiers in Gaza have been, and perhaps as indomitable as they have been as well.

Posted by: juliania | Oct 15 2023 17:13 utc | 37

- "US and Egypt warned about the attacks of Hamas":

- I wouldn't be surprsied to see that Benjamin Netanyahu (BN) has ignored those warnings to be able to improve his own position. BN is a "right wing" politician but he feels A LOT OF heat from the (extreme) right of his own party/coalition (think: Itamar Ben-Gvir & Bezalel Smotrich). BN could have thought that an attack of Hamas and the subsequent "counter attack" would improve his position in his government. BN seems (!!!) to be very vulnerable for attacks from the extreme right of the political spectrum. But it seems that the position of BN has not improved or even has deteriorated.
- BN has another reason to try to cling to his (political) position as long as possible. Once BN is no longer prime minister he runs the risk of being convicted to serve (long ???) prison sentence as a result of corruption.

"The West is no longer driving the bus":
- The 1st sign that the West is "losing control" was the Arab spring in 2011. The Arab Spring began as a revolt of the populations of a few countries against their governments. The Arab Spring happening caught the US by surprise and then the CIA (???) was grilled why they didn't see this (the Arab Spring) coming and caught them by surprise.

- Arab world:
I think the governments in the Middle East and North Africa are watching all developments with fear. Fear that this "unrest" will spread to their countries as well. Keep in mind: the Arab Spring started as a popular revolt from several populations against their government. The developments in Gaza doesn't bode well. How long are the populations of the countries going to tolerate the oppression from their own governments ?

(As always LOTs of questions and very few solid answers.)

Posted by: Mr. Market | Oct 15 2023 17:13 utc | 38

...indominatable...

Posted by: juliania | Oct 15 2023 17:15 utc | 39

Thanks b, for the especially dense post & links today! What would a war between Gaza and Israel be without terrorist threats at those places famous for clashes between followers of the Torah and the Qur’an, the Louvre and Versailles. Crooke said in that video that the Mizrahi Jews who recently rose to power in the government are the Oriental Jews, from the Middle East and North Africa. Is there a war between the US and France in there??

Anyhow. I looked at Macron’s X/Twitter account and found his address to the nation from Oct. 12. I thought this section was of note (from the English transcript):

“A first chartered flight will land in Paris tonight. Other flights are planned in the coming hours and days, and we have stepped up our resources to provide support on the ground to the almost 200,000 French citizens who currently live in Israel. We stand with you and we continue to stand with you.

I know that many of you are worried about a tragic spiral of violence in the region. I have spoken several times with Israeli President Isaac Herzog and with his Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. I have also spoken at length with the main leaders of the region’s countries, with those of the Palestinian Authority, Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. We and our European and American partners share the same priorities: providing strong and comprehensive support to Israel, preventing the conflict from spreading to neighbouring countries, particularly Lebanon, and coordinating international humanitarian efforts.”

France stands with Lebanon? A red line? He also brought up Armenia earlier in his speech, which I think may place him at odds with whomever created the Kardashians. And Morocco gets no mention, by virtue of being in North Africa, but I can imagine further red lines appearing.

According the Elijah Magnier,

“#France, #Qatar and the #US are informed of the high potentiality for the northern Israeli front to escalate rapidly in the next hours. Let's see if #Israel will go ahead with its plan of the ground attack on #Gaza.”

“#Hezbollah fired 30 missiles, rockets and guided missiles in the last hour against Israeli positions on the borders. If #Israel bombs #Beirut, Hezbollah said it will bomb Tel Aviv. This is where the battle escalates into a war.”

https://x.com/ejmalrai/status/1713578778763370643

Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Oct 15 2023 17:15 utc | 40

……200,000 French citizens who currently live in Israel……

Abandon ship

Posted by: Exile | Oct 15 2023 17:20 utc | 41

WSJ = Neocons

Posted by: Mr. Market | Oct 15 2023 17:31 utc | 42

So... in Germany protesting against war crimes and holding Israel accountable to international law is 'anti-Semitic' and illegal now:

https://twitter.com/OverseasPTI_PAK/status/1713599559996522809?t=2AlWcRUiYFPYsmcMgcnf9Q&s=19

Berlin, a city of 3.7 Million, literally has over half a million Turks, Arabs or other ethnicity who will strongly support Palestinians and be hostile to Israel. Goes without saying, in nearly all cases it will have nothing to do with Judaism, hating Jews for being Jewish, and everything to do with justice and concern for humanity.

How long do the authorities expect to gaslight the population and get away with it? Have they not learned a thing by what just happened in Israel, about the consequences of denying people the right to protest peacefully?

Posted by: Rubiconned | Oct 15 2023 17:32 utc | 43

Posted by: pretzelattack | Oct 15 2023 16:51 utc | 31

uh how did South Africa get nukes?

----

From the 1960s to the 1990s, South Africa pursued research into weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear,[2] biological, and chemical weapons under the apartheid government. Six nuclear weapons were assembled.[3] South African strategy was, if political and military instability in Southern Africa became unmanageable, to conduct a nuclear weapon test in a location such as the Kalahari desert, where an underground testing site had been prepared, to demonstrate its capability and resolve—and thereby highlight the peril of intensified conflict in the region—and then invite a larger power such as the United States to intervene.[4]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa_and_weapons_of_mass_destruction

There was a controversial report from a Vela satelite about a nuclear explosion detected in the southern Indian Ocean.

The Vela incident was an unidentified double flash of light detected by an American Vela Hotel satellite on 22 September 1979 near the South African territory of Prince Edward Islands in the Indian Ocean, roughly midway between Africa and Antarctica. Today, most independent researchers believe that the flash was caused by a nuclear explosion[1][2][3]—an undeclared joint nuclear test carried out by South Africa and Israel.[4][5]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vela_incident

Posted by: john brewster | Oct 15 2023 17:42 utc | 44

Australia update:
Australia held a national referendum on Saturday Oct 14 over a constitutional change championed by the incumbent ALP government. The referendum asked Australians to enshrine the Indigenous (Aboriginal) people as a special category of inhabitant and thereby empower them with a special consultative body (the 'Voice') overseeing all legislation which might impact that group. The full breakdown results can be found here, but in summary the country voted 'No' (61%) against 'Yes' (39%). This was a very divisive issue; the result was as much a rejection of woke posturing by inner city affluent classes (where 'Yes' was in the majority) as it was a rejection of the idea that the constitution should privilege a community defined by race. On the other hand, the Aboriginal people have been the victims of terrible injustices so for many the rejection of Yes was a stab in the back for a vulnerable group.

The PM, Anthony Albanese, should take the blame for a shocking failure of leadership. He tried to make a moral question political and completely misread the mood of the nation. Australians are tired of hypocrisy. We were asked to grant new rights to indigenous peoples on the very day the PM endorsed Israel's decision to ethnically cleanse Palestine of its original people. The whole event was rightly seen as asking for yet another layer of bureaucratic managerialism which arguably would not have helped the real plight of Aboriginals one bit.

Anyway, I could go on about why the whole thing was a virtue-signalling catastrophe that has divided the country further when, if properly framed, it might have done the opposite. The world's political classes need to be purged.

Posted by: Patroklos | Oct 15 2023 17:45 utc | 45

Posted by: john brewster | Oct 15 2023 17:42 utc | 44

yeah Hersh had a story that Vela incident was the third such test, not a story the US government wanted to be published. point is, Israel had nukes. did it give them up? im 100% convinced they did not.

Posted by: pretzelattack | Oct 15 2023 17:49 utc | 46

common sense tells me that if Pakistan can get the bomb, Isreal could get the bomb. being deceptive does not mean they are bad at science. quite a few jewish scientists worked on the atomic bomb.

Posted by: pretzelattack | Oct 15 2023 17:52 utc | 47

Posted by: Patroklos | Oct 15 2023 17:45 utc | 45

Terra nullius will out: Finders keepers, losers weepers!
Referendum question and constitutional amendment

Other than that, rejecting another political division, or as the yerpeans say "subnational" eNTitITy, among other states represented in parliament is kind of petty. At least US Americans pretend to respect "tribal government".

Posted by: sln2002 | Oct 15 2023 18:03 utc | 48

Xymphora's October 15 post titled "Stepped Into a Trap" is particularly interesting. It contains a link to Gilad Atzmon's Facebook page in which Atzmon claims that "Israel" has been shocked by the Western Public's negative response to its vicious Gaza escapade.

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Oct 15 2023 18:14 utc | 49

Posted by: sln2002 | Oct 15 2023 18:03 utc | 48

The reasons why the 'No' vote succeeded cannot be boiled down to a petty reaction to political division, although I understand that view. 'No' voters were a basket of different, often opposing, positions, from conservatives ("don't tinker with the constitution!"), to racists, the ill-educated, resentful working-class ("They get handouts already!"), immigrants ("we have no stake in Anglo guilt expiation") and the far Left ("don't enshrine identity politics in the constitution when the class struggle is the cause of their plight!"). 'Yes' voters on the other hand were fairly uniformly the professional-managerial classes who live in the affluent inner city suburbs of Sydney and Melbourne, uni students and young urbanites. For me the main hypocrisy was that 'Yes' voters confidently knew that there were zero consequences in voting Yes. If the referendum had been about granting real powers that affected the financial or political position of Australia's professional-managerial classes, or asked sacrifices of them, they would have voted No in droves. The Yes vote was woke posturing which offered cheap virtue-signalling cynically knowing full well that the result would not result in real restitution, political power or compensation for our indigenous people. What they need is their own state, but that will not ever happen. A yes victory would have been a major disappointment for them but a warm and fuzzy feel good moment for smug wokists, which is what it boiled down to I'm afraid.

Posted by: Patroklos | Oct 15 2023 18:29 utc | 50

Posted by: Patroklos | Oct 15 2023 18:29 utc | 50

Nailed it!!

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Oct 15 2023 18:54 utc | 51

Patroklos@50
Is not this just the result that the liberal bourgeoisie favoured? A confirmation of their superior morality plus nothing to pay in the way of potentially awkward sacrifices.

Re India
https://countercurrents.org/2023/10/palestine-and-indias-fading-anti-colonialism-stand/

Posted by: bevin | Oct 15 2023 18:58 utc | 52

On why the EU elites, increasingly nude and unpopular in their criminal stance against European citizens, unconditionally support Israel in its gencidal retaliation against the whole Gaza population....

Johnatan Cook suggests they are doing and downpayment for their current and future impunity for breaking international law against their own population if they would dare to revolt, or vote wrongly, for what is the complete willing ruin and genocide of European peoples in favor of obscure elites in the US/UK...

https://strategic-culture.su/news/2023/10/15/lawless-in-gaza-why-britain-and-the-west-back-israel-crimes/

Posted by: Ghost of Mozgovoy | Oct 15 2023 19:09 utc | 53

Van Der Leyen on her way out of the EU ????

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvBS7n9EPpA

Posted by: Mr. Market | Oct 15 2023 19:25 utc | 54

https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/hollywood-open-letter-israel-support-hamas-war-1235753904/

Any of those signatories non-jews? Hollyweird.

Posted by: Ново З | Oct 15 2023 19:30 utc | 55

@ Ново З | Oct 15 2023 19:30 utc | 55

i see our moa poster tom collins has replied in the comment section with a very relevant question..

i suppose if this insane dynamic in gaza continues, there will be an open gaza thread at moa..

Posted by: james | Oct 15 2023 19:35 utc | 56

At least zionists are transparent europeans: they openly (in hebrew, for their tribalist opinion) celebrate NSDAP praxis in genocidal management. And they work atound the clock to improve their genocidal policies and technologies. Dear spineless arabs: you will be next, the zionist project accepting no borders.
May the 500 years of european barbarism, inflicted on the planet, end soon.

https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2023/10/15/712789/Palestine-Israel-Gaza-Seymour-Hersh-US-UK-EU-

American investigative journalist Seymour Hersh has revealed that the Israeli military plans to use a new version of Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) bombs capable of killing all people within "one-half mile" from the dropping site during the ongoing aggression against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.

According to Hersh, the attack is scheduled between Sunday and Monday.

"The current Israeli war planners are convinced, the insider told me, that the upgraded version of JDAMs with larger warheads would penetrate deep enough underground before detonating - thirty to fifty meters - with the blast and resulting sound wave ‘killing all within one-half mile’ …depending on the efficacy the forced expulsion of Gazi City and south proceeds, with a ground invasion to follow immediately," Hersh said on his Substack column.

Earlier this week, Hersh warned in another report that an Israeli "national security veteran" said that the occupation is pondering whether to use a "Leningrad approach" to starve out "Hamas forces" in Gaza and avoid an invasion, something the source said may lead to the murder of nearly 100,000 civilians.

"The big debate today… is whether to starve Hamas out or kill as many as 100,000 people in Gaza,” adding that, “Hamas now only has a two or three-day supply of purified water and that, along with a lack of food … may be enough to flush all the Hamas [forces] out," he said then citing the source

Posted by: Dialectical Arab | Oct 15 2023 19:51 utc | 57

Posted by: Mr. Market | Oct 15 2023 19:25 utc | 54

She could not give more a damn about what the EU member states, lets the European people, think, she is preparing her way to NATO head....what better way than assuring full support by jewsih oligarchs who run the world right now under the fake, although crumbling, fachade of "representative democracy"....

Posted by: Ghost of Mozgovoy | Oct 15 2023 19:52 utc | 58

Posted by: Patroklos | Oct 15 2023 17:45 utc | 45

Thanks for excellent write-up.

Sadly, proving once again, that democracy ain't all it is cracked up to be.

Posted by: Scorpion | Oct 15 2023 19:54 utc | 59

And here ids another excellent contribution from Doctorow (Political Science )

"..The death toll resulting from the forced departure of nearly one million Palestinians from the northern portion of the enclave under orders from the Israeli military to clear out or face death takes on the character of the forced move of Armenians under orders from the Ottoman government a little more than a hundred years ago that is now known as a genocide. The cut-off of water, electricity, food is not sustainable. Something will have to give, or there is surely going to be a full-scale regional war. The presence of the American aircraft carrier task force just offshore cannot hold this back. The 19th century concept of gunboat diplomacy will not work now, given the military capabilities of Hezbollah as well as state actors in the region.

"I firmly believe that the dullard and empty propagandist Antony Blinken will “step on a rake,” as I say in this video, following which demands from China, from Russia and other powers for international intervention to stop the bloodshed will become irresistible..."
https://gilbertdoctorow.com/2023/10/14/todays-talking-head-exercise-on-wion-latest-prognosis-for-denouement-of-the-israeli-hamas-war/#comments

And here is a comment from one Hal Freeman:

"Excellent analysis. As an ol’ U.S. Marine I learned the “Know thy enemy” adage was crucial in any conflict. Living in Russia and watching the proxy war in Ukraine showed me the U.S. did not have a clue when it came to understanding enemy Russia. The Hamas strikes in Israel indicate the same kind of ignorance on the part of the U.S. closest ally. And the best D.C. can do to provide diplomatic counsel is the intellectual lightweight Blinken. Looks like there is a clear and present danger the U.S. and its allies are about to step on the same rake twice."

Posted by: bevin | Oct 15 2023 19:56 utc | 60

@Posted by: Rubiconned | Oct 15 2023 17:32 utc | 43

Well, what is to be surprised here? What is fascism about? What we have been through during the past three years?

What part of that they first came for the "unvaccinated", then for the "pro-Russians", now for the pro-Palestinians, and soon for the pro-yourself some people can still understand?

They will not stop until we all submit or fight each other one way or the other, and when we awake to this nonsens and decide to fight in an united front they will unleash the same mass killing on us, that is the message od the somehow "unanimous" Western support for Israel, at least on the part of main European actors France, Italy, Germany, UK...this is a warning to their populations...as the public derision and criminalization of those who refused the "vaccine" was...

Posted by: Ghost of Mozgovoy | Oct 15 2023 20:00 utc | 61

Posted by: bevin | Oct 15 2023 18:58 utc | 52

Yes. In fact now the liberal left get two bites at the cherry: they get to feel superior and they feel like underdogs in a struggle. They're all getting their kicks branding the No voters as evil, etc etc. A great big woke circle jerk.

Posted by: Patroklos | Oct 15 2023 20:07 utc | 62

Reuters:

A commando unit attacked the Israeli army's southern Gaza headquarters and jammed its communications, preventing personnel from calling commanders or each other, the source said.

Why would Israel let Hamas know:
"Hey, that works."

Posted by: librul | Oct 15 2023 20:12 utc | 63

The point of the vote was distraction and division. Pat you are playing along with their tune. Go hug a black fella - imagine how personally you would take “no”.

Posted by: Rae | Oct 15 2023 20:31 utc | 64

45 Oct 17 17:45 UTC

Re the recent referendum in Australia,I wonder about motives underlying and driving the virtue signalling in the first place? At the poltical and executive level, I suspect that a desire to build and manufacture some credibility for use of human rights as a weapon and casus belli in future military interventions abroad (principally in Asia) may have been instrumental in allowing some space for the Indigenous peoples' recognition issue in a fly-specked corner of the 'Overton window'. Paranoia on my part, perhaps.

Posted by: johnF | Oct 15 2023 20:37 utc | 65

I often appreciate the Responsible Statecraft articles, but that zine is more of a Bablylon Bee or The Onion, or even Off-Guardian to the real voice of D.C. and Brussels, and it's not available to the general public - IrResponsible Statecraft.

Another Jonathan Cook article: https://jonathancook.substack.com/p/what-the-media-forgets-to-tell-you

And CJ Hopkins with a hands in the air nothingburger (The Onion's was better).

https://cjhopkins.substack.com/p/israels-911

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Oct 15 2023 20:57 utc | 66

Posted by: juliania | Oct 15 2023 17:15 utc | 39

Haha. I hadn't even noticed. Enjoyed your first post. I do get annoyed when people use "dominate" when they intend "dominant", however. LOL

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Oct 15 2023 21:01 utc | 67

A new word, apply as you see fit.

The Warons

A brief history of their works.

War on north Korea
War on Vietnam
War on Iran (proxy version)
War on Iraq 1
War on Afghanistan
War on Terror
War on Iraq 2
War on Libyans
War on Syrians
War on Ukrainians / Battle of the Oligarchs
War on Palestinians 1948 to ____ .

"Creative destruction is our middle name" as gleefully exclaimed by leading light of the neo con brethren Micheal Ledeen. An admirer of Mussolini's brand of fascism.

Then when their evil has run it's course for a time, like Ledeen they retire back to academia or some think tank or get a gubermint job someplace.

The vast majority of them are chicken hawks, never had the courage to follow thru with their mad visions and put their lives on the line. ie John Bolton, couldn't see himself dying in a rice paddy.

Smile empty soul, this is war.

"I'm just a normal man
I wouldn't hurt nothing at all
But here we are

Our leaders have a plan
I'd only kill if it's for them
Now here we are

I'm really not sure why
But the TV says that you were wrong"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DV8Io5iK71U

I once read during WW2 the US Army had a problem getting their Soldiers in the European theatre to kill. Perhaps simply because they found it difficult to take the lives of other people. Maybe because they looked a lot like them? Strip away the indoctrination by the elite, and that's what you're left with. Similar human entities ordered to kill each other.

Killing brown / Asian folks however, may be easier for some. I dunno.

That said, remember the Warons. The Chicken Hawk Predator class that survives on what their servants kill.

Posted by: bubbles | Oct 15 2023 21:07 utc | 68

Al Manar TV citing media sources from the Zionist entity: the occupying soldier Amitai Garnaut, son of "Rabbi" Tamir Garnaut, head of the religious school in Tel Aviv, is reported eliminated by Hezbollah resistance fighters. Another zionist genocider transformed into useful compost for the soil of Palestine. (use of " " because true semitic and jewish religious figures of the past centuries would be appaled by those fake zionist rabbis) Source: https://www.almanar.com.lb/

Posted by: Dialectic Arab | Oct 15 2023 21:39 utc | 69

Posted by: bubbles | Oct 15 2023 21:07 utc | 68

Life is Cheap. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBLc2fYO60k

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Oct 15 2023 21:45 utc | 70

Israel Defense Forces spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus REPORTS: Israel 'delays Gaza operation due to bad weather' as it gears up for '18 month invasion'

Israeli troops could be ordered to spend 18 months in the Gaza Strip as Tel Aviv's forces gear up for an offensive in the Hamas-controlled enclave. A Hamas officer told the New York Times that the terror group was waiting for Israeli troops to enter Gaza so they could ambush them using a vast tunnel network.

Senior Israeli officials told the paper that the anticipated ground invasion of Gaza had been delayed due to the weather preventing air cover needed to move in the troops. Some of the political and military leadership in Israel are urging a door-to-door operation in Gaza which could take as long as 18 months, according to the report.

The delay has given Palestinians living in Gaza more time to flee the area after Israel issued a warning urging around 1.1 million people to head south. Israel Defense Forces spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said: “It's really important that people in Gaza know we've been very, very generous with the time. We have given ample warning, more than 25 hours.”
[...]

Posted by: sln2002 | Oct 15 2023 21:45 utc | 71

Did she say, "hummus"?

Posted by: sln2002 | Oct 15 2023 21:59 utc | 72

MIHOP: https://www.aaronmate.net/p/the-roots-of-israels-ethnic-cleansing

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Oct 15 2023 22:11 utc | 73

Posted by: Rae | Oct 15 2023 20:31 utc | 64

I'm not sure how carefully you read my posts, but real justice for Australia's indigenous population is what I want. The referendum was not interested in that one iota. The real restitution will never come via that path.

Posted by: Patroklos | Oct 15 2023 22:27 utc | 74

Life is Cheap. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBLc2fYO60k

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Oct 15 2023 21:45 utc | 70

My era;

America ..Because the whole world has to be just like us.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNp4LrWtz8M

"America 'Goes Not Abroad in Search of Monsters to Destroy"
John Quincy Adams

I'm still pulling for America to truly remember it's wise men and not just use their words as a slogan for political posturing.

Posted by: bubbles | Oct 15 2023 22:28 utc | 75

Patroklos @ 50, 62 and any other interested folks:

Count among those who voted No those people who might have boycotted the referendum altogether but who then realised that returning a blank form or scribbling all over it might give the Yes vote a victory if the results ended up being very close.

The referendum results may have put egg all over the ALP's collective face but they also left the Liberal-National coalition splattered with the sticky stuff. The electorate where I live (the most blue-ribbon Liberal Party seat in Sydney if not in all of Australia) returned a majority Yes vote. (It also returned a pro-Republic result in the 1999 referendum which should have given the Liberal-National coalition then the shivers.) If the loathsome Peter Dutton does not take note of how electorates in northern and eastern Sydney voted in the recent referendum, the Liberal Party may be going into the dustbin of history sooner than we know.

The referendum results show that not only is the ALP out of touch with its heartland in western Sydney (where among other things voters there sympathise with the Palestinians' struggle and would have understood why Hamas undertook their Al-Aqsa Flood attacks) and other parts of Australia where the party dominates but that also the Liberal-National Coalition is out of touch with its voters.

The mainstream news media also did not care to understand what the referendum results might have been saying or how the recent events in Gaza revealed the hypocrisy of the Albanese government in rushing to support a psychopathic Israeli government (whose leader has a history of derailing his country's politics and governance simply to avoid jail time on bribery and corruption charges) while sanctimoniously braying about amending past harms done to Australia's indigenous peoples by giving them a pretend Parliament.

Among other things, the referendum results show that most Australians see this Voice (or to give it its full name, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice - recognise what defunct organisation it recalls?) as a waste of taxpayer money, given that it would have no budget and no real influence on Federal government decision-making, yet its representatives would still have to draw their salaries from somewhere.

In case people don't remember the defunct organisation:

... In 2001, ATSIC became embroiled in controversy over litigation surrounding its chairperson Geoff Clark, relating to his alleged participation in a number of rapes in the 1970s and 1980s, after being named by four women.

Soon after this, the government under then Prime Minister John Howard began to remove some of ATSIC's fiscal powers, which were transferred to a new independent organisation, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Services (ATSIS) ... The government suspended Geoff Clark as chair of ATSIC in 2003 after he was convicted of obstructing police during a pub brawl, and Lionel Quartermaine became acting chair ...

A review of ATSIC was commissioned in 2003. The report, authored by John Hannaford, Jackie Huggins and Bob Collins, was titled In the Hands of the Regions: A New ATSIC Report of the Review of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission ... and it recommended reforms which gave greater control of ATSIC to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people at a regional level. At the time, Indigenous Affairs Minister Amanda Vanstone stated that the review had concluded that ATSIC has not connected well with the indigenous Australians and was not serving them well.

For some time after Clark's appointment, the Howard government had been expressing doubts as to the value of continuing to have ATSIC at all. Following Mark Latham's election to the leadership of the (Labor) Opposition in December 2003, Labor agreed with the government that ATSIC had not worked ... In April of election year 2004, both parties pledged to introduce alternative arrangements for Indigenous affairs, with Labor proposing a new elected national body ...

The government's plan was to abolish ATSIC and all of its regional and state structures, and return funding for Indigenous programs to the relevant line departments. Labor's view was that ATSIC itself should be abolished, but many of the regional and state sub-organisations should be retained, to continue to give Indigenous people a voice in their own affairs and within their own communities. It rejected the notion of merging Indigenous funding into funding for Australians generally as "tried and failed", but had not announced its alternative proposals ...

Howard announced the agency's abolition on 15 April 2004, saying that "the experiment in elected representation for Indigenous people has been a failure" ... On 28 May 2004 the government introduced into the Federal Parliament legislation to abolish ATSIC. The Bill finally passed both houses of Parliament in 2005, and ATSIC was formally abolished at midnight 16 March 2005 ...

Posted by: Refinnejenna | Oct 15 2023 22:40 utc | 76

Posted by: Refinnejenna | Oct 15 2023 22:40 utc | 77 / Patrokolos / Others

The referendum was very, veery loosely covered here in the States. Sounds like it would have been mostly meaningless. I was curious, however, as to what role the Murdoch Media may have played - and/or - how do they typically cover aboriginal issues?

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Oct 15 2023 22:45 utc | 77

The point of the vote was distraction and division. Pat you are playing along with their tune. Go hug a black fella - imagine how personally you would take “no”.

Posted by: Rae | Oct 15 2023 20:31 utc | 64

I agree that the vote was for distraction and no doubt it will have something to do with coal and gas, doesn't everything? Same goes for Israel.
However I doubt any "black fella" trusted Albanese or any of the double speakers in parliament in the first place. I don't and I saw through the scam in the first few weeks, indigenous are far more aware than you or me of the never ending depravity.

All I see in Albanese, Plibersek et al are greedy people rubbing their hands in glee at the kickbacks from more and more fossil fuel approvals. Peter Dutton on 6 figure income for being a racist jerk pretending to oppose.

Where else but the colonies?

Posted by: K | Oct 15 2023 22:58 utc | 78

The Donald Tusk pulled a fast one on PiS.
lib opposition coalition claims victory

The Ipsos exit poll suggested that the opposition together has likely won 248 seats in the 460-seat lower house of parliament, the Sejm. Law and Justice, according to the projection, obtained 200 seats, while the far-right Confederation got 12 seats.
"I am the happiest man on earth," [former EUCO pres, The Donald] Tusk said. "Democracy has won. Poland has won."
[...]
Others see economic threats in the way the party has governed and believe that high social spending has helped to fuel inflation.There is also a high level of state ownership in the Polish economy, and the governing party has built up a system of patronage, handing out thousands of jobs and contracts to its loyalists. The EU, whose funding has driven much of the economic transformation, is withholding billions in funding to Poland over what it views as democratic erosion.

The fate of Poland's relationship with Ukraine is also at stake. The Confederation party campaigned on an anti-Ukraine message, accusing the country of lacking gratitude to Poland for its help in Russia's war. While Poland has been a staunch ally of Ukraine and a transit hub for Western weapons, relations chilled over the Ukrainian grain that entered Poland's market.
[...]

Posted by: sln2002 | Oct 15 2023 23:16 utc | 79

The woke referendum in Australia called the voice has come and gone. Looking at the huge number of tearful articles at the woke ABC news site, they cannot understand why their crap failed.

the no vote would have been for many reasons, some straight out racist, but for me it would have simply locked in the ongoing cultural genocide and with that the physical genocide of Australia's remaining indigenous people. Now the pressure will remain for change but more practical solutions in line with the various issues will have to be found.

One voice for all Australian Aboriginals. The situation for Urban aboriginals that have lost their land, the knowledge of their original boundaries, their language and their oral history is quite different to to those in more remote regions who still retain all of the above and their land has not been rendered unrecognizable by development.
Much of that land is still in its original form and is covered by grazing leases rather than freehold properties.
The land is absolutely critical for Aboriginal people to retain their social structure and the leases as they come up for sale can be purchased by the government and granted to the aboriginal people of that land in perpetuity. That is the first step that must occur. The next step is creating Employment and training for the young people on their land. This would have to be government funded and subsidized for a long time.
When Aboriginal people were made Australian citizens and given all the rights of citizens, there was no transition period. Adjusting to being part of the European world was totally outside their knowledge. It was like being dumped in the middle of the ocean and being told to learn to swim.
That transition period must still be undertaken for any progress to occur. The result of not having done that is now seen in the massive aboriginal crime that is now occurring in towns throughout these regions. The young people have no hope for the future, the land is gone, or where the ALC owns cattle leases, there is no work. The social structure has broken and the young people turn to drugs and booze and petty crime to pay for the drugs and booze.

I look at this terrible tragedy, then look at the white mans world of woke racists with tearful woke solutions and non woke racists with redneck style law and order solutions....

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Oct 15 2023 23:24 utc | 80

In a previous open thread I linked the NASA-GISS record of monthly global temperature anomalies, since 1880, because September 2023 stands out like a sore thumb:

https://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/tabledata_v4/GLB.Ts+dSST.txt

This database is 0.226 C from preindustrial, plus September's 1.47 = +1.696 C. Because it was the first month over the 1.5 limit (of IPCC yore), last September caught Jeff Masters' eye:

September 2023 smashed the record for the most extreme month for heat in Earth’s history, recording the highest departure from average of any month in analyses dating back to 1850, said NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information on October 13.

https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2023/10/september-2023-was-earths-most-extreme-month-for-heat-ever-recorded/

Posted by: Aleph_Null | Oct 15 2023 23:37 utc | 81

Have been reading through the previous comments after posting mine. Patroklos - excellent comments on the referendumb.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Oct 15 2023 23:42 utc | 82

China will pay a very heavy price for cowardice. China avoids trade with Russia in military and duel use goods and services. But more worryingly China FAILED to capitalize on the war in Ukraine to retake Taiwan. Now it's getting nearly impossible for China.

Taiwan is launching submarine after submarine, mine laying ships, drones and regiments, deploying long range missiles, deploying drones to retaliate Chinese drones, etc. A few US military consignments are due too.

China should soon forget about the reunification dream. Not happening. Unless it starts within the next few months.

Not only that Taiwan will hold Chinese mainland territory to risk and use it as a bargaining tool.

Looks like PLA is a large, timid and disorganized pool. If a superpower it must act like one and not fear overused US sanctions. Hiding its head under the sand when a snake hisses has only one outcome.

Posted by: Jason | Oct 15 2023 23:53 utc | 83

On the 'fuzzy' nature of International Law and its correlation to 'might is right' and 'hegemonic' influences ... A history in some depth ... read at least the conclusion as it relates to actions of US and Israel .... and the selective 'normalisation' of 'slow motion genocide' and 'collective punishment'...

Perry Anderson on the history, hypocracies and hypotheses of International Law

https://newleftreview.org/issues/ii143/articles/perry-anderson-the-standard-of-civilization [h/t Geoffrey Roberts list]

Posted by: Don Firineach | Oct 16 2023 0:04 utc | 84

Jason | Oct 15 2023 23:53 utc | 84

Your reaction to events and situations beyond your understanding is the cause of new wars and perpetual wars.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Oct 16 2023 0:20 utc | 85

Patroklos

The inner city vote reminded me of what Crooke calls the Bourgeois revolution in reference to the woke revolution that is occurring. I read media reports on voting patterns though your comment breaks it down a bit more.
The difference appears to be in working class vs upper class, or workers vs professional and office type class rather than politically left or right.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Oct 16 2023 0:33 utc | 86

Sidenote at end of Dugin's latest piece in response to recent events in Israel-Palestine.

PS: The Russian elite presents a fantastical spectacle right now. One-third are anti-Zionists, pleased with the Palestinian uprising. Another third are pro-Zionists since Israeli rightists are tolerant towards Putin and the Special Military Operation. They are rallying to defend Israel. The last third are globalists, who support the Council on Foreign Relations and Biden, but what they should say and do is not clear. After all, Soros is against Israel, but they are for Soros (roughly speaking). Which stance will prevail? Maybe, as usual, all three simultaneously.

https://www.geopolitika.ru/en/article/storm-al-aqsa-has-middle-east-erupted

Just as Russia is split - though when we discuss it we tend to imagine a single entity with a single mind - so also Israel is split, so also the Palestinians, America and all others.

Sometimes things are instigated externally to resolve internal obstacles at home between entrenched factions. For example, one faction in Israel could have facilitated this event to favor their position at the expense of a rival or adversary. And so on.

It's too soon to say, but I get the feeling that when all this plays out we will all have a markedly different sense of Middle East, Europe, the West and indeed the Whole Wide World. (A Great Reset indeed?)

Jerusalem is the Old World capital of the West, where the three main 'Religions of the Book' meet; what is now unfolding may be the passing of Western civilization; the Modern Mindset has supplanted religious faith as the fount of collectively experienced Reality, Culture and Civilization. Rather, we will all be Modernizing, following ‘Xi Thought Way’. We will of course still respect the old traditions, even boast about them, but the ancient gods will no longer gaze at the world through our eyes and we will no longer tell their stories. Along with multipolarity, a new and very modern Eurasian civilization will emerge replacing the Old now marking its mortal passing with paroxysms of ancient grievance and violence in the once Holy Land with the Temple on the Mount.

Posted by: Scorpion | Oct 16 2023 0:50 utc | 87

Here's another nice mess you've gotten me into

https://torrancestephensphd.substack.com/p/heres-another-nice-mess-youve-gotten

Posted by: Rawdawgbuffalo | Oct 16 2023 0:59 utc | 88

Posted by: Rawdawgbuffalo | Oct 16 2023 0:59 utc | 89

Stephens waited until the end before he really lost me...

"Citizens of the United States will pay the price because oil and inflation will continue to rise while we confront our current version of the Color Revolution: maybe even more blood in the streets given the thousands of military-age Chinese and Iranians crossing our Southern border illegally. Problematic since it has been reported that the Biden administration has lost contact with 99% of illegal immigrants in America since 2021. To state it plainly, they are not being tracked."

LOL, OK. I visit El Paso frequently. I visit Arizona frequently. I have a good idea of the makeup of those entering the country via the southern border w/ Mexico, and let me tell you - less than 1% are Chinese and Iranian - Combined. Probably less than a quarter of 1%.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Oct 16 2023 1:03 utc | 89

Egypt etc., my impressions.

From a US government point of view I think the "Arab spring" didn't work out as intended and quickly took on a life of its/their own counter to US interests, afaik at least one of them (Tunisia) wasn't even planned or controlled or abetted by the US and they gained no significant influence over it.

In the case of Egypt neither MB was, or Sisi is, as US-friendly as Mubarak was, nor was either of particular interest to many/most(?) of the more crucial Egyptians involved.

I think the "Arab spring" stopped propagating because it blew up quite severely in the face of the various US intelligence services, caused them to panic, and to start throwing connections and manpower at stopping it from spreading (see Bahrain for example) ie. sabotaging the same methods as they had popularized.

Compare the relatively distributed and anarchic "spring" style manipulations with previous and in particular later "color revolutions" that were much more tightly orchestrated and controlled, especially the last one in Ukraine, and not really based on any true popular support or participation outside of media manipulation.

I think the loss of control of the "Arab spring" and in particular in Egypt and combined with making an utter mess out of Libya (right next door to Egypt) reverberated as far as and contributed to how the recent US and EU plans for using Egypt and Sudan militarily against Ethiopia ended in a massive failure.

I could be entirely wrong of course.

Sorry for any poor level of writing and phrasing, very tired.

· · · · · · · · ·

Aleph_Null:
How do these monthly measurements account for enormous amounts of exploding ordnance, regular use of massive thermobaric flamethrower missiles, and massive forest fires? Or burning down half an island or however much or little it was?

Do they account for increased energy consumption for cooling during higher ambient temperatures? You know; a positive feedback loop. The infamous "heat islands" getting hotter? (Aka city growth).

I mean if it is a monthly blip (or noticeable increase or acceleration) it should be something very tangible and explainable if real.

Please notice and understand the emphasis on monthly. This isn't even about for or against AGW or anything such by any other name.

Btw your quoted text treats "Earth's history" as only since 1850. That's some extremely severe selection bias in case you didn't notice. Some people pull that nonsense all the time in the form of "hottest since 2004" etc. headlines and for those who don't know it that's a perfect textbook example of fraudulent data massaging in any science and also in mathematics.

(Sarcasm). Ice cores? What's that? What geological records? Never heard of it. Trees? Nope, 1850 ftw! (End sarcasm)

Only pointing out that your source doesn't seem to actually care about science, not even climate science.

Anyway that's my reaction to your post, it seemed to invite it. I didn't read the links, waaay too tired but with mistakes like those (not really by you but by them) I wouldn't have been inclined to anyway.

Posted by: Sunny Runny Burger | Oct 16 2023 1:38 utc | 90

From Canada, that happy land of 'friendly fascism', it just gets worse and worse. Yves Engler on Canadian complicity with mad-dog Israel and yet another betrayal of Palestine:

Canada's Complicity with Crimes Against Humanity in Gaza

https://yvesengler.com/2023/10/15/canadas-complicity-with-crimes-against-humanity-in-gaza/

"[FM] Joly traveled to Israel to support its genocidal policies in Gaza. The trip will go down as one of the more shameful moments in Canada's odious anti-Palestinian history..."

Posted by: John Gilberts | Oct 16 2023 4:32 utc | 91

This is for waynorinorway, whose comment on watching the BBC War and Peace on the previous not-Ukraine thread I have only just read and enjoyed. It took me back to my own enjoyment of the Russian film - I saw it in a theater in Santa Fe. It was six hours long I see now checking for it online - we must have had two nights to see it I think. I found online Roger Ebert's piece on that film - he does it justice. I simply remember vividly the ballroom episode for the young Natasha - glorious it was.

Here is Ebert's summation (the entire piece is worth reading.):

it is to a mass audience, not an intellectual minority, that "War and Peace" is directed. The cinema lends itself magnificently to spectacle, and "War and Peace" is great cinema. It is as spectacular as a movie can possibly be and yet it has a human fullness. Considering its cost and the vast effort that went into its making, such a film can be made only once in our time. The wonder, indeed, is that it was made at all.

When we all get to heaven, this is the movie we shall all watch.

[Oh and by the way I still think a single state is the answer for all Palestinians, Israelis included. But perhaps the way to that is by way of the path Russia and China advocate, for now.]

Posted by: juliania | Oct 16 2023 5:11 utc | 92

Here is the link for my 93 above:

https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/war-and-peace-1969

Posted by: juliania | Oct 16 2023 5:21 utc | 93

The US does not have 155mm artillery shells it could ship to Israel. So the US is sending two aircraft carriers instead.

Posted by: Passerby | Oct 16 2023 6:14 utc | 94

juliania | Oct 16 2023 5:11 utc | 93

The sort of distrust between the two sides at this stage takes generations to heal if ever. That would make it exceptionally difficult single state to live peacefully together. To have any chance, a single state would have to be by mutual agreement rather than forced on them from the outside. Perhaps like China and Taiwan, reconciliation could occur over a long period of, but whereas Taiwan and China are the same people, Palestine and Israel are two completely different peoples. What has occurred over the last 70 years - several generations - is now part of each sides culture.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Oct 16 2023 6:32 utc | 95

"I simply remember vividly the ballroom episode for the young Natasha - glorious it was."
Posted by: juliania | Oct 16 2023 5:11 utc | 93

That scene would cure anyone who disparages or doubts love. Thank you.

Posted by: waynorinorway | Oct 16 2023 6:49 utc | 96

- Israel has another big ECONOMIC problem !!!! In the US, Canada, the UK, Australia and New Zealand interest rates have "gone through the roof". But these rising interest rates have also hit Israel. Interest rates in Israel have gone up from about 1% in 2021 to over 4% right now. And that's hurting the israeli economy "right between the eyes". It means that any one who buys a house now has to pay a much larger amount of money for that mortgage.
- Even in Israel the cost of living has gone up massively. As a result of this there are israelis who are now leaving the country to another country (e.g. Cyprus).

Posted by: Mr. Market | Oct 16 2023 7:13 utc | 97

Anya Parampil reports for Grayzone:

Has Israel’s govt recruited a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee?

“He should not have security clearance. That’s just common sense,” a former Special Forces officer warned after Rep. Brian Mast showed up to work in an Israeli military uniform.

Brian Mast, a member of the United States Congress seated on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, showed up for work this October 13 clad in the uniform of the Israeli military.

“As the only member to serve with both the United States Army and the Israel Defense Forces, I will always stand with Israel,” the evangelical Christian Republican posted on X around 10:30 in the morning.

...

Posted by: too scents | Oct 16 2023 7:39 utc | 98

Posted by: Patroklos | Oct 15 2023 22:27 utc | 75

Yeah I might have jumped on a single short post hastily. After going through more of your recent ones I think I owe you a beer.

Posted by: Rae | Oct 16 2023 8:34 utc | 99

Jonathan Cook as the most authoritative voice on such affairs should be a must visit for all critical thinkers and belongs on n MoA’s list.

Via @Germonat

‘Jonathan Cook
@Jonathan_K_Cook
15h
The missing context for what's happening in Gaza is that Israel has been working night and day to ethnically cleanse the Palestinian people from their homeland since even before Israel become a state – when it was known as the Zionist movement.

Israel didn't just cleanse Palestinians in 1948, when it was founded as a Western colonial project, and again under cover of a regional war in 1967.

It also worked to ethnically cleanse Palestinians every day between those dates and afterwards. The aim was to move them off their historic lands, and either expel them beyond Israel’s new, expanded borders or concentrate them into small ghettoes inside those borders – as a holding measure until they could be expelled outside the borders.

The 'settler' project, as we call it, is a misnomer. It's really Israel's ethnic cleansing programme. Israel even has a special word for it in Hebrew: 'Judaisation', or making the land Jewish. It is official government policy.

Gaza was the largest of the Palestinian reservations created by Israel's ethnic cleansing programme, and the most overcrowded. To stop the inhabitants spilling out, Israel built a fence-barrier in the early 1990s to pen them in. Then when policing became too hard from within the prison, Israel pulled back in 2005 to the outer perimeter barrier.

New technology allowed Israel to besiege Gaza remotely by land, sea and air in 2007, limiting the entry of food and vital items like medicine and cement for construction. Automated gun towers shot anyone who came near the fence. The navy patrolled the sea, stopping boats straying more than a kilometre or two off shore. And drones watched 24 hours a day from the sky.

The people of Gaza were sealed in and largely forgotten, except when they lobbed a few rockets over the fence – to international indignation. If they fired too many rockets, Israel bombed them mercilessly and occasionally launched a ground invasion. The rocket threat was increasingly neutralised by a rocket interception system, paid for by the US, called Iron Dome.

Palestinians tried to be more inventive in finding ways to break out of their prison. They built tunnels. But Israel found ways to identify those that ran close to the fence and destroyed them.

Palestinians tried to get attention by protesting en masse at the fence. Israeli snipers were ordered to shoot them in the legs, leading to thousands of amputees. The 'deterrence' seemed to work.

Israel could once again sit back and let the Palestinians rot in Gaza. 'Quiet' had been restored.

Until, that is, last weekend when Hamas broke out briefly and ran amok, killing civilians and soldiers alike.

So Israel now needs a new policy.

It looks like the ethnic cleansing programme is being applied to Gaza anew. The half of the population in the enclave's north is being herded south, where there are not the resources to cope with them. And even if there were, Israel has cut off food, water and power to everyone in Gaza.

The enclave is quickly becoming a pressure cooker. The pressure is meant to build on Egypt to allow the Palestinians entry into Sinai on 'humanitarian' grounds.

Whatever the media are telling you, the 'conflict' – that is, Israel's cleansing programme – started long before Hamas appeared on the scene. In fact, Hamas emerged very late, as the predictable response to Israel's violent colonisation project.

And no turning point was reached a week ago. This has all been playing out in slow motion for more than 100 years.

Ignore the fake news. Israel isn't defending itself. It's enforcing its right to continue ethnically cleansing Palestinians.
Oct 15, 2023 · 5:44 PM UTC ‘

Posted by: DunGroanin | Oct 16 2023 9:18 utc | 100