Lebanese TV reports:
10:25 Al-Qassam Brigades says resistance fighters targeted 4 Israeli Merkavas, 4 vehicles in Sheikh Radwan Neighborhood with Yassine-105 projectiles
=======
Comment – tally now at 114 Merkavas claimed by Hamas and Hezbollag since Al-Asqa Storm began. It’s worth scrolling through the live feed. Been a definite increase in activity on all fronts:
https://english.almanar.com.lb/
.

Posted by: Exile | Dec 14 2023 9:42 utc | 204

You do not have a proper understanding when you permit that your sons and daughters are dying for a bunch of people who think about you nothing.
You and me are nothing in this live. Want to be someone, recognize that you are unique, a fucking human spirit able to be individual and responsable. No body is gonna save us. Just, we, humans, if we have heart to live and forgive.

Posted by: Caga | Dec 14 2023 10:19 utc | 206

Meanwhile we do not recognize that every human is an unique spirit who deserves the intrinsic right to be, there will be not solution. Meanwhile we do not estimate our intrinsic desire to be free, our choice, to be ants, social insects, will be.
Of course, for you. My heart, and yours, is free.

Posted by: Caga | Dec 14 2023 10:34 utc | 208

I give a fuck all of pretensions.
I want to be free. But not for any cost. Before me is always some one more, why? The so called strong people must help the sleeve people because we must help each other.

Posted by: Caga | Dec 14 2023 10:45 utc | 210

Caga,
The Christians share with Jews and Muslim a strongly apocalyptic imagery. This fantasy has been used to brainwash the last 3 or 4 generations via Hollywood movies.
The same Christians have been unable to open a debate on the role of their various churches who did not manage to forbid categorically their followers to commit atrocities for a number of years in a row (not only working in the various prisoners’ camps but also as receiving for help in the fields or factories some starved and beaten prisoners). This started in the 30s and not just during the hot war period. Such a debate needs to be addressed, starting with the Lutherans in Germany and the Catholics in Poland. Maybe the guilt of some could be put at its right place.

Posted by: Minaa | Dec 14 2023 11:13 utc | 212

Posted by: Echo Chamber | Dec 14 2023 10:16 utc | 212
Hungary (HUF) is not the only EU member that has not adopted EUR since 2004. Besides UK(“exit”), ghosts of the “A8”, and notorious DK, the EEA fringe also circulates sovereign coin. Nonetheless, each contributes “proportional” (GDP:pop. wgted.) tax(, tribute, grant, or “hush money”) to EU’s annual administrative funds in order to maintain EEC “access”.
20 states comprise the “eurozone” today. Objectively, 6 of them, combined, contribute 80% marketable value to EUR exchange.
EU6 FR, DE, BE, IE, LU, NL (by GINI)
EU6 FR, DE, ES, IT, NL, PL (by ECB capital)
And, note, heads of BE, DE, FR, IT, LU, NL established (1972), vested, and control ECB monetary policy, IMF monetary policy, and World Bank monetary policy. Which is to say, for Hungary exchange rate is the leading indicator of trade policy, whether EU27 (“Single Market”), RU, or ROW.

Posted by: sln2002 | Dec 14 2023 11:41 utc | 214

Putin has been criticised for failing to support the Palestinians adequately, but this is probably somewhat unwarranted. He himself has stated that his job is to protect the interests of Russia and the Russian people, not to be a friend or an enemy of this or that country. He does not see himself as some kind of knight errant out to solve all the problems of the world.
For all the time he has been in power, Russia has faced unprecedented hostility from the US and his satellites, a bloc with enormous economic, financial and military resources. Their provocations and chicanery have forced him to commit to a major war requiring the military and industrial mobilisation of the country. He has also faced a decades long campaign of economic warfare and propaganda vilification.

Posted by: anon | Dec 14 2023 12:43 utc | 216

For those doubters among us of the efficacy of BDS, Puma sports announced it is dropping its sponsorship of Israeli Soccer, although it denies it is because of the boycott, and still operates a factory in the occupied territories.

Posted by: Delhiliterally | Dec 14 2023 13:31 utc | 218

Putin is a good leader for his country (definitely compared to the clowsn in the West)and has his hands full with NATO. His duty is only to Russia. That’s not in dispute.
I absoliutely don’t expect Russia to physically DO anything at all, other than occasionally thumbing its nose at the US on this issue by not vetoing.
My point rather is that Putin needs to realize that for the West, he is no better than Hamas, especially with the ICC warrant for him. The Russian SMO to defend Russians in the Donbass is not different from the Palestinian resistance. Russia went through a number of legal processes to justify the SMO legally. The Palestinian resistance too has the law on its side although that law has never been enforced to hold Israel accountable.
It’s about time Russia realized that being a hostage of its Zionist lobby does it no good, just as it does the US no good. In this sense I think Russian politicians pander to the lobby just the same as US UK EU.
Russia can if it wants state that the security of Palestinians is on EQUAL importance with the security of Israelis, Russians or otherwise.
What I didn’t appreciate is the weakness of statements coming from Russia who are well aware of the history of the USSR in having created this problem in 1947-48 mess and enabling it over the decades thanks to their Zionist lobby. I had posted a comment on this in an earlier thread.
There’s no need to be hyperbolic like Erdogan who only talks but what digusted me a little was when he said early on in this conflict was the statement he made about it being terrible that children were being operated on without anesthetics. That is terrible of course. It is “more terrible” for children but it’s not as if it’s “less terrible” for an adult, the women having c-sections without anesthesia. It’s not less terrible for the doctors doing these operations or the parents watching their children and adult loved ones being operated on like that.
The events in the West Bank and Gaza are genocidal crimes against humanity and nothing stops Russia from verbalizing it as such. He likened the siege to the siege of Leningrad without mentioning that the siege of Gaza is ongoing for 17 years.

Posted by: pq | Dec 14 2023 14:05 utc | 220

Posted by: William Gruff | Dec 13 2023 16:34 utc | 53
Homophobia is a contrived psychological trait
considered as a subcategory of xenophobia, wherein a person is regarded as homophobic for espousing a negative views towards others identified as homosexual as consequence of a reaction formation towards their own hidden, unidentified, unconscious or latent tendencies which may be identified as homosexual.
The distinguishing aspect of a phobia is a fear response manifest from one’s own nature as apart from an external threat.
In this case, the Gruff’s point “that no one is afraid of homosexuals” is a claim of direct support for the view that hatred of homosexuality is precisely phobic. Cis generally have nothing have nothing to fear from homos except contract with their own homo tendencies, while homos reliably take abuse from straights who act out their phobias. And whereas in immediate context the Gruff’s point is surely intended to deride homosexuality as impotent, which is redundant, Gruff’s point itself is an example of homophobia. So nice work Gruff!
BTW Gruff is a great name for a bear (top) so extra props for your post.

Posted by: Arrnon | Dec 14 2023 20:10 utc | 222

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Dec 13 2023 16:15 utc | 46
You ignore the fact that Hamas did overrun barracks of some military units and took prisoners there, some (most?) in their sleepwear. I think that even lacking uniforms and weapons in their hands such people count as military.
Somewhere, once, I read that of 4 battalions designated to guard border with Gaza, 3 were moved to West Bank, which means that they were assisting pogroms and reprisals following Sukkoth celebrations in the Noble Sanctuary (a.k.a. Temple Mount). That would explain the ease with each Hamas could overrun the barracks. Not only there were few soldiers to resist, they were led to complacence by the central command decisions that would make sense only with solid intelligence that there will be no incursion from Gaza. This is all too frequent fallacy, “it would only make sense”, with hidden assumption “it made sense”.
In any case, female soldiers are present in IDF, perhaps even more so in the lowest priority units including those that remained near Gaza.
Given all that, it is unnecessary to entertain concepts like “civilians are not civilian”, which is toxic. I would rather spend time documenting to what extend Israel, USA etc. descend to that thinking at the levels of national leadership and military command.

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Dec 15 2023 15:13 utc | 224

Jonathan W | Dec 14 2023 14:32 utc | 228
*** The dilemma the US now has is that it would like to pull the plug on Israel. ***
No, it (or rather, those who rule it) would not.
Though from an objective “USA” perspective doing so would be sensible and overdue.
But the US political system is itself a captive of the zionists … only bought or ideologically unquestioning personnel have any realistic chance of power. Big money and monopoly mass-media control ensures that.
Not much different to the UK, which has now reached a (converged with the worst of USA) stage whereby “democracy” is no more than a sick farce.
See how prime minister Sunak now wants to limit or ban under-16 access to “social media” …. well, almost all of the things on social media the public may (rightly) consider bad, are actually sponsored or inflicted by the political establishment itself and (totally unaccountable) senior apparatchiks in Whitehall.
So intended restriction of access is certainly *not* to “protect” juveniles from that.
Surveys have, however, shown that younger people nowadays tend to get their information and news off “social media” (effectively defined as the entire internet) rather than Establishment controlled and selectively laundered or spun mainstream mass-media.
Therefore the alternatives must be censored or eliminated.
Agendas such as 21/30 and the WEF “reset” must be protected from critical exposure.
At the same time, any age-verification system will fortuitously allow the (Political Establishment uni-party pretending to be several) regime an *overt* and massive increase in surveillance and control of all media, irrespective of viewer age.
Such monopolisation of on-line data and interpretation has been a Political Establishment aim since the mid 1990s, under a constantly recycled list of various excuses….
All allegedly for the public’s own good, of course.

Posted by: Cynic | Dec 15 2023 20:05 utc | 226

Russian attitudes
Although some expect a more overt stance, the Russians are adept at Diplomacy. ie. Actions taken behind the words. However, a “Diplomatic” discourse has several “traditional” restrictions, most of which the US has been trying to eliminate. ie, Keep calm and smile if necesssary.
***
One nearby country that is relevant to Gaza/Zionist ambitions is Syria. After the Israelis bombed Aleppo and Damascus repeatedly, the Russians are now letting Civil flights (from Iran etc?) use Kheimimin military airport. (Well protected by missiles).
The massive amount of cargo flights from the US, UK (via Cyprus) etc. with ammunition into nearby Lebanon, makes this area a potential flashpoint.
Israeli bombing flight have been reduced to attacking mainly Lebanon/Herzbollah, south of the Litani river. Netanyahoo has made no secret of his/it’s wish to transform that area into a pseudo-zionist “buffer” zone, enlarging Israel into Lebanon. (With US “help?”) The US and UK would like to get into a fight against Herzbollah as well. They are heavily present in Lebanon already.
The Russians would have difficulty in resupply in any fighting in Syria over a long period, but they ARE efficient and would obviously make a serious mess of any attacking force. So this is one “red line” which may make the Zionists think twice. (The range of some of the larger missiles are in the thousands of Kilometres, so could be fired from the Black sea if necessary.)
***
There have been a couple of attacks designed to put pressure on the Russians, originating from Al-Qaida in Idlib, and equally several attacks on US presence in Syria and Iraq (at least 88 by one count)
***
I don’t expect the Russians to appreciate pressure on their base in Syria and upsetting the new relationship Assad has with his neighbours. So, there will be no overt simply verbal “condemnations” from Putin and Lavrov, but precautions will have been taken.
***
On a personal note, I don’t think the sheer disgust at seeing children reduced to bloody rags is going to go away. It is a sort of deep basic attitude, that no amount of weasel words can ever alter.

Posted by: Stonebird | Dec 15 2023 21:31 utc | 228

Posted by: mjazz | Dec 16 2023 4:20 utc | 237
LOL you’re so worthless that neither you nor the site you link provide any meaningful context for why an obvious non-European Israeli is shown lying dead. Your hasbara is garbage.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Dec 16 2023 6:57 utc | 230