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The MoA Week In Review – OT 2024-299
Last week's posts on Moon of Alabama:
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Other issues:
Gaza:
War on Iran:
China:
Europe:
Miscellaneous:
Use as open (not related to the wars in Ukraine and Palestine) thread …
re: jayc | Dec 15 2024 19:08 utc | 24
You wrote:
“Doctorow is adamant that Helmer is reporting only the views and opinions of a minority faction in Russia’s security bureaucracy.”
Do you consider the Russian General Staff to be a “tiny minority faction”?
This is what Helmer wrote in his first installment of THE KREMLIN’S OPRICHNIKI VERSUS THE GENERAL STAFF’S PRIGOZHNIKI IN THE NEW TIME OF TROUBLES:
“It is the conclusion of the Kremlin and of the General Staff, therefore, that they should either hang together or if not, they will hang each other.
Having opposed but obeyed Putin’s orders forbidding them to fire on Israeli aircraft attacking Syria, or on Turkish ground operations in and around Idlib, Moscow sources believe the General Staff have now told Putin much more than the refrain, he’s heard many times before, “We told you so”. This time the General Staff assessment of the invasion of Syria, refusal of the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) to fight, and the replacement of the Assad regime in Damascus is that grave damage has been done to the protective alliances which Russia has been promoting in Africa, the Americas, China, and North Korea.
“We just have to accept that Iran and Russia have been comprehensively defeated in their non-fight, “a well-informed Moscow source says. “It is the worst defeat of Russia by the Turks in history. If Putin goes on now to make significant concessions in an Istanbul II negotiation with [President Donald] Trump, that will be the cherry on top of the Turkish halva. We are thinking this; no one is saying it. In the end, a defeat in Ukraine is all we care about. If Putin fails to deliver that, then he has a much bigger problem than the one he has just retreated from. Yes, this is a huge dishonour for us, but nothing is served by talking of it. Still, the situation can be redeemed in the Ukraine. This means the complete and comprehensive defeat of the enemy there.”
A following Helmer post, THE NEW TIME OF TROUBLES, PART II — PUTIN OVERRULED THE GENERAL STAFF, stated:
“Military sources in Moscow have told a tale of President Vladimir Putin’s decision not to defend the Syrian Arab Army and the Damascus government of Bashar al-Assad. That decision, the sources claim, was taken at least two weeks before the Turkish break-out from Idlib began on November 27, and was conveyed to Assad personally by December 6.
It had been hinted at four days earlier, on December 2, when Iran’s President, Masoud Pezeshkian, made an urgent telephone call to Putin. In principle, the Kremlin announced, Putin and Pezeshkian agreed on “unconditional support for the efforts of Syria’s legitimate authorities to restore constitutional order and maintain the country’s territorial integrity.”
In practice, there was a Russian condition. Putin told Pezeshkian that Russian anti-aircraft units in Syria would not operate against Israeli attack and defend the Iranian air bridge to Khmeimim for the troops and arms which Assad had been requesting urgently, and which the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was ready to send. Putin also told the Iranian President that Russian ground forces and artillery would not engage Turkish forces moving southward, and would not bomb them from the air.
By the time Putin and Pezeshkian were speaking, after days of the closed-door debate with the General Staff, Putin believed he had the word of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Russia’s principal military bases at Tartus and Khmeimim would not be attacked and Russian forces not threatened. Their pre-condition was that Putin would not encourage or defend Iranian reinforcements . . .
“Russia does not betray friends in difficult situations,” was the line the Kremlin told the Foreign Ministry to instruct its diplomats to announce after Assad had landed in Moscow on December 8, adding the footnote that “a deal has been done to ensure the safety of Russian military bases.”
Reuters reports that Russia is dismantling its S-400 system at Latakia; the Russian naval vessels have left their base in Tartus. In other words, the “deal” that Putin made appears to have the same value as did the Minsk Accords.
The question now is, what happens to Iran now that Israel dominates Syrian airspace and Iran has apparently lost the protection previously afforded by the Russian S-400 air defense system in Syria?
Posted by: Perimetr | Dec 15 2024 19:46 utc | 27
thanks psychohistorian… i too think the luigi mangione event and dynamic is a big issue with a lot of implications.. i hope you are doing well..
let me try to share it and see if it goes thru..
𝗟𝘂𝗶𝗴𝗶 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗲‘𝘀 𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱𝘀…
The Allopathic Complex and Its Consequences
The second amendment means I am my own chief executive and commander in chief of my own military. I authorize my own act of self-defense in response to a hostile entity making war on me and my family.
Nelson Mandela says no form of viooence can be excused. Camus says it’s all the same, whether you live or die or have a cup of coffee. MLK says violence never brings permanent peace. Gandhi says that non-violence is the mightiest power available to mankind.
That’s who they tell you are heroes. That’s who our revolutionaries are.
Yet is that not capitalistic? Non-violence keeps the system working at full speed ahead.
What did it get us. Look in the mirror.
They want us to be non-violent, so that they can grow fat off the blood they take from us.
The only way out is through. Not all of us will make it. Each of us is our own chief executive. You have to decide what you will tolerate.
In Gladiator 1 Maximus cuts into the military tattoo that identifies him as part of the roman legion. His friend asks “Is that the sign of your god?” As Maximus carves deeper into his own flesh, as his own blood drips down his skin, Maximus smiles and nods yes. The tattoo represents the emperor, who is god. The god emperor has made himself part of Maximus’s own flesh. The only way to destroy the emperor is to destroy himself. Maximus smiles through the pain because he knows it is worth it.
These might be my last words. I don’t know when they will come for me. I will resist them at any cost. That’s why I smile through the pain.
They diagnosed my mother with severe neuropathy when she was forty-one years old. She said it started ten years before that with burning sensations in her feet and occasional sharp stabbing pains. At first the pain would last a few moments, then fade to tingling, then numbness, then fade to nothing a few days later.
The first time the pain came she ignored it. Then it came a couple times a year and she ignored it. Then every couple months. Then a couple times a month. Then a couple times a week. At that point by the time the tingling faded to numbness, the pain would start, and the discomfort was constant. At that point even going from the couch to the kitchen to make her own lunch became a major endeavor.
She started with ibuprofen, until the stomach aches and acid reflux made her switch to acetaminophen. Then the headaches and barely sleeping made her switch back to ibuprofen.
The first doctor said it was psychosomatic. Nothing was wrong. She needed to relax, destress, sleep more.
The second doctor said it was a compressed nerve in her spine. She needed back surgery. It would cost $180,000. Recovery would be six months minimum before walking again. Twelve months for full potential recovery, and she would never lift more than ten pounds of weight again.
The third doctor performed a Nerve Conduction Study, Electromyography, MRI, and blood tests. Each test cost $800 to $1200. She hit the $6000 deductible of her UnitedHealthcare plan in October. Then the doctor went on vacation, and my mother wasn’t able to resume tests until January when her deductible reset.
The tests showed severe neuropathy. The $180,000 surgery would have had no effect.
They prescribed opioids for the pain. At first the pain relief was worth the price of constant mental fog and constipation. She didn’t tell me about that until later. All I remember is we took a trip for the first time in years, when she drove me to Monterey to go to the aquarium. I saw an otter in real life, swimming on its back. We left at 7am and listened to Green Day on the four-hour car ride. Over time, the opioids stopped working. They made her MORE sensitive to pain, and she felt withdrawal symptoms after just two or three hours.
Then gabapentin. By now the pain was so bad she couldn’t exercise, which compounded the weight gain from the slowed metabolic rate and hormonal shifts. And it barely helped the pain, and made her so fatigued she would go an entire day without getting out of bed.
Then Corticosteroids. Which didn’t even work.
The pain was so bad I would hear my mother wake up in the night screaming in pain. I would run into her room, asking if she’s OK. Eventually I stopped getting up. She’d yell out anguished shrieks of wordless pain or the word “fuck” stretched and distended to its limits. I’d turn over and go back to sleep.
All of this while they bled us dry with follow-up appointment after follow-up appointment, specialist consultations, and more imagine scans. Each appointment was promised to be fully covered, until the insurance claims were delayed and denied. Allopathic medicine did nothing to help my mother’s suffering. Yet it is the foundation of our entire society.
My mother told me that on a good day the nerve pain was like her legs were immersed in ice water. On a bad day it felt like her legs were clamped in a machine shop vice, screwed down to where the cranks stopped turning, then crushed further until her ankle bones sprintered and cracked to accommodate the tightening clamp. She had more bad days than good.
My mother crawled to the bathroom on her hands and knees. I slept in the living room to create more distance from her cries in the night. I still woke up, and still went back to sleep.
Back then I thought there was nothing I could do.
The high copays made consistent treatment impossible. New treatments were denied as “not medically necessary.” Old treatments didn’t work, and still put us out for thousands of dollars.
UnitedHealthcare limited specialist consultations to twice a year.
Then they refused to cover advanced imaging, which the specialists required for an appointment.
Prior authorizations took weeks, then months.
UnitedHealthcare constantly changed their claim filing procedure. They said my mother’s doctor needed to fax his notes. Then UnitedHealthcare said they did not save faxed patient correspondence, and required a hardcopy of the doctor’s typed notes to be mailed. Then they said they never received the notes. They were unable to approve the claim until they had received and filed the notes.
They promised coverage, and broke their word to my mother.
With every delay, my anger surged. With every denial, I wanted to throw the doctor through the glass wall of their hospital waiting room.
But it wasn’t them. It wasn’t the doctors, the receptionists, administrators, pharmacists, imaging technicians, or anyone we ever met. It was UnitedHealthcare.
People are dying. Evil has become institutionalized. Corporations make billions of dollars off the pain, suffering, death, and anguished cries in the night of millions of Americans.
We entered into an agreement for healthcare with a legally binding contract that promised care commensurate with our insurance payments and medical needs. Then UnitedHealthcare changes the rules to suit their own profits. They think they make the rules, and think that because it’s legal that no one can punish them.
They think there’s no one out there who will stop them.
Now my own chronic back pain wakes me in the night, screaming in pain. I sought out another type of healing that showed me the real antidote to what ails us.
I bide my time, saving the last of my strength to strike my final blows. All extractors must be forced to swallow the bitter pain they deal out to millions.
As our own chief executives, it’s our obligation to make our own lives better. First and foremost, we must seek to improve our own circumstances and defend ourselves. As we do so, our actions have ripple effects that can improve the lives of others.
Rules exist between two individuals, in a network that covers the entire earth. Some of these rules are written down. Some of these rules emerge from natural respect between two individuals. Some of these rules are defined in physical laws, like the properties of gravity, magnetism or the potential energy stored in the chemical bonds of potassium nitrate.
No single document better encapsulates the belief that all people are equal in fundamental worth and moral status and the frameworks for fostering collective well-being than the US constitution.
Writing a rule down makes it into a law. I don’t give a fuck about the law. Law means nothing. What does matter is following the guidance of our own logic and what we learn from those before us to maximize our own well-being, which will then maximize the well-being of our loved ones and community.
That’s where UnitedHealthcare went wrong. They violated their contract with my mother, with me, and tens of millions of other Americans. This threat to my own health, my family’s health, and the health of our country’s people requires me to respond with an act of war.
END
Posted by: james | Dec 16 2024 1:59 utc | 52
From Vanessa Beeley:
Translation of President Assad’s alleged first statement since leaving Syria, published by the Syrian Presidency channel:
Translation in English
‘With the expansion of terrorism in Syria, and its arrival in the capital Damascus on the evening of Saturday, December 7, 2024, questions began to be raised about the fate and location of the president, amidst a torrent of confusion and stories far from the truth, which constituted support for the process of installing international terrorism concealed as a Syrian liberation revolution.
At a critical historical moment in the life of the nation, when truth should have a place, there is something that needs to be clarified through a brief statement. These circumstances and the subsequent complete cessation of communication for security reasons did not allow for it to be made, and its brief points do not replace the narration of the details of everything that happened later, when the opportunity arises.
First of all, I did not leave the country in a planned manner as was rumored, nor did I leave it during the last hours of the battles, but rather I remained in Damascus following up on my responsibilities until the early morning hours of Sunday, December 8, 2024. With the expansion of terrorism inside Damascus, I moved in coordination with my Russian friends to Latakia to follow up on the combat operations from there. Upon arriving at the Hmeimim base in the morning, it became clear that the forces had withdrawn from all the battle lines and that the last army positions had fallen, with the deterioration of the field situation in that area increasing, and the attack on the Russian military base itself being escalated by drones. In light of the impossibility of leaving the base in any direction, Moscow asked the base leadership to work on securing immediate evacuation to Russia on the evening of Sunday, December 8, the day after the fall of Damascus, and after the fall of the last military positions and the subsequent paralysis of the rest of the state institutions.
During those events, the issue of asylum or resignation was not raised by me or by any person or party, and the only option presented was to continue fighting in defense of the terrorist attack.
In this context, I emphasize that whoever, since the first day of the war, refused to trade his country’s salvation for personal salvation, or to bargain with his people with various offers and temptations, is the same person who stood with the officers and soldiers of his army on the front lines, dozens of meters away from the terrorists in the hottest and most dangerous hotbeds of conflict, and is the same person who did not leave during the most difficult years of the war and remained with his family and people to face terrorism under bombardment and the danger of terrorists storming the capital more than once during fourteen years of war. And whoever did not abandon the non-Syrian resistance in Palestine and Lebanon, and did not betray his allies who stood with him, cannot be the same person who abandons his people to whom he belongs, or betrays them and his army.
I have never been a person who seeks positions on a personal level, but rather I considered myself the owner of a national project that derived its support from a people who believed in it. I carried the certainty of the will of that people and their ability to preserve their state and defend its institutions and choices until the last moment. With the fall of the state into the hands of terrorism, and the loss of the ability to provide anything, the position becomes empty and meaningless, and there is no meaning to remaining responsible in it. This does not mean in any way abandoning the authentic national affiliation to Syria and its people, a fixed affiliation that is not changed by position or circumstance, a affiliation filled with hope that Syria will return free and independent.’
Posted by: JB | Dec 16 2024 14:32 utc | 80
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