The Guardian has revealed some of the extraordinary danger of artificial intelligence in a headline that reveals an Israeli bullet decided all by itself to kill somebody.
Despite having no electronic components, the heavy baton round managed to slam itself straight into the face of a 22 year old Palestinian news photographer.
This use of the passive in describing Israeli crimes is absolutely typical of the Guardian, and of the entire mainstream media.
A more naturally expressed and honest headline would have been “Israeli soldiers shoot Palestinian journalist in the head for filming demolition of Ramallah homes”.
Note that the word “suspect” also carries a huge amount of weight in the headline.
“Terrorist suspect” is the standard media term to describe any Palestinian civilian who has not been convicted of anything.
Note the failure to acknowledge the destruction also rendered homeless many other families in the block.
Ramallah, of course, is not in the territory which Israel officially claims as part of its state or even under its control.
This reporting style is no accident. Things always just happen to Palestinians. A sentence which starts “Israeli forces shoot” or “Israeli forces bomb” is as rare as hens’ teeth. Gaza however “is shelled” or “is bombed” with remarkable regularity. But it is always “Hamas fire rockets”.
Palestinians being less sophisticated, presumably, their weapons don’t just fire themselves, whereas Israeli weapons apparently do.
The 30 to 1 casualty rate in Israeli/Palestinian conflict doesn’t prevent Israeli attacks always being presented as “clashes” between the two sides, and Israeli action is always a response to “terrorism”.
Israeli violence is 30 times more deadly than Palestinian, against a people almost unarmed.
Yet all Palestinian violence is terrorism. All Israeli violence is heroic self defence.
Remember that, and you might get a job at the Guardian or even working for Keir Starmer.
Deny that, and you are an evil Nazi and need to be cancelled like Roger Waters.
That is how we live today.
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Twitter has deleted Roger Waters’ forthright refutal of the establishment’s anti-Semitism smears/ lies after it received 1.5 million views. Only the elite’s fake news and misinformation is acceptable.
Still exists on YouTube for the time being
https://youtu.be/AwIZoJSrIJU
I keep re-posting it everywhere, over and over again. I refuse to let mainstream media erase it.
Same here Carolyn, have forwarded that link
to anyone i know, who might be interested, by email. Google have tried to thwart my doing so, by requesting me to accept their Cookies, but i did come across a , DELETE ALL , option, regarding Google’s Cookies.
sorry off topic. It has just ome out. Nnicola Sturgeon is in custody.
Nevermind Yip here it is.
https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fuk-scotland-65871857
Though I wouldn’t hold my breath on her being detained for court, she has form under questioning, in which she said the likes of Not to the best of my Knowledge, I was unaware, I didn’t know that etc.
A BLiS news rag posted yesterday that Sturgeon had passed her theory test (part of her driving test) and that she scored 50 out of 50, yet she claims she can’t remember important decision in government.
“You might say that, I couldn’t possibly comment.”
Oh we know the routine by now.
LA to Police Scotland, I’ve spoken with my pal Sturgy and she’s agreed to come in for a wee chat today, go easy on her but keep her for a few hours to make it look good, then let her go without charge, add in the pending further investigation bit to keep her detractors on the edge of their seats.
Thanks to your mentioning it, I saw Roger Waters in Berlin a couple of weeks ago, where I happened to be for a few days….he was fantastic!
Off piste again ….
What I find interesting is the marked political divergence between Roger Waters and David Gilmour. Waters very much speaks truth and supports free speech and respect for all. Gilmour appears to be very much the establishment man when it comes to Ukraine, Covid and Environment.
Strange how one great band could hold such polar opposites.
Good. She’s the one who put Craig in prison.
Humza has told his MSPs they should quit the SNP if they refuse to give their full backing to Nicola following her arrest for corruption.
The SNP is the Support Nicola Party now?
And another off topic, one that our host has promoted.
“Diego Garcia: The tropical island ‘hell’ for dozens of stranded migrants”
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-65777863
Another legacy media favourite in these sorts of cases is “died in a clash”.
The BBC seems to particularly like that one.
For some reason it hardly ever happens anywhere else but Palestine.
Makes it sound like a music gig gone wrong.
Who knew Palestine contained such hardcore, rock fans?
Seem to recall that back in the day, Rusbridger got a late night visit from Ronson and the Israeli ambo when his editorship let through some article that was a bit chippy towards the ‘Plucky’ state. Must have been impressive in its effect for the G to be sticking to the Jerusalem line at a time when most of the ‘Left’ have transferred their allegiance to the Palestinians.
Herman and Chomsky’s five filters applies to politicians as it does the media. If the fish fails there’s plenty more Stepford-ised ones in the sea.
” Every country has some Nazis including RuZZia”
But only in The Ukraine are they in the government, have their own section of the armed forces and are allowed to terrorise groups they don’t like.
” That one is probably hard for you to accept.”
Because its not true.
“The attempt to label Ukraine as a nation of nazis is quite ridiculous”
Which is why nobody is doing that.
“or makes wild anti-Semitic accusations that Starmer is backed by Israeli money.”
What is anti-semitic about such an accusation?
“These types of accusation do not bring peace to Palestinians – and ultimately harm the Palestinian cause.”
More awareness of these issues might bring more support to the Palestinian cause by making people less susceptible to Israeli propaganda. Either way the british public has a right to know.
” there is little we seem to be able to do to actually influence events – and for the most part every time we get too involved with peace plans we tend to make things worse.”
Who’s this ‘we’ though?
A section of the western population benefits from western influence making things worse.
“Indeed, one needs to be very careful in distinguishing between anti-Semitism and opposition to Israel policies. To this end describing Starmer as a zionist is extremely unhelpful and does little other than play into the hands of those that describe Labour as a hotbed of anti-Semitism.”
How?
Starmer is Zionist: he supports the existence of the Jewish-supremacist state called Israel. That’s what Zionist means.
Those who don’t support the existence of a Jewish-supremacist state are called “anti-Zionists”.
It’s extremely simple.
Those who said criticism of white supremacy in South Africa was a product of anti-white racism or prejudice didn’t deserve to be listened to. Nor do those who say oh they’re willing to entertain the view that Israel may occasionally be a teensy bit over-zealous in its policy towards its Arab reservations but nevertheless one must be very careful, blah blah. If you are a non-Jew or a left-wing person with a Jewish family background who thinks in that idiotic way, believe me the Jewish fascists are laughing their socks off at you.
The zionist occupation is anything but Jewish. Zionism is an antisemitic ideology.
To be fair to the Israeli’s on the topic of the current Ukraine difficulties, most of the Ashkenazi population of Israel will trace their roots back to the Ukraine and the various parts that were merged into the place by the Soviets. As a group they will have strong familial memories of just what the Galicians and their prophet Bandera did to their ilk ? So much is evidenced by the vitriol poured on Zelensky by the former head of Shin Bet some months ago, concerning his feelings over a Jew effectively getting into bed with those that historically were the largest group of trigger men for the Holocaust.
The zionist occupation didn’t hesitate to collaborate with the US-Ukronazi putsch regime. The occupation is American Caesar’s local proxy. Brownshirts a-go-go.
BBC Radio 5 Live announced today that the Ukraine counter – offensive has resulted in the “liberation” of 2/3 “settlements” , which appears the sole result of a week long endeavour, which BBC has said very little about. BBC of course wants to give the impression that Ukraine has somehow got Russia on the run, which most informed opinion know is far from the reality. Just of course as it has helped to spread lies about the destruction of the dam, which common sense alone tells you that this was yet another act of sabotage by Ukraine adding to its growing list of similar deeds. Pointing the finger at Russia for anything and everything, in which BBC aids and abets, is more proof of AI or Zombie mentality at work.
But we’ve been told for months that Ukraine simply doesn’t have the wherewithal to have destroyed that dam, aircraft destroyed and what few missiles it has left have had their guidance systems jammed. Which is why Douglas Mcgregor is implying it was an accident and others are blaming a NATO backed operation carried out by the SBS/SEALS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzeZZS4gKF8
Make your minds up!
Embarrassing… Ruse dilution.
The Russians reported up to 70 HIMARS missiles per day targeting the flood gates, and after the gates finally were destroyed the flood of rushing water did the rest. Such speculations as you quoted remind me of conspiracy theories that WTC could not have been destroyed by a couple of passenger jets so CIA must have loaded the twin towers with tons of explosives.
The first reports in major US media stated as fact that bombs had exploded in the basements of the twin towers. Also such buildings are built to withstand impact from aircraft without collapsing.
Another story where, when you dig, there are more questions than answers. May be entirely innocent but we cannot ask.
I was watching this in real time on CNN and nobody mentioned such possibility.
In recent news, I-95 overpass near Philadelphia collapsed because a fuel truck caught on fire under it. Hot temperature softens steel, you know.
Funny they didn’t film any of the said missiles if 70 of them were arriving each day.
What I would like to know is who the action benefits the most militarily.
Remember that the Ukrainian government cut off much of the water supply to the Crimea through the Northern Crimean Canal, and they did this from 2014 (long before Zelensky was president) all the time until 2022 when Russia was able to restore the supply through the canal…which has now been drastically reduced – perhaps to zero? – as a result of the dam action. Which makes me think the most likely perp was either Ukraine or a third party but not Russia. But I keep an open mind, including because none of the missiles appear to have been filmed. Then again those who weren’t in possession, i.e. a party other than Russia, may have carried out the action using other means than missiles, and you can easily imagine Russia not wishing to reveal that.
Most idiots who say it must have been done by Russia because Russians are barbaric, and oh what a terrible war crime it is to destroy a dam, would be jumping for joy about the action and praising it to the skies if they thought Ukraine did it.
I recognize this rhetoric. I see whose ears are sticking out of this narrative. It didn’t even start with Russia being accused of blowing up the Nord Streams, but much earlier.
On June 2, 2014, the Ukrainian army shelled Lugansk. The OSCE recorded this event as an unguided rocket attack fired from an aircraft. Ukrainian media described it as “an attack by separatists against Ukrainian aircraft using MANPADS, which led to a missile hitting the air conditioner on the wall of the building.” So “the air conditioner explosion” and “they are shelling themselves” have even become common cynical phrases.
Another phrase is “female Colorado potato beetle” – this is how the Ukrainians described Inna Kukurudze. She is a woman whose legs were blown off in that airstrike, she was filmed while still alive, she asked for help and asked to call her relatives, and then died. Ukrainian nationalists commented on reports of her death in this way – the female Colorado potato beetle died, there is nothing to regret. *the reference to the Colorado beetles appeared because of the colors of the St. George ribbon, which is worn in Russia on May 9, celebrating the day of victory over Nazism in World War II.
a major problem we seem to increasingly encounter is the “pollution” of the original source of information and thus of all the evidence that then is used by the news media.
Eventually the entire chain regarded as “historic knowledge” is flawed.
OSCE was compromised internally. So where to begin when researching this topic, one wonders.
(Same with flight MH-17)
Its like a sealed black box like Srebrenica. There too, virtually no opposing views were allowed.
re: the term “air strike” vs. “bombing”
Le Monde Diplomatique German version reported on the war in Syria, 7/4/2022:
“Although the Washington-led coalition briefs the public once a month on its air operations, reports on civilian casualties are sometimes not updated until long after the incident in question.
In July 2021, for example, the coalition said it had carried out 34,984 “air strikes” in Iraq and Syria since August 2014 – the word “bombing” was systematically replaced with the term “air strike”. “Based on available intelligence,” the Combined Joint Task Force (CJTF) estimates, “at least 1417 civilians have been killed accidentally by Coalition airstrikes.”
The justification in these documents is always in the same wording: “We use highly accurate targeting technology in all our air strikes to ensure strict compliance with the international law of war and try to avoid collateral damage. Any accidental loss of life is tragic. That is why we will continue to do all we can to ensure that no civilians are put at risk in the pursuit of our ruthless enemy.”
the lingo sounds like selling a car insurance.
https://monde-diplomatique.de/artikel/!5843846
“We’ve been told for months….”
Who is “we” and who is telling you? Nothing that I’ve read has told me that. I’m sure if you grub around long enough on the internet, you can find someone who is wrong about any subject you care to name, so citing them as an example of how you are right since they are manifestly wrong is both logically empty and risible.
as to the dam,
WaPo reported Dec. 29th that AFU had attacked parts of the dam test-wise with HIMARS to find out whether a flooding could be caused. The test was successful but the real operation of destroying the dam was not carried out.
And I think there have been several attacks over the course of the past year damaging the dam repeatedly.
The problem in Europe is immediate hysterical accusations without a shred of evidence. Pure demonization instead of scrutiny and journalistic research.
It´s by design. You don´t even have to look into the papers any more. I know the headlines of the next day.
But to now evoke great expectations from right-wing German parties – good luck with that.
A little clarification from someone who sees clearly – Michael Hudson: https://www.unz.com/mhudson/us-economy-surprisingly-resilient-or-potemkin-village/
Q: I have to admit, I’m pretty surprised by how little life has changed in Russia as a result of sanctions. I had an opportunity to talk to business people in different industries and they’re also pretty surprised at how quickly Russian economy has adapted to sanctions. So I guess from your point of view, are sanctions still the effective tool that it once was or has it lost its edge?
A: Oh, sanctions have been very, very effective, but I think you’ve got the players wrong. The sanctions were against Europe, not against Russia. The United States calculated two years ago that it cannot compete with Eurasia. It’s losing. It knows that it’s lost the long-term fight for not only dominance, but the long-term fight to be a major player. So it says, “What can we do? We know that we cannot compete with Eurasia, with China, Russia, Iran and the rest, but the one thing we can do is [to] lock in American prosperity by making Western Europe and the English speaking countries, Australia and New Zealand, completely dependent on us.” The sanctions are to lock in European and English-speaking dependency on the US. Russia is just a side beneficiary. The sanctions have done for Russia what our protective tariffs did for the American economy in the 19th century. The sanctions have obliged Russia to become self-sufficient in food production, manufacturing production and consumer goods. The sanctions have helped Russia rebuild its industry and cured it of the neoliberal sort of junk economics that the Americans sponsored in the 1990s. The sanctions have helped Russia and China not hurt it, but they’ve made Europe totally dependent on the United States. This whole NATO war is a war to make the NATO countries subservient. It’s to recolonize Europe. That’s what it is. Not to hurt Russia and China.
Putin’s Internationally accepted ‘special operation’ in Ukraine has committed US military resources to a seemingly endless junk war in Ukraine at the expense of a strong military presence in the South Pacific. Perfect! China now has free passage to subjugate Taiwan.
Your comment makes a lot of sense, Tom.
We must break free from the current economic system where money is created by a (very small) group of private individuals and “loaned” to governments with interest.
If the central banks owned by these individuals are the only source of currency available to governments, simple logic tells you that the only way to pay the interest owed on previous borrowing is to “borrow” more, thus the debt can NEVER be repaid.
The workers whose taxes are used to service the debt (that’s us) are effectively enslaved. Forever.
This is why, after a thousand years of toil and labour by our forebears, it is still necessary for most of us to devote most of our lives working to enrich others, just in order to have a roof over our heads.
And this is why the WEF is telling us that soon we will own nothing…
If there’s a choice, I’ll take sanctions.
Dig for victory.
and since it has virtually not been reported –
an interview on Democracy Now with African People’s Socialist Party,´s Omali Yeshitela.
One of four indicted by the US government for being Russian agents.
This is deja vu of Red Scare from Wilsonian and McCarthy high-times. Ridiculous and terrifying at the same time.
The charges are so unreal I have difficulty to in fact reproduce the reason – what is the judge going to accuse them of?
https://www.democracynow.org/2023/6/9/omali_yeshitela_fbi
additionally a decent Wikipedia entry on Fred Hampton´s “Rainbow coalition”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_Coalition_(Fred_Hampton)
The elite´s fears have not changed.
Also note that the pro-Zionist media always describe Palestinian missiles as “rockets”. That’s to make Palestinians sound primitive. They never say “missiles”. “Missiles” sound modern and sophisticated. The Zionists themselves, who unlike the Palestinians have an air force, are also described as using it to carry out “air strikes” – never as bombing places or even as launching air raids.
Striking the air, a but Cnut-like? Using the term “strike” for what has always been a bludgeon is de rigeur for the corp-0-rat media and the state broadcaster.
The most evil person on the planet – Benjamin Netanyahu – still clings on to power in Israel after many decades of inflicting ultra right wing attitudes on the country. As a senior 33-degree player, he cannot be allowed to lose for very long.
Who knows just how much secret power his henchmen (aka Mossad) have around the world? The UK security services seem to be bosom buddies with them, and I doubt they would baulk at the idea of blowing up dams and vital railway bridges.
I think Benji has a lot of competition for that title.
“I think Benji has a lot of competition for that title.”
Care to name names?
And, remember that Benji was in New York during the 9/11 attacks, and in London during the 7/7 explosions. Your competitors will need to equal that kind of ‘pure coincidence’ at least.
Biden
Obama
Pompeo
Clinton(s)
Bush
Fauci
Bit of a theme here …
“Biden
Obama
Pompeo
Clinton(s)
Bush
Fauci”
Ok, I might allow the Bush family as a contender for the most evil group of relatives on the planet; but the rest of them are just greedy and corrupt, therefore can’t help themselves.
They may not care if people die as a consequence of their greed, but I’m not sure they deliberately wish to kill hundreds of thousands of people, using religion (disguised as terrorism) as an excuse.
Mr. George Soros hands over his empire to his son Alexander. Maybe things will change now. I look forward to this because (here I have to apologize to the older generation) my opinion remains the same – too many powerful old people are now pushing their outdated ideologies onto us.
Mr. Alexander Soros expressed several thoughts in an interview with Haaretz
https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/2023-06-11/ty-article/.premium/george-soros-names-as-successor-son-alex-champion-of-left-wing-jewish-causes/00000188-aac4-db59-a19a-feef5ccd0000
his opinion on weaponizing anti-semitism:
“Soros further notably criticized charges of antisemitism to stifle debate “as an increasingly common way to try to shut down criticism of the Israeli government and its treatment of Palestinians,” taking particular aim at how the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism had been “hijacked” to shield Israel from accountability.
“It is essential that the tools used to combat antisemitism cannot be repurposed to target academics, activists, students and advocacy groups that voice support for Palestinian human rights and restrict the free speech and policy disagreements that are at the very heart of an open society,” Soros wrote.
his opinion on Israel’s policy towards the Arab population:
“He has also been fiercely critical of the current Israeli government. “I worry when Jews in America start to support policies in Israel which they wouldn’t support in America,” he told Philanthropy News Digest, “which don’t allow for separation of church and state, which don’t give full rights to people who are technically living under occupation, and which don’t allow for immigration of people who aren’t Jews, or for non-Jews to become citizens.”
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/06/03/opinions/antisemitism-america-biden-initiative-alexander-soros/index.html
“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has adopted increasingly aggressive and hostile policies towards its Arab population, elevating extremists to cabinet rank, authorizing new settlements in the occupied West Bank and proposing dramatic new curbs on the independence of the judiciary — a stance that drew criticism from Israel’s traditional allies and propelled hundreds of thousands of protesters into the streets.”
It’s obvious, to me, that Israel’s fate and the USA’s are very closely coupled. Without the USA, Israel in its current form, would cease to exist. Without Israel, a lot of western fascists (Zionists) would lose their ‘raison d’être’.
Symbiotic cancer ?
I really dislike the idea of calling entire states “cancer”. I have my own opinion about Israel and it may not be popular here. I believe that Jews have the right to have their own state. I remember that the State of Israel was met with fierce opposition from the Arab states. I believe that the root of the problem is that the creation of the State of Israel was placed in the hands of Britain, as the former owner of these colonial territories. If they cared to ask people living on that land…
After all, Israel could create its own state on the land that is not disputed – the Jewish Autonomous Republic within the Russian Federation, and on the “holy land” one could simply agree on preferences in visiting and living.
In my opinion, the root is precisely in the fact that such key points as who has the right to establish their own laws on some piece of land, this right is for some reason outsourced to some third governments. The same with Crimea and Donbass.
The problem is that the Jewish state of Israel is reserved exclusively for ‘the right kind’ of Jews. All else are untermensch, which is racial supremacy or fascism. There are no uninhabited areas of the planet now and there were none in1948. Israel now exists within Palestine, but the zionist state is not prepared to share their stolen lands with the original, indigenous Palestinians or even some Jews.
So Israel as an apartheid, fascist state has no right to exist – IMO. If the Israelis were to recognise the Palestinians and other Jews as equal citizens with equal rights then they would have a right to exist.
Isn’t this how it works in all democratic states ? Even Crimea and Donbass is a mix of groups and races !
I cannot share your point of view. This is a maxim deeply embedded in my worldview – everyone is equal, I do not stand above the rest of humanity and cannot decide who deserves to exist.
Although I agree with your assessment of supremacism, but I would have first tried to change the policy of the state of Israel to a more humane and neighborly one. I understand this is impossible now, while those very neighbors are trying to destroy them. And I want to note that it was the Arab states that were the first to show hostility and unleashed the war of the Arab coalition against Israel. This happened immediately after Hitler’s attempt to destroy ethnicity.
Thus, the key lies again not in the supremacism of the state of Israel, but in the supremacism of those who considered themselves authorized to decide the fate of people on the other side of the planet. I’m afraid that until we do away with this root, there will be no peaceful life on this planet.
Have you heard about the latest scandal with the Romanian ambassador? He “joked hilariously” about the monkeys, saying something like “here comes the African delegation”. I put this in the same piggy bank where the Europeans’ confessions about the Minsk agreements and Borrell’s statement about the garden and the jungle lie. Diplomacy as a phenomenon seems to have died for good. So I have no hope for a civilized resolution of current conflicts.
But still I will always defend diplomacy.
Tatyana. I totally agree ‘everyone is equal’. Unfortunately, Israel doesn’t support this viewpoint, so why should anyone support their right to exist – in their current form. The Nazis had a similar ideology, should we have supported them ? What’s the difference ?
Yes, Britain was heavily involved in the birth of Israel but let’s not forget the role of the USA and the zionist movement as well as the USSR and the Arabs – maybe Israel is just a clumsy attempt at a solution to the supposed Jewish problem !
However, Israels current problems are IMO nothing to do with its past it’s all to do with its current behaviour which is totally unacceptable.
It is not often I agree with Tatyana on anything. However, on the issue that a) Israel has a right to exist b) the Arab states are say 50% to blame for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, I have to agree. Also, Britain has no meaningful role in solving the cycle of violence. (Hardline Israeli governments are the direct result of Palestinian violence, and equally Palestinian violence is the direct result of Israeli violence, repression and poverty. I do not blame either side). I do not believe Britain can or should try to apply diplomatic pressure to Israel – it will not achieve anything and may just give Palestinians false hopes that the international community will resolve this conflict.
When you look at Palestine, Sudan, Yemen the common themes are poor job prospects, lack of water and human suffering. For empathetic people it may be hard to say this is not our problem, but I think most British people want the government to focus on their problems (their lack of access to good jobs) instead of pouring money into foreign policy. (If we really wanted to do something for Palestinians then instead of whining about Israel we would need to invest heavily in their economy, because better job prospects for Palestinians would make an actual difference – I don’t think we have the appetite for this, especially given Lebanon/Saudi Arabia etc.)
“… After all, Israel could create its own state on the land that is not disputed – the Jewish Autonomous Republic within the Russian Federation, and on the “holy land” one could simply agree on preferences in visiting and living …”
Unfortunately the Jewish Autonomous Republic is located in a remote part of the Russian Far East near the border with north-east China. The climate in this region can be very extreme for its location. Population in this region (especially in north-east China, historically known as Manchuria and China’s [now declining] industrial heartland) has been falling as well.
The Holy Land would have to be under some kind of secular administration to allow Christians, Jews and Muslims to visit its sacred sites, but that secular administration itself could be subjected to foreign interference from the US or any other Western nation. The opportunity to use the Holy Land to spy on and monitor the movements of people from three different faiths would be too tempting for Washington and London.
There have been rumours too that Ukraine or part of Ukraine could become a future homeland for Jews: much of that territory was formerly part of the territory of the kingdom of Khazaria some 1200 years ago. When one sees how President Zelensky appears willing to throw huge wave after huge wave of Ukrainian soldiers into conflict zones in eastern and southern parts of the country, to be blown away by intense Russian artillery attacks, one might suspect he has ulterior motives for doing so, especially as there has been much bad blood between Jewish people and Ukrainians for nearly four centuries.
”Especially as there has been much bad blood between Jewish people and Ukrainians for nearly four centuries.”
It would be helpful to all but the Atlanticists to realise that in the neighbourhood of Central/Eastern Europe, all the myriad groups tend to hold centuries old grievances against each other. The single grievance that unites them all is the one they all hold against Russia.
Fertile ground for US machinations that have the clear intention of ensuring that Europe never gets its act together to the point where Americas concerns become irrelevant. 🙂
Jen
It’s amazing how much one can miss if they don’t participate in discussions for just a few weeks.
I have already seen the statement that Zelensky “was born in the Jewish faith” 🙂 Seriously? Zelensky is now a Jew?
Now the Khazars have surfaced. Their state was called the Khazar Kaganate, because it was a nomadic Turkic people, and I honestly cannot see the slightest connection with the Jews. The Russians knew the Khazars, this was fixed in the people’s memory and epic, “Oleg the Clairvoyant” begins with lines about the Khazars. By the way, it was so long ago that it was Oleg who captured Kiev and appointed it “the mother of all Russian cities.”
Now about the climate. I don’t think an ethnicity – which has no a state for themselves and which has just survived the threat of physical annihilation – should be so picky. Birobidzhan is 49 degrees north latitude – nearly all of Russia is located to the north, I’m not even talking about the poor fellows from the Scandinavian countries, how do we all survive in a climate like that! 🙂
Although, I agree that regions with a Mediterranean climate should be more pleasant to live in. (perhaps they thought – at worst Ukraine will do, let’s write down Khazars are Jews and try to promote this narrative?)
The territories of Ukraine were primordially Russian territories, they were called “little Russia”. The ethnicity “Ukrainian” did not exist, instead there was the name “Little-Russian”. The very name Ukraine means “outskirts, suburbs, edge”, in Russian language.
During the period when Europeans burned witches and slaughtered Jews, Jews fled there. Unfortunately, at that time Russia considered itself belonging culturally to Europe, and was ruled by monarchs from German dynasties, and therefore, shared the attitude towards the Jews. There existed a law that did not allow Jews to settle further than the Pale of Settlement – it was in Little Russia that places were allocated for the settlement of their diasporas. And that is why modern Ukraine has a relatively large percentage of the population of Jewish ethnicity. Nothing to do with Khazars. Just that Little Russia was ‘a ghetto’ for Jews.
Ukraine gained statehood after the socialist revolution took place in Russia. The monarchy was rejected, the working people took power into their own hands and organized self-government, aka “Soviet” – this word means Сouncil in Russian lahguage. Many constituent parts of the former Russian Empire were reorganized into republics governed by such Councils, and you know the entire post-monarchy Russia as a Union of such republics, aka the USSR – the Union of Socialist Republics governed by Councils.
It was then that Ukraine finally got its statehood.
Unfortunately, this region has become ill with nationalism, I think it’s like chickenpox in children, a common disease of all newly hatched states. They are so happy that they got a piece of land in their possession that they want to destroy everyone else and have this piece only for “their blood”. That is how understandable patriotism turns into unhealthy nationalism.
We see the same in Israel. Unfortunately, without treatment, nationalism may develop into extreme radical form, aka nazism. It’s dangerous for others, as well as lethal to the wearer.
Thanks for that very useful historical backdrop Tatyana. (The term Pale of Settlement was actually adopted from the English, who’d used it to denote the extent of their early colonisation of Ireland.)
you’re welcome, frankywiggles 🙂
Mr. Murray said that the opinion of the winners is recorded in history. I suspect that since the West won the Cold War, there are many “curious” things recorded in your version of history. That’s why, if I see strange postulates from other commentators, then I bring my opinions here. Thank you for finding this helpful.
as to ‘Pale of Settlement’, this was the translation suggested by Google Translate tool.
In Russian it is черта осёдлости. Черта is ‘a line’, and осёдлость is opposite to ‘nomadism, bedouinism’. The term means the boundaries of the territory where people are allowed to have permanent residence. Synonym for “reservation” and means f*cking much about segregation and inequality.
It’s worth checking out the book by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn “Two hundred years together”. It gives a pretty good account of the more modern history of the interaction between Russians and Jews, and it should be the case that the author having some provenance as a result of his Gulag Archipelago, ought to be relatively unbiased.
Sadly as it the case with all discussions that relate to Jewish history, the only ‘Authorised’ sources are Jewish folk themselves. So anybody interested will have to get the pdf translation online. That of course raises the problem of who translated it to English, due to the well known problem of axes being ground. 🙂
Tatyana, it seems that the Khazars were converted to Judaism by an arbitrary decree of their khagan, a little after 860.
In those days there was quite a fashion for absolute rulers to decree the mass conversion of their peoples – arguably started by the Roman Emperor Constantine who made Christianity the empire’s official religion.
According to Peter Frankopan in “The Silk Roads” (the most recent account I have read of the matter, and fresh in my memory), the khagan was definite in his desire for a new state religion, but unsure as to which would be best: Christianity, Islam, or Judaism.
So he sent envoys to Constantinople asking for advice, and in due course St Cyril arrived. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyril_and_Methodius After he held lengthy debates with Islamic and Jewish scholars, the khagan opted for Judaism. A letter of his survives, in which he explained his method.
He asked the Christians which religion was better: Islam or Judaism. The reply was that Judaism was preferable. Then he asked the Muslims which was better, Christianity or Judaism. They said Judaism. So the khazar decided that, since both Christians and Muslims thought Judaism better than the alternative, his people should convert to Judaism. When the actual Jews heard of this, it seems, they were slightly stunned.
Of course the khagan’s method, if it was as he said in his letter, was grossly biased. He didn’t ask the Jews which was better, Christianity or Islam! That would have resulted in a tie between Judaism and one of the other two, which we can infer the khagan did not desire.
Frankopan speculates that the choice was pragmatic, based on the Jews’ preeminence as traders on the Silk Road at the time.
Tom, Rus’ adopted Christian Orthodoxy of the Greek canon, but this does not make us Greeks 🙂 Or, Tatars converted to Islam, but this does not make them Arabs. And even if the Khazars accepted Judaism, they remained Khazars professing Judaism, and did not become Jews.
Tatyana, why do you tell me this? It’s what I think, too. And I did not say otherwise.
“I believe that Jews have the right to have their own state.”
I believe that any two people anywhere have the right to call themselves a nation. What they don’t have is the right to someone else’s land.
Johnny Conspiranoid
that is why I point out that the opinion of the Arabs was not taken into account when creating Israel, and that’s why I suggested the non-disputed territory in Russia.
IMO, I would make a good Queen of the World, what do you think? 🙂
Really, in place of the Dark Lord you would have a Queen!
The Lord of the Rings: Evil mode Galadriel – YouTube (2m 15s)
Tatyana: “that’s why I suggested the non-disputed territory in Russia.”
That is quite ridiculous. You could just as well move the Palestinians into Russia (or Saudi Arabia). People should accept that Israel is staying where it is – it is their home.
AH: “People should accept that Israel is staying where it is – it is their home. ”
Totally untrue, they’re moving into the Palestinian’s homes and stealing their land. On an on-going basis, in defiance of International Law. That’s no more legitimate than when the Nazis booted Jews out of their homes and and took them for their own. Simply “might makes right” in both cases.
It’s astonishingly arrogant that you think making blanket assertions, without any justification, simply makes it so – but that is very much the Zionist mindset.
glenn_nl: “Totally untrue….”
I wasn’t referring to the illegal west bank settlements. I agree they are illegal. Now can you accept that the rest of Israel (the part that is legally occupied by Israel), has the right to stay where it is and is the legitimate home of the people that live there? Let’s not contradict ourselves when there is no contradiction – but if you are in favour of moving Israel to some other location, let’s hear it.
AH: “I wasn’t referring to the illegal west bank settlements. ”
Ok, fair enough. If Israel withdrew to its pre-1967 borders, I think that this should be an acceptable position for all sides. Of course not everyone would be happy with that, others would argue the 1950s border would be more appropriate, others still nothing at all – one cannot simply declare land “ours” for some vague religious reasons, when it obviously is home.to someone else altogether, and has been for an extremely long time.
Unfortunately, the way it’s carrying on, Israel will destroy itself as a state. Any true friend of Israel would advise it to stop acting like a genocidal apartheid state, and join the civilised world (in as much as there is such a thing).
glenn_nl: “Unfortunately, the way it’s carrying on, Israel will destroy itself as a state.”
I don’t disagree! But again, should this happen, I will say it is not my problem (or Britain’s problem). I’m sure there are those in Israel that understand that if this conflict is ever to be resolved, then big and meaningful changes are required. At the moment the voices for peace within both Israel and the wider Arab world seem to be a minority.
“If Israel withdrew to its pre-1967 borders, I think that this should be an acceptable position for all sides”.
Better would be the 1947 borders.
What do you mean, there was no such thing as “Israel” in 1947? Don’t be absurd – nation states don’t just suddenly pop into existence like positrons.
Tatyana,
There are different views on the issue of the state of Israel and here is mine:-
https://www.globalresearch.ca/inherent-irony-palestinian-israeli-struggle/5746034
The Ashkenazi trillionaire Rothschilds, through their influence in the city of london, were a (the?) major driving force behind the creation of Israel
they are no more “semitic” than I am – their “ancestral home” is clearly Northern Europe, not the Levant
I just went back to the DDN vid of Roger on youtube (which I watched a few days ago) and was looking through a few of the comments, and came across this excellent point that someone made:
Cancelling Roger Waters for The Wall is like cancelling Charlie Chaplin for The Great Dictator.
Anyway, the most obvious thing in the world just occurred to me (whilst I was out smoking a roll-up just now and getting a quick dose of Vitamin D)……. WHY has no-one who has been accusing Roger of antisemitism recently reported him to the police?! Needless to say, it would have been all over the MSM if someone or other HAD. And even in Germany the Berlin police aren’t investigating Roger in respect of antisemitism, but “on suspicion of incitement to hatred”. Well, yes, may be. Hatred against murderous authoritarian regimes like the Nazis. It’s just too absurd for words, and the Berlin police and just about everyone else on the planet knows it, and they are just making a laughingstock of themselves. Hmm, and I can’t help but wonder how long this ‘investigation’ is gonna take them!
But it isn’t just recent events, and I have come across articles on a number of occasions (as I did a few days ago yet again) in which Roger is being accused of being a Jew Baiter, which surely must be tantamount to antisemitism, and yet no-one who supposedly believed he was has reported him to the police (as with Jeremy and Ken and Jackie and Chris and Marc and Ken Loach, along with hundreds of other members of the LP in respect of accusations and claims of antisemitism during the past seven years or so).
I’m pretty sure that the article I came across a few days ago in which Roger is described as a Jew Baiter was a Jewish Chronicle article, but I just did a quick search re >roger waters jew baiter< and the following CAA piece from October last year came up near the top of the results:
'Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters insists he is not antisemitic whilst defending Nazi comparisons and emblazoning Star of David on a pig on Joe Rogan’s podcast'
Roger Waters, the former Pink Floyd musician, has repeatedly denied being an antisemite whilst also breaching the International Definition of Antisemitism on yesterday’s episode of the podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience.
Throughout the podcast, Mr Waters, who has a long record of baiting Jews……..
Hmm, so how come the CAA have never reported him to the police at any point (since his long record began)?!!
I also came across this virulent and malevolent so-called opinion piece in The Sunday Times yesterday (on their website, that is, but I think we can be fairly certain it was in the actual newspaper). It is/was behind a paywall, but I managed to quickly copy the following when I refreshed the page:
'As Roger Waters proves, you can be a rock god and an antisemite'
It’s fine to be a fan of the Pink Floyd star. Just be honest about his views
Hadley Freeman
Sunday June 11 2023, 12.01am, The Sunday Times
Roger Waters is — it is widely agreed by people who aren’t Waters or his fans — an antisemite. That is why police in Germany launched a criminal investigation of his concerts in Berlin last month, during which he wore a black coat with swastika-like imagery; Waters has said it was — as it’s always been in the many decades he’s been wearing that costume — a statement against fascism. But, for an anti-fascist, he sure does like to wear fascist costumes.
It’s why the US State Department denounced him last week for his “long track record of using antisemitic tropes to denigrate Jewish people”, and it’s also at least partly why his former Pink Floyd bandmate David Gilmour has fallen out with him. In…….
There's no point in me posting a link to it because you won't be able to see anything, but here's the CAA black propaganda piece:
https://antisemitism.org/pink-floyds-roger-waters-repeatedly-denies-being-an-antisemite-whilst-breaching-the-international-definition-of-antisemitism-on-the-joe-rogan-experience/
A big inflatable PIG with a Star of David painted on the side; no that’s not going to offend anybody is it?
Of course he’ll claim it’s anti-Zionist not anti-Semitic but not everyone will see it like that.
Time he gave up and retired anyway.
Pears – another who supports *actual* ss-worshipping Azov nazis – pretending he deplores antisemitism.
No star of anyone on that pig….
Really…
https://gamma.creativecirclecdn.com/jewishstar/original/20230215-100317-p6%20Roger%20Waters%20Gaffitied%20pig%20with%20Star%20of%20David_NORMAL_WEB.jpg
Might not have been the same pig he flew in Berlin but all the same.
I bothered to have a look at the link you shared in the first coomment, Pears. That one to antisemitism.org
Quote:
“… put the Star of David on the side of a pig in a show.’ Yeah but I also put the hammer and sickle, and the crescent, and whatever, and a dollar sign. ”
Have you seen the flag of Israel? There’s the Star of David there. So, why on earth should the Star of David be interpreted as a symbol of nation rather than the symbol of the state?
What’s the matter with an artist expressing his position re. policy of a state? Don’t they understand art? Were they the same sensitive when Pussy Riot broke into the church in black masks – a replicated image of radical Islamists?
Pink Floyd began using the floating pig in the 70s
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink_Floyd_pigs
“Pigs on the wing” was a track on the Pink Floyd album Animals, as I recall.
That song contained absolutely nothing about Jews – sorry to bring this bad news to the beady-eyed obsessives who (for the first time in their lives) get all hysterical about supposed anti-semetism, as long as the target of their shrill pearl-clutching is a lefty.
Earlier, whilst doing some research about something, I happened to come across a Daily Mail article from December 2019 (just a few days before election day) about The Simon Wiesenthal Center designating Jeremy as the No1 global threat to Jews, which I’m pretty sure was covered by most of the MSM at the time. Yes, it’s still hard to believe they really did that! I actually checked their website at the time and found that in previous years they had ALWAYS published their Top Ten list sometime in the January, but I guess Jeremy was such an imminent dangerous threat to Jews around the world that they published the list a month or so earlier than normal
So anyway, I thought I’d pay another visit to the website and check out what they’ve been saying about Roger, and so I did a search on their site and there were twenty-nine results, going back at least ten years. No doubt the SWC gets a lot more mentions in the US media than it does in the UK, and is often called upon for their views about this or that, and puts out press releases and, as such – what with him living in the US – Roger will no doubt be a lot more familiar with them than we are here. Anyway, they don’t beat about the bush, and they’ve got Roger down as an antisemite. Needless to say – like just about every other pro Israel organisation around the world – they are first and foremost a ppropaganda outfit.
So I just this moment went back on to the site to check out their Top Tens of the past few years, and I looked everywhere, but there was nothing listed that took you to them. As I recall it, it had a page with a link to every year (and I checked out quite a few years just out of interest when I went on the site in 2019). So the only thing I could think to do was type >top ten< into their search engine, and they came up in the results. So here's the one for Jeremy when he was No1, or to be more specific, the LP under his leadership was No1:
https://www.wiesenthal.com/assets/pdf/top-ten-anti-semitic.pdf
Also came across this again earlier, from Dec 13, 2019 (in The Times of Israel):
'After Corbyn loss, minister says UK Jews ‘shouldn’t have to live in fear again’'
Michael Gove says with Labour defeat, British Jews don’t have to worry about the possibility of a PM who ‘trafficked in anti-Jewish rhetoric and embraced anti-Jewish terrorists’
Leading Conservative Party minister Michael Gove on Friday said that after the victory of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservatives and the defeat of Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour in the election, Britain’s Jewish community should “never have to live in fear again.”
“I want to say something to a very special group of people, our Jewish friends and neighbors,” Gove said in a speech at a victory rally in London.
“You have had to live in fear for months now with concerns we will have a prime minister who trafficked in anti-Jewish rhetoric and embraced anti-Jewish terrorists. You should never have to live in fear again,” Gove said.
Yep, I bet that one got a lot of laughs!
As for Roger, no doubt he’ll be in their Top Ten for this year!
Also in 2019, the NYT ran a front-page opinion piece by that Zionist scumbag Howard Jacobson. There was never a bomb dropped on Palestinians, nor a Palestinian shot dead, jailed, tortured, crippled or made homeless, over which Jacobson did not throughly approve.
This NYT article – to that publication’s great discredit – argued that Jews everywhere, particularly in European countries are especially in the UK, were under imminent risk of death from Corbyn. Seriously, Corbyn was right there,.poised and eager to finish the job of Adolf Hitler himself.
That the British public would happily go along with such an extermination programme was simply assumed. If they wanted to retain a shred of respectability, the Jewish Chronicle etc. should have fiercely denounced this appalling slur on the entire country, never mind Corbyn himself.
You’ll find that antisemitism in the UK these days is not so much the preserve of those who admire the guy in the postman’s hat and crinkly boots, its mostly from the Muslim sector of those with South Asian heritage. And whilst the Tories have collared to a large extent the Hindu vote, Labour have successfully brought in the Islamic group who have little love for our Jewish friends, but are to some extent immune to being called out. I recall reading CM’s account of how when he was standing against Jack Straw, the Labour Home Secretary was treating local Muslim voters with a free curry lunch. So you have the potential spectacle of two minority groups attacking each other, and clearly British Jewry wont go there, so its better to stitch up Jezza, even if that means effectively hobbling your own party as demonstrated by the likes of Hodge, and that Lucrezia Borzia woman who defected to the LibDems ?
Not that the Conservatives wont resort to a very British form of antisemitism if it suits. I’m thinking here of the election with Milliband as Labour leader, and how the DT or was it the DM, ran with a succession of articles prior to the election, describing how Britain had ‘Saved’ grandpa Milliband from the Nazis, only to have him show shed loads of ingratitude. That was followed by the infamous picture of Milliband pulling a funny face as he ate a Bacon roll of all things.
Robert Francis Kennedy Jr. in his podcast conversation with Matt Taibbi. (Not the other way around):
“Censorship and Twitter Files”
https://open.spotify.com/episode/3yDToHEzgty8PYQ3nfGueD
RFK is of course a bit hard to follow. (Isn´t that voice problem an obstacle for running for office?)
Anyway. It’s mainly about Matt Taibbi and sort of a cross-section of all the various topics touched by the Twitter contents.
In essence the threat of digital totalitarianism looming.
interesting post by Natylie Baldwin on her blog:
“Even some of Meduza’s readers support the invasion of Ukraine. We asked them to explain why”
https://natyliesbaldwin.com/2023/06/the-only-thing-worse-than-war-is-losing-one-even-some-of-meduzas-readers-support-the-invasion-of-ukraine-we-asked-them-to-explain-why/
p.s. it is entirely circumstantial since not enough samples. But provokes the very interesting question what would a serious survey look like.I am sure there are some out there already and in the making. And what would the limits of such surveys be?
(This also brings me back to the issue of “hotly” debated referenda last fall which CM was harshly criticizing, as well as people involved into those referenda who attacked him in the comments section for not siding with them.
Difficult to form an opinion on that as non-speaker and outsider. On the other hand I have read interviews with Germans who have been involved in humanitarian aid in Donbass since 2014, left Germany for legal reasons, and supported the referenda there, individuals who appeared to have integrity. Sigh, difficult.)
Just came across this article on the JCs website, albeit from June 1st:
‘Activists plan ‘Just Stop Oil’ style protests to disrupt Roger Waters’ UK tour’
Jewish campaigners say they will stage protests at Pink Floyd musician’s concerts over claims of antisemitism
British campaigners have told the JC that they plan to crash Waters’ UK tour, which will see him perform at major arenas in Birmingham, Glasgow, London and Manchester.
Activists are planning demonstrations and stage invasions involving Israeli flags, banners, leaflets and other means of disruption.
In Frankfurt, where Waters appeared on Sunday 28, a protester who only gave his name as “Marcel L” interrupted the performance by storming the stage and waving an Israeli flag as a group of demonstrators began singing “Am Yisrael Chai”.
Security guards threatened to “break his neck” if he didn’t hand over the flag, he told the JC. [sounds like a falsehood to me]
Marcel, 26, said that when an artist takes to the stage “with an SS-style uniform and pretends to shoot, then there is a point at which every citizen of Germany… should stand up and make an intervention.”
https://www.thejc.com/news/news/activists-plan-just-stop-oil-style-protests-to-disrupt-roger-waters'-uk-tour-1qsaguI1FyX849iwn39lBQ
I’ve had a number of Jewish friends over the years, and known many others (I was born and grew up in Edgware), and in MY experience I would definitely say that they were intelligent people, with above average intelligence. And it’s really hard to believe that these people don’t know that it’s the very opposite of what they appear to think it is – ie the so-called Nazi-style uniform that is part of Roger’s performance/concert. I mean to be honest, you’d have to be off your trolley to believe that Roger just plain likes dressing up in Nazi-type garb and firing a (fake) machine-gun at the audience.
They either know the truth and don’t care because they regard him as an enemy of Israel who is turning people on to the actuality and brutality of the Israeli establishment, or they have swallowed all the hate-mongering propaganda lies about Roger and it has blinded their Reason. And do they actually think that the hundreds of thousands of people who go to his concerts are antisemites as well, and THAT is the reason they go. It’s just too absurd!
I would say that the hate-mongering being churned out by Israel and its Praetorian Guard around the world is magnitudes higher than any other country, and it’s just relentless, and the way they’re going it won’t be too long before practically everyone on the planet is regarded/labelled as antisemitic.
There is a long tradition in Britain for singers and comedians being offensive. (for the sake of being thought provoking / just for kicks). Politicians, journalists and businessman obviously are expected to be more woke – Pink Floyd was always a disruptor, so the issue of whether this performance is offensive to Jews is mostly irrelevant. It was only a few years ago we tolerated Harry getting dressed up as a Nazi for some drunken orgy (and that is someone who is presumably not trying to disrupt the establishment). We supported Charlie Hebdo in being offensive to Muslims, so Roger Watters upsetting the Jewish world is not so different. The overreaction will obviously generate publicity for Roger Watters, in much the same way as the bbc’s attempt to censor the Sex Pistols really only elevated Punk. Similarly, (as Tatanya notes), Russia’s efforts to suppress Pussy Riots stunts have only lifted the group to international fame.
Since you’ve mentioned me, I can’t pass by.
Tatyana’s opinion about Pussy Riot has remained unchanged over the years – my cat makes more pleasant sounds if I accidentally step on her tail than Pussy Riot do. And, my cat is much more interested in communicating with me than Pussy Riot is. So, that I don’t see any relation of Pussy Riot to art, aka skill in vocals or music making. Also I didn’t notice the desire to set up a dialogue with me, as with a potential consumer of their “art”. If you know some samples of their art which slipped my attention, please do not hesitate to bring it here.
All I saw, by the current moment, was their desire to shock me, executed in a mediocre manner.
In Russian it’s ‘ни уму ни сердцу’, meaning ‘this got neither to my mind, nor to heart’. Feels like I saw people busy with their activities, apparently, for them it made some sense, or, was adequately paid. For me it was a blatant show to strike the elder mentally unprepared members of the sosciety – they just got into a church to scare elderly babushkas, for fun and for money. They knew they’d scare them, and they knew they wouldn’t be shot down as it would be somewhere in the Texas if they dared to break into the church in black masks.
They claim it’s art? Difficult for me. They say it’s in demand? Well, good luck.
I’d rather watch Roger Waters’ UN speech again.
https://youtu.be/u0dkKAEPOPE
I suspect, this is exactly the reason he was framed for – opposing the war pigs.
I am not sure many in the British establishment thought the Sex Pistols were particularly musically talented. (or even Roger Watters). Of course the motivation is to shock you. (and yes it is against the elder generation: Although Roger Watters is now part of the elder generation – Pink Floyds claim to fame was rejection of the elder generation). Art is difficult to characterize – shock is a form of art (streakers [usually naked men] running onto Wimbledon every year is another form of art, that others may find hard to connect with). Not all art is pleasant – a better question is does it provoke thought, the fact that you are even having this conversation suggests yes.
Oh my God! The only reason I’m talking about this is because their performance made a lot of noise! And not because it is “art provokes thoughts.”
Also, if a man with balls sticking out from under his skirt comes into the women’s locker room and says “ladies, treat me like a woman”, then I’ll tell him to fuck off.
I don’t feel obligated to play along.
And if Pussy are provocateurs for the sake of hype, then I call it that – a provocation for the sake of hype, not art. Like a man who calls himself a woman is a transgender, not a woman. Like the Nazis in Ukraine, they are Nazis, not glorious fighters for independence. And NATO can fucking call itself a defensive alliance – I don’t care.
If you’re constantly buying into such self-presentations, that’s your problem.
Though, wait, maybe I could benefit a little from your habit of playing along.
Hey Andrew, if you don’t mind, maybe you could recognize me as the Queen of the Rings? Mmm?
Say that I’m beautiful as the dawn, stormy as the sea and stronger than the foundation of the earth. Yeah, and that all love me and despair.
Thank you.
Don’t think I’m crazy 🙂 I’m working on sketches for my new ring collection, but it’s a bit slow. I’m not in the right mood for creativity, so I need an impulse from an outside.
Tatyana: like the Nazis in Ukraine, they are Nazis, not glorious fighters for independence.
The only Nazis in Ukraine are the Russian invaders. Ukraine belongs to Ukraine. Let’s hear you accept that. Russia irrevocably ceded all rights to the land in 1990 when it accepted Ukraine as an independent and sovereign nation. I don’t buy into kremlin propaganda – in this case, the facts are clear and undisputable.
Ukrainians are not fighting for independence – they have been independent for over 30 years. They are repelling an invading force.
When so many Ukrainians keep telling us and showing us they are Nazis, and exceptionally proud to be, who should we believe?
Them, or Andrew in …?
You were supposed to love and despair, Andrew 🙂 You were supposed to say ‘Yes, my Queen’ 🙂
If you’re not inclined to play along, then maybe spare a couple of encouraging words for the sake of art, as far as you understand many forms of it, even unpleasant, shocking, even you see it in naked men running (well, on the latter I could agree 🙂 Perhaps I’d be pleased to see a performance like that).
Instead, you chose to defend Ukrainian nazis!
My Majesty are disappointed with this subject.
Oh Queen Tatyana, perhaps you could rather shed some light on the one thing we are all dying to know. Apparently Wagner fighters are required to sign contracts with mod. Wagner says this is not the case. Igor Girkin terrorist says this is rebellion and Prigozhin is actively preparing a coup. See: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/prigozhin-says-wagner-will-not-sign-any-contract-with-russian-defence-minister-2023-06-11/
Who is correct? Are Wagner fighters required to sign these contracts? Or is this just some big pointless psyop/misunderstanding for the entertainment of western onlookers. Is there a genuine spat between Prigozhin & Girkin? (we know they love each other deep down). July 1st seems so far way…. If you are truly a queen surely you must have some insight into what is going down here (if anything). [My guess is that July 1st will pass without Wagner agreeing to be subordinate to Shoigu and that will be the end of it – there seems little Shoigu can do given that Wagner controls a more serious fighting force and they have already returned to Russia/offshore where they are beyond the reach of the military. I wouldn’t want to be the FSB agent sent to arrest Prigozhin, and it is not even clear what the FSB position is since they don’t have any loud mouths airing grievances in public.]
Much better now, Andrew 🙂
My Majesty Tatyana the First, By the Grace of God, of the United Power of Rolling Mill and Steel Anvil and of My other Tools and Supplies Queen, Head of the Workshop, Defender of the Art can graciously pardon your ignorance and ask my Royal Secretary to put your humble request on my schedule of Royal Duties. I assume that this may highly likely happen on Friday evening, as soon as
paid orders are shippedmy faithful Knights of Beauty are deservedly rewarded.And you forget defending nazis, I’m watching you 🙂
Perhaps Germany wasn’t the right venue! (or perhaps that was the point – that Germans need to loosen up a little, and forget about their grandfathers history – it is no longer 1946)
That possibility would be the nightmare of the USA ? Imagine the North American continent as an island between the shores of Eurasia. Then imagine both of those shores being in a position to disregard the wishes of the USA.
Might explain what we’re seeing before our very eyes, the hobbling of Europe’s energy lifeblood, and a reawakening of the Russophobia I remember from my salad days. 🙂
‘…a group of demonstrators began singing “Am Yisrael Chai”’.
What does Israel have to do with tea?
Came across this video on youtube a bit earlier courtesy of their algorhythms, which looked interesting, and so it was (10mins 25secs):
Is Roger Waters in legal trouble instead of suing Labour?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ygw3vtoWHjA
Allan
Damo has brilliant rants. worth subscribing on YT
In a normal society editors at the Guardian, BBC etc would also be asked to explain why Israel attacking Syria on a regular basis is reported as if it’s the most natural thing in the world. Everybody knows the opposite would be reported shrilly as one of the greatest crimes in all history. Mentioning their insane double standards however is deemed completely off limits in British public life. These are the world’s gold standard news organisations, completely unbiased, impartial and 100% trustworthy and reliable; the slightest uncertainty about that can be effortlessly quashed by the research of BBC Verify.
@ Anthony
I totally agree with you. There was one early BBC live report, from Syria, just after the recent Earthquake, mentioning the Israeli Search & Rescue team, to the exclusion of all others, if indeed, there was any such team at all.
yes, quite interesting. I see that in Ukraine this week the Russian S-350 Vityaz anti aircraft/anti missile system used AI to acquire a target, plot solution and execute a launch and strike without human intervention. First system to do so. It appears, whether we like it or not, AI is coming into our society and into our wars ready or not.
Professor Jeffrey Sachs:
“I used to read The Guardian; now I can’t even look at the website. That’s also how our New York Times is: it’s unreadable, it’s phony, it’s propaganda from morning til night.”
https://twitter.com/upholdreality/status/1669016814754443266?s=20
A few days ago I did a search on youtube for >roger waters concert the wall< and one of the results was for a concert in Australia in February 2012 at The Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, and so I put it on. It was obviously made by someone in the audience – presumably on their phone – and although the audio quality wasn't that good, it was still very watchable. Anyway, it was late, so I ended up just watching it for about half-an-hour before I crashed out, and left it open in a tab to finish watching at some point, which I did last night. It isn't the full concert, and there are some obvious points where the video jumps forward – ie gaps – and it lasts for an hour and 24 minutes.
So anyway, at 1hr 4mins 55secs approximately, the intro to In The Flesh (part 2) begins, whereupon the inflatable pig appears and starts floating around, and whilst the intro is playing Roger appears from one side and walks across the massive stage in the leather coat etc and stands on a small platform in the middle. The lights are low, and the backdrop is an array of the crossed hammer icons, and then, as he starts to sing, a spotlight shines on him, and just after he finishes singing the lyrics, he is handed a mock machine gun which he then fires at the audience. I expect most people who follow Craig are familiar with the lyrics to In The Flesh (Part 2, or Reprise), but here they are anyway:
So ya thought ya might like to go to the show
To feel the warm thrill of confusion
That space cadet glow
I got some bad news for you sunshine
Pink isn't well, he stayed back at the hotel
And they sent us along as a surrogate band
We're gonna find out where you fans really stand
Are there any queers in the theatre tonight?
Get 'em up against the wall (against the wall)
Now there's one in the spotlight, he don't look right to me
Get him up against the wall (against the…)
And that one looks Jewish and that one's a coon
Who let all this riff-raff into the room?
There's one smoking a joint and another with spots
If I had my way I'd have all of ya shot
Well, I mean, and needless to say, Roger isn't only a Jew-hating Jew-baiting antisemite, but a queer-hating homophobe AND a black-hating rascist as well (not to mention Dope Heads and spotty people!). But what I don't understand is why these Jewish groups et al – who quite rightly castigate him for his blatant antisemitism – don't castigate him for his homophobia and rascism, or why they didn't denounce him – AND Pink Floyd – when the album came out in 1979. It's difficult to understand why they didn't.
'Nuff said!!!
Anyway, here's a link to the Melbourne concert which, as always, is amazing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrzD_5jubJE&t=1656s
PS Oh, right, and he obviously despises his audience(s) as well and would like to kill them all!
less funny and of limited significance, because German, so I try to be brief:
re: The Times They Are a-Changin
In Germany 15 years ago known history scholar Moshe Zuckermann would do essays in major papers critical of his native country Israel.
Then about 2014 he would only do book reviews.
2016 he would not write any more himself. Only BE reviewed by an uninformed journalist, as part of a collection of works on Israel, who would additionally mix into the very same review comments on Corbyn the anti-semite.
And by 2020 no Zuckermann at all.
He has been pushed to the fringes of the media. And he is by far no Finkelstein in his views.
This gradual disintegration of critical thought is exemplary of course for other issues.
p.s. on double standards:
The German band Rammstein has been in focus just recently since its lead singer has been accused of rape.
Surprisingly no city council called for cancelling any Rammstein concert though they are on tour now. And despite the very fact that the accusations of the Rammstein guy are most likely true – court will look into the matter now. Whereas the courts in the case of Waters found nothing.
My Majesty is willing to tell you that if we pretend we don’t understand what the scenes are made for, then we may find a Jew-hating Jew-baiting antisemite and a nazi worshiper in Vladimir Zelenski.
Playing the most well known piece of Jewish music with his penis
https://youtu.be/lpJjgvXKjic?t=120
Mocking Jews as cowards in his sketch “300 Jewans”
https://youtu.be/bXa47cq-ibY
And, he claimed that Ukrainians are doing nazi salute as morning fitness
https://youtu.be/O2g-93j4ynA?t=248
“That is how we live today”
All the dishonest politicians & journalists who make us live like this are united today in telling us Boris Johnson is Bad.
What’s the real reason the unscrupulous herd have decided to demonize him?
Boris was terrible in many ways, not least for all the carehome deaths & warning Zelensky not to make peace. However he had more loyalty to himself than to the ruling class and was somewhat susceptible to public pressure. Therefore the bipartisan elite /unscruplous herd who had enabled his victory in 2019 decided he had to go. Sunak & Mr Trilateral are in control & the world is back to being as it should be in the eyes of the unscrupulous herd.
Johnson is a man I have always despised but I suspect he is being used at present as a lightning rod by the British state and media for their own treachery over covid and Brexit, as well as they disgraceful lies to corrupt the 2019 general election. Johnson was their tool to force through hard Brexit, which had no democratic mandate (even many Leave voters supported Single Market membership) and the appalling covid lockdowns, which actually suspended democracy, turned the country into a dictatorship for two years, and removed hard-won human rights, again with no say from the public and for no convincing reason. They have to throw Johnson overboard so that the British people don’t increasingly realise that Johnson was only a figurehead for widespread corruption and lies – and that the same mainstream media piling in now, were the same ones who hyped him up and kept him in place, and lied about Jeremy Corbyn and others.
This is totally senseless, especially for RT to publicize, russians are really terrible on propaganda:
Sergey Karaganov: By using its nuclear weapons, Russia could save humanity from a global catastrophe
A tough but necessary decision would likely force the West to back off, enabling an earlier end to the Ukraine crisis and preventing it from expanding to other states
https://swentr.site/russia/578042-russia-nuclear-weapons/
Such statements just carry water for the war hawks.
Besides, if Russia cannot even beat Ukraine how do they think they could somehow win a nuclear war against multiple nuclear equipped actors?
Also if Russia hardly dare to attack Kiev, why would they dare to attack any western capital?
Andrew, I’m back, here’s the news:
the Russian legislators have given the base, now all informal volunteer units can sign a contract with the Ministry of Defense. The contract defines the legal regulation and their activities in the special operation zone, and also gives social guarantees to the participants and their families. In simple terms, this will give the Ministry of Defense legal grounds to supply them with weapons and ammunition (the lack of which was a reason for Prigozhin’s displeasure), and also equate the members of these groups with army personnel in terms of social guarantees and payments for participation in hostilities, as well as pension payments in case of injuries, or payment to the family in case of death.
The first to sign such a contract was the Akhmat detachment – a special forces detachment from Chechnya, named after the Hero of Russia Akhmat Kadyrov. In total, 10 volunteer units signed such a contract, as reported in the news to date.
Yes, RBC also reports that the Russian Defense Minister Shoigu encourages all volunteer associations to conclude such a contract before July 1, and it is reported that Prigozhin does not intend to do this.
The question of the legitimacy of armed formations acting in the interests of Russia is very acute. I hope this will be resolved. Personally, I don’t like the idea that certain groups are doing something on behalf of the entire state. It is not right. I lived through the period of the 90s and I understand very well the fear of “беспредел” – this is a Russian word meaning “to have no borders” or “lawlessness”, meaning an activity that is not regulated by an officially existing law, and even by generally accepted morality.
Until now, although Wagner did not have any legal status, they acted within the framework of human conscience. A simple citizen would like to know where Wagner’s area of responsibility to the people is, and what are the guarantees.
I can’t comment on Girkin and his opinions, this character is too little known to me and there is no mention of him in the current news.
Your words may be familiar to anyone who has worked for a small company that has been brought out by a larger corporation. Typically such corporations want to introduce new employment contracts. Various justifications for the need of such contracts are given – but on reading the contract ones sees that it mostly favours the corporation. The next bullying step is to say others (lets call him Akhmat) has signed so why can’t you? In the end if an employee holds out he is unlikely to be fired (especially if useful). More typically, the coproration just silently accepts the existing employment contract is good enough, or otherwise tries to reach some compromise such as a signing bonus. Perhaps Wagner is just holding out for better terms or a one off payment for everyone that signs.
Your response makes sense from the Russian elites perspective. (Lets bring everyone under the same roof – the same happened with the Azov battalion, but such a process is perhaps best carried out at peace time rather than in the middle of a special operation and one can expect it to take several years). The problem with the ministry of defense demand is that Prigozhin may not be in a position to even agree – and that seems to be the case. Generally speaking it is inadvisable to ask of people the impossible. Possible outcomes are:
Wagner simply doesn’t sign and without a contract is removed from the special operation. (back to Africa or wherever they can find work). This is one of the few solutions that allows both Prigozhin and Shoigu to save face. This solution is ideal from Ukraine’s perspective – perhaps Wagner are a spent force so just may be it doesn’t matter.
Wagner is allowed to continue fighting without a contract. The problem here is that it reinforces the elites perception that Wagner are outlaws (before this showdown it was more ambiguous). Once you allow someone to openly defy the law, repeat offenses are more likely. This would also be egg on Putin’s face since he has come out on behalf of Shoigu: but fundamentally Putin is a coward and I can see him backing down.
Prigozhin decides to suck dick. He is an ex-con and he understands if you do this once, you will be doing it for the rest of time. Also Prigozhin is one of the few people in the special operation that has demonstrated he is not a coward – he is also not really in a position to back down in front of his men without considerable reputational damage – his fighters have his respect.
Perhaps there is some compromise either in the wording of the contract or through a signing bonus that would keep everyone happy. They are mercenaries after all, so I’m guessing the mod could offer each fighter say 50000USD to sign (total cost for 20000 fighters is 1billion USD [approx 0.1 trillion ruble] – a lot of money but a drop in the ocean compared with the overall cost of the smo). Always, there are ways that everyone can come out feeling they got what they wanted.
All in all to me this seems like a poor power move by Shoigu/Putin. Each of the above possible outcomes has negative implications. Why rock a boat that isn’t sinking?
I agree Girkin is mostly irrelevant. He has a lot of criticisms of everyone – Prigozhin rightly describes him as a coward since he is all talk and no action. He has started some ‘angry patriots club’. His war commentary is occasionally featured in wartranslated (https://twitter.com/wartranslated), mostly for comedic effect. There is probably a telegram channel somewhere with his fascist thoughts in Russian, but for me Dmitri’s English translations are fine.
Another take: https://meduza.io/en/feature/2023/06/19/the-mystery-of-evgeny-prigozhin
– essentially this public display is all a carefully choreographed charade.