The UK and the US are both sending military assistance to Israel to commit a calculated and deliberate act of genocide, which is already underway.
Over 500 children have been killed in Gaza in the last week and over 2,000 maimed, many with life changing injuries. Nobody can claim they do not know what is already happening or what is about to unfold. The cutting off of food and water to Gaza is a major international crime, which the western proponents of the “rules based order” universally refuse to condemn.
In both the UK and the US there can be no more stark illustration of the lack of any kind of meaningful democracy, than the fact that there is no major political party that opposes the genocide – despite massive public opposition.
The bought and paid for media and political class in the west are extremely nervous, throughout the western world. Now they have come to the final genocide for which zionism has always aimed, they face a good deal of popular resistance.
Throughout Europe there is a massive gap between the zionist unanimity of the politicians and the much greater understanding of the Palestinian situation among the general public. Tellingly the response by the zionist political class has been a wave of outright fascist suppression.
In France, Macron has made all pro-Palestinian demonstrations illegal, but as so often the French people are not standing for that kind of authoritarianism.
In the UK, the police have adopted the cowardly tactic of arresting a couple of individuals, one in Brighton and one in Manchester, for pro-Palestinian demonstration. Under Tony Blair’s notorious draconian “anti-terror” legislation, they could face up to 14 years in prison.
The young man in Manchester was arrested on the precise site of the famous “Peterloo massacre”, which generations of British people were taught at school was a terrible crime in breach of the rights to freedom of speech and assembly. Let the irony of that set in.
You can go out in the streets of the UK with an Israeli flag and yell that you want every Palestinian to be cleansed from Gaza. That is not illegal. If you say the Palestinians have a right to resist their genocide, that is illegal.
That appears to be a genuine analysis of the law in the UK, France and many other western countries.
That is intended to terrify all of us. It will not work.
The European Commission has been ferociously zionist and gung-ho for this Palestinian genocide. It displayed the Israeli flag on its Berlaymont headquarters. It has taken a side in the most ferocious way.
It is therefore deeply sinister that the European Commission is actively working to shut down pro-Palestinian information and comment on social media. The European Commission has written to all major social media organisations and is able to threaten them with massive fines if they do not remove information of which the European Union disapproves.
Following the terrorist attacks by Hamas against š®š±, we have indications of X/Twitter being used to disseminate illegal content & disinformation in the EU.
Urgent letter to @elonmusk on #DSA obligations ā¤µļø pic.twitter.com/avMm1LHq54
— Thierry Breton (@ThierryBreton) October 10, 2023
The notion is plainly nonsense that through the fog of war the European Commission – which is 100% parti pris – is qualified to say what information is true and what information is false, and what comment is legitimate.
Thierry Breton, the European Commissioner in charge of this operation, is a former chief executive of electronic companies – and defence contractors – Atos and Thomson. He has no genuine interest in freedom of speech, and is engaged in a process of silencing dissent for military aims, which is quite simply fascist.
We are witnessing almost all western governments deliberately facilitating massacre, ethnic cleansing and genocide. We are witnessing almost all western governments turning on their own people to crush dissent at that complicity in genocide.
This feels not so much like the week that western democracy died, as the week it was impossible any longer to deny that western democracy died some time ago.
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Professor N Finkelstein talking to Chris Hedges thinks that Hezbollah must do something, first out of solidarity with the Palestinians, but also because it will completely discredit itself if Israel is allowed to carry out another expulsion of Palestinians, so they have to do something or be called wind bags, he then described the 100,000 missiles which are targeted on Tel Aviv and all Israelās vital infrasstructure, then said the Professor, all bets are off. He said Israel may not enter Gaza and that Israel may do what the Nazis did to the village of Lidice in Czechoslovakia, Level it to the ground and call it a victory. I trust Hezbollah, they are honourable soldiers, there is only one thing they can do.
Will Hezbollah let another Lidice happen? I hope not.
I had my contestations with Finkelst. comparing with Lidice, however.
Lidice means, if I am not mistaken, 170 males of the entire village rounded up and executed as revenge for HeydrichĀ“s assassination. The village was then leveled.
“Flattening” Gaza City makes it a Lidice only if civilians there are being on purpose killed a swell.
I know too little about Gaza to judge.
But as I take Finkelstein very seriously, since his scholarship is mostly immaticulate I ever more scrutinize these comparisons
(since he as well is provoking in order to stress an important aspect.)
And frankly, I want him to be right in his comparisons applied.
But as the pure scholarship goes the one mixes not all too well with the other.
Especially not in places like Germany where you have lost your audience with such comparison at once if it wonĀ“t hold up.
They like their trees instead of the forest. But losing the argument and the possible attention by an audience is not desireable and worth I think. If such were the case.
I agree with Professor Finkelstein, Hezbollah have the duty to help the Palestinians, some say Hezbollah could cripple Israel with approx 150,000 missiles thousands of which are precision and can reach every part of Israel including Dimona and all the gas rigs.
In my opinion the āarc of resistanceā should open several fronts to avoid the genocide of the Palestinians, the militias in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and others. The only reason to exist is to save the Palestinians and Al Quds. Failure to do this means that they may as well give up, which means that they individually will be eliminated one by one by the West.
Israel persuaded Trump to walk away from the JCPOA because of the fear of Iranās conventional precision-guided missiles, most in underground silos spread across Iranās vast deserts and out of sight and reach of Israel/US bombing. This is the real reason for breaking the JCPOA. This link to Foreign Policy https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/10/15/israel-idf-iran-nuclear-arms-weapons/ includes also a link to a presentation by Uzi Rubin, a missile expert. The existential threat these precision missiles pose to the postage-stamp-sized Israeli state with most of its population and industrial capacity within the Tel Aviv area.
Uzi Rubin, a former head of the Israel Missile Defence Organization and a pre-eminent missile expert, has a chilling presentation he gives on the all-but-existential threat posed by precision-guided munitions to small states. Rubin uses Greece as an example, but itās obvious heās really talking about Israel. By perusing easily available public sources, Rubin suggests there are roughly 30 facilities in all of Greece that allow modern society as we know it to function there ā systems for water, fuel, electricity, sea and air transport, and communications. Generously assuming his tally of critical targets under counts the actual number by a factor of three, Rubin soberly makes the point that with fewer than 300 precision-guided munitions, an adversary could quickly make life unviable for Greeceās 10 million citizens.
If anything, tiny Israel may be even more vulnerable than Greece. Though the two countries are close in population, Israelās land area is not even 20 percent of Greeceās. And while Israeli counter proliferation efforts have severely limited Iranās ability to transfer precision-guided munitions along various routes to Hezbollah, some Israeli officials privately suggest that the terrorist group could already have several hundred in its arsenal. Once it acquires 1,000, it could fire 10 precision strikes at each of Israelās 100 most critical pieces of national infrastructure. Even assuming a 90 percent success rate for Israelās Iron Dome missile defence, the math at that point will favour Hezbollah, putting the possible paralysis of Israeli civil society within its reach. Hezbollah have the precision missiles to destroy Israel, and as Rubin said in another speech all that is necessary to construct a precision missile is a smart phone and some winglets, which Hezbollah have in vast quantities. Those aircraft carriers and support vessels are sitting ducks off the coast of Israel.
The above link does not seem to work, try this… Watch Webinar with Dr. Uzi Rubin on The Evolution of Iranās Precision Guided Missile Threat https://jinsa.org/watch-webinar-with-dr-uzi-rubin-on-the-evolution-of-irans-precision-guided-missile-threat/
Here the police in Germany stomp out the candles at a candle lit vigil, held for the poor oppressed Palestinian people.
Ursula von der Leyen will be proud of them stomping the vigil out.
https://nitter.net/Lowkey0nline/status/1715000305891373391#m
Craig reports he’s had his laptop returned and promptly binned it.
Don’t. Hand it to someone who can do spyware forensics. Researchers at the University of Toronto discovered NSO group’s highly sophisticated Pegasus spyware this way. It may simply be given the all clear. After a base board examination and ram inspection, the only thing to replace would be the ssd and wi-fi card. Throwing it away seems silly.
Good idea
Nothing to lose.
If all clear (likely) he gets his expensive laptop back. Even if spyware has been implanted on it, it’s unlikely to be physical i.e. something soldered, e.g. a small chip. It’d likely be software-based therefore, remedied by either a full zero’ing of the ssd and/or secure format. Or simply cheaply replacing the ssd and installing a clean (hash verified) OS image via a new, cheap, usb stick. Maybe replace the wi-fi card too.
The question as to why they are obsessed with those connected with WikiLeaks. I’d imagine, pure conjecture mind, it’s because they fear Assange’s extradition will trigger the release of information that will pose problems for governments. I’ve no idea whether he has set such a cache, but there have been rumours of explosive revelations? Might be internet nonsense.
“Nothing to lose” – exactly.
If they ever find any scraps of information that could help to prosecute a target, or to blacken his name, so much the better. And if they waste untold hours and money on a wild goose chase, no matter: it’s the taxpayers’ money, not theirs. They get paid regardless of what they do.
I can’t see why anyone would install spyware on the laptop. It is obvious even to the meanest intelligence, that this is a likely happening and all it would take would be for someone to use the laptop only for misinformation purposes and the spooks would be running around on a series of fools’ errands. They really can’t think that Craig would use the laptop again unless it was given the all clear. Perhaps they think he is that stupid or that their intervention would be undetectable.
Some stores give you a great discount when you buy a pack of 6 laptops. Maybe Craig should take advantage of this, and stick labels on each to make sure which one goes to German intelligence, which one to British border control, etc..
At the end of the day, it sounds like a good idea to travel with just a dumb-phone because you always need to let your partner know how late your flight or train will be.
Sunak posing for a picture with Netanyahu in Israel might not be the win he thinks it is. That is, if what I think is about to happen actually materialises over the next few weeks, months… years even?
Why do current politicians possess so little wisdom? Greek philosopher Plato warned how the ‘least able’ among us would end up in power. His other observations seems to anticipate Netanyahu:
‘The people have always some champion whom they set over them and nurse into greatness. . . . This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when he first appears above ground he is a protector. . . . having a mob entirely at his disposal, he is not restrained from shedding the blood of kinsmen; . . . he brings them into court and murders them . . . at the same time hinting at the abolition of debts and partition of lands. . . . After a while he is driven out, but comes back, in spite of his enemies, a tyrant full grown.’
Sunak’s only interested in one vote – Biden’s vote of approval. That’s the best bet of getting The Establishment behind him, and his retaining importance.
“Thatās the best bet of getting The Establishment behind him, and his retaining importance.”
Presently he will pick up his bonus and depart for foreign climes.
The great H. L. Mencken (born German, naturalised American) substantially agreed.
“The larger the mob, the harder the test. In small areas, before small electorates, a first-rate man occasionally fights his way through, carrying even the mob with him by force of his personality. But when the field is nationwide, and the fight must be waged chiefly at second and third hand, and the force of personality cannot so readily make itself felt, then all the odds are on the man who is, intrinsically, the most devious and mediocre ā the man who can most adeptly disperse the notion that his mind is a virtual vacuum.
The Presidency tends, year by year, to go to such men. As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron”.
– H. L. Mencken (Baltimore Evening Sun, July 26, 1920)
Mencken was of German ancestry, but he was born (and lived and died) in Baltimore, Maryland.
Wonderful quote from Mencken.
He was probably the originator of the observation attributed to Jeremy Paxman: āwhen I listen to a politician, I always ask myself: why is this lying bastard lying to me.ā
Paxo, I think, got it from Bernard Levin in The Times, quotiing his colleague Louis Heren, who attributed it to Mencken.
The MSM doesnāt do journalists like that any more.
āOn some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heartās desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moronā.- Mencken,1920
=======
āDonald Trump ā¦a fucking moronā- Trumpās former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, 1917
In my opinion all the ducks are lined up, the āarc of resistanceā is fully prepared, Israel is led by that right wing bigot Netanyahu, the US is led by a senile fool, the world wide Muslim community one and a half billion are seething about the apartheid state, the surrounding countries also about to rise up and at least two million Iranians have signed up to fight Israel. Hezbollah must stop the Genocide.
Lebanon would be completely and unjustly flattened by the US, UK and Israel. Their hands are tied. Lebanon has huge financial problems already.
The real villains are the hedonistic Arab playboy princes, too busy having orgies behind their high white walls, as Gaza burns.
I disagree Goose, It is Hezbollah and the other members of the ‘arc of resistance who will take the decision to act,the Lebanese government like in 2006 cannot stop Hezbollah, yes Lebanon will suffer as when US Battleships were shelling Lebanon years ago. but things have changed, the balance of power has changed [please read my earlier comment on Hezbollah Precision missiles]
Hezbollah has 100,000 battle hardened men who will not shirk a battle, unlike many in the Lebanese government, Hezbollah has huge self respect and are a formidable fighting force.
I agree with Goose, the resistance must be bigger than Hezbollah, it should be multiple arab states – such movement would actually scare off the west.
Past week Israel have already killed 17 Hezbollah members. One should not overstate their power.
Jack
“During 1973 Arab-Israeli War, Arab members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) imposed an embargo against the United States in retaliation for the U.S. decision to re-supply the Israeli military and to gain leverage in the post-war peace negotiations.”
Even little Qatar is immensely powerful today due to increasing European dependence on LNG, which is a result of sanctions being imposed on Russia.
Will they use their leverage to save Gaza? Will they fcuk.
From a strictly military perspective. The only way Israel could ever be defeated is by a well-armed lightning mass invasion with air power; getting among the Israeli population therefore neutralising any technological or military hardware firepower advantage they have. Any army amassing for invasion would be attacked however, unless backed by a independent nuclear deterrent.
As for the coming incursion..
I think you’ll see Hamas using smoke screens to mask movements plus trying to cause’ blue-on-blue’ incidents; IEDs and other insurgency honed skills. The fact that if none of the hostages emerge alive, it will be seen as a disaster for Netanyahu and Biden, is probably what’s delaying action, as they try to ascertain locations through Hamas comms chatter.
I doubt if Israel can be defeated on the open field of battle. It’ll be more likely a collapse of morale – no one wants to die defending the country. They’d prefer to look out their second passports and hoof it. The Russians and Ukrainians in Israel have no commitment, nor many of the other westerners. It’s not like the old days.
Harry, Hezbollah may represent a potent ground force, capable of resisting an Israeli incursion. But Israel prefers dropping US supplied bombs from 20,000 ft to boots on the ground.
There are already skirmishes : Hezbollah destroys important Israeli equipment along Lebanese-Palestinian border https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PN_oTXuY9Mg
This news site on youtube https://www.youtube.com/@MILITARYTUBETODAY/videos (run by a US citizen afaik?) claim Israel lost a a military transport helicopter carrying lots of men. According to the report it went unreported due to the potential for use in enemy propaganda?
You don’t fight your enemy using their rules.
āLet your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.ā ā Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Sixteen Palestinian journalists have been killed in the war in Gaza since Israel began bombing. So much for utmost care?
And have you seen the hospital bombing footage + audio. The scream of the jet engine then the explosion is clearly audible, it’s virtually a 1:1 match with the JDAM military test footage. The sad thing is, if the US DoD and UK MoD knew full well Israel were responsible, they’d remain silent rather than spoil the political/media narrative. Are we the baddies? the meme goes.
Only an opinion but the footage of the ‘missile’ shows something blown up in the sky.
The trajectory (face on) looked to be going left but, whatever it was (?), it landed to the right on/in the hospital car park.
There is a crater but it is very shallow.
Whatever it is – I suspect that it not a normal missile. Looking at the limited damage of the surrounding buildings (leaves were blown off the trees, and possibly branches were broken) I would put forward the opinion that this was Thermobaric missile or a Fuel bomb.
There are vehicles whose roofs are caved in which is interesting. To myself this suggests (not proven) that the explosion occurred approx. 20 feet above the ground.
That is not a usual missile. Even from Israel.
The MSM’s Moral Compass is spinning like mad as they and the politicians are utterly out of their depth. Even Jeremy Bowen (who has been about a bit) is very cautious as to what he says.
Meanwhile, Clive Myrie is doing a Kiev rooftop-reporting technique in the safe-ish harbour of Jerusalem. The BBC lad who used to do the same is hanging around in Israel somewhere. Lyse Doucet is in the Northern danger zone. And an Arab lad is the only BBC reporter who appears to be in the real Danger Zone in Northern Gaza in a hospital.
Meanwhile the worthless (except to the US) is wandering around re-assuring the Israeli ultraāright-wing Messianic government that ‘We’ are on their side.
There are 7.5 billion people on the planet and they are watching all of this very carefully.
The BRICS countries will attract many more adherents to their project because of the actions of the West.
The US knows this and we are in the era of proxy wars. Even Israel is being used in this US project to obstruct the Belt and Road Initiative. As is Ukraine et al.
In essence, the only way for the US to prevent this is to provoke or become involved as a Nation directly in the war against the BRIC countries.
The countries involved all have nukes. That is the final qualification.
The question is: In order to survive as a Nation, how far are willing to go to defend It?
According to the House of Commons Library there are only 400 British Troops in the Middle East [2020]. Many more US troops of course plus the two sitting duck aircraft carriers. They would not last long when a barrage of Hezbollah ballistic and cruise missiles hit them, in the 2005 war Hezbollah smashed the Israeli army and destroyed many merkava tanks. Donāt get me wrong Lebanon would take serious hits but Lebanon [Beirut] has been destroyed before Thank goodness the power to act is in the hands of the arc of resistance and not in the hands of the GCC puppets. Failure to act means Gaza will be wiped out.
Hardly sitting ducks, but they could be overwhelmed in theory, or unable to cope with ever evolving Chinese missile capability like the DF-21D.
In the US’s own Taiwan war simulations, some of the worst case scenarios saw the US losing anything up to four carriers. hundreds of carrierborne aircraft and tens of thousands of sailors.
Cont- Of course I’m no military expert, nor do I claim to be. Buit I once read some info somewhere(?) on how many independent incoming projectiles these naval fleets can track and target simultaneously, and it was a surprisingly high number. As it well should be I suppose with all the money spent on defence research and weapons projects..
Goose, it doesn’t do to believe the marketing literature. The Aegis system was supposed to have such powers, yet it shot down a civilian airliner thinking it was an F-14. The Patriot system was supposed to be state-of-the-art, but Houthi drones and missiles successfully got past it. The one much touted Patriot system in Kiev fired off all its missiles, at a cost of millions, before the single Russian Kinzhal aimed at it got through and smashed it. American products are touted to the heavens, yet they often don’t really work at all.
Anyway there is no defence against Russian or Chinese hypersonic missiles such as the Kinzhal, which give the defences no time at all. The Iranians may well have such weapons too, but are wisely keeping their cards close to their chests.
āWe only have to be lucky once, you have to be lucky every time.ā IRA
Ironic really: the USA’s own “Midway” moment.
A gigantic majority supports a ceasefire and opposes the policy of the UK Government and official opposition. A tiny minority supports the political class.
https://yougov.co.uk/topics/travel/survey-results/daily/2023/10/19/e363e/1
UNSC rejected a Brazilian resolution calling for a cease fire. it does not seem to matter what the majority public want,. Biden and the “West” back Israel to the hilt. The US used its veto. That policy will backfire on Israel, we shall see.
Doubly stupid when we never really defeated the IRA.
Imagine the outrage, including US outrage, if the UK had stated its intent to kill every member of Sinn FĆ©in after an IRA atrocity. This is what Sunak and Biden are supporting in backing Netanyahu. Was Sunak even living in the UK during the IRA’s active years?
You can’t defeat an idea. Every Hamas father you kill will have a son who grows up to hate you more! And Palestinians in their millions, are displaced to every country in the Mid East.
That wouldn’t be the half of it… can you imagine world opinion if – in response to an IRA outrage – we decided to carpet-bomb Dublin? Shrink down Ireland a bit, and round out the borders to Northern Ireland each time, maybe reduce Ireland to the Atlantic Bank and the Cork strip? Perhaps “put them on a diet”, drop some white phosphorus.
Can you just imagine it?
āWe back your right to go after Hamas ā we want you to winā Sunak tells Israel – Independent
Tacitus (AD 56 ā c. 120) : āThey make a desert and call it peace.ā
A bit like the Anglo Scottish Commonwealth did in 1652, White phosphorous was thankfully unavailable but the did their best with rope and iron. This was revenge for the 1641 rising, itself an outcome of the Plantation of 1604.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Act_for_the_Settlement_of_Ireland_1652
The parallels between contemporary Palestine and early modern Ireland are uncomfortably similar, with aggressive repression eventually met with organised brutality and then even greater counter-savagery. The legacy of which remains with us over 400 years later.
“That wouldnāt be the half of itā¦ can you imagine world opinion if ā in response to an IRA outrage ā we decided to carpet-bomb Dublin?”
Or even just the Catholic areas of Belfast and Londonderry, together with a process of chucking Catholics off their land in more rural areas. “There are no civilians….”
An Al Jazeera digital investigation found no grounds for the Israeli army’s claim that the strike on the al-Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza was caused by a failed rocket launch.
Video and commentary at the link below.
https://twitter.com/AJEnglish/status/1714984258358391057
Just watched this too, very good summary, especially that they point out that the big blast on the hospital was totally unrelated to any down-falling-rocket from Gaza. Of course the jet-sounding video of the strike is not some weak rocket, but a powerful missile.
Israel really threw every lie out there hoping any of them would stick.
It is telling too that west do not push for an investigation. They fear who would be blamed.
In other news, some people who won’t accept the lies: thousands of Muslims now protesting against Keir.
Thousands of British Muslims signed an open letter telling Keir Starmer they had lost confidence in his leadership after he backed Israel cutting off food, water & power to Palestinians in Gaza, in breach of international law.ā 1/2
https://nitter.net/andrewfeinstein/status/1714936379325489238#m
This footage : https://twitter.com/OopsGuess/status/1714395831791677873
Is very convincing as far as it being a JDAM goes. Watch with audio on listen.
All the responsibility is on the Israelis to come clean. They are shown to be shameless liars, to fabricate a recording of Hamas operatives supposedly speaking after the hospital bombing.
Are we to imagine, that these Israelis with a history of lies and missile attacks against hospitals in the area in the preceding days, acted completely out of character due to sudden moral panic? That was what motivated them to fake a story on the most shocking incident of the conflict so far?
But the Israelis have impeccable form using propaganda to manipulate – they have already been caught lying that Hamas deliberately beheaded 40 babies just the week before.
I invite listeners, using their ability to understand tone and cadence of speech only, to review the analysis from Channel4 news… the voices are flat, lacking any emotion that you might imagine from people who are responsible for bombing their own hospital. It sounds like two people reading from a script.
Channel4 news provided more detailed analysis from voice experts, comments on accent problems, and Hebrew inflections: does it get any more damning than that?
I would respect any Israel commentator who came on the forum to ‘debate’, if they admitted that their loyalty was pure tribal obedience – the end justifies the means. I would understand: I am not Israeli, I am not Jewish, I can only imagine the stories that your parents and grandparents have shared with you.
But why would a non-Zionist Jew want to defend the indefensible? There must be a line of basic humanity that should not be crossed.
But to knowingly participate in a culture of shameless lying, the longing to disappear an imprisoned population by any means necessary, reveals an absence of humanity and the inability to learn from history.
Turkish media: US Navy sends third naval group to Eastern Mediterranean
The US Navy is sending its third group of ships to the Eastern Mediterranean. Washington informed Ankara about this. The American side claims that the armada being pulled towards the Middle East is not intended to carry out combat missions, but may be needed to evacuate civilians from the conflict zone. LIARS.
Tis reminds me of the article many years ago from the war nerd. http://exiledonline.com/the-war-nerd-this-is-how-the-carriers-will-die/all/1/ So true Well worth read Excerpt……..
āThe Chinese military has developed a ballistic missile, Dong Feng 21, specifically designed to kill US aircraft carriers: āBecause the missile employs a complex guidance system, low radar signature and a manoeuvrability that makes its flight path unpredictable, the odds that it can evade tracking systems to reach its target are increased. It is estimated that the missile can travel at mach 10 and reach its maximum range of 2000km in less than 12 minutes.ā Thatās the US Naval Institute talking, remember. Theyāre understating the case when they say that, with speed, satellite guidance and manoeuvrability like that, āthe odds that it can evade tracking systems to reach its target are increased.ā
Remember that one sentence, get it branded onto your arm: āShips currently have no defense against a ballistic missile attack.ā What does that tell you about the distinguished gentlemen with all the ribbons on their chest whoāve been standing up on carrier bridges looking like they know what theyāre doing for the past 50 years? Theyāre either stupid or so sleazy theyāre willing to make a career commanding ships they know, goddamn well know, are floating coffins for thousands of ranks and dozens of the most expensive goldplated airplanes in the history of the world. You call that patriotic? Iād hang them all.
Thatās why itās so sickening to read shit like the following:
āThe purpose of the Navy,ā Vice Admiral John Bird, commander of the Seventh Fleet, tells me, āis not to fight.ā The mere presence of the Navy should suffice, he argues, to dissuade any attack or attempt to destabilize the region. From Yokosuka, Guam, and Honolulu, the Navy is sending its ships on missions to locales as far away as Madagascar. On board the Blue Ridge, the vice admiralās command ship anchored at Yokosuka, huge display screens allow officers to track the movements of any countryās military vessels cruising from the international date line in the east to the African coast in the westāthe range of the Seventh Fleetās zone of influence.
Thatās the kind of story people are still writing. Itās so stupid, that first line, I wonāt even bother with it: āThe purpose of the Navy is not to fight.ā No kidding. The Seventh Fleet covers the area included in that 2000 km range for the new Chinese anti-ship weapons, so I guess itās a good thing theyāre not there to fightā.
I remember reading an article by the commander of a US submarine some 30 or 40 years ago in Proceedings of the US Naval Institute in which he said that submarines call surface ships “targets”.
Harry, this extract from 1984 agrees with your comment about the pointlessness of spending billions on a navy: “A floating fortress for example”.
The war machine sucks all surplus wealth from the common fund (taxpayers) that could be otherwise spent on infrastructure or social projects to raise the standard of life for common people, to the benefit of a transnational elite.
Many thinkers have made the same comment over the years, including Julian Assange in this famous video:
https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/1427929346262642688
I’m always reminded sadly how calm and eloquent Julian is in this video, despite the noise going on around him. We need more voices like him right now.
“The essential act of war is destruction, not necessarily of human lives, but of the products of human labour. War is a way of shattering to pieces, or pouring into the stratosphere, or sinking in the depths of the sea, materials which might otherwise be used to make the masses too comfortable, and hence, in the long run, too intelligent. Even when weapons of war are not actually destroyed, their manufacture is still a convenient way of expending labour power without producing anything that can be consumed. A Floating Fortress, for example, has locked up in it the labour that would build several hundred cargo-ships. Ultimately it is scrapped as obsolete, never having brought any material benefit to anybody, and with further enormous labours another Floating Fortress is built. In principle the war effort is always so planned as to eat up any surplus that might exist after meeting the bare needs of the population. In practice the needs of the population are always underestimated, with the result that there is a chronic shortage of half the necessities of life; but this is looked on as an advantage. It is deliberate policy to keep even the favoured groups somewhere near the brink of hardship, because a general state of scarcity increases the importance of small privileges and thus magnifies the distinction between one group and another.”
The text is online at https://www.george-orwell.org/1984/16.html
Tilda Swinton among 2000+ artists calling for Gaza ceasefire
October 17, 2023
They accuse governments of āaiding and abettingā Israelās āwar crimesā in Gaza
Palestinians face ācollective punishment on an unimaginable scaleā
Governments should āend their military and political support for Israelās actionsā
https://artistsforpalestine.org.uk/2023/10/17/tilda-swinton-among-2000-artists-calling-for-gaza-ceasefire/
And the response:
‘Luvvies under fire for failing to condemn Hamas’ brutal terror attacks in open letter signed by 2,000 people including Tilda Swinton, Steve Coogan and Maxine Peake’
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12647297/Luvvies-fire-failing-condemn-Hamas-brutal-terror-attacks-open-letter-signed-2-000-people-including-Tilda-Swinton-Steve-Coogan-Maxine-Peake.html
And the Sun:
‘LEO McKINSTRY The open letter by luvvies against Israel reveal theyāve been indoctrinated by left-wing propaganda about colonialism’
WITH their closed minds and sheep-like instincts, left-wing posers are nothing if not predictable.
As soon as the terror group Hamas began its murderous assault on Israel almost a fortnight ago, it was grimly Ācertain that the rent-a-mob radicals would soon be demonstrating in our Ācities, full of condemnation for the Jewish state and support for its enemies.
And the Telegraph and the Times and GB News………
Perfectly natural reaction to the scenes of hellish civilian suffering caused by Israel. A country that markets itself as a modern, liberal first world country, but acts more like a criminal psychopath.
The counter extremist Czar seems to think that showing empathy for poor bombarded Palestinians is strange, and probably a sign of extremism or foreign ‘shadowy networks’ activity. More worried about his psychology tbh, if he sees those protesting genocide as extremists.
” A country that markets itself as a modern, liberal first world country, but acts more like a criminal psychopath.”
Perhaps all such countries are criminal psychopaths.
Nick Cohen…..
‘Left antisemitism will always be sent packing by voters’
Itās understandable but wrong to conclude from the appalling scenes on our streets that no one cares about dead Jews ā voters showed in 2019 just what they thought of Corbyn et al
I understand the fears of JC readers, whose childrenās schools have closed and whose synagogues are under guard. I share their contempt for supposed liberals who avert their eyes from the demonstrable fact that Hamas is an Islamo-fascist movement.
Thus primed, I almost found myself nodding along with my JC colleague Hadley Freeman, when she wrote in the Sunday Times that the reason why āno one in this country seems to think it strange that Jewish schools and synagogues require extra security to keep them safeā is because the public believes that āJews deserve itā.
Then I shook myself and realised that isnāt true. The Labour Party has just given us a practical demonstration of how racism against Jews or anyone else does not work as a political strategy in the UK.
I donāt believe that even now the radical left understands that the failure to confront antisemitism in its ranks was a disaster for the movement. It destroyed its chance of power under Jeremy Corbyn and gave the leftās enemies a gift that kept on giving……
https://www.thejc.com/lets-talk/all/left-antisemitism-will-always-be-sent-packing-by-voters-5PcgXuMHuWZLvNRvGR2ojn
Any opportunity to recycle the lies and smears!
And Tanya Gold (also in the JC) is of course dissembling her usual poison:
‘I never saw antisemitism in my youth. Now retro Jew-hate is all the rage’
āFor they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind,ā said the Corbynite Jewish Voice for Labour when news of the massacre arrived. (Hosea 8:7). I think they live in the home counties. āShabbat Shalom and may every coloniser fall everywhere,ā said Barnaby Raine, a Jewish anti-capitalist. I think he lives in New York City.
Itās a comfort, in a way, as listening to their self-deception is almost as irritating as listening to their hate. Almost. Thereās an honesty to hate. It has form. āHarvard student leaves lecture on micro-aggressions to attend ākill the Jewsā rally,ā a parody headline online read. Yes, that is it. Retro, I think, when Iām not sobbing with fury. Letās party like it’s 1290.
…….. Then I rolled into the Corbynites and their search for the devil. It was 2016 at the World Transformed, a Leftist conference. I was at an event called: āDoes the Labour Party Have a Problem with Jews?ā The name reminded me of that tabloid headline staple: Stupid Questions to Which the Answer is āNoā. (āWas Cleopatra an Alien?ā) But the answer was yes.
One speaker said: āAntisemitism is no more special than other forms of racismā. They cheered that. Oh – Jews and their elitist Shoah! I approached an organiser later. Hello, I said, you have a problem. I can help. Want to meet some Jews who like themselves? Educators, rabbis, grouters? Thanks, he said and took my number. He never called, but you know that.
I like to analyse Corbynites because they will not analyse themselves. Call it my service in this time of need. I can do no other.
Yep, hate-mongering and deception and deceiving people en masse come naturally to the likes of Cohen and Gold. They support and sustain the status quo that gives us the totally insane fcuked-up world we live in, and demonise and smear the likes of Jeremy Corbyn and JVL, people who would create a world free of war and conflict and inhumanity and inequality.
AND they all get paid handsomely for sustaining it with their lies and falsehoods and deception!
Eternal victimhood prevents these people seeing the world objectively in my opinion.
And no, Corbyn didn’t lose because of antisemitism.
According to census data there’s only ~250,000 Jewish people in the UK and of those, who are adults, and eligible to vote 80%+ voted Tory in a GE, when Labour were led by Ed Miliband in 2015, a Jewish leader. The false accusations, fanned by the press lies and exaggerations, obviously didn’t help. Brexit was the deciding factor though, people were told by Johnson and the RW press there was a glorious prize awaiting, the public believed it. Supporting this view is the fact that the Lib Dems, who had no antisemitism scandal got smashed at the polls in 2019 as well.
“And no, Corbyn didnāt lose because of antisemitism.”
That’s like primitive people believing that the sun rose every morning because their witchdoctor made the right incantations every night. Corbyn lost because of Tory loyalty: Tory Remainers voted Tory, not Remain and Labour Leavers voted Leave, not Labour.
Just came across the following article re-posted on JVL:
JVL Introduction
Israel is at war and ā(a)ny expression of solidarity with the Palestinian civilian victims, opposing the war on Gaza, or calling it a war crime is being perceived as support for terror or a terrorist organization,ā. Consequently, some Palestinian and some Jewish Israelis are losing their jobs, being arrested and detained.
Outside Israel, job offers are being revoked at Harvard, and Colombia for supporting Palestinians, students have been temporarily suspended from Londonās School of Oriental and African Studies, University College Londonās Marxist society has been suspended and, of course, elision with antisemitism is being made again.
Israelās police boss even threatens to send anti-war protesters to Gaza āon busesā and while this is not Israeli policy it may chime with the dangerous mood in Israel.
This article was originally published by +972 on Tue 17 Oct 2023.
āThis is political persecutionā: Israel cracks down on internal critics of its Gaza war”
Palestinians, as well as some left-wing Jews, are being suspended from studies, fired from jobs, or arrested at night ā all because of social media posts.
by Ghousoon Bisharat, Oren Ziv and Baker Zoubi, +972
https://www.jewishvoiceforlabour.org.uk/article/free-speech-clampdown-in-israel/
Since T.E. Lawrence was mentioned here some time ago:
Naked Capitalism has a new piece on the Palestine question, Balfour etc.
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2023/10/the-british-roots-of-the-conflict-in-palestine.html
See also comments there with some links and ideas.
p.s. what I find odd is that there was once serious engagement into a binational “normal” state” for all ethnic groups in Israel. Which could have just as well been called any other name for what its content was worth. And avoid all the madness and bloodshed. And that those progressive elements in the societies then involved in those early pre/post 1948 discussions have been erased from history.
Nobody knows this today unless they are 100 years old or are reading stuff that thats old.
Instead the age of “liberalism” the suggestion of a non-Jewish state for Jews and a non-Arab state fo Arabs is more abstract than a voyage to Mars.
But then, sure, suggesting that Ukraine just should not take up arms and not fight and instead simply agree on an agreement on February 25th was by some even on these pages regarded as otherworldly. So fight you do. And instead now we have 300,000, 400,000 500,000 dead? And for what???
“Top State Dept. Official Resigns Over āImmensely Disappointingā Israel Policy –
Thereās no space for substantive dissent within the system on this one,ā the former U.S. official said.”
By Sharon Zhang
October 19, 2023
https://truthout.org/articles/top-state-dept-official-resigns-over-immensely-disappointing-israel-policy/
“A senior State Department official resigned on Wednesday, expressing strong opposition to the Biden administrationās unwavering support of and arms transfers to Israel as it rains bombs down on Gaza.”
“Josh Paul, who formerly served as director of congressional and public affairs for the agencyās Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, posted a letter on LinkedIn explaining that he believes the U.S. response to Israelās siege is based on āintellectual bankruptcy”
“āWhen I came to this Bureau ā¦ I made myself a promise that I would stay for as long as I felt the harm I might do could be outweighed by the good I could do,ā Paul wrote. āI am leaving today because I believe that in our current course with regards to the continued ā indeed, expanded and expedited ā provision of lethal arms to Israel ā I have reached the end of that bargain.ā
“He said that his decision to resign came not from a single point, but from watching the U.S.ās response unfold in the days since the Hamas attack.
“And he added that many State Department colleagues have expressed support for his decision: āWhat Iāve heard is, āThank you,ā āWeāre with you,ā all that sort of thing.ā
that’s from the belly of the beast. even the most pitiless warmongering demons are disgusted by Biden’s degeneracy.
and more from the belly:
“Exclusive: āMutiny Brewingā Inside State Department Over Israel-Palestine Policy
Morale is low, and some staffers are preparing to formally express their opposition to President Joe Biden’s approach, officials told HuffPost.”
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/state-department-gaza_n_6531a23ae4b0da897ab75ce4?b7p
“Officials told HuffPost that Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his most senior advisers are overlooking widespread internal frustration. Some department staff said they feel as if Blinken and his team are uninterested in their own expertsā advice as they focus on supporting Israelās expanding operation in Gaza, where the Palestinian militant group Hamas is based.”
“Two officials told HuffPost that diplomats are preparing whatās called a ādissent cable,ā a document criticizing American policy that goes to the agencyās leaders through a protected internal channel.”
p.s. of course there was major dissent before Iraq too, but the situation is different and so are the times
Just came across the following in the Sun, which I’ve not heard before (Leo McKinstry links to it in the Sun article I posted earlier re the ‘Luvvies’ open letter):
HAMAS terrorists sliced open an Israeli woman’s womb and stabbed her unborn baby in the latest atrocity to be uncovered, Israel says.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/24382664/hamas-baby-children-bodies-burned/
Just did a search and it was reported quite widely by MSM. But I just found this CNN article headlined ‘Israeli official says government cannot confirm babies were beheaded in Hamas attack’, which finishes thus:
Hamas on Wednesday denied the allegations. Izzat al-Risheq, a senior official and spokesperson for the Islamist militant group, said that the international media had āspread lies about our Palestinian people and the resistance claiming that members of the Palestinian resistance beheaded children and attacked women with no evidence to support such claims and lies.ā
CNN has pored through hundreds of hours of media posted online attempting to corroborate accounts of atrocities committed by Hamas. In one video, which CNN determined to be authentic but has not been able to geolocate, an assailant attacks an injured man with a garden tool in an attempt to behead him. But CNN has not seen anything that would appear to confirm the claims of decapitated children.
CNN also visited the ransacked ruins of Kfar Aza on Tuesday and saw no evidence of beheaded youths. Israeli officials have not released any photographs of the incident either.
NB Just to be clear, I have of course heard the one about babies being beheaded.
And also this, posted yesterday, which is pretty comprehensive:
Dynamite: 800 scholars warn of potential genocide in Gaza
https://www.redressonline.com/2023/10/dynamite-800-scholars-warn-of-potential-genocide-in-gaza/
Appreciated. It’s important. A couple of PhDs, a couple of Profs on the list: suddenly people will take you seriously.
It’s so sad. But if it works, let’s take it and spread it.
All the more so because PhDs and professors have a lot to lose by speaking out. Their careers are subject to choke points controlled by exceptionally wicked and cynical maintainers of the status quo.
“… urgent budget request to fund wars in Israel and Ukraine. Itās a smart investment thatās gonna pay dividends for Americansā
paraphrased from yesterday’s Biden speech
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/10/19/politics/biden-oval-office-speech-israel-ukraine/index.html
So, friends, calls for peace do not stand a chance.
We are to kill each other so that the Americans can have their dividends.
But don’t let them put you into despair….
thx to the media which we justifiably hate, so much resistance all over the world is now visible.
It’s far more difficult to convey to people that there is no hope.
True, the situation in Europe is shittier than it used to be.
But what is Europe?! We have been murdering people for 500 years already. So fuck us. (Actually much longer, but let’s stick to the era of European colonialism.)
Here 3 links from Democracy Now with quick short-statement interviews. But they are good to prove that there is massive organizing and communication going on:
“Ceasefire Now! Rashida Tlaib, Naomi Klein Join Thousands in Jewish-Led D.C. Protest Against Gaza War”
https://www.democracynow.org/2023/10/19/rashida_tlaib_naomi_klein_dc_rally
“Annexation, Ethnic Cleansing & Genocide: Mustafa Barghouti Decries Israelās Deadly Campaign in Gaza”
https://www.democracynow.org/2023/10/19/mustafa_barghouti_gaza_war
“Israeli Journalist Amira Hass: How Can the World Stand By and Witness Israelās Slaughter in Gaza?”
https://www.democracynow.org/2023/10/19/amira_hass_on_gaza_humanitarian_crisis
As Clare Daly said: Her hopes are less on Europe but the Third World aka Global South. Which is not a problem. After all that’s 3/4 of the world population.
“We are to kill each other so that the Americans can have their dividends”.
True. But let’s remember that it’s only a fairly small number of Americans – and others. It’s not Americans in general that are the enemy: it’s the cruel and cynical rich.
Indeed, at the moment at least three-quarters of Americans are suffering lower living standards, and many of them are living hand to mouth with no savings – despite, in many cases, working two or three jobs.
During the night Israel bombed an ancient church holding refugees: is there no end this barbarity? Where are the reaction??
The goal by Israel is clear: bomb every place of refugee so palestinans have nowhere to go but to Egypt.
āWar crimeā: Israel bombs Gaza church sheltering displaced people
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/20/war-crime-israel-bombs-gaza-church-sheltering-displaced-people
Just days before muslims, christinas refugees had taken shelter there, Al Jazeera wrote an article on that:
āWar knows no religionā: Gazaās oldest church shelters Muslims, Christians
The Church of Saint Porphyrius has become a sanctuary for those displaced by Israeli bombing, across all faiths.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/16/war-knows-no-religion-gazas-oldest-church-shelters-muslims-christians
You wonder why Hamas and Hezbollah didn’t act in concert, either stage a pincer movement against Israel or one carry out a feint to draw attention away from the other. Aside from this kind of incursion not being in Hezbollah’s playbook, they are Shia and Hamas are Sunni. Despite both being backed by Shia Iran, there’s traditionally not much love lost between the two.
https://www.cfr.org/timeline/modern-sunni-shia-tensions
As for Hezbollah’s 130,000 rockets, the overwhelming majority are man-portable devices of short range, carrying a small warhead and no guidance system. Whilst potentially being a major nuisance to urban areas or troop concentrations if fired in large numbers, the idea of them being a major threat to Tel Aviv or a US carrier group operating out of sight of land is nothing but wishful thinking.
What did Hamas hope to achieve by this attack? We’re told it lost 1,500 men, probably its best; Israel’s response will murder 20 times as many people as Hamas murdered, after which they’ll rebuild the boundary with even stronger defences. Both sides will hate each other even more, and a peaceful solution will be even further away.
Quite right Pears, it makes no sense at all.
Keep looking for other explanations the MSM orchestrated narrative aināt telling us.
Itās all very fishy isnāt it?
That the Hamas attack occurred under Netanyahu, reveals the particular cruelty, hubris and incompetence, that sets him apart from previous Israeli leaders. As you accept in your comments, it was clearly a major security oversight and Netanyahu will be held accountable. I would go further and say that since it is in Netanyahu’s interest to delay that day of judgement for as long as possible, he is following a military response that extends the conflict for as long as he can. That is against Israel’s national and security interests.
And to your point about Hezbollah, if Israel is permitted to kill or injure say 100,000 civilians, is there a moral equivalence that also legitimises Hezbollah attacking Tel Aviv in response (if they can)? Using the simple metric of rage and the right to retribution, both seem reasonable. Hopefully we can agree that is an arithmetic of moral degeneration.
And the simple point I want to make is that the current Israeli response is bad for the future security of Israel, it destabilises the region , and will have consequences for global security when this rage is later expressed as acts of terrorism in the west. So Israel should de-escalate and call a ceasefire. But Israel is unable to do so, in particular, because of the cowardice of Netanyahu to accept responsibility for his own bad decisions that have enabled Hamas to succeed with their previous attack.
Yes, you are right the Israeli opposition is driven by its own self-interest, incoherent as a block, and Israel has been able to play factions against each other (Wikileaks cables and other sources describe how Netanyahu was able to play Fatah against Hamas).
So why create a charged political situation where there is now a strong possibility of bringing unity to those groups, and in the wider Arab communities? And no, Hamas was not capable of doing this by itself, it also needed Netanyahu to respond the way he is doing now. The United Nations ONHRC says it better than I can:
āThe complete siege of Gaza coupled with unfeasible evacuation orders and forcible population transfers, is a violation of international humanitarian and criminal law. It is also unspeakably cruelā
https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2023/10/gaza-un-experts-decry-bombing-hospitals-and-schools-crimes-against-humanity
Yes Pears. “Resistance is futile, Exterminate, Exterminate.”
Unfortunately Israelis, unlike Daleks, are able to climb stairs.
“What did Hamas hope to achieve by this attack? Weāre told it lost 1,500 men, probably its best; Israelās response will murder 20 times as many people as Hamas murdered, after which theyāll rebuild the boundary with even stronger defences. Both sides will hate each other even more, and a peaceful solution will be even further away.”
Well quite. Funny that the Israeli government would withdraw so many soldiers from the border just after an attack had been made by extremists on the Al-Aqsa mosque and they had been warned by Egypt that something big was brewing, when the most probable outcome is just as you say, beneficial to Israel. It seems far more likely that Hamas have been played than that Israeli intelligence were caught napping.
Instagram apologises for a āglitchā that labelled some Palestinian accounts as terrorists.
Sure they do.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/oct/20/instagram-palestinian-user-profile-bios-terrorist-added-translation-meta-apology
The resistance forces should focus on sabotage attacks (in the ukraine war this has proved quite effective), you have multiple US/UK warships outside of Israel aiding Israel with arms, they are sitting ducks thus drones could be used etc there are many lawful acts pro-palestinian forces (Iran, Syria, Hezbollah and other arab indiivuals/groups) could commit.
New Hezbollah footage purports to show 2006 strike on Israeli Navy ship
https://www.timesofisrael.com/new-hezbollah-footage-purports-to-show-2006-strike-on-israeli-navy-ship/
Another similar attack was by Al Qaeda against a US warship
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Cole_bombing
To mere sending rockets over to the israeli side is not going to solve anything, the resistance-forces needs to be precise and attack where it actually matters now.
Another piece from former CIA analyst Larry Johnson on the catastrophe at the hospital. He remains open on what caused the explosion.
But like him, I remain baffled as to why no forensic samples have been examined to determine whose weapon it was.
We cannot allow disinformation to cloud our judgement. Confirmation bias that tells us what happened has no place here…_
https://sonar21.com/more-evidence-and-more-confusion-surrounding-blast-outside-of-al-ahli-hospital-as-israels-pr-campaign-falters/
The people of Gaza have rather more pressing needs than conducting forensic analysis. Their only hospital has been destroyed – how many scientific labs do you think they have? Getting food and water come rather higher up the list of priorities. The Israelis would not be a reliable source, since they probably perpetrated the atrocity. And no one else can get into Gaza, because the Israelis and Americans won’t let them.
Just check the video Goose posted above, the disinformation efforts to pin the blame on palestinians fall flat once again:
Video comparing the sound of a JDAM explosion with the strike on the hospital, Israel have been provided this missile by the US: https://twitter.com/OopsGuess/status/1714395831791677873
To my mind nothing more complicated is necessary than to recall that the Israeli government threatened to attack the hospital, then warned that it was going to do so.
Just as Mr Biden threatened to blow up Nord Stream, and then promised to do so in the full glare of publicity.
It’s funny that when people have got accustomed to someone lying whenever he speaks, he can tell the truth and get away with it.
JDAM is not a missile. It has no propulsion. It’s a ‘bolt on’ kit which turns a dumb bomb into a guided glider bomb.
Long-Range JDAM-ER Bombs (YouTube, 6m 5s)
One missile sounds much like another as do explosions but the smallest bomb that can carry a JDAM kit is 500lb. This is the size of crater a 500lb bomb makes: image
Even if it had been an air burst it would have devastated all the surrounding buildings.
This is the actual bomb site. The impact crater can be seen just above the overturned car: image
Again – what’s the big deal here? Bombing hospitals is Standard Operating Procedure for the Israelis. I don’t understand why you’re even denying it. It’s a big nothing-burger to the likes of the IDF!
Presumably the 1400 year old Church of St Porphyrios was hit by another errant Hamas missile. I mean the Israelis would never have bombed when they knew it was full of refugees. Mind you, Israeli intelligence is damn good, they are warning people to leave the Al-Quds hospital, presumably because they know another mis-aimed Palestinian missile is on its way.
Those who wish to put forward the possibility that the massacre at the hospital was caused by an errant Palestinian missile would help there case enormously if they could point to previous examples of similar missiles going astray and causing hundreds of deaths. After all, the Palestinians have been firing rockets at Israel for decades now, so it shouldn’t be too hard to find some previous disasters.
US special forces troops are helping the Zionist murderers in their quest to eliminate Palestinians.
https://nitter.net/Lowkey0nline/status/1715278626717917584#m
“Confirmation that the US military is a direct participant in Israel’s war on Gaza.
This was deleted by the White House an hour after being posted.
Those pictured are believed to be from the secretive Delta Force within the US Army.”
There is something peculiar that it appears to be normal for Israel to influence British and US politics so strongly, and for the west to give Israel unconditional support, even when they lie or break international law. And yet apparently we are unable to influence Israel politically.
How did this come about, and why is it treated as acceptable?
Especially since the power imbalance appears to be so one-sided in favour of Israel?
Have you noticed who ‘we’ are?
Interesting questions, which as far as I know have no clear answers. The default hypothesis is that the total effect is nothing more than the sum of its parts. While many Jewish people are not rich or powerful, rather a lot are. Then there is the “Holocaust” mystique, which – as I think someone was quoted as saying just now – is thought by many to give Jewish people carte blanche to do whatever they like.
I’m inclined to think the key fact is one mentioned by Nassim Nicholas Taleb in one of his books. He points out that in many situations, an apparently very small percentage of people can change the views or even actions of the great majority. From memory, it was something like 5% or even fewer – if they coordinate and work together, apparently they can get everyone thinking their way. (Rather as, in an analogy that has just occurred to me, soldiers marching in time can get a bridge swinging wildly enough to damage it – which is why they are told to break ranks and walk independently instead).
Combine the facts that a rather large number of Jewish people are in controlling positions in government, finance, industry, and academia throughout the world, with the possibility that they cooperate and coordinate their actions much more than most others do, and you might find that they swing a huge amount of weight. Of course being ready to use blackmail, threats, and bribery on a large scale might also help. (Again, I do not suggest that Jewish people are alone in using such methods – only that they may do so in a more organised way).
It would be a clever and apparently contrarian strategy, In our world – the “West” I mean – it has long been received wisdom that everyone must be out for themselves alone, Ayn Rand style, and anything that smacks of cooperation is vilified as “communism” or “socialism”. So any group who agree to cooperate systematically but discreetly might gain a huge advantage.
Then again, the Jewish advantage might lie mainly in something as trivial as the stupidity of the broad masses, who are easily coaxed into reasoning that “the Jews were persecuted and massacred, so all Jews are victims, so all Jews must be given every help and never criticised”.
Tom
What you refer to is, I believe, known as the theory of the organised minority in the disorganised majority. The Thugs, or rather the Tugs, come to mind.
The Thugs or Tugs, as I recall, used more direct methods. The essence of what Taleb describes is its light touch. Merely by expressing certain views, a dynamic and determined minority can get the whole community to adopt – or at least profess – them.
Tom, It’s odd, isn’t it, that not one of the individuals or Jewish newspapers who said Jeremy Corbyn posed a threat to British Jews and their way of life EVER elaborated about what the threat would amount to, and that of course is why they always alluded to something, but never-ever spelt out what it was they were alluding to. Pompeo encapsulates this reticence perfectly:
āIt could be that Mr Corbyn manages to run the gauntlet and get elected,ā he said on the recording. āItās possible. You should know, we wonāt wait for him to do those things to begin to push back. We will do our level best. Itās too risky and too important and too hard once itās already happened.
The art of allusion!
My own suggestion Tom, is that unconditional support for Israel has existed for a much longer time with the UK Conservative party. Colonial hatred for the Arabs would find a home with them.
The Labour party has struggled with this issue, and so the unconditional support on both political sides (that may have existed at the highest levels) has been masked publicly with vague concerns about settlements and human rights. David Cameron, Teresa May and also Gordon Brown did this. If I had to make a guess, I would say everything changed under Tony Blair (1997-2007).
I would not be surprised if Blair either privately or opportunistically held extreme religious views, and he found sympathy with the Zionist cause. You will recall Tony Blair converting to Catholicism, with a Secretary of Education who was said to be a member of Opus Dei.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2005/jan/22/religion.world
Meanwhile, here is a video of Gordon Brown going through the motions raising concern and criticising Israel settlements in 2008. The 31 views currently give an accurate reflection of his energy levels.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWvePrCURn8
The difference today, is that Starmer and Sunak, with their unconditional support for Israel, are operating in an changed environment where all public criticism has been neutralised and the Labour party itself has been hollowed out. There is no opposition, and critics are fearful to be labelled as anti-semites.
Deep down is religion, racism. Does anyone believe that west would give this absurd support (or support at all!) if the palestinians were christians and not muslims?
I thought when Israel bombed the Baptist Hospital or when they bombed the church the west would wake up. But no. Israel above all. God’s chosen, free to do anything.
The West nowadays has no religion save that of Money. Mammon, as Jesus called it.
It’s supremely ironic that just 50 years ago (and less) Americans and British people were decrying “godless communism” in the USSR, whereas today Russia is one of the most pious Christian countries in the world and the West is essentially atheist.
Mind you, I think the appearance of atheism in the USSR and Christianity in the West was thoroughly deceptive. Under the surface, the Russian people have always been deply religious. And in the West Christianity started to die out in the days of Voltaire.
Israel’s great achievement is in collectivising Germany’s guilt over the Holocaust, out to all Europeans, the vast majority of whom had nothing to do with it.
Many in the UK have family members who died during bombing runs over Germany in WW2, fighting the Nazis. People without whose sacrifice the state of Israel and even Jewish people around today might not exist. Yet we get lectured by the UK Board of Deputies, Jewish Leadership Council and Community Security Trust, plus two people of Indian origin (Sunak & Braverman) that we’re somehow anti-Semites if we criticise the psychopathic Israeli administration’s behaviour, or favour fairness for Palestine.
They are even trying to get the slogan ‘from the river to the sea’ banned from our lexicon; asking the CPS to urgently rule on its legality. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/10/19/protesters-charged-river-to-the-sea-chant-palestine-israel/
They claim it is a clear call for Israel’s destruction. It’s no such thing, as it’s perfectly possible to envisage a two-state solution that involves land swaps, whereby Palestinian territory stretches contiguously from the river Jordan, to Gaza and the Mediterranean sea. Although Gaza itself may be about to be subject to ethnic cleansing with US/UK approval.
The Palestinians are Christians – that Jesus bloke is an Arab from Palestine. There are lots of variants of Christian in Palestine from the Greek Orthodox Church that was recently bombed (1400 years old), through to the Anglican Hospital that was bombed on 17th October.
Palestine is Arab, Arab Christian, Arab Muslim, and Arab Jewish – as well as all the other flavours of humanity. It’s more about the suez canal in the 1940s and those lovely gas fields off the shores of Gaza now.
Well, there is a theory that the Western support for Israel springs from Anti-semitism, and certainly it is the countries that have a record of anti-semitism in the past that do support Israel, the argument being that, so long as there is an Israel, then Jews will go there and no longer be in the countries that their ancestors inhabited. Israel is “somewhere to get rid of the Jews to”. Add to this Biden’s point that it is a destabilising influence on a resource-rich area that the same Western countries want very much to remain destabilised and thus easier to control and I think you have your answer.
It is often very interesting to go back to see how this or that actor acted in earlier war:
Here, In the 2009 war, where some 1100 palestinians were killed and 6 israelis, EU and US (G.W. Bush) both called for a ceasfire and israeli restraint after just days of war.
Diplomatic pressure on Israel to end its relentless military assault on Gaza gathered pace last night as its key ally Washington joined European Union foreign ministers in calling for an immediate ceasefire.
The EU ministers demanded an “immediate and permanent ceasefire” by Hamas and Israel. They also backed a French call for a “humanitarian truce” that would allow relief aid, fuel and medical supplies to get into Gaza,
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/pressure-grows-on-israel-for-ceasefire-1218217.html
Compare that with 2023, where western head of states flock to Israel to support and reject any ceasefire!
How on earth did we get here?
In other news:
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock warns Iran and militias like Hezbollah not to get involved in Gaza.
āIām warning Iran, Iām warning Shiite militias in Iraq, Iām warning the Houthi in Yemen not to ignite and join in the terror,ā
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2023/10/19/israel-hamas-war-live-condemnation-after-israeli-strike-on-gaza-church
Oh please, get off your high horse Baerbock!
Who the heck are this incompetent minister to tell other groups trying to stop a genoide? How cannot Germany see they are complicit in yet another genocide?
Iran/Syria/Hezbollah should warn Germany not to interfere and support massacres of muslims.
>Compare that with 2023, where western head of states flock to Israel to support and reject any ceasefire!
>How on earth did we get here?
NATO got us here, and a military elite has supplanted the EU as an independent, democratic, power block. The EU has no democratic autonomy any more: it relies on the permission of its Atlantic master to do anything. Germany has been humbled. NATO proves the aphorism, if you hold someone by the balls the mind will follow.
It is naive to assume the MIC and cynical pro-war actors behind NATO would respect the democratic wishes of its individual member states. Given the opportunity to dictate which politicians make short-lists for selection, and what parties are deemed accepted to a military elite, it was natural that those decisions would be steered to favour NATO.
The antisemitism Zionist rulebook has been used to great effect in the west to neutralise political and cultural debate on matters of Israel.
The pro-Russian/ pro-terrorism/ weak on defence rulebook has been used to neutralise critics of increased military spending or NATO.
To survive politically in western nations, it is almost impossible to be either anti-Zionism or anti-NATO.
Just like the SNP, or the Green party in Germany, both groups realised that political survival depended on craven subservience to the military and Israel.
The NGO and media control apparatus to NATO and the pro-Israeli cause in modern times has been mutually supportive, since their opponents (humanitarian and civil rights activists) are often the same groups.
UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, made the following speech at Rafah on the Gazan/Egyptian border.
https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/speeches/2023-10-20/secretary-generals-press-encounter-front-of-the-rafah-border-crossing-egypt
It seems quite clear, to me, that there is a huge international groundswell of opposition to Israel’s illegal siege of Gaza that has cut off all essential supplies. Otherwise I don’t see the need for Guterres to make his speech in such a grandstanding manner at such a location. He could have said the same in New York.
In the Suez Crisis in 1956, the UK and France were put in their place by the newly dominant world power of the USA. Now it seems powers, other than those of the USA, are in a position to seriously challenge the existing rules based-world order. I think he is possibly moving in response to those forces.
I feel Israel will only back down if Uncle Sam threatens to pull its funding. At the moment that is in Biden’s hands to decide. And he is at the mercy of whatever powers decide which new speaker is elected. And they are eventually at the mercy of which POTUS is elected…_
“It seems quite clear, to me, that there is a huge international groundswell of opposition to Israelās illegal siege of Gaza that has cut off all essential supplies.”
Be in no doubt. The overwhelming majority of the entire world are against what Israel is doing in Gaza.
Demonstration in London tomorrow starting at Marble Arch at 12pm.
https://www.stopwar.org.uk/events/national-march-for-palestine-stop-the-war-on-gaza/
One should not forget that palestinians have the right to use violent force if they want against the occupation, they have the right to strike and kill israeli forces. Be it by Hamas’ rockets, PLO army attack or individuals resistance groups. They do not any permission and Israel have in such situation no right to strike back whatsoever.
Also, palestinians are also living under the crime of apartheid. Both Amnesty and HRW have declared Israel an apartheid state: Rendering even more justification to use violent force to rid themselves from their tormentor.
https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/10/04/time-recognize-reality-israeli-apartheid-persecution
https://www.npr.org/2022/02/01/1077291879/israel-apartheid-state-amnesty-international
Of course. Americans conveniently forget how they responded themselves to a bit of punitive taxation by the British Crown. They would not tolerate one day of the humiliations they help inflict on the Palestinians during “normal” times. And at times like these it is pretty clear to the whole of humanity who the real psychopathic terrorists are.
thx Jack.
You think you will find time to seriously go into the HRW report?
Lying journalist Sara Sinder (she falsely reported on the beheaded Israeli babies, it didn’t happen) is told in no uncertain terms by Palestinians that she’s not wanted in the West Bank, she quickly gets the message.
https://nitter.net/Lowkey0nline/status/1715397589200191573#m
This is all very true.
“The Palestinian Authority must fall. It’s the security subcontractor for the occupation.
What more evidence do you need than UK has 7 military officers permanently based in Ramallah training its forces?
They’re there to help contain Palestinian resistanceāon Israel’s behalf”
https://nitter.net/kennardmatt/status/1715337297535664558#m