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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In some instances online you are being labelled a terrorist for supporting the oppressed people of Palestine.
Meta has apologised for adding “terrorist” to the biographies of some Instagram users describing themselves as Palestinian.
“Meta said it fixed a problem “that briefly caused inappropriate Arabic translations” in some of its products.
“We sincerely apologise that this happened,” it told the BBC.
The platform has also faced accusations of suppressing content voicing support for Palestinians during the Israel-Gaza conflict.
Some users say they have been “shadow banned” on Instagram over pro-Palestinian posts. This is when a platform intervenes to make sure posts do not appear in other people’s feeds.”
https://nitter.net/Lowkey0nline/status/1715700483782738011#m
Meanwhile in the quickly becoming fascist dis-united kingdom, police go to the door of a person who is displaying a Palestinian flag in support.
https://nitter.net/Lowkey0nline/status/1715699831308497273#m
What planet are you on? 6 weeks of “kill the Jews” protests yet this article says you can march the streets saying “Palestinian genocide is ok” when if anybody dared have an Israel flag they’d be attacked and not protected by the police.
Anyway for all you dunces read about how Islamists killed 2 million Hindus and raped 300000 women to scare 30 million Hindus into leaving Pakistan in 1971.
It’s a tactic yet you dunces believe the Marxist propaganda and support the rapists who are coming for us next.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangladesh_genocide
Starbucks threatens to sue its workers union for expressing solidarity with the oppressed Palestinians, a boycott of this firm goods seems appropriate.
https://nitter.net/KitKlarenberg/status/1715406149346844878#m
I have not entered a Starbucks for many years. Sickly American rubbish.
Its nowhere near enough.
“UNICEF : Over 44,000 bottles of drinking water supplied by UNICEF ā just enough for 22,000 people for 1 day ā were driven through the Rafah Crossing today as part of a 20-truck convoy.”
https://nitter.net/alextomo/status/1715699111263969620#m
That quote above regarding the paltry quantity of water being delivered is from the UNICEF website itself.
https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/first-deliveries-life-saving-supplies-children-enter-gaza
They are themselves decrying how the restrictions on aid delivery are impairing their ability to get urgently needed life saving supplies there.
Ah, Biden’s 20 trucks, of which he was so proud. The man’s an evil moron.
Ursula von der Leyen should do the decent thing and stand down.
“About time! Some people in Europe are finally waking up to Von Der Leyen’s insanity.
842 staff members of EU institutions signed a letter warning she’s making the EU “lose all credibility” and expressing dismay at her “patent show of double-standard”.”
https://nitter.net/RnaudBertrand/status/1715735063244288081#m
“Ursula von der Leyen” and “do the decent thing” do not belong in the same sentence. Von der Leyen should be sacked.
Or promoted to NATO š
Oh no, Hamas being played big time by their own host country Qatar, on behalf of Israel
Qatar: Mediation will lead to Hamas hostage releases āvery soonā
Qatar, a key power in the efforts to release hostages seized by Hamas from Israel, says they can be released āvery soonā thanks to ongoing discussions.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2023/10/20/israel-gaza-war-live-hamas-releases-two-american-captives-from-gaza
Of course, as soon as hostages are out of Gaza, Israel would move on with the invasion and up the bombardment multifold.
Why keep hostages at all if you are just going to release them and getting nothing but death and destruction back? Idiocy. The treasonous qataris could go to hell dong the bid for Israel and the US, such nasty leaders.
Meanwhile Israel have intesified the destruction in return.
āReally terrifyingā: Israeli bombardment of Gaza intensifies, 8 people killed when Israel bomb restaurant
A restaurant was targeted before just half an hour ago, claiming the life of approximately eight Palestinians. Dozens of injuries were reported.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2023/10/20/israel-gaza-war-live-hamas-releases-two-american-captives-from-gaza
Meanwhile the racist cancel-culture-loving europe block muslim war critic pianist!
Concerts of Turkish pianist axed due to Israel criticism
Fazil Say, a globally acclaimed Turkish composer and pianist, has revealed that his scheduled concerts in Switzerland have been cancelled amid his criticism of Israelās war in Gaza. From AlJazeera
“AP news agency deletes two paragraphs from a report in which US officials reveal what Israel is planning for Gaza: crimes against humanity that are already redolent of the fire-bombing of civilians in Dresden during World War 2”
Read the paragraphs below.
https://nitter.net/Jonathan_K_Cook/status/1715384608395604396#m
thx!
The above link mentioned deleted paragraphs contain this phrase:
“(…) Members of the Israeli security and political establishment told the US diplomats that the eradication of Hamas would require methods used in the defeat of the Axis powers in World War II. Israeli officials have publicly made similar comparisons (…)”.
Now rereading FinkelsteinĀ“s works – he basically predates this racism already to the pre-war era. Thus’ so far, alas, at least Finkelstein doesn’t have much relief or positive view to offer.
Below quoting Finkelstein from “Image and Reality of the Israel-Palestine Conflict” (1995/2003), where he is stressing how important for ANY Zionist group, a country with exclusively a Jewish majority was.
This might have been in the fashion of its time. But looking into the 20th century this of course is hopelessly outdated and forms, as others here have pointed out, the substance of some considerable racism at the core of the Zionist project.
(However I still will stick to my Chomskyian readings, which do point at alternatives at that time.)
But for now only Finkelstein:
“(…)
Jews had to constitute themselves as the numerical majority in some state, since the crucial cultural institutions in any society are subordinate to the state and the state always bears the imprint of the majority nation. Even in the most democratic of states, the cultural life of the minority cannot but be ā in the words of the outstanding theoretician of cultural Zionism, Ahad Haāam ā ācribbed and crammedā (pp. 102ā3).8
Cultural Zionism thus conceived a Jewish majority as the conditio sine qua non, not for a state of the Jews, but for the unbridled spiritual renaissance of the Jewish nation. Palestine, with its Jewish majority, would eventually serve as a spiritual beacon for world Jewry; it would not, however, be a state to which all Jews were, perforce, politically bound.9
Yet, the status of the demand for a Jewish majority was, for all practical purposes, defined by the hegemonic sectors of the Zionist movement. For them, the Jewish majority and the Jewish state were inextricably linked: a Jewish majority was the means and a state constitutionally beholden to world Jewry the end.
(…)”
The severity of this quote lies with the name of Ahad HaĀ“am and the progressive views usually connected with him.
If even Ahad HaĀ“am was prone to the Jews-only notion where is the light?
Finkelstein in footnote (8) & (9) says:
(8) “Others within the Zionist movement went one step further, arguing that unless the Jews formed a majority in Palestine, they would eventually be assimilated. Jabotinsky, for example, contended that the assimilatory power of the majority could not, as a rule, be resisted, even if its cultural level was lower than that of the minority (p. 171; for Ben-Gurion, who made much the same argument, see p. 217).”
(9) At least at times, Ahad Haāam seemed to favor a bi-national state in Palestine, if only for pragmatic reasons (pp. 102ā3).
So eventually at least here, Finkelstein agues that there was no pro-Palestine, no pro egalitarian plan in sight.
It was bound to collide and resolve matters par force.
“Jews had to constitute themselves as the numerical majority in some state, since the crucial cultural institutions in any society are subordinate to the state and the state always bears the imprint of the majority nation”.
Those are principles that have long been violently rejected by most Western nations, especially the USA and the UK.
What, in the USA or in the UK, is “the majority nation”? Here in the UK it is what used to be called native-born British people – as distinct from immigrants. I myself have been sternly rebuked on this very blog for declaring that I am “a pure-blooded Scot”. I was told that since I currently live in England, I am not a Scot, but that a Pole who arrived in Glasgow yesterday is a Scot. The inference is obviously that genetics counts for nothing.
But if I were to fly to Israel, I would NOT be deemed a Jew or an Israeli citizen. Indeed, nothing I could do would bring about those results.
But nowadays we are not allowed to talk about such notions, and we are strongly discouraged from even thinking about them.
The USA was founded, and run to this day, on the basis of an absolute rejection of the idea that there is – or could be – any “majority nation”. That is the exact opposite of the famous “melting pot”.
The US and UK governments have expressed their unconditional willingness – indeed, eagerness – to provide unlimited and unconditional support to Israel, which is founded on principles which the US and UK governments reject and forbid in their own countries.
There is no longer such a person as a “British”, “English”, or “Scottish” man or woman. But there is such a person as a “Jewish” one.
Tom Welsh
exactly
this is one of the sore points dodged mostly in public “discourse”.
Nobody dares to spell out the truth.
So lets turn to Finkelstein once more (same source as above:
“(…)
The touchstone of the French Revolutionary liberal idea was that a rational and just social order could and ought to be constructed on shared political ā i.e. democratic ā values. Hence, the nation-state was conceived above all else as a consensual relationship and the citizen as its irreducible unit and building block. Originating in the post-French Revolution reaction to Enlightenment rationalism and liberalism, political Zionismās point of departure was the presumed bankruptcy of the democratic idea.3(…)”.
see footnote 3: “(…)Arthur Hertzberg, The Zionist Idea, New York 1977, p. 33, āAny version of Zionist theory must necessarily imply some sense of a loss of hope in the future total acceptance of the Jew as an individual by the majority society.ā(…)”
“(…)
Romantic nationalists argued that more profound bonds both ānaturallyā united certain individuals and ānaturallyā excluded others. Ideally, they concluded, each such organically connected community ought to be endowed with an independent state. Having located the thinking of Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern Zionism, in such āGerman sourcesā, Hans Kohn, probably the most eminent authority on modern nationalism (and himself a Zionist at one time), goes on to observe:
According to the German theory, people of common descent ā¦ should form one common state. Pan-Germanism was based on the idea that all persons who were of German race, blood or descent, wherever they lived or to whatever state they belonged, owed their primary loyalty to Germany and should become citizens of the German state, their true homeland. They, and even their fathers and forefathers, might have grown up under āforeignā skies or in āalienā environments, but their fundamental inner ārealityā remained German.
Analogous assumptions informed the distinctive Zionist approach to the Jewish Question. Throughout the Diaspora, its adherents argued, Jews constituted an āalienā presence amidst states ābelongingā to other, numerically preponderant, nationalities. Anti-Semitism was the natural impulse of an organic whole āinfectedā by a āforeignā body (or too obtrusive a āforeignā body).
In effect, the Zionist analysis of the Jewish Question duplicated the reasoning of anti-Semitism, which invoked the same argument to justify Jew-hatred. Indeed, the prescription it proposed for the Jewish predicament was inscribed in the logic of anti-Semitism as well. Political Zionism sought, not to combat anti-Semitism ā which was viewed as, at best, a quixotic undertaking ā but to achieve a modus vivendi with it.(…)”.
This goes back to the fact that Judaism is a tribal religion. You are part of it via birth. Which makes it a deterministic concept void of choice. For those who are part of it. And those who are not.
Of course even though FinkelsteinĀ“s bitter analysis of the conundrum is correct it does beg the question:
Facing forces way stronger than your own how do you counter anti-semitism?
Or to quote him: How do you “combat anti-Semitism” if you are a peasant in Russia in the 17th century and constantly attacked by armed units and the mob?
So we in essence are grappling with the ghosts of very ancient times.
On the other hand were it not for geopolitics we would have long seen a peaceful solution.
If we had any decent politicians in the West, they’d be urgently pressing Israel over their reportedly ‘relaxed’ rules of engagement (ROE), and warning them over their obligations under international law. There are cameras and reporters on the ground and some journalists, like the well-respected Bel Trew @Beltrew, have been expressing how difficult things are :
“I’ve been sent a photo of leaflet I’m told was dropped on Gaza City this morning – it says those who don’t evacuate northern Gaza could be considered “an accomplice of a terrorist organisation”. To be clear there’s no obligation for civilians to evacuate even if they get an evacuation order; they are still protected under international law. Waiting for comment from the military.”
Many Gazans understandably don’t want to move South for fear they’ll be pushed out for good. And as she states under int. law they shouldn’t have to.
This is from yesterdayĀ“s interview with former German chancellor Gerhard Schrƶder. He speaks about his role in the UKR/RU negotiations in March 2022 and the war. I am posting it here explicitly as I assume everyone here would want to read it.
Schrƶder is what people like to call an eye witness to history (doesnĀ“t matter what I think about him being German citizen myself.) And I fear it would get lost if I put it into the forum in some new thread as right now all eyes are on Gaza.
But dear MOD, of course your rules, just to make my point:
complete original (not sure how long for free):
https://www.berliner-zeitung.de/politik-gesellschaft/gerhard-schroeder-im-exklusiv-interview-was-merkel-2015-gemacht-hat-war-politisch-falsch-li.2151196
Schrƶder begins:
“(…)
In 2022, I received a request from Ukraine asking if I could mediate between Russia and Ukraine. The question was whether I could convey a message to Putin. Someone would also come along who had a very close relationship with the Ukrainian president himself. That was Rustem Umjerov, the current Minister of Defense of Ukraine. He is a member of the Crimean Tatar minority. Then the question was: How can we end the war?
Q: How.
There are five points. First, a renunciation by Ukraine of membership in NATO. Ukraine cannot meet the conditions anyway. Second, the problem of language. The Ukrainian parliament has abolished bilingualism. This must be changed. Third, Donbass remains part of Ukraine. However, Donbass needs greater autonomy. A working model would be that of South Tyrol. Fourth: Ukraine also needs security guarantees. The United Nations Security Council plus Germany should provide these guarantees. Fifth, Crimea. How long has Crimea been Russian? Crimea is more than just a strip of land for Russia, it is part of their history. One could end the war if geopolitical interests were not at play.
Q: And international law.
Yes, but this is not just a legal issue. The only ones who could settle the war against Ukraine are the Americans. At the peace negotiations in March 2022 in Istanbul with Rustem Umjerov, the Ukrainians did not agree on peace because they were not allowed to. They had to check with the Americans first on everything they talked about. I had two talks with Umjerov, then a one-on-one with Putin, and then with Putin’s envoy. Umjerov opened the conversation with greetings from Selenskyj. As a compromise for Ukraine’s security guarantees, the Austrian model was proposed, or the 5+1 model. Umjerov liked that. He also showed readiness on the other points. He also said that Ukraine did not want NATO membership. He also said that Ukraine wants to reintroduce Russian in the Donbass. But in the end, nothing happened. My impression: nothing could happen, because everything else was decided in Washington. That was fatal. Because the result will now be that Russia will be tied more closely to China, which the West should not want.
Q: And the Europeans?
They have failed. There would have been a window in March 2022. The Ukrainians were ready to talk about Crimea. Even the Bild newspaper confirmed that at the time.
(Gerhard Schrƶder shows a page from the BILD newspaper with the title “Finally Peace in Sight?”. There it says: “Ukrainian President Volodymyr Selenskyj (44) himself had already hinted at concessions for negotiations: he no longer insists on his country joining NATO, he told the US broadcaster ABC. And he was also ready for a ‘compromise’ on Crimea and the breakaway provinces in the Donbass. ‘In any negotiation, my goal is to end the war with Russia,’ Selenskyj told BILD.”)
Q: According to Ukraine, the Butsha massacres perpetrated by the Russians led to the end of the negotiations.
At the talks with Umjerov on March 7 and on March 13, nothing was known about Butscha. I think the Americans did not want the compromise between Ukraine and Russia. The Americans believe that you can keep the Russians down. Now the situation is that two players, China and Russia, who are contained by the United States, are joining forces. The Americans believe they are strong enough to keep both one and the other at bay. In my humble opinion, that is a mistake. Just look at how torn the American side is now. Look at the chaos in Congress.
Q: The Americans have overestimated themselves?
I assume so.
Q: Do you think they can resume your peace plan?
Yes. And the only ones who can initiate it are France and Germany.
Q: But how can you trust the Russians? In January 2022, they were still saying that the Russians don’t want a war with Ukraine. Then, when the Russians invaded the Donbass, they said the Russians don’t want to go to Kiev. All these promises were broken. Why shouldn’t we be afraid that the Russians will go on and on?
We don’t have a threat. This fear of the Russians coming is absurd. How are they going to defeat NATO, let alone occupy Western Europe?
Q: They almost got to Kiev.
What do the Russians want? Status quo in Donbass and Crimea. Nothing more. I think it is a fatal mistake for Putin to have started the war. At the same time, it is clear to me that Russia feels threatened. Look: Turkey is a NATO member. There are missiles that can reach Moscow directly. The U.S. wanted to bring NATO to Russia’s western border, with Ukraine as a new member, for example. All this felt like a threat to the Russians. There are also irrational points of view involved. I won’t deny that. The Russians reacted with a mixture of both: Fear and forward defense. That is why no one in Poland, in the Baltic States, and certainly not in Germany – all NATO members, by the way – need feel that they are in danger. The Russians would
Q: The Americans have overestimated themselves?
I assume so.
Q: Do you think they can resume your peace plan?
Yes. And the only ones who can initiate it are France and Germany.
Q: But how can you trust the Russians? In January 2022, they were still saying that the Russians don’t want a war with Ukraine. Then, when the Russians invaded the Donbass, they said the Russians don’t want to go to Kiev. All these promises were broken. Why shouldn’t we be afraid that the Russians will go on and on?
We don’t have a threat. This fear of the Russians coming is absurd. How are they going to defeat NATO, let alone occupy Western Europe?
Q: They almost got to Kiev.
What do the Russians want? Status quo in Donbass and Crimea. Nothing more. I think it was a fatal mistake for Putin to start the war. At the same time, it is clear to me that Russia feels threatened. Look: Turkey is a NATO member. There are missiles that can reach Moscow directly. The U.S. wanted to bring NATO to Russia’s western border, with Ukraine as a new member, for example. All this felt like a threat to the Russians. There are also irrational points of view involved. I won’t deny that. The Russians reacted with a mixture of both: Fear and forward defense. That’s why no one in Poland, in the Baltic States, and certainly not in Germany – all NATO members, by the way – need feel that they are in danger. The Russians would not start a war with any NATO member.
Q: Do you have the impression that there is too much morality in politics and not enough realpolitik?
That’s the problem with the Greens. I only understand the Greens’ moralizing to a certain extent. Foreign Minister Baerbock moralizes toward China and Russia, okay. But she forgets that Germany needs a reasonable relationship with both of them, without which the war against Ukraine cannot be condemned.
Q: Is Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock following in the tradition of Joschka Fischer?
Joschka was much more rational. He was a real politician. He would not have called Xi Jinping a dictator. Why is the foreign minister provoking in a situation like this when you have enough other problems?
Q: Does this have real consequences for relations?
No, not yet. But Asians are vindictive, eventually it will burst. Asians don’t want to lose face. For China, Baerbock’s statement was embarrassing. The Chinese want cooperation with Germany because the two countries have less historically strained relations. Baerbock will not succeed domestically with her moralizing, but she is harming Germany and the German economy with it. Our country must be doing well, otherwise we are acting against people who depend on it. The phrase “When the economy is doing well, something falls off for everyone” applies. The SPD voter knows that very well.
Q: You could also say that Baerbock is a realist. With her course, she wants to flatter the Americans, our most important ally.
That may be true. I have said: We must keep the alliance intact, but not at any price. We have pursued a largely sovereign foreign policy. We no longer have that today.
Q: That’s why the Americans are protecting us.
But protection for what? Do you seriously believe that after the disaster the Russians are experiencing in Ukraine with their war, they are now thinking about attacking Western Europe?
Q: The Poles feel threatened in real terms.
That is something different. Since they have been in NATO, they are no longer threatened. No one in Russia is seriously thinking about getting into a conflict with NATO.
Q: Putin has broken his word too many times.
Where?
Q: Be it that he said he would not attack Ukraine.
I have never received such an assurance.
Q: Your friendship with Vladimir Putin, who is now officially accused of war crimes in The Hague, is causing outrage. Shouldn’t you therefore distance yourself emotionally from him, also because Putin has destroyed your legacy and that of the chancellor, the German-Russian friendship?
That’s not how living together works. That’s not how human relations work. I think what Putin has ordered is wrong. I have said that publicly. I don’t have to do that all the time either. There are relationships between people who have different views. That is the case in my case with Vladimir Putin. The second is a political question. Russia remains Russia. No matter who governs it and how. Germany has an interest in maintaining a relationship with Russia economically and politically, even if that is difficult. We have this with many states; with China, with Turkey. If politics is reduced to the emotional, as is the case with the Greens and Annalena Baerbock, then that is wrong.
Q: The Western order is shaky. Isn’t it the case that right now the Americans are understandably saying: “Please, Germany, no cooperation with China and Russia. We’ll give you the security! So please keep your distance.”
No, it’s not like that. After all, the Americans’ economic relations with the Chinese are much more significant than ours, and with Russia, for that matter. There are a bunch of American companies that are still active in Russia. That doesn’t bother the American government at all. It does its own thing. And economics is economics. We are the ones who politically execute what the Americans want. But the Americans themselves don’t do that.
(…)
Q: You are the Chairman of the Board of Nord Stream 2 AG. Are you still in favor of putting Nord Stream 2 into operation?
Yes. That would be sensible, from a price point of view. Both pipelines would be repairable.
Q: Has the U.S. blown up Nord Stream?
I really don’t know. There is only one clue: Biden told Scholz in early 2022 that Nord Stream cannot go into operation if Russia attacks Ukraine. Everyone can draw their conclusions from that.
(…)”
Thanks, that was most interesting.
(Also, if you’re not sure how long an article is for free: make sure you save it: https://archive.ph/YJTMW)
What he writes about the energy is so, so true:
“Ha ha ha. Itās only now they get it?
EU has spent ā¬1 trillion euros in subsidies to mitigate energy crisis due to Ukr war in last 600 days.
USA leading energy companies have made $1 trillion in excess profits via the same exporting LNG to Europe.
The maths is simple.”
https://nitter.net/bneeditor/status/1715795666876747831#m
So 1 trillion it already is…hmmmm
The obvious logic is so clear that journalists for that very reason will simply deny it or invent any argument / fact to counter it, be it as nonsensical as it comes.
In the case of UKR: They claim national self-defense to enable self-determination which has to be supported by the EU.
So they demand money to be secondary to morals.
However: Schrƶder quotes the same argument against the Greens and thus makes the same mistake. Because that’s simply not true on any level.
The moral argument is only to cover up the double standard and overarching geopolitical goals advocated for by Germany that have nothing to do with altruism or love for other nations. It’s one BIG FUCKING LIE.
Germany DOES NOT CARE FOR other nations. Be it UKR Luxembourg or Argentina.
The demands for UKR national democratic rise are a simple means to a very ugly end.
This, Schrƶder of course wonĀ“t articulate.
He most likely wouldnĀ“t even grasp it only after a time (He did have such discussions in the 1960s and 70s when being member of the far-left Social Democratic student organisations. Just like Scholz btw. But that for him is ancient history today.)
Because itĀ“s a clear cut case that GermanyĀ“s stellar post-war economic rise was only to the detriment of other nations.
But THEN it was okay and was called Wirtschaftswunder, and all kinds of things.
In the case of Gaza the double standard is covered up by Antisemitism. This way the very same project of self-determination and nation-building for UKR this time demanded by the Palestinians is suddenly being neglected.
It’s not even discussed. Even though German scholarship is well aware of it. And lawyers all well aware of the countless UN calls and motions for a Palestinian solution if not a one-state solution as suggested again by – of all people – Roger Waters.
In fact the Palestinian case for a solution of the statehood is a billion times on stronger legal grounds than UkraineĀ“s.
There is not a shred of evidence that could be put to question that right.
The “why” and “how” of Germany re: Gaza is more complex.
As the ultimate economic quid-pro quo less obvious.
Therefore Schrƶder completely evades those deep waters to not get into trouble.
After all this interview is a signal that Schrƶder is allowed back into the community after SPD even wanted to exclude him.
Some even demanded that he is retrieved of his privileges he as former chancellor is entitled to.
(If those rules make sense is a different matter. But there was no legal grounds to that whatsoever.)
thx for the save
it was on Schroeder’s watch that Germany decided to shut down it’s nuclear power stations which made the country so reliant on imports of gas (and coal). As one time chair of Nordstream AG and ROSNEFT you might be tempted to think he has a anterior motive in wanting the pipelines restored.
We have to have this I think:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mV5r7SwS-YY
I know this is OT, but to at least give once a proper answer to Pears.
Indeed that could be an interesting question for real muckrakers to assess.
How much pressure the Greens (Schrƶders coalition partner) and allies did exert I donĀ“t know.
And remember: Merkel was once KohlĀ“s minister for the environment. As to her position to stick turning off nuclear power plants.
Of course when the decision was made nobody would have ever assumed that we would be in a state of war with RU and that, mind be, the Americans would blow up Nordstream.
Nordstream as a project was major and a political time bomb. And USSR-GER alignment in those matters since the 1970s not a well perceived matter in Washington traditionally. Not without cause did Blinken write his book “Ally vs. Ally” 1987 on the Siberian pipeline crisis between USSR, USA, GER.
One more: Nordstream was so deep in the German infrastructure that minister Habeck had to abuse German Secret Service to knock out the 2 senior advisors in his ministry who had long taken care of Nordstream. Those 2 were absolutely against turning away from the gas. They had spent their entire careers building and negotiating with Gasprom, Moscow and many others.
Then Habeck came into office and after a short while started to pester all those in his ministry who favoured other energy plans.
He saw no other way to silence them but to allege they were possibly RU spies.
This if of course was a lie and caused a major scandal in the ministry.
The Secret Service did an internal investigation which for the 2 advisors was a career desaster. Naturally the Service found zero evidence for HabeckĀ“s allegations. But that effectiviely silenced any opposition in the ministry.
Most fascinating. DIE ZEIT brought the first major investigative piece on this affair end of August 2022.
The article started with the words “This might turn out to become the biggest political scandal in recent German history”.
When I read those words I knew immediatley they would bury the story which they did.
The sabotage of Nordstream interestingly did nothing to reanimate the scandal in public. Simply because the papers and the government had formed a Holy Alliance.
Thats the state of the press here.
“EU has spent ā¬1 trillion euros in subsidies to mitigate energy crisis due to Ukr war in last 600 days”.
Wrong. The energy crisis is absolutely not “due to Ukr war”.
It is due to the stubborn perversity and insistent virtue-signalling of European and British politicians. Who do not represent their citizens, and who do not have those citizens’ interests at heart.
Yes thanks for posting that AG. Schroeder’s is a vanishingly rare voice of realism and sanity in western politics. It’s disturbing though that even somebody as clearsighted as him is still characterising a fanatical chauvinist like Baerbock as an emotional moralist. Just as she is revealing herself a genocidal racist, a level beyond even von der Leyen.
Yesterday she issued a statement so insane it probably made Joey Goebbels blush in the world down below:
‘Israel does care about the people of Gaza, the Palestinians. In my meetings in Tel Aviv yesterday I heard again and again: āWe will not give up our humanity.ā This is what distinguishes democratic states like Israel from terrorists like Hamas’.
This is not somebody Schroeder should be encouraging people to think of as a moral force.
no wonder I dont care listening what she is spitting out. What I learn about her I read here.
U Watt
I had to google that quote because it was so disgusting and sure enough it was real…
Over half of the now 4300 killed palestinians are women and children, how can she say such cold-blooded lies and also such devise comments implying arabs, muslims are some brutes from the jungle and west, israel some alleged civilized noble folks? What a disgusting person, she just doubles down every day.
How cannot Germany see that they will end up having a new guilt after this? They have not learned anything!
As AG points out below, they are still telling the world how much they have learned even as we can see they have learned nothing at all.
Crazy times.
This German guy I like to call German outletsĀ“ fig leaf author.
He writes the “sane” views for Berliner Zeitung which hurt nobody, and naturally he does not belong to the real newspaper staff. He is a free-lancer and author.
“Gaza: The Double Standards of Olaf Scholz”
by Fabian Scheidler
https://scheerpost.com/2023/10/22/gaza-the-double-standards-of-olaf-scholz/
In almost no German paper with the exception of left “junge Welt” – may be – you will get more than this lukewarm pseudo criticism.
I see what you mean. How is it possible to write an article with that title without once mentioning Ukraine or Nordstream?
and on the same note:
“Bundestag decides on center documenting German occupation in WWII – Under the auspices of the German Historical Museum (DHM), German tyranny during World War II is to be presented and researched.”
https://www.berliner-zeitung.de/kultur-vergnuegen/bundestag-beschliesst-zentrum-zur-deutschen-besatzungsherrschaft-li.2151115
Our beloved cultural minister and ex-band manager Claudia Roth: “The memory of the crimes committed in Germany’s name throughout Europe must not end. With the Documentation Center, a facility will be created in a central location in Berlin that will make us aware of the horrors of the war of conquest and extermination that originated in Germany.”
Of course not a single word of what is going on 2800 miles south.
Not a single word that may be just may be those things in the museum and in Gaza are connected.
So cool. Something completely new.
Another of those fig leaves…
p.s. one day this country will be plastered with WWII memorials and people will know everything about WWII atrocities but not know what year they live in. That would actually be a nice sci-fi short story. “The Matrix revisited”.
p.p.s. unfortunately they dont know either today.
“Never again!..,” even as everyone sees them applauding it being done again.
Well put.
Sigh, new day, new nasty disinformation by Israel and the west: Canada government analysts side with France, US that it was an “errant rocket from Gaza” that caused the hospital explosiion. France even claim it was rocket loaded with “5kg” detonation!
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/22/canada-says-it-is-confident-israel-not-behind-deadly-blast-at-gaza-hospital
Look at the video below, is this a 5kg errant rocket from Gaza that just fell from the sky?? Is that the sound a primitive, errant rocket sound like?? Bullshit!
Video Comparison between the sound of a US-made JDAM bomb and the sound of the Al-Ahli Hospital strike in Gaza.
The sounds match up perfectly.
https://twitter.com/clashreport/status/1714395981981139343
In other news some turkish politicians are fed up with Israel: Turkeyās Nationalist Leader Devlet BahƧeli Issues Stern Warning to Israel: We Will Protect Gaza If Ceasefire Fails
https://politurco.com/turkeys-nationalist-leader-devlet-bahceli-issues-stern-warning-to-israel-we-will-protect-gaza-if-ceasefire-fails.html
The western political establishment is united in its support for Israel and its ‘right to defend itself’. That also express a strong beliefs that Israel, which has proven to be the only country in the world that consistently does not abide by any international rules, will also defend itself within international law. By making these statements those leaders of the ‘free world’ have given a carte blanche for Israel to be judge and jury and executor for its own actions. But our vigilant journalists on the MSM do not seem to address this to our politicians.
It is however obvious to most people that Israel has already blatantly broken all laws against humanity.
1. By a long and very strict blockade strangulation of the population of Gaza and to a slightly lesser extent, the West Bank which is ongoing since 2007 and to which the international community has not objected.
2. By increasing the strangulation of Gaza in the recent action to a larger degree by complete cutting off of water, power and access to humanitarian aid to the whole population thereby inflicting collective punishment to a population of two million half of whom are children.
3. By then illegally asking an occupied people to evacuate en masse. British politicians even cite this as showing how Israel has concern for the civilians asking them to evacuate in an already crowded enclave is supposed to be showing concern.
4. By indiscriminate bombing of civilians. Actually it is not even indiscriminate it is targeted against hospitals, mosques, churches, residential areas, markets and even UN buildings. These are clear war crimes.
5. Israel has been expropriating Palestinian land since 1948 and annexing territory.
6. Israel is the most undemocratic country in the world as not recognising the right of all citizens to be equal and running an apartheid system is the opposite of democracy.
7. Israeli politicians and military leaders are constantly making dehumanizing statements about Palestinians. This is a clear prelude to ethnic cleansing and genocide. We have not learnt the lessons of the genocides of the second world war and the Rwandan genocide if we do not take heed and act on this constant expressions of dehumanization and exclusion support for Palestinians that is now sweeping European and Us political class. This article in , of all places, The Guardian is very telling.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/oct/16/the-language-being-used-to-describe-palestinians-is-genocidal
Pretty sure that about 90% of comments in the Daily Mail are bots trolls and sockpuppets.
Insane but itās probably the same across the MSM and thatās not including the majority of cowardly journalists.
“Palestinians feel ‘unseen'” Palestine Ambassador to UK interview with Trevor Phillips. Note despite the pretense of level handedeness, Trevor prevents the Ambassador from fully explaining his points and constantly interrupts him. But the Ambassador is very impressive in the level headed and good natured way by which he handles this antagonistic interview.
https://news.sky.com/story/politics-latest-tories-braced-for-challenging-night-as-counting-under-way-in-double-by-election-test-12593360#6644764
Palestinians have been treated like dirt in almost every interviews I have seen in the MSM, take Piers Morgan, which have interviewed many palestinians/reps. and he is always condescending, do not want to hear what they are saying but when he interview israelis/reps. the atmosphere is so cozy and collegial and no hard questions asked, the pro-israelis spew propaganda, disinformation and Morgan sit there nodding.
Or take these headlines:
When Israel bombed a big house/facility the headline some years ago the headline was: “Israel-Gaza: Strike collapses building during live BBC report “
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kJFIKER1k8
Why not write what actually happend? Like: “Total destruction, warcrime: Israel strike a 20-storey residential apartment building in mid Gaza city”
Or this headline: Residential Building In Gaza Strip Collapses After Israeli Strike In Response To Hamas Attack
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teevWpXlRZY
So…if Israel bomb residential building, a warcrime in itself it is Hamas fault anyway.
Why are there never any headlines like: Residential building hit in Israel After Hamas Strike In Response To israeli Attack
The pro-israeli headlines are well-crafted, thought-through headlines going to great lengths to absolve Israel from attribution while trying to whip up emotions when it comes to palestinian actions.
Such headlines do not happen by mistake.
Where will the survivors live when the Israelis have finished? They are using Dresden as an excuse and a template in Gaza – seems like to flatten the whole area. Dresden was a war crime.
“Tzipi Hotovely, the Israeli ambassador to the UK, pointed to the bombing of Dresden in the second world war, as she insisted civilian casualties were inevitable in wars.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/20/the-gaza-diplomacy-of-biden-sunak-and-co-seems-to-be-heading-for-failure
Tzipi is entirely the wrong person to be ambo at this time. Clearly its another case of the current crisis coming out of the blue, and the Israeli .gov feeling that having a woman in a far from challenging (at the time) post was some PR benefit.
Say what you like about Israel, but I cant help but think that it would have been better to still have Regev in post right now, rather than some caricature of Gerald Broflovski’s Mrs from South Park.
However, they wont be able to change horses in midstream, so expect to see further weakening of what has been to date almost complete Israeli dominance of the narrative.
Is Regev the one in “The Lobby” leading the subversion of the British political system? He should be barred from Britain. Why would you want someone who is an enemy of Britain in the country, unless of course you don’t live in Britain and you don’t care about Britain and more importantly, the will of the British people?
Maybe they could give the job to the Minister of Internal Security Itamar Ben-Givr and he could come and explain why spitting on people is not a crime and increases the long-term security of Israel. What does your moral compass tell you Casual Observer about relgious bigots spitting on people, a legal act in the state of Israel, according to the delightful Mr Ben-Givr
“Say what you like about Israel,”
A country that pedals “Belgian Babies” propaganda, so it can massacre many thousands of innocent civilians incuding a large percentage of children and babies and destroys hospitals and places of worship. Current state policy to build a temple on al-Aqsa is not what David Ben-Gurion had in mind when he said the following in 1928 (quoted in “Ben-Gurion and the Palestinian Arabs” Teveth)
.āwe will not give our oppressors an opportunity to spread the libel that Jewish settlement constitutes a threat to Muslim and Christian holy places.ā
Israel is a threat to Muslim and Christian holy places, this is no libel but state policy.
There is an unfathomable destruction going on, every minute.
Thirty-one mosques destroyed in Gaza by Israeli attacks
The number of mosques destroyed in the Gaza Strip since October 7 has risen to 31, Gazaās ministry of endowments said.
One should not forget that Israel commit crimes right now in the Westbank
Israeli settlers destroy about 70 olive trees in a village in occupied West Bank: Wafa
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2023/10/21/israel-gaza-war-hamas-and-israel-spar-over-hostage-release
I do not know how human rights organizations or the ICC will be able to keep mum that this is wanton, deliberate destruction – that these are crimes against humanity and have traits of genocidal crimes.
Reported yesterday : Turkeyās Nationalist Party Leader and Erdoganās ruling partner Devlet Bahceli calls for immediate involvement of Turkish Army If a ceasefire cannot be achieved within 24 hours from today.
As a member of NATO, Turkey is the one country that could intervene, to put a stop to Israel’s land-grab masquerading as a fight against terrorism. The US’s sleepy Joe, would be forced to step in to rein in their rabid dog, Israel. Israel wouldn’t dare attack Turkey. And the US wouldn’t want to drive Turkey out of NATO and fully into the Russian camp.
My take is that a ceasefire will be declared by Israel on the 17th day of this madness. So the current bombing is at a final frenzy before it occurs. Don’t know what the ground invasion will look like but will be alongside humanitarian agencies.
The absurdity goes on, US moves in defense system for Israel and place them in arab nations:
US to deploy additional air defense systems near Israel
The Pentagon says it has dispatched additional THAAD and Patriot batteries to the region
https://swentr.site/news/585523-us-air-defense-israel-hamas/
The arab leaders become complicit in the slaughter of other muslims, arabs – the exact reason why 911 also occured.
Jared Kushner’s promotion and support for Mohammed bin Salman’s de facto takeover of the Kingdom, really seems to be paying off. Jordan,. Egypt ; KSA and Qatar basically neutralised and, sanction hit Syria too demilitarised & enfeebled to protest. They can do what they want. Who will stand up for Gaza?
Seems like the only persons that care for Gaza are, unfortunately, only small groups within the western and non-western world.
It is absurd that not one single nation have even kicked their israeli ambassador out by now.
UN warn time and time again for the catastrophe, a catastrophe that will in turn magnify as soon as Israel actually invade.
Philippe Lazzarini said in a written statement: āWithout fuel, there will be no water, no functioning hospitals and bakeries. Without fuel, aid will not reach many civilians in desperate need. Without fuel, there will be no humanitarian assistance.ā
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2023/10/21/israel-gaza-war-hamas-and-israel-spar-over-hostage-release
Israel have bombed refugees, children, multiple hospital institutions, used collective punishment in every imaginable way
But apparently no one cares. And if no one cares what is going on by now, what would change their mind? Nothing.
Israel and their apologists have already crossed all red lines there is.
Just last month, when Israel spread racism against Palestinians from the UN podium majority of arab reps. had left the room for Netanyahu, the saudi reps. did however not leave the room:
The hall was largely empty on what was the last morning of the gathering Friday, but in another encouraging sign for Netanyahu, a lone Saudi official wearing a black head covering sat listening to the entire speech. The address came two days after Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman struck an optimistic tone about the prospects of an agreement, telling Fox News that āevery day we get closerā to Saudi Arabia normalizing ties with Israel.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/palestinian-officials-fume-after-netanyahu-un-speech-call-address-arrogant-racist/
The Arab street should topple these horrible leaders once and for all, all they do is the bidding for Israel – put them on trial for treason! Perhaps the work to stop the mayhem in Gaza do not start in Gaza but in Saudiarabia, Qatar, UAE, Egypt, Jordan?
Although I usually agree with you, this analysis looks wrong to me. The Israeli accords with the Gulf are pretty fake. Only the small Gulf states have signed, those who depend on the US for protection. Saudi hasn’t – MbS is said to have kept Blinken waiting 14 hours. US and Israel want an agreement with Saudi, but it’s not going to happen, Saudi princes have to be aware of the massive sympathy for the Palestinians, and MbS has bent to the wind.
Egypt and Syria are too weak to resist.
“Who will stand up for Gaza?” The answer to that is complicated. There won’t be an immediate protector, but there’s a lot that goes in their interest.
this is how it looks like when people participate at a “pro-Israel” protest at Brandburger Tor.
https://www.berliner-zeitung.de/news/newsblog-verletzte-mehrere-festnahmen-an-der-sonnenallee-israelischer-luftangriff-auf-westjordanland-li.2151523
The President is present too.
(Don’t ask me what the Cuban flag is doing there on the left side.)
When you see images of pro-Palestine protests you see scattered small awkward groups mostly in presence of cops, out of order, looking chaotic, incoherent, often at night.
The politics of imagery would be worth a blog entry of its own.
Perhaps this would be an appropriate moment to revive “A taste of Palestine”, a film I made in 2019 and had not seen for a long time until last night. You will see Jericho, the Dead Sea, Ramallah and Bethlehem. But most appropriately you will see teachers, and schoolchildren from Gaza performing extracts from short plays that they had written. The original plan had been to visit them in Gaza but in the end it proved simpler bring them out to Bethlehem. It was the first time they had ever been out of their prison camp.
Just a couple of weeks ago I was discussing applying to go to Gaza, but now the infrastructure we had set up there is probably destroyed and obviously a visit is out of the question. I have been unable to obtain information as to the current status of the people you will see. If I get it I will update.
Please stick with it, it’s just about 30 minutes.
Vimeo.com/343618593
When I tried the link a notice came up to say it could not be found. What does this mean do you think ? Is there another way to watch your film ?
I just clicked the link and it came up ok.
Check it again.
I donāt know if there is some geographic issue.
Vimeo is blocked in China I know, living there.
I am currently in Cebu, Philippines. No problem here.
Where are you?
Thanks, but itās still not working here. Iām in Wales. Perhaps you are right it is a geographic problem. I will keep trying.
Hi Walt, I’ve been trying to get it also, but unfortunately it’s not appearing. I’m in Germany.
I found it by switching VPN to TĆ¼rkiye.
@Walt
thx! plain and without false pretense. I like that.
p.s. youtube has Eyal SivanĀ“s doc “Route 181” but without subs. So I didnĀ“t post it here.
@A Bruce
I am in GER too now and vimeo worked perfectly fine.
Is this the Hannibal Directive in action?
“Israel has rejected the return of two Israeli detainees from Gaza.
It is believed that Israeli air strikes have killed at least 22 Israeli detainees in Gaza since the 7th of October.”
https://nitter.net/Lowkey0nline/status/1715834960555212838#m
Jeremy Corbyn on the slaughter in Gaza by the Zionists.
A snippet.
“As it stands, over 3,000 Palestinians have been killed. This is on top of the thousands of Palestinians who have been killed over the past decade. Not only in Gaza but in the West Bank too. Total war seems to be the only policy in town.
Pleas for a ceasefire by neighbouring countries, the UN, and political leaders from the global South have been resolutely rejected by Israel.
The Brazilian government of Lula Ignacio da Silva has consistently tried to help end the killings, not only in this war but in Russia and Ukraine, too.
As the current president of the UN security council, Brazil crafted a ceasefire motion and determinately negotiated, even changing the wording to āhumanitarian pause.ā The United States vetoed it. Britain abstained.
The following day, US President Joe Biden arrived in Tel Aviv on Airforce One, enthusiastically embracing Benjamin Netanyahu and announced full support for Israel.
The US presidency has committed warships and hardware for the protection of Israel and its continued, illegal occupation. The European Union has done the same.
Rishi Sunak also felt the need to go to Tel Aviv and pledge his and Britainās all. No words of peace pass his lips; just more and more money for armaments.”
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/f/human-catastrophe-unfolding-real-time-middle-east
Wow, Labour’s love/loyalty of/to the Zionists murderers is so complete that they can’t even admit when war crimes are being perpetrated on the oppressed Palestinians.
“Nandy is asked 3 times whether Israel breached international law when it cut off power & water to Gaza
Nandy refuses to answer. Instead she obfuscates & says Israel has the right to defend itself. When pressed for the third time she says it would be grandstanding to answer the Q”
https://nitter.net/SaulStaniforth/status/1716021123958149313#m
Craig said of the above.
“Just think of this seriously for a moment.
The Labour Party has an international development spokesperson who does not think it is wrong to cut off food and water to millions, half of them children.
Say that out loud.”
https://nitter.net/CraigMurrayOrg/status/1716039554736554422#m
Why are they so afraid to say “Yes” to the question?? What would happen if she admit that Israel have breached international law??
It is so obvious that they have. Why deny it? It is like she have a gun aimed to her head! And Labour, I would not be surprised if Tories put on this absurd show – but Labour, why?? No one knows the answer of course.
By the way, why are not BBC pushing the UK Tory gov. reps to answer this question too?
Even a violent UFC fighter, that has taken thousands of blows to his head in the fighting cage has more to say than this lisping despicable woman.
Video UFC champion Khamzat Chimaev calls for peace as Gaza child death toll climbs
Russian UFC champion Khamzat Chimaev calls for peace in speech following his fight against Kamaru Usman. āI see the kids dying,ā he said, adding that seeing any children killed off regardless of faith is hard. Since 7 October 2023,
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20231022-ufc-champion-khamzat-chimaev-calls-for-peace-as-gaza-child-death-toll-climbs/
Nandy is funded by Israel lobbyist Trevor Chinn. So are Starmer and Lammy.
Yes. Funded to the extent that they can only say what their paymasters permit them to. They do not represent their constituents, they do not represent the people of the UK . They are truly fifth columnists, the enemy of this country. Why are they not in prison ?
And they won their seats when Corbyn was leader. So how many of their votes were really votes for Corbyn?
“And Labour, I would not be surprised if Tories put on this absurd show ā but Labour, why??”
Surely you mean that you wouldn’t be surprised if the Conservatives put on this absurd show? Both they and Labour have been Tories ever since Corbyn stopped being Labour leader.
Why can’t they answer that question? Because if they did so truthfully and honourably, they would have to accuse themselves of anti Semitism and expel themselves from the party – that is the precedent they have established under Starmer.
some members of the PLP have shown that any sign of lack of total and unquestioning support for Israel, even the objective stance taken by Jezza, will be met with internal strife even to the extent of the field being surrendered to the Conservatives.
With a GE expected within the next year any hope that Labour will deviate from the status quo is undoubtedly forlorn.
What deviation are you anticipating after a GE? “Labour”is Starmer, Mandleson and Reeves.
Labour and the two other major English parties are using the current outbreak of violence in the Holy Land to distract from their previous, and stunningly poor policy decision, to back the Ukraine against all prevailing logic. Notice the Daily Express has taken the opportunity to use the crisis in order to ditch the Ukraine flag and pledge of support from its mast head; I doubt it’ll be back.
Labour will at some point realise they’ve put themselves between the proverbial Rock and a Hard Place, inasmuch as they have harnessed the Muslim vote in the UK (by and large), and that it is precisely that constituency that is able to get tens of thousands onto the street. Or, in a famous case, get Gorgeous George elected in a safe Labour seat, whilst he ran for a very minor party.
It’s interesting that the SNP, having a leader that has family in Gaza, have been rather more neutral on the topic ?
So ultimately Labour will have to change. But don’t hold your breath waiting.
“. Instead she obfuscates & says Israel has the right to defend itself.”
It looks like they have all received direct instructions to keep saying these words at awkward moments and they dare not say anything else.
Another purge, the mere mentioning that “western allies” in this war have commited war crimes is too much for the west:
Web Summit CEO Paddy Cosgrave resigns over Israel āwar crimesā post
Paddy Cosgrave received a wave of backlash over his public comments accusing Israel of breaching international law.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/22/web-summit-ceo-paddy-cosgrave-resigns-over-israel-war-crimes-post
Why do people succumb to idiocy and mob mentality? Stand your ground!
UN: Gaza will run out of fuel within 3 days
āWe need fuelā: UNRWAās Gaza director āThis fuel runs desalination plants to provide drinkable water, provides food [by powering] bakeries, allows hospitals to keep running and for our big logistics operations here, it fuels our cars and generators.ā
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2023/10/21/israel-gaza-war-hamas-and-israel-spar-over-hostage-release
If Israel on top of the dire situation also invade in the coming days, it would generate even more mass death and lethal diseases. This is a man-made humanitarian crisis.
Stephen Walt: America Is a Root Cause of Israel and Palestineās Latest War
How 30 years of U.S. policy ended in disaster.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/10/18/america-root-cause-war-israel-gaza-palestine/
Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer wrote the book “The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy” back in 2008
https://www.amazon.com/Israel-Lobby-U-S-Foreign-Policy/dp/0374531501
A very good book even though much have happend since.
In other news: At least 266 Palestinians killed in Gaza in past 24 hours: Ministry – Dr. Ashraf al-Qudra said that 117 of the victims were children.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2023/10/21/israel-gaza-war-hamas-and-israel-spar-over-hostage-release
And Egyptian soldiers hurt in israeli attack by “accident”
Egypt says soldiers hurt in Israelās āaccidentalā shelling
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2023/10/21/israel-gaza-war-hamas-and-israel-spar-over-hostage-release
The islamic/arab nations need a military coalition of the willing to stop this madness going on.
Yet like so many people agencies and politicians, they fail to say who killed them, when we all know who it was.
“We are in shock and mourning.
It is now confirmed that 29 of our colleagues inš#Gaza have been killed since October 7.
Half of these colleagues were @unrwa teachers.
As an Agency, we are devastated. We are grieving with each other and with the families.”
https://nitter.net/UNRWA/status/1716069145882570956#m
pro-Israel protest in Berlin with 10,000 people.
“President Steinmeier and Chancellor Scholz call for the protection of Jewish life in Germany. In Berlin, at least 10,000 people demonstrate in favor of Israel.”
https://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/antisemitismus-nahostkonflikt-bundespraesident-bundeskanzler-dessau-brandenburger-tor-1.6291845
But, in the final paragraph (you don’t need The Intercept to understand this tactic): still pro-Palestine protests are growing (but no pretty pictures of those).
“Over the weekend, thousands of people again gathered in several German cities for pro-Palestinian demonstrations. In DĆ¼sseldorf, according to police, about 6,900 people gathered for a protest march under the slogan “Condemnation of war crimes against the civilian population in Gaza.” In Berlin, up to 3500 people gathered, according to police. After the end of the demonstration, there were again unauthorized gatherings in Neukƶlln, according to police, and pyrotechnics were burned in isolated cases. Demonstrations were also held in Frankfurt am Main, Hanover and Cologne. The events remained largely peaceful.”
* * *
While the US DoD gives a press conference where Admiral Aquilino (! what a name for an Admiral) assures that the US being the sole global power can do war against China, contain Russia, and support Israel.
For those who have time: search “Israel” in the transcript. There are 70 mentions of “Israel” and a longer piece where even the reporter clowns in the press conference insist that there is a contradiction between the US assuring of rule of law by IDF and what is really happening in Gaza.
Interesting re: the hospital bombing: DoD, despite all their tech, claim to still NOT know who did it.
https://www.defense.gov/News/Transcripts/Transcript/Article/3560482/sabrina-singh-deputy-pentagon-press-secretary-holds-a-press-briefing-with-assis/
tis a mystery who did it, like who was ultimately responsible for blowing up the Nordstream pipeline?
to whom it may concern – this is sarcasm.
“pro-Israel protest in Berlin with 10,000 people.”
Not a lot. There were 100,000 at the pro-Palestine march in London on Saturday (and that’s the police figure; the organisers said 300K).
congrats
but is that possibly due to GB having an entirely different significance for immigrants as the former worldĀ“s biggest colonial power?
I sometimes figured that what once was a burden for the enslaved might turn into a source of enlightement for domestic British realities today (or am I naive?)
* * *
allow me to present at least one specimen of those German newspaper articles that convey a perception of this conflict, of this world, of history for that matter reminiscient of a 12 year old
https://taz.de/Solidaritaet-mit-Israel-Demo-in-Berlin/!5965063/
“(…)
Solidarity with Israel: Demonstration in Berlin: Gestures – but with impact
The demonstration at the Brandenburg Gate is a signal to Jews and Israelis: You are not alone. But does it really represent civil society?
Finally! Two weeks after the Hamas massacre of Israeli civilians, a significant number of Germans have come together in protest against this pogrom. An unmissable crowd demonstrated in Berlin on Sunday.
This event is more than just a way of reassuring oneself that one is on the right side, namely that of civilization. Probably none of the participants will have harbored any illusions about influencing Hamas’ policies. For the terrorist group, it is completely irrelevant whether there are demonstrations in Berlin or not. But this does not apply to the Israelis, who must continue to fear for their lives, and it certainly does not apply to the Jews in Germany.
There is the attempted attack on a Berlin synagogue. There are the Stars of David, which, like Nazi markings, are affixed to the apartment doors of Jews.
The burning and stolen Israel flags all over Germany do not contribute to more confidence, not to mention the violent riots on the fringes of Palestinian demonstrations, not to mention the anti-Semitic hatred spread widely on the Internet. All this together produces fear. Have you ever received anonymous invective in your mailbox? If not, then you were either lucky or you are not Jewish.
The demonstration at the Brandenburg Gate is therefore an attempt to tell the Jews living here that they are not alone. We cannot take away their fear. But we can assure them of our solidarity. This is what President Steinmeier said in Berlin, and what Chancellor Olaf Scholz did on the same day when he attended the dedication of the synagogue in Dessau – 85 years after the destruction of the old place of worship. They are gestures, but they are very important
Hard on the edge of the rule of law
In Dessau, the state showed its presence and demonstrated where it stands. But the rally in Berlin was not characterized by civil society either, whose languor in this matter seems more than alarming.
Probably out of concern that only the usual suspects would be comfortable demonstrating, a very broad alliance had formed to support them – from the Greens to the CSU, from employers to the unions. With all due understanding, this alliance went too far, turning a demonstration into an act of state.
It is not the job of a federal president to speak at a civil society event. This gives the impression that a demonstration has been hijacked by state actors. This has done more harm than good, because it raises doubts as to whether it is really civil society in Germany that is expressing its solidarity.
Display
A few hundred meters away from the solidarity rally for Israel, Palestinians also wanted to demonstrate on Sunday. It was banned. This and other bans may be well justified in light of anti-Semitic hate messages at previous events. It stands to reason that this rally, too, could not have been for the pain of civilians, but for solidarity with terrorists. The ban is nevertheless a tool hard on the edge of the rule of law. It makes some people believe that Palestinians are not allowed to demonstrate, but Germans are. This view is wrong. But it will not create distance from the Islamists in the minds of many Germans of Arab origin.(…)”
Again as so often with these texts it carries a certain air of contempt and intricate disbelief that “the Arab”, “the Palestinian” is in fact ready to join the civilized world. And that secretly they are supported and hailed by invisible German antisemites who will lay the ground for a 4th Reich either willfully or for lack of far-sighted wisdom.
And while the authors are gaming out all this incredible fiction via more or less unfriendly and covert racist insinuations IDF is killing thousands of people and carrying out acts considered genocide everywhere outside Germany and the EU.
p.s. when the German Nationalistsocialist Underground started to assassinate Turks in the early 2000s for many years German public was speaking of in-fights within clans typical for the Oriental societies.(not above quoted “left” paper but the conservative Springer press e.g.)
another perverse game:
I wonder how German papers would react today did we experience a Haganah 2.0 killing Palestinians in Germany in revenge for the Hamas attacks.
“but is that possibly due to GB having an entirely different significance for immigrants as the former worldĀ“s biggest colonial power?”
I would say – but that is an opinion – that the difference is the guilt element in Germany over the Holocaust. The Israel Lobby in Britain addresses mainly the politically influential in society. The man in the street remains free to think what he wants over Israel/Palestine (if he doesn’t slavishly follow the media), and liberal society is quite pro-Palestinian these days.
However someone who was there at the demo tells me that it was 70% Muslims/Arabs and 30% whites; so it wasn’t yet that large a number of locals.
To AG, thanks for your information from a German perspective.
Can you remind me about the German woman, now in her 80s – if still alive! – who has been repeatably imprisoned in Germany because of her views on the Concentration Camps, during the war. I’ve seen on this site, previously, that every year supporters leave flowers for her, outside the prison.
Dear Craig,
A little off topic but I can never write about life amongst bridge working folk again, because the bastards sacked me in August, for posting tweets on the works twitter account that someone complained about (and stalked me to boot). Apparently she didn’t like me commenting on a film of nazi terrorists pouring concrete into the wells of Palestinian farmers (“Nazi bastards”). I don’t miss the bike rides at 4:00 a.m. or the twelve hour shifts. I’ve seen a fair few ex-bridge staff at my new job at a petrol station and some of my ex-regulars who I miss. The quality of life I have now is a plane above the sheer drudgery that the Bridge gig turned into. It will have to be life among petrol flogging folk, the next time you get busted. ;O)
—
[ Mod: Craig often doesn’t read past the earliest comments under articles, so it might be better to send him an email. ]
this is the funniest and most real comment I read from you Squeeth, thank you.
I divert. Voting for genocide complicit political parties at the next GE is not expressing voters power, but, not voting en masse, the real power we have, will deprive them of any legitimacy even if they big themselves up with getting small percentages.
NO MORE THAN 5% BOYCOTT,
DO NOT VOTE for genocide and the end of humanity/rights.
” Voting for genocide complicit political parties at the next GE is not expressing voters power, ”
Or you could vote for a non-genocide complicit candidate, if you can find one.
Try harder ;O)
A couple of years ago Noam Chomsky pointed out that by now the majority of the Israel lobby in the US is comprised by right-wing Christian groups. The traditional milieu, left liberal Jews had turned away (progress?!). He added that many of these new “Allies” in fact sided with Israel out of antisemitic sentiments. Many others of course out of hatred for Arabs.
This is one example of a US right-wing group rallying for Israel government policies:
“Christian Right Cites Violent Biblical Amalek Trope to Justify Israelās Tactics – Many Christian Zionists are backing genocide by likening Hamas to a biblical tribe that God promised to exterminate.
https://truthout.org/articles/christian-right-cites-violent-biblical-amalek-trope-to-justify-israels-tactics/
It’s what happens when many of the groups coming in to found the place were religious nutters who were forced out of mainstream society in their original places of domicile.
Look at the Plymouth Rock crowd, a sort of Christian ISIS of their day.
Then think of the pre-Internet, -TV, and -Radio days: the Book of Revelation in a household whose only written work may have been the Bible provides entertainment aplenty, replete with such things as Spacemen and Flying Saucers. It’s a veritable pre-industrial Star Trek.
Then there’s the Old Testament, full of wonders that beguile. š
Assange:
I have posted a short Interview with Stella Assange conducted by Berliner Zeitung last night under Craig MurrayĀ“s blog post “The Slow Motion Execution of Julian Assange.”
At last some good news from friends of mine from the 2SLGBTQQIA+ community who are stuck in Gaza. They are so happy that Hamas are running out of high-rise buildings from which they could be thrown off. It’s nice to see that every horror has a sunny side.
What a very strange post.
As long as She is happy with thousands people killed and ABCD+ buried in the ruble in stead of being push from high-rise building.
Caitlin JohnstoneĀ“s latest:
“The Insane Idea That Nations Get To Do War Crimes Whenever Something Bad Happens To Them”
https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/the-insane-idea-that-nations-get
Her introducing paragraphs are actually more important than one might think initally due to the sarcasm.
“One of the most destructive ideas in modern times is this notion that itās fine and appropriate for governments to act like monsters whenever anything bad happens to their country. We saw it happen with the United States after 9/11, and weāre seeing it now with Israel.
Dropping military explosives on children is just as wrong now as it was on October 6th. Wars of aggression were just as wrong on September 12th 2001 as they were on September 10th. But thereās this idiotic belief in mainstream culture that a nation experiencing a traumatic event means it gets to go on a murderous rampage until it feels better. ”
The monopoly of use of force as political scientists or lawyers like to call it.
The perversion lies within the construction of law and statehood itself.
Who is allowed to kill whom how – that to control in very particular terms is one function of those rules and laws – what makes borders such an awful as much as ridiculous cause of wars. And how to disregard those laws, too.
And since all the nonsense is enshrined in these laws forever once they have been adopted we see all the knee-jerk double-standard.
Otherwise people would ask those simple and dangerous questions that you donĀ“t want.
Too little too late but nonetheless:
Amnesty: UK politicians ‘failing to hold Israel to account’ on human rights
https://www.thenational.scot/news/23871841.uk-politicians-failing-hold-israel-account-human-rights/
And by not stopping Israel, we risk a fanatical genocide against Iran too (not to mention a genocide against Lebanon, Syria by the same Israel)
Israeli minister threatens to wipe Iranās leaders āoff the face of the Earthā
https://swentr.site/news/585550-israel-hamas-threat-gaza/
Why on earth would this senseless killing be in the interest of the west?? Still they let it happen, because of this braindead “israel have the right” argument to do it?!