The cause of the tragic Druze deaths in Majdal Shams was the illegal Israeli occupation in Syria, a fact which the residents of the town are clear about. The large majority of the Druze community in the Golan Heights has always refused to accept Israeli citizenship.
That picture is from a demonstration four years ago, but it shows that the Golan Druze know where their allegiance lies, and it is not with their Israeli occupiers.
The deaths are a tragedy, and they would be a tragedy if they were Druze, Palestinian or Jewish kids. The right of occupied peoples to armed resistance against Israel is absolute, but that does not remove the personal tragedy of anybody who loses their children.
But last night the disproportion of the BBC coverage of these deaths, which the BBC blamed on Hezbollah, compared to the coverage of Palestinian deaths in Gaza, was so outrageous as to be beyond parody and almost beyond belief.
It was the lead item on the main news. It was the full treatment. Intrepid British BBC journalist visits the scene, shows the blast area and damaged football pitch, interviews eye witnesses, interviews parents, scenes of funerals. Grief piled upon grief. Bellicose self-righteous statements from Israeli ministers.
It was not just hugely more coverage than given to any of the ten times the number of kids in Gaza who have been killed on average every single day for nearly ten months; we have a direct comparator where Israel recently attacked a Palestinian children’s football game killing scores more people.
The Palestinians did not get a British BBC journalist, coverage of the funerals, interviews with relatives. That incident got about 3% of the BBC airtime.
Furthermore, while reporting the Hezbollah denial, the BBC then said that the United States regime had confirmed it was a Hezbollah missile, as though that settled it.
The notion that the United States is either a neutral or an honest arbiter is utterly ludicrous. But it passes muster in BBC la-la land.
Israel has been bombarding Syria relentlessly from long before October 2023 and has continued unabated – and unreported by western media. Israel’s attacks on civilian areas of Damascus this last few weeks have been devastating.
It is pretty obvious that any loose missile that dropped on Majdal Shams is likely to have come from Israel, which is slinging huge quantities of munitions into Syria and Lebanon with wild abandon.
Alternatively if Netanyahu wished to pull a false flag to justify escalation, it is also pretty obvious he would choose a minority community within Israel as the victims.
Of course, to paraphrase Noam Chomsky, anybody in the BBC capable of such thoughts would no longer be in the BBC.
Finally, many congratulations to Nicolas Maduro on his re-election in Venezuela.
I have to confess I got this wrong. I thought the huge amount of effort and money poured in by the CIA would be effective, particularly in undermining key officials through bribery. The collaboration of Twitter and Meta with the CIA programme also looked more effective than it evidently was.
A great day for democracy. In a few hours’ time I shall raise a glass of Lagavulin to Nicolas Maduro and the revolution in Venezuela.
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re: Venezuela
Aaron Maté today quoting John Bolton in the WaPo admitting that the economic war was conducted to drive people out of Venezuela:
“(…)“There was no doubt the sanctions, along with the general economic deterioration before we imposed them, was driving a lot of people out of the country,” Bolton said. “ … That, to me, was a way to put pressure on the country.”(…)”
https://x.com/aaronjmate/status/1817787723467387117
And Jeffrey Sachs had already spoken about this well before 2020
See his 2 min. comment on Democracy Now:
https://x.com/afshinrattansi/status/1817882193919987855
Re Venezuela, CIA had two contingency plans.
A. In the event of a Gonzales victory get his supporters out chanting “freedom and democracy” waving flags and rely on msm to do the rest
B. In the event of a Maduro victory get the Gonzales opposition out to cause mayhem and rely on the msm to do the rest.
Plan A does not apply and regardless of B, Maduro will remain President of Venezuela, despite the efforts of Blinken, who will be out of a job soon, the despicable Musk, Meta and the rest. USA will continue its dirty tricks, msm will continue to buy USA propaganda, but the BRICS nations will continue to defy American imperialism which will continue on its downward path.
Who is Gonzales and what happened to that Geoduck dude, welcomed by US Congress a couple of years ago?
Crispa
What is the purpose of Maduro’s government?
The well being of its people? Not really. They are pauperised and fleeing for the hated USA. Which they hate?
The sovereign independence of Venezuela? Not really, as sovereignty without the ability to feed and clothe the people is simply despotism.
What is the purpose of Starmer’s government?
Not the well-being of it’s people.
It’s purpose is to make sure the super wealthy are able to use the economy as they see fit – privatise the NHS etc – so the hedge funds can get richer and the rest of us can get poorer.
People may indeed be fleeing Venezuela, it has been under wide spectrum attack by America since Chavez came to power. Most American oil refineries are tooled to process Venezuelan heavy, sour crude, so I bet oil companies are keen for regime change in the country
Will Moon
The Venezuelans fleeing their country aren’t heading to Cuba, still less to Russia.
Guess what?
They are heading North.
Sources JK
The majority initially went to other South American countries but many have since moved on towards the US.
https://www.csis.org/analysis/persistence-venezuelan-migrant-and-refugee-crisis
Yes, they are. According to J J Carroll, 24 years with the U S Customs and Border Protection, in his “Invasion,” 30 million migrants have entered the US during Biden’s Presidency. Can’t all be Venezuelans! Cheers!
“The majority initially went to other South American countries but many have since moved on towards the US.”
So they’ve not actually got there, just are moving to countries north of where they started. So if I went to live in Ireland from the UK, I’d be “moving on towards the USA” as well, would I?
The Starmer government is continuity of the brl liberal Conservative government.
Refusal to end two child benefit cap, the removal of winter fuel allowance from all pensioners save those on means tested benefits with earnings less than £318 per week, the proposal to introduce NHS hospital charging, the increased participation of the private sector into the NHS, the granting of £3bn of aid to Ukraine, the ramping up of defence spending is all there to see.
The Tory agenda continues. Starmer is the continuity man.
JK redux
What is the purpose of your question which has zilch to do with what I wrote? USA has been savagely attacking and sabotaging the Venezuela economy for the last twenty odd years as it has Cuba for longer and others. It is impossible to say how things might have turned out otherwise.
Suppose, there had been normal trade relationships with say Venezuelan oil being freely exchanged for USA goods and services.
Win win all round. Simple.
Except USA is pathologically incapable of normal relationships with countries it does not like and even some it purports to like, as shown by its behaviour over Nord Stream.
Crisps
If you care to answer my question (“what is the purpose of the Maduro regime”) I’ll be glad to answer yours.
One possible answer to my question : “to keep Maduro and his cronies in the style to which they have become accustomed”.
Apologies Crispa, , predictive spelling changed your name to Crisps!
“One possible answer to my question : “to keep Maduro and his cronies in the style to which they have become accustomed”.
Another possible answer, “to try and prevent the USA stealing all their oil”. Sure as shit, if the USA got their man in, the ordinary Venezuelans would get even less revenue from their country’s resources than they do at the moment. Just look at Argentina.
Crispa.
You are subject to tag – teaming from the Denison and Hubble Road mobs.
But I digress, severe sanctions have been placed on Venezuela by the US and its obedient minions in Central and South America – as well as European nations – and as we all know sanction are a form of war by other means.
The idea is to turn the majority of Venezuelans against Maduro’s government – but that plan isn’t working, just as it didn’t work in Cuba.
Some Venezuelans are bound to leave the country due to hardships.
Oh – I didn’t know that.
So, the unfree Venezuelans are being welcomed into the US with open arms? Come one – come all. Huddled masses and all that crap.
The US has openly stated it is black politics they are interested in solely. The Black of oil.
You really ought to stay in more and watch telly. It’s all on there.
Have you ever wondered why even the senile Biden keeps talking about “A great investment” vis Ukraine and Israel? Because all the others around him keep saying it – it is not his idea.
I’m sure the US will improve Venezuela no end like Haiti- Libya- Iraq – Afghanistan and so on. They have come on a ton since the Regimes changed haven’t they?
Unfortunately for Blackrock et al the place the US wants to “invest” in the Donbass is under Russian control. The investors don’t like that, just like they don’t like Venezuela having ‘their’ oil.
By the way – once the Ukraine is no longer at war with Russia watch Poland, they have designs on Kiev and Lyviv. I hear Putin is not too bothered about that at all.
Ali Abunimah, co-founder and editor of Electronic Intifada (EI) has been threatened with prison and fines by the German government via a letter. He had given a Zoom speech as part of Palestine Conference in Exile held online on 25-26 July in Berlin:
https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/germany-threatening-me-prison-talk-palestine
“(…)Authorities in Berlin are threatening me with prison for giving a speech via Zoom to an audience in Germany on that country’s role in Israel’s ongoing holocaust against the Palestinian people in Gaza.(…) About two hours before my scheduled talk on 26 July, I received via a lawyer in Germany a 15-page notice from government authorities in Berlin informing me that I am prohibited from participating in the conference by any means, including online. The penalties include fines and up to one year in prison. (…)”.
One reader commentary on EI links to a lengthy piece German lawyer Kai Ambos who by our standards on Craig´s blog is rather soft but by German standard most likely hits the ceiling in his criticism of Israel (he just published a book on this.). (I might have posted Ambos´s piece already in the forum, it´s from May.)
The Kai Ambos legal essay is on the Verfassungsblog/Constitutional blog, which I have mentioned here in the past.
Ambos is reflecting on the infamously banned Palestine Conference in Berlin when Varoufakis and Abu Sitta had been banned from entering Germany so they couldn´t participate
.
The German vesion is here:
https://verfassungsblog.de/scharfgestellte-staatsrason/
google-translated:
https://verfassungsblog-de.translate.goog/scharfgestellte-staatsrason/?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_pto=wapp
Ambos ends:
“(…)
Conclusion
The events surrounding the Berlin Palestine Congress are an expression of a worrying narrowing of discourse that has provoked only head shaking or sheer horror abroad. Berlin was once considered a haven of artistic (and other) freedom, but now, according to the New York Times , this has been “turned on its head by debates about what can and cannot be said about Israel and the war.” Israeli intellectuals and artists working in Germany also see an ” unprecedented restriction” of freedom of protest and expression . The Irish Independent, another flagship of republican freedom of expression, reports with dismay about the police ban on the singing of Irish songs in Gaelic at a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Berlin because they could contain anti-Semitic content. Even here in Germany, the “ Welt ” newspaper – which is known to be extremely pro-Israel – is asking whether “it should be considered normal that it now seems to be becoming the norm to impose entry bans on people because people are afraid of their expressions of opinion (!)?”
(…)”
As the 2 comments on the bottom of that page point out this is pretty significant.
Which is why I mention it here.
We are in fact experiencing the manifestation of forcing scholarship to kneel in front of state power and ideology which forces academics to possibly lie. Who knows if Ambos, were laws in Germany different might express more radical views. (This is pure speculation. But we will never know due to our laws.)
Please remember that I have repeatedly pointed at the German “Holocaust” aspect which makes it impossible for Germany to draw comparison to Gaza. Abunimah has misregarded all these dishonest stops which are intrinsic to German discourse:
“(…) I talk about how Chancellor Olaf Scholz and foreign minister Annalena Baerbock have spread fabricated Israeli atrocity propaganda that justifies and incites genocide, and I called for both German leaders to be brought to justice.
I try to answer the question of why Germany, which purports to be a modern democracy, would arm and support Israel as it exterminates Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
I explain that, in fact, the German alliance with Zionism predates World War II and has its roots in the anti-Semitic ideas of Protestants in the 19th century. It continued through the Nazi Holocaust and remains intact into the present day.
Indeed, far from being the modern democracy it proclaims itself to be, many of the institutions of West Germany – later reunified Germany – were founded by former members of the Hitler regime.
(…)”
I am not surprised German authorities did what they did. If I could guess the most important reason for them is Abunimah bringing in the Holocaust and attacking Scholz and Baerbock (since I would guess their legal teams are also involved into this one way or the other.)
As I said in winter I disagree with a comparison with the Holocaust (may be I am wrong, my be not.)
But it actually is totally meaningless. That was almost a century ago and Germans seem to not understand that atrocities and how they are carried out change with the times.
In no way should – what happened in 1942+ – determine our actions today.
Otherwise you witness what happens. But this concerns not only “evil” lawyers. You will find many fine private citizens of the older generation (many of whom hate NATO e.g.) who do admit that Israel is committing war crimes but on the other hand would never agree with Craig Mokhiber´s letter from October (they fall for the 1967 fantasy). Because that would make them feel like betraying Jews who were killed by the German parent generation. I will not get into the complexities of this historical interpretation. Just stating it. Yet when meeting people you have to contend with this.
And with Abunimah – who lives abroad, now in the US, not Germany – has in fact happened what I had warned of before.
The law is lashing out against one of the bravest and honest media figures in the West on this topic.
This is of the highest significance because the question of Holocaust and how it relates to the question of first amendment is ontologic to German political support for the genocide and academic research in the FRG.
To put it simply:
As long as Holocaust may not be drawn into comparisons with other atrocities – i.e. it will become relative – (Holocaust by law is absolute, people even have to go to prison if they question this too harshly as you can see with the non-German citizen Abunimah) – Germany will never cease to support Israel.
Only the eruption of world-destroying violence due to Israeli policy would force German governments to reconsider. That´s why the “Holocaust” issue is so important beyond mere rhetoric.
“The notion that the United( States is either a neutral or an honest arbiter is utterly ludicrous. But it passes muster in BBC la-la land.”
The BBC knew Biden was lying about having seen beheaded babies. It knows that Kamala Harris is still lying about “mass sexual crimes” by Hamas. It knows they’re pushing these lies in an effort to justify one of the worst of crimes in all of history – a holocaust.
It knows this as well as anybody yet still presents these people to its audience as the most trustworthy, respectable voices on the planet, bar none.
That is really the BBC boiled down to its essence.
As far as I’m aware, U Watt, whilst the BBC has interviewed members of the Israeli government who’ve claimed that sexual violence by Hamas etc took place in southern Israel on October 7th 2023, and broadcast speeches by its supporters alleging the same thing, no BBC employee has ever made that claim on air or in writing – unlike the host of this website:
https://x.com/CraigMurrayOrg/status/1748404235627016604
(Note: Sexual violence doesn’t always occur in war – see the Falklands War and several others.)
You’re right, the BBC has been relentless in promoting the mass rape hoax, knowing very well that it is a hoax, never informing its audience that not a single proven case of rape exists. Rather different to Craig, even you will admit.
Kamala Harris has been out there promoting the hoax this week. You know very well why she is doing it. So does the BBC. My point was that they are dishonest enough to portray such an individual as one of the most trustworthy, respectable voices on the planet. Once you know those are BBC standards it’s sensible to stop buying in.
Thanks for your reply, U Watt. The Beeb has interviewed representatives of the Palestine cause who’ve contested the claims. Yes, BBC employees are different from our host, in that none of them appear to have ever tweeted that Hamas ‘almost certainly’ carried out sexual violence on October 7th – and if any of them ever did when they were pissed, I’d imagine that they would have quickly deleted it when they’d sobered up and hope that not too many people noticed.
Kamala Harris is saying what she has about putative sexual violence on October 7th because that’s what’s written on the teleprompter, and because she probably believes it (she hasn’t had time to study the evidence), just as most British politicians genuinely believe that the Skripals were poisoned with Novichok by ‘Borishov & Petrov’*. As well as being the Democrat candidate to be the next US president, what with the state Biden’s in these days, Kamala Harris is pretty much the acting president. It’s not unreasonable that the Beeb airs her speeches. It used to air many of Trump’s when he was president, as well as his election rallies. I doubt whether many at the Beeb agree with everything he says.
* Several highly intelligent people with advanced science degrees at a couple of my former places of work used to think the same thing – and very likely still do.
Well there we have it, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh killed and that in Iran!
After some 60 ovations Netanyahu got in the US congress he obviously felt embolden enough to strike Beirut and Iran and killing top Hamas and one of the top commanders of Hezbollah in just 1 day. The only thing Israel know is ruthless violence.
As I said some hours ago in an earlier comment here, this is embarrassing to watch how Israel play the arab, muslim world like a fiddle…and now even Iran.
Lets see how the corrupt arab leaders will react this time, will they be inactive, passive as usual, perhaps some cliche-ridden “condemnation”. Sigh.
“Lets see how the corrupt arab leaders will react this time, will they be inactive, passive as usual, perhaps some cliche-ridden “condemnation”.
You forget the lengthy campaign organised by Israel to weaken Arab powers one by one using the USA as their proxy, to pay and take the casualties. Iraq, followed by Syria followed by Libya. Egypt was suborned by corruption. There is no Arab power left that could challenge Israel. Did you not know that?
And, apparently the USA and UK were in on the attack, surprise, surprise, because a number of their ships are heading towards the Mediterranean. Implying knowledge and advanced planning.
https://sputnikglobe.com/20240731/blatant-assassination-of-haniyeh-may-have-been-crossing-a-red-line–ex-cia-officer-1119576337.html
Republic of Scotland
If Russia and China are as benevolent and as economically successful as many here believe, trade with them by Venezuela and Cuba would more than compensate for the sanctions imposed by the USA?
No?
JK Redux
What Great idea. Perhaps build some oil refineries in Cuba? Not sure John (he is the Walrus) Bolton will like that.
Anyway – thanks for the suggestion and I’ll take it up with my Controller and see if it works its way up to XI and Putin. You never know?
MMC
I’m sure that Russia and China would be happy to build a few refineries in Venezuela out of the goodness of their hearts?
They would probably make gifts of them to the Venezuelan people.
With no strings attached..
Netanyahu’s visit to DC was all about arranging this.
Well I am shocked. I didn’t know how wicked the world was until now JK redux. Thanks for opening my eyes.
We and the Chinese and Russia live in a capitalist world so what would you expect them to do? Sell their gold and give it to the poor? The very same poor manufactured by the Neo-liberal West. I know charity has become a replacement for what the State should do but that’s taking the piss.
China uses ‘Win – Win’ as its negotiating method the US uses ‘You lose – We Always Win’ backed up by arms in our negotiating method. I don’t think you’ll find Harris or Trump disagreeing on that form of negotiation now or in the future. As I say it’s a wicked world, the capitalist world.
By the way Lenin (come out from behind the sofa now) once mused that he would, in a World Socialist future, like to see Public Toilets made out of Gold. In other words, most current measures of wealth would become useless. Except gold toilets of course. Its use value would be to make privacy walls and the urinals to piss in. Very useful indeed.
Something I am not getting: What are the two sides waiting for?
Israel killing/expelling all Palestinians vs. what from the “pro-Palestinian”-side? which as nation-states are concerned doesn´t really exist since that would mean big war. So what is the so-called endgame or goal? A Palestinian state? Where? How? When? On Mars?
This is designed like a forever-war just like Ukraine. However without the parameters of an existing state with borders which at least offers some orientation.
“What are the two sides waiting for?”
You say this when the situation may well be on the point of exploding. What else do you want?
There is no doubt that Israel has to defeat itself. A fully powered-up Israel, with full unquestioned US support is not defeatable. Fortunately that is not the case; Israel is far along the road leading to defeat. The economy is in a mess, the army doesn’t know how to tackle the Hamas tunnels, soldiers don’t want to go back to Gaza, and apocalyptic lunatics are in power.
“There is no doubt that Israel has to defeat itself…”
In view of that thought here is a piece from MoA entitled “Israel might well fall apart.” In it there is discussion about the recent allegations of raping of palestinian prisoners and the reaction to that. I’m sure you have already read it Laguerre but I post it for others.
Ooops, forgot the link.
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2024/07/israel-might-well-fall-apart.html#more
You’re right MoA was inspiring on that subject, but several other commentators are saying it at present. The fragilisation of Israel is just happening much faster than I (and perhaps others) expected. I had thought it would be fifty years before the alien colony in the Middle East came to an end. Now it could be in my lifetime.
Meanwhile, idiots are in charge in DC.
Endgame, for Israel, is of couirse to subdue the palestinian nationalism, to stop the creation of any palestinian state. To level so much terror, death, brutality upon and against the palestinian people that they will give up their legitimate quest for a nationhood on their own soil by either killing them, making their lives so miserable or forcing them out. Israel commit to the Salami method, one piece at the time, perhaps slowly, but they do not have to carry out the ethnic cleansing/murdering any faster and will balance the speed by not infuriating the outside world too much.
What is playing out in front of us is a typical arcane, settler colonial regime that try to wipe off the indigenous people from the map. That this going on in 2024 is sickening.
Also, not one single israeli political party recognize a palestinian state, the Likud party have for decades written out in their political manifest that there will not be a palestinian state.
Israel control the narrative and the fighting on the ground so they have free hands. ICJ/ICC did not mean anything. EU is as silent as ever, so are the Arab League, the US is right there behind Israel. Who is going to stop Israel? Not even israelis themselves since majority of israelis support the senseless massmurdering.
Israel obviously only understands and only respect violence, the arab, muslim world should do some deep thinking because no one else but themselves could save them now. Time for them, to step up to the plate once and for all and unite. Arab world need to rise up like they rose up during the Arab Spring.
Well, in Oct. 2023 before Chomsky would go to hospital in Brazil since he had suffered a strok, he gave – I believe his last interview to this date – among other things said, that Palestinians realistically will never return to their homes of 1947/48.
Because the only way to reach this goal was to accept Israel using its nukes. That´s what he said. Which means Israel would rather destroy humanity.
And this is the same thing Seymour Hersh in the early 1990s in his Samson Option reported. The Samson Option being the only response the Israel state is capable of.
Just like with Ukraine – the West aka USA is not wiling to negotiate. The West is not willing to compromise and to accept the decision of the legal bodies it helped set up to find non-violent solutions.
So Israel is only willing to concede if it brings down heaven and earth with nukes.
This is the very nature of what we feared of fascism. We now have if, with the evil side owning the nukes, the other has no nukes.
What is the Palestinian plan? Because the Israelis are worse than South Africa ever was, another nuclear armed state back then who however by some miracle accepted reason. Will Israeli society accept reason?
I disagree with Moon of Alabam that Israel will implode.
AG it is a dark area for discussion but I am glad you have mentioned this
I agree with NC about the nukes but I think this has always been the plan, at least amongst a certain section of the Anglo-American elite. The danger of an Arab superstate emerging to threaten the global dominance of the British and then the America Empire has been present since the advent of Nasser and probably before him. Consider the rise of Iran as a yardstick for what Nasser or those who followed him might have achieved with a unified Arab polity.
The atomic attacks on Japan ushered in a new stage of power projection, new possibilities. Jamming a splinter of Anglo-American power into the heart of the region, a splinter that inevitably would become a fearsome atomic arsenal which would allow expression for these new possibilities
I suggest the game has always been to find a way to use these weapons of mass destruction to prevent the rise of any competitor in the region. With the rise of the Kachists, ie the settlers, internal conditions are ready. What country in which a gang rape occurs would be able to produce a righteous thuggery to empathise only with the rapists? The Kach and it’s current iterations are the catalyst required to turn a regional conflagration into a regional atomic conflagration.
Whatever posture a nuclear armed power adopts, these weapons will be used on the proximate enemy first. The stuff about destroying the world I think is disinformation – destroying West Asia is the game. If they can’t have the oil no one else is going to get it
The ethics are straight from Hume
“ It is not contrary to reason to prefer the destruction of the whole world to the scratching of my finger”
— David Hume, A Treatise Upon Human Nature (1793)
will
Since it fits, just from a new article,
https://strategic-culture.su/news/2024/07/30/gamal-abdel-nasser-and-egyptian-and-arab-revolution/
Nasser:
“After the siege and the fighting, upon returning to his homeland, I clearly saw that the entire Arab zone constituted, in fact, a single unit and that we should not keep it separate and divided into different sections. The evolution of events reinforced my conviction that Cairo, Amman, Beirut and Damascus constituted a single area, which suffered the same events, and which have the same obstacles to overcome: imperialism.
Israel is nothing more than a creation of imperialism. If Great Britain had not had a mandate over Palestine, the Zionists would never have found the necessary support to realize the idea of a national home. That ideal would have remained a ridiculous and unrealizable vision.”
Israel can’t destroy humanity with nukes AG because it doesn’t have enough of them – it doesn’t even have enough to destroy the Muslim world*, which is much more resistant to nuclear attack than the West because it is less reliant on technology to provide the basics of life. Israel’s use of nukes would only slightly delay the inevitable.
* unless it has cobalt-60 warheads, which I very much doubt it does – although you never know
——–
Pace David Hume, Will, it is generally contrary to reason to prefer the destruction of the whole world to a scratch on your finger, not least because, assuming you don’t have access to a spaceship capable of sustaining you for the rest of your life, the destruction of the world – which will happen when the Sun becomes a red giant in 6 billion years’ time – would mean the destruction of yourself, rather than a little pain for a short time in one of your digital extremities. I doubt whether anyone in history has committed suicide or carried out a mass murder because they’ve scratched their finger. Hume is generally considered to be Scotland’s pre-eminent philosopher; they really are living on thin gruel up there.
will moon
Lapsed Agnostic
The destruction of the world was “merely” a figure of speech to describe the significance of Israel using nukes.
Nobody knows what would happen if they did. But this is the very reason for their existence. In any case a limited nuclear war would be catastrophic for the climate e.g. (as the Ukraine war already is which in comparison is miniscule). Not to mention everything else. One question is whether other nations would mirror Israel´s action or not.
Hume was a writer and as such a keen observer of those with power. Germany in WWII for instance was one good example for the mindset addressed by Hume. But Hume of course goes far beyond actual deeds or debate. It is a view of the world and as the powerful see it and how Earth´s human inhabitants in the “rational world” see it and themselves in it. A metaphysical nutshell of the human psyche of his age, a pessimistic one albeit, which I don´t share. Despite my repeated posts about WMDs.
Daniel Ellsberg too called himself an optimist despite the madness he had experienced.
Thanks for your reply AG. We can make a reasonable guess at what would happen if Israel launched all its nukes at cities in the Muslim world. Very roughly 50 million people would die, but hundreds of millions of young Muslim men would be left to finish off Israel for good using conventional weapons. Despite what people like Brian Toon tell you, the world would not enter a nuclear winter because very little soot would enter the stratosphere. The War in Ukraine has been good for the environment in that it has reduced the amount of greenhouse gases entering the atmosphere: e.g. Ukrainian steel production is down by two-thirds
Most people with substantial political power over the centuries have had the sense not to launch full-scale invasions of Russia. Only three have attempted it in the last 200 or so years: Napoleon Bonaparte, Kaiser Wilhelm & Adolf Hitler – and the latter has the excuse of being off his tits on inter alia crystal meth, cocaine, heroin, oxycodone, strychnine and (yes) extract of deadly nightshade (all prescribed by Doktor Morell). A good fraction of the German population of the time were also on large doses meth for an extended period, and thus most of them could hardly be said to inhabit the ‘rational world’.
“ The War in Ukraine has been good for the environment”
I take you meant to add “relatively speaking”
After all the Depleted Uranium rounds provided by Britain, amongst others, supplies the sparkling on Frosties after impact – surely not that good for the environment?
“But last night the disproportion of the BBC coverage of these deaths, which the BBC blamed on Hezbollah”-CM
=====
To be fair, the BBC News website originally headlined the story accurately:
“Eleven dead in rocket attack on Israeli-occupied Golan.”
As I report elsewhere, this was altered after Zionist intervention, including by comedian Sacha Baron Cohen [Source -Jerusalem Post].
https://m.jpost.com/j-spot/article-812224
Deplorable, editorial cowardice by the BBC in the face of partisan pressure.
As I type these words, I am listening to a report on BBC radio about young people deserting traditional broadcasting. Could there be a connection?
Regarding Venezuela, its election and their voting system Consortium News has a piece “Venezuela: As US Leaders Call Fraud, US Observers Endorse Results.”
So it would seem that many of the observers saw nothing untoward. Also, the actual ballot casting process is described.
” To cast a ballot, voters must present their national identification card. They also have their fingerprints scanned. If both the I.D. card and fingerprint match those on the national database, they can vote on a touchscreen electronic voting machine. The electronic vote is sent to the National Electoral Commission headquarters in Caracas, and a paper ballot is printed. Voters must check the ballot and place it in a box. Afterward, they must put their thumb on an ink blot and stamp it next to their name on an electoral roll to prove they have voted. They then physically sign their name beside the fingerprint.
When polls close, paper ballots are counted in front of witnesses from all parties and compared to the electronic vote count. If there are any discrepancies, a full audit is conducted. “
Sorry folks, forgot to post the link for the second time today.
https://consortiumnews.com/2024/07/30/venezuela-as-us-leaders-call-fraud-us-observers-endorse-results/
The relative value of life and death:
“We knew that Israeli society was divided. But who would have thought they’d almost get into a civil war over the right to rape and torture Palestinians.” Middle East Observer
This fucked up country, Israel, must be totally destroyed.
Won’t it be better if, like apartheid South Africa, it is transformed into a full democracy, with a proper written secular and enlightened Constitution, and its own equivalent of a truth and reconciliation commission?
Maybe, using as models the constitutions of democracies like South Africa and India, people who are legally qualified (which I’m not) should draft a Constitution for a future democratic Palestine? It could circulate across the internet in draft form and be the work of many enlightened legal minds, even if it should become samizdat in Israel for a season, before it is accepted as a basis for a non-racist future!
Can’t the Jews have any Israel there? They had a right to migrate there and promote their culture like anyone. The soil isn’t Arabic/Muslim, it’s earth and evolved organisms. The UN recommended partition. And didn’t arabic palestinians at times collude with external countries/empires too, whether Arabic, Ottoman, British or Nazi.
“The soil isn’t Arabic/Muslim, it’s earth and evolved organisms.” Agreed (though I hesitate to call humankind evolved). By the same reasoning it is not Jewish either. I agree with M. J. A single state in which all citizens are equal regardless of religion and ethnicity is the only sane and just and reasonable hope.
But that didn’t end too well for Jews in some other places within living memory. How is that to be addressed?
The Middle East didn’t go through the same denazification cultural process as Europe, I read.
I would recommend Ilan Pappé’s The ethnic cleansing of Palestine for suitable historical background up to 1948. Concerning the state of Israel after that, I’ve just finished Susan Nathan’s The Other Side of Israel, an Israeli who chose deliberately to live in an Arab town in Israel. The book is her story, especially her relationships with Palestinians (and the reaction of Israelis), and a good exposition of Israeli apartheid in its impact on the lives of Palestinians, day to day.
The land was Palestinian around four centuries before it was conquered by the Jews, as far as is known from the texts. The Jews are the newcomers. The Palestinians aren’t Arabs, they are Arabic-speaking, the latest version of a semitic language. Obviously there’s been a big mix of peoples, but the Palestinians are essentially a pre-Jewish people, who’ve changed language and religion several times. Now the majority are Muslim, but were Christian and Jewish and pagan.
They seem to have had an Ottoman and Arabic (even Syrian etc?) identity during the centuries you refer to.
Though of course each particular geographic area may have cultural and genetic particularities. But by comparison the Kurdish seem to have had a more distinct tribal identity for many centuries, yet the partitioning of their land range gave them zero partition.
“The land was Palestinian around four centuries before it was conquered by the Jews”
This is some of the most obvious historic facts – as simple and obvious as 1+1 equalling 2 – which in the European debate is totally muted when Israelis start to talk about the Bible and all that shit. When Mussolini rambled about Scipio Africanus that´s horrible but when these nutheads do it we totally lose our wits.
It´s beyond me…
I was referring to the Bronze Age, not to recent centuries. I should perhaps have said Hebrews rather than Jews. The first mention of Palestine is around 1700 BC, under the form Peleset, and the arrival of the Hebrews its usually placed around 1300, if I’m not mistaken.
The Zionist State Terrorist group occupation of Palestine is illegitimate and must be dismantled so that all people of faith and none, can live in a free Palestine.
So no room for Zionist State Terror encampment regardless of what name loosens the wallets of Christian Zionists.
The western powers do not have the decency to condemn this obvious political murder. Imagine if it was the other way around, that the Hamas assassinted Netanyahu in lets say Washington?!
Also where are the “Thomas Matthew Crooks” of the arab world? After all, the ICJ/ICC/West/Arab League will not stop Netanyahu…
It would appear – that Tuesday’s assassination of a Hamas leader Ishmail Haniyeh has struck a chord across several West Asian countries – even more so as Mr Haniyeh was murdered in Iran while he was in the country, to witness the swearing in of the new Iranian President Pezeshkian.
The death of Ishmail Haniyeh may well yet galvanise factions in the region – that were once at odds with each other.
The attack occurred just days after Israel’s Premier Netanyahu visited Washington – did Netanyahu seek permission to kill Haniyeh? from Washington – I doubt it myself.
The assassination of Haniyeh – reminds me of the assassination of Iran’s General Soleimani by the Americans – in that Israel like the US has no qualms about murdering folk in third-party countries.
I think its very likely that a retaliatory strike against Israel is on the cards – no doubt (US) forces in the region are now on high alert as well.
One wonder if it actually was Israel that killed the iranian president and the foreign minister back in may.
Sure, it’s a possibility. Netanyahu and his government have become quite insane, seeking an apocalyptic victory, where Israel conquers the world by military victory.
Jack if what you say is true and of course I have thought the same, l think the Iranian Foreign Minister was the target. He had rattled a few cages in his tenure in office, was active in the region and was bringing some rather disparate elements together diplomatically. I had started to view him as a catalyst for regional solidarity – and then the crash happened
According to STV news – which is ran by ITV, there are more than 27,000 Ukrainians now living in Scotland – one has to wonder do these people support the vile Neo-Nazi regime that controls their country?
I’m stating this because the English Home Office, is quick to vet those with brown skins that come to the UK from regions with conflict on the go.
Of course the brown skinned people who managed to reach Scotland – didn’t have their own Minister that the Ukrainians had in Neil Gray – now Health Minister – God help us all.
” one has to wonder do these people support the vile Neo-Nazi regime that controls their country ”
Unlikely because their country is not controlled by a vile neo-Nazi regime; except in the minds of pro-Putin shills like kiddie fiddler Scott Ritter.
You’re entitled to your opinion, just like everyone else – however, there’s plenty evidence to suggest that Ukraine has a problem with Neo-Nazism, from the plethora of monuments and streets named after WWII Nazi sympathisers, to the Ukrainian people’s adulation for Stepan Bandera – though not all people I might add – to the countries Neo-Nazi military brigades, such as the Kraken, Adair, and Azov battalions; the latter has changed its name to the 3rd Assault Brigade, to try and hide its Neo-Nazi roots.
An interesting article on the Venezuelan elections.
“Many U.S. observers who spoke with MintPress were quick to compare the Venezuelan system favorably with their own. “I am actually kind of blown away by how advanced this system is, particularly compared to the backward nature of the U.S., so I am completely impressed,” Jodi Dean, a professor and political scientist, said.
“We witnessed several polling stations, and we did not see any irregularities or anything that would point to any type of fraud or illegitimacy. The voting process here is much more rigorous than in the United States,” Souers told MintPress. “They have a very good process here.”
Elizabeth Burley, a representative of Unión de Vecinos, a Los Angeles tenants’ union, spent election day monitoring voting in La Guaira state and noted a number of superior features of Venezuelan democracy, including that the polling system is automated and completely consistent between localities. Furthermore, she said, Venezuelan elections are held on Sunday rather than midweek as they are in the U.S., allowing more people to participate. Burley noted that she was able to go inside stations and observe everything and that there were witnesses from both government and opposition parties present. Apart from a few verbal exchanges between left and right-wing voters, she said, events proceeded in a state of calm.
MintPress, however, witnessed a crowd of over 100 opposition supporters arrive at a voting center in central Caracas at 6 pm, attempting to force polling stations to close exactly on time. The crowd tried to block latecomers from voting but without success. One opposition supporter blocking the door said, “Nobody should be allowed to vote unless they are from our side.””
https://www.mintpressnews.com/venezuela-while-us-politicians-call-fraud-american-election-observers-endorse-results/288010/
Jodi Dean is not a neutral election observer.
From her Wikipedia page:
“She is an active member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation.[6][7]”
“On 13 April 2024, Hobart and William Smith Colleges President Mark Gearan issued a statement announcing that Dean had been “relieved of classroom duties” following an essay she wrote for Verso Books,[8][9][10] in which “she spoke about feeling exhilarated and energized by the paragliders on October 7″.[11][12][13][14] In a posting to the social media website X, Dean confirmed she had been relieved of teaching responsibilities.[15][13][16] The suspension was lifted in July 2024.”
Or “(Third) Dean thinks it is reductive to consider Stalin’s violence, political suppression, and authoritarian rule—the purges, the great famines and the gulag—as the events that accurately represent communism because that ignores the modernization and industrialization of the Soviet economy, the successes of the Soviet space program, and the relative increase in the standard of living in the formerly agrarian economy.”
Maduro’s regime is safe in her hands.
Ok So I Cry for Palestine. I have been in Greenock Protesting
I shook the Hand Of Noram F