Netanyahu is desperate to keep war simmering along and to draw the USA closer and closer to him. At the same time he cannot send ground forces into South Lebanon where they will take massive casualties.
Israel can assassinate, it can employ indiscriminate terrorism and it can bombard from the air, and it has done all these things against Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Iran. But Israel cannot destroy Hamas nor Hezbollah, cannot get back its hostages from Gaza and cannot make Northern Israel safe for its colonialists.
Nothing Israel is doing in any way advances those declared objectives and in fact makes all of them increasingly unlikely ever to be attained.
But as Biden and Harris accept and reinforce every single escalation and every single illegality, Israel’s stranglehold on its western vassal politicians gets ever stronger. Those have now all (including both UK Labour and Conservative ministers) supported illegality well beyond the stage where there is any going back. They have now to hope that they will be “justified” by military victory.
The Iraq war shows that however illegal the war, if you win you get to write – or at least interpret – the rules of international law. I wish I could come up with good counter-examples. “Justice” is visited only upon losers.
But the problem for Netanyahu, Sunak, Starmer, von der Leyen et al. is that just what victory looks like, nobody seems in the least clear.
We appear to be locked into a hideous distortion of existentialism, where the killing of Arabs of any age and sex is in itself the path of virtue and a reason for living.
Israel’s TikTok army of child-killers, rapists and lingerie-flaunters will take heavy casualties if it advances into Lebanon. It is currently launching intense air attacks, but it cannot destroy Hezbollah that way, not even were it to triple the colossal amount of explosive it has dropped on Gaza.
Netanyahu’s strategy of assassinations and deadly stunts appears to be an attempt to goad Hezbollah out of their own territory into a suicidal advance into Israel. But Nasrullah is not falling for it.
It is worth stressing that, contrary to the propaganda, in the last year Israel has hit Lebanon with five missiles for every one sent by Hezbollah.
Meantime the United Kingdom’s claims to respect international law are exposed as an utter sham as it failed to vote for the UNGA Resolution giving effect to the International Court of Justice’s Advisory Opinion on Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territory.
The ICJ’s ruling that the Occupation is itself an illegal act, and that states must do nothing which can assist Israel to maintain it, sets out a clear legal status quo which the UK is equally clearly breaking.
When the ICJ decision came out on 19 July, the FCDO statement was as follows:
We have received the Advisory Opinion issued by the International Court of Justice on Friday 19 July and are considering it carefully before responding. The UK respects the independence of the ICJ.
The promised response has never come; unless you take the failure to vote at the UN General Assembly for the implementation of the ICJ ruling as the response. The decision to suspend 8% of arms export licenses for Israel was framed not in terms of this ICJ ruling – which logically can only require the cessation of all arms sales to Israel – but more broadly in terms of unspecified possible breaches of international humanitarian law.
In its “explanation of vote” at the UN General Assembly, the UK deliberately ignored a key tenet of the ICJ Opinion. The UK stated:
“our abstention reflects our unwavering determination to focus on efforts to bring about a peaceful and negotiated two-state solution,”
This ignores the ICJ ruling that Israel must leave the occupied territories before any negotiations. An occupied people cannot negotiate with, in effect, a gun held at their head. That is explicitly why the ICJ did not accept that the Oslo Accords alienated any Palestinian rights in international law.
The UK is still – directly contrary to the ICJ – attempting to maintain that Palestine’s right not to be occupied was signed away at Oslo.
British military flights, weapons supplies and intelligence cooperation with the Israel occupation continue unabated. Starmer’s total support for Israel is now a fixed part of the governing landscape, as the failure to condemn the terrorist device attacks on the Lebanon makes clear.
The US and UK are now hopelessly yoked to a Netanyahu nihilist strategy of which the primary aim is to retain his own power and immunity from prosecution by permanent conflict, of a kind which makes his allies ever more complicit and which will rope them in to active military support.
That requires constant Israeli aggression against an axis of resistance that has so far refused to be provoked into major conflict. Israel’s plan is to humiliate Iran and its allies to an extent that a full-on regional war becomes inevitable, in which the United States will fight alongside them – and very probably the Sunni Arab regimes too, I am extremely sorry to say.
This is plainly madness that is entirely against the interests of the Western powers themselves. But their politicians, including very directly Biden and Starmer, are so compromised by Zionist-lobby money that there appears to be no escape, short of popular revolt in the West.
The West is bound to Israel by the simple, unalloyed mechanism of cash paid to politicians. That is the truth.
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…so while the news are running and I literally hear the news anchor speak of 500 killed I open German-French TV channel ARTE to find this featured:
“Trauma in the Middle East
October 7th and its consequences
90 min.
Looking back at the events of 2023 and the subsequent war. How the atrocities and the lack of empathy on both sides can be explained.”
“lack of empathy on both sides can be explained” – that´s about the level of empathy you will get as a Palestinian from some French or German editor who is probably very versed in Hannah Arendt and stuff about the danger and banality of fascism. Or how French did not save enough Jews. Or how China is going to conquer us all. Or how Le Pens is the end of the world.
Daily news routine has turned into a special form of torture.
It´s insufferable.
Which is why I turned off both – Arte and the news.
p.s. it is interesting how clever those philosophers and writers are when talking about aesthetics and its role in authoritarian systems of the past. But it´s mindblowing to witness how they fail to see what is in front of their own eyes this very moment – naturally because they are part of it.
AG
Daily news routine has turned into a special form of torture.
Exactly, there is no need to watch, hear, read MSM news, especially foreign policy topics, I stopped years ago, you only get misinformed by consuming news/views from this type of media.
What is interesting that even before you approach MSM – lets say a newspaper – you already know how they would frame a certain event because these are not objective media outlets, they are systematically biased.
re: MSM
German news blog NACHDENKSEITEN which I am quoting here from time to time has a current piece:
A journalist participated in a state program where professionals would visit schools and offer workshops for students, high schoolers mainly on how media reporting works.
He offered them the whole aray of daily newspapers, pointed out the mistakes made during the Corona crisis and how it was reported in the aftermath and asked the kids about their own experience during and after the crisis and whether and how there had been any discussion.
After the first couple of seminars he received an email by the state official responsible for the pogram who banned the journalist from any such program in the future. The argument was that he allegedly – by view of the official – had framed the reporting, pushed his own agenda on Covid and not flagged newspaper articles as “malignant influence”.
Which of course tells you EVERYTHING about the TRUE purpose of media education today.
I was not aware it has turned THIS bad in Germany.
It´s like I have been a student in a different century and country.
And it seems to get worse by the day.
The most upsetting thing: My own friends with children have turned into state-loving ideologues for protecting their children. I am trying to remind them of our own chilhood. But to no avail.
This is getting out of hand. And of course this makes any meaningful discussion about Gaza impossible. We are surrounded by it. But no words uttered.
No “wrong” thoughts spilled.
As a huge generalisation: what western regimes say about China is true of the West itself: wall-to-wall surveillance, with increasingly harsh kickings meted out to the ever diminishing parts of society that dare to dissent about anything.
But no whingeing! The question is what can we do that isn’t banging our heads against walls. There are some things. (They can’t be discussed here.)
Re. children, home education has been banned in Hungary, and soon the administration under Genocide Keir will try to introduce (at least) compulsory registration here. (In Germany it has been banned since 1939.) It’s pretty obvious the rulers will attack children in a big way and they don’t want people telling their children things that aren’t state-approved about “gender”, climate, debt, smartphones, the internet, cameras, modern life, etc.
Do you know what this is like? It’s like war.
Given the extent of mindcontrol, I can’t see that the idea that radicals should refer to “true democracy” is of any help whatsoever. Most of the population are addle-brained phone-pickers.
Those unknowingly Muskian climate fools got 2 years for … for not causing any actual damage to a bit of painted canvas but simply for causing a bit of glass to need a good wipe with a cloth. How long do you get in Britain nowadays for actually damaging a painting? Maybe soon people will be jailed for posting cartoons on the internet showing an ink splat on a famous painting, or showing someone sticking two fingers up at the king.
That’s an excellent point. Not only the day-to-day bias in the media but the culture of bias in the media are so ingrained, that the vast majority of the public probably treat it as normal or as some positive sign of a ‘free press’. There are also many issues that the bias isn’t allowed to be challenged by ordinary people – look at how selectively the Guardian solicits readers’ comments, for example.
It’s not much, I admit, but there is a little something the man in the street can do by way of pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel propaganda.
This is to use the word “Zionist” less (it means little to the listener without adequate historical knowledge, it is a political expression without resonance with the uninitiated) but rather never to use the word “Israel” in discussion without preceding it with an adjective such as “apartheid”, “racist”, “fascist” or “war-mongering” (either singly or in combination) and always slip into the conversation at least one of the following facts: that Israel is stealing land from the Palestinians, has occupied the West Bank for over 50 years, keeps thousands of Palestinans in gaol for years without trial, breaks international law on a daily basis and tries to get other countries to fight its wars for it.
As the Israelis themselves have demonstrated with their endless hasbara, if one keeps repeating something often and persistently enough, some of the mud will eventually stick. The information and propaganda war has to be bottom-up and will be won not by posting in an internet echo chamber but by losing no opportunity in ordinary conversation in the street, pub and club.
Also people can boycott Israeli goods. Marks and Spencer strongly support Israel. Never shop there. And if you buy vegetables or fruit such as oranges from a market stall, ask where they are from, and if the stallholder says Israel ask whether they have got some from some other country.
“The occupation”, although not just of the West Bank.
“Pieds noirs”, to those who would understand the term or look it up.
“Supremacist” – in the case of Zionism, Jewish supremacism – a much better term than “apartheid”, which should never have been used by the opponents of white supremacy in South Africa. People should have said “white supremacy”.
South Africa wasn’t “the same” as e. g. Rhodesia, or the white-supremacist USA, but it was similar and drawing attention to the similarity is useful, rather than taking everything as sui generis.
Similarly, comparing Israel to colonial Algeria can very often be useful too. People can say but it’s not the same, and you can say sure, and then you look at both similarities and differences – and there are quite a few similarities. Many French settlers saw themselves as the “Algerians”, with a right to be there, basically as proper human people, and they saw the majority among the Arabs who didn’t lick their boots as basically subhumans. Torture for example was very widespread.
According to this – the US has very recently sent at least Four C-17 aircraft to Cyprus – heading for the the Zionist Negev base – the 101st US Airborne Division is also being sent to Israel.
https://x.com/MenchOsint/status/1838296547408384119
Apparently, just heard a news item, the UK is also going to be moving troops to Cyprus. For humanitarian reasons.
700 British service personnel have been sent on their way to Cyprus, supposedly to evacuate British citizens from Lebanon if needed.
Well there are already 3500 British service personnel on Cyprus.
There are also the RFA (merchant navy auxiliary) Mounts Bay and HMS Duncan.
How many British citizens are there in the Lebanon?
16000 according the Guardian:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/sep/20/david-lammy-scrutinising-evacuation-plans-for-britons-in-lebanon-after-attacks
2200 according to the BBC:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/in_depth/brits_abroad/html/mid_east.stm
Not all would want to leave.
The EU – has threatened Georgia that it will suspend it from the Schengen Zone – because it has seen a decline in democracy in the country – the real reason, the EU is threatening to suspend Georgia from the Schengen Zone is – the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) – which compels foreign NGO’s, receiving the majority of their funding from abroad – to register as foreign agents – which in Georgia’s case, is almost all the NGO’s in the country.
Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze – has already received veiled threats from the EU – with the mention – of what happened to Slovakian President Robert Fico.
Georgians go the the polls on October 26th – with the Georgian Dream party – way out in front in the polls – I expect, a concerted effort from the West, to try and oust Irakli Kobakhidze, and his party from office.
RoS
You are aware that the GD party is threatening to exclude the opposition from the election?
Amusing that “ACC to wiki: After much delay, in December 2023, Georgia was finally granted EU candidate status. Kobakhidze attributed the achievement to the Georgian Dream founder Bidzina Ivanishvili, who, in his words, “laid the foundation” to replace “Soviet-style authoritarianism” with “European-style democratic and fair governance”
Kobakhidze is a chancer like Orbán and Fico.
JK redux.
You are of course entitled to your own opinion on the matter – but those men – you mention in your above comment, calling them chancers – are infact, looking out for the interests of their citizens – in one way or another – and the US/EU doesn’t like it.
No doubt – the President of Venezuela Maduro – is in your eyes, a chancer as well.
“You are aware that the GD party is threatening to exclude the opposition from the election?”
Sorry, this is simply not true.
By opposition you mean Saakashvilli style astroturf proxies & grant eaters?
I think the former Soviet states are well rid of those quasi-foreign opponents. Considering thier equivalents buggered Armenia and went full (national suicide) retard in Ukraine, quite recently.
The last thing Georgia needs is a pro-western government, that allows more demographic drain, deindustrialization and desovereignty. At best.
Republicofscotland
Exclusive: US officials say sanctions against pro-Russian former Georgian PM are ready to go
https://www.voanews.com/a/exclusive-us-officials-say-sanctions-against-pro-russian-former-georgian-pm-are-ready-to-go-/7794010.html
Amazing, imagine if Russia harsassed Georgia like this. But when west actually do it, it is not even reported as the mafia-blackmailing-tactics that it is.
No wonder Georgia is tired of the west, the west obviously trying to turn Georgia into another “Ukraine”. Well, Color revolution is expected next month then.
Everywhere west is setting off fires, Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, Palestine, Ukraine, Georgia etc causing whole regions into chaos, what the heck is wrong with western leaders?
Jack
Russia didn’t “harass” Georgia, the Putin gang invaded Russia and seized and occupied part of its territory.
You must know this.
Unfortunately in every country there are always men who will run to the invader and take his money.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vidkun_Quisling
Invaded Georgia!
Btw see https://youtu.be/Q-sbnK0Dyjk?si=grNCk320NmcpHPGf
Not true. Georgia, which had fought with USA in the illegal invasion of Iraq, wanted to make independent S. Ossetia and Abkhazia part of Georgia and under the now-discredited Saakashvili, mounted a military operation against them. Russia had a peace-keeping force there and then supported the Ossetians against Georgia. In this scenario Georgia = Israel; S Ossetia = Gaza – same oppressive intentions.
The Georgian cabinet at the time of the 2008 war had two known Israelis in it, including the defence minister:
https://time.com/archive/6944223/what-israel-lost-in-the-georgia-war/
Brian Red
Good point, I had forgot how involved Israel really was in that war:
What Israel Lost in the Georgia War
https://time.com/archive/6944223/what-israel-lost-in-the-georgia-war/
I do not understand why Russia keep sucking up to Israel today.
JK redux
You need to read up (once again):
Georgia started war with Russia: EU-backed report
https://www.reuters.com/article/world/georgia-started-war-with-russia-eu-backed-report-idUSTRE58T4MO/
I remember how you supported Ukraine banning opposition parties in Ukraine some weeks back, now you are suddenly worried when Georgia might take the same route.
We’ve got here someone who pretends to know more about Georgia than Georgians themselves 🙂
—
September 17, 2024, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze:
Georgia could not tell the truth about who started the 2008 war.
“Due to the ongoing cases in The Hague and Strasbourg, we avoided making firm and precise statements on this topic. But when we see that, firstly, the trials have been completed, and secondly, the same political force is now trying to unleash a war in the country, we cannot afford not to tell the whole truth to Georgian society that it was the Saakashvili regime that unleashed the war in Georgia on August 7, 2008.”
When asked by a journalist whether the authorities’ new position is that Georgia started the war, Kobakhidze replied that the European Council, whose resolution was signed by the Saakashvili regime, has the same position.
“This is a statement of generally recognized facts,” Kobakhidze concluded.
—
Earlier on September 14, 2024 Bidzina Ivanishvili, the founder of the ruling party Georgian Dream, during a speech in the city of Gori said that Georgia will find the strength to apologize for the fact that the party “United National Movement” founded by Saakashvili in 2008 “enveloped Ossetian brothers and sisters in flames.” Ivanishvili also accused Saakashvili of starting a war on orders from outside.
more context about the then president of Georgia:
Saakashvili came to power as a result of a color revolution, which was romantically called the Rose Revolution.
In 2007, he decided that Georgia should join NATO, and received approval from the United States.
On 08.08.08 (easy to remember), he gave the order to shell the capital of Ossetia, Tskhinvali. (In September 2009, a special commission of the European Union ruled that Georgia had started the military actions, that the use of force against Ossetians and Russian peacekeepers could not be justified from the point of view of international law, and that Russia had the right to an adequate response. The version about the invasion of significant Russian forces into the territory of South Ossetia before August 8 was not confirmed.)
In 2013, without waiting for the end of his presidential term, he flew to Brussels, and in Georgia, a criminal prosecution was opened against him.
In 2014, he not only supported but also participated in the coup d’etat in Ukraine. There is evidence that it was he who organized the sniper shooting at protesters in order to escalate the situation and move to a forceful change of power.
In Ukraine he was offered the position of First Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine, but in the end he became the head of the Odessa regional administration.
TV viewers remember him for nervously chewing his tie during the 2008 war. And also for an extremely emotional squabble with the Ukrainian official Avakov (who is actually the son of an Armenian and an Ossetian), where Avakov and Saakashvili argued in pure Russian language about who of them was more Ukrainian.
In 2021, he was arrested in Georgia. He asked for help from the US and the EU, went on hunger strike twice, and his lawyer claims that he cannot be in prison because he has 36 diseases, including tuberculosis and dementia 🙂
I see you must be a supporter of Tamar Chicane of the “People ‘s Power Party”, who, according to Georgia media said today (machine translation) “America will take the Ministry of such as, and will definitely become our real and true partner”.
Meanwhile Georgia seems to be full of international observers for the upcoming elections which I believe is using PR for the first time and will make extensive use of electronic voting. Very democratic – let the people decide as they do in Ireland and UK. We all then must accept the outcome like it or not. Doubt if USA will unless they get someone like Tamar Chicane to bend to their will and she is probably being bribed by American money to say what she is saying anyway.
Thank You Jack for that informative link.
Germany has reintroduced border checks for travellers from schengen zone countries to much criticism from other schengen countries. Ireland didn’t join the schengen zone (probably at the behest of the UK) and neither did the UK when it was in the EU. I suspect the schengen border free zone will be curtailed extensively in the near to medium future so Georgia need not worry too much. I am sure Brussels may try other means of persuasion.
https://www.bmi.bund.de/SharedDocs/faqs/EN/topics/security/bgk/bgk-liste.html
For all the drumbashers’ talk of “no border in the Irish Sea”, there’s far more likelihood of a person experiencing hassle – being questioned and searched – travelling between NI and GB than across the Irish border. Travel between RoI and GB is in the middle.
That there are what amount to border guards who hassle people including British citizens travelling between GB and NI – which is to say, inside Britain – is a good example of how real life is very different from what politicians talk about – and what internet commentators follow up by discussing, having adopted all required premises from their “betters” even though of course the said commentators are as cool as fsck, really wised up, full of pomposity-puncturing attitude, etc. The internet is Submissionville Centrale.
My post was meant to be in reply to RepublicOfScotland’s post about the EU threatening to withdraw Georgia from the benefits of the schengen zone travel. My point was that such a threat didn’t carry much weight when Germany has decided unilaterally to reintroduce border checks even for those travelling within the schengen zone thus removing the benefits. The point of the schengen zone was to remove such border checks on people travelling within the schengen zone. Those checks would have been done on first entry to any country in the schengen zone.
Thank You ET for that reply – Germany is of course a major voice in the EU – so I guess it shouldn’t come as a surprise that it has wielded Schengen as some sort weapon at border checks.
I forgot to add some excellent – and informative comments and links – on the Georgian situation from commentors in here – well done people.
May I point out that much of the above discussion has taken place on the basis of a mistaken premiss?
RoS is incorrect in saying that Georgia is in the Schengen area. It is not, and there are no plans to bring it into the Schengen area, and therefore Georgia cannot be threatened with expulsion from that area.
Perhaps RoS was referring to vias-free travel into the Schengen area?
If so, not the same thing at all!
AMB. Craig Murray: The UK and Genocide
on Judging Freedom
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VY_oNthhTI
Excellent!
Thank you!
Craig is right, that final clip of Boris Johnson claiming the Ukrainian Army could replace US troops stationed in Germany is indeed ludicrous. The fella seems to have gone completely over the edge. Even so, he is likeable and charismatic and someone who could always field questions with ease. Compare with Sir Keir Starmer, a different case altogether. An equally corrupt war pig but a man who is widely loathed and uncomfortable when even slightly pressed. That isn’t going away. The public don’t take lightly to Starmer’s level of greed married with a thin skinned, sanctimonious priggishness.
The Ukrainian army in Germany thing could be an offer from Chatham House-RUSI to the Trump campaign-Project 2025. It’s not going to happen, but you could imagine Trump backing Ukrainian NATO membership (which also isn’t going to happen) if he can say the US will save a lot of money by pulling its soldiers out of Germany, and he’s offering a great deal, the greatest ever deal, etc.
Seems to me something may have to be worked out between the Kiev regime and the Trump campaign before
it’s third time luckysomething happens.There exist two contradictory sets of rules:
1/ International law;
2/ “The rules based order”.
The first is NULL and VOID along with the faux concept of “universal human rights” the second (at this moment) rules but possibly not for much longer.
The rules based order has owners, namely the nations of the Euro North American Empire (aka The US Empire) and privileges them over the nations of the global South.
The only right that matters is “The Right of Might”.
One term missing from the language is “homo sapiens non-entitlement to rights. “Human Rights” ARE NOT “Homo Sapiens rights”. In fact 95% of the world’s homo sapiens individuals have forfeited any right to human rights by for example being willfully and feloniously indigenous. The killing by Palestinians of less than 1500 Israelis on October the seventh 2023 completely justifies the killing by Israel of in excess of 41,000 Palestinians. (The true death toll is probably in excess of 200,000 but those under collapsed buildings or bulldozed underground by the ZEIPEHMF (Zionist Entity in Palestine Ethnic Hygiene Maintenance Force) don’t count because they have not arrived at a morgue in a still (partly) functioning Palestinian hospital.
[furious_rant]
All you stupid members of species homo sapiens, get it through your thick skulls, GENOCIDE is NORMAL/MAINSTREAM homo sapiens behavior, it is never recognized until several years after it has happened and nothing can be done. The only reason that the German Genocide of Jews and others was recognized so quickly was that Germany had just lost a disastrous war that it had started with most of the rest of the world. A few scapegoats were hanged at Nuremberg but many of others equally guilty were welcomed in the South America, the US and high politics in the post war Federal Republic of West Germany because they were reliable opponents of Communism or they had valuable knowledge of wartime illegal/immoral experiments.
In my view for justice at least 30% of the non Jewish/Roma/trade Unionist/Communist population of post war Germany should have been rounded up and Zyklon ‘Bed.
To punish Australia’s, The British Empire’s, Canada’s, Israel’s, New Zealand’s and ….’s crimes against the indigenous populations 30% of the non-indigenous descended citizens should be selected at random and gassed, including those whose criticism/opposition to the genocide was ineffective or far too late!!!!!
[/furious_rant]
Nuremberg trials – ha! The US for example was forcibly sterilising many thousands of black women among its own citzenry, saying they had low “IQs” and were therefore unfit to breed. They had done this for decades, and they continued to do it for decades afterwards. If that is not a crime against humanity, what is? The British government was also still paying off many posh families for the loss of their slaves. It seems that some criminals against humanity are considered bad, but others are poor little darlings who should be given lots of money. Incidentally as far as I am aware the German defendants were not charged with genocide at Nuremberg – i.e. it wasn’t listed on the indictment – nor as far as I know were the many crimes committed against their own citizens brought up. Crime against humanity was considered a subcategory of war crime, or of crimes committed during a war of aggression. (This is technically not the case now.)
As regards slaves, cf. Norway, where compensation was paid to the poor little employers who “had to” employ slave labour during WW2 because the nasty Germans made them.
Damn It!!!
In my previous comment I omitted “The US’s”.
Brinkmanship is the pursuit of interests (ultimately power). But the pattern of history is clear: it ultimately ends in destruction. It can be summed up in a simple syllogism: every empire eventually faces the war it is trying to avoid; today everyone wants to avoid WWIII; therefore that is the fate that awaits humanity. I explore this in my e-pamphlet The Doomsday Syllogism. Those leading us to nuclear Armageddon do not see this. They complicate falsehood to avoid a simple truth: the only thing that just save humanity. That message is not getting across.
https://www.candlinandmynard.com/doomsday.html
@Peter – Why are you sure about your minor premise, “everyone wants to avoid WW3”?
A possible outlining of Zelensky’s so called – Victory Plan – which to me, appears to be, a continuation of what’s happening right now.
Whilst in New York – Zelensky will meet with POTUS Biden – the Senate, and POTUS candidates Trump and Harris – to discuss his Victory Plan.
“The ‘victory plan’ has not been made available to the public, but the Sunday Times reported that it is based on four clauses: Western security guarantees for Ukraine, similar to NATO’s principle of collective defense, a continuation of Kiev’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk Region to serve as a territorial bargaining chip, deliveries of “specific” advanced weapons by foreign backers, and international financial aid for Ukraine.”
https://www.rt.com/news/604633-zelensky-victory-plan-ukraine/
Lol,
1) Guarantees that are two years too late and NATO doesn’t have means to enforce.
2) Keep pissing away troops in a useless fire-bag, which Russia won’t trade for anything useful. Considering it’ll simply take it all back eventually.
3) More overpriced & underperforming wunderwaffen.
4) More money poured into the great maw. To no useful end.
So it’s a “keep repeating the same ole bullshit until we lose” plan. We’ve seen those before…
Urban Fox
If only Putin knew how much support he has in the Zapad.
It would gladden his miserable, shrivelled black old heart…
Putin probably knows only too well just how much support he has in the zapad – he’s living rent-free in your head. Give it a fucking rest, man, a fixation like yours really isn’t very healthy.
Frank Hovis
I’m aware that my opinions on Ukraine put me in a minority here. But unless the site is to become an echo chamber (on this topic) alternative views like mine (and a few other posters) help keep the site a forum for debate.
JK
Sorry for the bad tempered outburst in my previous post but I’m sure by now that all the regular posters on here realise that the Putin family are probably not on your Christmas card list.
Most of the regular posters on here do tend to favour the opposite side to you (and Pears) in the Ukraine conflict but there’s 2 sides to every coin and you two only ever seem to see the one side of it.
You seem to think that the Russians decided in Feb 2022 to invade Ukraine just for the hell of it when the conflict had been going on at least since the Maidan coup in 2014.Things could have been sorted out to everone’s satifaction in April 2022 and Ukraine could have had peace and prosperity (via the Minsk Accords which were ready to be signed) by now were it not for the criminal actions of Boris the blond buffoon, albeit acting as a proxy for the Americans. Think of how many people on both sides have died since then.
Urban Fox.
Yes – it sound like the perfect money making machine for the Military Industrial Complex companies – who’ll want this war to last for, forever and a day – not to mention the huge corporations, that make a fortune – from rebuilding after the carnage, if not over – hits a lull in hostilities.
RoS
Sounds like a good plan!
JK redux.
Really!
It just sounds like more of the same to me – and no doubt many other folk will feel the same way about it; the only way – the warmongering West can break the deadlock, is if it allows its Neo-Nazi, ran proxy Ukraine, to fire long range missiles deep into Russian territory – and in the process call Putin’s bluff – the big question must be, is it a bluff? for if it isn’t, the consequences for us all could be severe – is Washington, Westminster and Brussels prepared to take that gamble – with so much at stake outside of Ukraine – if Russia, declares open war on Nato.
RoS
You are aware that Russia is firing “long range missiles deep into Ukrainian territory”?
With help from the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea?
And that’s fine but Ukraine firing “long range missiles deep into Russian territory” is not?
Even with help from the United States of America and the European Union (and the United Kingdom)?
Because Russia may act with impunity against Ukraine but Ukraine may not retaliate?
Makes sense…. not.
“With help from the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea?”
JK redux.
Evidence please.
Now to the meat of the comment – Russia is a nuclear force – Ukraine isn’t – Ukraine can’t fire long range missiles deep into Russian territory, without the aid of Nato troops – in this instance UK troops – or French troops, Storm-Shadow missiles are a joint UK/French adventure.
If Russian wasn’t nuclear capable – Nato, would’ve already implemented a full invasion – as the warmongering bullyboys club, has done on previous occasions to other sovereign nations.
Republic of Scotland : no, NATO would never invade a country that can shoot back. The political cost of having their young people coming back in body bags is too high. In fact, early on in the war, the US (the one that counts) refused to even send pilots in supposedly near invulnerable fighter planes to try to establish a “No-fly zone”. That took me by surprise, doubtless took Zelenskiy even more by surprise and showed that they had doubts about the Wonder Weapons in real combat even then. The whole Wonder Weapon thing was always a con which Ukraine has blown with rather catastrophic consequences for the West.
RepublicOf Scotland, especially for you. To keep you updated.
Today.
Changes in the Russian nuclear doctrine.
President Vladimir Putin held the first public meeting of the Security Council on nuclear deterrence. Key updates to the Russian nuclear doctrine:
– The category of states and military alliances subject to nuclear deterrence has been expanded.
– Aggression by any non-nuclear state against Russia with the support of a nuclear power will be considered an attack on Russia.
– Russia may use nuclear weapons in the event of aggression against Belarus.
– A massive launch of air and space attack weapons towards Russia will entail a nuclear response (here stand strategic and tactical aircraft, cruise missiles, drones, hypersonic and other aircraft.)
– A critical threat to Russia’s sovereignty, including by conventional weapons, will be grounds for a nuclear response.
– Clarifications have been agreed upon with the President of Belarus as a member of the Union State.
RoS
That the DPRK and IRoI are supplying Russia with artillery shells and drones respectively is not in doubt.
As to your response to the “meat” of my comment.
You seem to be asserting (correct me if I have misunderstood you) that Russia, because it has nukes, may act with impunity against Ukraine but Ukraine may not retaliate against Russian territory?
An obvious rebuttal of that position is that Russia claims the Ukrainian province of Crimea as sovereign Russian territory. But Ukraine has been steadily attacking Russian military assets there with its own and western weapons. Without any huffing and puffing from Putin of nuclear retaliation.
Riddle me that.
Tatyana, JK Redux
Even the previously hawkish Czechs are now calling for a negotiated solution. Czech President Petr Pavel – a former NATO general no less: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/23/world/europe/ukraine-war-goals-russia-czech-president.html
Whether Petr Pavel is expressing his own views, or kite flying proposals for all NATO, it’s not clear?
Zelensky’s maximalist position is clearly a very personal one, and many around him wouldn’t tolerate anything less, as they’ve sacrificed and staked everything on a return to 1991’s borders. But as Pavel says, that is simply unrealistic. Parts of the West are being hypocritical in supporting Zelensky’s maximalist approach too. Not least because when it comes to Israel, and parts of the West Bank, we are told by the same US and UK officials, a return to the 1967 borders is out of the question and that various large illegal settlements must remain in any final land deal.
Zelensky’s ‘victory plan’ is as substantial as the Victory cigarettes in Orwell’s novel 1984.
At the UN he is trying to address at least three audiences: his own ultra nationalists who will string him up if he deviates from the Russophobe line; those inside the NATO sphere who are running short of money, patience and political capital; and the wider international community who wish a peaceful settlement but can hardly sign up to a delusional Pax Ukrainia pipe dream.
So Zelensky ends up with the Orwellian formula of ‘bombs for peace.’ Reported on Russian TV that Biden and co. are heading off to Ramsteim air base in Germany to pressure Scholz over long range missiles. Trouble is, they’re running out of pipelines to blow up.
Important article by Media Lens on the vast genocidal sickness inflicted on Gaza by Israel and its allies and the sick state of ruling-class media in Britain in failing to report all this sickness.
‘Everyone In Gaza is Sick, Injured, Or Both’ – Israel’s 2.1 million Victims.
https://www.medialens.org/2024/everyone-in-gaza-is-sick-injured-or-both-israels-2-1-million-victims/
The highly respected ‘The Lancet’ reported there are anywhere between 186,000 – 200,000 dead, that is, when you take into account those indirectly, due to related things like lack of medication/treatment, hunger and waterborne diseases, such as cholera, diarrhoea, dysentery, hepatitis A, typhoid.
An absolute scandal how so-called ‘civilised’ western democracies are facilitating this genocide because Israel simply “have to be indulged” due to historic wrongs in the 1930s-40s, against Jewish people. Germany being a extreme example of this ridiculous indulgence. So wrongheaded, allowing them to ignore international laws and norms of conduct. German political thinking on Gaza being : ‘two wrongs make a right’.
I just signed up to The Washington Post so that I could check out an article from last November that Owen Jones referred to in a video on his youtube channel last week, and immeditely I’d done so the article became visible (having been behind a paywall). I can’t recall what they say you get with a free sign-up, as I wasn’t interested and just wanted to read said article. Anyway, I fortunately thought to ‘save the page’ just in case it went AWOL or whatever, and when I tried to bring up the article again it wasn’t possible to read it and I could only do so if I started a paid subscription (of 50p a week, or £20 for the first year). Anyway, my point in explaining all that is that there is no point in my posting a link to the article as I doubt very few people who follow this website have a paid subscription to The Washington Post, if any, but given that I saved the page, I can of course paste it on here, so here it is:
Biden yet again says Hamas beheaded babies. Has new evidence emerged?
Analysis by Glenn Kessler
November 22, 2023 at 3:00 a.m. EST
“Hamas has already said publicly that they plan on attacking Israel again, like they did before, to where they were cutting babies’ heads off to burning women and children alive.”
— President Biden, remarks at a news conference, Nov. 15
“Children slaughtered. Babies slaughtered. Entire families massacred. Rape, beheadings, bodies burned alive.”
— Biden, remarks in Tel Aviv, Oct. 18
“I never really thought that I would see, have confirmed pictures of terrorists beheading children.”
— Biden, remarks with Jewish leaders, Oct. 11
This article has been updated [update at the end of the article]
Shortly after Hamas militants attacked and killed civilians in Israel on Oct. 7, President Biden made a comment that the White House later walked back — that he had seen “confirmed pictures of terrorists beheading children.”
Biden appeared to be echoing a statement made that same day by a spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — that babies and toddlers were found with their “heads decapitated” in Kfar Aza, a kibbutz. The next day, the Israeli government said it could not confirm the report made by Netanyahu’s office.
“There have been cases of Hamas militants carrying out beheadings and other ISIS-style atrocities. However, we cannot confirm if the victims were men or women, soldiers or civilians, adults or children,” an official told CNN. The White House also acknowledged that Biden had not seen any photos or received confirmation but that he was repeating what he had seen in the news.
The second time Biden made reference to it, while visiting Israel, his language was more careful. He did not necessarily say babies were beheaded, just that there were beheadings. There had been at least one report of an adult Thai worker being beheaded with a garden hoe. Yossi Landau, a commander with the first-responder organization ZAKA (a Hebrew acronym for “Disaster Victim Identification”), confirmed to The Fact Checker that he had seen the victim himself.
So it was striking when Biden recently revived the notion that Hamas “were cutting babies’ heads off.” To be clear, the militants killed civilians of all ages indiscriminately and in horrific ways, including tossing explosive devices into shelters and shooting unarmed people as they fled — acts that Human Rights Watch has labeled war crimes after verifying video evidence. Atrocities are not acts to rank in order of brutality. Still, the image of beheaded babies remains the most vivid in an attack that in turn led Israel to invade Gaza in a campaign that the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry says has claimed the lives of more than 4,600 children. An exacting account of any such claims is warranted, but here we examine the facts regarding this particular taboo and especially gruesome act.
The Facts
In many conflicts, there are reports of atrocities against babies or children. As horrific as any such atrocities are, accounts can be exaggerated.
The British during World War I, based on thin evidence, asserted that German soldiers had raped nurses, cut off women’s breasts, bayoneted babies and chopped the hands off little children. The reports influenced public opinion in the United States against the Germans — but after the war, little evidence was found to support claims of attacks on children. In World War II, however, German armed forces engaged in extensive war crimes, including the slaughter of civilians and the extermination of Jews of all ages.
The United States in 1990 claimed that Iraqi forces, after invading Kuwait, had pulled babies from incubators and left them to die. This story stemmed from emotional testimony before a congressional hearing, in which a 15-year-old girl, known only as Nayirah, sobbingly described seeing this with her own eyes. She was later identified as the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador to the United States, and no witnesses or evidence were ever found to support her story.
It’s too soon in the Israel-Gaza war to make a definitive assessment. The Israeli prime minister’s office has said about 1,200 people were killed on Oct. 7, down from an initial estimate of 1,400, but it’s unclear how many were civilians or soldiers. As of Nov. 19, the Haaretz newspaper has published the names of 778 civilians as having perished in the attacks, though few children are identified. Karen Pakes of the Israeli prime minister’s office told The Fact Checker she is working on creating an official list of how many children died that day. She said 34 children under the age of 18 were taken hostage.
The manner of death in many cases is still unclear.
“We are still waiting for forensic evidence about the destruction of life and property in border settlements and cars: was all of that caused by the light arms and RPGs Hamas fighters had with them, or was some of it caused by the tank artillery and Hellfire missiles employed in retaking them?” said Columbia University historian Rashid Khalidi, author of “The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine,” in an interview with The Fact Checker.
Initially, it appeared that reports about the babies stemmed from inaccurate social media accounts of an Oct. 10 newscast by an Israeli reporter who toured Kfar Aza with Israeli soldiers three days after the attack. “The Israeli military still says they don’t have a clear number [of the casualties], but I’m talking to some of the soldiers, and they say what they’ve witnessed is they’ve been walking through these different houses, these different communities — babies, their heads cut off. That’s what they said,” Nicole Zedeck of i24 News reported.
In a social media post, she said: “Soldiers told me they believe 40 babies/children were killed.” That quickly got conflated on social media as 40 babies being beheaded, which is not what Zedeck reported.
Another Israeli reporter on the same press tour, Oren Ziv, urged caution. “During the tour we didn’t see any evidence of this, and the army spokesperson or commanders also didn’t mention any such incidents,” he posted. He said Zedeck quoted unnamed soldiers, while other soldiers he spoke to did not confirm the account.
Nevertheless, Marc Owen Jones, an academic who researches disinformation about the Middle East, reported that posts on X about “40 murdered babies” garnered at least 44 million impressions, 300,000 likes and over 100,000 reposts within a day.
When Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Israel on Oct. 12, he told reporters that the Israeli government had shown him photographs that depicted “a baby, an infant, riddled with bullets. Soldiers beheaded. Young people burned alive in their cars or in their hideaway rooms.”
The Israeli government then released graphic images that claimed to show babies were burned, but still did not officially confirm decapitations of infants.
If Hamas, a disciplined militia group, engaged in beheadings, it would be a new terror tactic for the organization. Experts said Hamas has not previously been tied to beheadings.
“This was very unusual and inconsistent for Hamas in terms of their previous tactics,” said Dawn Perlmutter, director of the Symbol Intelligence Group and the author of “Investigating Religious Terrorism and Ritualistic Crimes.” But she said the hundreds of beheading videos posted by the Islamic State were easily available, and so could have influenced a younger generation of militants. “They are online like everyone else.”
Tareq Baconi, president of the board of Al-Shabaka, a Palestinian policy organization, and the author of a 2018 history of Hamas, also said that beheadings were out of character for the organization. “I’ve never come across anything by Hamas on beheadings, and don’t believe this was ever a practice they engaged in,” he said.
“I have never encountered anything about beheadings in my research on Hamas,” said Sara Roy, author of several books on the Gaza Strip and Hamas and a research associate at Harvard University’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies.
It’s possible that the breach in the wall around Gaza allowed Palestinians not associated with Hamas to opportunistically join the attacks. In 2011, two teenagers affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine killed five members of a West Bank settler family and did decapitate a 3-month-old baby. There is also an abundant history, through the centuries, of soldiers decapitating their enemies. The Bible claims the head of John the Baptist was delivered on a silver platter.
After Zedeck’s report, Hamas on Oct. 11 issued a statement on Telegram. It did not specifically address beheadings but said this: “The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas has strongly dismissed the false claims promoted by some Western media outlets, such as Palestinian freedom fighters killing children and targeting civilians.” That denial was soon contradicted by video and photographic evidence released by the Israeli government.
An Israeli official who was present during the presentation to Blinken said he had seen photographic evidence of babies who were burned to death or riddled with bullets, but he has not seen photos of beheaded babies. In an interview, he said “numerous first responders” since have testified that there is evidence of babies who were beheaded. Despite the confusion surrounding the initial reports, he said, he was told that there is now confirmation that it happened. He acknowledged that he was unaware of Hamas previously engaging in beheadings.
Eylon Levy, an Israeli government spokesman, pointed The Fact Checker to two public statements.
In a video posted on Oct. 26, Israel Defense Forces Col. Golan Vach told reporters that at Kibbutz Beeri he had encountered a woman shot in the back, who was covering a “small baby” about 1 or 2 years old. “The baby was decapitated,” he said. “I carried the baby in my own hands.” Asked why there were no photographs, he replied: “People ask me how come you did not take a picture. I said: ‘I’m sorry, I have children. I have limitations. I have limits. I do not take a picture of a decapitated baby.’” He also said a soldier had been beheaded at Kfar Aza.
Then, on Oct. 28, Eli Beer, president and founder of United Hatzalah of Israel, a first-responder organization, told the Republican Jewish Committee: “I saw little kids who were beheaded. We didn’t know which head belongs to which kid.” He did not describe the ages. He also said he saw the dead body of a pregnant woman whose fetus had been ripped from her womb and stabbed. Landau of ZAKA, in an interview, said he witnessed the same grim scene.
We sought additional comment from Vach but did not get a response. “The truth is we saw lots, and they were of all ages. It wasn’t just heads either but other body parts were cut off/removed as well,” said United Hatzalah spokesman Raphael Poch in an email, in response to a request for an interview with Beer.
Hamas spokesman Abdul Majid Awad did not respond to a request for comment.
“The president was speaking about Israeli reports of babies being beheaded,” a White House official said.
Update: On Dec. 4, Israel’s Haaretz newspaper published a detailed examination of unverified accounts of alleged atrocities disseminated by Israeli first-responders and army officers. The report could document only one case of a baby being killed in the Hamas attacks. The child, 10-month-old Mila Cohen, was shot while being held by her mother. No accounts of beheaded or burned babies could be verified. Haaertz reporters also cast doubt on claims that a baby was ripped from the womb of a pregnant woman — a claim that had been amplified by a fake video not filmed in Israel.
And here’s a link to the Owen Jones vid:
Israel’s Mass Murder Of Babies Exposed
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0s_YnWP2fk (12mins)
And it was this that initially set me off re all the above:
Is the Israeli Army raping children?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4lIPF6Vh-E (Middle East Eye 2mins 25secs)
The US built an artificial pier in Gaza, remember, with the stated intention of delivering vital aid, then proceeded to smuggle in heavily armed soldiers bringing more death and destruction. I don’t think anyone in the region views the US as a just or honest broker.
People are having to look to China and even Russia, in the hope some intervention may come to bring Israel’s US fuelled rampage to a halt. It’s no good Iran trying to intervene militarily either, because Netanyahu’s warped enough – should the Iron dome be overwhelmed – to consider using nuclear weapons against Tehran, potentially killing millions. I really do think he’s that sick, and Israel so indulged, by the US.UK and EU, to actually believe he could get away with it.
“The US built an artificial pier in Gaza”
Goose.
Indeed – though many had grave doubt about the actual function of the pier – many folk thought it was built to off-load weapons and supplies for the Zionists.
There was another temporary pier built by the US State Department linked World Central Kitchen – using rubble from buildings razed to the ground by Zionists bombings of residential areas – there were claims that the rubble used, to build the pier contained the remains of dead Palestinians – and that their remains were compressed into the structure of the World Central Kitchen pier. I suppose that could be a strong possibility – as many missing Palestinians, are thought to be buried under the rubble of felled buildings in Gaza.
https://thegrayzone.com/2024/03/27/us-state-depts-chef-gaza-aid-rubble/
I suspected its function was going to be to deport surviving Palestinians to camps in Cyprus. (This may still happen.)
But from a profit point of view it would make sense to bring something IN on the ships as well as transporting a human cargo OUT.
Interesting how it has practically stopped being talked about in the MSM.
A sentence from that article:
“Immediately before their recent pivot to Gaza, Andrés’ [sic] WCK spent several weeks providing meals to Israeli soldiers following Hamas’ [sic] October 7 attack.“
Also came across this abc NEWS article from sept 19th a bit earlier, which includes details/information I’ve not come across before re the exploding pagers:
Israel had hand in manufacturing pagers that exploded in Lebanon: Source
Israel had a hand in the manufacturing of pagers that exploded on Hezbollah operatives this week, with this type of “supply chain interdiction” operation having been planned for at least 15 years, a U.S. intelligence source confirmed to ABC News.
The CIA has long been reluctant to employ this tactic because the risk to innocents was too high, the source said.
Planning for the attack involved shell companies, with multiple layers of Israeli intelligence officers and their assets fronting a legitimate company that produced the pagers, the source confirmed to ABC News, with at least some of those doing the work unaware of who they were actually working for…..
In a speech Thursday, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said the group’s top leadership had old pagers, not the new ones used in the attack, which were reportedly shipped in the last six months. The group has begun a full investigation into the explosions.
“Not all of the pagers had been distributed and some of them were turned off,” Nasrallah said.
“Over two days, the enemy wanted to kill at least 5,000 people. … The enemy knew that the pager devices numbered 4,000,” he added.
https://abcnews.go.com/International/israel-hand-manufacturing-pagers-exploded-lebanon-source/story?id=113851347
And ditto for the walkie-talkies presumably.
Hamas did not behead any children. Anyone who thinks so simply doesn’t understand Islam. Or hasbara.
There’s also the point that if you can’t take a joke, you shouldn’t have a big party just outside the fence of a concentration camp.
The Zionist leader Netanyahu has called up two reserve brigades to its Northern Border with Lebanon – a brigade is between 2,000 and 4,000 personnel strong – there has been wide speculation that Netanyahu, wants to invade Southern Lebanon – to create a buffer-zone, which will allow the 60,000 displaced illegals settlers in Norther Israel to return to their homes – it will also push back Hezbollah’s ability to fire missiles into Northern Israel.
This possible action – would explain why the Zionists have been flying many bombing sorties over Southern Lebanon – to soften up, and displace any opposition forces on the ground – of course bombing from the skies – and having boots on the ground – are two completely different things – as the IOF has found out, at great cost to personnel in Gaza.
Add on.
Netanyahu has a called a Security Cabinet Meeting for 17:00 hours GMT – possibly to implement the boots on the ground attack in Southern Lebanon.
Further add on.
Netanyahu has been in contact with the Whitehouse in Washington – and US spokesperson John Kirby, has said that Israel has the right to defend itself. So I take it the US – has given Netanyahu the green light to invade Southern Lebanon.
RoS
The International Institute of Strategic Studies estimates that the IDF currently comprises 35,500 regulars, 139,500 conscripts, and 430,000 reservists.
Pretty low number of regulars, huh? You can understand why many view Israel as all air power.
It was reported that the IDF’s ranks are severely depleted too, after 11 months in Gaza, and some senior personnel have expressed serious doubts and concerns about their ability to conduct any Lebanon invasion plan. Is this why the US is sending more troops? Bringing their total to 40,000 in the region? The UK has also announced 700 troops will be shortly arriving in Cyprus, ostensibly to aid evacuations but does anyone believe you need that many for that purpose? Don’t trust Starmer and Healey, at all.
For some perspective: in 2021, Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah claimed his organization has 100,000 trained fighters.
Goose.
Yes – I think it’s well known that Israel as a country wouldn’t exist – without the backing of foreign aid and troops, so it would be fair to say – that US and UK troops – will be fighting alongside the IOF in Southern Lebanon – fairly soon.
RoS
And who will bother to pose the important questions in our pro-war consensus, unrepresentative parliament, that only 52% of the electorate turned out to elect?
It’s turning very sour for Starmer already though, isn’t it. He never was really ‘popular’ per se, and yet he’s already burnt through levels of goodwill Blair took years to exhaust. Given his unpopularity, if he lies to parliament about something as serious as UK military involvement, alongside mounting body bags, it could well be the end of his troubling stint as PM.
Goose.
The UK parliament is completely captured by the Zionists – Starmer included – who in my opinion is a hardliner on defending Israel. Starmer, has long links to the UK and US security services. He recently pledged to standby Ukraine until the bitter end – whatever that entails.
https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmer-and-whitehall-secrecy-natural-allies/
https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmer-joined-secretive-cia-linked-group-while-serving-in-corbyns-shadow-cabinet/
https://www.declassifieduk.org/israel-lobby-funded-half-of-keir-starmers-cabinet/
Starmer, interviewed in the last few hours, said he did not rule out deploying ‘troops on the ground’ to evacuate stranded citizens if necessary after sending 700 extra soldiers to Cyprus.
“troops on the ground” where, and with whose permission? The Lebanese government’s?
After countless military flights from Cyprus over the last 11 months in support of Israel’s Gaza operation, why would the Lebanese trust the UK? The ‘humanitarian mission’ excuse has been used before to drag countries into war. The idea of fighting and putting their lives on the line, all to further a brute like Netanyahu’s ‘Greater Israel’ regional territorial ambitions, would sicken most people who serve in the armed forces, I’d imagine.
You can only elect people if you have a democratic electoral system.
@RoS – When have foreign troops (i.e. soldiers on the ground) been necessary to retain Israel in existence?
Thank You Brian for the reply – I can’t disagree with that.
Interesting.
Alistair Crooke made a good point last week – which was that because Autumn has arrived the clouds arrive which makes discriminate bombing raid by air difficult. Meaning if the Israelis are going to pound Lebanon in a softening up ‘operation’ then they have to do this within (his opinion) three weeks.
There are only a couple of logical things about his opinion I think. The first is that if that happens within three weeks they have to bomb then occupy Southern Lebanon. Secondly, if the clouds arrive early it will be indiscriminate bombing with no alleged targets.
It all appears to me that they are assuming that they could do all this with impunity.
The tone of the MSM (a lot of them have arrived and are reporting from Beirut – as they did covering Syria) is already setting up the Western public for Israel deaths and injuries. That’s my opinion though – not a fact.
Two Brigades doesn’t appear to me to be enough to occupy any area even if they enter. I’m doubtful about Israel boots on the ground as they say because this assumes again that Hezbollah won’t be there waiting for them.
So – if Alastair Crooke is correct and they bomb by air later it will be a version of Carpet Bombing to drive out the population.
Hezbollah are the population but they are an army too. The two things are totally different.
They will remain and wait for the Israeli troops to come in.
If the theory (similar to the ‘destruction’ of Hamas) is believed by Western Military planners, this will be a massive mistake. If you can’t beat Hamas on the ground there is little chance of beating Hezbollah on the ground.
The West has its plans but any plan can go wrong – so we shall see what happens. This is not going to be pretty – pretty ugly more like.
David Lammy addresses Putin at the United Nations in New York: “As a Black man – I know imperialism when I see it.”
As a Black man …” who voted for the Iraq War that murdered a million people, voted against investigating it 7 times, voted for the Libyan War that killed 80,000 and led to African slave auctions on the streets of Tripoli, who lied about October 7 saying “babies were raped” a claim NOBODY else ever made including the Israeli state, and used that lie to justify arming Israel to the hilt in violation of international court orders —a war crime— which makes me a war criminal “….I know imperialism when I see it.”
I almost feel sorry for David Lammy because he is such a moron.
The FCO probably love him.
Exactly, dummy is the word to describe Lammy, in fact when I read Lammy I read Dummy.
Anyway, why do Lemmy, as a black man, then support not only imperialism but colonialism by Israel?
In Israel people of african descent are often looked down upon
Black lives do not matter in Israel
Israeli state and religious authorities’ racist attitudes towards African refugees may have deadly consequences.
https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2018/3/29/black-lives-do-not-matter-in-israel
Chief rabbi calls black people ‘monkeys’
https://www.timesofisrael.com/chief-rabbi-compares-african-americans-to-monkeys/
And really? Bringing up imperialism as a british minister?? Hello ever heard of the British Empire? How clueless of world history is this man?! A really dummy.
Greg Park @17.33pm.
Excellent and informative comment Greig.
Ideal credentials for a Foreign Secretary according to the UK political commentariat.
A man who thinks Marie Antoinette won the Nobel Prize for physics, Red Leicester is a blue cheese, Henry VII acceded to the English throne after Henry VIII, and – something a future foreign secretary should get right – Eduard Shevardnadze was president of Yugoslavia in 2003 (over ten years after Yugoslavia ceased to exist) … such a man is indeed a dummy and certainly unfit for the office Lammy holds.
But Lammy is dangerous too – he is a war-mongering bag o’ shite, willing to trigger WW3 just to curry favour with neocon hawks in the US regime. (See Craig’s interview with Judge Napolitano.)
A belligerent clown fronting a paper tiger..
UK weapon stockpiles ‘threadbare’ after arming Ukraine, says defence minister
https://www.thetimes.com/uk/defence/article/ukraine-western-allies-almost-nothing-left-weapon-stockpiles-z5z5v0z5j
How the Western media – ignores Israeli war crimes – in this case in the West Bank – and Western journalists captured the war crimes – but didn’t report them.
https://consortiumnews.com/2024/09/25/media-complicit-in-the-crimes-of-israel/
This is the response of poverty stricken Syria crippled by western sanctions to support the people of Lebanon fleeing to safety from Israeli forces.
“The Ministry of Health issued a circular to (all) health directorates and public hospitals, within the framework of responding to provide health services to arrivals from Lebanese territories. The circular includes providing free emergency medical services, treatment and diagnostics in hospitals for the arrivals , and emphasizing the presence of ambulances at border crossings, in numbers matched to actual need, in addition to providing full primary health care services free of charge to arrivals through border crossings and through health centers in the places where arrivals are located, including reproductive health services,
Nutrition surveys, psychological support, in addition to providing all vaccines within the expanded national program. It also included providing health services related to chronic and contagious diseases, epidemiological investigation of expatriates, and monitoring the availability of medicines, supplies, and diagnostic and investigation methods for all disease cases”. (Source SANA).
USA, UK and the rest meanwhile go on supplying the weapons that force the hand of Syria to stretch their own limited resources to do the right thing by standing by their neighbours.
The lying demonising fascist scum are at it AGAIN!:
CNN’s Tapper, Bash Urged to Apologize for ‘Reprehensible’ Lies About Rashida Tlaib
“At this point, there is virtually zero chance that CNN, Jake Tapper, and Dana Bash don’t know that Rashida Tlaib never said what they are claiming,” said one observer.
Calls grew on Monday for CNN and two of its top on-air personalities to apologize for claiming that U.S. Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib made an antisemitic remark during a recent interview after the journalist who interviewed the Michigan Democrat confirmed that the reporters were lying.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/rashida-tlaib-false-allegations
The Big nazi-type Lie is that Rashida Tlaib said that so-and-so did something because she is Jewish. She didn’t of course, and every single motherfucker knows it (needless to say, to do so would be to commit political suicide).
Maybe Dana Nessel, Michigan attorney-general, feels that the cap fits?
Singling out anti-genocide protestors for prosecution is pro-genocide, pro-the supremacist terrorist entity called Israel.
Does Nessel explain why she does it? If that’s the issue, let’s hear her explanation. Or does she just post to Shitter using paraleipsis and say she won’t call all Muslims terrorists?
Oh right – she’s doing her job without bias, without fear or favour. She would prosecute Zionists too, but they never break the law, so it has to be only anti-genocidalists that she prosecutes. What a scumbag.
Nessel was born in West Bloomfield Township, Michigan, the daughter of Martin and Sandra Nessel.
She is Jewish.
[Wiki]
@Stevie. I don’t know why you posted that. It’s clear she is Jewish.
No, she’s a zionist.
If a group of white people lynch a black person and a white government official helps them, are we allowed to mention that the government official is white?
Now multiply that by 40,000.
Dana Nessel suggests she’s only being criticised because of her religion. (That’s her word, by the way, not mine.)
What if a religion were genocidalist? Would it still be off-limits to criticise it?
Perhaps only Benyamin Netanyahu is allowed to mention Amalek?
Apparently Hezbollah made history yesterday – when for the first time it fired a missile (Qadar 1) into a residential area in Tel Aviv, that houses the Mossad HQ – Western media outlets claim the missiles never reached its target, and was shotdown – however, other sources claim it did hit its target.
A Hezbollah spokesperson – said the strike was in retaliation to Mossad’s pager explosions, that killed Hezbollah personnel. This was the first time, a long range missile was fired into Tel Aviv by Hezbollah – and Hezbollah chiefs – think it could be a game changer.
In fact, Aljazeera, a source usually rather reliable for their news coverage, gives a slightly different account:
“Hezbollah says rocket fired at Tel Aviv has 190km range
Hezbollah says the ballistic missile it launched on Wednesday at Mossad headquarters near Tel Aviv carried a 500kg warhead and has a range of 190km (118 miles).
The missile, intercepted by Israel’s David’s Sling air defence system before it reached its intended target, caused no damage or injuries.
The attack was the furthest inside Israel attempted by Hezbollah so far, with the group saying it was revenge for Israel’s detonation of handheld communications devices across Lebanon last week.”
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/9/26/israel-attacks-lebanon-live-72-killed-in-latest-wave-of-israeli-attacks
No doubt that the day will come when such attempts become successful, provided these missiles are not destroyed before being launched.
Craig Murray speaks of this conflict as a game of chicken, but alas he may sadly soon have to see it like the famous Black Knight episode in Monty Python’s Holy Grail.
Wilshire
Whether the missile struck its target is debatable – the real talking point must be that, Hezbollah has a missile that can reach such targets – which does change how the Zionists rethink their defensive positions – for, its not if it will happen again – but when it happens again.
As the IRA, I believe, used to say: ‘We only have to be lucky once, you have to be lucky all the time’.
That’s exactly why devilish Netanyahu is trying to annihilate them preventively.
As terrible as the ‘troubles’ were in Ireland, there was never a genocidal plan from Westminster. That makes a huge difference.
With all due respect to Hezbollah, and with sincere wishes for their victory against the terrorist Israeli entity, if the Zionists pulled out from the northernmost part of the territory they occupy and stopped bombing the Lebanon and Syria, Hezbollah would probably discontinue their side of the conflict.
“With all due respect to Hezbollah, and with sincere wishes for their victory against the terrorist Israeli entity.”
Brian Red.
Brian – a word of warning – in 2019 – the then PM Theresa May proscribed Hezbollah in the UK – showing open support for them, could contravene the authoritarian English governments Terrorism Act of 2000. There’s a reason our host is not in the UK.
“invite support for a proscribed organisation (the support invited need not be material support, such as the provision of money or other property, and can also include moral support or approval) (section 12(1))
express an opinion or belief that is supportive of a proscribed organisation, reckless as to whether a person to whom the expression is directed will be encouraged to support a proscribed organisation (section 12(1A))”
“The penalties for proscription offences under sections 11 and 12 are a maximum of 14 years in prison and/or a fine. The maximum penalty for a section 13 offence is 6 months in prison and/or a fine not exceeding £5,000.”
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/proscribed-terror-groups-or-organisations–2/proscribed-terrorist-groups-or-organisations-accessible-version
And predictably, as soon as the lebanese is going to legally return fire, then the west steps in with their corrupt arab partners, to call for a ceasefire to sheild Israel from casualties:
“We call for an immediate 21-day ceasefire across the Lebanon-Israel border to provide space for diplomacy,” added the statement signed by Australia, Canada, the European Union, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, the UK, the US and Qatar.
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2024/09/26/733987/Ceasefire-Israel-Lebanon-UN-Security-Council
Only Netanyahu said no from the start.
That’s probably because he doesn’t want to “sheild Israel from casualties”. So far, about 800 casualties in Lebanon (possibly 20 percent of these Hezbollah militants) and none so far in Israel. There’s plenty of room for improvement.
We’ll probably soon find out what the next step is. Since in this article Craig was claiming 4 days ago about Netanyahou: “At the same time he cannot send ground forces into South Lebanon where they will take massive casualties.”
As we all know, prediction is very difficult, especially if it’s about the future.
Interesting fact : Almost 40% of Lebanese are considered francophone.
Lebanon was once part of and administered by France. Lebanese people could ask for French citizenship and were treated as equal to French nationals.
Which makes the French fence-sitting on a potential Israeli invasion and Israeli threats to “turn Beirut into Gaza” even more baffling. Some reliable friend and partner they are.
Most of the Lebanese people who were granted French citizenship were compradores or filthy rich.
Beirut was hammered by the Zionists in 1982 and France did nothing.
There are some in France who’d like to create a Gaza in Paris. Which isn’t to say there aren’t also some in Britain who’d like to create a Gaza in Bradford or Birmingham, but in France the memory of the Algerian war is still very much alive.
Speaking on israeli poddles
Video: – Trump on Iran threats: “We are going to blow your largest cities and the country itself to smithereens.”
https://x.com/disclosetv/status/1839003757943615589
Note the nasty cheer when he make those genocidal threats..
It’s astonishing really how someone like Trump can be so popular and idolized by tens of millions of people. And some-what scary too. I can’t stand him and I am literally repulsed by his whole demeanor. It’s amazing how we end up with such fuckwits in positions of power – ie that so many people vote for them. Anyway, happened to come across this yesterday as a consequence of someone mentioning one of them in a comment on another site:
Trump’s ‘bloodbath’ and other rhetoric inflame his 2024 campaign trail
Trump pledged at a November rally in New Hampshire that he would “root out the communists, Marxists, fascists and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country.”
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/bloodbath-vermin-animals-trumps-rhetoric-trail-2024-03-22/
GOD, he’s such a hate-mongering fear-mongering scumbag piece of shit!
He knows his audience.
Starmer will meet his mate Trump tonight.
We shouldn’t call Starmer “Keith”, because there’s nothing wrong with being called Keith and there are many decent men who carry that name, but we definitely shouldn’t call him “Keir” because there is no way a genocidalist c*** deserves to be named after Keir Hardie.
You honestly wonder, just who is advising Trump?
One of his major selling points for independents, is the fact that he isn’t part of any ‘regime change’ MIC-linked cabal (or swamp) operating in Washington. Thus, in theory, messy overseas wars and interventions, should be less likely under another Trump presidency. But he’s constantly undermining that message and with it any advantage, with crap like this about bombing Iran into oblivion. It’s doubly strange because he often boasts there were no major wars during his presidency; something he seemingly wants to take credit for, but only insomuch as his supporters believe that was due to him ‘projecting toughness’.
He apparently even believes some guff being fed to him about the wannabe assassins having links to Iran. As far as I can tell, both were likely Harris-supporting Democrats, one of whom saw him as a ‘threat to democracy,’ and the other more recent one, we now know, hated him because of his perceived lack of support for Ukraine.
The Kushners and Miriam Adelson?
I wonder what will be said about any third person who has a pop. Or a patsy, if patsy they are. Perhaps they’ll have as complicated a legend as Lee Harvey Oswald.
If they don’t want President Vance they’ll have to act by 6 Jan at the latest and probably before then.
Kushner certainly has the access. The knowing smirks and nods, between Netanyahu and Kushner when they were filmed together, were often on display for all to see. Kushner was more like an Israeli influence agent at the heart of the US government.
When last in office, Trump ordered officials to give Jared Kushner a security clearance.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/28/us/politics/jared-kushner-security-clearance.html
” WASHINGTON — President Trump ordered his chief of staff to grant his son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, a top-secret security clearance last year, overruling concerns flagged by intelligence officials and the White House’s top lawyer, four people briefed on the matter said. “
Jared Kushner
* was involved in the Israeli-UAE normalisation
* then received huge amounts of money into his private equity fund from the UAE, Qatar, and Saudi
* is close to Chabad
Chabadnik rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh, a leading figure for Zionist terrorists (all “price tags” and “hilltops”) on the West Bank, is calling for
* the conquest of Lebanon
* the settlement of Southern Lebanon
* the murder of all members of Hezbollah.
https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-821752
I would take the Trump versus Zelensky idea with a big pinch of salt. Zelensky’s paymaster was Ihor Kolomoisky, the “oligarch” who
* owned the TV channel that broadcast “Servant of the People”
* then funded actor Zelensky’s campaign for the presidency as the “Servant of the People” candidate
* was heavily involved in keeping the war going in Donetsk and Luhansk by funding e.g. the Azov Battalion (as they then were)
* and is closely connected with Chabad.
Chabad are as insane as Daesh ever were, and they are far more powerful.
Added note regarding Trump and Zelensky
I mean I don’t buy the likelihood that Trump is attached to Putin and wants to further Russian aims in the war. It is still possible that Trump’s big mouth will wreck his chances of relying on the support he might otherwise have got from the pro-WW3 types in Pentagon, CIA, the mil-ind complex, and the ascendancy. And Chabad can be added to that list.
Possibly related…is Elon Musk essentially a puppet? His supposed action to try to reduce the distribution of the Vance dossier suggests at first glance that he doesn’t know about Barbara Streisand syndrome. It’s hard to believe he is that stupid. More likely, he’s obeying orders. He’s certainly got a lot of debt. Mind you, it’s possible his psilocybin consumption has got to him.
The Vance dossier is here. (I haven’t read it yet. Can someone advise on what the best bits are? Also why do Iranian intelligence give a toss?)
My antennae say there could be one f*ck of a big October Surprise.
Nikki Haley is “on manoeuvres”, as they would say in Britain:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/nikki-haley-trump-radio-show-b2619624.html
Brian Red
Jeez, I didn’t realise the extent of it.
Hunter Biden and Jared Kushner, living proof of the old adage: it’s not what you know, it’s who you know.
Doesn’t the US have anything in the constitution to stop what seems like presidential family graft?
Trump has the priceless electoral advantage that he isn’t Kamala Harris, as he wasn’t Clinton in 2016.
Yes, and Labour wasn’t Tory. Look how well that has worked out …
We are coming up to the anniversary of October 7th and the BBC seem to be preparing with various programmes. I don’t know if anyone here caught BBC 2’s Newsnight last night, but they had on two partygoers from that day – they were promoting film footage allegedly from that day.
They were interviewed for close to half an hour in a reverential manner and tone normally reserved for senior members of the royal family. Victoria Derbyshire, normally quite a forceful interviewer, basically allowed them to speak uninterrupted. The bizarre juxtaposition of wealthy Israelis enjoying a rave right next to the “open air prison” as David Cameron called Gaza, never entered the discussion.
Immediately after the interview Derbyshire moved on to the story about the rocket fired from Lebanon at Tel Aviv (intercepted) , The fact 600 + have died in Lebanon in the last few days due to Israeli bombing,wasn’t initially even mentioned. That’s the BBC framing for you. And the fact the Israeli pair interviewed before, were never asked their opinion on the tens of thousands killed in Gaza, in the nearly twelve months since, in their name, or about the fact 65% of all buildings have been destroyed, imho, meant the BBC isn’t fulfilling its Charter obligations. Many sarcastically queried whether Robbie Gibb was running the show.
This is why so many people are rejecting the one-sided reporting of the BBC. Former Director of BBC television,Danny Cohen ,frequently accuses the BBC of anti-Israeli bias, which is an absolutely f*cking unbelievable accusation. Does he not watch its news output?
Will we ever get the truth as to how many Israelis were killed due to the Hannibal Directive being activated that day? The Directive is meant to prevent Israelis (IDF) being kidnapped, in case they are tortured into divulging secrets. It’s the sort of thing Newsnight would have once investigated thoroughly. There’s lots of evidence, from Israeli military spokespeople that numerous helicopter gunships fully emptied their ammo that day enforcing said Directive.
Prepare for 24/7 coverage on the 7th of october, western leaders will probably amass somewhere and pay homage to the israelis. Crocodile tears en masse.
And most likely the west will create “7th of october Denial Laws”, they have already created such law in Israel where it is now forbidden to question what really happend on that day. That Israel without a doubt killed a whole lot of their own is beyond doubt.
As Norman Finkelstein said, 7th of october was an atrocity, but media, politicians keeps denying why it happend. Is it really hard to understand that people that have been subject to all kinds of senseless humilitation since 1948 would have anything but hatred back?
Cage a dog in a small cage for 1 year, poke it and provoke it constantly, it goes without saying that if that dog manage to get out of course that dog would have no positive feelings toward his tormentor.
Still that is the logic the west somehow summon and understand when Israel respond with senseless force, they have the “right” to do it because of 7th of october!
Guardian latest:
15m ago12.17 EDT
Israel says it secures $8.7bn US military aid package
Blinken still calling for ceasefire.
“US warns of all-out war” the guardian screams.
A more accurate headline would be:
“US provides weaponry for Israel to wage its one-sided air war”
Some in Israel, say, ‘you would do exactly what we’re doing.
No we would not! The UK never flattened West Belfast in response to the IRA. And bombing Dublin, because of cross-border attacks would’ve been unthinkable; not least, because of the fact Irish American politicians, like Biden, would’ve probably threatened to bomb us!
The IRA even blew up the Tory party conference hotel on 12 October 1984, with the bombing of the Grand Brighton Hotel, nearly killing the then Prime Minister, Thatcher. Ministers had to be dug out of the rubble. Norman Tebbit’s wife was left paralysed from the chest down. Imagine Israel’s/Netanyahu’s response to that. So, no, we would not do the same, we know this, because we didn’t.
Disgusting, a spit in the face for the palestinian people, a spit in the face for the american pro-palestinian protests movements, a spit in the face against ICJ, ICC, Amnesty, HRW and every other human rights organisation that have proved that Israel engage in obvious, gross human rights violations and are able to commit these crimes with the aid american aid.
US even bypassing their own laws, what is this if not treasonous acts? Obviously Mr Blinken put Israel above the US.
Under several federal laws, the department has a policy prohibiting U.S. weapons transfers when it’s likely they will be used to commit genocide, crimes against humanity, grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions of 1949, or other violations of international humanitarian or human rights laws.
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/us-weapons-to-israel
And yeah, talking about “ceasefire” while arming and aiding Israel with a whopping 8 billion USD of arms. Why aid to begin with? Why cannot rich Israel buy it themselves? Smack of greediness.
The stupid leaders of Qatar, UAE, Egypt etc that signed up to the phony ceasefire-efforts, a dumb move to begin with since it is all about protecting Israel, should for crying out leave this charade. Not to mention the collaborator Mahmoud Abbas and his PA working with the same US that enabling the extermination of his own people!?
It wasn’t that long ago (a few weeks) – that the SNP’s Angus Robertson had a secret meeting – (no minutes published) with Israel’s ambassador to the UK – in which there was a huge outcry against it in Scotland.
“RACHEL Reeves has been condemned for meeting with a controversial Israeli official at Labour conference this week.
The Chancellor was pictured standing alongside the Israeli ambassador to the UK, Tzipi Hotovely, in a tweet shared by the official on Thursday (below).
“Thank you so much to our dear friends at Labour Friends for Israel for such a warm welcome in Liverpool, and for standing in solidarity with the Israeli people,” she said.”
https://archive.is/DQZXy#selection-1831.3-1851.175
Another fifth columnist running our country for Israel. Such a good Goy.
No, the UK didn’t bomb the Falls Road area nor invade the Republic of Ireland. But we did facilitate what would be called terrorist attacks within NI and also, on two occasions, Dublin.
The Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) was introduced in response to the IRA Birmingham bombings of 1974 and although the talk at the time was of this being a temporary measure, it is still here with us 50 years later. Its powers have been expanded and used to snare such terrorist extremists at Kit Klarenberg, Craig Murray and Richard Medhurst.
DW
Indeed, there were atrocities by UK forces, and I’m in no way suggesting the UK should have employed Israel’s ‘collective punishment’ approach, quite the opposite. I’m merely highlighting how Israel’s claims that anyone would respond as they have, is clearly nonsense. The British people wouldn’t tolerate ‘collective punishment’ done in our name or revenge. There is something strange about Israeli society that they are so oblivious to the nearby suffering, including thirst and starvation. They treat Gaza like some abandoned zoo.
Related : Someone on X/Twitter posted a clip of Netanyahu, interviewed on Israeli TV in the mid-1980s and he was explaining why the wives and children of their enemies should never be targeted,…basically accepting the sanctity of all human life. Makes you wonder at what point he became so warped, turning into the murderous abomination he is today.
No problem, I understood the point you made. But I think there is an ethnic element to the concept of collective punishment. The Northern Irish were all British citizens, despite some having a stronger affiliation with the ROI. British soldiers interviewed back in the 1970s often expressed bewilderment that they were being asked to police housing schemes exactly like the ones they themselves had grown up in. I recall one Scottish squaddie getting round this problem by saying: ‘I don’t hate Catholics but I hate the ones over here.’ So he had to introduce some element of ‘the other’ to justify his street patrols. So while I agree with your political and social analysis of why the UK did not take vengeance on the Nationalist community of NI, I think there was an ethnic element present as well.
These problems of affinity did not exist in Malaya a decade earlier so brutal collective punishment could be meted out fairly freely. Today, it’s clear that many Israelis (not just Zionist zealots) regard the ‘Amalek’ as an inferior species so there is no let or hindrance to mass slaughter in their eyes.
“The British people wouldn’t tolerate ‘collective punishment’ done in our name or revenge”
really? the collective punishment on Gaza for the last year has been done with full British support. that is why Starmer and the rest are still denying there has been any collective punishment. they have not fooled anybody yet there is very widespread tolerance in the general British population for what is being done in their name. don’t kid yourself.
I don’t want to get too pedantic here but I think there there is a slight difference between ‘acceptance’ and ‘tolerance.’
I agree with Goose that the UK public have NOT ‘accepted’ the genocide in Gaza: the numbers protesting on the streets have been higher than in most if not all European countries. Opinion polls reflect this reality. Hence the refusal to debate the issue at the government’s party political recent conference was an admission of that being the case.
However, you are probably correct to say that the UK public, devoid of any political redress, has ‘tolerated’ the genocide. But tolerance is only what you are prepared to endure. It is not your settled will.
Goose is also pushing the myth of fundamental British *ruling class* decency, even as Britain is involved up to its neck in genocide.
I find that offensive, although fortunately such chauvinistic, deferential attitudes are in retreat in British society at large.
even so both mass Gaza demonstrations I attended in London were overwhelmingly Muslim in composition (ie first- second-gen immigrant). they cannot be claimed as evidence of Britain’s fundamental decency, especially considering what they were demonstrating against.
It’s also the case, IMO, that whilst a lot of ‘the great British public’ know what’s going on, there is still a lot who still rely on the MSM for their version of the truth and therefore have no idea. Ignorance is bliss !!
“The West is bound to Israel by the simple, unalloyed mechanism of cash paid to politicians. That is the truth.”
Yes, it is the truth. No doubt about it. However, it certainly isn’t the FULL truth. For that you need to consider the central role played by the likes of Jeffrey Epstein who provide the kompromat.
Plata o plomo – that’s the Mafia-style choice our politicians are given. “The silver or the lead.”
The muted western reaction to revelations in the guardian, that Israel had threatened an ICC judge: https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/28/israeli-spy-chief-icc-prosecutor-war-crimes-inquiry
Does indeed suggest something very dark is going on. Had Russia done similar, there’d be no shortage of leading western politicians lining up to condemn that country as a mafioso state, using that evidence in the report as proof. I don’t think any leading politician even commented? Suggesting they know about this behaviour and it’s somehow accepted and indulged. If they can threaten international judges with impunity, what chance a lowly politician?
We know every US politician is selected by and has an AIPAC minder who can destroy them if they stray from the path. I assume there is a similar system in operation within Westminster, albeit not so comprehensive – yet.
We know there is a huge amount of interference in UK politics, elections and policy decisions by Israel yet there is no mass outcry, even when hard evidence is available (Al Jazeera: the lobby). It does beg the question about the morality, competence and honesty of our politicians.
“The desire to be a politician should bar you for life from ever becoming one.” ― Billy Connolly
On this topic, some of the UK Israeli fifth columnists are mentioned in this top article:
https://www.declassifieduk.org/how-the-israel-lobby-got-hezbollah-banned-in-britain/
I did a search a bit earlier re >only one baby was killed on october 7< and, as such, ended up saving around a dozen or so articles from the list of results to new tabs so that I could then go through them one by one. And the article I just got round to checking out turned out to be one that I came across ages ago, and almost definitely before Christmas, and I definitely posted it on at least one site, but I don't remember which, but it was either Skwawkbox or JVL or this site.
I didn't realise until I started reading it that it was this article that I came across before, posted on November 16th, and at the time I think I must have focussed on the main issue raised in the story (or to be precise, what *I* regarded as the main issue) – ie that the World Jewish Congress posted the names of some children they said were killed by Hamas on October 7th that turned out to be the names of Israeli children in an article published in 2014. It's convoluted, so here's a clip from it:
It appears that the Instagram post by the World Jewish Congress — an organization representing Jewish communities globally — shown in the video does repeat some of the names included in a list from 2014 of children who had been killed in Israel over the preceding years.
Although the post is no longer available, a reverse-image search shows that the organization did post a graphic on its Instagram page with the title “Israel’s children murdered in the Hamas massacre” and a list of names.
We emailed and called the World Jewish Congress about the Instagram post, but we didn’t hear back.
Hmm, I wonder why not… Anyway, further down the page towards the end of the article it says the following:
As we have written, Israel’s National Center of Forensic Medicine has been working to identify the remains of those killed on Oct. 7. Forensic pathologist Chen Kugel, the head of the center, said the ages of those killed ranged from 3 months to 80 or 90 years, according to The Media Line, an American news outlet that covers the Middle East.
Kugel also told the Los Angeles Times that initially most of the bodies could be identified through DNA. Now, the staff’s work involves “reassembling and reconnecting pieces” of remains found in the landscapes where the killings occurred.
For example, what initially appeared to be a piece of charcoal was examined through a CT scan, Kugel said. The scan revealed, “These were people who were hugging one another and burned while they were tied together. It might be a parent and a child.”
I don't suppose for one minute that it could have been the Israeli tanks and helicopter gun ships that incinerated them all!
https://www.factcheck.org/2023/11/dozens-of-children-died-in-hamas-oct-7-attack-on-israel-contrary-to-online-claim/
NB How the feck does a scan of a piece of charcoal reveal that they were tied together?! Oh, right, and it might have been a parent and a child!
Anyway, I should just quickly point out that just prior to reading THIS particular article, I had read the transcript of a Chris Hedges interview with Max Blumenthal on November 17th, and I'll post just one wee bit from it:
Max Blumenthal: Well, when I first went to Gaza in 2014, in the midst of Israel’s 51-day-long assault on Gaza, I came across a car that was on the roadside that had been roasted by a Hellfire missile along with its driver. The driver’s body had been removed but it was undoubtedly charred and you could actually see his sandal melted into the gas pedal. He had been hit by a Hellfire missile. I embedded the picture in my article to compare it to the vehicles that the Israeli Foreign Ministry was pointing to as evidence of Hamas savagery, and it’s identical.
Oh, and this!:
But if you look at the confirmed death count, only one Israeli baby was killed. It’s horrible and tragic. It was a 10-month-old baby named Millie Cohen, who was accidentally shot by Hamas gunmen in an exchange of fire.
And more reporting will come out about this, but you can look at the confirmed death toll at Haaretz. There’s no other baby.
https://therealnews.com/did-israels-military-kill-its-own-civilians-on-oct-7
PS. What I was trying to ascertain is the date that it was first mentioned that just one baby was killed.
The baby’s name was actually Mila Cohen.
Jonathan Cook picks up on the crassness of the chosen title for the BBC’s documentary: Surviving October 7: We Will Dance Again, Cook rightly points out that with the horrific levels of child dismemberment in Gaza, many there, won’t even walk again, let alone dance.
https://x.com/Jonathan_K_Cook/status/1839425778523492378
This is the same BBC that former BBC Director, Danny Cohen, insists is institutionally biased in its reporting, against Israel.
Not that reporting on the situation in the ME is easy for anyone. The anti-terror laws seem deliberately designed to stymie all debate and discussion. The laws are so broad and badly written, even academics can’t explore the motivations of key actors in the ME conflict; because by repeating the stated grievances of proscribed organisations, they risk potentially straying into being falsely accused of sympathising with said organisations.
This isn’t so much anti-terrorism legislation, as ‘thought crime’ legislation; designed to stymie criticism of Israel and close down debate. Needless to say, it seems totally inconsistent with the British tradition of allowing free speech.
The whole argument against a written constitution and a US-style first amendment, used to be that we simply didn’t need one – as certain rights would forever be protected and guaranteed. That’s clearly no longer the case.
There was a blasphemy law in the UK for most of the time I lived there – I remember Mary Whitehouse trying to invoke it when Christianity was being disrespected. So the current situation of criminalising those opposed to Judeo/Christian genocide is not really anything new.
“The British tradition of allowing free speech”?
Until that free speech looks like making too many people oppose the official line
Question for readers. Keir Starmer made two hours available to meet Trump (with Lammy accompanying), and evidently spoke flatteringly enough to have Trump describe him as very nice. He did not make time for Kamala Harris, with the not-too-impressive excuse “diary challenges”. Why?
Why?
Because if Harris wins, good US – UK relations are a nailed on certainty. If Trump wins however, it’s anything but certain. It’s like that old thing about talking to your enemies, not your friends. Over Ukraine, NATO funding and even Israel, Trump may cause endless problems for European leaders. Trump unilaterally declared Golan Israeli last time he was in office, remember. He’ll likely dump Ukraine and may well be too effusive in his support for Netanyahu.
Was it not Harris who got out of seeing Starmer?
So corruption, surrounding the Japanese PM Fumio Kashida – has saw him stand-down, he has been replaced with Japan’s Defence Minister – Shigeru Ishiba. Ishiba – wants Japan to be the spearhead of an Asian Nato, against China and North Korea – however the US State Department, has knocked this idea on the head, at least for now – Ishiiba – appears to be a compliant US puppet.
It wouldn’t take long for Israel to collapse – without foreign aid – as would Ukraine.
“The US has given Israel an $8.7 billion tranche of military aid, the majority of which will be used to top up the country’s depleted air defense stocks, the Israeli Defense Ministry said in a statement on Thursday.
The package includes $3.5 billion already received by Israel and set aside for “critical acquisitions,” and $5.2 billion for the Iron Dome missile defense system, David’s Sling surface-to-air missile system, and a “high-powered laser defense system currently in its later stages of development,” the ministry’s statement read.
The announcement came after the director general of the Israeli Defense MInistry, Eyal Zamir, met with US Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Amanda Dory at the Pentagon earlier on Thursday.”
https://www.rt.com/news/604747-us-israel-military-aid/
In 2016, multiple arab states designated Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation.
Gulf Arab states label Hezbollah a terrorist organisation
https://www.reuters.com/article/world/gulf-arab-states-label-hezbollah-a-terrorist-organisation-idUSKCN0W40X0/
In 2008 CIA (along with Mossad) killed Hezbollah ‘international cheif’ Imad Mughniyeh
https://www.timesofisrael.com/imad-mughniyeh-killed-in-joint-mossad-cia-operation/
Back in 2020 Turkey targeted Hezbollah members in Syria:
Turkish strike in Syria kills nine Hezbollah members, wounds 30: source
https://www.reuters.com/article/world/turkish-strike-in-syria-kills-nine-hezbollah-members-wounds-30-source-idUSKBN20N0GI/
Rest assured Hezbollah have many powerful enemies in the region and globally that working in tandem against them.
To keep on with the momentum, one wonder also if Israel is going to escalate and wreck Syria after Palestine and Lebanon and further down the road, also Iran?
You speak of momentum, but the core rationale behind Netanyahu’s policy of extensive warfare is rather simple. He knows his only enemy capable of achieving nuclear capability is Iran, and that they may have done so within 2 to 3 years. So he has to try and get rid of Iran’s proxies (Houthis, Hezbollah in particular) within this time bracket. Later, it would clearly become too risky. Also, the longer the war, the safer he feels as otherwise he would face criminal charges in his own country. He hopes he can later invoke the statutes of limitations…
Getting rid of the proxies hasn’t worked up to this point, even with the big boys involved, so I don’t see Hamas, Houthis, or Hezbollah disappearing, particularly whilst Israel is killing their civilians.
As many others have pointed out, I believe the plan is to draw Iran out and involve the US/NATO/Fascist Scum in another ME war. This would allow the Israelis to sit back and watch the fun, whilst the Goy pay to play. Such a war would be another Iraq/Afghanistan, a drawn out disaster that achieves nothing but destruction and enables theft of national assets. And, Iran’s potential pact with Russia means the west may not fully understand the consequences.
I never said Netanyahu will succeed. But I also don’t think Iran will be drawn into open conflict in the near future. They’re not that stupid. They know fully well their time will come later, when they also have nuclear deterrence.
Yes, you’re right.
The funny thing is (?) that it was Trump that cancelled the Nuclear Treaty that Iran had with the USA that guaranteed Iran’s safety in exchange for not developing Nukes. So, given Trumps Israeli bias it begs the question was the cancelling of the treaty an Israeli ruse to enable a western attack on Iran.
I believe Iran is negotiating a joint defence treaty with Russia which would change the game.
Consider:
‘Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday that Moscow viewed the notion of “denuclearising” North Korea as a “closed issue” as it understood Pyongyang’s logic of relying on nuclear weapons as the foundation of its defence.’ [Reuters]
And:
“Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has said during a meeting with students that nuclear weapons will be used as soon as NATO attacks the republic.” [TASS]
No wonder Lammy and Sir Keir feel so emboldened to keep giving it the big ‘un to Russia..
Civilians must be ready to fight because Britain’s military is so small, warn peers.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/09/26/civilians-must-be-ready-to-fight-as-army-so-small-say-lords/
UK weapon stockpiles ‘threadbare’ after arming Ukraine, says defence minister
https://www.thetimes.com/uk/defence/article/ukraine-western-allies-almost-nothing-left-weapon-stockpiles-z5z5v0z5j
I’m sure our modern military made up of DEI hires is more than
manperson enough to give those reds a damn good seeing to !” Civilians must be ready to fight… ”
Just like in the precious two world wars then.
Good luck to any government trying to get today’s youth (and the not so young, for that matter) into uniform to fight for Ukraine, or against Iran or China or any of our other “enemies”.
Mind you, by then, Keir’s son – who is doing his GCSEs this year – will probably be old enough to volunteer.
I doubt there are many in real life who would race to sacrifice themselves for Lammy, Sir Keir and the Nato cause.
Perhaps Pears Morgaine, but I highly doubt that.
From the Telegraph article Greg posted a link to:
It also criticised the “alarmingly low” understanding of the public’s awareness of the true state of the UK’s defence posture.
“The mindset of a nation under genuine threat is absent, and there is an urgent need to invest in shaping how people perceive the value of defence,” it warned.
It called on Sir Keir Starmer to develop a plan that “resonates with citizens, emphasising the importance of national security in their daily lives and moving beyond the notion that defence is solely the military’s responsibility”.
Yep, all the fear-mongering of the Russian threat by the psychopathic ruling elite and their MSM propaganda machine during the past couple of years or so seems to have had little impact, so the scum want to rev it up. They, and their US and other fascist mates, deliberately created the situation in the first place, and now they want to do a Hitler on us and have the whole nation in a continual war-mode mental and emotional state. We really REALLY gotta expose these fascist cnuts for who and what they are! And get shot of them and change the reality – the world – we live in. It’s WAR!!
‘It called on Sir Keir Starmer to develop a plan that “resonates with citizens, emphasising the importance of national security in their daily lives and moving beyond the notion that defence is solely the military’s responsibility”‘.
Sir Keir, an ideal person to inspire others to selfless sacrifice.
The Zionist PM – Netanyahu addressing the UNGA right now- listening to him prattle on – one could be forgiven for thinking that it’s not him, or his IOF personnel that’s committing genocide in Gaza.
Netanyahu – now issuing threats – threats aimed at Iran, whilst quoting scriptures about Moses.
In his speech Netanyahu has raised the spectre of ‘appeasement’ in relation to Iran. Which is quite a smart distraction I suppose, since the word is associated with the territorial acquisitions made by Nazi Germany in the 1930s. Today the word ‘appeasement’ is regularly used against those who are reluctant to send bombs to Ukraine. He’s using some ‘Blue Peter’ type diagrams to make his case.
Yet comparative maps of 1948 and present day Israel would show a level of appeasement in terms of territory conceded that undermines his case. It is really quite remarkable that the word ‘appeasement’ is never, ever used in respect of Israel.
David Warriston.
Yes David, I caught the jist of that – but had to turn it off after a bit – the lies became overwhelming – and the rent-a-crowd in the background – who applauded his every word – became a bit annoying as well.
For me Netanyahu was basically saying – hit Iran with really severe sanctions – destroy Hamas – and Israel is a shining light – that will benefit mankind – so help us defeat our enemies – if you want a better tomorrow.
Luckily my wife was working from home and was consoling me during that torture.
Bibi was lying by omissions.
BBC coverage and analysis was pretty bad as well.
They did show empty seats but not the reality of massive numbers of empty seats as Al Jazeera. Btw many delegates did not come at all and many others left before his speech.
His drawings have improved 😄.
” UN is antisemitic more sanctions than all the rest” 😂
Literally under his very speech where he framed Israel as peaceseeking and a victim, Israel drop more bombs in Beitut than they have in almost 2 decades! The audacity of this nasty regime have no limit.
Netanyahu also praised the pro-israel arab world while blasting Iran and allies as “cursed” with some stupid print-out cartoonish images:
See photos in the link:
https://x.com/_Jala__/status/1839669956348105190
Now, are the arab states, even though they are covertly pro-israel really want to be used like this?
Bit steep really, old Bibi quoting scriptures about Moses, given that all the founders of Zionism (Herzl et al.) and many if not most of the present-day ones were/are non-religious Jews.
The Jewish God is a tribal personification of what’s considered good for the tribe. It’s nothing more than that.
People who are critical need to take a view from the outside and not be soft on the self-conceptions of those who espouse what’s being criticised.
You can get people like say Uri Geller who will say there’s truth in all religions and he just happens to be a Jew, and then the next minute he’s talking about how he murdered a Jordanian during the Six Day War. Talk about a disconnect!
In Zionist circles where strategy is discussed, the religion is seen as basically a hobby, a particular intellectual or cultural interest that some members of the tribe are into. It’s respected and disrespected accordingly. Hobbies of course overlap. For example, religion overlaps with computer programming.
And “everyone” does SOME “community work”. You don’t have to do it all the time, but you’re considered bad if you don’t. do any. The pushiest tell the less pushy how to do it. There are diferent ways to do it. “Israel” functions to glue the tribe together. Some may not like this statement, but I’d ask you to think first about whether it’s true or not. (And it is.)
If you ever speak to a Zionist, ask them what THEY would do if they were Palestinian. They will of course say they would be a “terrorist” because they’d want their land back and they wouldn’t want to be shat on by another group. They’d want to kill kill kill. That’s what they think. They think goy society is institutionally anti-Semitic, to put it in wally-Brit terms. The whole outlook is one of ethnic war. It is so vile that many don’t want to look at it head on.
How the Israeli lobby at Westminster – along with the aid of Tory Sajid Javid, managed to proscribe Hezbollah in its entirety in the UK.
“Britain’s terrorism ban on all parts of Hezbollah came after intense lobbying by pro-Israel groups within Westminster, according to a former UK foreign minister and Tory peers.
Hezbollah’s External Security Organisation and its military wing had already been proscribed in the 2000s.
But in 2019, Theresa May’s government took the decision to proscribe the group in its entirety on the basis that it was “no longer tenable to distinguish between the military and political wings of Hezbollah”.
Just a year earlier May’s cabinet had defended the distinction and refused to ban Hezbollah’s political wing, which holds ministerial posts in Lebanon’s government. However the policy shifted once Sajid Javid, a staunchly pro-Israel MP, became home secretary.
Israeli ambassador Tzipi Hotovely has called Javid “a very special friend” and said his “friendship is one of the greatest things that happened for the Israel-UK relationship”.”
https://www.declassifieduk.org/how-the-israel-lobby-got-hezbollah-banned-in-britain/
What are Hezbollah, Hamas, or for that matter the state of Iran supposed to have done that was “terrorist”? Hasbaraniks can no doubt mention an incident on a given date back in 1986 or some time like that.
What does Israel do that’s terrorist? A fuck of a lot, practically all the time.
The Israelis don’t seem to be like it up them, not one bit.
“The terrorist entity” is a good name for Israel.
Brian Red.
Its want they didn’t do Brian – they didn’t comply with the USA’s World Based Order, and neither has a few other nations – the Zionists have a fair bit of sway in Europe/UK and the US, enough to have them proscribed – of course one-mans terrorist, is another mans freedom fighter – as the saying goes.
Hezbollah HQ just destroyed minutes ago ? That’s what they say.
What a game of chicken.
Yes I fear Nasrallah is soon to be a dead man – Israel will make use of the momentum and kill as much as possible – now they have their ultimate chance. Overall, it seems like Hezbollah was not prepared for a big event like this at all, this speaks of either bad preparation or they are simply not better than this to be frank. It seems that Israel, past couple of years, months – have managed to decimate Hezbollah rockets storage too, having seen no real rocket attacks against Israel – and if Hezbollah had rockets, plans we would see them been executed by now. One could exepct other assymetric attacks, sabotage but obviously there was no such plans ready to use. At the same time, perhaps one is too harsh, like what to expect? Hezbollah have enemies everywhere, probably even a whole lot of israel collaborators in their own team.
…also, the resistance groups should perhaps not focus so much on Israel, they should instead target western interests in the region, after all, it is western produced arms that kill, maim their nations, people. Such attacks would put pressure on the west to, in turn, put pressure on Israel to stop their mayhem. While Israel have no qualms of commiting genocide, the west do not want to become involved in another war in the middle east.
Some 300+ american/western troops targeted and killed in such attacks in the 80s:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983_Beirut_barracks_bombings
Just look at this massive embassy US have in Lebanon:
A massive new US embassy complex in a tiny Middle East nation is raising eyebrows
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/05/12/middleeast/massive-us-embassy-middle-east-mime-intl/index.html
Just imagine how much spying, malign intelligence activities that goes on in that enormous compound directed at Hezbollah, Iran, Syria, Hamas etc. That unfortunately also speak of enormous political corruption within the lebanese leadership letting US have such a big embassy, especially in a the small nation like Lebanon.
As I have said before: A is under siege by B.
B has installations around the world.
Conclusion: well it would be breaking the law to say it.
Meanwhile this Palestinian song absolutely knocks the crap out of the Marseillaise:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnRraYlzGIw
God knows how many Hamas command centres they destroyed by now. Every destroyed building was command centre.
That caught my eye as well. The Israeli military are duty bound to issue that sort of statement but the MSM are not obliged to report it as such without quotation marks.
Wilshire.
I can’t verify this info – if its correct or not – I don’t know.
“Hezbollah security sources have informed Press TV that Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the resistance movement, is in a secure location and has not been harmed by the recent Israeli airstrikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut.
This statement follows rumors circulating on social media suggesting that Nasrallah was targeted during the Israeli regime’s large aerial assault on the Dahiya neighborhood of southern Beirut on Friday.
Iran’s Tasnim news agency cited informed sources in Lebanon as saying no Hezbollah commander was martyred in the Israeli terrorist attacks, describing the attack as “failed”.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry says at least two people have been martyred and 76 others injured in the attack.
Six buildings were razed to the ground as a result of the Israeli aggression on the southern suburb of Beirut.
The Israeli army radio said that F-35 aircraft carried out the aggression using bunker-buster bombs.”
What’s for sure is that this strange game of chicken looks more and more like the Black Knight episode. You remember “‘tis but a scratch’.
We’ll soon know whether the Secretary General is among the victims or not, but either way, if there’s no retaliation in the very near future, it will mean that the IDF rules in Lebanon just like in Gaza. With the same horrific death toll.
Just to throw this in: if Lebanon becomes more like Gaza, one thing that could happen could be a besieging of Beirut and the expulsion of some survivors from there, just in case an Israeli soldier might stub his toe or something during the final stage of “cleansing”. They did this before, in 1982.
It’ll give Quisling-face Abbas something to watch on his telly.
What did people make of Satanyahoo’s latest graphic he held up at the United Nations, the one with the “curse” and the “blessing”?
The way Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon are coloured in is supposed to make them look like a demon.
But what’s he saying with the other graphic, with India, Saudi, Egypt, Sudan, and UAE all coloured in, and with the red two-headed arrow?
https://static.timesofisrael.com/www/uploads/2024/09/AP24271500593026-e1727446901211.jpg
He also thinks in terms of good guys vs. bad guys. Rather, he pretends to, because he knows his audience.
Is that guys or goys ? 🙂
Mustn’t forget that ‘they’ see the world in terms of ‘us and them’ or rather master race and sacrificial animals.