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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The Tory party leadership candidates are vying to outbid each other in affirming their undying loyalty to Israel:
Display the Star of David at UK border to show ‘we stand with Israel’, says Jenrick
Tory leadership hopeful wears hoodie with words ‘Hamas Are Terrorists’ as he pledges support for Jewish community :
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/09/30/robert-jenrick-star-of-david-israel-support-tory-leader/
This, as Israel pounds civilian areas of central Beirut, with US supplied bombs. Lebanon being a country with no real air defences.
“At Sunday night’s event in Birmingham, Andrew Mitchell, the shadow foreign secretary, said that people who fought against Hitler would “turn in their graves” if they heard the words “apartheid” and “genocide” being used to describe the events in Gaza.”
Really? I think it’s highly insulting to make such an assumption about those who fought in WW2. The idea they’d stand with Israel’s disproportionate murderous rampage is obnoxious. It’s as though US/UK politicians have lost all moral sense and reason, isn’t it. This is the same arrogant Andrew Mitchell, who had to pay the Plebgate PC £80k damages in a libel action he brought.
How on earth is 12 months of the most intense bombardment in human history, proportionate? Israel’s own analysis says 60% of the casualties are civilian. A London based think tank says up to 72% of the casualties are women and children. This insane Israeli rampage stems from the ‘Dahiya’ doctrine – “the doctrine – developed by former IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot -… part of the current war cabinet – dictates that Israel must use “disproportionate and overwhelming force” while targeting “civilian and government infrastructure” in order to establish deterrence and force the civilian population to pressure the groups to end their attacks.
In another Telegraph piece, former Tory Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, claims the Tories don’t need to do anything as their turn will come back around in our two-party system. Could there be any better argument for scrapping FPTP and PR’s introduction, than this lot?
“At Sunday night’s event in Birmingham, Andrew Mitchell, the shadow foreign secretary, said that people who fought against Hitler would “turn in their graves” if they heard the words “apartheid” and “genocide” being used to describe the events in Gaza.”
How stupid could he get? Even Israel’s leading human rights organisation claim that Israel indeed commit crimes of apartheid!
2021: B’Tselem labels Israel an ‘apartheid regime’ for first time
The prominent rights organization said Israel cannot be a democracy while maintaining an occupation in the Palestinian territories.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/b-tselem-labels-israel-apartheid-regime-first-time-n1253863
Not a “vibrant democracy”. This is apartheid.
https://www.btselem.org/publications/202210_not_a_vibrant_democracy_this_is_apartheid
A regime of Jewish supremacy from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea: This is apartheid
https://www.btselem.org/publications/fulltext/202101_this_is_apartheid
Not to mention. How could a state be “democratic” and then be a “jewish state”? You cannot have democracy if the state is going to favour a certain race/ethnic group. Andrew Mitchell apparently do not remember that this is what apartheid is. This is what racism is, just like Hitler, South Africa tried to create ethnically pure regimes so is Israel.
Indeed! We are an outpost of Israel and our government leaders are all either Jewish or have Jewish spouses. This is not diversity and our democracy is screwed. All the Tory leadership contenders, and Starmer and Reeves are completely bound to the cultural norms of that religion. Tom Tugendhat is possibly the least committed to genocidal war crimes, and he has a background in serving in the armed forces, and he has expressed surprise that he experiences now more antisemitism, than he did before (all the left wing Jews were expelled from the Labour Party by Labour Friends of Israel).
Hold on tight. It’s going to be a rough ride with these horsemen of the Apocalypse at the helm.
It has nothing to do with Judaism. Some sad bastards in the 1890s invented zionism as a proto-fascist, colonialist and racist antisemite ideology, intended to replace Judaism. Like the Wahhabi perverts in Arabia, they would have remained a reviled minority lurking in the shadows, were it not for it being expedient for American Caesar to exploit them for his foreign policy ends. It has been so successful that Caesar has co-opted the zio-nazis as a proxy for running the metropole as well as the Middle East. Any dissident will immediately be slandered as an anti-semite; Liarbour has even taken part in the nauseating spectacle of co-opting zionist antisemites to purge Jews from the Liarbour Partei.
Zionism is a Jewish supremacist project; and almost every Jewish person I know or have known is massively invested in Israel.
This, imho, is also why Zionism is so attractive to many right-wing, white politicians in the US, the Jim Crow brigade, and UK- those who grieve the loss of Empire and white man’s rule over lesser peoples. Israel, is the last bastion for acceptable discrimination.
The Tory right’s hero,Thatcher, had a blanket opposition to economic sanctions on apartheid South Africa, remember.
They can’t say so openly, but it’s this supremacist mentality that drives their passionate support for Israel. Black Ethiopian Jews are treated abysmally in Israel, some were involuntarily, unbeknowingly sterilised to limit their numbers. and Israeli Arabs complain they are second class citizens, Israel very much has a hierarchy of discrimination. The Tories and their fellow travelers would probably like a similar situation in the UK if they could get away with it. But it’s too late.
Israel is a white settler colony project dressed in protective religious clothing. Everyone knows the hatred for Israel has nothing to do with Judaism and everything to do with how that excessively violent state conducts itself.
Jewish zionist is an oxymoron. Tell almost every Jew that you know that they are liars, apostates and antisemites.
Tugenhat is a fanatical neocon who has long advocated war with Russia. That is why they love having him on Channel 4 News etc. A highly dangerous individual even by the standards of top-level British politics.
He’s just as fanatical a Zionist as Jenreich.
As I understand it, the Tugendhats were a famously rich Czech Jewish family who fled to Britain during the Nazi-era. That’s not a critique, such a history would make most instinctively partial to Israel.
Better to listen to what the current South African government says about the Israeli regime. We can assume they know very well what apartheid meant in South Africa.
How long in Britain until the government with support of the “opposition” decides there’s space on one of the multicoloured flags flown from public buildings for a symbol to show that “Britain stands with Israel against terror”? Will that seriously be a surprise if it happens? Or if more than one flagpost is available, fly the Zionist flag next to the Ukrainian flag maybe?
According to Al Jazeera there seems to be a rising enthusiasm for invading Lebanon to fight Hezbollah, in Israel. Maybe they should bear in mind what Churchill – no pacifist himself – said:
“The Statesman who yields to war fever must realise that once the signal is given, he is no longer the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events.” (My Early Life, p 245)
Fascism and national socialism favour war. And the whole national ideology in Israel is most certainly fascist and national socialist. The notion that there are hundreds of thousands of Jews in Israel, i.e. colonial settlers, all tying ribbons around trees, looking forward to Netanyahu being put in prison, and wanting an immediate ceasefire and a prompt negotiated settlement with Hamas so that Israel and Palestine can enter the next Eurovision Song Contest together, twining their two flags together with a big LGBTQIA rainbow, always seemed a bit iffy.
The way that crap is marketed to certain audiences reminds me of the way the kibbutzim (an ethnic supremacist institution if ever there was one) are still marketed to thickos in some countries.
I confidently predict Netanyahu will spend exactly the same number of days in prison that Andreotti and Berlusconi did: ZERO.
MJ.
Ah Churchill – who used chemical weapons in WWI – his policies caused 3 million Indians (India) to die from starvation – he was lionised for escaping from prison during the Second Boer War, a war that first saw the use of concentration camps – used by the British; interestingly half the then British Empire, lined up to fight for the British against the plucky Boers – just as Nato is currently doing with Russia – though I doubt the Russians will suffer the same fate as he Boers did.
As for Lebanon – I’d imagine the Zionists occupiers in Palestine feel pretty confident in defeating Hezbollah – due to the IOF’s air sorties, pager and walkie-talkie explosions being successful – the same thing happened in Gaza – however, having troops on the ground in Southern Lebanon – is a entirely different matter – as Gaza has shown.
I won’t argue that Churchill’s policies didn’t contribute to the Bengal famine, though I understand that the Economist Amartya Sen said that hoarding played a part.
But as for Zionists being “pretty confident”, Churchill went on to say: “Antiquated War Offices, weak, incompetent or arrogant Commanders, untrustworthy allies, hostile neutrals, malignant Fortune, ugly surprises, awful miscalculations—all take their seats at the Council Board on the morrow of a declaration of war. Always remember, however sure you are that you can easily win, that there would not be a war if the other man did not think he also had a chance.”
” that there would not be a war if the other man did not think he also had a chance.””
I can’t agree with the above – well not in every circumstance, (hypothetical) such as defending against a bellicose opponent – who wants to go to war – your primary plan is defence and not attack – not to invade but to secure your borders.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Jackson#Indian_Removal_Act
Concentration camps were invented by Andrew Jackson for the ethnic cleansing of the Cherokee and Seminole people. The Spanish used them in the Spanish-US war.
The decision to copy the Germans and begin chemical warfare was the work of many.
ROS, I am surprised you didn’t manage to mention Churchill’s brilliant 1st world war strategy, see here:
https://www.history.com/news/winston-churchills-world-war-disaster
Unfortunately, another case of having to reevaluate everything we were told about the past.
Churchill was a corrupt, bankrupt drunk, bailed out by rich jews. The inevitable consequences of this has led us to where we are now.
The whole western media are channelling the idea now that the Israeli intelligence machine is very clever and powerful, even more so than audiences thought before.
Let’s not lose our critical attitude towards the media message, okay.
What some don’t realise is that this machine is always fighting, always at the edge – push push push.
Comments on the “Israel’s gotta defend itself” line:
1. Western politicians and statesmen show they’re good doggies by repeating this, and their paymasters dole out the biscuits accordingly. (Stating the obvious here.)
2. It helps f*cks minds up more, so is functional. (Minds and mouths are spurred to think and say the opposite of what the eyes see. See also the role of the notion of “anti-Semitism”, as if say the PFLP are the direct heirs of the Black Hundreds, and as if Jeremy Corbyn and Ken Livingstone are secret admirers of Hitler.
3. It builds community spirit in pro-Israeli circles – i.e. telling a lie together.
4. Well…how about this one…..could it possibly be that Israel is actually not geared to defend itself it all? That it can’t defend itself? That all it can do is attack? I get it there are senses in which this isn’t true, e.g. Ben Gurion airport is obviously well defended, but is there a military sense in which it is true?
Because you know what they say about someone who keeps repeating something…
Ukraine has shown that all the west’s great technology is just PR and is not much good against on the ground, professional soldiering. And, Gaza has shown that the IOF is just a heavily armed, unprofessional rabble that is no match for dedicated freedom fighters. Israel is 110% reliant on the USA for defence. Take away the USA and Israel falls within a week. They may have nukes and would certainly use them, however nukes in Southern Lebanon, or Gaza would have a bigger impact on Israel than their enemies. Nukes on Iran would result in just a ‘stain’ where Israel used to be.
However, the craziness will continue because that’s what the west wants.
While we go on chattering, unfortunately, Israel special forces have just entered Southern Lebanon to open a breach for a forthcoming ground incursion, with all the consequences you can imagine.
Sadly, the UNGA was entirely unaware of what was happening. Or pretended to.
Let’s hope it’s not too late to avoid another bloodbath in Lebanon, like in Gaza.
Indeed, this post has aged A LOT…
Whilshire.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said today on X, that Israel’s 188th Brigade is at the border – and that’s its ready to strike; IDF chief of staff, Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, said that the IDF was ready to enter Lebanon, on a very limited ground operation.
The new Hezbollah leader – Naim Qassem, said that we are ready to face the Israeli military – if it attempts to invade Lebanon, I recall reading last week, that several Iraqi groups were heading for Lebanon to fight alongside Hezbollah – against the Zionists.
I personally wouldn’t trust what an Israeli minister posts on Twitter. I also wish anyone being able to resist invasion in Lebanon do so. Because the opponent will not be merciful. As we all know.
I wonder if we are the only ones worried about this new development.
Because, if Netanyahu is playing chicken, I have a funny feeling others are playing hooky…
Wilshire.
Yes we can’t trust social media (news) info – all we can do is report it – and see if it accurate at a later date – I really do think that the IDF will invade Southern Lebanon – if for no other reason, than to get the 60,000 illegal settlers, who have fled from Northern Israel, back to their illegally built homes in the North.
I read an article about a week ago, that said these 60,000 misplaced illegal settlers were costing Netanyahu’s government a pretty penny in upkeep; if this happens what will Iran or Yemen do? and, if Iran takes action and comes under the crosshairs of Israel’s allies such as the US, UK and Germany, and Iran looks like it might be on the verge of collapse – will Russia step in? So many questions – so many what if’s, so many routes to a larger escalation lie in wait.
Remember, a few days ago, I was bringing the sad news about the Beirut HQ bombing, and you had snippets from social media networks saying everyone was safe. Let’s keep our fingers crossed!
Always Look on the Bright Side of Life 🎼
Still, Iraqi groups?? Why not, but I’ll buy you a beer when they come.
” Iraqi groups??”
Wilshire.
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2024/09/20/733639/Kata-ib-Sayyid-al-Shuhada-says-ready-to-send-fighters-from-Iraq-to-Lebanon#:~:text=The%20secretary%20general%20of%20Iraq's%20Kata'ib%20Sayyid%20al-Shuhada%20says%20the
Hope springs eternal
Nato’s Lord Haw Haw – Jens Stoltenberg, stands down today as its propaganda mouthpiece – he will be replaced tomorrow with ex- Dutch PM Mark Rutte – its a like for like replacement.
Stoltenberg – a former Norwegian PM – became the warmongering clubs (Nato) mouthpiece (Secretary General) in 2014, replacing the Dane – Anders Fogh Rasmussen – who is now (unsurprisingly) a lobbyist for Ukraine.
People like Stoltenberg, Rassmussen and Rutte – never leave the establishment – they just get moved to other gatekeeping positions – within the corrupt system.
Character of the man they have selected to head Nato:
“What can we say to make it look like Israel is not committing war crimes?”, asks Dutch PM
https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/what-can-we-say-make-it-look-israel-not-committing-war-crimes-dutch
fonso.
Yes he’s a nasty piece of work – and one time protege of Geert Wilders.
This doesn’t make for pretty reading.
https://wikispooks.com/wiki/Mark_Rutte
It said he even had links to this woman.
https://wikispooks.com/wiki/Mabel_van_Oranje
What a nasty manipulative man. Ths is of course the same Rotten.. I mean Rutte that condemn Russia 24/7. This is the “rules based order” alright.
This is the type of weak, bot-like pawn the US want to head the Nato. Someone that is easily controlled, that wont protest, that are totally devoid of personality, ideas, views. Just look at the dofus Jens Stoltenberg that I assume even have to ask the US for permission to go to the bathroom.
It’s a shame that Al Jazeera has disappeared from UK Freeview TV.
It wasn’t perfect but, compared to the BBC, Sky, ITV GB News etc, it was great.
Now there is nowhere to get news of Palestine and Lebanon on UK TV.
You can watch Al Jazeera live here:
https://www.aljazeera.com/live
HTH
Thnx Stevie, but when it’s streamed you have to use your data allowance up (I’m on PAYG), so I preferred it on freeview.
Also many people, especially poorer pensioners (I’m not far off), still don’t have the internet.
Not sure of the reason, maybe it’s financial. I believe their US TV channel went a while ago, due to falling oil prices.
Oh well, there’s always the internet, and there are many informed comments and lots of good information here on Craig’s site, stilll.
I very much doubt that, at this very moment of crisis, Qatar decided to save some pennies on the Freeview transmission. Far more likely that someone decided to suppress this inconvenient news source as much as they thought they could get away with while pretending it’s still available on fictional channel 251. We have one TV that can do that streaming and it was noticeable that, at least at first, the stream kept breaking up. Presumably because far more people were trying to watch it than they expected. By the way, https://iptv-org.github.io/ is a useful list of streams from all over the world including ones they don’t want us to watch.
Talk of “rising enthusiasm” in Israel for an invasion of Lebanon misses how things are with Israel. Israel is a fascist entity. It’s irrelevant that it holds parliamentary elections. It doesn’t matter how many elections it holds. It is still fascist through and through, just like the German Third Reich – indeed more so, given that there aren’t any Prussian Junkers to look down their noses at Netanyahu or think “This guy doesn’t even wear a suit or tie – and how good is that dirty oik with a fencing sword?” There aren’t any leaders of Israel who like Admiral Canaris are working with foreign powers to replace the regime.
In Israel, government ministers are viewed as basically government boys. Then there are religious boys, trade union boys, intellectual boys, journalist boys, musician boys, computer programmer boys, intelligence boys, etc.
The government doesn’t have to win the population over.
Similarly the musicians don’t have to win the population over to earn respect as those within the fascist entity who do the musical jobs.
There is no Israeli opposition to the fascist entity called Israel, or to its government or to any other functional group. One shouldn’t be misled by how Israelis shout at each other. There’s no “Don’t be so nasty to the Arabs because they don’t deserve it – they’re people just like us” Party. To the extent that there seems to be, it is totally fake, just as the way kibbutzim sell themselves abroad is totally and utterly fake.
As for a “Let’s get rid of the government because they’re not acting in the best interests of our prisoners – what we need is peace with Hamas and a prisoner exchange” Party, what a load of crap that is.
If a big part of the population were against the slaughter, they would ACT ACCORDINGLY. They would stop military equipment moving along the roads; if they were in the army, they would mutiny; if they were army reservists (as a large part of the population is) they would publicly say “Hell no, we won’t go”.
I will reconsider on the day that reservists or serving personnel in the fascist armed forces burn their military papers in the streets, like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiAfurfvsj4
That’s what opposition to a war by citizens of an aggressor entity looks like.
“Israel is a fascist entity.” Agreed.
From wikipedia: “Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultranationalist political ideology and movement, characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition [etc]” (my emphasis).
So, when you say that “[if] a big part of the population were against the slaughter, they would act”, maybe that’s not so easy under a fascist regime?
A big part of the UK population is against the slaughter, for all the difference it makes (i.e. none). Go on a protest, write to your MP, see what changes.
Fascists gonna fascist…
The only thing that will stop them is the only language that they understand – force.
That’s why the Yemenis, Hamas and Hezbollah are true freedom fighters, and not ‘terrorists’.
The small things that UK citizens can do include boycotts of Israeli goods. As someone said further up this long thread, don’t buy anything from M&S (it’s too expensive anyway).
I believe Hewlett Packard are another of the large number of businesses linked with the apartheid Israeli State, athough that didn’t stop the NHS swapping all their Dell computer terminals for HP ones a couple of years ago… Lol the sacred NHS is part of it… diversity and rainbows, clap your fucking hands…
https://undercoverinfo.wordpress.com/2024/07/26/nhs-contractor-that-targets-palestinians-develops-ai-assisted-battlefield-system/
I’m curious as to how a boycott of M&S is going to hurt Israel.
It won’t – it’s more of a ‘moral’ sanction against M&S for their support of Israel.
Possibly needs to be extended to all UK supermarkets, with the exception of the Co-op, then.
@James – Thx for the info about Hewlett Packard.
Caterpillar is another one.
@Pears – Marks and Spencer have always had support for Israel as one of their aims.
See for example the way they popularised avocados in Britain. A lot has been published about their support for Israel, which is not denied.
http://www.inminds.co.uk/boycott-marks-and-spencer.html
They are also involved with car park thuggery and I can tell you that on many high streets in Britain they have a lot of influence, for example leading disgusting campaigns saying don’t give money to homeless people who ask for it. Also many of their small suppliers will be able to confirm what thugs they are. See the “St Michael system”.
Anyone who shops at Marks and Spencer is helping Israel. Refusing to shop there isn’t much, but it’s doing SOMETHING and it’s to be encouraged.
Similarly look at all fruits and vegetables in supermarkets, and if you buy them from a stall then ask the stallholder in a loud voice, to check they’re not from Israel.
That link brings up a webpage that hasn’t been updated for nearly quarter of a century!
All states are fascist, they only difference is the lies they tell about the people they kill.
New York Times
“Israel Sends Troops into Southern Lebanon”
“Russia’s Illegal, Unprovoked, Barbaric Invasion of Ukraine”
Frauds’ paper of choice.
Dont forget that Israel only do “targeted strikes” while Russia conduct a “full-scale-invasion”
Another example by Washington Post, their initial headline on the killing of Nasrallah said:
“Hasan Nasrallah, Hezbollah leader and force in Middle East, dies at 64”
https://web.archive.org/web/20240928171713/https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2024/09/28/hasan-nasrallah-hezbollah-lebanon-dies/
Some dehumanization/sanitation all right. Reading that headline makes one believe Nasrallah just died, peacefully in his sleep.
He did not merely die, he was murdered, by Israel!
What would a “part-scale” invasion look like? Barefoot squaddies?
Invading Lebanon is Israel’s worst possible move right now because they will not be able to defeat Hezbollah on the ground. Instead it will be a token gesture and the real action will be on the West Bank, which will get the same trearment as Gaza.
The purpose is to “mow the lawn” as the israelis themselves call this; Cut down the resistance – physically, hurt it, causing terror, wreck havoc and instill fear in the civilian population every other year:
The perverse leaders of Israel even have a “doctrine” for this terror-tactic:
The Dahiya doctrine, or Dahya doctrine,[1] is an Israeli military strategy involving the large-scale destruction of civilian infrastructure in order to pressure hostile government
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dahiya_doctrine
In my view they might be able to decimate Hezbollah to great extent – perhaps even eradicate in total – but they cannot kill off the ideas, sentiment. New groups will likely emerge… atleast I believe, because at the same time, Israel managed to completely decimate the PLO to become their collaborationist servant in the West Bank. Hezbollah, Hamas seems to have more self-respect than that though.
According to a former PLO member, she said (some months ago) that Israel will not be able to eradicate Hamas:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hH-gJDTPrBc
The more ‘Israel’ attacks, the more obvious it becomes that they are just a vehicle for the US, just like Ukraine. The idea that an independent Israel would have the ability or the will to mount a land offence against one of its neighbours on its own is preposterous. The US no longer has the power to work on its own in the Middle East and Europe, so uses proxies – we in the UK are most likely also a proxy against European power, hence Brexit, which Starmer isn’t allowed to even modify. Regarding Israel, let’s hope other governments in the region act wisely.
The UK was the American proxy in the EU, parroting Washington’s lines in its institutions. Then Brexit happened. Washington certainly sounded less than pleased and they’ve had to deploy the usual instruments of bribery and blackmail to accumulate new proxies. Meanwhile, the UK is now pretty much irrelevant to everyone.
Now that the EU has expanded to include former Warsaw Pact states like Poland and the Baltics (right wing warmongers extolling the virtues of Nazi collaborators and ruled by American-trained puppets), the UK’s continued membership of the EU is no longer vital to American interests. It achieved the ends required by backing neoliberal and neocon policies and ensuring they were adopted by the EU while it was still a member. Anyway, as far as foreign policy goes, the continent is goose-stepping to the anti Russian tune anyway. Job done.
I would have thought that the tail has been wagging the dog for some time. Just look at the political influence of the Zionist lobby in the USA, made visible in the attitude of Congress to Netanyahu’s visit. They bobbed up and down as diligently as if he had been their Dear Leader, since AIPAC “secret police” might be taking note of anyone who didn’t applaud the visitor, that they might pour millions intro their rivals’ campaigning coffers come the next election, and end the dissidents’ political careers. It works, too. Ask Jamaal Bowman and Cori Bush.
Yes, it is the US that’s the real cause. They just pretend they can’t control the Israelis.
Sayyed Nasrallah: “There is a misconception prevalent in the Arab world regarding ‘Israel’-US relations. We keep repeating this lie about the Zionist lobby – that the Jews rule America and are the real decision makers, and so on. No. America itself is the decision maker.”
@Tom74 – You’re mistaken. It’s not preposterous at all. And you will notice that whilst in the USA there are organisations such as AIPAC (owns the legislature), CPMAJO (owns the executive), and the ADL (owns the culture), you would be hard pushed to find similar USA-loyal organisations in Israel. Seriously, what is the closest equivalent you could nominate? Israel just doesn’t let itself be humiliated the way the USA does.
Chomsky looks like an effing fool when he says Israel is the USA’s proxy. And since AFAIAA he is an intelligent man, he is pro-Zionist Jewish intellectual number 1,042,287 who prostitutes his intellect for ethnic supremacist purposes. He is unfit to lick a Palestinian refugee’s boot. And frankly his supposed past going back to the 1940s or 1950s when he is supposed to have backed “binationalism” (basically Apartheid Lite) is also sh1te.
Lol, for some reason my comments are not appearing…
But this one has. Why’s that, mods? [ Mod: Why? We don’t know. Your comments were trapped by the akismet spam filter, and it’s an automated service which doesn’t cite reasons. ]
All I said was:
I believe Tom74 is correct.
What is power (in the political sense)? It’s the ability to change things in the physical world – to defeat enemies, acquire resources etc.
Clearly, America has more power than Israel does. All Israel’s power is contingent on America. All their deadly missiles, drones etc etc. are kindly donated by Uncle Sam. Why would America do this? Is it really because of the Israeli lobby? Or is it because Israel is a strategically useful point in the Middle East from which America can project power?
One person who is likely to have had a clue was the late Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, who said, after his predecessor’s assassination:
“We blame Israel for this blood-soaked carnage, and blame its protector, the United States of America, which is responsible for all Israel’s massacres and all the destruction, murder, and displacement it wreaks. Everybody knows that Israel would not have been able to stand on its own in the region had it not been for Western and American support.”
Please forgive me if slightly off topic, but I thought the few readers of this blog who may have missed it would like to hear Julian Assange, who has eventually abandoned his sand beach in Western Australia.
https://consortiumnews.com/2024/09/30/watch-assanges-testimony-in-strasbourg-live/
Many happy returns!
I particularly second point 23.5.
There are way too many so-called State secrets!
This interesting testimony, and its underlying meaning, could well deserve the next stop of our private Wheel of Fortune…
The remarkable thing about some of the comments here is that if they were repeated in public in the UK, those uttering them would be arrested.
Yet not politicians and journalists who abet Genocide. That is even more remarkable. The United Kingdom 2024.
That’s because there is no ‘genocide’, nor is there any attempt to inflict ‘genocide’.
Hysterical claims like ‘genocide’ achieve nothing except making the rest of us laugh. If that’s your aim, then …
Us being who? The latest polling by YouGov (12-13 Aug) showed 7 in 10 Britons now have an unfavourable view of Israel, despite the wall of pro-Israel propaganda across British media. And there is not a genocide scholar on the planet (apart from Samantha Power) who has not said that is exactly what Israel and its allies are committing in Gaza.
Laugh? The figure of 40,000 deaths is probably an under-estimate of the number of lives that Israel has taken in Gaza so far.
But genocide is also cultural, like Hebraizing historic Arabic place names, censorship (Israeli Arabs in school are not permitted to use the word ‘Nakba’, no kidding). Likewise the looting of Arabic-language books from houses in 1948 – the stolen property remains in the National Library of Israel to this day.
You may find the Youtube videos of Miko Peled and Ilan Pappé beneficial, and also their books, like Peled’s The General’s Son and Pappé’s The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine. Pappé has written others worth considering such as Ten Myths about Israel and The Biggest Prison on Earth.
Those of us who oppose Zionism shouldn’t say
* Hebron (say Al-Khalil)
* Jerusalem (say Al-Quds)
* Allah (when speaking English I mean – say God)
* Settler (if this means only Zionist settlers on land conquered in 1967 – but it’s a good word for Jewish Israelis in general – apart from some tiny tiny minority descended from Jews who lived in Palestine in 1850)
* Apartheid (sorry but this was the South African white supremacists’ word for their own system, which they pretended wasn’t really about white supremacy but was about “separate development” or “apartness” – say Jewish supremacism)
Now that Israel has begun its invasion of Lebanon – will we see wide and deep sanctions against it, from the West for invading a sovereign nation – as has happened with Russia – just a thought – of course I already know what to expect – but still, we live in hope as they say.
So we must now keep our eyes peeled for the impending arrival of the “Iraqi groups” to support Lebanese resistance.
You mean the same way we saw ‘sanctions’ against Hamas?
Oh, wait. That’s because Hamas isn’t a country, neither is Gaza.
And yet .. you lot expect your claims of ‘violations of Geneva IV’ to be taken seriously.
Tut, tut. Anyway, I have entertained Mr Murray’s evident mental derangement and that of his groupies, too much. Ta-ra.
Jemima.
There’s at least two-UN Resolutions that state the oppressed Palestinian people/ and other oppressed groups, can take up arms to remove their oppressors – Israel, is an occupying force on lands it does not own – and especially in Gaza – Israel has no right whatsoever to defend itself in occupied lands.
Only Western complicity – allows Israel to exist in it current bellicose form.
@Jemima – You insult people’s mental abilities, but your third sentence is snarling hatred against the victims of genocide which isn’t supported by your first two. Genocide is genocide regardless of who does it, what is or isn’t a “country”, and who gets sanctioned by whom. You don’t care what the arguments are of those of us who oppose the genocide that’s being committed by Nazi-style Zionist terrorists, do you?
Bye now.
Oh and don’t forget War when it occurs doesn’t abide by any conventions.
Meaning that you have to hope that your side will win.
If you win – the loser is in the dock.
If you lose – then you are in the dock.
That is the Law of winning or losing.
There is no UN rule for that.
Indeed Gaza is not a country. It is a concentration camp, made by Israel, into which they pushed the Palestinians that they ethnically cleansed from the Negev in 1948, and have tyrannically ruled ever since.
The kibbutzes that were attacked on October 7 were precisely those from which the parents of the Gazans who attacked them had been expelled.
Ilan Pappé’s lectures on the subject on Youtube are worth listening to.
IMHO it is a Ghetto!
You can get out with permission and do manual work for the Kibbutz or other businesses. You need a permission to go out and fish.
I am wondering if using the term “Apartheid” is understandable to people?
Would they understand “ethnic segregation” better?
The leader of the free world the USA had segregation while still being portrayed as leader of the free world.
When I was a child for nationalism (racism), in the dictatorship you could end up in a jail while the democracies still had colonies and segregation. We were the bad guys.
I wouldn’t quarrel with the term “ghetto”. There are parallels with the Warsaw ghetto and what happened when they rebelled against the Nazis.
@Pigeon – Out of interest, when did the idea that the US was “leader of the free world” start? It’s not something I’ve thought about before. Wikipedia as usual is hopeless. The “cold war” between US and USSR did not begin as early as 1945, not did it end as late as 1991. From 1948 to 1968, peaking in the mid-1950s to 1962 would be more like it. You certainly can’t have, and didn’t have, the “cold war” and “detente” at the same time. Not sure about the period of use of “leader of the free world” though. Did people really say that about General Eisenhower??
“ Anyway, I have entertained Mr Murray’s evident mental derangement and that of his groupies, too much. Ta-ra.”
I can only congratulate you for posting such personal and negative comments without triggering any amicable warning from local authorities.
I was, for my part, mostly trying to correct false assumptions regarding the implications of online offensive statements in connection with the new amendments to the UK Terrorism Act, but my efforts have for some reason been less favorably received.
O tempora, o mores, as the old Cicero used to say…
It looks like the invasion of Lebanon – was given the nod from Washington last month.
“US President Joe Biden on Monday reiterated his public calls for a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, telling reporters at the White House: “I’m comfortable with them stopping.”
However, Israel outlined its military strategy to Washington in broad terms in mid-September and received approval via senior US presidential advisers, Amos Hochstein and Brett McGurk, Politico reported on Monday, citing two Israeli and four American officials.”
https://www.rt.com/news/605021-us-approved-lebanon-campaign/
Robert Jenrick, the pro-genocidal next leader of the Tory Party, hasn’t just said he wants the Star of David displayed at all entry points to Britain. (He’d need a long daisychain for the Irish border, and somehow I can’t imagine the blue-rinse brigade putting in the hours, but never mind. He’ll win the party’s leadership because he’s white, and most Tory members despise anyone who isn’t. This is exactly the same reason that Liz Truss won it.)
He is also promising to move the British embassy out of Tel Aviv and into Al-Quds. (I mean the embassy to Israel of course. Britain doesn’t have an embassy to Palestine.)
And best of all, he says he tried to have Israelis ushered into Britain through special luxury VIP “easy access” “e-gates” that wouldn’t routinely be available to foreigners who were citizens of any other country.
https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/liz-truss-backs-calls-for-star-of-david-to-be-displayed-at-uk-airports/
Why not go further and reduce a Pakistani citizen’s waiting time at the border from 12 hours to six hours if he carries an Israeli’s bags for him?
Some of us haven’t forgotten that when Russia-based mafia boss Roman Abramovich was designated as a person undesirable for entry to Britain, he simply said he’d use his Israeli passport instead of his Russian one. All of a sudden he was very desirable and it was a case of “Yes sir, please do come in.” (Perhaps it would have been considered anti-Semitic to remember that he’d just been classed as undesirable?)
I’m guessing Laura Kuenssberg and Robert Peston won’t be asking Jenrick what the f*cking point is of Britain having a British-branded government at all, if the border is handed over to a foreign terrorist entity.
The boy will go far.
“The boy will go far.”, hopefully long drop, short rope.
Wiki identifies that Jenrick is married to Michal Berkner. She is nine years older than Jenrick, and is the grandchild of Holocaust survivors. She is an Israeli-born and US-educated corporate lawyer who practises mainly in London. Together, they have three daughters, whom they are bringing up in the Jewish faith.”
Another example of how Israel has been sending honey trap agents into the UK to gain control?
One million people have been displaced in southern Lebanon in the past year.
Western media editors can shove their headlines that talk about the Zionists having ordered the evacuation of a few Lebanese “villages near the border”. ONE MILLION people have been terrorised into fleeing their homes. That is in addition to ~2 million in Gaza.
On land that the Zionists occupy, about 60,000 settlers have moved to elsewhere in the occupation zone.
Besides what does that heck does that even mean when Israel claim they urge lebanese people to evacuate? No other state could force another population, in another state, to evacuate!
It is like the msm be like, ‘oh Israel are so kind and warn for people to leave’. Sorry what? Israel have no legal right whatsoever to tell or do anything against Lebanon.
What if Hamas, Hezbollah said the same, ‘hey israelis we are going to bomb now so if you do not move you will get killed and it will be your responsibility’ – of course no western media/politician would buy such an argument.
The US government, the Zionist regime, and regime media in Britain are saying that Iran is “about to” launch ballistic missiles against the terrorist Zionist “God struggles” entity.
3.51pm BST.
Whether this is true or propaganda for Zionist “pre-emption”, we may be about to find out within the next few hours.
The scale of what has already happened in Lebanon suggests that an Israeli-Hezbollah ramping down of the conflict is unlikely.
Unless Iran has some ace up its sleeve i.e. guaranteed Russian support, or even some unknown capability(?), this seems like Iran falling straight into Netanyahu’s meticulously laid trap. As the graph Craig used in his piece illustrates, Israel have been doing their best to provoke rocket fire – presumably to provide the pretext for a Lebanese invasion and territorial land grab. Israel’s border in the North consists of a UN blue line, and Israel’s leaders are ravenous for expansion.
Russia are mighty angry with Israel over their recent attacks in Syria, including against Russian provided air defence systems – they’ve also attacked the base at Tartus. Israel seem to be clearing out Syrian radar etc. that could function as early warning systems for Iran.
Source for an Israeli attack on the (Russian) base at Tartus?
Surprise surprise, while the US call for “ceasefire” in Lebanon, US secrelty signed off Israel’s invasion weeks back:
US secretly approved Lebanon escalation – Politico
Washington gave Israel the green light to mount an offensive, in contrast to its public calls for a ceasefire, sources have claimed
However, Israel outlined its military strategy to Washington in broad terms in mid-September and received approval via senior US presidential advisers, Amos Hochstein and Brett McGurk, Politico reported on Monday, citing two Israeli and four American officials.
https://swentr.site/news/605021-us-approved-lebanon-campaign/
Note the name, Amos Hochstein, this man was even born in Israel and now act as Biden’s envoy in the region. I mean come on, this man do not represent the US, he represent Israel!
A Biden Confidant Emerges as a Crucial Mideast Diplomat
Amos Hochstein, an energy policy official who was born in Israel, is playing diplomatic firefighter along the Israel-Lebanon border.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/10/us/politics/amos-hochstein-lebanon-israel-biden.html
You cannot put people with personal ties on these positions. This guy have travelled to the arab world every other week to make sure they will not rise up against Israel. The stupid arab leaders took the bait once again that is.
Note also the other guy, Brett McGurk, a fanatical neocon guy:
Brett McGurk stands out as dark side of US policy on Israel, Middle East
‘State Department has no real influence on the Israel-Palestine issue because Brett is at the center of this matter,’ says anonymous US official
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/brett-mcgurk-stands-out-as-dark-side-of-us-policy-on-israel-middle-east/3073697
The whole of the US power/command have been taken over by arrogant warmongering extremists and fifth-column type of actors.
There’s no way of confirming this – or if its a US ruse, to implement an attack against Iran – or if its propaganda, to allow the US to further bolster the Zionists regime.
“The U.S. has indications that Iran is preparing to imminently launch a ballistic missile attack against Israel, a senior White House official tells Axios.”
https://www.axios.com/2024/10/01/iran-missile-attack-israel
Iran have their legal reasons, 1 Haniyeh Killing, 2 bombing of the iranian consultate in Syria, 3 Nasrallah killing. Iran have all right to defend itself even though I would have hope that Iran could could have up with another, more surprising act because Israel are already ready for iranian missiles and able to quite easily shoot down the missiles which in turn will look humiliating for Iran. Perhaps Israel will in turn respond more forcefully. That is, Iran must be more calculated, smart than just sending missiles, still Iran should have all cred for actually doing something against Israel while 20+ arab states just sit there doing nothing, I assume it will be like last time when Jordan, Egypt shot down iranian missiles going for Israel.
“Coalition that thwarted Iran’s April drone and missile attack again taking shape – report”
It names the US, UK, Gulf states, Egypt and Jordan as ready to help intercept missiles and drones should they be fired — in what it says is essentially the same coalition that almost completely thwarted Iran’s April 13-14 drone and missile attack on Israel.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/coalition-that-thwarted-irans-april-drone-and-missile-attack-again-taking-shape-report/
Jack.
I quite agree that Iran has cause to attack the Zionist regime – for me timing is everything – when the right time is – I’m not sure – I suppose its when the Zionists regimes forces are spread thin – however the Zionist regime has its back covered by the US, UK and probably several more Western countries, along with some Arab nations in the region – would Russia step in – and aid Iran if it came under sustained attack from the Zionist regimes allies? again, I’m not sure – I suppose Russia, is already aiding in someway by helping Syria which the Zionist regime bombed recently.
I guess it must come to a head – for in all honesty the Zionists cannot be allowed to bombed and kill in West Asia with impunity – basically Israel is out of control.
Unfortunately one should rule out Russia in my opinion – Iran, Syria is on their own, yeah, just days ago Israel was brazen enough to strike Tartus where a russian naval base are located:
Israel attacked facilities in Syria near a Russian military base
https://www.oreanda-news.com/en/gosudarstvo/israel-attacked-facilities-in-syria-near-a-russian-military-base/article1530232/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_naval_facility_in_Tartus
Russia provided Syria with powerful S300 air defense missiles, for almost a decade, but have never let Syria use them against Israel. And in 2022 atleast some (all?) of them were shipped out of Syria.
Russia ships S-300 air defence missiles out of Syria – satellite images
https://www.reuters.com/world/russia-ships-s-300-air-defence-missiles-out-syria-satellite-images-2022-08-29/
“Unfortunately one should rule out Russia in my opinion – Iran, Syria is on their own, yeah, just days ago Israel was brazen enough to strike Tartus where a russian naval base are located:”
Jack.
On the above, can Russia really afford to lose a strong ally (Iran’s ability to function after a large scale bombing attack) in Iran? I don’t think it can – maybe Russia might not get openly involved – but then again it might – Nato is deeply involved in Syria and Ukraine – so I see no reason why Russia couldn’t do the same with Iran – infact, once the US attacks Iran – and it probably will, after this barrage from Iran – the US might curtail its attack – if it knows that Russia has Iran’s back – meaning the US could bomb a few strategic Iranian areas, (mainly military) – but not go to far.
I can’t believe that the Iranian chiefs would go ahead with this barrage of missiles – without first consulting Moscow – Netanyahu consulted Washington – and got the nod before the invasion of Lebanon.
If the Israeli airforce bombs the Russian base at Tartus, Russia will retaliate against Israel directly. (IMO).
AFAIAA they haven’t bombed it though:
https://tass.com/world/1847193
But the night is young.
It might be now or never. Can’t see the Pentagon wanting Donald “fire and fury like the world has never seen ” Trump commanding a war.
From Iran’s perspective …sometimes the best advice is to do nothing. Those US warships and other assets can’t sit in place forever. Never do what your enemy wants you to do, on the timetable he wants you to do it.
BTW, what’s happening with Al Jazeera in the UK on freeview? It changed channels from 235 to 251 , but it appears to have gone online (data only). I put it on last night, to get the latest reports from the region, and on 251 it got stuck, in a loop, so I just switched it off. I ‘m not being a conspiracist, but the timing seems odd. And we know how UK government hates citizens being informed with different factual information and perspectives. Keep ’em in the dark appears to be the motto.
“BTW, what’s happening with Al Jazeera in the UK on freeview?”
Goose.
Maybe, Al Jazeera jumped before they were pushed as in the case of RT news – yes its a pain in the backside not having it on Freeview – 25, is a you say data only.
Someone further up the thread kindly posted the online link to it – so for now I’ll be watching it that way – there’s no way I’ll watch Sky and the BBC’s, coverage of the genocide and invasion – they’re both pro-Zionist outlets.
Anyway here’s the link Goose.
https://www.aljazeera.com/live
251 works with at least some Internet-connected TVsetups. https://d1cy85syyhvqz5.cloudfront.net/v1/master/7b67fbda7ab859400a821e9aa0deda20ab7ca3d2/aljazeeraLive/AJE/index.m3u8 is another Al Jazeera stream that works with VLC, Kodi or some Web browsers. I haven’t quantified how many.
Steve Hayes.
Thanks for that Steve – I’ll check it out.
Looks like Iran have pulled the trigger. Reported that Netanyahu is urgently trying to talk to Putin; no doubt to gauge their reaction to any planned Israeli retaliation.
For the BBC, the violence in the Middle East is suddenly a major issue again – because Israel has received but a tiny taste of its own medicine, compared to what they’ve forced Gaza, and more recently Lebanon, to endure.
As Kissinger supposedly said about the Iran Iraq War, “a pity both sides can’t lose”.
A racist apartheid State (Israel) vs. a cruel theocracy that treats women as second class citizens (Iran).
Netanyahu trying to talk to Putin?
Remember, folks, the agreement is that whichever strikes the other first gets Russia against them. If Iran strikes Israel first then Russia is on Israel’s side. Iran would have had to get Putin’s okay for a ‘measured’ retaliation, and Netty might still claim it broke the agreement.
This is the crux of the Israeli campaign. It can annihilate everyone else until it has sufficiently provoked Iran to respond in order to get permission from Putin for unleashing the penultimate horror.
Once the allies have weighed in, and they have no premis for doing so, then Putin will deliver a ‘measured’ retaliation. We may be a little surprised then….
Thanks for that link RoS.
Goose
” From Iran’s perspective …sometimes the best advice is to do nothing. Those US warships and other assets can’t sit in place forever. Never do what your enemy wants you to do, on the timetable he wants you to do it.”
I agree, unfortunately Iran have sent missiles now. Israel will probably bomb Iran back even more severe.
Perhaps the US will join in to boost the popularity for Biden/Harris.
Russia can’t let that happen.
Nor can Europe really, the idea of tens of millions of refugees from Iran heading for Europe as per when Iraq, Syria and Libya were bombed to ruins, only on a much larger scale, is unacceptable.
This is what happens when you let he US dictate your foreign policy. Stupid ,stupid EU .
Assuming that Iran doesn’t launch more salvos at Israeli airfields & critical infrastructure.
Also presuming that Israel has an adequate supply of bombs left. Considering the amounts they’ve used up already massacring people in Gaza and now Lebanon…
There’s a clip on X someone posted of something large burning off Israel’s coast? A gas platform, or maybe a ship perhaps? Hezbollah are said to have the potent Russian Yahont (Onyx) missiles – I can’t imagine Iran have had such a precise direct hit. The Houthis have apparently also fired a salvo of missiles at Israel. The Shia axis is flexing tonight.
Apparently Yemen hit a UK ship in the Red Sea. Probably that object that was on fire?
Apparently some 180 missiles sent by Iran, hate to say it, but could one guess that no missile actually reached their target once again?
And as usual, west condemn Iran, calling it reckless, an escalation and have even called for an urgent UNSC meeting. They got some nerve when a non-western state legally respond to a genocidal maniac state, then, then their blood gets pumping not when Israel have wrecked havoc in the whole region for 12 months straight. These people are horrid.
Meanwhile Israel try assassinate every palestinian leader there is:
Palestinian leader survives Israeli assassination attempt in southern Lebanon, son killed
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2024/10/01/734322/Palestinian-leader-survives-Israeli-assassination-attempt-in-southern-Lebanon,-son-killed
Amazing that there is no lone gunman that have/could strike at Netanyahu.
Very clearly, if the goal had been to severely hurt Israel and engage in all-out war, they would have launched a barrage from Lebanon. From there, missiles have a flying time 5 times shorter than from Iran, and could reasonably expect to ‘saturate’ Israel’s dome protection.
Firing from long distance Iran, with the result that less than 5 percent of launched missile strikes are successful, is a diplomatic way to satisfy the proxies by providing the expected ‘retaliation’ but stopping short of full fledged war. They know for sure that Israel has no other choice but to reply to the retaliation, but they hope in a moderate way.
Iran is obviously a nation where public opinion is not a major concern, but where leadership is split in between various factions secretly fighting for power.
Hezbollah may have lost half of the alleged 150.000 rockets they had a few months back. And that figure was likely an exaggeration by the Israelis, embarrassed by their own massive firepower and the imbalance in military power – leaving them open to charges of using excessive force.
Israel have been planning this assault on Hezbollah for months. Imagine how much high-res satellite imagery and other classified technology-derived intel the US has provided, regarding storage location targets in Southern Lebanon. A bomb dropped a few nights back created a localised earthquake measuring 2.6 on the richter scale and a shockwave so large many were seriously asking if Israel had dropped a nuclear bomb. More likely they hit a massive depot, deep underground,.
Agreed, the USA military top brass won’t want Trump as president.
Many in the Republican party’s civvy street top brass would probably rejoice if he were replaced as the party’s candidate too, because at the moment it’s looking kinda 50-50 whereas Haley would stand a much better chance.
Jeezo oh – Mossad’s HQ took a pounding tonight – unless of course your a Western MSM outlet – in that case every Iranian missile was shot down.
Watch the Mossad HQ take a hammering.
https://x.com/sahouraxo/status/1841171840938422688
Says Nevatim Air Base at the top. That’s about 60 miles away from Mossad HQ.
Who cares. Don’t shoot the messenger of agreeable news. Are we sure that Twitter is not somehow a Western outlet?
Pears Morgaine.
Indeed it does – I guess it might not be Mossad’s HQ as it was struck on September 25th – Mossad’s HQ is in a residential area of Tel Aviv – no matter, whether its one or the other both are important to the Zionists – and targets for their enemies.
Pears Morgaine.
It looks like it was the Nevatim Airbase afterall – as Max B points out.
“Iran targets key Israeli genocide base, the moral equivalent of striking the railways to Auschwitz”
https://x.com/MaxBlumenthal/status/1841183125482959231
So far, the only casualties suffered by Israel today happened about 3 hours ago in Tel Aviv.
Two ‘resistants’ opened fire in a car on the light train system, and continued in the street. Apparently, 8 fatalities and over 15 other casualties. And it goes to show that a standard AK 47 is sometimes far more dangerous than a $ 1mn ballistic missile.
Could this be how the Zionists knew where Nasrallah was.
“There is a breaking story from Saudi news channel Al Hadath claiming that an unidentified man, traveling from Iran to Lebanon, met with Nasrallah shortly before the leader’s death for the express purpose of shaking his hand. The handshake was purportedly intended to transfer a trackable substance onto Nasrallah’s palm.”
https://www.mintpressnews.com/nasrallah-death-israel-next-move-invasion-lebanon/288374/
More likely, some Lebanese informant simply watched him get out of his vehicle and confirmed ‘target in position’ or some such. Then 5-10 minutes later… boom! Israel have massive advantages gained from penetrating Lebanon’s communication networks, devices, and from the fact that many in Lebanon simply don’t like Hezbollah, making them easy to recruit. Many appreciate Hezbollah’s past defence of Lebanon, but many also blame them for the country’s diplomatic & trade isolation and its dire economic woes.
I honestly don’t understand why Nasrallah didn’t move to Iran. given Israel’s known capabilities to do what they did. He might not have been safe there either, as per Haniyeh, but he would’ve been a harder target, especially if properly protected with multiple lookalikes etc. as Zelensky has.
” many also blame them for the country’s diplomatic & trade isolation and its dire economic woes.”
Its funny how they don’t blame America.
And if you’re calling a timeout from all these very serious new developments, all you need is have a look at Donald Trump’s comments on Truth Social:
“Look at the World today—Look at the missiles flying right now in the Middle East, look at what’s happening with Russia/Ukraine, look at Inflation destroying the World,” Trump wrote in one post. “NONE OF THIS HAPPENED WHILE I WAS PRESIDENT!”
I would sooner listen to Stephen Colbert’s comments on Trump 🙂
This is an interesting development:
‘Multiple IRGC-affiliated Iranian outlets & Telegram channels report, “Iran has warned the US: if you target our refineries, we will set fire to the refineries and oil fields across the entire region, including those in Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan, Kuwait, the UAE, and Bahrain.”
—
$20 per gallon petrol in an election? Riots and rationing across the West?
RoS is right that timing is everything.
The conflict in the ME relates to the US election, but how? The USA may be being destabilised. Sorry if this is stating the obvious. The Clinton presidency was also destabilised.
It could be a bit like the vase scene in the film “Dracula, A.D. 1972”.
Eh, that isn’t exactly new.
That angle has been talked about for years along with Iran blockading the Strait of Hormuz.
All the big Western suppliers of oil are listed, but Tehran is not likely to hit Azerbaijan though for a couple of reasons.
Kicker is at that point the largest supplier of real oil, not tar-sand sludge or shale scam “oil-based product”.
Would be Russia and considering how NATO has handled *that* relationship. This would represent the single largest self-own of the 21st century.
Still we’ll get to net zero, pretty f**king quickly eh?
Will Russia view Iran as being as important to them, as the US views Ukraine?
The US and UK leadership know they simply can’t get away with doing to Iran, what Israel has done to Gaza and now Lebanon. The furious public (over Gaza) will have them out if they even try. We’ve seen 500,000 on marches for Gaza alone. You may see 5 million marching if the UK joins a full scale air war against Iran, on behalf of the genocidal, expansionist state that is Israel.
Israel and the US can’t say that no real damage was done by these salvos, then launch an Iraq war scale air campaign, it’d be totally unjustified. Targeting Iranian nuclear infrastructure is also risky, as Iran will almost certainly try to destroy Dimona and the Eilabun warhead storage facility.
Hard to say what Russia’s view would be.
I rather doubt they’d be as wilfully moronic about supporting Iran as NATO is about Ukraine. Still they’d probably provide assistance, ditto China. As they need oil suppliers.
The UK itself isn’t going to do anything much. You need armed forces worth a damn for that, Britain will try to fight Iran using the USAF/IDF.
As any paltry force the UK might send wouldn’t have much effect, and could cause more outward displays of the festering discontent in the country to emerge. Like you said.
Which of course makes it the most likely move Starmer will take. Assuming the soulless, gormless, free-gear taking sausage returner still has enough pull to get his own way.
There’s also the nuclear usage risk with Israel. Maybe the word ‘proportionate’ doesn’t have an equivalent translation in Hebrew?
Netanyahu’s cabinet wraps all their actions in biblical language; the chosen people this, their destiny that. For a long time, we in the West were told that the real risk, was that of the religious zealots in Iran getting hold of the bomb. After Gaza’s horrifically excessive destruction and Netanyahu’s threats to similarly level Beirut…and now Tehran, I think we may be aiding the real religious zealots.
“ou may see 5 million marching if the UK joins a full scale air war against Iran, on behalf of the genocidal, expansionist state that is Israel.”
My God, I wish you were right. But sadly no. The white Yorkshire guy who owns my local shop and who is mostly an idiot but not a complete one was saying he disliked Jeremy Corbyn because Corbyn in his view is “anti-Semitic”. I strongly doubt this guy knows the stab in the back theory from the “blood libel”, or Der Sturmer from his own craphole. What he really means is he thinks Corbyn was soft on British people of Pakistani descent. There aren’t many in Britain who would actually do anything to help the Palestinians. But is much British air assistance required anyway? Iran has been helping Russia a lot, and let’s hope the Russian government remembers that, even if they don’t tell Azerbaijan to wind its neck in.
If Israel attacks Iran and Russia doesn’t help Iran, Iran will tell them to eff off and to source drones elsewhere.
Headline from the BBC:
“‘Middle East erupts’ and OBE for Queen’s funeral horse”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c70w1lye285o
Probably even Nero though didn’t make Romans say men were women, as King Charles’s BBC does. But top marks for awarding a horse an OBE. Nero did want to make his horse a senator. A seat in the House of Lords beckons.
Well, that story needs a bit of context – you skipped a few important details. It’s not the BBC who wrote the ridiculous report about a horse royally bestowed with an honour: it only features in their daily round-up of newspaper headlines. Those round-ups usually end with the front cover of the Daily Star – in customary “And finally … ” fashion – and the Daily Star is really more of a comic book than a serious newspaper.
The Star’s headline “Queen’s Funeral Horsey gets an OBE” is immediately qualified by “A horse called Lord Firebrand, who led the funeral procession, has been honoured with the animal equivalent of an OBE.” To be more precise, the award bestowed is actually the PDSA Order of Merit (YouTube, 5m 53s). So it’s not such a sensational story after all. And the horse isn’t a real Lord either – that’s just his stage name: he’s normally called ‘Yogi’ (and to pre-empt the Star hacks, that doesn’t mean he’s a yoga practitioner or a sartorial bear). In fact, the actual report on the inside pages uses more sober language: Yogi the horse which led Queen’s funeral honoured with dogs that took down gangsters.
Other headlines on that same front page are: “Brits love Orange Manbaby” & “I Died and Became a Zombie” – which gives a flavour of the Star’s typical standard of journalism.
Brian Red.
It’s said that Caligula – the Roman Emperor – made his favourite horse Incitatus, a consul. One could easily say that the UK is now ran by mad men and women.
western governments and their media trying to make people feel more outraged about a targeted response by Iran aimed at military targets (with 2 hours warning) than 12-months of indiscriminate bombardment of civilians, with no air defence system or bunkers, and with nowhere to run.
Last month the Jordanian Foreign Minister criticised German FM Annalena Baerbock Over German’s Support For Israel, right in front of her:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nALLvO8Tg4
The same foreign minister made a good speech the other day too in the UN where he asked, what is Israel’s goal, because as he said, the arab world is ready to make peace with Israel if Israel end their occupation and a palestinian state is established.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYr3hYjHlx8
While both speeches are good, Jordan is as big enabler of Israel’s behavior as Germany is. Some journalists should ask why Jordan crack down on pro-palestinian protesters, and have done that, for years:
2024: Jordan: Stop cracking down on pro-Gaza protests and release those charged for exercising their freedoms of assembly and expression
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/04/jordan-stop-cracking-down-on-pro-gaza-protests-and-release-those-charged-for-exercising-their-freedoms-of-assembly-and-expression/
2009: “Egypt and Jordan crack down on anti-Israel rallies”
https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-palestinians-israel-protests-sb/egypt-and-jordan-crack-down-on-anti-israel-rallies-idUKTRE50138J20090102/
“Uncovering shocking foreign office communications and fascinating footage, this documentary shows how British double-dealing during WWI ignited the conflict between Arabs and Jews in the Middle East. This is a story of intrigue among rival empires; of misguided strategies; and of how conflicting promises to Arabs and Jews created a legacy of bloodshed which determined the fate of the Middle East”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZcgIj1663I&t=13s
The secret French/British Sykes-Picot Agreement 1916, carving up the ME. Britain wanted a western flank to its interests in India and Asia beyond.
There is an Arabic proverb that says, “If you see two fish in the river fighting, know that an Englishman has passed here.”
And if they were carving up West Asia before WW1 even ended they would have reasons to exclude Russia from any share of the victor’s spoils there, giving them a motive to assist the revolutionary forces in Russia so as to remove it from the war.
It’s true the US State Department’s all or nothing pursuit of Zionist hegemony in West Asia is alienating many formerly friendly or neutral states in the Caribbean, Central America, South America, Africa, South Asia, the Middle East, East Asia, Central Asia and the Pacific, but it’s not all one-way traffic.
The current generation of political leaders in Finland and Sweden signing up to NATO membership with their respective parliaments (for the time being at least) is the culmination of decades of careful cultivation by the State Department.
Young middle-class politics graduates devoid of real work and life experience, promoted through invisible networks of patronage and opaquely funded third-sector influencing outfits. We know these folks all too well here (John Smith Centre at the University of Glasgow, British American Project, etc..). The common currency these apparatchiks exchange is Identity Politics.
Previous generations of Scandinavian politicians would never have agreed to NATO membership. The proposition is preposterous. Finland & Sweden managed to remain neutral while sharing a land and maritime border with a notionally ideological and expansionist Soviet Union. The idea that the Russian Federation is about to occupy non-Russian speaking territory is crazy. Yes, I’m well aware of Russian expansion into Finland during Tsarist times.
The folk of Finland will pay the price for this Foggy Bottom directed lunacy. Finnish defence spending in terms of GDP has expanded by 50% in four years. In addition, Finnish / Russian trade has ceased. Prior to this, Finland exported $2b pa worth of goods to Russia and received $5b pa of goods in return. As Russian exports comprised raw materials for Finnish industry the cumulative effect will impact hard on living standards of ordinary citizens in Helsinki.
The career politicians touched by the magic hand of the State Department will of course be immune to hardship. Politics is a precarious means of putting bread on the table, but that’s Foggy Bottom’s sales pitch, a safety net for when the great unwashed rumble these carpetbagging parasites. In England, second careers in the House of Lords are dispensed, in Scotland, academic sinecures are handed out. Other means of remuneration are available.
The previous high point of State Department interference in Nordic politics was Helle Thorning-Schmidt’s, Prime Ministerial stint in Denmark. This was the period where the Danish Security Services bugged Angela Merkel’s phone at the behest of the American NSA.
On being kicked out of office in 2015, Thorning-Schmidt was promptly hired as CEO of Save the Children. The incumbent of that post at present earns in excess of £200k. This reminds me somewhat of David Miliband’s consolation prize for losing the Labour leadership election to his brother. Miliband senior was awarded the position of CEO of the International Rescue Committee in 2013 (a position he still holds). This New York based post carried at the time a salary of £300k. This package has subsequently rocketed to well in excess of £760k.
Thorning-Schmidt is married to Blairite ghoul Stephen Kinnock, the epitome of the entitled profession politician.
Thorning-Schmitd’s résumé is a wonder to behold. Directorships in a dozen globalist, Neoliberal outfits. WEF, Atlantic Council, Council on Foreign Relations, etc., etc., etc.. A CV like that ‘I’ll get you a prime seat on the first tumbril when the pitchforks & burning torches appear.
Thorning-Schmidt and Kinnock possess the must have accessory for these lofty circles; a Trans son / daughter / whatever.
The folk of Finland and everywhere else are largely unaware of the machinations of the US State Department, but I wonder how long that can continue.
“Finnish defence spending in terms of GDP has expanded by 50% in four years. In addition, Finnish / Russian trade has ceased. Prior to this, Finland exported $2b pa worth of goods to Russia and received $5b pa of goods in return. As Russian exports comprised raw materials for Finnish industry the cumulative effect will impact hard on living standards of ordinary citizens in Helsinki.”
I suspect this is an important part of the USA agenda – Not only to negatively impact Russia but to undermine any prosperous European country. Once they’re in hock to the IMF/World Bank and spent all their monies on the american war machine they’ll become totally dependent on the hegemon. Totally transparent to anyone with a functioning brain, but that doesn’t include the avarage western politician.
Starmer back referring to Israel as “her” again, desperate to conjure up an image of a fragile white woman attacked by savage brown beasts. There are literally no moral depths British antisemitism scammers will not plumb.
Maybe Israel is the answer he’s come up with to the question ‘What is a woman?’, Franky.
Caught a few minutes of the US Walz-Vance vice-presidential debate last night.
Why are US politicians so utterly clueless and so ignorant of history? The US has designs on leading the world, yet its leading decision makers don’t know basic history, never mind the complexities behind longstanding disputes; and worse, they can’t be bothered to get basic facts right. Leaving aside Walz’s gaffe (or Freudian slip?) in which he talked about Israel’s expansionist goals and its proxies in the region, he then talked about how this “all began” on October 7th and how 1,400 Israelis were killed – a figure even Israel itself doesn’t promote or recognise. This lying and exaggeration is part of a pattern from leading US politicians, on all sides. Harris talks about the widely debunked story of ‘mass rapes’. If the US’s leadership don’t know basic facts, and the historical context of conflicts they wade into, they should go back to minding their own business and stop making matters worse.