Your last sentence must have been cut off. It should read, "War, as we can see from current events in Gaza, has no lack of chances to thrive in this world as long as the US National Security State and its sycophants/allies/vassals (EU, Israel, UK, Australia) continue to insist on maintaining global hegemony and the so-called "rules-based order" at any cost and refuse to accept the transition to a multipolar world based on codified international law, the UN Charter and UN resolutions."
My community is attempting to pass a resolution calling for an unconditional ceasefire in Gaza. A public hearing was held last night and I attended. Though it's reported that 2/3rds of Americans are for a ceasefire, the pro-Israel turnout last night produced about 80% of the audience and the same percentage of speakers. All of the Israel talking points were presented including the following...
> how dare the committee present such a one-sided resolution
> the resolution is antisemitic
> the committee is illegal
> HAMAS must be destroyed
> there is no sympathy for Israel in the resolution
> as I Jew I am afraid to walk around town
> didn't the committee members see the awful attack against Israelis?
> as a rabbi I want to support Israel
When one person from Jewish Voice for Peace went a tad beyond the 30 seconds allowed per speaker, the pro-Israel cheering section broke into TURN OFF THE MIC!
On the positive side, without exception the troops for Israel were elderly. The obviously young speakers were for the resolution.
My favorite example of pro-Israel tactics came at the beginning of the meeting when, what do you know, the city corporation counsel just happened to call to tell us that the committee was illegal and that if the resolution passed (no vote tonight) and was presented to the city council she would tell the council that it was illegal to pass the resolution. I would be willing to bet that this friendly advice was planned for presentation in advance. This is know as "lawfare" as in legal warfare.
A few articles back I posted the message I sent to the just elected Speaker of the House Mike Johnson. Recently I saw a picture of him with an intertwined lapel pin of an American & Israeli flag. He wasn't wearing it in recent pictures.
My 1st thought seeing it, was remembering Catholic Jack Kennedy running for President and the Political Opposition was claiming if Jack becomes President, the Pope would be running the White House.
I really didn't expect a reply from the Speaker, and I was surprised to get this Today;
Dear Mr. Cormier,
Thank you for contacting my office to express your concerns regarding the ongoing conflict between Hamas and Israel. I appreciate the opportunity to hear your thoughts and concerns regarding issues that matter to you and our nation.
As you know, the United States has a longstanding and vital tradition of supporting Israel, our strongest ally in the Middle East. The terrible images we have seen coming out of the October 7th attack on Israel are shocking. The deliberate murder and kidnapping of civilians are horrendous war crimes, which I have condemned in the strongest terms. My first act as Speaker of the House was to call up a bipartisan resolution condemning Hamas’ brutal war against Israel and reaffirming Israel’s right to self-defense. You will be pleased to know that resolution passed overwhelmingly in the House.
Hamas is clearly responsible for all the current suffering in Gaza after its unjustifiable atrocities. I will continue to be actively engaged on this issue, and I am committed to making sure that all hostages return home safely. Rest assured, I will keep your thoughts in mind as Congress debates this matter and others that are important to Louisiana and our nation.
Again, thank you for reaching out to me with your opinions. If you would like to stay up to date on things going on in Congress, go to https://mikejohnson.house.gov/contact/subscribe.htm and sign up for my newsletter. Finally, please always feel free to contact my office at any time.
"The terrible images we have seen coming out of the October 7th attack on Israel are shocking ... Hamas is clearly responsible for all the current suffering in Gaza after its unjustifiable atrocities ... Rest assured, I will keep your thoughts in mind."
Right! Poor innocent Israel. We are governed by the absolute hubristic hypocrites. And Johnson is all in for more funds for Ukraine as a sign to China of our resolve. Sickening, sickening, sickening....
Netanyahu, with tears in his eyes, showed Elon Musk one babies' crib with bloodstained sheets and blankets! Illustrating an example of the horrendous suffering Israel is enduring after Hamas's unjustifiable atrocities. GMAFB.
You think Bibi looked at footages of drone pictures taken during the ceasefire - of totally destroyed Gaza? And if he did - did he give a shit?
Sickening, sickening, sickening....
EDIT: I found out from the Grayzone that the IDF is prohibiting reentry into areas of rubble in Gaza. They have deemed it a "Military Zone". No entrance. No pictures. We shoot you if you go in here. Certainly no drone footage!
This leaked drone footage is from a journalist sympathetic to Hamas:
.....the US's vital tradition of supporting Israel, our strongest ally in the Middle East...."
Yeah right, Mike!
"The U.S. gets nothing in return for the extensive (economic), military and diplomatic support that it provides apartheid Israel. In fact, the U.S. suffers internationally by constantly vetoing UN Resolutions to punish Israel for its crimes against humanity.
There is no alliance and Israel is not our ally........ Its government does not behave as an ally does, it has never fought alongside U.S. forces in any of our foreign wars, and its interests are not aligned with ours as an ally’s should be. There is no formal treaty and no binding obligations that require our governments to do anything for each other"
".....Israel’s is routinely called our “most important ally” in the region, or even our “most cherished ally” in all the world. These are ideological assertions that are not grounded in reality. Dozens of other states all over the world are better allies to the United States than the “most cherished ally” is, and they don’t preside over an illegal occupation that implicates the U.S. in decades of abuses and crimes against the Palestinian people living under that occupation, but none of them enjoys the lockstep, uncritical backing that this one state does. The effect of this constant repetition is to make the U.S.-Israel relationship seem extremely important to U.S. interests when it is not. And that serves to promote the “illusion of an imaginary common interest in cases where no real common interest exists.” It is this illusion.....that prevents a serious reassessment of the relationship." - written Mar 8, 2019.
Interesting for me to note, in the message I sent the new speaker October 25, only 2 sentences dealt with the Gaza Massacre, with 5 sentences appealing to his Christian belief and he didn't address that in this reply.
Concerning the current war in Gaza, turns out the Israeli's knew exactly what they were doing when they bombed and destroyed the Al-Shifa Hospital since they built the tunnels. The endless stream of lies, fabrications and diabolical propaganda spewing out to justify the genocidal onslaught against Palestinian civilians is enough to make one choke. Here is the transcript from the interview with Jeremy Scahill:
“When everything Americans believe is false, our misinformation campaign will be complete.”
- William Casey, CIA Head under Regan.
Gareth Porter's dissection of U.S. journalist’s unequivocal backing of Israel’s justification for closing down Gaza’s largest hospital with a simple test: Who is the source?
"The current director of the hospital, Mohammed Abu Salmiya, who was arrested this week for questioning about the alleged Hamas use of the hospital, only assumed his duties in 2019, and in all probability was unaware of any Hamas military use of a tunnel underneath the hospital."
"But the IDF’s concern is not with truth. Its concern is for the extreme right-wing Likud government’s intention, based on numerous statements of genocidal intent, to not only destroy Hamas, but impose the greatest number of deaths on the Palestinian population. That required an elaborate effort to indict hospitals as active participants in the war on Hamas’ behalf and dismantling all the hospitals in Gaza, and especially of al-Shifa"
Did I get this right? 32 of Gaza's 35 hospitals are inoperable. The courageous IDF soldiers go in there, after everybody has been forced out at gun point - and totally wreck all medical equipment! And rotting babies' corpses in incubators have been found in hospitals during the ceasefire. And decomposing bodies of patients who could not be buried.
Palestinian women have run out of contraceptives. Deriving them and their partners of the one pleasures in life we all share.
That Gerasimov and Zaluzhny are discussing the terms of stopping the war is no surprise. Gerasimov wouldn't be doing this if Putin wasn't supportive, but it's clear that Zaluzhny might be going out on a limb as regards his political leadership. This is either his chance to get Zelensky on board, or it might be his last treasonous act. If the latter, then it will end with Ukraine's complete defeat on the battlefield. Let's hope it's the former.
The killing may stop (or pause) from exhaustion but there will be no "diplomatic" solution as long as Biden is in the White House. He may at best just leave Ukraine hanging as he left Afghanistan hanging.
There won't be peace in Ukraine until the current government is overthrown one way or another. That may require Russia going back to Kiev, this time with a lot bigger army. Russia knows that the West and the current Ukrainian government are not going to negotiate in good faith, so there is no point in going that route. I expect that Russia will be able to get the job done during 2024, or early 2025 at the latest. The Western billionaires that have been dumping money on Ukraine to control its post-war industry and agriculture are in for a big disappointment. They will use every dirty trick in the book to prevent those loses, but in the end, they will fail.
The Financial Times reported that Israel plans to wage war on Gaza for over a year.
In less than 2-months, Israel has killed at least 15,000 people, damaged 100,000 buildings, displaced 1.7 million Palestinians, and destroyed most of Gaza’s medical facilities.
On Friday, FT reported sources said Israel was preparing for a multi-phase conflict in Gaza that will last at least a year. “This will be a very long war. We’re currently not near halfway to achieving our objectives,” said one person familiar with the Israeli war plans.
The objective is the ethnic cleansing of Gaza and increasing the territory of the apartheid Israeli state.
"High-level Israeli military officers are conducting private briefings for members of the U.S. Congress on Israel’s war on Gaza, according to documents reviewed by The Intercept.
“There’s an Israel PR blitz happening this week facilitated by a handful of senators,” said a source familiar with the meetings in the upper chamber. “Practically all of the briefings on this issue these last few weeks have been members-only,” meaning congressional staff and the public are not welcome.
The briefings are coming as Israel faces an international backlash over its assault on the Gaza Strip.
“The IDF didn’t anticipate that there would be this much backlash to Israel,” said the source........“And, .....are putting together an all-hands-on-deck PR blitz to keep Senators at bay.”
Your last sentence must have been cut off. It should read, "War, as we can see from current events in Gaza, has no lack of chances to thrive in this world as long as the US National Security State and its sycophants/allies/vassals (EU, Israel, UK, Australia) continue to insist on maintaining global hegemony and the so-called "rules-based order" at any cost and refuse to accept the transition to a multipolar world based on codified international law, the UN Charter and UN resolutions."
My community is attempting to pass a resolution calling for an unconditional ceasefire in Gaza. A public hearing was held last night and I attended. Though it's reported that 2/3rds of Americans are for a ceasefire, the pro-Israel turnout last night produced about 80% of the audience and the same percentage of speakers. All of the Israel talking points were presented including the following...
> how dare the committee present such a one-sided resolution
> the resolution is antisemitic
> the committee is illegal
> HAMAS must be destroyed
> there is no sympathy for Israel in the resolution
> as I Jew I am afraid to walk around town
> didn't the committee members see the awful attack against Israelis?
> as a rabbi I want to support Israel
When one person from Jewish Voice for Peace went a tad beyond the 30 seconds allowed per speaker, the pro-Israel cheering section broke into TURN OFF THE MIC!
On the positive side, without exception the troops for Israel were elderly. The obviously young speakers were for the resolution.
My favorite example of pro-Israel tactics came at the beginning of the meeting when, what do you know, the city corporation counsel just happened to call to tell us that the committee was illegal and that if the resolution passed (no vote tonight) and was presented to the city council she would tell the council that it was illegal to pass the resolution. I would be willing to bet that this friendly advice was planned for presentation in advance. This is know as "lawfare" as in legal warfare.
The resolution can be seen at https://cityofevanston.civicweb.net/document/385170/ You be the judge of it.
“When everything Americans believe is false, our misinformation campaign will be complete.”
- William Casey, CIA Head under Regan.
A few articles back I posted the message I sent to the just elected Speaker of the House Mike Johnson. Recently I saw a picture of him with an intertwined lapel pin of an American & Israeli flag. He wasn't wearing it in recent pictures.
My 1st thought seeing it, was remembering Catholic Jack Kennedy running for President and the Political Opposition was claiming if Jack becomes President, the Pope would be running the White House.
I really didn't expect a reply from the Speaker, and I was surprised to get this Today;
Dear Mr. Cormier,
Thank you for contacting my office to express your concerns regarding the ongoing conflict between Hamas and Israel. I appreciate the opportunity to hear your thoughts and concerns regarding issues that matter to you and our nation.
As you know, the United States has a longstanding and vital tradition of supporting Israel, our strongest ally in the Middle East. The terrible images we have seen coming out of the October 7th attack on Israel are shocking. The deliberate murder and kidnapping of civilians are horrendous war crimes, which I have condemned in the strongest terms. My first act as Speaker of the House was to call up a bipartisan resolution condemning Hamas’ brutal war against Israel and reaffirming Israel’s right to self-defense. You will be pleased to know that resolution passed overwhelmingly in the House.
Hamas is clearly responsible for all the current suffering in Gaza after its unjustifiable atrocities. I will continue to be actively engaged on this issue, and I am committed to making sure that all hostages return home safely. Rest assured, I will keep your thoughts in mind as Congress debates this matter and others that are important to Louisiana and our nation.
Again, thank you for reaching out to me with your opinions. If you would like to stay up to date on things going on in Congress, go to https://mikejohnson.house.gov/contact/subscribe.htm and sign up for my newsletter. Finally, please always feel free to contact my office at any time.
Sincerely,
Rep. Mike Johnson
Speaker of the House
"The terrible images we have seen coming out of the October 7th attack on Israel are shocking ... Hamas is clearly responsible for all the current suffering in Gaza after its unjustifiable atrocities ... Rest assured, I will keep your thoughts in mind."
Right! Poor innocent Israel. We are governed by the absolute hubristic hypocrites. And Johnson is all in for more funds for Ukraine as a sign to China of our resolve. Sickening, sickening, sickening....
Netanyahu, with tears in his eyes, showed Elon Musk one babies' crib with bloodstained sheets and blankets! Illustrating an example of the horrendous suffering Israel is enduring after Hamas's unjustifiable atrocities. GMAFB.
You think Bibi looked at footages of drone pictures taken during the ceasefire - of totally destroyed Gaza? And if he did - did he give a shit?
Sickening, sickening, sickening....
EDIT: I found out from the Grayzone that the IDF is prohibiting reentry into areas of rubble in Gaza. They have deemed it a "Military Zone". No entrance. No pictures. We shoot you if you go in here. Certainly no drone footage!
This leaked drone footage is from a journalist sympathetic to Hamas:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0pOaRsfxYc
Watch this and weep! Hug your kids.
It makes me so angry seeing these results of Israel's indiscriminate bombing - and frustrated too, being powerless to stop the massacre.
.....the US's vital tradition of supporting Israel, our strongest ally in the Middle East...."
Yeah right, Mike!
"The U.S. gets nothing in return for the extensive (economic), military and diplomatic support that it provides apartheid Israel. In fact, the U.S. suffers internationally by constantly vetoing UN Resolutions to punish Israel for its crimes against humanity.
There is no alliance and Israel is not our ally........ Its government does not behave as an ally does, it has never fought alongside U.S. forces in any of our foreign wars, and its interests are not aligned with ours as an ally’s should be. There is no formal treaty and no binding obligations that require our governments to do anything for each other"
".....Israel’s is routinely called our “most important ally” in the region, or even our “most cherished ally” in all the world. These are ideological assertions that are not grounded in reality. Dozens of other states all over the world are better allies to the United States than the “most cherished ally” is, and they don’t preside over an illegal occupation that implicates the U.S. in decades of abuses and crimes against the Palestinian people living under that occupation, but none of them enjoys the lockstep, uncritical backing that this one state does. The effect of this constant repetition is to make the U.S.-Israel relationship seem extremely important to U.S. interests when it is not. And that serves to promote the “illusion of an imaginary common interest in cases where no real common interest exists.” It is this illusion.....that prevents a serious reassessment of the relationship." - written Mar 8, 2019.
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/israel-is-not-americas-ally/
Interesting for me to note, in the message I sent the new speaker October 25, only 2 sentences dealt with the Gaza Massacre, with 5 sentences appealing to his Christian belief and he didn't address that in this reply.
Concerning the current war in Gaza, turns out the Israeli's knew exactly what they were doing when they bombed and destroyed the Al-Shifa Hospital since they built the tunnels. The endless stream of lies, fabrications and diabolical propaganda spewing out to justify the genocidal onslaught against Palestinian civilians is enough to make one choke. Here is the transcript from the interview with Jeremy Scahill:
https://truthout.org/video/jeremy-scahill-biden-must-be-accountable-for-cosigning-al-shifa-hospital-lie/?utm_source=Truthout&fbclid=IwAR3nA8BxmXDcQ9nMtQkZQsWqG4UMqsIubPaUBeDOoZ1vWK6QVgJL8H4CoQc
I repeat Charlie.....
“When everything Americans believe is false, our misinformation campaign will be complete.”
- William Casey, CIA Head under Regan.
Gareth Porter's dissection of U.S. journalist’s unequivocal backing of Israel’s justification for closing down Gaza’s largest hospital with a simple test: Who is the source?
https://consortiumnews.com/2023/12/01/peddling-propaganda-about-al-shifa/
"The current director of the hospital, Mohammed Abu Salmiya, who was arrested this week for questioning about the alleged Hamas use of the hospital, only assumed his duties in 2019, and in all probability was unaware of any Hamas military use of a tunnel underneath the hospital."
"But the IDF’s concern is not with truth. Its concern is for the extreme right-wing Likud government’s intention, based on numerous statements of genocidal intent, to not only destroy Hamas, but impose the greatest number of deaths on the Palestinian population. That required an elaborate effort to indict hospitals as active participants in the war on Hamas’ behalf and dismantling all the hospitals in Gaza, and especially of al-Shifa"
Did I get this right? 32 of Gaza's 35 hospitals are inoperable. The courageous IDF soldiers go in there, after everybody has been forced out at gun point - and totally wreck all medical equipment! And rotting babies' corpses in incubators have been found in hospitals during the ceasefire. And decomposing bodies of patients who could not be buried.
Palestinian women have run out of contraceptives. Deriving them and their partners of the one pleasures in life we all share.
That Gerasimov and Zaluzhny are discussing the terms of stopping the war is no surprise. Gerasimov wouldn't be doing this if Putin wasn't supportive, but it's clear that Zaluzhny might be going out on a limb as regards his political leadership. This is either his chance to get Zelensky on board, or it might be his last treasonous act. If the latter, then it will end with Ukraine's complete defeat on the battlefield. Let's hope it's the former.
Amen
The killing may stop (or pause) from exhaustion but there will be no "diplomatic" solution as long as Biden is in the White House. He may at best just leave Ukraine hanging as he left Afghanistan hanging.
There won't be peace in Ukraine until the current government is overthrown one way or another. That may require Russia going back to Kiev, this time with a lot bigger army. Russia knows that the West and the current Ukrainian government are not going to negotiate in good faith, so there is no point in going that route. I expect that Russia will be able to get the job done during 2024, or early 2025 at the latest. The Western billionaires that have been dumping money on Ukraine to control its post-war industry and agriculture are in for a big disappointment. They will use every dirty trick in the book to prevent those loses, but in the end, they will fail.
"Let the killing stop and the healing begin".....
The Financial Times reported that Israel plans to wage war on Gaza for over a year.
In less than 2-months, Israel has killed at least 15,000 people, damaged 100,000 buildings, displaced 1.7 million Palestinians, and destroyed most of Gaza’s medical facilities.
On Friday, FT reported sources said Israel was preparing for a multi-phase conflict in Gaza that will last at least a year. “This will be a very long war. We’re currently not near halfway to achieving our objectives,” said one person familiar with the Israeli war plans.
The objective is the ethnic cleansing of Gaza and increasing the territory of the apartheid Israeli state.
https://news.antiwar.com/2023/12/01/israel-planning-for-gaza-war-to-last-over-a-year/
"High-level Israeli military officers are conducting private briefings for members of the U.S. Congress on Israel’s war on Gaza, according to documents reviewed by The Intercept.
“There’s an Israel PR blitz happening this week facilitated by a handful of senators,” said a source familiar with the meetings in the upper chamber. “Practically all of the briefings on this issue these last few weeks have been members-only,” meaning congressional staff and the public are not welcome.
The briefings are coming as Israel faces an international backlash over its assault on the Gaza Strip.
“The IDF didn’t anticipate that there would be this much backlash to Israel,” said the source........“And, .....are putting together an all-hands-on-deck PR blitz to keep Senators at bay.”
https://informationclearinghouse.blog/2023/12/01/israeli-military-launches-closed-door-pr-blitz-on-capitol-hill/
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/T29bjYVrmM0