Hi folks, as a counterweight to Brian Berletic’s possible over-emphasis of Hamas roots in the Muslim Brotherhood and Israel, I found this long article ( ht KW @ TLN) very enlightening :
cheers
PS I see Craig Murray also discounts Hamas’ roots:
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Interesting few days. Decided to wait and see what happened because this is decidedly weird.
Part of the reason of my resistant posting was because we’re so used to being cynical. I had some suspicion that this was a false flag, after all cui bono? But, the Palestinians certainly benefit from this.
I’m going to try to sit this one out, because it’s going to be very unpleasant for both sides. But I’ve seen enough evidence to suggest this is legit, and could kick off some serious squabbles. Hezbollah have entered the ring I believe…
If anything, I wanted to share this, so it wasn’t just me who thinks we’ve been led by absolute morons in government
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Beautifully expressed: forceful, uncompromising, blunt, but compassionate. An ideal to aim for. Mate sr. truly understands embodied trauma and his books eg When The Body Says No, are considered anathema by the drug 'em and leave 'em orthodox medical industry. So he’s used to being attacked for unorthodoxy, which is just as well. Thanks for sharing this Aly.
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She was very restrained and I was glad Mike Robinson was moderating, he did a good job. Couldn’t access Extra though, something went wrong or it was memory-holed.
EDIt: it’s back as of 16:00 Tuesday
I’m sure he meant Iranian, a mere slip of the tongue . . .
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Interesting take from EJ Magnier… this is quite a storm brewing
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Excellent from VB indeed. It’s a shame RFK Jr. hasn’t seen it!
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Thanks Ally, and all for the links and comments. Good to see clear-heads prevailing here.
Nothing much to add here. Though I will say that the bloodlust on display, on X in particular, is really quite disturbing - - ‘normal people’ appear to have been completely barbarised - - much of what I read is dim-witted beyond belief - probably typified by the likes of Sophie Corcoran and Darren Grimes, whose grasp of the history of Palestine is woeful, like most commentators they proceed on the basis that Hamas’ actions at the weekend occurred in a vacuum because, well…they’re mediaeval barbarians, of course. On the other end of the intellectual spectrum (yeah sure) we see Jordan Peterson’s entreaty to Netanyahu to, 'give ‘em hell’. I never particularly trusted Peterson, but I didn’t have him down as a ‘paid for’ savage - - I do now.
To wind back a tad - the events of the weekend do not pass the smell test - I reckon Israel, or some actors there, in some way had a hand in the events - even if only to the extent of looking the other way. It’s likely that the Netanyahu’s psycho regime was angling for a final solution - but as Magnier’s excellent piece lays it out - it will be by no means the cakewalk the psychos may have envisaged it to be - - it’s one thing to empower young Israeli conscripts to brutalise folk at checkpoints, and take pop shots at Gazan farmers - but going toe to toe with armed fighters in unbridled conflict may again show the weakness of the ‘worlds most moral army’ - just as they were trounced and drummed-out of Lebanon in 2006.
Here’s an interesting take from Miri: Israel, Palestine, and Pike’s Prophecy
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I’ve not seen or heard anything from Mahmoud Abbas - - but I do recall Edward Said (in Oslo to Iraq and the Road Map) saying that the only reason Yasser Arafat employed Abu Mazen (M. Abbas) as his deputy was because he was weak, malleable, and easily side-lined – sadly, that also seems to sum up the PA’s performance these last few decades.
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Hi @NewSi , I have no idea of the current relationship between factions in Palestine but Husam Zamlot sounds quite a unifying voice:
cheers
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Hi folks, I’m never sure whether we should continue the same thread on such a broad topic but here’s someone who is well worth listening to ( H/T Fionn TLN)
Norman Finkelstein on the Jimmy Dore show: 6 separate YT’s:
Cheers
I haven’t watched any of those yet @CJ1 , but here is a very unnoticed Russian opinion on the situation.
In a personal Telegram post, Krutikov [I think he is armed forces Chief of Staff] spelled out the consensus of Russian military staff thinking at present:
“1. The IDF and the Mossad were completely unprepared. There is no primary protection system and the garrisons of the border posts were fast asleep on Saturday on the [Simchat Torah religious] holiday. The Arabs on foot, slowly, reached the unguarded positions of the Jews. The very idea of these posts was nonsense.
2. They don’t know what drones, air defence systems and all of this are at all. The Iron Dome is a fiction. They’ve been living in some kind of fantasy world for the last few years.
3. Everything about Israel is a myth. There is no such defence system, there is no such intelligence. Their PR is solid.
4. Either the Arabs were trained in a special way, or they somehow unexpectedly evolved into a new form of life. The operation was planned for at least a year, taking into account all the new trends…
5. A huge amount of weapons from the Arabs could not fall from the sky. How did it get there? Again, we convey our warmest greetings to the Israeli mother of intelligence.
6. Tactical training is completely absent as well as the vaunted patriotism.
7. Exceptional cruelty is a sign not only of this region. God is dead, including the Jewish God.
8. Where else will catch fire?”
In a last line intended to be an ironic echo of the Orthodox Jewish belief in the apocalypse, Krutikov wrote:
“Truly, the last days are coming.”
Full story on Global Research here
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Nice one Pat and well worth reading the whole article IMO. This part of Helmer’s piece caught my eye: (My emphasis in bold).
Erdogan’s press release was more revealing. He and Putin had “touched upon what initiatives can be taken to meet humanitarian needs in the region, as the Turkish president told Putin that targeting civilian settlements is worrying and Türkiye does not welcome such moves.” Erdogan’s twitter announcement adds: “President Erdoğan and President Putin of Russia also exchanged views on potential initiatives to meet humanitarian needs in the region.”
President @RTErdogan spoke by phone with President Vladimir Putin of Russia. The two leaders discussed the alarming course of the Israel-Palestine conflict and the measures to prevent the escalation of the tension. President Erdoğan and President Putin of Russia also exchanged views on potential initiatives to meet humanitarian needs in the region. President Erdoğan noted that it is regrettable to target civilian settlements and that Türkiye doesn’t look favorably on such acts. President Erdoğan stated that Türkiye will continue to exert every effort to ensure calm in the region.
This is a hint that Erdogan and Putin are contemplating a Turkish ship convoy of aid to Gaza, protected from Israeli attack by the Russian Navy from its Tartous base on the Syrian coast, and by the Russian Air Force from Hmeimim. This humanitarian operation by sea would aim at breaking the blockade of the coast by the Israelis, and running the gauntlet of the USS Gerald Ford and its squadron further offshore.
If this operation, a reminder of the Gaza Flotilla of 2010, is in planning now – the open signals are warning Washington and the US Navy to expect it – then the confrontation, and the risk to the US and Israel, of strategic defeat at sea, are unprecedented.
The planning of Russian military protection of seaborne humanitarian aid convoys to the Gaza also extends to Egypt.
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That’s very interesting and a flotilla as described, bearing in mind it is John Helmer, would be an excellent signal to the RoW that is sickened by what’s happening in Gaza. Seeing Blinken refraining from issuing threats, for a change, suggests that a degree of caution is being exercised (though no one bothered telling Ursula or the fool Stoltenberg). Some risks? Yes, but the realisation that the strength of NATO, and IDF, is not as solid as they’ve projected it, is heartening.
In the meantime I gather that Grant Schnapps has sent three helicopters to the region. Utter knob.
The Guardian website front at the moment
Eight pieces. Four are about Israeli victims of the Hamas attack.
Since then a greater number of Palestinians have been killed, few of which were militants.
[Noting @PatB 's post above about the famed intelligence.
Why, they’re in the 6000 hospitals, schools, domestic buildings and mosques bombed.
Yes along with all the civilians.
In other words the bombing is indiscriminate. Otherwise known as war crime, or terrorism.
]
Zero pieces are about killed Palestinians, or any ‘terror’ trapped and bombed Palestinians might possibly be feeling.
Two pieces are about the ‘coming’ (already started, obviously) invasion of Gaza. One about Palestnians fleeing before the invasion (yes they are, in fact, being attacked and bombed as they flee*, as bid by Netanyahu) and one about the risks from an Israeli perspective.
None from the persective of a million trapped people.
*Live
Children among dead after strike hits fleeing convoy in Gaza
Meanwhile in the UK the Hamas flag is banned while government buildings are lit up with the Israeli flag.
Democracy innit.
Caitlin Johnstone on the media blitz that is taking place:
The World Is Being Blinded To What’s Happening In Gaza
(Took out links due to source, but easily googled I hope.)
" Great efforts are being made to hide what’s happening in Gaza from the outside world, both by Israel and its western allies.
Israel’s minister of communications [announced] that internet services there have already been plummeting for the last week. Electronic Intifada director Ali Abunimah recently said on Twitter that he hasn’t been able to reach any of his contacts in Gaza for hours.
Even before the internet was cut off it had already been getting harder and harder for people in Gaza to get information to the outside world after Israel cut the enclave off from electricity as part of its “[complete siege] on the civilian population. The outlet Middle East Eye [reports]that it lost contact with two of its journalists in Gaza on Friday. One of them, a reporter named Maha Hussaini, [posted a video] before losing contact in which she said “This might be my last video, as my phone battery is dying while we’re facing an almost complete blackout.”
[As usual], Israel has also been targeting members of the press. A Reuters journalist was killed and six others from Reuters, AFP and Al Jazeera were injured by IDF artillery fire in southern Lebanon on Friday. Outlets like [The New York Times] have refrained from acknowledging the perpetrator of the attack, but Al Jazeera [attributes the casualties] to “shelling by Israeli forces,” citing witness testimony. BBC journalists were also [held at gunpoint] and physically assaulted by Israeli soldiers in Tel Aviv, and it’s probably worth mentioning that these reporters were specifically from BBC Arabic and had Arabic names."
Now we see the point of this from a couple of days ago:
Four of Britain’s top lawyers complain to Ofcom about BBC stance on Hamas
The corporation is accused of abandoning impartiality over its refusal to call Hamas ‘terrorists’
By Anita Singh, Arts and Entertainment Editor 11 October 2023 • 11:21pm
Four of Britain’s most senior lawyers have accused the BBC of abandoning impartiality by refusing to describe Hamas as “terrorists”.
In a letter to Ofcom, Lord Wolfson KC, Lord Pannick KC, Lord Grabiner KC and Jeremy Brier KC urged the regulator to investigate the corporation.
They said that the BBC had taken sides and described Hamas in “more sympathetic terms”.
The four co-signed the letter alongside Lord Polak, honorary president of the Conservative Friends of Israel.
They said: “On 7th October 2023, Hamas launched a large invasion of the State of Israel which resulted variously in the slaughter, rape and abduction of over a thousand Israeli citizens.
“There is nothing controversial about that. It is a fact.
…
Johnstone:
" Efforts to blind the world to Israel’s crimes are of course not limited to Israel. The EU has begun [exerting pressure on Twitter] to begin censoring content on the Israel-Palestine issue in accordance with new Digital Services Act regulations in order to avoid receiving penalties. The day after receiving a 24-hour deadline to address “illegal content and disinformation,” hundreds of “accounts linked to Hamas” were reportedly [removed from the platform]. We’re meant to simply take it on faith that these accounts were indeed linked to Hamas and not simply deemed guilty of wrongthink."
Caitlin cites a tweet:
Israel has cut off the Internet in Gaza.
The aim is clear: to commit genocide in a total media blackout.
— sarah
Looks like ‘Sarah’ may have a point. Looks very grim.
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Russia and China joint peace initiative. A further ray of hope here perhaps?
Watch from 22mins to 53mins:
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Not good news:
Made think of this;
Got popcorn?
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Maybe connected to this:
This is a hint that Erdogan and Putin are contemplating a Turkish ship convoy of aid to Gaza, protected from Israeli attack by the Russian Navy from its Tartous base on the Syrian coast, and by the Russian Air Force from Hmeimim. This humanitarian operation by sea would aim at breaking the blockade of the coast by the Israelis, and running the gauntlet of the USS Gerald Ford and its squadron further offshore. If this operation, a reminder of the Gaza Flotilla of 2010, is in planning now – the open signals are warning Washington and the US Navy to expect it – then the confrontation, and the risk to the US and Israel of strategic defeat at sea, are unprecedented.
Mercouris is sceptical that’s actually going to happen, but if the Russian navy really does escort a Turkish aid ship…
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