The Operation began with what could be described as ‘primitive SEAD’ (Suppression of Enemy Air Defences). As first, the Qassam Brigades assaulted and overrun the IDF base protecting the Erez checkpoint, north of Bayt Hanun (northern Gaza Strip). That’s one of major crossings from the Gaza Strip to Israel and the other way around. Not sure about all the details, but from there the Qassam Brigades rushed to an Iron Dome surface-to-air missile (SAM) -site of the Israeli Air-Space Force (IASF), somewhere in the Sderot area (yes, the IDF is constructing its military bases next to municipalities, just like everybody else): this was quickly overrun, thus creating a gap in the Israeli air defences around the Gaza Strip. That’s why ‘primitive SEAD’.
As soon as the ‘way was free’, a barrage of at least 500 rockets was unleashed, targeting all of Israel from the Sderot and Beersheba area up to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. As far as I can assess, and ‘usually’, the barrage caused significant damage on numerous homes, and other kind of private property. Air traffic at the Lod/Ben Gurion International Airport was interrupted for hours.
But, and foremost… simultaneously with attack on Erez, the Qassam Brigades attacked the IDF base in Nahal Oz (is another crossing, closed since 2010). Through a combination of ATGM-strikes, drone-strikes, and quick special forces assaults, the militants destroyed and/or captured four Merkava Mk.IV main battle tanks, one or two heavy infantry fighting vehicles, at least three M113 armoured personnel carriers, and killed or captured up to 20 IDF troops.
The fence was breached in at least two or three additional spots, but I’m not yet sure where. It seems the IDF base at Keren Shalom (southernmost crossing from the Gaza Strip to Israel) was attacked. This is where the Qassam Brigades claims to have overrun a base of the Nahal Brigade and – between others – killed its commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Yonatan Steinberg. Found no other details on the fighting there, but: Hamas subsequently reported the capture of General Nimrod Aloni, the ‘Gaza Division Commander’ (see photo below), which would indicate they’ve overrun at least a part of the local IDF headquarters.
At this point, I’m ‘switching’ from ‘militant’ to ‘terrorist’ because for me, anybody intentionally/knowingly attacking and/or endangering civilians – no matter if member of official or unofficial armed formations, or ‘just some civilian volunteer’ – is a terrorist.
Reason: having created at least two, possibly three or four breaches, the Qassam Brigades began rushing reinforcements into Israel. Each of terrorists involved received a pamphlet enticing him to move into Israel and continue attacking civilians and soldiers alike until either killed or captured.
Exact figure for their number remains unclear: most of Israeli sources are talking about ‘around 300’. Most were mounted on motorcycles, but some used pick-ups loaded with heavy machine guns, few MANPADs, and lots of ammunition, too.
Fanning out of the Gaza Strip, the terrorists shot up numerous civilian cars, killing their occupants – sometimes while clashing with the IDF. This video is showing at least five civilian cars (the complete version is showing also some 5-6 dead civilians), in front of an Israeli Merkava main battle tank (visible in the background and apparently abandoned).
In the north, a group of terrorists entered the Netiv Ha’Atzra settlement. AFAIK, once that group was defeated by the IDF and the police, 15 bodies of murdered civilians were discovered in their homes. I’m not sure if any have ranged all the way out to Kiryat Gat, but there are reports that the terrorists have killed the commander of the fire brigade of that place, and one of his firemen, too.
Further south-east, another group entered Sderot and – except for ransacking a number of private homes and murdering their owners– captured the local police station. As of this morning, the IDF was still busy mopping-up the town, and storming the station with support of a bulldozer.
Further south, down the fence around the Gaza, the terrorists are known to have infiltrated Mefalsim, Kfar Aza, Sa’ad, Alumim, Zimrat, Kfar Maimon and to have entered northern and western side of Netivot.
One group of terrorists attacked the Festival for Peace set up in Kibbutz Re’im, several kilometres west/south-west of Netivot. The militants opened fire killing dozens of men, while taking an (unknown, at least to me) number of women away. This is where videos were taken showing hundreds running away.
Further south, the terrorists infiltrated Kisufim, Ein HasSholasha, Nirim, Nir Oz, Magen, Ein HaBsor, Urim, Patish – and to have reached….well, from what I know, they were stopped somewhere on the western side of the perimeter of the huge Hatzerim Air Base, south of Ofakim. As usually, the Israelis would only say they have infiltrated the western side of Ofakim.
https://xxtomcooperxx.substack.com/p/israelpalestine-8-october-2023
Comment: Tom Cooper here put together the first overview of how this assault was conducted last Saturday morning. There’s more to his article, but I think this is the interesting part. Read this with the translations from Russian Telegram channels provided by F&L yesterday (October 8, 2023 at 7:56 pm) concerning the role played by Iranian advisors, probably Quds Force teams in training and directing the Qassam Brigade assault force.
The initial strike at the Iron Dome SAM site near Sderot was a brilliant maneuver. As Tom Cooper says, it was a SEAD operation that cleared the way for the mass missile strike. Some serious planning went into that. Seems the entire assault force consisted of only 300 strong, a reinforced rifle company. And that was spread across the entire width of the assault front. I’m surprised they penetrated as far as they did. In a lot of cases encounters with IDF personnel ended up with the Israelis abandoning positions and armored vehicles. There’s one video of a Merkava IV with Trophy APS being struck by a Tandem-85 RPG. Although it’s not clear the RPG penetrated the armor or even disabled the tank, it is clear that the Trophy APS didn’t stop the attack. It’s also not clear if this Merkava was abandoned, but it sure didn’t stop the RPG team from continuing their advance. It doesn’t appear that the IDF forces in contacts were willing to die protecting the Israeli civilians they were supposed to protect. They were left to be slaughtered and kidnapped. A truly shameful day for the IDF.
TTG
https://twitter.com/vtchakarova/status/1711244528026317148?s=21
This was a well planned attack that caught the IDF and Israeli intelligence by surprise. Who would have thought the Gazan “bantustan” could pull off such an audacious attack on the Israeli hegemon?
It is clear with the war in Ukraine and now this attack from Gaza that asymmetric warfare without any technology wizbang is the new thing. Cheap drones, cheap rockets & missiles with sufficient volume can at least temporarily overwhelm high-tech and super expensive defensive systems.
The US is addicted to very expensive defense procurement. The F-35 program has already spent a trillion dollars. Great for defense contractors and the political duopoly who receive copious amounts of cash. Not certain it is great against an enemy force that can muster huge volumes of cheap offensive systems. Whoever can field and coordinate millions of cheap unmanned weapon systems are going to have an advantage.
“Asymmetric warfare without any technology wizbang is the new thing.” Really?
I think you are forgetting Vietnam and Afghanistan (and the American Revolution, too). A friend who flew bombers in Vietnam and who later became a Professor of Economics once compared what he did to “throwing Cadillacs into rice paddies” as a wasteful and ultimately ineffective method of warfare.
In this case, the terrorists were/are creative and brutal. Nothing new there either. But Israel will prevail…and there will be much suffering on both sides until they do.
Not directing this to you Sam but the idea that the Gazans are caveman, who are incapable of planning this on their own is one of the many memes that I dislike but are especially popular in our MSM.
If Hamas executed the plan without Iranian commanders then they can design it as well. They’ve been face to face with and studying the IDF for decades. They are the best people to plan such an attack.
Did Iran give them material support? Probably but I see no reason to believe that Iran planned and ordered the attack.
Efrat Fenigson updates her 1st video. At minute 1:52 see:
“A reporter in Israel called Sviyeh Hezkeli … ”
Well, this sure is grist for the mill of LIHOP. That reporter’s name seems to have been erased from the web according to my Google searches. Not surprised.
Israel – Hamas War – 2nd Update.
https://youtu.be/V9f7fMF0pkY
Footnote for TTG:
McCaffery: Ground Invasion of Gaza would be a bloody mess.
https://youtu.be/TuEPs2q_SPA
No kidding, General Holmes. The real shocker (not to me) is his assertion that the US will enter the war if additional forces come in against Israel. He’s not authorized to say that sort of thing at all. Even the reporter pretends to be surprised but it’s an act.
NY Times had this yesterday. Are corporate interests working to expel the Gazans so they can safely get at the gas? Don’t throw the penalty flag yet – the Times placed this info directly in the section on “why the attack?” right after the discussion of the Israeli judiciary conflicts as possible motivation. I cite it because my read on McAfferey and MSNBC tv announcers is one of corporate hacks and bullies.
https://tinyurl.com/3dctn3ab
The fighting between Israel and militants from Gaza could be a blow to the ambitions of Israel and the wider eastern Mediterranean region to become a hub for exporting natural gas to Europe and elsewhere.
Those aspirations received a lift when Chevron, the American energy giant, acquired stakes in two large Israeli offshore gas fields when it bought Noble Energy in 2020 for about $4 billion. Nobel Energy had led the way in developing Israeli gas.
Natural gas fields off the Israeli coast now account for about 70 percent of the country’s electric power generation, reducing the use of polluting coal. The gas has also helped Israel ease what had been a heavy dependence on energy imports.
Those facilities have tight security, although one of the Chevron-operated production platforms, called Tamar, is about 15 miles off Ashkelon, a city in southern Israel, and could potentially be vulnerable to attacks originating from Gaza.
During fighting in 2021, the Israeli government instructed Chevron to temporarily shut down Tamar.
In a statement this weekend, Chevron said it was “focused on the safe and reliable supply of natural gas for the benefit of the Israeli domestic market and our regional customers.” The company referred questions on the continuing operations of the facilities to the Israeli government.
Chevron has been working on plans to expand production at these units, called Leviathan and Tamar, and to add pipelines to help increase gas flows from Israel to Egypt, which indirectly exports Israeli output in the form of liquefied natural gas from facilities on the Mediterranean coast.
Chevron is also considering installing a floating facility to process liquefied natural gas in Israeli waters, a project that would cost several billion dollars. Along with Israel, Chevron is also active in Egypt, a major gas producer and consumer, and Cyprus.
The fierce fighting that started on Saturday could potentially slow the pace of investment in gas fields in the region.
————————
I guess you already heard the reports that fighting continues in south of Israel and that fighters are still pouring through the breeches they made on the 7th.
Minute 16 and following. Ritter echoes Colonel Lang’s insights as to how Israel “cannot suffer casualties” and will lose in Gaza in case of a ground war. His prognosis in case Hezbollah enters in force is nothing short of destruction of Tel Aviv. (Over the top? Ritter does get excited at times). Maybe this explains McAfferey’s outburst on MSNBC cited in my earlier post, as he certainly understands what Ritter and Colonel Lang understood, one would think.
!!Scott Ritter: Talks Why Israel and Hamas At War.
https://youtu.be/CmN4WOZi1vA
F&L,
Hezbollah could do it, and they could hit the reactor at Dimona, will they? I have no idea. I wish Col. Lang was here because he would know how they think.
– Eliot
Тhere are video of many ex Israeli soldiers saying that it was impossible that the system would fail like it did.
Seems the decision was fight now where together with the US they have some chance, instead of postponing the fight in which case their chances would diminish.
PS at the time of the beginning of the Russo-Ukrainian conflict/spec op, the Colonel wrote something like (I’ll paraphrase it) – me and TTG know a thing or two, it’s all about winning.
And although I’m aware that the world functions like that, the Orthodox Christian view is different, so I keep wondering – why can’t the Israelis and Palestinians function in two separate states, more or less peacefully.
Israelis have announced a complete siege of Gaza. They have stopped all water, food, electricity and medical supplies whilst seeing some of the heaviest bombings in decades. Terrorists fighting terrorists. It is complete insanity that the US has anything to do with Israel. Not our business. We have no actual national interests in Israel other than mass religious delusions on the part of some Americans.
“why can’t the Israelis and Palestinians function in two separate states, more or less peacefully”
Land, and water. Both are in short supply in that part of the world, where people have been fighting over arable land for millennia.
Elkern –
Israel has been stealing & expropriating Palestinian land and water for decades. That is no excuse though for the rapes and murder of civilians. And the stories of headchopping some captured IDF soldiers – is that true or is it part of the fake news floating around? If true then they are as bad as ISIS, you would think Iran would wash their hands of these terrorists.
Whatever happened to the Islamic concept of not ill-treating prisoners? Keeping them fed and clothed, per the Quran I believe.
Leith,
The headchopping of soldiers is true, there is evidence. some of the unfortunate Nepalese dead got the same treatment.
There appears to have been multiple waves to this attack, in the ~6 hour period that the border defenses collapsed. From the evidence I have seen, interestingly The headchopping/mutilations/abduction of old ladies/looting seems to have been committed by latter waves of frenzied Gazan “civilians”. Untrained cadres of men mopping up the spoils, the same behavior as you would see from peasant camp follower armies in medieval times.
Serge –
Thanks for the insight. Bad stuff headchopping and the other horrors, but don’t the Saudis still use public beheading as capital punishment? I’m guessing that is where these and other whackjobs got the inspiration.
What is your opinion on the captives? Will Netanyahu cave and do a prisoner swap? I recall that a decade ago he gave up a thousand Hamas prisoners in exchange for an IDF Corporal. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MR9OKlUzy_g
I do not condone the atrocities perpetrated by Hamas in this (or any other) attack.
Likewise, I do not condone the slow-motion atrocity of Israel’s methodical ethnic cleansing.
Mostly, I just don’t want us – USA – to get sucked into more damn NeoCon wars in the Middle East.
Amend to Land, Water, and Religion (on both sides)
Jovan,
This was something Col. Lang wrote about, but they don’t have a concept of win win scenarios. They have a culture that was shaped by resource scarcity. The religious component makes it even more impossible.
– Eliot
A lot has been written about the IDF becoming soft since the 2006 battles, it appears those assessments were correct.
A pity TTG doesn’t use Telegram to view their videos. I’d be interested in his take on this analyst’s evaluations. He looks dead on to me. These Israeli soldiers look quite soft as you say – downright dopey.
https://t.me/atomiccherry/560
Over the past 1.5 years, there has been a lot of mockery of the Russian armed forces on Israeli channels, but over the past couple of days we could quite clearly see how effectively combat work is being carried out in “the most experienced and most belligerent army in the world.”
For anyone who even slightly understands what we are talking about, the “highest level of training of IDF professionals” demonstrated in the video will be obvious:
1) Lack of basic skills in moving combat groups in urban battles;
2) Complete lack of control over sectors of fire, corners, etc.;
3) The use of vehicles with civilians as shelters during shooting combat;
4) The “crowd of sheep” syndrome – chaotic movements in dense, unorganized groups.
I won’t write in more detail due to restrictions on the number of characters, but the essence is quite clear. And yes, the footage shows professional military units and police special forces in conditions where the location and number of the enemy is unknown.
@atomiccherry 💯
F&L,
All their muscle memory involves beating up on unarmed civilians. It would be a stretch to call them soldiers. As a contrast, here’s an account of an old school soldier. Too bad he’s so woke or more would appreciate his actions.
“All their muscle memory involves beating up on …”
Col. Lang commented on that multiple times. A trained militia lacking a professional NCO corps. The rot has been happening for a generation and a half now.
Thank you for sharing this.
I am glad to hear this story about knowing what the right thing to do is and then doing it.
On so many fronts today we see people are in a bubble and wrapped up in a world of wishful thinking not reality. I am so glad I am the age I am. I grew up among people who were not well educated but had a grip and could read well enough to get along.
We have well educated people who resist rational thought today. At the other end of the spectrum, we have how many kids now coming out with a HS diploma but not enough knowledge to function in today’s world because they only have 4th or 8th grade knowledge in their heads?
I do not even know what to think about a lots of Israeli soldiers just running away as I read about over weekend.
I would say that what you call his “wokeness” is what made him effective and compassionate. He didn’t just stand around and yell about terrorists–he went out and rescued actual people. He is a critical thinker not a parrot.
Laura Wilson,
You are absolutely right. I applaud his wokeness.
Well, I don’t eat at IHOP for years now.
But the LIHOP restaurant chain (Luridly Intriguing House Of Pancakes?) is featuring this item on the menu:
—TRAINING:
-The source close to Hamas said the group’s fighters had been training in Gaza since the -last conflict in 2021, on occasion conducting drills in plain sight. The exercises involved -building a mock Israeli settlement to practice a military landing and training to storm it, -the source said.
Found here: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/hamas-deployed-specialised-units-attack-israel-says-source-2023-10-09/
I’ll close by quoting this email to my sister this morning –
Reuters originated in the Rothschild family’s private intelligence service for it’s banking empire .. morphed into becoming the intelligence service of the British empire as a wire service (the BBC became the state propaganda branch). Rothschilds were vitally important in founding Israel. Wealthiest family in human history).
See this piece this morning, which to me says the cover stories are being released immediately because .. they are needed badly.
How Hamas Duped Israel.
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/how-israel-was-duped-hamas-planned-devastating-assault-2023-10-08/
moon of alabama, b, adds to your LIHOP collection:
<i<October 09, 2023, Egypt Claims It Warned Israel Of Upcoming Attack via Yedioth Ahranoth
LeaNder,
Egyptian Intelligence may have “warned them an explosion of the situation is coming, and very soon, and it would be big.” That is not a warning of an attack. It amounts to little more than a bad feeling in their bones without specific data points. Hamas was feeding information to Israeli Intelligence to manipulate them into doing what they wanted the Israelis to do… classic perception management and, as I wrote back in 2016, reflexive control. In the face of that deliberate Hamas perception management, Egypt’s bad feeling and even observing Qassam Brigade training were dismissed as outliers in the analysis. That’s why intelligence is an art rather than a science.
Don’t misunderstand. I am not a LIHOP supporter. I respect Bernhard’s work but am rarely checking him lately. … The article seems to have been taken down rather fast. When I checked, the link was dead.
Hamas was feeding information to Israeli Intelligence to manipulate them into doing what they wanted the Israelis to do
I have seen that argument. …
********
Offtopic: Norman Podhoretz on the 2024 US Nightmare.
https://www.commentary.org/articles/john-podhoretz/2024-political-nightmare/
Meanwhile, a staggering percentage of Democrats—seven out of every 10, every time they’re asked now—tell pollsters they want someone other than Biden to be their party’s nominee in 2024. Of course they do. And they should, too.
They and we have daily evidence of Biden’s infirmities. The mainstream press may downplay or soft-pedal the worrisome nature of Biden’s condition, but they cannot blind the public to what it sees. And yet no serious Democratic rival is willing to take the plunge and challenge the president for their party’s nomination. In point of fact, Biden’s obvious liabilities are not luring ambitious men and women to grab at the great brass ring. If anything, they are hindering those ambitions.
What is stopping them? Some kind of wokeness?
To take the nomination from Biden—either by beating him outright or by convincing him through a popular upstart bid to decline to run for reelection, as Lyndon Johnson did in 1968—a Democrat would have to talk about the president’s health and his problematic son. And if that rival’s effort were to fail and Biden were then to stand in the general election, that rival’s negative words about Biden would be used as a weapon in hundreds of millions of dollars of Republican advertising leading up to the election. To sum up: A Democrat can’t run against Biden because it is too dangerous in the general election for any Democrat to make a case against Biden’s weakness if the president isn’t going to step aside or be pushed aside.
stalemate?
LeaNder,
Why no challenges to Biden? Perhaps Democrats have taken up their version of Reagan’s 11th commandment, “Thou shalt not speak ill of another Republican.” I was always proud of the fact that the Democratic Party was ill-disciplined. Party loyalty is not something to be proud of. Blind loyalty is a characteristic of cults, not a thinking people.
I respect your opinion but still disagree. I don’t have the Animus necessary to insist that anyone watch these interviews conducted by Judge Andrew Napolitano, but if you did or do and can’t recognize that the Judge absolutely thinks it was let happen on purpose, then I don’t know what to say. Even Larry Johnson is telling you (almost ) explicitly that “you can’t think that because it would be such a nasty thing to impute to Bibi Netanyahu” – in other words not because it’s mind bogglingly suspicious to where it’s almost certainly true but because we are polite people (who work for the CIA, by mere coincidence. Giggles).
I’ve seen several of these with Ritter too. They’re all very smart people – McGovern, Johnson and Ritter, but Napolitano is light years smarter than they are (and I’d brilliant at hiding it) something I recognize despite disageeing with him vehemently on many issues. Ritter is possibly the finest and most elaborately ingenious liar of them all, and I happen to like him immensely, but his latest essay at consortium news is a historical masterpiece of pulling the wool over the eyes of semi-educated sheep. He explains that Israeli Intel f’d up because they overly relied on Artificial Intelligent. Give the man a Nobel prize in literature, I love it! The nitwits feel proud of themselves, it’s so fabulously unreal – here’s one of them now I just made up for you. My little doormouse the secret agent overhears them saying stuff like this:
“I knew it all along. See – Elon Musk and Joe Rogan were right … AI really is a threat to humanity!”
The jokes just keep coming but the jokes are on us. I can almost see Benjamin Netanyahu on the phone with Musk and the CEOs of Google, Microsoft and Apple a year ago saying:
“Hey guys, how ’bout we start the meme rolling on how AI is the most dangerous thing since hydrogen bombs and bubonic plague?”
“But why, Bibi?”
“Why? Silly question. So Scott Ritter can write his article on how when Hamas massacres a thousand of my citizens it was due to nothing more than trusting AI!”
“Ok, sure thing. On it.”
How Long in Gaza? w/Larry Johnson fmr CIA
https://www.youtube.com/live/qucXLDjdTls
Did Intel Know? With Ray McGovern (CIA)
https://youtu.be/kEmYUi8PXLU
F&L,
Larry Johnson and I used to joke when we did agree because it didn’t seem to happen too often. Well, it happened again. Larry knows that the IC is not close to omniscient and can screw up just as bad as any other organization. The Israeli IC isn’t any better. We agree again. Break out the champagne
TTG –
Larry is holding forth today with eloquence on his site imploring that Israel not engage in the disproportionate war crimes it is famous for. Will you raise a glass with him on that? I would be delighted to. I don’t hold out much hope though, because Bibi Nutcase’s ultra-right fundamentalist dominated coalition is psychopathic in a unique way – they’re the chosen high and mightiest – it’s a grotesque level of entitlement and self-righteous murderousness.
F&L,
Good for Larry. Bibi is now between a rock and a hard place. Breaking Hamas is now what the Israelis demand of him. The cost will be immense. Either the Gazan civilians or the Israeli soldiers will die in droves, probably both. I bet a sizable chunk of the Israeli population want the Gazans to die, men women and children. The hatred is that strong. A lot of the Israelis not willing to share that level of hatred will very likely leave Israel, leaving behind a greater percentage of the hard core religious unwilling to work or fight. God help everyone if the West Bank Palestinians decide to join the fray.
F&L, apparently sarcastically, writes
“Elon Musk and Joe Rogan were right … AI really is a threat to humanity!”
I don’t think Joe Rogan is a recognized expert on much of anything, but some people who are are very worried about the potential of AI for harm:
https://observer.com/2015/08/stephen-hawking-elon-musk-and-bill-gates-warn-about-artificial-intelligence/
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/ai-geoffrey-hinton-60-minutes-fears-technology-take-over-humanity-073704715.html
“Godfather of AI tells ’60 Minutes’ he fears the technology could one day take over humanity”
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/geoffrey-hinton-ai-dangers-60-minutes-transcript/
I (Keith) think this is an issue that needs to be addressed, somehow.
TTG
Interesting forecast, likely correct. Will they try chemical weapons? There’s already reports of white phosphorus. And the siege is basically primitive biowar – no water, power, electric, supplies, meds etc so the population perishes completely within 40 days. Yes, they’ve stocked up and yes there’s a border with Egypt. The sea? I doubt it bc of Israeli navy.
The IDF has always been a triumph of propaganda over punch. But at least some of them attempted to resist here and there before being killed by better men.
As an American, I am marvel that our own soldiers avoided any bloodshed by surrendering our own southern border without a shot fired.
Sgt P,
Our soldiers are not on our Southern border.
If you are speaking of current border nonsense, I am against it as much as any reasonable person can be but it has nothing to do with our military. When Guard, etc are ordered down there they do auxiliary duties. It is against the law for them to act as traditional soldiers and do not receive orders to do so. I am sure you know that.
What would you have them do? Start shooting unarmed civilians?
As far as our government is concerned, problems on our border are due to decisions of elected officials and employees they control. Of course the cartels and illegal immigrants running up here are taking advantage of our idiocy.
Idiocy is the wrong phrase. I think you were looking for “systemic rot that wants to replace blacks with browns.”
US navy to send an aircraft carrier with escorts. In military terms, there’s nothing to criticize. Having a respectable force on hand is always good, should things go wrong for Israel. Which I think is totally unlikely.
Diplomatically and politically, it’s a mistake. The days of armored cavalries on the Canal or towards Beirut are over. So are the days of gunboats. Plus, an over-generous support for the Israelis could give them dangerous ideas, making peace even more remote. Kissinger’s diplomatic genius is to be commended for having understood this, during the negotiations that ended and followed the 1973 war. Besides, it’s hard to see who should be bombed. The Palestinian people? The Hezbollah in Lebanon?
Now, the pertinent – and urgent – question is that we’re going to have to stitch things up. The exhibition of forces alone won’t do it. I hope the US political establishment is aware of this. Imagine if China, of all countries, offered its good services…
[For those who still dream or talk of a Europe-power, we can say that it’s over, and has been for a long time. Nothing to expect from office managers or accountants. Their political acumen is at the level of a hay beast, one that watches the train going by without though…].
At least the Gerald Ford (CVN-78) is headed for the Eastern Med, not the Persian Gulf, where a false flag attack would be *very* easy to blame on Iran.
I haven’t been following US Carriers recently, until this. I was surprised to find that we only have two Carrier Groups outside US waters these days – the Ford in the Med, and the Ronald Reagan, near Japan. But the Reagan is now in the Phillipine Sea; if it moves into the Indian Ocean, I’ll be worried.
Budweiser will put a rainbow shute paraglider on their can so to speak. US will give both sides paper. We don’t care who wins. Just keep using the paper. Do that and the US wins which they will.
The rot
Well I find it unbelievable that after yom kippur (day of atonement),a rave party was held on the border with Gaza on a Friday night going into the Sabbath day.
Israel was established on the foundation of religious principles.Pretty much black and white.Either you believe or you do not.
Sounds great what I just wrote.Truly righteous
Only thing is the people who decided to give hamas the green light used this thinking to attack to try and justify there war crimes.
A type of pseudo psycho religious thinking straight out devils playback.Ancient mumbo jumbo that led to the fall of many empires who came to conquer israel
Oh well.You pull the devils tail …….here it comes
thanx for the info and thoughts everyone! great stories! and, thanx for the links.
one question? don’t the israelis own a bunch of nuclear weapons?
prediction: if outsiders stay uninvolved… once the mop-up is finished, they’ll keep bombing gaza until it is safe, then demand the egyptians open the border, and just get rid of 2-million Palestinians. as russia has demonstrated, sleeping armies do get their act together, a few months or so.
as i understand it, the military was especially angry with netenyahoo because he placed super incompetents to run the military.
if, US decides to bomb Iran, another story.
If any situation could benefit from a wargame, this is it. Hypothesis is that no matter what either side does, the conflict ends up in the same place. The same place had there been no war at all. And that place is (1) no deal space between Palestinians and Israelis and (2) bitter agitation in the Palestinian camp for yet another war.
Never give up the guns. 2% ownership in Israel with enemies surrounding you. How did this even happen. NO. Go get the guns. Carry them at festivals, restaurants, tours. Do that and this becomes a win. Slaughter them with hundreds of rounds. Drag them through the streets. It will not happen again. I guarantee it. Get guns. Stop being feeble minded. Everyone carries. Refuse to carry straight to jail.
You’re a former combat soldier, most human beings aren’t and aren’t suited for it. Your idea certainly has merit but may be about as realistic as a bishop on the chess board saying to the pawns that he doesn’t understand why they don’t simply run 5, 6, 7 steps along the diagonals and capture the opposing pieces. Not too many people could fill in for Marshall Dillon in Dodge City. The vast majority of people only fight if they are backed up against the wall and their lives are at stake. That’s the secret to power, learned on the playground. If you hit someone first really hard but don’t threaten their lives, they will back off and you can tell them what to do henceforth. The small percentage of people who learn that early become the rulers, gangsters, drug bosses etc.
Idle observation. Experts don’t absolutely know but estimate that the percentage of psychopaths (or prevalence of psychopathic personality disorder) within most human populations is 1% durings epochs of social stability but can range as high as 4% during periods of breakdown until the balance is restored and it’s back to 1%.
These are typically or essentially people entirely lacking a conscience and uncorrectable by any external means. Quintessential gangsters.
The population of Gaza is approximate 2.2 million. One percent would be 22,000.
The only estimates I’ve seen of Hamas membership is of that order of magnitude.
F&L,
Good observation. Now imagine how many psychopaths are in Israeli society or our population for that matter.
TTG –
Rising to the challenge.
US in good epochs: 3,300,000 – 1% psychopaths
US during bad:. 13,200,000 – 4% solution.
Israel good times: 90,000. (1 pc of 9 million)
Israel bad times;. 360,000
Apologies in advance for taxing you with this **** but this is actually very interesting, tedious as it is. Especially the included links to Ru Telegram channels devoted to the Midday Beast esp Syria which describe harrowing things between Wagner & Ru MOD regarding switching out post March on Moscow, and back & forth between Saudis and Assad regarding a “constitutional” (hahaha) monarchy in Syria going forward (and Assad’s $33 billion fortune). The increase rather than decrease in USAF in Syria of late will interest you too. Save it for a rainy day.
Forgotten Front. Why Russia is doing worse and worse in Syria.
https://tinyurl.com/24hus8vd
F&L,
Regarding the plethora of psychopaths in our midst, I think back to a course i took in freshman year, the anthropology of colonialism. Featured authors included Franz Fanon who said that the colonized must employ violence against the colonizer for, among other things, his own sanity. Albert Memmi is another author I remember from that course. He was oddly silent about the Palestinians’ plight at the hand of the Israelis.
I’m afraid the Kremlin now has a lot more to worry about than the fate of the Syrians. Luckily for Assad, they did get him to the point that he doesn’t have to be worried about meeting the same fate as Qadaffi.
F&L,
At the risk of being pedantic and tangential, I feel compelled to comment re; psychopathy, as it is a misunderstood topic and I have some subject matter expertise arising from deep study and practical experience.
Contrary to popular opinion, psychopaths do not make good soldiers, CEOs, team members, or representatives of causes of any type. This is because one primary feature of the disorder is extreme narcissism, and that narcissism renders the psychopath unable to act in cooperation with others and unwilling to make self-sacrifices. A psychopath will only participate in a cause or team to the extent that it benefits his/her, usually covert, personal ambitions (as opposed to group goals) and, usually, short term gains (they are bad at long term planning and sticking with a plan because doing so involves too much effort and deferment of gratification for their personality type).
People often mistake men that are in positions of responsibility and who thus have to make hard decisions (e.g. lay-offs of employees, profit seeking, battle plans that will involve the loss of many of their soldiers, etc) as being psychopaths. They’re usually not; just men that steeled the hearts and stepped up to do the tough job that someone needs to do; often weighing the benefits of their decision against the costs (e.g. no lay-offs and the entire company fails and EVERYONE is out of work and all of the investors’ money is lost, or avoid the costly decisive battle and the war goes on for many years and many more die in the long-run). That’s a different thing entirely.
When we do end up with a true psychopath in power – say Hitler – the results are almost always the same; with self-destruction of the society being the ultimate result. It has to be that way because that is where extreme narcissism and lack of empathy and lack of realistic long-term planning always lead on both the micro and macro levels.
The percent of psychopaths in the societies led by a true psychopath doesn’t increase. However, the number of people under the psychopath’s spell and therefore carrying out his dictums and acting like a psychopath increases, of course, but those people are merely dupes/followers and not really suffering from the personality disorder.
Believe it or not, one doesn’t need to be a psychopath to slaughter women and children. One just needs to allow the inner capacity for hate – a capacity we all have -to be activated by a psychopathic leader. This is so much easier when you’ve been taught, say by an Imam, from day one to wallow in righteous and vicious hatred of some other group.
Eric –
Extremely good points and very well said. And a perfect illustration that a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing.
I should have maybe elaborated a bit and mentioned that quite possibly the sort of individuals who can tell Palestinian civilians who are trapped inside buildings in Gaza (as human shields) to disregard Israeli warnings to leave because it is only Israeli disinformation are most probably psychopaths. I’m referring to their technique of producing corpses of their own citizens for info war purposes. Or are they the tough-minded CEO types you refer to, translated into a war context? I don’t know, I suspect if not know that they are really seriously rotten people whatever pigeonhole or label we find for them.
If you’ve done the study you say, you must also know that the psychopathic personality disorder is over-represented, proportionately, in the professions of business leadership, doctor, lawyer, military chief and particularly in politicians where it’s higher than any other including in prisons. It’s very complex and still poorly understood in my opinion. There’s also a school of thought that says it is inherited to some degree, but it’s difficult to tease out versus violent disposition, feistiness etc. Surprisingly to people who haven’t studied criminology or who haven’t real life experience, the vast majority of violent crimes are committed by family members against family members who have simply on one very unfortunate occasion had more than they can take and explode (alcohol is a huge element too). Then for the rest of their lives they are considered murderers. They are, technically, but despite the well known statistics on recidivism, the vast majority of them will never kill again.
Well, you know all that. My take is that there are more psychopathic CEOs than the doctor ordered, so to speak. And that due to our society’s emphasis on profit above everything we have gamed our world into a psychopathic direction rather than otherwise. You yourself make the point that these monsters when in charge ruin everything in the most extreme cases and whole companies in less extreme cases. I personally see evidence that this place is become rather a s**t show. Psychopathy in high places? Multiculturalism imposed on people unready and unsuited for it? Profound decadence due to extreme inequalities born of personal fortunes larger than any guilded age? Techno-feudalism? Worship of violence and crime in the movies? Something in the water?
“Please waiter, no shit sandwich today for me. BLT on rye toast will do fine.”
“quite possibly the sort of individuals who can tell Palestinian civilians who are trapped inside buildings in Gaza (as human shields) to disregard Israeli warnings to leave because it is only Israeli disinformation are most probably psychopaths. ”
Yes. Quite likely.
“psychopathic personality disorder is over-represented, proportionately, in the professions of business leadership, doctor, lawyer, military chief and particularly in politicians where it’s higher than any other including in prisons.”
Wrong, except for the politicians. That is the misunderstanding I was referring to. It is highly unlikely that a true (meaning clinical) psychopath could stick with studies long enough to become a doctor, lawyer, General or CEO, let alone last in a career to be promoted to the highest ranks. They simply do not have the work ethic. To them, hard work and dedication is being a “sucker” playing a sucker’s game. They only experience something close to what us normals call “gratification” when they are subverting society – or the “system” – and social norms and “getting over” on people. Along with extreme narcissism, anti-social attitudes and behaviors are another defining personality trait. That means they cannot for long cooperate with a team or dedicate themselves to an organization’s long term goals and success. Furthermore, psychopaths are unable to accept responsibility for their mistakes, no matter how blatant and destructive. In fact, they deflect responsibility onto others.
Typically, these people are identified relatively early on and weeded out. No one can work with them and they are a threat to each individual in the organization as well as the organization itself.
Don’t mistake the rank and file and leaders blindly and sometimes over-zealously dedicated to an organization’s success with psychopaths. These are two different things entirely, though sometimes the effects can appear to be the same to those harmed by the phenomena.
Politicians, on the other hand, can be psychopaths. All they need to do is talk, tell everyone how great they are, make BS promises and deflect blame. There is an opportunity to scheme (makes psychopaths feel omnipotent, something they crave). There is no accountability. There is ample opportunity for quick underhanded gain. There is cheap, easy public adulation. There are opportunities to corrupt (psychopaths like to damage the morality of others). There is a sense of power over others. It is a fertile play ground for the psychopath.
Eric –
I was citing a Harvard trained MD psychiatrist with long clinical experience when I included CEOS, lawyers and doctors. He was someone I was close to for over 12 years. Not only that he was a business specialist who wrote a weekly column for Business Week in the 90s and oughts. He eventually retired from.medicine to open a consulting firm for exceeding wealthy and powerful businesses and their CEOs. That’s who he hangs around with all the time – wealthy, powerful CEOs. And he’s an MD doctor himself. Damning his own associates and profession. Not quite, he didn’t imply or mean to say they all were psychopaths, not at all. And Ive studied the subject too and know other shrinks, real MD psychiatrists trained in the era before the pill pushers. They all say the same thing.
But you announce: Wrong!
How tall is that mountain top you’re on?
You have a love affair with powerful business people? They’re all 100% angels?
Well I, for one don’t think so at all, not one bit. And neither do people who went to the finest MD and graduate programs in the world, acquired decades of actual hands-on clinical experience from mentors with similar experience or better.
I think a huge # of them are flat out greedy bastards, pure and simple.
And I’m damn sure I’m Right!
F&L,
I’m not impressed with “Harvard trained”. Sounds like your guy has an axe to grind. Is he an expert on psychopathy?
You have to study psychopathy from the people who have made it their speciality. It is a very nuanced quasi-clinical label. Also, it is helpful to have actually studied psychopaths yourself, up close and personal, already armed with the knowledge gained from aforementioned experts.
I know a Harvard trained pulmonologist that wanted to perform a lobectomy on a patient that was suffering from a fungal infection that had caused a bleeding lesion on the upper lobe of one lung. The expert in that particular type of fungal infection – a mere University of Arizona trained physician – gave a second opinion that countered the Harvard guy. The infection is throughout the body. Cutting out a chunk of lung won’t eliminate the infection and it could return to the remaining lung tissue or the brain, etc. The proper treatment is a long term dose of Diflucan (a powerful anti-fungal drug). Patient went with the UofA guy’s recommendation and fully recovered in time with her all of her lungs.
Btw – there is no official diagnosis of psychopathy. It’s a term of art. There are official diagnoses for anti-social disorder and narcissism, which must be present in psychopathy (along with observations of Machiavellian thinking and some others)
Eric,
All true what you say. Pigeonholing people is absurd. So the term is unfortunate and prone to abuse, you’re right absolutely.
But I ask you to consider the 08 financial crisis, Enron, the robber barons, the recent murders in Georgia by a very prominent lawyer, the awful abuses of medicine such as lobotomy, electroshock and the numerous medicaire & medicaid mills, the organ transplant black markets and get back to me on doctors and lawyers and business people not being psychopathic. Want to throw out that label – fine with me. Revive the older ones – evil, ruthlessly criminal, moral imbecility. You can’t tell me you haven’t the life experience to know that very evil and merciless people have inhabited those niches. You can, but I won’t believe it.
Until you mentioned Gaza, I actually thought you were talking about the U.S. population. The problem is that our 1% are high level govt officials and respected Think Tank operatives.
The talking heads, I heard, were basically saying that we need to destroy Iran and encourage the IDF to bomb Gaza until a sufficient number of civilians are killed.
While Hamas has psychopaths, it is also possible that it was an act of desperation. That sitting idle as the 2007 blockade continues to destroy them gives them no choice.
Israel’s defence minister described Palestinians as “human animals” and vowed to “act accordingly,” as fighter jets unleashed a massive bombing campaign on the Gaza Strip.
Yoav Gallant announced a “complete siege” of the Gaza Strip, an area of about 365 square km, and home to 2.3 million Palestinians, which has been under an Israeli-led blockade since 2007.
“I have ordered a complete siege on the Gaza Strip. There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed,” Gallant said.
“We are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly,” he added.
The Israeli air force has dropped 2,000 munitions and more than 1,000 tonnes of bombs on Gaza in the last 20 hours, the army said on Monday morning, having shelled 20 high-rise residential buildings, mosques, hospitals, banks and other civilian infrastructure.
The link from “b” on MOA. I’m seeing those sentiments echoed here and also in the States. By most of the politicians too, which will have the effect of ramming the country further into its dead end.
What a mess, TTG. I don’t like looking at it because the end is so bloody inevitable. I met some good people from over there. One of them Israeli SF who detested what his country was becoming. This is a people placed by a twist of colonial history in an untenable position and no way out that I can see. Not now.
I find it easy to believe that Bibi & his Cabinet were so wrapped up with in-fighting that they ignored or missed warnings of this attack (or at least the scale).
Hubris is also a likely factor; Israeli leaders imagine that Palestinians are [genetically?] incapable of planning or implementing anything on this scale.
That same hubris in Israeli society in general would also explain the insanity of holding a Rave less than 3 miles from Gaza. Even if the likelihood of attacks appeared small (based on the sporadic rockets of the last several years), siting the Rave near Gaza is just Bad Karma.
Apologies, TTG. Wrote and submitted too fast.
English Outsider,
You hit the submit button three times. I guess you really meant what you said. I took the italics out just so it wouldn’t lead to problems.
Thanks, TTG. Again! Should also have written “Those sentiments echoed here in England.” But you knew that.
Focusing more on Avdiivka now. Been waiting for that a long time. And quite by chance – google searches throw up all sorts of unexpected results sometimes – I came across something that might interest you. A very thorough researcher with a feel for his subject looking at preparations for the Gold Beach landings and then the landings themselves. They rubbed shoulders with American troops just before embarking and there were some interesting takes on the contrast between the two armies. Also what it was like for ordinary people to go into action against first class troops in what seems to have been one of the most awkward little corners of that war.
Don’t know how most of us in England would manage today, if we found ourselves in anything like that.
https://pearl.plymouth.ac.uk/bitstream/handle/10026.1/1996/ANDREW%20HOLBORN.PDF
EO,
Thanks for that study. That will be my bedtime reading tonight.
Ukraine’s HUR (DIA counterpart) claims that the Kremlin is using the Hamas attack for a fake news propaganda piece against Ukraine. The GRU, Russia’s military intelligence service, is giving a few US/EU weapons captured in Ukraine to Hamas. Then blaming it on Ukrainian troops selling their new Western weapons to terrorists.
That fake is already prevalent on the RT-Arabic TV channel. And RT mouthpiece and pedophile, Scott Ritter, is also pushing lie.
https://twitter.com/revishvilig/status/1711407888806064383
https://gur.gov.ua/en/content/spetssluzhby-rosii-provodiat-kampaniiu-z-dyskredytatsii-ukrainy-na-blyzkomu-skhodi.html
Yeah, Leith, I’ve heard the little runt dictator spouting that nonsense.
IMO, Zelensky is desperate. His “offense” has failed. Russia has basically accomplished its mission and secured the land approach to Crimea, which was always the ultimate objective for both sides (US being long butt sore over “losing” it and wanting it “back”). So the runt is trying to politicize Israel’s Hamas trouble in his favor. Despicable. I really despise that scumbag.
That said, Z is also probably trying to get ahead of and flip the real story that will come out, which is that Ukro corruption/black market sales has caused US/NATO weapons to actually land in Hamas’ hands.
You’re right. Corruption is at unreal levels in Ukraine, and was prewar, it’s just worse now. They definitely sell weapons and everything else not nailed down. If the weapons end up in Gaza, though, it isn’t by any design of either side in the Uk vs Ru war. It’s a totally impersonal international underworld arms dealing bazaar – from what I’ve read most of the stuff that gets into the ME is via Yemen which is a major hub in that trade, not hard to see why either. Do those dealers prefer Hamas over any other group? Well, themselves first for whoever they might be killing but otherwise it’s all about the money.
Eric –
Putin’s on his last legs. The troops that he sent to die during meat assaults in Ukraine are getting fed up with his baloney. He’s now dependent on North Korea and Iran, both terrorist states, for his salvation. Got an election coming up in five of six months. He’ll win of course, but won’t do any more unpopular mobilizations until after the election. By that time and by the grace of God it will be too late. Imbibing his Kool-Aid or Scott Ritter’s can be dangerous to the human psyche.
Leith,
Sure, sure. Go on and swill that sweet ISW purple juice . Ukros will be breaking through Russian defenses and marching on Crimea any day now, uh Yep by Golly.
I won’t be holding my breath.
Meanwhile, in the real world, Ukraine has faltered and Russia is mopping them up in the Donbas and going on the attack.
He’s a pathetic hugely underqualified nincompoop living in a Dreamworld with a huge personal army and a greedy selfish crook to boot. But so was Uncle Joe the mass murdering Georgian professional criminal and record setting tyrant and majestic imbecile who outlawed mendelian genetics and quantum theory but allowed the latter eventually because he needed an atom bomb. Both were street kids and hooligans who got to the top. I could go on for pages and pages. But he’s one thing also you need to keep in mind – just like the Stalin monster, he’s Dangerous and very possibly deluded. And, or but – we aren’t so hot either now. We aren’t governed by FDR, but by the greediest, richest most ugly and irresponsible, heedless and morally worthless bastards ever seen on the face of the earth.
Sorry. Felt great writing it though.
Remember, Stalin was incompetent and made huge mistakes, so did Nicholas I and Nicholas II. But they / the Russians – came through. At least those spoiled rotten privelged royalty didn’t have atomic weapons.
Rulers are almost always terrible human beings as is the ruling class – because? They’re the ones who use murderous force to get where they are or maintain their position. So it’s almost a tautology to say these things about Putin or Stalin or Biden or Obama or Bush & Cheney & the Clintons and Trump.
Eric Newhill –
Putin’s troops are attacking Ukrainian defenses in the Donbas but are not doing well. They did advance to a rail line north of Krasnohorivka. But their attacks in Synkivka, Ivanivka, Makiivka, Avdiivka, Marinka, Vodyane, Novomykhailivka, Zolota Nyva were a no-go and were beaten back by Ukrainian troops. Ukraine holds half of Donetz Oblast in the Donbas and is just a few kilometers from Donetz City. Not doing as well in Luhansk Oblast, but they do control a few chunks there and they cut the Highway and rail connections to Severodonetsk and Lysychansk. That does not come from ISW, it’s reporting from multiple OSINT analysts.
Meanwhile in Zaporizhzhia Oblast Ukraine’s troops are slowly and cautiously grinding their way forward, and making cannon fodder out of the poor bastards wearing Putin’s uniform.
You are right though not to hold your breath waiting for the liberation of Crimea. That won’t be easy and won’t come soon. Ukrainians may never get Crimea back but they are still standing after a year and a half of bullying by the Kremin. The Ukies are exposing Putin’s impotence. He is reduced to long range missile & Iranian drone attacks on civilian towns and cities, either 1] by design or 2] by incompetent targeting or 3] by inaccurate guidance systems. He’s stealing Ukrainian grain, iron ore, gas and oil. Plus using those missiles to attack Ukrainian grain ports. But that might not last too much longer as Germany is currently sending more Patriots, Iris-T short and medium range systems, and Flakpanzers. Ukrainian AF training on the F-16 is scheduled to start this month in Arizona.
Putin has no claim to fame other than being put in office by a cabal of oligarchs. Since then he has murdered all his political rivals or imprisoned them. He claims his internal critics are foreign agents and sics his FSB attack dogs on them. Stalin redux or Hitler is also appropriate. His huge propaganda machine lies outright with no shame both internally and internationally. There is no free media within the RF. He prosecutes Russian citizens in kangaroo courts and jails them for daring to whisper the word war. IMO he’s definitely the king of the psychopaths, worse by far than those Hamas boys who severed the heads off of Jewish babies. You may differ but please don’t bother to explain why you might think he’s a normie.
Your last paragraph reads to me like the current state of the USA under democrat and deep state control; only thing missing is the establishment encouraging boys to be castrated and girls to remove their breasts and ovaries.
The preceding paragraphs? I have no idea where you get your info. I can read maps. They tell the story as far as I’m concerned.
Leith,
I think the modern examples set by the Chechens/ISI/ISIS is more culturally relevant as a headchopping motivation than anything the Saudis are doing, that and there is without a doubt collective cultural memory of the practice in this region. Testimonies from the Crusading period prove that it was extant in the Levant. As for how Israel will respond to the prisoner dillema, this is uncharted territory, I have no idea. I remember Shalit all too well but this is not the Israel that I grew up knowing, it is definitely no longer the Israel of Entebbe. This is a weaker, softer israel and that has been laid bare for all. Never in my wildest imagination would
Jimmy Dore’s standin with Norman Finkelstein. It’s virtually 20 min of Norman. Worth it in my opinion. I’m half jewish, not the real deal since mom was Catholic. But I despise the rulers of Israel and what that place has turned into twice as much as Norman does. My dad, 100% jewish, hated them even more fiercely, despite having done so much for them early on. So did Einstein. As Henry Kissinger, another Jew said to Richard Nixon – no wonder they were kicked out of over 100 countries. Jabotinsky, an outright and self-confessed fascist and the founder of the ultra far right Zionist movement which eventually came to run the place, was candid about the fact that it was no mystery to him that the Polish peasants of his homeland hated the Jews. Well, he was a fascist who offered to fight with the German Nazis with jewish militias he would organize if they’d abandon their genocide program – why cite a bastard like that? I’m not sure. Probably because he understood a thing or two. But his ideological descendants are running Israel for a very long time now, and it’s no secret. Watch Norman and listen to him. And remember that Moses was the greatest Jew of all time, and he’s famous for massacring them in huge numbers for the sin of worshipping the golden calf, and for putting an eternal curse on them for all time if they abrogated his command to look after the poor. And why did god curse Moses and keep him from the holy land? Because of his violent, murderous, uncontrollable temper.
The Palestinians Had No Other Options – Norman Finkelstein
https://youtu.be/G12Z0td-Nqo
Dear Fred –
EXCLUSIVE: Joe Biden’s younger brother Frank admits naked selfie on GuysWithiPhones gay dating site is genuine. ‘My phone must have been hacked’
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12610551/Joe-Biden-brother-Frank-naked-selfie-GuysWithiPhones.html
The photo of President Joe Biden’s brother on the gay dating site is authentic.
Laughter.
The Israelis have destroyed around 200 buildings in the Gaza Strip. And this destruction will carry on.
I wonder if Hamas was there and on every floor. It seems impossible. I’m willing to believe that Palestinian armed organizations are so vicious as to distribute their forces (hiding places, control, weapons, etc.) in these buildings, but efficiency would certainly suffer if the groups were too small.
It seems to me that war crimes against civilians are obvious.
Yes, I know, these sub-humans started it. They reap what they sow… If the Israelis don’t give up this primitive need for vengeance, everyone on this land is in for a difficult post-war life.
Talking of destroying buildings, one can admire the Israeli procedure: 1 or 2 bombs at the foot of the building and it topples over, ending up in dust, or the 15+ floors collapse one on top of the other, vertically. Impressive.
Dr Mengele had children I guess. Or is this the same Gottlieb who was the infamous CIA poisoner? Add an S and an n to Tali and you get Uncle Joe!
https://t.me/rusbrief/163215
Israeli Knesset (Parliament) member Tali Gottlieb called for considering the possibility of using nuclear weapons against Hamas forces.
HAMAS are deep into the extensive tunnel system under Gaza. IDF will have difficulty getting them out.
Knocking down buildings makes for interesting videos, does little to knock out HAMAS.
TTG –
This message just received and decoded from a steamship Titanic, Captain Joe Biden; First Officer Kamala Harris. “Don’t worry if it sinks, President pro tem of the Senate is Patty Murray. That’s right, no sneaker of the House. Gurgle ..”
https://t.me/kedr_media/2511
CNN: Russia, USA and China are expanding their nuclear test sites
Satellite images obtained by CNN indicate the construction of new facilities and the laying of new tunnels at the testing sites of the Novaya Zemlya archipelago, in Nevada and Xinjiang. This may indicate preparations for testing weapons of mass destruction, experts say.
Officially, neither Russia, nor China, nor the United States conducts tests of weapons of mass destruction, adhering to the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty concluded in 1996.
As for Russia, according to former US intelligence analyst Cedric Layton, the country is preparing to resume tests, but may not actually carry them out, but only “scare” the West with its readiness.
Photo: Planet Labs PBC/Middlebury Institute
What Is The Nuclear Test Ban Treaty And Why Is Russia Threatening To Pull Out?
https://www.rferl.org/a/nuclear-test-ban-treaty-russia-pull-out/32634674.html
al,
why should they stay in it?
No offense to the author but this is when I really miss Col Lang. He had especially good insights regarding Lebanon / Hizbollah, Israel / IDF, and Gaza / Hamas.
Christian J Chuba,
No offense taken. I miss him too, especially at this time.
Christian,
I would draw on one of his lessons, the part in Butcher’s Cleaver where Claude meets his priest. The priest would not forgive despair, as despair is a loss of faith.
Hama’s actions are IMO suicidal. Someone compared it to the Tet offensive but the NVA considered it a strategy for victory. This more resembles Animal House, in which it was determined the game was lost and the situation called for somebody had to do something really, really stupid…and they were just the guys to do it. Call it a Thelma and Louise mindset, perhaps.
Hamas deliberately made this as vicious as they possibly could and recorded it in order to engender the maximum response. It is a call to be martyred. It is a call for a glorious end which will not be glorious to anyone but themselves.
I am not a Catholic but they have accumulated some nuggets of wisdom over the centuries. I wish I could thank Pat for many things but one of them is never give in to despair. View it as wrong, a temptation from Satan, whatever works, just never give in.
Were the vibes I felt this morning at the bodega a presentiment of this?
https://t.me/logikamarkova/8584
Friday October 13th is designated by Hamas as the day of a general pogrom against Jews. They call on Muslims around the world to attack Jews everywhere on October 13th.
And there are many Muslims in all European countries! Therefore, on October 13th there will be something like an unofficial state of emergency in all European countries.
In which cities are the largest Jewish pogroms expected? In Paris and Brussels.
Jews feel safe in Russia.
Tom Cooper has a thorough, extensively referenced, description of various reasons
Palestinians might feel oppressed by Israel:
https://xxtomcooperxx.substack.com/p/israelpalestine-10-october-2023-strategy
A sample of what he says:
Secretary of State Blinken deleted his sensible and humane tweet calling for a ceasefire to concentrate on getting the hostages back. It was certainly worth a try. Now who knows where we are headed.
“The Middle East region is quieter today than it has been in two decades.” – Jake Sullivan, about a week ago.
Those pesky Palestinians.
Suzanne,
Blinken was an Obama holdover and Sullivan Hillary’s ‘expert’. Obama’s 3rd term in action.
“Those pesky Palestinians” voted Hamas into power and in just under two decades helped make Gaza a shining example of a just, verdent, and peaceful society. Until those other Hamas people attacked multiple sites in Isreal killing and injuring hundreds, including children. Oh, raping and kidnapping too. Calling for a cease fire while the killers are still returning to Gaza is just the thing the ACAB – defund the police people and send in some social workers lefties would think is appropriate.
Fred,
Blinken served in the Obama administration but he’s a Biden man.
Yes, the Gazans voted for Hamas as an expression of frustration against Fatah’s inefficiency and corruption. Israel and the U.S. refused from the start to deal with Hamas even though the elections were fair and Israel had sponsored Hamas in a classic divide-and-conquer maneuver, so we will never know whether the group would have changed over time into a conventional political faction or party. As it is, the Gazans have been punished ever since for voting in the “wrong” way and here we are and here they are.
With regard to a ceasefire I was thinking about the safe return of the hostages as a priority but yes, perhaps that is just squishiness on my part and possibly unrealistic as well.