by achrilock
europe
Anyway, the United Nations has been neutered by Israeli interests, the United States has made it clear that it will practically support the genocide of Palestinians. Europe is making farm animal noises and doing nothing per usual. The rich Arab states are in the pockets of capitalists. The best hope I see for Gaza and the West bank is, ironically, probably for Iran to destabilize the region and escalate. If they ever wanted regional hegemony there’s no better time than the present to try for it.
Israel (the vassal state of the US) will probably succeed in destroying the military capability of Hamas, in the short term (along with tens of thousands of innocent lives). Israel strong (with US backing, at least). What comes after Hamas, though? That will be something different. Israel and the US deserve what comes from that. What has been and what is being done have left a scar upon history. If the world will not stop genocidal fascists again, it deserves the consequences for that decision.
| https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/nov/11/my-life-has-been-defined-by-genocide-of-jewish-people-i-look-on-gaza-with-concern | My life has been defined by genocide of Jewish people. I look on Gaza with concern |
[…] “In this case, Israel does face a profound threat from Hamas. However, the vast difference in power between Israel and Hamas makes it highly unlikely for Hamas to pose an existential threat to Israel. In fact, Hamas could not have murdered so many innocent Israelis, if not for the complete security breakdown by Netanyahu’s government. Obsessed by his own concerns, and those of the extremists who put him into power, Netanyahu forgot about the country he is required to protect. Netanyahu has a long history of treating these terrorists as partners in his quest to marginalize any moderate Palestinian leadership.”




That’s a really good protest sign (last image). 👍
Democracies (not to mention more than a few experts) around the world are speaking clearly against what is being done to the people of Gaza by the Israeli & U.S. governments, what is not being done for the people of Israel by its own government, and the ongoing constructed division, fear, & climate of hatred & violence between Israel & Palestine. The question now is: will western politicians listen, and if they refuse to listen, why are they making that choice & ignoring the will of the people?
Anyway, all’s quiet here among the Western cunts with regard to Israel’s ongoing genocide against the Palestinians, so I’ll lay out for you how I see the Ukraine situation.
If you’ll recall, the fascist right in the United States didn’t want anything to do with it from the beginning, and they still don’t, because they’re fascists, and the dominant spirit of governance within Russia right now is also fascist (it’s actually a kleptocracy but that’s what fascism is, a kleptocracy with some vilified scapegoats… which our right-wing really enjoys). Anyway, the fascist right in the states has more in common with Russia than with their own people or government, or with Ukraine. So, they down-vote funding, and will probably always do so.
If you’ll also recall, the neoliberal right (what many U.S. citizens dubiously refer to as ‘the left’), team Biden / Obama / Hillary / daddy defense contractor / New York anchor desk former CIA panel, didn’t really want anything to do with the actual war from the start either. They liked sanctions and watching Russia spend itself, while pouring billions more into NATO, an alliance that looks really good on paper but which will never actually be called upon to do anything, and if it is, will not because all someone has to say is “nuclear’ and it’s all about strengthening economic ties, again.
But team blue MAGA had to intervene to an extent, because Ukraine didn’t just fall over as they expected (which also would have helped pour more money and gravitas into NATO). It survived the first three days. This was problematic because it made them look all manner of stupid politically and strategically and ethically.
So, Ukraine got some bullets and shells and later drones and rocket systems and the like. But, ultimately, the West was, and is still, pretending to help Ukraine fight a war, rather than actually fighting one. Why would they want to spend billions of dollars pretending at war? Because it still serves their ends. It helps to convince Europe and the world, including the less informed in Asia, that NATO is still a thing and that it sill has power and, most importantly of all, that it still needs money and support. Why is the money for NATO important?
Aside from the political aura granted by its proximity, to leaders who would otherwise not find themselves with access to such power and influence and well-heeled company, that money for weapons and infrastructure gets a lot of people paid. There’s no private money to be made in millions of rounds of small arms ammunition or rockets or dinky drones or any of the rest of it for Ukraine. The money is in bases, in fighter planes, in huge expensive tanks, in precision guided weapons, in nuclear care and feeding, in research and development. You know, the kind of stuff Israel ‘needs’ to fight some guys in black pajamas with “machine guns.”
Now that the Ukraine war is a stalemate, and the West is too chicken-shit to call Putin on his nuclear bluff, that’s it. The money just isn’t there. The margins are just too low. And there’s no political benefit (especially in the states) because the right wants Russia to win and the middle doesn’t want to lose elections to the right and there’s nowhere for the situation to go except badly for Ukraine’s steadfast supporters. Because democracy always caters to the lowest common denominator, morally and practically. Just the way it is. Feel free to love it until the end of time, but it won’t bring you justice. It brings you a delicate balance between psychopaths and organized crime bosses in business suits, same as it ever was.
A Russian black eye makes a few old farts in the security state smile, and it might win a few voters from the Ukrainian diaspora, but these politicians have treated the whole situation like a political burden from the start, because it was. The ethics of it don’t matter. What matters to them is if they can sell it, and if there’s something to sell, preferably with some benefit from that passing through their hands.
There’s no moral component for them, really, with the Ukraine / Russia situation the way there is with their support for what Israel is doing. The latter is a crusade against some ‘other’ that they can barely define and that they have to reach back, however inexplicably, to WWII to cultivate as sufficiently dangerous in the minds of people around the world. The former is just some brutalized kids in old apartment buildings in eastern Europe who probably speak Russian anyway.
They don’t really care about Ukraine, and if they did, they wouldn’t really resolve the situation the way it needs to be resolved because, one, they’re afraid of Putin’s nuclear threats and, two, if they get rid of Putin and Russia becomes a happy democracy with good relations with Europe, there is no longer a need for their precious NATO.
So, Israel’s getting to use the full defense contractor apocalypse package against hospitals and schools and refugee camps in Gaza, because some guys did a mass shooting. In Ukraine you get pretty words and your older brothers’ old crates of ammo. Because as stupid and wrong and shortsighted as these so-called world leaders are, they don’t see any personal gain in doing otherwise. And Ukrainians are being made to suffer and die for it, and it’s absolute bullshit, and I’m sorry.
| https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/02/ukraine-reports-most-extensive-russian-shelling-of-the-year | Ukraine reports most extensive Russian shelling of the year |
[…] ““Just like in the first world war, we have reached the level of technology that puts us into a stalemate,” he told the Economist, in an interview published on Wednesday. He added: “There will most likely be no deep and beautiful breakthrough.”
[…]
The general said he had underestimated Putin’s willingness to sacrifice his own soldiers – “at least 150,000 killed” so far. “Let’s be honest, [Russia] is a feudal state where the cheapest resource is human life. And for us … the most expensive thing we have is our people,” Zaluzhnyi said.”
| https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/nov/02/australias-new-un-counter-terror-chief-fears-world-repeating-same-mistakes-of-the-past-in-israel-gaza-conflict | Australia’s new UN counter-terror chief fears world repeating ‘same mistakes’ of the past in Israel-Gaza conflict |
[…] ““Deliberately starving a population of civilians is a war crime, yet many western states seem to be trying to demonstrate that they’re standing shoulder to shoulder with Israel,” Saul says.”
| https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/nov/01/israel-hamas-ceasefire-humanitarian-pause | An Israel-Hamas ceasefire is in everyone’s best interest, humanely and practically |
[…] “We can and should champion the diplomatic route – but it’s much more in line with our values and objectives to engage in that debate having first ensured to the best of our ability that civilians are not being killed, maimed and displaced.”