Pablo Picasso Self portrait 1907
Macgregor
The Middle East is not the Middle East it was 20 years ago.
Iran had no role in triggering this.
We need to understand that Qatar funds Hamas, not Iran.
Qatar also funds Turkey and The Turks are the real power.pic.twitter.com/pw5zpk8JU5
— Douglas Macgregor (@DougAMacgregor) October 14, 2023
We have got to secure the border.
We have got to enforce the laws.
This border should be closed and we have to expel those who entered illegally. pic.twitter.com/EYirr4ug7N
— Douglas Macgregor (@DougAMacgregor) October 13, 2023
Al-Aqsa
Hamas published yesterday an 18-minute long pre-recorded press conference in English about their side of the story.
This has received zero media attention anywhere in the western press.
So in the interest of full transparency, here is the entire press conference. pic.twitter.com/Cd5SyYjImJ
— روني الدنماركي (@Aldanmarki) October 13, 2023
If we have Kennedy (independent), Biden (democrat), Trump (republican) running and no one of them are able to reach 270 electoral votes, this is what happens next:
Article II, Section 1, US Constitution:
“The Person having the greatest Number of Votes shall be the President, if such Number be a Majority of the whole Number of Electors appointed; and if there be more than one who have such Majority, and have an equal Number of Votes, then the House of Representatives shall immediately chuse by Ballot one of them for President; and if no Person have a Majority, then from the five highest on the List the said House shall in like Manner chuse the President.”
In this event, the House of Representatives will decide the next president from among the FIVE top candidates. Kennedy running as an independent has changed everything. For better or for worse. Assuming he makes it to the finish line.
Netanyahu’s been waiting for this all his life. And he doesn’t see, just like the US doesn’t, that it’s too late now. They’ll be up against the entire Arab world, and that they can’t win. The world has changed a lot in the last 20-30 years.
• Middle East On Brink Of Full-Scale War – Russian Envoy To UN (TASS)
The Middle East is on the brink of a full-scale war, Russian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya warned. “The region is on the brink of a full scale war and an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe,” he told reporters following a closed-door UN Security Council meeting on the current escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “Let me be clear: the responsibility for the looming war in the Middle East, to a large extent, lies on the United States,” he told reporters following a closed-door UN Security Council meeting on the current escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. According to Nebenzya, “it is Washington that recklessly and selfishly blocked the work of the Middle East Quartet of international mediators in an effort to monopolize the peace process and limit it to imposing an economic peace with Israel on the Palestinians and other Arab countries without solving the Palestinian question.”
“We consistently warned against this, saying it will backfire one day, and so it did,” the Russian envoy stressed. Nebenzya added that “for years, the US blocked any reaction, any signal from the UN Security Council, <...> claiming that its quiet regional diplomacy is more effective.” “We shouldn’t ignore that the current flare-up of violence happens against the background with real systematic violations of the decisions of the UN Security Council and the General Assembly, including the illegal expansion of settlements, which is regularly condemned by the vast majority of UN member states,” he said. Nebenzya added that Russia unequivocally condemned “extreme brutality, killings and the horrifying scale of violence.” “Any killings and violence against peaceful civilians, both Israeli and Palestinian citizens, is inadmissible,” the Russian envoy stressed.
“The Americans did a lot of things to prevent pacification in this area, not to mention the implementation of the 1947 UN Security Council decision on the creation of an Arab state in Palestine.”
• Gaza War as Indicator of West’s Crumbling Dominance (Sp.)
The Gaza crisis serves as a reflection of the crumbling unipolar rules as the world is embracing multipolarity and seeking new approaches to simmering conflicts. Neither Israeli nor American intelligence seemed to be aware about the preparations for Hamas’ surprise assault on Israel last Saturday. “The Middle East region is quieter today than it has been in two decades,” US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan claimed at the Atlantic Festival on September 29, suggesting that Washington could now shift its focus on the Ukraine conflict and containing China’s rise in the Asia Pacific. As it turned out later, the night before the Hamas attack the Israeli intelligence agencies spotted signs of irregular militant activity in Gaza but IDF and Shin Bet’s top brass decided not to put the Israeli military patrolling the border on high alert, according to the US press. Apparently, the Israeli security leadership also believed that the situation was largely under control.
The Hamas brutal rocket strike and sudden infiltration of Hamas militants in Israel’s territories where the group met little if any resistance became a wake-up call for both Washington and Tel Aviv. However, the erupted conflict is the result of a string of mistakes made by the international community and the US, in particular, during its unipolar moment, according to Alexander Asafov, political scientist, member of the Russian Association of Political Consultants. “It was [the US] who sowed the seeds of these mistakes, which have led to these smoldering conflicts,” Asafov told Sputnik. “And, of course, we see a clear manifestation. [The current crisis] in the Middle East, this is the result of just such a conflict. After all, it was [US President Donald] Trump who moved the US Embassy to Jerusalem. The Americans did a lot of things to prevent pacification in this area, not to mention the implementation of the 1947 UN Security Council decision on the creation of an Arab state in Palestine.
Therefore, of course, this is a clear manifestation of the fact that there is no longer any Pax Americana, no unipolar world. And now the world is entering a new transition period, towards multipolarity, including through pain, blood and awakening conflicts.” According to Asafov, the US and its Western allies did not seek ways to resolve the contradictions once and for all: they capitalized on festering wounds of local crises in the Middle East, Africa, Central Asia and elsewhere. “The world’s hegemon [the US] has kept many conflicts smoldering through manipulation, forceful pressure and various other tools that they call ‘soft’ or ‘smart’ power,” the political scientist continued. “And [Washington] did this deliberately, because it helped both earn money and, among other things, ensure a certain influence and control through dormant conflicts.”
“..US press materials should steer clear of phrases such as “restoring calm,” “end to violence/bloodshed,” or “de-escalation/ceasefire..”
• US Diplomats Told To Avoid Calls For Gaza ‘Ceasefire’ (RT)
The US State Department has advised diplomats to avoid calling for “de-escalation” or a “ceasefire” in Gaza amid continued fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants, multiple media outlets reported. US officials have voiced loud support for the Jewish state’s right to “self-defense” in the wake of a deadly Hamas raid last week. In an email addressed to a small group of officials on Friday, the State Department said US press materials should steer clear of phrases such as “restoring calm,” “end to violence/bloodshed,” or “de-escalation/ceasefire,” unnamed administration officials told NBC News and other outlets. The Huffington Post, which obtained a copy of the email, called the missive a “stunning signal” and an indication of the White House’s “reluctance to push for Israeli restraint.”
The email was sent amid a new round of airstrikes on Gaza in response to a Hamas-led terrorist attack last Saturday. Asked about the directive, an unnamed State Department official told HuffPo that they would not comment on internal communications. Despite the discussions behind the scenes, at a press event in Qatar later on Friday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters that Washington had stressed to Israel the “importance of taking every possible precaution to avoid harming civilians” in Gaza. He added “We recognize that many Palestinian families in Gaza are suffering through no fault of their own and that Palestinian civilians have lost their lives.”
President Joe Biden has described last weekend’s Hamas attack as “pure evil” and insisted that Israel had a right to respond. However, in some recent remarks he claimed that Washington and its allies “uphold the laws of war,” and reportedly asked his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu, to minimize civilian casualties in Gaza during private discussions, according to NBC. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin relayed a similar message to IDF officials during meetings in Israel on Friday, the outlet added, noting that he urged them to “observe international rules of warfare.”
Since last Saturday, at least 1,300 Israelis and nearly 1,900 Palestinians have been killed in hostilities, with thousands more injured on both sides, according to local officials. IDF bombing raids have continued into Saturday morning, leveling whole apartment blocks in some strikes, while Israeli ground troops have begun their initial thrust into Gaza. The Israeli government has ordered more than 1 million residents in northern Gaza to evacuate the area for their own safety, though the United Nations and other rights groups have slammed the directive, saying it was impossible to accomplish without a massive humanitarian toll. Asked about the policy on Friday, White House spokesman John Kirby declined to endorse or condemn it, merely calling it “a tall order.”
Israel must get rid of Bibi.. His time is up.
• Netanyahu Describes Actions In Gaza As ‘Just The Beginning’ (TASS)
The Israeli army’ strikes on Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip are “just the beginning,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. “We are responding to our enemies with great force, with unprecedented force. I would like to point out that it’s just the beginning. Our enemies have just begun to pay. I will not go into detail of what will come next, but I will say that it is just the beginning,” Netanyahu said in a televised address to the nation. The Israeli prime minister stressed that in conversations with US President Joe Biden and other world leaders, he was trying to ensure “significant international support” for Tel Aviv. Netanyahu reiterated his confidence that Israel would have total victory over Hamas.
Tensions in the Middle East flared up again after Hamas militants infiltrated Israel from the Gaza Strip on October 7. The Palestinian movement described its attack as a response to the actions of Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount. Israel announced a total blockade of Gaza and started carrying out strikes on the Palestinian enclave, as well as on certain areas in Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are also taking place in the West Bank. Over 1,900 Palestinians have been killed and about 7,700 have suffered wounds; in Israel, the death toll stands at about 1,500 and nearly 4,000 people have been wounded.
“I think it was an idiotic move, for all my sympathies for Israel – which they unfortunately wasted after 15 minutes..”
He’s not the only one thinking along such lines. He’s merely the only/first western leader to say it out loud.
• Israel Lost My Sympathy – Croatian President (RT)
Having the Croatian Foreign Ministry fly an Israeli flag was “idiotic” and inappropriate, President Zoran Milanovic said Friday, noting that the deplorable atrocities by Hamas did not give Israel the right to bomb civilians for revenge. “I think it was an idiotic move, for all my sympathies for Israel – which they unfortunately wasted after 15 minutes – after the horrors and massacres by Hamas,” Milanovic told reporters who asked him about the flag incident. “I condemned the killings [by Hamas], and expressed my horror and revulsion, but the right to self-defense does not include vengeance and killing civilians,” he added.
Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israeli bases and settlements near Gaza on Saturday, killing over 1,300 Israeli citizens, according to the latest figures from West Jerusalem. Israel has declared war on the Palestinian group and bombed Gaza with artillery and aircraft, vowing to “dismantle” the Hamas leadership. At least 1,900 Palestinians, including 614 children and 370 women, have been killed in Gaza over the past week, according to the latest figures from the Palestinian Health Ministry. Some 7,696 were injured, the ministry added.
Milanovic, a Social Democrat, has often clashed with the Croatian cabinet, which is led by the nationalist HDZ. He explained his objection to the flag gesture by citing protocol. “Other flags have no place in Croatia, unless in strictly regulated circumstances,” the president said. He added that he would lower the banners of NATO and the EU – which Croatia joined in 2009 and 2013, respectively – “slightly” below the national flag in his office, “just to show that the Croatian flag is a step above them.”
The former foreign minister, who assumed the presidential post in 2020, has gained notoriety in both the EU and NATO by going against conventional wisdom on many issues. In June, he said the “Glory to Ukraine” slogan repeated by many Western officials was no different than that of the WWII Croatian allies of the Nazis, which he denounced as harmful for Croatia’s image. Earlier this year, Milanovic insisted Croatia was not at war with Russia and criticized the German decision to send tanks to Ukraine. He also criticized the EU’s treatment of member states like Poland and Hungary, and accused Brussels of treating Croatia like a “retarded” child.
It will have to be China and Russia to make peace. Putin’s in Beijing next week.
• Russia is Ready to Mediate in Palestinian-Israeli Settlement – Putin (Sp.)
Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting of the CIS Council of Heads of State that Moscow is ready to mediate in the Palestinian-Israeli settlement. Commenting on the current situation in the region, the president said that civilian casualties in the conflict will be completely unacceptable. “Well, the most important thing is that civilian casualties will be absolutely unacceptable … The main thing now is to stop the bloodshed,” Putin said. The United States attempted to solve the political Palestinian-Israeli problem with the help of certain economic incentive measures, [..] Putin said. The aggravation of the situation in the Middle East is the result of the failed policy of the United States, which was not concerned with finding a compromise in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the Russian leader said.
“The Middle East Quartet of international mediators was not used. Under far-fetched pretexts, the United States actually blocked this format, which was unique and, by the way, had a mandate approved by the relevant UN resolution. An attempt was made, with the help of certain economic incentive measures, to solve a political problem, an underlying problem, and namely the creation of an independent Palestinian state,” Putin said at a meeting of the CIS Council of Heads of State in a narrow format. The Russian Foreign Ministry earlier called on the sides to cease hostilities. Moscow noted that a settlement of the crisis is possible only on the basis of the “two-state” formula endorsed by the UN Security Council, which provides for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state within the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.
“..Hamas meanwhile claimed that its tunnels stretched 500km and that only 5% were hit. To put those figures into perspective, the London Underground is 400km long and is mostly above ground..”
• Israel Targets Hamas’s Labyrinth Of Tunnels Under Gaza (BBC)
Israel says it is striking parts of a secret labyrinth of tunnels built underneath the Gaza Strip by Hamas, as it continues to retaliate for the Palestinian Islamist militant group’s unprecedented cross-border attack on Saturday. “Think of the Gaza Strip as one layer for civilians and then another layer for Hamas. We are trying to get to that second layer that Hamas has built,” an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson said in a video on Thursday. “These aren’t bunkers for Gazan civilians. It’s only for Hamas and other terrorists so that they can continue to fire rockets at Israel, to plan operations, to launch terrorists into Israel,” they claimed. It is very difficult to assess the size of the network, which Israel has dubbed the “Gaza Metro” because it is believed to stretch beneath a territory that is only 41km (25 miles) long and 10km wide.
Following a conflict in 2021, the IDF said it had destroyed more than 100km of tunnels in air strikes. Hamas meanwhile claimed that its tunnels stretched 500km and that only 5% were hit. To put those figures into perspective, the London Underground is 400km long and is mostly above ground. Tunnel construction began in Gaza before Israel withdrew its troops and settlers in 2005. But it was ramped up after Hamas took control of the Strip two years later, which prompted Israel and Egypt to begin restricting the movement of goods and people in and out for security reasons. At its peak, almost 2,500 tunnels running underneath the Egyptian border were used to smuggle in commercial goods, fuel and weapons by Hamas and other militant groups. The smuggling became less important to Gaza after 2010, when Israel began allowing more goods to be imported through its crossings. Egypt later shut the smuggling down by flooding or destroying the tunnels.
Hamas and other factions also started digging tunnels to attack Israeli forces. In 2006, militants used one underneath the border with Israel to kill two Israeli soldiers and seize a third, Gilad Shalit, who they held captive for five years. In 2013, the IDF discovered a 1.6km-long, 18m-deep tunnel lined with a concrete roof and walls leading from the Strip to land near an Israeli kibbutz after residents heard strange sounds. The following year, Israel cited the need to eradicate the threat of attacks by militants using such “terror tunnels” under the frontier for a major air and ground offensive in Gaza. The IDF said its forces destroyed more than 30 tunnels during the war. But a group of militants were also able to use one to mount an attack in which four Israeli soldiers were killed.
“The cross-border tunnels tend to be rudimentary, meaning they have barely any fortification. They are dug for a one-time purpose – invading Israeli territory,” says Dr Daphné Richemond-Barak, an expert on underground warfare who teaches at Reichman University in Israel. “The tunnels inside Gaza are different because Hamas is using them on a regular basis. They are probably more comfortable to be in for longer periods of time. They are definitely equipped for a longer, sustained presence.” “The leaders are hiding there, they have command-and-control centres, they use them for transport and lines of communication. They are equipped with electricity, lighting and rail tracks. You can move around more and stand.”
“..just listen to the former president of the United States. Listen to him, he will give you a good description of the current level of development of the American media..”
• Don’t Read American Media – Putin (RT)
Russian President Vladimir Putin has encouraged reporters to read the American media less. The remark came during a press conference in the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek in response to a question about reports that the Russian Kant air base in Kyrgyzstan had been abandoned due to the conflict in Ukraine.“American media outlets are saying that all the equipment is in Ukraine, and that the [Kant] base is deserted,” claimed an Izvestia journalist at the press conference. He did not specify which US outlets had made such claims. “You are reading the American media in vain,” Putin told the reporter who had asked the question. “First, they very often distort reality – just listen to the former president of the United States.
Listen to him, he will give you a good description of the current level of development of the American media,” the president said, apparently referring to Donald Trump and adding that American media will “teach you bad things.” Putin insisted that the Kant military base remains active and continues to act as a “deterrent factor for various extremists.” He added that there is also an active aviation unit there which includes combat aircraft and helicopters. “They are at Kant, on combat duty and service,” Putin said.
On Thursday, the Russian leader, together with his Kyrgyz counterpart Sadyr Japarov, took part in a ceremony dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the opening of the Kant base. During the ceremony, Putin declared that Russia will continue to provide the base with the most modern weapons and promised to solve all the issues that the military personnel serving at the base may have. The Russian president’s visit to Kyrgyzstan marks the first time he has traveled abroad since the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for him earlier this year. Next week, Putin is expected to travel to China to meet with President Xi Jinping during the international Belt and Road forum.
“..they even sell [weapons] to Russia, and if they can sell them to Russia, nothing surprises me anymore..”
• Putin Comments On Ukrainian Weapons In Hamas Hands (RT)
That some of the weapons sent to Ukraine ended up in the hands of Hamas militants probably has more to do with corruption than deliberate deliveries, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday. “I doubt that there were deliveries of weapons from Ukraine, but I have no doubt there were leaks of weapons from Ukraine,” Putin explained at a press conference in the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek. “We know the level of corruption in Ukraine is very high. The black market arises when there are many who want to buy, and in Ukraine there are many who want to sell,” he added, noting that Ukrainians were “definitely selling” weapons on the international market through countries in Africa and the Middle East.
“Why, they even sell [weapons] to Russia, and if they can sell them to Russia, nothing surprises me anymore,” the Russian president said. The issue of Hamas using weapons the US and its allies had sent to Ukraine was first raised by former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who claimed such equipment was “being actively used in Israel.” Kiev’s military intelligence responded by accusing Russia of sending Western weapons captured in Ukraine to Hamas in a “false flag” operation designed to make Kiev look bad to its backers. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied Medvedev’s weapons claim, but rejected the Ukrainian insinuations of Russian involvement in the Hamas attack as “complete nonsense.”
Hamas militants fired hundreds of rockets into Israel on Saturday, followed by raids into nearby Israeli settlements, villages, and towns. Israeli authorities said more than 1,300 people died in the surprise attack. West Jerusalem has responded by declaring a “war” against Gaza. Speaking about the escalating conflict, Putin noted that Israel is facing an unprecedented attack but that its response has been “quite brutal.” He also offered Russian mediation, given that Moscow had “very good relations” with Israel, as well as traditional ties with the Palestinians, “so no one can suspect that we want to play some kind of games.”
I have no doubt that there is a leak of weapons from Ukraine Putin said
"I have no doubt that there is a leak of weapons from Ukraine. The level of corruption in Ukraine is known, it is very high. The black market is developing in such a way that there are many who want to buy,… pic.twitter.com/mnYndXZdu6
— DD Geopolitics (@DD_Geopolitics) October 13, 2023
Pegasus.
• Israel’s Intel Failure Is ‘Bad For Business’ (Klarenberg)
Last year, the Times of Israel reported that in 2021, the country’s overall cybersecurity exports were estimated at $11 billion. In addition, 33 percent of cyber unicorn companies operate from Israel, and a whopping 40 percent of global private cyber investments have been funneled into the country, according to the Israeli government. From Tel Aviv’s perspective, the exposure of their electronic surveillance and warfare systems as ineffective and vulnerable to guerrilla attacks is a serious blow to Israel’s “Startup Nation” brand, which relies heavily on its multi-billion-dollar tech sector – with cybersecurity at its core. Just a few years back, in 2018, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had boasted:
“Cybersecurity grows through cooperation, and cybersecurity as a business is tremendous…We spent an enormous amount on our military intelligence and Mossad and Shin Bet. An enormous amount. An enormous part of that is being diverted to cybersecurity…We think there is a tremendous business opportunity in the neverending quest of security.” The push for cybersecurity supremacy permeates almost every area of Israeli society. Universities hone innovative new technologies and train future generations of cyber spies and security operatives, to be employed upon graduation by the welter of firms locally and abroad founded by veterans of Tel Aviv’s infamous cyber intelligence agencies, such as Unit 8200, which act as effective arm’s length divisions of the Israeli state.
Graphic videos showcasing Israel’s “surgical strikes” on Palestinian civilians and infrastructure are used as a marketing tool to promote their weaponry to foreign clients, while practical demonstrations of invasive surveillance tools like the notorious Pegasus have gained notoriety. Pegasus infects target smartphones, enabling the real-time harvesting of vast amounts of sensitive user data. In recent years, revelations of foreign governments and security agencies being implicated in scandals due to their covert use of Pegasus have become disturbingly routine. This invasive tool was developed by the NSO Group, founded by a former Mossad operative. A 2021 Carnegie Endowment investigation revealed that 56 different states had procured this technology, as well as other spyware and “digital forensics” innovations from Israeli competitors like Candiru, Cellebrite, and Cytrox.
As Jeff Halper, director of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, documented in his 2015 book War Against The People, Tel Aviv hawking wares such as Pegasus to overseas customers generates an enormous amount of diplomatic goodwill, which is highly effective in stifling international criticism of Zionist barbarism towards Palestinians. After all, that barbarism’s brutal efficacy has perversely become a unique selling point for Israeli killing apparatuses, surveillance “solutions,” and battle tactics worldwide. Mere days before Operation al-Aqsa Flood commenced, Israeli media reported on a “record-breaking spike” in countries buying Israeli cyber warfare and intelligence systems from 67 to 83 over 2022, and marketing licenses for these wares granted to 126 countries.
This followed a “dramatic decline” in 2021, precipitated by the exposure of widespread use of Pegasus by repressive governments, and NSO and Candiru being blacklisted by Washington. It seems likely the events of recent days will also lead to a significant decline in the fortunes of Israel’s cybersecurity sector. Gaza is, by design, an open-air concentration camp, and in theory, nothing and no one gets in or out without Tel Aviv’s authorization and knowledge. However, this time, the supposed internal surveillance system failed catastrophically.
“..well before the 2024 election, America will have a new chief executive and that it won’t be Kamala Harris. It could be someone in a uniform, though.”
• All This and World War, Too (Kunstler)
One naturally wonders what role the shadowy Globalists have played in the build-up to all this, and how things will go with them. I can imagine Europe plunged into political chaos that would lead to scenes like a mob riding Klaus Schwab out of his Swiss redoubt on a rail, and the German government falling, and Paris on fire, and street-fighting in Stockholm. Chaos is as chaos wantsto do. One thing seems certain: it’ll be a cold winter there for most everybody. It’s probably safe to say that Mr. Zelensky will not be getting additional bowls of gruel out of Uncle Sam. No one is paying attention to Ukraine now, and that sudden neglect by the once-solicitous NATO alliance could go on indefinitely with wider conflict breaking out elsewhere — meaning that Russia will be left to methodically restore the status quo ante that allowed Ukraine to be a quiet backwater in Russia’s sphere of influence since the end of the previous world war, until our wicked and reckless neocons moved to wreck the joint.
China is the joker in the deck now. There’s plenty of chatter that China’s banking system is toast, with its new and large middle class left holding a giant bag of worthless securities and unsellable real estate, and that when they are sufficiently pissed-off that will be the last round-up for Uncle Xi and his CCP. But then, you can also easily imagine that gang thinking now is the optimum moment to try and grab Taiwan and its riches, with Western Civ all tied up elsewhere. I remind you of China’s “Four Wars” doctrine for bringing us down. There’s Ukraine, now Israel, there’s the internal war of Left versus Right throughout the West, and there’s the massive invasion of Europe and the USA of uninvited mutts. Four wars. The breaking point.
Yet to play out is America’s crisis of leadership. As supply lines break, and the flash mobs loot the luxury shops, and the illegal aliens stream in, and the price of everything goes up-up-up, and the truth about the Covid vaccines is finally grokked, even the dazed-and-confused American public might notice that the White House has become a zombie palace. Politics hates a vacuum and “Joe Biden” begins to look like a black hole that will suck the execrable deep state blob that surrounds him across the event horizon that opens to oblivion. I’d go so far to predict that well before the 2024 election, America will have a new chief executive and that it won’t be Kamala Harris. It could be someone in a uniform, though. Just sayin’. Everything is in flux.
“Every US President has hated Netanyahu, regarding him as a conniving fanatic. But only Trump said out loud what Obama was overheard saying on a hot mic and Clinton said in private.”
• Trump’s Unflattering Story About Netanyahu Elicits Outrage (ZH)
Republican rivals of former President Donald Trump have lashed out at the GOP front-runner for telling a story about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu which put him in a negative light and suggested he’s ‘weak’ at a sensitive moment. It happened Wednesday night at a campaign rally. Trump was recounting the events and hours leading up to his decision to kill top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in a 2020 drone strike outside the Baghdad airport. Trump told a cheering crowd that the Israeli prime minister “let us down” by backing out of participation in the covert operation at the last minute. Watch: Trump also controversially said this week Israeli leaders need to “step up their game” as Netanyahu “was not prepared” for the deadly Saturday raid into southern Israel.
He further called Hezbollah “very smart” while generally urging Israel to be more prepared and efficient. He had at one point called Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant a “jerk”. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, chief among Trump’s 2024 rivals for the Republican presidential nomination, blasted the somewhat impulsive words, saying “Now is not the time to be attacking our ally,” – especially as the Israeli bodies and missing are still being counted. DeSantis also admitted that while “there’s a lot of people that generally like Trump’s policies,” they are not “big fans” of his behavior, in a swipe at the story about Soleimani’s death. But it was Chris Christie, also in the 2024 race, who went even more on the attack, calling Trump “a fool”.
“Only a fool would make those kinds of comments. Only a fool would give comments that give aid and comfort to Israel’s adversary in this situation, and he always places it in the context of himself,” the former New Jersey governor said. “This is someone who cares not about the American people, not about the people of Israel, but he cares about one person and one person only: The person he sees in the mirror when he wakes up in the morning,” Christie continued. “As a Republican Party, we cannot once again nominate a fool like this to be our nominee and get him anywhere near the presidency of the United States.”
Jewish groups also weren’t happy: Ari Fleischer, the former White House press secretary who serves on the board of the Republican Jewish Coalition, said he wished Trump would “let his personal grievances with Bibi, whatever they are, slide for now.” [..] Journalist Max Blumenthal offered his opinion on Trump’s words, saying “Every US President has hated Netanyahu, regarding him as a conniving fanatic. But only Trump said out loud what Obama was overheard saying on a hot mic and Clinton said in private.”
They’re just waiting for Zelensky to go.
• ‘Hundreds of Thousands’ Dodging Draft In Ukraine – Minister (RT)
Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian men are dodging the draft at present, amid the ongoing mobilization, Deputy Defense Minister Natalya Kalmykova has said. She added that the authorities are working on legislation that will “help settle this issue.” Speaking to Ukraine’s Rada TV on Friday, Kalmykova said that “unfortunately, we see a lot of situations… when people don’t want and plan to avoid mobilization somehow, the need to defend their country.” She claimed that the number of draft dodgers amounts to “tens, hundreds of thousands of people.” Speaking to Ukrainskaya Pravda last week, Interior Minister Igor Klimenko warned that the Ukrainian government is looking at ways to punish those who have fled the country to avoid military service.
He told the newspaper that they will likely face administrative fines, adding, however, that those who have used fake papers or illegally secured documents to allow them to leave Ukraine could end up in prison. In recent months, the Ukrainian authorities have reportedly been exploring the possibility of getting men of military age who have fled the country to return. In late August, a senior lawmaker from President Vladimir Zelensky’s ruling party, David Arakhamia, said Kiev could seek the extradition of draft dodgers from the EU. Multiple EU states, including Germany, Austria, Hungary, and the Czech Republic, have already made it clear they will not round up draft dodgers and send them back to Ukraine. Total mobilization has been repeatedly prolonged in Ukraine ever since Russia launched its military operation in the country in February 2022.
Recruitment officers regularly conduct raids in public spaces, cafes, and on the streets. Local media outlets have reported on cases in which officials have used force to detain those who refuse to join the army. Zelensky has publicly acknowledged that Ukraine’s counteroffensive, which was launched in early June, has run into difficulties. Last month, he attributed the slow pace of the operation to Russian air superiority, as well as the failure of Kiev’s Western backers to send the necessary weapons. Western military officials have also stated that Russian defenses have proven more resilient than expected. Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin put the number of Ukrainian casualties since the start of the counteroffensive at 90,000, estimating that nearly 1,900 armored vehicles and 557 tanks have been destroyed as well.
“..rebuked prosecutors for “wasting the court’s time” on Thursday with their sudden request to partly restrict the lawyer for one of Trump’s co-defendants..”
• Judge In Trump Classified Documents Case Rebukes Prosecutors (G.)
The federal judge in the criminal case about Donald Trump’s retention of classified documents rebuked prosecutors for “wasting the court’s time” on Thursday with their sudden request to partly restrict the lawyer for one of Trump’s co-defendants. US district judge Aileen Cannon abruptly postponed the hearing after getting the request – which came after prosecutors had first said they would not seek disqualification. “I do want to admonish the government for frankly wasting the court’s time,” Cannon said. She added she was “disappointed” that David Harbach, one of the prosecutors, had raised the request without warning, and without citing supporting cases from the southern district of Florida.
The hearing was the second in a pair of proceedings scheduled so Trump’s co-defendants, Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, could be told of their lawyers’ prior representation of witnesses during the grand jury investigation who could testify against them at trial. Trump and Nauta were charged in an indictment alleging the illegal retention of national defense documents at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort and obstruction of justice. With De Oliveira they were charged on additional obstruction counts in a superseding indictment unsealed in July. The prosecutors in the office of special counsel Jack Smith had asked for conflict-of-interest hearings for Nauta’s lawyer Stanley Woodward and De Oliveira’s lawyer John Irving, due to the fact they might be constrained at trial because of divided loyalties to their current and former clients.
The complication emerged at the hearing for Nauta, when prosecutors said they could not be sure how Woodward might cross-examine “Trump Employee 4”, identified by the Guardian as the IT director of Mar-a-Lago, Yuscil Taveras. Taveras is of special interest because Woodward initially represented him during the grand jury investigation. When prosecutors told him he was a target for charges, Taveras retained a new lawyer – not paid by Trump’s PAC – and changed his sworn testimony. The prosecutors revealed at the hearing that they now intended to call Taveras as a witness, and told the judge they believed Woodward should be precluded from engaging in cross-examination, or be allowed to call into question his credibility during closing arguments to the jury. The cross-examination concern had been previously raised in court filings. But asking to preclude Woodward from doing closing arguments was a new request, and it seemed to irritate Cannon, who pressed Harbach on why it was being raised for the first time at the hearing.
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