Rhetoric is not a strategy, it's flailing. The whipsawing between pretending to want peace while threatening more bombs, and declaring that we won and yet remaining in what is clearly an ongoing conflict only makes Trump look weaker and weaker. I don't see any face saving in his future, let alone a "win" of any kind. He started the wrong fight, and now he can't finish it. Meanwhile, regular is $4.79 here in Oregon, diesel over $6.
It's so embarrassing, as though we have the luxury of that emotion anymore. But it is truly an indictment on our military. That the top brass would allow the president to repeatedly step on his dick and broadcast it to the global public shows how weak we are and makes us an open target.
I am more and more uncomfortable with Israel. It was not enough for Yahoo to commit genocide in Gaza, but now he's doing the same thing in Lebanon , killing thousands of innocent children and first responders and medical personnel. And the settlers on the Westbank are acting more criminal all the time. All to keep the Yahoo in power and out of prison.
'Ceasefires' have an entirely different meaning when applied to Israel than with most other countries.
Here's some new from today's 'ceasefire' in Lebanon:
'Israeli forces carried out demolitions and strikes across southern Lebanon Tuesday, including an explosion in the town of Tayr Harfa and artillery fire targeting the outskirts of Kounine in Bint Jbeil district, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency. Israeli troops were also reported to have blown up homes and infrastructure in multiple villages, including Beit Lif, Shamaa, al-Bayyada and Naqoura.'
'An Israeli strike on the village of Qaaqiyet al-Jisr, near Nabatieh in southern Lebanon, injured six people Monday evening, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said. The strike hit a coffee shop and damaged a nearby vehicle, with the wounded evacuated by al-Risala Scouts ambulances, according to local correspondents.'
And from the 'ceasefire' in Gaza:
Over the last 24 hours, seven Palestinians were killed and 21 were injured in Israeli attacks across Gaza. The total recorded death toll since October 7, 2023 has risen to 72,560 killed, with 172,317 injured. Since October 11, the first full day of the so-called ceasefire, Israel has killed at least 784 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded 2,214, while 761 bodies have been recovered from under the rubble, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.'
These deaths include a child and a pregnant woman.
I was glad to read that. OF course, it is an obligation of any country who is a signatory to the ICC...which the US and Israel are not. Some colonialist European countries have wormed their way out of this obligation though.
It continues to amaze me to see how Rubin's statements about this war are just a complete 180 from her own statements about Iran during the Obama years, with no explanation at all, no apology, no reckoning, just a complete overnight flip flop, only because she didn't like Trump. The refrain I constantly see from Contrarian readers that 'she can change her mind' is a comically weak excuse in light of the fact that she has never made a single public statement to explain her flip flop, and not only about the Iran deal, but the Paris climate agreement, US Israeli relations in general, even her feelings toward Netanyahu, who she once admired and often sided with over Obama.
Her many published pieces abut the Iran deal back then then could easily have been an inspiration for Trump's shredding of Obama's nuclear agreement with Iran. She shredded the deal over and over and over, right up until the 2016 election.
But still her inner neocon can't help but surface here and there...Here she makes this amazing comment that 'The only people who may be more upset than the Gulf states, and those people who understand American geopolitics. are the Israelis. they are not in a good position.'
Really the Israelis are the most upset? Not the families or thousands of murdered Iranians, not the families of thousands of murdered Lebanese?
She goes on:
'they’ve (Israel) made some headway in Lebanon at the cost of enormous casualties and damage'.
Really they have made some 'headway'? By killing thousands of men women and children in the past 6 weeks? Displacing over a million Lebanese citizens, while effectively annexing all of southern Lebanon?
Even when she tries, she just can't hide her total callousness for the victims of the US/Israeli onslaught in the region, whether they are Palestinian, Iranian, Lebanese, Yemeni, Syrian...
You don't have to read very hard between the lines to see that Rubin would really like this war to be 'won' by the US and Israel. The brazen illegality of this war under both US and international law, let alone its catastrophic effects on the Iranian and Lebanese people, has always been a low priority for Rubin. She only rarely mentions the death and devastation the US and Israel have wrought.
To call felon tRump a moron is an insult to morons. He acceded to Bibi's petition to overthrow Iran, which no prior three presidents ever agreed to knowing its geographical advantages with 3,000 ft mountains surrounding the Persian Gulf and modern weapon systems to defend it. He loves being a useful idiot. Yet, high off the Venezuelan illegal attack, he and Bibi thought they could decapitate Iran's leadership and Iran, itself, would rise up and finish the overthrow of its hateful regime. Both morons underestimated Iran's capabilities to endure the attacks and react defensively with unity asymmetric warfare. Their "secret" weapon was control of the Strait of Hormuz and their ability to cause great discomfort to the global economic system that depends on the oil and other commodities that come from there. It is an unwinnable war. Now the moron has lost us allies. Even the far right govts with neo nazi movements do not want anything to do with us or this war. Yet his cult supporters in Congress will not speak up against their dear leader's bad judgement. Facts are facts and Iran has the upper hand, probably even morally, since the US/Israeli attack was unprovoked and US and Iran were in the midst of weapons agreement.
Rhetoric is not a strategy, it's flailing. The whipsawing between pretending to want peace while threatening more bombs, and declaring that we won and yet remaining in what is clearly an ongoing conflict only makes Trump look weaker and weaker. I don't see any face saving in his future, let alone a "win" of any kind. He started the wrong fight, and now he can't finish it. Meanwhile, regular is $4.79 here in Oregon, diesel over $6.
Absolutely 💯
It's so embarrassing, as though we have the luxury of that emotion anymore. But it is truly an indictment on our military. That the top brass would allow the president to repeatedly step on his dick and broadcast it to the global public shows how weak we are and makes us an open target.
I am more and more uncomfortable with Israel. It was not enough for Yahoo to commit genocide in Gaza, but now he's doing the same thing in Lebanon , killing thousands of innocent children and first responders and medical personnel. And the settlers on the Westbank are acting more criminal all the time. All to keep the Yahoo in power and out of prison.
'Ceasefires' have an entirely different meaning when applied to Israel than with most other countries.
Here's some new from today's 'ceasefire' in Lebanon:
'Israeli forces carried out demolitions and strikes across southern Lebanon Tuesday, including an explosion in the town of Tayr Harfa and artillery fire targeting the outskirts of Kounine in Bint Jbeil district, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency. Israeli troops were also reported to have blown up homes and infrastructure in multiple villages, including Beit Lif, Shamaa, al-Bayyada and Naqoura.'
'An Israeli strike on the village of Qaaqiyet al-Jisr, near Nabatieh in southern Lebanon, injured six people Monday evening, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said. The strike hit a coffee shop and damaged a nearby vehicle, with the wounded evacuated by al-Risala Scouts ambulances, according to local correspondents.'
And from the 'ceasefire' in Gaza:
Over the last 24 hours, seven Palestinians were killed and 21 were injured in Israeli attacks across Gaza. The total recorded death toll since October 7, 2023 has risen to 72,560 killed, with 172,317 injured. Since October 11, the first full day of the so-called ceasefire, Israel has killed at least 784 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded 2,214, while 761 bodies have been recovered from under the rubble, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.'
These deaths include a child and a pregnant woman.
Yes, Magyar absolutely right to take the war criminal into custody should he step onto Hungarian soil.
I was glad to read that. OF course, it is an obligation of any country who is a signatory to the ICC...which the US and Israel are not. Some colonialist European countries have wormed their way out of this obligation though.
Yes, unfortunately Germany.
Germany is very concerned about it's history with the Holocaust and rightly so, so I would give it a pass on this.
I think France and Italy too.
That was such an insightful and lively analysis from Steve and Jen both.
Only One Side Has Clearly Broken the Law In the Strait of Hormuz (and it's not Iran)
Read the article:
https://www.thenation.com/article/world/iran-strait-of-hormuz-international-law/
Thank you. Badly needed check on the one-sided, war reporting from the Contrarian.
It continues to amaze me to see how Rubin's statements about this war are just a complete 180 from her own statements about Iran during the Obama years, with no explanation at all, no apology, no reckoning, just a complete overnight flip flop, only because she didn't like Trump. The refrain I constantly see from Contrarian readers that 'she can change her mind' is a comically weak excuse in light of the fact that she has never made a single public statement to explain her flip flop, and not only about the Iran deal, but the Paris climate agreement, US Israeli relations in general, even her feelings toward Netanyahu, who she once admired and often sided with over Obama.
Her many published pieces abut the Iran deal back then then could easily have been an inspiration for Trump's shredding of Obama's nuclear agreement with Iran. She shredded the deal over and over and over, right up until the 2016 election.
But still her inner neocon can't help but surface here and there...Here she makes this amazing comment that 'The only people who may be more upset than the Gulf states, and those people who understand American geopolitics. are the Israelis. they are not in a good position.'
Really the Israelis are the most upset? Not the families or thousands of murdered Iranians, not the families of thousands of murdered Lebanese?
She goes on:
'they’ve (Israel) made some headway in Lebanon at the cost of enormous casualties and damage'.
Really they have made some 'headway'? By killing thousands of men women and children in the past 6 weeks? Displacing over a million Lebanese citizens, while effectively annexing all of southern Lebanon?
Even when she tries, she just can't hide her total callousness for the victims of the US/Israeli onslaught in the region, whether they are Palestinian, Iranian, Lebanese, Yemeni, Syrian...
You don't have to read very hard between the lines to see that Rubin would really like this war to be 'won' by the US and Israel. The brazen illegality of this war under both US and international law, let alone its catastrophic effects on the Iranian and Lebanese people, has always been a low priority for Rubin. She only rarely mentions the death and devastation the US and Israel have wrought.
Agreed. 100%
Can you gift? Don't have access, alas.
To call felon tRump a moron is an insult to morons. He acceded to Bibi's petition to overthrow Iran, which no prior three presidents ever agreed to knowing its geographical advantages with 3,000 ft mountains surrounding the Persian Gulf and modern weapon systems to defend it. He loves being a useful idiot. Yet, high off the Venezuelan illegal attack, he and Bibi thought they could decapitate Iran's leadership and Iran, itself, would rise up and finish the overthrow of its hateful regime. Both morons underestimated Iran's capabilities to endure the attacks and react defensively with unity asymmetric warfare. Their "secret" weapon was control of the Strait of Hormuz and their ability to cause great discomfort to the global economic system that depends on the oil and other commodities that come from there. It is an unwinnable war. Now the moron has lost us allies. Even the far right govts with neo nazi movements do not want anything to do with us or this war. Yet his cult supporters in Congress will not speak up against their dear leader's bad judgement. Facts are facts and Iran has the upper hand, probably even morally, since the US/Israeli attack was unprovoked and US and Iran were in the midst of weapons agreement.