Tag: perpetual war

Trump White House Calls Netanyahu a Madman: He’s Something Far More Dangerous

Following Israel’s strikes on Damascus, Axios quoted a Trump White House official as saying, “Bibi acted like a madman. He bombs everything all the time”. However, while some on the MAGA or ‘America First’ right might celebrate this as a sign that Trump might further pressure Israel into ending its, as Pope Leo XIV recently put it, ‘barbarity’, this analysis of Netanyahu as a ‘madman’ is misguided at best and deliberate obfuscation at worst. 

Netanyahu is not a madman. Instead, he is a calculating sociopath who readily disregards human life if it means political survival and furthering his violent and expansionist policies throughout the Middle East. 

This analysis of foreign leaders as ‘madmen’ is common in mainstream media. This framing is convenient as it is easier to simply call someone crazy than to ask less straightforward questions about genuine motivation. 

Another prominent example of this is how Western media treats Russian President Vladimir Putin. Instead of asking why Russia would find it in its strategic interest to invade Ukraine, Western pundits and politicians call Putin a madman and an imperialist who wishes to rebuild the Soviet Union. By promoting these narratives, the media can avoid unauthorized questions about NATO Enlargement and the 2014 coup in Ukraine, both of which are rational explanations for why Russia might consider invading Ukraine.  

Historically, Netanyahu has done numerous things that may initially seem erratic or psychotic but make perfect sense when you analyze them through the lens of maintaining power. As I laid out in a previous article, Netanyahu bolstered Hamas and encouraged Qatar to keep funding the organization in an attempt to weaken the Palestinian Authority and prevent a stable Palestinian state from gaining recognition worldwide. By curtailing a unified front in Palestine, Netanyahu laid the groundwork for a ‘divide and conquer’ strategy, which has served his imperialistic ambitions in the current Gaza war. 

Netanyahu has also used military action numerous times in the past to maintain his power domestically. For example, in 2019, Bibi used military force to launch strikes against Palestine and other Middle Eastern countries in order to garner far-right support and ensure his re-election. Again in 2021, right before a deadline to form a new government, Netanyahu and Hamas began exchanging missiles, which halted negotiations and reinforced Bibi’s image as a wartime leader, an obvious attempt to remain in power.

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The Rise of the Jewish Dual State

Ever since the Six-Day-War (1967) and the occupation of Palestinian territories, Israel has witnessed the rise of the Messianic far-right settler Jews. In my The Fall of Israel, I describe in detail this process, which entered a new stage after the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and the effective demise of the “peace process.” 

The process also intensified the march of the settlers and their proponents into the Israeli institutions, while openly advocating the overthrow of Israel’s secular democracy, the Judeazation of the occupied territories (West Bank, Gaza), Jewish supremacy and racist violence, particularly against Palestinians. 

What made this quasi-legal infiltration of the democratic institutions possible was the continuous US military and diplomatic support, coupled with arms transfers and financing, and Europe’s effective indifference.

One way to look at the progression of the quasi-official state violence in Israel is the narrative describing the rise of the Messianic far-right as the march of lawlessness. Yet, such narratives do not adequately explain the existing tensions between the civil bureaucracies and the apocalyptic reformers in Israel.

In The Fall of Israel, I present an alternative way to depict that progression, based on the idea of a “dual state.” This is the notion that the famous German-Jewish lawyer Ernst Fraenkel used to explain how the Nazi party exploited democratic institutions, which it then undermined.

Emergency powers to undermine democracy

At the eve of World War II, Ernst Fraenkel fled from Nazi Germany to the United States, where he published his master treatise, The Dual State (1941). Fraenkel saw the analysis of the political system of the Nazi state as “a contribution to the theory of dictatorship.” 

Fraenkel knew the system intimately. In the Weimar Republic, he had been a leading socialist jurist. And as a lawyer he had represented political defendants in court, mainly Jews targeted by the Nazi regime. Eventually, as a dissident, he worked in the underground with several resistance groups until his immigration to America in the late 1930s.

What worried Fraenkel was the gradual perversion of the democratic institutions of the Weimar Republic from 1918 to 1933. During that period, the Nazi Party took power as Hitler was able to use emergency powers to undermine constitutional governance and suspend civil liberties. 

How could it happen? How could democracy collapse and Germany end up under a one-party dictatorship? Fraenkel’s simple response was: the dual state. Democratic institutions remained, but mainly as pale shadows. In particular, he showed how the decisions of the courts – as façades rather than effective institutions – precipitated the progress of Nazism in Germany. 

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Greeks Grow Unfriendly To Israeli Tourists, Ships As Gaza War Grinds On

Though Greece is a highly popular international tourist destination for Israelis, the popularity of Israeli tourists is declining in Greece as Israel continues a war on Gaza marked by unusually high civilian casualties, imposed hunger, and the systematic and sweeping destruction of infrastructure. In addition to a string of incidents in which Greeks are verbally and physically clashing with Israeli tourists, protesters are targeting commercial ships seen as supplying Israel’s war on Gaza.     

The most widespread indication of Greeks giving Israelis a cold shoulder comes via signs and posters cropping up in tourist destinations. In addition to being mounted on utility poles, they’re also appearing in the front windows of some businesses. A few samples of the messaging: 

  • “All Israeli soldiers are war criminals. Occupiers, rapists, murderers. We don’t want you here!” 
  • “Israeli soldiers, you went on vacation but you will not escape the guilt. The beaches of Greece will not wash the blood off your hands”
  • “Israeli soldiers, colonizers, you are not welcome.”

Where personal confrontations are concerned, it’s not always clear who’s been initiating the hostilities. In the latest incident, a group of around 20 Israeli teenagers clashed with 10 to 30 Greeks on the popular island of Rhodes around 3 or 4 am on Tuesday. According to the Israelis’ accounts published in Hebrew media and shared on social media, anti-Israel demonstrators gathered outside a club the Israelis were patronizing. When the Israelis decided to leave the club, a Greek pretending to support Israel asked if they were Israelis. When they confirmed they were, the Greek summoned dozens of comrades who chased them down, kicking one of them. “I’ve never been so afraid in my life. We just wanted to go to a club to have fun, and suddenly people with knives were chasing us,” said a teen named Friedman. 

However, Greek newspaper Dimokratiki provides a far different account. Citing witness statements, video footage and other information, the paper reports that Hellenic Police say the fracas began when the Israelis started shouting pro-Israel slogans, which led to the Greeks calling them “murderers” and countering with pro-Palestinian chants. Police identified nine Israelis who were involved, and all of them were said to have departed by plane later the same morning. Authorities gave no confirmation of any assaults taking place. 

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Minister says Israel racing ahead to wipe out Gaza, will make it Jewish

Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu says Israel is advancing the destruction of Gaza, and that the Strip will be made totally Jewish.

“The government is racing ahead for Gaza to be wiped out,” Eliyahu tells Haredi radio station Kol Barama. “Thank God, we are wiping out this evil. We are pushing this population that has been educated on Mein Kampf.”

Eliyahu says Gaza will be cleared for Jewish settlement, but says Jewish towns won’t be “fenced in inside cantons.”

“All Gaza will be Jewish,” he says, though he clarifies that Arabs who are loyal to Israel will be tolerated.

“We aren’t racists,” the far-right Otzma Yehudit politician adds.

Eliyahu also denies that Gazans are not getting enough food, calling it a campaign against Israel, but notes that we are at war and trying to kill “these monsters.”

“There’s no hunger in Gaza,” he says. “But we don’t need to be concerned with hunger in the Strip. Let the world worry about it.”

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Geopolitical Powder Keg Erupts: Thai F-16s Strike Cambodian Targets In Border Clash 

A long-standing border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia sharply escalated overnight, with reports that a Thai F-16 fighter jet conducted air-to-ground strikes on multiple Cambodian military positions near the disputed border region.

Reuters reports that Thailand readied six F-16 fighter jets but deployed only one along the disputed border. The F-16 conducted airstrikes on military targets in Cambodia. Both Southeast Asian nations have accused each other of starting the conflict.

Thai army deputy spokesperson Richa Suksuwanon told reporters earlier, “We have used air power against military targets as planned.” 

In response to the attacks, Cambodia’s defense ministry said that it “strongly condemns the reckless and brutal military aggression of the Kingdom of Thailand against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Cambodia.” 

Here are more details via Bloomberg:

Both Southeast Asian nations accused the other of starting the clashes, which were reported at six locations and follow a build up of tensions since a Cambodian soldier was killed in an exchange of gunfire in May.

Thailand said its fighter jets hit two Cambodian army bases near the border on Thursday, while Thai army reported that rockets fired from Cambodia killed several civilians, citing provincial authorities. The fatalities included an 8-year-old child, and 14 others were injured. The number of casualties on the Cambodian side remains unclear.

“The dispute is escalating rapidly and could turn into a serious conflict if left unattended,” said Jayant Menon, a senior fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore, quoted by Bloomberg. 

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China-Linked Hackers Breach US Nuclear Weapons Agency In Sophisticated Operation

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has been hit by a sophisticated cyberattack that exploited a previously unknown vulnerability in Microsoft SharePoint, and is being widely described by one of the most serious breaches of US defense infrastructure this year. Fingers in the West are pointing to Beijing.

Hackers believed linked to the Chinese government used a zero-day exploit targeting on-premises versions of SharePoint to infiltrate over 50 organizations, including the agency responsible for the Navy’s nuclear submarine reactors. China is vehemently denying the charge.

The NNSA oversees both the production of nuclear reactors for submarines and the maintenance of the US nuclear arsenal. Cybersecurity experts are currently describing what’s known as an advanced remote code execution (RCE) attack.

The vulnerability reportedly affected SharePoint Server 2019 and the Subscription Edition, which allowed attackers to bypass security protocols and execute arbitrary commands on targeted systems, as described in Bloomberg.

The US Department of Energy is well-known to use Microsoft 365 cloud systems for a lot of its SharePoint work. “The department was minimally impacted due to its widespread use of the Microsoft M365 cloud and very capable cybersecurity systems,” a Department of Energy spokesperson conveyed in a statement to Bloomberg. “A very small number of systems were impacted. All impacted systems are being restored.”

It’s believed the hackers were able to gain unauthorized access, steal data, collect login credentials, and potentially move deeper into connected networks; however, the Department of Energy has claimed no classified or sensitive nuclear data was compromised in the breach.

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Microsoft knew of SharePoint server exploit but failed to effectively patch it

A security patch released by Microsoft (MSFT.O) last month failed to fully fix a critical flaw in U.S. tech giant’s SharePoint server software that had been identified in May, opening the door to a sweeping global cyber espionage operation.

It remains unclear who is behind the ongoing operation, which targeted around 100 organisations over the weekend. But Alphabet’s (GOOGL.O) Google, which has visibility into wide swathes of internet traffic, said it tied at least some of the hacks to a “China-nexus threat actor”.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not respond to a Reuters request for comment. Chinese government-linked operatives are regularly implicated in cyberattacks, but Beijing routinely denies carrying out hacking operations.

Contacted on Tuesday, Microsoft was not immediately able to provide comment on the patch and its effectiveness.

The vulnerability that facilitated the attack was first identified in May at a hacking competition in Berlin organised by cybersecurity firm Trend Micro (4704.T), which offered cash bounties for the discovery of computer bugs in popular software.

It offered a $100,000 prize for “zero day” exploits – so called because they leverage previously undisclosed digital weaknesses – that could be used against SharePoint, Microsoft’s flagship document management and collaboration platform.

A researcher working for the cybersecurity arm of Viettel, a telecommunications firm operated by Vietnam’s military, identified a SharePoint bug at the event, dubbed it ‘ToolShell’ and demonstrated a method of exploiting it.

The researcher was awarded $100,000 for the discovery, according to a post on X by Trend Micro’s “Zero Day Initiative”. A spokesperson for Trend Micro did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment regarding the competition on Tuesday.

Microsoft subsequently said in a July 8 security update that it had identified the bug, listed it as a critical vulnerability, and released patches to fix it.

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HYPOCRISY ON STEROIDS, about the Gaza genocide

The U.S. supplies 69% of the weapons, Germany supplies 30%, for Israel’s extermination of the Gazans, but on July 21st, America’s AP headlined “UK, Canada and 26 other countries say the war in Gaza ‘must end now’”, and reported that, “Twenty-eight countries including Britain, Japan and a host of European nations issued a joint statement Monday saying the war in Gaza ‘must end now’ — the latest sign of allies’ sharpening language as Israel’s isolation deepens.” America’s AP did not headline “Israel-allied countries support but also condemn the genocide against Gazans” — which would have been the full basic truth — they instead reported only that these countries (which the AP didn’t even completely list) were, in this “joint statement” (to which the AP provided no link, so that the actual document — which they were allegedly reporting about, was instead being actually hidden by the AP — censored-out by them) was “saying the war in Gaza ‘must end now’” INSTEAD OF that Israel and America and Germany must cease their perpetrating this genocide. The AP was saying that “the war in Gaza ‘must end now’” — as-if this ‘war’ ISN’T instead an extermination of Gazans, but just a war between Gazans and Israel, which latter Government is actually leading this Israel-U.S.-German-perpetrated genocide to get rid of Gazans. Israel is leading this extermination-campaign, just as Germany had led the one against Jews; and, just as Germany’s Government had participating foreign Governments helping them, so too does Israel’s.

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More Promises Of Western Aid Emboldened Ukraine To Neutralize Anti-Corruption Institutions

The EU and NATO recently promised more aid for Ukraine. The first did so in late May after the European Council created the “Security Action For Europe” (SAFE) instrument, which will provide up to €150 billion in low-interest loans for defense investments in the bloc’s members and also Ukraine, while the second came in mid-July when Trump announced that NATO members agreed to pay full price for new US arms that they’ll transfer to Ukraine. These promises emboldened Ukraine to raid its anti-corruption bureau.

Bloomberg condemned the move in a sharp opinion piece while The Economist warned that “something sinister is at work” after Zelensky then signed a law that was rushed through the Rada shortly afterwards for subordinating the anti-corruption bureau and its prosecutorial counterpart to presidential control. 

Protests have since erupted in several Ukrainian cities over the latter move, which could only be possible with the SBU’s tacit approval, but it’s premature to conclude that a power struggle is underway.

In any case, a security-related pretext was exploited to justify intimidating and then subordinating anti-corruption institutions to the presidency ahead of more promised aid from the West.

Had those promises not been made, then there’d be a lot less money to steal, thus making it less likely that Ukraine would risk negative Western media coverage by doing what it just did. After all, those moves generated more negative attention than any of its anti-corruption institutions’ accusations against state officials.

Nevertheless, precedent suggests that the West won’t curtail its promised aid despite credible concerns that some of it will be stolen, including some of the arms that NATO might soon send. Russia’s First Deputy Representative to the UN Dmitry Polyanskiy claimed last October that “15% to 20% of all military goods received by Kiev end up on the gray and black markets within the next two weeks.”

The Swiss-based Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime also warned about this threat in February.

The reason why Western aid will likely continue flowing into Ukraine in spite of it brazenly neutralizing its anti-corruption institutions is because that bloc has already accepted that some of it will be stolen as the price to pay for continuing their proxy war on Russia.

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An Offensive Shield — for Impunity, and Genocide: The Iron Dome and U.S. Complicity in Slaughter of Gazans

The House of Representatives has approved giving Israel an additional $1.3 billion in “emergency defense assistance” for its Iron Dome missile defense program, another installment of countless billions sent from the United States to intensify a one-sided war against the Palestinian people.

The Iron Dome system intercepts short range rockets (launched from 2.5 to 43 miles) through the joint work of the IDF, Israeli contractors, and U.S. weapons manufacturers like Raytheon. Radar batteries detect incoming missiles, calculate direction and threat level, and, if necessary, target the menacing projectile and speed interceptors to destroy it.

The Iron Dome destroys incoming rockets at high altitude, but, since its emplacement in 2011, the system has also functioned to enable Israel to conduct ethnic cleansing and perpetuate genocide with impunity in Gaza and the West Bank.

It has underwritten an astonishingly deadly campaign of collective punishment, with lengthy, targeted air, drone, and guided missile strikes in densely populated areas. These deadly attacks are carried out against a people who have no army, no shield, and no means of response.

When we fund one-sided protection without justice, we destroy the possibility of peace for them, and for ourselves.

The Iron Dome, then, is not just a “defense” system. It is the preeminent strategic enabler of Israel’s asymmetric genocidal war against Palestinians. First the shield, then the sword.

It must be said clearly: Opposing genocide and illegal occupation is not antisemitic. It is the defense of humanity. The Israeli government’s ongoing colonization of Palestinian land, its collective punishment of a captive population, and its refusal to recognize a sovereign Palestinian people all constitute violations of international law.

To oppose this violence is not to oppose Jewish people. It is to stand against the machinery of oppression, just as we should for any people subjected to such inhumanity.

By eliminating the possibility of reprisal, the Iron Dome has insulated Israel from accountability, enabling it to continue inhumane policies of dispossession and aggression without consequence. This strategic impunity dulls domestic dissent and emboldens a government that continues to seize land and to erase Palestinian life.

War crime inquiries, censures, sanctions, none of it matters while the Netanyahu government pursues with single-minded intensity a “Greater Israel,” using the most advanced military technologies against people who cannot fight back.

That the whole of the United States is not consumed with outrage at the mass murder, the diabolical, Torquemadan cruelties of the IDF, the self-appointed agents of death who gleefully kill children, laugh while shooting starving people desperately scrapping for a morsel of food to survive, and bomb hospitals, mosques, churches, markets, cafes, even tents, — is a wrenching testimony to the psychic numbing that occurs with distance from the grim reality of war and the power of the dehumanizing narrative to which many Americans have succumbed. The capacity to emotionally respond to the agonizing suffering of Palestinians has been muted by distance and by relentless propaganda in the West.

I remember years ago, during the Vietnam War, daily news accounts of the carnage in Southeast Asia eventually dissolved into an undifferentiated mass of information, causing readers to turn the page or switch the channel. Information overload can normalize atrocity as it dulls cognition. Then, when battle scenes of U.S. soldiers being killed or injured were carried by US television networks, the powerful emotional impact drove home the true cost, propelled public opposition to the war and forced President Lyndon Johnson from office.

Spectators of events in Israel can become morally anesthetized as high technology is employed in mass murder, when journalists are targeted and killed, when civilian casualties roll up like an odometer at high speed. Except for random videos posted online, the only testimony is that of the IDF, which denies, denies, denies, cries “anti-Semitism” at exposure, and then, after a pause for a drink of limonana, efficiently continues the killing.

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