Tag: perpetual war

Nobody Can Stop Netanyahu: Top EU Diplomat Laments

Josep Borrell, the European Union’s foreign policy head, expressed dismay on Friday that there is nobody who seems capable of stopping Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from escalating wars in Gaza and Lebanon.

“What we do is to put all diplomatic pressure to a ceasefire, but nobody seems to be able to stop Netanyahu, neither in Gaza nor in the West Bank,” Borrell told a group of reporters at the UN, according to The Times of Israel.

He noted how Netanyahu said he would not stop until Hezbollah is destroyed, but, “If the interpretation of being destroyed is the same as with Hamas, then we are going to go for a long war.”

Netanyahu has not achieved any military objectives in Gaza and Hamas is still in possession of about 100 hostages. Netanyahu has escalated attacks in Lebanon as Hezbollah continued to launch attacks into northern Israel in defense of the Palestinians being massacred in Gaza.

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Israel Drops “Bunker Buster” Bombs on Apartment Complex in Beirut – Claims “Hezbollah Headquarters”

Israeli fighter jets launched a series of massive airstrikes on a crowded area in the Lebanese capital Beirut on Friday, causing widespread destruction with fears of a large death toll.

At least 10 explosions rocked Beirut’s southern suburbs, a densely-populated area known as Dahiyeh, with large clouds of black smoke rising over the city. 

At least six residential buildings were flattened in the raids with extensive damage reported in nearby structures, according to Al Jazeera.

At least one large crater was seen at the site of the attack and filmed by local media, as dozens of rescue workers and paramedics rushed to the scene. 

Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Israel’s attacks on Beirut’s southern suburb show it “does not care” about efforts to bring about a ceasefire.

Mikati’s press office sent a statement while he was in New York for the UN General Assembly.

Video of the strikes suggested they were carried out with ground-penetrating munitions known as bunker busters. In some footage, a vertical jet of flame was visible as a bomb appeared to explode beneath the ground.

Israeli media reported that Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah was the target and that the military was checking whether he had been hit. Sources close to Hezbollah told Reuters he was alive.

Friday’s strike in Beirut marked a major escalation by Israel, which has been gradually expanding deadly attacks on Lebanon in recent days. 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has circulated a photograph of what it says is the prime minister using a landline telephone to approve the strike, the New York Times reported. The newspaper said Netanyahu was returning from New York to Israel.

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What Kamala Harris Said to Volodmyr Zelensky on September 26th

On September 26th, Ukraine’s leader Volodmyr Zelensky and America’s possibly next President Kamala Harris, held a brief conversation as a U.S. White House “briefing,” a category which differs from a White House “press conference” because none of the press are present at a “briefing,” no questions are taken, and no video of the event is released — consequently, only a transcript of this conversation has been released to the public. This transcript is headlined “Remarks by Vice President Harris and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine Before Bilateral Meeting”. Its contents are very important for anyone who intends to vote in the U.S. Presidential election. Here are highlights, with added commentaries by me [in italics placed between brackets]:

VICE PRESIDENT HARRIS: This is our seventh visit together. And welcome back to Washington, D.C. As I have made clear on our six previous meetings and throughout Putin’s brutal aggression and war against Ukraine, my support for the people of Ukraine is unwavering. … I will work to ensure Ukraine prevails in this war. 

[Her phrase “Putin’s brutal aggression” is founded upon the false presumption that this war was started by Russia’s Government on 24 February 2022, and NOT by the United States Government on 20 February 2014, which was the actual case.] 

To be safe, secure, and prosperous, the United States must continue to fulfill our long-standing role of global leadership. We must stand with our allies and our partners. We must des- — defend our democratic values and stand up to aggressors. And we must stand for international order, rules, and norms. 

[Like all neoconservatives do, she presumes that “To be safe, secure, and prosperous, the United States must continue to fulfill our long-standing role of global leadership,” or, in other words, that the continuation of America’s leadership of the world ever since 25 July 1945, is essential in order for the American people “to be safe, secure, and prosperous”; and, so, America will have to be the world’s very first imperial power that will be permanent, even if the United States Government will, at some point in the future, have no possible way of continuing its dominance without initiating WW3 — a nuclear war between superpowers — in order to retain this position of global leadership into the future. Furthermore: her phrase “stand up to aggressors” ignores that the U.S. Government itself has led the entire world in international invasions, coups, subversions, sanctions and other forms of aggressions, ever since 25 July 1945; and, so, is like a black kettle calling a gray kettle “black” and so is hypocritical in the extreme. Furthermore: her statement that “we must stand for international order, rules, and norms” conspicuously AVOIDS mentioning international laws — which the U.S. Government seeks to REPLACE by its “international rules,” so that it can do whatever it wants, as ‘justified’ by its “international rules-based order”. Of course, these propagandists NEVER cite the SOURCE of those ‘rules’.] …

The Ukrainian people are bravely defending their homes and their homeland, their freedom, and their democracy against a brutal dictator. 

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Israeli Ground Incursion Into Lebanon To Begin Soon

Sources tell CDM/Tsionizm that Israeli troops are preparing for an imminent ground invasion into southern Lebanon to establish an ‘exclusion zone’ to protect Israeli civilians in the north that still have not returned to their homes.

The Times of Israel reported on small commando raids into Lebanon already…

The small raids made by Israeli special forces into Lebanon in recent months have included sending troops into Hezbollah tunnels along the border, the Wall Street Journal reports.

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US Not Withdrawing from Iraq

The US and Iraq on Friday announced a plan that will end the mission of the US-led anti-ISIS coalition in Iraq, but US troops will remain in the country under a “bilateral security partnership.”

Iraqi security officials told The Associated Press that US troops would be withdrawing from a base at the Baghdad International Airport and the Ain al-Asad Airbase in Western Iraq. US officials refuse to say how many of the 2,500 US troops in Iraq, if any, will be leaving the country.

“The US is not withdrawing from Iraq,” Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters on Friday. She said the US would be changing its “footprint” in the country but wouldn’t share any details.

“This is a step in our relationship and a progress towards a bilateral security agreement, and we’ll have more details to share when we’re ready,” Singh said.

Under the plan, the anti-ISIS coalition in Iraq will officially end its mission by September 2025, but it will continue to operate in Syria and be supported from Iraqi territory until September 2026. The US has about 900 troops occupying eastern Syria and backs the Kurdish-led SDF, allowing the US to control about one-third of Syria’s territory.

The plan is unlikely to placate the many elements in Iraq who want the US to leave, and it could lead to more rocket and drone attacks on US bases. Recent Israeli escalations in Lebanon could also provoke attacks on US troops in Iraq and Syria.

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More Money for Ukraine, More Weapons for Israel

Whether they like it or not (and they seem very much to like it), the Democratic Party has become America’s war party.

This is especially true with respect to Ukraine. Zelensky has won another $7.9 billion in its war with Russia, prompting this “thank you” from him:

I am grateful to Joe Biden, US Congress and its both parties, Republicans and Democrats, as well as the entire American people for today’s announcement of major US defence assistance for Ukraine totalling $7.9bn and sanctions against Russia.

On behalf of the Ukrainian people and our brave warriors on the frontlines, I thank our closest ally, the United States, for finding a way to allocate the remaining security assistance to Ukraine and ensure that the Presidential authority is not expired by the end of the US financial year.

We will use this assistance in the most efficient and transparent manner to achieve our major common goal: victory for Ukraine, just and lasting peace, and transatlantic security.

I am grateful to the United States for providing the items that are most critical to protecting our people. An additional Patriot air defence battery, other air defence capabilities and interceptors, drones, long-range missiles, and air-to-ground munitions, as well as funds to strengthen Ukraine’s defence industrial base.

I also appreciate the decision to expand programs to train more of our pilots to fly F-16s, as well as the strong sanctions measures imposed to further limit Russia’s ability to fund its aggression against Ukraine.

Kamala Harris is committed to supporting Ukraine “for as long as it takes,” meaning, I guess, some sort of “victory” over Russia, however unlikely that is. So look for a lot more dead and wounded Ukrainians and Russians and a world still hovering on the brink of nuclear war.

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At UN, Netanyahu blames Israel’s isolation on ‘anti-Semitism’

Speaking at the UN General Assembly on 27 September, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed the condemnation of Israel at the UN and International Criminal Court (ICC) on anti-Semitism, saying allegations of war crimes have nothing to do with Israel’s actions, including its slaughter and starvation of Palestinians in Gaza.

“It’s not about Gaza,” he claimed. “It’s about Israel” and its very existence.

“[U]ntil this anti-Semitic swamp is drained, the UN will be viewed by fair-minded people everywhere as nothing more than a contemptuous farce,” Netanyahu claimed.

“What hypocrisy. What a double standard. What a joke,” he said to applause from Israel supporters.

The assembly hall was otherwise almost empty after several delegations walked out as Netanyahu reached the podium.

On 27 September, the UN member states voted overwhelmingly in the General Assembly to adopt a resolution calling on Israel to comply with international law, withdraw its military forces, immediately cease all new settlement activity, evacuate all settlers from occupied land, and dismantle parts of the separation wall it constructed inside the occupied West Bank.

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Blinken buried reports indicating Israel blocked aid to Gaza so U.S. would keep sending them weapons

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken received an assessment from a pair of prominent authorities on humanitarian assistance showing that Israel purposely blocked deliveries of food and medicine to Gaza but rejected the finding so the U.S. could continue sending weapons to Israel.

The report by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) reached this disturbing conclusion, and it was corroborated by a separate report from the State Department’s Bureau Of Population, Refugees And Migration. The latter also determined that the Foreign Assistance Act needed to be enacted to freeze more than $800 million worth of taxpayer dollars that had been set aside for weapons and bombs for Israel.

However, Blinken and the Biden administration rejected the findings of both authorities. Shortly thereafter, Blinken saw fit to tell Congress: “We do not currently assess that the Israeli government is prohibiting or otherwise restricting the transport or delivery of U.S. humanitarian assistance.”

It’s a shocking stance to take when you consider the fact that USAID’s 17-page memo detailed some of the most blatant examples of Israeli interference with aid efforts, such as bombing hospitals and ambulances, turning away trucks that were full of medicine and food, razing agricultural structures, sitting on supply depots and most appallingly, killing aid workers.

The memo noted that while the population of Gaza grappled with famine and countless children starved to death, food that could have potentially saved people’s lives was stockpiled just miles across the border at a port in Israel, where it is believed there was enough flour on hand to feed 1.5 million Palestinians for a span of five months. The Israeli government would not let the flour be transferred because they claimed that the UN Palestinian branch it was destined for had ties to Hamas.

U.S. law requires the government to stop shipping weapons to countries that have been found to be preventing the delivery of American-backed humanitarian aid, and USAID officials said that America should stop selling arms to Israel. They stated that the famine in Gaza was caused by Israel’s “arbitrary denial, restriction, and impediments of U.S. humanitarian assistance” and called it “one of the worst humanitarian catastrophes in the world.”

The situation was so bad that a senior State Department official resigned over it. Stacy Gilbert, a senior civil military adviser for the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, claims that the State Department falsified her report. The 20-year State Department veteran said that when the report was ultimately published, she couldn’t believe it when she saw its conclusion that Israel was not blocking humanitarian assistance given the fact that the experts who wrote it reached the opposite conclusion.

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Space Force Touts Plans for Part-Time Service, Even as Opposition and Space National Guard Proposal Loom

Gen. Chance Saltzman, the top military leader of the Space Force, highlighted five former Air Force reservists during a keynote speech at an annual conference this week, revealing they were among the first service members to transfer into jobs in his service.

For now, the initiative allowing such reservists to transfer to the Space Force is accepting only those who are willing to serve full time as Guardians on active duty. The service is hoping to eventually allow part-time Space Force service as an option to those in the Air Force Reserve.

But many of the basic details of a part-time model — most notably, making sure newly transferred Guardians would get paid — still need to be worked out, Saltzman said during an Air and Space Forces Association conference in the Washington, D.C., area. The effort also comes amid a national debate over a potential alternative, the creation of a Space National Guard manned by part-time troops.

“We do not want to hurt anybody in the transition period,” Saltzman said. “That is first and foremost in all our minds. And when I say hurt, I mean when you cross over, you don’t get paid — that’s a problem. Our databases for the Space Force don’t include how you bill part-time hours. That’s done over in the Air Force. We need to migrate those capabilities over so that we can manage our force from a part-time standpoint.”

In a separate conference discussion with reporters Tuesday, Chief Master Sergeant of the Space Force John Bentivegna told Military.com that the service wants the new part-time model to be a unique experience and one that doesn’t mirror the existing reserve system.

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Why Kamala Harris Will Kill at Least 5 Billion People if She Becomes President

Kamala Harris said on September 26th that the United States is at war with Russia in Ukraine, and that Donald Trump would “surrender” to Russia if he becomes President again. She made clear that the war between Russia and Ukraine is also war between Russia and America — it is America’s war, just as-if Ukraine were a U.S. state. Here is how this was reported by France’s Agence France-Presse, under the headline “Harris meets Zelensky and slams Trump’s ‘surrender policy’ for Ukraine”:

Harris did not mention Trump by name but said there were “some in my country who would instead force Ukraine to give up large parts of its sovereign territory.”

“These proposals are the same of those of (President Vladimir) Putin. And let us be clear, they are not proposals for peace. Instead, they are proposals for surrender,” she said, referring to the Russian leader.

She was virtually repeating President Joe Biden’s statement on the same day, that Ukraine must and will win this war against Russia with America’s help, and must never yield any of the territory in Ukraine that Russia now occupies. “Russia will not prevail, Ukraine will prevail, in this war”, he said. He made this commitment there, in the presence of, and to, Ukraine’s leader, Volodmyr Zelensky. In other words: If WW3 is necessary in order defeat Russia in Ukraine, then America will do it.

On the night of September 25th, CNN headlined “Republicans follow Trump’s lead of icing out Zelensky”, and reported that,

Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday criticized Volodymyr Zelensky and claimed the Ukrainian president “refuses to make a deal” amid Russia’s war in Ukraine, marking Trump’s most explicit criticism of Zelensky’s handling of the war to date. 

“Those cities are gone, they’re gone, and we continue to give billions of dollars to a man who refused to make a deal, Zelensky. There was no deal that he could have made that wouldn’t have been better than the situation you have right now. You have a country that has been obliterated, not possible to be rebuilt,” Trump said during a campaign speech in Mint Hill, North Carolina. …

 Republican leaders are so far declining to meet Zelensky while he is in Washington, DC, while Democrats are embracing the opportunity. Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson are not currently scheduled to meet with the Ukrainian president, sources told CNN, while House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Vice President Kamala Harris are scheduled to have meetings. …

“Every time he came to our country, he’d walk away with $60 billion. He’s probably the greatest salesman on Earth,” Trump said of Zelensky on Wednesday.

Trump says Ukraine should have given up territory to stop the war earlier

In his speech, Trump blamed Biden and Harris for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and claimed they “caused this situation by the stupidity of what they said, by every move they make, but they caused the situation and now they’re locked in.”

“They just don’t know what to do. They’re locked into a situation. It’s sad, they just don’t know what to do. Because Ukraine is gone, it’s not Ukraine anymore. You can never replace those cities and towns, and you can never replace the dead people, so many dead people,” Trump said.

He said making a deal earlier in the conflict to cede some territory to the Russians would have prevented more catastrophe. Trump argued Biden should have been able to orchestrate a deal between Russia and Ukraine that avoided any bloodshed and argued that even a “bad deal” and one where Ukraine had “given up a little bit,” would’ve been preferable to the war.

Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and the Democratic Party, have made clear, again and again, that the U.S. will never allow Russia to win in Ukraine. Everyone by now agrees that Russia is winning in Ukraine. Zelensky is asking Biden for permission to use U.S. weapons in order to strike deep into Russia, including The Kremlin itself — with U.S. weapons.

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