As I've mentioned before, I have the opposite approach to Ukraine these days. Ukraine is boring because the outcome is certain, and there is zero indication that the US or NATO are going to try to stem the defeat. The Russians appear to intend to keep plodding on until the last Ukrainian conscript is dead and they can walk to Kiev, which means the "war" - such as it is - will continue for months past where everyone including me thought it would be "over".
In short, as I say, it's boring. Whereas the Middle East war shows every sign of heating up quickly, becoming an utter disaster for everyone involved, and possibly could rise to nuclear WWII even faster than Ukraine could. This makes it the obvious choice for anyone concerned about international affairs and how they might affect one locally (WWIII will give everyone a "bad day.")
"most of the ‘enlightened’ commentators on this, including Crooke, Ritter, Johnson et al. "
You didn't mention me. I'm shocked...shocked...! :-) (Not that I claim to be on par with any of them - although I do frequently argue with all of them.)
"I have even heard that Iran may have tested a nuclear device."
That's why you need to follow me closely. :-) I've been debunking that nonsense ever since I first read about it. It's so obviously a planted propaganda ploy to justify the upcoming US-Israeli strike on Iran that it's amazing that even Alastair Crooke and The Cradle appears to have been taken in by it. Someone commented to me just now that he tried to trace back the report but all he found was blogs and links to unnamed sources. That's almost a dead giveaway that it's a planted story.
I heard today Hezbollah dropped 100 missiles on Haifa. No idea if that's true. Bernhard mentioned it over at MoA.
One thing that has become interesting, to me at least, is that there does seem to be a sharp difference of opinion emerging between some of the alternative pundits that you, me and everyone else follows because of total propaganda in the MainSteamMedia.
The division is this: Does the tail wag the dog or, as is usually the case does the dog wag the tail?
It seems that the consensus in the ex intelligence community on Nima’s YouTube channel Dialogue Works like Larry Sanders and Ray McGovern believe that Netanyahu is playing the US. He is out of control.
It looks like they do not want to believe that an organisation that they used to work for was anything less than “decent in the old days” and that Israel has gone “rogue”.
Meanwhile, people like Michael Hudson, who has direct experience of policy decisions with Israel since the 60s says that what is happening now is part of a plan. Organised in the US in meetings he was in 40 or 50 years ago.
A very interesting divergence in the resistance to all.
Is America in charge of this genocide or not?
Some people think so. Others do not. I would say to Ray McGovern, if I met him and who is my favourite current commentator, what did you think the CIA that you worked for was doing?
Only intelligence gathering? That was obviously not true in the early 50s in Guatemala.
Thanks for that. Brian Berletic has a good take on this - I've linked to him in my last Update, I think. Any opinion I expressed on the matter would be guesswork - I have no idea of the extent to which the US or Israel is in control of all this. But the US administration, fractured as it is, could stop this slaughter but it isn't doing so yet.
Hudson and Richard Wolf’s joint interview on the same channel carries a lot of weight with me. Hudson persuasively explains our current economic problems (to me at least) and, also, he knew these Zionist operatives that became the neo Cons we currently have in charge.
Don’t forget that Leon Trotsky was his God Parent. He is well connected and knows what he is talking about. In the recent Nima interview he mentions the Trotskyite intellectual beginnings of a lot of the neo cons. That is to say, that they were really anti Stalinists.
Funny how the perverted internecine leftist arguments created them. I can never get my head around how you could change quite that much.
Yes - I've been through the mill of hard left, sectarian politics - got the T shirt. Python represents it pretty accurately. I was in the SWP for six months while at Uni: many of them were authoritarian characters. Before this, I was in college doing a Trade Union course and one of the teachers was in the Communist Party (not the CPGB by the way). Anyway, one day she used the term CP and I put my hand up and asked 'what's the CP?'. She threw her chalk at me.
Every 10 years or so, a bunch of frightened children grow up to be angry and vengeful young men. And so this continues. You would have thought after 50 years or so that Israel might have come up with a Plan B.
I think Israel and Ukraine show that you can't manufacture a nation and plant it somewhere. The Israelis are like frightened children now surrounded by the enemies they have created: they are getting stronger while Israel weakens. I have no idea how this will end.
Russia is increasingly involving itself in Syria and the Golan Heights, and China is supportive of the Axis of resistance. As with Ukraine, the collective west is solidly behind the genocidists, presumably because Zionist lobbies have bought western leaders. That is certainly the case with the US and UK. Ukraine was a turning point in geopolitics, exposing the weakness of the collective West, and the strength of the East. The US is very keen to greatly expand the Israel conflict, to try to derail the BRICS conference in Kazan this month. This conference will herald the end of dollar dominance, and the rise of the multi-polar world. Short of a nuclear holocaust, nothing will derail this Global South juggernaught.
I am deeply ashamed of our Prime Minister's weasel words on the subject of Israel. He continually calls out as 'anti-semitism' Anti-Zionist statements. It smacks of corruption by the Zionist lobby. And Starmer, Biden and Harris have been shown to have been bought by the Zionists. There were massive pro-Israeli demonstrations here to mark the first anniversary of October 7th - played up by the media. The government , shamefully, tried to ban pro-Palestinian demonstrations on the day, so that side held a huge vigil that the masses of police present were unable to stop.
Thanks Joy. I agree about BRICS: you can't stop history. Many in our so called Labour Party have been bought by Zionists who have infiltrated the party over many years.
" I simply felt that I should talk about it..."
As I've mentioned before, I have the opposite approach to Ukraine these days. Ukraine is boring because the outcome is certain, and there is zero indication that the US or NATO are going to try to stem the defeat. The Russians appear to intend to keep plodding on until the last Ukrainian conscript is dead and they can walk to Kiev, which means the "war" - such as it is - will continue for months past where everyone including me thought it would be "over".
In short, as I say, it's boring. Whereas the Middle East war shows every sign of heating up quickly, becoming an utter disaster for everyone involved, and possibly could rise to nuclear WWII even faster than Ukraine could. This makes it the obvious choice for anyone concerned about international affairs and how they might affect one locally (WWIII will give everyone a "bad day.")
"most of the ‘enlightened’ commentators on this, including Crooke, Ritter, Johnson et al. "
You didn't mention me. I'm shocked...shocked...! :-) (Not that I claim to be on par with any of them - although I do frequently argue with all of them.)
"I have even heard that Iran may have tested a nuclear device."
That's why you need to follow me closely. :-) I've been debunking that nonsense ever since I first read about it. It's so obviously a planted propaganda ploy to justify the upcoming US-Israeli strike on Iran that it's amazing that even Alastair Crooke and The Cradle appears to have been taken in by it. Someone commented to me just now that he tried to trace back the report but all he found was blogs and links to unnamed sources. That's almost a dead giveaway that it's a planted story.
I heard today Hezbollah dropped 100 missiles on Haifa. No idea if that's true. Bernhard mentioned it over at MoA.
Thanks for that Richard. You are mentioned under et al. I've seen 100 missiles quoted a few times from different sources.
One thing that has become interesting, to me at least, is that there does seem to be a sharp difference of opinion emerging between some of the alternative pundits that you, me and everyone else follows because of total propaganda in the MainSteamMedia.
The division is this: Does the tail wag the dog or, as is usually the case does the dog wag the tail?
It seems that the consensus in the ex intelligence community on Nima’s YouTube channel Dialogue Works like Larry Sanders and Ray McGovern believe that Netanyahu is playing the US. He is out of control.
It looks like they do not want to believe that an organisation that they used to work for was anything less than “decent in the old days” and that Israel has gone “rogue”.
Meanwhile, people like Michael Hudson, who has direct experience of policy decisions with Israel since the 60s says that what is happening now is part of a plan. Organised in the US in meetings he was in 40 or 50 years ago.
A very interesting divergence in the resistance to all.
Is America in charge of this genocide or not?
Some people think so. Others do not. I would say to Ray McGovern, if I met him and who is my favourite current commentator, what did you think the CIA that you worked for was doing?
Only intelligence gathering? That was obviously not true in the early 50s in Guatemala.
Thanks for that. Brian Berletic has a good take on this - I've linked to him in my last Update, I think. Any opinion I expressed on the matter would be guesswork - I have no idea of the extent to which the US or Israel is in control of all this. But the US administration, fractured as it is, could stop this slaughter but it isn't doing so yet.
Rob,
Hudson and Richard Wolf’s joint interview on the same channel carries a lot of weight with me. Hudson persuasively explains our current economic problems (to me at least) and, also, he knew these Zionist operatives that became the neo Cons we currently have in charge.
Don’t forget that Leon Trotsky was his God Parent. He is well connected and knows what he is talking about. In the recent Nima interview he mentions the Trotskyite intellectual beginnings of a lot of the neo cons. That is to say, that they were really anti Stalinists.
Funny how the perverted internecine leftist arguments created them. I can never get my head around how you could change quite that much.
But, I think it’s all pretty rareified up there.
Monty Python provides a good idea of it: https://youtu.be/WboggjN_G-4?si=qIx6SXniXB31PgUO
Yes - I've been through the mill of hard left, sectarian politics - got the T shirt. Python represents it pretty accurately. I was in the SWP for six months while at Uni: many of them were authoritarian characters. Before this, I was in college doing a Trade Union course and one of the teachers was in the Communist Party (not the CPGB by the way). Anyway, one day she used the term CP and I put my hand up and asked 'what's the CP?'. She threw her chalk at me.
If you visit Iran you will see one thing everywhere you go: Martyrs.
Shrines on street corners, billboards across the skylines, and psychedelic Hindhu style images of the faithful, from Hussein on.
These people are venerated as saints.
If the Israelis have convinced themselves these "decapitation strikes" will weaken Shia resolve, they are foolishly misguided.
Agreed. I saw a map showing the territories Israel wants to take as part of its expansion. But this is pure fantasy.
Every 10 years or so, a bunch of frightened children grow up to be angry and vengeful young men. And so this continues. You would have thought after 50 years or so that Israel might have come up with a Plan B.
I think Israel and Ukraine show that you can't manufacture a nation and plant it somewhere. The Israelis are like frightened children now surrounded by the enemies they have created: they are getting stronger while Israel weakens. I have no idea how this will end.
Russia is increasingly involving itself in Syria and the Golan Heights, and China is supportive of the Axis of resistance. As with Ukraine, the collective west is solidly behind the genocidists, presumably because Zionist lobbies have bought western leaders. That is certainly the case with the US and UK. Ukraine was a turning point in geopolitics, exposing the weakness of the collective West, and the strength of the East. The US is very keen to greatly expand the Israel conflict, to try to derail the BRICS conference in Kazan this month. This conference will herald the end of dollar dominance, and the rise of the multi-polar world. Short of a nuclear holocaust, nothing will derail this Global South juggernaught.
I am deeply ashamed of our Prime Minister's weasel words on the subject of Israel. He continually calls out as 'anti-semitism' Anti-Zionist statements. It smacks of corruption by the Zionist lobby. And Starmer, Biden and Harris have been shown to have been bought by the Zionists. There were massive pro-Israeli demonstrations here to mark the first anniversary of October 7th - played up by the media. The government , shamefully, tried to ban pro-Palestinian demonstrations on the day, so that side held a huge vigil that the masses of police present were unable to stop.
Thanks Joy. I agree about BRICS: you can't stop history. Many in our so called Labour Party have been bought by Zionists who have infiltrated the party over many years.