My keyboard appears to have a short and is spamming keys making typing anything long near impossible. So, probably nothing more till tomorrow when I should have it replaced. Hope all are well and having a less frustrating day than I am.
Feel free to use as an open thread.
Mark Level
Ali Abunimah of the Electronic Intifadah was released after a “violent” arrest & 2 nights in jail in Switzerland. He was (sort of) charged with “offending against Swiss law” by criticizing Israeli’s genocide against his fellow Palestinians. Interrogation with no lawyer present, kept incommunicado, then deported. Several offices of the U.N., Amnesty International, and others have criticized the authoritarian brutality of the Swiss government, which in the distant past was widely honored for its neutrality in international affairs. (Which, to be fair, was partly a reflection of its desire to bank oligarchs’ and criminals’ money outside of other nation’s tax systems.) Here is EI’s account of the ordeal– https://electronicintifada.net/content/switzerland-deports-eis-ali-abunimah/50337
The Collective West is now uniformly Authoritarian and openly fascistic on behalf of the Zionist Settler-Colonial, genocidal entity. Note how Romania’s national election was cancelled by Judicial fiat when it became clear that the majority wanted new leadership that wasn’t all-in on supporting NATO’s proxy war on Russia. Here is the BBC’s attempt to support that:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2yl2zxrq1o
The key line, I think, is here, sharing their hopes that Romanians will be indifferent that their voting rights have just been nullified, perhaps forever– “Romanians who have been unenthusiastic about both candidates are unsure whether to be glad they do not have to decide on Sunday, or concerned for the future of Romanian democracy.”
I thought Trump’s ban on censorship of ideas on social media was good. But I am still waiting for the other shoe to drop and for any criticism of Israel to be (at the least) exempted from that ban, if not actually criminalized by the AIPAC-owned and directed Congress, supported by Trump.
“Democracy” (the little of it that remained) isn’t “dying in darkness”. Like Abunimah, it is being grabbed off the street by thugs (under color of law) & dragged into a gulag. All in the name of “the Rules-Based Order”.
TM
Craig Murray’s excellent reporting from Lebanon carries on apace:
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2025/01/israeli-atrocities-in-lebanon/
The above makes me return to a discussion I recall last year as to whether the axis of resistance was ‘keeping their gunpowder dry’ or if they were, and are, a paper tiger. It would appear that Hezbollah has folded without a fight, but I am not an expert on Lebanese politics and what has stayed their hand and allowed them to simply abandon their prepared positions, weapons caches etc.
Ian Welsh
I’ve seen suggestions that they lost 70% of their missiles and munitions in warehouses due to Mossad penetration. But this is definitely embarassing.
Z
Going to be interesting, in a bad way, if and when Ukraine collapses. Read something on X yesterday (True? Who knows for sure any more?) that Ukraine’s top spook Budanov said that’s Ukraine’s existence may be at risk if peace talks don’t begin by summer. If Ukraine collapses there’s going to be a lot of bitter survivors there who are militarily and technologically trained to be very capable of terrorism, particularly with drones. If they see the remnants of their country being populated by foreign men to rebuild it, which is quite likely in that scenario, what are their reactions going to be to the countries and people that led them in this destructive direction?
Another thing that it is going to be interesting is if Israel will pay for possibly militarily overextending themselves in Syria. Of course, their rabid attack Rottweiler, the U.S., will come to their aid as much as possible, but even the U.S. doesn’t have unlimited power projection. One possible game-changing development in this will be if Yemen sinks a U.S. aircraft carrier.
Z