I’m hearing that Iran has made a demand that the Zionists genocidal government stop the slaughter. They are trying to put a stop to the killing and have the might of missiles to threaten the occupiers sufficiently enough that they will have to listen and stop. We will see, but it seems this is possible or we might see the end of this genocidal regime through force. Iran has the backing of the BRICS nations and they all agree the genocide has to stop. Isn’t it ironic that the so called enemies of the Western nations will be the ones who finally put an end to the atrocities. Who is showing the world a greater concern for humanity now? It has been revealed to the world who the real terrorist are and have been for a long time. We are seeing a shift that is beginning to change the way nations think.
The US has no more capability than Israel to fight Iran. Plus we have multiple military bases in the region that are easily hit. And if Iran really wants to hurt us, they can take out all the oil fields in the region in one blow, which would completely cripple the US economically (which is all we really care about) and deal a final blow to US dollar hegemony. The US will never risk that for Israel. In the meantime, Israel is failing. I'm sure more Israelis will leave permanently after they realized they cannot hurt Iran. Therefore, unless they can put their leadership all in jail or a terminal mental hospital, they have to stop pretending they have a viable state that can protect them. And they will leave. Israel is destroying itself. This is what happens when the far left or far right are allowed free rein. Moderation in all things. Only for Israel, if they had followed the moderate course, eventually Palestinians would have outnumbered them 2 and 3 to 1. That is why the complete eradication of Palestinians is the logical thing for them to do. But in doing so, they destroy themselves. They are in a catch-22. They actually had only one choice which their ethnosupremacy does not allow them to consider. They should have just given the land back to the Palestinians and left quietly, gradually, and with honor and generosity. We have plenty of power. And we're exercising it right here in substack comments. You have no idea how bad Western attitudes towards Palestinians USED to be in the West 50, 100, 150 years ago. It's only a matter of, according to Mattias Desmet, 15%. Where are we now? What percentage abhor this genocide? The election won't tell us as a lot of people who oppose Israel's genocide are holding their noses and voting for Dumber and Dumbest. Change is inevitable. We don't have a democracy and never did. Yanis Varofakis has it right. We can choose democracy or revolution. (Or was it technofeudalism or revolution?) And there is no such thing as democracy in the west--our governments have always been oligarchies and possibly plutocracies dressed up as democracies. Right now the Demos is rising up. And stop glorifying the military. They cannot have a military if no one participates. And stop privileging American Jews who are moneyed. They are the richest religious group in the US. Where does that money come from? YOU. They are only 2.4% of the American population. WTF? I'm not saying do this to all American Jews. Read Varoufakis' book on technofeudalism. We are participating in it right here and right now which is why I stopped commenting so much here. Because Caitlin takes my ideas, presents them a few days later as her own, and some of you pay her for them. How much has she given me? Nada. This is a tiny version of the much bigger form of technofeudalism which enriches all these people. STOP buying from Amazon. Find who is making what you want and buy from the actual producers--not Amazon's knock-offs. Bezos skims 40-50% from what you pay him for items. If nothing else, go to Ebay. Or, radical thought, STOP CONSUMING. Do you REALLY need that junk??? This is a great time for a real cultural revolution, one which eschews consumption. Stop enabling the billionaires. Sorry, Caitlin, and I'm glad you have an income stream from this, but it does rankle and I'm not stupid.
"this is what happens when the far left or far right are allowed free rein. moderation in all things." the center have always been the extremists with the far right as their attack dogs. the far left have never been allowed free rein.
"because caitlin takes my ideas, presents them a few days later as her own, and some of you pay her for them. how much has she given me? nada." this is delusional. the idea that you can commodify ideas is one of the pillars of technofeudalism. all the content and ideas caitlin produces are free to use and reproduce, afaik. i'd be ok with content creators picking up a personal take that serves the collective cause. the voluntary contributions serve as paid labor for aggregating different and related ideas in a readable blog imo.
I've been far ahead of the crowd because I grew up in the Middle East but am an American (of color, also relevant). This is the dynamic I have seen most particularly with Caitlin who is not a journalist--she writes her opinion. I'm glad she's out there but I'm not blind to how substack owners use their followers to increase their income. It is very noticeable here. We've not had a left wing in the US since the 1930's when they were effectively taken out by both the middle of the road liberals and the right. You're right that the middle of the road liberals are more effective. Who was the last truly left presidential candidate? Eugene Debs?
Caitlin has no personal experience of the Middle East that I know of. She repeats what professional journalists write. That's fine. Opinion has its place. She's also married to an American vet which is pretty odd, given her political values, frankly.
Whatever. I've been miles ahead of her because I've been dealing with these issues for a good 60 years and witnessing the history you all are talking about. As most Western stubstackers are new to the subject. Glad they are focusing their energies where they are now. Of course, the Internet is what allows the cross-pollination of ideas and opinions. Not for long. Most of the people on substack on whom I rely for information have been disturbingly silent the last 48 hours. For reasons I can well imagine.
I'm not commodifying anything. Middle Easterners know exactly what I'm talking about because they and I have shared experiences, though my perspective is slightly different from theirs because of where we eacj land in both the colonial and post-colonial world.
There is no left here, martin. It was killed off years ago. Before I was born and it sounds like I'm a good deal older than you.
No. I did not say that. However, that's always a possibility. I'm not important in the least. But I do know people whose family members were disappeared. Some of my dad's friends were assassinated, as well. One of the best-loved, moderate ayatollahs who would have been a serious competitor to Khomeini "died of a heart attack" under suspicious circumstances. Actually, I was protected by my citizenship. Censorship is tightening all over but especially in the West. The weaponry and surveillance systems Israel has used on Gaza and Lebanon are migrating here. If you think you are immune, you are not paying attention. My "evidence" is not superior. It's informed by personal experience. That's all. There's plenty I do not know (and would rather not know, frankly). Do you really believe Middle Easterners know less about the Middle East than you? Give me a break.
This is interesting as after the exchange of missile fire, Iran seems to have better missiles and anti-missile defense, by far. They also have some sort of nuclear device, which Israel has had for years. As one Muslim commentator opined, "They may have bought it, it might have been given to them, or they may have developed it internally." And their supreme leader retracted the fatwa against nuclear weapons. And then both Israel and Iran are backed up by nuclear powers, hypersonic missiles, and suitcase bombs - if we get involved it means world war three. This would be a great time to quit, and have a diplomatic solution where Netanyahu and his cabinet go away. Compared to the alternative, it's win win for everybody to stop the killing.
According to Alexander and Leslie Cockburn ("Dangerous Liaison") Israel had roughly 400 nuclear bombs back in 1991. They got them from the US who let them know when the storage sites would be unlocked and unguarded and the sayanim moved them to Israel. Recent reports indicate Netanyahu was one of the people involved in this. Did you read how he was rushed to the hospital last night? Supposedly "dehydration". Hezbollah managed to hit his bedroom. He probably pissed himself.
However it happens, Palestine will belong to Palestinians from the river to the sea. It's going to happen in our lifetimes.
Just be aware that there is a lot of Israeli-generated propaganda out there right now. I watched Al Jazeera last night and someone was interrupting the broadcast, inserting the weirdest, least likely stories in between the real broadcast repeatedly. One of them stated that Israel had bombed Iranian nuclear sites. Putin already told them what would happen if they did that. I don't think they have the bomb yet. But they will. Israel has been thoroughly check-mated. I am so impressed how closely Hamas, Hezbollah, the Syrians and Iran follow Islamic law. The (Western) Christians and Jews are disgraceful, targeting civilians and stealing resources and millions of dollars in cash. I am very impressed by the Muslim military and policy leaders. The banks Israel bombed in Lebanon were used to give small business loans to civilians so they could become self-sufficient. Those loans were interest-free, per the Qoran. Very cool.
If you don't charge any interest on loans, then the size of the loan vs the amount the loanee actually receives need to diverge, if you don't want the bank to go bankrupt. The 'arrangement fee', if you call it that, must cover the costs of the Islamic bank.
How do Islamic banks handle the effects of inflation? They have to have a way of hedging themselves otherwise they will disappear over time as an ineffective place for depositers to lodge their money.
I'm no defender of the more pirate-like Western banks, but there really is no panacea of how to lend money interest-free. Interest-free loans only exist in inflation-free worlds or as charity. There have to be costs incorporated to cover the % of loans that go bad and to cover the costs of administration.
Good points. I don't know. I'm not into banking, Islamic or otherwise. I just know that usury, i.e. interest, is haram/forbidden and I admire Islam for this basic human decency. Islam does require tithing which is usually between 8-10%. Since religions in the Middle East are still living, breathing entities--faith isn't something you put on for the sabbath as it is i the West--people happily tithe as well as help out the less fortunate as a matter of worship of God. Not saying many Western Christians and Jews don't do this as well, but most Westerners don't and religion in the West is nothing like religion in the M.E. is. It's not a living, breathing part of being alive, in all things. It's separate. Perhaps that's how they are compensated. This is an interesting line of inquiry, however. It would be good to find out from an Islamic bank or Islamic economist how this works and incorporate it into our system in community-owned banks, don't you think? The level of personal debt in this country is outrageous. And the details behind our NATIONAL debt are outrageously immoral and unethical. Plenty of people have been following this more closely than me. I've never bought into "The American Dream". The Federal Reserve is actually a consortium of private bankers--not all American--and they don't actually "lend" money to the government. They just add the figures on a computer database and immediately charge us, the taxpayers, interest. In the process, our dollars lose value. That is what inflation is: The devaluation of the dollar. Our GDP is largely comprised of debt. Our actual productivity is quite low.
What has caused inflation in Middle Eastern countries, and I know this for a fact, is US sanctions on their economies. Sanctions might work in the short-term but they fail in the long-term because the sanctioned countries become more creative, more efficient, and more self-sufficient. The US is sanctioning 60% of the world's economies. That's mafia-type behavior. And I don't think the Dems or the Republicans control this country: The hidden mafia behind the scenes does.
This just in from Ryan Grim. Throw out your cellphones. Israel's surveillance state is coming to a cell tower near you. Highly recommend you read this story.
Well...don't speak too soon. You know most commercial pork is genetically modified... I can't remember what they've done to it, how it can hurt consumers who eat it. You know about the chimera of goat and spider? The goat's milk comes out as some kind of super-strong thread. Don't give them ideas, please!
I’m hearing that Iran has made a demand that the Zionists genocidal government stop the slaughter. They are trying to put a stop to the killing and have the might of missiles to threaten the occupiers sufficiently enough that they will have to listen and stop. We will see, but it seems this is possible or we might see the end of this genocidal regime through force. Iran has the backing of the BRICS nations and they all agree the genocide has to stop. Isn’t it ironic that the so called enemies of the Western nations will be the ones who finally put an end to the atrocities. Who is showing the world a greater concern for humanity now? It has been revealed to the world who the real terrorist are and have been for a long time. We are seeing a shift that is beginning to change the way nations think.
Except that the US will fight for Israhell.
The US has no more capability than Israel to fight Iran. Plus we have multiple military bases in the region that are easily hit. And if Iran really wants to hurt us, they can take out all the oil fields in the region in one blow, which would completely cripple the US economically (which is all we really care about) and deal a final blow to US dollar hegemony. The US will never risk that for Israel. In the meantime, Israel is failing. I'm sure more Israelis will leave permanently after they realized they cannot hurt Iran. Therefore, unless they can put their leadership all in jail or a terminal mental hospital, they have to stop pretending they have a viable state that can protect them. And they will leave. Israel is destroying itself. This is what happens when the far left or far right are allowed free rein. Moderation in all things. Only for Israel, if they had followed the moderate course, eventually Palestinians would have outnumbered them 2 and 3 to 1. That is why the complete eradication of Palestinians is the logical thing for them to do. But in doing so, they destroy themselves. They are in a catch-22. They actually had only one choice which their ethnosupremacy does not allow them to consider. They should have just given the land back to the Palestinians and left quietly, gradually, and with honor and generosity. We have plenty of power. And we're exercising it right here in substack comments. You have no idea how bad Western attitudes towards Palestinians USED to be in the West 50, 100, 150 years ago. It's only a matter of, according to Mattias Desmet, 15%. Where are we now? What percentage abhor this genocide? The election won't tell us as a lot of people who oppose Israel's genocide are holding their noses and voting for Dumber and Dumbest. Change is inevitable. We don't have a democracy and never did. Yanis Varofakis has it right. We can choose democracy or revolution. (Or was it technofeudalism or revolution?) And there is no such thing as democracy in the west--our governments have always been oligarchies and possibly plutocracies dressed up as democracies. Right now the Demos is rising up. And stop glorifying the military. They cannot have a military if no one participates. And stop privileging American Jews who are moneyed. They are the richest religious group in the US. Where does that money come from? YOU. They are only 2.4% of the American population. WTF? I'm not saying do this to all American Jews. Read Varoufakis' book on technofeudalism. We are participating in it right here and right now which is why I stopped commenting so much here. Because Caitlin takes my ideas, presents them a few days later as her own, and some of you pay her for them. How much has she given me? Nada. This is a tiny version of the much bigger form of technofeudalism which enriches all these people. STOP buying from Amazon. Find who is making what you want and buy from the actual producers--not Amazon's knock-offs. Bezos skims 40-50% from what you pay him for items. If nothing else, go to Ebay. Or, radical thought, STOP CONSUMING. Do you REALLY need that junk??? This is a great time for a real cultural revolution, one which eschews consumption. Stop enabling the billionaires. Sorry, Caitlin, and I'm glad you have an income stream from this, but it does rankle and I'm not stupid.
these things are not correct imo:
"this is what happens when the far left or far right are allowed free rein. moderation in all things." the center have always been the extremists with the far right as their attack dogs. the far left have never been allowed free rein.
"because caitlin takes my ideas, presents them a few days later as her own, and some of you pay her for them. how much has she given me? nada." this is delusional. the idea that you can commodify ideas is one of the pillars of technofeudalism. all the content and ideas caitlin produces are free to use and reproduce, afaik. i'd be ok with content creators picking up a personal take that serves the collective cause. the voluntary contributions serve as paid labor for aggregating different and related ideas in a readable blog imo.
I've been far ahead of the crowd because I grew up in the Middle East but am an American (of color, also relevant). This is the dynamic I have seen most particularly with Caitlin who is not a journalist--she writes her opinion. I'm glad she's out there but I'm not blind to how substack owners use their followers to increase their income. It is very noticeable here. We've not had a left wing in the US since the 1930's when they were effectively taken out by both the middle of the road liberals and the right. You're right that the middle of the road liberals are more effective. Who was the last truly left presidential candidate? Eugene Debs?
Caitlin has no personal experience of the Middle East that I know of. She repeats what professional journalists write. That's fine. Opinion has its place. She's also married to an American vet which is pretty odd, given her political values, frankly.
Whatever. I've been miles ahead of her because I've been dealing with these issues for a good 60 years and witnessing the history you all are talking about. As most Western stubstackers are new to the subject. Glad they are focusing their energies where they are now. Of course, the Internet is what allows the cross-pollination of ideas and opinions. Not for long. Most of the people on substack on whom I rely for information have been disturbingly silent the last 48 hours. For reasons I can well imagine.
I'm not commodifying anything. Middle Easterners know exactly what I'm talking about because they and I have shared experiences, though my perspective is slightly different from theirs because of where we eacj land in both the colonial and post-colonial world.
There is no left here, martin. It was killed off years ago. Before I was born and it sounds like I'm a good deal older than you.
i'm glad we generally agree.
Are you saying that if you expressed your superior fact-based evidence for public consumption that you might meet a fairly rapid and grisly end?
No. I did not say that. However, that's always a possibility. I'm not important in the least. But I do know people whose family members were disappeared. Some of my dad's friends were assassinated, as well. One of the best-loved, moderate ayatollahs who would have been a serious competitor to Khomeini "died of a heart attack" under suspicious circumstances. Actually, I was protected by my citizenship. Censorship is tightening all over but especially in the West. The weaponry and surveillance systems Israel has used on Gaza and Lebanon are migrating here. If you think you are immune, you are not paying attention. My "evidence" is not superior. It's informed by personal experience. That's all. There's plenty I do not know (and would rather not know, frankly). Do you really believe Middle Easterners know less about the Middle East than you? Give me a break.
This is interesting as after the exchange of missile fire, Iran seems to have better missiles and anti-missile defense, by far. They also have some sort of nuclear device, which Israel has had for years. As one Muslim commentator opined, "They may have bought it, it might have been given to them, or they may have developed it internally." And their supreme leader retracted the fatwa against nuclear weapons. And then both Israel and Iran are backed up by nuclear powers, hypersonic missiles, and suitcase bombs - if we get involved it means world war three. This would be a great time to quit, and have a diplomatic solution where Netanyahu and his cabinet go away. Compared to the alternative, it's win win for everybody to stop the killing.
According to Alexander and Leslie Cockburn ("Dangerous Liaison") Israel had roughly 400 nuclear bombs back in 1991. They got them from the US who let them know when the storage sites would be unlocked and unguarded and the sayanim moved them to Israel. Recent reports indicate Netanyahu was one of the people involved in this. Did you read how he was rushed to the hospital last night? Supposedly "dehydration". Hezbollah managed to hit his bedroom. He probably pissed himself.
However it happens, Palestine will belong to Palestinians from the river to the sea. It's going to happen in our lifetimes.
Just be aware that there is a lot of Israeli-generated propaganda out there right now. I watched Al Jazeera last night and someone was interrupting the broadcast, inserting the weirdest, least likely stories in between the real broadcast repeatedly. One of them stated that Israel had bombed Iranian nuclear sites. Putin already told them what would happen if they did that. I don't think they have the bomb yet. But they will. Israel has been thoroughly check-mated. I am so impressed how closely Hamas, Hezbollah, the Syrians and Iran follow Islamic law. The (Western) Christians and Jews are disgraceful, targeting civilians and stealing resources and millions of dollars in cash. I am very impressed by the Muslim military and policy leaders. The banks Israel bombed in Lebanon were used to give small business loans to civilians so they could become self-sufficient. Those loans were interest-free, per the Qoran. Very cool.
If you don't charge any interest on loans, then the size of the loan vs the amount the loanee actually receives need to diverge, if you don't want the bank to go bankrupt. The 'arrangement fee', if you call it that, must cover the costs of the Islamic bank.
How do Islamic banks handle the effects of inflation? They have to have a way of hedging themselves otherwise they will disappear over time as an ineffective place for depositers to lodge their money.
I'm no defender of the more pirate-like Western banks, but there really is no panacea of how to lend money interest-free. Interest-free loans only exist in inflation-free worlds or as charity. There have to be costs incorporated to cover the % of loans that go bad and to cover the costs of administration.
Good points. I don't know. I'm not into banking, Islamic or otherwise. I just know that usury, i.e. interest, is haram/forbidden and I admire Islam for this basic human decency. Islam does require tithing which is usually between 8-10%. Since religions in the Middle East are still living, breathing entities--faith isn't something you put on for the sabbath as it is i the West--people happily tithe as well as help out the less fortunate as a matter of worship of God. Not saying many Western Christians and Jews don't do this as well, but most Westerners don't and religion in the West is nothing like religion in the M.E. is. It's not a living, breathing part of being alive, in all things. It's separate. Perhaps that's how they are compensated. This is an interesting line of inquiry, however. It would be good to find out from an Islamic bank or Islamic economist how this works and incorporate it into our system in community-owned banks, don't you think? The level of personal debt in this country is outrageous. And the details behind our NATIONAL debt are outrageously immoral and unethical. Plenty of people have been following this more closely than me. I've never bought into "The American Dream". The Federal Reserve is actually a consortium of private bankers--not all American--and they don't actually "lend" money to the government. They just add the figures on a computer database and immediately charge us, the taxpayers, interest. In the process, our dollars lose value. That is what inflation is: The devaluation of the dollar. Our GDP is largely comprised of debt. Our actual productivity is quite low.
What has caused inflation in Middle Eastern countries, and I know this for a fact, is US sanctions on their economies. Sanctions might work in the short-term but they fail in the long-term because the sanctioned countries become more creative, more efficient, and more self-sufficient. The US is sanctioning 60% of the world's economies. That's mafia-type behavior. And I don't think the Dems or the Republicans control this country: The hidden mafia behind the scenes does.
This just in from Ryan Grim. Throw out your cellphones. Israel's surveillance state is coming to a cell tower near you. Highly recommend you read this story.
https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/israel-digital-intelligence-cellebrite-gaza
" They should have just given the land back to the Palestinians and left quietly, gradually, and with honor and generosity. "
When pigs fly....
Well...don't speak too soon. You know most commercial pork is genetically modified... I can't remember what they've done to it, how it can hurt consumers who eat it. You know about the chimera of goat and spider? The goat's milk comes out as some kind of super-strong thread. Don't give them ideas, please!