tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29389581493007449592024-03-18T14:23:13.696-07:00MAD Is DeadA predominantly one-topic blog: how is it that the most imminent and lethal implication for humankind - the fact that the doctrine of "Mutually Assured Destruction" will not work with Iran - is not being discussed in our media? Until it is recognized that MAD is dead, the Iranian threat will be treated as a threat only to Israel and not as the global threat which it in fact is.
A blog by Mladen AndrijasevicUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1309125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2938958149300744959.post-28694141037585764762024-03-17T01:52:00.000-07:002024-03-17T06:04:21.248-07:00Schumer vs. Netanyahu | Potomac Watch Podcast: WSJ Opinion<p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #070707; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.499999999999998pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #070707; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.499999999999998pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #070707; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12.499999999999998pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">MY COMMENT: </p><p><span style="color: #070707; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">There are times in history when the moral fiber and integrity of one man determines the history of humankind. The best example is </span><a href="https://madisdead.blogspot.com/search?q=five+days+in+may" style="text-align: justify; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">May 28, 1940</span></a><span style="color: #070707; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> when Churchill won over the extended cabinet of 25 MPs in his decision not to negotiate a separate peace with Hitler. </span></p><p><span style="color: #070707; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #070707; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">Three days ago we had the example of a similar moment, except this time the lack of Chuck Schumer’s integrity may end up having far reaching negative consequences for the democracies of the West. Why? Because Israel is fighting Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran </span><a href="https://israelagainstterror.blogspot.com/2008/12/facing-iran-alone.html" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; text-align: left; text-decoration-line: none; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">alone</span></a><span style="font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"> and throwing Israel under the bus at this crucial moment may push Iran towards nuclear breakout.</span></span></p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/co-58GuDjZI" title="Schumer vs. Netanyahu | Potomac Watch Podcast: WSJ Opinion" width="640"></iframe><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Exchange, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; margin: 20px 0px;">I'm Kate Bachelder Odell. I'm hosting today and I'm about to talk to my colleague, Elliot Kaufman, who is fresh off a trip to Israel about the developments there in Israel's war and Israel's relationship with the United States. So, Elliot, thank you so much for joining us. I believe you're relatively fresh off a plane, so hopefully you've had a moment to figure out what time and day it is and where you are, but we're glad to have you. In the past 24 hours, the biggest news item in the US-Israel relationship has obviously been the Democratic majority leader, Chuck Schumer who went to the US Senate floor and basically called for Netanyahu's ouster from Prime Minister of Israel. So, let's listen to a quick clip of what Chuck Schumer had to say.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Exchange, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; margin: 20px 0px;">Chuck Schumer: There needs to be a fresh debate about the future of Israel after October 7th. In my opinion, that is best accomplished by holding an election. Now, if Prime Minister Netanyahu's current coalition remains in power after the war begins to wind down and continues to pursue dangerous and inflammatory policies that test existing US standards for assistance, then the United States will have no choice but to play a more active role in shaping Israeli policy by using our leverage to change the present course.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Exchange, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; margin: 20px 0px;">Kate Bachelder Odell: Well, Schumer really waded right in there to Democratic allies electoral process. So, Elliot, I've got a small idea of how this perhaps went over in Israel, but why don't you give us some more detail on how Mr. Schumer's remarks are being received so far?</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Exchange, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; margin: 20px 0px;">Elliot Kaufman: Sure. Thanks for having me on Kate. There are plenty of Israelis who would agree with Senator Schumer. There are plenty who would disagree, but I think what they would all say is that it's not his place, it's not his country. He doesn't get to say when Israel has an election, when a government has to fall, when the country's policy has to change. So, you've seen Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's leading opponents, people who would usually be more than happy to say bad things about him have to come and rally to his side here, Benny Gantz, Netanyahu's chief opponent coming out and saying that, this is a decision for Israelis to make, not an American Senator, no matter how powerful. Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, another Netanyahu opponent coming out and saying, Israel is not a banana republic. America doesn't get to dictate what happens in this way. So, if the intent was to undermine the Prime Minister, I don't think it has succeeded in Israel. Israelis don't like to hear their country given orders about basic democratic processes.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Exchange, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; margin: 20px 0px;">Kate Bachelder Odell: Right. One of the things I find fascinating about this speech from Schumer is that if you read the full text of it, the first half of it is actually a remarkably cogent defense of Israel's existence, that it's not a 20th century invention and a very clear-eyed description of Israel's enemies and what they face against Hamas and Schumer recalls things like when he was younger listening over the radio about whether Israel was going to win the Six-Day War. So, what boggles my mind is that he kept going, and obviously the speech is not remembered for any of those features that I'm describing now. So, this is I guess, more of a question about the American left, but there's clearly some sort of change going on among Democrats, among the Biden administration and their posture toward Israel. Can you give us any more understanding of how maybe America's bent toward Israel has changed over the past couple of weeks?</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Exchange, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; margin: 20px 0px;">Elliot Kaufman: You're absolutely right about there being two sides to Senator Schumer's speech, and I think you have to read it in the context of a campaign by President Biden over the past several weeks, months, maybe a month and a half, to really up the rhetorical ante against Israel, except he would put it differently. He would say it's against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The truth is, that plays well with American liberals, not only the anti-Israel left, but American liberals in general who have come to a situation where you can really say anything about Prime Minister Netanyahu and it's okay. The problem is what Netanyahu is being attacked for aren't things where he is on one side and the Israeli people are on another. That's what President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have tried to argue, but on every issue they pick, those are the issues where Netanyahu is actually aligned with Israelis on issues like what to do about Rafah, Hamas' final stronghold in Gaza. On issues like a Palestinian state now. Israelis find that idea absolutely crazy. They can't believe an American would think that's a good idea right now, even on things like humanitarian aid, where I would argue the Prime Minister is actually out in front of where Israelis are. Most Israelis don't like the idea of sending in humanitarian aid while their hostages are still suffering there 150 days in. Netanyahu is sending aid, and so by attacking the Prime Minister on these issues, they're really undermining their argument that the US problem is just with Netanyahu and not with Israel.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Exchange, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; margin: 20px 0px;">Kate Bachelder Odell: I thought your point in your piece for us Elliot was brilliant that, folks assume that if Netanyahu were gone, that they'd get somebody who were closer in agreement with the Biden administration, but in turn the reality might be quite the opposite. You mentioned Rafah and President Biden declared it would be a red line, which is an odd thing to say to an ally of any variety as opposed to an adversary, but maybe you could give us a little bit more insight into what Israel is planning in Rafah, what the potential for Israel to go into Rafah is, and how that pressure not to go into Rafah is actually playing there, whether it's having any effect or maybe the opposite effect in giving more Israel resolve, that it really does need to finish the job of eliminating the threat of Hamas.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Exchange, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; margin: 20px 0px;">Elliot Kaufman: Yes, so the Israeli war effort has two goals. One of them is to destroy Hamas. The other is to free the hostages that Hamas has been holding. These two objectives sometimes go hand in hand and sometimes not. So Rafah, the argument is, you can't destroy Hamas if you're going to leave it, an entire city as a stronghold where it has an estimated 40% of its military forces sitting where its senior leadership is believed to be hiding and where the hostages are believed to be held, most of them. So, the argument from an Israeli perspective is very clear for why there has to be some sort of military operation against Rafah. However, there are all kinds of other strategies being pursued at the same time, the Biden administration, President Biden really doesn't talk about destroying Hamas anymore. He did at the start of the war, and it really gave Israelis a boost of morale. President Biden went there to Israel, gave some very powerful speeches, but these days he just never mentions it, victory defeating Hamas, that's simply fallen off of his list of priorities, instead, he talks about humanitarian aid and he talks about bringing the war to a close. Now, the way to do that for him is with some kind of hostage deal and talks have been going on and there's some progress lately, but one can never know. The way that these two issues intersect is that President Biden would like a hostage deal that comes with a six-week pause in the fighting and then use that to get a larger ceasefire. He's been fairly open about this. Now his way to get there has been to pressure Israel, new policy measures, threats about suspending weapon shipments, escalating anti-Israel rhetoric. It's been pressure on Israel, Israel, Israel to try to get this hostage deal. The problem is Hamas has seen that too, and so in the last several weeks, we've seen Hamas harden its negotiating stances and move further away from a deal. Why after all should Hamas go to a deal if Israel's threat of an invasion of its final stronghold Rafah, is no longer credible? So, the Biden administration's actions are in some ways working at cross purposes with its goals.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Exchange, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; margin: 20px 0px;">Kate Bachelder Odell: Your point about victory just completely being absent from the discussion is a great larger point about the Biden administration's foreign policy in general, and reminds me of Ukraine where victory has also dropped off as any sort of objective the US should have. But we'll take a quick break and we'll be back talking more with Elliot about the war in Israel.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Exchange, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; margin: 20px 0px;">Speaker 7: Don't forget. You can reach the latest episode of Potomac Watch anytime. Just ask your smart speaker, play the Opinion Potomac Watch podcast.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Exchange, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; margin: 20px 0px;">Audio: From the Opinion pages of the Wall Street Journal. This is Potomac watch.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Exchange, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; margin: 20px 0px;">Kate Bachelder Odell: Welcome back to Potomac Watch. I'm Kate Bachelder Odell chatting here with my colleague Elliot Kaufman about war in Israel. Elliot, one thing you mentioned in your last remarks was about these potential threats to cut off US weapon support for Israel. Now, the Biden administration has been saying all of these bromides about we will never abandon Israel, but then leaving it open to the possibility that they would cut off some weapon support or put restrictions on weapons or maybe supply things like Israel's Iron Dome interceptors to help it protect its cities, but lay off some more active support. My understanding of my own reporting is that Israel really could benefit and needs US support on items like precision-guided munitions, whether that's artillery or guided bombs. I guess my question for you, having spent the week there is, how seriously are the Israelis taking those threats that maybe US support won't be there, and what are Israel's options if that were to happen? How are they thinking about the potential unreliability of the Biden administration?</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Exchange, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; margin: 20px 0px;">Elliot Kaufman: It's a good question. Lack of ammunition is one of the most serious threats to the Israeli war effort, and it has been almost right from the start. Now, this is talked about all the time in Israel, but not so much in America. When you talk to senior Israeli officials about this, political officials, military officials, ammunition is the one thing where they will signal to you how serious it is, so much so that they really can't say much. Now, what I've been able to hear is that in the first two weeks of the war effort, Israel was running dangerously low. I've spoken to reserve soldiers who were told their unit could only fire 10 rounds of artillery that day. They had a set quota they simply could not exceed. The question is how did they get into a situation like this? There are a few reasons. One of them is completely inadequate Israeli planning. They weren't ready for a real war, especially not on two fronts, because Israel has to hold so much ammunition in reserve for Hezbollah in the north. They can't simply use all of it on Hamas in the South. The second point though is that many of these US ammunition stocks that were held in Israel were sent to Ukraine during that war. Now, that was a perfectly legitimate choice, but Israel found itself scrambling for these weapons that would've otherwise been on its own territory, US weapons. The third thing I would point to is Israeli officials will say that US ammunition transfers, well, there were many more of them at the start. They've been slower. There's been some stalling by the US and now there are leaks every day in the US press about weapons being cut off, conditioned, there was a US policy change adding all sorts of strings to how the weapons can be used and so forth, not in a way that would take them away from Israel, but in a way that was aimed at Israel seemingly to make it nervous. So, when you talk to Israelis, this is one of the number one issues that they say is holding up an operation on Rafah, holding up the war in general, they say that the war in Gaza would've been over months ago if the ammunition had arrived on the pace that they would've liked, and so it's in America anyway, one of the untold stories of the war and definitely one to watch going forward.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Exchange, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; margin: 20px 0px;">Kate Bachelder Odell: Fascinating stuff Elliot, but slightly alarming. We've talked a lot on this podcast about the US' ammunition shortages and struggle to provide enough for Ukraine in artillery, so there's a global run on artillery, it seems like. One quick thing I want to ask you about here towards the end, we have this week the Biden administration renewed that $10 billion sanctions waiver on Iran. A great theme of this podcast in our pages has been discussing the ways in which the Biden administration doesn't quite appreciate how Iran is driving events in the region and how Hamas is a subsidiary of Iran. How has that news, has that had any effect in Israel, and is there any sense in Israel that the Biden administration is doing this two-step sanctions relief for Iran while supporting Israel? What is your view of that decision and how is it being received in Israel?</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Exchange, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; margin: 20px 0px;">Elliot Kaufman: Well, the first thing that came to mind is something that an Israeli minister told me, and that is that, strategically, the US Is still in October 6th. Israelis talk this way. They speak about the October 6th army, or if they're talking about the future, the October 8th army, what is it going to look like? The US, I'm afraid he's right. Strategically, the Biden administration is still in October 6th. It hasn't changed its perception of Iran. It hasn't fundamentally changed its policy toward Iran. It still thinks that concessions can be made to sort of buy quiet, or if not quiet totally, then quieter than it might otherwise be. So a $10 billion sanctions waiver when Iran is financing a war against Israel on so many fronts, when its proxies are shooting on US troops and have been shooting on US troops. It's hard to understand how the US could think it's a good idea to allow more funds to go to Iran because we know what it's going to do with it. One other point is that just lately, there have been these reports that the US is threatening sanctions on Iran if it signs a ballistic missile deal with Russia to send ballistic missiles for Russia's use in Ukraine. Now, what Israelis have been saying is that these two policies in combination don't make any sense. Why is the US with one hand giving a $10 billion sanctions waiver and with the other hand threatening ballistic missile sanctions? The policy just seems incoherent, and I think until the US, really the Biden administration changes the way it conceives of this war. Not of Hamas starting a war, Hezbollah joining in, but of the Iranian axis going to war with Israel and the US in the region, we're going to continue to see this policy incoherence.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Exchange, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; margin: 20px 0px;">Kate Bachelder Odell: Well Elliot, it sounds like a fascinating and productive trip. Thanks so much for coming to fill us in. That's all for this week on Potomac watch. We'll be back on Monday.</p></div><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2938958149300744959.post-49246876248690368512024-03-08T02:43:00.000-08:002024-03-09T10:28:15.593-08:00 Yuri Fedorov: The Ukrainian Front of the Third World War <p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The following is the google translate of a chapter </span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">published in Russian in </span></span><a href="https://storage.googleapis.com/istories/opinions/2024/02/03/delo-ne-v-putine-prosto-v-rossii-zhivut-takie-lyudi/index.html?fbclid=IwAR0YKVAOXFdz-IG4FUqmqiC6BHprIMZLwTU4RrC9kJd1BzF-5btr9DpAMs0" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #1155cc; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">ВАЖНЫЕ ИСТОРИИ</span></a> <span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> from Yuri Fedorov’s new book <i>The Ukrainian Front of the Third World War </i></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Hopefully, the book will be translated into English ASAP. </span></span></p><p><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; text-align: justify; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; text-align: justify; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTQXKGxvi8hXXaoDALKTjdx5hM09ZXIATaXqOjPvqM6dB1pDehE1D28_hK5zgYV2Af_shRiKSxAxv-PfiuyLhAbbztsPBxoaRFlWaHmszRrcQSGwt_EdMML0QpYeGEwNVS5HSFzlQ-jC8iOGloSj9qALJIYKrLir7-t3OTS9R2lp6oFgzR75mrF-dEcj4/s950/YuriFedorov.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="539" data-original-width="950" height="182" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTQXKGxvi8hXXaoDALKTjdx5hM09ZXIATaXqOjPvqM6dB1pDehE1D28_hK5zgYV2Af_shRiKSxAxv-PfiuyLhAbbztsPBxoaRFlWaHmszRrcQSGwt_EdMML0QpYeGEwNVS5HSFzlQ-jC8iOGloSj9qALJIYKrLir7-t3OTS9R2lp6oFgzR75mrF-dEcj4/s320/YuriFedorov.png" width="320" /></a></span></div><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; text-align: justify; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; text-align: justify; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Russian threat is usually associated with the personality of Putin, which was discussed in the first part of this book. Putin and a number of people around him are indeed the most important driving force behind Russian aggression. But the secret of his long stay in power and the absence of significant opposition movements and sentiments is that Putin’s strategic ambitions and phobias coincide with the instincts of the Russian ruling class and mass consciousness, and his policies realize the claims of the Russian ruling elite and society: historical revenge and the restoration of a powerful Eurasian empire.</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-899faf9a-7fff-9441-9ed0-f5003ce95ed9"><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">From Primakov to Crimea </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In the first two or three years after the collapse of the USSR, it was assumed that Russia should become an ally of the West, weaken the role of the military command in the life of the country, form a “belt of stability and good neighborliness” along the borders, that is, respect the independence and territorial integrity of the independent states that emerged from the ruins of the USSR.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This line, which was named after its author, the first Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev, faced resistance from the army generals and the directorate of the military-industrial complex, the state security leadership, most of the regional elites and academic circles. It was finally buried in 1996, when Academician Yevgeny Primakov, director of the Foreign Intelligence Service, became head of the Foreign Ministry. “All of us in the leadership of the SVR,” he wrote, “were well aware that with the end of the Cold War the concept of “enemy” will not disappear <...> The leaders of a number of Western countries are acting to prevent Russia from playing a special role in stabilizing the situation in the former republics of the USSR, disrupt the development of trends toward their rapprochement with the Russian Federation.”</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Primakov declared Russia’s most important foreign policy objectives to be opposition to NATO expansion, preservation of the Slobodan Milosevic regime in the former Yugoslavia, and the transformation of the CIS states into a strategic forefield where Russian troops would be stationed for operations “on distant frontiers.” None of these goals were achieved. But Primakov was able to transform the phobias, ambitions and expectations of the Russian elite into strategic concepts. The current Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is right: Primakov is indeed “the author of the key provisions of the foreign policy doctrine of modern Russia.”</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The outside world was declared a center of danger, and the main threat to Russia's security was the establishment of a “unipolar world.” Washington was accused of undermining Russia's international influence and pushing it out of its traditional zones of influence and spheres of interest. This is a typical explanation for Russian political thinking of its own expansion by concern for countering an external threat. “Constantly at war and expanding in all directions, she [Russia] nevertheless believed that she was constantly under threat,” wrote Henry Kissinger.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In the 1990s and the first half of the 2000s, the emphasis was on manipulating contradictions between stronger actors in world politics. Actually, this was the meaning of the concept of “multipolarity” invented by Primakov. Western unity during the Cold War, he argued, was the result of confrontation with the USSR. But as soon as the Soviet threat disappeared, contradictions between the United States, Europe and Japan undermine their former military-political and economic unity, and China turns into a superpower competing with Japan and the United States. Moscow must stimulate contradictions between these centers of power and, by playing on them, achieve its goals. However, this concept turned out to be stillborn. The Japanese-American military alliance remained in force. In the 1990s, NATO survived and expanded, and after 2014 and especially 2022, the North Atlantic Alliance became the focus of the military-political power of the West, opposing Russian expansion.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In Russia it is often discussed that, having come to power, Putin sincerely wanted to be friends with the West, join NATO, and supported the deployment of American bases in Central Asia, necessary for the operation in Afghanistan. But contrary to Moscow’s demands, the United States withdrew from the ABM Treaty, and the states of Central and Eastern Europe were accepted into NATO, including, which especially irritates the Kremlin, the Baltic states. And, accordingly, Putin could not help but react to the hostile behavior of the West. This version is sometimes repeated in the West: if the Baltic states had not been accepted into NATO, then today Russia would be an ally of the North Atlantic Alliance and world politics would develop along a completely different trajectory.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The reality, however, is different. Indeed, once in the Kremlin, Putin tried to reduce tensions with the West - at that time Russia did not have the resources for a new confrontation with it. The war in Chechnya consumed almost all combat-ready units of the army. World oil and gas prices in 2000–2002 were only slightly higher than in the 1990s. In Moscow they spoke with alarm about a default in 2003, when the peak of payments on external loans would occur. Thus, without the weakening of the confrontation with the West, Putin’s presidency would have gone down in history as a “presidency of disaster.”</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But in 2003, oil prices went up. A harsh anti-American campaign has unfolded in Russia in connection with the US operation in Iraq. Shortly before this, the State Duma postponed the ratification of the agreement signed with the United States on the reduction of strategic offensive capabilities. In early 2007, in Munich, Putin gave a keynote speech, saying that the economic and military power of the United States did not correspond to its claims to “global leadership,” and that Russia had always “enjoyed the privilege of pursuing an independent foreign policy” and was not going to “change this tradition.” It quickly became clear that “independent policy” means a policy independent of the rule of law and the need to comply with agreements signed by Russia.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Munich speech reflected the ideas that had become entrenched in the Russian establishment about the strengthening of Russia and the deepening crisis of the West. The Russian foreign policy concept approved by Putin in December 2016 stated, for example, that “the ability of the historical West to dominate the world economy and politics is being reduced.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">As a result, as Moscow believed, the possibility of taking “historical revenge” opens up: establishing military-political control over the territory of the former USSR and East-Central Europe, as well as the destruction of NATO, which should have been presented with a dilemma - surrender or nuclear war. According to the Kremlin’s logic, Euro-Atlantic civilization has entered a period of decline, unable to cope with the growing crisis, and unable to resist by force the growing influence of Russia. And even if Western elites are able to stabilize the situation in the future, the Kremlin believes, it is necessary to take advantage of their current weakness and ensure the most favorable positions for future confrontation.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The response to the Russian invasion of Georgia in 2008 and the annexation of Crimea in 2014 reinforced Moscow's confidence in the weakening of the West. In both cases, the United States and Europe were faced with a choice: either a new Cold War or non-resistance to the aggressive actions of the Kremlin. The West's reaction was ambivalent. In August 2008, warships of NATO member states, including American destroyers with cruise missiles, entered the Black Sea. This stopped the Russian troops rushing towards Tbilisi. However, by the end of the year they tried to forget about the invasion of Georgia. From the report of the European Union commission, known as the Tagliavini report, it is impossible to understand who is to blame for the outbreak of the war. Events developed in a similar way after the annexation of Crimea. On the one hand, Western states introduced economic sanctions against Russia, on the other, they set as their goal the settlement of the Russian-Ukrainian confrontation on the basis of the Minsk agreements. This effectively legitimized the Russian occupation of Crimea and turned the so-called people's republics of Donbass into a powerful instrument of Russian influence in Ukraine.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The people are ready for aggression</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The revanchist and militaristic nature of the strategic thinking of the Russian establishment and the aggressiveness of Russian foreign policy are due to the peculiarities of the Russian mentality. According to the Levada Center, which publishes fairly reliable (at least the most reliable of all known) data on the attitude of the Russian population to the war in Ukraine, about 70% of respondents consistently approve of it, approximately 20% disapprove of it, the rest cannot formulate their attitude towards it These data, naturally, were questioned by many: in a strictly authoritarian regime that is turning into a totalitarian regime, people are afraid to express their real attitude to current political problems for fear of reprisals.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Sociologists can be trusted or not. But you can't help but believe the facts. Anti-war protests at the beginning of the war were weak and today have been reduced to a minimum. Last fall, several hundred thousand people fled the country from mobilization. This is a small—maximum 10%—proportion of those who can be drafted into the army. The majority of those remaining, having received the summons, obediently go to the recruiting stations. The discontent of those mobilized is not caused by a protest against an aggressive war, but by the bungling of the authorities, poor provision, late payment of money, and the like.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It is also striking that the results of the Levada Center surveys correlate with the conclusions of numerous studies conducted before the start of the Russian-Ukrainian war. Thus, analyzing the reaction of Russians to the Kremlin’s aggression against Georgia, sociologists recorded a strange situation: on the one hand, in the summer of 2008, about two-thirds of respondents did not fully or partially trust the Russian media, on the other hand, almost immediately after the start of the invasion of Russian troops in Georgia, the official the picture of what was happening, broadcast on television channels, was accepted by 70 to 80% of adult residents of Russia. Putin's personal rating jumped in the fall of 2008 to a record 88%.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Events developed in the same way immediately after the annexation of Crimea. Putin's ratings rose quickly, rising by about twenty percentage points. The highest figure—88%—was in October 2014, after Russian troops attacked the Ukrainian cities of Mariupol and Ilovaisk. The mass consciousness entered a hysterically excited state, giving rise to the odious slogan “Crimea is ours!”, which, like a drop of water, reflected deeply rooted public sentiments As the famous Russian psychologist and psychotherapist Andrei Gronsky wrote: “Since the spring - summer of 2014, on the public stage we have been seeing a different person - a person obsessed with ridiculous, overvalued ideas, emotionally excitable and aggressive. <...> I would call a person of the 90s antisocial, a person of the 00s hedonistic, and a person of 14–15 years old psychotic (of course, not in the strict clinical meaning of the word). The question arises as to how a generally reasonable and peace-loving person could suddenly turn into an angry paranoid.”</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Sociologists and psychologists have yet to explain this feature of Russian society. Moscow's aggressive policy, experts say, fully corresponds not only to the conscious, but also to the unconscious attitudes and expectations of at least three-quarters of the population. Leading analyst of the Levada Center Boris Dubin wrote: “I want to emphasize: this is not at all about “imposing” on the masses or the notorious “manipulation” of mass consciousness, its “zombification” by the media and political experts, but about semantic permission, if anything - a blessing, and additional symbolic reinforcement of those moods and stereotypes that already exist among the masses, but in an uncondensed, vague, unarticulated form.” In other words, propaganda liberated, legitimized, gave a more or less complete stable verbal form to the aggressive, militaristic and revanchist mentality and emotional state of mass consciousness and consolidated the political stereotypes that originally existed in it. This calls into question the idea that a change in propaganda strategy, say, in the case of replacing Putin and his clique at the top of Russian power, will lead to a change in the basic imperial and revanchist attitudes deeply rooted in the consciousness of the average Russian. At least for part of the Russian population, a change in propaganda theses may cause rejection. And finally, one of the factors of Putin’s overwhelming popularity becomes clear: the content and style of his thinking, declared values, geopolitical views, even humor, which is not without reason considered an example of bad taste, coincide with the way of thinking of 80–85% of Russians, who consistently approve and support his activities.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The fact that militaristic propaganda is readily accepted by Russian society, with the exception of a relatively small part of it, means that this society consciously or subconsciously shares the very assessments, views and stereotypes that the pro-Kremlin media instill in it. Facts that contradict the formed vision of what is happening are either simply ignored or interpreted in the desired direction. This well-known phenomenon, called the “paralogical type of thinking,” is characteristic of Russian mass consciousness. The latter has been formed over centuries. But the Soviet years were especially important, when total indoctrination was supported by equally total terror. The idea that one can avoid the Gulag and even save one’s life is firmly established in the minds of homo soveticus, not only by declaring one’s loyalty to the leaders, but also by accepting the way of thinking they impose, by believing what the authorities instill in their subjects. Psychologists can explain this not only by elementary fear, but also by the desire to avoid cognitive dissonance, a feeling of deep emotional discomfort caused by a clash in the mind of conflicting ideas, ideas, beliefs, values or emotional reactions, on the one hand, imposed by the authorities, and on the other, reflecting personal , an alternative to the official picture of the world. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Numerous researchers have tried to understand the causes and origins of the militarization of mass consciousness, the widespread prevalence of xenophobia and ethnic hatred, mythologized concepts that justify and glorify war, and the search for an external enemy. Many works noted a deficit of critical-analytical thinking and, accordingly, adherence to an indoctrinated point of view, infantile dependence on the authorities and pro-government media, rejection of logical arguments and facts. There are many theories that describe and explain these phenomena. They do not contradict each other and together form a complete picture. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Russian philosopher Igor Klyamkin is looking for the origins of the militarized culture of Russian society in the type of statehood that emerged as a result of the long stay of the Moscow Principality as part of the Golden Horde. The Moscow state was built on the model of a “big army.” “The statehood and, accordingly, the culture of post-Mongol Muscovy initially developed as a statehood and culture of a militaristic type,” writes Klyamkin. - <...> We are talking about militarization not only in the sense of spending most of the resources for military purposes, but also about the way the state is organized, as well as its relationship with the population.” Militarization, which also extended to peacetime, blurred “in people’s minds the boundaries between war and peace. And, accordingly, it could not but affect the type of culture that was establishing itself in Muscovy. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Not everyone in the Russian scientific community agrees with this. But in itself, the initial thesis about Russia as a militaristic type of state does not raise doubts. The entire system of power relations was built not on the basis of legal norms, to which both rulers and their subjects had to obey, but according to the army type, which presupposed the unquestioning subordination of the lower levels of the bureaucratic hierarchy to the higher ones. This organization of social relations best met the tasks of permanent territorial expansion, first of the Muscovite kingdom, and then of the Russian Empire, which was carried out primarily by military force. At the same time, the mentality of an “obedient subject” was formed, accustomed to submission, unquestioningly carrying out not only the orders and instructions of his superiors, but also easily assimilating the ideological and political doctrines and views imposed from above. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">According to another concept, the militarization of Russian mass consciousness was a consequence of “negative selection”, which contributed to the accumulation of militaristic views, attitudes and sentiments in the Russian public consciousness, which has reached a dangerous level in our days. The changes experienced by the population of Russia, wrote the outstanding Russian sociologist Pitirim Sorokin, “are typical of all major wars and revolutions. The latter have always been a tool of negative selection.” In particular, “the more strong-willed, gifted, morally and mentally developed” died in large numbers. Persons who are morally defective suffered less. During the revolution, conditions were just favorable to their survival. In conditions of brutal struggle, lies, deception, unprincipledness and moral cynicism, they felt great; they occupied profitable positions, committed atrocities, cheated, changed their positions as needed, and lived a satisfying and cheerful life.” </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Great Terror and World War II dealt a terrible blow to public morality in the former USSR. In order to survive, many people did not simply remain silent, without risking giving away a critical attitude towards Soviet reality with a careless word, but consciously or subconsciously forced themselves to believe in Bolshevik propaganda in order to avoid split thinking. As a result, a huge number of people became accustomed to communist dogmas, some deeply believed in them. And these dogmas, as one of the deepest experts on Soviet Bolshevism, Alexander Yakovlev, wrote, “harshly and strictly dictate the policy of violence as the “midwife of history.” Communism in Russia died before the collapse of the USSR, but its inherent logic of thinking, ideas about violence as the main or even the only political instrument remained and, largely thanks to Kremlin propaganda, were transferred to the foreign policy sphere.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The rootedness of militaristic attitudes in Russian society is also associated with the spread of the sadomasochistic personality type in it. “For the authoritarian character there are, so to speak, two sexes: the powerful and the powerless,” wrote Erich Fromm. “Strength automatically evokes his love and willingness to obey, regardless of who showed it. Strength attracts him not for the sake of the values that stand behind it, but in itself, because it is strength. And just as power automatically earns his “love,” powerless people or organizations automatically earn his contempt. At the mere sight of a weak person, he feels the desire to attack, suppress, humiliate. <…> An authoritarian personality feels the more rage, the more helpless its victim is.” In other words, a person best suited to existence in an authoritarian or totalitarian society finds a kind of pleasure in subordination to his superiors and at the same time overcomes the feeling of his own inferiority caused by this subordination, subordinating and humiliating people who are weaker or standing on the lower steps of the social ladder. This mechanism largely explains the origin of the aggressiveness of modern Russian society towards, for example, Ukraine and Ukrainians. Open hostility towards the former “brotherly people”, the desire to humiliate them by taking away Crimea or Donbass, may well be the product of a deeply hidden but powerful feeling of one’s own humiliation and discrimination in one’s own country. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Another mechanism, closely related to the authoritarian, sadomasochistic nature of mass consciousness, is based on the desire to compensate for one’s own weakness and humiliation by associating with a powerful state pursuing a tough aggressive policy towards its neighbors. Alexander Asmolov, one of the leading Russian psychologists, writes: “This is not masochism or even sadism, this is a different mechanism. As soon as a particular culture chooses a mobilization scenario rather than an innovative development scenario as a development strategy, it actualizes patriotism as a love not for society, but for the state. And it completely mobilizes all aggressive-patriotic xenophobic mechanisms. As soon as the country chose crisis as the path of development, as soon as we became a great country of permanent crisis, the main thing we do is to protect our security. <…> Thus, aggression exists at the political level as a tool for maintaining the crisis and justifying rigid vertical forms of power.” </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The main conclusion seems far from optimistic. The aggressive foreign policy of Putin’s Russia, which took its final form in 2014, was generated not only by the views and geopolitical ideas of Putin himself, part of the highest circles of the bureaucracy, the interests of the military command, the owners of the military-industrial complex and the heads of the security services. Russia's aggressiveness on the world stage has deep roots in Russian society and reflects expectations, phobias and other mental and emotional characteristics of the Russian mass consciousness. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“The annexation of Crimea gave such a powerful effect of triumph and self-satisfaction, a sense of demonstration of strength, that it eliminated or pushed aside all claims to power,” wrote Levada Center director Lev Gudkov. — The annexation of Crimea and policy towards Ukraine, the war in Donbass, confrontation and demonstration of force towards the West have sharply increased Russians’ self-respect. I would say they doubled it. And claims to power and ideas about power as corrupt and selfish have not so much changed as they have been put into brackets.” This circumstance makes Russia and its foreign policy truly dangerous</span></p><div><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2938958149300744959.post-64221192075852425622024-02-18T02:05:00.000-08:002024-02-18T02:05:07.005-08:00Comment on Russia has died with Navalny<p style="text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIPi4Wrpu6OYC0Q9rVGi8m-o9OHtdUq_xvhK8bi-INDm1LbJJcoZHH6aKhJ_t-xJAsoQDQYIAVz8jiE2x2-VZduoyxH9GHi-w6k0pdawVn2H6P2vW1ihZd2DSEf6Qwqa4t99noFzBIotV5_CbttgrcOgBgCYo4yDHPuLqa18zWGz7w6cVjJV6MvohdXwY/s286/Navalny2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="176" data-original-width="286" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIPi4Wrpu6OYC0Q9rVGi8m-o9OHtdUq_xvhK8bi-INDm1LbJJcoZHH6aKhJ_t-xJAsoQDQYIAVz8jiE2x2-VZduoyxH9GHi-w6k0pdawVn2H6P2vW1ihZd2DSEf6Qwqa4t99noFzBIotV5_CbttgrcOgBgCYo4yDHPuLqa18zWGz7w6cVjJV6MvohdXwY/s1600/Navalny2.png" width="286" /></a></div><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The world is going through a dark period. I posted the following comment two days ago on Sergey Radchenko’s article in <i>The Spectator</i> </span><a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/russia-has-died-with-navalny/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Hope for Russia has died with Navalny</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4e62c4c9-7fff-16f0-3d96-6ae0584501d8"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 11pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #2a2e2e; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This is a black day for Russia and the West. Dictatorships sense when leaders of democracies are weak and take advantage of it. People living in democracies take their freedoms for granted and do not understand how totalitarian regimes function, and often underestimate the threat emanating from them. Nemtsov, Navalny and Kara-Murza had been warning for years about Putin but nobody listened. Of the three, only Kara-Murza is still alive, in prison.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 11pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #2a2e2e; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Not since the 1930s do we have such a confluence of weak leaders in the West. It boggles the mind how Biden is still trying to appease Iran and just came up with a delusional plan of recognizing a Palestinian state in the near future just 4 1⁄3 months after Oct 7. Macron and Cameron are lecturing Israel how to protect Palestinian civilians whereas the IDF already has the best noncombatant to combatant death ratio (1.5: 1 in Gaza) of any army in history, whereas for US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq the ratio was 4 civilians killed for every combatant. Only Ukraine and Israel are seriously fighting totalitarian regimes.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 11pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #2a2e2e; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">How did it come about that Russia is back where it was 80 years ago during Stalin? Perhaps the best is to read Alexei Navalny’s own explanation:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #2a2e2e; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 11.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-09d83632-7fff-17c4-106e-94a44b82c070"><a href="https://navalny.com/p/6652/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-size: 11.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline;">My fear and loathing</span></a></span><br /></span><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2938958149300744959.post-70788306151536715152024-01-16T04:28:00.000-08:002024-01-16T04:28:24.817-08:00I accuse, by Manuel Valls<p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC1o5GSsonCm2COs5iTA8X5Ypapc6Sb4Cr7FnOzm8ypEqB9db5OYEmwqzXsZr8kM9xmAQcspmr5hzm6mf-JegMqyIse2vo77M6WNrKjcEZVvkX82iEbuHxJOvssMt3Z76wcgtQ-Nlrf2ZhCkXezXyxVM2A0BVQTNOM0b5LmUW8c_8ahl9LLJXH6aeH27k/s769/valls.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="382" data-original-width="769" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC1o5GSsonCm2COs5iTA8X5Ypapc6Sb4Cr7FnOzm8ypEqB9db5OYEmwqzXsZr8kM9xmAQcspmr5hzm6mf-JegMqyIse2vo77M6WNrKjcEZVvkX82iEbuHxJOvssMt3Z76wcgtQ-Nlrf2ZhCkXezXyxVM2A0BVQTNOM0b5LmUW8c_8ahl9LLJXH6aeH27k/w400-h199/valls.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Manuel Valls</td></tr></tbody></table><br /></p><p>Google translate from French https://www.tribunejuive.info/2024/01/15/jaccuse-par-manuel-valls/ </p><p>Source: https://www.lexpress.fr/idees-et-debats/guerre-israel-hamas-jaccuse-par-manuel-valls-ZMJHJJJRABE7BG2RZC54UDKMTI/</p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">January 11, 2024, in The Hague.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The crowd is going wild. Palestinian keffiyeh hanging around the necks of the men present in the vast majority, the songs and the jumps make the flags dance above the heads galvanized by the idea of a curious victory. A few meters away, the atmosphere is one of mourning. Israeli flags slowly come to life from the tired steps of their carrier. The faces are sad, many came accompanied by a photo of a hostage. It's been a time of pain since October 7.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The day before, Jean-Luc Mélenchon was delighted on X to be invited to this event. In what capacity, one wonders, but he will be “present for peace”, in the camp of the celebration of what for some is the trial of the century. It is a “choice” according to him “which challenges the law of the strongest, the most armed or the injunctions of murderous theories such as that of the “clash of civilizations” or “the war of good against evil”. » A political choice, in short.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Between the walls facing the demonstrators stands the International Court of Justice where South Africa has indicted Israel for genocide against the Palestinians of Gaza, part of a “Continuous Nakba for 75 years”. Grotesque initiative of this government of the African National Congress, eaten away by corruption, which seeks to divert attention while the country experiences 30% unemployment and faces, each year, 30,000 assassinations and 40,000 rapes...</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt;"></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: 700; white-space-collapse: preserve;">If political indecency has raged in all countries of the world in recent months, it finally finds its peak in the main judicial organ of the United Nations. The trial of the century, they said, or the Dreyfus affair of our time. </span><b>“Since they dared, I will dare too. " 126 years later, it's my turn to tell the whole truth.</b></div><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The truth first about the trial and the false accusations made against Israel.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Because the South African pleading is distressing. Edited around videos found on social networks and shocking sentences published in the press and on the web, the lawyers follow one another to assert a single message: in the bombings of the Gaza Strip, Israel's sole objective is to to destroy the “subgroup” of Palestinians in Gaza.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">A particularly attractive idea for anti-Zionists who dream of Israel as the great tyrant of the Middle East, but what about the 1,200 people murdered in the wildest hatred, dismembered, raped, decapitated, burned? What about the more than 7,500 injured and the 139 hostages including 19 bodies removed during the massacre of October 7, 2023, not counting the 110 released and traumatized for the rest of their lives? What about the 500,000 displaced within Israeli borders? What also about the incessant salvos of rockets unleashed by Hamas? What about common sense and self-defense?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The myth of a country thirsty for Palestinian blood fueled by South African accusations is a brazen lie. The accusations of genocide also seem very weak in the face of the only democratic state in the Middle East. It would be a disgrace to recall the considerable efforts made by Israel to protect civilians from this war, despite the trouble Hamas goes to to shield them. It would be disgraceful to recall that for a State which wishes the disappearance of Palestinians from Gaza, treating Gazan children and terrorists in Israeli hospitals would be counterproductive. It would be disgraceful to point out that a genocidal state would probably not welcome tens of thousands of Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank to work with the end goal of creating the conditions that could lead to their demise. And in the face of this, it would be disgraceful for a third country to persist in condemning Israel of genocidal acts.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Then the truth about a political class steeped in anti-Jewish hatred guided by an insatiable electoral thirst.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">For part of the European and international political class, none of all the abominations committed by Hamas on the Gazan population and the Israelis in particular on October 7, 2023 was enough. With Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Jeremy Corbyn at the head, and also major guests of the Hague trial at the ICJ, without us understanding in what capacity, neither the hijackings, nor the hostage-taking, nor the murders, nor beheadings, nor dismemberments, nor rapes, are sufficient to qualify Hamas as a terrorist movement. One more indignity which adds to the long respective lists of the two former elected officials of defamatory, anti-Semitic and hateful remarks. A real disaster for the French and British leftists who no longer retain any credit for the defense of humanist and universal values. Their Manichean vision of power and minorities deprives them of all lucidity, finding legitimacy in barbarism, and making them complicit in acts and crimes which should shake their most deeply held convictions, if any remain. This nauseating left has agreed to sell its weak convictions for the benefit of the supposed new proletariat that they set out to conquer: the great mass of immigration and Muslims and to hell with the defense of the popular classes and workers who no longer make enough victims to still be attractive.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The truth finally about this “war of good against evil”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“Martyrdom is undoubtedly the greatest secret of our success. Your adversary [always] seeks to kill you, except if it is not serious for you to lose your life, [if] what matters is to achieve your goal, he loses all control over you.” It is on these words of Naïm Qassem, number 2 of Hezbollah revealed in a documentary series on France 2, that this war crystallizes, not of good against evil, but this war of value. From Hamas to Hezbollah, from Daesh to all contemporary Islamist terrorist groups, the objective is the same: to destroy the West and wage a global jihad. The urgency, for Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and behind them Iran, is to put an end to the "Zionist entity" which they also call the "little Satan", and above all to overcome the American threat (“the great Satan”).</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Understanding what is happening today in the Middle East means understanding the challenges we will have to overcome tomorrow. The barbarity that was expressed and the inhumanity of the actions of October 7 gave us all a lesson about the enemies, the Islamists, terrorism, which Israelis have to fight. Ours in France and in Europe have not been and are not very different.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In this war of life against death, it is neither the Israeli bombings nor the words of the leaders that are genocidal, but rather the very existence of the State of Israel as a genocide in itself. For too long, the Palestinian flag has not been raised in pain to mourn the loss of civilians. No, for too long the Palestinian flag has been brandished with fierce rage as the political symbol of a war waged today against Jews and Israel, and tomorrow against democracies and the West. It is this visceral hatred of the values that Jews and Israel embody that unites terrorists, sovereign states and political leaders without any other apparent coherence. This “war of good against evil” that Jean-Luc Mélenchon calls is none other than a war of values between two worlds, a tireless repetition of history, and the precipitous fall into an era that we would have liked to forget.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">For the reasons given, I accuse Hamas terrorists of genocidal acts against the Palestinian population in Gaza and specifically of murder and torture of homosexuals and political opponents; serious attacks on the physical and mental integrity of Gazans by using the population, women and children, as human shields as well as schools, universities, hospitals and ambulances for terrorist purposes; intentional submission of Gazans to conditions of existence leading to its partial destruction by diverting international aid for the benefit of the development of weapons and the financing of terrorism, by confiscating humanitarian aid from civilians and holding the population hostage despite the Israeli bombing announcements; measures aimed at hindering births by depriving Palestinian women in Gaza of quality care in hospitals widely used as weapons warehouses.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I accuse Hamas</span><span style="color: #202124; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> of incessant attacks aimed at threatening Israeli territorial security and of war crimes and hostage-taking that led the State of Israel to initiate a military response in self-defense. I accuse Hamas of being solely responsible for the dramatic situation in Gaza for the Palestinians since its takeover in the strip, and for the war waged there by Israel.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I accuse Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and Iran</span><span style="color: #202124; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> of making genocidal remarks against the Jewish community, Israel, the United States and Western nations.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I accuse South Africa and their supporters</span><span style="color: #202124; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> of bringing the voice of Hamas and their propaganda to the highest authorities in the world. I accuse them of guilty silence when it was necessary to condemn Syria, Afghanistan, Yemen, Sudan, Iraq and Iran for genocide against their populations and war crimes. I accuse South Africa and their supporters of failing in their duty to prevent and punish genocidal remarks made directly and publicly against Israel. I accuse South Africa and their supporters of ignoring the massacres of October 7, which they do not consider as part of the Israeli response. I accuse South Africa and its supporters, for the reasons set out above, of bringing to the International Court of Justice an unfounded and politically motivated complaint by a rejection of the right of the State of Israel to exist and to enjoy assertive territorial security.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I accuse Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Jeremy Corbyn</span><span style="color: #202124; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> of acting as political relays for the anti-Zionism carried by Hamas by refusing to recognize the organization as terrorist and by attributing resistance activities to it.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I accuse the UN</span><span style="color: #202124; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> of lacking impartiality towards Israel, targeted by 17 resolutions in 2020 compared to 7 for the rest of the world (including one against Iran and one against Syria). I accuse the UN of incomprehensible blindness until January 8, 2024 on the rapes and sexual mutilation carried out on October 7, 2023 in Israel. I accuse the UN of a lack of distance from the information provided by Hamas concerning the deaths and attacks attributed to Israelis. The pitiful response given by the UN to Hamas's misleading information on Al-Shifa Hospital should have alerted us. I accuse UNRWA of complicity with Hamas terrorists to the detriment of the civilian population. I condemn in the strongest terms the misappropriation of European and international funds by Hamas to finance anti-Semitic school books, weapons and war infrastructure, and the terrorist group's food rationing.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">More than 100 days after the greatest pogrom that Israel has known and the attempted genocide that it had to combat, I condemn the unworthy summons of Israel to answer to accusations of genocidal acts and provide my support for democracy Israeli in this unbearable political war of which it is the target. I join the Israelis who mourn their dead and share their terror of knowing that at a time when Israel is being tried for genocide, 120 Israelis are still hostages of terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip, and victims of the abuses of which we know they are capable.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I expect from France the same commitment as Germany alongside the Israelis, a total and clear commitment, and an unequivocal condemnation of South Africa's initiative.</span></p><p></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-0dda2ecf-7fff-31a0-2261-c0a43e49700f"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Manuel Valls served as</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Prime Minister of France (2014–2016)</span></span></div><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2938958149300744959.post-74367773583195540722024-01-14T00:13:00.000-08:002024-01-14T00:13:38.971-08:00South Africa-Israel ICJ case | Israeli ministry of justice: Dr. Galit Raguan<p> <iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iuH8qJ2OlI0" title="SA-Israel ICJ case | Israeli ministry of justice: Dr. Galit Raguan" width="640"></iframe></p><p><span id="docs-internal-guid-11125672-7fff-6d19-8de4-7d81f2f49f06"></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://www.icj-cij.org/sites/default/files/case-related/192/192-20240112-ora-01-00-bi.pdf" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="-webkit-text-decoration-skip: none; background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">ICJ transcript </span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Ms RAGUAN: FACTS ON THE GROUND</span></p><p><span id="docs-internal-guid-f0e4b8f8-7fff-543f-1e6d-f49314bc9cdd"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Madam President, Members of the Court, it is an honour to appear before you on behalf of the State of Israel. As Professor Shaw noted, at this stage, South Africa does not need to prove that genocidal acts have been or are being committed. But it does have to show that the Genocide Convention is actually relevant.It has to show some level of acts and some level of intent. Professor Shaw has spoken to the issue of express intent. It is my task to speak to the circumstances of Israel’s actions. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Israel cannot possibly comprehensively address today all of the allegations made in South Africa’s Application in this regard. The Applicant paints a dire picture. But it is a partial and deeply flawed picture. The Application is so distorted in its descriptions that it prevents the Court from properly assessing the plausibility of the rights asserted by South Africa. Plausibility cannot be determined based on the unsubstantiated allegations of one party to the proceedings alone, if Article 41 of the Court’s Statute is to have any meaning. In the time available, I will address three aspects of reality on the ground that the Applicant has either ignored or misrepresented.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">First, Hamas’ military tactics and strategy. Second, Israel’s efforts to mitigate civilian harm during operational activity. And third, Israel’s efforts to address humanitarian hardship in Gaza, despite Hamas’ attempts at obstruction. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">With respect to Hamas’ military tactics and strategy, it is astounding that in yesterday’s hearing, Hamas was mentioned only in passing, and only in reference to the 7 October massacre in Israel. Listening to the presentation by the Applicant, it was as if Israel is operating in Gaza against no armed adversary. But the same Hamas that carried out the 7 October attacks in Israel is the governing authority in Gaza. And the same Hamas has built a military strategy founded on embedding its assets and operatives in and amongst the civilian population. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Urban warfare will always result in tragic deaths, harm and damage. But in Gaza, these undesired outcomes are exacerbated because they are the desired outcomes of Hamas. In urban warfare, civilian casualties may be the unintended, but lawful, result of attacks on lawful military objectives. International humanitarian law recognizes this reality and provides a framework for balancing military necessity with humanitarian considerations. These do not constitute genocidal acts. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> In the current conflict, many civilian deaths are directly caused by Hamas. Booby-trapped homes detonate and kill indiscriminately. Mines in alleyways collapse structures around them. And over 2,000 rockets misfired by Hamas have landed inside Gaza, causing untold levels of harm. One telling example is a blast at the Al Ahli Hospital on 17 October. Hamas claimed that the IDF attacked the hospital; headlines around the world rushed to repeat this claim. The IDF later proved, and United States intelligence and other national security intelligence agencies independently confirmed, that the blast was the result of a failed rocket launch from within Gaza. It was not, as Hamas claimed, the fault of the IDF.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Damage to civilian structures is another fact claimed by South Africa as evidence of genocide. But South Africa does not consider the sheer extent to which Hamas uses ostensibly civilian structures for military purposes. Houses, schools, mosques, United Nations facilities and shelters are all abused for military purposes by Hamas, including as rocket launching sites. Hundreds of kilometres of tunnels dug by Hamas under populated areas in Gaza often cause structures above to collapse. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In the slides before you, you can see a militant priming projectiles for launch on IDF forces in Gaza. You can see the holes in the residential house to hide and launch them. Here you can see projectiles discovered underneath a bed in a child’s bedroom. Here, a rocket being fired from a school. The launch site is circled in red.. Here you can see militants firing from a United Nations school. You can see letters “UN” on the roof and the fire is circled in red. Here, long-range rocket launchers hidden inside a Scouts club building. Finally you can see part of a tunnel that runs for four kilometres, including nearby the Erez Crossing, which is adjacent to Israel. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Gaza’s infrastructure has certainly been harmed during the conflict. However, South Africa would have the Court believe that Israel is deliberately and unlawfully destroying homes without cause. But harm caused to lawful military objectives, and harm caused as a result of Hamas’ actions, is not evidence of genocide. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">South Africa also alleges that Israel has waged an assault on Gaza’s health system. What South Africa has neglected to bring before the Court, however, is the overwhelming evidence of Hamas’ military use of such hospitals.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Hamas militants retreated to Rantissi Hospital in Gaza on 7 October with hostages from Israel, whom they then held in the basement. 21. In the slide before you, you will see a militant going into Quds Hospital with an RPG. Hamas fired at IDF forces from near, and from within, Quds Hospital. At Shifa Hospital, Gaza’s largest, Hamas managed operations from a closed-off area. Here you can see an opening to the tunnel that ran for hundreds of metres directly under the hospital. Here, you can see the weapons found in different wings of the hospital. Here, CCTV footage showing armed militants bringing hostages into the hospital’s lobby.. More than 80 militants hiding inside another hospital, the Adwan Hospital, surrendered themselves to the IDF. Here you can see a weapon that IDF forces discovered hidden inside incubators at the hospital. The director of the hospital has admitted that numerous members of hospital staff belong to Hamas’ military wing. In the Indonesian hospital in the neighbourhood of Jabalya, Hamas forces managed their operations from that hospital until the IDF reached it. IDF forces recovered the bodies of five murdered hostages from a tunnel dug underneath the hospital. </span></p><p></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The list goes on. In every single hospital that the IDF has searched in Gaza, it has found evidence of Hamas military use. Israel is acutely aware that because of Hamas’ use of hospitals as shields for its military operations, in grave violations of international humanitarian law, patients and staff are at risk. This is why the IDF has reached out to every hospital and offered assistance in relocating patients and staff to safer areas. Hospitals have not been bombed; rather, the IDF sends soldiers to search and dismantle military infrastructure, reducing damage and disruption. Indeed, the tunnel that sat directly under the main building in Shifa Hospital was exploded without damaging the building above. The IDF then withdrew from the hospital. Yes damage and harm have occurred, as a result of hostilities in hospitals’ vicinity; sometimes by IDF fire, sometimes by Hamas. But always as a direct result of Hamas’ abhorrent method of warfare.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Israel has published plenty of evidence of the extensive misuse by Hamas of medical facilities in direct violations of international humanitarian law. It has brought journalists to see first-hand. It has recorded calls with hospital staff to co-ordinate assistance. None of that is mentioned in the Application. In fact, the Applicant describes the result and asks the Court to attribute malicious intent to Israel. But that is only a possible conclusion if one obscures, as the Applicant has, Hamas’ strategy of turning hospitals into terrorist compounds. The Applicant also made much of the fact that force has been even used in humanitarian zones. What the Applicant neglected to inform the Court, however, was that Hamas has in its contempt for Palestinian civil life regularly and deliberately fired from such zones, turning areas of relief into zones of conflict.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Here, before you, you can see one example of a launch site adjacent to the humanitarian zone, both amplified in larger pictures. 36. And in the next slide you can see evidence of a rocket launched from next to Gaza’s water desalination facility. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I now would like to address briefly the second issue: Israel’s efforts at mitigation of civilian harm. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Here, too, the Applicant tells not just a partial story, but a false one. For example, the Application presents Israel’s call to civilians to evacuate areas of intensive hostilities “as an act calculated to bring about its physical destruction”. This is a particularly egregious allegation that is completely disconnected from the governing legal framework of international humanitarian law. Evacuation of civilians is recognized under international humanitarian law as one of the measures that may be implemented to protect civilians from the effects of ongoing hostilities. Indeed, such evacuation may even amount to a duty that the party to the conflict has toward civilians.While temporary evacuation undoubtedly involves hardship and suffering, it is preferable to remaining in areas of intensive hostilities, all the more so when one party makes a concerted effort to use those civilians as shields. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The IDF maintains a Civilian Harm Mitigation Unit to undertake this task. It works full-time to provide advance notice of areas in which the IDF intends to intensify its activities, co-ordinate travel routes for civilians and secure these routes. This unit has developed a detailed map so that specific areas can be temporarily evacuated, instead of evacuating entire areas. On the slide before you, you can see that map, divided into areas, as well as a screenshot of a video explaining the system in Arabic so civilians may understand it. The IDF also enacts localized pauses in its operations to allow civilians to move. It does this even though Hamas does not agree to do the same and has even attacked IDF forces securing humanitarian corridors. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The PRESIDENT: Excuse me. I have a request from the interpreters that you slow down the pace of your speaking. Could you please do that? Thank you.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Ms RAGUAN: Of course. Yesterday, South Africa stated that the IDF gave 24 hours’ notice to civilians in northern Gaza to evacuate. In fact, the IDF urged civilians to evacuate to southern Gaza for over three weeks before it started its ground operation. Three weeks that provided Hamas with advance knowledge of where and when the IDF would be operating. This three-week period for temporary evacuation is a matter of common knowledge. And the Applicant’s misrepresentation of this fact is, at best, an unfamiliarity with the events and, at worst, a desire to tailor its story to a pre-existing narrative. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The IDF employs a range of additional measures in accordance with the obligation to take precautionary measures under international humanitarian law. For example, it provides effective advance warnings of attacks where circumstances permit. To date, the IDF has dropped millions of leaflets over areas of expected attacks with instructions to evacuate and how to do so, broadcast countless messages over radio and through social media warning civilians to distance themselves from Hamas operations, and made over 70,000 individual phone calls, including to occupants of the targets, warning them of impending attacks. This requires time. It requires resources and intelligence — and the IDF invests all of these to save civilian lives. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Here you can see the IDF’s Arabic Twitter account, providing information for civilians to evacuate specific areas, including the location of shelters nearby. Yet the Applicant astonishingly claims that these efforts are in themselves genocidal. In other words, a measure intended to mitigate harm to the civilian population, sometimes exceeding the requirements of international humanitarian law, is proof — according to the Applicant —of Israel’s intent to commit genocide, when in fact, it proves the exact opposite. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">My third topic, with respect to the humanitarian situation. Much attention was given by South Africa to this situation. Despite Israel’s efforts to mitigate harm, there is no question that many civilians in Gaza are suffering as a result of the war that Hamas began.While Israel is seeking to minimize civilian harm, Hamas is doing everything in its power to use the civilian population and civilian infrastructure for its own protection, thwarting humanitarian efforts aimed at alleviating the distress of the civilian population. Further illustration on Hamas’ tactics and Israel’s efforts can be found in tabs 4 and 9 of the volume provided to the Court.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I now turn to describe just some of the humanitarian co-ordination efforts that Israel has been engaged in and Mr Sender will further expand on this. Israel maintains a dedicated military unit, called COGAT, responsible for routine co-ordination with international organizations in Gaza with respect to various humanitarian aspects. It is COGAT that mans and operates the crossings between Israel and Gaza. This includes the Erez Crossing, through which prior to 7 October, almost 20,000 Gazans passed through into Israel daily for work. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">South Africa showed a map yesterday, with the Erez Crossing marked “closed”. What it failed to note is that the crossing was attacked on 7 October by Hamas, which murdered and kidnapped COGAT staff and caused significant damage. Here you can see some of that damage. Nevertheless, COGAT works around the clock to fulfil its role. Its large professional staff run numerous initiatives, of which I will only mention a few.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> First, COGAT manages a mechanism by which it maintains an up-to-date picture of the needs in Gaza. It does this with the United Nations, other international organizations and States, whose representatives sit in COGAT’s offices. COGAT uses this monitoring to help donor States and organizations prioritize their aid efforts to fit the evolving situation on the ground. 56. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Second, COGAT facilitates the entry of aid into Gaza. Israel has publicly stated repeatedly that there is no limit on the amount of food, water, shelter or medical supplies that can be brought into Gaza. To increase capacity, COGAT has re-opened the Kerem Shalom crossing, as acknowledged by the Security Council in resolution 2720, despite Hamas putting it under fire. Israel has offered to extend operating hours at the crossing if there is a capacity to receive the goods by international organizations on the Gazan side. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Third, COGAT works to reinforce and strengthen medical services. COGAT has facilitated the huge logistical challenge of establishing four field hospitals in Gaza, and more are being set up, and two floating hospitals. It has facilitated the entry of new ambulances into Gaza. And Israel has even co-ordinated airdrops of aid over Gaza by Jordan, co-ordinating these flights with the Israel Air Force operating in Gaza. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This, of course, is not to say that nothing more can be done, or that there are no challenges to the humanitarian situation in Gaza. Such challenges exist and change according to the evolving circumstances of the conflict. But it is to say that the charge of genocide, in the face of these extensive efforts, is frankly untenable.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It is an inconvenient truth for the Applicant’s case, but one of the most significant challenges is the fact that Hamas commandeers consignments into Gaza and controls their distribution. Gazan residents have reported that Hamas is regularly stealing aid, at the expense of its own population, for the benefit of its fighters. This is a tweet stating that fuel and medical equipment was stolen by purported Hamas members from an UNRWA warehouse. UNRWA later deleted the tweet, perhaps under pressure from the authorities.Here you can see Hamas commandeering an aid truck. And here is another example. Because Hamas for years has used aid consignments to smuggle weapons, security checks of all goods going into Gaza are required, as acknowledged by international humanitarian law. Hamas has time and again hoarded fuel, including during the current conflict, which it uses for military purposes, to sustain ventilation in its expansive underground tunnel network, and for its continued attacks against Israel. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Nevertheless, in co-ordination with the United Nations, Israel enables fuel to enter Gaza to service essential infrastructure, such as sewage treatment, desalination plants, water pumps and hospitals, and cellular infrastructure for maintaining communication. Israel remains committed to helping international organizations and States involved in the aid effort to overcome these hurdles, and consistently increase the amount of aid and services available to the population in Gaza, as will be further described by Mr Sender.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Here, a picture of incubators the IDF provided to Shifa hospital. Here, a picture of an ambulance convoy co-ordinated by COGAT. A picture of consignments. A picture of ambulances, the entry of which was co-ordinated by COGAT. And finally, more consignments waiting to enter Gaza. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> Madam President, Members of the Court, in the time allotted I have been able to describe only some of Israel’s efforts to mitigate civilian harm and to address the humanitarian situation in Gaza. But even this mere fraction is enough to demonstrate how tendentious and partial the Applicant’s presentations of these facts are, and certainly enough to conclude that the allegation of intent to commit genocide is baseless. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">If Israel had such intent, would it delay a ground manoeuvre for weeks, urging civilians to seek safer space and, in doing so, sacrificing operational advantage? Would it invest massive resources to provide civilians with details about where to go, when to go, how to go, to leave areas of fighting? Would it maintain a dedicated unit, staffed with experts, whose sole role is to facilitate aid? And who continued to do so, despite having their staff killed and kidnapped? </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">When a population is ruled by a terrorist organization that cares more about wiping out its neighbour than about protecting its own civilians, there are acute challenges in protecting the civilian population. Those challenges are exacerbated by the dynamic and evolving nature of intense hostilities in an urban area, where the enemy exploits hospitals, shelters and critical infrastructure. Would Israel work continuously with international organizations and States, even reaching out to them on its own initiative, to find solutions to these challenges if it were seeking to destroy the population? Israel’s efforts to mitigate the ravages of this war on civilians are the very opposite of intent to destroy them. Under these circumstances, far from being the only inference that could reasonably be drawn from Israel’s pattern of conduct, intent to commit genocide is not even a plausible inference. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Madam President, Members of the Court, that concludes my statement. I thank you for your kind attention and I ask that you now invite Mr Sender to the podium.</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2938958149300744959.post-56154971717748117092023-12-29T12:12:00.000-08:002023-12-29T12:18:01.064-08:00Paralysis of will. What happened to the West <p> <span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It is not ready to fully support Ukraine in the war with Russia, and Israel in the war with Hamas terrorists. This has already happened in the history of the West - on the eve of World War II</span></p><p><span id="docs-internal-guid-8771ad3d-7fff-440e-97de-21fda1e1f517"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">DATE AUTHOR</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">25 DEC. 2023 YURI FEDOROV </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXZ5V9jULwEl-A1P2SMgzmXjTtKRBtDa8WcsFDwYMg60IC1V6lu5ngL_dQUcoAqL6qKw2VSuhJtmcgVM6HEJpFg1yBGe7GwRDY0neM8wrWAuXcmN3jKi9KwJn2nMqDnAU4DkS7hUHxZ09tvLgUEFccHsflkhszHNurtMLl2yvGfaN0eXs-bcGS_OjgQTI/s253/YF.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="199" data-original-width="253" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXZ5V9jULwEl-A1P2SMgzmXjTtKRBtDa8WcsFDwYMg60IC1V6lu5ngL_dQUcoAqL6qKw2VSuhJtmcgVM6HEJpFg1yBGe7GwRDY0neM8wrWAuXcmN3jKi9KwJn2nMqDnAU4DkS7hUHxZ09tvLgUEFccHsflkhszHNurtMLl2yvGfaN0eXs-bcGS_OjgQTI/s1600/YF.png" width="253" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yuri Fedorov</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Google translate from </span><a href="https://istories.media/opinions/2023/12/25/paralich-voli/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">https://istories.media/opinions/2023/12/25/paralich-voli/</span></a><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Armed forces of Ukraine offensive ended in failure - also because the USA and Ukraine's European allies did not deploy weapons in time. The United States has delayed the adoption of decisions on the supply of Abrams tanks, ATACMS missiles, combat aircraft to Ukraine, and the quantity of these weapons, transferred or planned to be transferred to Ukraine, is minimal. There are persistent rumors that the leaders of a number of Western countries are suggesting to Kiev the need for a compromise with Moscow, an exchange of territories for peace, although there is no reason to believe that Russia will agree to any compromise solution to the conflict. A possible victory of Donald Trump in the presidential elections in the USA may turn out to be the end of American aid to Ukraine, as well as the weakening of NATO. Only one country — member of the EU, Hungary, blocks the allocation of vitally necessary funds to Ukraine, and the European giants cannot or do not want to put Budapest in its place. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The matter is not limited to Ukraine. The Global South, which is sometimes called the "world majority" and "non-Western civilizations", demands from Israel to cease fire in Gaza, which will lead to the salvation of Hamas terrorists, and the Western ruling circles persistently make Israel understand that these demands should be listened to. Demonstrations in support of Palestinian terrorists are taking place in European capitals, gathering hundreds of thousands of people. Some leading Western media principally avoid calling terrorists terrorists, inventing various euphemisms. It seems that the West is not ready to use its huge economic, technological and military resources to protect its values. It has suffered the paralysis of the will.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4143c9ca-7fff-3ab7-335b-e2a3994f90ad"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Clash of civilizations or the end of history?</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The origins of this paralysis of will go back to the early 1990s. Immediately after the collapse of Soviet communism and the Soviet empire, the Western intellectual and political community was faced with the question: what would the new world system be like? There were essentially two answers.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: arial;">One was given by the prominent American political scientist Samuel Huntington, who wrote several works under the same title, “The Clash of Civilizations.” The post-Cold War world, Huntington argued, would be a field of confrontation among civilizations—transstate communities united by a common history, culture, traditions, and religion. Huntington called radical Islam the main threat to the Judeo-Christian civilization of the West. Without going into the details of this theory, it is important to emphasize Huntington’s main conclusion: the coming era will be a period of acute conflicts and wars, but not ideological ones, as was the case during the Cold War, but civilizational ones, and the West must be ready for this both politically and in military terms.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">However, in the early 1990s, a different system of views, which was originally formulated by Huntington's student, Francis Fukuyama, under the name “end of history,” came to dominate Western political discourse and strategic thinking. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">After the victory of the West in the Cold War and the discrediting of communism as an ideology and political system, supporters of this concept argued, liberal democracy and the market economy had finally won, the West no longer had existential enemies, and therefore it was possible and necessary to focus on the global spread and establishment of the Western model.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: arial;">From this flowed a strategic doctrine, which assumed, among other things, that Russia was entering the community of developed democratic states, and the main threat not only to the West, but also to the globalizing international community were the rudiments of the outgoing system. Russia needs to be involved in common efforts with the West, attracted to the fight against terrorism, accelerating its inclusion in the Judeo-Christian civilization. The assumption, even a purely hypothetical one, about the possibility of a major war in Europe was considered at best a relic of the Cold War. Accordingly, European states minimized their armed forces and defense spending, and the military development of the United States was focused on local, mainly anti-terrorist wars in the global South and on confrontation with China. The latter, which was quickly turning into an economic giant with obvious expansionist aspirations, did not fit into the idea of the triumph of Western civilization.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: arial;">However, de-ideologization and a market economy, supporters of the “end of history” believed, would inevitably lead to the democratization of China’s political regime and its inclusion in a single world economic and political system. Until this happens, it is necessary to have a military capability capable of containing Chinese geopolitical ambitions.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In the 1990s, it seemed that the “end of history” was indeed approaching. But already in the first decade of the 21st century it became clear that nothing similar was happening. The shocking failure of a strategy based on this concept was the failed attempt to force democratic order in Iraq and Afghanistan. China has challenged the collective West, increasingly assertively strengthening its position in the global South. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The semi-market, semi-state economy does not lead to democratization of the Chinese political regime, and impressive economic growth increases foreign policy ambitions, fraught with a military clash with the United States over Taiwan.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The inconsistency of the idea of the “end of history”, the steadily approaching triumph of liberal democracy, is obvious, but the West does not yet have another strategic concept. There is no obvious appeal to the logic of a “clash of civilizations.” This is hampered, firstly, by the inertia of thinking, the inability of the majority of the Western intellectual community to admit the bankruptcy of their views. And secondly, the unpreparedness of the ruling elites for profound changes in economic and military policy, for the mobilization of forces and means necessary to protect civilization. This, in fact, is the essence of paralysis of the will.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: arial;">What to do with Russia?</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The most dangerous manifestation of paralysis of will is the lack of an effective strategy for countering Russian military-political expansion by the United States and a group of leading European states. For a long time, from the early 1990s until February 24, 2022, their policy was based on the belief that after the collapse of communism, Russia had ceased to be an enemy of the West and was gradually moving closer to it; </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">that it is possible and necessary to negotiate with Moscow; that the bursts of aggression that erupted from time to time, such as the attack on Georgia and the annexation of Crimea, were nothing more than unprincipled deviations from the main trend of Russian political evolution, which, moreover, can, at least partially, be explained by the mistakes of the West, which did not take into account Russia’s security interests , as well as the overload of Russian political thinking with stereotypes inherited from the past.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The unprovoked aggression against Ukraine and the ultimatum put forward on the eve of it for the United States and NATO to withdraw not only from the former USSR, but also from Central and Eastern Europe forced Western elites to more realistically assess both Russia and their own policies towards it. The formula about Russia as the main threat to European and international security appeared in NATO policy documents and in statements by leading Western leaders. There is a growing understanding in political and military circles in the United States and many European countries that if Ukraine is defeated, NATO will have to fight Russia.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: arial;">However, while saying A, the West is not saying B—at least not yet. It seems that in many capitals of the states of the collective West the dominant idea is that neither Ukraine nor Russia can be allowed to fail. In other words, Russia needs to be preserved as a full-fledged subject of the world and especially the European system in the hope that over time, most likely after Putin’s departure, circles and individuals capable of moderating the aggressiveness of foreign policy will come to power. As a result, the political will of the West in this direction is, if not paralyzed, then significantly weakened. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The lack of political will and determination among the leading Western states to use all their resources to defeat Russia, among other things, is explained by a lack of understanding of the underlying motives of Russian policy. Of course, we cannot exclude the possibility that Putin’s heirs will pursue a more cautious policy on the world stage for some time. However, history shows that each time after the thaw Moscow fell into a state of aggression. For centuries, the alpha and omega of the foreign policy of the Moscow Principality and the Moscow Kingdom, the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union was expansion, and the means of its implementation was military force. Historical experience was fixed in the consciousness of the Russian nation: the annexation of new lands and the expansion of the empire became its goal and raison d'être.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: arial;">From the Nile to the Neva, from the Elbe to China,</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: arial;">From the Volga to the Euphrates, from the Ganges to the Danube...</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This is the Russian kingdom... And it will never pass away,</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Somehow the Spirit foresaw and Daniel predicted.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This is how Fyodor Tyutchev, an extraordinary poet and mediocre diplomat, formulated the foreign policy ambitions of the Russian state and society. The dream of borders along the Elbe, Danube, Euphrates and Ganges still haunts the minds of the Russian ruling class. By invading Ukraine and blackmailing the West with nuclear war, Putin only once again tried to realize the “previsions of the Spirit.” Therefore, if Russia is not defeated, a repetition of aggression is inevitable.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Collective West and the Global South</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Hamas attack on Israel and subsequent events once again demonstrated that attempts to find some kind of agreement with radical terrorist forces, to involve them in mutually beneficial relations, and with the help of concessions to push them to renounce aggression, are untenable. At the same time, the Hamas invasion and its atrocities against the Israeli population made the destruction of this and other terrorist organizations in the Middle East, and the radical weakening of their main sponsor and inspirer, Iran, justified not only politically, but also legally and morally. However, the leading countries of the collective West have once again taken a half-hearted position: supporting Israel and recognizing its right to defense, they are simultaneously persuading it to reduce the intensity of hostilities, succumbing to pressure from the global South and anti-Israeli, and in fact, anti-Semitic radical left forces in the Western world.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Leaving aside the question of where the line between terrorists and peaceful Palestinian Arabs lies, let us dwell on the logic of the Western position. It is simple: by preventing Israel from completely defeating Hamas, a significant part of the ruling circles of the West is trying to avoid complications with the global South. The state of affairs is truly discouraging: the collective West is giving in to a loose conglomerate of countries that, with the exception of China, are dependent on it and are unable to compete with it either in terms of the level and quality of life, or in technological and military potential.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Is everything hopeless?</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In the twentieth century, the West several times faced challenges that could question its existence, but each time it was able to mobilize forces and neutralize them. In the late 1930s, Britain and France resisted the temptation to accept Nazi expansion, abandoned the Munich policy, and entered the war with Hitler's Germany. In December 1941, overcoming mass isolationist sentiments, the United States entered the war. In the second half of the 1940s and early 1950s, the West built a system of defense against Soviet expansion and prevented the threat from communist parties that undermined its position from within. The list goes on. Another thing is important: each time it had to overcome the paralysis of will.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: arial;">There are signs that this paralysis will be overcome and today the ruling elites of the Western world are beginning to at least understand the scale of the Russian threat. Influential American and European media and think tanks are publishing very alarming materials about the dangerous consequences of Ukraine’s defeat for Europe. Practical discussions have begun on ways to confiscate Russian assets - about $300 billion - to transfer them to Ukraine, which could compensate for the withdrawal of Western aid as a result of domestic political squabbles in the United States and Europe. And perhaps the most encouraging thing is that Israel is not yielding to pressure, is not stopping the destruction of Hamas and, possibly, is preparing to eliminate Hezbollah. And yet, as one of Stephen King’s heroes said, “you should hope for the best, but you should prepare for the worst.”</span></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2938958149300744959.post-50384872323880949022023-11-25T00:11:00.000-08:002023-11-25T01:23:46.386-08:00Bari Weiss: You are the last line of defense
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/a6i9VPrj170" title="The Last Line of Defense By Bari Weiss" width="640"></iframe>
<p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Transcribed by Rami Pinku using OpenAI </span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Thank you so much. When Jean gave me the list of people who had previously given the Barbara Olson lecture, I was absolutely sure that you guys had made a mistake in inviting me. I'm not a lawyer. I'm not a legal scholar. I'm not a former attorney general. In my time at the Wall Street Journal, I edited dozens of op-eds about Chevron deference, but I'm still not sure what the hell that means. </span></p><div><span id="docs-internal-guid-dac61c1c-7fff-f61e-65fd-e2ea8f524f16" style="font-family: arial;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I'm also not a member of the Federalist Society. My parents, who are here in the front row, who probably couldn't afford the local country club, raised us on the Groucho Marx line that I wouldn't want to belong to any club that would have me as a member. And then there's the question of my politics. I hear you guys are conservative, so forgive me then. I'd like to begin by acknowledging that we're standing on the ancestral indigenous land of Leonard Leo. I read in ProPublica that this is his turf. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But then I googled Barbara Olson. I had the privilege of editing some op-eds by Ted back in the day, and I knew that his wife had been murdered by Al-Qaeda in 9-11. But over the past few weeks in my non-spare time, I spent a bunch of it reading about Barbara herself. I read about a Texas girl, the daughter of German immigrants, who was ferociously independent. I read about how she, a Catholic, wound up at Cardozo Law School at Yeshiva University. And I read about how she, as an intern at the Department of Justice, was apparently the only person with sufficient chutzpah to personally serve the papers at the PLO mission to the UN. And I learned that she was on American Airlines Flight 77 because she was headed to LA to be on Bill Maher's show, and because she had changed her flight so she could have a birthday dinner with Ted. And I learned that she had the composure and the clarity and the courage to call him not just once but twice in those horrifying moments before the plane slammed into the Pentagon.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">There is a phrase that Jews say when a person dies, and that phrase is, may their memory be for a blessing. And it's an expression of hope. But it is so clear in the case of Barbara Olsen, and the way that the force of her life and her character extends and echoes on, that it is very much a blessing fulfilled. To say that I am honored to give a lecture in the name of such an exceptional woman would be an understatement. So thank you.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It is also, since the massacre of October 7th, a date that will be seared into the memory of civilized people alongside September 11th, profoundly fitting. </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> I don't think it's a coincidence that Israel is the only country outside of America which is home to a 9-11 memorial bearing every single one of the victims names.</span></p><div><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And of course, that is what we must talk about tonight, the civilizational war we are in, the war that took the life of Barbara Olson and 3,000 other innocent Americans on that morning of September 2001, and the war that came hideously across the border from Gaza into Israel on that Shabbat morning a month ago, the war that too many foolishly thought had ended.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The physical war currently raging in the Middle East with questions about the right way to defeat Hamas and other members of the jihadi death cult, the kind of operation Israel should be pursuing in Gaza, how America should abandon its fatal appeasement of Iran, and a hundred other strategic questions. Those are subjects for another speech and one for which there are many more qualified people to deliver. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Tonight, I'd like to talk about the war of ideas, of conviction, and of will that faces us as Americans. I want to talk about the stakes of that war and how we must wage it fearlessly and relentlessly if we seek to build a world fit for our children and if we want to save America itself. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">By the time Americans woke up on October 7, 2023, it was clear that what had unfolded while we slept was not like previous wars or battles that Israel had fought in its 75-year history. This was a genocidal pogrom. It was a scene out of the places that Jews had fled, a scene out of the history of the Nazi Holocaust or the European pogroms before that, or of the Farhud, the 1941 massacre of Jews in Baghdad, a city that, it's hard to believe now, was 40% Jewish at the beginning of the 20th century. All of these scenes reminding us of Israel's necessity.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Hamas terrorists came across the border into southern Israel on foot and on motorbike. They came by truck and by car and paraglider and they came with a plan. They came to Israel to maim and to murder and to mutilate anyone that they could find and that is what they did. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">These were Cossacks with smartphones. They called their families to brag that they had murdered Jews, dad, dad, I killed 10 Jews, said one. Others filmed the slaughter from their GoPros. Some used cell phones of the victims themselves to upload the footage of their torture and their murder so their families would have to encounter it first on their Facebook pages.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In all of this, the terrorists are laughing, they are euphoric, there is no one who has watched that horrifying, unedited footage who fails to note the hideous glee of the butchers. Some Israelis were literally disappeared on October 7th and I'm not talking about the hostages. I'm talking about people that were burned at such high heat that volunteers are still sifting through the bones and the remnant teeth to identify them. But more than 200 people are currently being held hostage by Hamas and more than 1,400 were murdered in those terrible hours. Among the dead are some 30 American citizens and there are at least 10 Americans among the hostages. All of which is why the immediate analogy the world reached for was to 9-11. As with 9-11, the terrorists caught their victims by surprise on a clear blue morning. As with 9-11, the spectacle and the savagery were the point. As with 9-11, the terrorists notched points on their sadistic scoreboard, taking from us not just precious lives but our sense of safety and security. They changed something within us.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But the difference between 9-11 and 10-7, two massacres of innocent people, symbols to their killers of Western civilization, was the reaction to the horror. The difference between 9-11 and 10-7 was that the catastrophe of 10-7 was followed on October 8th by a different kind of catastrophe, a moral and spiritual catastrophe that was on full display throughout the West before the bodies of those men and women and children had even been identified. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">People poured into the streets of our capital cities to celebrate the slaughter. In Sydney, crowds gathered at the Opera House cheering, gas the Jews. People rejoiced on the streets of Berlin and London and Toronto and New York and Paris. Then came BLM Chicago using the paraglider, a symbol of mass death, as a symbol of freedom. Then came posters across our campuses calling for Israel to burn. Then came our own offices at the Free Press in New York City vandalized with F Jews and F Israel.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Then came Harvard's task force to create safe spaces for pro-Hamas students. And then, as thunder follows lightning, more dead Jews. An anti-Israel protester outside of Los Angeles killed a 69-year-old Jewish man this week for the apparent sin of waving an Israeli flag, though NBC's initial headline made it hard to follow. Man dies after hitting head during Israel and Palestinian rallies in California, officials say. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In lockstep, the social justice crowd, the crowd who has tried so hard to convince us that words are violence, insisted that actual violence was a necessity, that rape was resistance, that torture was liberation. University presidents who leapt to issue morally lucid condemnations of George Floyd's killing or Putin's war against Ukraine offered silence or mealy-mouthed pablum about how the situation is complex and how we need to think of both sides as if there's some kind of equivalence between innocent civilians and jihadists. But the most alarming of all were the young people who threw their support not behind the innocent victims of Hamas terror, but behind Hamas and genocide. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> At George Washington University just down the road, students projected the words, glory to our martyrs, and free Palestine from the river to the sea in giant letters on a campus building. At Cooper Union in Manhattan, Jewish students had to hide in the library because a mob was pounding on the door. At Columbia, my old professor, Joseph Massad, called the slaughter awesome. At Cornell, Professor Russell Rickford said it was energizing and exhilarating. At Harvard, more than 30 student groups signed a petition that found a way to blame Jewish victims for their own deaths, saying that they, quote, hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for the unfolding violence. At Princeton, hundreds of students chanted, globalize the intifada, which can only mean one thing, open season on Jews worldwide. At NYU, students held posters that read, keep the world clean with drawings of Jewish stars in garbage cans. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Hip young people with pronouns in their bios are not just chanting the slogans of a genocidal death cult. They are going around and tearing down the photographs of women and children who are currently being held hostage in tunnels that run under the Gaza Strip, and they do so gleefully. They laugh. They mock the nine-month-old baby who was stolen from his parents. And in doing so, they are tearing down, or at least they are trying to tear down, the essence of our common humanity, or perhaps even the reality that the hostages were taken at all, or maybe it's that they're trying to extinguish their memory, or the people actually had it coming to them. Or maybe, and I say this as the mother of a young child in whose face I see the face of every single child being held captive, they are trying to tear down the divine image that is at the very root of our civilization's conception of the dignity and the equality of every human life.</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="text-wrap: nowrap;"> </span></span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">What could possibly explain this? The easy answer is that the human beings who were slaughtered on October 7th were Jews, and that anti-Semitism is the world's oldest hatred, and that in every generation, someone rises up to destroy us. They tried to wipe us out. They failed. Let's eat. That's the oldest Jewish joke in the world.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But that's not the whole answer, and that's because the proliferation of anti-Semitism, as always, is a symptom. When anti-Semitism moves from the shameful fringe into the public square, it is not about Jews. It is never about Jews. It is about everyone else. It is about the society or the culture or the country where it is being allowed to proliferate. Antisemitism is a warning system. It is a sign that the society itself is breaking down, that it is dying. It is a symptom of a much deeper crisis, one that explains how in the span of a little over 20 years since September 11th, educated people now respond to an act of savagery not with a defense of civilization but with a defense of barbarism.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It was 20 years ago when I was a college student that I began to encounter an ideology that drives the people who tear down the posters. It was 20 years ago that I started writing about this ideology that seemed to contradict everything I had been taught since I was a child. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">At first, the things I encountered like post-modernism and post-colonialism and post-nationalism seemed like wordplay or intellectual games, little puzzles to see how you could deconstruct just about anything. But what I came to see over time was that it wasn't going to remain an academic sideshow and that it sought nothing less than the deconstruction of our society from within. This ideology seeks to upend the very ideas of right and wrong. It replaces the basic ideas of good and evil with a new rubric, the powerless, good, and the powerful, bad. It replaces lots of things like that, color blindness with race obsession, ideas with identity, debate with denunciation and deplatforming, persuasion with public shaming, the rule of law with the fury of the mob. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">People were to be given authority in this new order, I learned, not in recognition of their gifts, their hard work, their talents, their accomplishments, or their contributions to society, but in inverse proportion to the disadvantage their group had suffered as defined by radical ideologues.And so as an undergraduate, I watched in horror sounding alarms as loudly as I could back then. I was told by most adults, including Jewish communal leaders, that yeah, it wasn't great, but don't be so hysterical. Campus were always hotbeds of political radicalism, they said, and this ideology they promised me would surely dissipate as young people made their way into the world.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">They were wrong. It did not do that. Over the past two decades, I saw this inverted, morally perverse worldview swallow all of the sense-making institutions of American life. It started in the universities. Then it moved beyond the quad to cultural institutions, including some that my wife and I know well, like the New York Times, as well as to every major museum, philanthropy, and media company. It has taken root in the HR departments of every major corporation. It is inside our high schools and even our elementary schools. And of course, as everyone in this room knows, it has come to the law itself. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">When you see a federal judge shouted down at Stanford, you are seeing this ideology at work. When you see people screaming outside of the homes of certain Supreme Court justices, causing them to need round-the-clock security, you are seeing its logic. The takeover of core American institutions by this ideology is so comprehensive that it's hard sometimes for people to even notice it, because it's everywhere. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Now, for Jews, there are obvious and glaring dangers in a worldview that measures fairness by equality of outcome rather than by equality of opportunity. If underrepresentation is the inevitable outcome of systemic bias, then overrepresentation, and Jews are 2% of the American population, suggests not talent or hard work, but unearned privilege. This conspiratorial conclusion is not actually that far removed from the hateful portrait of a small group of Jews divvying up the ill-gotten spoils of an exploited world. And it's not only Jews who suffer from the suggestion that merit and excellence are dirty words. It is every single American. It is strivers of every race, ethnicity, and class. That is why Asian immigrant success, for example, is seen as so suspicious. The percentages are off. The scores are too high. The starting point, as poor immigrants, is too low. From whom did they steal all of that success? </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The week since October 7th has been a mark-to-market moment. In other words, everyone can now see how very deep these ideas run, and we see clearly that they are not just metaphors. Decolonization isn't just a clever turn of phrase or a new way to read novels. It is a sincerely held political view that serves as a predicate to violence. If you want to understand how it could be that the editor of the Harvard Law Review was caught on camera a few weeks ago physically intimidating a Jewish student, or how a public defender in Manhattan recently spent her evening tearing down posters of kidnapped Israeli children, it is because they believe this and they believe it is just. And their moral calculus is as crude as you can imagine. Israelis and Jews, powerful, successful, colonizers, so they're bad. Hamas is weak. They're considered people of color, so they're good. And no, it doesn't matter that the majority of Israelis are also people of color. That baby, he's a colonizer first and a baby second. That woman, gang-raped by terrorists, shame it had to come to that, but she's a white oppressor.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This is the ideology of vandalism in the true sense of the word, the vandal-sacked Rome. It is the ideology of nihilism. It knows nothing about how to build. It only knows how to tear down and destroy. And it has already torn down so very much. The civilization that feels as natural to us as oxygen, that takes thousands of years, thousands of nudges of progress, thousands of forgotten sacrifices and risks to build up to. But vandals can make very quick work of that. Reagan used to say that freedom is never more than one generation from extinction. And the same can be said of our civilization. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">If anything good can come out of the nightmare that began on October 7th, it is this. We have been shaken awake. We know the gravity of the stakes, and the stakes are not theoretical. They are real. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So what can we do? </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">First, we need to look. We must recover our ability to look and discern accordingly. We must look past the sloganeering and the propaganda and take a hard look at what is in front of our eyes. Look first, of course, at what just happened, at the barbarism that Hamas carried out. Then look at the reaction to it. Take stock of how profoundly the lies and the rot have traveled, how badly the forces of civilization and of good are faring in this battle, how it is that the most educated, the most pedigreed have become the most morally confused. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The suspect in the killing of Paul Kessler is a college professor. To see the world as it is, we have to prize the distinctions that so many have forgotten, the distinctions between good and bad, better and worse, pain and not pain, safety and danger, just and unjust, friends and enemies. I do not need context to know that tying children to their parents and burning them alive is evil, just as I don't need a history lesson in the Arab-Israeli conflict to know that the Arab-Israelis who saved scores of Jewish Israelis that day are righteous. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Look carefully, look at your enemies and your allies, and I say that to myself more than to you. Many of you have no doubt understood this for far longer than I have, but for many people, especially many people in my cohort, friends and enemies are not who they thought they were before October 7th. Accepting this might be hard for some of you, as it has been for me. It might mean giving up on nice things, giving up on Harvard, giving up on the club, or your New York Times subscription. Sorry, wrong crowd. LAUGHTER </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But you get my point. The point is that things, prestige, they are not the point of our lives. Harvard and Yale don't give us value. We give us value. Something beyond ourselves gives us value. The something that is visible in the faces of so many people before me right now. And in recognizing allies, I'll be an example right now. I'm a gay woman who is moderately pro-choice. I know that there are some people in this room who don't believe that my marriage should have been legal. And that's okay, because we're all Americans who want lower taxes. LAUGHTER </span></p><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But I am here because I know that in the fight for the West, who my allies really are. And they are not the people who are looking at facile external markers of my identity that I might imagine them to be. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">My allies, true allies, are people who believe that America is good. My allies are people who believe that the West is good. And that human beings are created equal. And that saying so is essential to knowing what we are fighting for. America and our values, those are things worth fighting for. And that, and not any number of nonsensical or at least tertiary culture war issues, that is the priority of the day. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The other thing to look for right now is for the good. To look for the good in these moments of darkness and to not lose sight of it. There's a New York coffee shop owner named Aaron DeHaan. He had all of his baristas quit the other day because he put an Israeli flag in the window and began fundraising for Magen David Adom, which is the Israeli Red Cross. So they all quit. But his cafe didn't close. It was quite the opposite. Suppliers sent him free shipments of beans and cups. Community members picked up shifts for him for free. There were lines around the block on the Upper East Side just to buy a cup of coffee. His cafe made $25,000 in a single day. Just this week, American cowboys, I hope you guys have seen these guys on social media, American cowboys from the Great Plains and the Rockies traveled to Israel to tend the fields and animals of Israeli farmers who have been killed in the past month</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> This is the opposite of the cheap solidarity of standing with Hamas that we see across our campuses and in our city centers. This is the essence of the West. This is the essence of the idea that free people and free societies must stick together. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It's not just, as James Woolsey once put it, that we're all Jews now. The reverse is also true. Israel is a mirror for the West and for the United States, whose founders saw a version of themselves in the biblical nation that also inspired the modern Zionists, whose descendants are now looking toward America with gratitude, but also with alarm, sensing a shared struggle ahead. So the first thing we must do is look. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The second thing that we, really </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">you</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, must do is enforce the law. The wave of the so-called progressive prosecutors that have been elected across many of our cities has proven to be an immensely bad thing for law and order in cities across America. It turns out that choosing not to enforce the law doesn't actually reduce crime, it promotes it. And it is no coincidence that many of the same activists who have pushed to defund the police are now the people physically harassing Jews in our streets. Everyone in America deserves equal protection, not only of the law, but from the forces of chaos and violence.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In Brooklyn, there have been an unconscionable number of violent attacks against Orthodox Jews over the past decade, and they've been correctly identified as hate crimes. But they're also simply crimes that if the law were upheld would be far less likely to happen, whatever their motivation. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Masking at protests is illegal in many states, so that it doesn't become an attempt at mass intimidation a la the KKK. Now maybe that's a good idea, maybe it's a bad one, but in nearby Virginia, it happens to be the law. And yet, as David Bernstein recently pointed out in Eugene Volokh's blog, at George Mason University's Fairfax campus, nearly all of the protesters at a recent Student for Justice in Palestine rally were masked, completely covered. Were they punished for breaking the law? I suspect if they had, we would have read about it. The rallies that we're seeing right now would likely be less susceptible to erupting in violence if the attendants weren't covering their faces. So don't allow selective enforcement of this law or any others. If neo-Nazis and white supremacists can't do it, then neither can Hamas sympathizers. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">APPLAUSE</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The third thing, no more double standards on speech. Public universities are constitutionally forbidden from imposing content-based restrictions on free speech, and yet that's precisely what they have been doing. Ask any conservative, and I know a few now, who's tried to speak at a public university and had a security fee imposed on them or had their speech quietly moved to an off-campus venue. Private universities can legally restrict speech, but their restrictions can't be enforced discriminatorily, and yet they are. I'm just going to give you one quite amazing example from Yale Law School. In 2021, in an example I'm sure all of you will know, law student Trent Colbert invited classmates to his trap house in his announcement of a Constitution Day bash hosted by FedSoc and the Native American Law Students Association. It took 12 hours for administrators to process discrimination complaints, haul Colbert in for a meeting, and suggest his career was on the line if he didn't sign an apology that they wrote on his behalf.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The law school dean also authorized a message condemning his language. Why all of this hullabaloo? Because trap house was a term that some claimed had racist associations with crack houses. But when Jewish students wrote that dean two weeks after the Hamas attacks, detailing the anti-Semitic vitriol they had received, they got a formulaic reply from the deputy directing them to student support services. For certain students, kid gloves. For others, the maw of whatever hate their classmates and professors can dream up. The universities are playing favorites based on the speech they prefer and the racial group hierarchies that they have established. It is a nasty game and they need to be called out for it.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">APPLAUSE</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Fourth, and this is my last, accept that you are the last line of defense and fight, fight, fight. If you study history and if you look at where Jews stand for better and generally for worse, you will understand with almost 100% certainty where a culture, where a country, or where a civilization stands. Whether it's on the way up or on the way down. Whether it's expanding in its freedoms or whether it's contracting them. Where liberty thrives, Jews thrive. Where difference is celebrated, genuine difference, Jews are celebrated. And where freedom of thought and of faith and of speech are protected, Jews tend to be too. And when such virtues are regarded as threats or thrown to the side, Jews will be too. As goes Ohio, so goes the nation is the famous political phrase. The Jews, please don't quote me on this, we're Ohio.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And nothing is guaranteed, nothing. The right ideas don't win on their own. They need a voice, they need prosecutors. It's time to defend our values, the values that have made this country the freest, most tolerant society in the history of the world. and to do that without hesitation or apology. The leftist intellectual Sidney Hook, who broke with the communists and called his memoir out of step for that reason, used to implore those around him to always answer an accusation or a charge, to never let a falsehood stand unchallenged. We as a culture are leaders. We have let too much go unchallenged. Too many lies have spread in the face of inaction, inaction that's come as the result of fear or wanting to be polite. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">No more. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">You are the last line of defense. Every person is the last line of defense, and we have to think about it that way. Don't bite your tongue. Don't tremble. Don't go along with the little lies. Be the skunk at the garden party. Speak up, break the wall of lies, and let nothing go unchallenged. Our enemy's failure is not assured, and there is no cavalry coming. We are the cavalry, and our civilization depends on us</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Now I'm gonna close with maybe something unusual for a Federalist Society lecture, but it's a very, very rare thing for me to not be sitting at a Shabbat dinner table on a Friday night as the sun sets. So I hope you'll let me close with a little bit of Torah</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Tomorrow, in every synagogue around the world, we'll read the portion of the Torah where Abraham, Avraham's wife, Sarah, dies at the ripe old age of 127. We read in the Bible that she died in Kiryat Arba, now Hebron, or Hevron, in the land of Canaan. And we read that when she does, as the Bible says, Abraham proceeded to mourn for Sarah and to bewail her. And the very next verse goes like this. Then Abraham rose from beside his dead and spoke to the Hittites, saying, I am a resident alien among you. Sell me a burial site among you so that I may remove my dead for burial. So that's the first thing he does. He buys a plot of land to bury Sarah. And the second thing he does is that he goes to find a wife for his son, Isaac. The late, great, holy man, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, who I was blessed to know, tells us this about the sequence of events. Abraham heard the future calling to him. Sarah had died. Isaac was unmarried. Abraham had neither land nor grandchildren. He did not cry out in anger or anguish to God. Instead, he heard the still, small voice saying, the next step depends on you. You must create a future that I will fill with my spirit. That is how Abraham survived the shock and the grief, writes Rabbi Sacks. This is how generations of Jews before me have survived. This is how every civilization survives. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I am so honored, as I said before, to be here speaking in this place in honor of someone who stood up courageously for all the things that mattered most and who was murdered by the enemies that we are fighting still today. Her memory is a blessing for me. There is another phrase, though, that traditional Jews invoke when speaking of someone who has been murdered, and that is, Hashem yikom dama. May God avenge her death. Amen. We, human beings, leave vengeance in the hands of God, but fighting, fighting is for all of us, especially when there is something so precious worth fighting for. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Ted once said of Barbara that Barbara was Barbara because America, unlike any place in the world,gave her the space, freedom, oxygen, encouragement, and inspiration to be whatever she wanted to be. There is no place like this country. There is no second America for us to run to if this one fails. So get up, get up and fight for our future. This is the fight of and for our lives. </span></p><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2938958149300744959.post-43392761713754822182023-11-09T06:12:00.001-08:002023-11-09T06:12:57.182-08:00Douglas Murray at the Israel-Gaza border <iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="372" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LoWViuG5VYs" title="Piers Morgan vs Douglas Murray Under Fire At Israel-Gaza Border | Full Interview" width="661"></iframe><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><span id="docs-internal-guid-9a9cc1de-7fff-2ead-598c-265ef8041911"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Bravo, Douglas! One can feel that we are witnessing a crucial moment in the history of western civilization. Either we confront the Islamists or we perish. And Israel is leading the way!</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Douglas Murray proves that the Churchillian spirit of 1940 is still alive among the Brits. </span></p><div><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2938958149300744959.post-25989068395516812812023-10-31T13:28:00.004-07:002023-10-31T14:14:52.095-07:00Hypocrisie à l'ONU - Gilad Erdan dénonce le vote de la résolution "S'unir pour la Paix"<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/REcIBkbSX8s" title="Gilad Erdan, Israel's Envoy to the UN delivers a strong message." width="640"></iframe>
<p><i> Discours de Gilad Erdan, ambassadeur d'Israël à l'ONU, le 26 octobre 2023 devant Assemblée générale des Nations Unies</i></p><p>Remerciements à Rami Pinku pour avoir généré la transcription en envoyant l'extrait audio avec son code Python à OpenAI.</p><p><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">Merci, Monsieur le Président.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">Chers collègues, <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">Nous sommes réunis aujourd'hui dans cette
salle à la suite d'une résolution appelée "S'unir pour la Paix".
Malheureusement, cette séance d'urgence n'a rien à voir avec la paix. Chaque
État membre présent aujourd'hui qui est convaincu que nous sommes sur le point
de discuter d'un nouveau round de conflit au Moyen-Orient, d'un autre différend
entre Israël et les Palestiniens, se trompe.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN"> </span>Le massacre du 7 octobre et ce qui s'en est
suivi n'ont rien à voir avec les Palestiniens, rien. Il n'a rien à voir avec le
conflit arabo-israélien ou la question palestinienne. Ce n'est pas une guerre
avec les Palestiniens. Israël est en guerre avec l'organisation terroriste
djihadiste génocidaire du Hamas. Seulement. C'est la démocratie respectueuse
des lois d'Israël contre les Nazis modernes. Nazis.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN"> </span>Tels sont les faits.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN"> </span>Le Hamas ne se soucie pas du peuple
palestinien. Il ne se soucie pas de la paix ou du dialogue. Le Hamas n'a qu'un
seul objectif : anéantir Israël et assassiner chaque juif sur la surface de la
terre. Leur charte originale l'exprime très clairement. Je vais vous en lire
quelques lignes :</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">"Israël existera et continuera d'exister
jusqu'à ce que l'Islam l'anéantisse."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">Une autre citation.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">"Il n'y a pas de solution pour le
problème palestinien sauf par le jihad."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">Une autre citation.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">"Le jour du Jugement ne viendra pas tant
que les Musulmans n'auront pas combattu les Juifs et les auront tués.".<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">Chers amis, le 7 octobre, il est devenu clair
pour le monde entier que la charte du Hamas n'était pas une compilation de
paroles vides. C'était un plan d'action. Un plan d'action.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN"> </span>Imaginez une belle journée ensoleillée, un
ciel dégagé, de la musique dans l'air, des jeunes qui dansent, une rave, un
concert pour la paix. Oui, pour la paix. C'est vraiment la situation tôt ce
matin-là du saint sabbat. Le soleil vient juste de se lever pour marquer un
nouveau jour. Ce jour est aussi une grande fête juive, Simchat Torah. Simchat
Torah signifie la joie de la Torah ; nous célébrons ce jour-là le Livre des
livres, notre sainte Bible. Et puis en une fraction de seconde, cet Eden
idyllique est devenu un enfer sur terre. L'air paisible du matin est percé par le hurlement des sirènes de
roquettes. Des milliers, je vous le dis, des milliers de mortiers et de
roquettes du Hamas sont tombés sans discernement sur de nombreuses villes et
villages israéliens. Mais les roquettes ne sont qu'un prétexte pour le pogrom,
le pogrom qui a suivi. Les barbares terroristes du Hamas envahissent Israël par
la mer, la terre et l'air. Ils ne viennent qu'avec un seul but, un seul but
: tuer sauvagement tous ceux qu'ils
rencontrent. Les meurtriers nazis du Hamas vont de maison en maison avec des
listes de cibles, une attaque minutieusement planifiée, volontaire et
préméditée. Ils assassinent atrocement des civils dans leur lit. Ils conduisent
des camionnettes équipées de mitrailleuses. Oui, nous nous en souvenons tous,
comme Daesh, et ils tirent à l'aveuglette sur les centaines de jeunes réunis
pour ce concert. 300, 300 d'entre eux
ont été brûlés vifs ou massacrés. La plupart de ce qui en est
resté, n'était qu'amas de chair et de
membres ensanglantés. Les parents ont dû apporter les brosses à dents de leurs
enfants afin qu'on puisse en tirer leur ADN et ainsi identifier à qui
appartenait tel ou tel membre.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN"> </span>Ces monstres du Hamas ont violé des femmes et
des enfants, ont exhibé des filles nues qu'ils avaient violées et des cadavres
qu'ils avaient profanés dans les rues de Gaza où des milliers, et je vous le
dis, des milliers, vous pouvez voir les images, s'amusaient et les ont acclamés. Ces sauvages ont torturé de petits
bébés. Tout comme les nazis, les terroristes du Hamas ont arraché des
nourrissons de leurs berceaux. Oui, nous avons des vidéos qui en témoignent.
Ils les ont frappé violemment au sol jusqu'à ce que leurs crânes deviennent de
la bouillie. Les enfants ont étaient tués devant leurs parents et les parents
devant leurs enfants. J'ai vu une vidéo d'un terroriste qui, en se filmant
lui-même, a lancé une grenade dans un abri anti-bombes où se trouvaient un père
et ses deux jeunes garçons. Le père a été tué sur le coup et les deux garçons
sont sortis de l'abri en hurlant que leur père est mort et qu'ils voulaient
être morts aussi. Tout cela se déroule, croyez-le ou non, pendant que le
monstre qui a tué leur père, se sert calmement dans le réfrigérateur de la
famille.</p><p class="MsoNormal">Oui, aucun film d'horreur ne peut être comparé
à la pure brutalité perpétrée par le Hamas. Non, aucun.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN"> </span>Amit Mann était une jeune femme de 22 ans
originaire du kibboutz Be'eri et secouriste pour Magen David Adom, la
Croix-Rouge israélienne. Elle a consacré sa vie, littéralement, et vous allez
comprendre pourquoi, à sauver les autres. Lorsque les monstres du Hamas ont
envahi le kibboutz, Amit s'est précipitée à la clinique pour soigner autant de
blessés qu'elle le pouvait. Pendant des heures, des heures, Amit a travaillé
sans relâche pour essayer de sauver des vies. Elle savait que les terroristes
sadiques étaient dehors, à proximité de sa clinique, car elle entendait les
coups de feu, mais elle est restée là. Elle était déterminée à sauver des vies,
pas à fuir. Finalement, les terroristes ont fait irruption dans sa clinique et
lui ont logé une balle, une balle, dans le cerveau. Amit était une secouriste
de Magen David Adom, la Croix-Rouge israélienne, en uniforme, mais cela n'a pas
arrêté ces sauvages. C'est ainsi que les équipes de secours ont trouvé Amit <i>(et l'ambassadeur Erdan.montre une photo de
Amit telle qu'elle a été trouvée)</i>.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN"> </span>Des ambulances ont été incendiées, pas une,
plusieurs. Des dizaines d'équipes médicales de Magen David Adom ont été
délibérément ciblées en se rendant auprès des blessés, et de nombreux autres
secouristes ont été assassinés. L'hôpital Barzilai, dans ma ville natale
d'Ashkelon, en Israël, a subi des tirs directs de roquettes du Hamas, et ce
n'était pas la première fois.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN"> </span>Le Hamas tire délibérément des roquettes
dessus depuis des années, depuis des années, intentionnellement, et pourtant
aucune condamnation de cette barbarie n'a été mentionnée ici. Pas ici, pas par
le Conseil de sécurité, pas par le Secrétaire général, et pas dans cette
résolution absurde. Il semble que les hôpitaux et les équipes médicales doivent
être protégés uniquement tant qu'ils ne sont pas israéliens !</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">L'hypocrisie est inimaginable, inimaginable.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN"> </span>Les monstres brutaux semblables à l'État
islamique ont enlevé plus de 220 otages venant d'Israël et de dizaines d'autres
pays, y compris des bébés, des bébés, des enfants, des personnes handicapées,
des personnes âgées et des survivants de l'Holocauste. Kfir Bibas, Kfir Bibas a
neuf mois, neuf mois, et il est retenu en otage en ce moment à Gaza, neuf mois.
Quels terroristes barbares peuvent faire une telle chose ? Et avec lui, 30
autres enfants, 30 autres enfants. Nous avons vu la brutalité du Hamas en Israël.
Je n'ose même pas imaginer les horreurs que les otages endurent en ce moment
même pendant que nous parlons ici.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN"> </span>Vingt jours se sont écoulés et Israël continue
de compter ses morts. Il a fallu des semaines pour récupérer tous les corps.
Certains corps sont brûlés comme des morceaux de charbon. Il est presque
impossible de les identifier.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">De nombreux corps brûlés ont été retrouvés
avec des cendres dans leur gorge, ce qui signifie qu'ils étaient encore en vie,
encore en vie lorsqu'ils les terroristes du Hamas y ont mis le feu, intentionnellement, par. Une masse de
restes humains brûlés au-delà de toute reconnaissance a été retrouvée. Au
début, le personnel médical ne pouvait même pas comprendre ce qu'ils voyaient.
Pourtant, après un scanner, il est devenu clair qu'il s'agissait de deux
colonnes vertébrales, pas d'une, de deux colonnes vertébrales liées ensemble
par du fil barbelé, l'une appartenant à un adulte et l'autre, la petite colonne
vertébrale d'un enfant. Alors, essayez simplement d'imaginer ce qu'ont ressenti
les parents alors qu'eux et leur enfant brûlaient vifs, brûlaient vifs. Les
hurlements douloureux de l'amour de leur vie furent la dernière chose qu'ils
entendirent, la dernière chose. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN"> </span>Ne trouvez-vous pas incroyable que cette
résolution d'aujourd'hui et cette séance ne se concentrent pas uniquement sur
les atrocités du Hamas ? En lisant cette résolution, le Hamas semble être
inexistant. Les auteurs de la résolution prétendent être préoccupés par la
paix. Pourtant, les meurtriers dépravés qui ont déclenché cette guerre ne sont
même pas mentionnés dans la résolution, même pas mentionnés. Ils vous
considèrent tous comme des marionnettes. Ils rédigent une résolution totalement
dépourvue de tout contenu lié à la situation. Ils supposent que vous avez déjà
oublié qui est responsable de la violence inhumaine et s'attendent à ce que
vous la souteniez automatiquement. Cette résolution est une honte pour votre
intelligence, une honte. Il est inimaginable qu'une résolution qui ne mentionne
même pas le Hamas, puisse être votée ici. Réfléchissez-y, s'il vous plaît.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN"> </span>Distingués représentants, le Hamas a perpétré
des atrocités telles que nous n'en avons pas vues depuis l'Holocauste.
Pourtant, contrairement à l'Holocauste, où les preuves que nous avons, sont
principalement des photographies en noir et blanc et des images muettes. Ici,
la preuve est en haute définition. Car une partie provient, oui, de caméras de
sécurité israéliennes mais une grande partie provient aussi des téléphones
portables et des caméras GoPro appartenant aux nazis du Hamas eux-mêmes.
Beaucoup se demandent peut-être : pourquoi ils ont filmé cela ? Pourquoi
ont-ils filmé leur violence sadique ? Eh bien, je vais vous dire pourquoi. Très
simplement. Ils l'ont filmée pour terroriser le public israélien, pour diffuser
ces vidéos et semer la peur dans le cœur des citoyens d'Israël. D'ailleurs,
c'est ce que font les terroristes. Ils terrorisent.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN"> </span>J'ai vu de nombreuses images au cours des
dernières semaines qui resteront gravées à jamais dans ma mémoire, mais il y a
une scène que je continue de voir lorsque j'essaie de dormir. Dans la vidéo, on
peut voir un civil terriblement blessé, ensanglanté mais encore en vie, gisant
par terre, tandis qu'un sauvage du Hamas, hurlant "Allahu Akbar" à
répétition, frappe le cou de l'homme avec une binette de jardin dans le but de
le décapiter. L'homme par terre est un travailleur agricole originaire de
Thaïlande. Il n'est pas Israélien. Il n'est pas juif. Il était simplement en
vie, essayant de subvenir aux besoins de sa famille. Mais il a été décapité
avec un outil de jardinage émoussé.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">Horrible. Israël n'est pas en guerre contre
des êtres humains. Nous sommes en guerre contre des monstres. Voici la vidéo.
Ma mission consiste à distribuer et à continuer de distribuer des codes QR avec
un lien direct vers des fichiers où vous pouvez voir cette horreur et de
nombreuses autres atrocités du Hamas. Ce que vous voyez ici ne sont pas des
images d'Auschwitz mais des Israéliens violés, égorgés et brûlés vifs. Ce n'est
pas Auschwitz. C'est le Hamas</span> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">Il n'y a pas de mots dans la langue anglaise,
dans aucune langue, pour décrire le mal que nous venons tous de voir. Et la
raison pour laquelle il est indescriptible est parce qu'il n'a pas sa place
parmi l'humanité. Plus de 1 400 personnes ont été massacrées, 1 000 pnt été
blessées et plus de 220 otages sont actuellement détenus par des terroristes du
Hamas ISIS. Dire que c'est le 11 septembre d'Israël serait un euphémisme.
Proportionnellement, le bilan de morts de cette atrocité est 15 fois plus
important que celui du 11 septembre.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN"> </span>Au fait, nos ennemis ne sont pas à 7 000 miles
de distance. Ils sont à 7 000 pieds, dans notre propre cour arrière. C'est
pourquoi la mission d'Israël est d'éradiquer ce mal de la terre. Éradiquer.
ISIS était l'État islamique d'Irak et de Syrie, et le Hamas est l'État
islamique de Gaza. Donc, comme cela a été fait avec ISIS, le Hamas doit
disparaître. Notre objectif est d'éliminer complètement les capacités du Hamas
et nous utiliserons tous les moyens à notre disposition pour y parvenir. Pas
par vengeance. Non. Pas par représailles. Non. Mais pour garantir que de telles
dépravations, de telles atrocités ne se reproduisent jamais.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">Israël est en première ligne dans la lutte
contre le terrorisme djihadiste radical et, si Israël n'arrive pas à anéantir,
à anéantir les capacités terroristes du Hamas, le monde entier en paiera le
prix. L'idéologie génocidaire du Hamas, tout comme celle de l'ISIS, d'Al-Qaïda
ou du régime des ayatollahs à Téhéran, en Iran, ne vise pas seulement à
détruire Israël. Vous le savez tous. Il s'agit en fin de compte de la
domination mondiale. La domination du monde. Il s'agit de mener la guerre
sainte sur le sol de chacun de vos pays. Ils ne s'arrêteront pas tant qu'ils
n'auront pas assassiné tous les infidèles comme ils nous appellent.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN"> </span>Collègues, ces 16 dernières années, la
communauté internationale et l'ONU ont été complaisantes face à
l'expansion terroriste du Hamas à Gaza.
Complaisantes. Le monde a gardé la tête dans le sable alors que le Hamas
cachait ses missiles et ses roquettes au sein de la population civile de Gaza.
Il a accepté une réalité absurde selon laquelle une démocratie respectueuse des
lois pourrait cohabiter avec des terroristes génocidaires qui tirent des
dizaines de milliers de missiles de manière indiscriminée sur nos civils. Sans
raison.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">Nous avons constaté que rien ne peut changer
l'idéologie génocidaire du Hamas. Ni, malheureusement, la réhabilitation de
Gaza. Ni les incitations économiques. Ni aucune promesse d'un avenir meilleur.
L'ONU a essayé. Beaucoup d'entre vous ont essayé. Mais tout le monde a échoué.
Tout le monde a échoué. Et savez-vous pourquoi ? Parce que rien ne peut changer
une idéologie génocidaire. Rien.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN">Il n'y a qu'une seule solution pour guérir
d'un cancer. Et c'est l'éviscération de chaque cellule cancéreuse. La
communauté internationale a versé des milliards de dollars dans la bande de
Gaza. Et tout est allé à la machine de guerre du Hamas. Cela s'est dirigé vers
leur ville souterraine de terreur. Cela s'est dirigé vers leurs installations
de fabrication de missiles. Et vous vous souvenez, il y a 18 ans, Israël s'est
retiré unilatéralement de toute la bande de Gaza. Nous nous sommes retirés de
toute la bande de Gaza. Le Hamas aurait pu investir les fonds internationaux
qu'il a reçus dans la construction de centrales électriques, de stations de
dessalement de l'eau et de toute autre infrastructure civile. Mais non. Au lieu
de cela, le Hamas a exploité chaque pouce de la bande de Gaza pour ses
objectifs violents. Parce que, pour le Hamas, les civils gazaouis ne sont rien
de plus que de la simples chair à canon. Des boucliers humains qui, dans la
mort, deviennent des pions pour la campagne diffamatoire du Hamas envers
Israël. Le Hamas compte sur vous. Ils sont certains qu'en dépit de la terreur
et des massacres, l'ONU viendra encore à leur rescousse et empêchera Israël de
se défendre.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal">Amis, Israël est en mission de sauvetage. Une
mission pour sauver nos otages, pour sauver notre avenir, et pour sauver le
peuple de Gaza de leurs tyrans sauvages. Une mission de sauvetage. Et mes
collègues, la mission de sauvetage peut se terminer rapidement. Maintenant.
Elle peut se terminer maintenant. Pas besoin de résolutions compliquées et
vides. Elle peut se terminer maintenant. Si le Hamas pose les armes, nous rend
nos otages et se livre, cette guerre prendra fin sans un seul coup de feu
supplémentaire. Pas un seul. Pourquoi ne vous unissez-vous pas et ne
demandez-vous pas cela au Hamas ? Si les auteurs de cette résolution veulent
vraiment la paix, s'ils veulent vraiment une solution immédiate, pourquoi ne le
demandent-ils pas au Hamas ?</p><p class="MsoNormal">Au contraire, cette résolution fait exactement
le contraire de trouver une solution. Exactement le contraire. Plutôt que de
promouvoir la paix, elle ne fait que garantir plus de violence. Elle devrait
s'appeler "Unir pour le terrorisme" et non pas "Unir pour la
paix". Israël a été attaqué et continue d'être attaqué. C'est un fait en
ce moment, dans le sud par le Hamas et dans le nord par le Hezbollah. Pendant
ce temps, la résolution appelle à un cessez-le-feu immédiat. Un cessez-le-feu
signifie donner du temps au Hamas pour se réarmer afin qu'ils puissent nous
massacrer à nouveau. Ce n'est pas de la spéculation. Ils le feront. Vous le
savez tous. Tout appel à un cessez-le-feu n'est pas une tentative de paix.
C'est une tentative de lier les mains d'Israël, nous empêchant d'éliminer une
énorme menace pour nos citoyens.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN"> </span>Mais les distorsions de la résolution vont
encore plus loin que cela. Le Hamas, le groupe terroriste qui a déclenché cette
guerre, je répète, n'est même pas mentionné. Pas une seule fois. En fait, la
seule référence cachée à ces terroristes barbares peut être trouvée dans les
appels aux deux parties. Les deux parties ? C'est une comparaison fausse et
immorale entre la démocratie respectueuse de la loi d'Israël et un djihadisme
génocidaire. Et les rédacteurs comptent sur le fait que chaque représentant distingué
ici suivra aveuglément leur manœuvre. Cette résolution est une insulte à votre
intelligence. Et le seul endroit où cette résolution devrait se trouver, c'est
dans la poubelle de l'histoire. La poubelle de l'histoire.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN"> </span>Mais chers collègues, cette résolution n'est
pas la seule chose ici aujourd'hui qui est détachée de la réalité. Dans un
court laps de temps, un représentant du régime maléfique qui a formé, financé
et armé le Hamas pour le massacre du 7 octobre prendra la parole devant vous.
Le régime des ayatollahs en Iran a du sang de milliers d'Israéliens sur les
mains. Il a du sang de centaines de milliers d'Iraniens opprimés, d'Ukrainiens,
d'Américains, d'Émiratis et de tant d'autres sur les mains. L'Iran est connu
comme le principal sponsor d'État du terrorisme dans le monde. Et pour de
bonnes raisons. Il est tout à fait naturel que le ministre des Affaires
étrangères de ce régime brutal soit le prochain orateur après le rédacteur de
la résolution. Le pays avec une idéologie nazie visant à annihiler Israël
déclare publiquement qu'il se tient aux côtés de son mandataire, le Hamas, qui
partage la même idéologie nazie et vise notre destruction. Cela est tout à fait
compréhensible. En effet, il y a quelques jours à peine, il a parlé aux
dirigeants du Hamas et de son groupe terroriste jumeau, le Jihad islamique
palestinien, les louant pour le massacre. Et aujourd'hui, il est ici pour
empoisonner vos oreilles. En effet, il unit pour la paix, s'unissant pour
massacrer chaque Israélien en morceaux. Cet homme, le tueur de masse ou tout
autre représentant du régime terroriste en Iran, n'a pas sa place à l'ONU,
encore moins dans la famille des Nations. C'est une tache morale sur l'ONU et
les valeurs sur lesquelles elle a été fondée.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN"> </span>Chers collègues distingués, cette semaine,
l'ONU a célébré son 78e anniversaire. Pourtant, en regardant cette résolution
et les invités d'honneur accueillis aujourd'hui dans ces halls, cette
organisation a montré qu'elle est si défaillante, si moralement corrompue, que
je n'ai pas beaucoup d'espoir qu'elle atteigne 90 ans, encore moins 100. Je
suis simplement réaliste. Aujourd'hui prouve clairement que cet organe est en
train de perdre sa pertinence, sa légitimité et sa justification. Ce que nous
voyons aujourd'hui est une profanation, une profanation de ce que l'ONU était
censée être. Après les horreurs de l'Holocauste, cette institution a été créée
pour empêcher que les atrocités ne se répètent. Pourtant, dans ces mêmes halls,
nous avons des auteurs des violations les plus grotesques des droits de l'homme
et des crimes contre l'humanité qui exploitent également leur pouvoir et les
soi-disant membres de la famille des Nations uniquement pour cibler les
démocraties respectueuses de la loi comme Israël.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN"> </span>Si cette organisation veut maintenir ne
serait-ce qu'une once de légitimité, il est impératif, je vous en prie, chers
représentants distingués, de ne plus jouer le jeu de cette farce de double
standard anti-Israël.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN"> </span>Votez contre cette résolution biaisée.
Tenez-vous du bon côté de l'histoire. Ne vous rangez pas du côté des
djihadistes génocidaires qui sont déterminés à vous détruire. Élevez-vous
au-dessus des considérations politiques internes et faites ce qui est moral et
juste.</p><p class="MsoNormal">Monsieur le Président, Israël ne cessera pas
de se battre pour la vérité, même si nous restons la seule voix de la raison
dans ces enceintes. Israël continuera de combattre les terroristes génocidaires
déterminés à notre destruction. Nous ne nous reposerons pas tant que le Hamas
ne sera pas anéanti et que nos otages ne seront pas rentrés chez eux. Et nous
les ramènerons chez eux.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN"> </span>J'achèverai par un moment de silence en
hommage à toutes les victimes de l'atrocité du Hamas. Si les partisans de cette
résolution choisissent d'ignorer les victimes dans leur texte, moi je rendrai
hommage à leur mémoire.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN"> </span>Merci, Monsieur le Président.</p><p> </p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2938958149300744959.post-33194696023219067632023-10-30T23:18:00.008-07:002023-10-31T00:48:59.363-07:00Gilad Erdan’s speech at the UN General Assembly <p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p>
<span style="font-family: arial;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/REcIBkbSX8s" title="Gilad Erdan, Israel's Envoy to the UN delivers a strong message." width="640"></iframe></span><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Gilad Erdan is </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #202124; font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></div><div><span id="docs-internal-guid-5bfade21-7fff-2da1-6148-7ae917e4629e"><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 6pt 0pt 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 6pt 0pt 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Many thanks to Rami Pinku for generating the transcript by sending the extracted audio with his Python code to OpenAI </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 6pt 0pt 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 6pt 0pt 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Thank you, Mr. President. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 6pt 0pt 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Distinguished colleagues, we are gathered here in this hall today as a result of a resolution called Uniting for Peace. Sadly, this emergency session has nothing to do with peace. Every member state here today who is convinced that we are about to discuss yet another round of conflict in the Middle East, another dispute between Israel and the Palestinians, is wrong. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 6pt 0pt 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The October 7th massacre and what ensued has nothing to do with the Palestinians, nothing. It has nothing to do with the Arab-Israeli conflict or the Palestinian question. This is not a war with the Palestinians. Israel is at war with the genocidal jihadist Hamas terror organization. Only. It is the law-abiding democracy of Israel against modern-day Nazis. Nazis. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 6pt 0pt 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">These are the facts. Hamas do not care about the Palestinian people. They do not care about peace or dialogue. Hamas has only one goal - to annihilate Israel and murder every single Jew on the face of the earth. Their original charter makes this very clear. I'll read you a few lines:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 6pt 0pt 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 6pt 0pt 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Another quote. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 6pt 0pt 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">There is no solution for the Palestinian problem except by jihad.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 6pt 0pt 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> Another quote. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 6pt 0pt 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The day of judgment will not come about until Muslims fight Jews and kill them.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 6pt 0pt 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> Friends, on October 7th it became clear to the entire world that Hamas's charter was not a compilation of empty words. It was an action plan. An action plan. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 6pt 0pt 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Imagine a bright sunny day, clear skies, music in the air, young people are dancing, a rave, a concert for peace. Yes, for peace. It is really, it is early morning on the holy Sabbath. The sun has just risen to mark a new day. It is also a festive Jewish high holiday, Simchat Torah. Simchat Torah means the joy of the Torah where we celebrate the book of books, our holy Bible. And then in one split second this idyllic Eden became hell on earth. The peaceful morning air was pierced with the wail of rocket sirens. Thousands, I'm telling you, thousands of Hamas mortars and rockets rained down indiscriminately on many Israeli cities and villages. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 6pt 0pt 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But the rockets were only cover for the pogrom, the pogrom that followed. Barbaric Hamas terrorists invaded Israel from the sea, the land, and the air. They came with one purpose, one purpose only, to savagely murder every living thing they encountered. Hamas Nazi murders went from house to house with hit lists, a thoroughly planned, willful, premeditated attack. They brutally murdered civilians in their beds. They drove pickup trucks with machine guns. Yes, we all remember, just like ISIS and fired blindly at hundreds of young people at a concert. 300, 300 were burned alive or butchered in that concert. Much of what remained were clumps of flesh and bloody limbs. Parents had to bring their children's toothbrushes for DNA so they could so they could figure out whose limb belonged to who.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 6pt 0pt 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">These Hamas monsters raped women and children, parading naked girls that they raped and bodied that they defiled through the streets of Gaza while thousands, and I'm telling you thousands, you can see the footage, jeered and cheered. The savages tortured small babies. Just like the Nazis, Hamas terrorists removed infants from their cribs. Yes, we have it on video. Swung them repeatedly against the ground until their skulls became a pulp. Children were murdered in front of their parents and parents in front of their children. I've seen a video of a terrorist filmed by him, by himself, who tossed a grenade into a bomb shelter with a father and his two young boys inside. The father was killed instantly and the two boys ran out of the shelter screaming that their father is dead and that they want to be dead too. All this is occurring, believe it or not, as the monster who murdered their father calmly helps himself to the contents of the family's fridge. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 6pt 0pt 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Yes, no horror movie compares to the pure brutality that Hamas carried out. No, none. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 6pt 0pt 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Amit Mann, a 22-year-old from Kibbutz Be'eri and a paramedic for Magen David Adom, Israel's Red Cross. She dedicated her life, literally, and you will understand why, to saving others. When the Hamas monsters invaded the Kibbutz, Amit ran to the clinic to treat as many wounded as she could. For hours, hours, Amit worked non-stop trying to save lives. She knew the sadistic terrorists were outside her clinic because she heard the gunfire, but she stayed there. She was committed to saving lives, not running away. Finally, the terrorist burst into her clinic and put a bullet, a bullet, through her brain. She was a Magen David Adom paramedic, the Israeli Red Cross, in uniform, but that didn't stop these savages. This is how the rescue teams found Amit. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 6pt 0pt 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Ambulances were set on fire, not one, many. Dozens of Magen David Adom medical teams were intentionally targeted on the way to tend to the wounded, and many other paramedics were murdered. Barzilai Hospital in my hometown city, Ashkelon, in Israel, suffered direct hits from Hamas rockets, not for the first time. Hamas has been deliberately firing rockets at it for years, for years, intentionally, yet not a single condemnation of this barbarity has been mentioned here. Not here, not by the Security Council, not by the Secretary General and not by this absurd resolution. It</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> seems that hospitals and medical teams only need to be protected as long as they are not Israeli.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 6pt 0pt 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> The hypocrisy is beyond belief, beyond belief. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 6pt 0pt 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 6pt 0pt 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The brutal ISIS-like monsters abducted over 220 hostages from Israel and dozens of other countries, including babies, babies, children, persons with disabilities, the elderly and Holocaust survivors. Kfir Bibas, Kfir Bibas is nine months old, nine months old, and he is being held right now in Gaza as a hostage, nine months old. What barbaric terrorists can do such a thing? And together with him, 30 other children, 30 other children. We saw Hamas's brutality in Israel. I cannot begin to fathom what horrors the hostages are enduring right now as we speak here. Twenty days have gone by and Israel is still counting her dead. It took weeks to collect all of the bodies. Some bodies are burnt like pieces of coal. It is almost impossible to identify them. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 6pt 0pt 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Countless burned bodies have been found with ash in their throats, meaning they were still alive, still alive when lit on fire, intentionally, by the Hamas terrorists. A clump of charred human remains that was burned beyond recognition was found. At first, the medical personnel couldn't figure out what they were looking at. Yet, after a CT scan, it became clear that they were two spines, not one, two spines bound together with wire, one belonging to an adult and the other, the small spine of a child. So just try to imagine that parents feeling as they and their child were burning alive, burning alive. The painful screaming of the love of their life was the last thing they heard, the last thing. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 6pt 0pt 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Do you not think it's unbelievable that this resolution here today and this session are not solely focused on Hamas's atrocities? When reading this resolution, Hamas seems to be missing in action. The drafters of the resolution claim to be concerned about peace. Yet, the depraved murderers who initiated this war are not even mentioned in the resolution, not even mentioned. They see each one of you as a puppet. They write a resolution completely devoid of any content related to the situation. They assume that you have already forgotten who it is that is responsible for the inhumane violence, and they just expect you to support it automatically. This resolution is a disgrace to your intelligence, a disgrace. It is unfathomable that such a resolution, one that doesn't even mention Hamas, could possibly be voted upon here. Let that sink in, please. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 6pt 0pt 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Distinguished representatives, Hamas carried out atrocities, the likes of which we have not seen since the Holocaust. Yet, unlike the Holocaust, where the evidence we have is mostly black and white photographs and soundless footage, here, the proof is in high definition. Because some of it is from, yes, security footage, but much of it is from the cell phones and GoPro cameras belonging to the Hamas Nazis themselves. Many may be asking, why did they film this? Why did they film their sadistic violence? Well, I'll tell you why. Very simple. They filmed it in order to terrorize the Israeli public, to release these videos and put fear in the hearts of the citizens of Israel. By the way, this is what terrorists do. They terrorize.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 6pt 0pt 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> I have seen much footage over the past weeks that will be seared into my mind forever, but there is one sight that I keep on seeing when I try to sleep. In the video, one can see a terrible injured civilian, bloodied yet alive, laying on the ground as a Hamas savage, screaming Allahu Akbar repeatedly, pummels the man's neck with a garden hoe in order to decapitate him. The man on the ground is an agricultural worker from Thailand. He's not Israeli. He's not Jewish. He was merely alive, trying to make a living for his family. But he was decapitated with a blunt gardening tool. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 6pt 0pt 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Horrifying. Israel is not at war with human beings. We are at war with monsters. Here is the video. My mission distributed and will continue to distribute QR codes with a direct link to files where you can see this horror and many other Hamas atrocities. What you see here are not pictures from Auschwitz, but Israelis raped, butchered, and burned alive. This is not Auschwitz. This is Hamas. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 6pt 0pt 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">There are no words in the English language, in any language, to describe the evil that we all just witnessed. And the reason it is not describable is because it has no place among humankind. Over 1,400 have been slaughtered, 1,000 injured, and over 220 hostages are being held right now by Hamas ISIS terrorists. To say that this is Israel's 9-11 would be an understatement. Proportionally, the death toll of this atrocity is 15 times bigger than 9-11. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 6pt 0pt 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">By the way, our enemies are not 7,000 miles away. They are 7,000 feet away in our own backyard. So for this reason, Israel's mission is to eradicate this evil from the earth. Eradicate. ISIS was the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, and Hamas is the Islamic State of Gaza. So just as was done with ISIS, Hamas must be no more. Our goal is to completely eradicate Hamas's capabilities, and we will use every mean at our disposal to accomplish this. Not for revenge. No. Not for retaliation. No. But to ensure that such depravity, such atrocities never occur again. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 6pt 0pt 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Israel is at the forefront of the war on radical jihadist terror, and if Israel doesn't succeed in obliterating, obliterating Hamas's terror capabilities, the whole world will pay the price. Hamas's genocidal ideology, just like ISIS, Al-Qaeda, or the Ayatollah regime in Tehran, of Iran, is not just about destroying Israel. You all know it. It is ultimately about world domination. World. It is about bringing the jihad war to the soil of each and every one of your countries. They will not stop until they murder all of the infidels, as they call us. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 6pt 0pt 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Colleagues, for the past 16 years, the international community and the UN have been complacent to Hamas's terror buildup in Gaza. Complacent. The world has kept its head in the sand as Hamas embedded its missiles and rockets deep within and under the civilian population of Gaza. It accepted an absurd reality that a law-abiding democracy could live side by side with cancerous genocidal terrorists that fire tens of thousands of missiles indiscriminately at our civilians. Unprovoked. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 6pt 0pt 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We have seen that nothing can change Hamas's genocidal ideology. Not, sadly, not the rehabilitation of Gaza. Not economic incentives. Not any promise of a brighter future. The UN tried. Many of you tried. But everyone failed. Everyone failed. And you know why? Because nothing can change a genocidal ideology. Nothing.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 6pt 0pt 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> There is only one solution to curing a cancer. And it is the evisceration of every cancerous cell. The international community has poured billions of dollars into Gaza. And it all went to Hamas's war machine. It went to its subterranean city of terror. It went to its missile manufacturing facilities. And you remember, 18 years ago, Israel unilaterally withdrew from all of Gaza. We withdrew from all of Gaza. Hamas could have invested the international funding it received into building power plants, water desalination plants, every other civil infrastructure. But no. Instead, Hamas exploited every inch of the Gaza Strip for their violent goals. Because to Hamas, Gazan civilians are nothing more than mere cannon fodder. Human shields, who in death become pawns for Hamas's libelous propaganda campaign. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 6pt 0pt 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Hamas is counting on you. They are certain that despite the terror and massacre, the UN will still come to their rescue and prevent Israel from defending itself. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 6pt 0pt 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Friends, Israel is on a rescue mission. A rescue mission to save our hostages, to save our future, and to save the people of Gaza from their savage tyrants. A rescue mission. And colleagues, the rescue mission can end quickly. Now. It can end now. No need for complicated, empty resolutions. It can end now. Should Hamas put down their arms, return our hostages, and turn themselves in, this war will end without one more shot being fired. Not even one. Why do you not unite and call on Hamas to do this? If the drafters of this resolution truly want peace, if they truly want an immediate solution, then why do they not demand this of Hamas? </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 6pt 0pt 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Instead, this resolution does the exact opposite of finding a solution. The exact opposite. Rather than promoting peace, it only ensures more violence. It should be called uniting for terror, not uniting for peace. Israel has been attacked and continues to be attacked. This is a fact right now in the south from Hamas and in the north from Hezbollah. Meanwhile, the resolution calls for an immediate ceasefire. A ceasefire means giving Hamas time to rearm itself so they can massacre us again. This is not speculation. They will do so. You all know this. Any call for a ceasefire is not an attempt at peace. It is an attempt to tie Israel's hands, preventing us from eliminating a huge threat to our citizens. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 6pt 0pt 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But the resolution's distortions go even deeper than that. Hamas, the terror group that started this war, I reiterate, is not even mentioned. Not even once. In fact, the only hidden reference to these barbaric terrorists can be found in calls on both parties. Both parties? This is a false, immoral comparison between the law-abiding democracy of Israel and a genocidal jihadist. And the drafters are counting on the fact that each and every distinguished representative here will blindly go along with their ploy. This resolution is an insult to your intelligence. And the only place this resolution belongs is in the dustbin of history. The dustbin of history. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 6pt 0pt 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But colleagues, this resolution is not the only thing here today that is detached from reality. In a short time, a representative of the evil regime that trained, funded, and armed Hamas for the October 7th massacre will address you. The Ayatollah regime of Iran has the blood of thousands of Israelis on its hands. It has the blood of hundreds of thousands of oppressed Iranians, of Ukrainians, of Americans, of Emiratis, and so many others on its hands. Iran is known as the world's number one state sponsor of terror. And for good reasons. It's completely natural that the foreign minister of this brutal regime should be the speaker following the resolution drafter. The country with a Nazi ideology of annihilating Israel, publicly says, stands in solidarity with its proxy Hamas, which shares the same Nazi ideology and aims for our destruction. This is completely understandable. Indeed, mere days ago, he spoke with the leaders of Hamas and its twin terror group, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, praising them, praising them for the slaughter. And today he is here to fill your ears with poison. Indeed, uniting for peace, uniting to butcher every Israeli to pieces. This man, the mass murderer or any other representative of the terror regime in Iran, has no place at the UN, let alone in the family of nations. It is a moral stain on the UN and the values it was founded upon. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 6pt 0pt 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Distinguished colleagues, this week the UN celebrated its 78th birthday. Yet, looking at this resolution and the honorary guests hosted today in these halls, this organization has shown that it is so broken, so morally corrupt, that I do not have high hopes that it will make it to 90, let alone 100. I'm just a realist. Today serves as the clearest proof that this body is bleeding its relevance, legitimacy and justification. What we are witnessing today is a desecration, a desecration of what the UN was meant to be. Following the horrors of the Holocaust, this institution was established to prevent atrocities from repeating themselves. Yet, in these very halls, we have perpetrators of the most grotesque human rights violations and crimes against humanity who also exploit their power and so-called members of the family of nations only to single out law-abiding democracies such as Israel. If this organization wants to maintain any shred of legitimacy, it is imperative that you, please, distinguished representatives, no longer play along with this farce of anti-Israel double standards. Vote against this biased resolution. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 6pt 0pt 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Stand on the right side of history. Don't stand with the genocidal jihadists committed to your destruction. Rise above internal political considerations and do what is moral and right. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 6pt 0pt 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Mr. President, Israel will not stop fighting for the truth, even if we remain the sole voice of reason in these halls. Israel will continue combating the genocidal terrorists committed to our destruction. We will not rest until Hamas is obliterated and our hostages are returned home. And we will bring them home.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 6pt 0pt 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I will conclude with a moment of silence for all the victims of Hamas's atrocity. If the supporters of this resolution choose to ignore the victims in their text, I will pay respect to their memory. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 6pt 0pt 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Thank you, Mr President. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 6pt 0pt 0pt;"><br /></p></span></div><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2938958149300744959.post-12493165354552260692023-10-25T12:24:00.004-07:002023-10-26T06:16:23.157-07:00The Iron Dome in action<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwQlFoTIixItAh2R7742XOgd5o0pTlnQiG31FdfcONNxHuGbnWxPmaPfpWo3-x25Xa4SDXJWh58OSMuw7ehXg' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-b89a917c-7fff-a6e6-a99d-77bc3531f184"><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself <span style="color: #0b5394;"><b>but not the enemy</b></span>, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”</span></p></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 4.5pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> ― Sun Tzu, The Art of War</span></p></span></div></blockquote><p><br /></p><p><span id="docs-internal-guid-38bfbf63-7fff-393b-01bc-08c6f6b3475f"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #546673; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Let’s face it - 1400 Israelis were murdered because Israeli politicians were ignorant about political Islam. For Hamas, jihadi ideology always takes precedence over economic incentive, and Israeli politicians should have known it.</span></span></p><p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span><div><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2938958149300744959.post-52062652109061385982023-10-22T08:50:00.003-07:002023-10-27T16:01:29.827-07:00Victor Davis Hanson: Biden will not stop Israel’s righteous retribution on Hamas <p> </p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FG0cgViEcc8" title="Israel & Palestine | The Politics of War | Victor Davis Hanson" width="640"></iframe>
<div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><span id="docs-internal-guid-784796fc-7fff-96da-eee5-5ae2ba322455"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #373e44; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">6:00 <b>Victor Davis Hanson</b>: ….. And so they really inflamed Israel justifiably in a way that we have never seen before, and they’ve woken up, and the reaction is going to be exactly like in the Yom Kippur war, except to the n-th degree. And I don’t think that Hamas understands that this is the first time in our lives, John, that there is no restraint to speak of. I know that Joe Biden will go there and he will say do this and do that and do that, but he is not gonna stop this righteous retribution on Hamas and then Hezbollah is talking, talking, talking and Iran is talking, talking, talking and beating their chest and tomorrow is supposed to be a day of reckoning, but they don't understand that they’re widely despised in the Western Europe, is sick of them and Europe is clamping down on their own unassimilated immigrant Muslim population and we are getting very angry at ours. You have a problem as well in Australia and I think there is no patience anymore.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #373e44; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The second thing is that Joe Biden is not leading events, he has been driven by events.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #373e44; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">They have 100000 rockets in Lebanon. If they get full of themselves and they send, I don’t know, 5000, 4000 at the US fleet, perhaps one might hit it, a lot might hit it. But they don’t understand that there is no patience with them any more, there is no restraint on the United States . Russia is bogged down in Ukraine, China has one, two concerns. One, everything that hurts the United States they are up for, but #2 they don’t want 40 percent of their oil disrupted and they don’t want a big war in the Middle East, not right now with the economic difficulties and what that means is that the clients of Iran are not going to be eager to get into a war with the United States or the West in general, and so Iran has no client, it has no backup. And I don’t know if they know that. They keep thinking that because of the weakness of this administration that it’s systemic and will continue forever, but I do not think that Joe Biden will be able to stop the righteous anger if they do something stupid and they may well do something stupid because we’ve lost deterrence. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #373e44; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b>John Anderson</b>: That is very Interesting that you are seeing, as you say, perhaps we are being dragged to it rather than leading events, but nonetheless, as the Russians discovered, and now the Middle East is observing, the rest of the world is observing, when it comes to foreign affairs, when it really comes down to it, America is still resolute enough to stand up, it has the willpower That seems to be one of the great messages out of this?</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #373e44; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b>VDH</b>: I think so. There is a weird calculus going on because there are people in the Democratic party, not their crazy lunatic squad base, but are very strong supporters of Israel, and they are shocked by this nihilist blood curdling support for Hamas’s barbary and savagery, and they want Israel to retaliate. That is not coming from the Conservative or the Right, that’s coming from the mainstream Democratic party. They are telling Joe Biden you’ve got to let Israel go, and do what they need to do, and that’s very new. When you have a Democratic president. I don’t think that people abroad fully comprehend -you have no restraint. Typically a Republican or a conservative Administration wants to have deterrence and then the Left almost in Pavlovian fashion says this is imperialistic, neo-colonialist, provocative. Trump killed Solemaini, he got blasted for it, Trump bombed Isis, he got blasted for it. But when the Democratic people are in, there is no restraint because no Republican would say please don’t hit Iran or please don’t hit Hamas. You have members of their own party who were outraged what happened to Israel and what Hamas and Hezbollah and Iran are saying about that but what they are going to do in addition to that. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #373e44; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I don’t see when I look at the landscape here or abroad, I don’t see any restraining voice that is going to say you better not do that or else, or you cannot do that because that would be amoral or it’s against UN rules of war. There is nothing of that. I don’t hear any of that. </span></p><div><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #373e44; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2938958149300744959.post-29015897270923157992023-10-17T11:30:00.001-07:002023-10-17T11:30:59.213-07:00How the West can and must win World War IV<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv7-kjylsyeWKGOSFW21RTb4k3-9PfKZdnHHLmGD2ZX02b5eFQzMWdFquLxQ3EFYEXYpTOVc3VM57_IJOW7nhJSFyayNYvNoDxd05RsP_bmDvtAmTRhe6RHim6i9pbpdKNMkUMVRF6qLO-KAEQ50ThoydpHBsn0Fle4IR_fhmqK3R6GXyC6T7LoYv2Yyk/s400/Piontkovski.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="400" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv7-kjylsyeWKGOSFW21RTb4k3-9PfKZdnHHLmGD2ZX02b5eFQzMWdFquLxQ3EFYEXYpTOVc3VM57_IJOW7nhJSFyayNYvNoDxd05RsP_bmDvtAmTRhe6RHim6i9pbpdKNMkUMVRF6qLO-KAEQ50ThoydpHBsn0Fle4IR_fhmqK3R6GXyC6T7LoYv2Yyk/s320/Piontkovski.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Andrey Piontkovski</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;">Translated from Russian using google translate from</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;">https://piontk045.comv.info/material.php?id=652C24525859A</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;"><i>Andrey Piontkovsky: It is necessary to somewhat change the sequence of moves </i></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;">After the “exercises” in Ryazan in September 1999, it became obvious to everyone except those who wanted to deceive themselves that a series of house explosions in Russia were organized by the de facto security officers who had seized power with the aim of blaming the Chechens, starting a war and victoriously immersing both Chechnya and Russia in their patriotic toilets.</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;">More than 20 years later, the mature Putin and Patrushev set their sights on a much larger-scale performance - an epoch-making Victory over the West in the Fourth World War as revenge for the defeat of the USSR in the third (cold) War. The historical victory that has been cultivated for decades smoothly morphed into victory live.</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;">The grievances of the “good Hitler” towards the West are much larger and more painful than simply the loss of certain zones of dominance. For centuries, the West has been perceived by Kremlin rulers as an existential threat to their power by the very fact of its existence as a possible historical alternative. Fascinated by the technological and consumer fruits of the West and greedily wanting to master (implement) them, our Horde khans - “modernizers” always with animal fear rejected the roots of Western civilization and its air - the hated air of Freedom and Human Dignity.</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;">Putin and Patrushev were absolutely convinced themselves and convinced the entire ruling elite that they had a unique opportunity to replay world history with one throw of the dice and take revenge for the defeat of the USSR. “The Yankees will retreat to <b>nuclear blackmail</b> and surrender the Baltics,” the Kremlin sages believed. “Like Chamberlain surrendered Czechoslovakia, like Obama surrendered Syria, abandoning his own red lines, when no one even threatened him.”</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;">“Get your belongings and get out,” the fat-faced deputy minister demanded from 30 NATO countries. “If you refuse, you will suffer catastrophes unprecedented in your thousand-year history,” the future Lord of the World threatened.</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;">The chance to humiliate and trample the West with one clash of wills, showing its confusion, indecision and helplessness, despite all its colossal economic and military superiority, was so attractive and promised such dizzying geopolitical dividends that the under-Führer of the under-empire could not avoid the temptation and stubbornly walked towards his nuclear Austerlitz. Which turned into a conventional Waterloo.</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;">The fate of the world was decided at the Battle of Gostomel in February 2022. If Kiev had fallen and, in the aura of his “victory,” Putin, menacingly waving his nuclear cannon, had appeared on the borders of the Baltics and Poland, then the West of the spring of 2022 could have wavered and the crazy plan of two Ps would have triumphed.</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;">A lot has changed over the past year and a half. Ukraine, with its heroic feat of the 300 Spartans of the Free World, literally dragged the hedonistic West back into world History by the scruff of the neck. The United States finally responded to nuclear blackmail with dignity, explaining very clearly to Pu what would happen to him personally if he only reached for nuclear weapons. Pu himself never doubted the conventional superiority of the West. He completely lost World War IV, which he declared to the West, and now dreams of a ceasefire in Ukraine, which he could sell to the deep people as a fake “honorable draw.” But World War IV itself, declared to the West, did not end. Another ambitious scumbag appeared from behind the unlucky St. Petersburg hooligan.</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;">The Islamofascist regime of Iranian religious fanatics and executioners, which has been cursing Satan No. 1 for half a century, has come to the same strategic conclusion as their Kremlin brothers in mind. To morally crush the weakening United States and throw it into the dustbin of world history, it is enough to demonstratively and with impunity defeat one of the United States’ allies. The Kremlin simply demanded the surrender of a dozen Eastern European NATO countries to them. The Ayatollahs have long dreamed of the destruction of Israel, Major non-NATO ally USA.</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;">The terrorist attack of October 7, 2023, monstrous in its boundless cruelty, became the first step in a multi-step operation conceived by Tehran (with the interested complicity of Moscow) to finally resolve the Jewish question in the Middle East.</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;">The atrocities ordered by the organizers and demonstratively broadcast live to the whole world had one goal - to make inevitable a ground operation by the Israeli army to destroy the infrastructure and personnel of Hamas.</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;">When the army gets deeply bogged down in the hardest, long-term cleansing of the ruins and dungeons of Gaza, accompanied by heavy losses, the facilitators will unleash a 50,000-strong horde of Hezbollah thugs on the North of Israel. This simple plan was so obvious that it was thwarted the very next day, October 8, when the Leader of the Free World, the United States of America, finally woke up from a politically correct sleep.</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;">Two aircraft carrier formations and very kind words from Biden, Blinken, and Austin are a convincing argument for Hezbollah and its handlers. Now they will limit itself to constant shelling and raids, without deciding on a large-scale invasion. Israel, thanks to its powerful ally, will have the opportunity to complete the cleansing of Gaza without being distracted by other serious challenges. It would seem a very favorable prospect for Israel.</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;">Let us imagine, however, the final situation the day after this conditional victory. There were very large losses among Israeli military personnel; most likely, most of the hostages died; against the backdrop of the growing joint howl of Islamic fascists and Western liberals about the suffering of civilians in Gaza, an insoluble problem arises: what to do next with a million of these “civilians.” Especially when the Iranian mycelium of Islamist terror has remained untouched and left unpunished, continuously generating, financing and arming similar Hamas throughout the Middle East.</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;">Are there other scenarios possible, more rosier for Israel, for the absolutely necessary physical destruction of Hamas? In our opinion, yes. Only the allies (Israel, the USA) need to understand that in the course of the total war they have declared, they have more urgent problems today than revenge on Hamas, and it is necessary to slightly <b>change the sequence of moves.</b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;">But first, I would like to remind readers of the remarkable words of US Secretary of State Tony Blinken, which he said on October 12 regarding the nature of the allied relationship between the United States and Israel: "The message that I bring to Israel is this: You may be strong enough on your own to defend yourself – but as long as America exists, you will never, ever have to. We will always be there, by your side.”</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;">Based on this message delivered by Blinken in Jerusalem, let me offer the allies an alternative scenario for a convincing Western Victory over their mortal enemies.</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;">Hezbollah, which is preparing for a large-scale attack on Israel but is still hesitant, is dealt a withering blow by the power of two aircraft carrier formations of the United States and the Israeli Air Force. Hezbollah's military infrastructure and the fashionable mansions of its leadership in Beirut are being destroyed. What kind grandfather Biden threatened a certain “organization” on October 8 if it “messed around” is being realized.</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;">So, according to all formal grounds, at the time of writing this text, Hezbollah had already “attacked.” In the end, it is the prerogative of the author of the warning to determine whether she has "poked" or not.</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;">A just act of retaliation against Hezbollah terrorists for all the crimes they have already committed and are still preparing has independent political and military significance. But it is also an absolutely necessary precondition for the Allies' main operation, the air strike on Iran. Iran does not hide the fact that the huge missile arsenal it supplied to Hezbollah, aimed at Israel, is, among other things, a tool to deter the Jewish state from striking the Iranian nuclear complex.</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;">Israel has long warned that it would carry out such a strike on its own if Iran came close to possessing nuclear weapons. The United States has also repeatedly stated that it does not rule out a military solution to the Iranian nuclear problem. And just recently, the Pentagon announced that, according to US military intelligence, the ayatollahs are two weeks away from receiving the first nuclear warhead. It is no longer possible to hesitate. Israel has always emphasized that, if necessary, it is independently capable of carrying out nuclear castration of Iran.</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;">But now the city and the world are told very loudly that Israel must never, ever do this alone. <b>America will always be there.</b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;">Moreover, in today's circumstances, the list of targets for air strike(s) should be significantly expanded. Israel can no longer cope alone. The Iranian military-political leadership, waging a war of physical destruction of Israel and the moral destruction of the United States, is worse than ISIS and must be mercilessly eliminated. Therefore, the list of targets, in addition to all facilities of Iran’s nuclear complex and missile industry, should also include decision-making centers (ayatollahs on the list, starting with the supreme one, the leadership of the IRGC, the army).</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;">An outside observer of these dramatic events inside Iran, the Turkish-Azerbaijani army will immediately offer security guarantees to 30 million of its compatriots, who will greet it with delight as the liberating army. Erdogan and Aliyev will adjust their famous formula “One people – two countries” to “One people – three countries”.</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;">The wonderful little state of Israel does not have territorial strategic depth. Therefore, every big war for him is a war of survival. In 1967, Israel launched a preemptive strike and won a brilliant victory. In 1973, he refrained from such a blow and put himself on the brink of disaster.</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;">This time Israel has a powerful ally, much more determined in its support for Israel than in 1967 and 1973. He won't go into the catacombs of Gaza, but he's capable of much more. Moreover, Israel, like Ukraine, is today at the forefront of a world war, declared by the axis of absolute evil, primarily against the United States of America.</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;">After two crushing, if you will, preventive strikes by the allies against Hezbollah and Iran, the delayed ground cleansing of Hamas, which overnight lost its sponsors and inspirers, will take place in a completely different political and psychological atmosphere. The losses of Israeli military personnel will be an order of magnitude less than expected today. And in response to the question of what to do next with Gaza, in the absence of Iranian Islamofascists, quite constructive answers may appear. Not only Gaza, but the entire Middle East will be able to unhindered continue its positive transformation in the spirit of the Abraham Accords.</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;">The allies will still have to strike at Hezbollah and Iran. But delivering these two successive strikes today is much more effective from both a military and political point of view than after the IDF’s grueling expedition into the underground of Gaza.</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;">Glory to Ukraine! Glory to Israel! Glory to the USA! To the victorious powers in World War IV, unleashed by the mortal enemies of the Free World.</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;">Andrey Piontkovsky</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8514319999999997; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-right: 18pt; margin-top: -1pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2938958149300744959.post-86850301998971305352023-10-14T12:10:00.000-07:002023-10-14T12:10:24.824-07:00Douglas Murray: ‘Treat UK Hamas supporters like Isis supporters’<p> </p>
<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QCUfNLENLZg" title="Douglas Murray: ‘Treat UK Hamas supporters like Isis supporters’" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2938958149300744959.post-1969926260751743092023-10-09T09:29:00.000-07:002023-10-09T09:29:54.951-07:00 Andrey Piontkovski’s take on the Hamas/Iran - Israel war <iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xTkWLQ4ndjg" title="МНИМЫЕ ДРУЗЬЯ И ИСТИННЫЕ ВРАГИ. БЕСЕДА С @Andrei_Piontkovsky АНДРЕЙ ПИОНТКОВСКИЙ" width="640"></iframe><p><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 20px; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></span></p><p><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 20px; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-91799400-7fff-0e65-2631-074ae5b9244d"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I just watched the analysis of the situation by Andrey Piontkovski who used to be a Soviet mathematician (a hundred papers on applied mathematics) and who is now a political analyst and lives in Washington, DC. This was in a discussion with Mark Feygin who used to be Piontkovski’s lawyer. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Here is what he thinks of the situation:</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">He has no doubts whatsoever that Israel is going to attack Iran. He said that Biden’s decision to send the USS Gerald Ford carrier force came after he had been pounded by both Republicans and Democrats for giving $6 billion to Iran (the US ended up financing the attack on Israel), and that dispatching the carrier group is one of the most significant development in the crisis. It would stop Hezbollah from attacking from the north. Whether the US would directly participate in the attack on Iran he does not know, but it would definitely help. Biden is embarrassed and wants to atone. </span></p><br /><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It has now crystallized that we have two fascist regimes fighting two democracies. Iran through Hamas is attacking Israel while Russia is bombing Ukraine. He also mentioned that there has been an explosion of anti-Semitism in the Russian pro-Putin media the magnitude of which he has not encountered in years.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">He has been shocked by the failure of Israeli intelligence, the reasons for the fiasco wil be determined after the war, but that now Bibi should go for an emergency unity government just like Churchill did with Atlee in 1940.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Piontkovski believes that Israel should get off the fence and give more support to Ukraine, now that we have a clear case of totalitarian regimes vs democracies. He compared what Hamas was doing to the Israeli civilians to what Russian soldiers had done in Buche . He even believes that there should be a military agreement between Ukraine and Israel </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">He understands the horrible predicament the Israeli government is now facing with having to save the lives of the hostages on the one hand and destroying Hamas on the other. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Hamas’ atrocities have finally exposed to the liberal West who they are. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">His time-line predictions for the war are as follows: </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">1st week - cleaning up the area around Gaza and trying to save the hostages</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">2nd and 3rd week - destroying Hamas</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 15pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">4th week - destroying the Iranian threat once and for all. He said Israel could do it alone but preferably with US help.</span></p><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2938958149300744959.post-52076716593695600512023-09-03T07:02:00.002-07:002023-09-22T00:36:46.638-07:00Director of the Institute for the USA and Canada Valery Garbuzov on the Lost Illusions of the Bygone Era<p><br /></p><p><span id="docs-internal-guid-72ed3524-7fff-34aa-690b-95ce7e28ee95"></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It is bizarre to read the article which got Valery Garbuzov fired as Director of the prestigious </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Institute for the USA and Canada</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> at Russia’s Academy of Sciences. After all, what he writes is quite self evident for us in the West. However, we must not forget Orwell: “</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act."</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: arial;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJejUlUuRlbbjZva2nQTJI6KqSrPKuY6oFBIIFD87SyFBi5p7jmtC7kvriMORVKRsC6XBgMdq_PtrK701xPCjQZ-3c9bk78w1haQ9h4xB8DTEB_6V1IC3GZDxFrbAAxOmL6zKh36rvxx5EvPbMs-x-WKB_qzcRC4AIr-3ygPgvkdHT8qMkbd5-_H-2Wqk/s380/ValeryGarbuzov.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="268" data-original-width="380" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJejUlUuRlbbjZva2nQTJI6KqSrPKuY6oFBIIFD87SyFBi5p7jmtC7kvriMORVKRsC6XBgMdq_PtrK701xPCjQZ-3c9bk78w1haQ9h4xB8DTEB_6V1IC3GZDxFrbAAxOmL6zKh36rvxx5EvPbMs-x-WKB_qzcRC4AIr-3ygPgvkdHT8qMkbd5-_H-2Wqk/s320/ValeryGarbuzov.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Valery Garbuzov </td></tr></tbody></table><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: arial;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #181818; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #181818; font-size: 11.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The following is a slightly modified google translate from Russian in</span> </span><a href="https://www.ng.ru/ideas/2023-08-29/7_8812_illusions.html?fbclid=IwAR2jknRVzgWdBucoz4WnriXVKV0pSXA2F_9YrdZk-w2zvrUrPTg2KcPdvjE_aem_AXm6rKI7KcdmAIflTnfXU58hdYr8fI8v5SNQaqyD69pLSFNZX_YRlQFYYaEGVqjBQbQ" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1155cc; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Nazavisimaya Gazeta</span></a><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><b id="docs-internal-guid-dbc828a8-7fff-1de1-53a1-39b8d5e4a6a3" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-959af09b-7fff-cef2-a950-f9949ac5669f"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span face="Arial,sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #202124; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">For self-knowledge Russia needs knowledge, not myths</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #202124; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">By Valery Garbuzov</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #202124; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">About the author: Valery Nikolaevich Garbuzov - Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Director of the Institute for the USA and Canada Academician G.A. Arbatov RAS.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #202124; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The passing era takes a lot with it: illusions and hopes die, myths are destroyed, a new reality appears, the living environment changes. What generations lived for is forgotten.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #202124; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Often, the ruling elites of authoritarian and totalitarian political regimes deliberately formed utopian ideas and myths, purposefully spread among the masses. Such massive manipulation of the consciousness of society immediately gives rise to a utopian picture of the perception of the world among millions of people, making it possible to unite disparate political and social groups around a national leader in the name of a specific goal. However, it is also a powerful tool for long-term retention of personal power. And Russian history is by no means an exception.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #202124; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It's no secret that the charge of foreign policy expansionism has never left Russia, pursuing it throughout its entire historical development. It was that which became one of the engines of the formation of the Russian state.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #202124; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This trend was manifested during the years of the existence of the early feudal Old Russian state of Kievan Rus in the 9th–12th centuries, and during the specific period of feudal strife in the 12th–15th centuries, and during the time of the Moscow centralized state of the 15th–18th centuries, and after the formation of the Russian Empire in 1721, when Eurasian continental expansionism became the focus of Russia's often aggressive foreign policy activity, which turned it into the world's largest power by the beginning of the 20th century.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #202124; font-size: 21pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The myth of world communism</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #202124; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Bolsheviks, who came to power in October 1917, enthusiastically took up the banner of Russian continental expansionism. True, they gave it a communist color and a global scale.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #202124; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">After the Russian revolution of 1917, the ruling elite of the young Soviet republic adopted the expansionist idea of a world proletarian revolution, in which the first Soviet Bolsheviks (Zinoviev and Kamenev, Lenin and Trotsky, Stalin and Bukharin) wholeheartedly believed. Few of them doubted that after October 1917, following Russia, a revolutionary fire would break out in the rest of the world, and all of Europe (and even America) would certainly be Soviet.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #202124; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A special revolutionary radicalism then came from Trotsky, who claimed to be the main organizer of the October Revolution and the ideologist of the permanent revolution - a continuous revolutionary process on a global scale.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #202124; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In order to organize a world revolution in 1919, its headquarters, the Comintern, was created in Moscow, which formed its own sections - national communist parties and turned into a foreign policy instrument of the rapidly growing Soviet empire. However, it soon became clear that this idea was just an empty myth, an unrealizable utopia. In 1943, under pressure from the allies in the Anti-Hitler coalition, the Comintern announced its own dissolution.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #202124; font-size: 21pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Soviet mythology</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #202124; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The state propaganda of the USSR in the 1960s and 1970s was built around several points that formed the Soviet foreign policy mythology.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #202124; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">One of them was the thesis of American imperialism taking over the entire globe and preventing the rest of the world from advancing towards a bright communist future. The fact that the foreign policy of the USSR during the Cold War years was its mirror image, today, few people doubt. The two superpowers held each other back, practically using the same tools to create their own spheres of global geopolitical influence.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #202124; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">At the same time, another thesis has become widespread in Soviet scientific and educational literature - about the historical doom of capitalism, which has entered its last stage - imperialism, and about the three centers of inter-imperialist contradictions (USA, Western Europe and Japan), the accumulation of which will lead to its inevitable death and victory of world communism.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #202124; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The main forces of the anti-imperialist movement were declared to be three main liberation flows: the countries of the socialist camp, the world communist movement and the national liberation, anti-colonial movement, through whose efforts the powerful imperialist dam that impedes the progress of mankind should be destroyed.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #202124; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The aggravation of the contradictions of imperialism, the collapse of its colonial system, the strengthening of political reaction, the deep crisis of bourgeois politics and ideology were declared symptoms of the “general crisis of capitalism” that gripped Western society. This utopian theory existed for decades, completely spreading in the USSR and socialist countries, never being questioned.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #202124; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Similar utopian dogmas were enshrined in the Third Program of the CPSU, adopted by the XXII Congress of the CPSU in 1961, aimed at building communism within 20 years, and in its new edition, adopted by the XXVII Party Congress in 1986, which was based on the utopian doctrine of “developed socialism” .</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #202124; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Each time, the ideological hesitation of the irreplaceable Soviet party and state elite, plunging society into a world of illusions, led to the creation of a false picture of the world.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #202124; font-size: 21pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The evolution of capitalism</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #202124; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #202124; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">However, the reality (as is often the case) turned out to be completely different. The "general crisis of capitalism" never led to the victory of world communism. On the contrary, the Soviet Union disintegrated under the weight of internal deep contradictions, and along with its collapse, the system of socialism, which had reached a dead end, collapsed. The world communist movement found itself in a deep crisis, never reaching its goal.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #202124; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The situation was different in the West. Overcoming crises, Western capitalism did not die, but evolved predominantly in socialist and neoliberal directions. Following the rule “if you want to survive, change,” it became more and more regulated by the state, more and more humane and attractive to its own citizens. The social responsibility of the state and business has become the norm of the Western world.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #202124; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This ability of capitalism, under the influence of crises, to quickly adapt, getting rid of its own vices, to constantly develop and improve, turned out to be beyond the vision of the “visionary” Soviet thinkers.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-size: 11.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #202124; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Old Songs About Main Things</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"</span></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Today, in the wake of anti-Western sentiments in an atmosphere of pseudo-patriotic frenzy that has gripped the population of Russia, which regularly listens to “Old Songs About Main Things” and who with amazing ease, naively and thoughtlessly perceives the theses of total state propaganda, new myths are being created, and with them a modern utopian consciousness is being formed. These myths are being spread day and night by a new generation of well-paid professional political manipulators and panelists on numerous television talk shows.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In the context of the creeping restoration of Stalinism, through their efforts, new dogmas are being introduced - about the crisis of globalization and the entire “Anglo-Saxon” world (what would this mean in the 21st century?), about a new anti-colonial revolution (there are only 17 colonies left in the world!), about the loss of the American domination (and this is after the collapse of the USSR?), about the great world anti-American revolution, in general about the decline of the West (the second coming of the “general crisis of capitalism”?!).</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Such statements require compelling reasons. Do they exist? Let's try to figure it out.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #202124; font-size: 21pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Informal empires of the modern world</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The dominance of the United States is an objective, constantly acting factor that began the process of its formation from the beginning of the 20th century and exists (to the deep sadness of modern domestic pseudo-patriots) to this day. True, the scale of this factor, as well as the nature and forms of its manifestation, have evolved.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Over the almost 250-year period of its existence and development, thanks to the global expansion of the United States in the 20th century, it has become an "informal empire of the modern world", penetrating itself and simultaneously integrating almost all countries and continents. This is what has become the long-term strategic course of the United States - the "nation of all nations" and the superpower of modernity.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Today, the United States, producing 25% of the world's industrial GDP, continues to be the economic giant of the modern world. With the help of 12 military-political blocs and more than 1,000 military bases and facilities located in strategically important regions of the world, they ensure their global dominance: the American military presence is recorded in more than 80 countries.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The United States is a nuclear superpower that maintains global leadership in such areas as the global economy, finance, military, innovation, direct investment and culture. They still retain their attractiveness, as evidenced by the inexhaustible massive flows of immigrants from all continents. About 1 million people arrive in the United States each year.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Possessing more than 70% (8150 tons) of the world's total gold reserves, the United States is the undisputed leader in terms of gold reserves. This allows us to maintain the position of the US dollar as a world currency. And although only 3% of Russians today believe in its reliability (paradox: about 60% of Russian citizens keep their savings in dollars, the volume of which is a record 226.6 billion!), in the long term it continues to be the most popular and stable currency in the world - the world's main reserve currency.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">American global dominance evokes different reactions, from rejection to support. In the world, almost 70% of the population recognizes the leadership of the United States and has a generally positive attitude towards this power. At the same time, anti-Americanism has always accompanied the movement of the United States on its way to the geopolitical pinnacle. A persistent rejection of this superpower remains today in countries such as Jordan, China, Palestine, Pakistan, Lebanon, North Korea, Russia, Belarus, Cuba, Austria, Slovenia, Venezuela, Iran.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The anti-American foreign policy of the USSR, aimed at counteracting the United States and the entire West, helped in its time to create an alternative socialist empire that lasted only a few decades and collapsed due to its own unviability. Its global collapse should have been a good lesson to all mankind.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Any attempts to cobble together a new anti-American coalition on a global scale (stubbornly undertaken today by the Russian authorities, seized by the desire to "return what was lost") are unlikely to lead to success. The interests of most states of the world are too integrated into the American ones, forming a strategic interdependence between them and thus deterring any aggressive anti-Americanism.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Having challenged the United States and begun its rise more than 40 years ago, China is following a similar path to the US, conquering more and more new markets and spheres of influence around the planet. Having turned into a world factory, this power is on the verge of transformation into the second “informal empire of the modern world”, the main (after the collapse of the USSR) global competitor of the United States. However, the factors that ensure China's imperial future are likely to be different.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">According to macroeconomic forecasts, within the next 10 years China may surpass the United States in terms of the nominal size of its economy. This process will be accompanied by the fight between the yuan and the dollar and the possible displacement of the latter from the position of the world reserve currency. Will this happen? It is still difficult to answer this question. But if this happens, the world will undoubtedly face big changes.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Thus, today there are only two informal empires on the planet - the USA and China. Russia is a former empire, the heir to the Soviet superpower, experiencing an extremely painful syndrome of suddenly lost imperial greatness.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The fact that Russia today has a pronounced post-imperial syndrome is more a tragic pattern than a historical anomaly. Its peculiarity is that it did not appear immediately after the collapse of the USSR in 1991, but made itself felt much later, with Putin coming to power. More than 30 years later, the delayed syndrome, the possible occurrence of which was previously not given much importance, has acquired a threatening character.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #202124; font-size: 21pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Three geopolitical programs</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In today's world, there are only three powers with their own global programs: the US, China and Russia.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">First of all, the United States, which throughout its history has been shaping its own geopolitical program based on the ideas of American exceptionalism and messianism, the universalism of American values, American dominance and undeniable leadership. Pursuing a policy of global expansionism, spreading their own values and institutions beyond their borders, having turned into an informal empire of the modern world in the second half of the 20th century, they have long secured the status of the main superpower of the planet.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">China has relatively recently embarked on the path of shaping its own global course. Its main stages were the reforms of Deng Xiaoping, the “One Belt – One Road” policy and the concept of “Creating a community with a common destiny for mankind.” All of them are one way or another aimed at achieving a leading position for the Celestial Empire on the path to world progress.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">One thing is clear: the USA and China are two informal empires of the modern world. Moreover, both of these empires, born in different parts of the world, in different eras, are very similar in their methods of spreading their global influence. It is no coincidence that the main confrontational axis of the modern world lies precisely between them.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Russia has its own - special - orbit. As the main heir to the Soviet superpower created on the ruins of the Russian Empire, it became a hostage of its own imperial complex. This is precisely what explains its current foreign policy behavior and the problems that it brings to the world.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It is no secret that after the collapse of the colonial empires, all metropolises experienced an inevitable nostalgia for the lost greatness - the so-called post-imperial syndrome. It was formed almost immediately, when it was clear that the former colonial power was collapsing.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">For example, Winston Churchill was not very happy about the victory in World War II, because something happened that he was clearly not prepared for. Having grown up and formed in the British Empire, he could not come to terms with the fact that this empire was falling apart before his eyes. The same can be said about his contemporary, General Charles de Gaulle. Brought up in French society with an imperial consciousness, he could not get used to the fact that France was irretrievably losing its colonies one after another. But, having overcome their imperial feelings, they still managed to adapt to a fundamentally new situation. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Russia, which today is going through an extremely painful post-imperial syndrome, is also trying to form its own global geopolitical program. But it is still too shaky, unstable and eclectic. Judge for yourself: the program (rather a set of guidelines) is based on a mixture of ideas of Eurasianism, the “Russian world”, aggressive anti-Americanism, confrontation with the unipolar world and the “decaying” West as a whole.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It also contains the ideas of “sovereign democracy”, “deep people”, longing for traditional values and the Orthodox faith. This entire mixture is held together by a conservative glue that connects its dissimilar components. In some ways, this mishmash is reminiscent of the anti-Western ideological inventions of almost 200 years ago - the “theory of official nationality” of the permanent president of the Imperial Russian Academy of Sciences for 30 years and concurrently the Minister of Public Education, Count Sergei Uvarov. His triad “Orthodoxy. Autocracy. Nationality" was the ideological embodiment of Russian monarchism, which, along with Orthodoxy and the guaranteed support of the people by the autocratic government, supposedly act as reliable guarantors of the existence and greatness of Russia.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">As for conservatism, which the current Russian authorities are so fond of, it is not so clear-cut. There is no single, timeless and universal conservatism in the world. This is a flowing phenomenon, the objects of conservation are different, and it is individual in different countries. And the conservatism that existed in Russia once at the beginning of the twentieth century and is sometimes taken as a model today is hardly suitable in the current circumstances.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Modern Russia, which turned out to be the main successor to the Soviet superpower and feels nostalgic for its past greatness and lost influence, today experiencing a delayed post-imperial syndrome, despite its small share in the world economy, still has a strong expansionist charge and an as yet unrevealed ambition for global geopolitical influence .</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Having a rich experience of communist expansionism associated with the activities of the Comintern, quickly creating a sphere of its own regional and global influence after the victory in World War II, and immediately losing it with the collapse of the USSR, modern Russia is trying, so far unsuccessfully, to take belated revenge.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">To this end, it initiated the creation of new integration associations (CSTO, EAEU, SCO, BRICS), thereby forming its own geopolitical fields and spaces. The same goals were pursued by Russia’s once successful energy strategy, which was perceived in the world not only as a tool for securing reliable markets for energy resources, but also as a key element in organizing its own spheres of global influence.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Trying to rally around itself on an anti-Western platform the former colonial and oppressed peoples of the countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America, involving them in the struggle against the countries of the “golden billion” that has been pushing its world domination and has been dominating the world for decades, Russia today claims to be the leader of “ the global majority."</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">However, it has not yet managed to compete with the United States and China and become an independent geopolitical anti-Western locomotive. And with the help of the newly created state mythology, it is unlikely to be able to do so.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The purpose of all this is quite obvious - plunging one’s own society into a world of illusions and accompanied by great-power and patriotic rhetoric, the undisguised and deliberate indefinite retention of power at any cost, the preservation of property and the political regime by the current ruling elite and the oligarchy integrated with it.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In the conditions of the information age, replacing realities with illusions, Russia seemed to be frozen in the past, still relying on the tsar-priest or another firm hand of the supreme power, while trying unsuccessfully to regain its former greatness, lost possessions and world influence.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In this regard, we note that many today are inclined, according to the expert on autocratic-bureaucratic reality M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, confuse two concepts: “Fatherland” and “Your Excellency.” The words spoken by the great writer during the era of tsarism are still relevant today. The current domestic minions of authoritarianism (like the satraps of ancient Eastern despotisms that have sunk into oblivion), apparently completely devoid of historical consciousness, without hesitation, with touching emotion, sincerely identify the head of state with the state itself, the temporary ruler of the country with a great national and historical constant.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #202124; font-size: 21pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It's a shame, gentlemen, and humiliating!</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Every nation, like every person, has its own biography. They even have their own official place of residence. And the most valuable thing is its unique character, which gives each one a special individuality and exclusivity. Only by knowing it, it is possible to build a line of civilized and responsible international behavior, a clear lack of which exists in today's world.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">But that's not all. Knowledge, and not myths, about another people and state allows you to understand not only them, but also yourself, forming a comprehensive and at the same time critical view of your own country, its history with all the difficult pages, its difficult and tragic past, even if it was mixed with illusions that captivate society. True, long ago and irretrievably lost.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><br /><br />*** </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;">Notes:</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;">Not clear why <span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial; font-size: 16px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Slovenia is in the group of anti-American countries. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: arial; white-space-collapse: preserve;">"Old Songs About Main Things" is a series of musical films nostalgic about the USSR</span><span style="color: #202124; font-family: arial; font-weight: 700; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2938958149300744959.post-72246677716203034302023-08-14T07:13:00.003-07:002023-08-28T05:29:06.381-07:00The Navalny Manifesto <p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">One can only admire the courage of this man who stood up to the totalitarian regime of Putin's Russia. He is not Winston Smith in Orwell’s novel 1984. Navalny is imprisoned in the </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">real </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">world and sentenced to 19 years just like Natan Sheransky had been imprisoned in the USSR 46 years ago. This is all happening </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">now</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">. Again! </span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKZAKG0uRbYRA2Q3-tAX2zDJ7o08xJd6aHDhfuM3uyuRXlJkSlVizqDqwDmhYO56U0C_eGGKqjHK1j6gySakSPvsPJ2PHJ2DsKDMY6fUcI5aPI_aSimOg4GnRf9mqFCe3VYxknZ3hbNNmdBnaHPYc2hxXBSvLznesfVk6k4k07oLsa3ZCIxuoTjw4AQQA/s425/Navalny.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="425" data-original-width="425" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKZAKG0uRbYRA2Q3-tAX2zDJ7o08xJd6aHDhfuM3uyuRXlJkSlVizqDqwDmhYO56U0C_eGGKqjHK1j6gySakSPvsPJ2PHJ2DsKDMY6fUcI5aPI_aSimOg4GnRf9mqFCe3VYxknZ3hbNNmdBnaHPYc2hxXBSvLznesfVk6k4k07oLsa3ZCIxuoTjw4AQQA/s320/Navalny.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alexei Navalny </td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /></div><div class="b-icon b-icon_date" style="background: url("../images/b-icon.1c124b5e2c5c.png") -115px 0px no-repeat rgb(255, 255, 255); border: none; color: #888888; display: inline-block; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 12.036px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; height: 17px; line-height: inherit; margin: -2px 0px 0px; outline: none; padding-right: 5px; vertical-align: middle; width: 15px;"></div><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.036px;">11.08.2023, 12:07</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-7424db91-7fff-2f50-9dd6-2afbdcc352ff"><h2 dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.35; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-size: 18pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 400; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">My fear and loathing</span></h2><div><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-size: 18pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 400; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-8e42cebf-7fff-7621-d252-ba42c66f1a36"><a href="https://navalny.com/p/6652/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline;">https://navalny.com/p/6652/</span></a></span></span></div><div><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-size: 18pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 400; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I wanted to write about this for a long time. Well, let it be the first post after the </span><a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2023/08/04/europe/navalny-extremism-trial-verdict-russia-intl/index.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #008594; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">new sentence</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">. It's like a confession. I need to get over this loathing and fear, maybe you can help me with this. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 13pt 0pt;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Loathing. People ask me a lot about it, and I started receiving letters again: do you hate the judge? Do you hate Putin even more? I have said many times before that hate is the main thing that must be overcome in prison. There are so many reasons for it, and your powerlessness is a strong catalyst for the process. So if you let it go, it will eat and end you up.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 13pt;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I'll be honest, I have a hatred and I've got a lot of it. Old-users of the Internet will remember that meme: I fiercely, wildly hate it. Something like this. Most often I have it after «trials». The last one, by the way, where I got 19 years, was not one of those. There, on the contrary, we all competed in showering each other with pleasantries. During the whole process, no one raised their voice once. This is the most dangerous kind of judge: they give you 19 years in prison, and will also make you sympathize with them.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 13pt;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I get furious after the sessions of the local district court. There are simple cases, there is no space for legal tricks, and the judges simply and frankly say about the black: «Oh this is white, look, the reference says white» and make demonstratively illegal decisions.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 13pt;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Sometimes I can't stand it and yell at some </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKcLQbmhGOc" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #008594; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">«judge» Samoilov</span></a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, but it's not him I hate with my great hatred. Not the cops, not the outlaw thieves from the colony. Not the FSB officers who command them. You'll be surprised, but not even Putin. At times like this, I hate people I previously loved. For whom I stood up, for whom I argued to the hilt. I also hate myself that once I loved them.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 13pt;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">АLook. I am sitting in my SHIZO and reading a book by </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natan_Sharansky" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #008594; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Natan Sharansky</span></a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, «Fear No Evil» (I recommend it). Sharansky was jailed in the USSR for nine years, and in 1986 he was exchanged. He went to Israel, created a party, achieved great succes. In general, he's a cool guy. By the way, he spent 400 days in punishment cells and SHIZO. I really can't imagine how he survived.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 13pt;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So, Sharansky describes the arrest and the investigation. 1977. I was one year old at the time. The book was published in the USSR in 1991. I was 15 years old at the time. Now I am 47, and while reading his book, I sometimes shake my head to get rid of the feeling that I am reading my personal file. For example the SHIZO/PKT building — is a separate barrack behind the barbed wire. The maximum term in the SHIZO is 15 days. I was not surprised when after several «15 days» in a row I was transferred as a persistent offender to a PKT for six months. It was exactly the same.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 13pt;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In the introduction (I remind you, the year is 1991), Sharansky writes that it is in prisons that the virus of free-thinking persists, and he hopes that the KGB will not find «an antidote to this virus.» Sharansky was wrong. The antidote was found. The antidote that now, in 2023, seems to have more political prisoners in Russia than in the Brezhnev-Andropov times. What has the KGB got to do with it? There was no creeping or overt coup in our country led by people from the special services. They did not come to power by pushing the democrat reformers out of power. They did it themselves. They called them themselves. They invited them themselves. They taught them how to fake elections. How to steal property from entire industries. How to lie to the media. How to change laws to suit themselves. How to suppress opposition by force. Even how to organize idiotic, stupid, talentless wars.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 13pt;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">That is why I can't help it and I fiercely hate those who sold, drank, and wasted the historical chance that our country had in the early 90s. I hate Yeltsin and «Tanya and Valya», Chubais, and the rest of the corrupt family who put Putin in power. I hate the swindlers, whom we used to call reformers for some reason. Now it is very clear that they did nothing but intrigue and take care of their own wealth. Is there any other country where so many Ministers of the «Government of Reforms» became millionaires and billionaires? I hate the authors of the most stupid authoritarian constitution, which they sold to us idiots as democratic, even then giving the president the power of a full-fledged monarch.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 13pt;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I especially hate everyone for the fact that there was not even a serious attempt to remove the basis of lawlessness — to carry out judicial reform, without which all other reforms are doomed to failure. I am studying this a lot now. In 1991, the RSFSR adopted a good concept of judicial reform, but already in 1993, counter-reforms aimed at building a judicial vertical began. At that time, all political forces wanted honest courts. There was a complete consensus in society. If an independent judiciary had been established, a new usurpation of power would have been impossible or very difficult. So make no mistake: the thing that is now dashingly handing out 8-15-20 year sentences to innocent people started to be built long before Putin. Now it is clear: no one in the Kremlin and the government of the 90s wanted an independent court. That's because such a court would have been a barrier to corruption, election fraud, and the transformation of governors and mayors into irremovable princes.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 13pt;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I hate the «independent media» and the «democratic society» that provided full support for one of the most dramatic turning points in our new history — the fraudulent presidential election of 1996. Again, I was an active supporter of all this at the time. Not election fraud, of course — I wouldn't have liked it even then, but I did my best to ignore it, and the general unfairness of the election didn't embarrass me even for a bit. Now we are paying for the fact that in 1996 we thought that election fraud was not always a bad thing. The end justified the means.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 13pt;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I hate oligarch Gusinsky (even if he is no longer an oligarch) because he blatantly hired Bobkov, the deputy head of the KGB, who was responsible for persecuting dissidents. They thought it was a joke at the time: ha-ha, he put innocent people in jail, and now he works for me. Kind of like a bear in the livery. So not only was there no lustration, there was the encouragement of villains. Now, literally, those people who worked for Bobkov as young employees are putting Yashin, Kara-Murza, and me in jail.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 13pt;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We often hear that the Yeltsin government could not do anything because they were opposed by the Communists in the parliament. Nevertheless, this did not prevent the mortgage auctions of 1996, but for some reason it prevented judicial reform and reform of the security services.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 13pt;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I hate the entire leadership of Russia, which in 1991 (after the putsch) and in 1993 (after the shooting of the parliament) had absolute power and did not even try to make obvious democratic reforms. For example, what was done in the Czech Republic (where there is now a democracy and an average salary of </span><a href="https://www.czso.cz/csu/czso/ari/average-wages-4-quarter-of-2022" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #008594; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">1 760 euros</span></a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">), Poland (democracy and average salary of </span><a href="https://stat.gov.pl/en/topics/labour-market/working-employed-wages-and-salaries-cost-of-labour/average-paid-employment-and-average-gross-wages-and-salaries-in-the-enterprise-sector-in-december-2022,3,141.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #008594; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">1 680 euros</span></a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">), Estonia (democracy and an average salary of </span><a href="https://www.stat.ee/et/avasta-statistikat/valdkonnad/tooelu/palk-ja-toojoukulu/keskmine-brutokuupalk" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #008594; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">1 810 euros</span></a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">), Lithuania (democracy and an average salary of </span><a href="https://osp.stat.gov.lt/informaciniai-pranesimai?articleId=11020482" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #008594; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">1 959 euros</span></a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">) and other Eastern European countries. Of course, different people were in power then. Good people, honest and sincere too. However, this tiny minority, whose desperate and unsuccessful struggle only shows us even better the corruption and shamelessness of the power elite back then.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 13pt;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It was not with Putin in 2011 but with Yeltsin, Chubais, oligarchs, and the entire Komsomol-party gang that called themselves «democrats» that we went not to Europe, but to Central Asia in 1994. We exchanged our European future for </span><a href="https://istories.media/investigations/2021/04/07/chudesnaya-villa-na-ostrove-millionerov/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #008594; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">villas</span></a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> of «Tanya and Valya» on the «millionaires' island» of St. Barth. When Putin's KGB/FSB officers got free access to political posts, they didn't have to do anything. They just looked around and exclaimed in amazement: Wait, was that allowed? If the rules of the game are like this, so that it is possible to steal, lie, falsify, censor, and all courts are under our control, then we will have a pretty good turnaround here.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 13pt;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We let the goat in the cabbage warehouse, and then we wonder why it ate all the cabbage. It is a goat, its mission and goal is to eat cabbage, it can't think of anything else. It is useless to agitate him. Similarly, Putin's FSB official can't think of anything else but to build a huge house and imprison those they don't like. I can't stand the goat, but I hate those who let it in the cabbage warehouse.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 13pt;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Though, of course, I realize that it's better to not hate anyone at all, but to think about how not to do it again. Here comes my greatest fear. I don't just believe, I know that Russia will still have a chance. This is a historical process. We will again be at a crossroads.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 13pt;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In horror and cold sweat, I jump up in my bunk at night, when I think that we had a chance again, but we again went the same way as in the 90s. Following the «ends justify the means» sign. Where it is written in small letters: « faking elections is not always a bad thing», «look at these people, what kind of juries are they?», «it doesn't matter that he is a thief, but he is a technocrat and stands up for bicycle lanes», «give these people a free hand, they will choose anything they want», «the government is still the only European in Russia» and other wisdom of enlightened authoritarianism.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 13pt;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">What I have written about the 90s is not a historical exercise, reflection or meaningless complaining. It is the most important and most urgent issue of political strategy for all supporters of the European path and democratic development. I was impressed by the large collection of different opinions about our </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fi7dTdYA8D0&ab_channel=%D0%90%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%81%D0%B5%D0%B9%D0%9D%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%BD%D1%8B%D0%B9" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #008594; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">investigation</span></a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> of Alexei Venediktov and Ksenia Sobchak. They received tens and hundreds of millions of rubles from the budget fund, which served as a common fund for the United Russia party. Venediktov received 550 million right at the time when he was in charge of the observation headquarters and directly organized the theft of votes. He was the face, the agitator, and the monitor of electronic voting, the purpose of which is to take your vote and put it in the stack of the United Russia party's candidate.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 13pt;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The falsifications of the early electronic voting system </span><a href="https://novayagazeta.ru/articles/2021/11/09/zazor-i-pozor" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #008594; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">have been thoroughly proven</span></a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> and are beyond any doubt. So, I was amazed to find a significant number of people for whom neither the elements of the scheme «money from the common fund and election fraud» nor their combination «money from common fund during election fraud» are either defamatory or significant. Come on, that's bullshit. Yes, something was going on there, but there is no proof that he was paid to falsify the elections — just paid and just falsified. This was all back in the mammoth times. It started as far back as 2019. No one remembers anymore. None of that matters, the important thing is that he is now «against the war». As one of the </span><a href="https://twitter.com/jstoruser/status/1633111106632679424" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #008594; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">tweets clearly says</span></a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, «What's the big deal?» — as a national idea.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 13pt;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This is just an exclusive example, but it, like the </span><a href="https://ufa.aif.ru/politic/eks-soratnik_habirova_murzagulov_stal_vedushchim_oppozicionnogo_youtube-kanala" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #008594; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">situation with Murzagulov</span></a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, like Khodorkovsky's calls to </span><a href="https://t.me/khodorkovski/8350" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #008594; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">take up arms</span></a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> and </span><a href="https://t.me/khodorkovski/8345" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #008594; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">join Prigozhin's troops</span></a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, shows perfectly well that even now, in the year of 2023, during the repressions, imprisonments, and war, loyalty to principles is still questioned in our country and is seen by many as naive, romantic, and generally as a «white coat». Personal loyalty, corporate affiliation, and old friendships are seen by many as more important.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 13pt;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I am not suggesting in any way that Alexei Venediktov should be shot, hanged, or carefully trimmed. There is no need for any brutality. However, it is possible to NOT APPROVE what he has done (and does by keep telling us that the early electronic voting was not falsified), and not consider him a political ally. Because, excuse me, if our political ally is someone who sells our votes to the United Russia party, then who are we anyway, what are we here for?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 13pt;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Let's all join the United Russia then. We'll create a fraction of hardcore Sobyaninists (that's what I call them), the basis is already there. Every hero of the ACF investigations will be immediately justified by the Dream Team: Ksenia Sobchak (</span><a href="https://t.me/bloodysx/26241" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #008594; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">one</span></a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, </span><a href="https://t.me/bloodysx/26241" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #008594; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">two</span></a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">), </span><a href="https://novayagazeta.ru/articles/2021/11/09/zazor-i-pozor" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #008594; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Alexei Venediktov</span></a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, Maxim Katz (</span><a href="https://twitter.com/max_katz/status/1667134872824041476?s=20" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #008594; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">one</span></a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, </span><a href="https://twitter.com/max_katz/status/1656399376430792705?s=20" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #008594; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">two</span></a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, </span><a href="https://twitter.com/max_katz/status/1681263896173109249" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #008594; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">three</span></a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">), and </span><a href="https://twitter.com/kmartynov/status/1681368542619238462" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #008594; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Kirill Martynov</span></a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, a former Nashi activist and now head of Novaya Gazeta for some reason. Everything will be fine. There will be plenty of money. We, solid Sobyaninists, demand: immediately take the bad Putin away from us and give us the good Sobyanin and Mishustin, Shuvalov, and Liksutov.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 13pt;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So don't doubt it. Tomorrow we will have a new chance — that window of opportunity, and tomorrow we will have to deal with those who think that elections should be canceled or falsified («God forbid extremists will be elected»). It is okay to bribe journalists («we don't pay anyone, we just asked an oligarch we know to buy this TV channel»), courts should be kept on the hook («or they will bribe judges and juries»), the personnel base of the government should not be changed («they are professionals, we should not recruit people from the street»), and so on. Up to the point that the contract for the construction of that bridge over there should be given not to a tender, but to a «reliable contractor» with whom we have been working for a long time. Those with such ideas will not be Putinists or Communists at all — they will once again call themselves democrats and liberals.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 13pt;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Real life is complicated, hard and full of compromises with unpleasant people. However, at least we ourselves should not become unpleasant people and welcome corruption and cynical fraud even before circumstances require compromise.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 13pt;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I am very afraid that the battle for principles may be lost again under the slogans of «realpolitik». Please advise me on how to get rid of this hatred and fear. I would be very interested in reading some of your thoughts on this. I'll ask for feedback to be sent to me, if there is any. For now, it seems to me, there is nothing better to do than to stay true to yourself and tirelessly explain to people with numerous examples (I highly recommend the book </span><a href="https://www.amazon.de/Spin-Dictators-Changing-Tyranny-Century/dp/0691211418" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #008594; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">«Spin Dictators»</span></a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> by Guriev and Treisman) that democratic principles — pragmatism, independent judiciary, fair elections and equality of all before the law — are the best mechanisms of harsh real life on the way to prosperity.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 13pt;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Only when the vast majority of the Russian opposition consists of those who under no circumstances accept fake elections, improper judicial proceedings, and corruption, then we will be able to make the right use of the chance that will surely come again. So that no one in 2055 will be reading Sharansky's book in the SHIZO, thinking: Wow, it's just like me.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-1fe6a461-7fff-9210-176d-463db9be38fc"><a href="https://navalny.com/p/6651/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The transcript in Russian</span></a></span></p><div><br /></div></span><p> <iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="369" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Hmt4Q82z9Xg" title="My fear and loathing" width="656"></iframe></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2938958149300744959.post-60685036726497072023-07-24T10:11:00.005-07:002023-07-24T10:26:09.858-07:00Sergei Zhirnov: Putin will never end this war. <p> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihWp6Fu8Kb7DOrNUtIplgnrKAoNDsZxplht8OAjrfLH2dAnUkYvjo36MEp3HopZCn3i5vfpEwZYKekLNNejOMuqZWNBnS68B3wAabhwoCVLPw-h6GWbWRx19tEAUqOJqTm0pK93Y3ewukJluubQ2bvlIUYVS83Kxu5diM0BhVEgmAD6QzwvuwO0AeLHi0/s858/Zhirnov.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="465" data-original-width="858" height="173" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihWp6Fu8Kb7DOrNUtIplgnrKAoNDsZxplht8OAjrfLH2dAnUkYvjo36MEp3HopZCn3i5vfpEwZYKekLNNejOMuqZWNBnS68B3wAabhwoCVLPw-h6GWbWRx19tEAUqOJqTm0pK93Y3ewukJluubQ2bvlIUYVS83Kxu5diM0BhVEgmAD6QzwvuwO0AeLHi0/s320/Zhirnov.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14.6667px; text-align: left; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Sergei Zhirnov</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial,sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Sergei Zhirnov is a former KGB spy who now lives in Paris. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial,sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">The translation from Russian is mine.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial,sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial,sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">2:25 into the video: </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Putin will never end this war. Putin got himself into a dead end, it was a suicidal decision, suicidal personally for Putin, his regime and Putin’s Russia and even possibly, since he mentioned such options, for the whole planet. He amended the constitution in 2020.. Putin could have completely calmly remained in power two more terms .ie. 12 years after 2024, that is, till 2036.
He had some internal problems, his rating dropped, he had economic problems but all that is peanuts compared to what he created himself. Putin is such a person who .. I will remind you when he and I entered the Krasnoznamyoni Institute in 1984, it was a department which prepared spies, then Putin in 1985 was given the following evaluation: A man who under the influence of emotions can make decisions which will be detrimental for him personally and for the department he works for. So the external intelligence clearly said: This man we do not need. This man is dangerous. We will not take him. We are returning him after he has taken the course of lessons, to where he came from.
That’s it. That is why Putin never became a great spy. A Stierlitz he never became. Not only Stierlitz but any spy. And this assessment proved correct. However, this evaluation also says that Putin is a very dangerous man, because he is a man who is capable of taking suicidal steps.</span></span></p><div><br /></div><p></p><div style="text-align: justify;">***</div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Note. </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seventeen_Moments_of_Spring" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1155cc; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Stierlitz</span></a><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; text-align: left; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif">was the fictional spy hero of <i>Seventeen Moments of Spring,</i> the 1973 Soviet twelve-part television series based on the novel of the same title by Yulian Semyonov.</span></span></div><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Andrei Piontkovsky would disagree with Zhirnov: </span><a href="https://madisdead.blogspot.com/2022/08/andrei-piontkovsky-mad-doctrine-still.html" style="text-align: left; text-decoration-line: none;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #1155cc; font-size: 11.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Putin wants to live</span></a><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #222222; font-size: 11.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">.</span></p><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial,sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> </span></p><div><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial,sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8Jy_pdux-iM" width="320" youtube-src-id="8Jy_pdux-iM"></iframe></div><br /><p></p><div><span face="Arial,sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><br /></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2938958149300744959.post-29658135117585594372023-07-12T10:48:00.000-07:002023-07-12T10:48:37.234-07:00Mikheil Saakashvili: Vilnius is a victory. Bucharest was a defeat <p><span style="font-size: x-small;"> <span style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202124; font-family: Arial; white-space-collapse: preserve;">WEDNESDAY, JULY 12, 2023, 2:10 p.m</span></span></p><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9DGHOODyFRj7htntXTpGByU4DMsuWfK1lxi1yyBtuB7s9RmZu-hMpG1gYDLRWfl059lJJpQ9ayqNOqEaE1bcSK30ip2dSIq_kErlJZBC0Uqh30tcVHoqeiPaOE1ATVQy8hKCPDJJEaX_fHmYsClw5SvRugB32KLccbNQZF-EiivXLWmyrzQs4l6CHPRE/s160/Saakashvili.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="160" data-original-width="160" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9DGHOODyFRj7htntXTpGByU4DMsuWfK1lxi1yyBtuB7s9RmZu-hMpG1gYDLRWfl059lJJpQ9ayqNOqEaE1bcSK30ip2dSIq_kErlJZBC0Uqh30tcVHoqeiPaOE1ATVQy8hKCPDJJEaX_fHmYsClw5SvRugB32KLccbNQZF-EiivXLWmyrzQs4l6CHPRE/s1600/Saakashvili.png" width="160" /></a></div></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This handwritten text was sent by the former president of Georgia to the editor-in-chief of UP through his friends. The author's spelling has been preserved.</span></div><div><span id="docs-internal-guid-58b5c27a-7fff-acc1-f049-372e69baeda9"><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.542857142857143; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202124; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.542857142857143; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202124; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.542857142857143; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202124; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.542857142857143; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202124; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Google translate from </span><a href="https://www.pravda.com.ua/columns/2023/07/12/7410977/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Ukrainian</span></a>:<span style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202124; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.542857142857143; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I was in Bucharest, so Vilnius is not Bucharest at all. Bucharest was a road to nowhere. Vilnius directly leads to Ukraine's membership (in NATO - ed.) in Washington next year, when President Biden expects to go to the elections on the platform of Ukrainian victory, Russian defeat and NATO expansion.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.542857142857143; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In 2008, our Western partners asked me to ask President Yushchenko to say that Ukraine is satisfied with Bucharest's formulation, which he did half-heartedly. And I did the same. Such were the rules of the game then, since there was no war yet</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.542857142857143; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Now no one has the right to demand diplomacy from President Zelensky. He is a heroic leader of a heroic country at war.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">That is why I consider this summit extremely successful for Ukraine. First of all, it was a completely Ukrainian summit. The NATO world revolved around Ukraine, and that is worth a lot.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.542857142857143; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The leading Western countries competed with each other not to come to Vilnius empty-handed. Some arrived with long-range missiles, some with hundreds of millions of additional military aid.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">From today, the format of the Ukraine-NATO Council will come into force, which will allow Ukraine to use the legal mechanism of the Alliance at any time. Ukraine is really becoming part of the NATO structure and Ukraine's word is becoming very high.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.542857142857143; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Ukraine is on the accelerated path to membership, and the main achievement for us is that we have removed the requirement for a membership action plan (hereafter referred to as the MAP). Everything is very simple - if the MAP were left as a requirement for Ukraine - it would be at least another 2-3 years of bureaucratic procedures on the way to NATO membership.</span></p><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And now we were given the procedure of Finland and Sweden. And if there is political will, this is a matter of a few weeks. And after the Ukrainian victory, the political will will be automatic. It is necessary to emphasize separately the discussions on security guarantees - and this is definitely not Budapest.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.542857142857143; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Therefore, Ukraine won a historic diplomatic victory in Vilnius. Now the main thing is to continue our positive trend at the front and bring it to a victorious end.</span></p><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.542857142857143; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And Zelensky really just shone in Vilnius. There are no real leaders left in the world. He really became the leader of the free world and one cannot help but be proud of this. I was really overwhelmed by this emotion when I watched the report with the raising of the flag from Vilnius.</span></p><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.542857142857143; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #5f6368; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Mikheil Saakashvili </span></p><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #5f6368; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2938958149300744959.post-47907668436212112202023-07-10T02:08:00.002-07:002023-07-10T06:31:56.539-07:00Prigozhin’s whereabouts according to Libération<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIgMDRW4IVsMY2JWs07yZRLy7R8Fpm_jU0f4nlUQY2sEK7Jz2lUJkyvVbLHmLP7yqydRG-2KR5OzjlWH63XS6zYUgqdm8_viVWTNU_VG0dQy3WhKhFOVKKYgw_lMXTLeXfycUj6uiMkDaOpfkzGJE7XmZ_aWzMto4E9JrKC1wTYTruk3klV9oFdYwrlc8/s380/Prigozhin.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="195" data-original-width="380" height="164" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIgMDRW4IVsMY2JWs07yZRLy7R8Fpm_jU0f4nlUQY2sEK7Jz2lUJkyvVbLHmLP7yqydRG-2KR5OzjlWH63XS6zYUgqdm8_viVWTNU_VG0dQy3WhKhFOVKKYgw_lMXTLeXfycUj6uiMkDaOpfkzGJE7XmZ_aWzMto4E9JrKC1wTYTruk3klV9oFdYwrlc8/s320/Prigozhin.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This morning on the program </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xEC_zx4Ddw" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Breakfast Show</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, Yuri Fedorov, the well known Russian military expert based in Prague, brought up a paragraph from </span><a href="https://www.liberation.fr/international/europe/apres-deux-semaines-de-flou-evgueni-prigojine-se-trouve-a-moscou-20230707_LC26ATKX2BHFXMKAKX43X5S5RQ/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: #f9fafb; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Libération</span></a><span style="background-color: #f9fafb; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> which seems to have created quite a confusion in Russia. He himself was at odds how to interpret it. Here is the paragraph, the crucial sentences in blue. </span></p><p><span style="color: #191919; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Où est passé </span><a href="https://www.liberation.fr/international/europe/evgueni-prigojine-un-fidele-de-poutine-entre-en-rebellion-20230625_QBOTWK2OPVCNLO7XJHNT54A26I/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #e60004; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Evgueni Prigojine</span></a><span style="color: #191919; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> ? Depuis son coup de force et la </span><a href="https://www.liberation.fr/international/europe/la-revolte-de-prigojine-un-defi-personnel-pour-poutine-et-une-rupture-sans-retour-20230624_2Q3PZ4TLVZBGNAZYIQHWADZTOU/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #e60004; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">marche de ses hommes vers Moscou</span></a><span style="color: #191919; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> le 24 juin, le patron de Wagner est invisible. On a cru le voir à Minsk ou à Saint-Pétersbourg, mais il serait bien dans la capitale russe, selon des sources au sein des renseignements occidentaux. </span><span style="color: blue; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Depuis au moins le vendredi 1er juillet, le mutin serait retenu au Kremlin où il a été convoqué avec ses principaux commandants. Il aurait rencontré Vladimir Poutine, et également été entendu par le général Viktor Zolotov, commandant de la garde nationale Rosgvardia et très fidèle du président, et par Sergueï Narychkine, le patron des renseignements extérieurs russes. </span></p><p><span style="color: #191919; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Where did Yevgeny Prigozhin go? Since his show of strength and the march of his men to Moscow on June 24, Wagner's boss has been invisible. He might have been seen in Minsk or Saint Petersburg, but he is most probably in the Russian capital, according to sources in Western intelligence.</span><span style="color: blue; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> Since at least Friday, July 1st, the mutineer seems to be held at the Kremlin, where he has been summoned together with his main commanders. He is said to have met Putin, and would have been interrogated by general Viktor Zolotov, commander of the Rosgvardia national guard and very loyal to the president, and by Sergey Narychkin, head of Russian foreign intelligence.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Sergey Naryshkin is the director of foreign intelligence </span><a href="http://madisdead.blogspot.com/2022/02/a-pitiful-spectacle-from-moscow.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">whom Putin humiliated</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> in front of the whole world on February 22, 2022, just two days before the invasion of Ukraine. Today, the 502nd day of the war, what is transpiring within the Kremlin remains unclear. </span><span style="background-color: #f8f8f8; color: blue; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #202124; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Update,</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #202124; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;"> July 10, 4:20 p.m. IST:</span></p><p><span style="color: #202124; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> The info in </span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/2938958149300744959/4790766843621211220#" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: #f9fafb; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Libération</span></a> <span style="color: #202124; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">was apparently true since Putin’s spokesman Peskov just confirmed it today: </span><a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/kremlin-says-mercenary-chief-prigozhin-met-putin-after-rebellion-2023-07-10/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Putin held post-mutiny talks with Wagner leader Prigozhin and his fighters - Kremlin</span></a><span style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202124; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 13.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #404040; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">“The meeting was first reported by French newspaper Liberation, which said Prigozhin had met Putin and the head of the National Guard, Viktor Zolotov, and SVR Foreign Intelligence boss Sergei Naryshkin.”</span><span style="color: #202124; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2938958149300744959.post-63742410739946146682023-06-14T04:20:00.002-07:002023-11-22T13:15:47.930-08:00Nothing to negotiate <p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1xxLjsykC-uX4urFTIr8HjYIRwI3ZEWVGjkl6pSpjhGnYHaWWJH0S2nIwlaXxc-2Ugk8niC3eTuskDrkhPvQFGmxRr0Hnu6yeGG3MkD4BR25t4T69BNymzouproU2L_zgrGDvEDx1Xc4hQPr2fmWwRgJJmX6p4pdktnpXBp1Lc-gtEYSWXcBB3vxk/s468/WhatsApp%20Image%202023-06-12%20at%2009.00.51.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="468" data-original-width="361" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1xxLjsykC-uX4urFTIr8HjYIRwI3ZEWVGjkl6pSpjhGnYHaWWJH0S2nIwlaXxc-2Ugk8niC3eTuskDrkhPvQFGmxRr0Hnu6yeGG3MkD4BR25t4T69BNymzouproU2L_zgrGDvEDx1Xc4hQPr2fmWwRgJJmX6p4pdktnpXBp1Lc-gtEYSWXcBB3vxk/s320/WhatsApp%20Image%202023-06-12%20at%2009.00.51.jpg" width="247" /></a></div><br /><p><a href="https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-745960" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Jerusalem Post Letters to the Editor, June 12, 2023</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Khula, sans-serif" style="color: #212121;"><b> </b></span></p><p style="background-color: #f7f7f7; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212121; font-family: Khula, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%;">Amotz Asa-El, in “<a href="https://www.jpost.com/international/article-745714" rel="" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: blue; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Mr. Putin: Stop this war</a>” (June 9), demonstrates that he does not understand who Putin is. Otherwise, after what Putin has done to the Ukrainians, Asa-El would not write: “One meeting, Mr. President, one meeting with Ukraine’s leader can stop the bloodbath and reboot your situation. One meeting, after which the two of you will jointly order a ceasefire, launch a humanitarian rescue operation, and start diplomatic talks that will take years to produce peace but minutes to undo war.”</p><div class="fake-br-for-article-body" style="background-color: #f7f7f7; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212121; font-family: Khula, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; height: 32px; max-width: 100%;"></div><p style="background-color: #f7f7f7; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212121; font-family: Khula, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%;">Zelensky will not negotiate with Putin for the similar reason Netanyahu will not negotiate with Iran – there is nothing to negotiate about. Iran wants to destroy Israel, Putin wants to destroy Ukraine. Ukraine knows that unless Russia withdraws to the 1991 borders, nothing will have changed and Putin would just wait until he is ready to attack again.</p><div class="fake-br-for-article-body" style="background-color: #f7f7f7; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212121; font-family: Khula, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; height: 32px; max-width: 100%;"></div><p style="background-color: #f7f7f7; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212121; font-family: Khula, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%;">Perhaps Asa-El does not realize what the Russian general staff has been considering. Yuri Fedorov is one of the best military experts and what <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mt4pqFUxGTc" style="background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">he said</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> was shocking.</span> The Russians had decided to use more drastic means to stop the Ukrainian counteroffensive since they realized that they cannot stop the Ukrainians by military means.</p><div class="fake-br-for-article-body" style="background-color: #f7f7f7; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212121; font-family: Khula, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; height: 32px; max-width: 100%;"></div><p style="background-color: #f7f7f7; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212121; font-family: Khula, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%;">Freezing Ukrainians in the winter by destroying their electrical infrastructure and forcing them to negotiate on Russia’s terms did not work. The other crazy idea, which has been under consideration for more than a year, is to attack the cascade of hydroelectric dams on the Dnieper by using passenger airliners like the Il-62 or Tu-154, not in use because of the sanctions, fill them up with 18 tons of explosives and target the dams.</p><div class="fake-br-for-article-body" style="background-color: #f7f7f7; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212121; font-family: Khula, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; height: 32px; max-width: 100%;"></div><p style="background-color: #f7f7f7; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212121; font-family: Khula, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%;">Dictators should not be appeased. Churchill spent his wilderness years 1929-1939 trying to get the message across. Some have still not heard it 80 years on.</p><div class="fake-br-for-article-body" style="background-color: #f7f7f7; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212121; font-family: Khula, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; height: 32px; max-width: 100%;"></div><p style="background-color: #f7f7f7; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212121; font-family: Khula, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">MLADEN ANDRIJASEVIC</em></p><div class="fake-br-for-article-body" style="background-color: #f7f7f7; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212121; font-family: Khula, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; height: 32px; max-width: 100%;"></div><p style="background-color: #f7f7f7; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212121; font-family: Khula, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Beersheba</em></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2938958149300744959.post-24228319592048095492023-05-28T23:30:00.001-07:002023-05-28T23:30:36.376-07:00 New Russian school textbook with a chapter on the war in Ukraine<p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: Arial; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMRXJlxcR1-S0Tr-_5I0n6p0pEOlqMJ5QJTCCtp0KJXhCeqkI0199Iez0RBZ0f2EFhOMJO33wVlDUIUD1f7QTyIoh8Uv7Pan9lt6SWlHbTuArPSGXDVQlRUKmAzqORcN9Xgf4NDovwnP_X6KDL6P97Ou87es65suobiPcVwRhiN33_-hobrSP0UcsX/s590/history_of_russia.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="590" data-original-width="450" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMRXJlxcR1-S0Tr-_5I0n6p0pEOlqMJ5QJTCCtp0KJXhCeqkI0199Iez0RBZ0f2EFhOMJO33wVlDUIUD1f7QTyIoh8Uv7Pan9lt6SWlHbTuArPSGXDVQlRUKmAzqORcN9Xgf4NDovwnP_X6KDL6P97Ou87es65suobiPcVwRhiN33_-hobrSP0UcsX/s320/history_of_russia.png" width="244" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">History of Russia</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">1914 - beginning of the 21st century</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-family: Arial; white-space: pre-wrap;">The following is the text of 5 pages from the new textbook on the history of Russia for grades 10-11 taken from the chapter on the war in Ukraine . It will be taught starting from the next academic year. I think it is quite educational for us in the West to understand their version of history. You can judge its accuracy yourselves. </span><p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-f83714ff-7fff-ff70-3c36-f4159aa83813"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.542857142857143; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: Arial; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I used image to text </span><a href="https://www.imagetotext.info/ru/image-to-text" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.imagetotext.info/ru/image-to-text</span></a><span style="color: #202124; font-family: Arial; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and corrected the google translate. Source: </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.542857142857143; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="background-color: white;"><a href="https://www.svoboda.org/a/vyshel-shkoljnyy-uchebnik-istorii-s-glavoy-o-voyne-v-ukraine/32430674.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.svoboda.org/a/vyshel-shkoljnyy-uchebnik-istorii-s-glavoy-o-voyne-v-ukraine/32430674.html</span></a><span style="color: #202124; font-family: Arial; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span></p><div><br /></div><div><span style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202124; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202124; font-family: Arial; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-9101bb26-7fff-fc01-bfd0-0a852ac438b7"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Page 192 </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">…from Maidan, besieged by armed thugs, who were openly supported by the authorities, died in a fire in the House of Trade Unions. The Ukrainian army, special forces, foreign mercenaries, and punitive battalions were thrown into the South-East of Ukraine. Residents of Donbass organized a rebuff to the invaders. In the course of the unfolding struggle, Donetsk and Luhansk regions declared independence. The Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and the Lugansk People's Republic (LPR) emerged. The number of victims of the intra-Ukrainian conflict amounted to many thousands of people, and hundreds of thousands of refugees.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">The government of P.A. Poroshenko took a tough anti-Russian line, cutting off ties with Russia. The conflict was brought to a halt by the conclusion of the Minsk Agreements, according to which the Ukrainian authorities pledged to stop hostilities, grant Donbass a special constitutional status and guarantee the rights of its inhabitants.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">In 2019, Poroshenko suffered a crushing defeat in the presidential election from V.A. Zelensky, who, however, pursued a policy that differed little from the previous one. The Minsk agreements were still not implemented.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline;">4. The crisis around Ukraine in 2022 and the special military operation. Since the beginning of 2022, global and Russian politics have undergone global changes related to the crisis around Ukraine, opening a new page in history.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">They were based on the desire of the United States to maintain its dominance in conditions when their economic, political, and moral positions were noticeably weakening against the backdrop of the rise of new centers of power. The United States has taken a course to undermine the positions of states capable of challenging their hegemony. Among them, Russia and China came to the fore in American doctrinal documents.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Constantly increasing pressure on our country, the United States, where J. Biden came to power in 2021, and their European vassals were rapidly moving NATO's military infrastructure to our borders, although this was expressly prohibited by the Founding Act of Russia-NATO in 1997. More and more new sanctions were imposed against Russia on far-fetched pretexts, an ongoing economic and information war was waged.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Page 193</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Ukraine began to be used as the shock fist of the West aimed against Russia.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Ukraine appeared during the presidency of P.A. Poroshenko and V.A. Zelensky to be under full external control from Washington. On the territory of Ukraine there were American and British military installations. NATO military instructors </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">were preparing its armed forces to conduct military operations against the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, against our country. Western countries and local nationalist circles carried out intensified indoctrination in an anti-Russian vein. There was a glorification of Nazism, torchlight marches of fascist organizations became regular. Nazi criminals S. Bandera V. and others were exalted as national heroes of Ukraine, the central streets of cities were named after them. The neo-Nazi gangs "Azov", "Aidar", "Donbass" and others became part of the armed forces of Ukraine. The EU was turned into a springboard for a NATO attack on our country. For eight years, with the full approval of the West, daily shelling of the peaceful cities of Donbass continued, from which thousands of people died. Kyiv defiantly refused to implement the Minsk agreements signed by him.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Moscow put forward a number of demands that were designed to normalize Russia's relations with the West: not to bring American and other NATO troops and weapons to the brink of our country; not to expand NATO to the East, as all Western leaders promised in the late 1980s and early 1990s; refrain from admitting Ukraine to NATO; withdraw American tactical nuclear weapons deployed in Europe to national territory. Western countries and Ukraine responded with a categorical and arrogant refusal.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">In January 2022, Moscow became aware of the preparations for a large-scale military operation in early March to seize Donbass and Crimea by Ukrainian troops with Western support. Russia was forced to take preventive measures.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">On February 15, the State Duma voted in favor of an appeal to V.V. Putin with a request to consider the issue of recognizing the DNR and LNR. On February 21, the president issued decrees recognizing the DPR and LPR, and also signed treaties of friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance with the republics. On February 22, the treaties were ratified by both chambers of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation and the parliaments of the DPR and LPR. And on February 24, a special military operation (SMO) began: Russian troops entered the territory of Ukraine. The main objectives of the operation were to rid the DPR and LPR of daily shelling, ensure their sovereignty, demilitarize and denazify Ukraine.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Page 194</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">In the operation professional units of the Russian Armed Forces, Ros Guards, staffed by contract servicemen, as well as volunteers who had experience in combat operations took part. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">From the first days of the SMO, the overwhelming superiority of our Armed Forces in the air and at sea became apparent. The latest high-precision weapons systems were used, which made it possible to strike at Ukrainian and NATO military infrastructure facilities deep in enemy territory. The production facilities of the Ukrainian military-industrial complex, enterprises for the production of fuels and lubricants, and military airfields were destroyed.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">The Russian Armed Forces, fighters of the people's militia of the DPR and LPR demonstrated high courage, heroism, successfully solving the combat tasks assigned to them.</span></p><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">The first Heroes of Russia during the SMO were the tank commander, senior sergeant Crimean Yuri Nimchenko, whose crew was the first to reach the border of the North Crimean Canal. When establishing control over the canal, the company commander of a separate coastal defense brigade, Senior Lieutenant Anton Starostin, distinguished himself.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">In Penza, they are proud of the commander of the anti-aircraft missile division, Captain Alexei Pankratov, who shot down several enemy aircraft and attack drones. Major Viktor Dudin from Komsomolsk-on-Amur on his Su-35 won a lot of air duels with Ukrainian fighters. Primorye was glorified by Aleksey Bernhard, commander of the marine brigade of the Pacific Fleet, which broke through the </span></p><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Page 195 </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">defense in depth near Volnovakha which played a big role in the capture of Mariupol. The commander of a tank company, Captain Alexei Levkin, personally destroyed many tanks and infantry fighting vehicles.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Paratrooper Senior Lieutenant Nurmagomed Gadzhimagomedov was awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation posthumously. He while seriously wounded, continued to fire until the last bullet. And once surrounded, he blew himself up and the Ukrainian militants surrounding him with a grenade. A street in Makhachkala was named after the hero.</span></p><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"> The titles of Hero of Russia and Hero of the DPR were also posthumously awarded to the commander of the legendary “Sparta” battalion of the people’s militia of the DPR, Vladimir Zhoge. He died covering the evacuation of women and children. The post of commander of "Sparta" took over his father - Artyom Zhoga</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">After the start of the SMO against Russia, the West imposed unprecedented sanctions. In direct violation of any wild norms, a significant part of our gold and foreign exchange reserves denominated in dollars and euros was frozen, Russia was cut off from international payment systems and deprived of the POSSIBILITY to make currency payments, a ban was introduced on a wide range of export-import operations, Russian property in Western countries was subjected to confiscation. Essentially, it was an outright robbery. Hundreds of Western companies left the Russian market. Thousands of Russian citizens and enterprises were under sanctions.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">The goals were openly set “to tear the Russian economy to shreds”, cause hunger and a shortage of goods in us, give rise to people’s indignation, mass protests, achieve the overthrow of the government and the collapse of Russia to pieces.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">To support the anti-people Kyiv regime, tens of billions of dollars were thrown, a huge amount of the most belted Western weapons, long-range guns that destroyed peaceful neighborhoods in the Donbass. The West acted, in fact, as the strategic rear of the Zelensky regime, hoping to force Kyiv to conduct military operations "to the last Ukrainian”.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">The plans of Western strategists have completely failed. Our country has rallied in support of its Armed Forces and the goals of the liberation military operation. Support for VV Putin exceeded 80%.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">The Russian economy withstood the most severe blows largely due to </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">government measures to stabilize the financial system, support for domestic </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Page 196 </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">industry, import substitution, the creation of its own system of trade payments, and the use of national currencies between. folk accounts. By switching to selling natural gas to unfriendly countries only for rubles, the government significantly strengthened the exchange rate of the national currency.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">External assistance to the Kyiv regime did not allow it to radically change the balance of forces on the battlefield, which was inexorably shifting in favor of our Armed Forces.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">The plans for the international isolation of our country also failed. Sanctions against it were imposed only by the United States and its vassal countries, whose total population is noticeably less than 1 billion people, or 1/8 of the world's population. The largest states of the world, including our BRICS partners, which account for up to 45% of the world's inhabitants, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, have lent Russia a shoulder in a difficult situation. Not a single country in Africa, Latin America, the Islamic world has joined Western sanctions, where the years of Western colonial domination are well remembered and the true nature of the conflict around Ukraine is realized.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Russian export deliveries and import flows were quickly redirected from West to East, towards the most dynamically growing centers of the modern world (up to 60% of all world economic growth in the 2010s was accounted for by two countries of the world, China and India, each of which has a population of about 1.4 billion people). Our friendly countries have been able to receive a growing amount of Russian energy, food and other export products on favorable terms.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">On the contrary, unfriendly states were among the first to suffer from the sanctions they themselves imposed on Russia. They resulted in an acute shortage of energy resources and a sharp rise in prices for them, a record surge in inflation for all groups of goods in 40 years, a fall in stock markets, an increase in protest movements, a fall in the authority of the authorities and government crises. In addition, our retaliatory measures have frozen the assets of Western companies in Russia, introduced large-scale personal sanctions.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">This is not the first time our country has to fight with another contender for world domination. And she always came out of this test with honor, gaining victories over the forces of the united West. So it will be this time.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.54286; margin-bottom: -1pt; margin-top: -1pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Our cause is right! The enemy will be defeated! Victory will be ours!</span></p><br /><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><br /></span></span></span></div></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2938958149300744959.post-28004764704315357752023-04-01T04:03:00.002-07:002023-04-01T04:05:15.560-07:00Why Russian elites do not understand the West? <p> </p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglRYB0trfKcThrBQR0RVGj2YB1zFkYtooZgCZbvqAj7XBw56hQwzEDc-oBJRCKFktSd6SYP3JI5OxacxO089JC1MlpvGI9rf075V0ITCaj8czQyioxe5vqgPDPBZcHnMS3Lr1wKlrhe3uZn4SGpmC-DO78IueUc3WSIMis3pY_jwRiUzjrtOE-2qkZ/s907/Evan.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="610" data-original-width="907" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglRYB0trfKcThrBQR0RVGj2YB1zFkYtooZgCZbvqAj7XBw56hQwzEDc-oBJRCKFktSd6SYP3JI5OxacxO089JC1MlpvGI9rf075V0ITCaj8czQyioxe5vqgPDPBZcHnMS3Lr1wKlrhe3uZn4SGpmC-DO78IueUc3WSIMis3pY_jwRiUzjrtOE-2qkZ/s320/Evan.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Evan Gershkovich </td></tr></tbody></table><p></p></blockquote><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-f19f9f00-7fff-f435-2a9e-e1c134b7e6a7"></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It is not only thugocracy. It is just plain shooting yourself in the foot. You could not make your cause more despised in the West than by antagonizing 38 top editors of news organizations This clearly demonstrates how the Russian elite have absolutely no understanding of the West. Why don’t they understand anything? Who else but Orwell could better explain why this happens - ‘The purpose of Newspeak was to make all other modes of thought impossible. “ They cannot think in these categories. They do not know what they mean. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">A quote from:</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Appendix.</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">The Principles of Newspeak</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The purpose of Newspeak was not only to provide a medium of expression for the world-view and mental habits proper to the devotees of Ingsoc, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">but to make all other modes of thought impossible</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. It was intended that when Newspeak had been adopted once and for all and Oldspeak forgotten, a heretical thought — that is, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">a thought diverging from the principles of Ingsoc — should be literally unthinkable, at least so far as thought is dependent on words.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Its vocabulary was so constructed as to give exact and often very subtle expression to every meaning that a Party member could properly wish to express, while excluding all other meanings and also the possibility of arriving at them by indirect methods. This was done partly by the invention of new words, but chiefly by eliminating undesirable words and by stripping such words as remained of unorthodox meanings, and so far as possible of all secondary meanings whatever. To give a single example. The word FREE still existed in Newspeak, but it could only be used in such statements as ‘This dog is free from lice’ or ‘This field is free from weeds’. It could not be used in its old sense of ‘politically free’ or ‘intellectually free’ since political and intellectual freedom no longer existed even as concepts, and were therefore of necessity nameless. Quite apart from the suppression of definitely heretical words, reduction of vocabulary was regarded as an end in itself, and no word that could be dispensed with was allowed to survive. Newspeak was designed not to extend but to DIMINISH the range of thought, and this purpose was indirectly assisted by cutting the choice of words down to a minimum.</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2938958149300744959.post-7604525938357831102023-03-27T10:59:00.002-07:002023-04-11T03:29:35.815-07:00Be wary of paramilitaries <p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkJMbBLYV8L96b4cjFWB1r3i6asRbtdM_KYj9TTiDWGp6ZDlE_izArzZazKn6ELMHvqF45Jy4so2QlKa24t8gJjr7cGPeFneuT4TH30x6V8905kPzqS-t1lArM73e5L1BA4lvBChH8klvBJTgmkn0D159j7toFtnQNgIxBqy10XDZd4zLlQsUP7Ghq/s688/OnTyranny.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="688" data-original-width="616" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkJMbBLYV8L96b4cjFWB1r3i6asRbtdM_KYj9TTiDWGp6ZDlE_izArzZazKn6ELMHvqF45Jy4so2QlKa24t8gJjr7cGPeFneuT4TH30x6V8905kPzqS-t1lArM73e5L1BA4lvBChH8klvBJTgmkn0D159j7toFtnQNgIxBqy10XDZd4zLlQsUP7Ghq/s320/OnTyranny.png" width="287" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Regarding the </span><a href="https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-735533" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="-webkit-text-decoration-skip: none; background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">agreement </span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">between Ben-Gvir and Netanyahu. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">“The government will approve at its next meeting a decision to form a National Guard and subjugate it to National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, in exchange for Ben-Gvir's party, Otzma Yehudit, promising not to leave the government over Netanyahu's intention to postpone the legislation of the first judicial reform bill.”</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is dangerous. Here is a quote from <b>chapter 6,</b> page 42, of Timothy Snyder’s booklet </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century”:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: 700; white-space: pre-wrap;">Be wary of paramilitaries</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">When the men with guns who have always claimed to be against the system start wearing uniforms and marching with torches and pictures of a leader, the end is nigh. When the pro-leader paramilitary and the official police and military intermingle, the end has come.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwEPAxriQ1T5Ktd-0THummPLozmtZW0yoaVQ7v95OjH5udMe3d7Z1Lkl0KOt5id_gRpc-Gj9LHTVwSh-Uw3kyHa7tdS9nukultoivBXr_vk1tdz-bNlTd4YejRXPDB4fNSgoku8Im5dT9UFc4DtShePiZa634_y_aV3PRPjbw-VJoyuzu6YU1UH8Yy/s820/agreement.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="820" data-original-width="613" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwEPAxriQ1T5Ktd-0THummPLozmtZW0yoaVQ7v95OjH5udMe3d7Z1Lkl0KOt5id_gRpc-Gj9LHTVwSh-Uw3kyHa7tdS9nukultoivBXr_vk1tdz-bNlTd4YejRXPDB4fNSgoku8Im5dT9UFc4DtShePiZa634_y_aV3PRPjbw-VJoyuzu6YU1UH8Yy/s320/agreement.png" width="239" /></a></div><br /><p><br /><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2938958149300744959.post-54480163609366891012023-03-24T06:59:00.005-07:002023-03-25T12:49:53.246-07:00Is judicial reform more important than the Iranian nuclear threat? Has Bibi taken leave of his senses? <p> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWOWwAtcLyF3KHlpryBNkYtyh7E-dudriDYdeVV1QQ32u7IzRazH2cibyE7qkmVDU6-FIfYcJcs0Ir-BP9Fo0QUhBir8AHNgbKBs29w83wLmyKr1t02uDyR16w7AvFe9Ze_5PvlidhQxaDScigeYGJ3VAy0J58twejEC9_Tqvg5BSuNTI9MBLn-hIZ/s1022/demonstration.png" style="font-family: Arial; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img border="0" data-original-height="655" data-original-width="1022" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWOWwAtcLyF3KHlpryBNkYtyh7E-dudriDYdeVV1QQ32u7IzRazH2cibyE7qkmVDU6-FIfYcJcs0Ir-BP9Fo0QUhBir8AHNgbKBs29w83wLmyKr1t02uDyR16w7AvFe9Ze_5PvlidhQxaDScigeYGJ3VAy0J58twejEC9_Tqvg5BSuNTI9MBLn-hIZ/w400-h256/demonstration.png" width="400" /></a></p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br />Benjamin Netanyahu has been one of the few politicians who really understood the magnitude of the Iranian nuclear threat. Primarily because he had met with Bernard Lewis who explained to him the danger. As </span><a href="https://madisdead.blogspot.com/2012/02/crucial-piece-of-puzzle.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ari Shavit</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> wrote in his article in Haaretz from 2012: </span><p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-ab96097e-7fff-30ee-0914-ff3ad6e65027"><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A few years ago Netanyahu held an in-depth discussion with Middle East expert Bernard Lewis. At the end of the talk he was convinced that if the ayatollahs obtained nuclear weapons, they would use them. Since that day, Netanyahu seems convinced that we are living out a rerun of the 1930s </span><span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: Arial; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Colonel </span><a href="https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/5302/netanyahu-congress-speech" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Richard Kemp</span></a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> in 2015:</span><span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: Arial; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There are striking similarities between the objectives of Churchill's speech nearly 75 years ago and Netanyahu's today; both with no less purpose than to avert global conflagration. And, like Churchill's in the 1930s, Netanyahu's is the lone voice among world leaders today.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Netanyahu at the 2018 United Nations General Assembly:</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now imagine the danger of hundreds of nuclear weapons in the hands of a vast Iranian Islamist empire, with the missiles to deliver them anywhere on earth.</span></p><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Iranian nuclear threat is real. It is not a figment of Bibi’s imagination. </span><a href="https://madisdead.blogspot.com/2021/11/michael-oren-why-israel-may-soon-attack.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Michael Oren </span></a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><a href="https://madisdead.blogspot.com/2021/10/amb-dore-gold-iranian-nuclear-threat-is.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dore Gold</span></a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> , </span><a href="https://madisdead.blogspot.com/2021/08/gantz-iran-is-10-weeks-from-breakout-to.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Benny Gantz</span></a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and </span><a href="https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/as-iran-edges-toward-a-bomb-an-israeli-preemptive-strike-is-more-likely/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Efraim Inbar</span></a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> have all been predicting in the last few years that Israel was about to attack the Iranian nuclear sites.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On February 24 , 2023 </span><a href="https://apnews.com/article/iran-politics-international-atomic-energy-agency-israel-government-benjamin-netanyahu-45b623742bb6bd4c7314de7df6c3f1e9" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Iran acknowledged</span></a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> that it had enriched uranium to 84 percent purity. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, </span><a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/iran-could-produce-nuclear-weapon-in-several-months-if-it-decides-to-do-so-mark-milley-says-ecd38f07" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">told Congress</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> on Thursday, March 23, 2023: </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> “From the time of an Iranian decision…Iran could produce fissile material for a nuclear weapon in less than two weeks, and would only take several more months to produce an actual nuclear weapon,”</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And yet in last night’s </span><a href="https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-735218" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">speech</span></a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; white-space: pre-wrap;"> to the nation Bibi did not mention Iran even once! </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What the demonstrators should be saying is: </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We want the government to slow down/postpone the judicial reforms and pay attention to the Iranian nuclear threat! The main purpose of a government is to protect its citizens from outside attack. To paraphrase Churchill, unless the government takes care of the Iranian threat it will </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">have committed an act of abdication of duty without parallel and worse, doom us all. </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com