Brief Update: War
We start on the economic front of the war on Palestinians. Yesterday evening we noted the Turkish announcement that Turkey would halt import/export trade with Israel. At the time I stated that it was unclear whether that halt would affect oil that transits Turkey en route from Azerbaijan to Israel. That uncertainty remains. However, Zerohedge has republished an article that goes into the situation in more detail. That entire situation has to be viewed in concert with the Houthi drone/missile blockade of the Red Sea—which they now state will be extended to the Mediterranean Sea. Excerpts re the Turkish situation:
Israeli Industry Braces For Economic Damage Amid Turkish Trade Ban
Sectors across the Israeli economy are warning of wide-reaching impacts of Turkey’s decision to halt all trade with Israel, and are scrambling to find alternative sources for lost imports.
The Turkish trade ministry announced earlier this week that Ankara is halting all import and export transactions related to Israel until it "allows an uninterrupted and sufficient flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza." The ban on imports includes iron and steel products, construction materials, minerals, machinery, cars, energy products, rubber, plastics, health and agricultural products.
The construction industry is bracing for the loss of Turkish iron and steel products and building materials, as Turkey supplied 29 percent of Israel's total cement imports last year.
Last month, Israeli businessmen warned that the restrictions could drive an increase in property and rent prices. Meanwhile, Israel’s largest oil refinery, Bezan, said the ban could impact crude oil imports.
But there is no explanation of how such an impact on crude oil imports would work. Perhaps “could” indicates that the statement is speculative and the concern is raised because:
Forty percent of Israel’s annual oil consumption is piped to the Turkish oil hub port of Ceyhan and then shipped to Israel.
Moreover, representatives of the electrical products industry are warning that the ban could lead to a 35 percent hike in prices, as the majority of domestic electrical goods in Israel are manufactured in Turkey.
…
In April, the contractors' association wrote a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, accusing them of driving the sector to the brink of collapse.
Amit Gottlieb, chairman of the Urban Renewal Committee in the Israel Builders’ Association (ACB), said the Israeli construction industry was already in "dire straits" since Israel’s war on Gaza began, due to labor shortages resulting from Israel’s ban on Palestinian workers.
…
Overall, it’s an important development. The Israeli economy is already reeling from the effects of both the war itself as well as from the Houthi blockade. Clearly the US sanctions and blockades wars against other countries has taught the Axis of Resistance a thing or two.
Here in the US a fierce war is being waged for the souls of conservatards—”conservatives” who resist being informed about the real world they inhabit. Questions like, Who rules America and its empire, What are the origins of the genocide on Palestinians, How is all that connected to the war on Russia, etc. The conservatards are largely “Christian”, often elderly, and a key part of the Trump base. This fierce war is being waged via psyops. For example:
Megatron @Megatron_ron
 Israel at first spread propaganda to the American public that Palestinians hate LGBT people, and that those "Western values" must be preserved.
Btw Israel has the most LGBT people per capita in the world.
At the beginning of the gaza genocide there was constant propaganda from gay couples fighting in Gaza
After realising that this propaganda had no effect, they turned it 180 degrees.
New propaganda has begun to convince conservatives that anti-Israel genocide protesters are LGBT and trans lunatics. Israeli trans influencers suddenly turned into "conservatives".
That's how they managed to turn conservatives in the USA into the "Israel First" movement and convinced them that all those who protest against the Israeli genocide are LGBT.
I don't know if you understand how complex this psychological warfare is and that the two ideological groups right and left in the US are being controlled like sheep depending on the need.
The ability to turn the tables in such a short period of time is a truly great psychological achievement.
I was aware of this dynamic in general terms, but freely admit that I didn’t put two and two together. So, I was aware at the outset of the genocide of the Israel Lobby’s championing of queer Israelis in the IOF enthusiastically killing Palestinians. That didn’t surprise me at the time, given that Israel is pretty much ground zero for the entire queer agenda. But then this emphasis subsided.
Lately I’ve become aware of a flood of posts coming from Israel Lobby supported sites that target conservatards. This flood attempts to portray the anti-genocide campaign of protests as a creature of the queer movement. Obviously, there are many such involved in the protests. That’s to be expected since the anti-genocide protests have been heavily supported by the Left. On the other hand, polling consistently shows that revulsion at the genocide and at US complicity in the genocide is widespread across the entire American political spectrum—it’s just that most Americans are somewhat loath to get out and march in the streets. In addition to this obvious trend in Israel Lobby propaganda, I’ve personally been bombarded with similar propaganda.
All in all, I think Megatron is onto something here. The quick change of meme has been impressive and does tend to strongly indicate coordination.
Still in the Middle East, but shifting eastward from Palestine:
-- GEROMAN -- time will tell - -- @GeromanAT
The Syrian army killed dozens of ISIS militants near the US occupation base Al Tanf Russia and Syria say the US is sheltering and training ISIS and other militants in a 55-kilometer buffer zone around its base in Tanf. (As long as US regime forces holding Al Tanf - there will be ISIS terrorists - I have told you that years ago - and it is still valid)
Sofa General Staff
Yeah, funny that. It’s well known that ISIS is a creation of the US/Israel. Pointing that out is how Gen. Flynn made himself persona non grata with the Deep State. Trump’s hiring of Flynn contributed to making Trump himself a target. All this is an open secret around the world, but conservatards never seem able to grock how the Deep State and Israel could be supporting ISIS’ genocide of Christians (and other minorities) in the Syraq region. It’s all grist for the regime change mill.
Readers may be aware that the unspeakable David Cameron, within the last few days, publicly stated that Ukraine was authorized to use British missiles to strike “deep” into Russia. The Russian embassy issued a statement:
Russian Embassy comment on the provocative statements by David Cameron on the Ukrainian crisis
Now Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, has responded in pointed fashion. There’s a ten minute video with English subtitling at the link, but here’s the nub of it:
Maria Zakharova (Commentary) @_MariaZakharova
#MariaBriefing #Zakharova #Russia #Ukraine "What if Russia publishes a picture of the English Channel tunnel and a missile launch?" "Britain said that Ukraine has the right to strike Russia with British weapons!"
An excerpt from #Maria Zakharova's 3 May Ministry of Foreign Affairs press briefing.
Dubbed into English with selectable English subtitles. Russian News - 10 mins
As the Ukrainian collapse continues and gains momentum and Russia gains strength, the collective West seems determined to escalate. What could go wrong? Stay tuned. Do not expect anyone outside the collective West to do the US any favors as this election year progresses.
Mark, I suspect you have followed the same path as me concerning our perceptions about Israel. Being of a certain generation (I'm 61), I grew up with the idea that Israel was this plucky little David character fighting the smelly, barbaric Arabs who surrounded them. For me, Israel was the Entebbe Raid and turning the desert into verdant fields. Of course, I knew that the Israelis were pretty tough on the Palestinians, but hey, they were terrorists, so it was okay. Learning the true nature of the psychopathic Zionist state has been a massive jolt for me. Just as 2016 did for the Western Deep State, October 7th really tore away the mask. In contrast, most young Americans aren't burdened with this conservatard generational blind-spot. They see genocide as it happens on their social media apps. This is very dangerous for the neocons and zionists because it means that one day, the pressure will be too great to continue throwing money and weapons at Israel. That won't happen over night, but happen it will.
Lots of interesting developments. I suspect Erdogan's hand was forced after the almighty bitch-slapping he received in the recent local elections. Of course, being Erdogan, his feet have to held to the fire to make sure he follows through. I totally agree about Cameron - the archetypal British upper class buffoon and Tweedledee to Johnson's Tweedledum. Johnson wrote a nauseating article in the UK Daily Mail about how sad he is that one of his ducks is dying. This is the man whose actions in wrecking the nascent March 2022 peace deal condemned hundreds of thousands to death.