Obviously a lot of things can, and probably will, go wrong—the blowback from our War on the World, which is what our Middle East involvement has become, is likely to have serious effects abroad, with ramifications at home. But please, don’t kid yourselves. The Israel Lobby has purchased the American Empire’s foreign policy. They paid good money for that and now they’re demanding value for their money—on their terms. Doug Macgregor, as usual, is succinct:
Germany will intervene and defend Israel's genocide in the ICJ
German government has announced its intention to intervene in the genocide case South Africa brought against Israel at the International Court of Justice.
What always amazes me is the visceral hatred of so many Jews for Poles. But hardly ever that sentiment expressed toward Germans. Or so it seems to me. I think of Begin, when it suited him, saying that Poles drank in anti-Semitism with their mothers' milk. When was the last time you heard such sentiments re Germans. Maybe if the Poles provided Israel with submarines like the Germans did it would change things. Probably not.
Germany is basically the European Canada. Humourless drones, absolutely terrified of antagonising Deep State US, and going out of their way to be offended by something, anything, on a constant hair trigger. The only exceptions are some of what's left of their aristocracy: even more self-righteous but quite charming. I do not include Fraulein von der Leyen, for the record.
I'll confess my generalisation about the aristocracy is based on secondhand observation apart from a sample of two. The actual Baron Munchausen no less, and the Mrs. They live in a Schloss with fine art on the walls though not the bits that are Airbnb. Very cultured, very likeable, but not to be crossed.
It's not easy to obtain but Udo Ulfkottes book Bought Journalists reveals all about the Atlanticist domination of the media. (It was retitled Presstitutes, the publisher commented that by definition all journalists are paid for.)
Iran is reported to have identified the suicide bomber from a week ago. When we have suicide bombers in the US, I don't think that we will do quite as well as the Iranians.
Agreed. And it was the old school Afghani ISIS that the Iranians fingered. Now that the rffraff is gone (US military) is gone, the CIA can get back to business with their partners.
Well, I guess first off that I would strongly disagree with Davis suggesting that there is an option to resolve this situation through diplomacy. I have seen absolutely no indication of any kind that the neocons have even a passing interest in diplomacy let alone a functional familiarity with how to use it effectively. Maybe I’m just way too cynical, but I can’t see it happening with any of the people in DC. They have allowed themselves to be sucked into an inexorable vortex without the skills or the resolve to escape.
With regard to possible blowback from this act, I cannot help but suspect that the unlimited flow of people across the southern border has allowed more than a few “sleeper cells” to gain entry and they are just waiting to go active. If the violence and mayhem suddenly becomes up close and personal, the havoc that it would unleash on the social fabric of this country is almost unimaginable.
It would no longer be “over there” if you have to worry about surviving a trip to Walmart, Target or filling up your gas tank after work!
I submit that there is an infinite number of “unintended consequences” heading our way for which we are either ill or totally unprepared.
As myself and many others have remarked on this blog, 2024 will a year of great and consequential events. Not many will prove to be pleasant I’m afraid.
Thanks again for all of your work Mark, it’s about the only refuge available in this current madness.
BTW, anyone seen Uncle Joe or Lloyd-the invisible man-Austin in the last couple of days?
I guess it would be in the West’s interest to block all shipping in the Red Sea to agitate Egypt and the gulf to somehow form a grand Sunni coalition against Iran.
Horrible and heartbreaking. Regardless of Lira's intentions or purposes or missteps in being in Ukraine he was not convicted of any crime (or even formally charged of one to our knowledge). He had a God-given right to life and freedom; and a legal right to the protection that should have been conferred on him by his citizenship.
This was murder and unadulterated, unconditional evil. It was evil enabled and supported and therefore condoned by our own government. Therefore we as U.S. citizens are complicit in this torture and murder as well, just as we are in Gaza and Yemen. Despite this we are not even afforded the courtesy of our government pretending that we have an interest in these actions or in our own rights of citizenship.
This excerpt from Psalm 34 should be a warning to us, our country, and its leaders - in addition to the leaders of the Ukraine - and should hopefully also provide some consolation to Gonzalo Lira's father:
15 The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
and his ears are attentive to their cry;
16 but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil,
to blot out their name from the earth.
17 The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them;
he delivers them from all their troubles.
18 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted
and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
Gonzalo Lira must not be forgotten. Here is a handwritten note from him (very likely his last communication):
Yes, we wonder. But when you realize psychopaths do not have anxiety, worry or remorse or a conscious then you can understand how and why they sleep better than you and I.
Or how they could turn their backs on one of their citizens who was exercising his democratic and journalistic rights, all while claiming their wars are in defence of democracy. It sickens me.
He was not one of them, he had no usefulness to their agenda. I have long said the aggravating tendency to smear everyone they dislike and hate as racist, homophobic, antisemitic has a comparison to the medieval heretic becomes easier to understand. Anyone who writes or speaks openly in defiance of their narrative will like in the medieval period be called heretic and be taken to the pyre.
The only thing I have to say at this time about the death of Gonzalo Lira is that the United States could have, at any time over the past 8 months, and at a moment's notice, extracted him from Ukraine. They did not do it because they wanted him dead. It was cold-blooded murder.
Yeah, these things are always difficult to suss out a priori. Ritter's assertions made sense, but human beings don't always. I found him too emotional in his presentations. Fine to have emotions about events, but it seemed like too much of an act to me. Just me.
One genocide deserves another:
Germany will intervene and defend Israel's genocide in the ICJ
German government has announced its intention to intervene in the genocide case South Africa brought against Israel at the International Court of Justice.
“On the 7th of October 2023, there was a….
https://twitter.com/Megatron_ron/status/1745882730796093872
What always amazes me is the visceral hatred of so many Jews for Poles. But hardly ever that sentiment expressed toward Germans. Or so it seems to me. I think of Begin, when it suited him, saying that Poles drank in anti-Semitism with their mothers' milk. When was the last time you heard such sentiments re Germans. Maybe if the Poles provided Israel with submarines like the Germans did it would change things. Probably not.
Germany is basically the European Canada. Humourless drones, absolutely terrified of antagonising Deep State US, and going out of their way to be offended by something, anything, on a constant hair trigger. The only exceptions are some of what's left of their aristocracy: even more self-righteous but quite charming. I do not include Fraulein von der Leyen, for the record.
I'll confess my generalisation about the aristocracy is based on secondhand observation apart from a sample of two. The actual Baron Munchausen no less, and the Mrs. They live in a Schloss with fine art on the walls though not the bits that are Airbnb. Very cultured, very likeable, but not to be crossed.
It's not easy to obtain but Udo Ulfkottes book Bought Journalists reveals all about the Atlanticist domination of the media. (It was retitled Presstitutes, the publisher commented that by definition all journalists are paid for.)
Second City Bureaucrat
@CityBureaucrat
The Houthis delayed delivery of my Amazon Essentials long underwear
Great essay, Mark. It is very much appreciated.
Iran is reported to have identified the suicide bomber from a week ago. When we have suicide bombers in the US, I don't think that we will do quite as well as the Iranians.
Yes. I can look it up.
https://www.iranintl.com/en/202401056540
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iran-says-it-arrested-35-people-relation-deadly-kerman-attacks-2024-01-11/
Agreed. And it was the old school Afghani ISIS that the Iranians fingered. Now that the rffraff is gone (US military) is gone, the CIA can get back to business with their partners.
Well, I guess first off that I would strongly disagree with Davis suggesting that there is an option to resolve this situation through diplomacy. I have seen absolutely no indication of any kind that the neocons have even a passing interest in diplomacy let alone a functional familiarity with how to use it effectively. Maybe I’m just way too cynical, but I can’t see it happening with any of the people in DC. They have allowed themselves to be sucked into an inexorable vortex without the skills or the resolve to escape.
With regard to possible blowback from this act, I cannot help but suspect that the unlimited flow of people across the southern border has allowed more than a few “sleeper cells” to gain entry and they are just waiting to go active. If the violence and mayhem suddenly becomes up close and personal, the havoc that it would unleash on the social fabric of this country is almost unimaginable.
It would no longer be “over there” if you have to worry about surviving a trip to Walmart, Target or filling up your gas tank after work!
I submit that there is an infinite number of “unintended consequences” heading our way for which we are either ill or totally unprepared.
As myself and many others have remarked on this blog, 2024 will a year of great and consequential events. Not many will prove to be pleasant I’m afraid.
Thanks again for all of your work Mark, it’s about the only refuge available in this current madness.
BTW, anyone seen Uncle Joe or Lloyd-the invisible man-Austin in the last couple of days?
I guess it would be in the West’s interest to block all shipping in the Red Sea to agitate Egypt and the gulf to somehow form a grand Sunni coalition against Iran.
Good article Mark. I also enjoyed your podcast with Tom Luongo.
I just learned that Gonzalo Lira died in the Ukrainian Prison. You should do an episode about him.
Horrible and heartbreaking. Regardless of Lira's intentions or purposes or missteps in being in Ukraine he was not convicted of any crime (or even formally charged of one to our knowledge). He had a God-given right to life and freedom; and a legal right to the protection that should have been conferred on him by his citizenship.
This was murder and unadulterated, unconditional evil. It was evil enabled and supported and therefore condoned by our own government. Therefore we as U.S. citizens are complicit in this torture and murder as well, just as we are in Gaza and Yemen. Despite this we are not even afforded the courtesy of our government pretending that we have an interest in these actions or in our own rights of citizenship.
This excerpt from Psalm 34 should be a warning to us, our country, and its leaders - in addition to the leaders of the Ukraine - and should hopefully also provide some consolation to Gonzalo Lira's father:
15 The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
and his ears are attentive to their cry;
16 but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil,
to blot out their name from the earth.
17 The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them;
he delivers them from all their troubles.
18 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted
and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
Gonzalo Lira must not be forgotten. Here is a handwritten note from him (very likely his last communication):
https://celiafarber.substack.com/p/gonzalo-lira-reported-dead-grieving?publication_id=257742&post_id=140628680&isFreemail=true&r=rjj5o
He was tortured through death through neglect.
I wasn't exactly a GL fan, but it's a very disturbing story in that the Zhou regime did zero to help a US citizen. Tx.
I wasn’t his fan as well but respected his views - didn’t agree on many of them. He had balls to be in Nazikraine and trashing Elensky.
Btw, after this incident- an American citizen died in the Nazikraine prison, the U.S. must NOT send a cent to that place.
I would not have imagined this was possible.
https://thepostmillennial.com/breaking-american-journalist-gonzalo-lira-has-died-in-ukrainian-prison-reports
This is really sad..and shameful.
I don't know how these people pushing forever war can sleep at night.
Yes, we wonder. But when you realize psychopaths do not have anxiety, worry or remorse or a conscious then you can understand how and why they sleep better than you and I.
Or how they could turn their backs on one of their citizens who was exercising his democratic and journalistic rights, all while claiming their wars are in defence of democracy. It sickens me.
He was not one of them, he had no usefulness to their agenda. I have long said the aggravating tendency to smear everyone they dislike and hate as racist, homophobic, antisemitic has a comparison to the medieval heretic becomes easier to understand. Anyone who writes or speaks openly in defiance of their narrative will like in the medieval period be called heretic and be taken to the pyre.
Will Schryver @imetatronink
The only thing I have to say at this time about the death of Gonzalo Lira is that the United States could have, at any time over the past 8 months, and at a moment's notice, extracted him from Ukraine. They did not do it because they wanted him dead. It was cold-blooded murder.
And we know Trump went out of his way to get Americans out of dire straits, and some of them spit on him anyway.
Their behavior is so galling.
100% agree
Yeah, these things are always difficult to suss out a priori. Ritter's assertions made sense, but human beings don't always. I found him too emotional in his presentations. Fine to have emotions about events, but it seemed like too much of an act to me. Just me.
https://tomluongo.me/2024/01/08/podcast-episode-165-mark-wauck-and-the-meanings-in-historical-context/
I'm personally skeptical that Moldova will go that route.