#us-uae relations

[timesofocean]

US targets companies selling Iranian petrochemicals in fresh sanctions

New Post has been published on https://www.timesofocean.com/u-s-targets-companies-selling-iranian-petrochemicals-in-sanctions/

US targets companies selling Iranian petrochemicals in fresh sanctions

Washington (The Times Groupe)- The United States has imposed fresh sanctions on Chinese and Emirati companies and a network of Iranian firms for helping export petrochemicals from Iran.

On June 16, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed penalties on two Hong Kong-based companies, three Iranian companies, and four UAE companies, as well as two Chinese and one Indian company.

The Treasury Department attributed the moves to negotiations to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

“The United States is seeking to achieve a mutual return to compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action through meaningful diplomacy,” said Brian Nelson, Treasury undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.

“Without a deal, we will continue to impose sanctions on Iran that limit the export of petroleum, petroleum products, and petrochemicals,” Nelson said.

In exchange for relief from U.S., European Union, and United Nations sanctions, Iran agreed to limit its nuclear program.

In 2018, then-U.S. president Donald Trump pulled out of the deal and restored U.S. sanctions, causing Iran to begin violating the restrictions. Efforts to revive the agreement have so far failed.

It was reported in March that a revised deal was close, but talks in Vienna abruptly stalled in April as Iran and Washington blamed each other for not taking the necessary political decisions to settle remaining issues.

There were disagreements over whether Washington would remove the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) from its list of designated foreign terrorist organizations.

The Islamic Republic of Iran has long denied attempting to secretly develop nuclear weapons. It claims its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes. Despite the collapse of the deal, Tehran has vastly expanded its nuclear work. iranian petrochemicals

#Brian Nelson #china-us relations #export petrochemicals from Iran #iran nuclear program #Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) #Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) #sanctions on Chinese and Emirati companies #Terrorism and Financial Intelligence #The Times Groupe #Times Of Ocean #U.S. president Donald Trump #U.S. Treasury Department #UAE companies #Unravel News #US Sanctions #us-india releations #us-uae relations #Politics

[acedmic-help]

#AHEC is an acronym for academic help and e-counseling. Established in 2017 #AHEC has by far assisted over 15000 students across 4-5 continents— including countries such as UK #USA #Australia #UAE— and helped them obtain excellent grades. in a fast-paced world these days #and as a student #you may often get caught up with more activities than you can efficiently deal with. All of these activities demand equal attention #which is nearly impossible to give. Now #you can just sit back and relax #because AHEC is always there to help you. You can focus on activities that need your presence and delegate some tasks which you never thoug #and counselors and tutors address your queries and offer the best solution to your problems related to academics. #Visit us:- https://www.ahecounselling.com/ #Contact us:- https://www.ahecounselling.com/contact-us #Our Services:- https://www.ahecounselling.com/services #Our Blogs:- https://www.ahecounselling.com/blogs

[acedmichelp]

#AHEC is an acronym for academic help and e-counseling. Established in 2017 #AHEC has by far assisted over 15000 students across 4-5 continents— including countries such as UK #USA #Australia #UAE— and helped them obtain excellent grades. in a fast-paced world these days #and as a student #you may often get caught up with more activities than you can efficiently deal with. All of these activities demand equal attention #which is nearly impossible to give. Now #you can just sit back and relax #because AHEC is always there to help you. You can focus on activities that need your presence and delegate some tasks which you never thoug #and counselors and tutors address your queries and offer the best solution to your problems related to academics. #Visit us:- https://www.ahecounselling.com/ #Contact us:- https://www.ahecounselling.com/contact-us #Our Services:- https://www.ahecounselling.com/services #Our Blogs:- https://www.ahecounselling.com/blogs

[sayruq]

Four things to note about this:

Israel is importing food

This is such an inefficient way to move things esp fresh food as it takes about 2-3 to go from Saudi to Israel

Israeli farmlands are largely unattended as Gazan workers were forced back into the Strip (after getting imprisoned and tortured) and immigrant workers have returned home. This is why Israel is importing food from Saudi and workers from Africa

Yes, this is a sign of support from Saudi and UAE. UAE has actually gone further than providing Israel with a route that bypasses the Red Sea. In Oct, Gazans reported seeing UAE planes dropping bombs on them. As for Saudi Arabia, the US and Israel seem to believe that the country is some sort of leader of the Muslim world so if they normalise relations with Israel, every other Muslim country except Iran will follow suit. It obviously won't happen. The war on Gaza has done too much damage to Israel-Arab relations.

#yemen #jerusalem #tel aviv #current events #palestine #free palestine #gaza #free gaza #news on gaza #palestine news #news update #war news #war on gaza

[ghelgheli]

Although not an Arab country, Turkiye was the first Muslim state to establish diplomatic relations with Tel Aviv, and today leads the pack of West Asian states boosting Israeli imports. In 2020 alone, the value of Turkish exports spiked to $5.7 billion, constituting 6.2 percent of total Israeli imports that year.

In second place is the UAE, which normalized ties with Tel Aviv as part of the US-brokered Abraham Accords in 2020, and was the first Arab state to sign a free-trade agreement (2022) with Israel as part of a plan to boost mutual trade to $10 billion annually. The Persian Gulf state’s exports were valued at $1.89 billion in 2022, accounting for 2.1 percent of all Israeli imports. 

Taking third place is Jordan, whose exports to Israel in 2022 reached $469.25 million, a massive 489 percent increase from 2018. Key export categories from the Hashemite Kingdom include plastics ($135.2 million), electrical and electronic equipment ($127.93 million), and iron and steel ($74.35 million).

...the combined exports of West Asian countries to Israel surged by $4,359.530,000 between 2020 and 2022, marking an increase of almost 111 percent.

Despite the growing tensions and sharp rhetoric by some regional states toward Israel since its military assault on the Gaza Strip commenced, trade activity remains largely uninterrupted. Turkiye, despite calling Israel a “terrorist” state, contributes heavily to Israel's economic well-being by helping Tel Aviv circumvent the Yemeni blockade, increasing its overall exports to Israel, and playing a pivotal role in oil transportation.

#zionism

[naartjie-hijabi]

The scariest part...

I think the scariest part of what's currently happening is the possiblity of a world war. In 2022, people joked about the possibility of Russia starting the third world war, two years later, I can't stop thinking about it actually happening.

Israel has been complicit in many global conflicts since its creation in 1948, now that they have been called out and are being held accountable for their actions for the first time in little more than 75 years, what exactly will be the outcome?

Both the UK and the US, two countries who actively support and fund Israel, have bombed Yemen, a country that has been kicked down so many times that it is only a matter of time before they start baring their teeth. The tension between China and Taiwan is increasing and the Russo-Ukrainian War has still not reached its conclusion. This year is the year of global elections and, honestly speaking, it feels like 2024 is a disaster in the making.

Of course I remain positive, this is just the musings of an 18 year old girl who has finally awoken to the state of current affairs. I am not educated in global politics, international relations, or anything related to law. I remain steadfast in my belief that Palestine will be free, that humanity will start caring, that individualism will decrease, but even still I refuse to be blindly optimistic.

It is because of my ill-knowledge of global politics that I have these terrible feelings. What is the actual state of the Middle East, how are things in Yemen, what kind of lives are Syrians leading, whose side is Saudi Arabia and the UAE truly on? It seems that in everywhere, Africa, Europe, Asia, the Americas, peace seems to be hanging on a thin thread ready to snap at the tiniest disruption.

Yesterday, I felt pride and today I felt anger, tomorrow I wonder what will I feel. There is certainty in my heart that things will get better, that world is in its healing stage right now, that's why everything is chaotic, but the logical part of me says that perhaps the worst is yet to come.

All in all, I believe that Palestine will be free and the liberation of Palestinians is a fight that I will continue until the Apartheid Israel is dismantled once and for all. It is not simply free Palestine, it is free Yemen, free Congo, free Sudan, free every singled oppressed individual. This is what was taught to me yesterday and what was reminded to me today. Tomorrow holds as much potential as it does uncertainty, and I guess that if there's a fight worth fighting for, we should focus on that instead and not on the possibility of terrible outcomes.

#palestine #yemen #south africa #the middle east #israel #musings #free palestine #congo #sudan

[kp777]

By Thom Hartmann

Common Dreams

March 31, 2023

The Republican Party's most dangerous grift today has been their embrace of the lie that America is not a democracy but instead is a theocratic republic that should be ruled exclusively by armed Christian white men. It's leading us straight into the jaws of fascism.

Nobody ever accused Republicans of not knowing how to make a buck or BS-ing somebody into voting for them. Lying to people for economic or political gain is the very definition of a grift.

Whenever there’s another mass- or school-shooting, Republican politicians hustle out fundraising emails about how “Democrats are coming to take your guns!” The result is a measurable and profitable spike in gun sales after every new slaughter of our families and children, followed by a fresh burst of campaign cash to GOP lawmakers.

But the GOP’s ability to exploit any opportunity that comes along — regardless of its impact on America or American citizens — goes way beyond just fundraising hustles.

When Jared Kushner was underwater and nearly bankrupt because he overpaid for 666 Fifth Avenue and needed a billion-dollar bailout to cover his mortgage, his buddies in the Middle East (Saudi Arabia and the UAE) blockaded American ally (and host to the Fifth Fleet) Qatar until that country relented and laundered the money to Jared through a Canadian investment company.

Just this week, after Trump deregulated toxic trains leading to a horrible crash and the contamination of East Palestine, Ohio, Steve Bannon — already charged with multiple fraud-related crimes and then pardoned by Trump — showed up this week to hustle $300+ water filters to the people of that town.

The grift is at the core of the GOP’s existence, and has been since Nixon blew up LBJ’s peace talks with the Vietnamese in 1968 and then took cash bribes from the Milk Lobby and Jimmy Hoffa in the White House while having his mafia-connected “plumbers” wiretap the DNC’s offices at the Watergate.

— Republicans successfully fought the ability of Medicare to negotiate drug prices for decades; in turn, Big Pharma pours millions into their campaign coffers and personal pockets (legalized by 5 Republicans on the Supreme Court).

— Republicans beat back Democratic efforts to stop insurance giants from ripping off seniors and our government with George W. Bush’s Medicare Advantage privatization scam; in turn, the insurance companies rain cash on them like an Indian monsoon.

— Republicans oppose any effort to replace fossil fuels with green energy sources that don’t destroy our environment; in turn, the fossil fuel industry jacked up the price of gasoline into the stratosphere just in time for the 2022 election (and you can expect them to try it again in 2024).

— Republicans stopped enforcement of a century’s worth of anti-trust laws in 1983, wiping out America’s small businesses and turning rural city centers into ghost towns while pushing profits and prices through the ceiling; in turn massive corporate PACs fund ads supporting Republican candidates every election cycle.

— Republicans authored legislation letting billionaires own thousands of newspapers, radio stations, and TV outlets; in turn the vast majority of those papers (now half of all local papers are owned by a handful of rightwing New York hedge funds) and stations all run daily news and editorials attacking Democrats and supporting the GOP.

— Republicans Trump and Pai killed net neutrality so giant tech companies can legally spy on you and me, recording every website we visit and selling that information for billions; in turn, major social media sites amplify rightwing voices while giant search engines stopped spidering progressive news sites.

Newspeak — George Orwell’s term for the grift where politicians use fancy phrases that mean the opposite of what people think they mean — has been the GOP’s go-to strategy for a half-century.

Richard Nixon, for example, promised to crack down on drugs, but instead used that as an excuse to crack down on anti-war liberals and Black people. Instead of an economic grift, it was a political grift.

As Nixon‘s right hand man, John Ehrlichman, told reporter Dan Baum:

“You want to know what this was really all about? The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and Black people. Do you understand what I’m saying? “We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or Black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and Blacks with heroin and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. “We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. “Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.“

The grift is a recurrent theme through Republican presidencies in the modern era.

Ronald Reagan told us if we just destroyed America’s unions and moved our manufacturing to China and Mexico, great job opportunities would fill the nation.

He followed that up by promising if we just cut taxes on the morbidly rich, prosperity would trickle-down to the rest of us.

Reagan even assured us that raising the Social Security retirement age to 67 and taxing Social Security benefits would mean seniors could retire with greater ease.

All, of course, were grifter’s lies. Republican presidents since Reagan have continued the tradition.

George W. Bush called his program to make it easier to clear-cut America’s forests and rip roads through wilderness areas the “Healthy Forests Initiative.”

His program to legalize more pollution from coal-fired power plants and immunize them from community lawsuits (leading to tens of thousands of additional lung- and heart-disease deaths in the years since) was named the “Clean Air Act.”

Bush’s scam to “strengthen” Medicare — “Medicare Advantage” — was a thinly disguised plan to privatize that program that is today draining Medicare’s coffers while making insurance executives richer than Midas.

Donald Trump told Americans he had the coronavirus pandemic under control while he was actually making the situation far worse: America had more deaths per capita from the disease than any other developed country in the world, with The Lancet estimating a half-million Americans died needlessly because of Trump’s grift.

Jared and Ivanka cashed in on their time in the White House to the tune of billions, while Trump squeezed hundreds of millions out of foreign governments, encouraging them to illegally pay him through rentals in his properties around the world.

Other Trump grifts — most leading to grateful industries or billionaires helping him and the GOP out — included:

— Making workplaces less safe — Boosting religious schools at the expense of public schools — Cutting relief for students defrauded by student loan sharks — Shrinking the safety net by cutting $60 billion out of food stamps — Forcing workers to put in overtime without getting paid extra for it — Pouring more pollution from fossil fuels into our fragile atmosphere — Gutting the EPA’s science operation — Rescinding rules that protected workers at federal contract sites — Dialing back car air pollution emissions standards — Reducing legal immigration of skilled workers into the US from “shithole countries” — Blocking regulation of toxic chemicals — Rolling back rules on banks, setting up the crisis of 2023 — Defenestrating rules against racially segregated housing

While Nixon was simply corrupt — a crook, to use his own term — in 1978 when five Republicans on the Supreme Court signed off on the Bellotti decision authored by Lewis Powell himself, giving corporations the legal right to bribe American politicians, the GOP went all in.

Ever since then, the GOP has purely been the party of billionaires and giant corporations, although their most successful political grift has been to throw an occasional bone to racists, gun-nuts, fascists, homophobes, and woman-haters to get votes.

Democrats at that time were largely funded by the unions, so it wasn’t until the 1990s, after Reagan had destroyed about half of America’s union jobs and gutted the unions’ ability to fund campaigns, that the Democratic Party under Bill Clinton was forced to make a big turn toward taking corporate cash.

Since Barack Obama showed how online fundraising could replace corporate cash, however, about half of the nation’s Democratic politicians have aligned with the Progressive Caucus and eschewed corporate money, returning much of the Party to its FDR and Great Society base.

The GOP, in contrast, has never wavered from lapping up corporate money in exchange for tax cuts, deregulation, and corporate socialism.

Their most dangerous grift today, though, has been their embrace of the lie that America is not a democracy but instead is a theocratic republic that should be ruled exclusively by armed Christian white men. It’s leading us straight into the jaws of fascism.

Bannon’s grift in East Palestine is the smallest of the small, after his being busted for a multi-million-dollar fraud in the “Build the Wall” scheme and others, but is still emblematic of the Republican strategy at governance.

When all you have to offer the people is a hustle, then at the very least, Republicans figure, you should be able to make a buck or gain/keep political power while doing it.

#republicans #gop #grift #common dreams

[girlactionfigure]

SUMMARY Tuesday Israel Realtime

🔻no overnight rockets / drones

▪️HOSTAGE CEASEFIRE LEAKS.. “the head of the Mossad continued the meetings in Qatar during the night and plans to return to Israel today. The negotiations have officially started and “there is a solid basis for starting talks”.  High level of Mossad, Shin Bet and IDF work teams are deployed in Qatar.”

All reported demands are OUTRAGEOUS, EXTREME, war loss type of demands.

▪️BIDEN SAYS.. on his Twitter account: "Today I spoke again with Prime Minister Netanyahu regarding the latest developments in Israel and Gaza. I continued to confirm that Israel has the right to persecute Hamas, the terrorist group responsible for the worst massacre of the Jewish people since the Holocaust. 

I reiterated the need for an immediate ceasefire as part of a deal to release the hostages, which will last several weeks, so that we can return them home and help the citizens in Gaza. I asked the Prime Minister to send a team to Washington to discuss ways to fight Hamas without a major ground operation in Rafah"

🔸GAZA.. the new battle for al-Shifa hospital, which was re-taken by Hamas as a command and control site, shows the IDF has a humanitarian problem - Hamas is consistently hiding in maximum civilian casualty sites, and a control problem, it appears they are taking and smashing but not occupying. 

While the Prime Minister announced Israel WILL go into Rafah, we also hear “a few weeks of preparation” while at the same time the U.S. is demanding approval rights on the approach, to make sure Hamas’s human shields are kept safe while Israeli hostages continue to rot.

The US, via various unspoken and now spoken threats, is effectively stopping Israel in Gaza.

🔸LEBANON.. tit-for-tat attacks continue. The Lebanese now report 90,000 evacuated civilians, and around 400 dead, with about 4 of 5 being Hezbollah fighters - an incredible targeting success although perhaps too discriminate? 

Hezbollah continues a gradual use of bigger weapons, and the IDF continues large bomb attacks.  But in both cases staying on mostly military targets and within short range of the border.

 🔸YEMEN..  Houthis continue daily shipping attacks, most miss, some interceptions by US/UK ships. The Indian navy has helped several hit ships. The Houthis admitted the Iranian navy ship is feeding them targeting data, the Iranians deny. 

US / UK bombings are basically ineffective, with them reporting “11 attacks, we took out 3 missiles”.

Saudi bombed the Houthis, not related to shipping, and the UAE announced the formation of a foreign legion / mercenary force to fight the Houthis in Yemen.

🔸JERUSALEM.. with tens of thousands of nightly worshippers, the Temple Mount compound has been kept controlled so far through Ramadan. There were a few attempts at riling up the Arab public via propaganda, such as “they’re installing blocking gates!” which were actually replacing of rotted out police control fences.

🔸JUDEA-SAMARA (West Bank).. the IDF continues a high volume of nightly counter-terrorism raids and arrests. However, there are also several daily attacks on the roads, shootings into towns, stabbings at checkpoints.

🔸SYRIA.. Israel bombs regularly sites where Iran is stocking weapons headed towards Hezbollah. But Iran continues to ship in weapons AND fighters. 

US bases in Syria have NOT come under attack since the US asked Iran nicely to stop it (and released to them $10 billion).

Turkey is now attacking northern Syria, where they have a Kurdish rebel cross border problem, and has committed to eliminating the problem and taking control of a security zone.

#Israel #Realtime War Updates #October 7 #Operation Swords of Iron #Hamas Massacre #Israel/HamasWar

[loneberry]

Notes on Palestine

The geopolitical situation right now is extremely unstable. In such moments it always feels like incentive structures are such that all parties are pushed toward war and escalation. I saw how this all unfolded with 9/11; it left an indelible mark on my psyche–to observe the world careening, the hysteria, the march toward endless war. The Iran hawks in the US are out calling for war with Iran (US intelligence and even the IDF have said Iran did not help *plan* the Hamas attacks, though the idea that Iran was behind the attacks is being presented as fact). 

Days before the Hamas attacks, I was in an article + podcast rabbit hole focused on Iranian nuclear politics, Saudi-Israeli relations, and the current situation in the “Middle East” (I prefer the term “South West Asia and North Africa”/SWANA but will use “Middle East” for readability). I had also been reading that the US’s attempts to broker a US-Saudi-Israeli deal would piss off the Palestinians. It filled me with immense grief—nobody, not even Muslim Arabs, seem to care about Palestinians anymore. The international community has failed. Now it seems that the world has consented to a protracted genocide of Palestinians. It used to be the case that Arab countries would not considered normalizing relations with Israel without Israel making concessions to the Palestinians. The sad reality is that since the Arab Spring, the resolution of the Palestinian issue has become a low priority for many countries in the Middle East, many of whom have their own feud with Iran and see pivoting toward Israel as a path toward greater security. Of course I’m talking about the Abraham Accords, the so-called “peace deal” brokered by the Trump administration that enabled the normalization of relations between Israel, the UAE, and Bahrain, yet excluded any input from Palestinians. That event had brought me so much grief. It really felt like any hope for the Palestinian cause was dying. There seems to be little political will from any side to put pressure on Israel.

In moments of crisis like these I try to be sober and pedagogical, but such a task feels nearly impossible when it comes to the “Israeli-Palestinian conflict”. People say the conflict is “complicated” and rooted in hundreds of years of religious hatred. It is really not that complicated and only requires basic knowledge of 20th century history. Prior to WWI, the territory of Palestine (and much of the Arab world) was under the rule of the Ottoman Empire for over 400 years. The Allied Powers (Britain, France, Russia, and others) were at war with the Central Powers (Germany, Austro-Hungary, the Ottomans, etc). The Brits saw Palestine as a crown jewel and coveted Jerusalem in particular. They recruited Arab assistance in the war by whipping up hundreds of years of resentment against the Ottomans and promising the Arabs that they would break up the Ottoman Empire and help the Arabs create their own nations (see theMcMahon-Hussein correspondence). Yet the Brits were also keen on recruiting Jewish support on the side of the Allied Powers. In 1917 the British government made a declaration (the Balfour Declaration) that announced British support for the creation of a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine. At the end of WWI (which, as you likely know, ended in Allied success), the European empires on the winning side sought to expand their empires while Woodrow Wilson believed more in self-determination. The compromise was the “mandate” system, where the Europeans on the winning side took administrative control of territories lost by the Central Powers—France and Britain carved up the Middle East. Enter the British mandate for Palestine. The Arabs had been betrayed by the Allied Europeans (no surprise there). One form of colonial rule was swapped for another. 

Prior to the end of WWI, the Zionist movement was gaining momentum, partly as an answer to the perennial problem of European anti-Semitism and partly because of the 19th/early-20th century discourse around nationalism. The idea of creating a Jewish state in Palestine began in the 19th century, but it was really in the 1890s that modern political Zionism began with the figure of Theodor Herzl. European Jews began to immigrate to Palestine to form settlements. Yet when the mandate was established, the Jewish population was still relatively small—around 9%. While the territory was under British rule, the Brits facilitated a dramatic increase in European Jewish immigration to Palestine. Between 1922 and 1935, the portion of the population that was Jewish grew to 27%. It’s hardly surprising that violence broke out between Arabs and Jews, as well as Arabs and the Brits (see the Arab Revolt of 1936-39). 

The Brits promised a territory to an oppressed people (the Jews) that was never theirs to give away in the first place. The Arabs were quickly being displaced from their home. All of this would come to a head in WWII, when Europe’s vile anti-Semitism was on full display with the Holocaust. How would Europe atone for the atrocities committed against the Jews? There was much momentum around creating a physical state for the Jews in Palestine. This was also a convenient solution for deeply anti-Semitic Europe, as they preferred that the Jews leave rather than be integrated into their societies. In 1947 the UN voted to partition Palestine into a Jewish state and an Arab state, with Jerusalem coming under international administration. 13 voted against the partition (basically all the countries in the Middle East, plus India and several others). 55% of the land would be set aside for the Jews. War broke out soon after the UN resolution. The (WWII) battle-hardened Zionist paramilitaries (backed by European countries) undertook a campaign of ethnic cleansing and captured additional territory. Between 1947-49, 750,000 Palestinians became refugees—around 40% of the entire Palestinian population. 78% of historic Palestine was taken by Zionist forces. This is the event of settler violence and ethnic cleansing that Palestinians refer to as the Nakba (or catastrophe). 

There is so much obfuscation about the roots of the Israel-Palestine conflict. What ultimately happened: Europe decided it wanted to create a nation for Jews. It picked the territory of Palestine for this project (other territories were also considered) because the Brits controlled the territory and because of its religious significance. There were already people who lived on the land that was to be used to create a Jewish state. Now Palestinians are stateless and live under a brutal military occupation (the West Bank) and even more punishing blockade (Gaza)—or as refugees. Palestinians were ultimately made to suffer for the sins of European anti-Semitism. 

*

There is a lot more I can say here, about the history of the Cold War and how it relates to the US’s alliance with Israel, about internecine conflicts in Palestinian politics (the split between Hamas and the PLO/Palestinian Authority), about the current geopolitical situation, about contemporary domestic politics in Israel (which currently has the most right-wing govt in Israel’s history) and the Hamas attacks themselves. I see friends gleefully posting about the murder of Israeli civilians. I just can’t get on board with that. Neither can I get on board with Israel bombing hospitals and shelters in Gaza, or calling Palestinians “animals.” All life is sacred, all life is grievable. (People are right to point out that most of the world does not grieve the loss of Palestinian life.)

Events do have a context. Gaza is one of the most unlivable places on the planet. Around 67% of Gaza's population are refugees displaced during the Nakba. It has been under a brutal blockade for 16 years. It’s the 3rd most densely populated place on the planet—over 2.1 million people are crammed into a space half the size of London. The residents have been deprived of electricity, clean drinking water, medical supplies, and food. Nearly half of residents are unemployed and civilians have died by thousands under Israeli bombings (6,407 Palestinians have been killed since 2008). It is referred to as an “open air prison” because the residents are literally hemmed in by a high-tech fence. Given these dire conditions, an eruption of violence did seem almost inevitable. 

What I fear: a ground invasion of Gaza. A broader conflagration involving Lebanon and Iran, and potentially the rest of the world. The US going to war with Iran. If the world genuinely wishes to see the end of the “cycle of violence,” Palestinians must be free. Any attempt to bring about “regional security” while ignoring the Palestinian situation is destined to fail.

[sophia-zofia]

1-UAE!!

Under the guise of saving refugees, the United Arab Emirates is running an elaborate covert operation to back one side in Sudan’s spiraling war supplying powerful weapons and drones, treating injured fighters and airlifting the most serious cases to one of its military hospitals, according to a dozen current and former officials from the United States, Europe and several African countries.

The operation is based at an airfield and a hospital in a remote town across the Sudanese border in Chad, where cargo planes from the Emirates have been landing on a near-daily basis since June, according to satellite imagery and the officials, who spoke on the basis of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence.

Despite strained Sudan-UАЕ relations, gold shipments flowed freely from Sudan to Dubаi, with exports facing no obstacles and operating with official approval in Port Sudan. Political tensions didn't disrupt the lucrative trade, which continued despite the December 2023 expulsion of diplomats and accusations of smuggling.

2- Russia (Wagner group)

The Russian mercenary group Wagner has been supplying Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces with missiles to aid their fight against the country’s army, Sudanese and regional diplomatic sources have told the CNN.

The sources said the surface-to-air missiles have significantly buttressed RSF paramilitary fighters and their leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo as he battles for power with Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Sudan’s military ruler and the head of its armed forces.

(Reports years ago claimed the hemedti smuggles gold to Russia)

3- Libya

The eastern Libya strongman, Libyan National Army (LNA) commander Khalifah Haftar, has actively backed the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) against the Sudanese military and armed forces in the ongoing fighting in Khartoum and its surrounding environs.

Haftar calculates that an RSF victory in the Sudan power struggle would secure valuable trade and smuggling routes through Sudan.

By supporting the RSF, Haftar is aligned with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the Russian mercenary Wagner Group.

4- Chad

Chadian sources said that the Chadian transitional government is building a new military base or depot 6-7 kilometers north of the city of Abéché in Wadaday state, with full funding from the UAE to support the Rapid Support Militia.

Mobilization campaigns and movements are now underway to prevent this criminal operation carried out by the Chadian government against citizens, with funding from the UAE, to destroy Sudan.

5- Ukraine

In September 2023, CNN reported that Ukrainian special services were behind a series of drone strikes and a ground operation near Sudan's capital, Khartoum, which targeted Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a militia backed by the Wagner Group, a Russian mercenary outfit.

6- Israel

There has been evidence that Israel is also sending supplies to the RSF. Israel wants to curb Iran's expanding influence in the region, while halting human and arms smuggling routes from Sudan to Gaza. Better relations with Sudan would also enhance Israel's ties with other African countries, helping it to gain access to African markets, especially after the suspension of Israel's observer status in the African Union.

Also using Sudan’s war for cheap propaganda and diverting attention from their atrocities in Gaza by claiming that Hamas Is tied to the RSF. Hemedti tried to organize a secret meeting with officials from the Israeli Mossad without the knowledge of the government and the Sudanese army in Khartoum,on January 2022, but he was forced to inform the army of the meeting in the end, after Israel announced.

7- Iran

Media reports said Iran has supplied Sudan's army with combat drones. The army has not denied the claims. Later, Sudan's Foreign Minister visited Tehran and held talks with high ranking officials as part of the two countries' efforts to restore their diplomatic relations.

8-The EU

The European Union has been accused of "hiding" the impact of its funding of the Sudanese government and its paramilitary forces as part of a programme to stem the flow of migrants from Africa to Europe. Though the EU claims it provides no funding to the government, activists and researchers say otherwise, arguing the organisation's migration initiatives also benefit, at least indirectly, the country's notorious Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group.

9- The US

During the transitional period, there were long bread lines, and sometimes people had to wait for days to get gas. And that could have been avoided if:

1) The U.S was quicker in getting Sudan off the state sponsor of terror list which blocked it from much of the global economy. It was particularly insulting that they demanded that the only way to do that was to 'normalise' relations with Israel.

2) If the U.S wasn't insisting that the government (which arose because the Sudanese people overthrew Bashir's regime) pay reparations to the U.S for an attack that they had nothing to do with.

3) If the IMF didn't force Sudan to cut fuel and bread subsidies to get debt relief after Bashir's overthrow. One of the triggers for the 2018 revolution was that Bashir was also forced to do this. It made life miserable.

10- Saudi Arabia

The Saudis and Emiratis have turned to battle-hardened forces from Sudan with combat experience in Darfur and other parts of their country. In fact, 8,000-14,000 Sudanese mercenaries including child soldiers between the ages of 13 and 17.

Many of the Sudanese fighters in Yemen come from the Janjaweed (armed horsemen) RSF militias made up of ethnic Arabs from western Sudan, eastern Chad, and the Central African Republic (CAR).

#sudan #rsf #rapid support forces #uae #united arab emirates #russia #wagner group #libya #chad #ukraine #israel #iran #european union #united states #saudi arabia #genocide

[acedmichelp]

#AHEC is an acronym for academic help and e-counseling. Established in 2017 #AHEC has by far assisted over 15000 students across 4-5 continents— including countries such as UK #USA #Australia #UAE— and helped them obtain excellent grades. in a fast-paced world these days #and as a student #you may often get caught up with more activities than you can efficiently deal with. All of these activities demand equal attention #which is nearly impossible to give. Now #you can just sit back and relax #because AHEC is always there to help you. You can focus on activities that need your presence and delegate some tasks which you never thoug #and counselors and tutors address your queries and offer the best solution to your problems related to academics. #Visit us:- https://www.ahecounselling.com/ #Contact us:- https://www.ahecounselling.com/contact-us #Our Services:- https://www.ahecounselling.com/services #Our Blogs:- https://www.ahecounselling.com/blogs

[sayruq]

Here's what the situation looks like on the ground (bear in mind I'm not exactly an expert in war).

The Palestinian resistance fighters (it's not just Hamas you guys, every Palestinian militia is fighting right now) have been baiting Israeli forces into a ground battle ever since the operation started. IDF isn't exactly the best at on the ground battles which is why they usually prefer using their air force and long distance artillery. And also because Iran and Lebanon have indicated they will join the war if there's a ground operation in Gaza.

In preparation for this, Hamas and other groups have struck military bases and have taken equipment back to Gaza. In addition to weapons from Iran and Hezbollah, the fighters now have Israeli military weapons in their possession and they've been using them.

So far, Palestinian fighters seem to be achieving their objectives.

The Israeli response to the attack has been chaotic, careless and haphazard, something that has angered Israeli citizens. It took them hours to organise a coordinated response. The Iron Dome was rendered useless as thousands of rockets were launched into Israel.

There has been multiple reported cases of high ranking officers being killed

Many Arab military groups have either joined in or announced that they will join the fight so we might be looking at a regional war here.

This by the way is a big blow to Israel. It, alongside the US, has been working to normalise relations with Saudi and Emirati States like UAE.

So how long will this conflict last? All indicators point to 'a long while.'

The Israeli government has said this will be a long, difficult war for them.

Hamas has refused a ceasefire and is also prepared for a long conflict in Gaza and other Occupied territories (I've seen people say there's no fighting in the West Bank and that this is a Hamas only operation but that's not true)

I don't know what is going to happen next but I also don't think Israeli forces are going to crush Palestinian fighters quickly like a lot of people are expecting.

The casualties are already very high.

This is shaping up to be a very bloody conflict on both sides.

#palestine #free palestine #israel #gaza #west bank

[mostlysignssomeportents]

This day in history

I'm on tour with my new novel The Bezzle! Catch me TONIGHT in SAN DIEGO (Feb 22, Mysterious Galaxy). After that, it's LA (Saturday night, with Adam Conover), Seattle (Monday, with Neal Stephenson), then Portland, Phoenix and more!

#15yrsago Tonga Room, San Francisco’s magnificent tiki bar: doomed? https://laughingsquid.com/will-the-tonga-room-be-a-casualty-of-the-fairmont-condo-plans/

#15yrsago New Zealand’s terrible copyright law suspended, may be dead https://web.archive.org/web/20090317045724/http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/news/86D681292534A2CCCC25756600143FD1

#10yrsago Ukrainian president Yanukovuych flees Kiev as opposition seize the palace https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/22/ukraine-crisis-uncertainty-after-yanukovych-signs-deal-live-updates

#10yrsago Cossacks horsewhip Pussy Riot at Sochi https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26265230

#10yrsago Pussy Riot use footage of cossack horsewhipping in new music video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjI0KYl9gWs

#10yrsago Austin cops violently crack down on scourge of anonymous jaywalking https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6ugqW7fFmk

#5yrsago Whatsapp abused the DMCA to censor related projects from Github https://memex.craphound.com/2014/02/22/whatsapp-abused-the-dmca-to-censor-related-projects-from-github/

#5yrsago Blockbuster Gizmodo investigation reveals probable masterminds of the massive anti-Net Neutrality identity theft/astroturf campaign https://gizmodo.com/how-an-investigation-of-fake-fcc-comments-snared-a-prom-1832788658

#5yrsago This is bad: the UAE’s favorite sleazeball cybermercenaries have applied for permission to break Mozilla’s web encryption https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/02/cyber-mercenary-groups-shouldnt-be-trusted-your-browser-or-anywhere-else

#5yrsago Google ends forced arbitration contracts for workers after googler uprising https://www.wired.com/story/google-ends-forced-arbitration-after-employee-protest/

#pluralistic

[catdotjpeg]

The U.S. was the latest country to carry out an airdrop of humanitarian aid along the Gaza coastline on Saturday, dropping 38,000 meals in a joint mission with its junior ally, the Jordanian Air Force. Critics decried the move as an illustration of U.S. hypocrisy in handing Israel some of the most advanced bombs in the world while dropping aid from the sky at a trickle to the same people who are on the receiving end of those weapons. Charlie Herbert, a major-general in the British Army, described the airdrop on X as “total performative BS.” “With one hand US airdrops 38,000 meal packs…while the other hand continues to provide Israel with the arms, munitions and funds required to sustain this conflict. Performative BS. It fools no one,” he added.

Critics of the U.S. also pointed out that delivering aid by air is cumbersome and inefficient and that the Biden administration must force Israel to allow aid trucks to enter Gaza through its land crossings.  Last week, Jordan airdropped seven tons of food to people in Gaza, but a single truck can transport 20-25 tons of food and essential aid.

“Airdrops are the worst or close to the worst possible way to deliver aid,” Jeremy Konyndyk, president of Refugees International, told Al-Jazeera. “They are very expensive, they are dangerous because there is a lot that can go wrong when those things drop and they deliver very small volumes of aid,” he added. Some of the aid dropped by Jordan last week ended up in the sea, pushing Palestinians to enter the cold water to fish it out. 

Tamara Nassar and Ali Abunimah described these airdrops in the Electronic Intifada as “humanitarian aid theatre” that does nothing to end Israeli bombardment and starvation of people in the Gaza Strip. They added that countries taking part in these operations, such as Egypt and the UAE, “but especially Jordan whose air force is carrying them out, are providing public relations cover for countries directly involved in Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza,” namely the U.S.

-- From "‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 149" by Mustafa Abu Sneineh for Mondoweiss, 3 Mar 2024

#palestine #usa #gaza #jordan #egypt

[shut-up-rabert]

not sure how relevant this is, but im gonna go off anyway coz im in a mood. to the previous anon who said that bjp is being extremist by removing the ABUNDANCE of mughals in textbooks.

you know what would be extremist? if they purposefully blacked out all paragraphs relating to a particular religion or dynasty.

which is what happens if you study in an indian school in some middle eastern countries. we had all (which is already the barest of bare) information related to chhatrapati shivaji maharaj, the cholas, the vedic ages etc. blackened out with thick markers. and if that wasn't enough, if they missed out on blacking something out, they'd make us do it with black or red pens. sounds fucking dystopian doesn't it? that's what extremism is.

removing chapters that glorify the rule of barbarous invaders, that too in the name of avoiding repetition, is not extremism lmao.

Lmao, not even surprised.

The truth is that Indians give too much credit to middle east because of how MBS tackles extremism in his country, which is a frustrating problem here, and UAE because they are “friendly” to other religions, right wing often uses it to put down indian muslims in various issues, but midst all this we forget that these are the same people who give their minorities the bare minimum rights so they will work, who ask immigrant workers to convert, who fund these muslim organisations that throw dirt onto us, fucking attacked Israel in support of a Palestine that wanted all Jews of the region dead.

Their communal bias is not as obvious as Pak or Bangla, because they do not have a cultural crisis ig that’s why, but believe me, their dislike for us even if we are not their priority is there.

As of what you say about Mughals being abundance and how removing them is not extremism, what can I say to that anon other than that with privilege comes ignorance. People really act like Mughal Courts singing and dancing is more important than learning about the Chola expansion, something so crucial to our history that we know nothing about, or even the dynasties of Rajputs, Marathas that played a big role in pre mughal history and mughal resistance.

These Mughals have basically eaten up our textbooks, and there’s supremacists nations out there using it to an advantage by completely deleting our indegenious history given its scarcity, because it won’t affect the current syllabus much.

#asks #hindublr #darling aankhon se aankhein chaar karne do #ncert

[goddess1111sblog]

I came across this cool success story on reddit by u/celestial-form. It is worth a read.❤️

A long success story

Here is the summary of my wonderful experience of consciously visualizing myself into a drama that later materialized.

I was 11 years old, living in Tehran, Iran, my birthplace. I was a very strange child with an abstract, sort of a metaphysical mind. I was very perceptive and questioned every area of life. One day I was observing my life and suddenly came to the conclusion that I don’t like my life. I didn’t like the country I lived in, I didn’t relate to the culture and I knew I couldn't thrive there. As I was a very imaginative child I told myself, what if I can escape this reality in my imagination?

The same night I lay down and before sleep, I decided to experience what it would be like If I lived in a different country and went to school there. As I am laying down I hold steadfast to the joy I would feel if I actually lived somewhere else. I couldn’t specify the country but i could specify the wonderful feeling of ahh, my wish has finally come true.

I resided in that feeling, and I even remember my attention wandering off into randomness but I brought it back and again held it steadfastly on the wonderful feeling of my desire being my reality. I dropped into sleep while holding the feeling and I found myself in a vivid dream (imaginal act). I was sitting in a classroom, there were black people and blonde people, and girls and boys were sitting in the same room (this doesn’t happen in Iran). I was sitting in the last row of the class on the right end of the room and I was observing my classmates. Suddenly I had an overpowering feeling that “omg, I live here, this is my classroom, this is my home.” and I had a feeling of certainty that this is a different country from my hometown. The dream was so intense and vivid that when I woke up I had to take a moment to realize that was a dream. I was so certain that I was living there with all of my being until I awoke and realized it was just a dream and I was terribly disappointed that it was all a dream, I nearly wanted to cry.

Fast-forwarding to age 12, my cousin from Germany calls to ask my Mom if she’d be interested in applying for the DV lottery program for a chance to win a U.S. green card. She said oh it must be a scam but if it’s free we will apply. So, all of us 3 members of the family applied and let it go. My mom kept saying oh this is probably fake, nothing is gonna happen. But since it was free she thought well we don’t have much to lose.

Next year comes and we get a phone call from my cousin in Germany. “I have good news and bad news,” she says what is it. K (me) has won the lottery but you can’t go with her because she’s a kid. If you had won you could take the entire family and kids under the age of 21. My mom was excited but also disappointed. She said well it’s ok, we’ll send her alone so she can finish her high school and college there.

Fast-forwarding again, a year passes and my family applies for the lottery again in hopes that they might win. And surely, my mom wins just a year after I had won. I was prepared to go to the U.S. alone, I had an interview appointment at the U.S. embassy in the UAE but we had to cancel it because now that my mom has won, she can take her 13-year-old child with her. So, exactly this happens. We go to the embassy and my mom and I get an American Visa added to our Iranian passports. they said once we enter the U.S. they will send us a permanent resident card in the mail.

So, I come to the U.S. with my newly divorced mother. I spoke English fluently almost with no accent. I am now 15 years old and entered my sophomore year in high school. One day I am sitting in my world history class, in the back of the room on the far right end row and I’m observing the room when suddenly I feel, “I have been here before.” I was sitting in the same exact spot I sat in and some of my classmates had blonde hair and others were black which is something I could never have in Iran.

I just want to point out, that at the age of 11 I had no access to Neville's teachings, I didn’t consciously know what I was doing, I just intended to escape my life in my imagination and I did it at night before sleep and I intensely focused on it because I was so deeply in love with the idea of living in a different country. I didn’t think about what country or even what it would look like, I only resided in the wonderful feeling that my wish is true and I held the feeling so intensely that I fell asleep to it and my subconscious mind put me in the exact drama that would resemble the feeling as completely true. My subconscious dreamed the scene automatically. I didn’t pick it.

Another point is, after that, I always had a sure feeling in my heart that one day I will live in a foreign land, even a psychic had told my mom that she sees suitcases packed and we are leaving the country. I was 12 at that time. my mother thought she was talking nonsense.

From the story that I have shared here, you may be able to tell that I personally nor my mom didn’t lift a finger to make it happen. It all came to us, my cousin offered to fill out the application for us, and she did everything. And my mom kept consciously doubting, she said it will never happen, this is a scam and such words but my subconscious conviction and imagination were far more powerful than the doubts of the conscious mind (i personally didn't think it's gonna happen either, I just had a feeling one day I'll live elsewhere. When we actually won it felt like a miracle. My parents were in the middle of a divorce, they sold the house and all our stuff, I and my mom moved in with my grandparents and suddenly we had good news about moving to the U.S. and everything was at the perfect time. I can even say, it was mathematically perfect timing and the orchestration was done so smoothly and effortlessly. like, an extremely fine work of drama.

I moved to the U.S. at the age of 15, which is 4 years after the visualization experience. Now, I am 24 and received my American passport 4 years ago. Since age 22 I have been consciously manifesting and using the law. Before that, I didn’t have any practice or technique that would allow me to “direct” the law. I manifested a 7 figure business and healed my shoulder injury all from the state of being half asleep. From the drowsy state between complete sleep and wakefulness.

The last thing I want to add is that you want to replace your feeling of attachment to an idea with the feeling of conviction and certainty that it is already done. It is the present reality. Instead of the worry feeling of “what if it doesn’t come true?” reside in the feeling of, “ahh, how wonderful that I am this…”.

It is truly about changing your concept of yourself. Even when you worry and have anxiety around your life you are still in the center of the universe with the divine. And always remember that you have these wonderful capacities because you are God’s child. As he said “yee are made in his image.” that means, the wonderful mind of the creator of this wonderful drama of a universe resides within you. Therefore as he dreams, you can dream too. It’s just about controlling your mind and feeling. And remember, the cause of all our suffering is that we have lost touch with our true Self which is one with the Lord of the universe.

Take this affirmation with you:

“I know that God’s power is limitless; and as I am made in His image, I, too, have the strength to overcome all obstacles.”

and, always, always, always, focus on the feeling of the wish fulfilled before falling asleep.

Here's the link if you wanna read it on the app :- 🔗🔗🔗

#law of assumption #neville goddard #loa #manifestation advice #manifest #sp manifest #111talks #affirmation #self concept #manifestations #reddit