#Loot Accusations

[crossdressingdeath]

For some reason Abdirak didn't despawn properly when I attacked the goblins, so while I was looting the bodies he came running up to accuse me of theft. I convinced him the thief had definitely been caught and he just... walked past the corpses and out the front door...? The whole situation was very strange.

[msclaritea]

Twitter trolls spread fake KLTA news of looting, again, targeting the Black community. There's been a bunch of stories debunked. CNN and Anderson Cooper Full Circle lied on the air, targeting Black Americans as looters.

Billionaire Rick Caruso whom trolls have been lavishing with praise as the one who should have been elected as Mayor over 'The DEI Woman' Karen Bass, used his money to hire private firefighters for his MALL.

Jamie Lee Curtis, she of the tortured child paintings, had the gall to compare the destruction of the billionaire haven of Palisades to GAZA!

Meantime, you have billionaires, the Resnicks holding California's water hostage. Isn't that Wonderful?

And yes. I will say it. For those who think I exaggerate about Black Americans constantly being targeted by these elitist creeps, you really have no defense when the news keeps being caught out. Even Newsom is trying to hide behind Bass.

[oneofthosecrazycatladies]

Okay a couple weeks ago I started this post trying to keep track of all the stuff going on in order to help remind us of everything that’s happened when the next election comes around. Well, because there’s just so much going on, I’ve realized trying to cram it all into one post isn’t going to work. So I’m going to do a new post every month and include links to the previous ones.

So here goes…

January 2025

February 2025

Donald Trump has enforced his tariffs on Mexico, Canada, and China. [x]

Donald Trump has put Mexico tariffs on hold for one month. [x]

Donald Trump allowed Elon Musk to begin dismantling USAID. [x]

Congress is voluntarily giving up its power and allowing Trump to make unilateral decisions. [x]

Darren Beattie has been made Under Secretary of State. [x]

Everything that Donald Trump has done so far lines up with Project 2025 [x]

The White House is drafting an executive order to eliminate the Department of Education [x]

Elon Musk, who nobody voted for or elected, has, essentially, hacked the government. [x]

El Salvador has agreed to take US deportees of any nationality. [x]

US Representative Andy Biggs is proposing a bill to abolish OSHA. [x]

Pam Bondi has been confirmed as Attorney General [x]

Donald Trump doesn’t think Palestinians should return to Gaza. [x]

Donald Trump says he’ll use US troops to “take over” the Gaza Strip. [x]

A federal judge has blocked Donald Trump’s executive order to end birthright citizenship. [x]

Donald Trump has banned trans women from women’s sports [x]

Donald Trump sanctions the International Criminsl Court. [x]

A judge has paused the federal “buyouts” [x]

DOGE: Member of DOGE resigns [x]

DOGE has been given access to the Department of Energy. [x]

Miscellaneous news about Elon Musk [x]

DOGE is using AI to infiltrate the Department of Education [x]

Russell Vought, author of Project 2025, has been confirmed as Director of OMB [x]

Democrats in Congress have introduced the Taxpayer Data Protection Act [x]

Donald Trump has flagged the words “women” “diverse” and “historically” from studies done by the National Science Foundation. [x]

New Mexico Representative Melanie Stansbury has introduced the Nobody Elected Elon Musk Act [x]

Democratic Congressional leaders have introduced the Stop the Steal Act [x]

Donald Trump has called for a review of funding for the United Nations [x]

Federal agencies are barred from celebrating Black History Month [x]

Donald Trump has frozen aid to South Africa and accused the South African government of racism against white South Africans [x]

Donald Trump wants to use Leavenworth Prison as a migrant detention facility and have it run by a for-profit company known for its numerous human rights violations. [x] [x]

Trump has told the Treasury to stop making pennies. [x]

Representative Mark Pocan (D-WI) proposes the E.L.O.N. M.U.S.K. Act (which stands for Eliminate Looting of Our Nation by Mitigating Unethical State Kleptocracy) [x]

Employees of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau were told to stop all work and are now being told to stay home. [x]

Trump will impose 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum. [x]

Trump says Palestinians won’t be allowed back in Gaza if the US takes it over [x]

Tulsi Gabbard has been confirmed as director of national intelligence. [x]

Representative Buddy Carter (R-GA) has proposed a bill to change the name of Greenland to Red, White & Blue Land [x]

The DOJ has dropped the corruption charges against New York City mayor Eric Adams. [x]

An AP News reporter has been banned from the White House for using Gulf of Mexico instead of Gulf of America in its reporting. [x][x]

Senators Deb Fischer (R-NE) and Angus King (I-ME) are pushing for a tax credit that would encourage businesses to offer paid family leave. [x]

Representative Sara Jacobs (D-CA) has introduced the Protect US National Security Act [x]

The State Department (taxpayers) is paying Elon Musk $400 million for cybertrucks. [x]

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been confirmed as HHS Secretary. [x]

Trump is conducting a mass firing of the federal workforce. [x]

Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) is creating a list of all the ‘woke’ science he wants to get rid of. [x]

References to transgender have been removed from the Stonewall National Monument. [x]

A 71 year old refugee living in Thailand has died because of the USAID freeze. [x][x]

Trump’s proposed tax cuts will add trillions to US debt. [x]

Trump is defying the court order to reopen USAID. [x]

Trump has stopped the CDC’s flu vaccine campaign. [x]

Trump is suing Brazil’s Supreme Court because of Brazil’s battles with Elon Musk over Twitter/X. [x]

Kash Patel has been confirmed as FBI director. [x]

Trump orders FEMA to stop their work with making homes better at withstanding natural disasters. [x]

Kash Patel will be named chief of the ATF [x]

Trump has tried to make independent agencies no longer independent [x]

$200 million of taxpayer money was used on a pro-Trump anti-migrant ad [x]

The House of Representstives passed a bill that gives more than $4 trillion in tax cuts for the wealthy and cuts the budget for Medicaid by 80% [x]

Here’s a summary of Trump’s executive orders so far [x]

The Trump administration has issued travel bans for trans athletes [x]

Trump administration is telling federal agencies to prepare for more mass layoffs [x]

Elon Musk joined Trump’s first cabinet meeting. [x]

Trump is offering “gold cards” to wealthy foreigners [x]

Kash Patel names Dan Bongino as Deputy Director of the FBI. [x]

Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) has proposed legislation for the US to leave the United Nations [x]

Judge rules mass firings of federal workers is unlawful [x]

The Pentagon orders all transgender people to be removed from the military [x]

Representative Victoria Spartz (R-IN) was going to vote against the budget bill that would cut nearly $1 trillion from Medicaid; then she got a phone call from Trump who apparently screamed at and threatened her; she then voted yes on the bill [x]

Trump administration has cancelled boot camps for women training to become Wildland firefighters [x]

Here’s a link to the Project 2025 Policy Agenda that Donald Trump claimed he didn’t know anything about.*

*He only claimed he didn’t know anything about it after it proved to be deeply unpopular with the general public.

I’m also including directories for both the House of Representatives and the Senate. That way, if you’re so inclined, you can also track the individual actions of every Senator and Representative.

Miscellaneous News

Representative Nancy Mace (R-SC) repeatedly uses a transphobic slur on the Congressional floor. [x]

Clarence Thomas is…being Clarence Thomas *sigh* [x]

Donald Trump fired the Chair of the Kennedy Center and named himself as the new Chair [x]

Trump said that no group of people in the history of America has been treated worse than the way the January 6th insurrectionists have been treated. [x]

Some people are impersonating ICE agents and harassing & assaulting people of color [x][x]

Trump’s mass deportation is hitting a wall [x]

The Trump administration’s incompetence is coming back to bite them. [x]

Target has been facing backlash for rolling back its DEI initiatives. [x]

Donald Trump Has Already Spent $10.7 Million Of Taxpayer Money Playing Golf [x]

The Kennedy Center cancelled a performance of the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington DC [x]

21 DOGE employees have resigned [x]

Musk’s new conflict of interest [x]

Trump posted an AI-created video about his plans for Gaza [x]

Here’s a Washington Post story about the migrants sent to Guantanamo Bay and the conditions they’re facing [x]

Trump supporters are calling for “processing camps” and private militias to go after migrants. [x]

Representative Cory Mills (R-FL) has been accused of assault and the Department of Justice is refusing to investigate [x]

A child has died in the measles outbreak in Texas [x]

China and Russia are trying to recruit disgruntled federal employees [x]

Elon Musk is trying to force the FAA to get rid of their contract with Verizon in favor of a contract with his company, Starlink [x]

Elon Musk makes $38 billion in government contracts [x]

Trump thinks that Andrew Tate is a totally okay guy [x]

The director of the Defense Health Agency abruptly retired [x]

March-May 2025

Once again, please feel free to let me know about anything I’ve missed. With this era of constant news we live in, it can be easy to forget so let’s give our future selves a little help!

[thestuffedalligator]

There is a species of butterfly that lives in the mountains.

When it hatches as a caterpillar, it lowers itself to the ground on a strand of silk, and then produces a chemical that smells like the larvae of ants. An ant eventually discovers it, lured by the scent, and brings it back to the anthill, where it is cared for by the colony until it pupates. After a few weeks, the adult butterfly crawls back up through the anthill, through the dirt and the winding tunnels, and out into the sunlight before it can finally open its wings.

Some say that the caterpillar “tricks” the ants into doing this. I don’t know if I agree – I think it’s too small a thing to accuse of guile, don’t you?

With this in mind: Once upon a time, there were seven dwarves.

They lived and worked in the mountains, mining for gold and jewels and precious things. And one night, after a long day’s labour, they heard a knocking at the great stone doors of their mountain.

Outside, shivering and small, they found a human child.

I’m sure you can guess most of what she told them. Stepmothers were involved – it’s not important. What’s important was that each of the dwarves felt a dire and pressing need to care for the child, and they took her into their home, fed her, clothed her, and gave her a warm bed to sleep in. And many seasons passed around that mountain, with the dwarves raising the child as one of their own, until one autumn’s day.

The girl laid, slender and still, in a coffin of spun glass. And some weeks later, one of the dwarves had the idea to call for a prince. This was of course the sensible thing to do, and the prince of a nearby kingdom who listened to the story thought an ensorcelled girl would be a grand thing to rescue.

Poor devils. It feels cruel to judge them. But there were so many questions they could’ve asked – what was this stepmother’s name? Was she real? Did she exist? Who had made the glass coffin? Surely one of them must’ve thought of the question. And why did it grow more opaque with every passing day?

Were they wrong to trust?

I guess it doesn’t matter now.

The moment the prince stepped into the subterranean chamber with the glass coffin, it shivered with a twinkling, plinking noise. Threads of glass exploded into glittering, razor-edged confetti.

A claw split the great glass cocoon.

The thing that spilled out of it, hulking and huge, knew in the fog of its mind, in a base animal sense that screamed, that it was in a room too small for it to fit. It wanted up. It wanted out.

In front of it was some twiggy little thing holding a sword.

It took its first breath.

The flames were the colour of cornflowers.

The dwarves fled. The thing followed close behind, up, up, up through the stone and the winding tunnels, not to chase, not to hunt, but to get up, to get out, out, out–

It struck the great stone doors at a run. They crumbled like gingerbread. And then there was sunlight, and the open sky…

And it could finally open its wings.

Convergent evolution is a hell of a thing.

The dragon, of course, lived happily ever after with its loot of gold and jewels from a hastily abandoned dwarf mine. Being much bigger than a caterpillar, we could accuse it of tricking the dwarves who were kind to it, had taken it in, had fed and clothed and warmed it.

It probably wouldn't mind.

[dalishious]

BELLARA: You Templars come here from Tevinter, looting Elven artifacts and taking our magic in your attempts to control everyone, and then you accuse me of stealing? No, I don't think so. From where I'm standing, nothing was stolen. Only liberated.

TEMPLAR: Do not test my patience, rabbit.

BELLARA: Call me rabbit again and I'll run your throat, shemlen dog.

Dragon Age: Vows & Vengeance episode 4 has me hooked already

[trevel]

There's a couple other types of non-mechanical metagaming that haven't been discussed here.

For example:

1: starting a new game, all the players are off doing their own thing. Two of the characters who know each other say "hey, let's go for tacos." Third player is asked what they're doing: "I think I'll also go for tacos!" -- they now meet each other at a taco place. The third person had no idea that the other people even existed, but "metagamed" meeting them.

2: Walking into a ruined cathedral, one of the characters immediately runs to the altar, drops to his knees, and prays to Lathandar for the first time ever. He is rewarded by Lathandar with a +3 longsword. The GM notes that the player's stack of roleplaying books includes the module they're playing.

3: The prim princess privately poisons the paladin who had pledged to protect her paramour. The rest of the party, who were scattered around the town minding their own business, suddenly start running towards the palace for no reason and preparing for battle. The Paladin had not even told them where she was going.

Roleplaying games are probably the only games-related hobby where there's people who flaunt their ignorance of the rules and actually think knowing the rules/playing in a way that the rules encourage is bad

[liatkolink]

For people still in denial whether Israel has committed war crimes, here is a comprehensive list of war crimes Israel has committed both before and after Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, the list being taken from the Wikipedia article of war crimes with some notable missing examples being the usage of chemical weapons, famine, disease and apartheid. The 7th of October attack did not occur in a vacuum, but is the product of decades of Israel not being held accountable for its war crimes.

Killing civilians:

Israel/Palestine: Unlawful Israeli Airstrikes Kill Civilians by Human Rights Watch on 15/Jul/2014

‘Not a normal war’: doctors say children have been targeted by Israeli snipers in Gaza – The Guardian on 2/Apr/2024

Israeli attack on Rafah tent camp kills 45, prompts international outcry by Reuters on 27/May/2024

Intentionally killing PoWs:

Israel’s Hush-Up Machine in Action: Denying Story Israel Executed Egyptian Prisoners by Washington Report on Middle East Affairs on 8/Apr/2010

Torture:

Israeli government report admits systematic torture of Palestinians by The Guardian on 10/Feb/2000

Israel/OPT: Horrifying cases of torture and degrading treatment of Palestinian detainees amid spike in arbitrary arrests by Amnesty International on 8/Nov/2023

Israel: Palestinian Healthcare Workers Tortured by Human Rights Watch on 26/Aug/2024

Taking hostages:

Infographic: How many Palestinians are imprisoned by Israel? by AlJazeera on 17/Apr/2022

The thousands of Palestinians Israel arrests, tortures, holds even in death by AlJazeera on 17/Apr/2024

UN report: Palestinian detainees held arbitrarily and secretly, subjected to torture and mistreatment by the United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner on 31/Jul/2024

Unnecessarily destroying civilian property:

Israel destroys Gaza tower housing AP and Al Jazeera offices by Reuters on 15/May/2021

Israel targets infrastructure in Gaza to ramp up civilian pressure on Hamas, report claims by PBS News on 11/Dec/2023

Widespread destruction by Israeli Defence Forces of civilian infrastructure in Gaza by the United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner on 8/Feb/2024

Deception by perfidy:

Israeli soldier gives 74-year-old Palestinian woman water then shoots her in the head by Middle East Monitor on 20/Jan/2015

Israeli special forces disguised as doctors kill three militants at West Bank hospital by The Guardian on 30/Jan/2024

NBC News investigation reveals Israel strikes on Gaza areas it said were safe by NBC News on 26/Apr/2024

Wartime sexual violence:

Stripped, beaten and blindfolded: new research reveals ongoing violence and abuse of Palestinian children detained by Israeli military by Save the Children on 10/Jul/2023

Israel/oPt: UN experts appalled by reported human rights violations against Palestinian women and girls by the United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner on 19/Feb/2024

‘Everything is legitimate’: Israeli leaders defend soldiers accused of rape by AlJazeera on 9/Aug/2024

Pillaging:

The Biblical Pseudo-Archeologists Pillaging the West Bank by The Atlantic on 28/Feb/2013

Jewish Soldiers and Civilians Looted Arab Neighbors' Property en Masse in '48. The Authorities Turned a Blind Eye by Haaretz on 3/Oct/2020

Israeli soldiers boast about looting from Gaza by AlJazeera on 14/Feb/2024

Any individual that is part of the command structure who orders any attempt to committing mass killings:

Netanyahu incites violence by casting protesters as clear and present danger by Middle East Eye on 30/Jul/2020

Israeli minister's call to 'erase' Palestinian village an incitement to violence, US says by Reuters on 1/Mar/2023

Netanyahu cites 'Amalek' Theory to justify Gaza Killings by Times of India on 29/Oct/2023

Database exposes 500 instances of Israeli incitement to genocide in Gaza by TRT World 4/Jan/2024

Genocide:

The Genocide of the Palestinian People: An International Law and Human Rights Perspective by Center for Constitutional Rights on 25/Aug/2016

Genocide Warning: Israel & Palestine by Genocide Watch on 21/May/2021

A top U.N. court says Gaza genocide is 'plausible' but does not order cease-fire by npr on 26/Jan/2024

‘Reasonable grounds’ to believe Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, UN rights expert says by CNN on 27/Mar/2024

Is Israel Committing Genocide in Gaza? New Report from BU School of Law’s International Human Rights Clinic Lays Out Case from Boston University Today on 5/Jun/2024

Ethnic cleansing:

UN Human Rights Council: ‘Israel engaging in ethnic cleansing’ by the European Union Parliament on 23/Mar/2011

Israel's ethnic cleansing in Palestine is not history - it's still happening by Middle East Eye on 22/May/2019

UN expert warns of new instance of mass ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, calls for immediate ceasefire by the United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner on 14/Oct/2023

‘Plan for ethnic cleansing’: Israel’s north Gaza siege sets off alarms by AlJazeera on 22/Oct/2024

Granting of no quarter despite surrender:

White Flag Deaths Killings of Palestinian Civilians during Operation Cast Lead by Human Rights Watch on 13/Aug/2009

Investigators: Israel fired on Gaza civilians carrying white flags by The Electronic Intifada on 28/Jan/2015

3 hostages killed by Israeli soldier in Gaza were waving a white flag, Israel says by npr on 16/Dec/2023

A group of Palestinian men waving a white flag is shot at, killing 1 by NBC News on 24/Jan/2024

She was fleeing with her grandson, who was holding a white flag. Then she was shot by CNN on 26/Jan/2024

Two brothers shot by Israeli forces in Khan Younis, white flag ignored by AlJazeera on 29/Jan/2024

Conscription of children in the military: First one where I couldn't find anything. Way to go, Israel!

Flouting the legal distinctions of proportionality and military necessity:

Israel violates the principles of necessity, proportionality in its attacks on Gaza by Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor on 13/May/2023

Enough: Self-Defense and Proportionality in the Israel-Hamas Conflict by Just Security on 6/Nov/2023

War Crimes and Accountability: The Case Against Israel’s Military Operations in Gaza by JURIST News on 5/Jul/2024

[rainystarters]

* ☔ : action prompts inspired by FANTASY, NOBILITY, ETC. some prompts are usfw. add reversed for the muse receiving the meme to perform the action instead. ( adjust scenarios or specify details as needed. )

crown of dawn. sender swears their fealty to the receiver.

crown of silver. sender congratulates the receiver on their political engagement, hiding their true affection for the receiver.

crown of midnight. sender dances with the receiver at a masquerade.

crown of glass. sender meets the receiver while their true identity is concealed.

crown of shadows. sender controls the receiver through magic or blackmail, making them their pawn so they can rule from the background.

crown of ink. sender meets the receiver for the first time after they are joined in an arranged marriage.

crown of starlight. sender kneels before the receiver to receive a boon.

crown of rot. sender accuses the receiver of failing their people.

crown of sorrow. sender tells the receiver they are the new lord/queen/etc. as those ahead of them in the line of succession have died.

crown of blood. sender stands before the receiver to be judged for their crimes.

crown of lies. sender accuses the receiver of not being the true heir.

crown of thorns. sender crowns the receiver after killing the previous ruler.

crown of nightshade. sender consumes a poisoned drink meant for the receiver.

---

wand of bone. sender uses necromancy to raise the receiver's companions from to dead to aid the sender in fighting against the receiver.

wand of ivy. sender ensnares the receiver in a net of living vines.

wand of twilight. sender conjures the spirit of the receiver from the land of the dead to speak with them.

wand of clouds. sender infiltrates the receiver's dreams to learn their desires.

wand of portals. sender summons the receiver to their world.

wand of resurrection. sender brings the receiver back to life.

wand of memory. sender clouds the receiver's mind so they don't leave.

wand of blossoms. sender grows flowers in the receiver's hair.

wand of salt. sender heals the receiver's wounds.

wand of leaves. sender asks the receiver to read their fortune.

wand of lightning. sender conjures a storm to impede the receiver.

wand of masks. sender crosses paths with the receiver while disguised as them.

wand of flesh. sender wounds the receiver to fuel their blood magic.

---

sword of honor. sender challenges the receiver to a duel to decide an argument.

sword of moons. sender wakes up to discover the receiver pressing a blade against the sender's throat.

sword of sacrifice. sender takes a deadly attack meant for the receiver.

sword of wrath. sender kills the receiver's loved one(s) as they watch.

sword of loyalty. sender executes someone at the receiver's command.

sword of blessings. sender asks the receiver to bless their weapon before battle.

sword of madness. sender tries to stop the receiver's bloodthirsty rage.

sword of ruin. sender tortures the receiver for information.

sword of defeat. sender surrenders to the receiver after a hard-fought battle.

sword of ash. sender asks the receiver to kill them for failing the receiver.

sword of spite. sender twists their weapon deeper into the receiver's wound.

sword of wind. sender quickly kills an enemy before they attack the receiver.

sword of betrayal. sender stabs the receiver in the back.

---

card of misfortune. sender catches the receiver trying to pick their pocket.

card of coins. sender buys the receiver a drink at a tavern.

card of vipers. sender meets the receiver in a thieves' den.

card of fools. sender finds the receiver caught in a trap, magical or otherwise.

card of iron. sender recognizes the receiver from a wanted poster.

card of vultures. sender is caught looting a dead body by the receiver.

card of songs. sender asks a bard to sing a ballad about the receiver.

card of keys. sender picks a lock to help the receiver escape.

card of winter. sender finds the receiver dying of frostbite and gathers them in their arms to warm them.

card of dust. sender finds the receiver asleep over a book and wakes them.

card of stars. sender keeps the receiver company during first watch at camp.

card of crows. sender warns the receiver they're being followed but that the sender can protect them—for a fee.

card of twine. sender stitches a wound shut for the receiver.

---

heart of virtue. sender presses a kiss to the back of the receiver's hand.

heart of devotion. sender slips their signet ring onto the receiver's finger.

heart of roses. sender gives the receiver a token of their favor before a tourney.

heart of thrones. sender kneels before the receiver to pleasure them.

heart of destiny. sender tells the receiver they are fated or reincarnated lovers.

heart of honey. sender intimately feeds the receiver by hand.

heart of darkness. sender cloaks themselves and the receiver in shadows so they can kiss in public.

heart of stone. sender asks the receiver to be their lover as they can't marry.

heart of gold. sender renounces their title to be with the receiver.

heart of wolves. sender intimately licks blood from the receiver's body.

heart of knives. sender cuts the clothes from the receiver's body, unable to wait.

heart of dusk. sender meets the receiver in secret to be together.

heart of embers. sender initiates intimacy to keep the receiver warm.

[reality-detective]

Let's see 👀 what Tim Walz has done for Minnesota while governor 👇

Who is Tim Walz? What did he do? 👇

👉 Fueled BLM riots in 2020

👉 Allowed riots that looted and wrecked Minneapolis

👉 Changed Minnesota’s State Flag to resemble Somalia’s

👉 K*lled old people with Covid nursing home scandal

👉 Minnesota — a ‘friendly’ LGBTQIA+ ‘sanctuary’ State

👉 Pushes youth trans surgery, ‘hormone therapy’ agenda

👉 Soldiers accused Walz of embellishing and selectively omitting facts about his military career

👉 Fellow soldiers accused him of ‘quitting’ on them

👉 Got DUI in 1995 going 96mph in a 55 speed zone

👉 Praises socialism

That is Tim Walz — The Marxist for Vice President Candidate 🤔

[fandomobbsessedb]

Your Favorite Player’s Favorite Player

Young-Il/ Frontman / In-Ho/ Player 001 x Gi-Hun's Sister Reader)

Chapter 1 : Prologue.

Warning: Swears, fire, mob like guys, stressful situation, weapons, there may be some age inaccuracy but who the hell cares. It’s entertainment.

“Where have you been?”

I leaned my head down thinking I had my way past him. My snitchy ass older brother Gi-Hun. He’s always in my business. Even though he’s older by like, psh, 30 years at least, he’s always in my business, like he has to take care of me like a parent.

“I wasn’t anywhere oppa” I rolled my eyes at him going to walk past his much taller, lankier frame in the doorway.

“You weren’t wearing the shirt when you went to your friends house this morning, did something happen.” He asked crossing his arms. Knowing he had a soft spot for me, I turned off my attitude and turned on the theatrics. With a sigh I dropped my shoulders.

“Y/N, did something happen?” He asked again, his voice still sounding accusing. I rolled my pack off of my shoulder and pulled out the shirt I had this morning, my friend had offered to pour her juice on it so that I could leave the store wearing the shirt I wanted. Turning around with an upset face I held it out to him feeling his tough calloused hand take it from mine.

“(F/N)’s baby brother spilled his juice all over me earlier so she offered me her shirt to wear in the meantime.” I kept my gaze on the floor. I knew I would laugh in his face if I had to look at how stupid he was.

“Mhm, okay. I’ll just get this washed for you then.” He said with a softer tone.

“Thanks” I quickly turned away ready to shut myself in my room and empty my backpack when he just had to stop me again.

“Where’s F/Ns shirt from? It looks really good on you.” He said. Kissing my teeth I turned back around and shrugged.

“It looks like it’s from Nohant, and it was 50,000 won. Wow.” He added, causing me to whip around to face him, he was closer to me now, holding a ripped tag in his hands. With a surprised face he looked back at me. “At least that’s what this tag says” he pointed to it.

“Ugh, go away Gi-Hun.” I protested in his face, taking my shirt back, when he grabbed at my arm.

“Your stealing again aren’t you?! Damn it Y/N what did we talk about just a few months ago.” He shouted at me, keeping a firm grip on my arm.

“Let me go weirdo.” I struggled against him.

“No y/n, I care about you to much to let you go down this path.” He said harshly, rolling my eyes I met his with scorn.

“And why is that huh? Why DO you care so much, your not mom, you have your own issues, I’m just getting ahead my own way.” I spat in his face before he finally released me to my room.

I slammed my door shut and threw my bag down to start looking at the loot my friend and I had split. I heard a sigh from the door before he spoke up.

“Because, your life hasn’t even really started yet and you’re already sinking.” I heard him say before his footsteps receded into our creeky old house. I shrugged and started trying on jewelry we had snagged today.

Now as I look at myself getting ready for work in the mirror, I still don’t think what I was doing was wrong, because I’m still getting away with it, I mean, it’s not stealing if you don’t get caught.

And Gi-Hun wasn’t even around to catch me. Gi-Hun hadn’t been home for about a week, ever since he went missing for a week three years ago he hasn’t stopped going on about this game he thinks he played where 455 other players all died and he had won 45.6 billion won. Since then he’s been trying to find it again and stop it. I wonder when his cop buddies will give up on him and drop him off at home with a dementia diagnosis.

—— a few hours later——

There was only a few downsides really when your working at one of the shitier hotels in Seoul, Korea. Mostly the pay and the people, we have crooks and wrong doers staying all the time, even some working there. Myself included. When cleaning up one guests room while he was away, my eyes just so happened to meet the shiny watch and wallet sitting right there…. Right on the desk…….. I’ve been needing a new wallet, and that one looks like it would do just nicely.

Another upside is the five finger discount you get on “local” merchandise.

I quickly stashed the pricey looking objects into my bra before I grabbed my cart and left, assuming nobody had seen. However I failed to notice there were two guests staying in the room…. And one was using the bathroom when I came in.

I entered the elevator the next day ready to check into work, when a hand grabbed at the door, stopping it from closing, I went to step out of the way when the same hand grabbed around my throat.

My back was shred up against the wall of the shitty elevator as the thug jumped me. A handful of others walked in creating a shield around the sight. I heard them press a button for the highest floor. As the elevator made its way up, his hand slowly got tighter and tighter.

“Are you sure this is her?” He asked looking over his shoulder to another guy, wearing the clothes I remember dropping off from dry clean just the other day.

“Oh I’m sure, all the maids shoes look the same except hers, she’s got that cute little buckle on the ankle” he said lighting up a cigarette and kicking at my thrashing feet. I clung to his hands trying to pry them away from my neck only to fail miserably.

“Where’s my wallet bitch?” He asked picking my head up using my throat and slamming it on the wall again.

“What wallet, I have no idea-“ as soon as the strangled words left my mouth I felt a cold hard barrel push into my side.

“Need a reminder?” The goon asked close to my ear, I could feel the moisture coming off his breath as he get personally familiar with the tissue of my outer lobe.

I thrash again to get him away only to hear the cock of the gun. “Okay! Okay! I pawned it.” I cried out shakily as the grip on my throat got tighter.

“There’s no need to make this so hard you two.” A voice from behind spoke up. Just as I saw small dots in the corners of my eyes I was let go and kicked to my knees, the fall caused my tights to rip right at my inner thigh, when I tried to scramble away a loafer stepped on the tip of my tights causing my pull to bust even more of the seams. A well dressed man attached to the foot inside the shoe bent at his waist down to my level.

“I’m to assume you pawned it recently then correct? Must’ve given you a pretty sum in return, it was brand new too.” He softly spoke in my face taking my cheek softer than the other man had taken my neck. I nodded fearfully as my lip quivered.

“Knowing a pretty little thing like you has probably never seen that big of an amount in her life I’m going to assume you didn’t know what to do and just have it locked away at home right?” He asked. I nodded again my body growing shakier.

“Then I’ll tell you what, you go and get that wallet back, and this whole thing will have never happened.” He replied with a stoic face standing back up, releasing my tights. Nodding I leaned back against the wall.

“Until then however-“ he got cut off as the goon with the gun yanked my purse from me, “We’re going to hang onto this for some insurance” he said holding his hand out to the man to look through it. Opening my wallet they found my debit card, and a small picture of my brother and I from when I was little on the inside.

“Don’t let this take too long, otherwise- we’ll have to hold something else for insurance.” He quietly spoke, leaning really close to my face with the picture before using his lighter to catch the corner. I heard the bell ring signaling the top floor they where staying on. As all his men retreated from the door, right before the man followed he took one last look at me and dropped the now flaming picture onto the floor.

He pressed the button to shut the door and quickly jumping out of the way of the closing door as the machine once again descended.

With an aching sigh I sat up hugging myself. What was I going to do? I had spent the money. I used it to pay off some personal bills and previous expenses, it was only enough to chip at it though and if I didn’t have the money back from the wallet and its contents… it might just be easier for them to kill me.

Changing out of my work outfit back in the housekeeper locker room, I quickly left the building for the train station to go home. To try and figure out a plan.

When I got there I sat down on a bench far from the entrance and other riders. As I sat waiting, I took out my phone and considered… texting my brother…. I don’t know how he got all that money but he had it, I could borrow some from him just to pay off those guys or to buy the wallet again and give it back. But then I would owe Gi-Hun, I didn’t need that added stress right now. I felt a soft hand on my shoulder before I looked up.

“Miss is everything okay?” He asked, he had slicked back hair and a nice suit on, thinking he was a goon from before I jumped away from him grabbing for my pocket knife.

“Who are you, where you with those guys in the elevator,” I rushed out wielding my knife at him. Making a shocked face he simply smiled at me and said…

“I just wanted to ask if you might play a game with me. How does a game of ddakji sound?”

After having lost one too many of an easy kids game I felt a need for redemption. I stared at the number on the back of the card as I walked home. Was this that thing Gi-Hun was talking about before? I doubt it that was one measly kids game, almost half a hundred dozen people couldn’t have died from just that.

Walking into the house I sat at the table with a sigh as I cradled my face in my hands, thumbing at my sore throat. I stood to grab a bag of ice for my neck when I heard a creek from behind me. Whipping around and seeing nothing, I quickly shoved the card into my purse and quietly slunk to the counter to grab a kitchen knife. I quietly creeped towards the halls entrance as I heard the creeks of the one floor board getting closer and closer. When a body flushed past me at the entrance I swung out the arm with the knife only to be grabbed at my wrist.

“It’s just me Y/N.” Taking a glance at his starchy brown eyes in the soft light from the kitchen, Jun-ho released me and took the knife into his own hand.

“Oh, you had me worried” I sighed out resting my hands on my hips, “I thought some creeper had gotten In.”

“Is everything okay?” Gi-Hun spoke from his doorway making his way to meet us in the hall. With a groan I turned around to grab my purse from the table.

“I stand corrected” I mumbled hoisting my heavy purse over my shoulder once again.

“What happened to your neck y/n?” Gi-Hun asked me looking down at me concerningly.

Shoving him away from me I grabbed my purse from the table and walked to my room.

“Nothing” I mumbled trying to breach past him, only for him to gram my arm again, with a sigh I did the only thing I could think of.

“Really oppa, I’m fine.” I said again clearer, playing on his soft side, hoping he would just drop it. Luckily for me he sighed as well and released me. I big my goodbye to Jun-Ho giving my brother a small hug on his arm in goodbye, before he could hug back though I quickly left.

Later that day once I heard the both of them leave the house, I picked up my purse once again and dialed the given number.

“Do you wish to participate in the game? If you wish to participate, please state your name and birthdate…”

AN: AH OKAY THIS IS CHAPTER 1 what do ya’ll think? Too long? Too short? HOPE U ENJOY!! Stay tuned for chapter 2!!!!!

Yours truly

~ FandomObbsessedB

TAGLIST: @jamiewritesfanfiction-blog @blacksnape123 @newtsniffles @missmollya

[pursuitseternal]

✨⚡️ “Magical” ✨⚡️

Act 3 UA Astarion x f!Reader | E | 2.6 K

🎨 by @marimosalad | A gift for @nyx-knox 🎈

Summary: Lost in the vault of Sorcerers’ Sundries, you and your Vampire are trapped, not just in the maze of rooms, but by your many unspoken feelings. It’s time to get free

CW: Implied break up with Gale, act 3 romance AU, Yearning and pining and feelings oh my, unrequited love, angst with a happy ending, biting feeding, first time as a couple, vaginal sex, creampie

Ao3 Link | Astarion Fic Masterlist

“Fucking hells, we’ve been here before!” that usual silken voice cracks with pissed off frustration.

Not that you blame him. Every room in this vault looks the fucking same. Sorcerers’ Sundries. Of course every g would be magically complicated.

“It might be…” you waver in your confidence. “Ugh, if only Gale hadn’t hurried ahead,” it pains you to say, to even mention your… well, your former lover.

“It’s his fucking fault we are in this mess,” Astarion huffs, cocking his hips as he scans the room. You can tell, it’s a forced air of calm. A thin veneer of that charm and fuck-all attitude you have grown increasingly dependent upon, especially with your mending heart.

Gale’s blind pursuit of ambition, of showing Mystra he was, in fact, worthy, had grown too much for your relationship to bear. So, days ago, you had ended it. Even still, you had to take him here to find the Annals of Karsus. At least Astarion had volunteered to stay by your side. His carefree approach to his problems had soothed your nerves… until you had learned more about his past, those details that had slipped past you, back when Gale had been your world. The vampire’s hunger, his suffering, his Master, his scars… his abuse.

And then, last night, his so-called siblings had come in the night. You won’t ever forget the way you woke to find Astarion prowling between you and their glowing red eyes. Protecting you. It was after fighting them off that something had… shifted in your companionship.

Since then, he had been your shadow, never more than a step away from you. Those crimson eyes always keeping you in their sights, or at least his periphery. And then, once the party got split in this labyrinthine mess of doors and trapped rooms, you were immeasurably thankful for his vigilance.

But it still means you are now lost in a room of glowing walls and identical doors.

Astarion snarls, fangs bared. “Why can’t I just stab something and get us out of here!” He is exasperated, and perhaps a bit… trapped.

You see it in the way his neck muscles strain, the way his chest rises and falls faster even if he doesn’t need to breathe.

“Astarion,” you speak softly, your voices bouncing strangely around in the glowing walls. You can feel the very foundations of this vault built with magic, it’s in the air, in your lungs, and in your fingers. Made from the Weave itself. It calls to your sorcery, your magic.

He looks… almost helpless, those wide wet eyes that scan the glowing walls, the sweat that clings to his face.

“Astarion, speak to me,” you say gently. “It’s alright, we will find our way out, get back to the others.”

Astarion rounds on you, chest heaving as something snaps into place… or is it out of place. “Yes I’m sure you’re most eager to get back to the others… some unfulfilled need to yet prove yourself to Gale, darling? Hearts are far more fragile than necks,” he sneers, walking into the next room through a random door. You, heart aching at the accusation and mention of your old flame, hurry after him.

It’s a large, octangular room, a chest on one side, display cases all around, shelves of scrolls all just waiting to be looted. But Astarion freezes, eyes vacant as he looks in disbelief. “I really thought this was the way back… that we’d get out of this maze from the hells…”

“Astarion, what’s wrong?” You speak softly, drawing up and touching his arm. “Maybe…. Would blood help?” you ask, quivering on the inside and shaking on the out as you pull at the forest green collar of your shirt. “Tell me how to help you,” you watch as his crimson gaze darts over you until they look into your eyes. Then, he settles on your vein, and you can almost hear him counting your heartbeats without the tadpole connecting your brains.

You laugh gently. “It’s been a few nights since you asked or I offered to feed you…”

“I mean… I didn’t want to intrude. You’ve had a lot going on,” his voice sounds dry, his jaw clenching as you know he fights the hunger he struggles with daily.

“And you haven’t?” You tease, gently and carefully making mention of the night's events. “What I went through pales in comparison. Gale and I,” you give an aggrieved sigh. “I only wish I hadn’t given him as much as I did just to get him to see that he doesn’t need this crown, he doesn’t need to defy Mystra when he has me.” You pause, chewing your lip. “Had… me.”

You look into his face, those firm lines don’t smile, his gaze is guarded and… for once you see his mouth still. He’s listening carefully, not quipping or flirting or smiling.

“I’m… I’m glad to be done with Gale in that way. Now I can just take my heart out of the mess and help him find this book.” You chew your lip again, those scarlet eyes darting from your gaze the instant your mouth worries on itself to watch.

But you keep talking. “Your strife is so much bigger, lest we forget that your siblings made a mess in our rooms… I’m glad we could stave them off and…” you keep biting your lip, dropping your gaze to the weird glowing pink floor, hesitating to say the next thing on your mind, “you told me about what it was like for you as his spawn… about that year you spent in the coffin. It’s no wonder you’re a bit frantic in here, feeling trapped…”

You feel cool air on your neck first, his body drawing up behind you. Lips press on your vein then suck it to the surface. “I think I will indulge if you offered,” he says the words so quickly, it’s hard to make them out.

There is then, the icy breaking of your skin as he bites. A gasp slips from your lips, and you’re almost dead certain his bite is harder this time just to shut you up.

But it doesn’t matter. Not the way your body instantly shivers with repressed pleasure as his lips pull your crimson, as his hands grip your shoulders back against him so you don’t squirm out of reach.

“Darling,” he breathes, and that familiar moniker sounds more… pleading. “I’ve been trapped for longer than you’ve seen…” You feel his hands tighten on your arms for a moment, then loosen… then roam up and down them.

You know he can taste it, hear it. The way your heart just jumped into your throat and the way your belly just lurched like you almost fell headlong over a cliff.

“T-trapped?” you clench your hands to keep them from shaking.

“Oh yes, and it’s your fault, you know,” his lips lift from your wounds to press bloodied kisses along your shoulder. “I’ve watched you and the wizard, my eyes following your every move, as your eyes followed his. I watched as your magics wove together, only to sunder apart now. At first, I didn’t care…”

He trailed off, moving his mouth to caress your other shoulder, nipping, not biting, the sensitive places near your short-pointed ear.

“But the more you still cared for me, even though you and I were not…”

“Romantic?” You guess.

“Fucking,” he corrects with a slow, deep-bellied chuckle.

That word makes your body jolt out of control again, your own magic almost sizzling in your veins.

His laughter crescendo. “So, you see, I’ve been trapped for a long while now. Watching you… waiting for you to care just a little more. Waiting for you to see yourself as worth more than being the next-best-thing that wizard could hope for. You’re too good for that, too powerful for that.”

Gripping your waist, he spins you, and the hunger in his eyes makes you shiver, even as your blood is smeared from feeding. “Do… you still feel trapped?” you whisper, voice rough in your throat. As your gaze darts to his red and sticky lips. You wonder how you taste…

“Do you? Feel trapped that is?” he purrs down at you, hands winding to your back to pull you flush against him.

“No, I feel free,” you swiftly reply, standing on your tippy toes to kiss those conceited lips. You taste metal, your blood is sticky and a bit sweet, but he barely lets the taste register before his tongue floods your mouth with it. Those movements of his mouth are familiar, nearly the same that have fed on you nightly on the road, but now… now they are transcendent.

You move your lips to match his, your tongue dueling with him until your head grows light. Vampires don’t need to breathe, and he knows it. It’s dizzying the way he consumes you, fierce and demanding. Like a starved man at a banquet.

Light headed, your knees buckle, and instantly his hands lock firmly to support you, bracing you against his chest. His scent fills your nose; that heady scent swallows you whole. Crisp and bright and sensual. Just like him.

He lifts you, and you jump into his arms. That well-fed vampiric strength is now a personal boon, one you’re eager to take advantage of. Magic tingles down your spine as he presses you into a column, his face pulling away, breaking the kiss, and making you whine.

“Tell me you want this, darling,” he murmurs in sultry tones, those crimson eyes wide and pleading and brimming with unspoken feelings. “Tell me it’s not an illusion, that you also feel the mag—”

“If you say magic right now, I might bite you back,” you tease, his obvious humor and tawdry flirtation making you giggle.

Astarion just gives that rakish smirk as he shuts his mouth and grinds his hips against your sex.

You suddenly flush, head to toe, hot and thrumming with instant need. Your mind whirs, not recalling the last time you had been with Ga… anyone else… you push the thought from your mind.

“Darling, don’t wander from me in your thoughts. Just speak the magic words and I’m yours,” he drops his voice into his chest, into that purr that makes you wet, “and you’re all mine.” Thumb and finger, so cool and callused, tenderly pinches your chin and brings your mouth to his.

You nod furiously, tears in your eyes as his mouth moves on yours, a sensuous dance that leaves you breathless. He lifts you, cradling you as your bodies lower to the floor, the shining sparkles of magic feel like static on your back. You arch, and not because of the strange floor. The way his hips lower into yours, his arms wrap around you. He’s everywhere, the perfect crush of sinew and bone you had dreamed he would be when you weren’t lying to yourself about your heart. This was right… this was what you craved.

“My sweet, you have no idea how long I’ve wanted this, wanted you,” he growls into your mouth. Then he lifts away, breathless and sweating, his flawless silver curls mussed over his forehead. “Typically, I pride myself on a long first conquest, lengthy sessions of… stimulation… and…”

“Shut up,” you laugh, “I don’t care if this last two minutes.” He swallows your giggle and girlish shrieks as he pulls down pants. “It’ll be the most magical two minutes of my life.”

Astsrion tugs into your waistband and something tears slightly as he pulls them confidently and zealously to your ankles. “I promise you, little love, I’ll last longer than two minutes…”

You reach to do the same for him, hand brushing the straining bulge in his leathers, making him hiss and whisper shockingly loudly.

“….Well maybe not much longer than two minutes.”

You giggle, freeing him from the fastened front. And your mouth salivates as your hand closes around it. You’d seen his cock before, accidentally or slightly on purpose. Smooth and flaccid but definitely beautiful. But now…

“Hells,” you groan, your fingers closing around it to feel just how smooth and veined and disgustingly hard it is.

“All yours, my sweet…” he chuckles, thrusting into your grip with the slightest push of his hips.

A wanton moan escapes you, unprepared as you are for that feeling.

It makes his smirk twist even more wickedly and only makes him thrust his hips again. Harder. With his eyes locked onto your face to watch the way yours flutter shut and your mouth part in another breathy moan. You open your eyes, and something seems to snap into place between you, his lips crash into yours, his hand gripping his cock at the base, teasing that flushed and leaking head against your folds.

Inch by sweet inch, he fills you, your breathing so quick and your eye so watery with unshed tears of bliss. It’s all consuming, the way you meld into one another. You glance between your thighs, watching where his cock enters you. In… and out… every little roll of his body as you adjust to the feeling of him makes your nerves burn with static and your blood race at a gallop. Mesmerized, you lose all sense of time as he takes you, fixated on the sight of you two becoming one.

With a growl, his control slips, and he picks up the pace, lowering his body to crush you again. Faster, he drives thrust after thrust, making your vision swim. Not that you can keep your eyes open, too afraid you’ll lose the feeling of him finally taking you. His lips press to your ear, rasping and husky as he speaks. “Hells, you’re perfect. Tight and warm… better than I’ve dreamed of it.”

His words alone push you to the brink. You feel it, or orgasm, faster and harder and more insistent than any you’ve ever felt before. The tightening of your belly and the blast of heat and wet that rages through you. You buck your hips, chasing it, catching the ridged head of his cock on your bundle of nerves just right.

You scream so loudly, you’re sure that these magic walls would crumble if they could. Back arching, voice breaking, you gush around him. And every thrust squelches loudly, even as they grow deeper and more erratic.

He lifts his head, those crimson eyes two pitch black centers as he growls a single worded question: “Where?”

Lust clouds your head, thoughts too scattered by the delicious drag of him inside you for it to make sense right away. So his hands squeeze your ass, your hip.

“Where?!” his voice breaks in desperation.

You answer, pulling him by his back to thrust into you deeper, harder, fuller. “Here,” you rasp.

The slacked-mouth smile on his face is burned forever in your memory as he lowers his head and pummels slower, more deliberate. He grunts, he gasps, louder and higher, the slightest whimper breaking from his throat as you feel him stutter and come inside you. It’s wet and full, the way he throbs with every pulse of his cum to flood you.

A few slower drags in your walls, and all you are is wet… and happy.

And whole.

He kisses you gently, plush lips sucking and working yours as he grins like a fool. “Dare I say… that was magical?”

You swat his arm, but laugh. For it was exactly that.

My lovely Nyx, thank you for trusting me your beloved Evelyn, for she’s my spawn girlie and a treasure to write for, implied reader 💛⚡️

[diocletianscabbagefarm]

Something really bizarre is happening right now; there's been friction between the Russian Ministry of Defence and Prigozhin (head of Wagner PMC) for months now, with Prigozhin regularly releasing video tirades blaming people high up in the ministry - pretty much everybody except Putin himself - about how they're fucking up the war, or needlessly endangering Wagner forces, etc. Today he released a video about how the ones responsible for the war had been looting Donbass since 2014 and that the states casus belli for the current invasion is a bunch of lies.

Anyway, just a little while ago Prigozhin accused the ministry of striking a Wagner training camp with missiles and released another recording basically declaring war on the ministry in fairly unambiguous terms in what almost sounds like he's announcing a coup attempt

[sayruq]

In the early hours of April 7th the Israel Defence Forces’ (idf) 98th Division withdrew from Khan Younis, the second-largest city in Gaza, exactly six months after Hamas’s attack of October 7th. Israel had the sympathy and broad support of much of the West when it sent its army to war with Hamas. Half a year later, much of Gaza lies in ruins. Over 33,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Gazan health ministry. The uprooted civilian population faces famine. Israel has lost the battle for global public opinion. Even its closest allies, including America, are considering whether to limit arms shipments. Much of the criticism centres on Israel’s armed forces. Even after its devastating failure to prevent the massacres of October 7th, the idf has remained the most cherished institution in Israeli society. Holding fast to the vision of the idf as both effective and moral is essential to Israelis’ image of themselves. But it is now accused of two catastrophic failures. First, that it has not achieved its military objectives in Gaza. Second, that it has acted immorally and broken the laws of war. The implications for both the idf and Israel are profound.

Major-General Noam Tibon is a retired corps commander who on October 7th rushed to his son’s kibbutz near Gaza, single-handedly extricating his young family while Hamas was on the rampage. In hindsight, he says, the idf should have gone into Rafah first. He believes his former colleagues were “under the illusion that going first into Gaza City would break Hamas psychologically, by taking their symbols of government”. But, he argues, “all the talk of dismantling their brigades and battalions is rubbish. They remain a fundamentalist movement which doesn’t need commanders to fight until death.” The lack of enforcement of even these looser rules of engagement has been such that accusations that Israel has broken the laws of war are plausible. “The standing orders don’t matter in the field,” says one veteran reserve officer who has mostly been in Gaza since October. “Just about any battalion commander can decide that whoever moves in his sector is a terrorist or that buildings should be destroyed because they could have been used by Hamas.” “The only limit to the number of buildings we blew up was the time we had inside Gaza,” says one sapper in a combat-engineering battalion. “If you find a Kalashnikov or even Hamas literature in an apartment, it’s enough to incriminate the building.” Other officers reported a breakdown of discipline in their units, with multiple cases of looting. “I think everyone in our platoon took a coffee set,” said one sergeant. Soldiers have filmed themselves vandalising Palestinian property and, in some cases, put those videos online. On February 20th the idf’s chief of staff published a public letter to all soldiers warning them to use force only where necessary, “to distinguish between a terrorist and who is not, not to take anything which isn’t ours—a souvenir or weaponry—and not to film vengeance videos.” Four months into the war, this was too little, too late. “He should have acted much sooner to root this out,” says one battalion commander. The idf’s third failure is its role in Israel’s obstruction—until an angry phone call between President Joe Biden and Mr Netanyahu on April 4th—of aid efforts to Gazans. Officers have mainly blamed the politicians for this. But some acknowledge that even without a political directive, the army, which is arguably an occupying force in Gaza now, should have assumed this responsibility from the planning stage. Instead it acted only when the humanitarian situation became critical. That does not bode well for the future. The war in Gaza is not over. Israel’s next step is unclear. Mr Netanyahu says that a date has been set for an incursion into Rafah, Hamas’s last major stronghold (in private, Israeli generals deny this).

[girlactionfigure]

🧵𝐍𝐨, 𝐈𝐭 𝐃𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐎𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟕𝐭𝐡: 𝐂𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐉𝐞𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐥𝐞 𝐄𝐚𝐬𝐭.🧵

Thread: The idea that Arabs loved Jews until the creation of Israel is a widespread and untrue myth. Many believe that Jews were welcomed and lived peacefully among Arabs until the establishment of the modern state of Israel in 1948. This view is not only historically inaccurate but dangerously overlooks the long and painful history of Jewish suffering in the Middle East. Long before Zionism, Jews faced massacres, forced conversions, and expulsions in regions once ruled by the Arabs. In fact, Jews in the Arab world endured centuries of persecution under both Muslim and Ottoman rulers. Here’s a look at some of the most significant massacres and pogroms throughout this period, revealing the true story of Jewish life in the Middle East.

1. The Massacre of the Banu Qurayza (627 CE).

Long before Zionism, Jewish communities in the Middle East endured persecution, including one of the earliest and most harrowing incidents: the massacre of the Banu Qurayza in Medina during the time of the Prophet Muhammad.

The Banu Qurayza, a Jewish tribe in Medina, had entered into a pact with Muhammad under the Constitution of Medina, which allowed Muslims and Jews to coexist. However, during the Battle of the Trench, the tribe was accused of conspiring with Muhammad’s enemies, the Quraysh. After the Muslim victory, Muhammad and his forces besieged the Banu Qurayza’s fortress, forcing their surrender.

What followed was brutal. A tribunal led by Sa’d ibn Mu’adh sentenced all adult males of the tribe to death and enslaved the women and children. To determine who qualified as an “adult male,” boys were subjected to inspections for signs of puberty, specifically the presence of pubic hair. Those deemed adults were executed alongside the men. Historical sources, such as Ibn Ishaq and al-Tabari, report that between 600 and 900 men and boys were killed, their bodies dumped into trenches.

The Banu Qurayza’s women and children were sold into slavery, marking the total destruction of the tribe. This event illustrates the precarious and often deadly position of Jewish communities in the early Islamic period, long before the creation of Israel or the modern conflict in the region.

2/ Granada Massacre (1066) - Al-Andalus (Muslim Spain).

The first well-documented massacre of Jews in the Middle East dates back to 1066 in Granada, part of the Muslim-ruled Al-Andalus (Muslim Spain). After a Jewish vizier, Joseph Ibn Naghrela, was blamed for the death of the Muslim king, the situation escalated. A mob of Muslims, inspired by rumors and political tension, attacked the Jewish population of Granada. Over 4,000 Jews were slaughtered in a brutal pogrom that saw entire families butchered, their homes looted, and their properties destroyed. This massacre was part of a larger pattern of Jewish scapegoating across Muslim-ruled territories during periods of political instability. The massacre marked a turning point for Jews in the Iberian Peninsula, with many fleeing to other parts of the Muslim world for safety.

3/ The Persecution of Jews in Yemen: 1165 to 1679

The Jewish community in Yemen endured centuries of brutal persecution, systemic discrimination, and forced displacement, with two particularly devastating events defining their history before modern Zionism.

In 1165, during the reign of the Muslim leader Abd-al-Nabi ibn Mahdi, Yemen’s Jews faces an ultimatum: convert to Islam or face death. This period marked one of the earliest recorded instances of mass violence against Yemeni Jews. Synagogues were destroyed, and Jewish religious practices were outlawed. While some Jews fled or were forcibly converted, others were massacred for refusing to abandon their faith. This event signified the precarious existence of Jews in Yemen, where tolerance depended on the ruler’s whims.

Centuries later, in 1679, the Yemeni Jewish community faced an even more catastrophic event known as the Mawza Exile. Under the rule of Imam Al-Mahdi Ahmad, all Jews were expelled from their homes and forced into the barren Mawza desert. The journey itself claimed thousands of lives due to starvation and disease. Those who survived the desert exile were not allowed to return to their homes for several years, and when they did, they found their properties confiscated and their communities decimated. This period permanently weakened the Jewish presence in Yemen.

Throughout these centuries, Yemeni Jews were subjected to the degrading status of dhimmi under Islamic law, requiring them to pay exorbitant taxes, wear distinctive clothing, and accept legal and social inferiority. Forced conversions, kidnappings, and violent riots were regular occurrences. Despite these challenges, the community persisted, holding on to their traditions and faith until most were ultimately forced to leave Yemen in the mid-20th century.

4/ The  Safed Attacks (1517).

In 1517, following the Ottoman conquest of the Levant from the Mamluks, chaos erupted in the  city of Safed, one of the holiest cities in Judaism. The transition of power unleashed lawlessness, and Jewish communities became an easy target for violence.

Led by rogue Ottoman soldiers and local mobs, the attacks on Safed’s Jews were devastating. Homes and synagogues were looted and burned, and many Jews were brutally murdered. The violence displaced much of Safed’s Jewish population, forcing survivors to flee to neighboring areas.

Safed had been a center of Jewish learning and spirituality, with a thriving community. The attacks disrupted this flourishing cultural hub and instilled fear among Jews living in Ottoman-controlled lands. This event was one of the earliest indications that even under the Ottomans, Jewish communities would face intermittent violence and persecution, often fueled by local unrest and anti-Jewish sentiment.

The Safed Attacks of 1517 were a sad reminder of how quickly Jewish communities could become scapegoats during periods of political upheaval, long before modern Zionism or the establishment of Israel.

5/ The Tripoli Pogrom (1785).

In 1785, the Jewish community of Tripoli, Libya, endured a catastrophic pogrom instigated by Ali Burghul, an Ottoman officer who temporarily seized power in the region. After overthrowing the ruling pasha, Burghul wanted to consolidate his rule by targeting the city’s vulnerable minorities, particularly Jews.

The violence against Jews was brutal and systematic. Jewish homes and businesses were looted, synagogues were desecrated, and many Jews were tortured or killed. The pogrom decimated the Jewish quarter of Tripoli, leaving countless families homeless and destitute.

While Burghul’s regime lasted less than a year, the damage to the Jewish community was profound and long-lasting. Survivors faced the daunting task of rebuilding their lives amidst persistent discrimination and insecurity. This pogrom was a stark reminder of the precarious existence of Jews in North Africa, where they were often targeted during periods of political upheaval.

The Tripoli Pogrom of 1785 shows you again, the centuries-long persecution faced by Jews in Arab lands, well before the emergence of modern Zionism or the creation of Israel.

6/ The Baghdad Pogrom (1828).

In 1828, the Jewish community in Baghdad, Iraq, was subjected to one of the most devastating anti-Jewish pogroms in Ottoman-controlled Iraq. Tensions between Jews and Muslims had been rising due to a combination of economic envy, political instability, and increasing religious intolerance.

The pogrom began when a prominent Muslim figure, incited by local political and economic disputes, spread false accusations against the Jews of Baghdad. Jews were blamed for a series of issues, including alleged economic exploitation and religious violations, though no evidence supported these claims.

A violent mob quickly assembled, attacking Jewish homes, shops, and synagogues. Many Jews were beaten, and several were killed in the streets. Property was looted, and entire neighborhoods were set on fire. The violence lasted for several days, and it is estimated that several dozen Jews were killed, with many more injured or left destitute.

The pogrom also resulted in mass destruction of Jewish religious and cultural landmarks in Baghdad, severely damaging the local Jewish community’s infrastructure. This event left lasting scars on the Jewish population, contributing to a growing sense of insecurity and vulnerability. While the situation temporarily improved, the event remained a painful chapter in the history of Jewish life in Iraq.

The Baghdad Pogrom of 1828 showed how easily Jews were targeted and scapegoated in times of political and religious tension, long before the rise of modern Zionism or the establishment of Israel.

7/ The 1838  Safed Pogrom.

The second major pogrom in Safed, occurring in 1838, further demonstrated the uncertain position of Jews in the region during Ottoman rule. This wave of violence took place during the Egyptian-Ottoman War, as Ibrahim Pasha’s Egyptian forces temporarily controlled Israel. When Ibrahim’s forces retreated from Safed, local Arab mobs, emboldened by the chaos and lack of authority, turned their fury on the city’s Jewish population.

Over several days, armed bands ransacked Jewish homes, robbed businesses, and desecrated synagogues. Entire families were beaten and humiliated, while women and children were subjected to horrifying abuse. Many Jews fled to the surrounding hills for safety, living in caves or shelters with little food or water, while those who remained in the city faced murder or severe physical violence.

The Ottoman authorities did little to restore order or protect the Jewish residents. The aftermath of the pogrom left the Jewish quarter of Safed devastated, with entire families displaced and ancient synagogues reduced to ruins. Survivors recounted harrowing stories of betrayal by neighbors who joined in the looting and violence. The 1838 pogrom was a traumatic event that further destabilized the already struggling Jewish community in Safed, leading many to consider emigration.

The recurring violence in Safed was a reminder of the vulnerability of Jewish communities in Israel long before the modern Zionist movement emerged.

8/ The 1840 Damascus Affair

The Damascus Affair of 1840 was a horrifying example of the blood libel myth, a baseless and antisemitic accusation that Jews murder non-Jews to use their blood for religious rituals. This particular incident unfolded in Ottoman-controlled Damascus and left a deep scar on Jewish communities across the region and beyond.

The tragedy began when Father Thomas, a Catholic monk, and his Muslim servant mysteriously disappeared. Almost immediately local Christian leaders accused the Jewish community of abducting and murdering them for their blood, supposedly to bake matzot for Passover. The accusation, entirely unfounded, unleashed a torrent of violence and state-backed persecution against Damascus’s Jews.

Under pressure from local Christian clergy, the Ottoman authorities arrested several prominent Jewish figures, including rabbis and community leaders. These men were subjected to brutal torture to extract confessions to a crime they did not commit. Torture methods included floggings, burning, and deprivation of food and water. One man, Isaac Harari, died from the torture, and another, Aaron Monshe Rehama, succumbed to his injuries shortly after being released. The torture yielded forced confessions that only fueled further hysteria.

As rumors spread, mobs looted Jewish homes and desecrated synagogues. The community lived in terror, with many families hiding in fear of further arrests or violence. The situation worsened when the Ottoman authorities imprisoned dozens more Jews, including children, in an attempt to pressure the community into “confessing” to collective guilt.

The Damascus Affair also had international implications. Initially, France supported the blood libel accusations due to the influence of local Catholic leaders. However, prominent Jews in Europe, including Sir Moses Montefiore, Adolphe Crémieux, and Salomon Munk, mobilized a vigorous diplomatic campaign to challenge the lies. They traveled to Alexandria and Constantinople, lobbying influential leaders like Muhammad Ali of Egypt and Sultan Abdülmecid I of the Ottoman Empire to stop the persecution.

Eventually, after months of pressure and mounting evidence of the absurdity of the charges, the surviving Jewish prisoners were released. Still, the community was left in ruins. The aftermath of the affair saw Damascus’s Jewish population diminished and traumatized. Many families fled, and those who remained lived under the shadow of renewed accusations.

The Damascus Affair exposed yet again the fragility of Jewish life under Ottoman rule and the enduring danger of antisemitic myths, this as well happened long before the creation of modern Zionism.

9/ The 1920 Nebi Musa Riots.

The Nebi Musa Riots, which took place during Easter week in April 1920, were among the first major instances of anti-Jewish violence in British-controlled Israel, occurring long before the establishment of modern Israel. The riots shattered the myth of peaceful coexistence between Jews and Arabs in the region and exposed the hostility Arab leaders harbored toward the growing Jewish community.

Nebi Musa was a Muslim religious festival traditionally marked by processions to a shrine near Jericho. In 1920, the festival coincided with Easter and Passover, bringing an unusually large number of Muslims, Christians, and Jews to  Jerusalem. Arab leaders, including Haj Amin al-Husseini (later notorious for his collaboration with the Nazis), used the occasion to incite the crowds against the Jewish community. They spread false claims that Jews were threatening the  Al-Aqsa Mosque and seeking to take over Muslim holy sites, a tactic that would recur in later decades.

The inflammatory rhetoric worked. On April 4, 1920, Arab mobs began attacking Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem. Armed with knives, clubs, and stones, they looted Jewish homes and businesses, burned property, and assaulted Jewish residents. Reports described horrific acts of violence, including the brutal killing of five Jews and the injury of over 200 others. Jewish women were targeted for sexual violence, adding to the community’s trauma.

The British authorities, unprepared for the scale of the violence, initially failed to contain the riots. British soldiers were criticized for their slow response, and some were even accused of sympathizing with the rioters. Jewish self-defense groups, including the Haganah’s predecessors, stepped in to protect their communities, marking one of the first organized efforts by Jews to defend themselves in modern Israel.

The aftermath of the riots further deepened tensions. Haj Amin al-Husseini, though implicated in inciting the violence, received a relatively light punishment and would later be appointed the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, a decision with disastrous consequences. Meanwhile, the Jewish community, already shaken from European pogroms, began to view self-defense as essential for survival in the face of local hostility.

The 1920 Nebi Musa Riots are a powerful reminder that violence against Jews in the Middle East was not a product of Zionism but a reflection of deep hostility toward Jewish communities.

10/ The 1929 Hebron Massacre.

In August 1929, one of the darkest chapters in Jewish history under the British Mandate unfolded in the ancient city of Hebron, where a long established Jewish community had lived for thousands of years. Hebron, considered one of Judaism’s four holy cities, was home to a mix of Sephardi and Ashkenazi Jews, many of whom lived peacefully alongside their Arab neighbors, until incitement turned deadly.

Tensions had been brewing for months, fueled by false rumors spread by Arab leaders and the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Amin al-Husseini. Claims circulated that Jews were planning to take over the Temple Mount and destroy the al-Aqsa Mosque. These fabrications were spread intentionally to inflame anti-Jewish sentiment and provoke violence.

On the 23rd and 24th of August, Arab mobs descended upon the Jewish community of Hebron, armed with knives, clubs, and firearms. The British authorities, overwhelmed and unprepared, failed to intervene effectively. Over the course of two days, 67 Jews were brutally murdered, men, women, and children alike. Victims were tortured, mutilated, and dismembered. Entire families were wiped out in their homes.

One of the most horrific aspects of the massacre was the betrayal by neighbors. Some Arabs, with whom the Jews had coexisted peacefully for years, turned on them.

The aftermath was devastating. The Jewish quarter was looted and ransacked. Synagogues were desecrated, Torah scrolls destroyed. Survivors were forcibly evacuated by the British, ending a Jewish presence in Hebron that had lasted centuries. The city, once a symbol of coexistence, became a stark reminder of how quickly incitement and hatred could shatter fragile relations.

The massacre was part of a larger wave of violence that also targeted Jews in  Jerusalem,  Safed, and other areas of Israel during the same period. It was not an isolated event but a symptom of escalating hostility toward the Jewish community, years before the establishment of modern Israel.

11/ The 1941 Farhud Massacre.

The Farhud, which took place on June 1-2, 1941, was a brutal pogrom against the Jewish community in Baghdad, Iraq. The violence erupted during the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, fueled by Nazi propaganda and growing political instability. The Iraqi government, under the pro-Nazi Rashid Ali al-Gaylani, had recently been overthrown by the British, leaving the country in chaos.

Pro-Nazi mobs, fueled by years of antisemitic rhetoric, attacked Jews with brutal force. Over 180 Jews were murdered, and hundreds more were injured. Mobs looted Jewish homes, destroyed businesses, and desecrated synagogues. Women were raped, and many victims were tortured and mutilated.

The British and Iraqi authorities intervened after two days of unchecked violence, but the damage was done. The Farhud shattered the Iraqi Jewish community, marking the beginning of a mass exodus. By the 1950s, most of Iraq’s 150,000 Jews had fled, many of them to Israel.

The Farhud remains a tragic reminder of how quickly a Jewish community, with a history in the region spanning over 2,600 years, could be destroyed by hatred and incitement. It underscored the urgent need for Jewish self-determination, which Zionism sought to provide.

12/ Palestinian Collaboration with Nazi Germany.

During the 1930s and 40s, the Palestinian Arab leadership, particularly the Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini, formed an alliance with Nazi Germany. Husseini, who opposed Jewish immigration to Israel, wanted Nazi support for his goal of preventing a Jewish homeland. In 1941, he met with Adolf Hitler, where he expressed his admiration for the Nazis’ anti-Semitic policies and urged them to support the Arab cause against the Jews. Husseini also played a role in recruiting Muslim soldiers to fight for the Axis powers, including the notorious Waffen-SS. His collaboration with Nazi Germany, which included attempts to organize massacres of Jews in Israel, contributed to deepening the hostility and violence toward Jewish communities in the region.

Conclusion.

When I started studying and looking up these events, I was shocked by the crazy number of them. I had to choose from hundreds, if not thousands, of such atrocities throughout history. And knowing that each of these incidents means real people, Jewish men, women, and children, lost their lives or endured unimaginable torture, it broke my heart. It’s heartbreaking that, even today, we continue to prove, over and over again, how badly Jews have been treated, and how, in some corners of the world, there are still those who want us to endure even more suffering. The existence of Israel today is a direct result of all these painful events—a nation born out of the ashes of centuries of persecution. Israel stands as a shield, ensuring that Jews will never again face the horrors of those dark days. This history is not just a series of events, it’s a painful reminder of the resilience required to survive and the urgency of remembering so we can prevent such horrors from happening again.

Although not all of the events happened in the Middle east per se, all of them happened under Muslim rule. 

@AP_from_NY

[historicity-was-already-taken]

One thing that truly disgusting me about so many Jewish people outside of Israel is how much they throw Israeli Jews under the bus. They themselves have never experienced true hate for being Jewish. Getting the stink eye or some flyaway comment is the highlight of the antisemitism they ever experienced, and they wallowed in this in order to keep the victim status as much as they can.

Meanwhile, I, an Israeli, experience people try to murder and annihilate me in a daily basis. Non stop terror attacks, that started years before Israel even established, and are still going full force. There was a serious one in my city last week, in a location I visit frequently. Almost 20 years of being constantly bombed, ever since Israel got out of Gaza. Underground tunnels of terror, underneath Israel territory to allow terrorists to cone into civilian houses and kill people un their homes. October 7, a truly horrifying massacre, including brutal rape, maiming, burning people alive, in their homes or taken from their homes, or from a peaceful festival music in the desert, parading young women half naked and bleeding in front of a crowd of Palestinian men spitting on them, beating them and cheering, filming these actions while laughing. Abducting some of them to Gaza, to these underground tunnels, not letting humanitarian organizations like the Red Cross see them, not telling Israel who had been taken and if they are alive or dead. Calling their children to help them loot the houses of the people who they just massacred and abducted. There is a video out there of these children taunting and mocking an Israeli child who was still alive and calling for his mother. And above all, the knowledge that this could happen again and this time it could me or my family, friends, neighbours, who are brutally raped, maimed, burned alive, abducted. The horrors of living like that you couldn't even start to understand.

No sympathy. Nothing. You have not an ounce of sympathy for the Jewish people who live in Israel. You just want to distant yourself as much as you possibly can, so the false accusations of "Palestinian genocide" will not stick to you. This is the biggest blood libel in history, to say that Israel, a country that literally is fighting for its life, the life and safety of its citizens, is committing genocide just because they have no choice but fight in a populated civilian territory. The numbers of the Palestinians death are also heavily exaggerated, by the way, even the UN that is extremely biased against Israel admits that. But the most important thing is that you can feel good about yourself. Fuck Zionists, fuck Israelis. No sympathy. No empathy.

To say that I am deeply disappointed by the Jewish diaspora is an understatement. You don't feel any empathy or sympathy toward us who live under constant terror, who still have 100 civilians held hostage, dead or alive we don't know, who experience terror attack every other day (currently, ever day), who experience bombing and missiles launched at us, who live in true, real, palpable fear that something like October 7 will happen again and again, unless something would be done to stop it. Who live with an extremely hostile population that wants us annihilated, and they say that out loud, but somehow the world is completely deaf to that.

It hurts, you know? How the world treat us? How much they hate us, us who are being attacked all the time, who tried to reach our hand in peace but getting it bitten again and again, and on October 7, have our hand severed? These Kibbutzim who were annihilated, they were very leftwing, set there with civilians Palestinians in meetings trying to advance the idea of living together in peace, helped the Palestinians, driving Palestinians children to hospitals on their expense, hiring them,and this is what they got. This is what they got.

I am done. I am done. People like you who says fuck Zionists are not my brothers and sisters anymore. Your Judaism is just a tool for you to feel some authenticity and claiming oppressed status. Victimhood points. I am done.

No one harass the person who sent this. Leave them alone. I don’t care what your religion or nationality is. Leave. Them. Alone.

I never said anything about Israeli civilians or civil society. I also know the details of exactly what went down on October 7.

What do you want from me? I am a fucking history blog dealing with a bunch of hostile gentiles trying to ideologically pin me down as a good Jew or a bad Jew when I’m just trying to do my work as a Holocaust historian. In fact, I’ve even stated here that so long as half the Jews in the world live in Israel, i am obliged to care for the welfare and safety of Israelis because their fate is inextricabley intertwined with mine. And I was harassed and verbally abused for saying that shit.

You don’t know me. You don’t know anything about me and my views on Israelis or the realities of the military operations to eradicate Hamas. You don’t know about my ties to the country, the family and friends I have living there; the safety my family found there after fleeing Poland. Because I don’t put that here. Actually, most of what I put here about Zionism is wrt diasporic Jews who misuse Holocaust history to bully Jews with divergent views.

You know my begrudging takes as a historian and that’s it. I’d end this with a blistering takedown, but you’re one of my people and you’re in pain and I’m so sorry you’re in pain, but I’m in pain too.

I’ve dedicated my life to the history of our people’s pain, and you don’t get to verbally excommunicate me based on my interactions with western gentiles and diasporic Jews who verbally abuse me.

And I guarantee you I’ll be verbally abused for showing you empathy for the horrific situation you’re living through.

No one harass the person who sent this. Leave them alone. I don’t care what your religion or nationality is. Leave. Them. Alone.

[apas-95]

abt the 'exit strategy for capitalism' thing obviously the natural advantages of socialist states will lead to their uncontested military and economical dominance in the coming decades, at which point they'll have both means and motive to buy out bourgeois interests and their 'possessions' and transition the economical system while there's no easy way for imperial core states to outright end these trends, their policies obviously do affect the economical development of socialist states and there's probably enough variance to shift the timetable on all this happening by a couple years, so y'know exert whatever influence you have on the particular flavor of capitalism that's in vogue if done well (and what I'm seeing rn actually gives me hope for that) the capitalists at no point have an incentive to burn the whole thing down out of spite bc they keep earning right until they don't, you know how the saying abt ropes and hangings goes (and if done poorly and they cling to and suck dry the last scraps of the world's economy they control at least everywhere else should be out of reach by then) and my main concern with a revolution is actually that one will 100% get accused of having foreign backing, at which point you just needlessly raise the odds of some general deciding he (or she #imwithher) might as well let those nukes fly (even if they're losing, especially if they're losing) But it's all w/e, I could be convinced either way, this all just makes a lot more sense to me than a succesful imperial core revolution that doesn't end with the northern hemisphere irradiated

fundamentally the notion of a peaceful transition out of capitalism is simply not in agreement with reality. no class has ever abandoned the world stage without fighting to maintain itself, and the imperial core is already both undertaking massive violence and war against the sections of the global south it already has under its heel, and preparing for high-intensity conflict against the communists that have slipped its shackles. there is no point where the bourgeoisie would simply peacefully allow themselves to be stripped of power.

the point of nukes is exactly *why* there has to be revolution within the imperial core, rather than having the rest of the world do the job for them - there is precisely one place the US has no nuclear deterrent against, which is itself. if the thing we're supposed to fear is that both 'the US military's high command, likely facing severe mutiny, rather than ordering a negotiated surrender during civil war, decides to nuke themselves' as well as 'the US strategic missile forces, upon receiving the order to nuke themselves, carry it out', then so be it - such a fundamental strategic insanity would be just as likely to start a nuclear exchange even if there weren't a revolution - which brings us to the final point.

world war is on the horizon. the economic reasons for world war remain as they did a century and a half ago. the world has been fully carved up, and the profits are drying out. the imperialist blocks, principally the US and EU, are driven to compete against each other for their holdings, first peacefully, then through proxy war, and finally through direct conflict. as it was a hundred years ago, the buildup of war is accepted on all sides with the target of the socialist bloc and the potential for its pillaging, but (as has already started breaking out among larger and larger regional powers) any conflict of this sort would manifest as general war and looting, as desperate, recession-wracked imperialists take opportunity as it presents itself. in inter-imperialist war the most ruthless techniques are used, and a nuclear exchange would not be off the table -- and, fundamentally, the conditions that lead to world war are the same that lead to instability, insurrection, and revolution within individual countries.

war is, at this juncture, an inevitability. the only question is whether revolutionary war will win out over unjust war, will convert the war between nations to a war between classes. we are against war, but we are not afraid of it.