#Turkey from OCTOBER 2023

[casiavium]

Hi. If you haven't cleaned out your fridge in a while, you should check for expired food.

[determinate-negation]

“Prior to October 7th, between 170-200,000 Palestinians worked in Israel (roughly 75% with work permits—with around 90% of these permits going to Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank). After October 7th, nearly all Palestinian workers were fired, their work permits revoked, and their range of movement, already limited, restricted even further. The economic damage has been immense particularly in construction and agriculture, where the majority of Palestinians had been employed (it is an aspect of Zionist cruelty that Palestinians—a highly educated people—should be confined to low-wage manual labor employment in two of the primary economic sectors which have been used to advance their dispossession). To provide the starkest example: the construction industry, which accounts for 6-7% of Israeli GDP was, as of December 2023, operating at only 30% of its pre-October capacity, and fully half of all building projects were on hold.

Although business interests were able to pressure the government to allow a paltry 8–10,000 Palestinians back to work in December, the short- and long-term solutions to the problem of Israeli dependence on Palestinian labor (and, indeed, for the Zionist it has always been a problem) appears to be the increasing importation of foreign workers from Asia and Eastern Europe, particularly Thailand and India. It should be noted that Israel has used debt—the result of exorbitant “placement fees” charged by recruiters in workers’ home countries—to trap many foreign workers in hyper-exploitative working conditions enforced by geographic isolation. This is the paradigmatic form of modern slavery. Even if cheap imported labor were to get the construction industry back on track, the war has also resulted in the downgrading of Israel’s credit rating, a sharp decline in imports and exports, the almost complete pause of its tourism industry, a snowballing cancelation of arms deals the world over and, in the case of Turkey, trade relations as well, yielding an almost 20% contraction of its annualized GDP.

With these numbers, it could be said that Israel’s present genocide against the Palestinians harms both its short-term and long-term economic interests, sacrificed for the drive to extermination. But the enforced economic obsolescence of the Palestinians must be understood as integral to the drive for their extermination. Employing the brute force of siege, Israel has succeeded in cutting many Palestinians off from much of the global economy—now, entirely in the case of Gaza, and increasingly so in the case of the West Bank. Even those who are able to run businesses with international clientele face delays or de facto bans from cash-transfer sites like PayPal, and imports, exports, and access to certain goods are all controlled and restricted by Israel. These restrictions limit access to raw materials, affecting the types of industry Palestine is capable of sustaining, and limiting prospects for economic development.

Palestinians' limited access to the global economy in turn nurtures a dependency on Israeli goods and employment. But this dependency cuts both ways—Israel has grown dependent on Palestinian labor, which renders Palestinians necessary to the functioning of the Israeli economy and also creates barriers against their total social exclusion (not only in the sense that this labor requires social interaction with the Israeli populace). As Bataille writes in The Psychological Structure of Fascism, “money serves to measure all work and makes man a function of measurable products. According to the judgment of homogenous society, each man is worth what he produces.” In capitalist society, productivity becomes the prerequisite to admittance to social life. To totalize race-based social exclusion, then, the target population must be rendered economically obsolete. “As early as 1895,” Fayez Sayegh notes, “Herzl was busy devising a plan to ‘spirit the penniless population across the frontier by denying it employment.’”

Nazi Germany understood this as well: the 1938 “Regulation for the Elimination of the Jews from the Economic Life of Germany” completed the work begun three years prior by the Nuremberg Laws, which stripped Jews and other groups of their citizenship and enshrined racial classification and separation into law. “The Jewish middleman,” Adorno and Horkheimer write, “fully becomes the image of the devil only when economically he has ceased to exist.” In apartheid society, in which the target population is seen as subhuman, or at least undeserving of rights or consideration, the wage remains one of the last means of verifying their humanity: beasts may be productive, but they do not earn a wage. The attempted elimination of Palestinian labor from the Israeli economy marks one of the final steps on the way to their full dehumanization in the Zionists’ eyes, one that prepared the way for the present mass extermination.

Zionism is not, then, a race-based system of economic exploitation at its core, though it does benefit from such exploitation: it is, first and foremost, a program of land acquisition. We can see the dual attack on Palestinian economic self-determination and land ownership in Israel’s routine destruction of Palestinian olive groves. Settlers, often armed or otherwise protected by armed agents of the state, uproot, burn, or cut down olive trees, with increasing frequency since 2019. The aim is to drive Palestinians from their land by destroying the subsistence produced by the land itself and nurtured over centuries by Palestinian farmers, in an effort to “Judaize” the area. As Palestinians flee from unchecked violence, forced from their land at the barrel of a gun, Jewish settlements appear in their wake, strictly illegal but in practice facilitated by the state until they are eventually recognized and assimilated into the legally regulated regime of property. (The whole cycle of legalizing illegal settlements, in any event, is something of a formality as their existence and proliferation is the entire raison d’être of the Zionist project.) When Palestinians refuse to leave and cannot be forced, they are murdered.”

Jake Romm, Elements of Anti-Semitism: The Limits of Zionism in Parapraxis Mag

[archtroop]

Sometimes I need to remind myself that tumblr is a fringe social network, and is by far not the average. What it is though, is a good sampler of the more extreme, I would say, ideologically swayed. A bit.

The more comments and notes I read from the Free Palestine crowd, the more it gets obvious that these are incapable, useful idiots. Literally, spoonfed couchpotatos at best. Starbucks Boycoyters at worst.

It's like the 00's insecure attention seeking posers, with an amoral, ignorant twist to them.

And they are entirely, ABSOLUTELY useless people.

Some morally rotten such individual wrote me that "Israel deserves what's coming for them, you deserve to die" etc. And it really made me think. What's coming? WHO'S coming? You? You, an unemployed tumblrina? You and what army?

What are you gonna do? Try to kill us all? What's the WORST you can do that wasn't, hasn't been tried already?

Truth is, no one is coming.

You read about this pompous, self indulgent "Palestinian Activism Solidarity ". What the FUCK are you talking about? Where is it? What, SA under IRI at the ICJ?.... Watermelon emojis...? ...Slogans?

The most "affective" actions FreePalestine Movement "achieved" was a few shootings/stabbings/rammings here and there, a hostage situation in Turkey in the name of Palestine (the man was executed on the spot after some negotiations. Turkey, yeah). A few burnt synagogues around the world and a whole lot of terrorized Jews in the Diaspora. Not a single Palestinian benefited. Not in Gaza anyway. To sum it up, what exactly are you gonna do? Blow yourself up in a subway in the name of Palestine? How incredibly unoriginal and unhelpful. Although expected and unsurprisingly fitting to the roots of the movement, I'll give you all that.

No one is coming. A lot of pakapaka from Nassrallah and Co. and a radio silence from the Arab world.

Iran pulled the Houthies out of their boydem only for Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan to reluctantly push the button to down Houthie ammo flying towards Israel. Houthies "asked" of Saudi Arabia to "let them cross over to fight the Zionists", and not only this is a joke, a caravan of sandals-wearing, AK-47 totting, Houthie caravan crossing Saudia to do what exactly? Bite Israeli ankles in Eilat Port? Rather It's an insult, to show that "here see we tried", since Saudis are fighting the Houthies FOR YEARS, it was never an actual option to begin with.

Are you blind? No. One. Is. Coming.

After 75 years of trying to erase Israel from the map, the 7th of October unleashed what could only have happened after Israel had its last straw broken.

Congratulations, you've managed at dehumanizing Israelis to the point that you managed to rob us from one aspect of humanity, even if temporarily: our symphaty.

Not forever, but for a period. And when you did so, you WERE LUCKY, for US were here WITHIN MINUTES, being smart enough to talk Israel out from attacking on the freaking spot. Instead, Israel waited 3 damn weeks. For 3 weeks, Israel called for the evacuation of Gazans from the northern side of Gaza.

Symphaty has an expiration date. The 7th of October 2023 was that date. You backed Israel to a wall, and no slogan will suffice against a nation that KNOWS that its very existence was threatened in a very real, visceral, inhumane, and depraved way.

No one is coming. Not for us, not for the Gazans. The Arab world is waiting to see, when will they wake up with one Iranian proxy less on the map. The truth is, aside from the pakapaka all round the clock, Isrsel was left with "do what you do, we wait" kind of global attitude.

Arab nations don't care about Palestinians. They don't care for the Palestinian Cause. Never had. It was always for show, as a pawn. A distraction. And we know it, very well.

The Palestinians are, and always were, used. They were used to carry on this idea that Israel would disappear from the map. If not by force, then by proxy warfare and terrorism, with time. If not by proxies, then by mass protest and public opinion. But the thing is, reality is a material thing. You need TO DO a thing for it TO HAPPEN. And public opinion rarely holds. And for how it's loud, the Free Palestine Movement is nothing but that: Loud.

As for the undoing of Israel and Bney Israel, well. Many have tried.

And oh boy, did the Arab nations TRIED.

They PAYED for trying.

But that's in the past, largely. Now, the annihilation of Israel and the creation of a Palestine is just a cruel pipe dream, with human prisoners, and an international cheering squad. After all, you can't free something that never existed and couldn't form one coherent ideology that makes sense and strives towards a positive, creation-adjacent activity in 75 years of its yappery. It's just not there. If the ideology surrounds destruction, it can not create. It can only destroy.

You may shout your lungs out and make up all kinds of delusional narratives. In the end, they are just that: empty words to make the righteous self of the woke crowd feel better, to feel active. To be a part.

To be USED.

It says a lot about the sad reality of this mass of people. The yearning for purpose, this loneliness. The rootlessness. Loss of identity. Identities so fractured, so incohesive. Loss of trust in the institution. The shallow knowledge. The practically non-existent reading comprehension.

All are easily diverted to create this cult like behavior.

People cry their eyes out over something that not only they have zero way of affecting but oftentimes is inflated, twisted, and presented as something completely false, or fake or what have you, instead of looking around them and doing something about their own realities. Pouring their hearts out over an unreality, fruitless.

This is either willful ignorance or escapism. Can't even say which one is worse.

This mass is being used. It creates a pool of despair, mysery. Feelings of "not enough", of unachievment. Those masses are breeding grounds for terrorism activity recruitment.

One party, one goal.

Free Palestine is a magic combination of words. You would ask, what is it? And they would sell you, ah, it's this magical place over the rainbow far, far away, and you can be the savior of those people. What a beautiful fantasy. Except you can't save those who did all their best to commit a slow, painstaking suicide, over 75 years. It's unrealistic, whatever this so-called "movement" is yapping about. There are no outlines, no strategy. It's just empty, big, bombastic words, to rile up emotionally as many people as possible, who look for a meaning.

I keep remembering the movie The Wave (2008). It's amazing how word by word, scene by scene, the story is playing out right now with worrying accuracy.

I don't know where this will lead Europe, UK, US, Canada... Australia... you all should be on high alert internally. But one thing is pretty clear.

No one is coming. As for Israel... You did your worst already. You have left Israel with nothing to be afraid of.

BDS biggest achievement was the eventual unemployment of thousands of Palestinians from the West Bank. UN is a joke. Red Cross is a joke. UNRWA exposed, visibly and undeniably. Abraham Accords are proceeding, even if slower, yet still they do. HAMAS gets mopped the floor with. And Lebanon has to do the impossible: drag Hezbollah away from the Isrseli border. Otherwise, there won't be much of a Lebanon to speak about in a very short amount of time. And that's not even a threat. It's reality. As government officials in Lebanon plead with Hezbollah to halt, Israel is ready on the border for 80,000 Israelis are internally displaced within Isrsel itself because of the war with HAMAS, but mainly away from the northern border because of constant shelling by Hezbollah.

And it won't hold forever.

And no one is coming.

Because who will? You and what army?

[scottishcommune]

Emergency aid for Rojava!

Humanitarian aid for the victims of Turkey’s aggressions

Turkey has been bombing civilian infrastructure in Rojava (North and East Syria) since 4th of October 2023, and the region is heading for a humanitarian catastrophe. Turkey has bombed more than 150 targets so far: Much of the region's vital infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed in a matter of hours. Turkey’s attacks have so far caused dozens of civilian deaths and injuries and destroyed 80 per cent of civilian infrastructure, including water and power supplies, hospitals, residential areas, schools, oil fields, factories and warehouses. Hundreds of thousands of people have been cut off from electricity and water supplies for days now. The Covid hospital in Dêrik, one of the most important hospitals of its kind in the region, was completely destroyed by the Turkish air strikes. Numerous other health facilities have been destroyed, hospitals cut off from electricity, cold chains broken - there are calls for blood donations. As Turkey’s attacks continue, the humanitarian situation is expected to deteriorate further and the death toll to rise. The Kurdish Red Crescent (Heyva Sor a Kurd) is on the ground providing vital humanitarian assistance. Support the work of Heyva Sor a Kurd with your donations!

Bank account

Heyva Sor a Kurdistanê e. V.

Kreissparkasse Köln

IBAN: DE49 3705 0299 0004 0104 81

BIC/SWIFT: COKSDE33XXX

Reference: Rojava

PayPal: paypal.me/heyvasorakurdistane

*please note:

Due to an order from the ADD Rheinland-Pfalz, they are currently unable to accept donations from Rheinland-Pfalz.

Contact and further information:

www.heyvasor.com

E-Mail: heyvasor@web.de

Phone: +49 (0) 2241 975 25 83

Instagram: heyvasor

Twitter: @Heyva__Sor

Facebook: Heyva Sor a Kurdistanê e.V.

[zanderlisle]

Because I struggled to find information on the Sudanese genocide, here's a collection of info I've found, complete with sources and ways to help.

Note: Most of these stats are coming from October of 2023, and numbers have climbed since. Content warning for genocide, war crimes, sexual violence, and more. Please correct me on anything you notice is incorrect.

In April of 2023, the Rapid Support Forces attacked Sudanese Armed Forces bases across Sudan. including the Sudanese capital Khartoum with a population of 6,344,348. While this was initially described as a war between the RSF & SAF, it quickly became a matter that murdered, injured, & displaced millions of civilians. The most notable of the casualties - actress Asia Abdelmajid, singer Shaden Gardood, and former football player Fozi el-Mardi with his daughter Alaa. el-Mardi's wife. Zeinat Ahmed Othman was also wounded by a bullet.

There have been over 9,000 deaths, 12,000 injuries, and 5.4M displacements. There have been a total of 55 foreign deaths from the countries of Ethiopia (15), Syria (15), Congo (10), Eritrea (9), Egypt (2), The USA (2), India (1), and Turkey (1). Journalists and humanitarian workers have been injured, killed, and/or detained.

As of July, there have been 88 reports of sexual assault against women in Sudan blamed on the RSF. Activist Hala al-Karib stated that war rape had become an everyday occurrence with both fighting parties participating.

Over 1.3M people have fled Sudan as refugees. "The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that 1,200 children had died from disease outbreaks in refugee camps in White Nile State since May. In Central Darfur, the head of the Hamidiya refugee camp said at least 43 children had died in the camp since July. UNICEF also estimated that the conflict had led to the number of children being out of school in Sudan to rise from seven million prior to the fighting to 19 million in October 2023." - War in Sudan 2023 Wikipedia

An imminent epidemic of cholera and a collapse of the healthcare system - How to help: donate to SAPA at https://sapa-usa.org

Women are at risk of sexual violence (especially in areas like Darfur) - The Darfur Women Action Group has a donation link AND sample emails to send to your officials They also accept volunteers with media experience

Menstruation doesn’t stop due to war. - Donate to provide Sudanese girls and women with menstrual products

Another IMPORTANT organization currently providing direct medical care in a few states including Khartoum

will hopefully update with more reliable links or resources Also check

@Hometaxsd on Twitter (X) and eyesonsudan.net for other reliable donation sites

https://bbc.com/news/world-africa-65284945…

https://bbc.com/news/world-africa-65467934…

https://bbc.com/news/world-africa-65585746…

https://apnews.com/article/sudan-war-military-rsf-conflict-khartoum-f12975eb72c830ed86ed6a7a49e9658d…

https://dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/violations-against-journalists-in-sudan-war…

https://reliefweb.int/report/sudan/dtm-sudan-monthly-displacement-overview-october-2023…

https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/4296896/diplomat-says-15-syrians-killed-amid-clashes-sudan…

https://theguardian.com/world/2023/may/07/eritrea-accused-of-forcibly-repatriating-civilians-caught-up-in-sudan-fighting…

https://abcnews.go.com/US/2nd-american-dies-amid-violence-sudan-state-department/story?id=98877370

dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/more-than-40-children-die-in-central-darfur-camps-as-fighting-escalates…

https://dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/19-million-children-in-sudan-are-out-of-school-says-unicef

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/turkish-toddler-killed-in-ongoing-clashes-in-sudan/2875179

bnnbreaking.com/breaking-news/egyptian-doctors-killed-in-sudan-conflict-buried-in-backyard/…

https://bbc.com/news/world-africa-65821597…

https://africanews.com/2023/09/19/un-raises-alarm-over-child-deaths-in-sudan-as-health-crisis-deepens/…

https://aljazeera.com/news/2023/7/2/fighting-reignites-between-sudan-army-rsf-in-khartoum

The linked source is a more detailed Twitter thread of Sudan's timeline starting in December 2018 by Kandakat_alhaqq.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Bad King Richard got rich by exploiting workers at King’s Faire

Next Tuesday (Oct 31) at 10hPT, the Internet Archive is livestreaming my presentation on my recent book, The Internet Con.

King Richard's Faire is the largest renfaire in New England, and its owner, Dick Shapiro, extracts a reported $400k/day – a sum that is only possible thanks to systematic and likely illegal worker misclassification, which lets him pay performers sub-minimum wages and deny them benefits:

https://www.reddit.com/r/boston/comments/172267v/kings_faire_inc_aim%C3%A9e_bonnie_shapiro_nets_over/

Many of the performers at KRF are absolutely unpaid – these are the "villagers" – who mill about looking picturesque in exchange for free admission. They even have to buy their own turkey legs.

When the faire is rained out, all workers – "volunteers" and paid workers – are sent home without any compensation. Attendees are also sent home with rain-checks, many of which go unused (there's no refunds in the land of King Richard).

Staff work from 8am to 730pm and are paid a day-rate that works out to $6/hour. After heavy weather events, staff are ordered to show up early to do cleanup, but are not paid for their time. Staff don't get health benefits – instead, local community groups like the Elks put on fundraisers to cover the health-care costs of the performers.

Now, King Richard's worker mistreatment is not an outlier in the medieval reenactment industry. Think of how the knights at Medieval Times – who put on nightly, potentially lethal performances to generate profit for their employer – unionized in the face of exploitative labor relations. To add insult to injury, Medieval Times sued the union, arguing that its name – "Medieval Times Performers United" – was a trademark infringement:

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/medieval-times-sues-union-trademark_n_63485fa5e4b0b7f89f54546b

This trademark wheeze is the latest desperate tactic to be deployed by the ruling class in the face of a surging labor movement with broad public support. Starbucks – one of the world's most notorious unionbusters – is doing the same thing to its union, Starbucks Workers United:

https://seattle.eater.com/23923490/starbucks-workers-united-union-lawsuits-copyright-trademark-israel-hamas-palestine-social-media

These moves are wildly out of step with the current of public opinion, which has swung hard for union rights in a manner not seen in generations. The outpourings of public support for striking entertainment industry workers were handwaved away as exceptions driven by the public's love of actors and writers. But that doesn't explain the strong, ongoing support for the UAW in their strike against all of the Big Three automakers:

https://pro.morningconsult.com/instant-intel/uaw-strike-public-opinion-october-2023

Bosses have always tried to smash worker power by dividing workers – by race, gender, or "skill" – but workers are workers and solidarity is the source of worker power. That's why the whole labor movement backed Equity Stripper NoHo, the first strippers' union in a generation:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/14/prop-22-never-again/#norms-code-laws-markets

Creative workers are part of a class of workers who suffer from "vocational awe," the sense that because your job is satisfying and/or worthy, you don't deserve to get paid for it:

https://www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2018/vocational-awe/

(Think of joke about the father who finds his runaway son at the circus shoveling elephant shit: "Son, come home!" "What, and quit show-business?")

Creative workers have long been encouraged to see themselves as "independent businesspeople" – LLCs with MFAs – and this mind-zap is augmented with our bosses' repeated insistence that the unions are for big burly blue-collar workers, not ethereal dreamers and pencil-pushers. Our bosses tell this story because it discourages us from forming unions and demanding fair pay and good working conditions (obviously).

Think of J Edward Keyes, the cartoon villain who serves as editorial director of Bandcamp. When the workers Keyes managed formed the Bandcamp United union, Keyes called them "white-collar tech workers…appropriating the language of the legitimately oppressed," adding "Fuuuuuck Bandcamp United":

https://www.404media.co/bandcamp-editorial-director-fuuuuuck-bandcamp-united/

Keyes's contempt notwithstanding, it's clear why Bandcamp workers need a union – after the company was flipped twice in rapid succession, its new owners, Epic Games and Songtradr, fired all its unionized workers. Keyes responded to coverage of this mass firing by calling the Pitchfork reporters who wrote about it "absloute amateur journalists."

The attempt to divide-and-rule "knowledge workers" from "industrial workers" is a transparent bid to shatter solidarity and make it easier to abuse and exploit all workers. Thankfully, workers are wise to that gambit, and understand that when all kinds of workers struggle together, they win.

Take the UAW strikes: for many years, the UAW was an objectively bad union, ruled over by a dirty-tricking clique who sold out the membership. It's normal to blame workers for bad leaders, but the UAW old guard had rigged union elections, making sure that they would stay in charge. It's not workers that like corrupt unions – it's bosses.

Before the UAW could fight back against their bosses, they had to fight back their bosses' minions in the upper ranks of their own union. That's where the the Harvard Grad Students' Union comes in. After years of worsening exploitation and working conditions, the Harvard Grad Students organized under the UAW, then joined forces with reformers in the union to oust the corrupt leadership.

During the leadership struggle, Harvard Grad Students helped their comrades from the auto-sector master the union's baroque constitution, so when the old guard tried to prevent motions from reaching the floor, the grad students were able to cite chapter and verse back at them. In the end, grad students and auto-workers together won the victory that paved the way for the strikes:

https://theintercept.com/2023/04/07/deconstructed-union-dhl-teamsters-uaw/

A strong, unified labor movement is necessary if America is to save itself from inequality, racism, the climate emergency – the whole polycrisis. The idea that creative workers aren't workers is bullshit – and so is the lie that all workers are uncreative. The "Worker As Futurist" project recruits Amazon drivers and warehouse writers to write science fiction about a future without Amazon:

https://jacobin.com/2023/09/amazon-workers-sci-fi-writing-bezos-imagination-speculative-future

They call this a "belief that rank-and-file workers, whose bodies and minds are exploited by capital, might have access to some knowledge about capitalism that is beyond even the most brilliant theorist or analyst of capitalism."

All workers can and should tell their own story. Doing so isn't just a way to change the narrative – it's also a way to change policy. The new merger guidelines from the FTC and DOJ Antitrust Division explicitly incorporate labor-market effects into antitrust policy. As Brian Callaci and Sandeep Vaheesan write for The Sling, the testimony of workers and unions can help produce the evidentiary basis for blocking the mergers that lead to monopolies:

https://www.thesling.org/workers-are-an-untapped-resource-for-antitrust-enforcers/

The rising labor movement is a force for profound change in every part of our economy and politics. Workers can be our knights in shining armor.

https://www.thesling.org/workers-are-an-untapped-resource-for-antitrust-enforcers/

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/25/huzzah/#bad-king-richard

[opencommunion]

"As Europe drowned in Palestinian blood, European verbal sadism softened and has been exchanged for a few grimaces and tragic statements in the media forced by the mountain of chopped-up Palestinian bodies. But ultimately, the support of all European governments for 'Israel' in its genocide has remained intact as seen in the refusal to join South Africa's demand at the ICJ. The hands of all are soaked in blood. The European position is cloaked in a gigantic refined hypocrisy that includes some votes in the UN Security Council in favor of a ceasefire but no real action in their governments.

... Whoever controls with his hand the taps of armament, economic, commercial, or institutional, to open or close them at will, is in practice the one who directs the genocide and ethnic cleansing in Palestine. The European and US governments operate with their hands these taps that feed the Zionist regime, because 'Israel' is not self-sufficient and maintains a circular colonial economy of dependence on the Western metropolis. To this is added an important trade with Turkey and the supply of fuel from Azerbaijan and Iraqi Kurdistan, which also comes to it through Turkey.

... Israeli GDP fell by 20% in the last quarter of 2023 due to the staggering spending on the war machine of $300 million per day ($10 billion per month), unsustainable for a population smaller than that of Portugal. Other factors are added to this, such as the paralysis in many economic sectors, the hundreds of thousands of internally displaced Israeli settlers who have emptied the settlements near the dividing line with Lebanon and Gaza, the reduction of commercial exchange, or the disappearance of foreign tourism, among others.

These figures would have led to the collapse of any country of that size, and it is obvious that there is assisted ventilation from the European metropolis and the USA. Therefore, Europe and the USA are leading in practice this genocide and exploration of ethnic cleansing to culminate their colonial project in Palestine.

... Despite all this gigantic coalition of criminal forces and the beginning of a months-long period of sadistic mass torture, today, as a year ago, as on October 7, my prediction is that the Palestinians will resist in Palestine, even if 'Israel' manages to explode a regional open war and in that gigantic chaos further escalates the massacre. 

The Palestinians will defeat the mental Dark Ages of Europe and the USA by resisting with their feet on their land, with the weapons they can dispose of, and by having the necessary and sufficient (non-Western) allies as the Algerians or the Vietnamese had. The colonial regimes applied greater sadism the closer they came to their end, and likewise, the Israeli regime will intensify its internal decomposition, accelerating its horizon of collapse. This statement is not the product of naive optimism, nor is it because the academic Ilan Pappe says so. It is because the recent history of colonialism tells us so, and above all, because it is reaffirmed by the Palestinians who are piled up on the colossal firing squad of the Gaza wall."

Daniel Lobato for Al Mayadeen, "US, Europe conducting the genocide, and their colony in Palestine, 'Israel', is executing it," 3 March 24

[iww-gnv]

Monogram Meat Snacks was slapped with a $140,164 fine after a Chandler, Minnesota factory run by the company was found in violation of child labor laws. The manufacturer is a subsidiary of Monogram Food Solutions LLC, which operates 13 factories across seven states and produces items like Wild Bill's Jerky, Bull's Snack Sticks, and Butterball Smoked Turkey Sticks. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the company had 11 or more children between the ages of 15 and 17 years old working at its Minnesota factory. Underage employees were even tasked with operating dangerous machinery. During an investigation that began in March 2023, the Labor Department temporarily banned the company from shipping its meat and cheese products from the facility. In July 2023, the DoL initially fined the company $30,276, after it was revealed that the facility employed two minors, aged 16 and 17. The additional civil penalty, which the company agreed to pay on October 5, comes following the discovery of nine more underage workers.

[prettyvintageafternoon]

So, apparently we're suing movements - not people, movements because companies are losing profits. Yes, that is what we are doing now.

Now, I'm neither Muslim nor Jewish so I'm not coming at this from any religious perspective. I'm just trying to figure out what the objective of suing a movement is supposed to be?

McDonalds in Israel publicly came out after Oct. 7th and provided free meals for the Israeli Defense Forces while kids in Gaza are starving, and that information spread through the media - especially social media channels, like wildfire. Everybody knew McDonald's was throwing support behind Israel following Oct. 7th, despite the cost to Palestinians.

How are you gonna get mad at other people for acknowledging what your brand freely chose to do?

And you can even make the case the other McDonald's companies warned about the decision to associate with Israel in October 2023...because they did.

McDonald's franchises in predominantly Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and Jordan publicly disassociated themselves from the McDonald's in Israel.

Yes, McDonald's franchises only carry the licenses for the brand and act independently, but one McDonald's chose to provide food for soldiers that are slaughtering families and it's a hit to the brand as a whole. How can you try to sue people for not wanting to associate with that?

[starquestingfordrarry]

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Fics

Over 10k

Simulation Theory | E | 35k

An offer to test out a new invention for Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes turns into a whole lot more when Harry discovers who has the other part of the paired set.

With Love in Her Luminous Eyes | T | 30k includes art by myself and ItsPhantasmagoria

The Demiguise lived in Grimmauld Place, and she lived all alone.

Half Sick of Shadows | E | 39.7k

Harry and Draco have been sleeping together for months, and it's fine. It's enough for Harry. But when things finally start to feel like the more Harry's been hoping for, a strange tapestry project has him worrying he won't ever get the chance. Or: the one with sheep, dragons, and a whole lot of weaving metaphors.

Of easy wind and downy flake | E | 14k | gift for ItsPhantasmagoria

It’s snowing in July, and it’s Malfoy’s fault. Or, the one where the house wants the boys to kiss.

Strange Entanglements (the particles of us) | E | 15.3k | gift for wilfriede

Harry and Draco are colleagues, buried in their own sub-sections of the Department of Mysteries. When Draco's career-making experiment goes terribly wrong, they end up far closer than either could have imagined.

People Are Boring | E | 14.3k | Dronarry

“Alright, what’s your terrible news?” Draco braces himself on Harry’s desk. “Weasley’s hot.” “You’ll have to be more specific, there are a lot of hot Weasleys.” Draco makes a strangled, groaning sound in his throat. “The Weasley. Weasel. Weasel-by. Your Weasley.” Harry’s heart jumps to his throat, and his stomach drops to his shoes. “Ron’s back?”

Under 10k

Measure My Lordship With Thine Vulgar Aye | M | 1k

Draco buys some Muggle magnets for the office.

Round Robin: Mud, Bath & Beyond (chapter 5) | E | 7.2k

Draco and Harry are up to something on a Muggle Studies field trip (to a field).

Draco L Malfoy (the L stands for legs) | E | 1.8km | gift for NoxNoir

Harry could spend the rest of his life in the embrace of Draco Malfoy’s legs. If he was lucky, he would.

We Don't Have Thanksgiving, Potter, But You're Still Getting Stuffed | E | 1.6k

Harry stuffs the turkey, Draco stuffs Harry

His Favorite Word | T | 0.2k | gift for minty_petals

Harry has a new favorite word

Eyes All Aglow | G | 3.4k

Sequel to With Love in Her Luminous Eyes. Lenore's first Christmas.

Lover, Tempt My Vow | G | 1.2k

Draco has something to ask. Sequel to Measure My Lordships With Thine Vulgar Aye

Your Hot Hands | E | 7.5k

Draco always wanted to know where Harry Potter disappeared to. This is not what he expected.

'Neath Arbor Eaves | E | 3k

Harry and Draco are stranded in the Forbidden Forest. What horrors lurk in the shadows?

both lips on the mirror | E | 4.1k

Harry doesn't mean to watch Malfoy masturbate

Art

Drawtober 2023 | E | Digital

Drawings done in October following the prompts from boshspice's boshhptober2023 (most of them are combined because I have poor time management skills)

I couldn't convince myself to turn you away | T | Digital | gift for arminaa

inspired by Within You Without You

to the sundered earth | G | Digital | gift for apricitydays

inspired by Once More to Arcady

Muggle Studies, Lesson 1: Recreation | G | Digital | gift for Inheartofwinter

Harry takes Draco to a muggle amusement park

Phallus impudicus | E | Digital | gift for DodgerKedavra

On a foraging trip through a fall forest, Harry finds a bountiful harvest

Branta canadensis | G | Digital | for FellyTone

Harry protects Draco from a killer goose

[mosabeldali]

The War on Gaza: 332 Days of Continuous Conflict ‼️

Since October 7, 2023, Gaza has been engulfed in a continuous state of war, with intense military operations now entering their 332nd day. This conflict, one of the longest and deadliest in the history of clashes between Israel and Palestinian factions, has brought immense human suffering and environmental and economic disasters, affecting all aspects of life in the besieged enclave.

Humanitarian Situation

As military operations persist, the humanitarian situation in Gaza has deteriorated sharply. The population of the enclave is living under a tight blockade, leading to severe shortages of food, medicine, and fuel. Health facilities are barely functioning amidst a rising number of injuries and casualties.

Children, women, and the elderly have been the most affected by this prolonged war, with poverty and unemployment rates reaching unprecedented levels. Additionally, the population suffers from acute shortages of clean drinking water and electricity, exacerbating their daily hardships.

International Stance

Despite widespread international condemnation and repeated offers of mediation to halt the fighting, diplomatic efforts have so far made no tangible progress. The parties continue to exchange accusations of thwarting peace efforts, while countries like Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey persist in attempts to broker a long-term ceasefire.

War’s Impact

Economically, Gaza is facing near-total collapse in its infrastructure. Thousands of homes and vital facilities, including schools and hospitals, have been destroyed, making reconstruction a massive challenge that requires extensive international efforts.

The environment in Gaza has not been spared from the war’s impact either, as agricultural lands have been polluted and destroyed, threatening the food security of the population.

Conclusion

After 332 days of relentless fighting, Gaza remains in a state of loss and uncertainty. The ongoing war casts a shadow over the entire region, foretelling long-term implications for peace and stability in the Middle East. What the Palestinian people urgently need now is an end to this war and the establishment of a lasting political solution that ends decades of conflict and suffering.

This article summarizes the current situation of the ongoing war in Gaza, highlighting the humanitarian, political, and economic aspects of this prolonged conflict.

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

There is also a border with Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea. And, lest anyone forget, there is a maze of underground tunnels one recently-freed Israeli hostage calls "Lower Gaza" which presents numerous illegal exit opportunities.

As Ari Zivotofsky observes in the Jerusalem Post, a September 19, 2023, episode of the Palestinian television show Emigration claimed that, "in the past 15 years a quarter of a million young Palestinians left for abroad." In 2022, over 15,000 of them who lived abroad (having apparently escaped the "prison") willingly returned to it to celebrate the feast of Eid al-Adha.

This is not how prisons work.

The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) has been running a series on "Gaza Before October 7" refuting the "concentration camp" and "open-air prison" claims with pictures and videos. The first two episodes follow Palestinian "influencer" Yousef Alhelou as he travels around Gaza, showing off the top spots for tourists, including a gold market. Subsequent episodes include an Al-Jazeera feature of the economic boom in Gaza, Turkish television reports on the markets of Gaza, and various Arab media outlets covering the many sporting events in Gaza.

Hamas propagandists argue that Gazans are denied goods and services they are entitled to because of Israel's "land, water, and sea blockade," but Israel only blocks weapons from entering Gaza. Even after October 7, Israel has continued to supply electricity, food, and medicine.

What the "pro-Palestine" luminaries will never admit is that Israel has been forced into controlling Gaza's ports by the long history of weapons shipped there. In 2001, two vessels, the Calypso and the Santorini, were seized with weapons destined for Palestinian terrorists, and in 2002, a Palestinian ship called the Karine A was seized with 50 tons of Iranian weapons destined for Gaza. Since then, Israel has acted to prevent further shipments of weapons from reaching Gaza by sea. In 2007, after Hamas took over Gaza completely, Israel imposed an inspections regime and began more aggressively searching ships for smuggled weapons. Food and medicine are not prevented from entering Gaza.

Poor access to healthcare is another complaint about life in the Gaza "open-air prison." In April 2023, the Jerusalem-based anti-Israel activist group B'Tselem faulted Israel for preventing Palestinians from leaving Gaza in order to be treated in Israeli hospitals. But Israel treats plenty of Palestinians. Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh sends his entire family to Israel for medical care. In 2013 his 1-year-old granddaughter was treated in an Israeli hospital; in 2014 his daughter was treated at Tel Aviv's Ichilov Hospital and his mother-in-law was treated at Jerusalem's Augusta Victoria Hospital; in 2021 his niece was treated at Ichilov Hospital. Just this month, it was reported that Haniyeh's grandniece was being treated at the Soroka Medical Center in Beersheva. But why should any Gazans be treated in Israeli hospitals? There are 36 hospitals in Gaza, many of which are run by foreign nations (Indonesia, Turkey, Jordan, European countries) serving a population of around 2 million.

Of course, hospitals in Gaza are dual-purpose buildings, offering both healthcare and camouflage for the entrances to Hamas's elaborate subterranean infrastructure. An IDF spokesman said that "Hamas systematically built the Indonesian Hospital to disguise its underground terror infrastructure." The Al-Shifa hospital, where IDF soldiers found a stash of rifles, ammunition, and ballistic vests, also sits atop a major tunnel junction. IDF soldiers recently found unopened boxes of medicine for Israeli hostages at the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.

If Gaza is a prison, Hamas is the jailer.

[usafphantom2]

Why, 100 years later, the power of aircraft carriers is still incomparable

The U.S. response to the recent attack on Israel highlights the lasting usefulness of aircraft carriers.

Fernando Valduga By Fernando Valduga 12/11/2023 - 18:57in Military, War Zones

On October 8, a few hours after the unprecedented attack on Israel, the Pentagon publicly resorted to its greatest military resource. While the clashes between Israeli forces and Hamas terrorists continued throughout southern Israel, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin ordered the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford to enter the eastern Mediterranean Sea.

The mobilization made it very clear that the U.S. had become aware of the crisis and was preparing to respond. He also made it clear that - despite recent pronouncements that question their value, given their surprising cost and vulnerability - aircraft carriers are still part of modern war.

HMS Argus, widely considered the first aircraft carrier in the world in the 1920s.

The aircraft carrier is just over a hundred years old. Initially conceived as a warship scout to locate the enemy fleet with its aircraft, the Imperial Japanese Navy demolished this concept during World War II, uniting several aircraft carriers to create an attack force with greater range and heavier attack capacity than a line of warships.

The attack on Pearl Harbor, when six aircraft carriers attacked the U.S. Pacific Fleet in Hawaii, catapulted the aircraft carrier to the top as the dominant weapons system in the seas.

When a weapon reaches the top of your domain, it is natural to assume that someday your reign will end. The Greek phalanx, the knight, the battleship, the warship and other weapons dominated the land and the sea, only to be set aside - violently and unceremoniously - by a new and innovative weapon. Aircraft carriers have remained at the top of the war in multiple domains for more than 80 years, and not even a new weapon has been designed that could replace them.

USS Liscome Bay transporting aircraft to San Diego on September 20, 1943. (Photo: U.S. Navy)

Admirals like to point out that a Nimitz or Ford class aircraft carrier represents "4.5 acres of American sovereign territory". Aircraft carriers are owned by the U.S. government and are so large that they are effectively American territory - a floating island of American power that can move anywhere in the world's oceans. In addition, wherever they go, American territory remains, and their actions are not limited by anyone except the U.S. government... and the enemy.

This advantage is particularly evident in the Israel-Gaza crisis. The U.S. military maintains air bases around the world, but coverage is irregular. The closest American air base to Israel is the Incirlik air base in Turkey, at a distance of 300 miles away. Aircraft flying from Turkey to Israel would also have to fly over Syria, a hostile country with its own air force. Giving Syria ample space would require flying about 160 extra kilometers and fighter escorts, increasing the complexity of reaching Israel. Another layer of complexity is that the Turkish host government may not be politically in agreement with the U.S. government on the mission.

The aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, on the other hand, can anchor in international waters off the coast of Israel and get as close as it wants (although not very close, since Hezbollah operates anti-ship missiles). Ford's four F/A-18E/F attack fighter squadrons have a straight and uninterrupted line to any point on the eastern Mediterranean coast. The U.S. government can order Ford to do everything it wants, including ordering it to combat, without the need for coordination with a host government. This ensures that the U.S. government, which is not exactly known for making quick decisions, can quickly take unilateral measures when necessary.

The current role of aircraft carriers includes the carrying out of air strikes against terrorist groups such as ISIS, Hezbollah and Hamas, and the dropping of guided bombs on enemies who cannot really react. This was true 20 years ago, when the end of the Cold War and September 11 changed the Pentagon's focus from the war between great powers to counter-insurgency. But although the mission has changed, the broad capabilities have remained the same and the aircraft carriers are still able to face threats on a broad spectrum, from ISIS to the People's Liberation Army of China.

Combat is not the only mission that aircraft carriers can perform. Aircraft carriers can carry out humanitarian assistance and humanitarian aid missions in real time, such as those carried out by the USS Ronald Reagan after the Fukushima earthquake in 2011. While Japan and the United States mobilized to rescue survivors and assess the damage, the Reagan served as a floating helipad for helicopters from both countries in an area where local airports and airfields were destroyed by earthquakes and tsunamis. Nothing else can function as a mobile and disaster-proof airfield as an aircraft carrier.

The U.S. government uses aircraft carriers to communicate with both friends and enemies, both as an instrument of assurance and intimidation. Although the aircraft carriers had not yet been invented when Teddy Roosevelt first said, "speak softly and carry a big club", they are the great club exemplified. Nothing draws more attention than a full-fledged aircraft carrier attack group arriving in the neighborhood, with 44 attack fighters, a cruiser and two destroyers in tow, and a nuclear-powered attack submarine prowling somewhere nearby.

Aircraft carriers can signal the intention like no other weapons system. If an attack submarine appears on your shore, you will probably have no idea that it is there. If a B-2 stealth bomber crew is training to attack targets in your country, you won't know unless they execute the mission. But if an aircraft carrier appears on your coast, it's impossible not to know. It is also a clear sign that you are on Washington's radar - and not in a good way.

From time to time the usefulness of aircraft carriers is questioned. Usually, it is only a matter of months before something, such as the ongoing crisis in Israel and Gaza, proves its usefulness again.

Aircraft carriers have their problems: they are expensive to buy, expensive to operate and expensive to discard when they end their useful life. Still, in a crisis, there is no other weapon system that can do so much before even firing a shot. Someday, something will replace the aircraft carrier - but that day is not today.

Source: Popular Mechanics

Tags: Military Aviationaircraft carrierUSN - United States Navy/U.S. NavyWar Zones - Middle East

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Fernando Valduga

Fernando Valduga

Aviation photographer and pilot since 1992, has participated in several events and air operations, such as Cruzex, AirVenture, Dayton Airshow and FIDAE. He has work published in specialized aviation magazines in Brazil and abroad. Uses Canon equipment during his photographic work in the world of aviation.

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[good-old-gossip]

Meet the collaborators of Israel's Genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank!!!

Egyptian exports to Israel doubled in 2024 compared to the previous year despite Israel’s devastating war on Gaza since October, according to a new report by Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics.

The data published on Thursday showed that Egyptian exports in May 2024 stood at $25m, double that of the same period in 2023.

Despite increasingly fraught relations, energy and security cooperation between the two countries has intensified since October, with Israeli natural gas exports to Egypt sharply increasing in the last year.

Meanwhile, exports from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to Israel also increased to $242m in May 2024, compared to $238.5m in May 2023, the report said. Jordanian exports to Israel also continued to rise in 2024, reaching $35.7m in May 2024 compared to $32.3m in the same period last year.

In contrast to Egypt, the UAE and Jordan, Israeli statistics found that Turkish exports to Israel dropped by over half in 2024 compared to the previous year amid the Turkish trade ministry’s restrictions on exports to the country over the war in Gaza.

In May 2023, Turkish exports to Israel amounted to $376.6m, a value that plummeted to $116.8m in May 2024.

Israel’s trade with Egypt grew by 56 percent in 2023 and was up 168 percent year-on-year in the fourth quarter, according to the Abraham Accords Peace Institute report.

In 2022, the two countries set a target for annual trade at around $700 million by 2025, up from about $300 million in 2021.

Trade between Turkey and Israel continues through third countries like Greece, despite Ankara’s decision to halt direct trade with Tel Aviv over the Rafah invasion in May, according to data released on Thursday.

Figures from Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) reveal that Israel imported $116m worth of goods from Turkey in May, marking a 69 percent decline from the $377m in the same month last year.

In contrast, the Turkish Exporters’ Assembly (TIM) recorded only $4m worth of goods exported to Israel in May, a drop of over 99 percent compared to the previous year.

However, two Turkish businesspeople facilitating trade between Turkey and Israel informed Middle East Eye that since early May, Turkish goods have been re-routed through Greece and other nearby countries to reach Israel.

This shift follows Ankara’s proclaimed imposition of a total trade ban on Israel until a permanent ceasefire in Gaza is established.

“The Israeli authorities don’t even ask Turkish companies to amend their certificate of origin to re-export the goods through Greece because it would increase the costs further, so they are Turkish products,” one Turkish businessman told MEE.

Businesses favour Greece due to its proximity to Turkey’s industrial base and its comparatively cheaper shipping options to Israel.

TIM data indicate that Turkey’s exports to Greece surged to $375m in May, up 71 percent from $219m in the same month last year.

Israeli data from May doesn’t show an increase in the quantity of imports from Greece, despite the Turkish re-exports. Murat Yapici, the general manager of My Advisor consultancy, told MEE that Israeli records more accurately reflect the bilateral trade since they are based on the origin of the goods, even if they come through third countries like Greece.

The trade volume between the two countries was $6.3bn in 2023, with 76 percent being Turkish exports, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute. Turkey had been a key supplier of affordable products to Israel.

[ysr219]

Erdoğan talks about the situation in Palestine meanwhile since the 4th october, 2023, Turkey has been bombing the civilian infrastructure in Rojava (northern and eastern Syria). Turkey has bombed more than 150 targets so far: a lot of the region's vital infrastructure was damaged or destroyed within hours. Turkey's attacks have left dozens of civilian dead and injured and destroyed 80 percent of civilian infrastructure so far, including water and energy supplies, hospitals, residential areas, schools, oil fields, factories and warehouses. Hundreds of thousands of people have been cut off from electricity and water supplies for days. The Corona Hospital in Dêrik, one of the most important hospitals of its kind in the region, was also completely destroyed by the Turkish air strikes.

Hypocrisy at its peak.