#a government that sees the west as its enemy

[milverton]

The Tiananmen Square protests were student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, lasting from 15 April to 4 June 1989. Although they were highly disorganised and their goals varied, the students called for things like rollback of the removal of "iron rice bowl" jobs, greater accountability, constitutional due process, democracy, freedom of the press, and freedom of speech. At the height of the protests, about one million people assembled in the square.

After several weeks of standoffs and violent confrontations between the army and demonstrators left many on both sides severely injured, a meeting held among the CCP's top leadership on 1 June concluded with a decision to clear the square. The troops advanced into central parts of Beijing on the city's major thoroughfares in the early morning hours of 4 June and engaged in bloody clashes with demonstrators attempting to block them, in which many people – demonstrators, bystanders, and soldiers – were killed. Estimates of the death toll vary from several hundred to several thousand, with thousands more wounded.

In the aftermath of the protests, the Chinese government suppressed other protests around China, carried out mass arrests of protesters, strictly controlled coverage of the events in the domestic and foreign affiliated press, and demoted or purged officials it deemed sympathetic to the protests. The government also invested heavily into creating more effective police riot control units.

Considered a watershed event, reaction to the protests set limits on political expression in China that have lasted up to the present day. The events remain one of the most sensitive and most widely censored topics in China.

The Chinese government continues to forbid discussions about the Tiananmen Square protests and has taken measures to block or censor related information, in an attempt to suppress the public's memory of the Tiananmen Square protests. Textbooks contain little, if any, information about the protests. After the protests, officials banned controversial films and books and shut down many newspapers. Within a year, 12% of all newspapers, 8% of all publishing companies, 13% of all social science periodicals, and more than 150 films were either banned or shut down. The government also announced that it had seized 32 million contraband books and 2.4 million video and audio cassettes.

Print media that contain references to the protests must be consistent with the government's version of events. Domestic and foreign journalists are detained, harassed, or threatened, as are their Chinese colleagues and any Chinese citizens who they interview.

Many young people who were born after 1980 are unfamiliar with the events and are therefore apathetic about politics. Youth in China are sometimes unaware of the events, the symbols which are associated with them or the significance of the date of the massacre 4 June itself.

[intheholler]

On Appalachian and Southern Stereotypes

After seeing some people leap at the opportunity to insult and further harm us under my posts, even by obviously leftist accounts, I wanted to address some of the most popular stereotypes of our region.

Not as an excuse. There are many negative, violent and otherwise harmful features of the American South. We have a horrific history especially in terms of the violence we inflicted and continue to inflict upon the Black community that cannot be forgotten, and, as a culture, we do need to pay our dues.

But maybe this will help y’all apply some nuance to the situation and understand that we aren’t all your enemy.

Stereotype 1: Everyone is a Republican Racist

Absolute horse shit, my friends. There are people like me all over the south and in the hollers. We just get drowned out by the fascists, and it is all by design. 

In my home state of North Carolina alone, they are working tirelessly to make it impossible for young, often liberal (if not outright leftist) voices to be heard. They specifically target regions with heavy POC populations.

As recently as May of this year, the North Carolina Supreme Court overturned their own previous ruling which once made gerrymandering illegal. This allows Republicans free range to draw their congressional lines wherever benefits them most. 

Meanwhile, Roy Cooper, our Democratic governor, has been in office since 2017.

Gerrymandering is a real problem, and it reflects the worst of us. But it does not reflect all of us.

We are a working class, pro-union people.

We are coal miners and mill workers and farmers.

We took up arms against the government and fought for our labor rights during the Coal Wars as recently as the 1920s.

We bled for labor rights at the Battle of Blair Mountain.

It’s a myth that you keep perpetuating that we are all closed minded, bigoted regressionists. It diminishes the efforts of everyone from the coal miners to people like me while we try to make the region a better place.

It actually only worsens what you say that you wish you could “saw off into the ocean.” 

That's my home you're talking about.

Stereotype 2: Everyone is Obese

36.3% of the overall population of the Southeast is obese. This is true.

Have you considered why that may be? For starters, Southerners are more likely to be uninsured compared to individuals living in the rest of the country.

"Among the total nonelderly population, 15% of individuals in the South are uninsured compared to 10% of individuals in the rest of the country."

Partially because they didn't even expand the same Medicaid benefits to us. and partially because we are just so fucking poor. 

17% of the American South is below the poverty line, compared to 13% in the Midwest, 13% in the West, and 13% in the Northeast.

Percentages under 5% may not seem like much, but when you consider 1% of the total United States population is around 3,140,000 people, yeah, that adds up real quick.

How does this relate? Well...

Mississippi has 19.58% of its residents below the poverty line, and a 39.1% obesity rate.

West Virginia has 17.10% of its residents below the poverty line, and a 40.6 % obesity rate.

Kentucky has 16.61% of its residents below the poverty line, and a 40.4% obesity rate.

Are you seeing the trend?

We, generally speaking, are more likely to be unable to afford to feed ourselves wholesome foods, and we are less likely to be able to afford medical insurance--two things that are obviously important to maintaing good health and a "healthy" weight.

By the same token... 

Stereotype #3: We're All Uneducated 

The South and Appalachia are some of the lowest ranked in terms of educational funding and spending per pupil in the entire country. We don't even break the top 30 on the list, y'all.

49. Tennessee at $8,324 per pupil 47. Mississippi at $8,919 per pupil 45. Alabama at $9,636 per pupil 42. Kentucky at $10,010 per pupil 36. North Carolina at $10,613 per pupil 35. South Carolina at  $10,719 per pupil 33. Georgia at $10,893 per pupil 32. West Virginia at $10,984 per pupil

The top three best-funded states, by comparison, receive between $18k and $20k per pupil.

In terms of higher education, student loans are a death sentence for everyone but especially impoverished kids just looking for a way out. It just isn't feasible for most of us. And that's if we even tested well after going to shitty schools our whole lives. If we had better education, we'd have better literacy in all things, including critical thinking, allowing us to better see through the bullshit we are taught. But we don't. And you aren't helping the ones who are trying in spite of that.

Stereotype 4: Bad Teeth

Quickly going to touch on this one--when we consider a lack of access to affordable, healthy food, shitty medical insurance in general and our poverty rate, this one is kind of obvious. Even so:

“Dental coverage was significantly lower than the national average in the South Atlantic (45.6%), East South Central (45.6%), West South Central (45.9%), and Pacific (48.0%) regions.”

Every time you make a toothless hillbilly joke, ask if poverty is really the butt of the joke you want to be making.

These are just the most pervasive of them, imo. And they can all be underlined by extreme poverty which is absolutely by design.

It also contributes to why it isn’t so easy to “just leave” as we are so often dismissively told to do. Moving is expensive.

And why should we have to, anyway? Why should we have to flee our homes?

Why, for those who feel safe enough and/or have no other choice, should we not stay and fight to better the region?

And why can’t you other leftists get behind us and help us in our fight instead of perpetuating harmful stereotypes? We're your people, too.

Just some food for thought. And I hope some of y’all take a big ol bite.

[metamatar]

im asking this out of pure ignorance but I've always wondered how does hinduism handle people who are not hindu? i know Christianity is essentially 'be the right kind of christian or go to hell' (so much as to beleive that Jewish people are literally devils, for example) but i was wondering how hinduism deals w people who are in proximity but not of the same religion. also if a dalit or lower caste person converts from hinduism to another religion, how does that affect thier life and how they're treated? appreciate your answer if u feel like explaining ^__^

it depends, in some parts of the country the non hindu has the same status as the lower caste dalit by default – so exclusion but in most places its a detente where religious and caste endogamy is strictly maintained. housing and employment discrimination is v common. its actually much harder to marry under the special mariage act and violence against interfaith and intercaste couples by their own families is common. in 2023, the muslim is the designated enemy of the state. the christian was fooled by the british and/or money to give up their culture or is literally a foreign agent. if you're looking for a textual answer, the equivalent of the "infidel," there isn’t really one because the streamlining of the canonical religious texts and construction of the hindu is recent. hinduism has aimed to appropriate instead of convert.

in modern india, legally anyone who is not a christian or a muslim is treated as a hindu. you are hindu by default in india to the state, governed by hindu codes for marriage and inheritance. for indigenous tribals it is a matter of coercing their children to feel shame at the (state sponsored but outsourced to private religious groups, love privatisation!!!) residential schools about their animist practices and making them worship the proper gods. for sikhs, jains and buddhists their is marginally more toleration. but they are basically seen as wayward hindu sects. this does change when they're in conflict with the majority in a way that resists "national cohesion" – see sikh pogroms in 1984 and the recent moves against sikhism due to the invocation of khalistan in the farmers protests. when dalits convert to buddhism many right wingers will invoke the spectre of predatory conversions.

since you are supposed to be hindu by default, christians and muslims are then seen as invasive outsiders and conversions are regulated very strictly by many states. it is historically true that christian missionaries brought christianity as part of a broader civilising mission, but imo it says something really depressing about hinduism that its epithets for christians is 'ricebag converts' bc people apparently converted for a bag of rice. islam's foothold in the continent is older, accompanying immigration from the west as well as the sultanate and the mughals. returning these christians and muslims to the fold, or "ghar wapsi" is a major project of the hindutva right. note that india is home to one of the world's largest populations of muslims (~200mil).

lower caste dalits have long converted to christianity and islam but caste violence follows them there anyway. caste may have textual origins in religion and focus on ritual purity but it is a socioeconomic form of subjugation. this means that while still subject to caste violence, dalit christians and muslims will be denied redressal through state protections like legislations against anti caste violence or reservations because those are restricted to hindu dalits.

[thatswhywelovegermany]

Information board at the former border separating West and East Germany

Anyone who visits the zone border should know:

There is no enemy over there —

because there is Germany over there, Germans like us live there. What separates us – wire fences, control strips, mine barriers, watch towers, earth bunkers, barriers and roadblocks – is not a border, but an expression of arbitrariness and fear of those in power. These rulers have been forced upon part of our people by the Soviet occupying powers. What becomes visible in the zone boundary is the suffering of the population with their longing for law and freedom – for when would a government have ever had to capture happy and free citizens behind walls and death strips?

Nonetheless:

Violence and arbitrariness have supporters – conscious ones and misguided ones. We cannot know whether those people we see going about their work over there – soldiers of the NVA ("National People's Army"), farmers, workers – are supporters, followers or victims of the system. Some do not want to, many are not allowed to make contact with us. Behind all of them are informers, fanatics and a draconian judiciary.

Over there, the soldiers have orderst to take the harshest possible action – including with firearms – against any violation of the control strip.

THEREFORE: Caution is advised!

Please note the signs:

ATTENTION ZONE BORDER

Do not approach the so-called demarcation line! Its course is often not clearly recognizable. It is not always identical to the edge line of the border stones. The border fence built by the SBZ (Sowjetische Besatzungszone, Soviet Occupation Zone), the 40 to 150 meter wide strip of fallow land with double fences and mines are already in the zone area. Remember: there is no "no man's land".

Use only public roads and paths! Anyone who circumvents or climbs over the markings of the demarcation line puts health and life at risk. The misery of our people is not a playground for the unsuspecting.

Refrain from any attempt to make contact (waving, shouting, talking, taking photographs, offering gifts). This is almost always interpreted as provocation. You must also refrain from any loud expression of displeasure towards those wearing the SBZ uniform. You do not only endanger yourself, but perhaps also the livelihood and the few relationships of those people who live here on both sides of the barbed wire.

The best way to find out about the local conditions is to contact the customs authorities, the Federal Border Guard or the state police. Register with these authorities in good time, they will be happy to help you.

Hessian State Center for Political Education

[qsycomplainsalot]

Re: Pervertin or how German Supersoldiers High on Crack travelled through Space and Time Buy my Book

I came across a post on the bird site yesterday calling into attention the use of pervitin, more or less adderall, among German troops during WW2. For context pervitin tablets were indeed issued to a lot of military personnel back in those days, specifically to aircraft pilot and sometimes tank crews on long missions. The drug as some of you may have heard keeps you awake and alert, along with a slew of side effects and a non negligible chance of addiction. In a discussion that brought to view just how willing people are to buy into Nazi propaganda in the year of our f*cking lord 2023, I pointed out a few things, uphill and having to indulge a lot of sidetracking. The use of pervitin has always been a little overstated ever since it came to the internet's attention, and I certainly would never call it a key component of the Blitzkrieg when, in the theaters of war where actual Blitzkrieg was employed, its success was more due to a combination of innovative doctrines, intact fuel supplies and a big fat helping of dumb luck. It was a bold move highly relying on capturing enemy fuel depots with fast, surprise deep strikes supported by a lot of armored and air forces, and it was only sustainable in neighboring, industrialized countries. One can argue if the USSR was industrialized at the time, but it stopped mattering when the Russians removed their entire industry from the West to beyond the Ural mountains. The Blitz stalled there.

"But if it didn't work, then why did the Nazis do it so often ?" Well the answer to that is twofold. The first, longer answer is that Nazis were a bunch of f*cking morons. Maybe not one by one, but as a government in charge of military procurement, they were one bunch of goofy motherf*ckers. Gaggle of functional shit-for-brains really. The Nazis gave every one of their tanks in the middle of the war two coats of anti-magnetic paint, which took almost a full day to cure, despite being the only major nation to use magnetic antitank mines. The Nazis kept using slave labor drawn from their prisoners of war, including in the manufacturing of their overengineered armored vehicles, resulting in poor quality products or, you know, a few rivets in your magnificent Tiger tank being replaced by a cigarette butt. The Nazis spent more than half the cost of a strategic bomber on every V2 rocket, not including design costs, for less than half the payload. It ended up killing more Germans and slave workers than British people in London, for literally no strategic or tactical result with 0.4 person killed per every rocket. The second, shorter answer is that pervitin was not used that much. A lot of the arguments trying to boost its importance come from a single book, "Blitzed" by Norman Ohler, now available in twenty languages apparently, where grand claims are made by a historian who was probably more than a little tired of seeing Buzzfeed rack in the big bucks instead of him.

End note; I was called out by a bird siter after the conversation that inspired this post for even beginning to fact-check this, which they considered, and I quote, "fangirling over nazi stats". I cannot stress this enough, learning the 'bad' parts of history does not make you bad person, it is how you interact with the resulting knowledge. Unlike what they implied, I had to look for those supporting evidence. I had a hunch that such a grabbing headline about super-drugs would be fake, I knew offhand that V2 rockets killed more blues than reds, but when I had to research all that jazz about Nazis and their superweapons it was to dunk on them, not make another History Channel documentary about a time-travelling bell. Stay critical, fascists can eat shit.

[tamamita]

Whats the diff bewteen daesh & Al-qaeda?

Al-Qaeda sprung out as a rebel group against the pro-soviet communist government of Afghanistan with the leadership of Bin Ladin. Al-Qaeda is far more concerned about the interest of Muslims in SWANA and seek to overthrow the Muslim governments which they consider corrupt. Bin Ladin was more concerned about building up an islamist vanguard against the Western powers and its "Jewish" elite, and favoured large-scale, dramatic attacks against strategic or symbolic targets, such as the twin towers. While Al-Qaeda adopts some sectarian policies, they do not carry out attacks against Muslims of different branches.

DAESH is a global jihadist group concerned with the establishment of a global caliphate. It began initially as al-Qaeda of Iraq (not affiliated with Al-Qaeda despite its name) following the illegal invasion of Iraq. Composed of Iraqi Baathists, tribal Sunni leaders, etnical groups and Salafists. Al-Zarkawi was the leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq and would encourage his followers to carry out attacks against any group that did not swear allegience to their cause. As a precursor group to ISIS, they were far more sectarian and sought to establish an Islamic emirate in Iraq and its environs, often with the sole purpose of eliminating the local Shi'as, non-Muslims and Sunni "apostates". When Zarqawi was killed following a US lead operation, Abu Bakr al-BAghdadi, a former Guantanamo inmate, would shore up support due to the brutal policies of the Iraqi PM Nour al-Maliki, which affected Iraq's Sunni minority, ultimately leading to the formation of ISIS. The Islamic State embraces some of al-Qaeda's goals, but see expansionism as an effective tool to recruit new fighters and while also carrying out indiscriminate bombings against its enemies. As opposed to al-Qaeda, ISIS is also known for its atrocity propaganda, which it sees as an effective tool for mass recruitment.

In short: Al-Qaeda is concerned with the enemies from far away (the west). ISIS is concerned with the enemies nearby (literally everyone.).

[mariacallous]

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s looming return to office is causing sleepless nights in Europe. Diplomats expect Trump 2.0 will cause more headaches because the world is less stable today than it was in 2017.

Chief among their fears is the growing partnership between Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea. “Trump is getting one global theater. And everything our adversaries are doing right now seems connected,” a Western security official said, on the condition of anonymity.

It’s unclear if Trump—not shy about his domestic agenda coming first—understands exactly what the prospect of an alliance between four nuclear powers whose leaders hate the United States means.

“These are four countries who are already working together against American interests,” said Brett Bruen, former White House global engagement director. “North Korea is helping Russia invade Ukraine. Iran’s proxies are attacking ships in the Red Sea. China is buying Iranian oil. It all fits and could get worse if Trump becomes more isolationist.”

North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un’s decision to aid Russia by sending troops to Ukraine is the most surprising and ostentatious example of how the axis of autocracies might continue to grow.

The benefits to the Kremlin are obvious: Russia has suffered heavy losses since the start of the war, and North Korea is willing to help plug that gap by sending its own men to near-certain death.

What’s in it for Pyongyang is less clear. “There is significant risk of North Korean soldiers defecting as soon as they arrive in Ukraine—something the South Koreans are preparing for,” said John Everard, the former U.K. ambassador to North Korea. “Defections from his elite special forces would embarrass Kim. It would also be a major embarrassment if his troops turn out to be useless. It could damage his reputation as a man to be truly feared.”

However, Everard also said that Kim needs a backup plan. “North Korea has been almost solely reliant on China for a long time, and China has been signaling its displeasure at Kim’s new relationship with Russia,” Everard said. “Meanwhile, we don’t know what Kim is getting in return for sending troops to Russia. Perhaps he wants help developing new nuclear weapons and missile technology, or perhaps he has been forced to agree to send troops because, now that his stockpiles are exhausted, he can no longer meet Russian demands for munitions.”

NATO officials fear a global escalation of the European conflict. If North Korea continues to support Russia, does South Korea support Ukraine by sending missiles? Might Ukraine strike North Korean targets? And if it did, would North Korea demand China makes good on treaty commitments to protect North Korea? While alliance sources say that is “close to China’s worst nightmare,” it’s being seriously considered.

Anything that eases Russia’s burden in Ukraine gives Russian President Vladimir Putin room for his long-term objective: weakening the West and expanding Russian influence. Europe will continue as his primary target.

“The Kremlin and its proxies have attempted to influence multiple elections in Europe with the specific aim of installing pro-Russian politicians or governments across the continent,” said Keir Giles, a senior consulting fellow in the Russia and Eurasia program at Chatham House.

Whether it’s claims that the United States sees Europe as a colony via NATO or that Ukrainian neo-Nazis are offering human sacrifices to pagan gods, there are thousands of examples of Kremlin proxies seeking to coerce Europeans into hating Putin’s enemies. This type of activity often peaks during elections and has helped Kremlin stooges, such as Irakli Kobakhidze in Georgia, win elections or grow in strength across Europe.

Obviously, anti-West and anti-NATO sentiment is a danger in Europe itself, but it also has consequences for Americans. “The United States benefits when Europe’s economy thrives. It benefits from a strong Europe standing up for U.S. interests further afield, especially in Asia. There is no benefit to the United States if Europe becomes a Putin playground,” Giles said.

For Iran, the new axis of autocracies provides answers to some existential questions. Bluntly, Iran needs allies, and its relations with the other three are largely transactional.

“Iran plays different roles for each of these actors: To Russia, it’s a military partner and potential thorn in the side of the United States. To China, Iran is key to energy security and specifically the security of oil shipments from the Gulf,” said Mohammad Ali Shabani, editor of Amwaj.media, a website that publishes analysis on the Middle East.

Iran, a country with multiple regional enemies—chiefly Israel—might seek increased military support later. This could be of concern to the United States if the region becomes less stable in the coming years. “The main threat that Iran could potentially pose for the United States is in the region, with American military bases and other facilities potentially at risk in the event of an all-out confrontation,” Ali Shabani said.

All the potential chaos the other three can cause would suit China well, especially if Trump whacks Beijing with steep tariffs once in office.

One European diplomat explained that a common fear among their peers is that Trump doesn’t fully grasp how many moving parts there are nor how they interact with each other. There is legitimate concern, for example, that Trump will cut a deal on Ukraine and pull back from NATO. Doing so would expose European security and leave the continent vulnerable to Russia. Trump also wants to impose tariffs on European exporters.

“You cannot withdraw support for Europe’s security, hit their economies, then expect their companies to stop selling semiconductors to China or consumers to not buy cheaper Chinese goods, which means what happens in Europe now could have consequences for Taiwan, which would have consequences for allies in the Indo-Pacific. It’s all connected,” the diplomat said.

Fears that Trump doesn’t take global affairs seriously are hardly new. But what might be different in his second term is how much, or how little, attention he pays to the rest of the world.

“The first time around, people were worried he would be looking for reasons to hit the red button,” Bruen said. “I think this time, it’s more concerning that he will turn a blind eye to the rest of the world and see the behavior of people like Putin and [Chinese President Xi Jinping] as not being America’s problem.”

Trump might want to focus on a purely domestic agenda, as is his right. But enemies are looking at a potential void right now and seeing an opportunity to reach a shared objective: to take a major bite out of Washington’s global influence and swallow it up themselves.

[girlactionfigure]

Winning the World’s Hearts and Minds

Israel is losing (some even say she has already irrevocably lost) the information war that is being waged in parallel with the kinetic one that she has been engaged in since 1948, but especially since 7 October 2023. The usual suggestions are technical: spend more money, react more quickly to enemy propaganda, utilize social media more effectively, and so on. All of these are worth doing, but there is one factor that is even more important than all of them together, and it is both simpler and more difficult. There are four paradoxes that can be found in our situation that expose it.

The Paradox of 7 October

On that day, Israel was attacked in the most atavistic, brutal and vicious way that can be imagined. Civilians were murdered, raped, sadistically tortured, and carried off to indefinite captivity under subhuman conditions. Their homes were looted and burned. It was war as practiced before the advent of civilization. It was the greatest mass murder of Jews since the Holocaust.

And yet, although there were many expressions of sympathy, both from people in general and from governments and international organizations, there was also an explosion of hatred for Israel as a nation and for Jews as individuals. Demonstrations were held around the world expressing support for the attackers, and incidents of Jew-hatred – beatings of Jews, anti-Jewish graffiti, attacks on Jewish-owned businesses, and so on spiked. How is this to be understood?

One answer is that people were primed by a decades-long campaign by the Soviet Union, both in the West and the Third World, to use anti-Zionism as a propaganda tool. The Soviets took advantage of the sensitivity that had developed in the West after (ironically) the racist persecution of Jews by the Nazis, and of the general recognition of the evils of the Western colonial empires. At the same time in America, people began to comprehend the horrors of slavery, Jim Crow, and the genocide of Native Americans. The struggle of the Jews for self-determination in their historic homeland was perversely portrayed as racism, colonialism, and now even genocide. The Palestinian Arabs, who were in fact invaders and migrants, were portrayed as an oppressed and colonized indigenous people. This inversion of reality, this “big lie,” was fed with a constant tsunami of propaganda that overwhelmed anemic Israeli attempts to refute or counteract it. The lies have always gone halfway around the world before the truth got its pants on.

Since the fall of the USSR, the campaign has been taken up by the Arabs, Iranians, and international Left who see Israel as an outpost of the hated USA.

The anti-Israel campaign has been disingenuously claimed to be “only anti-Zionist” and not anti-Jewish. But underneath the surface the message has been transmitted clearly and distinctly, and has triggered the closeted anti-Jewish hatreds that have been around at least since the year zero. It is not possible today to go back and undo this.

The way anti-Israel and anti-Jewish propaganda has been deployed in support of the desired genocide of the Jewish people (nothing less) is a triumph of social engineering. Its effectiveness is shown by the combination of murder and defamation that characterized 7 October.

The Paradox of Holocaust Education

In planning a response to anti-Jewish propaganda it’s necessary to consider the attempts to attack the anti-Jewish memes – the prejudices, stereotypes, conspiracy theories, and so on – that were supposed to have caused the Holocaust. One response has been to educate people by presenting the historical facts. Any normal person who knew the true dimensions of the horror perpetrated by the Nazis would reject the patterns of thought that were behind it and shun anyone trying to promulgate them, it was reasoned.

Much money and resources have gone into the building of museums, the development of curricula and materials, and the hiring of experts. And yet this enterprise has failed. It has been met with denial. It has aroused resentment, as Jews are accused of trying to “monopolize oppression,” or of using their own experience as an excuse to persecute others (sometimes at the same time as the Jewish experience is denied). Perversely, the very horror of the Holocaust is titillating to Jew-haters who often admire Hitler, collect Nazi regalia, and so on. Extreme Jew-haters see the Holocaust as something to be repeated rather than condemned.

The Paradox of Sympathy

This gives us a clue to the more general problem of defamation of Israel and Jews. As Jonathan Haidt argues persuasively, humans are primarily motivated by their emotions, even when they believe that they are making decisions on a rational basis. The “reasoning” is really after-the-fact rationalization of choices driven by their feelings. These feelings are often below the surface of consciousness, but they are dominant in a person’s decision-making.

These emotional responses have developed in humans after millennia of biological and cultural evolution. They vary to some extent between cultures (which leads to interesting questions about conflicts between Western and non-Western cultures), but there are also aspects that are universal. One of these is sympathy for an injured person. Paradoxically, there is also an opposite emotion of revulsion. The impulse to despise, to expel, or to flee from a defective or persecuted individual tends to favor survival of an individual or a culture, and so it is strengthened by evolution. We see this tendency among children where a bully that attacks a weak or “different” child is often joined by others.

Thus when a group is mass-murdered, along with sympathy for the victims there is also a tendency to side with the murderers. There is a feeling of safety in the face of horror that comes from the knowledge that one is set apart from the victims, that one is on the other side.

The Paradox of Strength

Another evolutionary trait is an attraction to the stronger side in any conflict. Everybody loves a winner, or as Osama bin Laden said, the “strong horse.” It’s also true that people despise a loser. And before a contest is decided, people choose whom to support based on the perceived strength of each opponent.

Yet in Western cultures people think this feeling should be suppressed. There is a belief that rational considerations and morality should override brute strength in determining the outcome of a confrontation, which results in conflicting emotions (this is one of the reasons they do so poorly when negotiating with Middle Easterners, who see “rational” willingness to compromise as weakness). Strength and honor are of primary concern in the Middle East, but even toward the West, we gain allies by demonstrating strength.

How to Win the Information War

What are the practical lessons for Israel in all this? How can she use the consequences of human and societal evolution to help her overcome the massive propaganda assault, both in the West and in the Middle East? I will offer some suggestions for how she can behave for the best psychological effect. Note that I said “behave,” and not just talk. Actions speak louder than words, especially in the Middle East. And these actions will help bring success in the physical arena as well.

1. Win the War in Gaza

We were humiliated and wounded – from a psychological point of view, critically – on 7 October. We cannot allow Hamas to remain in power and its leaders to remain alive. If we do, we will be marked as victims, in other words, targets. In the Middle East, deterrence comes from honor. If we lose our honor, everything we have is open for the taking.

2. Win the War in the North

Tens of thousands of Israelis have been forced to vacate their homes in fear of bombardment and invasion by Hezbollah. In effect we have allowed our land to become occupied. Again this is a massive loss of honor and must be corrected.

3. Our Lives are More Important Than Theirs

Israel lives in fear of the US and the hostile “international community” of anti-Israel NGOs and institutions, and goes to extreme lengths to warn civilians before attacking military targets, and to allow humanitarian aid to be provided to enemy populations. These policies have made it possible for Egypt to refuse to accept refugees from Gaza, and for Hamas to prolong the conflict, arguably resulting in more civilian suffering than less. Either way, they signify weakness. Get it over with.

4. Return to an Offensive Strategy

Israeli strategy, as propounded by David Ben Gurion, was to take the war to the enemy, fight on his territory, and finish wars quickly. But since Israel has allowed the US to dominate its military policy, she has moved to adopting a defensive posture. Huge amounts of money are spent on weapons like Iron Dome to bat away enemy rockets. This is economically unsustainable, since offensive weapons are much cheaper. It invites the enemy to learn lessons and try again. And from a psychological standpoint, it normalizes shooting at Jews. How can we permit that to become acceptable?

5. Responses Should Always be Disproportionate

Israel’s response should always be several times stronger than our enemies’ provocations. The fact that we responded to an attack from Iran by hundreds of missiles and drones by bombing a radar station was embarrassing, even if it was a demonstration of our capabilities. We may wish to demonstrate capabilities, but we must also demonstrate the will to fight. Deterrence means making them afraid to attack us. Power means hitting back at bullies, not trying to push them away or running from them.

6. Treat the Conflict as Zero-Sum (it is)

Do not look for win-win situations; there aren’t any. Either the Land of Israel will be ruled and populated by Jews, or by Arabs. Americans love the idea that Hamas or the PLO can put aside their desire to destroy Israel if only given an opportunity to develop a prosperous state. Nothing could be more wrong. This is a tribal conflict over land, and tribalism is another evolutionary “built-in.” When Israel goes along with these fantasies, she broadcasts weakness.

7. Get Revenge When Appropriate

Implement the death penalty for terrorist murder. This has the practical benefit of removing a motive for hostage-taking. The modern position is that revenge is atavistic and wrong. But it satisfies a deep need as well as sending a necessary message.

Conclusion

Acting according to the post-WWII Western conception of moral national behavior exposes Israel to depredations by its enemies who do not care about Western morality. At the same time, the climate of opinion that has developed over decades is such that the mechanisms and institutions that might protect a Western state don’t apply to Israel. She has little to lose by changing her behavior to become more aggressive, and aspiring to respect and even fear. Overall this will improve her potential to gain allies and deter enemies.

[eretzyisrael]

Wall Street Journal article by Gerard Baker:

A debt we can never repay: the Jewish state is safeguarding the very future of civilisation How will we ever repay the debt we owe Israel? What the Jewish state has done in the past year – for its own defence, but in the process and not coincidentally for the security of all of us – will rank among the most important contributions to the defence of Western civilisation in the past three-quarters of a century.

Having been hit with a devastating attack on its people, beyond the fetid imagining of some of the vilest anti-Semites, Israel has in 12 months done nothing less than redraw the balance of global security, not just in the region, but in the wider world.

It has eliminated thousands of the terrorists whose commitment to a savage theocratic ideology has claimed so many lives across the region and the world for decades.

It has, with extraordinary tactical accuracy, dispatched some of the masterminds of the worst evil on the planet, including most recently Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah leader in Lebanon. It has repelled and then reversed the previously inexorably advancing power of one of the world’s most terrifying autocracies, the Islamic Republic of Iran. It has demonstrated to all the West’s foes, including Iran’s allies in Moscow and Beijing, that our system of free markets and free people, and the voluntary alliance network we have constructed to defend it, generates resources and capabilities of vast technical superiority.

Above all, it has provided an unexpected but crucial reminder to our enemies that there are at least some willing and able to pursue and defeat them whatever the risk to our own lives and resources.

The only appropriate responses to Israel’s gallantry, fortitude and skill from us – its nominal allies, especially in the US – are “thank you” and “how can we help?”

Instead, time and again Israel’s supposed friends, including the administration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, have, while expressing sympathy over the outrage of October 7 and uttering the usual support for “Israel’s right to defend itself”, repeatedly tried to restrain it from doing just that.

Their early, valuable support has been steadily diminished by the way they have too often connived with the anti-Israel extremists in their own party.

Before Israel had even buried its dead last October and as Hamas was busy murdering its hostages, there were calls for Israel to cease fire.

For a year we have heard our leaders’ “balanced” condem - nations of Hamas and its terror masters on the one hand and the Jewish state on the other, a false equivalence that says more about the moral disorder in our own politics than about Israel’s motives and actions.

In Europe, they have gone even further, as usual, rewarding Hamas and Hezbollah by nominally recognising a non-existent Palestinian state and prosecuting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on bogus war crimes charges.

Do they not get that in the end we have to make a choice: our ally, on the front lines of defence against barbarism, or our enemies, those who literally want to see us all buried? Fortunately for all of us, it seems Israel is prevailing despite the chorus of hecklers.

Perhaps all this sounds too blithe for sceptical readers; or at least premature given the rising expectation of a much wider conflict to come. And it is true that there has been awful loss of innocent lives in Gaza, Lebanon and elsewhere that undoubtedly fuels the ire of the enemy across the world. What if Netanyahu and his government’s aggressive prosecution proves a Pyrrhic victory? But that wider conflict was perhaps always inevitable, given Iran’s stated objectives and its consistent efforts to achieve them. We can say two things tentatively about that long-feared wider confrontation.

First, the strategic, tactical, intelligence and technological genius Israel has demonstrated over the past year might have done so much damage to Iran’s proxy armies and their military and political leaders that they will be illprepared and equipped for the bigger struggle to come, and Israel – and, let’s hope, reliable allies – better placed to defeat its enemies.

Second, having observed this Israeli superiority over that time and eagerness not to bring the destruction on itself a wide war would surely bring, perhaps Iran will be deterred.

Never in the field of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few, Winston Churchill said of the men of the Royal Air Force after they had repelled Hitler’s Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain. (Reminder to some recently confused “conservatives”: the former were the good guys; the latter the real villains.) We should echo those words today as we watch in awe what a country smaller in area than New Jersey, with a population less than North Carolina’s and an economy smaller than that of Washington state has done for all of us.

As Israelis mark a year since October 7, we should not only redouble our expressions of sympathy and solidarity. We should show them our gratitude, and if we are willing to be honest, acknowledge a little of our own shame.

[hussyknee]

Fellas, is it an act of war against a Western European country to hold their citizens prisoner in the open air prison they're carpet bombing?

Lebanon's Hezbollah and Yemen's Houthis have been launching attacks on US military bases in Syria and Iraq and firing missiles at Israel in tandem with Hamas's attacks. All three are funded by Iran.

(I am HEAVING with laughter at Vox and every single one of these propagandist chucklefucks calling them "militias" and "terrorist organisations" and trying to frame this as justification for continuing to fund Israel like. MOTHERFUCKER WHOSE REGION ARE YOU IN EXACTLY?? WHO IS GENOCIDING PEOPLE ON THEIR OWN SOIL??)

"But they're fundie theocratic military states!!!"

*looks at Israel*

*looks at you*

*looks at current state of US*

Oh, ARE they?

US officials have met with the Lebanese caretaker government in an effort to try and prevent the conflict from spreading into Lebanon.

Um. Was this before or after Israel poured white phosphorus on Lebanon? Do y'all even have any control over your dog?

(Btw if you MCU brainrotted Western leftists don't stop trying to pick a Good Guy out of this mess instead of understanding basic geo-politics and the horrific ground realities of the countries the US and its allies have left in tatters, you're frankly just as much of an enemy to the people in those countries as your leaders are. Every one of these people are fascist cunts.)

For those of you who have been BLEATING about Ukraine non-stop, like it's NOT an expendable non-NATO country they're only interested in defending in case Putin gets any bright ideas about Poland, here's an opinion that makes sense to me:

Tell me it wouldn't be perfectly on brand if the US government announced, "Our great democracy bows to the will of the people. We hear you, we see you. We will divest...from Ukraine."

The West has never given one singular shit about protecting ANYONE from genocide. Vulnerability is liability. The only difference between them and Putin is that Putin is greedy megalomaniacal fascist surrounded by self-interested yes-men and the US is run by a committee of greedy egomaniacal fascists surrounded by self-interested yes-men whose end goal is keeping the death machine spinning money rather than even "winning" territories. All they have to do to turn this around is divest from Israel and focus on Ukraine. And no, Israel can't throw in with Putin because it'll be too busy trying to fight off three countries at once without the sugar from its Daddy.

Putin will not stop at Ukraine, for the same reason the US didn't stop at Afghanistan. Empires are built on their military power and militaries need to be fed and kept active and kept active to be fed. The minute you stop, it tries to eat itself. If Putin makes a move on Poland, NATO has to respond, and if the West is also embroiled in an all-out war with the Middle East, well. It looks kinda like a global conflict.

Oh and btw, if this does escalate into another regional war in the Middle East, we're going to be plunged into an oil crisis. Which might actually be the last straw for the UK economy, but it very DEFINITELY will be for the rest of the Global South.

(Also Biden's already auctioned off the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska for oil companies for such an intensive scale of fracking that it's projected to tip the world over the edge of climate collapse. In the event of a war in the ME, the US is going to need that oil soooooo. Good luck stopping it.)

[rattlyglitch]

Protector of the Beasts Ch 1: A Failed Trap ch 1

Wild Kratts Fanfic

Story Summary: The Edelgard, a new protector of animals who is determined to find a way for the creatures of the world to protect themselves from humans even if The Edelgard is seen as a villain. Now the Tortuga Crew and some of their enemies must work together to put a stop to The Edelgards plan before they hurt more animals than they help.

///////////////////////////

Most children live their lives slowly growing to see the pains of the world. One child though has seen it from a young age. The child saw the ugly sides of humans and had it for their earliest memory. It engrained itself in their mind forever.

The child could only see two people fighting over something they didn't understand. The child grew more to see monsters in humans. So a plan came to mind. They would protect all the innocent creatures of the world from the cruel hands of humans. They would make sure no matter how, the animals the child learned to love and cherish above people could protect themselves from the monsters they saw. Even if it meant becoming a monster as well.

///////////////

A Lab to the far west in Alabama had just been attacked and it meant that if they played their cards just right their trap would work. The Wild Kratt brothers and their friends had been searching for weeks for an animal lab that hadn't been taken down yet. Back in June labs had been getting attacked all over the world through those attacks revealed.

Whoever had been attacking had stolen away one of every kind of animal the labs had and gathered information from their computers and filing cabinets before leaving as soon as possible with the animal testers all tied and left for the authority whatever they chose. The assailant hadn't been tracked down or seen and any information on whoever the person was had always been wiped from computers.

The jumping in clips and time skipped was noticeable. The Tortuga had been called to the sites every time one was revealed and those who called hoped there was something they could find. In the end it was a hopeless cause. Nothing had been found. The governments didn't care much about the labs, only about the person who was behind the heist. They wanted the perpetrator found and see fit that they were taken care of without causing fuss or the public hearing about it.

They simply wanted to return to peaceful living with less protests from pro-animal groups who wanted more searches to be held for hidden labs. Some governments had even offered to make a faux lab and run testing with exotic animals just so The Tortuga Crew could help handle the mess. The terms hadn't been agreeable and they decided to go about a different way to figure out the person.

A lab had been managed to be tracked down in the month of October. It was located in the United States in a largely forested part of Georgia and seemed to be keeping its cover well. The government was alerted and the crew was allowed entry to the lab. Animal testing was immediately stopped in the lab but the databases were kept to be updated and files made.

The least thing wanted was for the lab to be found out before their trap was even finished being set. It wasn't hard to figure out how the tests would progress. The Tortuga Crew had done investigating in animal labs that were taken down before and looked over files in hope of reversing as much damage as they could on whatever creatures had been hurt. Enough injuries and similar projects that had been stopped led to them being able to know almost by instinct what would happen.

It helped to know what stage of an injury a animal was in to see how they needed to help. Certain chemicals couldn't be mixed with medicines and you had to trapeze your way through what could and couldn't work carefully yet quickly enough lest the animal be harmed fatally in the process. The one good thing that came about whoever was sneaking into the labs was that they seemed to know or at least have someone who knew how to diagnose and start the animals on their way back to health.

Since they arrived Aviva, Chris, and Martin had been helping take care of the animals while Jimmy was sending medicines and lab results back and forth and Koki was trying to look into other lab databases for some kind of sign. It felt like a pointless endeavor. The only thing left were gaps in testing logs where there was something deleted. Koki groaned as she checked over the most recent lab documents.

Data logs with days and even weeks of research missing, symbols the labs had created, a note made by someone called the Edelgard. Jimmy had been watching and noticed something off about the note. Jimmy gently nudged Koki’s shoulder to get her attention. "Hey Koki, do you think you could go back to that note?" Koki looked up towards the computer and gave Jimmy a thumbs up.

"Sure Jimmy." A simple click of a key and the data log with the note was there. "You think you can make anything of it? I think it's symbols again. Just numbers with what looks to be and a time below it." Jimmy glazed over it with his eyes for a moment. "Koki could you by chance type in the numbers that are there into a coordinates searcher? But where it has two and four together, change it to x and change two and five to y."

Within seconds a searcher was brought up and Koki had the instructions input. Koki zoomed in, her eyes becoming wide as she looked over the area of the map. "That's exactly where the lab Aviva and the brothers are and the time's in half an hour. I'm going to call them." Jimmy quickly blocks Koki from calling the others. "Don't call them. The encounter needs to be as natural as possible. If someone seems to be waiting for something to happen whoever left the note...The Edelgard? Might get suspicious and not go about whatever they have planned. Pull up the camera's though and keep watch of them. We need to make sure we see as much as possible."

Jimmy moved away allowing Koki to decide how she wanted to go about the situation. Koki hesitated for a moment but closed the calling screen and brought up all the cameras. "If we're doing this, come help me watch the cameras with me Jimmy. I want as many eyes as we can have on them as possible."

////////////////

A orange and white striped cat wandered around the lab not caring much about the computers and testing areas with syringes and cages stained with blood that surrounded her and told the stories of the animals that had been damaged and harmed by the hands of man. She was peaceful and calm until suddenly a pair of hands picked her up. They were quick to smooth her fur though easing away any worry that the cat may have felt.

Martin stood holding the cat in his arms who mewed happily as he scratched behind her ear. Once Martin stopped scratching behind her ear though she rubbed her head against his beard. The oldest Kratt brother had been put in charge of spending time with the animals and keeping them calm that day while Chris explored the lab and Aviva took care of the animals that needed more care. Martin had hope that his younger brother would find something that was useful but nothing had been found since they searched the lab the second time besides a binder of papers that seemed to have a few already offline phone numbers.

Even if nothing did come up it helped in case there was anything else the lab had been used for. Animal testing was confirmed but there could have been other crimes that just hadn't been revealed. There was also the need to make sure they searched as much of the place as possible in case there were any scientists left in hiding. Being safe rather than sorry was for the best.

They had their fair share of trouble when not searching places well before and the last thing anyone wanted was to be injected with some kind of testing serum. Chris had been a victim before to an attack after a not well cleared lab and got severe rashes. The incident was what prompted searches even after the authorities had left and Martin was usually the one who would go out searching any chance he got.

He was determined for it to be a one-time thing and he didn't want anyone else to run into any scientists. The only reason Chris was out searching was because Aviva told Martin he needed to take a break from searching and just rest for some time. Fighting with Aviva was the last thing Martin wanted so listen to her he did even if he wasn't to comfortable with his brother being out and around.

He was relieved though when he saw Chris come around the corner unharmed and safe. "I'm guessing the search went well?" "Yep there wasn't anything else that we haven't seen yet. Just the same old things. Possibly a new rat wandering around but nothing else much." Martin sighed and leaned against a bench next to Chris. "After we figure out whose been taking down these labs what do you think we should do next?"

Chris gave a hum. "I guess after we talk a bunch with the authorities we could possible chill for a bit. It would be nice to go and relax some. Its...It's been awhile since we've done that." They all hadn't had a proper time to relax in awhile. The last time they seemed to relax was when they were at a beach for a day because locals there wanted to thank them for all the help the crew carried out by helping with the sea turtles.

Martin couldn't help but agree with his brother and be hopeful. "Yeah that sounds nice." Silence followed for some time the brothers simply enjoying the others company. The feeling of something heavy landing and the shaking of the building though interrupted their calming quiet. Martins called her from his creature pod as the trouble started. "Aviva how is your side of the lab doing?"

A rush of words left Aviva. "It's fine so far Martin. Just making sure the rest of the animals here get to The Tortuga through the pathway. You guys gathering the animals over there?" Martin looked towards Chris who gave him a thumbs up. "Yeah we're loading them into the crates now and before sending them off. They're being headed that way as we speak" Chris called out to Aviva.

A loud crash rang out through the lab and with that the last animal on Chris and Martin's side was sent over. Aviva looked at the brothers worryingly. "You brothers get out. I have a few more animals to grab in the west wing." What Aviva said was met with quick denial from Martin. "I'll go get those animals. Chris will head over to you and make sure you both get out safely." Chris looked at Martin confused.

"Why don't you go and I'll get the animals?" Martin handed Chris two more crates. "You don't have your creature suit at the moment. Now send those creatures through. I'm headed off. Be safe little bro." Martin ran off leaving Chris with what he had just said. There weren't many animals in the left wing that needed to be grabbed, a few foxes and a really old turtle were all that had been left in the west wing. It didn't take long for Martin to get them loaded up and on their way to The Tortuga. "I'm leaving now. You make it to Tortuga yet Chris and Aviva?"

"We're almost there Martin. Chris and I are making sure there's absolutely no more creatures left Martin and then we'll be gone. You make it to The Tortuga safely t-" The connection between the creature pods broke up. Martin tried a few times to see if he could get through to Aviva and Chris but he was only met with silence.

A last run through of the west wind and no more animals found proved there weren't anymore. "Make sure there isn't anyone here actually. I want no scientists left." A deep voice spoke echoing off of the walls. It seemed to be only feet away. Martin silently cursed wishing the underground path had been made just a bit bigger in the west wing.

It wasn't able to fit humans in it well and was a tight squeeze that Martin didn't want to risk being stuck in. Thankfully it wasn't hard to get into the air vents. It made Martin wish he was more of a climber like Chris. The ordeal would have been made easier and he wouldn't have attracted whoever was in the building to his area. People with full-faced silver dog masks and on and completely black suits seemed to go through the area.

Martin held his breath as they seemed to scan around looking for what he guessed was traces of life. By something though none of them looked towards the ceiling. As soon as they left someone rather short and seemed to have pale skin entered the room. The person had a black hoodie on with sweatpants and gloves that matched. The only color on the person was the blue tennis shoes they wore.

The most noticeable thing though was their mask. Unlike the dog masks the people who entered before them wore. This person wore a half mask that you would wear at a masquerade that covered from their nose to the top of their. It was a dark grey Venetian rat mask that seemed to have black glass covering where their eyes would be.

The person inspected the room before looking up at the ceiling. Martin made eye contact with them for a split second. He was expecting whoever it was to call the dog masked people into the room. Instead they looked away from him with a small smile, the person looked forward to where the masked people had gone. "We should leave. No one’s here. I don't want to be late for our plans." For the next few minutes the sound of footsteps was all Martin heard. He stayed still for several more, not daring to move. By time he got down from the air vents he quickly headed out of the building.

As he hurried out Martin didn't miss the picture of a pixelated rat on one of the large testing TV's that had the words "Mouse Trapped" underneath.

After Notes: I'm so excited to write this fic and I hope you all enjoy reading it. I also feel it should be mentioned the Wild Kratts crew are much older than in the show probably. Koki, Aviva, Martin, and Chris are in their thirties while Jimmy is twenty-nine. Jimmy's age is important and will come into play later in the story. Also Martin has a beard. Anyways that's all for now

other chapters: chapter 1 Chapter 2, Chapter 3, chapter 4, chapter 5

[epidaleacalamita]

alright, twofer complete, i can say i drew something every month of this year. not a lot of somethings, and not very impressive somethings, but something. yay! next year i. would like to draw more stuff with backgrounds and mess with stuff i don't have a grip on yet and get back out of the "characters standing with no background" regression i went into this year. but whether or not i actually do any of that boils down to how well i can control myself and not waste all my time ever on video games. we'll see

ZAFNI TOMOIRAZH

An information broker active in the Alfilian Union. Growing up during the Second Corporate War and the subsequent period of reconstruction, the young Zafni took a keen interest in the complicated relationship between the government, the corporations, and the mercenaries caught in the middle. It was this desire for understanding that led her to the business of secrets- first as a client, then an apprentice. Now, she commands a comprehensive intelligence-gathering apparatus that not only spans all of Union territory but extends its roaming tendrils into foreign lands. This line of work has naturally made her no small number of enemies, but all the sensitive information she's collected serves as more than enough leverage to ensure that nobody strikes at her for fear of retaliation.

SYZRYN

Zafni's close friend, confidant, and bodyguard. Formerly a student at the prestigious Thaumatic Academy of Trisme, they left the academy- and Trisme entirely- after a catastrophic accident during an experiment killed several of their fellow researchers and transmuted part of their body into crystal. Syzryn met and befriended Zafni entirely by happenstance not long after they arrived in Alfilia West, and was entirely unaware of her line of work until she revealed it to them. After they had practiced enough to achieve fine control of their crystallized arm, Zafni offered them work as her assistant, and the two have been by each others' side ever since.

[prettyboysdontlookatexplosions]

As elsewhere, in the Mississippi Valley the fundamental contest between states and armies registered first and intensely in the politics of masters and slaves on individual plantations. One such plantation belonged to Confederate General Braxton Bragg, the highly unpopular commander of the Army of Tennessee. While Bragg was preparing for an anticipated battle in Tennessee in November 1862, his plantation just north of New Orleans was seized by enemy troops and fugitive slaves; then his own slaves seized their chance. With symptoms of "servile insurrection ... becoming apparent," as the local commander put it, and planters "in terror of a general rising," Mrs. Bragg appealed to U.S. Brigadier General G. Weitzel for protection from her own slaves. It was a nervy move for a high-ranking Confederate general's wife. Weitzel was inclined to oblige; he wanted to send out troops to put the slaves down. But Weitzel's superior, George C. Strong, said sharply that he was putting down the wrong rebellion. Turning aside concerns about slave rebellion and terrified women and children, Strong reminded Weitzel that he was in a country in which the blacks outnumbered the whites by ten to one, and in which the whites "are in rebellion against the Government or in terror seeking its protection." When rebels laid down their arms against the United States and called upon its army for protection, they will get it, he raged, "because from that moment between them and him war would cease." Until that time, Mrs. Bragg was on her own. Sometimes the personal struggles of planters with their slaves had public meanings so obvious they resonated all the way through the system.

That was certainly the case across the river in Mississippi, where the most dramatic plantation battle played out for all the world to see. Starting in May 1862, Jefferson Davis watched helplessly from Richmond as his elder brother, Joseph, struggled vainly to beat back the challenge of their slaves' bid for freedom in the maelstrom of the war his state's secessionist action had brought on. Davis and his brother were longtime owners of a pair of plantations located in a bend of the Mississippi River--Davis Bend as it was called--twenty miles below Vicksburg. As early as February 1862, President Davis's worries about the fate of the Confederate west was tied up with concern about his own home and property. In February, noting his special vulnerability to enemy attack, he urged his brother to remove their slaves and all their valuables (cotton included) into the interior of Mississippi, should a descent of the river be attempted by the federals. In May, after the fall of New Orleans, Joseph removed the family and so-called "family slaves"--house slaves presumably--to Vicksburg by flat boat, initiating a forced migration that eventually took him to Choctaw County, Alabama.

Then the Davis slaves made their move, responding not to the immediate presence of the Union army (which was not yet near), but to the signal Joseph Davis had sent about the shifting balance of power. No sooner had Joseph pushed off from the dock than the remaining slaves seized control of the two plantations, sacking the big house on Hurricane, destroying the cotton, carrying off every article of value, and refusing to work. They would retain control of the plantation, indeed would refuse to be forced off even later by federal troops, seizing a rough-and-ready freedom while still on their home plantation. On Davis Bend, the slaves moved not with, but in advance of, the arrival of Union troops. By the end of May 1862, Jefferson and Varina Davis received a series of lurid accounts of events on Brierfield. "Negroes at Brierfield ... said to be in a state of insubordination," one telegram said. Charles Mitchell, a nephew-in-law, was even more blunt, offering Davis an account of his slaves' refusal to work or submit to the overseers who were still resident on the plantation, or to any attempt to carry them inland. They had declared "that on no conditions would they agree to leave the places." All of a sudden, as John Houston Bills had said, slaves were exercising their right to decide. With still no Yankees in sight, some of the Brierfield slaves ventured to the Union navy's boats stationed below Vicksburg, undoubtedly to check out their reception by potential but, as they discovered (when they were turned away), unreliable allies. Nonetheless, Mitchell said, "I am sorry to say that I think the Yankees would be offered any facilities in the power of the negroes to grant on your place and the Hurricane." "The negroes and their friends the Yankees," was how Mitchell described the new alliance sought by the Brierfield slaves with the enemy of their master, the Confederate president.

stephanie mccurry, confederate reckoning: power and politics in the civil war south

[alex31624]

Duck Comic Reading Club Week 26: Paperinik New Adventures: Tyrannic

You know? I really like when PK fight regular evil ducks. As regular as an evil secret agent can be. I mean, is not an alien, a robot, an interdimensional being or someone from the future.

This is a PBI issue, so we have Lt. Mary Ann Flagstarr. Is always good to see her.

She still dress as an extra from Saturday Night Fever, but is a good look. Anyway, there's an emergency and she called for backup.

This is the only thing I don't like of this issue. I get PK wants to help, but I don't like the idea of PK working directly with the government.

Vigilantes should be outside law.

Back to the plot, we have a new character, captain Nimrod, who congratulates PK for stopping Project Paldea. We know what's coming after that. Fairfax's devices are back.

If you guys remember Earthquake, that issue ended with one of the devices still on the ocean floor. It was matter of time until someone took it, and is finally happening.

The author of such a crime is the nation of Belgravia, an evil nation with the only purpose of being evil.

Somebody call Doctor Doom.

Belgravia is so evil, that the flag has a mad fire breathing dragon.

PK joke is great, and his face made it even better.

So, Belgravia took an artic base called Frostville (I'm sure the dessert base is called Hotcity) with an evil submarine. PK's job is to locate the submarine.

I said PK? I meant Uno. Yeah, they wanted Uno to do their job, not PK.

But it was the best decision ever, because Uno found the submarine, found a satellite which was hiding the submarine presence, destroyed the satellite and gave notice to the PBI, all in five minutes.

Talking about efficiency.

Also, is so funny that the captain wanted the troops ready for the imminent attack, but didn't call the target of said attack.

Which is the target you ask? Well, the prison of course. Is time to free Morgan Fairfax.

Hey, Steel Island prison? Yeah, I just called to tell you that an evil submarine is about to attack you, ok? Maybe you would like to put all the prisoners on their cells and to give every guard a rifle.

Ok, so, I've mention that PK is not good at mystery. In this issue, they put the evil duck on the shadows, and I know is a duck, but the face hiding behind the shadows, it'll always be a cool thing to see.

And I like that, that's how you do mystery. But two pages later is like, there he is. A duck.

Well, the not so mysterious duck is Oberon de Spair, that's an evil name if I even heard one. He wants the professor to work for him in his evil-do, but the professor claimed that he's not a criminal.

That guy hates the west coast so much that destroy it is just a everyday activity for him.

Is the promise of destroying the west coast what makes Fairfax joins de Spair.

With the two villains joining forces, the PBI has no other choice but send PK to the artic base. I get that PK needs to go, but PK shouldn't be a PBI pawn. Vigilantes should not be police friends.

The infiltration was a total failure. Within seconds, PK was captured and imprisoned.

Thankfully, he has the plot on his side, so he escape with the rehens, and trick all the enemies into thinking a lethal leak gas is going to kill everyone.

Once all the belgravians escaped, PK infiltrated into the submarine. And, for no one surprise, he got caught.

Certainly, not his best work.

A piece of advice, if the one who can (and will) stop you is in front of your gun, shoot.

Anyway, PK turned the tables on his favor, but de Spair had one last trick. He gave the satellite control over the submarine. Now, the ship will launch its missiles onto the PBI headquarter.

But you know what happen when is technology what decides the battle. Uno took care, and launched one satellite ally into the enemy satellite, blow it up.

It seems that there was no back to the manual option, because the crew has to abandon ship.

PK wants to bring Fairfax back to prison, but de Spair had another idea.

Wait! Are you telling me that de Spair knock PK out, and instead of killing him, he put him to safe? Just because he wants to completely defeat him?

You see, that's why those evil guys always lose, to much ego.

Flagstarr confirms that the mission is over and gave PK something.

On the one hand, this legitimizes PK in the public eyes. On the other hand, I don't like heroes working with the government. I was Team Cap during the Civil War.

Even if the ending is not that great, I like this kind of adventures.

[angrybell]

I think the Democrats like wasting the money. Or maybe they like seeing money burn like the Joker in the Dark Knight.

Why?

Because for the last 13 months, Israel has been blowing rockets, munitions, and people bought and paid for by Iran. At least some of the money that went into funding Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, and Syria is thanks to Joe Biden releasing Iraning money that had been frozen in American controlled banks.

So 13 months after Iran’s proxies turned the Middle East into a shooting gallery where neither Israelis nor anyone else was safe, the Democrats would have learned what happens when you give a theocratic authoritarian regime that hates the West in general and Jews in particular. And you would have thought that after Israel, with occasional bouts of anti-missile defense from the USN and USAF, had spent months destroying Iran’s forces in Gaza, southern Lebanon, Yemen, and in the past few days in Syria, that maybe the Democrats would have realized that maybe giving more money to the Ayatollah and his IRGC was … you know.. a bad idea.

Clearly the Lotus Eaters in the Biden’s administration, or maybe the ones pulling his strings, haven’t seen enough money provided by the US government go up in smoke. With Iran on the ropes, its own air defense effectively destroyed and the plant that makes the rocket fuel it needs conduct missile attacks out of action, Biden decided it was a good time to swoop in with aid for Iran.

What the actual fuck are these guys thinking?

To put into context how much we are providing them, Iran’s military budget for 2024 was a little more than $7 billion. We are releasing $10 billion.

It’s, you know, traditional that when your ally is about to finish off an enemy for you, you don’t resurrect the enemy. There is absolutely no good that can come from giving money, whether it be taxpayer money or frozen funds, to the current government of Iran. It’s not going to use it to help their people. It has demonstrated continually that it will only use the funds to continue their war against the West and Israel.

The end of the dumpster fire known at the Biden administration cannot come soon enough.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Henri J. Barkey at The UnPopulist:

Trump has not concealed his admiration for populist authoritarians worldwide. He has gone out of his way to praise and laud “strong leaders,” such as Russia’s Vladimir Putin—whom he admired for “being able to kill whoever,” calling him a “genius.” And he’s on record noting that Hungary’s Viktor Orbán has “made some smart decisions we could learn from in the United States,” adding that there’s no one “smarter or a better leader” than the Hungarian strongman. Much has been written about Trump’s parallels with these two leaders. But there is another strongman whom Trump could turn to for inspiration who has not received nearly as much attention: Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkey’s president since 2014.

The two leaders represent opposite and conflicting ends of the civilizational pole: Erdoğan, a deeply devout Muslim, sees himself as the leader of the Islamic world and an antagonist of the West. Though not religious, Trump is positioning himself as the defender of Western Civilization.

But both are thoroughgoing illiberals who engage in populist politics and claim to represent the forces of “good” (the populace) against “evil” (the elites). They both rail against the Deep State, “derin devlet” in Turkey, even after Erdoğan, through his cunning, has defanged it. (The notion of the Deep State actually came to America from Turkey and referred to an unelected military brass that functioned as a shadowy parallel government, not anything that has ever existed here.) They both reject the current liberal-international order and harbor a deep disdain for their respective countries’ institutions that check executive power.

Understanding how Erdoğan transformed Turkey’s political system—rooted in the secular ideology of its founder, Kemal Atatürk—and quasi-democratic institutions into an illiberal regime that imposes a religious, nationalist ideology dominated by him would therefore be instructive. He has already reshaped the Turkish state and society in his image, just as Trump and his MAGA acolytes want to do in the United States. Both Erdoğan and Trump are narcissistic, thin-skinned figures who expect unquestioning, cult-like loyalty, especially when they go after the enemies that they see everywhere. They engage in demagoguery and conspiracy theories, creating an alternate reality that helps them solidify their hold on their allies and sympathizers. This gives them a solid basis to try to flatten civil society and governing institutions—and impose their will on the country.

Contempt for Courts and the Rule of Law

Consider how, instead of fixing Turkey’s admittedly imperfect rule of law, Erdoğan has coopted it. He has attacked the judiciary, sacking thousands of judges and prosecutors who wouldn’t bend to his will, replacing them with inexperienced judges who would. He has then used the courts to punish antagonists and, equally importantly, protect cronies, allies, and friends (Trump himself is no stranger to protecting and rewarding loyalists and friends). In essence, he has given a real-life demonstration of what a system that a strongman uses to “punish his enemies and reward his friends,” as Trump and his allies are overtly seeking, would look like. Turkish prisons are chock full of people whose sole crime was crossing or standing up to Erdoğan, like civil society leader Osman Kavala, who was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole for supposedly initiating the 2013 Gezi Park demonstrations against an urban development project and destabilizing the government. The scale of the two-and-a-half-million-strong demonstrations rivaled those in Arab Spring countries two years prior and badly spooked Erdoğan. The case against Kavala has received much international attention and resulted in a constitutionally binding ruling from the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) for his release, which Erdoğan ignored.

The leader of the opposition Kurdish party, People’s Democracy Party, Selahattin Demirtaş, was also sentenced to life imprisonment on terrorism charges for allegedly inspiring protests in 2014 and insulting the president, a crime in Turkey. This was a naked attempt to neutralize Demirtaş, a charismatic politician who was responsible for his party’s unexpected election success and setbacks for Erdoğan’s party. Trump, likewise, has made no secret of his wish to prosecute his opponents. During his presidency, the Department of Justice initiated politically motivated cases against former Obama secretaries of state Hillary Clinton and John Kerry, as well as former FBI Director James Comey, on an assortment of charges but they didn’t go anywhere.

It isn’t just opposition party officials Trump wants to go after but even his own if he thinks they are crossing him. He has called for the “execution” of the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley—because he kept a line of communication open with the Chinese during the last few turbulent months of the Trump presidency to avoid any dangerous misunderstandings. But his deepest desire for “retribution”—his word—is against Republicans who have had the temerity to attempt to hold him accountable to the rule of law. He’s vociferously called for former Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney from Wyoming to be tried for treason—in a military court reserved for enemy combatants and war criminals, no less—because she cooperated with Democrats on the House Jan. 6 Committee to investigate his efforts to overturn the election and foment the attack on the Capitol. In other words, as far as Trump is concerned, he is the state.

Erdoğan has reached deep into civil society and charged tens of thousands of people, from journalists and politicians to ordinary citizens and even minors, with “insulting President Erdoğan”—in each case, the delineation of what constitutes an “insult” was primarily left to the the presidential palace. Similarly, countless newspapers and news websites have been subjected to capricious fines or shut down.

Likewise, Trump wants to silence the media—calling it the “enemy of the people”—and, most recently, threatened to scrap ABC’s broadcasting license after his poor debate performance that he blamed on the network’s moderators. He also wants Mark Zuckerberg to “spend the rest of his life in jail” for election interference should the Facebook founder, like in 2020, extend funding to boost local election infrastructure, which Trump believes, without any basis, went primarily to blue states and handed the election to Biden.

While the U.S. judicial system is significantly more resilient than Turkey’s, it is far from clear that it will hold in the face of outright contempt and open defiance that the Trump team, just like Erdoğan, has exhibited. Consider how both have handled the highest court in the land. On the rare occasion when the Constitutional Court diverged from Erdoğan’s preferred outcome, he defied its ruling. This year, for example, the court ruled that an opposition member elected to parliament should be released from jail and permitted to assume his seat. In refusing to implement the ruling, Erdoğan absurdly argued that a lower court’s prior verdict overruled that of the country’s highest court. Likewise, JD Vance, Trump’s vice-presidential choice, has declared that if the Supreme Court objects to the duo’s plans to fire civil servants and replace them with loyalists, the administration should ignore the ruling. It should “stand before the country like Andrew Jackson did and say the Chief Justice has made the ruling, now let him enforce it.”

[...]

Ending the Separation of Religion and State

Religion and religious identity have become integral to Turkey’s politics since Erdoğan came along. He has prioritized the creation of a “pious generation” that identifies being a Turk with being a Muslim and has used the school system to accomplish this goal. He has created religious schools that equally divide their classes between a regular curriculum and core classes on Islam. Trump, unlike Erdoğan, may not be personally devout, but he has been supportive of evangelical Christians’ demands for public schools to sport Christian religious symbols, such as displaying the Ten Commandments in classrooms or teaching the Bible. Republican governors in some red states are following through. Louisiana became the first state to require the Ten Commandments to be displayed in schools. Oklahoma has gone even further and ordered Bible teaching to be part of the regular school curriculum.

Mongering Conspiracy Theories

Conspiracy discourses are a standard tool of authoritarians because they serve to project an image of victimhood, which they use to solidify their bonds with the public. Erdoğan used this to great effect when he blamed Washington, without any evidence, for organizing the failed 2016 military coup. Similarly, Trump blamed his 2020 loss on outlandish theories about voter fraud, machine swapping, deliberate local miscounting of votes, and much else. He is already yammering that this will be the most corrupt election in history if he loses.

Donald Trump and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan have lots of things in common: oppress their peoples, bloviate about enemies real or perceived, religious nationalism, and more.