#diplomatic narrative

[firstoccupier]

WPS.News Report: Events in the West Philippine Sea, Scarborough Shoal, Second Thomas Shoal, and South China Sea (January 20-21, 2025)

WPS News Staff ReporterBaybay City | January 21, 2025 West Philippine Sea:In a significant move, the Philippine Coast Guard has ramped up surveillance operations concerning a notable presence of a large Chinese coast guard vessel situated in the waters off Zambales (China Coast Guard (CCG) vessel 5901, dubbed the “monster ship”). The escalation underscores the renewed vigilance of Philippine…

[fickleartdump]

finrod they could never convince me you're boring and generic because you're a shiny good guy I promise

[aran-morinorea]

Happy December yall! I bestow upon you all that remains to be posted of A Major Diplomatic Incident (part 1). It's going to take some revision, so I'm not posting it to ao3 yet, but this gets us to where I'm leaving off. The other chapter is the actual reason Elrond came to visit: post-Worst Road Trip, they invite him over to see Maglor. If he's going to be niceys about it. Both to Maglor and to Annatar.

…It was Tar-Glóriel who found Maglor in the first place. If it turns out he's literally Sauron, Elrond is going to blackmail Celebrimbor into letting him take Maglor to Lindon after all. At least for a year or two at a time.

This decided, Elrond ends the awkward pause with, “I suppose so. Mostly I'm just confused.”

“Tell me about it,” says Tar-Glóriel, tipping back over to put his head in Celebrimbor’s lap.

Elrond finds, despite himself, that he is smiling. His evil cousin-in-law, who feels about Celebrimbor the way he feels about Gil-Galad, thinks of him as a Maia. Not a half-Elvish Man or a half-Mannish Elf; not half-anything at all. What else would you be? 

And Elrond’s voice reminds him of… what might honestly be one of the worst days of his infinitely long life. He can’t imagine it was fun in itself, but given what it led to, Morgoth must have been very upset. Thinking about it, he says, “That must not help with the urge to murder me.”

“It really doesn’t!” Tar-Glóriel complains, making the shadows dance, “But I'm being nice about it, because I am capable of self-control.”

Celebrimbor laughs and puts his hand in Tar-Glóriel’s hair, saying, “And I appreciate it, love, thank you for not attacking my friend.”

“Yes, I am the embodiment of kindness and grace, you know,” says Tar-Glóriel, sparkling again; Elrond is beginning to think that’s what he does when he’s teasing. If “teasing” is a thing that a being who could plausibly be literal actual Sauron can be said to do. 

…If Elrond treats him like an enemy now - after being allowed to see him being so affectionate, so intimate, without further provocation - well, then he’s going to feel like the asshole in the situation. He might never stop expecting the further provocation to come, but he can’t act on that expectation, because he’s positioned himself as a - an amiable distant relation. Not even that distant, depending on how he’s counting! It’s possible he’d be in the wrong to start a fight even if he gets definite confirmation of Tar-Glóriel’s identity.

What in all the Iron Hells has Elrond gotten himself into?

[notmoreflippingelves]

Unpopular opinion: Elena of Avalor fandom edition! Mateo isn't the sweet dorky magician the wiki (and some fans) tends to present, he is just as competitive as (of not more than) Gabe and can be really selfish and arrogant. And he never really gets called out on his flaws or misdeeds as much as the other characters.

strongly agree | agree | neutral | disagree | strongly disagree

Yes, I'm not sure if it's my contrarian hipster brain seeing he's popular within the fandom and just doing it's natural "hype backlash" as result, or what. But my overall reaction to him is "meh" at best and low-key annoyance at worst. Maybe it's just me, but I definitely feel that whenever Elena, Naomi, Gabe, Isa, or especially Esteban are in the wrong, the narrative will have an explicit, impossible to ignore "what the hell hero" moment where they learn their lesson. But when Mateo is the one at fault, he's more likely to be met with nothing more than a brief slap on the wrist--and that's assuming he's called out for his selfishness/impulsiveness/shortsightedness at all. Which he often is not.

[icharchivist]

one of my controversial take about DA is that, independently to whether i like him or not in DAO or the books, Loghain is literally the best Warden companion you can have to play HLTA.

I'm sorry but Hawke hitting him with "you just can't imagine a world without the wardens even though it's probably what we need" and seeing Loghain firmly defend the Wardens because "i betrayed the order once and it cost me everything -- i won't do it ever again" is the most emotional draw you could have in HLTA compared to Stroud and Alistair's unwavering faith in the Wardens.

[kickerofelves]

On second thought, it might perhaps be a little unprofessional of me to suggest on official patient paperwork “discharge via trebuchet into the sun” with just a print out of

[themyscirah]

Just saw a bunch of atrocious wonder woman takes and I hate everything

Someone google nearest bridge to jump off of im so done w this

[reachexceedinggrasp]

Oh also, here's an extra (somewhat incendiary) ask you can answer if you feel like it: is there anything about Reylo, or Rey, or Kylo, or the Sequel Trilogy overall that you avoided getting into just for the sake of a peaceful fandom when it was a warzone? I'll go first: I didn't care about any of the storyline outside of Rey and Kylo and TFA!Rey only became interesting to me because of TLJ. I can still appreciate the characters somewhat and how they were done dirty by TROS and racism though.

Oh sure. I didn't totally avoid anything, I don't think, but there were certainly things I went as light as possible on because it just wasn't worth bringing up more than necessary. And I didn't argue about things I didn't care about, because who has the energy.

Although, possibly I never mentioned that I hate F/nn/P0e and it being a constant background pairing in reylo fic is a significant source of annoyance to me. It's one of those irritating ships that gets a default assumption everyone ships it and that really gets on my tits, but I don't remember it ever coming up in a way that I had to say anything about it.

[aeide-thea]

#right like. when people make a post about wanting to see whatever and someone recs 1 specific thing #i always feel like the reccer - despite probably feeling real enthusiasm - is missing the point a little

#aside from 'i want more options' (which i DO) #so often i - a person who likes the thing - have read and hated the thing being recced #and i want more and different takes on it! (via elucubrare)

ppl misunderstand me when I say "I want more [thing] in stories". I don't mean "I'm going to love every single one" I mean "I'm very picky and I want more of it in circulation so I can actually choose from a wealth of them and be discerning". I see ppl being like "you say you want more of [this thing] but you don't like [example of it]" YEAH CUZ I'M PICKY!!!!!!!! I have opinions and standards????? not all of them are gonna be the same I wanna be able to look at 100 of them and go "I want these 20" not "I only have 3 to choose from and I don't like any of them" you feel me??????

[iamrhyme]

Download ⬇️, listen 🎧 to, click the heart-shaped ♥️ like button, comment 🗨️ on,and share episode 🔄 376 of the Narrative Podcast across all platforms at the link 🖇️ below 👇https://www.spreaker.com/episode/episode-376-the-narrative-podcast--62038460

The Narrative Podcast promotes positive reinforcement of original people and original people culture.

The Narrative Podcast provides positive frames of reference about original people and original people culture.

The Narrative Podcast: Changing the Narrative one episode at a time by destroying negative stereotypes about original people and original people culture.

Tune into the Narrative Podcast and become a Narrator.

Let's change the Narrative!

[tieflingkisser]

don't let anyone tell you the tiktok ban is not directly related to Palestine because they're literally admitting it:

Blinken blames TikTok and social media for disrupting Israel’s narrative of war in Gaza

Social media sites like TikTok are partly to blame for widespread criticism of Israel’s war effort against Hamas in Gaza, according to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The comments came as part of a conversation at the McCain Institute’s 2024 Sedona Forum in Sedona, Arizona, between Secretary Blinken and US senator Mitt Romney. The Utah Republican asked the top diplomat why “the PR has been so awful” against Israel since the beginning of the 7 October conflict. “Why has Hamas disappeared in terms of public perception?” he continued. “An offer is on the table for a ceasefire and yet the world is screaming about Israel.” Mr Blinken said that part of the reason for that dynamic was a changing media environment, where people no longer all read from the same authoritative news sources and instead learn about current events on chaotic social media feeds.

[...]

The comments echoed a wider narrative that’s been put forth about critics of Israel in the US, particularly on college campuses: that their criticisms don’t stem from the facts of the conflict, and instead are the product of alarming outside influence. New York mayor Eric Adams recently accused students at universities of falling under the sway of “outside agitators,” though the NYPD has offered little compelling evidence to support that charge. Protesting students interviewed by The Independent said they had been moved to act by seeing images of destruction and suffering caused by Israel in Gaza, with the full backing of the US.

[maniculum]

A post of mine from several months ago about the Perlesvaus self-rearranging forest just wandered across my dash again and made me think about it some more, so I wanted to talk about it a bit.

Perlesvaus, for those who don’t know, is a 13th-century French Arthurian romance. It’s intended to be a continuation of Chretien de Troyes’s Perceval, but it’s mostly known for being completely batshit when it’s known at all. (There’s an old book on Arthurian texts that dedicates a chapter to Perlesvaus and repeatedly speculates that the anonymous author had Something Wrong With Him. This is the longest scholarly treatment of Perlesvaus I’ve been able to find & read.)

Anyway, there’s an odd worldbuilding detail in the text. See, it’s a Thing in chivalric romances that the questing knights happen upon castles & lords & damsels & such that are unfamiliar to them and have to be explained. You know, “this is the Castle of Such-and-Such, where the local custom is as follows. It’s ruled by Lady So-and-So, whose character I shall now describe to you.”

This is a genre convention that largely goes unquestioned, but it’s a bit odd if you think about it. All these knights are at least minor nobility. They don’t know the other nobles in their region? They don’t know what castles are where? Don’t they have, like, diplomatic relations with these people or at least attend the same tournaments? Even if they’re all fully committed to the knight-errant lifestyle and don’t really engage in courtly diplomacy, you’d think they would share information with each other and get the lay of the land. But instead, to use TTRPG terminology, it’s like they’re all on a hexcrawl that was randomly generated just for them to have these adventures.

The author of Perlesvaus decides to address this. In what’s kind of a throwaway paragraph late in the text, he explains that God moves things around so knights always have new quests to do (and, presumably, is also making sure they always arrive at the right narratively-significant moment). So the reason they’re always encountering people & places they have no knowledge of is because those people & places really weren’t there yesterday. They didn’t know about the Castle of Such-and-Such because it’s normally a thousand miles away and the forest path they followed to get there used to lead somewhere else.

And I think that would be a really interesting thing to stick into a novel or a TTRPG or something. When a knight rides into the forest with the intent of Going On A Quest, at some point they go around a bend in the path, cross an invisible barrier, and wind up in the Forest of Narrative. This is a vast forest with no set geography, filled with winding paths and populated almost entirely with questing knights, damsels in search of questing knights, friendly hermits, strange creatures, and allegorical set-pieces. Then, at the narratively-appropriate time, they cross back over the invisible barrier back into the regular world, and find themselves wherever the Narrative has decided they need to be. This could be a different country, a different continent, or a different world entirely.

Whether anyone involved is actually aware that this is how it works is… optional, really. Though if it’s not a Known Phenomenon, the people whose jobs it is to handle trade & diplomacy & god forbid, maps, are going to end up tearing their hair out in frustration.

[leifyposting]

*appears as if summoned* did someone say fic recs?

first off, op: really really great points on diluc and the diluc&kaeya relationship. i'll do some rambling about diluc characterization in the tags but for now, here are four fics i think might fit what you're looking for!

this work, from @chidorinnnnn, is THE diluc&kaeya fic in my mind. like, no fic has ever topped this one as a study of their dynamic (and probably no fic ever will). the strange muted understanding. carefully finding your footing. the way things could have been and maybe should have been but aren't, and maybe that's okay too. bonus points for the parallel between their fathers, which you mentioned too

moving on to a more diluc-centric piece, from @dandelion-wings. it is so so hard to find good diluc fic because he is such a strange and contradictory character, but this diluc makes the most sense in my head. featuring genuinely gut-wrenching interactions between the boys (one line in particular tears me up every time) and a build-up to tragedy that rivals macbeth

bit of a different piece here: a modern au in which diluc and kaeya reconcile at the end of the world (tw major character death). i cry every time i read this one. their dynamic in this fic is similar to the first one but more messy - you know, finding your footing with the person who used to be your everything now that you are different people than you used to be, and also the world is ending

i read this more than a year ago and have not stopped thinking about it since. it's a longer read but so worth it. the worldbuilding is so intricate and every character and relationship in here is so beautifully fleshed out - not just diluc and kaeya but also the people of mondstadt and how they relate to one another. this author also has an amazing (and shorter) crepus&kaeya fic that i think you might enjoy

anyway! hope that was helpful. these are my four favourite diluc&kaeya fics ever so i hope you enjoy them! thank you for sharing your thoughts with us as well!

The Genshin Impact fandom is fascinating to me when it comes to fanfics, because I feel like I struggle to find any fics that really *get* the characterization of certain characters and I'm loathed to write my own because dammit I just want to read the specific itch I crave without resorting to creating it. Give me three more months and I'll cave in.

For example, Diluc is one of my favorites and I find his backstory fascinating in terms of his father Crepus possibly being more morally ambiguous than most fans are willing to admit and how little we know of Diluc's murder spree in Snezhnaya.

For example which Harbinger(s) did he have a run-in with? Will we find out more about the secret intelligence network that took him in, that he apparently had a high position in? Did he ever find the answers he was searching for? The list goes on.

It's hard for me to find the specific characterization of him I crave for in fics because I think his platonic relationship with Kaeya is incredibly nuanced and complex but I feel like his character often gets assassinated for Kaeya angst but like, the man had the worst birthday ever?

Imagine being Diluc, living through a literal worst nightmare. Your dad is dead after you failed to protect him yourself. Not only is your dad dead but he died after wielding a delusion--you dont even know what a delusion is but its clearly bad news. Why the fuck did your father have it and how?

On top of this, the Favonius Knights--the organization you proudly served and the very organization that your father heavily encouraged you to serve--insists on covering up the truth because it makes them look bad. The Favonius Knights, who are supposed to be honorable and uphold integrity, are anything but that.

Then your adoptive brother, who you've known for years and trust with your life, shows up and tells you he's been spying for a foreign nation since you were kids with the intent of harming Mondstadt and everything about your relationship is possibly all one big lie and well--how do you not snap??

Now, I'm also incredibly fond of Kaeya and he was just as traumatized by Crepus's death. He was wracked with guilt for *feeling* relieved that he didn't have to worry about betraying his birth father for his adoptive father since Crepus was dead. He anticipated Diluc's anger and felt like their duel was a punishment for his lies.

To me, it hints that Kaeya probably didn't reveal the truth expecting Diluc's understanding, but rather he knew how he would react and perhaps he wanted Diluc to strike him down in that duel. Or at the very least, he wanted to distance himself from Diluc and cut off ties in order to avoid emotional attachment stopping him from his mission.

I personally head-canon that Diluc withdrew upon seeing Kaeya's vision because well--why would the gods bless Kaeya with a vision if he truly had the intent to harm Mondstadt? So in spite of what Kaeya revealed, he isn't a threat. But there's still a lot of hurt there to navigate through.

I think it's fascinating seeing where they stand in present game because Kaeya obviously has the ideology of working the system from within. He stayed in the knights (even taking over his brother's position) and with Jean rooted out the Inspector and his cronies.

Meanwhile Diluc just isn't that type of person. He doesn't settle, he refuses to work in a system he views corrupt, he rather accomplish what he can outside of it. Curiously, he doesn't challenge the status quo beyond being vocal of his distaste of the Knights.

This is head-canon fantasyland, but I like to envision Kaeya and Diluc do use a lot of the same informants and collaborate on intel relating to the safety of Mondstadt (especially since Diluc can move in ways against the Fatui that the Knights can't due to political reasons) but they struggle to have the same connection as before.

For example, Diluc's story quest--Kaeya was essentially giving Diluc an alibi with the Knights. Even if Jean damn well knows who it is, they still have to have official documentation stating otherwise.

Kaeya is good at reading people, he has to be given how he was raised to be a child spy. But I like to think he struggles to read Diluc like before. Diluc is much more jaded, pessimistic, quieter than before. He prefers to work on his own as much as possible. From Kaeya's pov, the only person he's seen Diluc willing to fully trust enough to work alongside with is the Traveler, and he states as much.

The opposite is true of Diluc. Kaeya was his shadow, a quiet but inquisitive, witty observer. Cavalry Captain Kaeya is much more outgoing and friendly, his charm on full display. Did he ever really truly know Kaeya or did he only show Diluc what he wanted him to see? Is Kaeya happier this way?

Fanon often depicts Kaeya as essentially being barred from the dawn winery from the duel by Diluc himself, but I don't think that's quite the case. Much rather, given the reason he told Diluc that night, I think he views himself as undeserving due to unresolved guilt.

Canon seems to hint at all of this through his hangout and Hidden Strife, the latter of which is unfortunately a time-limited event that occurred before I even played (hoyo please stop having heavy lore drops occur in time limited events).

I think the two want to trust each other again, but both are afraid of destroying the tentative truce they have so they leave all of it unaddressed. Kaeya refuses to be completely truthful ever again and Diluc acknowledges the past but refuses to discuss it. The tragedy in their relationship that neither is at fault for what happened--it's a twisted emotional mess of grief and heartbreak.

The last point I'd like to touch on is the parallels between Kaeya and Diluc both being essentially child soldiers for their fathers' causes.

For Kaeya, being abandoned in Mondstadt to be a child spy is the most overt. For Diluc? Despite Crepus's strong ambition to be a Favonius Knight and to have a vision--neither happened for him. In Diluc's vision story, it states that he views his vision being a result of their "shared" ambition, hinting that his vision was granted after Diluc's strong resolve to achieve his father's dreams for him.

We know Crepus heavily encouraged Diluc down this path at very young age, given Diluc received his vision at age 10 and became the youngest Captain at age 14. In some ways, I'm sure Kaeya was a bit jealous of Diluc for having a loving father present in his life that was overtly proud of him.

I am not saying Crepus wasn't a good father, I think he cared immensely for Kaeya and Diluc both, but I do think he did some morally grey shit.

Diluc abandoning his vision is fascinating and it's almost never explored in fics. He is the only vision holder we know of (aside from the Inazumauns whose visions were taken by force) that had their ambition for their vision shaken in such a way that they voluntarily discarded their vision for a time and only took it back after reigniting a new ambition to have it (and as far we know the only allogene that faced no negative setbacks from using a delusion long-term without their vision present).

I don't know where to end all of this, except if you have ragbros fic recommendations that you believe cover it in a more nuanced way, let me know!

[david-talks-sw]

I'd say where the dissonance really starts, when it comes to the portrayal of the Jedi in more recent Star Wars stories, is the perception of what the Prequels are about.

They're not about the Jedi.

George Lucas said over and over that they're about:

How a democracy turns into a dictatorship, we see this in the background of the films, as the Republic descends into becoming the Empire.

That first theme is then paralleled with a second theme: how a good kid becomes a bad man. We see this in the more character-driven and personal exploration of Anakin’s fall to the Dark Side.

The Prequels’ focus is on Anakin and the Republic, these films are not primarily about the fall of the Jedi. In fact, I’d argue they aren’t about the Jedi at all!

And when you look at the original backstory, you’ll notice that it also primarily focuses on:

The political subplot of the Republic’s downfall and Palpatine becoming the Emperor.

Anakin’s turn and his betrayal of the Jedi. 

So, there too… the Jedi themselves aren’t really that big a part of the Prequels’ original idea. They aren't mentioned much, beyond their trying to save the Senate and getting wiped out.

The Star Wars movies aren't about the Jedi, they're about Anakin and Luke, they're about Obi-Wan and Padmé and Han and Leia, the Rebellion vs the Empire, the fall of the Republic.

They're not about Ben and Yoda and Mace and Ki-Adi and Plo Koon and Shaak Ti and Luminara.

Just like Harry Potter isn't about Dumbledore and McGonagall. Just like the Lord of the Rings isn't about Gandalf.

On a functional level, the Jedi are:

POV characters who witness the events unfold with their hands tied, they're our anchors, whose eyes we see through to see democracy crumble into dictatorship.

Embodiments/vectors of the message George Lucas wanted to get across through these movies, which is the conflict between selfishness & selflessness, greed & compassion (Sith & Jedi).

But that's about it.

However, if you ask today’s fans and Star Wars creatives, most will say the Prequels are about the fall of the Jedi Order.

This is a take shared by a big chunk of the fandom, including various filmmakers, authors, and executives involved with Star Wars, so much so that the time period the Prequel films cover has now been redubbed by Lucasfilm as the “Fall of the Jedi era”.

Which leaves us with a question... why? Why the dissonance?

My guess? It's because the Jedi are cool. They're awesome.

And deep down, they wanted the Prequels to be about the Jedi. About the Jedi Knights at their height, errant warriors like the Knights of the Round Table.

And they didn't get that. They got a bunch of diplomats serving a political institution. And that didn't make sense, right? That's not what they expected so it's bad. And it's Star Wars. It's Lucas. It can't be bad, right? So like... what were they missing?

Oh... wait... what if... that's the point? That the Jedi were supposed to be Knight Errants and being guided by the Force instead of like - ew - space ambassadors for the Republic. Yeah now it all makes sense.

The Jedi in the Prequels aren't what we wanted them to be and that's their failure! Like, it's not just that I didn't like them because they weren't likeable to me, it's that I'm not supposed to like them because the narrative totally says so--

-- it doesn't.

The Jedi preach and practice the same Buddhist values as George Lucas, mirroring what he says in interviews almost verbatim.

The relationship between Obi-Wan and Anakin/Qui-Gon mirrors the dynamic between Lucas and Coppola.

The designs of the Jedi and their temple had to be toned down because they looked too bureaucratic and systemic.

This is Lucas we're talking about. "On the nose" is his middle name. He named the drug-peddling sleazebag "Elan Sleazebaggano." He ditched an elaborate introduction of General Grievous in exchange for just "the doors slide open, in walks Grievous and he's ugly."

If he had really been hell bent on framing the Jedi as elitist squares who lost their way and were mired in bureaucracy, he would've made them and the Jedi Temple look like the authorities in THX-1138.

They weren't likeable to some fans because, well, they weren't developed or shown as much as someone like Anakin. Because it's not about them. It's not their story. It's Anakin's. It's Luke's. It's their respective friends'. Or maybe it's an adversity to "perfect goody two-shoes" characters (which the Jedi are not). But hey, it's a movie for kids. Some 2-dimensionality is forgivable.

Bottom line, had more time been spent on the Jedi, had Lucas made the Prequels into a limited show and give them a whole subplot, had he decided to do away with the 30s serial dialog and let someone else write the dialog, maybe the reception might've been different.

But that's what we got. And guess what it's fine.

It's more than fine, it's fucking awesome.

I proudly and confidently say that I love the Prequels, with and without The Clone Wars.

I love my space monks, I love that they're diplomat wizards, I love that there's such a variety of them, I love that Mace is a no-bullshit guy who genuinely cares about his fellow Jedi and how screwed the Republic is, and Yoda is wise and kind but also a gremlin weirdo who'll embarass you in front of a classroom full of kids, and Ki-Adi has a penis for a head, is constantly calm and yet goes down like a champ even though they take him by surprise. I love that Shaak Ti can kung fu an army full of Magna Guards and still have the energy to charge at Grievous. I love that Obi-Wan is a sass machine who is also hilariously oblivious to the fact that he's just as terrible as Anakin.

They're awesome even if they're not perfect. They're awesome because they're not perfect.

But the movies are not really their story.

They're Anakin's. They're Luke's. They're the Republic's and the Rebellion's. And the fight against a space Nazi emperor/empire.

[zvaigzdelasas]

[CNN is US Private Media]

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lambasted his Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Monday and accused him of adopting an “anti-Israel narrative,” revealing a deep rupture at the top of the Israeli government as the Middle East risks spiraling into a full-scale regional conflict.

Israeli media reported this week that Gallant, speaking to lawmakers in a private security briefing, had dismissed Netanyahu’s war aim of achieving “absolute victory” over Hamas as “gibberish,” branding those who say this is achievable as “heroes with war drums.”[...]

“When Gallant adopts the anti-Israel narrative, he harms the chances of reaching a hostage deal,” the prime minister’s office said in a statement. It said Gallant was obligated to pursue the twin goals of Israel’s war in Gaza: Eliminating Hamas and the release of the hostages seized by Hamas in the October 7 attacks.[...]

On Monday, the European Union’s top diplomat Josep Borrell told CNN he would put forward a proposal at the EU to sanction far-right Israeli ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir.

Borrell had called for sanctions against Smotrich and Ben Gvir in a post on X, days after Smotrich said it would be “moral” to starve two million Gazans until Israeli hostages are freed.[...]

In his leaked comments, Gallant also claimed he had in October proposed a pre-emptive attack on Hezbollah in Lebanon, but that Netanyahu had not supported the strike and had missed the opportunity.

“The conditions today for a Lebanon war are the opposite of what they were at the beginning of the war,” Gallant reportedly told lawmakers.[...]

Gallant joins a number of senior Israeli officials to have questioned Netanyahu’s aim of destroying Hamas. In June, top military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said the idea that Israel could “make Hamas vanish” is “throwing sand in the eyes of the public.”

CNN recently reported that nearly half of Hamas’ military battalions in northern and central Gaza have rebuilt some of their fighting capabilities, despite Israel’s unrelenting [genocidal war of extermination], according to a joint analysis with the American Enterprise Institute’s Critical Threats Project and the Institute for the Study of War.

Crumbling failed apartheid state [13 Aug 24]

[infinitelystrangemachinex]

massages forehead So Ambessa hid Mel away because she was a weapon in the literal sense, a mage. But Ambessa came to Piltover for Hextech? And Ambessa had nothing to say to Mel about her powers having visibly awakened? Even when Mel offered to go with Ambessa, giving her the ultimate opportunity to make Mel a weapon for real? And Ambessa made no attempt to find or retrieve Mel - not just her daughter and the remnants of the family Ambessa professes to love, but also her ultimate weapon - when she disappeared? And Ambessa trusted Singed and Viktor on their home turf - neither of them hiding how insane and self-serving they are with every reason to take over Ambessa's soldiers or just blatantly turn on her as soon as it benefits them - more than she trusted Mel? While Caitlyn (and by extension Piltover) was visibly and clearly falling away from Ambessa's teachings before Ambessa's eyes? (as if getting rid of certain people allows piltover to get rid of fascism but we won't get into All That)

Not only do I struggle to be hyped for Mel's powers beyond how amazing and beautiful she looks, but I can't help but feel like Mel is somehow less powerful in season 2 than she was in season 1, and not in an interesting way. As if Mel's ability to bend all of Piltover politics and economics to her will in season 1 now means nothing in season 2? You can argue that Jinx's attack led directly to Mel losing ground in Piltover - because I expected Mel to have to claw back that power without being able to rely on people who are too easily seduced by Ambessa and authoritarianism, and she would have to get creative to go toe to toe with her mother. I expected pushback to her mage identity that she would have to navigate. But instead this went either unwritten, or was ignored or discarded. Instead Mel is removed from the main plot, cutting her off from what made her the most interesting - only for all of Mel's very real talents, her very real powers and abilities, to be not only translated but REPLACED with magical powers she doesn't know how to control, and by the finale, those magic powers are the only powers that are considered real. Mel takes a backseat to Piltover's governing and decisions, a backseat to Jayce of all people who was not only new to politics mere months ago but made poor governing, strategic, and diplomatic decisions when he had that power. In season 1 Mel stayed off the "throne" but she did pull its strings one way or the other, and she makes no attempt at this in season 2

In my least generous suspicions, Mel was gentled and quieted to capitulate to an agenda for other characters who had to be correct and heroic - or wrong and villainous - no matter what the leadup narrative said, given her powers to help sell the game and set up future shows, and was effectively ejected from the Arcane story with faceless soldiers and a role she doesn't want because she was inconvenient there