#india drone attack

[bannedandburned]

Another day, another "unforseen" abuse against women.

Cambridge gave a village in northern India a bunch of drones and spy cams to watch wild life. And surprise, surprise: men immediately used it to film women using the bathroom in the forest and sharing it online. They buzz them with the drones while they're gathering lumber and food and it intimidates them out of singing and communicating. This leaves them more vulnerable to animal attack and is literally getting these women killed.

There's no neutral item that can't be turned into a weapon when men have hate in their hearts.

[eretzyisrael]

Good News From Israel

In the 23rd Feb 25 edition of Israel’s good news, the highlights include:

The five released female IDF hostages requested to return to active duty.

The partner of a fallen IDF soldier has named her life-saving discovery after him.

Israel gives medical and financial support to ex-hostage Thai workers.

The IDF gave US firefighters vital data to help combat LA wildfires.

Israeli hybrid-fueled drones can fly five times further.

Israel and India are partnering to transform global trade.

Israeli women win a medal at the ice hockey world championships.

Argentine’s President is the first non-Jewish winner of the “Jewish Nobel Prize”.

Read More: Good News From Israel

By now most readers will know of the heart-stopping moment I experienced 11 days ago and the superb emergency medical services I received. Happily, my new pacemaker is working fine and I am grateful for so many good wishes. 

There have been many "heart-stopping" moments in Israel recently - including Thursday's miraculous escape from bus-bombs because of an alert passenger and timers that terrorists had set for 9pm instead of 9am. (more about that next week)

In this latest issue, the 5 released female IDF soldiers stopped the hearts of their superiors when they asked to return to active service. And hearts were definitely fluttering when a young Israeli woman doing national service got engaged to the critically injured soldier she was helping recover.

In medical news, a heartbroken Israeli researcher discovered a treatment for a heart-stopping resistant bacteria and then named it after her lost partner. Meanwhile, Israeli IVF scientists have found how to increase the chances of creating a successful new heartthrob for prospective parents.

Israel21c's editor sent me a heart-wrenching story of when her husband and an Israeli Arab nurse were the only people to go to the aid of a heart-attack victim at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport. And Israeli NGO Zaka showed US law enforcers how to deal respectively at mass-casualty events with those whose hearts were no longer beating.

Israeli innovators have developed new healthier food technologies to prevent heart attacks for consumers.  And Israeli scientists have engineered a revolutionary alternative for the "stop-start" process at the heart of all microprocessors.

Israeli fans had their hearts in their mouths as the women's ice-hockey team scored the winning goal in stoppage time at the World Championships.  And finally it was a heartening sight to see ex-hostage Sasha Troufanov wearing tefillin close to his heart in celebration of his release from captivity.

The photo is of the "I Love Jerusalem" sign in Israel's capital - the Heart of the Jewish State.

[girlactionfigure]

🔶Sunday morning - events from Israel  

ISRAEL REALTIME - Connecting to Israel in Realtime

( VIDEO - airstrike on an apartment building aka weapons site in Beirut, with secondary explosions of the stored rockets. )

♦️LEBANON - IDF continues relatively constant attacks across Lebanon and focusing on Beirut. “The IDF carried out a series of targeted attacks throughout Beirut against a number of munitions warehouses.”

♦️SYRIA - reports of strong explosions in the Al Qusayr area, a town not far off the Lebanon border.  Lebanese sources say Iran has significantly increased the transfer of munitions from Syria to Lebanon - which explains Israel bombing Syria-Lebanon border crossings.

♦️GAZA - Air Force aircraft attacked dozens of military targets in aid of the maneuvering forces, including munitions warehouses, underground infrastructures, and terrorist squads in Jabaliya - including a command and control complex inside an UNRWA center.

.. Heavy IDF activity around Jabaliya, encircled. 

♦️GAZA - The IDF spokesman for the Arab media calls on the residents of the northern Gaza Strip to go south and is expanding the humanitarian zone to accommodate.

.. Hamas calls for disobeying evacuation orders from the north of the Strip to the south.

⭕2 LONG RANGE HEZBOLLAH ROCKETS MISSILES fired at Israel this morning - intercepted.

⭕2 SUICIDE DRONES FROM HEZBOLLAH at TEL AVIV, routing around through the sea, intercepted by IDF ships.

🔹Iran: NOTAM (air notice) The west of Iran is closed to aircraft traffic every night at certain hours.

🔹RUMORS of Israel attack notices continue to fly.  Previously: India informed.  Now: Jordan- received notice.

🔹GAZA - Report:  In recent weeks, about 4,000 new terrorists were recruited into the terrorist organization Hamas from the funds or supplies of the aid trucks that Israel allows into the Gaza Strip.

🔹French President Macron tweets: "An immediate ceasefire is essential in Gaza as in Lebanon."

🔹The President of Azerbaijan responds to threats from Iran to harm his country if Israel attacks Iran: 'We will burn Iran and its proxies, we will not tolerate any threat to our territory.’

▪️PROTEST - ANTI-GOVT - TEL AVIV.. Demonstrators against the government block Kaplan Street in Tel Aviv: "The Cabinet of Death”.  Small.

🔸DEAL NEWS.. Qatari reporters to the relatives of the hostages: “(Hamas leader) Sinwar is not currently communicating with us. He also disappeared to us and does not make contact. He stopped communicating via phones.”

[theburialofstrawberries]

On 10 February 2018, during a three-hour visit to Ramallah to meet President Mahmoud Abbas of the PLO, Modi made the longstanding and standard official Indian declaration supporting a “sovereign and independent” Palestinian state—but, for the first time in an international setting, this statement had no references to a “united” Palestinian state or to East Jerusalem as its capital. From then onwards, these absences in official statements have remained, suggesting that even a “Bantustan”-type two-state resolution worse than the land-distribution pattern proposed at Oslo would be acceptable. Indeed, after Operation Protective Edge—Israel’s July 2014 air assault on Gaza that killed over two thousand Palestinians—Modi blocked the passage of an opposition resolution in parliament condemning this attack. Where once, for form’s sake, India would go along with UNGA resolutions condemning Israel, it would now more frequently abstain. It supported the 2020 Abraham Accords, despite the obvious betrayal by the signatories—the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan—to the Palestinian struggle. In July 2022, I2U2, the political and economic grouping of Israel, India, the United States and the United Arab Emirates, was formally launched. The same day, the Israeli company Gadot, and Gautam Adani, who is closely tied to Narendra Modi, won the privatisation tender for Israel’s crucial Haifa port. And, amid the latest genocidal assault on Gaza, the Modi government has helped fast-track its recruitment of Indian migrant workers to replace now outlawed Palestinian workers. India sent over twenty Hermes 900 military drones, produced jointly by Adani and Elbit Advanced Systems India, to Israel—in spite of the high likelihood of their deployment in Gaza, where Israel is using similar drones. Explosives and munitions have been respectively supplied by two companies, Premier Explosives and the state-owned Munitions India. Many other Indian companies are also involved in subsidised joint ventures with Israeli weapons manufacturers. “So how did India, which once considered Zionism a form of racism, become Israel’s number one weapons trade buyer, accounting for 42% of Israel’s arms exports since Modi came to power in 2014?” Essa asks. He provides an important part of the explanation when he talks of the ideological “kinship” of Hindutva and Zionism.

[matan4il]

Daily update post:

A drone and rockets have been launched from Yemen at Israel. So for those following, Israeli civilians now know they're being targeted by Hamas (funded by Iran) from Gaza, Hezbollah (funded by Iran) from Lebanon, Syria (where Iran is backing the murderous Assad regime), Yemen (where Iran is funding the Houthis) while there are also on going attempts at independent terrorist attacks. That would be five fronts that the Israeli army is currently engaged on.

Israel has been conducting limited raids into Gaza for a while. They're meant to retrieve bodies of Israelis, collect intel, and destroy Hamas infrastructure that can't be struck from the air. Two nights ago, tanks joined a raid, last night that happened again, at a slightly larger scale. But it's still a raid, not a full scale ground incursion.

More and more rockets are hitting residential areas in Israeli cities, like Tel Aviv yesterday, Beer Sheva today, etc. Iron Dome has never been 100% full proof, the load of rockets means it's more likely to fail.

On Oct 7, a Hamas terrorist called his dad from the cell phone of an Israeli woman he had murdered. This is the conversation that the phone automatically recorded:

"Your son killed Jews." Not Israelis. Not Zionists. Jews.

In response, someone drew this cartoon:

Literally every soldier I've listened to has talked about the attempt to save lives, where they succeeded, and where they failed. They all talk about the future ground action as what they need to do to protect the people of Israel. We can have a discussion on what can save Israelis from Hamas, but understand that this is how Israeli civilians and soldiers see it.

Every time I've heard the words "resistance" and "decolonization" thrown about as justification for violence, I've thought about India, and how it was decolonized through inspiring non-violent resistance.

This is Shosh Machol.

She, her husband Noy and their kids were hiding in the bomb shelter. Noy was holding the door to stop Hamas terrorists from breaking in, but they managed to shoot him through it. Shosh improvised a tourniquet that kept him from bleeding out, but then the terrorists started setting the house on fire. Realizing that the only way to keep the kids alive is to open a crack in the window, let oxygen in, Shosh told her husband she would have to let go of the tourniquet to do so. They both understood this meant he would bleed to death. "Do it," Noy told her. He didn't survive. Shosh and the kids did, long enough to be saved by the army.

(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)

[dustedmagazine]

Kelby Clark — Language of the Torch (Tentative Power)

Kelby Clark is an LA-by-way-of-Georgia banjo player who blends divergent styles and approaches to forge his own novel direction for the instrument. Over a series of mostly self-released home-spun recordings from the past five or so years, he has honed his approach, expanding the traditions of his point of origin in the American south to include free improvisation and eastern modalities — an alchemy familiar to Sandy Bull, a fellow stretcher of the vocabulary of the banjo and of the concept of “folk” and the traditional. His sparse and appropriately fiery new LP Language of the Torch, available January 10th of next year from Tentative Power, represents a significant milestone in his development of his own science of the banjo, a statement of intent for his artistic practice. It also marks the inaugural 12” LP release from the Baton Rouge, Louisiana label.

Across the seven searching pieces that make up Language of the Torch, Clark constructs a labyrinthine world of music from solo banjo and occasional, subdued harmonium, centered around two longform tracks, “Tennessee Raag Pt.1” and “Tennessee Raag Pt. 3” – there is no part two. These songs help situate the album among its influences, the titles suggesting an imaginational space where Appalachia and India overlap, an interzone frequently visited by practitioners of “American Primitive” music. The intentionally skewed numbering invokes John Fahey, another sometime-raga-obsessive, whose volumes of guitar music are numbered in a non-sensical, non-sequential manner, thumbing the nose at the very concept of numbers and of archiving or cataloging art in volumes. Clark improvises and composes, but on Language of the Torch, the two lengthy “Raags” and the six-minute opening salvo, “Time’s Arc,” feel like the compositions that anchor the shorter, more exploratory tracks that fall between them. Clark’s banjo twangs and drones almost sitar-like during these mesmerizing endurance runs, rough edges flattening over time like water-worn limestone.

In contrast to the patience of these bucolic “Raags,” the shorter tracks on Language of the Torch have an immediacy and attack to them and entertain more old-time flourishes. The concise title cut is perhaps the most traditional, the bends and swoops here feel related to Americana, a brief nod to and deconstruction of familiar forms. Clark is a fluid player, but the percussive nature of the banjo can run counter to fluidity — the most explosive of these improvisations, “Apis,” begins abruptly with an aggressive right-hand trill before it clatters apart and back together again like a musical version of Marcel Duchamp’s Modernist classic “Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2.” This song is a stand-out and the heaviest example of Clark’s burning vision for the banjo, the “concert instrument” ambition expressed by his forebears in the American Primitive movement.

All traditional forms of music, from Indian Classical to Appalachian Old-Time and permutations between, seem narrowly determined upon a superficial look but reveal their universal nature to those willing to let go of semiotics and sink into their visionary streams. This makes these forms excellent starting points for experimentation, established structures that contain the instructions to build new universes, if one is bold enough to try to read them, and that is what Kelby Clark attempts here with the 5-string banjo and the various traditions from which he draws inspiration. The liner notes for Language of the Torch take the form of a poem by hammered dulcimer player Jen Powers, a fellow traveler on the path of exploding the scope of the traditional. I think the passage below illuminates the process at hand, the conversation between tradition and interpreter:

And maybe now you're wondering whether you are the conjurer or the conjured, and if you really want to know which it is

Josh Moss

[usafphantom2]

Fearing war with Iran, Israel asks the United States to approve the sale of 25 F-15EX fighters soon

Fernando Valduga By Fernando Valduga 04/02/2024 - 19:47 in Military

The consequences of the Israeli airstrike on the Iranian Embassy in Damascus, Syria, on April 1º 2024, may mean that Israel defied an open war with Iran. Although it is militarily superior in the Middle East, and always has the support of the United States, the many fronts that Jews have to face make Israel need to prepare for various scenarios. One scenario to face the war with Iran and other Middle Eastern countries is to request the accelerated delivery of the purchase of 25 F-15EX fighters.

President Joe Biden's administration is considering whether to authorize the huge $18 billion arms transfer package to Israel, which includes the acquisition of dozens of F-15EX fighters along with weapons, three sources familiar with the matter said.

The sale of 25 Boeing F-15EX jets to Israel has been under review since the United States received a formal order in January 2023, one of the sources said. Accelerating the delivery of the planes was one of the main requests of the Israeli Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, who visited Washington last week and held talks with those responsible ?? Americans, including National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.

Seeing the escalation that is taking place in the Middle East, a source said that the U.S. is now considering accelerating the sale of F-15EX fighters to Israel. The Israeli Air Force also said it intends to double the number of orders in question.

The official Request Letter (LOR) for the purchase of the F-15EX fighters was sent by the Israeli Government to the U.S. Government last week. LOR is the first stage of the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) process. Indonesia had already submitted a LOR for the F-15EX acquisition plan. After sending the LOR, only then will the Agency for Cooperation for the Security of Defense (DSCA) disclose the information of the offer along with the value of the sale.

The Israeli Air Force wants 25 new F-15EX and, in parallel, will also upgrade 25 of its F-15I variants to the same avionic configuration as the F-15EX, except for the fly-by-wire system. The Israeli Air Force currently operates 50 F-15 A/B/C/D variants and 25 F-15I variants.

F-15I

When Israel made the decision to buy more F-15 and F-35, it was based on the assumption that in future combat scenarios the targets would be protected by advanced air defense systems. This would require the first wave of F-35 to neutralize the enemy's air defense systems and then the role of the F-15 to carry out subsequent attacks on enemy territory.

Although Israel has asked to speed up the acquisition of the F-15EX and Washington is considering doing so, on the other hand, it is not easy for Boeing to accelerate the production of the F-15EX, unless this is done through a 'change' in the production queue of the F-15EX (Eagle II) commissioned by the U.S. Air Force (USAF).

Tags: Military AviationBoeingF-15EXIAF - Israeli Air Force/Israel Air Force

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Fernando Valduga

Fernando Valduga

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

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[rookwurmwood]

The Den

It had been five or six years since I laid on the deck of the Joyeuse in a puddle of my own blood. The ship’s doctor, a Swiss gentleman named Max, leaning low over me so that the cannon fire which flew over us did not hit him; all while trying to put my guts back in my abdomen after it had been unzipped by the cutlass of a pirate. The din of the fighting slowly fading to a piercing drone as a foggy veil slipped over my eyes.

I was no fighting man and fell first when they had boarded us but fate would have it that I was the only of the wounded who would survive the long journey when we limped our way to Hong Kong where I had first taken up that poison to ease the pain as my stitches healed. I would sail with the crew of the Joyeuse for two additional voyages before the captain discharged me after several incidents when the tendrils of withdrawal wrapped 'round my mind whilst underway which deprived me of the sweet milk of the poppy. Coming to a head when I had been seized by a particularly violent episode of delirium which saw me attacking the first mate. After my relinquishment from the East India Company, I returned back to my native Paris to wallow in shameful self-exile. I consider that to be the darkest period of my life as I lived in the most squalid slums of the Left Bank; a maze of narrow boulevards and high, crumbling buildings. There I dwelt with my fellow low-lives and destitutes amidst shadowed alleys which conceal the darkest of doings. Though with all the back-stabbing common in such circles, I had no friends and was well and truly alone.

I made a meager living as a worker on the river-boats which congest the Seine and spent the few Francs I got from slinging crates and tying bowlines on whatever sins of the flesh I could afford. I do not dare to ponder just how many nights I spent traversing the unsavory underbelly of Paris though my face was a familiar one to the proprietors of the brothels and opium dens of the slums. I, of course, frequented those hazy burrows of degeneracy quite often as they had ample supply of opium which was smuggled 'cross the deserts from the Ottoman Empire. I was very much privy to the lengths others who dwell on the lowest realms of society will go to in a bid to see another day, so I dared not leave my hovel without my effects whenever I was off to my preferred lair of corruption and degeneracy. Those two items being: a short cutlass which was given to me as a morbidly ironic parting gift from one of my friends aboard the Joyeuse and concealable percussion cap pistol I won in a game of cards. Desperation and drug-fueled paranoia had greatly sharpened my ability to fend for myself as if I were to let someone get the drop on me again, I would not have another Max who would save my life.

I would tuck both weapons into my sash, wait until sun-down, and skulk down the filthy avenues and gutters to whichever place had not been raided by the police. One night, I had gone out on my usual routine of pursuing vice with additional fervor as I had been paid extra that week. I had found a reputable (as reputable as such a place can be) locale which I had heard of by word of mouth from other untouchables. I soon found myself reclined upon a mound of oriental silk cushions, my limbs heavy, body numb, and mind swathed in ignorant euphoria as I watched the smoke dance about the flame of the candle which sat on a stool in front of me. I sunk deeper and deeper into lethargy until my eyes felt impossible to keep open until I succumbed to the baneful yet caressing hands of my master. I felt that familiar sensation of death yet again; but this time, I resisted not the embrace of Azrael for if this is what it felt like to pass through the curtain of death by the kiss of opium, then I would go willingly. The darkness seemed to swallow the darkness as I found myself amidst endless black gulfs of nethermost confusion.

Yet, I awoke. I was still surrounded by darkness, yet I could feel cold stone beneath me. I then became aware of the funerary silence around me, my ragged breathing and clumsy stirring produced no echo which indicated I must have been in a very small room. I blindly groped around my surroundings and was met with a uniform surface of damp stone and the stale air was thick with the odor of mold. I reached into my pockets and felt for my book of matches and stuck one against the side which bathed the chamber in a dim light. I was at the end of a narrow tunnel with a very low ceiling. I looked above to see if there was a trap door above me but saw only the yawning darkness of the shaft which stretched above and beyond the light of my measly flame. I had heard of this happening before, patrons of opium dens overdosing and the owner dumping their bodies into the catacombs beneath the city to dispose of the evidence. Someone must have taken me for dead in my fugue state and I was dropped down some shaft into one of the fringe tunnels of that subterranean labyrinth.

Panic washed over me. I had been aware of the catacombs since I was a boy and had known that people would always go in and never come out as they practically ran the width and breadth of the entire city of Paris. Eventually, I had gathered my wits and resolved to find a way out and pressed forward into the dark tunnel ahead. I had assumed a strange, stooping posture to walk or crawl down the tunnel; as I progressed, the floor became covered in frigid, stagnant water which gently rippled beneath the soles of my boots which pried the iron doors of silence just a tad farther open as I continued. Eventually, the tunnel grew wider and taller and I could stand erect yet again. I had burned out most of my matches by this point but by chance, my hand brushed upon the rusty torch-sconce on the wall which still held its load aloft. I seized the handle of desiccated, worm-eaten wood, and saw that the head still had a bit of moldy canvas or linen bandings on the top which I set alight with my final match. This increased the reach of my vision and provided a good deal of warmth and comfort which eased my addled nerves as I roamed the Hadean darkness.

The tunnel I was in soon gave way to a larger chamber. The flame which clung to the end of my torch struggled to part the tenebrous curtains which obscured what appeared to be the undercroft of a cathedral with a gothic vaulted ceiling held aloft by many stone pillars which further obstructed my view of chamber and threw dancing, wraith-like shadows on the moist stone walls. The water was still present, shimmering in the light of my torch and a distant dripping could be heard. The walls that made up the perimeter of the room were lined with several alcoves which were elevated above the floor by at least a foot though what was noteworthy about these recesses were their contents as every single one of them had bones neatly stacked into them. Creating a morbid wall, almost cyclopean in appearance, from which the hollow eyes of many skulls peered out from. I had heard that many had used parts of the catacombs as ossuaries but had never seen them first-hand. I trembled as I walked about the room, the shallow water on the floor splashing with my every step as I was silently observed by my sightless spectators. At the far end of the room as a doorway in the shape of an arch and bordered by two ossuaries which held their skeletal sentinels. Beyond this threshold was a flight of stairs, choked by thick sheets of cobwebs, which lead up into a lugubrious void and with that: a potential path to the surface.

I know not how long I climbed but I had to rest at frequent intervals to catch my breath. The height of the climb was uncannily tall and called into question how exactly I had gotten down here. If I had been dropped down some chute like I had initially assumed, then the fall would have certainly killed me. Near the top of the stairs I was assailed with a sickening odor, far worse than the mold, a charnel and metallic stench like that of putrefied blood and I was met by a heavy wooden door. Strength had not yet fully returned to my limbs as a side effect of my binge and it took tremendous effort to push the door open, the hinges creaking and groaning while the timbers scraped the stone floor.

I was met with a wide passage, the walls of which looked as if they were entirely composed of yet more skeletons which had been meticulously arranged into patterns like some macabre mosaic which stretched from the smooth stone floor to the low-hanging ceiling. The horrible miasma was so thick in the tomb-air that I had to untie the sash from my waist and wrap it around my nose and mouth like a scarf, though this helped little. It was only then did I realize that whoever had hauled me down here had taken the liberty of relinquishing my cutlass from my custody, yet neglected to rid me of my pistol which I resigned to carry in my off hand. Traversing these tunnels proved quite difficult as they twisted and turned and intersected, all while I was scrutinized by the empty sockets which mockingly leered out at me. I began to panic and started to run through the halls, hoping that I'd chance across some hatch to the surface. My footfalls broke the sacred silence as I frantically searched for a point of egress until I stumbled on an uneven patch of floor and dropped my torch which was promptly snuffed out. I tried in vain to rekindle the dying embers yet no amount of blowing would revive it and I found myself plunged into blind darkness yet again.

I resorted to steadily walking with my hands outstretched, pawing at the intangible void to ensure I did not run head-long into a wall. I went on like this for some time, my hands occasionally meeting the dry surface of the tomb-dweller or cold, rough-hewn stone.

As I progressed, I found myself conscious that I could actually see my surroundings in some dim radiance. I had at first assumed that fancy had overtaken my vision until I realized that it was the faint glow of candles. The light grew brighter until I rounded a corner to be met with a wrought-iron gate, beyond which was another sepulcher quite similar to the one I had seen earlier. This one was free of water and lit by hundreds of candles which sat upon whichever surface could hold them, many where perched atop mountains of layered wax which had indicated continual use. I took this as a sign that I was nearing the surface and opened the gate, stepping into the warmly illuminated chamber. It was here where I also discovered the source of the malodor. There were no ossuaries in this undercroft but the parallel walls to my left and my right were lined with stone slabs, upon them were white shrouds, stained and moth-eaten, beneath which I could make out ghastly profiles of anthropoid forms. I dared not remove these grave-cloths as I was all too aware of what they were concealing. At the far end of the room was yet another archway which led to a short vestibule which was terminated with another door of heavy wooden planks. Above the doorway was an inscription which I could decipher as it was written in a curiously archaic hand which I had first thought to have been Hebrew yet with closer examination revealed certain characters and runes which looked out of place. My next assumption was Greek yet I still failed to see any familiar letters.

As I drew closer to the door, I grew conscious of an indistinct sound just beyond the hatch. It sounded first like soft weeping, gently echoing off the stone walls but as I reached for the great iron ring on the side of the door I began to make out syllables. As I pulled the door open, I could hear the sound more clearly as the stifled resonations of prayer. The room past the door was bereft of any ghoulish contents yet it still greatly unnerved me. Upon the floor in the center of this square room was a circular tile or slab set onto the floor, engraved upon its face was a seal or sigil made up by a seven-pointed star. At each point of the heptagram was a black candle, the flames of which did not react to the breeze generated by my movements. On the left and right side of the room each had a doorway. One had a short flight of stairs heading upwards whilst the other led to a dark room, barely illuminated by the shaft of light which spilled in from the chamber I was currently in and from which drifted the soft sounds of supplication.

I turned to the doorway on the left, hoping to ask whoever was speaking if they knew a way out of catacombs. I lowered my improvised bandana to make myself appear less suspicious and hid the pistol by my side. I approached the threshold and saw a figure resting upon its knees just beyond the light which issued forth from the doorway. I called out to the worshipper, yet they ignored me, simply continuing to whimper and pray under its breath in a harsh, gibbering voice. I made out the invocations were being spoken in a very archaic dialect of French which I had only heard men of the cloth us to speak to one another, assuming this was the sexton who oversaw the catacombs and called out again only for the caretaker to disregard me yet again. I had become frustrated at this point and began to enter the dark room.

I approached the kneeling figure just as my eyes began to adjust to the darkness and stopped. As my vision began to acclimate, I could see the worshipper in more detail. They were nearly nude, save for what appeared to be a pair of fur trousers, the skin on its back was saggy and wrinkled, accentuated by the bumps of the spine which ran down the middle. It did not kneel as much as it squatted upon the floor like the gargoyles atop the buttresses of Notre Dame. I reached out a hand to tap them on the shoulder and quickly drew it away in shock.

My heart nearly leapt from my chest as it turned to face me. As it did not turn its body to look around, rather its head swiveled over its shoulder at a freakish angle atop a neck which was far too long than should be natural. Its head was topped with greasy strands of black hair which hung in-front of its face, parted by a protuberant set of jaws which extended out from the rest of its gaunt face in a grotesque snout-like fashion. Without moving its head, it turned its body towards me and stood. Its skin hung loosely about its frame and closer inspection showed a mutated upper body like a man yet what I had initially assumed to be a set of pants were, in actuality, a pair of crooked legs covered in matted fur which ended in feet that were neither wholly hooves nor claws. The whole thing was horribly fantastical, like the mythical faun rendered in nightmarish clarity.

The thing then dropped low, like an animal stalking its prey and it outstretched its long arms which terminated in great taloned hands. I then saw something behind it from between its bestial legs. A twisted something which gleamed red in the light which could barely reach into the room. It slowly advanced towards me and I could hear more whispering in the darkness around me. I soon broke free of the restraints of terror and lifted my pistol to fire upon the thing, there was a thunderous crash followed immediately by high ringing which drowned out all other noises around me. The shot had hit its mark and the thing reeled back in agony, it must have screamed a great deal for its jaws parted wide to reveal rows of yellow teeth as it brought its had to its chest where the lead ball had pierced its abdomen and shattered its ribs.

However the crowning horror came when the flash from the muzzle illuminated the room for the briefest of instances which revealed several more of the tomb-fiends slowly creeping towards me, previously obscured by shadow, all issuing forth from a cavernous opening on the far wall.

I promptly turned tail and ran, screaming and wailing as I clambered up the stairs to be met with an iron door which I heaved open. Hope swelled as I felt the cool night air and saw the moon between the growing gap between the doorway and the plate of rusted metal but as hearing returned I could hear the creature's cloven feet clacking upon the steps behind me. With a tremendous effort I threw the door open and made my escape. I was greeted with dirt paths and moss-covered headstones as I realized I was in the Calvaire Cemetery in the Montmartre district. I looked back to see if my pursuers still followed and saw only a mausoleum with the door ajar and stair leading down into a yawning chasm with many sets of yellow eyes staring back at me.

I don't remember what happened after that, save that I woke up in a gutter somewhere in the Left Bank to a vagrant trying to steal my boots. It took me a while to rationalize what had happened that night, eventually coming to the conclusion that I must have overdosed and had been lying in that ditched all night, deep in a state of delusion as I frothed and spasmed. I took the whole fiasco as a sign to stop pursuing vice and I've since turned my life around after a stint at a sanatorium. After a long and grueling effort, I had broken the chains of dependency and freed me from my slavery to opium. I still work on the riverboats of the Seine but have since left the red-light district behind and eventually managed to get an apartment away from the Left Bank.

I still have nightmares of those apparitions and illusion conjured by opium and can still swear I see yellow eyes peering out at me from the storm drains. Yet the detail that haunts me the most is when I awoke in that ditch, my sash was still loosely tied around my neck and my pistol, which I had always kept primed and loaded was empty and the percussion cap was spent.

[mariacallous]

The recent conflicts in the Middle East have ignited open debate among Iran’s political elite over whether the country should weaponize its vast nuclear program. The rationale for doing so, from Iranian leadership’s perspective, appears more convincing than ever.

Above all, Iran needs to reestablish deterrence equilibrium with its longtime foes Israel and the United States. Traditionally, to deter its adversaries from attacking or implementing regime change, Tehran relied on a three-pronged approach focused on missiles, militias, and a nuclear program.

To offset its weak air force, Iran invested heavily in its missiles program, making its arsenal one of the most advanced in the region. Iran also anchors its asymmetric warfare strategy through the so-called “forward defense” policy of using militarized nonstate actors to encircle Israel and the U.S. regional military presence and to mobilize these forces to attack if required. Iran has cultivated its relations with groups that are hostile to the United States and Israel, building the so-called Axis of Resistance, providing them with arms—including sophisticated missiles and drones—as well as training and financial support.

However, Iran’s missiles capabilities and the Axis of Resistance have taken a hit in recent months. The Israeli onslaught against Iran’s most trusted partner, Hezbollah in Lebanon, has delivered a blow to its arsenal, fighters, and command and control structure. Iran was left humiliated by Israel’s ability to assassinate Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh while he was in Tehran this summer. Following the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar this month, Israel seems determined to keep upping the ante to establish a new regional order.

Although Hamas and Hezbollah will continue to undermine Israeli security, the ability of these groups to mobilize in defense of Iran seems severely diminished while they fight for their own survival. Meanwhile, the United States has doubled down on its efforts to shield Israel, moving new anti-missile systems into the country, together with American troops to operate them, in a bid to defang future attacks from Iran and its allies.

Perhaps Iran’s biggest Achilles’s heel is its self-restraint. Over the past year, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has repeatedly held back from a direct war with Israel and the United States. He has also shied away from triggering a full assault by the Axis of Resistance front. Israel has interpreted this restraint as a weakness and exploited it.

This shift in regional deterrence has strengthened the argument in Tehran favoring a nuclear umbrella. Iran has already obtained nuclear threshold status, placing it at the tipping point of weaponization. Iran can develop enough material for a nuclear bomb in just over a week, with some experts assessing that it could build a nuclear warhead to carry these bombs within several months. In the same way that India and Pakistan achieved a relative cold peace, Tehran may look to check Israeli behavior through rebalancing the nuclear playing field.

Another argument for why Iran could dash for the bomb is that the country has already paid the high cost of becoming a nuclear weapons state without receiving the perceived benefits of having the bomb.

Ever since the Trump administration withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal, which Iran was in full compliance with at the time, the United States has imposed its largest-scale sanctions to date against Iran. Western relations with Tehran further plummeted over Iran’s abysmal human rights record, its regional posture, and military assistance to Russia during its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Given the anti-Iran sentiment across Western capitals, the Iranian leadership would be correct to conclude that major U.S. sanctions relief of the type seen in 2015 is not on the horizon. If Iran is already being treated as a nuclear pariah state by the West, then why not secure the perceived security benefits of going nuclear?

Finally, the broader geopolitical conditions today mean the costs associated with Iran becoming a nuclear state are lower than a decade ago. Tensions between world powers now make it increasingly unlikely that Russia, and possibly China, will stand in Iran’s way. Tehran can also capitalize on the Ukraine war by pushing to trade its military equipment—which Moscow desperately needs—for Russian nuclear know-how, technology, and defense at the U.N. Security Council. The United States already fears this could be happening.

Against this backdrop, those inside Iran favoring nuclear weaponization likely see two choices ahead: either Iran’s nuclear facilities are eventually destroyed by Israel and the United States first, and then Tehran stumbles toward nuclear weapons over a longer timeframe with depleted resources, or Iran starts the weaponization now while it has advanced nuclear capabilities and Israel is bogged down in Gaza and Lebanon. Iranian strategists may be swayed for the latter option when faced with a weakened Axis of Resistance, a formidable Israeli-U.S. military force and an Israel poised to strike at Iranian nuclear sites. Despite the strong likelihood that the country will be bombed throughout this process by Israel and the United States, Iran’s leadership may conclude it can bear the brunt of military action and come out of it stronger.

Following the hits Iran has taken to its deterrence capabilities, there is an acute risk of Iran reaching for the bomb. Western governments should act now to shape the internal debate inside Iran to avoid this outcome. A nuclear Iran can act with greater impunity at home and abroad. It will almost certainly trigger a nuclear arms race across the Middle East. This outcome would make a region close to Europe even more dangerous, not just because of the increased risk of violent conflict among states but also the risk of terrorist groups gaining access to nuclear weapons.

Western governments need to warn Iran’s leaders that if they decide to weaponize the country’s nuclear program, it will backfire. Becoming a nuclear state will likely offer Iran’s leaders greater guarantees against large-scale military intervention and externally imposed regime change. But it will expose Iran to vicious cycles of military strikes, cyberattacks, and assassinations. Future Iranian nuclear weapons will not deter Israel against striking Iran—just as Tehran was not deterred against taking the unprecedented step this year of barraging Israel, itself a nuclear power, with missiles.

Over the past year, Europe and the United States have not seriously pursued a political off-ramp with Tehran. The United States has been trapped—by both Israeli and Iranian conduct—into an escalation cycle and seems willing to only play a military card. Absent a political agenda, Iran’s dash to the bomb is becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. History reveals that the more the United States and Israel carry out attacks inside Iran, the more Iran inches closer to the bomb.

The instances when Washington and Europe have shifted Iranian calculations away from weaponization involved serious diplomacy. The new Iranian government comprises technocrats who have a long history of supporting negotiations with Europe and the United States and have implemented the deals struck. Iran’s new reform-minded president, Masoud Pezeshkian, has amplified his government’s openness to diplomacy with the West—and this intent must now be put to the test.

In this diplomatic endeavor, a coalition of willing Western governments should ally themselves with Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Iraq, which among them have notable influence with Iran, Israel, and the United States. A new track of pursuing diplomacy with Iran within a coalition of regional actors is the best door opener for the West to prevent the Iran-Israel war spiraling out of control and to wedge open wider space to reduce tensions on other issues.

While there is considerable distrust between Iran and the West at this moment, both sides need to engage in transactional hard-nosed diplomacy to make a course correction. Otherwise, the current path will lead to the worst of all worlds.

[nicklloydnow]

On Today’s Episode of World War III

“On Tuesday, the International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed our worst suspicions concerning the pace of Iran’s nuclear weaponization program. “Iran,” it concluded, “has increased the rate at which it is producing near weapons grade uranium in recent weeks, reversing a previous slowdown that started in the middle of this year.”

According to the IAEA, Iranian enrichment of Uranium-235 to near weapons-grade level had increased to an estimated 9 kilograms per month by the end of November. It takes just five times that amount of uranium, enriched to 90 percent, to sustain a nuclear chain reaction for one nuclear bomb.

Presently, it is believed that Iran has enriched at least 128.3 kilograms of Uranium-235 to 60 percent, and 567.1 kilograms to 20 percent. Do the math based on Iran Watch’s estimates of its current centrifuge capacity, and Iran is now capable of enriching sufficient mass to 90 percent for three nuclear bombs in less than one week. Tehran could have a fourth bomb in one to two weeks more, and a fifth within roughly one month’s time.

(…)

We are in a very different world now than when that deal was first made. Moscow and Beijing are actively engaged in the equivalent of an ideological World War III against the U.S. that is increasingly turning kinetic. Iran has repeatedly demonstrated a willingness to undermine U.S. diplomacy and national security interests throughout the Middle East.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was behind the funding and planning of Hamas’s Oct. 7 terrorist attacks in Israel. Tehran’s plunging of Gaza into war undermined U.S. efforts to normalize relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel, and Iran-sponsored militias including Hezbollah and the Houthis are actively attacking U.S. military and naval forces in Iraq, Syria, Red Sea, and Gulf of Aden.

As his country nears a nuclear breakout, Khamenei is only becoming bolder. On Dec. 23, the Pentagon reported that the Chem Pluto, a chemical tanker sailing from Saudi Arabia to India, was struck in the Indian Ocean “by a drone launched from Iran.” Iranian threats against the West and Europe are also starting to come fast and furious. On Christmas Eve, Tehran threatened to close the Straits of Gibraltar and the Mediterranean Sea.

Iran will become bolder still if allowed to achieve nuclear status. We are on borrowed time now, rapidly approaching the point wherein a kinetic response will be the only option remaining.

(…)

On the Doomsday Clock, it is already five minutes and counting past midnight in Armageddon. Unless the White House acts now, Iran’s status as a nuclear power will be a fait accompli.”

“More than 100 people were killed and scores injured Wednesday in two blasts that struck the central Iranian city of Kerman, emergency services said. Thousands of mourners had gathered there to commemorate Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani on the fourth anniversary of his assassination in a U.S. drone strike in Iraq in 2020.

A spokesman for the country’s emergency department was quoted by Iran’s state-run news agency as saying 103 people were killed and 188 were injured.

The deputy governor of Kerman, the slain general’s hometown, said the incident was a “terrorist attack,” according to Iran’s official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA). The explosions occurred about a half-mile from Soleimani’s burial place, on a road to the graveyard, the agency reported.

(…)

The blasts Wednesday came amid intensifying involvement by Iranian-backed militant groups in a confrontation with Israel and its principal backer, the United States, during Israel’s war in Gaza.”

“Hamas on Tuesday accused Israel of killing Saleh al-Arouri, a top leader of the group, along with two commanders from its armed wing, the Qassam Brigades. Mr. al-Arouri is the senior-most Hamas figure to be killed since Israel vowed to destroy the organization and eliminate its leadership after a deadly Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7.

Mr. al-Arouri was assassinated in an explosion in a suburb of Beirut, Lebanon’s capital, marking the first such assassination of a top Hamas official outside the West Bank and Gaza in recent years. It comes as officials across the region are worried about the war in Gaza igniting a wider conflagration.

(…)

“No one is safe if they had any hand in planning, raising money for or carrying out these attacks,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive internal discussions. Citing Israel’s vow to hunt down the perpetrators of the Oct. 7 attack wherever they are, the official added, “This is just the beginning, and it’ll go on for years.”

(…)

Mr. al-Arouri played a key role in Hamas’s relationships with its regional allies and in increasing Hamas’s military capabilities, according to regional and Western officials. A longtime Hamas operative, he was one of the founders of the group’s armed wing and was linked to a number of attacks on Israeli civilians, including the kidnapping and killing of three teenagers in the West Bank in 2014, which he called a “heroic operation.”

(…)

Mr. al-Arouri worked with Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’s chief in Gaza, in recent years to link the group’s military wing more closely to Iran, which, regional security officials say, most likely helped the group develop some of the capabilities it used in the Oct. 7 attack. Israel has accused Mr. Sinwar of helping to plot the assault, which officials say killed about 1,200 people and saw 240 others abducted to Gaza.

(…)

Israel for decades has made assassinations of its enemies in other countries a key part of its defense strategy. In the past two weeks, Iran has accused Israel of assassinating two Iranian generals in Iraq and Syria who liaised with the regional militant groups backed by Iran. Israel has also carried out high-profile assassinations of senior Iranian military commanders and nuclear scientists in Iran and Syria, including Iran’s top nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, and Col. Sayad Khodayee, a commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps.”

[indizombie]

Missile and drone attacks in the Red Sea by Yemen's Houthi militants, who say they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza war, have forced many ocean freight firms to re-route vessels away from the Suez Canal to around the Cape of Good Hope on the southern tip of Africa. The crisis has begun to upend global supply chains, with Chinese exporters also stumbling in pain. Many suppliers sign export deals on a cost, insurance and freight basis, making them responsible for any increases in freight and insurance costs.

‘India's small exporters reel as Red Sea crisis helps rivals nab business’, Economic Times

[libertariantaoist]

News Roundup 2/5/2024 | The Libertarian Institute

News Roundup 2/5/2024

by Kyle Anzalone

Ukraine

Zelensky Informs White House He Will Fire Commander of Ukrainian Forces Reuters

US Approves Sell Hundreds of Hell Fire Missiles to the Netherlands Pentagon

Russia Says Ukraine Killed 28 in Shelling of Bakery With US-Provided HIMARS AWC

India

State Dept Approves $4 Billion Drone Sale to India Pentagon

Israel

Israel Announces It Will Attack Gaza Border City of Rafah AWC

Mass Grave of Handcuffed and Blindfolded Palestinian Unearthed in Gaza AJ

Judge Asks White House to Review Unconditional Support for Israel Common Dreams

Secretary of State Blinken Returns to the Middle East VOA

House to Vote on $17 Billion Aid Bill for Israel This Week HaaretzAWC

Israeli Minister Ben-Gvir Slams Biden for Giving Palestinians Aid WSJ

Senate Unveils $118 Billion Bill With Money for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan, and New Yemen War AWC

Iraq

Iraqi Bases Housing US Troops Attacked Following Strikes on Militias in Iraq and Syria AWC

US Strikes in Iraq and Syria Kill About 40, Including Civilians AWC

Jake Sullivan Refuses to Rule Out US Airstrikes Inside Iran AWC

Read More

[newstfionline]

Wednesday, December 27, 2023

In battleground Arizona, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. draws Biden and Trump voters (AP) Some voted for Donald Trump, others for Joe Biden. A few had never wanted anything to do with politics before they heard Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on a podcast or YouTube video. Lined up outside a Phoenix wedding hall tucked between a freeway, a railroad track and a U-Haul rental center, the hundreds of people who turned out Wednesday to hear Kennedy speak shared little in common ideologically. What united them was a deep-seated distrust of the media, of corporations and especially of the government and a belief that Kennedy is the only person in politics willing to tell them the truth. Voters are not enthusiastic about a Biden-Trump rematch, and alternatives like Kennedy or the No Labels third-party movement, which would typically be longshots, see an opening. Kennedy’s appearance in a 2024 battleground state highlights how he could influence the election in ways that are tough to predict. Allies of both Trump and Biden have expressed concerns that Kennedy’s independent bid could pull votes from their candidate in next year’s expected general election rematch.

Migrant caravan in southern Mexico marks Christmas Day by trudging onward (AP) Christmas Day meant the same as any other day for thousands of migrants walking through southern Mexico: more trudging under a hot sun. There were no presents, and Christmas Eve dinner was a sandwich, a bottle of water and a banana handed out by the Catholic church to some of the migrants in the town of Álvaro Obregón, in the southern state of Chiapas, which borders Guatemala. Migrants spent Christmas night sleeping on a scrap of cardboard or plastic stretched out under an awning or tent, or the bare ground. At around 6,000 people, the migrant caravan that set out Sunday was the largest one since June 2022, when a similarly sized group departed Tapachula.

Police in Peru dress up as Santa for festive drugs bust (The Independent) Police in Peru have been spotted carrying out a drugs raid while dressed as Santa Claus. The undercover agents caught two men allegedly selling cocaine and cannabis in a house in Huaral, just north of Lima. ‘Santa’ could be seen using a sledgehammer to break down the door of the house, before removing his beard to cuff one of the suspects.

Plane passengers held pending human trafficking inquiry leave France for India (Reuters) A plane carrying 276 Indian passengers took off on Monday for Mumbai, the French interior ministry’s local office said, after it was grounded for four days pending investigation into possible human trafficking. The flight, carried out by Romanian charter company Legend Airlines, had departed from Dubai and landed at the small Vatry airport on Thursday for a technical stopover when police intervened. Bound for Nicaragua, the flight arrived in France with 303 Indian passengers onboard. After being interrogated by police, two people investigated for human trafficking have been placed under “assisted witness” status while the investigation continues, according to the prosecutor’s office. Another 25 people, including five minors, have stayed in France where they wish to seek asylum, authorities said.

Russian naval ship in Crimea damaged in airstrike by Ukrainian forces, Russian Defense Ministry says (AP) A Russian naval ship in Crimea was damaged in an airstrike by Ukrainian forces, Russia’s Defense Ministry said Tuesday. The landing ship Novocherkassk was hit at a base in the city of Feodosia by plane-launched guided missiles, the ministry said, adding that two Ukrainian fighter jets were destroyed by anti-aircraft fire during the attack. Over the past several months, Ukrainian forces have conducted attacks around Crimea, mostly with sea drones.

China expects searing heat, more weather extremes in 2024 (Reuters) China grappling with one of its coldest Decembers on record will likely have to brace for another round of scorching heat and an increase in extreme weather next year due to the El Nino weather phenomenon, a senior climate expert said. This year has seen China lurch from some of its hottest temperatures logged since 1850 to a harsh cold snap that froze many parts of the country for close to a fortnight earlier this month. This past summer saw Beijing bake in record heat while a remote township in the country’s arid northwest logged a day of 52 degrees Celsius (126 Fahrenheit) the hottest on record for China. Typhoons also brought record-breaking rainfall in China’s north, causing widespread flooding.

Israel’s Economy Expected to Shrink 2% as War Sidelines Workers (NYT) The Israeli economy is expected to shrink by 2 percent this quarter, according to a leading research center, with hundreds of thousands of workers displaced by the war with Hamas or called up as reservists. About 20 percent of the Israeli work force was missing from the labor market in October, up from 3 percent before the fighting began, according to a report from the Taub Center for Social Policy Studies, a nonpartisan think tank in Israel. The spike in unemployment reflects the fact that about 900,000 people were called up to fight, stayed home to take care of children because schools had closed, evacuated from towns near the borders with Lebanon and Gaza or couldn’t work because of physical damage to their industries.

Lose a limb or risk death? Gaza’s wounded face hard choices (AP) The doctors gave Shaimaa Nabahin an impossible choice: lose your left leg or risk death. The 22-year-old had been hospitalized in Gaza for around a week, after her ankle was partially severed in an Israeli airstrike, when doctors told her she was suffering from blood poisoning. Nabahin chose to maximize her chances of survival, and agreed to have her leg amputated 15 centimeters (6 inches) below the knee. The decision upended life for the ambitious university student, as it has for untold others among the more than 54,500 war-wounded who faced similar gut-wrenching choices. Experts believe that in some cases, limbs could have been saved with proper treatment. But after weeks of Israel’s blistering air and ground offensive, only nine out of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are still operational. They are greatly overcrowded, offer limited treatment and lack basic equipment to perform surgeries. Many wounded are unable to reach the remaining hospitals, pinned down by Israeli bombardment and ground combat.

Saudis Keep Low Profile in Red Sea Conflict (NYT) After rebels took over the capital of Yemen in 2014, a 30-year-old Saudi prince named Mohammed bin Salman spearheaded a military intervention to rout them. With American assistance and weapons, Saudi pilots embarked on a bombing campaign called Operation Decisive Storm inside Yemen, the mountainous nation on their southern border. Officials expected to swiftly defeat the rebels, a ragtag tribal militia known as the Houthis. Instead, the prince’s forces spent years mired in a conflict that splintered into fighting between multiple armed groups, drained billions of dollars from Saudi Arabia’s coffers and helped plunge Yemen into one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. Hundreds of thousands of people died from violence, hunger and unchecked disease. Saudi Arabia and its main partner, the United Arab Emirates, eventually scaled back their military involvement, and Saudi officials entered peace talks with the Houthis, who secured control of northern Yemen. Now, the war in Gaza has thrust the Houthis whose ideology is driven by hostility toward the United States and Israel and support for the Palestinian cause into an unlikely global spotlight. Saudi Arabia, however, would rather watch these latest developments from the sidelines, with the prospect of peace on its southern border a more appealing goal than joining an effort to stop attacks that the Houthis say are directed at Israel a state the kingdom does not officially recognize and which is widely reviled by its people.

Attack in Nigeria (Foreign Policy) At least 160 people were killed and 300 people wounded in attacks on villages in central Nigeria, local officials said Monday. Monday Kassah, head of the local government in Bokkos, Plateau State, told the AFP that armed groups locally known as bandits launched attacks on at least 20 communities. Plateau State Gov. Caleb Mutfwang condemned the violence as “barbaric, brutal, and unjustified,” and governor’s office spokesperson Gyang Bere vowed to take proactive measures to protect civilians. However, Amnesty International criticized the government following the attacks, writing on X that “the Nigerian authorities have been failing to end frequent deadly attacks on rural communities of Plateau State.”

A Thriving Border Town Undercuts South Africa’s Anti-Immigrant Mood (NYT) By 7 a.m., lines of customers snake down the block outside stores on the main commercial strip in Musina, a bustling South African border town where thousands of people arrive daily from neighboring Zimbabwe to buy food, clothes and other necessities that are hard to get back home. A few miles away, at the border, pickup trucks bearing the seal of South Africa’s newly formed border patrol inspect the razor-wire fence, looking to arrest people who cross illegally braving bandits, crocodiles and the rushing Limpopo River. The border force represents an effort by the government, months ahead of crucial national elections, to respond to popular demand and clamp down on migrants sneaking into the country. Musina, surrounded by farms and a copper mine, is where the government’s muscular immigration policy collides with a tricky reality that many South Africans are loath to concede: that even people who cross the border illegally may be good for the country. Like politicians in the United States, Europe and elsewhere who score points by promising hardened borders and mass deportation, their South African counterparts are pitching a sweeping crackdown on foreigners to appeal to voters, playing on similar, often-unfounded fears that immigrants fuel crime and steal jobs.

Pope Francis blasts the weapons industry as he makes a Christmas appeal for peace in the world (AP) Pope Francis on Monday blasted the weapons industry and its “instruments of death” that fuel wars as he made a Christmas Day appeal for peace in the world and in particular between Israel and the Palestinians. Speaking from the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica to the throngs of people below, Francis said he grieved the “abominable attack” of Hamas against southern Israel on Oct. 7 and called for the release of hostages. And he begged for an end to Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and the “appalling harvest of innocent civilians” as he called for humanitarian aid to reach those in need. Francis devoted his Christmas Day blessing to a call for peace in the world, noting that the biblical story of the birth of Christ in Bethlehem sent a message of peace. But he said that Bethlehem “is a place of sorrow and silence” this year. He took particular aim at the weapons industry, which he said was fueling the conflicts around the globe with scarcely anyone paying attention. “It should be talked about and written about, so as to bring to light the interests and the profits that move the puppet strings of war,” he said. “And how can we even speak of peace, when arms production, sales and trade are on the rise?” Francis has frequently blasted the weapons industry as “merchants of death” and has said that wars today, in Ukraine, in particular, are being used to try out new weapons or use up old stockpiles.

[girlactionfigure]

🔅Monday afternoon - ISRAEL REALTIME - Connecting to Israel in Realtime

🔻ATTACK - DRONES - from Hezbollah - north west border towns: Idmit, Eilon, Goren, Gornot HaGalil, Hanita, Ya'ara, Arab al-Aramshe 

🔻IRAN WARNS.. Al Jazeera: Tehran sent a new message to the US through Turkey after the attack on Israel yesterday. An "important and unprecedented" warning message was also sent to Israel via Cairo referring to the fact that there will be an Iranian response to any new "bold act" on Israel's part.

🔻DID BIDEN GIVE IRAN PERMISSION TO HIT ISRAEL?  (Maybe Fake)  “Iran informed Turkey in advance of its planned operation against Israel, a Turkish diplomatic source told Reuters, adding that Washington had conveyed to Tehran via Ankara that any action it took had to be "within certain limits.””

(( This is possibly FAKE NEWS. It is on many sites and channels, on some is quoted in the name of Reuters, but I can’t find an actual source. ))

🔻ISRAEL RESPONSE (PLANNING).. Israeli sources to CNN: The War Cabinet is determined to respond to the Iranian attack, and is discussing the timing and extent of the response.

Commander of the Home Front Command: "We are in a long war and there may be changes in the coming days in light of the situation assessment. Continue to listen and act according to the instructions - they save lives.”

▪️BOMB ON THE LEBANESE BORDER.. injures 4 soldiers. Hezbollah takes responsibility.

▪️ATTEMPTED TERROR.. at the Deir Sharaf intersection in Samaria: a female terrorist armed with a knife arrived at the soldiers' position at the intersection, who opened fire on her in a suspicious arrest procedure, and she was arrested.  

▪️AIR TRAVEL.. EasyJet and Air India suspend flights to Israel.  Travelers to and from Israel are struggling to find options.

▪️BETTER FOOD FOR TERRORISTS!  The "Association for Civil Rights in Israel" filed a petition with the High Court of Justice against the Minister of National Security as well as against the Israeli Security Service Commissioner, following the reduction of conditions of the Arab convicted prisoners since the outbreak of the war in accordance with the policy of Minister Ben Gvir.

As part of the petition they demand that the court issue a conditional order to the Israeli Security Service to explain why the Arab terrorists, including those who committed the most horrific acts humanly possible, are not given higher quality food and the possibility to buy food (the prison canteen) like criminal prisoners.

▪️ISRAELI HACKERS.. “We launched a broad attack on cellphone systems in Iran and over 20 million telephones received SMS messages, that they must be prepared for war in the coming hours.  The Iranians felt the  pressure and started withdrawing money from the banks which put the authorities in Iran under pressure.”

[stele3]

[matan4il]

Daily update post:

The IDF reported using a trap successfully against Hamas terrorists in Gaza, luring dozens of them into a building, which was known as a Hamas command center, and which was then hit. At the same time, terrorists have the option to stay alive, if they surrender. The IDF said in the past week, it has arrested and taken to Israel for investigation over 200 surrendered Hamas terrorists.

One of the arrested terrorists described how Hamas uses kids as human shields when transporting explosives.

I'm never going to stop saying this: the people who truly care about Palestinian kids should VERY MUCH care that this is how they're being used by Palestinian terrorist organizations. Using kids as terrorists is a war crime. Using kids as human shields is a war crime. If these war crimes perpetrated against Palestinian kids don't bother someone, they're not truly pro-Palestinian, they're just anti-Israel.

I mentioned in my daily update post yesterday, that the IDF can now point out the exact networks of tunnels that allowed them to transform an entire residential neighborhood, into a fighting zone. Today, the IDF shared a 3D model demonstrating the findings on the ground, in a visually clearer way, you can find it at this tweet.

If you've been following the news or my daily update posts, then you know that the Yemenite terrorist organization, funded by Iran, started by attacking "Israeli ships" (some of which had no connection to Israel), then laid a blockade to the entire Red Sea for all ships (claiming they're being attacked for sailing to Israel, even though ships headed for Egypt also sailed through this sea), prompting an international coalition of now over 20 countries, and led by the US. Today, a Liberian ship "with a connection to Israel" experienced a drones attack not too far from India. The attack caused a fire, but no person was harmed, and the Indian fleet responded to it. An Iranian official then announced that, "If the Israeli and American aggression will continue, they can expect the closure of even more maritime routes to take place."

The same Iran, which funds an international network of Islamist terrorism (Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis), and which is currently threatening the global economy, not to mention is responsible for every person dead due to the war started thanks to its funding, is holding an international summit today "to help Palestine" (as if there wouldn't have been way more Palestinians alive right now, if it weren't for Iran), and people from no less than 50 countries are participating. Iran should be a pariah internationally, but it's not. That should scare all of us.

The International Red Cross has been repeatedly criticized since the beginning of the war in Gaza, for practically doing nothing for the Israeli hostages, and for having covered up for Hamas' abuse of medical facilities in Gaza. Now, the IRC is proving how seriously it takes this criticism... by appointing as its next director general a controversial senior from UNRWA, the UN agency that helps exclusively the Palestinian refugees. Beyond the clear bias that he would bring to the position, he also is a disputed figure, who had to resign from his UNRWA position, following accusations of ethical abuses there.

I keep mentioning the many fronts on which Israel is being attacked. On our northern border, Hezbollah continues to fire at and destroy Jewish towns, and the only reason you don't hear more about it, is because most civilians have been evacuated, well over 100,000 people. But civilians have been killed there, and the soldiers who are there to protect the border, have been killed as well. Yesterday, a Hezbollah rocket killed 19 years old Amit Hod Ziv (on the left below):

And two other Israeli soldiers who were killed in Gaza yesterday are 31 years old Tal Shoa (center), and 21 years old Shay Ayali (right), who was a cadet in the officers course. They both served in unit 669, the IDF's search and rescue elite unit, which has operated in many countries around the world to save people when natural disasters strike. Unit 669 soldiers during the war risk their lives, when they go into the worst war zones, to get wounded soldiers out, give them emergency first aid, and get them to a hospital as soon as possible. Unit 669 soldiers do the same for surrendered wounded terrorists.

So far, 140 soldiers have been killed in the fighting in Gaza. In total, from Oct 7 on, 472 Israeli soldiers have been killed, including girls without combat training, who were slaughtered in their pyjamas.

This is 36 years old Lior Atias, and her 6 years old daughter Alma.

Lior was a veterinary nurse, and a volunteer for Elem, an NGO that helps youth at risk. She was at the Nova music festival as part of her volunteer work, together with a whole team from Elem. Lior is one of three Elem volunteers, who were among the 367 Israelis massacred by Hamas there.

May all their memories be a blessing.

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