Hatfort

Hamas has already agreed to the release of all hostages in exchange for a permanent ceasefire, this has been true for months, it was even in the plan presented by Biden, who said Israel had agreed. They must have lied to him, because they pulled out as soon as the plan was made public. If the IDF is still killing innocent Palestinian people and destroying cities like Rafah, is because that's exactly what they want to do. That's more important to them than the lives of the hostages, who could be all safe by now. Hamas won't kill them, they have only died at the hands of the IDF since this started. The IDF has not been effective in their rescue missions, they have achieved to save four. We know they don't care about the thousands of Palestiniens that died in the operation, I can even understand that, but other hostages died too, and hundreds of IDF soldiers have died by now. This wasn't necessary, because Hamas has agreed to return all hostages anyway, the price is a permanent ceasefire. The other stated objective was to finish with Hamas, which hasn't been successful either. They are mostly safely hidden in their tunnels and have shown they are able to attack and kill IDF soldiers and vehicles with their limited resources. If only the real objective wasn't to cause as much killing and destruction as they can, they would be out by now and with all their hostages getting safely home.

Well said. There's only one time when we'll stop denouncing atrocities. When they stop happening. It's not like we'll forget them anyway, but right now they just keep doing it, killing innocents and destroying a land they want to steal. This is where we still are.

It's not about an agenda, you're sick.

Again the same shit? It's not comfortable, it's sickening. Stop throwing food meant for hungry people, stop killing children, stop using human shields, and stop torturing hostages. It's not that hard to get, it's not about a stupid online hasbara debate.

Yeah, keep killing more innoncent children, and bombing more buildings with people in, we want more of that. We'll be so happy!! Fuck! We've been asking Israel to stop their atrocities since October, so don't give us that. We are horrified by the awful things your army, politicians, and civilians are doing. Civilians are stopping aid trucks and destroying the food meant for people whose homes and families have been torn apart. You think all is about the debate in your Hasbara bullshit, but no, we are really sickened by what's happening.

No, it's history too, I've acknowledged it as that. But we are talking 70 years, which is still the normal lifespan of a human being, and an ongoing ethnic cleansing and genocide, it's happening right now. I'm not going to pretend it's not happening, it's not fair for the Palestinian people today, not 200 years ago. It can't be done much about the colonialism of centuries ago, maybe acknowledge that it was bad for the people in those places, but we are at least not going to turn our heads to the awful crimes that are being done to the Palestinians by colonizers now. They are human beings, with they lights and shadows, like every other culture, but they don't deserve what's being done to them.

It's not a cartoonish depiction, Israel's foundation is based on the killing and the displacement of the people who were living in that land before it was decided that it was going to be a colony for all the Jewish people of the world, mostly from Europe. This is a historical fact, it's what happened. I'm not antisemitic, I'm totally fine with the Jewish people in the world. I don't necessarily oppose an ethnostate, but I think it's not fair what has been done to the Palestinians. They weren't responsible for what the Nazis did to the Jewish people, so they shouldn't have to pay such a high price to repair the harm caused by others. Since the USA, EU, and NATO countries support a Jewish ethnostate, I think they should be the ones to offer land for that, I wouldn't oppose that at all. But the US and EU are very generous with other people's lands, but very tight with their own. I also want to mention my total recognition to Jewish people like Norman Finkelstein and so many others that recognize the barbarity that has been happening in Palestine for the last 70 years, because it's not easy to go against the grind of your own people.

@zazen Thank you! Conflicts in the world are complicated and each side will always hold their justifications for their aims. I think conflicts have to be analyzed on a case-by-case basis, you can't translate what's happening in one place to understand another, that will always fail. About Russia, Leo says Putin will take as much as he can, which may be true to some extent. I say some extent because I think Ukraine can still hold the territories that hasn't lost by now if they get that Russia won't accept more NATO expansion on their border. Then again, Russia put thousands of Russian men's lives on the table, so what they have conquered by now, they won't withdraw. Now it's easy to say, but Putin took a big gamble at the time, he could have lost the war or gotten all Russians against him for this. I don't think NATO or Zelensky thought he would take this step, so they were enforcing their military intentions, not officially as NATO, but it was happening in practice. Not to speak about the war and oppression that Russian sentiment people in the Donbas were suffering mostly since 2014, obviously, that wasn't liked in Moscow. You know, if they were Moldovan sentiment people, they would be screwed, I know how the world works, but their big brother was Russia, a really big one. About geopolitics, I believe diplomacy is helpful, I prefer Trump sending love letters, and Putin driving with karaoke with Kim Jong Un, than saying North Korea will become a fire Hell, Trump's words at the beginning of his term. Even if Kim Jong Un is a dictator, that's bad enough for North Koreans, I don't want them to be nuked on top of that. Not to mention that they would respond equally, bye South Korea, Japan, and whatever they could reach. The nuclear war is possible, I hate to even say it. I think NATO is the one being most irresponsible right now, because they are escalating as much as they can against Russia through Ukraine proxy. They can't accept Russia is winning in conventional warfare terms. We are a singular species with many different nations and cultures in one world, that's what has to be accepted. I don't say it from a naive standpoint, but a realistic one. That's how it really is.

Yeah, they took a land that was already inhabited and decided that it was going to be for the Jewish people all over the world, and it has been justified and still is by ancient books. It's currently a Jewish ethnostate, with the Jewish star symbol in the middle of the flag, while the Palestinian flag is prohibited. The rest of the world doesn't care if the Jews think they are chosen by god, which they are not, but we don't care what you believe. It's quite a supremacist belief, and even if most Jewish don't hold it as truthful, there's no out-of-influence in Israel's current government making the decisions right now. If you tell me many countries have religious themes in their flags, like Christian-based crosses, or Islamic moons. Yeah, but they are not colonies created in an already inhabited land last century, those places molded to be as they are through history. The natives of Palestine didn't agree to be colonized by foreigners, obviously, no place in the world would have. The foreign Jews could do it because they had and have the economic and military support of the US and Europe. It was a death and displacement-based massacre then, and it is exactly the same now. It's never going to work in the terms proposed by Zionism.

Seems like a diplomatic visit, since North Korea has also been selling shells and weapons to Russia in these times of war. They are almost neighbors and might be seeking mutually beneficial accords. The West proclaims both of them as enemies, so it's not that a strange move. I don't think Russia is becoming such as North Korea, which is a dictatorship. Russia has big issues, and I'm sure many of the bad things you can say about Putin are true, but he is winning his elections broadly now. One of the important things is that he is not a puppet to the West, and that's what is best for Russia right now.

The whole destruction and slaughter, the genocide, that is happening right now in Gaza and the West Bank is deliberate. It's Netanyahu's vision and the whole Zionist country is following him into this madness. According to the polls, most of them are asking to go even harder on the Palestinians, sad but true. He has also had the USA government, the UN, and Western media in his pocket since always, he brags about it.

The savages have their hostages safe and healthy, and they are being said that they have Stockholm syndrome. You know who don't have Stockholm syndrome? The ones apprehended by the civilized side, because they rape them, they torture them and they even kill them. There are cases of some of their hands having to be amputated because they string them so tight and for so long. I wouldn't have Stockholm syndrome either.

Here a gem worth remembering, this illustrates the problem very well. Foreigners stealing homes and land from native people for more than 70 years.

Also, remember about the human shields? Here are some, but used by the IDF, of course, because most accusations are confessions from them. Like they would care if they saw a Hamas fighter with a Palestinian person not to shoot at both of them instantly. Their modus operandi with whatever they put in their target list was to bomb their homes at night knowing very well their families and neighbors would die as well. Less Palestinians alive, that's a win for Israel, because they want that land for themselves.

All this is crazy, a constant and ongoing terrorist slaughter of civilians, a genocide. This is why Israel doesn't want the ceasefire, because they don't get to keep doing these kinds of actions if they accept as much as they want, kill more of those that they don't want in this land, and destroy or steal anything they have. That's more valuable than the life of the hostages, who are being treated way better than the ones Israel held without justification, has to be said. All this because they have this big brother in the US that has used its veto power five times since October 7th in the UN, provides them with US taxpayer money, weapons, and a legion of media in their favor. I don't know what they got on Biden, but they got more on Trump, so they are pushing him under the bus anyway. The senile old man and his team are not very bright.

Russia has offered another peace deal, asks Kyev the withdraw of their troops from the four regions that now claim as its own, Donetsk, Luhanks, Zaporizhia, and Kherson. Also Crimea, I guess, Ukraine still claims it. Zelensky and NATO are already rejecting it. Putin also adverts that if not accepted, the cost will increase next time. Likely Kharkiv, Mykolaiv, Odessa and perhaps Dnipropetrovsk. At the beginning, the demands were just for Luhanks and Donetsk to have an auto-determination referendum, plus the acceptance of Crimea as Russian, and NATO to stay out of Ukraine. I said it, that was a good offer at the time. This is also a good offer right now, Ukraine keeps access to the sea and 80% of its previous territory. Both sides win that no more men die and Russia gets quite more land than before for them of the most Russian-sentiment regions of Ukraine. Also, the nuclear war escalation risk stops. This may be interpreted as a weak sign of Putin and Russia. It's not, they will continue the war if it's not accepted and they are going to win in the medium term. The West doesn't know the meaning of diplomacy, they are so used to putting their terms on the table to be accepted by the rest of the world.

We're not even close to that. He has nothing and Tesla is going bankrupt unless he quits or they kick him out, maybe then it has a chance.

This one is gold.

Also, I've been reading some news about Turkey and Serbia considering joining BRICS. There's a cultural clash between Turkey and the EU, and it may get a better fit in there. BRICS started with China, Russia, India, and Brazil in 2006, and was followed by South Africa a year later. Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) were invited to become members with effect from 1 January 2024. I think Argentina was going to as well, but obviously Milei has other bosses, so that fell apart. Wrong move, if you ask me. All this is a huge deal and can change the power correlations in the world.

@BlueOak It's a very complicated region, indeed, and quite interesting. I'm not an expert by any means, but I've recently learned a bit about it. They are all ex-Soviet countries. Armenia is a Christian-majority country and Azerbaijan is a Muslim one. Nagorno Karabaj is the disputed land between the two and there have been many wars and a lot of deaths over it, but I think Russia had been mediating between them last decades, I'd say in favor of Armenia. I don't think Nagorno Karabaj has oil, it's Azerbaijan itself. So that means money, trade with Turkey at least, and they got to build a better army in recent years, then they got the upper hand in the conflict, and Russia has problems on its own at the moment to get involved in this. Even more if Armenia willingly cuts its relations with Russia, then they are on their own. About Georgia, Russia is the main buyer of the things that they produce, it is a fertile land. If they turn their back on them in favor of their enemies, Russia's logical response will be to buy those goods elsewhere. Europe is already well provided for those too, they are not interested in buying more, so I don't think they can take the place of Russia and maintain Georgia's economy.

As soon as Armenia left the Russian wing, Azerbaijan used the chance and took the disputed land of Nagorno Karavaj. It also helped them that Azerbaijan discovered good oil reserves and if I'm not wrong they are on good terms with Turkey. And didn't the Iranian president die visiting them? So them too. Armenia needed Russia more than Russia needed Armenia, that's how it looks to me. Obviously, Russia has all its efforts on Ukraine now, but its economy is far from breaking, it got better after the Western sanctions. Only oligarchs had huge amounts of money out of Russia, the West took it, and now those oligarchs are even more dependent on Putin. Now Russians can't trust the $ or €, so they keep their money in instead of out, it's not them who have lost. They can't commerce with Europe? China and India filled that void too. Georgia dodged a bullet by not electing a NATO and West puppet that got poured some money. It's crazy they are being criticized for passing laws to stop foreign interference like all Western countries have, that's a clear double standard. Their economy depends on Russia, no way Europe would or could take that role.

Israel is having problems on many fronts. The IDF is eating good lead provided by the Gazan tunnel warriors that pop up and disappear again right after shooting. And unlike those, they are pussies not willing to die, like Westerners like me, and I don't blame them for that. Yemen is disrupting their sea commerce and the USA kind of tried to stop them, but haven't been successful at that. Hezbollah has totally disrupted life in the North, which has been evacuated of civilians. That's another military and also economic problem added to the others. There's also Iran, which doesn't want a war, but in case it happens, and without any nuclear weapons, they have a very modern ballistic system that not even the Iron Dome could defend from. The international pressure is increasing against them too. I don't think I'm exaggerating if I say Israel is the most hated country in the world right now. Maybe North Korea? France? Some would say Russia, but the world is more than the West, and those are nurturing good alliances with China, India, Brazil, and many more, so that's a no. The only country in the world that didn't support Palestine in the UN was the USA, which used its veto power.

I hear some Trumpists complaining that this is some kind of persecution that he has been convicted for something as petty as falsifying hush money payments to hide an affair with a porn star. Okay, although what he did is illegal, I can admit it's not the most important case in the world. What I can't buy is those Republicans playing innocent, because many of us remember the Monica Lewinsky case, in which they went with all they got against Bill Clinton, he was impeached for lying under oath, if I remember right, which is illegal too. So basically Republicans are fine about giving punches, but when they receive them back, they cry like the babies they are. They are also trying to get President Biden and his son Hunter Biden with anything they can find. Hunter Biden has indeed been processed for owning an unregistered gun that was seen in his laptop pictures and evading taxes. For the rest, they all have been unproven accusations and talks about whistleblowers who haven't provided anything. One supposed proof was a phone call between a son with his father without any illegal substance in it. The way the son-in-law of Trump multiplied his wealth while serving in office as a supposed public servant smells worse, if you ask me. There are more important cases pending, like falsifying the value of his properties to evade taxes, using his own hotels with highly increased prices for public purposes, with public money of course, hiding and not giving back confidential documents when asked, trying to commit election fraud, there's a phone call where he asks an official to find 11.000 votes, the exact number he needed to win in that state, or conspiracy to commit a cue, he did ask Mike Pence not to certify Joe Biden, which was a requirement in the process. I also don't buy that this is happening because he is a candidate. He would have been prosecuted the same for all this even if he wasn't. In fact, he has probably been treated better than any other citizen, no judge would have allowed comments about the jury like he has been doing, who usually take that kind of behavior way more seriously and are put in prison for the duration of the process. But I understand they didn't do it for the sake of this loony country that has lost its way. However, Trump has a good chance to win. Joe Biden needed every vote he could get, but his Palestine situation could be too much for many, I'm afraid, even if Trump is worse in that matter and others.

There's also this fun fact that Trump was on the Epstein pedophile island visitor list, something that Republicans like to have this selective amnesia, for some reason. Yeah, Bill Clinton and others too, of course.

She sounds nice. Pro-Palestine jew, pro-LGTBI+ rights, and left-leaning. She hasn't been elected for being a woman, which she is, and the first to get this high, and this fact can be considered significant and relevant. She has been elected because the people in Mexico like her, and have considered that she's capable for the job better than her competitors. If you had put an unlikable and incompetent woman in her place, wouldn't have won. I don't expect any miracle, but way better than any far right-wing economic system that further deep in corporate greed and cause avoidable poverty and inequality.