World Politics

[python]

if you took it as a lecture, you certainly have problems with the skin thickness since the statement formulated intentionally impersonally. i think you also confuse illegitimate israeli actions with its legitimate existence.

i find myself rarely posting anything pro-israel or pro-zi0nist, but i dont have the confusion you seem under. it is a legitimate state and the politics with accepting the fact or not is just that - politics.

 

[Poursuivant]

Disgusting that this beautiful race has been scarred by this modern day apartheid regime.

It leaves a very, very sour taste. Anyway, Dennis will win, Pinot will be the surprise package.

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

To be honest, after a world championship in Qatar, world tour races in China and big cycling teams funded by Kazakhstan, Bahrain and UAE, I find it difficult to get riled up over the political implications of the Giro starting in Israel.

When the peloton leaves Israel, we still have Astana, Bahrain and UAE serving as propaganda tools for countries which really aren't any better than Israel.

 

[ToreBear]

I view Israel as worse than the UAE, Bahrain and Kazakhstan.

I tried to watch the race today, but I feel dirty for doing so. So I'm keeping myself away away from the telly until they leave Israel.

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

Re:

I view Israel as worse than the UAE, Bahrain and Kazakhstan.

I tried to watch the race today, but I feel dirty for doing so. So I'm keeping myself away away from the telly until they leave Israel.

Ah yes, UAE, where corporeal punishment and even stoning to death are legal punishments for things such as blasphemy, apostasy, adultery, extra marital sex, homosexuality, etc. Where migrant workers are exploited almost to the point of slavery. Where political dissidents get tortured and disappear. Where religious minorities are persecution (e.g. 4000 Shi'a muslims got deported in recent years). UAE, which is involved in fighting a sectarian civil war in Yemen.

Maybe think about all of that in a couple of days when you see Aru flying up the Zoncolan, with the beautiful UAE flag on his jersey. Don't feel dirty for watching that?

 

[Scott SoCal]

Re: Re:

I view Israel as worse than the UAE, Bahrain and Kazakhstan.

I tried to watch the race today, but I feel dirty for doing so. So I'm keeping myself away away from the telly until they leave Israel.

Ah yes, UAE, where corporeal punishment and even stoning to death are legal punishments for things such as blasphemy, apostasy, adultery, extra marital sex, homosexuality, etc. Where migrant workers are exploited almost to the point of slavery. Where political dissidents get tortured and disappear. Where religious minorities are persecution (e.g. 4000 Shi'a muslims got deported in recent years). UAE, which is involved in fighting a sectarian civil war in Yemen.

Maybe think about all of that in a couple of days when you see Aru flying up the Zoncolan, with the beautiful UAE flag on his jersey. Don't feel dirty for watching that?

+1

 

[macbindle]

Israel is just one of many states that do horrific things.

 

[ToreBear]

Re: Re:

I view Israel as worse than the UAE, Bahrain and Kazakhstan.

I tried to watch the race today, but I feel dirty for doing so. So I'm keeping myself away away from the telly until they leave Israel.

Ah yes, UAE, where corporeal punishment and even stoning to death are legal punishments for things such as blasphemy, apostasy, adultery, extra marital sex, homosexuality, etc. Where migrant workers are exploited almost to the point of slavery. Where political dissidents get tortured and disappear. Where religious minorities are persecution (e.g. 4000 Shi'a muslims got deported in recent years). UAE, which is involved in fighting a sectarian civil war in Yemen.

Maybe think about all of that in a couple of days when you see Aru flying up the Zoncolan, with the beautiful UAE flag on his jersey. Don't feel dirty for watching that?

Most of these laws are usually commuted by the government. But they have not been occupying and colonizing other peoples land since 1967. They also don't have one legal standard for a certain ethnic group and another for an other ethnic group.

And they also don't claim to be democracies.

 

[macbindle]

I've often wondered about Israel, and how it gets away with being a racist state, and how the 'right to return' argument doesn't seem to apply to Palestinians.

Maybe it only applies to people who can't name their ancestors from 6000 years ago.

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

Re:

Most of these laws are usually commuted by the government. But they have not been occupying and colonizing other peoples land since 1967. They also don't have one legal standard for a certain ethnic group and another for an other ethnic group.

And they also don't claim to be democracies.

What? South Asian migrant workers are systematically exploited almost to the point of slavery because the normal UAE labor protection laws don't apply to them. UAE does very much discriminate in their law between different ethnic groups. And then we're not even talking about discrimination of religious minorities and women.

Maybe no colony, but what the Gulf states (including UAE) are currently doing in Yemen isn't much better, as far as I'm concerned.

I've often wondered about Israel, and how it gets away with being a racist state, ( ... )

Probably the same reason why the Bahrain an UAE can get away with treating migrant workers as slaves and violently oppressing religious minorities, women and homosexuals.

Just be buddies with the US and you can do whatever you want. It works for Israel and it works just as well for the Gulf states.

 

[ToreBear]

Those Asian migrants can go home. The Palestians can't. Palestinian Kids are regularly shot for throwing stones. Unarmed protesters some times end up dead protesting. Or they suffer life long debilities like amputation or brain damage.

Israeli soldiers regularly get away with murder. Even with video evidence, the sentences are usually counted in months.

Settlers in the west bank can harass Palestians at will. The IDF will protect them. And Israel has created the biggest open air prison in the world. Fishermen going a few miles of shore tend to get shot by the Israeli Navy.

The UAE is not in the same league as Israel.

 

[Elagabalus]

Re:

Those Asian migrants can go home. The Palestians can't. Palestinian Kids are regularly shot for throwing stones. Unarmed protesters some times end up dead protesting. Or they suffer life long debilities like amputation or brain damage.

Israeli soldiers regularly get away with murder. Even with video evidence, the sentences are usually counted in months.

Settlers in the west bank can harass Palestians at will. The IDF will protect them. And Israel has created the biggest open air prison in the world. Fishermen going a few miles of shore tend to get shot by the Israeli Navy.

The UAE is not in the same league as Israel.

It's SOP for any country hosting the Giro to promote itself while it is hosting the Giro. Why would you expect Israel NOT to do it?

 

[ToreBear]

Re: Re:

Those Asian migrants can go home. The Palestians can't. Palestinian Kids are regularly shot for throwing stones. Unarmed protesters some times end up dead protesting. Or they suffer life long debilities like amputation or brain damage.

Israeli soldiers regularly get away with murder. Even with video evidence, the sentences are usually counted in months.

Settlers in the west bank can harass Palestians at will. The IDF will protect them. And Israel has created the biggest open air prison in the world. Fishermen going a few miles of shore tend to get shot by the Israeli Navy.

The UAE is not in the same league as Israel.

It's SOP for any country hosting the Giro to promote itself while it is hosting the Giro. Why would you expect Israel NOT to do it?

I don't.

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

Re:

Those Asian migrants can go home. The Palestians can't. Palestinian Kids are regularly shot for throwing stones. Unarmed protesters some times end up dead protesting. Or they suffer life long debilities like amputation or brain damage.

Israeli soldiers regularly get away with murder. Even with video evidence, the sentences are usually counted in months.

Settlers in the west bank can harass Palestians at will. The IDF will protect them. And Israel has created the biggest open air prison in the world. Fishermen going a few miles of shore tend to get shot by the Israeli Navy.

The UAE is not in the same league as Israel.

I don't think it's particularly useful to have a pissing contest between UAE and Israel to determine who is the worst, so I'll stop after this post, but just to be clear;

In the Kafala system for migrant workers, used by many Gulf States, including UAE and Bahrain, the employer is responsible for the workers visa and legal status. They often take away their passports. So, actually, no, the migrant workers often can't leave if they want to. That's why people compare it to slavery.

About protesters, did you follow any news during the Arabic spring? In UAE and Bahrain they violently oppress protests as well, political dissidents mysteriously disappear and there is a lot of (video) evidence of political prisoners getting brutally tortured.

Apart from the colonization, UAE is worse on virtually every account than Israel. And while they might not have colonized it, what the Saudi-led coalition, which includes UAE (and Bahrain) is currently doing in Yemen really isn't any better than what Israel is doing in Palestine. In fact, as far as I can see, Yemen is currently in a worse state than Palestine. They have put up a blockade around Yemen and seem to deliberately exacerbate the famine. And mind you, Yemen was already the poorest country in the Middle East before that. Currently something like ~15 million people are threatened by famine, and the last two years have seen the world's largest cholera outbreak, with probably more than a million people currently suffering from cholera. Oh, and UAE specifically has been reported to have secret prisons in UAE where POWs are tortured to death.

You know, I did a bit of research to get my facts straight while writing about UAE, specifically regarding the conflict in Yemen, and I might have changed my mind a bit. I actually agree with you that UAE isn't in the same league as Israel. UAE is probably quite a bit worse.

 

[Bustedknuckle]

Re:

It's about legitimising Israel. Have a major Euro sporting event there...directs attention away from Israeli snipers blowing away unarmed people protesting against the ethnic cleansing that has taken.place and continues so to do.

Hey, they have rocks...I agree, the fascist state of Israel gets away with murder everyday in the name of 'survival'..

BUT donnie likes bibi, a racist loving a racist, what a surprise.

 

[Robert5091]

Crankin' it up a notch ...
https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/israel-iran-syria-russia/2018/05/06/id/858669/

Israeli defense officials have warned that Iran is planning to order its proxies to fire missiles at northern Israel in retaliation for recent airstrikes in Syria attributed to Israel that killed Iranian personnel, The Times of Israel reported on Sunday.

All of Israel's nightly news broadcasts said that military and intelligence agencies are aware of Iranian preparations to have Hezbollah or other Shiite terrorist groups launch guided missiles at targets in Israel.

Tehran is apparently interested in striking military targets, and not civilian ones, in the belief that this type of retaliation will avoid full-fledged war with Israel.

Israel is reportedly trying to prevent such an attack and has warned that it will hit all Iranian targets in Syria if Tehran does strike at Israeli territory.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to travel to Moscow on Wednesday in an effort to have Russia put pressure on Iran to avoid such an escalation.

 

[ToreBear]

Dang, Maaaaaarten, you got the last word. If you don't like torture you might wanna read about AL Khiam prison.
Run by SLA IIRC under guidance of Israeli military intelligence. The Norwegian UN battalion was in that area for about 20 years, and they saw Israeli officers coming and going, and they could also hear the screams of prisoners being electrocuted.

When the the Israelis withdrew from Lebanon they took the interrogators with them.

Oh wait, no I got the last word. Okay call it a note. :lol:

 

[ToreBear]

Looks like the Israelis are in a bit of a pickle regarding Iran being in Syria. I'm not sure the Russians have that much sway, or will put that much pressure on Iran unless Israel makes it worth it to them.

Perhaps if they got something in return they might do something. Perhaps they have some intel on the US the Russians want or something. That could work.

 

[python]

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-armenia-politics-prime-minister/armenia-protest-leader-pashinyan-elected-as-prime-minister-idUSKBN1I90UD?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Reuters%2FworldNews+%28Reuters+World+News%29

not a front-running news, but imo very educational and pregnant...

armenia is a small former soviet republic that just managed to change its govt via street protests. but unlike say ukraine 4 yo, w/o spilling anyone's blood...the street opposition leader who will now become a p.m., if i am informed accurately, 1st ran on a 'pro-european', anti-russia platform to later accommodate its northern neighbor and a de facto security guarantor. armenia hosts a free-of-charge russian military base and is still in a factual state of war with another former soviet state azerbaijan. both are armed by russia and both keep decent relations with russia. the azeris though, i understand, are much closer to turkey, if not their tool...

i'd be curious if the west played any clandestine role in the armenian revolution and how, if at all, the big neighbours of armenia countered it...

 

[djpbaltimore]

Interesting false flag operation by Russians to disguise themselves as ISIS in order to threaten US military wives.

“We know everything about you, your husband and your children,” the Facebook message continued, claiming that the hackers operating under the flag of Islamic State militants had penetrated her computer and her phone. “We’re much closer than you can even imagine.”

Proof that the military wives were targeted by Russian hackers is laid out in a digital hit list provided to the AP by the cybersecurity company Secureworks last year. The AP has previously used the list of 4,700 Gmail addresses to outline the group’s espionage campaign against journalists , defense contractors and U.S. officials . More recent AP research has found that Fancy Bear, which Secureworks dubs “Iron Twilight,” was actively trying to break into the military wives’ mailboxes around the time that CyberCaliphate struck.

The AP has found no link between CyberCaliphate and the St. Petersburg trolls, but their aims appeared to be the same: keep tension at a boil and radical Islam in the headlines.

https://apnews.com/4d174e45ef5843a0ba82e804f080988f

 

[Robert5091]

https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5255112,00.html

Following IDF reports of 'irregular Iranian movements' in Syria, orders to open bomb shelters in Israel's north, loud explosions reported south of Damascus; senior Syrian army official says Israel carried out attack coordinated with US withdrawal from Iran nuclear deal; Syrian news agency: 'Missile defenses intercepted 2 Israeli missiles'; 9 militiamen reported killed.

The possible attack came after the IDF instructed to open public bomb shelters in the Golan Heights amid Israeli reports of "irregular Iranian movements" in Syria and the ongoing fear of an Iranian strike at Israel in retaliation for the US withdrawal from the nuclear deal and the airstrike on the T-4 Airbase near Homs last month.

The Israelis bomb a country and then are worried about retaliation? Geezus!

It was reported Monday in Arab media outlets that eight soldiers from the Syrian army's aerial defense force were killed in a mysterious explosion that took place Sunday on the Damascus-Suwayda road.

Engineers and soldiers from said battalion, tasked with operating the S-200 aerial defense system and responsible for downing an Israeli F-16 two months ago, were riding in a transport vehicle when the explosion occurred.

Syrian sources said eight men were killed, and were quick to finger Israel in blame. It was also reported some of the vehicle's passengers actually took part in the downing of the Israeli plane over the Golan.

 

[Robert5091]

Iranian forces (or backed forces), not surprisingly, retaliate -

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-44063022

Israel's military says Iranian forces have fired rockets at its positions in the occupied Golan Heights.

It said around 20 rockets were fired by Iran's Revolutionary Guard early on Thursday and some were intercepted, adding that there were no casualties.

Earlier this week, Israel said it had noted "irregular activity" by Iranian forces in the region.

It placed its troops in the Golan Heights on high alert and urged civilians to take shelter.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) later said it had targeted dozens of Iranian facilities with air strikes in retaliation for the attack.

It said weapons stores, missile launchers and intelligence facilities were all targeted in the wave of strikes overnight.

Syria's state news agency Sana said Israeli missiles had been shot down south of Homs, but reported that a weapons depot and a radar installation had been hit.

https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5255691,00.html

Even if Iran had no intention of launching missiles at Israel on Tuesday, the alleged Israeli strike came along and conveyed the following message to the Iranians: You raised the likelihood of an attack on Israel, so we’re raising the threat level, despite the tensions.

Shortly after US President Donald Trump’s declaration, explosions were reported by Syrian sources in the area of Damascus, with Arab media outlets pointing a finger at Israel.

Senior Israeli defense officials have reached the conclusion that Trump’s statement will have little influence, if any, on the attack being planned by the Iranians on the northern border. What happens in the north is reality, and what happens in the Oval Office is theater. President Trump is addicted to the drama itself. He isn’t very interested in what happens after the show, which is why we have no idea which sanctions he plans to renew.

 

[python]

i am trying to asses how the european leaders are going to back up their rhetoric re. the iran nuclear deal...

america issued a de facto ultimatum to those european companies that already concluded multi-billion deals with iran. 10s of billions are at stake...from contracts for airbus to purchases of iranian oil. are the europeans going to fold over AGAIN to the arrogant economic blackmail ?

he hollow govt verbalism has to be at some point backed up by the real and tangible defense of europe's ECONOMIC and trade interests. will they finally stand up or, as usual, prostrate on their knees ? i'm trying to get my hands on any good research in the subject...

 

[King Boonen]

Europe as a whole are likely speaking to the US to strike a deal where European companies are exempt from any US sanctions as long as BARJAM remains in place. This would allow Trump his "win" of pulling out of the deal, mitigate any effect on European companies and still hold Iran to the deal. The only people hurt by the deal would be US companies.

Whether the US will agree to that I don't know.

 

[Robert5091]

The first casualty in war is ...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...e3a526-52f7-11e8-a6d4-ca1d035642ce_story.html

Heavy military jet activity, explosions and air-defense fire could be heard throughout the night in the area. An Israeli military spokesman said the rockets were fired by Iran’s Quds Force, a special forces unit affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, marking the first time Iranian forces have ever fired directly on Israeli troops.

The Israeli military said several of the rockets had been intercepted by Israel’s missile defense system, and sparks could be seen as they broke up in the sky.

No one was injured on the Israeli side, the military said.

The Syrian state news agency, however, reported that it was Israel that had fired on targets near the town of Quneitra, located just east of the Golan Heights. Syrian air defenses had responded, it said. It later reported a “new wave” of attacks.

More info -what's going on with Russia & their air-defence systems?
https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5256257,00.html

IDF Spokesperson Brigadier-General Ronen Manelis said...the IDF attacked more than 50 Iranian targets in what Manelis defined as "one of the greatest operations of the Israel Air Force in the past decade."

According to Manelis, in addition to dozens of Quds Force targets in Syria, the IAF also attacked logistic headquarters, a military camp and intelligence posts.

"We attacked the vehicle that launched the rockets at Israel. All the targets were destroyed and all our planes return to Israel safely despite significant antiaircraft barrages fired by the Syrian army. We also struck five batteries of the Syrian antiaircraft system, which fired dozens of missiles at our planes," the IDF spokesperson said.

We informed the Russians about this activity in advance.