CALIBAN

I will dare to make a prediction: The United States has reached the end of its rope: It will (if it hasn't already done so, surreptitiously) throw in the towel. I'm not saying that it will perform some sort of public "mea culpa" and accept that its "unipolar moment" is finally dead and buried. No! By no means. It will instead cling to its pretense of being the world's "indispensable nation" for some indeterminate period of time into the future. For how long? I don't know, but it is likely to be years, if not decades. History is often written in retrospect. Whenever the USA finally admits to its fate (sometime in the near or distant future), the historians and analysts of the epoch will likely ask (or speculate) when it arrived at that conclusion. When was it forced to throw in the towel? It is my firm belief that the consensus will eventually coalesce around the year 2024 (or the transition from 2023 to 2024). The Roaring Twenties? What do you think?😎

Labels: geopolitics, multipolarism

The entire video is worth watching, but I like the part which begins at 3:30.

Labels: Food

Blinne Ni Ghralaigh KC described the situation as a crisis or humanity, and the embodiment of hell. Violence, death, disease, no school, starvation - Gaza is becoming uninhabitable. For children there is nothing but the sound of war, day in, day out. Reports of torture and abuse of bodies more common. 4 out 5 people in the world in catastrophic hunger are in Gaza. The daily stats are clear proof: 247 deaths (including 48 mothers and 117 children, 3 medics, a UN worker, a journalist) Some are wounded over and over. Each day 3,900 homes destroyed, ambulances and hospitals are targeted. Bombs are dropped on places people have been told to evacuate to. There’s a new acronym – WCNSF – which stands for “Wounded Child, No Surviving Family”. There is imminent and irrevocable evidence of urgency. UN aid remains unimplemented. Humanitarian ceasefire calls have been ignored. Since the case was filed, over a thousand have been killed. Over 85% repeatedly forced to move, into shrinking slivers of land. This is a population that was already vulnerable after 16 years of blockade. Many dying from preventable problems. Children in particular subjected to mental torture, much of which is irreparable.

Many people have no access to food, water, medicine or safe shelter. A trapped population that has nowhere safe to go. In addition services are denied or restricted, even though even the US asked for it to be allowed.

Israel denies it is responsible for the crisis. 500 aid trucks were necessary daily before 7 October. Promises of future aid therefore hold little sway. UN SG has stressed that number of trucks doesn’t matter, because aid cannot be delivered effectively. Everyone and everything remains at imminent risk if irreparable prejudice.

The international community continues to fail the Palestinian people. The horror being live streamed, as victims broadcast their own destruction in real time. This has repercussions for generations to come. “The world should be ashamed”. Palestinian pastor on Xmas Day “this is a genocide, we will arise…but this is by far the biggest blow we have received”. South Africa is doing what it can, standing up to be counted.

Labels: Anti-War, imperialism, injustice, Palestine, US imperialism, world affairs

If you do nothing more before the end of the year, do watch these two videos:




Oh!, ... and GO HOUTHIS!

Labels: Anti-War, geopolitics, imperialism, Palestine, US imperialism

# posted by Dr. Mathews @ 12:42 PM 0 comments

From Al-Manar:

Abu Obeida, the military spokesperson for the Qassam Brigades, expressed his satisfaction with their performance and unity, stressing that thousands of fighters were awaiting their turn on the battlefield. He highlighted the successful targeting of the occupation forces in both old and new incursion axes. Notably, the Qassam Brigades managed to destroy more than 180 military vehicles in prominent areas like Shuja’iya, Zeitoun, Sheikh Radwan, Jabalia camp, Beit Lahiya, Deir al-Balah, and Khan Yunis. These attacks included the use of Yasin shells, canisters, guerrilla tactics, ambushes, machine guns, booby-trapped tunnels, entrapment maneuvers, and sniping operations.

The occupation forces have relatively high losses, much higher than they admit.

Even Israel's allies aren't very sanguine.

An aspiration of mine...

With perhaps the exception of his endorsement of Robert Kennedy Jr., I agree with much of this:



It's stubbornness, however, will get the best of the United States. The perfect example is its attempt to pull a "Tonya Harding" on the Chinese:

Labels: Anti-War, geopolitics, international business, US imperialism, world affairs