something something decades weeks

US assessment of Middle East region as of 2 weeks ago

lol

We were like a couple weeks away from my doomsday WW3 scenario of a NK conflict that draws in Iran and Turkey and Israel-Palestine popping off at the same time, but I guess there is still time.

Looks like a Russian won a Nobel prize and Swedish libs are having a normal one. One "reporter" asked the committee why they gave Alexei I. Ekimov a prize while evil Putler is waging a war in Ukraine, even though Ekimov has lived in the USA for like 20 years. Luckily the committee member gave a pretty solid response.

Glad you can block comms now.

Such a hard spamming

In almost unrelated news, Ben Norton has now moved to China

A tank has fallen off a truck, killing a settler and injuring 3 others.

In a classic "God outdoes [State] Terrorism yet again" Earthquake death toll in Afghanistan is at 2400

Has Netanyahu said anything about Assad? Just curious.

Video of the attack by Hezbollah on IDF forces at Mar Dov (mount dov)

https://streamable.com/s0icac

Kevin McCarthy ousted as Speaker of the House | CNN

The "Bank of israel" declares a state of emergency. The zionist economy is on the brink of collapse. Wealthy individuals have withdrawn and continue to withdraw all their investments, money, and assets from the occupation's banks. The shekel no longer meets investor's interest and its value is plunging.

must be pure propaganda no? but what a thing to put out there tbh

Statement by the 🔴 #PFLP

Our fighters in the Martyr Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades are still fighting the battle against the occupation alongside the comrades and brothers in the resistance forces, and let the enemy know that escalating its aggression against our people will result in the occupation paying a hefty price.

Getting reports that Bulgaria is invading Italy for some reason

The World Bank fears "lost decade" for sub-Saharan Africa

The World Bank published its growth forecasts for sub-Saharan Africa on Wednesday, expressing fears of a lost decade for the continent, faced with growing instability. For the current year, growth should reach 2.5%, the institution estimated, compared with 3.6% last year, due in particular to the slowdown in the region's main economies.

"Who's causing this economic downturn?"

(cw: corpse) Resistance fighters pull the corpse of an IOF soldier out of the "indestructible" Merkava tank.

https://nitter.net/rybar_force/status/1709250164685185157

Rybar, a reputable but pro-Russian source, estimates that ~500,000 Ukrainian troops have been killed during the war.

I'm assuming it's a translation error or something. 500k total casualties is within the realm of possibility, but deaths seems absurd. Even if it's "irretrievable losses" (killed + not able to return to the battlefield), it's still quite high.

Chairman of the Executive Council of Hezbollah, Sayyed Hashem Safieddine: —

We are in the position we should be in, and the epics being written by the resistance fighters today in Palestine are the beginning of a new phase.

The resistance fighters in Palestine proved that they are capable of liberating all of Palestine, and their operations warmed the hearts of all Arabs and Muslims.

Netanyahu, the zionists, and all “israeli” leaders will not recover from this shock.

The failure of “israeli intelligence” means the success of the Palestinian resistance at various levels and the accumulation of military combat experience.

The entry of the resistance fighters into the settlements that they thought were fortified and protected and the capture of a large number of zionists is a scene of humiliation that indicates the ability of the heroic Palestinians to take revenge for decades of injustice.

These scenes indicate that the time for revenge and reckoning has come.

The Islamic Resistance’s slogan has always been “March, March, March towards Al-Quds,” and we must always repeat this slogan.

We have witnessed and are witnessing the complete and clear ratification of the statement of the Secretary-General of Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, “The time of defeats has passed and the time of victories has come.”

×Netanyahu thought that with his extremist decisions he could do whatever he wanted in Al-Quds and Al-Aqsa Mosque, but the satisfactory answer came to him from the “Al-Aqsa Flood” that Al-Quds has its protectors and Al-Aqsa has its men and that the resistance can have many surprises.

The battle is not over, and in some results, the “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation ended the notion of safe settlements in all of Palestine and is continuing, and what is coming is greater.

This era is the era of armed resistance, blood, martyrdom, glory and pride, not the era of submission and normalization.

The Islamic nation is becoming increasingly convinced, steadfast, solid, and certain that this entity is about to disappear.

This battle is the battle of the entire nation in the face of this enemy, and everyone must engage in the battle to defend Al-Quds and the holy sites.

Netanyahu must know that this battle is not a battle for the people of Gaza and the West Bank only, but the responsibility requires all our people in the Islamic and Arab nation not to be neutral, and we are not neutral in this battle.

The resistance sent a greeting this morning to the Palestinian resistance, and we say that this message must be carefully considered by the Israelis.

Our message to the Americans and the “israelis”: “Your foolishness, O “israelis” and Americans, and your disdain for the sanctities and your transgression of all lines, will lead you to the Al-Aqsa flood, and if you continue in your foolishness, it will lead to the flood of the entire nation, which will drown the entire entity.

Greetings to the heroic resistors, to all the resistance factions in Palestine, and to the families of the wounded and martyrs, and we say to them, “The nation, we are with you, and our hearts, souls, missiles, and rifles are with you, because we are the resistance that originally existed for the sake of Palestine and Al-Aqsa.”

In our dear resistance, we have always longed for these moments in which we clash with this enemy and we are fully prepared and ready when needed.

Full statement from https://t.me/PalestineResist but lots of sites are reporting quotes from this.

I suspect a some of the other players in the region that are taking the position of intervention if Israel starts a ground offensive in Gaza are doing so because they hope or believe it is unlikely the IOF will want to go into Gaza.

Obviously such a scenario would be terrible for the Palestinians and it is good that it is clear such an act would come at a high cost to the zionists. But realistically, the IOF would suffer heavy casualties regardless of the involvement of anyone other than the Palestinians. Israel has to understand that, one would think.

What's more, the addition 'if Isreal starts a ground offensive into Gaza' allows for Arab nations and groupings to not get involved further if Israel is content to just bomb the shit out of Gaza.

What I'm getting at is that I wouldn't be surprised if these countries, while genuinely sympathetic towards Palestinians, would very much prefer not to get involved directly and will look for excuses not to if things escalate. Ofcourse this is all speculation over things that still feel up in the air.

Why a US Recession Is Still Likely — and Coming Soon, from Bloomberg.

When everyone expects a soft landing, brace for impact. That’s the lesson of recent economic history — and it’s an uncomfortable one for the US right now. A summer in which inflation trended lower, jobs remained plentiful and consumers kept spending has bolstered confidence — not least at the Federal Reserve — that the world’s biggest economy will avoid recession.

A last-minute deal to avoid a government shutdown kicks one immediate risk a little further into the future. But a major auto strike, the resumption of student-loan repayments, and a shutdown that may yet come back after the stop-gap spending deal lapses, could easily shave a percentage point off GDP growth in the fourth quarter. Add those shocks to other powerful forces at work on the economy — from dwindling pandemic savings to soaring interest rates and now oil prices too — and the combined impact could be enough to tip the US into a downturn as early as this year.

Here are six reasons why a recession remains Bloomberg Economics’ base case. They range from the wiring of the human brain and the mechanics of monetary policy, to strikes, higher oil prices and a looming credit squeeze — not to mention the end of Taylor Swift’s concert tour.

The bottom line: history, and data, suggest the consensus has gotten a little too complacent — just as it did before every US downturn of the past four decades.

Yeah, I'm a proud observer of the Taylor Swift Economic Index. Shoutout to https://hexbear.net/c/taylorswift.

Removing the salt and vinegar taste receptors from every Brit to accelerate the beginning of WWIII