DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Palus Politicus Israel at war again.

Israel has just hit Isfahan, Iran. Also unconfirmed strikes in Iraq and southern Syria

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...kes-Iran-war-Isfahan-rockets-tehran.html

Israel has balls. They know Iran is the the head of the snake and arent afraid to go after them.

Biden is so weak. He is afraid of Iran and it shows.

And so far, no reported casualties, couple explosions, a few of Israelis missile/drones got shot down.

Looks like another ‘we did this to save face’ kinda strike.

Yawn.

Honestly Israel and Iran need to hug it out cause this is getting stupid.

You know what Ms Gump said about stupid? This stupidity has gone on for centuries.

At this point, they're both going to waste billions in materiel just to save face and accomplish nothing other than just that.

Hamas has not allowed an election in 16 years. Try again.

You have posted on this board for years about things you can't change or have any control over. So this is where you suddenly draw your line? lmao

Sounds like what I was saying about our aid to Ukraine at one point.

It's not that simple, of course. Hard to know where either of the conflicts is going to go. What's the alternative to spending the money? The "status quo" doesn't seem to be something Israel is content to let stand. The "dam" broke. Now we've got to hope the water doesn't overflow the banks.

I do wonder how much Israel's actions are intended to convince countries that "support" Hamas to exert pressure towards hostage releases. Or what is the purpose? I don't doubt that saving face is a part of it, but I'm guessing there is more to it.

There has been a lot of talk of Nazis in Ukraine. This article explains a lot of it. I am skeptical of CNN but I’ll post anyway. Yes, I know Zelenskyy is Jewish.

A far-right battalion has a key role in Ukraine's resistance. Its neo-Nazi history has been exploited by Putin
Analysis by Tara John and Tim Lister, CNN
Updated 7:58 AM EDT, Wed March 30, 2022

(CNN) President Vladimir Putin framed the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a "special mission" to protect Russian speakers from genocide at the hands of ​"neo-Nazis."

In a speech broadcast minutes before the invasion began on February 24​, Putin said: "We will seek to demilitarize and denazify Ukraine," ignoring the fact that the country's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, is Jewish.

For the Kremlin, Exhibit A in this special mission is the far-right Azov movement, part of the military and political landscape in Ukraine for nearly a decade. ​

Members of the Azov regiment and veterans march with torches to celebrate Defender of Ukraine Day in Kyiv on October 14, 2016.
Members of the Azov regiment and veterans march with torches to celebrate Defender of Ukraine Day in Kyiv on October 14, 2016.

Azov's military and political wings formally separated in 2016, when the far-right National Corps party was founded. The Azov battalion had by then been integrated into the Ukrainian National Guard.

An effective fighting force that's very much involved in the current conflict, the battalion has a history of neo-Nazi leanings, which have not been entirely extinguished by its integration into the Ukrainian military. ​

In its heyday as an autonomous militia, the Azov Battalion was associated with White supremacists and neo-Nazi ideology and insignia. It was especially active in and around Mariupol in 2014 and 2015. CNN teams in the area at the time reported Azov's embrace of neo-Nazi emblems and paraphernalia.

After its integration into the Ukrainian National Guard, amid discussions in the US Congress about designating the Azov Movement a foreign terrorist organization, Ukraine's then minister of internal affairs, Arsen Avakov, defended the unit. "The shameful information campaign about the alleged spread of Nazi ideology (among Azov members) is a deliberate attempt to discredit the 'Azov' unit and the National Guard of Ukraine," he told the online newspaper Ukrayinska Pravda in 2019.

They tried to reveal what life was like under Russian occupation. Then they disappeared
They tried to reveal what life was like under Russian occupation. Then they disappeared
The battalion still operates as a relatively autonomous entity. It has been prominent in defending Mariupol in recent weeks, and its resistance has been widely praised by members of the government.

For Putin, who has falsely claimed Ukraine's government is run by "drug addicts and neo-Nazis," Azov presents an obvious target. Moscow has given the regiment an outsized role in the conflict, routinely accusing it of human rights abuses.

On March 7, Russia's ambassador to the United Nations blamed the Azov regiment for blocking an evacuation corridor in the besieged port city, saying they were using "citizens as a human shield." That claim has been repeated consistently in Russian media.

The same day, Azov major Denis Prokopenko said in a video shared on the regiment's Twitter account that the "attempts to organize a safe corridor for the (relocation) of civilian people... failed because of several actions of the enemy (Russian forces) in the assembly area."

After the bombing of a Mariupol theater that was sheltering civilians and had "children" written in Russian on the ground on either side of the building, the Russian Defense Ministry accused "militants of the nationalist 'Azov' battalion" of carrying out the attack. ​

In the Russian disinformation playbook, the Azov movement is a tempting target -- one where fact and disinformation can be elided.

Kyiv citizens take part in military training for civilians conducted by Azov regiment veterans on February 6, 2022.
Kyiv citizens take part in military training for civilians conducted by Azov regiment veterans on February 6, 2022.
The existence of an identifiably Azov element within the Ukrainian armed forces -- and an effective element at that -- poses uncomfortable questions for the Ukrainian government and its Western allies, which continue to send arms to the country.

CNN has reached out to ​Ukraine's defense ministry for comment.

See more
In the not-too-distant past, Azov's leadership openly espoused ​White supremacist views and cultivated links with similarly minded groups and individuals in the West.

In 2010, Andriy Biletsky, now leader of the National Corps, the Azov movement's political wing, reportedly said his goal was to "lead the White races of the world in a final crusade."

They thought they would be safe in the theater. Then it was bombed
They thought they would be safe in the theater. Then it was bombed
In a statement to CNN, the Azov regiment said it "appreciates and respects Andriy Biletsky as the regiment's founder and first commander, but we have nothing to do with his political activities and the National Corps party" -- adding the former commander never made such comments.

The statement said that Azov's "motivation has always angered Russia. Therefore, disinformation attacks on the AZOV Regiment have not stopped since 2014."

It added that the movement has "repeatedly denied allegations of fascism, nazism and racism," and have Ukrainians of all different backgrounds including "Greeks, Jews, Crimean Tatars, Russians" who "continue to serve in AZOV."

"Most of them are Russian-speaking, most are Orthodox. But there are Catholics and Protestants, Pagans and those who profess Islam and Judaism, and there are atheists," Azov asserted.

It noted that the Azov regiment's role is as "a special unit of the National Guard of Ukraine, and is subordinated exclusively to the Supreme Commander-in-Chief -- the President of Ukraine, by the way, a Jew."

"It would be absurd to think that we are united by the idea of white racism or nazism," the Azov statement added.

Despite the Azov movement's international notoriety, Ukraine "is not a cesspit for Nazi sympathizers," according to Alexander Ritzmann, a senior adviser at the Counter Extremism Project (CEP), based in Berlin.

He noted that in the last elections in Ukraine in 2019, Azov's political wing only won 2.15% of the vote, and Biletsky lost his seat in parliament.

Plus -- Ritzmann says -- there are far-right actors prominent in Russia, too. "There is a far-right extremist problem on both sides in the conflict, but there seems to be a bias in only reporting on Ukraine's far-right problem," he said.

Azov's beginnings

The Azov Battalion was formed in 2014, the same year Russian-backed rebels began seizing territory across Ukraine's eastern Donbas region, and Russia invaded and captured Crimea. At the time, Ukraine's Ministry of Defense encouraged volunteer battalions to join the resistance campaign and help its struggling army.

The battalion's role in recapturing Mariupol in June 2014 from Russian-backed forces brought it "hero status" in Ukraine, said Ritzmann.

But that status came with baggage -- the far-right views of some members and neo-Nazi insignia. These included the black sun, "a pagan symbol appropriated by Nazis for their pseudo-religion," and the Wolfsangel, "a symbol that far-right extremists have also adopted," Ritzmann said.

Andriy Biletsky, the leader of the National Corps political party, reportedly said his goal was to "lead the White races of the world in a final crusade."
Andriy Biletsky, the leader of the National Corps political party, reportedly said his goal was to "lead the White races of the world in a final crusade."
Azov's leaders have denied the neo-Nazi associations, saying the Wolfsangel "N" and "I' mean "national idea."

Even though the Azov Battalion was co-founded by Biletsky, who previously led the radical right group Patriot of Ukraine, the group was armed by the state and partly funded by local oligarchs in eastern Ukraine. That funding included money from the Jewish tycoon Ihor Kolomoisky, Ritzmann said. The US State Department sanctioned Kolomoisky in March 2021. The previous year, the US Justice Department placed him under investigation on accusations of embezzlement and fraud. ​

CNN has reached out to Kolomoisky's lawyer for comment.

In 2016, the United National High Commissioner of Human Rights accused armed groups on both sides of the Donbas conflict, including Azov, of human rights abuses.

International outreach

When the Azov Battalion was brought under the command of the Ministry of Internal Affairs as a regiment in 2014, "politically motivated fighters like (Andriy) Biletsky left and founded the Azov movement so they can do their ultra-nationalist, far-right work, which they were not allowed to do in the Ukrainian military," Ritzmann said.

The political party Biletsky formed, the National Corps, which the US Department of State described in 2018 as a nationalist hate group, "is essentially the spine of what we today call the Azov movement," Kacper Rekawek, a research fellow with the Center for Research on Extremism (C-REX) at the University of Oslo, told CNN.

"The Azov movement is a dangerous key player of the transnational extreme-right and has served as a network hub for several years now, with strong ties to far-right extremists in many European Union countries and the United States," Ritzmann said.

Nationalist activists light flares and shout anti-Russian slogans during a demonstration in front of President Volodymyr Zelensky's offices in Kyiv on October 14, 2020.
Nationalist activists light flares and shout anti-Russian slogans during a demonstration in front of President Volodymyr Zelensky's offices in Kyiv on October 14, 2020.
Olena Semenyaka, the head of the National Corps' international department, attended a festival in 2018 organized by German neo-Nazis; and in 2019 she spoke at the far-right Scanza Forum in Sweden alongside British neo-Nazi Mark Collett.

Since forming in 2014, the ​Azov movement has grown to include a militia, summer camps for kids and paramilitary training centers. It runs activities, including music festivals, political events and mixed-martial-arts tournaments, as it promoted itself in the international far-right space.

The National Corps has repeatedly demonstrated its disdain for liberal values in its treatment of minority groups -- with few repercussions.

A 2018 US State Department report found that the movement's militia "attacked and destroyed a Romani camp in Kyiv after its residents failed to respond to their ultimatum to leave the area within 24 hours," in full view of the local police.

The 'Death Star'

While the far-right worldview of the Azov movement is clear, there has been an intense debate on whether the Azov Battalion should be classed a "foreign terrorist organization" by the US Department of State.

"People always assume it (the Azov regiment and Azov movement) is one Death Star," Rekawek said. "Year by year, the connections (between the regiment and the movement) are looser," he said, explaining that the battalion's ranks now include Ukrainians who have no affinity with its neo-Nazi past.

Ritzmann says the far-right element in Ukraine's army is no different to what's been detected in other militaries, such as in Germany and the US.

"Presumably, far-right extremists serve in the Ukrainian military as they do in all other militaries -- valid data regarding the exact numbers are not available," he said.

'It is not just Ukraine we are protecting'
'It is not just Ukraine we are protecting'
"Back in 2015, the Azov Regiment itself claimed to have between 10% and 20% far-right extremists in their ranks," but those figures are possibly smaller today, he said.

But the regiment still uses the Wolfsangel symbol, and leaders of the Azov movement, who used to be commanders in the unit, continue to visit it, said Oleksiy Kuzmenko, a Ukrainian-American investigative journalist focusing on the Ukrainian far-right.

"The current leader of the Azov Regiment, Denis 'Redis' Prokopenko, is part of the core of the Azov movement since 2014, and served under commanders who went on to lead the Azov movement political and street wings," Kuzmenko told CNN.

Prokopenko's deputy, Svyatoslav "Kalyna" Palamar, has explicitly praised the movement's founder, Biletsky, as "a leader who 'finds sponsors that really invest money' into the regiment," Kuzmenko said.

In this photo taken outside Kyiv on July 14, 2017, a student at a paramilitary camp for children calls the rank to attention.
In this photo taken outside Kyiv on July 14, 2017, a student at a paramilitary camp for children calls the rank to attention.
Kuzmenko points out that as of 2021, the regiment was "actively involved in the training of the movement's youth leaders," and its website has a link to the movement's YouTube channel.

"Ukraine and (the) West's inaction on these issues paved the way for Putin to quite literally weaponize them against Ukraine in an attempt to justify his aggression," Kuzmenko said.

"While it's correct to point (out that) Ukraine's far-right has minimal electoral support, they (Azov) have enjoyed near impunity for violence aimed at minorities, were unchecked in their efforts to build influence in military and security forces, and have been normalized by Ukraine's senior leaders," he said.

In a statement to CNN on Wednesday, Prokopenko said: "Whoever calls us Nazis is deeply mistaken. We have young brave soldiers who give their lives for the independence of Ukraine and throw themselves under enemy tanks."

Foreign fighters

Since it formed, the Azov movement has recruited foreign fighters motivated by White supremacism to fight in Ukraine, experts say. Russia's full-scale invasion of the country, and Zelensky's call for foreign volunteers to join the fight, have raised concerns about radicalization in the war.

"My concern is that people, especially far-right extremists in Europe, (will gain) combat experience and training in the Ukrainian theater and then use that for terrorist attacks in Europe proper," Colin P. Clarke, senior research fellow at the New York- based ​foreign policy research nonprofit the Soufan Center, told CNN.

Valentyna Konstantynovska, aged 79, holds a weapon during basic combat training for civilians organized by the Azov regiment on February 13, 2022.
Valentyna Konstantynovska, aged 79, holds a weapon during basic combat training for civilians organized by the Azov regiment on February 13, 2022.
In 2020, Buzzfeed reported that Ukraine deported two members from the US-based neo-Nazi group the Atomwaffen Division, who were trying to gain combat experience with Azov.

Rekawek, an expert on foreign fighters at C-REX, said Azov has only been able to recruit 20 foreign fighters since the start of the 2022 invasion. CNN has not been able to verify those figures independently.

For its part, Russia also has a thriving ultra-nationalist scene that is tolerated by the authorities.

The Russian Imperial Movement (RIM), an extreme-right militia based in St. Petersburg, ​was, in 2020, the first White supremacist group to be categorized as "Specially Designated Global Terrorists" by the US State Department. While the RIM has worked in opposition to Putin's regime, it has supported the Russian side in the war against Ukraine -- training Russian militants to join pro-Russian separatists in the conflict, according to the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC) at Stanford University.

Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with French Front National party leader Marine Le Pen at the Kremlin in Moscow on March 24, 2017.
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with French Front National party leader Marine Le Pen at the Kremlin in Moscow on March 24, 2017.
"They have never confronted their own nationalists," said Rekawek. ​Experts say Russia has also been a player in Europe's far-right space, with France's Marine Le Pen and Italy's Matteo Salvini enjoying close links with Putin before the 2022 invasion.

And of the "few hundred western individuals with extreme right-wing or 'nationalist' convictions" who traveled to fight in the Ukraine conflict around 2014, "most of those extremist volunteers fought on the side of the pro-Russian separatists," according to a CEP report published in March.

Ritzmann has found pro-Russian groups calling for volunteers in his research. This includes "the Russian security contractor Wagner Group, which has a history of displaying Nazi insignia," he said in the CEP report.

But amid the tide of millions of refugees and untold damage to Ukrainian cities, some experts say Russia's fixation on a minor player like the Azov movement serves a purpose -- allowing the Kremlin to frame the conflict as an ideological and even existential struggle. However remote from reality that may be.

This story has been updated to include a statement from the Azov regiment.

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2022/03/29/europe/ukraine-azov-movement-far-right-intl-cmd

Huge blast just hit pro Iran PMF base south of Baghdad about 40 min ago.

Gaza could surpass famine thresholds in six weeks, WFP official says

GENEVA, April 24 (Reuters) - The Gaza Strip could surpass famine thresholds of food insecurity, malnutrition and mortality in six weeks, an official from the World Food Programme said on Wednesday.
"We are getting closer by the day to a famine situation," said Gian Caro Cirri, Geneva director of the World Food Programme (WFP).

"There is reasonable evidence that all three famine thresholds -- food insecurity, malnutrition and mortality -- will be passed in the next six weeks."

A U.N.-backed report published in March said that famine was imminent and likely to occur by May in northern Gaza and could spread across the enclave by July. On Tuesday, a U.S. official said the risk of famine in Gaza, especially in the north, was very high.

Cirri was speaking at the launch of a report by the Global Network Against Food Crises, an alliance of humanitarian and development actors including United Nations agencies, the World Bank, the European Union and the United States.

In its report, the network described the 2024 outlook for the Middle East and Africa as extremely concerning due to the Gaza war and restricted humanitarian access, as well as the risk of the conflict spreading elsewhere in the region.

"As for Gaza, the conflict makes it difficult and sometimes impossible to reach affected people," Cirri said.

"We need to scale up massively our assistance... But under the current conditions, I'm afraid the situation will further deteriorate."

The United Nations has long complained of obstacles to getting aid in and distributing it throughout Gaza in the six months since Israel began an aerial and ground offensive against Gaza's ruling Islamist militant group Hamas.

Israel has denied hindering supplies of humanitarian aid and blames aid agencies for inefficiencies in distribution.

Israel's military campaign has reduced much of the territory of 2.3 million people to a wasteland with a humanitarian disaster unfolding since Oct. 7, when Hamas ignited war by storming into southern Israel.

Cirri said that the only way to steer clear of famine in Gaza was to ensure immediate and daily deliveries of food supplies.

"They've been selling off their belongings to buy food. They are most of the time destitute," he said.

"And clearly some of them are dying of hunger."

https://www.reuters.com/world/middl...-six-weeks-wfp-official-says-2024-04-24/

So Israel, the nation that controls everything that goes in and out of the territory is blaming others because the aid isn't getting in as we watch aid trucks backed up at the border not being allowed entry. Over 95 aid workers have been killed by indiscriminate bombing and the the latest WCK workers directly targeted. Hmmmmm, something doesn't add up there.

Clowns and sheep.

"I wish I was more educated."

CANNOT make this stuff up.

The mask adds a certain touch of irony as well.

They collectively look really dumb. Not that I was the smartest of human beings between the ages of 18 and 22, but it's a demonstration that zeal without knowledge and reason is a very dangerous thing.

Academia has long been struggling with that dynamic and needs to get INFORMED professors from multiple angles. I don't think there is any other way that is better. Right now, looking at it from a bird's eye view, academia struggles with "champagne socialism" and it bleeds down to the students. The problem is that academia also lives very much in the conceptual vs the reality. That is why you see all the memes out there along the lines of "Well, I know how to explain the cave metaphor in Plato's Republic, but I don't know how to do my taxes." That is another thing that has to be fixed.

From my own viewpoint in law school, we had quite a few professors that had only ever known academia, and I obviously learned from them. Then, when I actually joined a firm, there were multiple occasions where certain partners would be like "Yeah, that's BS. This is how it really works."

Drawing back to the incident at hand here, it seems a lot of the protestors demonstrate rage for the sake of rage, rather than a legitimate cause. The problem therein is that there are definitely substantiated qualms against Israel's conduct in the war, but these protests are harmful in a backfiring kind of way.

Someone could probably make a lot of money if they marketed a practical protest curriculum. Then again, the powers that be would probably be against such a thing. Teaching people to protest effectively within the bounds of the law would be useful to society at large. It would be less ideal for the "elite," though.

I do agree that "unbridled" rage is problematic. It'd be great if we could somehow reach a paradigm of "positive" protest. I.e, instead of being largely disruptive and "combative," we could reach visible and constructive/active.

Anger as an impetus is fine. Anger as a "lifestyle"/"ongoing choice" is unhealthy and likely not particularly productive.

Just some quick thoughts and not a carefully formulated platform.

I agree. I don't think anybody did it better than the Civil Rights activists in the 50's and 60's. Whatever is going on right now ain't going to help anything.

And that pretty much covers it....

Headline

Young people sometimes do and say stupid things.

Details at 11:00

Yeah we’ll throw money at just about anything but education these days.

Hmmmmmm.... college loan forgiveness seems a lot like throwing money at "education."

We throw money at education in the (dictionary) "the process of giving systematic instruction" sense. Unfortunately, that systematic instruction is of variable value.

How "enlightening" that education actually is/was is definitely debatable.

These protests are turning into the potential for Jews to be prosecuted for the 2nd time in the last 80 years.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-new...aders-warn-safety-palestinian-rcna148733

Libtards are anti-semetic nazis.

It's so far out of hand. One of the most disgusting things I've seen in my life -- at least in my country.

Some of these idiots don't even know what they're protesting.

That’s because most didn’t get a proper education in public Schools. I’ll repeat, we’ll throw money at just about everything but education.

Your idea of education, sure. The ones able to throw the money's idea of education is working just fine for them. The system is creating exploitable "drones"/"cheap" labor just fine as they designed it.

You’re going to need to show me a few examples of the ones throwing money at public schools. Otherwise BS as usual.

Here we go. This pier is going to be a bulls eye of violent killing.



Mortar attack on Gaza coast spotlights risk to U.S. pier mission
Assembly of the floating structure has begun miles offshore, and aid delivery is expected to start within days, officials said

Militants launched mortars at Israeli forces in Gaza as they prepared for the arrival of a floating U.S. Army pier dispatched to facilitate delivery of humanitarian aid, U.S. officials said Thursday, an incident that underscores the mission’s vulnerabilities.
Sign up for Fact Checker, our weekly review of what's true, false or in-between in politics.

The attack on a “marshaling area” for the pier caused minimal damage, and occurred while U.S. ships involved in the operation remain a ways off shore, said Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman. The pier is under construction by U.S. troops — though “nowhere near mortar range,” he said — and expected to be put into service by early May.
President Biden announced the pier’s deployment during his State of the Union address in March. With rising alarm about starvation in the war zone, and little sign that Israeli officials would heed U.S. pleas to allow more food into Gaza, Biden pledged to open a “maritime corridor” via the Mediterranean Sea using a temporary floating pier and a steel causeway connecting it to the shore.

Who would be attacking the pier, exactly, though? If Israel attacked it, it would cause immense damage to their own campaign which is already losing support internationally. If Hamas attacked it, they would be depriving their own citizens of resources, and also lose substantial international support and sympathy. That would also justify Israel to say "See who we are dealing with?" and then enable them to double down on their own questionable tactics.

What am I missing?

My answer is, a dartboard has a bullseye. Everyone wants to hit it. Plus Americans are there.

Hmmm, could it be the same people who used (and are still using) their own people as human shields, stole food from aid trucks from the get, and even shot some of it's own citizens to discourage them from following IDF orders to evacuate? Every dead Gazan makes Israel look like they're on the same level as Hamas.

With that said -- these 'shots' serve two purposes -- one, "we are still in charge here"; two, to see if the media will actually frame this as some unknown terrorist group rather than Hamas. Believe it or not, they are.

JMO

They are wholly despicable and sociopathic, don't get me wrong. But, I'll just say it's a whole different ball game if the pier gets attacked and especially if US troops get harmed. I'd feel very confident that even Iran is saying "Don't touch the pier to their puppets." I could be wrong.

Oh, I agree. I'm just pondering the who and why.

Nobody is buying your BS that one party has the market cornered on antisemitism. I don't even think you believe it. If you actually do here is a reminder......

Your whatabout doesnt change the fact that we have the ugly libtard display of anti-semitism on our News every day. And its not just the students, its the FACULTY and libtard CONGRESS PEOPLE. SHAME.

There is no whatabout. You directly pointed the finger in one direction which is a complete and total lie. And when shown the truth you are still in denial as per usual.

It is 100% a whatabout. But thats ok. We know you cant accept the truth. All you have is whatabouts and strawmen. Thats why you take the L on the daily. And now youre taking the L because you cant admit that libtards from the top to the bottom are displaying anti-semetic behaivor every day for months now. You people should be ashamed of yourselves.

The only one taking the L here is the one claiming antisemitism is only a problem with the liberals. Everyone knows that's a blatant lie. It's a two way street that has roots on both sides.

And "your side" has been displaying antisemitism for decades.

I'm not ashamed of myself because I'm not antisemitic. However if I was on here lying about only one political party having people who are antisemitic among them I may have a reason to be ashamed for being a liar.