Maximal Politics
Disaffected Citizens,
Massive destruction, dozens killed in new Israeli massacre in central Gaza
Over 100 people have been killed and injured, with dozens missing after Israel’s brutal attack on densely populated civilian buildings in Nuseirat camp https://thecradle.co/articles/massive-destruction-dozens-killed-in-new-israeli-massacre-in-central-gaza
Israeli Attack on School-Turned-Shelter in Southern Gaza Kills 20
Israeli strikes in central Gaza earlier in the day killed a journalist and five civil defense workers On Sunday night, an Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced people in southern Gaza killed at least 20 Palestinians, including children, as the daily US-backed slaughter continues.
According to the Palestinian news agency WAFA, the strike hit a UN-run school in western Khan Younis near the Nasser Medical Complex. The breakdown of the casualties is unclear, but photos and videos of the aftermath show children among the dead and wounded. https://news.antiwar.com/2024/12/15/israeli-attack-on-school-turned-shelter-in-southern-gaza-kills-20/
Charred bodies found after Israeli raid on school shelter in Gaza Israeli occupation forces besieged, bombed, and stormed a school sheltering displaced people in Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza, resulting in at least 15 martyrs and dozens of injuries. https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/charred-bodies-found-after-israeli-raid-on-school-shelter-in
Corpses pile up in northern Gaza as Israel continues deadly onslaught‘ Stray dogs and cats are devouring the piled-up bodies, which portends a serious environmental disaster,' Palestinian medics warns https://www.yenisafak.com/en/news/corpses-pile-up-in-northern-gaza-as-israel-continues-deadly-onslaught-3695754
Israeli military personnel, held as hostages by Hamas, are Hamas-assets, so... Abu Obeida: IOF bombed captives repeatedly to ensure they were killed The military spokesperson for the al-Qassam Brigades says the group has intel that the IOF deliberately and repeatedly bombed a location housing captives knowing they were inside. https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/abu-obeida--iof-bombed-captives-repeatedly-to-ensure-they-we
UNICEF calls for urgent action as Gaza children endure daily violence The Executive Director of UNICEF issues an urgent call to "all parties to the conflict, and on those with influence over them, to take decisive action to end the suffering of children." https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/unicef-calls-for-urgent-action-as-gaza-children-endure-daily
Finding the Unmentionable: Amnesty International, Israel and Genocide In a 296-page report sporting the ominous title “You Feel Like You Are Subhuman”, the human rights body, after considering the events in Gaza between October 2023 and July 2024, identified a “pattern of conduct” that indicated genocidal intent. These included, among other things, persistent direct attacks on civilians and objects “and deliberately indiscriminate strikes over the nine-month period, wiping out entire families repeatedly launched at times when these strikes would result in high numbers of casualties”; the nature of the weapons used; the speed and scale of destruction to civilian objects and infrastructure (homes, shelters, health facilities, water and sanitation infrastructure, agricultural land”; the use of bulldozing and controlled demolitions; and the use of “incomprehensible, misleading and arbitrary ‘evacuation’ orders’”. https://www.globalresearch.ca/amnesty-international-israel-genocide/5875031
Israel To Expand Settlements in Occupied Golan Heights
Israeli troops captured more Syrian land and the defense minister says they will continue to occupy it through the winter https://news.antiwar.com/2024/12/15/israel-to-expand-settlements-in-occupied-golan-heights/
Israel occupies 3 new villages in southern Syria Israel has occupied three new villages in southern Syria as Tel Aviv deepened its military incursion into the country following the overthrow of the Bashar al-Assad regime.
Israeli army forces seized Jamlah in Daraa province and the villages of Mazraat Beit Jinn and Maghar al-Mir in the Damascus countryside, according to Anadolu reporters. https://www.yenisafak.com/en/news/israel-occupies-3-new-villages-in-southern-syria-3695757
Military Summary has Mideast updates at 14:15, notably that Israeli military forces keep advancing rapidly into Syria, occupying towns and military bases. US military forces are moving into bases in NE Syria, abandoned by Syrian army and Russian armed forces, presumably to block Turks from attacking Kurdish US-proxy forces holding oilfields and farmland there. The Russians Entered Zelenivka: Unstoppable Koreans Military Summary For 2024.12.16 https://www.yenisafak.com/en/news/israel-occupies-3-new-villages-in-southern-syria-3695757
HTS officials order Palestinian resistance factions to disarm, close bases in Syria: Report
The new rulers in Damascus are taking actions to prevent the Palestinians from defending themselves or resisting Israel Representatives from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the new ruling extremist organization in Damascus, informed the representatives of the Palestinian factions in Syria they would no longer be allowed to possess any weapons, training camps, or military headquarters, Ibrahim Amin of Al-Akhbar reported on 13 December.
Amin further reports that the factions must dissolve their military formations as soon as possible in exchange for political and charitable work under the roof of the new Syrian state.
Palestinian factions, including Fatah, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC), the Saiqa, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) Martyr Ali Aswad Brigade, have had a presence in Syria as guests of the government for decades.
A source in the PFLP-GC revealed to Erem News that the factions were informed of the decision in meeting headed by Ahmed al-Sharaa, also known as Abu Muhammad al-Julani, in the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp in the capital, Damascus.
Palestinians came to Syria as refugees during the 1948 Nakba. That year, pre-state Zionist militias ethnically cleansed some 750,000 Palestinians from the land that became the state of Israel, making them refugees in neighboring countries.
Many Palestinian refugees settled in Syria in the Yarmouk Camp on the southern outskirts of Damascus. The camp became the capital of the Palestinian diaspora. https://thecradle.co/articles/hts-officials-order-palestinian-resistance-factions-to-disarm-close-bases-in-syria-report
Spending the Syrian treasury reserves on foreign consumer goods and wage increases, while removing all arms from other hands, is politically adept if it can be done. All factions in Syria to be dissolved, no mandatory draft: al-Sharaa The head of the Military Operations Administration in Syria says the new administration's primary priorities are rebuilding destroyed homes and returning displaced individuals. In a press meet on Sunday, al-Sharaa, also known as Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, confirmed that "there will be no mandatory military conscription, except for certain specialties, which will be obligatory for short periods."
Additionally, increasing salaries by 400% in Syria is being considered, said al-Sharaa, who is also the leader of the Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group that managed, as part of an alliance, to capture most of the Syrian territory and lead to the ousting of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad last week...
..In parallel, the Central Bank of Syria issued a decision allowing importers to finance their imports of permitted goods for domestic consumption. https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/all-factions-in-syria-to-be-dissolved--no-mandatory-draft--a
al-Jolani appears to be a long term asset of the CIA, MOSSAD and MIT (Turkish intel.), who is now trying to serve their rapidly-diverging interests, and still keep Syrians and Palestinians on his side. How long can he do this? If he has to choose, what will he choose? How expendable is he to these masters? From ‘Terrorist’ to ‘Freedom Fighter’: How the West Rebranded Al-Qaeda’s Jolani as Syria’s ‘Woke’ New Leader
Britain’s Daily Telegraph that suggests that Jolani will construct a new Syria, respectful of minority rights. The same newspaper also labeled him a “moderate Jihadist.” The Washington Post described him as a pragmatic and charismatic leader, while CNN portrayed him as a “blazer-wearing revolutionary.” ...
..When asked by host Jomana Karadsheh about his past actions, he responded by saying,
“I believe that everyone in life goes through phases and experiences…As you grow, you learn, and you continue to learn until the very last day of your life,”as if he were discussing embarrassing teenage mistakes, not establishing and leading the Al-Nusra Front, Al-Qaeda’s franchise in Syria... ..It is far from clear whether the tens of thousands of soldiers he commands – units made up primarily of former fighters from al-Qaeda/al-Nusra and ISIS – will be in a charitable mood once they cement their power.
“Syria is being purified,” he told a crowd in Damascus on Sunday. “This victory is born from the people who have languished in prison, and the fighters broke their chains,” he added.
Jolani – whose real name is Ahmed Hussein al-Shar’a – was born in 1982 in Saudi Arabia to parents who fled the Golan Heights area of Syria after the 1967 Israeli invasion. In 2003, he went to Iraq to fight against American forces. After three years of war, he was captured by the U.S. military and spent over five years in prison, including a stint at the notorious Abu Ghraib torture center.
While in Iraq, Jolani fought with ISIS and was even a deputy to its founder. Immediately upon release in 2011, ISIS sent him to Syria with a rumored $1 billion to found the Syrian wing of al-Qaeda and participate in the armed protest movement against Assad that arose out of the Arab Spring.
Realizing the extremely poor reputation al-Qaeda had in the region and across the world, Jolani attempted to rebrand his forces, officially shuttering the al-Nusra Front in January 2017 and, on the same day, founding HTS. He claimed that HTS preaches a very different ideology and that it will respect Syrian diversity. Not everyone is convinced of this, least of all the British government, who immediately proscribed HTS, describing it as merely an alias of Al-Qaeda.
“Al-Qaeda/ISIS man didn’t ‘reinvent himself.’ He had the whole propaganda and intelligence apparatus of the ‘West,’ including the BBC, doing it for him,” remarked co-founder of The Electronic Intifada, Ali Abunimah. The name “al-Jolani” translates to “From the Golan Heights.” And yet, the leader appears distinctly unconcerned with the Israeli invasion of his homeland. The IDF has taken much of southern Syria, including the strategic Mount Hermon, overlooking Damascus. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stated that this is part of a permanent operation. “The Golan Heights…will forever be an inseparable part of the State of Israel,” he proclaimed.
Jolani has already said that he has no intention of confronting Israel. “Syria is not ready for war and does not intend to go into another war. The source of concern was the Iranian militias, and Hezbollah, and the danger has passed,” he said. https://www.globalresearch.ca/from-terrorist-to-freedom-fighter-how-the-west-rebranded-al-qaedas-jolani-as-syrias-woke-new-leader/5875034
Openly, if not officially: US In 'Direct Contact' With Designated Terror Group HTS, Blinken Admits https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/us-direct-contact-designated-terror-group-hts-blinken-admits
John Helmer, THE NEW TIME OF TROUBLES, PART III – DON’T WORRY, BE HAPPY A Moscow source comments: “I think the Russian public will not be convinced to risk a presence there especially when the propaganda has changed its tune to the line, ‘it’s impossible to help those who can’t help themselves.’ With Syrian statehood gone, this battle is lost.”
This is the rationale, several Moscow sources believe, for Putin to cut his losses and run from Syria without risking the appearance to Russian voters of having done either. The military and strategic implications of Putin’s decision-making on Syria, argued behind closed doors with the General Staff, are unmentioned in the Duma and the media.
The Moscow source adds: “What happens in Ukraine and when are the main questions now. There could well be more surprises from the US. There might be a new ground assault into Russian territory and continuing missile attacks deep into Russian territory. So far, these are not disturbing the national mood of confidence and optimism. So for the time being Russians are not expecting and are not prepared for any escalation on any front – at least not on the ground. If Putin can negotiate to keep the four [Donbass] regions and a demilitarisation accord with [President Donald] Trump, there will be what the Defense Ministry calls retaliation, but no escalation. At least not for now, not for six months after Trump takes office if the talks head nowhere.”
“What is needed now from Russian point of view is time to build the army and the economy for a bigger war. That, according to everyone I talk with, is going to be war with Turkey when the stakes will be much higher than they are with Ukraine. Putin is adopting a wait-and-see stance." https://johnhelmer.net/the-new-time-of-troubles-part-iii-dont-worry-be-happy/#more-90819
Trump team studying Orban’s ceasefire initiative, Kiev has already rejected the proposal and did so in an “unprecedented” manner, Budapest has said https://swentr.site/news/609401-trump-orban-christmas-truce/
CIA puppet leaves... Georgia's New President, An Ex-Soccer Player, Solidifies Anti-EU Leadership Kavelashvili was one of the authors of a controversial law requiring organisations that receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad to register as “pursuing the interest of a foreign power,” similar to a Russian law used to discredit organizations critical of the government. https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/georgias-new-president-ex-soccer-player-solidifies-anti-eu-leadership
The US is selling Taiwan a bunch of Abrams tanks. Don't laugh. Taiwan Leaders Shocked By Size Of Chinese Military Drills, US Remains Mute A week ago, Taiwan was bracing for a Chinese military exercise to “punish” its president, Lai Ching-te, for a trip abroad that included two short visits to the US. It would have been another show of force from Beijing in retaliation for Taiwanese leaders asserting their country’s independence.
But what happened next took Taipei by surprise. Its military and national security officials observed what they called the largest Chinese naval deployment in nearly 30 years. At the same time, Beijing announced partial restrictions on air traffic in seven zones hugging its coastline from Shanghai to Hong Kong for two days. https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/taiwan-leaders-shocked-size-chinese-military-drills-us-remains-mute
The Honest Sorcerer draws parallels between the US and late-USSR. Before Societal Implosion Comes... On hypernormalisation and elite failure Although there are many reasons behind the fall of great civilizations(ecological, economical, climate, resource and many more), allow me to focus on one particular area: the role of leadership. One could not find a better example in recent history, then the dissolution of the Soviet Union thirty-three years ago. In his book Everything Was Forever, Until It Was No More: The Last Soviet Generation (2006), author Alexei Yurchak wrote about the paradoxes of Soviet life during the 1970s and 1980s. According to his account of Russian history, everyone in the Soviet Union knew the system was failing, but no one could imagine any (true) alternative to the status quo. Instead, politicians and citizens alike were resigned to maintaining the pretense of a functioning society. Over time, the mass delusion became a self-fulfilling prophecy, with everyone accepting it as the new norm rather than what it was, a pretence — an effect Yurchak named hypernormalisation... ..Today we are witnessing the same phenomenon in western democracies with ever weirder and weirder things happening, only to be (hyper-)normalized in a few days time. ‘Oh, look how the economy is growing…!’ ... Thus we see a doubling then tripling down on failed strategies, instead of implementing badly needed structural reforms ... ..Most people in the West believe they live in a democracy, while the rest of the world has to suffer unbearable oppression under terrible autocrats and omnipotent dictators. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. Simply put, neither part of the story is true:the West is not a democracy, and the rest is not an autocracy. Both worlds are somewhere in-between... ..Nothing of importance gets decided on elections. Sorry, but when you have to choose between two preselected, thoroughly vetted candidates, who will say and do exactly what their sponsors think they should say and do, that is not a democracy... It’s — by definition — an oligarchy, the rule of the wealthy... ..As a result western nations, and many other countries around the world, are effectively run by what Aurelien calls a ‘professional managerial class’... ..What we have at hand is the logical endpoint of a complete PMC takeover, turbocharged by ‘neoliberal economics’ appearing first in the U.K. and the U.S., then spread across most of the world... ..The relentless search for higher profits, together with rent seeking, has turned the economy into a wealth pump: with ever costlier to maintain institutions, endless wars waged for the enrichment of the few, and companies hardly doing useful products or services anymore. Outsourcing manufacturing to places where material, energy and labor inputs were still cheap was just one (important) step in the process. Now, that there is nowhere left for production to be outsourced to (and when in fact we would need to bring industries back home), we are left with an economy wholly dependent on financialization and imports based on global supply chains spanning across the globe... And when Ivy League graduates shoot healthcare corporate execs on the street in a city filled with homeless people, you know that the brick wall at the end of this one-way street is not that far away anymore…
..Once you understand that all economic activity is underpinned by energy, and that the most indispensable form of energy comes from oil, a divorce between the growth of monetary claims and that of the oil powered economy can mean only one thing. Inflation. Inflation of prices, together with an inflation of debt and stock market bubbles. And when the physical limits of extraction is finally reached then production begins to decline, the problem turns into a predicament... ..The inconvenient truth is, that our predicament has no technological solution, only an outcome... ..Meanwhile both the public and the elite failed to register that we in the West have slowly become the late stage Soviet Union. Of course, the term ‘perestroika’ was replaced with a myth of a ‘green revolution’, but just like in the case of the late USSR, it was done without addressing the heart of the problem: a complete corporate takeover, resulting in the plundering of this planet and its peoples. Now, it’s too late to avoid collapse. The pretence went on too long, deep seated problems were left to be “resolved” for a later day... ..But if we survive the coming existential crisis of the oligarchic system without a nuclear war, the coming collapse of stock markets and asset prices could leave us with a power vacuum. You see we live in a house of cards with tightly interconnected financial institutions, where a single glitch can result in a cascade of unwanted events. Make no mistake: the end to financialization won’t be a pleasant or smooth ride, and surviving extreme hardship will be the name of the game.
The US Postal Service has been repeatedly restructured to lose money and shift profits to private corporations. That can also change. Trump Considers Privatizing US Postal Service That Lost $9.5 Billion In FY2024 https://www.zerohedge.com/political/trump-considers-privatizing-us-postal-service-lost-95-billion-fy2024
It would be a great precedent if the plaintiffs prevail. ‘First-of-its-kind’ Lawsuit Alleges Addictive Ultraproccessed Foods Caused Teen’s Illnesses A Pennsylvania teenager sued Coca-Cola, Nestlé USA, PepsiCo, General Mills, WK Kellogg Co and six other Big Food companies alleging that ultraprocessed foods engineered to be as addictive as cigarettes caused him to develop fatty liver disease, Type 2 diabetes and other health problems. https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/lawsuit-ultraproccessed-foods-teen-health-problems/
High-fructose Corn Syrup is Everywhere — Scientists Say It May Make Cancerous Tumors Grow Faster
Consuming fructose boosts the growth of cancerous tumors, according to anew peer-reviewed study. “In some cases, the growth rate of the tumors accelerated by two-fold or even higher,” said the study’s corresponding author Gary Patti, Ph.D. https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/high-fructose-corn-syrup-scientists-cancerous-tumors-grow-faster/
FDA Has Authority to Recall COVID Vaccines — A Growing Number of Scientists Are Demanding the Agency Take Swift Action The latest round of calls began in January when Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo called for a “halt in the use of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines” over safety concerns that the mRNA technology is delivering DNA contaminants into people’s cells.
A few weeks later, the journal Cureus published the first peer-reviewed paper to call for a moratorium on the COVID-19 vaccines. The paper included a sweeping review of “lessons learned” from the clinical trial data and the many adverse events associated with the shots.
Just last week, elected officials, organizations — including the World Council for Health and Door to Freedom — and hundreds of doctors and researchers sent a letter to the heads of state of 10 European countries calling for a suspension of the “modified mRNA vaccines,” citing serious health concerns associated with the shots. https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/fda-authority-recall-covid-vaccines/
There is a new Polio vaccine that shirked safety testing (somehow). It needs testing. The old Polio-vaccines are not the topic. Corporate Media Misleads the Public About the Polio Vaccine to Discredit RFK Jr. Their attacks omit the irresponsible 3-day safety follow-up period upon which the current polio vaccines (IPOL) are licensed.
Court in Australia (belatedly) upheld Physician's right to give his expert opinion to patients. Australia's Dr. William Bay Says His Triumph Restores Freedom Of Speech in Medicine to All Australian Doctors
Celia Farber, A Must Read Article About The Global, Orchestrated "Pedophilic Wasteland"—Much Worse Than You Know, Even If You Know A Lot [Trigger Warning]
Daniel Baldwin Claims There Are “Bidding Wars” In Hollywood Over Diddy Blackmail Sex Tapes Appearing on the PBD podcast, Baldwin stated “He has videos of the parties… I’ve heard from friends that are attorneys… there’s a bidding war going on right now.”
The brother of Alec Baldwin continued, “They’re driving that price up because if you want your client and your famous actor to not be involved, a famous singer to not come out, here’s the price, and that they’re just selling to the individuals that are in those.” https://modernity.news/2024/12/16/daniel-baldwin-claims-there-are-bidding-wars-in-hollywood-over-diddy-blackmail-sex-tapes/
CNN Legal Analyst And Former Manhattan Prosecutor To Represent Suspect In Killing Of UnitedHealthcare CEO The dramatic case of Luigi Mangione, accused of the brazen killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, took a legal turn Friday when prominent defense attorney Karen Friedman Agnifilo - a Trump critic who's married to Sean 'Diddy' Combs' attorney, officially joined his team. https://www.zerohedge.com/political/cnn-legal-analyst-and-former-manhattan-prosecutor-represent-suspect-killing
Suspicious OpenAI Whistleblower Death Ruled Suicide Balaji had publicly accused OpenAI of violating US copyright law with ChatGPT. According to the NY Times;
He came to the conclusion that OpenAI’s use of copyrighted data violated the law and that technologies like ChatGPT were damaging the internet.
In August, he left OpenAI because he no longer wanted to contribute to technologies that he believed would bring society more harm than benefit.
“If you believe what I believe, you have to just leave the company,” he said during a recent series of interviews with The New York Times.
The Times named Balaji a person with "unique and relevant documents" that the outlet would use in their ongoing litigation with OpenAI - which claims that the company, and its partner Microsoft, are using the world of reporters and editors without permission. https://www.zerohedge.com/political/suspicious-openai-whistleblower-death-ruled-suicide
Pretending they don't know and do care... Federal Officials Will Deploy High-Tech System To New York After Drones Shut Down Airport, Governor Says https://www.zerohedge.com/military/federal-officials-will-deploy-high-tech-system-new-york-after-drones-shut-down-airport
Schumer Urges Feds To Deploy Declassified Technology That Can Identify Drones https://www.zerohedge.com/political/schumer-urges-feds-deploy-declassified-technology-can-identify-drones#google_vignette
Make it look legitimate: New Jersey Receives Report Radioactive Medical Device "Lost In Transit" https://www.zerohedge.com/political/radioactive-medical-device-lost-transit-new-jersey-nuclear-regulatory-commission-reports
Radiation-Detecting Drones over New York and New Jersey?
U.S. Department of Energy press release in 2023 offers possible clue about identity of flying objects in the sky over New Jersey and New York It strikes me as extremely unlikely that the DoJ, FBI, CIA, and FAA do not know the identity of the flying objects spotted over New Jersey and New York City. According to multiple news reports, the FBI claims to be investigating these sightings, with an official acknowledging public concern while suggesting there might be a “slight overreaction.” The Pentagon has repeatedly stated the drones are not of foreign origin.
Hal Turner reports 2 specific types of military drones that meet some of the descriptions. Drone Mystery Solved . . . . U.S. Military . . . . Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) https://halturnerradioshow.com/index.php/news-selections/national-news/drone-mystery-solved-u-s-military-naval-air-warfare-center-aircraft-division-nawcad
Fully Manual (pictured with thriving row of greens and tomato bushes still producing a few)
"High-fructose Corn Syrup is Everywhere — Scientists Say It May Make Cancerous Tumors Grow Faster"
....or the shit they spray everything with during the growth cycle?
Based on your garden photo, your winter must be mild.
I feel I am being played by the drone stories. I prefer to think of them as UFOs. This is just another opportunity for the govt. to lie to us. They are probably worried that the atomic-bomb-in-Japan-cat is getting out of the bag, so it's time to invent another threat.