Your Wednesday Briefing

In Italy, in opposition to the national budget to be approved on December 31st, the main trade unions have tried and failed to reach an agreement with the government to reduce the worst parts of it, including a pension law. The unions will therefore go on strike on December 15th.

The Bulgarian Socialist Party - which has 10% of the deputies in parliament - has announced that they will form a broad left-nationalist coalition with 16 pro-Russian, anti-EU parties. The leader, Ninova, has said: “The pendulum swings from extreme liberalism to the other extreme – fascism. We have to stop it in the middle,” and is reactionary on gender.

Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Ukraine are boycotting an Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) meeting if Lavrov attends.

Iran's President Raisi was a no-show for a visit to Turkiye yesterday which was personally announced earlier this month by Erdogan, which some are interpreting as Iran being unhappy with Turkiye for their lack of action on the Israel-Palestine war. Despite Erdogan regularly insulting Israel and calling Hamas a liberation group, Turkiye continues to allow oil to be sent from Azerbaijan to Israel, which constitutes 40% of Israel's crude.

120 people have been killed and 90,000 households displaced due to massive flooding in Kenya caused by El Nino, just after eastern Africa experienced its worst drought in four decades. Heavy rain will likely continue until January 2024.

Two colonels in the Madagascar army have been detained on suspicion of trying to contest the election and destabilise the government. as the opposition against President Rajoelina continues to oppose the election and do not recognize the results.

Mozambique has unveiled an energy transition plan that will take them to 2050, with the goal of securing investments totalling $80 billion. It will be formally presented at the COP28 climate summit on December 2nd. It will involve a substantial boost in hydropower and electric vehicles, and will use recent natural gas discoveries to fuel economic growth and uplift millions from poverty.

The Panama Supreme Court has declared that the Cobre Panama mine, the largest open-pit copper mine in Central America which mostly exports copper to China, is unconstitutional, opening the door to international arbitration by the concessionaire, Minera Panama, which is a subsidiary of the Canadian company FQM. The controversy over the contract has generated the largest peaceful protests in Panama in decades, as well as road blockades by environmentalists, labor unions, and indigenous groups, as well as strikes.

ExxonMobil is urging Guyana to provoke Venezuela into attacking it over the dispute over Esequibo, so that the United States has a pretext to invade Venezuela and finally destroy the socialist country. Venezuela, on the other hand, is seeking a peaceful outcome, and is holding a referendum on the issue. Votes over Esequibo have typically attracted even more votes than over elections, and unites most sections of the country.

Meanwhile, the US has found Guaido's replacement in Machado, who calls herself the "Iron Lady of Venezuela" and went through the same Yale program as Nalvany. She won the primary opposition election with 93% and Maduro has declared the election illegitimate because... I mean, it probably fucking was, to be honest. Polls show that Maduro would handily win an election against Machado. With the US's sanction regime deteriorating as it places everybody else on the planet except for them and their buddies onto the Naughty List and thus prompts them to just trade with each other instead - and as Maduro receives more support from the region as leaders realize he probably isn't going to be ousted any time soon (kinda like Assad) - the pressure that the US can exert on Venezuela is gradually falling. Hence, ExxonMobil.

"去你妈的！滚你妈的！操你妈的！'' -孔庆东

just me or is zhou looking at mao like blinken looks at biden

the hands lol

That Donald Pabelou dude is not getting better

Britain and the Rise of Wahhabism and the House of Saud Dr. Abdullah Mohammad Sindi

...

"During the 30 years of creating Saudi Arabia (1902-32), the fanatical Saudis-Wahhabis brutally killed and wounded over 400,000 Arabs throughout the Arabian Peninsula; and carried out over 40,000 public executions and 350,000 public amputations, respectively 1% and 7% of the then estimated population of 4 million. 13 In addition, the Saudi-Wahhabi terror forced more than one million inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula to flee for their lives to other parts of the Arab world, never to return. 14

Unlike a century earlier when the Egyptian Ibraheem Pasha under Ottoman orders punished the Saudi-Wahhabi warriors for their crimes against Hejaz’s holy cities and inhabitants, this time the Arab and Muslim worlds were under the brutal control of Western colonial powers. Accordingly, the fanatical Saudis-Wahhabis escaped punishment and found protection and safety in Britain’s power and friendship."

UPDATE on the Central Park tanker via Al Jazeera

Pentagon: Israel-linked ship hijacking yesterday - Somali Pirates - not Houthis

8 min ago

Israeli military drops leaflets in southern Gaza city of Khan Younis calling it a "fighting zone"

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) dropped leaflets in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis on Friday, calling it a “fighting zone” and telling residents to “evacuate immediately.”

“To the residents of Al Qarara, Khirbet Khaza’a, Abadan and Bani Suheila. You have to evacuate immediately and head to the shelter in [the] Rafah area. Khan Younis city is a fighting zone,” the leaflet said in Arabic.

During fighting prior to the recent truce, Israel repeatedly told residents of northern Gaza to move south of Wadi Gaza for their safety. The city of Khan Younis is located south of that line. The United Nations estimates that at least 946,000 internally displaced Gazans are currently in southern Gaza.

The leaflet drop came as Israel said on Friday it had resumed combat operations against Hamas after the seven-day truce.

- CNN

~5:30

Evacuated from the north, being bombed in the south - YouTube

Israel is currently bombing all across the Gaza Strip. Since the truce ended, the focus is on the southern areas where, at the start of this war, Israel told people to evacuate to.

Most of those who evacuated from the north can’t go back.

We have met people who have been displaced two to three times since the war began. They left the north without anything and now they are in the south being bombed.

Israeli forces also published a map yesterday … asking people in Gaza to follow instructions and directions on evacuation and safe areas. However, people do not have electricity or internet to access the map. We are at a hospital where people have been asking us if we can connect to the internet for them so they can look up this map.

The map is confusing for people and they don’t know how to deal with it. At the same time, people do not trust the Israeli forces. People feel like no place is safe [in Gaza].

Al Jazeera's Hind Khoudary in Deir el-Balah, Gaza.

Her recent tweets.

Hind Khoudary (@Hind_Gaza)

A complete neighborhood was wiped off in Khanyounis. Remember the South, the safe area?

50 houses in Al Shujeyeh have been bombed by Israel today.

50 houses. 50.

Thousands remain under the rubble of bombed homes in Gaza.

Houses are being targeted by Israeli warplanes in the north of Gaza.

Israel has been imposing restrictions on our movement since 2007 since the blockade started. Today we are not even able to mobilize across the Gaza Strip.

Everything feels so dark and scary.

I am stuck in the middle area, can't go north nor south.

People do not have any place to go.

Israel asked everyone to evacuate to the South on the first week of the war. Now they trapped all the people in the South - asking them to evacuate to the South?

Israel is isolating the middle area from the southern area in Gaza.

We are not allowed to move South as the Israeli tanks are opening fire on anyone trying to cross.

Norm tweet

New York Times Twitter Obit on Kissinger

Henry Kissinger died at age 100. He was reportedly very old when he died. He had a thick German accent that won him early tenure at Harvard. He wrote many learned tomes.

It's not known what is in them. Kissinger still wore horn-rimmed glasses when they were no longer fashionable. He was on the shorter side. The French would say, "more Napolean than DeGaulle."

Notwithstanding, he was very popular with the ladies. Blond bombshell Zsa Zsa Gabor once exclaimed, "Dahling, he's super-hot in the sack! Once he recited the names of the children killed in Bach Mai hospital while schtupping me in the rear."

He was a popular dinner guest among the rich and famous. He regaled gatherings with his bon mots. At a Hamptons soiree, he told Saudi Arabia's Muhammed bin Salman, "I hear you ground the bones of that Washington Post reporter to dust. I would have just crushed them."

The crowd laughed appreciatively. Human rights crusader Samantha Power posted on Twitter after news of his death, "I learnt everything I know about human rights from Dr. Kissinger." There are unconfirmed rumors that Kissinger killed millions of people.

Nitter

---

Bạch Mai Hospital

Vietnam War bombing

During Nixon's Christmas bombing, Operation Linebacker II, on 22 December 1972, over 100 American bombs struck the hospital, obliterating the building and killing 28 hospital staff members and an unconfirmed number of patients, despite most taking refuge in the hospital's basement. Almost the entire hospital was destroyed, including the operating rooms and pharmacy stock. The US military claimed that the hospital "frequently housed anti-aircraft positions." According to the director of the hospital, Đỗ Doãn Đại, the US bombing served to break the morale of hospital staff and Hanoians.

The hospital was subsequently rebuilt, largely with private donations from the United States. A bas-relief memorial to the victims can be seen in the courtyard today.

Also opec doing further oil cuts, and eternally loyal saudis couldn't even rp it as palestinian solidarity

The President of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, made a statement today, together with his Economy Minister, Juan Carlos Vega, saying that they have received the country without any dollars, and that international loans will be necessary.

Venezuelan Opposition:

Parts of opposition is calling for a boycott of the vote, but some say they will vote in favor.

Henrique Capriles (Liberal/Socdem), the opposition candidate in the 2012 and 2013 elections, said he would vote in favor of the referendum because he considered it to be a matter "for Venezuelans" and not just for the Maduro government.

The Secretary General of the Democratic Action (Neoliberal) party, Henry Allup, who said he will vote in favor this Sunday of the 5 questions, because it is a "historic position of his party"

Maria Corina Machado (The new ~~Guaidó~~ USA puppet, the candidate elected in the primaries to be the opposition candidate in the 2024 elections, has said that she will not vote in the consultation because she considers that it will have no effect and that it is just a game played by Maduro. But she made her position clear: "The Guayana Esequiba belongs to Venezuela".

looking forward to the return of my favorite character, TOR🅱️EDO

So with Israel forcing people to evacuate further and further south into Gaza, are we nearing the point of their invasion where they try to force people out of Gaza into Egypt? They're forcing over a million people into what is essentially a brick wall while they drop bombs at their heels. During the ceasefire I thought maybe there'd be a return to the status quo but it seems like they're determined to finish their genocide this time

It's Friday and we're barely at 1k comments. The posting presses have slowed considerably

Israel bans agricultural activities near Gaza fence: Army Radio

The Israeli Army Radio says that agricultural work has been banned in areas close to the separation barrier with Gaza.

It said in a post on X that the new rule is valid in the areas within 7km from the fence due to the resumption of hostilities.

Me too:

Blowback just announced Season 5 will be on Cambodia.

In the Netherlands, if the right-wing parties can get their act together and form a coalition government, they will have 88 seats in parliament.👁️

Israel has a new hospital target to attack. I wonder what their excuse will be this time.

‘Tens of thousands’ seek refugee at Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza

As Israel restarts its military campaign, Mansour Shouman in southern Gaza says he has been “surrounded by tens of thousands” of people who have come to Nasser Hospital to seek refugee.

Shouman, who told Al Jazeera that he is currently sheltering in a tent beside the maternity ward, said, “over 10 people have been killed [and] brought in ambulances close by me”.

“There is a general feeling of anxiety between the civilians here, people do not know what’s going to happen next. The belief is that negotiations are still going. People are hopeful that a ceasefire will hold in the next few hours,” Shouman said.

He added that people are staying put wherever they are as it’s too dangerous to travel anywhere.

“Despite all challenges, Palestinians are steadfast on their land here, they don’t want any repeat of 1948 and 1967. We are not leaving our land to go anywhere, we will try to strive against what the occupation here is doing,” he said.

- Al Jazeera