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@RyanGosling@hexbear.net @jack@hexbear.net @carpoftruth@hexbear.net

I have found the video with quotes by Israeli leaders showing that the intent isn't just a "hunt for Hamas". So you can show it to Libs. It's one of the first two links.

https://twitter.com/kthalps/status/1723538810221338973.

https://nitter.cz/kthalps/status/1723538810221338973.

Note : It's from 1 month ago, so some stuff is missing. For missing videos, I would just look at Middle East Eye on Youtube which has a few (Some are in the Shorts section). Ngl, the best strategy is legit send them some middle east eye videos, it's based in the UK and translates Israeli TV. If you think Israelis sound bloodthirsty in English, you haven't seen Hebrew TV.

It has a few gems such as Ex-Shin Bet chief accuses Israel of adopting tactics similar to al-Qaeda and IS in Gaza. Shin Bet is an Israeli Security Service. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckHXiBMyUEM.

Israeli journalist Shimon Riklin openly wishes for destruction in Gaza. I quote he says "I am for war crimes. I don't care if I'm criticized, I honestly don't care. I'm not able to sleep if I don't see the destruction of houses in Gaza" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiUy66YGRKM

Additionally, I think Adam Johnson's (Citation Needed) piece for the Nation is a good read as well :

https://archive.ph/d3QEU

There's also been two times where people in power also say they don't want a 2 state solution, but I don't have time to look for those vids. One was an ambassador in the UK I believe.

Is shit happening or something, I’ve been checked out for the past week

The weekly update is here on the website.

The Country of the Week is Yemen!

As mentioned in the preamble, feel free to post or recommend any material related to Yemen, whether from a thousand years ago or yesterday. You can post it anywhere in the thread, but you can also reply to this comment if you wish.

If you're feeling particularly ambitious and want homework, you could take on any or all of these questions (no reward, but I'll be very proud of you):

• Who are the main political actors? Are they compradors, nationalists, international socialists, something else?
• What are the most salient domestic political issues; those issues that repeatedly shape elections over the last 10, 20 years. Every country has its quirks that complicate analysis - for example, Brexit in the UK.
• What is the country's history? You don't have to go back a thousand years if that's not relevant, and I'm counting "history" as basically anything that has happened over a year ago.
• What factions exist, historically and currently? If there is an electoral system, what are the major parties and their demographic bases? Are there any minor parties with large amounts of influence? Independence movements? Religious groups?
• How socially progressive or conservative are they? Is there equality for different ethnic groups, or are some persecuted? Do they have LGBTQIA+ rights? Have they improved over time, or gotten worse?
• What role do foreign powers play in the country’s politics and economy? Is there a particular country nearby or far away that is nearly inseparable from them, for good or bad reasons? Is their trade dominated by exports/imports to one place? Are they exploited, exploiters, or something in between?
• If applicable, what is the influence of former colonial relationships on the modern economy and politics?
• Is the country generally stable? Do you think there will be a coup at some point in the future, and if so, what faction might replace them?

The previous country was Canada.

This is our Geopolitics Reading List so far! Please chime in with suggestions!

General Theory:

• Super Imperialism, by Michael Hudson.
• Imperialism in the Twenty-First Century: Globalization, Super-Exploitation, and Capitalism’s Final Crisis, by John Smith.
• Superexploitation and the Imperialist Drive of Capitalism: How Marini's 'Dialectics of Dependency' Goes beyond Marx's 'Capital', by Andy Higginbottom.
• Capital Volume 3 Lecture Series, 32 videos, 10-15 minutes each, by Andy Higginbottom.
• World-Systems Analysis: An Introduction, by Immanuel Wallerstein.
• Geopolitical Economy: After US Hegemony, Globalization and Empire, by Radhika Desai.
• Capitalism, Coronavirus and War: A Geopolitical Economy, by Radhika Desai.

Canada:

• Canada in the World: Settler Capitalism and the Colonial Imagination, by Tyler Shipley.

Chile:

• 1000 Days of Revolution: Chilean Communists on the Lessons of Popular Unity (I cannot personally find an online version).
• Santiago Boys Podcast, analyzing Allende's government and Cybersyn.

Lebanon:

• A History of Modern Lebanon, by Fawwaz Traboulsi.

United States:

• Drug Cartels Do Not Exist: Narcotrafficking in US and Mexican Culture, by Oswaldo Zavala.

Venezuela:

• Objective Conditions in Venezuela: Maduro’s Defensive Strategy and Contradictions Among the People, a longform article by Steve Ellner.

Israel exploring construction of "humanitarian compound" in northern Gaza after fighting subsides

Israeli officials are exploring the potential construction of a “humanitarian compound” in northern Gaza to house displaced Palestinian civilians, two Israeli officials and an international humanitarian official familiar with the plans told CNN.

[Continues]

A tweet about this.

"A camp one might say, where we might concentrate our efforts."

Your Tuesday Briefing

Developing countries spent $443 billion in 2022 to service their public debt, which could have otherwise been spent on social welfare, infrastructure, or climate change mitigation. This is 5% higher from a year earlier and could increase by 10% in 2023-2024. For the world's 75 poorest countries, their debt service payments are predicted to rise 40% over 2023-2024.

Germany and Norway's Equinor have signed a €50 billion deal, its biggest long-term gas contract in nearly 40 years, supplying Germany with 129 billion cubic meters of gas up to 2039, or a third of the country's industrial demand. Norway supplies half of the EU's piped gas. Meanwhile, German business sentiment continues to fall, particularly in the construction industry, which is at its lowest since September 2005.

Iraq has held its first provincial elections in a decade, with a turnout of 67%.

In Kazakhstan, the Chinese company Shipbuilding Industry Corp., is exp-- wait, what? Shipbuilding Industry Corp.? Shipbuilding Industry Corp?! Oh yeah, let me call my fucking agricultural company "Food Growing Inc." We should have named Hexbear "Online Communist Forum" instead. ...anyway, they wanna build container facilities in the port cities of Aktau and Kuryk, and other Chinese companies also want to modernize and improve railway lines and their throughput in Kazakhstan and in Kyrgyzstan. There's also increasing air connectivity to China in the region.

Sisi in Egypt has won the presidential election with 89.6% of the vote, with a turnout of 66.8%, the highest in Egyptian history.

US Steel has been sold to Japan's Nippon Steel in a $14.9 billion deal, with several US politicians vowing to block it in a very non-free market move.

Chileans have rejected the new constitution drafted by the far-right. A year ago, they also rejected a left-wing constitution. So now we're just back where we started, with the Pinochet-era constitution. What a tremendous waste of time.

Colombia's drug war is flaring up again after the FARC, the largest armed revolutionary group in the country, entered peace negotiations in 2016. With this, the drug vacuum was filled by organized crime, due to a lack of alternative ways of generating money for many Colombians. The ELN, a Marxist revolutionary group, is training to take on narcotraffickers, as it was designed by the CIA and the Pentagon.

Several global maritime agencies, as well as fossil fuel giant BP, have paused all transit through the Red Sea until further notice due to missile and drone threats. This is a capital strike against the West to force them to address Yemen by targeting Ansarallah - and they are, through "Operation Prosperity Guardian".

Anyone have the video of Yemeni fighters capturing that vessel and dancing with the crew or whatever?

After a bizarrely intense december rainstorm, many rivers in NJ are overflowing. This morning, the Passaic River reached 19.7 feet. The Rockaway river is expected to hit 6.9 feet. The Hackensack River was at 7.9 feet this morning (when the article I'm reading was published) but I can tell you for a fact that it is much higher now. The majority of crossings are underwater and many suburban stroads have turned into a parking lots. This has been your New Jersey weather and traffic update.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/weather/2023/12/18/nj-flooding-issues-remain-due-to-when-rivers-will-crest/71960223007/

Also, A+ to whichever photojournalist recorded this video (still provided) of a duck bathing in forsaken traffic on River Street, Paterson:

Pope Francis authorizes blessings for same-sex couples

Pope Francis formally permitted Roman Catholic priests to bless same-sex couples on Monday, in a significant shift in Vatican doctrine.

The blessings may be carried out providing they are not part of regular Church rituals or liturgies, nor at the same time as a civil union, according to a Vatican document approved by the pope.

The latest ruling fleshes out the opening the pope made to blessing same-sex couples last October and marks a shift away from a 2021 ruling from the Vatican doctrine office which barred any blessings saying God “cannot bless sin.”

But since July 2023, the doctrine department has been led by Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez, an Argentinian prelate and ally of Francis, who has stuck a different tone to his predecessors.

“When people ask for a blessing, an exhaustive moral analysis should not be placed as a precondition for conferring it,” the declaration, authored by Cardinal Fernandez and another official, states. “The grace of God works in the lives of those who do not claim to be righteous but who acknowledge themselves humbly as sinners, like everyone else.”

The new ruling says it is opening “the possibility of blessings for couples in irregular situations and for couples of the same sex” although says it is leaving decisions to “the prudent and fatherly discernment of ordained ministers.”

I’m attempting to parse what the news about “Pope allows priests to bless same sex unions” actually means, since the media always seems to read more into his proclamations than what is there.

I don’t see that the Catholic Church is changing their stance that engaging in homosexual acts is a sin. I think that’s the point that’s the most salient, because I think that’s how a lot of people are interpreting a “blessing” to mean. A blessing is more like “just give me some good vibes, bro”. Gays and lesbians still cannot have their marriages recognized as valid by the church and the Pope stated in this most recent proclamation that these blessings can’t even have a semblance of a wedding.

This just feels like the Catholic equivalent of what a lot of “seeker sensitive” conservative Protestant churches will say: “we welcome everyone”, and they will talk about welcoming LGBTQ people into the doors. But it literally just means “we want you to come to our church so you can hear the gospel but we’re still going to eventually tell you what you’re doing is a sin”.

Extremely long Twitter thread on the history of Yemen: https://nitter.cz/Aldanmarki/status/1736550356132180228

CNN guest right now: Linus codes Jewish.