news

Harris says Trump ‘is a fascist’ after John Kelly says the former president wanted generals like Hitler’s

Ironic for two reasons,

1. Strange thing to stomp your feet about, considering those generals went on to have Illustrious careers in the West German military. (Never ask a man his salary, a woman his age, or What the person who your barracks in the Bundeswehr is named after did)

2. not entirely Hitler-like, considering Hitler hated Hitler's Generals. "I wish they had all been shot in the 30s like Stalin did"

Syria state media claims car explosion in Damascus caused by Israel. Israel claims responsibility, says it was a strike on a commander of Hezbollah. Source: Al Jazeera

https://www.aljazeera.com/program/newsfeed/2024/10/22/video-israeli-military-claims-killing-of-hezbollah-commander-in-damascus

From the FT

Israel launched a dozen attacks on UN troops in Lebanon, says leaked report

Israel’s military forcibly entered a clearly marked UN base and is suspected of using the incendiary chemical white phosphorus close enough to injure 15 peacekeepers, according to a confidential report outlining a dozen recent incidents in which the IDF attacked international troops in Lebanon.

Unifil has called these incidents a “flagrant violation of international law”.

When western troops are attacked it's flagrant violation of international law, when civilians are murdered by the hundreds of thousands is just sparkling self defense.

The attacks have drawn international condemnation. But Israel has stood firm. On Sunday, Unifil said an IDF bulldozer deliberately demolished an observation tower and perimeter fence of a UN position in Marwahin.

https://archive.is/FBasv

Is it just me or it's looking REALLY bad for dems?

Zelensky signs law allowing foreigners to serve as officers in International Legion https://www.yahoo.com/news/zelensky-signs-law-allowing-foreigners-221112304.html

Israeli Embassy in Brazil involved in scheme to illegally import Iphones. - G1 (Portuguese Only)

Federal Police (Brazil's FBI) carries out operation to arrest suspect of using false documents to remove R$8 million (US$ 1.400.000,00) worth of cell phones at Guarulhos airport

'Operation Fake Cargo' began when Receita Federal (Brazil's IRS) inspectors became suspicious of the documentation presented by the suspect to remove a 900 kg load of Iphones from Miami, USA. The suspect arrested works for the Israeli Consulate.

The target of the arrest is a driver who works for the Israeli Consulate. He was arrested by the federal agents, who are also investigating the involvement of other people who work at the consulate.

According to TV Globo, another consulate employee initially responded to the summons verbally, saying that the driver's operation was legal. It was only after the Receita Federal (Brazil's IRS) denied the delivery without an official response from the Embassy that this same employee started to say that they didn't recognize the operation.

Is this just more spying? Israelis laundering money? Or another operation to install explosives inside these phones?

Middle East latest: Several explosions heard in Iran's capital Tehran and Syria's capital Damascus, report state TV - Sky News

Israel has conducted airstrikes on the Iranian capital, according to Axios, citing two sources with knowledge.

Israeli military confirms it is striking military targets in Iran The Israel Defence Forces has confirmed that it is conducting airstrikes in Iran. The military said in a statement that it is conducting "precise strikes in military targets".

There's been an attack against an aircraft factory in Turkey (the company makes drones). Many dead.

Edit: not much info yet, but there were multiple attackers, a bomb went off (possible suicide bomber) and there was shooting.

Speculation is that it was the PKK, but take that with a huge grain of salt for now.

Follow up to my earlier post about far-right accounts trying to vaguely get ahead of some anti-Trump story they found out was dropping. A former model accused Donald Trump of sexually assaulting her in front of Jeffrey Epstein immediately after Epstein introduced her to him at Trump's penthouse at Trump Tower. I don't really know who this is going to sway at this point who didn't already think Trump was a creep.

::: spoiler CW: SA

The Guardian: Donald Trump groped me in what felt like a ‘twisted game’ with Jeffrey Epstein, former model alleges

Stacey Williams says the ex-president, whose spokesperson denied the allegations, touched her in an unwanted sexual way in 1993, after Epstein introduced them

A former model who says she met Donald Trump through the late sexual abuser Jeffrey Epstein has accused the former president of groping and sexually touching her in an incident in Trump Tower in 1993, in what she believed was a “twisted game” between the two men.

Stacey Williams, who worked as a professional model in the 1990s, said she first met Trump in 1992 at a Christmas party after being introduced to him by Epstein, who she believed was a good friend of the then New York real estate developer. Williams said Epstein was interested in her and the two casually dated for a period of a few months.

“It became very clear then that he and Donald were really, really good friends and spent a lot of time together,” Williams said.

The alleged groping occurred some months later, in the late winter or early spring of 1993, when Epstein suggested during a walk they were on that he and Williams stop by to visit Trump at Trump Tower. Epstein was later convicted on sex offenses and killed himself in prison in 2019.

Moments after they arrived, she alleges, Trump greeted Williams, pulled her toward him and started groping her. She said he put his hands “all over my breasts” as well as her waist and her buttocks. She said she froze because she was “deeply confused” about what was happening. At the same time, she said she believed she saw the two men smiling at each other.

Karoline Leavitt, the press secretary for Donald Trump’s campaign, provided a statement denying the allegations, which said in part: “These accusations, made by a former activist for Barack Obama and announced on a Harris campaign call two weeks before the election, are unequivocally false. It’s obvious this fake story was contrived by the Harris campaign.”

Williams, who is 56 and a native of Pennsylvania, has shared parts of her allegation on social media posts in the past, but revealed details about the alleged encounter on a call on Monday organized by a group called Survivors for Kamala, which supports Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris. The Zoom call featured actor Ashley Judd and law professor and academic Anita Hill, among others. Survivors for Kamala also took out an ad in the New York Times this week, signed by 200 survivors of sexual and gender violence, which was meant to serve as a reminder that Trump has been found liable for sexual abuse in a court.

After the alleged incident, Williams said that she and Epstein left Trump Tower, and that she began to feel Epstein growing angry at her.

“Jeffrey and I left and he didn’t look at me or speak to me and I felt this seething rage around me, and when we got down to the sidewalk, he looked at me and just berated me, and said: ‘Why did you let him do that?’” she said on the Zoom call.

“He made me feel so disgusting and I remember being so utterly confused,” she said.

She described how the alleged incident seemed to her to be part of a “twisted game”.

“I felt shame and disgust and as we went our separate ways, I felt this sensation of revisiting it, while the hands were all over me. And I had this horrible pit in my stomach that it was somehow orchestrated. I felt like a piece of meat,” she said in an interview with the Guardian.

From The Telegraph: Row as Starmer ~~suggests~~ correctly points out landlords and shareholders are not ‘working people’

My poor son is a lord, he cannot work for his wrists are like gelatin desserts

Praying for the safety of the people of Iran and for israel to keel over and die asap. Typical dying fascist clown behaviour, lashing out at even more enemies as if they aren't already getting their asses kicked with the previous ones, just add another it's no biggie. This has NEVER been seen before trust.

Funny how zionazis are publishing ISIS stories to fuel islamophobia. "what was the opposition to ISIS?" they were attacked by every neighbour country, except you know who. Iran and its allies has done thousand times more damage to ISIS than the USA puppets

Just floating this to pulse how other, more knowledgeable hexbears feel, but I would guess Israel is planning to attack Iran further very soon and just in small enough waves to build up to bigger strikes not at once. Easier to not lose support from the west when it's constantly low-level and rising. It also would make the whole "knowing where air defense is" easier for Israel.

Idk exactly, but I am just not convinced that the Zionist entity is backing down when it's the classic cornered country, snarling and lashing out.

uruguayan, japanese, AND bulgarian elections are all today holy shit

HUGE day for multifandom enjoyers

Hard times are awaiting Iran. I won't pray for them since my prayers have completly backfired so far.

An Israeli host of an Israeli-state news broadcast allegedly said they were a big Destiny fan on air. I’m not sure how true this is but it’s so bizarre seeing streamers having any kind of influence. It’s up there with ishowspeed meeting the prime minister of Albania.

European public opinion is shifting against continued military support for Ukraine, particularly in countries like Germany and France, as living costs are spiraling out of control and trust in the political elite is eroding. This is the conclusion of a new study analysingalt 4.690 Facebook-pages belonging to European media, civil organisations, universities, NGO's and politicians. Whereas the amount of pro-war content has decreased significantly, the amount of pro-peace content had only seen a slight decline.

Mainstream media is trying to discredit the pro-peace position by framing it as one of "the extreme wings", especially the far right. Waning support for the Ukraine was is also being ascribed to conspiracy theories about nefarious Russian propaganda.

• Source: DR (state media), October 23rd 2004

I am getting ads for some politician who was a marine and I kid you not, they have Jessica Lynch saying "He saved my life" you know the woman who famously was NOT in danger and who the US shot up a hospital to stage a daring rescue which she herself admitted to the press because she was ashamed of it. Like holy shit this is just the 2000s again

Today marked the start of the important 2024 BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia Federation. Below is a selection of videos showing the arrivals of many important world leaders.

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s arrival: https://odysee.com/@RT:fd/china-arrival:9

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s arrival: https://odysee.com/@RT:fd/modi-arrival-airport:d

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s arrival: https://odysee.com/@RT:fd/sa-arrival:4

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian’s arrival: https://odysee.com/@RT:fd/iranian-president:c

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s arrival: https://odysee.com/@RT:fd/maduro-russia:4

And a bonus video: a crowd of supporters greets Xi Jinping: https://odysee.com/@RT:fd/welcomexi:9

Interestingly, Russian media is corroborating the Reuters report that Putin has leaned into the "DPRK personnel in Russia" topic during a BRICS presser:

MOSCOW, 24 October — RIA Novosti. Russian President Vladimir Putin, responding to a question about "satellite images that suggest North Korean troops are in the Russian Federation," called them "a serious matter." "The images are indeed serious. If there are images, then they reflect something," the head of state said at a press conference following the XVI BRICS summit. https://ria.ru/20241024/putin-1979906877.html

I think this sort of "wink wink" non-denial from Putin really does suggest that DPRK military personnel are not just "in the Russian Federation" but somewhere substantive, perhaps specifically, in the Kursk region, most likely observing but also potentially providing auxiliary or technical assistance. The recent agreement that was just signed between Russia and the DPRK was a mutual assistance treaty and something of that sort would provision for the possibility of DPRK military support in the event of legitimate attack, which Ukraine indeed is conducting through its assault on actual Russian territory in Kursk.

This would hypothetically square the hemming and hawing from the West about the topic and is likely why most of the Western narrative on the "DPRK intervention" so far has had this tortured vocabulary of ambiguously accusing the DPRK of entering into the conflict without often explicitly stating that the DPRK personnel are in Ukraine itself. It explains how much of the coverage is more focused on that South Korean comprador president's threats of retaliation rather than taking a microscope to the alleged DPRK act itself.

It's therefore worth assessing this hypothetical scenario properly. The implications of this would be enormous, if true. For Russia, I'd say there's always been a sense from their side that they've been searching for a way to make Ukraine recognize some consequence for taking the fight into actual Russian territory (beyond the historical irony of attacking Kursk). The activation of a mutually defensive pact would be a way to do it, that can also be justified in terms of international law. The ability to reply to the Kursk incursion, which is costing Ukraine nothing but its least prized commodity - its people - by claiming the Ukrainian propaganda stunt triggered a Russian defensive pact clause would be the type of assertive rejoinder sufficient to deflect the passive image of being caught on the backfoot and stuck playing a reactive role, which is the Western narrative being pushed to create through the incursion.

As for the DPRK, if its relationship with Russia really has developed to such a public extent, I'd call this, without exaggeration, the most momentous paradigm shift in East Asian geopolitics since the DPRK's nuclear proliferation in the 2000s or even the collapse of the USSR. Especially if the South Korean lackey leadership is compelled, optics-wise, to respond to the DPRK's potential participation. This would begin a series of brinksmanship that binds the South Korean (and US) side in a Catch-22. Neither South Korean chaebol military boondoggles nor forcibly conscripting K-Pop stars into Ukraine would be ultimately relevant in shifting the fundamental NATO inability to alter the material conditions of the Russian attritional grind against Ukraine.

More importantly, given that the half-hearted character of the US role in Ukraine is being self-rationalized by the Pentagon as purely due to it "saving itself" for the great fantasized showdown against China, the diversion of any South Korean materiel and manpower away from the East Asian theater would be detrimental to the overall US military objectives of being still unable so far to fulfill that "Pivot to Asia." The idea that South Korea entering on the Ukraine side would bind irrevocably it to NATO and thus preventing such a scenario is "vital" can only come from a failure to appreciate that occupied Korea already hosts the largest US military presence on the planet apart from that within the former Axis Powers and therefore it was always going to be made to latch to the US side, willingly or not, when the moment finally comes. Furthermore, the fact that China is still officially "uninvolved" means that the Yoon government in Seoul would be restricted from using this opportunity to fully declare its subservient alignment towards NATO.

The more important factor is that the DPRK, through this hypothetical action, would put Yoon an impossible position. Responding to the brinksmanship would, for one, confirm their administration's tenure as likely the most deteriorated position since the Korean War itself and while the Korean Milei has been all too happy to sacrifice his country for US geostrategic aims whenever possible, something like this would likely be an outcome far beyond the administration's initial anticipations. Responding through parallel support for Ukraine would obviously also deteriorate South Korean relations with Russia and this is the most important thing. The DPRK's bilateral relations has always been, in truth, trilateral where Seoul rears its head akin that consent meme asking "Isn't there someone you forgot to ask?" Seoul has been able so far to leverage this since the DPRK's nuclear proliferation to isolate Pyongyang from its two major partners, China and Russia.

Gradually, this has become a zero-sum game to the DPRK's detriment, as South Korea has been able to leverage its economic relationship with China and Russia to make them reluctant to sacrifice this established trade relations in order to support the DPRK. We can see this similarly play out with Cuba, where despite the desperate current conditions of the heroic Cuban Republic, both Chinese and Russian support is still being limited by compliance to the threat of American reprisal. Seoul sending military support to Ukraine would give Russia a legitimate pretext to justify tanking its economic ties with it and reorientate Russia more firmly with the DPRK, something which previous administrations in Seoul had painstakingly crafted to be impossible for the Russian cost-benefit economic calculus to consider in normal conditions. This would be something comprador Yoon would be made to throw away for the sake of retaliatory optics and adherence to US vassalage, thereby inadvertently rendering renewed DPRK-Russia ties feasible, potentially even to the height it once had been under the USSR. Restoring the DPRK's relationship with Russia from an implicitly trilateral to a definitively bilateral dynamic would end the era of isolation it has been held under since its nuclear proliferation and would thus have a dramatic effect on its material conditions.

Even if Seoul merely gnashes its teeth and refrains from substantive action, this episode has already resulted in the fait accompli of strengthened DPRK-Russia relations. Of course, all of this is merely hypothetical and contingent on the actual circumstances of the alleged "DPRK presence" in Russia, but given a mutual defensive treaty has already been signed, what has already occurred has been a badly needed step forward for the DPRK.

Update from Korean Central News Agency (English Translation by KCNA):

Vice Foreign Minister of DPRK Clarifies Stand on Rumor of Troop Dispatch to Russia

Pyongyang, October 25 (KCNA) -- Kim Jong Gyu, vice foreign minister of the DPRK in charge of Russian affairs, gave the following answer to a question raised by KCNA on Friday as regards a rumor that the troops of the Korean People's Army are dispatched to Russia which is recently drawing public attention in the world:

I heeded the rumor of the dispatch of KPA troops to Russia, which the world media is building up public opinion.

The DPRK Foreign Ministry does not directly engage in the things of the Ministry of National Defence, and does not feel the need to confirm it separately.

If there is such a thing that the world media is talking about, I think it will be an act conforming with the regulations of international law.

There will evidently exist forces which want to describe it as illegal one, I think. (End)

http://kcna.kp

Cori Bush stands up and shakes her fist at AIPAC...and promises to vote "strategically" for genocide, despite some alleged conscience buried in there somewhere. So fucking useless.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tm7s9QQ6CR4

I noticed a while back that Instagram will show highly politicized reels every so often (every 50-150 reels? or maybe more), and unlike normal reels where you can click on the 3 dots and press "Not Interested", these reels only have the button to block/report and "Why am I seeing this?" (which doesn't betray any useful information). At first, I assumed it was typical election bullshit because the first few I got were Kamala/liberal bullshit reels, which I swiped or blocked, but sometime in the past week there was a reel of a similar format that was very explicitly Marxist (in an extremely on the nose way), which I also couldn't dismiss with a "Not Interested". I have no idea what purpose this serves beyond the obvious of gauging the reaction of a person to different political leanings. What do they do with this data? I hate the algorithm age.

There really ought to be a group of people who dissect these systematic/algorithmic methods of manipulation. I'd imagine this is already being done by analysts/governments, but I mean in an open way.

If I was the Lebanese government I would simply have arrested bearbock. Would also hold her at a location Israel threatened to bomb.

Saying the following as someone who is fully on board with the idea that Trump or Harris are equally bad for Palestine; that there are no “harm reduction” choices and either one will mean that genocide and ethnic cleansing will continue:

I’m genuinely worried about Miriam Adelson and her relationship with Trump. More than the relationship between Netanyahu and Trump.

She’s already given Trump $100 million and she’s got over $30 billion more. She was always an insane Zionist but apparently she’s gotten much worse since Oct 7. The rumor was that the $100 million was contingent on Trump supporting the full annexation of the West Bank which of course her people denied but I don’t doubt it’s probably true.

Ilan Pappé's book Ten Myths about Israel is really good

Out of curiosity, does anyone have a similar write up about the events/propaganda since Oct 7?

Things like

• Myth 1 Hamas beheaded babies
• Myth 2 Israel's most important objective is rescuing the hostages
• Myth 3 Israel tries to avoid civilian casualties

and so on, but, you know, detailed with sources

I have a few things bookmarked, but I haven't seen anything that collects propaganda bullshit like this in one place

Is there non-libertarian crank discussing how amerikkka printing 5% gdp in debt per year and growing 2.5 % is not economic miracle, i feel like i'm going insane. Marxists don't discuss debt aside from big number scary/exploitative, mmt treat it as a joke, but is someone treating it is a process of (something)

DPRK flag spotted in Ukraine. Mil summary YT 10:20s

They say its just Russian trolling for now. The narrative seems like ever increasing Russian cope which I don't understand why, I admit its wierd but also I don't quite think someone right at the front(see the video geolocation) has time or reason to be bothering with internet memes, just a weird situation imo, why would you carry a DPRK flag around just in case?

To me this seems like the funniest narrative of the past year imo. Its going to be so funny to watch all these silly mil bloggers experts trying to justify the extremely obvious reasons why DPRK was willing to send some small amount of troops.

Meanwhile SK is officially taking the matter seriously South Korea summons Russian envoy to protest North Korea troop dispatch.

Great point by Branko Milanovic regarding Moldova's EU referendum.

It is absolutely bizarre, but very much in keeping with how EU operates, to vote on EU membership when no-one is offering it.

Macedonia voted in such a silly referendum in 2018. Did anything happen? No new member was accepted for 11 years. Countries are in a limbo for decades. It is a waste of time & energy to think about it.

Moreover, to be accepted several countries (incl. France) require referendum which would definitely reject new members,

Referendums like the one in Moldova are meaningless & they simply add fuel to fire and destabilize countries for nothing.

Same thing I was thinking, there is no guarantee that any more countries, even ukraine, will actually get to join the EU even, they're just going to get in line forever. Which affects the countries' politics negatively (in the eyes of europhiles), ie Georgia

What EU does is to play an entertaining game. It displays to small countries pictures of wealth to come, countries begin fighting within themselves for these illusory pictures, and nothing real ever happens. What EU does is what in French is called "miroiter". You disembark in a poor country, show them in a mirror all kinds of glowing things, they get excited, and in exchange fo these images, they give you land. It worked wonders in the 19th century.

Both EU/NATO and Russia want to provoke conflicts and even civil wars in the European neighboring countries. Creating dissention and political mobilization over absolutely unattainable things (like EU membership which is a mirage) is the right way on that path. For small countries that are polarized in many respects, it is a suicide in this geo-political climate, to choose one or the other side. Neutrality or non-alignment is not just a "nice" policy. It is necessary in order to survive without a civil war. Libya & Iraq are cautionary tales.