Silverseren

joined 5 months ago
 

South Korean media claimed on Monday that Seoul could send military and intelligence personnel to Ukraine after the North dispatched troops to support Russia in the war.

A report said the government and military of South Korea "are reviewing a plan to send an appropriate number of personnel, including intelligence officers [specialized in North Korea] and experts in enemy tactics," to Ukraine, citing a South Korean intelligence official.

South Korean personnel in Ukraine would interrogate or provide interpretation services if North Korean soldiers were captured by Ukrainian forces, the report said. They would also provide Kyiv with information about the North's military tactics, doctrine, and operations.

 

Oxfam condemns in the strongest terms the killing in Gaza today of four water engineers and workers from the Khuzaa municipality who were working with our strategic partner the Coastal Municipalities Water Utility (CMWU).

The four men were killed on their way to conduct repairs to water infrastructure in Khuzaa, east of Khan Younis. Despite prior coordination with Israeli authorities their clearly-marked vehicle was bombed. Oxfam stands in solidarity with the CMWU, their partners and the families of the victims. 

Their deaths deepen the catastrophic humanitarian crisis in Gaza where access to clean water is already severely compromised.

Dozens of engineers, civil servants and humanitarian workers have been killed in Israeli airstrikes throughout this war. They were all working on essential services to keep Gaza's fragile infrastructure running. Despite their movements being coordinated with the Israeli authorities by the CMWU and the Palestinian Water Authority, to ensure their safety, they were still targeted.

 

The Kremlin could not have asked for better publicity at a better time when Ben Swann, a self-described independent journalist who promotes conspiracy theories, released a 12-part video series he promised would reveal dark truths about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Swann’s flashy documentary-style videos were filled with innuendo, attacks on Zelenskyy’s character and commentary from guests sympathetic to Russia in its two-year war with Ukraine.

The series, titled “Zelenskyy Unmasked,” launched in April as Congress was debating increasing military assistance to Ukraine, and it quickly caught the attention of conservative social media influencers who hyped the project to their millions of followers.

Among those who promoted the series was Donald Trump Jr., the former president’s eldest son.

 

Counter-terrorism police are investigating whether Russian spies planted an incendiary device on a plane to Britain that later caught fire at a DHL warehouse in Birmingham, the Guardian can reveal.

Nobody was reported injured in the fire on 22 July at a warehouse in the suburb of Minworth that handles parcels for delivery, and the blaze was dealt with by the local fire brigade and by staff.

The parcel is believed to have arrived at the DHL warehouse by air, though it is not known if it was a cargo or passenger aircraft, nor where it was destined for. There could have been serious consequences if it had ignited during the flight.

A similar incident occurred in Germany, also in late July, when a suspect package bound for a flight caught fire at another DHL facility in Leipzig, and investigators are looking at links between the two. German authorities warned this week that had the parcel caught fire mid-air it could have downed the plane.

 

Prosecutors in the Netherlands are considering a request to open a criminal case against senior Israeli intelligence officials for allegedly interfering with an investigation by the international criminal court (ICC).

The request was filed last week by a group of 20 complainants, most of whom are Palestinian, asking the Dutch prosecution service to examine allegations Israel tried to derail the ICC’s inquiry into alleged crimes in the occupied Palestinian territories.

According to lawyers for the group, the criminal complaint was filed in response to an investigation by the Guardian revealing how Israeli intelligence attempted over a nine-year period to undermine, influence and allegedly intimidate the ICC chief prosecutor’s office.

The joint investigation with the Israeli-Palestinian publication +972 Magazine and the Hebrew-language outlet Local Call prompted the Dutch government to raise concerns earlier this year with Israel’s ambassador to the Netherlands.

As the host state of the ICC, which is in The Hague, the Netherlands is obliged under an agreement with the court to protect the safety and security of ICC staff, and must ensure it is “free from interference of any kind”.

[–] Silverseren@fedia.io 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

It's right there in the article.

According to Channel 12 reporter Yaron Avraham, on October 16 and 17, “the [Security] Cabinet deliberated for hours over the precise wording of the decision, with each draft being passed between the Cabinet room and Blinken's room, a distance of a few meters away, inside the Kirya…. Eventually, around 3 a.m., they arrive at an agreed upon text that is read in the Cabinet room in English.”

Avraham’s account of the process was independently corroborated by a reporter for the competing Channel 13, who wrote: “The discussion with Blinken is conducted as follows: he is sitting in a room in the Kirya with his advisors and security team, while Security Cabinet holds the discussion; [Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron] Dermer goes back and forth and interfaces with him.”

Blinken, for his part, concluded the day with a triumphant speech taking responsibility for the restarting of humanitarian aid to Gaza:

"To that end, today, and at our request, the United States and Israel have agreed to develop a plan that will enable humanitarian aid from donor nations and multilateral organizations to reach civilians in Gaza – and them alone – including the possibility of creating areas to help keep civilians our of harm’s way. It is critical that aid begin flowing into Gaza as soon as possible.

We share Israel’s concern that Hamas may seize or destroy aid entering Gaza or otherwise preventing it from reaching the people who need it. If Hamas in any way blocks humanitarian assistance from reaching civilians, including by seizing the aid itself, we’ll be the first to condemn it and we will work to prevent it from happening again."

Then later on it says:

In a Zoom call with party members, Sa’ar declared “I'm currently of the opinion that humanitarian aid to Gaza should be halted immediately, until the formulation of a humanitarian aid [mechanism] which will not be subject to Hamas takeovers, nor the distribution of aid by Hamas to the civilian population.”

This policy, Sa’ar said, was already anchored in “a [Security] Cabinet decision that was made at the beginning of the war, which stated that the humanitarian supply from Egypt will be allowed as long as this supply did not reach Hamas, and that the supply that does reach Hamas will be thwarted.” According to him, the policy was endorsed by “The United States of America … in the talks that took place in the middle of October, including the talks with Secretary of State Blinken, who was visiting [Israel] and took part in discussions, mainly with the War Cabinet, on the subject of humanitarian aid.”

Further on regarding the WCK strike:

The Israeli military ended up putting the blame on Colonel Nochi Mendel, who ordered the strike, and has previously expressed support for halting aid provision to Gaza. Mendel’s punishment amounted to being let go from his military service, and going back to his prestigious day job as director of the Settlement Department at the Israeli Ministry of Defense.

But the right wing Makor Rishon newspaper concluded, on the basis of conversations with drone operators involved in the assassination of the aid workers, that Mendel was only implementing the official policy jointly set by Blinken and the Israeli cabinet back in October: “The mission order made it clear that the IDF is instructed to thwart an attempt by Hamas terrorists to take over the aid trucks that entered Gaza. The IDF received this instruction from the Security Cabinet at the beginning of the war, sometime around October 18, 2023, following heavy pressure from the United States.”

[–] Silverseren@fedia.io -2 points 1 month ago (3 children)

You seem to misunderstand the claim being made. The article is stating that Blinken was involved in creating the policy that said Israel had the right to fire on anyone they deemed to have been compromised by Hamas. Blinken absolutely was involved in drafting and approving that policy.

After the multiple humanitarian aid bombings conducted by the IDF, Israeli politicians have been claiming that they've just been setting forth the policy agreed to by Blinken and the US. And there has been no evidence that Blinken or the US government as a whole has pushed back on that or changed their stance on the policy in question in the months since.

[–] Silverseren@fedia.io -2 points 1 month ago (5 children)

It's an offshoot of The Intercept, which is quite easy to look up. The article seems to quite clearly point out that it is Israeli politicians claiming they had Blinken's approval and backing for their actions. They are quite likely lying in retrospect, but the article does give all the information available on the topic.

It also links to other sources for every statement and claim in it.

But, hey, feel free to try and downplay the straightforward information presented in the article.

 

Brian Comer, a 64-year-old white man, was accused of illegally hunting geese at a golf course on the day Trump amplified racist lies about Haitian immigrants in the city.

 

President Vladimir Putin ordered his armed forces to cleanse Russia of every single invading soldier no later than the end of September, but that didn’t happen and by some measures, the situation in Russia’s Kursk region is getting worse.

Multiple Ukrainian combat brigades were on Tuesday, as the timeline for that presidential decree ran out, still deployed in force in Russia, 45 days into Kyiv’s incursion into Russian territory, in two small enclaves and a single Luxembourg-sized salient.

 

The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) is to cut cooperation with 500 scientists affiliated with Russian institutions from November 30. Around 100 have joined non-Russian institutes in order to continue their physics research work with Europe’s particle-physics laboratory.

 

With the Biden administration essentially pausing work on ceasefire negotiations to end the war in Gaza, Israel’s fresh assaults on Hezbollah in Lebanon this week are adding another layer of complication, making prospects for a near-term deal all the more difficult – if not impossible – at least while the bombs are falling.

In recent days, senior US officials had largely stopped making a vigorous push on the ceasefire negotiations, sources told CNN, having determined there is currently no political will on either side – Hamas or Israel’s – to end the conflict.

Even as President Joe Biden and top aides refuse to abandon the effort entirely, a senior Democrat close to the White House summed up the sentiment among some officials involved in those deliberations this way: “We can’t want this more than they want it.”

 

Representative Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian American member of Congress, was attacked Monday for supposedly claiming that Michigan’s attorney general is going after pro-Palestinian protesters solely because she’s Jewish. The only problem is, Tlaib never said anything of the sort.

Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, posted on X Monday addressing Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer while alleging that Tlaib had made an antisemitic statement about Attorney General Dana Nessel. Nessel is pursuing charges against pro-Palestinian protesters at the University of Michigan, alleging some had assaulted police officers and engaged in ethnic intimidation.


The Jewish Insider article stated that Tlaib “has also claimed that Nessel is only charging the protesters because she’s Jewish.” As evidence, that article repeatedly linked to yet another article, this one from the Detroit MetroTimes—which included no quote from Tlaib referring to Nessel’s Jewishness at all.

[–] Silverseren@fedia.io 2 points 1 month ago

This group is probably better, but I've had some weird removals over at world@lemmy.world. Like, the other day I posted an article about China's banks cracking down on any loans being given to Russian companies. And the article was in the business newspaper Vedomosti and the mods removed it for being a "questionable source" and never replied when I asked them why.

[–] Silverseren@fedia.io 9 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Hopefully this meets reputable news source requirements, as Declassified UK is a well known investigative news group with a heavy focus on political UK corruption.

 

The Israeli government waged a decade-long campaign to protect its officials from criminal proceedings in Britain, leaked files show.

[–] Silverseren@fedia.io 2 points 1 month ago

And? The point of Israel funding Hamas is that they would be able to continue attacking and thus let Israel continue disrupting the lives of Palestinians in both Gaza and West Bank, including expanding their illegal settlements. The entire point was to get excuses to keep destroying anything the PA tried to build as a government.

[–] Silverseren@fedia.io 24 points 2 months ago (2 children)

They're also heavily funded with money from Israel, who wants them to keep fighting. Per Netanyahu's own admission, Israel has been covertly supporting Hamas so that the PA can't gain enough power to actually make a viable Palestinian state.

 

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., repeatedly suggested a leading Arab American activist is a Hamas supporter when she testified Tuesday at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on hate crimes, and he told her she should hide her "head in a bag."

The activist, Maya Berry, said repeatedly that she did not support Hamas and was "disappointed" by the minuteslong exchange toward the end of a hearing called "A Threat to Justice Everywhere: Stemming the Tide of Hate Crimes in America."

"You are the executive director of the Arab American Institute, are you not?" Kennedy said at the beginning of the exchange. She said she was and agreed with Kennedy that she is a Democratic activist.

"You support Hamas, do you not?" Kennedy asked, referring to the militant group behind the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks on Israel. The question prompted gasps and surprised laughs from the audience.

"Senator, oddly enough, I'm going to say thank you for that question, because it demonstrates the purpose of our hearing today in a very effective way," Berry responded. Kennedy then cut her off and insisted he needed a yes-or-no answer.

[–] Silverseren@fedia.io 6 points 2 months ago

Sure, but the bigger issue, as noted from the quotes in my comment, is how can the IMF even do a real evaluation when Russia is almost certainly lying about its economic and trade figures? If the IMF does try to make a statement taking a definitive stance on Russia's current economy, then we'll all know the IMF is agreeing to push Russia's bullshit.

[–] Silverseren@fedia.io 19 points 2 months ago (2 children)

“What recommendations does the IMF want to give Russia at the end of the consultation? How to better run a war economy?” one senior eurozone official told Reuters.

Tim Ash, a Russia analyst at the foreign affairs thinktank Chatham House, said in a blogpost: “Clearly while article IV reviews are about surveillance they are also about providing policy advice to countries as to where they are going wrong and trying to provide advice as how to improve their economic outturns.

“Inevitably therefore IMF officials, in making the trip to Moscow, will be helping Russia improve its economy and by so doing will be leaving themselves open to being accused of helping Russia in the conduct of the war against Ukraine.”


Robin Brooks, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, said: “A basic requirement for IMF membership is data transparency, which Russia clearly no longer satisfies on a number of fronts.

“Russia has stopped publishing lots of data and there are questions around whether the data it continues to publish are accurate.”


Brooks said the Kremlin was publishing trade figures that showed low income from oil produced in the Urals, even though the price of Russian oil has remained “quite elevated”. It meant the current account, which measures the net effect of trade and financial flows, would disguise the size of Russia’s war chest.

“Russia should be suspended from the IMF while these data questions persist,” he said.

[–] Silverseren@fedia.io 15 points 2 months ago

Even if Florida doesn't go blue, the fact that it's this close kinda acts as a barometer for the rest of the country.

[–] Silverseren@fedia.io -3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I'm always more and more weirded out when plant-based foods try to mimic meat. Even to extremes like with Spam here. Just...why?

[–] Silverseren@fedia.io 6 points 2 months ago

When, of course, civil rights has little to nothing to do with it. The current issues with the country in terms of economy, such as rampant inflation, is the result of the very policies conservatives have been extolling for generations. To go back in the manner they want would mean to reduce and revert the impact conservative policies have harmfully built up over the generations.

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