Not a photo-essay

 

Because no one’s having any demonstrations anytime soon, can’t add photos of one.

This TPM piece documents a lot of what Trump is doing today and most of it follows a theme of the new Trump team is using wildly improper criteria to attack political opponents. As I was in the Navy for around a decade (PN3, USN, 1991-2001), I’ll comment on the attempt to prosecute military people for the withdrawal from Afghanistan.

After World War II, the Allies held the Nuremberg Tribunals for members of the Nazi Wehrmacht. They established an international law that certain orders were illegal. For the military person to say “I was just following orders” simply isn’t a legitimate excuse. Even if our Commander-in-Chief or Chairman of the Joint Chiefs tells a Seaman Recruit or a Private to commit a war crime and the war crime is then committed, the Sailor or Soldier can be prosecuted for having followed an illegal order.

Were any illegal orders given from either President Trump or from President Biden concerning the 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan? Right now, Trump’s people are deciding whether or not to create

a commission to investigate the 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan, including gathering information about who was directly involved in the decision-making for the military, how it was carried out and whether the military leaders could be eligible for charges as serious as treason,

But if no one in the military was given an illegal order, it’s difficult to see how anyone could be prosecuted. If the military simply did as either president instructed them to and none of the orders given were abusive towards civilians or prisoners and if no illegal armaments, such as poison gas, were ordered to be used, it’s difficult to see how any prosecution could proceed.

If the withdrawal from Afghanistan was presidential policy, which I believe it was, then that was not something that military people of any rank had any say over.

Let’s say a Major General (two stars) ordered his division (three brigades) to attack and one of the Colonels (in charge of one of the brigades) decided “Nah, it isn’t the right time to attack, the Major General is wrong,” then the Colonel would quite properly be court-martialed for insubordination. The Colonel can’t claim that “I was given an illegal order” because the action ordered falls under standard, everyday, expected actions.

What Trump’s people are trying to do is to prosecute military people for following the instructions of their Commander-in-Chief, for following legitimate, legal orders.

It’s difficult for me to see any legitimate reason to do this. Unfortunately, this is not the only example of overreach cited in the TPM piece.

Pro-Palestinian Demonstration 7Oct2024

 

 

Palestinian-led demonstration on one-year anniversary of the Hamas attack in Israel.

A piece in Mondoweiss acknowledges the attack by Hamas that killed around 1,200 Israelis on October 7th of last year but states flatly that Israel, in retaliation, is engaged in genocide,

...leveling entire residential blocks, destroying education and health institutions, eliminating the basic infrastructure needed to sustain a society, and burying entire families under the rubble.

The West Bank has not been spared from Israeli  attacks, either.

Israeli settlers set out to forcibly expel Palestinian rural communities and steal the lands of Palestinian towns and villages. The Israeli army ramped up its spree of raids on refugee camps, destroying their infrastructure, and systematically forcing inhabitants to live in a situation similar to the one lived in Gaza.

Palestinians refer to their original 1948 expulsion from their ancestral lands the "Nakba," the Catastrophe. 

In the terms of the Vietnam War, the Northern Gaza town of Jabalia should have long since been "pacified." Of course back then the US didn't really understand what motivated the Vietnamese to keep on fighting against what Americans considered to be impossible odds, but we're supposed to have figured out from several low-level conflicts since then that insurgencies have to be defeated by political means. Israelis should have learned that from Americans, but Israeli intelligence indicated that "Hamas was attempting to 'rebuild its operational capabilities in the area.'” Had Israel made a political deal with the Palestinians of Jabalia, Hamas would not have been able to regain a foothold in the area. 

 

Video of demonstration

Going onto Xitter, I see lots of people blaming the Biden Administration for Israel's genocidal conduct. But Biden and the Democrats in general demonstrated a distinct lack of enthusiasm back in May.

The Israel Security Assistance Support Act was approved 224 to 187, largely along party lines. Sixteen Democrats joined most Republicans in voting yes, and three Republicans joined most Democrats in opposing the measure.

Yes, Democrats are still voting to send aid to Israel, but Democrats also have constituents that they are listening to who oppose such aid and Republicans largely don't. If I were consulting for either the Israelis or Palestinians, I'd say that, at the moment, the two parties are six of one, half-dozen of the other. They're both anti-Palestinian. So the question becomes one of which party is more persuadable. 

According to a Jerusalem Post article, VP Harris has been pro-Israel for her entire career. As for Trump:

Trump’s voter pool, along with his misogynistic and racist worldview and his personal narcissism, make for a dangerous combination of an untrustworthy and unpredictable leader. 

Also, Evangelicals, a large constituency in the Republican Party, don't support Israel for rational, secular reasons, but because Israel plays a role in Christian prophecy. Bottom line is that there's a reasonable chance that Democrats can be persuaded to support Palestinians, there's zero chance that Republicans can be persuaded. 

 

Would it make any sense for a pro-Palestinian person to vote third party? Jill Stein of the Green Party, for instance, has taken a strong pro-Palestinian position. And well, in an English-style Parliamentary democracy, that would be an immediate "Yes!" Stein could then ally her party with whichever major party promised to support her position. But in the US binary, winner-take-all system, voting third party and tossing your ballot down into the sewer are essentially the same thing. It may make you feel better to cast a third party vote, but the practical effect of such a vote is nil. 

 

Trump's lying and distorting have really gone into overdrive. Obama aasks: "When did this become okay?" Trump talks about Aurora CO and how a migrant gang has "taken over" the city (Aurora has a problem with migrant gangs, but they haven't "taken over"). The pained response of Aurora's mayor.

"Is Donald Trump a fascist? A fascism scholar says he certainly sounds like one"

Ruth Ben-Ghiat is a history professor at New York University, scholar on authoritarian leaders and the author of the book, “Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present.” She says the kind of rhetoric Trump is using on the campaign trail is not a surprise.

 

This is rather concerning. Trump's campaign isn't taking any steps to ensure that there's a smooth transition of power in the event he wins the election. One of the big items in the transition is to get security clearances for people who need them in order to deal with classified information. One of the alleged problems with failing to detect al Qaeda activity in 2001 was the delayed transition that meant the younger George Bush didn't have a fully staffed team in time to be aware of the threat. Trump doesn't care. He wanted his son-in-law Jared Kushner to have a top security clearance even though the national security establishment felt he was completely ineligible. Trump just wants his cronies given security clearances whether they're tied to Russia or Saudi Arabia or whoever. 

Drone warfare is fundamentally different from "artillery, mortar, tank assaults, missile and aerial bomb strikes" as drones are small and quiet and can hover without people on the ground being aware of them. By august 2024, drone strikes on Kherson has reached 100 per day.

In September, there were over 3,000 drone attacks on civilians. Since the beginning of September, the total number of drone victims has reached 140, with 10 fatalities, said Olexandr Tolokonnikov, the spokesperson for the Kherson Regional Military Administration, in an interview with Kyiv Post.
The new mode of warfare affects everyday life and safety in Kherson. Drones deliberately target civilian areas rather than military objects.

These attacks of course violate the Geneva Conventions, but Russians don't care about that. 

RLGardner.net

 

One year mark since attack that started Gaza War

We've been protesting at Senator Fetterman's office for a year now (4 October 2024), as he took a very hard-line stance against Palestinians in Gaza. We have felt that simply committing acts of violence against citizens of Gaza is insufficient to reach any sort of long-term settlement. 

One important factor to consider: Is Israel's military offensive just against Gaza or is it broadly anti-Palestinian? Mondoweiss documents a strike on the West Bank. Israelis claimed to have targeted "Zahi Oufi, described as a local 'Hamas commander' who was killed in the strike." Israelis have done this frequently throughout the war in Gaza, hit civilian buildings and alleged "safe areas" in order to eliminate militarily important Hamas personnel. 

Which means that while this statement by Lew sounds great, the above story makes it clear that it's meaningless. 

Ambassador Jack Lew urged Washington to give thousands more bombs to the Israelis because they have a “decades-long proven track record” of avoiding killing civilians.

Israel very clearly has zero qualms about killing civilians if it means taking out important enemy personnel.   

Gathering beforehand.

Whew! Finally!  After years of soft-pedaling and BothSidesing Trump's obvious unfitness for office, the NY Times, as a worst most cynical case scenario, is apparently covering its bets and putting out a journalistically sound piece concerning Trump's mental fitness at his advanced age.

President of Finland presents excellent peace plan for Ukraine. Basic idea is that Russia will re-start the war unless Ukraine regains all of the territory that it's lost since 1991, that Western powers should grant security guarantees to Ukraine and Russia should take serious measures of reparations. 

Video of presentation.

First Hurricane Helene hit,

Helene blew ashore in Florida’s Big Bend region as a Category 4 hurricane late Thursday and then quickly moved through Georgia, the Carolinas and Tennessee, uprooting trees, splintering homes and sending creeks and rivers over their banks and straining dams.

The areas that were hit don't normally suffer hurricane damage, then Hurricane Milton is threatening Florida, starting with Tampa. Conspiracy theories abound!  It's not of any particular interest that NOAA makes plane flights around the Gulf of Mexico. They do so to gather data about storms that may be forming during, y'know, storm season. But right-wingers are trying to make these flights sound sinister and mysterious to boost the idea that the NOAA is creating these storms!

This is causing all manner of extra work and time and effort on the part of federal agencies to swat down misinformation. North Carolina's Department of Public Safety has had to open up a web page "Hurricane Helene: Fact vs. Rumor" The story on USA Today:

Falsehoods and conspiracy theories about the Federal Emergency Management Agency have spread widely online, continuing to circulate even as Hurricane Milton now bears down on Florida. Deanne Criswell, the agency’s administrator, said misinformation has harmed people affected by the storm and volunteers on the ground to help rebuild.

Of course, the reason for the misinformation is rather obvious, the former President Trump is using it to boost his reelection campaign. 

RLGardner.net

 

Rally for Citizens of Gaza 27Sep2024

 

The Fridays at Fettermans crowd assembles again, as they have for about the past year.

Next rally at Senator Fetterman's office (200 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia 12:15 PM to 1:30 PM) will feature speeches by Medea Benjamin of Code Pink, Aly Halpert, Singer-Songwriter; George Lakey, Quaker Activist & Author; Shane Claiborne, Red Letter Christians; Lisa Sharon Harper, Freedom Road; Lewis Webb, Jr., American Friends Service Committee; Rachel Betesh, Poet. This will mark the one-year anniversay of the war in Gaza. 

 

Terry Rumsey, organizer of the rallies that have continued non-stop for the past year.

It's been a bit tough to keep writing about Gaza as it's just been more and more bad news for its residents. It's been clear for quite a while that Israeli Prome Minister Netanyahu simply doesn't have a "day-after" plan to administer Gaza after Hamas is defeated.

In the absence of a post-war plan, [US Secretary of State Antony] Blinken added, “Hamas will be left in charge, which is unacceptable. Or if not, we’ll have chaos, lawlessness and a vacuum that eventually will be filled again by Hamas or maybe something — if it’s possible to imagine — even worse.”

"Total defeat" of Hamas is a great idea in theory, but unworkable in practice. Hamas must be replaced with an effective government that can govern to provide what people there need. The piece here was written in May and is still true.

Not that Hezbollah's any better. During Israel's invasion of Lebanon both sides are violating the laws of war. 

 

 

Ukraine/Russia? There have been a few changes, but Russia continues to utilize its greater resources, both in military goods produced by Russia and its allies North Korea, Iran and to some extent from China and in manpower, mostly from the provinces as opposed to the Moscow-St. Petersburg region. Ukraine's invasion of Russia in the Kursk area should count as one of Putin's "red lines" that requires a nuclear response from Russia. As President Biden has provided Ukraine with more long-range missiles, along with a continued hesitancy to allow Ukraine to actually use those weapons, we have an interesting situation there.

Early on, when not many people had arrived yet.

As I pointed out to a person in an online conversation, an innocent person would seek a speedy trial so that he could go to thhe public as a cleared person. As Trump is clearly not innocent, he and his allies in the Judicial Branch have sought to delay his trials. The Supreme Court tossed a monkey wrench into these trials by declaring that Trump can't be prosecuted for official acts or for official communications. Naturally, they didn't go into detail as to what these were, but they went much further in defining official acts than was previously understood. Judge Chutkan and Special Counsel Smith appear to be ready to to define just what Trump can be charged with. They're trying to still not cross any boundaries that the Supreme Court has appeared to suggest. Of course, as Trump and his allies desire, any conclusion to his trial must take place after November's election.

 

Robin Rumsey

In their weekend round-up of political news for the week, TPM covers a Russian online version of the Washington Post (Russia has generally ramped up election interference efforts), how routine maintenance of voter rolls gives rise to comspiracy theories and how Melania Trump's description of Donald as a "family man" provoked a number of rebuttals from online progressives.

Haitian migrants in Springfield OH have been the target of toxic rhetoric by Senator Vance, Donald Trump and assorted wannabe Nazis.

As I've said, Trump is a wannabe fascist dictator.

“One rough hour. And I mean real rough, the word will get out and it will end immediately. End immediately. You know, it will end immediately,” — Donald Trump on the phony epidemic of crime by immigrants in 2024

Ruth Ben-Ghiat is a historian and commentator on authoritarianism and propaganda.  She comments here on how authoritarians like Trump really, really hate it when people make fun of them! Authoritarians "don’t mind being called evil, but being ridiculed is a different matter."

Facing towards the speaker.

Unfortunately, living in a "pro-life" state means living in a maternity care desert. "in 1,104 US counties, there is not a single birthing facility or obstetric clinician." That's out of 3,143 counties total.

RLGardner.net

Day 943 Wr in Ukraine

 

Russian Mi-8 helicopter destroyed on the ground by guerrillas.

Israel attacks Lebanon and promptly kills about a quarter of the people that it killed in 2006 over a 34-day period. Biden Administration has been trying hard to deescalate, without success. And of course, it’s the regular people who will be hurt the most.

Still drones in Kherson hunting down individuals. Now Russia’s doing the same in Nikopol.

In addition to his usual daily briefing, Zelenskyy also spoke at the American Academy of Achievement Awards Ceremony. He also toured an ammunition plant in Scranton PA.

Ukraine has to oppose China’s “peace” plan.

Good news: “bipartisan majorities in Congress are actively urging the Biden administration to lift existing restrictions on Ukraine’s ability to strike into Russia.”

Ooh, not good. Congress passed a short-term funding bill that does NOT include Ukraine.

An examination as to what an unsatisfactory peace proposal would mean. Russia has many of the same problems, but as they’re larger, they can handle the problems better.

Anti-Ukraine parties are on the rise in Germany.

The Norwegian Refugee Council counts p Ukrainian civilian dead.

NATO would very much like to avoid a war with Russia. Russia seems pretty enthusiastic to start a war with NATO.

Financial Times claims that the attack in Donetsk has not slowed down since Ukraine launched its Kursk operation. Big problem is that Russians have earned from earlier mistakes. Vuhledar’s not looking too good, either.

Russia’s producing lots and lots of drones and missiles.

https://balloon-juice.com/2024/09/23/war-for-ukraine-day-943-president-zelenskyy-travels-to-the-us-russia-continues-hunting-ukrainians-in-kherson-with-drones/

Day 941 War in Ukraine

 

Each red dot represents an airfield from which Russia laumches attacks, mostly upon civilian targets.

More bombardment of civilians in Kharkiv and other cities. Some civilians showing “experienced acute stress reactions.” A 49-year old was wounded earlier in the day and was then killed another bomb. Civilians killed by terrorist attacks where drones hunt people dow.

Zelenskyy wants to secure guarantees from the US before the election to safeguard Ukrainian interests during any negotiations.

THAT sounds good: “The second [point] was Ukraine’s Kursk operation, which [Zelenskyy] said was ‘fulfilling’ its task of diverting Russian offensive power.”

Understandable: “Zelenskyy again ruled out a Minsk-style peace agreement where the conflict would be frozen, stating that Russia would only invade again.”

Serhiy Pavlichenko, a master craftsman of traditional Ukrainian musical instruments, fell defending Ukraine on the Pokrovsk front.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg supports Ukraine’s request to be able to use long-range missiles against Russia.

Good! There was a story earlier about Australia junking its old weapons rather than giving them to Ukraine. Australia has reversed that.

Woo hoo More Russian ammo dumps hit by Ukrainian drones!

The Tikhoretsk ammo dump held North Korean missiles and was also destroyed.

Russians can adapt, but they use rail lines as opposed to roads, so adaptation is difficult.

Russia attacks from Donetsk with 27 vehicles and withdraw, having lost 16 of them.

Chasiv Yar, the buildings that constituted the city are all no more. The whole place is flattened.

What has been the effect of economic sanctions on Russia since early 2022? Ehh, pretty much invisible.

https://balloon-juice.com/2024/09/21/war-for-ukraine-day-941-russia-hits-civilian-targets-in-kharkiv-kryvih-rih-nikopol-while-ukraine-hits-another-military-target-in-russia/

Day 934 War in Ukraine

Man sees his wife and son after two years in Russian captivity.

Woo hoo! Another 103 Ukrainian captives traded for Russian soldiers!

76 Russian drones, none of which made it to their targets!

Russian propaganda at a film festival called out for what it is.

Billboards promoting Italian-Russian friendship are paid for by same organizations that “were formed to protest the country’s Covid-19 lockdowns.” These anti-vaxxer groups “were always promoted and amplified as part of Russia’s ongoing political warfare and influence operations against the US, the EU, EU member states, and NATO.”

Germany’s chancellor is against sending long-range rockets to Ukraine. Canada advocates for no restrictions. Foreign Policy Magazine accuses Biden Administration of “micro-managing” Ukraine’s foreign policy and thereby helping Russia. “purely political hesitation” holds the White House back. Repeated long-range drone strikes by Ukraine have not resulted in Russian retaliation.

Europe will have to figure out what to do if/when the Ukraine war ends and Russia concentrates on “Georgia, the Baltic states, or even the Nordic countries.” NATO appears to be frightened of engaging Russian aggression. A Ukrainian points out that as long as Ukraine is fighting Russia, Europe doesn’t have to deal with it.

Very sad cartoon on Russian “red lines.”

“Dragon Drones” spew fire down on Russian positions.

Radio Khartia broadcasts in Kharkiv from a van.

Russians attack Ukrainian positions in the Kursk region (inside Russia) to little effect. Russian regular and pontoon bridges over the Seym River are destroyed.

Lots and LOTS of Russian officers have been killed since February 2022!

Metallurgical plant in Russia burning.

https://balloon-juice.com/2024/09/14/war-for-ukraine-day-934-103-more-ukrainian-pows-and-detainees-returned-home-today/

Very interesting that my usual source on the war in Ukraine didn’t mention this, but Russian attacks on the Ukrainian offensive near Kursk have not only defeated counter-offensives, but Euromaidan Press reports that the Russian offensive against Pokrovsk has culminated (gone as far as it will go) and Russia is shifting forces up to tackle the Kursk salient!

Also, reports on both Ukrainian and Russian mismanagement of troops.

40-minute film on a Ukrainian from Kyiv visiting the Carpathian Mountain region of Ukraine (very Western and Southern area).

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/9/14/2270192/-Russian-stuff-blowing-up-Another-103-Ukrainian-prisoners-released?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=trending&pm_medium=web