"... genocide is a crime that can be committed without a single person dying..."
- Alonso Gurmendi, a human right fellow 'working' in the UK
---------------- a most useful statement if you want to demonize, oh say, Israel
[X]
Genocide is not and has never been defined as “killing everyone in sight”. Since 1948 genocide is a crime that can be committed without a single person dying. This popular notion comes rather from exceptionalising the Holocaust’s Final Solution as the only “real” type of genocide https://t.co/5w7WWqxElU
Owen Jones
@owenjonesjourno
·
Aug 19
Buried in this BBC story is this paragraph.
This is the first time I’ve seen the BBC report Israel’s genocide as something alleged by credible organisations, in a piece that isn’t about one of those organisations.
BBC coverage is a disgrace, but is this a shift?
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BBC News (UK)
@BBCNews
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Aug 17
Novelist Sally Rooney says she will support Palestine Action despite ban https://bbc.in/3Jd87sv
Kosher Chutzpah
@KosherChutzpah
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Go ahead, tell them the truth, Owen. Tell your followers that the slanderous "genocide" accusation even in the ICJ is not the genocide people conjure up in their minds of killing everyone in sight (like Oct 7). It's simply stretching the legal term to try to prove there's an intention for genocide. With 60,000 dead over 21 months, it's not a genocide.
8:29 AM · Aug 19, 2025
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Posted by: Lord Garth ||
08/27/2025 00:00 ||
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#1
And these days, being a woman doesn't require anybody having any vaginas.
#3
Hope the company does well. They will announce earnings in mid Sept.
Company has been hit by higher costs and flattening revenue. Earnings per share were almost $11 in year ending in 2021, down to about $5 in the year ending in 2024.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
08/27/2025 10:13 Comments ||
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#4
The logo was lazy and boring, looking like someone slapped it together in 10 minutes using a word processor. The story is how many layers of approval it went through, and what does it say about The Board's vision?
Sure the CEO went on that morning show and straight up lied to Strahan, but she is just doing what she was selected to do, be the...face..of The Board's Re-imagining for a Modern Audience.
The interior will still look like 'a hospital cafeteria' someone observed, there will still be overall decline in quality, value, and service (to be fair is across the board for this style of restaurant), and for the last few years have been heavy into DEI including forcing Pride Month on patrons. None of this will change without a Board shake-up, and to be honest I would not be surprised if there was an organized Buy Campaign coordinated with the logo reversal in order to bump up the value to stifle the response.
[Just The News] When is free expression a call to incite violence? The executive order puts limits on a 1989 Supreme Court ruling protecting flag burning as free speech, potentially setting the stage for legal arguments over First Amendment rights and a possible redo in the nation's highest court.
From the description:
As September 1941 begins on the Eastern Front, the war enters a new and brutal phase.
The late summer rains arrive, slowing down operations but not halting the relentless fighting.
In the north, Army Group North continues its push against Leningrad, severing the last land and rail connections and forcing the city into a deadly siege that will define the coming months.
Meanwhile, in the center, Field Marshal von Bock struggles to hold the Yelna salient as Zhukov launches one of the Red Army’s first successful counteroffensives, liberating Yelna at enormous cost. Hitler issues War Directive No. 35, signaling the renewed drive toward Moscow even as the front strains under attrition.
To the south, Guderian’s daring drive threatens Kyiv, but overstretched flanks and Eremenko’s ill-coordinated counterattacks expose the risks of the operation. Rundstedt’s armies battle to expand bridgeheads across the Dnipro, suffering heavy losses at Dnepropetrovsk. The rains, mud, and mounting casualties begin to slow the once lightning-fast blitzkrieg, foreshadowing the grinding attrition to come.
Text taken from the Telegram channel of @china3army
[ColonelCassad] The Development of the PLA Air Force. Over the past two decades, the PLA Air Force has undergone a major transformation. The development strategy has shifted from quantitative superiority to quality, with older aircraft and numbers giving way to modern, high-tech platforms. Manpower In 2007, the PLA Air Force had about 400,000 personnel and 2,700 combat aircraft.
By 2025, the number had grown only slightly to 403,000 personnel, while the number of combat aircraft had fallen to 2,284. These figures mask a sharp decline in the early 2010s, as older second- and third-generation aircraft were decommissioned faster than new ones were entering service. At one point, the number of combat aircraft had dropped to 1,500, and the number of personnel to 330,000.Today, despite the smaller numbers, the aircraft fleet has become noticeably larger.
Almost all of the outdated Jian-6/-7/-8 fighters and Qiang-5 attack aircraft have been decommissioned and replaced with modern Su-27/-30, Jian-11, Jian-10/-16, and the fifth-generation Jian-20.
BOMBER AVIATION
The number of bombers remains roughly the same — 219 against 222 in 2007. But their combat capabilities have increased significantly: the Hong-6 bombers have received new engines, an in-flight refueling system, and the ability to use long-range cruise missiles.
The Hong-6N strategic bomber is now capable of carrying both nuclear and conventional air-launched ballistic missiles based on the Dongfeng-21. Development of the Hong-20 long-range bomber continues.Long-range strike has become a key element of China's strategy to deter possible US intervention in the event of a conflict over Taiwan.
The Hong-6, supported by airborne early warning (AEW) aircraft, is the backbone of the anti-access/anti-operation concept. Support aircraft TankersThe most notable growth was in the support aircraft segment, with the Yun-20U tanker expanding its long-range capabilities. The Air Force received nine new aircraft in 2024. Military transport aviation The transport aviation was also replenished with Yun-20A/B aircraft. The fleet increased to 55 Yun-20 + Yun-8 and Yun-9. Special and reconnaissance aviation
The capabilities of the AEW systems have improved significantly from experimental prototypes in 2007 to 54 operational platforms today. These aircraft are now regularly used to support bombers and on joint patrols with the Russian Aerospace Forces. The reconnaissance and electronic warfare capabilities have also been increased by the arrival of new Yungan-9 SIGINT aircraft and Jian-16D and Yun-9G electronic warfare aircraft.However, auxiliary aircraft make up only 17% of the fleet, compared to 31% in the US Air Force. Military Reforms and Command Structure
In 2015–2016, large-scale reforms were carried out: the aviation was subordinated to five new commands, most regiments/divisions were transformed into air brigades/bases. In 2023, most of the PLA Navy aviation units were reassigned to the Air Force, which made it possible to consolidate the tasks of coastal air defense and strikes against naval targets under a single command.
IN-HOUSE PRODUCTION
The Chinese aviation industry has switched to its own production of combat aircraft (the same Jian-16, Jian-20). At one time, Su-30 and Su-35 fighters were purchased from Russia in small batches. Air defense systems, including the Hongqi-9 based on the S-300, are produced in large quantities. Dependence on imported engines is gradually decreasing. Unmanned aerial vehicles have become an integral part of the armed forces, including the Wuzhen-7/-10, BZK-005, Gongji series and Caihong.
The stable environment has allowed China to modernize gradually, but with the intensification of strategic competition with the United States and the changing balance of power in the region, the Air Force is forced to accelerate its development. In the near future, the PLA Air Force will continue to develop 6th generation aircraft (Jian-36/-50), adopt the Hong-20, and expand the fleet of tanker aircraft, transport aircraft, reconnaissance and special aircraft.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Gregor Spitzen
[REGNUM] "The welfare state in Germany is no longer financially sustainable. The welfare state as it exists today can no longer be financed by what we can afford economically," German Chancellor Friedrich Merz told a party conference in Lower Saxony on Saturday.
But these words sounded like a memorial prayer for the socio-economic model of the FRG, which for many years inspired universal admiration.
The German leader has called for a major overhaul of the welfare system as spending continues to rise, surpassing last year's record of €47 billion.
Predictably, the Chancellor did not mention any connection between the continued financing of Ukraine and the economic shock caused by the refusal to buy cheap Russian energy resources.
Germany’s economy, once the EU’s undisputed leader in high-tech exports based on the automotive, engineering, chemical and pharmaceutical industries, has slowed sharply since 2017. Since then, Germany’s GDP has grown by just 1.6%, while the rest of the eurozone has grown by 9.5%.
Of course, the low base effect has had a greater impact on the economic growth of other EU countries. However, the fact that Germany is among the laggards is largely due to the incompetent management of politicians who, over decades of budget surplus, have become accustomed to putting out any fire with a stream of banknotes.
Fighting global warming? Germany is ready to throw a collar on the national industries that generate the highest budget revenues for the sake of an ephemeral "green" idea.
A global refugee crisis due to war in the Middle East? Germany is ready to open its borders to millions of people with an alien socio-cultural background and, under the slogan "We can handle it!", put them on the neck of the German welfare state.
Fighting the consequences of the pandemic? The German state is generously ready to hand out several thousand euros of “helicopter money” to all those in need, provoking rampant inflation.
War in Ukraine? Germany as the main fighter for democracy in Europe cannot remain on the sidelines.
€50 billion over three years for financial and military support for the Ukrainian regime was the moral duty of German politicians trapped in narrative thinking about the need for Ukraine to win and Russia to be defeated, which violated the dogma of a “rules-based world order.”
And this is not to mention the voluntary and conscious rejection of Russian resources and the Russian market for high-tech products, which have long been the cornerstones of the export-oriented economy of Germany.
A CONTINUOUSLY STAGNATING ECONOMY
Germany's economy to shrink by 0.2% in 2024 after falling by 0.3% in 2023.
Industrial production fell under Olaf Scholz's "traffic light coalition" and continues to decline under the new Merz government: GDP fell by 0.3% in the second quarter of 2025.
It is almost certain that 2025 will also end in negative territory for Germany, which will be a kind of anti-record: never before in modern history has the German economy stagnated for three years in a row. And something tells me that with the current course of the red-black government, 2026 is also unlikely to be the year the negative trend is reversed for the country.
In full accordance with the well-known international joke about falling incomes and the arrangement of beds in a brothel, the change in the ruling party coalition and the Scholz-Merz reshuffle had absolutely no effect on the state of the national economy of the FRG.
Meanwhile, social security costs have risen sharply and will rise further this year as Germany's population ages and unemployment rises.
Although the majority of social assistance recipients are Germans (mostly working recipients of benefits whose salaries do not allow them to make ends meet), a significant number of them are not German citizens. Including about 1.1 million residents of Ukraine, who are equal to Germans in terms of social security.
Supporting Ukraine is too costly for Germany.
For example, from February 2022 to the end of 2024, the state budget spent €25 billion on social support for Ukrainian refugees. Another €25 billion, so necessary for the national economy, went to supply weapons to the Armed Forces of Ukraine and financial tranches to "support the pants" of the Kyiv regime.
At the same time, Chancellor Merz, who admitted to journalists and fellow party members at the aforementioned party conference that he “did not think that the situation in the domestic economy was so bad,” essentially admitted his own incompetence as a statesman and exposed some of the systemic shortcomings of German-style parliamentary democracy.
How a person who does not understand the basic principles of a capitalist economy and has no relevant experience in public administration could end up as head of government of the EU's largest country remains a mystery.
ETERNAL QUESTIONS OF GERMAN DEMOCRACY
Many politicians and experts have already attacked the Chancellor with harsh criticism of his statements about the inevitable abolition of the German welfare state.
The welfare state could well continue to be supported if it were organized fairly and financed on the basis of solidarity. This is where the problem lies: for decades, costs have been shifted, funding gaps have been deliberately left open, and entire professional groups have been exempted from the obligation to show solidarity.
The raw numbers seem to suggest the opposite.
Yes, social spending is growing in absolute terms. But the decisive factor is its share in economic production (social payments as a percentage of GDP). For more than 30 years, this figure has remained stable at around 27%. In other words, if the welfare state grows along with the economy, it should, in theory, remain as affordable as before.
Where do the alleged “holes” in the treasury come from?
For years, civil society organizations have been pointing out that billions are being wasted because the federal government is misusing mandatory social security funds to address issues that are not directly related to social issues.
In reality, these costs should be paid for from the federal budget – that is, from taxes (for example, from export profits of national industry). Instead, they are shifted onto the shoulders of private payers.
Another key problem is that not all working people pay in solidarity.
For example, members of the Bundestag and civil servants are still covered by parallel or special pension schemes. While ordinary workers contribute part of their income to pensions, health care and long-term care, these groups enjoy special rights and often significantly higher pension benefits.
If everyone paid taxes, the welfare state would be more stable in the long run, more equitable, and would have a much more sound financial foundation.
Cutting social spending is fraught with many problems for Germany: poverty among the elderly (it is wild and painful to watch German pensioners collecting plastic bottles from garbage bins), growing inequality (accompanied by protest demonstrations and civil unrest), instability of domestic markets.
FROM A SICK HEAD TO A HEALTHY ONE
The narrative of the inaccessibility of the “welfare state” is used by Merz primarily as a lever to make room for defense spending, and in the context of the political platform of the CDU/CSU, also to justify tax cuts for high-income citizens – the electoral base of the Christian Democrats.
What is deliberately overlooked is the fact that the missing billions are not the result of “pensions that are too high” or “care that is too expensive,” but the result of many years of political decisions.
Among them are flirting with the “green agenda” (which cost the German budget at least €200 billion), the rejection of Russian energy resources (around €100 billion in direct and associated losses) and the financing of the “Ukraine” project (another €50 billion), the financial burden of which was unlawfully shifted onto private taxpayers.
In a word, Friedrich Merz is wrong in his statements.
Germany can afford a welfare state and cannot function without it. The real problem is not that it cannot be financed, but that it is financed unfairly.
If the government finally forces the overly privileged groups of the population to pay, abandons the frankly idiotic humanitarian projects within the framework of the “green” agenda, stops the uncontrolled admission of refugees who dream of sitting on the neck of German taxpayers, and stops throwing tens of billions of euros to help dubious political regimes, it will have enough resources to prolong the fairy tale of a social welfare state.
#2
This is going to be wonderful to watch.
They ripped us off for decades on NATO and unfair trade and now they get a taste of their own medicine.
And the best part is they're going to have to use force against their own voters!
Die Linke is very strong and will fight all the way.
#3
By this time next year, Trump's tariffs will make der mittelstand history. Unless they move to America. Machines and all. That's how our industry moved to China. Tariffs and favorable CPC policy.
Who knew that worked?
#7
/\ The SOFA doesn't say that. If you're a USG contractor and retired from the US military, no problem. A copy of your gov't contractor ID is all that is required.
[IsraelNationalNews] In recent months, France, the UK, Spain, Ireland, Norway, and Slovenia have all formally recognized a "Palestinian state". Their declarations made headlines and prompted Israeli diplomatic protests. Yet nothing changed on the ground. The foreign-aid-dependent Palestinian Authority (PA) and Hamas-ruled Gaza will not suddenly turn into a viable state after the planned UN vote next month.
The spectacle raises a blunt question: why does Europe continue to pretend the two-state solution still exists?
Also the American Democratic Party.
European leaders do not, in fact, believe in Palestinian Arab sovereignty, nor do they even want it. Recognition functions as a performance — moral theater. It keeps alive an illusion that has long since collapsed. And Europe needs the illusion.
FUNDING THE ILLUSION
Since the Oslo Accords, the European Union has become the PA’s largest donor, with billions in aid keeping its institutions afloat. In April 2025, the EU approved another €1.6 billion package, nominally conditioned on government reforms and revised textbooks that remove antisemitic content. Similar conditions have been imposed before, only to be quietly ignored.
The result is a perverse equilibrium: the PA depends on European money to survive as a non-sovereign political unit, while Europe depends on the PA’s weakness to justify continuing aid. A genuine peace plan would risk either collapse or confrontation. Perpetual subsidy is safer.
European diplomats speak of "incremental progress" toward reform. In reality, the flow of money and conferences has become a holding pattern. The two-state "process" persists as a symbol, even as Palestinian Arab sovereignty recedes further from possibility.
THE SCRIPT
European states announce recognition, a press conference in Dublin or Madrid declares "Palestine" sovereign, and Israel recalls its ambassadors in protest. Then everything resets to default.
Trade between the EU and Israel continues undisturbed, reaching €42.6 billion in 2024 — one-third of Israel’s global trade. EU exports to Israel even rose during the Gaza war. In other words, Europe condemns "settlements" and lectures Israel, but will not disrupt the economic ties that serve its own interests.
Recognition is a symbolic gesture with no policy consequences. Former EU envoy Susanna Terstal admitted as much: "The two-state solution remains the only viable option . . . but it’s getting harder and harder with the passing of time." Analysts at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies were blunter: recognition is "largely symbolic for Palestinians and leaves realities on the ground unchanged."
And here lies a striking contrast: while the United States still has citizens trapped in Gaza, and Russia has pressed for its dual nationals, there are no confirmed European passport holders left among the hostages. Those with European citizenship were either released or killed months ago. Europe can therefore engage in cost-free gestures; its "recognition" carries no personal or political risk tied to citizens still in captivity.
WHY EUROPE DOES NOT WANT A "PALESTINIAN STATE"
Behind the performance lies a deeper truth: most European leaders do not want to see a Palestinian Arab state emerge. They fear the consequences.
Polls show overwhelming Palestinian Arab support for armed groups outside the PA’s control, with 87 percent rejecting the PA’s right to arrest them. That means any sovereign state could quickly come under Hamas or Iranian influence. European intelligence services know that that would mean more terrorism, more instability, and another refugee wave headed their way.
The EU Parliament itself has calculated the cost of terrorism since 2004 at €185 billion in lost GDP and €5.6 billion in lives and damage. With asylum systems already overwhelmed and anti-migrant parties rising, the political cost of another "Gaza" spilling into Europe is unthinkable.
A Palestinian Arab state could also jeopardize Europe’s lucrative ties with Israel. The EU is deeply invested in Israel’s high-tech sector and natural gas imported from the Leviathan and Tamar fields. A Hamas-led state would threaten those flows and destabilize regional allies.
Nor is Europe united. Germany prioritizes Israel’s security. Hungary and Poland resist unilateral recognition. Even when Ireland and Spain make symbolic gestures, the larger powers block meaningful action. The facade of European unity hides national interests that make real sovereignty impossible.
DOMESTIC POLITICS AND LOW-COST DIPLOMACY
So why keep pretending? Because recognition delivers applause from demonstrators in Berlin and London and plays well with progressive elites.
Polls confirm the pressure. In mid-2025, Israel’s favorability hit record lows across Western Europe. In the UK, almost half of voters wanted recognition of "Palestine", while only 14 percent opposed it. Marches and rallies made it politically useful to declare recognition, even knowing it would change nothing.
This is why Europe stages conferences and multilateral summits. The recent Saudi-French conference at the UN was a perfect example: high-level speeches, solemn declarations, and no practical outcomes. Leaders "perform" solidarity without risk.
THE UNINTENDED COST
The performance deceives Palestinian Arabs into believing sovereignty is just around the corner, discouraging reform or compromise. It hardens Israeli skepticism that Europe can ever be a serious partner. And it distracts from new realities in the region, such as the Abraham Accords, which proved that normalization between Israel and Arab states can move forward without Palestinian Arab approval.
Worst of all, this limbo leaves the core problems untouched: Palestinian Arabs remain perpetual refugees wherever they live, with no control over their lives; Israelis remain without security; and the terrorist violence continues. Thus, Europe prolongs the very conflict it claims to oppose.
AND THE SHOW GOES ON
Just one month after October 7th, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell declared that "the best guarantee for Israel’s security is the creation of a 'Palestinian state'." And the EU continues to proclaim that fiction over Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s condemnations that this would be a victory for terrorism.
The upcoming UN vote promises to be another spectacle that will only succeed in increasing the antisemitic attacks against Jews and the one Jewish state, that small point on the map comprising 0.3% of the Middle East land area, that they like to accuse of expansionism and genocide against her neighbors. All because it flatters their sense of moral authority and not because it will deliver sovereignty or peace.
Posted by: Grom the Affective ||
08/27/2025 00:00 ||
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#1
Why Europe pretends the Two-State Solution still exists
The Soviets fueled a lot of crap in their day, including this.
[FacebookReel] 🧠💥 Did You Know? The Modern 'Palestinian National Identity' Was Fueled by Soviet Propaganda
History isn't always what we were taught...
During the Cold War, the Soviet Union launched a massive disinformation campaign to destabilize the Middle East and undermine Western influence—specifically targeting Israel. Part of that campaign? Inventing and promoting a new Arab identity called “Palestinians.”
📚 Before 1967, “Palestinian” referred to Jews and Arabs living under the British Mandate. There was no demand for a separate Palestinian Arab state—Jordan ruled the West Bank, and Egypt ruled Gaza. Nobody called for a Palestinian state then.
🧔♂️ Yasser Arafat, the man hailed as the face of Palestinian nationalism, was born in Cairo, Egypt, not “Palestine.” He was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood and helped found the PLO—an organization with deep Soviet backing and strategy.
🌍 The KGB and Soviet bloc trained and funded many anti-Israel terror groups, using “Palestine” as a tool to weaponize global opinion against the only Jewish state. They created a narrative: oppressor vs. oppressed, colonizer vs. native—despite the fact that Jews are indigenous to the Land of Israel.
❌ There has never been a sovereign state called Palestine in all of human history. Not under the Romans, Ottomans, British, or anyone else.
✅ There has always been a Jewish presence in this land. Israel isn’t occupying someone else’s country—it’s reclaiming ancestral land.
🔁 The next time someone tries to guilt-trip you with manipulated history, remind them: Truth matters. History matters. Israel exists—and it always has.
[CNN] Dr. Sanjay Gupta investigates the controversial health mystery impacting US covert personnel, diplomats and service members around the globe, Special airs Sunday, September 25th at 8pmET/PT
In a CNN Special Report Immaculate Concussion: The Truth Behind Havana Syndrome, airing Sunday at 8pmET/PT, CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta investigates one of the most complex and controversial health mysteries in recent years known as "Havana Syndrome."
The special explores a cluster of unexplained health incidents resembling concussion-like injuries, which were first reported by American officials and covert personnel serving in Havana in late 2016. The victims describe suffering from vertigo, headache, brain fog, and in some cases, pain or ringing in the ears without any apparent mechanism of injury. Since 2016, similar incidents have been reported by US government officials around the world. Investigations by the FBI, CIA, and the US Department of State have yet to fully explain what happened to these individuals who fell ill while serving their country. The lack of clear answers has led to growing tensions between victims, US lawmakers and the government agencies investigating these incidents. Critics say these agencies too easily dismissed these cases despite working theories that a foreign government, or proxy, may have coordinated intentional Cold War style attacks on American officials using directed energy weapon.
Gupta interviews several patients, including a former CIA senior medical officer who traveled to Cuba to investigate the incidences only to fall ill himself, as well as a former Trump official who believes they were injured at the White House. Both are sharing their stories for the first time.
Gupta also speaks with Cuba’s top scientists and diplomatic officials, who conducted their own investigation and remain skeptical of the reported incidents on their soil. However, prominent US brain experts Dr. Michael Hoffer of the University of Miami, and Dr. Douglas Smith, director of the Center for Brain Injury and Repair at the University of Pennsylvania, who have examined many of the patients, explain why they believe their injuries are very real.
But what causes the mysterious illness? Dr. David Relman, who co-authored the influential American Academy of Sciences report, concluded that microwave energy is a plausible explanation. This finding takes Gupta’s journey down an eye-opening road into how microwave energy interacts with the brain and what types of directed energy technologies are potentially capable of doing this.
CNN Special Report Immaculate Concussion: The Truth Behind Havana Syndrome will stream live for pay TV subscribers via CNN.com and CNN OTT and mobile apps under "TV Channels," or CNNgo where available. The doc will also be available On Demand beginning Monday, September 26th, to pay TV subscribers via CNN.com, CNN apps, and Cable Operator Platforms.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
