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Bullseye

Best of the Web: Alastair Crooke: The Art of War: Russia, the West, and different thinking systems

Alastair Crooke
Al Mayadeen
Thu, 04 Apr 2024 14:25 UTC
Russia Ukraine soldier
© Al MayadeenJust as the West failed to understand Russia, and was taken by surprise, so it is that the White House firmly ignores the Biblical 'End of Times' dimension to the Israeli 'way of thinking about war'.
Jacques Baud, a Swiss military officer with a long history of studying 'Ways of Thinking' about War (from Warsaw Pact to NATO -- to which he was seconded by his government), has written a new book -- The Russian Art of War: How the West Led Ukraine to Defeat. His book theme is essentially: Others understand the West, better than the West understands 'Them'.

Baud writes that the fundamental reason for the West having the 'blinkers on' is "the result of an approach we have already seen in waves of terrorist attacks — the adversary is so stupidly demonized that we refrain from understanding his way of thinking. As a result, we are unable to develop strategies, articulate our forces, or even equip them for the realities of war".

Comment: The following are some recent, worthwhile interviews with Jacques Baud:





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Attention

Flashback Best of the Web: Israel's Biblical Psychopathy

Laurent Guyénot
The Unz Review
Sun, 22 Oct 2023 05:29 UTC
netanyahu torah israel gaza
© TV7 Israel NewsBenjamin Netanyahu
I am tired of reading that Netanyahu is a psychopath. He most certainly is not. I see no reason to consider him, or any other Israeli leader, as psychopaths in the psychiatric sense. They have a collective psychopathy, which is a very different thing.

The difference is the same as between a personal neurosis and a collective neurosis. According to Freud, religion (and he meant christianity) is a collective neurosis. Freud did not mean that religious people are neurotic. On the contrary, he observed that their collective neurosis tends to immunize religious people from personal neurosis.[1] I do not subscribe to Freud's theory, I just need his backing to introduce my own theory: Zionists, even the most bloodthirsty of them, are not individual psychopaths; many of them are loving and even self-sacrificing persons within their own community. Rather, they are the vectors of a collective psychopathy, which means a special way (we may call it inhuman) by which they collectively see and interact with other human communities.

This is a crucial point, without which we can never understand Israel. Calling their leaders psychopaths is not helpful. What we need is recognize Israel as a collective psychopath, and study the origin of this unique national character. It is a matter of survival for the world, just as it is a matter of survival for any group to recognize the psychopath among them and understand his patterns of thinking and of behavior.
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Eye 2

Best of the Web: Israeli doctor says detained Palestinians are undergoing 'routine' amputations for handcuff injuries - CNN

Lauren Kent
CNN
Sat, 06 Apr 2024 12:36 UTC
Israel Defense Forces israel idf
© Amir Levy/Getty ImagesSoldiers with the Israel Defense Forces stand near a military vehicle on March 4, 2024.
A doctor at a field hospital for detained Palestinians at Israel's Sde Teiman army base has described "deplorable conditions" and "routine" amputations due to handcuff injuries, according to an exclusive report from the newspaper Haaretz.

In a letter to Israel's attorney general and defense and health ministers, obtained by Haaretz, the doctor said the conditions at Sde Teiman field hospital compromise inmates' health and violate medical ethics.

"Just this week, two prisoners had their legs amputated due to handcuff injuries, which unfortunately is a routine event," the doctor said in the letter, according to the Haaretz report on Thursday. He wrote that inappropriate care at the detention facility has led to "complications and sometimes even in the patient's death," adding that "this makes all of us - the medical teams and you, those in charge of us in the health and defense ministries, complicit in the violation of Israeli law."


Comment: Not just Israeli law, international law, and crimes against humanity; and this isn't the only documented and routine violation: US State dept accuses Israel of 'systematically' sexually abusing Palestinian women, cites damning UN report


Comment: It's notable that, for many years, it has evidently been IDF protocol to target, and use specially designed ammunition, to maim Palestinians:


Whilst Israeli sadism against Palestinians has been ongoing for many years now, it's rather disturbing that, under the guise of 'dysphoria', amputation and castration is in the news more than ever before: Quebec man has two healthy fingers amputated to relieve 'body integrity dysphoria'

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Cult

Best of the Web: Death of empires: History tells us what will follow the collapse of US hegemony


RT
Fri, 05 Apr 2024 20:13 UTC
statue liberty underwater broken torch america hegemony end
© Getty Images / Mark Garlick/Science Photo Library
The turn away from expansion, production and trade toward lending and speculation has precipitated decline for centuries

One of the curious features of the American landscape is the fact that these days the financialization of the economy is widely condemned as unhealthy, yet little is being done to reverse it. There was a time, back in the 1980s and '90s, when finance-driven capitalism was supposed to usher in a time of better capital allocation and a more dynamic economy. This is not a view one hears often anymore.

So, if such a phenomenon is overwhelmingly viewed negatively but isn't being amended, then perhaps it's not merely a failure of policymaking but rather something deeper - something more endemic to the very fabric of the capitalist economy. It is of course possible to lay the blame for this state of affairs at the feet of the current crop of cynical and power-hungry elites and to stop one's analysis there. But an examination of history reveals recurrent instances of financialization that bear remarkable similarities, which invites the conclusion that perhaps the predicament in the American economy in recent decades is not unique and that the ever-rising power of Wall Street was in a sense preordained.
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Caesar

Best of the Web: How do Iranians 'boil a frog'? Slowly and methodically

Shivan Mahendrarajah
mahendrarajah.com
Thu, 04 Apr 2024 12:37 UTC
iran boil frog israel
© The CradleIran's apparent restraint in the face of Israeli aggression should not be mistaken for weakness. Tehran steadily applies pressure on Tel Aviv through its own methods, setting the stage carefully for Israel's unravelling.
A strategy in asymmetrical warfare is expressed by the "boiling frog" theory:
Legend has it that a frog placed in a shallow pot of water heating on a stove will remain happily in the pot of water as the temperature continues to climb, and will not jump out even as the water slowly reaches the boiling point and kills the frog. The change of one degree of temperature at a time is so gradual that the frog doesn't realize he is being boiled until it is too late.
While the story is an apologue - a pretty fable meant to convey a meaningful lesson - it is one frequently invoked by militaries and geopoliticians to describe the "long game" of reaching strategic objectives.

Today, it is Iran and its regional allies who are using a measured approach to increase temperatures in West Asia until the water boils the US and Israeli 'frogs' to death. Strategy, discipline, and rare patience - the antithesis of western short-termism - will bring Iran victory. To quote the Taliban: "Americans have watches, but we have the time."

Comment: The Cradle comments:



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Yoda

Best of the Web: JK Rowling: Free speech is 'at an end in Scotland' under new hate crime bill, dares police to arrest her

Alba Cuebas-Fantauzzi
Fox News
Wed, 03 Apr 2024 18:44 UTC
Jk rowling transgender
© Getty ImagesJ. K. Rowling speaks up on transwomen invading women's spaces.
The author says Scottish lawmakers place 'higher value on the feelings of men performing their idea of femaleness' than 'the rights and freedoms of actual women'

After Scotland's Hate Crime Act took effect Monday, Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, dared Scottish police to arrest her for calling "a man a man."

According to the Scottish Parliament's website, the "Hate Crime and Public Order Bill" adds "a new crime of stirring up hatred against any of the protected groups covered by the Bill," one of which is "transgender identity."

Rowling began a long social media post by listing several biological male criminals who claimed to be transgender just prior to being sentenced for various crimes. Some of the crimes included sexually assaulting a 10-year-old, possession of 16,000 illicit images of children and rape.
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Tornado1

Best of the Web: Severe storms and 16 tornadoes leave a path of destruction from Georgia to Illinois

Dalia Faheid and Gene Norman
CNN
Wed, 03 Apr 2024 18:42 UTC
Widespread storm damage is seen in Jeffersonville,
© WLKYWidespread storm damage is seen in Jeffersonville, Indiana.
Homes and businesses were damaged, several people were injured and tens of thousands remained in the dark Wednesday after a powerful storm system spawned tornadoes and damaging storms from the South to the Ohio Valley, and blizzard conditions and snow in the Great Lakes.

Severe storms injured at least 10 people in Jeffersonville, Indiana, just north of Louisville, the town's mayor told CNN affiliate WLKY. Photos posted by the mayor showed chunks taken out of several homes' roofs and debris strewn about an area neighborhood.

Severe thunderstorms brought "flooding, downed trees, power outages, and road blockages" across West Virginia, according to Gov. Jim Justice, who declared a state of emergency Tuesday for Fayette, Kanawha, Lincoln and Nicholas counties.

At least 13 homes were damaged and some residents were injured, Fayette County, West Virginia, Office of Emergency Management director Kevin Walker told CNN. The injuries were non-life threatening, Walker said.

"Some are destroyed, and some have major damage," Walker said.

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Bad Guys

Best of the Web: France preparing deployment of 1,500 Foreign Legion to Ukraine in April — Russia


TASS
Wed, 03 Apr 2024 16:56 UTC
Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova
© Sergey Guneev; RIA NovostiFILE: Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova. Maria Zakharova also said the Kiev regime "continues to cleanse the media space and introduce total censorship in the country".
France could bring about 1,500 servicemen to combat readiness in April for deployment to Ukraine, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

"New information is emerging about the preparation by Paris of a military contingent to be sent to Ukraine. To this end, the command of the French Foreign Legion in early March approved the makeup of a battalion tactical group of about 1,500 people," she said at a news conference. "It is expected that in April the group will be brought to full combat readiness for an operational deployment to the Ukrainian theater of military operations."

"Meanwhile, the French continue thy [sic] part of their history, which in general should be consigned to oblivion: the business of their ancestors, who were engaged in the secret export from Ukraine of cultural treasures, including ancient Byzantine icons, for their alleged, as they phrase it, preservation in France," the diplomat said.


Comment: Interesting that Zakharova should mention icons: Explosives hidden in religious icons traveled by truck through Europe, Ukraine, found by Russia's customs officers

Zakharova's announcement:



Comment: Notably, the Kiev-junta just warned that, in the next few months, they intend to attempt another terrorist attack on the Kerch bridge in Crimea. Furthermore, it's likely that the German military, who, just a few weeks ago, was exposed conspiring to do just that, will be able to provide them with some kind of assistance.

It also wouldn't be the first time that France had sent meat for the grinder: Russia releases names of French mercenaries in Ukraine, includes son of a General of France's Armed Forces

South Front provides footage of the training exercise (see full text below):

🇫🇷🇺🇦 FRANCE - UKRAINE

The French Foreign Legion getting ready to deploy in Ukraine - Documentary Eng subtitles.

According to http://Southfront.press, one of the best media on contemporary conflicts, French military leaders have already begun training combat units to send to the Ukrainian front.

At the end of February, President Macron instructed the Ministry of the Armed Forces to study the question of sending French Foreign Legion forces to Ukraine.

On February 27, 2024, by order of the Legion command, the formation of three companies of Legion fighters began.

On March 5, 2024, the French military command and Legion command approved the personnel numbers of the battalion tactical group, which is expected to include 1,500 military personnel. This battalion tactical group contains three Legion companies, which were assigned for this purpose in advance.

These are :

- a material support company;
- two engineering companies.
- The battalion tactical group should also include: up to 6 companies of motorized and armored infantry as well as the operational team.

The French command failed to assure the number of declared personnel of the battalion tactical group to the members of the Legion.

The assumed ratio of members of the Foreign Legion to regular military personnel of the Ministry of the Armed Forces in the battalion tactical group is approximately 1:2.

During the first half of March, the battalion tactical group began combat coordination at the Courtine training camp in the "Creuse" region of France.

March 8 to 14, 2024, the 2nd regiment of the Foreign Legion based in Nîmes was reported preparing for a large-scale exercise throughout the "Creuse" region of France. 800 legionnaires and their 120 vehicles were trained in the countryside and the streets of the quiet town of "Guéret" including 40 armoured vehicles.

The staff was tasked with completing combat coordination by mid-April. Personnel should wait for the order and be ready to be sent to the front in Ukraine.

The deployment of the group to Ukraine could take place in the second half of April as suggested by the Russian MFA press secretary Mari Zakharova

Documentary of the exercise from Objective Gard: 2nd Foreign Infantry (foreign legion) Regiment of Nîmes for full-scale training at the Courtine camp (Creuse).


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Caduceus

Best of the Web: Doctors report mysterious worldwide cancer 'epidemic'

Paul Anthony Taylor
Dr. Rath Health Foundation
Fri, 29 Mar 2024 16:40 UTC
princess catherine cancer cell
© Adobe Stock Images / Dr. Rath Health Foundation
Leading doctors are highlighting a mysterious worldwide rise in cancer cases among patients aged under 50. Widely covered in the mainstream media, the development follows the recent announcement by Britain's Princess Catherine that she herself has now been diagnosed with the disease. The cause of the global increase, which is said to have sparked alarm among scientists, is hotly debated. But while improved diagnostic methods, genetic predispositions, lifestyles, and as yet unknown environmental factors have all been proposed as possible reasons, the roles of some other possible influences are essentially being ignored.

Illustrating the scale of the problem, the annual cancer incidence rate among British individuals aged between 25 and 49 has reportedly reached 162.4 cases per 100,000 people. This represents a 22 per cent increase over the figure in the 1990s. At the global level, a study published in the BMJ Oncology journal last year revealed that, between 1990 and 2019, there was a 79 percent surge in the incidence of early-onset cancer and a 27 percent higher number of early-onset cancer deaths.

Cancers previously seen as being more common in older age groups are increasingly being diagnosed in younger adults. Examples include breast, colorectal, esophageal, gastric, and pancreatic cancers, among others. With healthcare systems still struggling to recover from the impact of policies imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic, there is growing concern that in the years ahead, the burden on national economies will escalate still further.
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Pirates

Best of the Web: Ukraine (ahem, the CIA and MI6) threatens another terrorist attack on Crimea's Kerch bridge

Luke Harding
The Guardian
Wed, 03 Apr 2024 14:03 UTC

Comment: Luke Harding is a British intelligence agent masquerading as a journalist, so keep that in mind as he explains to you why it's 'inevitable' that Europe's longest bridge 'must be destroyed' to 'avenge Ukraine'...


Kerch Bridge
© Getty Images/Anadolu AgencyKerch Bridge terror attack, October 08, 2022
They have become a familiar sight in the skies above parts of Russia: long-range enemy drones, buzzing their way to another target. In the biggest Ukrainian onslaught inside Russian territory since Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion two years ago, Ukraine has in recent weeks carried out a series of attacks on Russian oil refineries and ports. On Tuesday, it hit a refinery and drone factory in the industrial region of Tatarstan - more than 800 miles from the border.

The Ukrainian spy agency behind these drone strikes has its eyes on another target: the 12-mile long Kerch bridge connecting occupied Crimea with Russia. Senior officials from Ukraine's HUR military intelligence service indicate it is plotting a third attempt on the bridge, after two previous attempts to blow it up, claiming its destruction is "inevitable".

Comment:



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