© AFP/Anthony WallaceProtestors run past a fire during clashes with riot police in Hong Kong on Sunday, September 15. Hong Kong riot police fired tear gas and water cannon at hardcore pro-democracy protesters who were hurling rocks and petrol bombs on September 15, tipping the violence-plagued city back into chaos after a brief lull in clashes.
What's going on deep down in Hong Kong? For a former resident with deep cultural and emotional ties to the Fragrant Harbor, it's quite hard to take it all in just within the framework of cold geopolitical logic. Master filmmaker Wong Kar-Wai once said that when he came up with the idea for
Happy Together, he decided to shoot the story of his characters in Buenos Aires because that was as far away from Hong Kong as possible.
A few weeks ago I was walking the streets of far away Buenos Aires dreaming of Hong Kong. That Hong Kong that Wong Kar-Wai refers to in his masterpiece no longer exists. Unfortunately deprived of Christopher Doyle's mesmerizing visuals,
I ended up coming back to Hong Kong to find, eventually, that the city I knew also no longer exists.
George Galloway
RTWed, 18 Sep 2019 12:20 UTC
© AFP/Hazem BaderWoman places electoral banners for Likud party in city of Beersheva.
Vladimir Lenin is said to have opined that the only thing certain about British elections is who is going to lose. He meant the British working class, at a time when they were effectively unrepresented in the political system.
Equally, whatever the outcome of the Israeli elections, the
Palestinians will be the big losers. According to preliminary results, Netanyahu has lost his majority of course - having failing to reach the magic number of 61 seats in the Knesset.
But his opponents - the Palestinians living under siege in Gaza, under occupation in the West Bank, or under annexation in East Jerusalem, an annexation Netanyahu threatened to visit upon the whole of the Jordan Valley -
are no better off. Neither, for that matter, are the so-called
"Arab-Israelis" who increasingly identify as
Palestinian citizens of Israel and whose treatment as the 'enemy within' reached its apogee in Likud hate-speech about them. This saw them briefly
banned from Facebook last week.
Neither is an election the final say on the matter - this is the second in five months - and
the fact that no-one seems likely to gain a majority will see the attention swiftly turn to horse-trading. And that, for the Palestinians, is the danger.
Comment: All this to say there is no upside to the Israeli election, especially for the Palestinians. When it comes down to psychopath versus psychopath, there is no hope for improvement nor will the world be a better place.
See also:
When President Trump fired National Security Adviser
John Bolton last week rational people the world over cheered.When there was news that Trump would meet on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly with Iran's President Rouhani in a few weeks there were sighs of relief.
When Benjamin Netanyahu goes to Moscow to get Vladimir Putin's blessing to continue airstrikes in Syria and was told no, the world said, "Finally! Enough is enough."
The problem is that there were also very powerful people who were not happy about these things.
Moreover, there are a lot of nervous people out there worried that Tuesday's election in Israel will not go the way they want it.
A lot of people have invested a lot of time and money in ensuring Netanyahu stays in power. And I don't just mean Bibi himself, who will likely go to jail on corruption charges if he doesn't win.
I mean a lot of people in the U.S., Saudi Arabia, the U.K. and in Europe, all of the places where anti-Russian, anti-Iranian and pro-Israeli sentiments abound.
And this brings up the main question I always have in the wake of one of these major escalations of tensions with the country currently catching the Twin Eyes of Sauron in D.C. and Tel Aviv.
I don't know whether the supposedly Chinese curse really comes from China, but whether it does or not, we most certainly are cursed with living in some truly interesting times:
Iran won the first phase of the "tanker battle" against the AngloZionists,
Putin offered to sell Russian hypersonic missiles to Trump (Putin has been trolling western leaders a lot lately) while Alexander Lukashenko took the extreme measure of
completely shutting down the border between the Ukraine and Belarus due to the huge influx of weapons and nationalist extremists from the Ukraine. As he put it himself "
if weapons fall into the hands of ordinary people and especially nationalist-minded people, wait for terrorism". He is quite right, of course. Still, there is a sweet irony here, or call it karma if you prefer, but for the Ukronazis who promised their people a visa-free entrance into the EU (for tourism only, and if you have money to spend, but still...), and yet 5 years into that obscene experiment of creating a rabidly russophobic Ukraine and 100 days (or so) into Zelenskii's presidency, we have the Ukraine's closest and most supportive neighbor forced to totally shut down its border due to the truly phenomenal toxicity of the Ukrainian society! But, then again, the Ukraine is such a basket-case that we can count on "most interesting" things (in the sense of the Chinese curse, of course) happening there too.
Interestingly, one of the people the Ukrainians gave up in this exchange was Vladimir Tsemakh, a native of the Donbass who was kidnapped by the Ukie SBU in Novorussia (our noble "Europeans" did not object to such methods!) and declared the "star witness" against Russia in the MH-17 (pseudo-)investigation. Even more pathetic is that
the Dutch apparently fully endorsed this load of crapola. Finally, and just for a good laugh, check out how the infamous'
Bellingcat presented Tsemakh. And then, suddenly, everybody seem to "forget" that "star witness" and now the Ukies have sent him to Russia. Amazing how fast stuff gets lost in the collective western memory hole...
The Russian govt was found responsible for his death in prison, but the European Court ruled Magnitsky absolutely should have been there. His boss, meanwhile, remains at large...
The conscientious judges of the European Court of Human Rights published a judgement a fortnight ago which utterly exploded the version of events promulgated by Western governments and media in the case of the late Mr Magnitskiy. Yet I can find no truthful report of the judgement in the mainstream media at all.
The myth is that Magnitskiy was an honest rights campaigner and accountant who discovered corruption by Russian officials and threatened to expose it, and was consequently imprisoned on false charges and then tortured and killed. A campaign over his death was led by his former business partner, hedge fund manager Bill Browder, who wanted massive compensation for Russian assets allegedly swindled from their venture. The campaign led to the passing of the Magnitskiy Act in the United States, providing powers for sanctioning individuals responsible for human rights abuses, and also led to matching sanctions being developed by the EU.
However the European Court of Human Rights has found, in judging a case brought against Russia by the Magnitskiy family, that the very essence of this story is untrue. They find that there was credible evidence that
Magnitskiy was indeed engaged in tax fraud, in conspiracy with Browder, and he was rightfully charged. The ECHR also found there was credible evidence that Magnitskiy was indeed a flight risk so he was rightfully detained. And most crucially of all, they find that there was credible evidence of tax fraud by Magnitskiy and action by the authorities "years" before he started to make counter-accusations of corruption against officials investigating his case.
RTMon, 16 Sep 2019 15:53 UTC
© Sputnik/Valery Melnikov/Kremlin via ReutersHassan Rouhani of Iran • Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey • Vladimir Putin of Russia
The presidents of Russia, Iran and Turkey are meeting for talks centered on resolving the conflict in Syria. This is the first international public appearance of Hassan Rouhani as Iran is accused of Saudi Arabia attack by US.
During their meeting in Ankara on Monday, Presidents Vladimir Putin, Hassan Rouhani and Recep Erdogan - of Russia, Iran and Turkey respectively - talked about progress in the Syrian conflict, as well as ways to finally end fighting in the Idlib Province, one of the last rebel strongholds in the country.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that Syria's "sovereignty, its territorial integrity, its independence" must be respected as the parties search for an end to the conflict, which he said
cannot be done with a "military solution."He also noted that "Syrians themselves" should decide on what future they want, and rejected attempts at "regime change" in the country.
"Today, after almost nine years, with all the experience we've gathered, we still believe that the regime change - which is a position held by some countries - is no longer viable. This crisis, and other crises in the region should be settled only by peaceful means, and by the people of these countries themselves."
Comment: Putin went on to
quote the Koran, to the delight of his Sunni and Shia counterparts...
Putin introduced a particular line from the Muslim holy book, known as the Surah al-Imran.
"And remember the favor of Allah upon you - when you were enemies and He brought your hearts together and you became, by His favor, brothers," the Russian president quoted.
He was on a roll, so he
didn't stop there...
Putin also referenced another Koranic teaching, about how violence is only legitimate in self-defense, to semi-jokingly suggest that Saudi Arabia should buy Russian air defense systems, as Iran and Turkey have already done.
"Saudi Arabia needs to make a smart decision, as Iran did by buying our S-300, and as Mr. Erdogan did by deciding to buy the most advanced S-400 Triumph air defense systems from Russia. These kinds of systems are capable of defending any kind of infrastructure in Saudi Arabia from any kind of attack."
Slowly, slowly, catchee monkee!
What a legend.
UPDATE 17 Sept 2019Here's the footage of Putin trolling the US-Saudi Patriot air defense system:
Nobody Kremlin-trolls like the troll in the Kremlin. Hail to the CHIEF!
© Haim Zach/GPORussian President Vladimir Putin • Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu
Israeli sources called Netanyahu's quick Russian visit - to try and convince Putin to ignore Israel's attacks in Syria -
"a failure."The controversy between Israel and Russia regarding airstrikes of Iranian targets in Syria and Iraq continues, despite the meeting Between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Russian President
Vladimir Putin. This was reported on Friday by
Independent Arabia.According to the report,
Moscow has prevented three Israeli air strikes on three Syrian outposts recently, and even threatened that any jets attempting such a thing would be shot down, either by Russian jets or by the S-400 anti-aircraft missiles. The source cited in the report claims
a similar situation has happened twice - and that during August,
Moscow stopped an air strike on a Syrian outpost in Qasioun, where a S-300 missile battery is placed.Moreover, it was claimed that
another air strike was planned for a week later on a Syrian outpost in the Qunaitra area and a third one on a sensitive area in Latakia. This development is what pushed Netanyahu to have his quick visit in Russia to
try and convince Putin to ignore Israel's attacks in Syria.
Comment: An interesting development and, assuming it's accurate or at least in the ballpark, one that speaks to the balancing act Russia has undertaken in the region.
When it comes to Israel and the Middle East, Russian policies are pragmatic rather than ideological. They have to be pragmatic and part of the 'reality-based community' if Russia is going to achieve its aim of stabilizing the Middle East with Russia as the primary 'referee' (displacing the USA). Russia obviously has a full understanding of Israeli military capability, and because of that ability, Israeli 'interests' must be respected - again, from a pragmatic point of view rather than some kind of ideological support for Israel and what it stands for.
At the same time, Russia is trying to impress on Israel that other countries in the region, including Russia, also have interests. So Russia's goal, presumably, is to find a way to accommodate all of those interests, with the understanding that compromise on all sides will be necessary.
This is obviously a difficult thing to do, not least because the Israelis believe (correctly) that they have a strong hand to dictate terms in the region (god "gave them that land" after all). Hence we see the 'leeway' that Israel is being given by Russia in periodically bombing some areas of Syria (and the Iranian interests therein).
So the "compromise" that Israel is being asked for is to limit, not stop, its bombing of Syria. And the real compromise that Syria (and Lebanon and Iran) are being asked for is to allow some of that bombing to take place. Meanwhile, Russia is quietly creating certain 'facts on the ground' - militarily and politically, with a view to achieving its broader aim of a peace and stability in the region that has not been seen for, arguably, over 100 years.
Like we said, it's a tricky business replete with lots of mutual mistrust on all sides, especially the Israeli side. Ultimately, we suspect Israeli hubris, grandiosity and delusion will lead to them paying a rather large price in a rather unexpected way.
© Molly Riley/AFP/Getty ImagesFormer Director National Intelligence James Clapper • Former CIA Director John Brennan
A flood of news in the last 24 hours regarding Russiagate. I am referring specifically to
reports that the CIA ex-filtrated Oleg Smolenkov, a mid-level Russian Foreign Ministry bureaucrat who has hooked himself on the coat-tails of Yuri Ushakov, who was Ambassador to the US from 1999 through 2008.
He was recruited by the CIA (i.e., asked to collect information and pass it to the U.S. Government via his or her case officer) at sometime during this period.
A supposedly "sensitive" source. He was not. But you would not necessarily glean this fact if you read either the
Washington Post or
New York Times accounts of this event.
This is the kind of source that helps a CIA case officer get promoted but adds little to actual U.S. intelligence on Russia. If you understood the CIA culture you would immediately recognize that
a case officer (CIA terminology for the operations officer tasked with identifying and recruiting human sources)
gets rewarded by recruiting persons who ostensibly will have access to information the CIA has identified as a priority target. In this case, we're talking about possible access to Vladimir Putin.If you take time to read both articles
you will quickly see that the real purpose of this "information operation" is to paint Donald Trump as a security threat that must be stopped. This is conveniently timed
to assist Jerry Nadler's mission impossible to secure Trump's impeachment. But I think there is another dynamic at play - these competing explanations for what prompted the exfiltration of this CIA asset
say more about the incompetence of Barack Obama and his intel chiefs. John Brennan and Jim Clapper in particular.
© ScreenshotRussian Foreign Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova • Interviewer: Eva Bartlett
Russia's Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova weighs in on Syria, Crimea, the Moscow protests and more.
In a simple meeting room at the Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry building, Russia's Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova gave me a generous hour of her time in a conversation peppered with bemused laughter at Western allegations about Russia and clear frustration at the West's incessant vilification of all things Russia.
I traveled to Moscow in August, where to my delight I had the opportunity to interview Zakharova. Given that Russia is the focus of obsessive and largely negative Western media reporting, and also the country's role in eliminating the proliferation of terrorist groups that once controlled large swaths of Syria,
I wanted to ask Zakharova for her take on a variety of topics related to both Russia and Syria.In our wide-ranging discussion, Zakharova spoke of the U.S. sanctions regime against Russia and of the Western interference in Russian domestic issues — such as the protests seen in Moscow in July and August.
Kevin Mims
QuilletteFri, 13 Sep 2019 17:47 UTC
In her new book
Primal Screams: How the Sexual Revolution Created Identity Politics (excerpted in
Quillette on August 27),
essayist and cultural critic Mary Eberstadt documents just how damaging the sexual revolution of the 1960s, and its normalization of divorce in particular, has been to America's children. She mentions many publications that comment on "the correlations between crumbling family structure and various adverse results," particularly for the children of divorce. The authors she cites include former U.S. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, social scientist James Q. Wilson, and Elizabeth Marquardt, author of
Between Two Worlds: The Inner Lives of Children of Divorce.
A writer she doesn't mention, however, is William Peter Blatty, author of the blockbuster 1971 horror novel
The Exorcist. Those who have never read the novel, or are familiar only with its 1973 cinematic incarnation, probably believe the book to be a potboiler about demonic possession.
But it is also an allegorical warning about the importance of the traditional family unit and the devastation wrought when it breaks down. Curiously, this aspect of the novel went largely unnoticed by the book's earliest reviewers.Back in 1971, the advent of no-fault divorce laws in the United States was seen in liberal circles as an unalloyed benefit for society. Thus, the book critics for most of the mainstream publications that bothered to review
The Exorcist —
Time, the
New York Times, the
Los Angeles Times, etc. — treated the book as either a modern day pastiche of Poe and Mary Shelley, or else as a traditional story of the battle between Good and Evil. What's odd about this is that Blatty made no effort to hide his social conservatism. You don't have to be a postmodern literary detective to find it in the subtext. Blatty was not a subtle writer, and he set his message out on the page for all to see, although very few have ever remarked upon it.
Comment: All this to say there is no upside to the Israeli election, especially for the Palestinians. When it comes down to psychopath versus psychopath, there is no hope for improvement nor will the world be a better place.
See also: