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"The hack also revealed evidence that Team Themis was developing a "persona management" system - a program, developed at the specific request of the United States Air Force, that allowed one user to control multiple online identities ("sock puppets") for commenting in social media spaces, thus giving the appearance of grass roots support. The contract was eventually awarded to another private intelligence firm."This cyber warfare is clearly not just in the capacity of 'improving international reputation' as military commanders are claiming on record (just like there is 'no such thing' as domestic spying and it's only for terrorists). Instead, we're talking about running a major network of computers that are constantly running code specifically written to post to social media and news comment pages. Something that was revealed all the way back in 2011 by RawStory and brushed off in the name of national security by the military.
The building that was hit was just a shipping container next to where one of the kids' father keeps his boat and stores fishing nets. The kids were just playing hide and seek there. They shoot missiles (against Israel) from this neighborhood but none from that location.So how is Booth's introduction relevant in any way to the story? Yes, militants have fired rockets from the neighbourhood (after all, from where else but "neighbourhoods" are they likely to fire rockets in one of the most densely populated places on earth). But, as Beaumont points out, they were not being fired from the area that was attacked by Israel.
Two young terrified kids were bleeding and injured, and they were quickly bandaged on the floor of the terrace, where guests usually eat skewers of grilled chicken, suck on water pipes and watch the sun go down.That incidental reference to the chicken and water pipes is added for colour. It's a journalistic technique we use when there's not much happening and you want to set a scene to draw the reader into the story. But here it's entirely unnecessary. The action - the bleeding children and the dead bodies nearby - are what will draw the reader in, as any rookie journalist would know. So when I see Booth pausing from his description to talk about how the guests entertain themselves in the evenings, I sense - both as a journalist and a reader - that his attention is not fully on the events at hand.
Comment: Keep this in mind when reading online comments supportive of Israel. Chances are they were made by some brainwashed, talking-points spewing Israeli undergrad simply repeating the plausible lies and rationalizations for genocide put out by the Israeli propaganda machine.