As we approach the end of 2023, the SOTT.net team would like to wish all our readers and followers a peaceful and happy Christmas, and a prosperous and adventurous new year. We remain ever grateful for the continuing support we receive from this far-flung network of like-minded truth-seekers. Without your support, there would be no Signs of the Times, so thank you. If it's within your means to do so, please consider donating below so that we may keep bringing you the news and views that matter!

Israel's ongoing, shocking obliteration of Gaza is truly of 'biblical' proportions. The Israeli regime has already killed more Palestinians in the past six weeks than it killed during the Nakba ('catastrophe') that initially 'shaped' Israel in 1948-9. We say 'biblical' not just because, like the war in Ukraine, it looks set to generate another wave of refugees, and not just because it could potentially ignite a wider Middle East war. This war is 'biblical' because it's not really a war, but rather a shockingly inhuman, AI-powered, hi-tech orgy of atavistic terrorism - a viciously cruel military bombardment of a defenseless civilian population.

In a grotesque perversion of scripture, Israeli PM Netanyahu claims that, "We [Israelis] are sons of light, they [Palestinians] are sons of darkness," whereas, in fact, he is a modern-day mad 'king' leading a real-world 'massacre of the innocents', of children, all of whom are being sacrificed for his career and 'legacy'.

We cannot speak for the unfathomable suffering of Gazans, but the contrived events of October 7th and Israel's subsequent 'revenge' have been something of a 'test' of all people: who has a conscience, and who does not? Who Sees the crux of the matter, beyond ideological superficiality and what the Israeli regime claims happened outside Gaza on October 7th?

'Left vs Right' tribalism, as we've observed recently, isn't much of a guide in matters of Truth, and of the heart. Many on the erstwhile 'conservative-christian' Right, in cheering this, certainly appear to have 'gone over to the Dark Side'. But as appalling as it is that this is happening, with nothing being done to stop it, the 'cost' for the perpetrators is the exposure of their nature for all the world to see. The burst of 'truth-telling' this has spurred on social media and in public discourse generally (with the possible exception of the vaccine mandates) is unprecedented.

American President Joe Biden likes to talk about "inflexion points" when he is lecturing about world affairs and the supposed superiority of the United States. This year is indeed an inflexion point.

It was the year that the entire world saw the truly hideous and criminal nature of U.S. power.

Washington's fuelling of the futile conflict in Ukraine and the despicable slaughter in Gaza is a wake-up call for the entire world. The United States stands barefaced and grotesque as the primary purveyor of war. There can be no doubt about that. For many it is shocking, scandalous and frightening.

Tragically, it seems, for the world, every year's end is an occasion to witness and lament conflicts, wars and suffering over the preceding 12 months. Often the causes of wars and suffering are seemingly unfathomable.

However, this year seems to be unique. The year ends with a horrendous massacre in Gaza that is unprecedented and perpetrated by Israel with the full support of the United States. The scale of deliberate mass killing in Gaza makes it a genocide. The fact that this abomination is occurring at Christmas time when the world is supposed to celebrate the divine birth of Jesus Christ - the Prince of Peace - in the very place where he was born some 2,000 years ago makes the abomination all the more profane and damning.

What is particularly wretched is that the heinous destruction of children is happening in full view of the world. There is no remorse or pretence. It is full-blown premeditated murder done with cruelty and sickening impunity.

Virtually the whole world is horrified by the devastating, relentless violence and absolute violation of international law. The butchery by the Israeli regime cannot in any way be rationalized by the previous attack on Israel by Palestinian militants on October 7. Those killings by Hamas have been cynically used as a pretext for the subsequent and ongoing annihilation of Palestinian civilians.

This genocide could not happen without the crucial support of the United States for the Israeli regime. Financially, militarily and diplomatically, Washington is sponsoring the horror in Gaza as well as the Occupied West Bank.

Record snowfall from northeastern China to the northeastern U.S., and unusually heavy rains and floods wreak havoc worldwide in November. Meanwhile, at the COP28 climate summit:

200 countries struck a breakthrough climate agreement, calling for a transition away from fossil fuels in an unprecedented deal that targets the greatest contributors to the planet's warming.

It's not news that the green agenda is a big scam to make its proponents richer, siphon off taxpayer money, and push policies that undermine people's freedom. But as we have said before, nature has other plans. This November has been no exception in terms of historic snowfall records:

• Anchorage, Alaska: Snowiest November since records began in 1953.
• Northeast China: Record snowstorm forced airlines to cancel flights, halted trains, and closed schools and roads.
• Northeastern US: Unprecedented 40 inches of snow from upstate New York to parts of New England.
• Mongolia: Heavy snow and blizzards cover 60 percent of the country.
• Romania, Bulgaria, and Moldova: Heavy snow and strong blizzards leave thousands without power.
• Mexico: Unusually heavy snow covers all northern states.
• Ukraine: Heavy blizzard leaves 11 regions without power and kills 10.

The same system that dumped heavy snow in Romania, Bulgaria, and Moldova triggered the "storm of the century" that hit parts of Ukraine and southern Russia, killing at least four people and leaving nearly 2 million without power.

We can't help but view history through the lens of our most deeply held beliefs.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in how people look at Hitler and the Third Reich: we slap our priors on a hyper-complex era permitting a nigh-infinite number of angles, and as if by magic, the whole thing sorts itself out into a neat little narrative.

And so, leftists will claim that Hitler was just a conservative on steroids, and see, that's where conservatism inevitably leads.

Marxists will make the case that the Nazis were really just Capital's reaction to the otherwise inevitable proletarian revolution, therefore postponing the communist utopia by way of collusion between industrialists, Junkers and Western bankers.

Conservatives argue that akshually, Nazism was just communism, because dontcha know, there's an "S" in "NSDAP."¹

Revisionists give this a further twist by claiming that the real bad guy in this whole story wasn't Hitler, but Stalin: it was he who started WWII by forcing Hitler's hand.

In this final NewsReal of 2023, Joe and Niall bring you on a whirlwind global bird's-eye view of recent events, with updates on the popular resistance against directed mass migration in Ireland, Russia's path to victory over NATO proxy forces in Ukraine, the ever-darker horrors of Israeli war crimes in Gaza, and the farcical pantomime that was 'COP28'. And there's so much more to look forward to in 2024: more wars, more disputed elections, and probable global economic FUBAR.

It's Clown World, folks. And remember, it's their world: we're all just here to observe it, give each thing its due, and try to stay out of the way. Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!


Running Time: 01:35:22

Download: MP3 — 65.5 MB

Russia's success in absorbing everything NATO and the Kiev regime has thrown at its military defenses in the newly-acquired regions is now all but confirmed in Western capitals. Though they lament that "Putin's victory is terrifying," they nonetheless acknowledge that Russia has won. The US government may yet extend the war with further weapons dumps in Ukraine, but Washington knows this won't substantially change anything.

Meanwhile, American weapons are pouring into Israel, where they're duly dumped onto defenceless Palestinians in Gaza. This week on NewsReal, Joe & Niall highlight the extreme contrast between the two wars: one is a war between two armies on civilian-evacuated, fixed terrain, and the other on densely civilian-populated terrain - a 'war' so evil that its genocidal intent is laid bare for all to see.


Running Time: 01:24:09

Download: MP3 — 57.8 MB

[I researched this piece and wrote much of it many months ago as I wrote a piece about JFK having tried to stop Israel from getting nuclear weapons. I'd hoped to find time to investigate things further before the Nov. 22 "anniversary" of the assassination of JFK. But particularly with Israel's assault on the Palestinians in Gaza, I've not found the time to dig deeper. But that assault, the under-covered role of Israel's nukes, the power of the pro-Israeli lobby and the disconnect between the US public and the government in the current slaughter makes this piece all the more relevant, so I'm sharing what I have.]

If I had a dime for every time I heard someone say that JFK (reportedly) saying he wanted to shatter the CIA into a thousand pieces led to his assassination I'd be a very wealthy man.

For decades, I've done work on Israel's nuclear weapons arsenal and the refusal of the US establishment to even acknowledge its existence.

But, incredibly, I'd not heard that there might be a connection between the two — the JFK assassination and Israel's nukes — until a year or two ago.

If JFK apparently making a rhetorical statement about the CIA is a go-to basis for many that the CIA actually killed him, what about the fact that, as I wrote this summer: "60 Years Ago, JFK Tried to Stop the Israeli Bomb"?

This past week saw election victories for 'right-wing populists' in two Western countries, a premeditated mass stabbing by a Muslim migrant in Ireland which prompted a 'far-right' riot, and ongoing genocide in Gaza bringing the death toll to 20,000 Palestinians. On this NewsReal, Joe and Niall provide context for the worst rioting seen in Ireland's capital in a generation, note the obnoxiously pro-Israel stances of Argentina's new leader Javier Milei, and the Netherlands' (likely) new leader, Geert Wilders, and ponder what next for the 'final solution' in Palestine...


Running Time: 01:50:42

Download: MP3 — 76 MB

A retired Israeli army major has admitted Israel probably killed some of the 1,200 Israelis the government claims Hamas murdered on 7 October.

The confession, discovered by The Electronic Intifada, is one of the highest level confirmations to date that Israel killed many, if not most, of the civilians that died during the Palestinian offensive.

On Saturday, it was revealed that an official Israel source had concluded for the first time that Israeli fire hit at least some Israelis.

This growing body of evidence undermines the official Israeli narrative of savage Palestinian terrorists invading Israel bent on slaughtering civilians. Hamas maintains that its targets were military and that it did not intentionally kill civilians.

The Israeli officer's admission came in a series of videos about 7 October posted by Legacy Conversations, an obscure YouTube channel run by military and police veterans of South Africa's apartheid regime.

Their star guest is a South African-born man who settled in Israel aged 18 and spent 29 years in the army. He took part in the 2006 invasion of Lebanon and the 2014 invasion of Gaza.

The veteran is named as "Major Graeme," using the apparent pseudonyms "Graeme Ipp" and "Graeme I."

In a video posted only one week after 7 October, Major Graeme said that Israeli detainees in Palestinian custody were "possibly killed by Israeli airstrikes when the Israeli Air Force attacked vehicles that were returning into Gaza."

Speaking almost two weeks before the start of Israel's wider ground incursion into northern Gaza, Major Graeme explained that after the airstrikes "there was some bodies there that the special forces went and collected."

Enough!

I need to say this, because I don't know what else to do. The only thing I have is my voice, my words, and I don't want to live through this time in history feeling I did nothing, even though I know it's so little.

When I watch image after image, video after video of the complete and utter destruction in the tiny strip of Gaza, when I see the injured, the maimed, the dead bodies of men, women and children, when I watch the wordless and screaming pain of these humans who have to dig through rubble to find their loved ones or what remains of them, who take their little belongings and their children on their backs to move (for a second, a third time?) somewhere safer... I feel caught in an unbearable nightmare with no end. Yet I am only a far-away witness, safe in the comfort of my home.

For them, it's all real.