They’re missing the point. On purpose

Remember the 10,000 kids bombed to death and the – who knows – maybe 3,000 more presumed dead, lying under the rubble in Gaza? Your lawmakers' message: it never happened.

(your air strike update follows this article)

Remember the lawsuit for genocide brought by South Africa, and the ICJ’s admission that the charge of genocide is plausible?

Well, guess what?

None of that ever happened.

The few publications that care are still saying that the bombing and killings will not stop, and that Israel has said it will pursue the refugees into Rafah, the last refuge. One Palestinian gent said the Israelis will unleash a blood bath.

But now, experts in warfare are making statements that negate all this.

It never happened.

How do we know?

Well, the Houthis and other groups have been warning that if Israel doesn’t stop the genocide, they will strike ships linked to Israel or the US in the Red Sea and at Bab al-Mandeb Strait – and they’re doing this and it is hurting the Israeli economy. Hezbollah is threatening strikes from Lebanon. Kataib Hezbollah is firing missiles at US bases in Iraq. One resistance group hit a base in Syria which the lying msm claims is in Jordan, but anyway, 3 US soldiers were killed.

These resistance groups all said that when Israel stops the genocide, they will stop the attacks.

But what genocide?

Military leaders that Americans trust are saying that the REAL reason for these attacks on US bases and Israeli interests is the US failure to deter the Iran-backed groups. Not some old genocide? What genocide?

Suddenly there are no resistance groups. If we admit they are resistance groups, then we admit that the US and Israel are doing bad things, hurting people unnecessarily, and people are resisting this, taking drastic measures.

But suddenly, there are no resistance groups, just Iran-backed groups, and in American Neocon jargon, Iran-backed means evil, bad, disruptive… They don’t have to explain. They’ve repeated it often enough to make it true. It’s a miracle of PR sleight of hand.

If the groups claiming they want to stop the genocide really are fighting genocide, then why won’t American military leaders admit that and admit that Israel is committing genocide and that, hence, if we stop the genocide, we eliminate the danger? Easy, right?

But if these are responsible authorities, then they would be admitting the genocide is happening and would be addressing how to stop the genocide, not how to deter the people trying to stop it.

But since they are blaming the whole problem on American weakness and lack of deterrence, then they are indirectly claiming there is no good motive for the attacks. And if there is no good motive, there never was any genocide and Israel never committed any crimes against humanity.

So we can solve the problem just by starting to deter.

Here’s one of countless examples of this perverted message.

Senator Wicker: Statement on US reprisal strikes

https://www.wicker.senate.gov/2024/2/senator-wicker-statement-on-u-s-reprisal-strikes

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., the highest-ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, released the following statement in response to developing reports about U.S. strikes on Iran-backed targets:

“These military strikes are welcome, but come far too late for the three brave Americans who died and the nearly 50 wounded. Iran and its proxies have tried to kill American soldiers and sink our warships 165 times while the Biden administration congratulates itself for doing the bare minimum. Instead of giving the Ayatollah the bloody nose that he deserves, we continue to give him a slap on the wrist.”

What Wicker means is that it is time to attack Iran and start WW III. Israel has wanted this for years. They don’t dare do it themselves but don’t mind letting Americans die in their wars.

Now Senator Wicker is in touch with all kinds of advisors and experts on the Middle East, and if any of them had heard there was actual genocide in Palestine, he’d have heard about it and he’d know the REAL reason for the strikes by Iran-backed groups was to stop the genocide. Right?

In that case, being a responsible representative of the people, he’d be saying “let’s stop the genocide to save American lives and restore peace in the Middle East.”

But neither he nor any other US politician will ever admit that their dear ally in the ME would even think of killing innocent civilians – except that Israel’s highest officials repeatedly call for wiping out “these animals.”

Further, being a Republican, he’d try to give his party the advantage by buttonholing Trump and saying, “Donald, if you want to win the presidency, all you have to do is be the only candidate to suggest ending the Palestinians’ nightmare and stopping the genocide with a tough phone call to Netanyahu saying ‘stop killing Palestinians or we cut off your funding.’

That would leave genocide Joe isolated in the election process. Who would support a cold-blooded killer if you can vote for a human being with a heart and morals?

But we all know that’s too easy. Too sensible. Too non-military. After all. Why have the “most powerful military in the world” and there’s no point in wasting it by using common sense and diplomacy instead of shells, missiles and bombs. Only commie sympathizers do that. We all know that Americans vote for strength and caring about the lives of foreign children is so un-American, so weak.

Since neither Wicker nor any other elected representative or military leader of the American people has even so much as whispered a word about the genocide perpetrated by the “only democracy in the Middle East,” and “our most valuable partner” in the region, Americans who trust their elected representatives can only conclude that all this stuff about genocide is a commie lie or Russian propaganda designed to destroy the highly moral and Christian US’ reputation.

But if both candidates stood up to the bullies and went to bat for the kids, wouldn’t that change the whole equation?

Let’s not be naïve. US politics is not about doing the right thing. Quite the opposite. It’s about money. And as I showed here, Israel is where the money is for politicians looking to line their nests.

And if Americans don’t care about the massacre any more than their elected representatives do, then, well, they have what Jefferson said they’d get: the government they deserve.

**

Here’s your air strike update for Feb 3, 2024

Translation with my notes in bold and in [brackets]

Мощный ракетный удар по Украине в ночь на 3 февраля: взрывы в украинских городах » Интересная Россия (ptoday.ru)

Powerful missile attack on Ukraine on the night of February 3: explosions in Ukrainian cities

Author: Evgeny Poddubny

3 February 2024

Last night, military installations and infrastructure of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were attacked. Explosions were reported from several regions of Ukraine, including the Dnepropetrovsk oblast and Krivoy Rog.

Our Geran UAVs successfully completed their tasks. Local communities actively shared information about explosions and periodic power outages.

According to the Kyiv authorities, during the night they managed to shoot down 11 of the 24 Geran UAVs that attacked infrastructure and military targets in Ukraine.

As a result of successful attacks, an electrical substation in Krivoy Rog, facilities in the Kharkov and Dnepropetrovsk oblasts, as well as targets on the right bank of the Dnieper in the Kherson oblast, belonging to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, were hit.

Attacks on Krivoy Rog on the night of February 3, left about 100 thousand people without electricity

The head of the Krivoy Rog Defense Council, Alexander Vilkul, said that by 07:00 it was possible to restore electricity supply to 60 thousand subscribers.

He also noted that 113 miners were trapped in the two mines, but thanks to the rescue operation, most of them were saved. Currently, 19 miners remain in one of the mines. Work to restore power supply continues.

The Russian Aerospace Forces began to hit more sensitively and painfully

As a result of one of the night attacks by the Geran UAV, a substation in the center of Ukraine was damaged. This substation provided energy to industrial consumers in Kyiv. The equipment at the substation was damaged, and work is currently underway to restore and connect the enterprises to the power grid. However, damaged equipment will take time to repair, and delivery of new equipment will also take time.

In the Kharkov oblast, there was also a shutdown of a substation that provided power to the railway. This led to disruption of train traffic in the occupied territories.

The Geran UAV also attacked the Shebelinsky gas processing plant in the village of Andreevka, Kharkov oblast. The destruction is known.

The attack strategy is becoming more effective and causing significant damage to the enemy. It is worth noting that this is the third attack on this gas processing plant; the previous ones occurred in July and December 2022.

Explosions in Ukraine tonight, 02/03/2024

Explosions in Ukraine were recorded in several regions. On the night of February 3, explosions were heard in the Poltava oblast in northeastern Ukraine. The head of the regional administration, Philip Pronin, reported damage in the Mirgorod region.

Later, a series of explosions occurred in Krivoy Rog in the Dnepropetrovsk region and in Kharkov in eastern Ukraine. An air defense system was reported to be operating.

According to information from the online map of the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, an air raid alert was in effect in several regions on the night of February 3, including Poltava, Kirovograd, Nikolaev, Sumy, Kharkov, Vinnytsia, Kiev and Odessa oblasts.

**

Our thanks to CL for this

ON IRAN: BOTH BIDEN AND TRUMP ARE SPINNING....

WHILE ISRAEL PULLS THE STRINGS.

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/01/31/trump-biden-iran-defense-00138878

**

Our thanks to JS for this:

RE: (I had sent this out to a small group)

Michael Maloof, a former senior security policy analyst for the Office of the Secretary of Defense with nearly 30 years of experience, told Sputnik’s Fault Lines that the justification used by the White House could easily be applied by Russia to NATO countries supporting Ukraine.

“You’re hearing from congressmen and senators saying ‘but we need to hit Iran for supplying the Houthis and Hamas and Hezbollah,” Maloof explained. “Well, does Russia then have a right to hit US and NATO allies, as a result of supplying weapons to Ukraine to battle Russians?”

“The problem is that Biden has left the conduct of the war up to Netanyahu, and Netanyahu knows this and he’s basically dragging us along – we’re captives of Netanyahu," Maloof explained. “You don't have any, there's no leadership [the US] left it up to Netanyahu. He's the tail wagging the dog,” he added later.

It's not exactly Netanyahu who is responsible for military misadventures like this one. Our nation's slavish devotion to him and his racist priorities is not the disease, it is the symptom.  The disease, as old as American itself, is the pernicious American myth of "American Exceptionalism"

SEE:

Saito, Natsu Taylor, Meeting the Enemy: American Exceptionalism and International Law (New York, NY, 2010; online edn, NYU Press Scholarship Online, 24 Mar. 2016)

Abstract

Since its founding, the United States has defined itself as the supreme protector of freedom throughout the world, pointing to its Constitution as the model of law to ensure democracy at home and to protect human rights internationally.

Although the United States has consistently emphasized the importance of the international legal system, it has simultaneously distanced itself from many established principles of international law and the institutions that implement them.

In fact, the American government has attempted to unilaterally reshape certain doctrines of international law while disregarding others, such as the provisions of the Geneva Conventions and the prohibition on torture.

America's selective self-exemption, this book argues, undermines not only specific legal institutions and norms, but leads to a decreased effectiveness of the global rule of law.

The book takes a pointed look at why the United States's frequent—if selective—disregard of international law and institutions is met with such high levels of approval, or at least complacency, by the American public.