The World Crisis

'Not even a faint reservation was heard from the IDF's general staff in November, when the commander of the army's 36th Armored Division, Brig. Gen. David Bar Kalifa, issued a handwritten battle directive to his troops, calling on them to take revenge on the Palestinians.

'...Brig. Gen. Barak Hiram not only ordered his troops to open fire on Israeli civilians and blew up a Palestinian university in Gaza without permission, but also stated in an interview with journalist Ilana Dayan right as the war started that Israel's political leadership should refrain from any prospect of a political solution to the crisis. The IDF's chief of staff didn't say a word then either.'

Yagil Levy in Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz today

'Iran has shown caution. It has made it known that, at least for now, it wants to avoid a wider war. One reason is that their nuclear programme is not too far from developing a weapons capability but is not quite there yet. This is another legacy of Trump’s foreign policy as he pulled out of a deal that had been negotiated under the Obama Administration that held back Iran’s uranium enrichment. Trump promised that he had better ways to deal with the threat, which unsurprisingly he didn’t. Part of the Iran’s response to Soleimani’s assassination was to announce that it would no longer restrict its uranium enrichment. The Biden Administration was trying to revive the deal, but this needed Russian cooperation and it all fell away in the aftermath of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.'

Sir Lawrence Freedman in The New Statesman a month ago

Edward N Luttwak

@ELuttwak

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16h

11 million Haitians are the victims of the dogma that every nation on this planet can govern itself. Their plight under the gross misrule of successive presidents could be ignored more easily than the present anarchy. No remedy predicated on a return to self rule can succeed.

Glenn Diesen

@Glenn_Diesen

I always cautioned my IR students: Do not hate your opponents, it produces poor analysis! - As I read the ridiculous/cartoonish media coverage of the Russian election, I get the feeling of our own downfall. Unable to live in reality and unable to place ourselves in the shoes of the opponent - how are we supposed to have sensible analysis and policies? - The human instinct to divide into groups of the virtuous "us" versus the evil "other" derives from evolutionary biology - it creates group loyalty required for security against extent threats. However, it undermines reason, the ability to assess objective reality, and the need to see the world from the perspective of the opponent. - In the 1990s, the Russian economy and society collapsed with horrific consequences. Security also collapsed as NATO expansion meant cancelling the agreements for an inclusive European security architecture (Charter of Paris for a New Europe / OSCE), and NATO could bomb Russia's ally Yugoslavia in violation of international law. It was common in the West to expect that Russia would share the fate of the Soviet Union and collapse. - Today, Russia is the largest economy in Europe (PPP), its society has healed from the disastrous 1990s, its military might is restored and new international partners have been found, and Russia's international political standing (outside NATO) has also recovered as Russia now chairs the BRICS+ club. Given that this was not Russia's path when Putin took over the presidency, should we not address how this happened? - So why is it not possible for politicians, journalists, or academics to acknowledge any of the great socio-economic, security and political achievements of Russia? The simple answer is that any acknowledgment of Russia's achievements over the past 25 years is treated as "supporting" Putin, which is criminalized across the West. Arguments are not assessed by the extent they reflect reality, rather arguments are assessed by whether they are seen to express support or condemnation of Russia - and your statements must reflect support for "our team". We are obligated to deprive the opponents of legitimacy, which limits what we are allowed to discuss. - How can a Western journalist then inform its audience about Putin's immense popularity and election victory when it is not allowed to say anything positive about the Russian president? - People conform to the good versus evil mantra as it feels virtuous and patriotic to signal that they support the in-group and loathe the out-group. But how can we pursue our interests when we have committed ourselves to self-delusion and have banned reality from our analysis? - I have attempted to explain for two years why the anti-Russian sanctions would fail and why Russia will win the war, only to be told that it is Russian propaganda to undermine support for sanctions and to challenge the narrative of a pending Ukrainian victory. Reality be damned! - Russia's democracy has many flaws, as for example strong men and cliques should be replaced with strong institutions. But can anyone honestly say that the Western media has not detached itself from reality?

sarah schulman

@sarahschulman3

1. Lately I have been paying more attention to the groups of my fellow Jews who are describing themselves as persecuted because of the global objections (by other Jews and the rest of the world) to the brutal slaughter in Gaza.

4:08 AM · Mar 19, 2024

2. These people include the 400 who signed a petition against Jonathan Glaser, to a Zionist right-wing journalist who spoke at the 92nd St Y, to an Atlantic writer to a student from 'Bears for Israel" claiming that people are yelling at her because they are anti-semitic.

3. What all these people have in common is a strange childishness- an inability to imagine that they could be part of anything wrong. A total inability to be self-critical.

4. Repeatedly each of these people claim that they are being "yelled out" and the only reason this could be happening is because they are Jewish. The only thing they can imagine is anti-semitism, because they cannot conceptualize themselves as doing anything justifying criticism

5. Well, I feel like saying to each of these people: "The reason you are being criticized, the reason people are yelling at you, the reason you are being protested, is because you are part of a killing machine, murdering tens of thousands of people, and that is the only reason."

6. I am just as Jewish looking and sounding as they are. I have two Jewish names, and a thick Jewish accent and the people who are yelling at them are not yelling at me. So, clearly it is really about politics and values

7. Yes, I do get messages on social media constantly calling me a Nazi and a "Kapo" but that is because I opposed Jewish supremacy, and they can't stand that.

8. You are not being persecuted. What is happening is that you are supporting a genocide and history will understand this as a genocide, and your selfish, shallow refusal to see yourself realistically, - these crimes will follow you for the rest of your life.

9. You are lying to yourself. It is too bad that magazines and cultural institutions and companies and universities are supporting the distortions in your self-perceptions, but what they are doing is unethical and cruel and absolutely wrong.

10. And history will ask you about what you have said and done today. So, look in the mirror and see the pain you have created and justified and you will see yourself.