Hamas attacks Israel
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I see the US has started bombing Iranian-back sites in Syria in retaliation/defense of the dozen attacks against US bases recently. Gonna head to bed soon, probably not WW3 until China enters the chat.
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Thread: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1717601858695393550.html
Russia hosted a Hamas delegation today
Here is what we know about the meeting
The meeting has likely been planned since October 7
Once it was clear that at least 6 of the hostages were Russian citizens, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov called for a meeting with Hamas in Qatar.
Vladimir Putin's comments warning of the need to stop the Gaza War and Russia's overall position were "highly valued" by the Hamas delegation
But Dmitry Peskov was clear to distance Putin from the meeting, he said it was a Russian Foreign Ministry track project.
Mousa Abu Marzouk led the delegation
Marzouk faced criminal charges in the US and while he has superficially discussed negotiations with Israel, he sees a Lebanon or Syria-style truce as desirable
A "hudna" that will reheat. Similar to founder Sheik Yassin's views.
So while Marzouk was the deputy chairman of the Hamas political bureau from 1997-2014 before current leader Ismail Haniyeh took his mantle, he is by not much more moderate than the Hamas mainstream
Russia's meeting is not really about peace in Gaza.
Israel has urged Russia to expel Hamas, so this will sour ties further
But Marzouk engaged with Bogdanov in Qatar, Iranian officials recently and now Russia again, the meeting complements Russia-Iran dialogue on Gaza.
Qatar remains the primary diplomatic venue for hostage releases and Israel has even been publicly forced to acknowledge Qatar's role
But Russia is trying to play a secondary role, at least in liberating its own citizens and others (some reports highlight non-Russians).
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Brave Sir Robin...
Link to video -
Whenever those tunnels are mentioned, I imagine how many people died digging them. Dirty Jobs should have done an episode about Hamas tunnel diggers.
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G George K referenced this topic on
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Thread pinned - I think we're going to be talking about this for a while.
Meanwhile, Israel has attacked with a vengeance.
Lots of tweets, videos at the link.
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Emphasis mine:
"From the Russian side, via the Foreign Ministry, we received a list of citizens that have dual citizenship," senior Hamas representative Moussa Abu Marzook said, the RIA Novosti news agency reported.
“We are looking for those people... It is hard but we are looking. And when we find them, we will let them go. We are very attentive to this list and will process it carefully because we consider Russia to be a close friend," he said. -
This is one of the better conversations I've heard, mostly for how clear the futility becomes, listening to a pro-Palestinian talk about his side. You can quibble with how he avoids putting any blame on the Islam faith, or on the Hamas oath to exterminate the Jews. Even without that, his more fundamental point remains that the Palestinians feel they were occupied, and they'd rather fight and die than submit to that. Factual arguments about whether they really are occupied or whether this is really their land are irrelevant, if that's how they feel.
People have been taking land from one another by force forever, but western civilization has recently decided it's wrong. Now that the lines are acceptable to the people who make the rules, the people who make the rules have declared those lines to be the morally justified ones. The Palestinians don't feel that's fair, and that's totally understandable, even inevitable. As Hughes notes, anybody born in Palestine would feel justified in their perspective, and anybody born in Israel would feel justified in their perspective. Used to be, the people who weren't satisfied with being colonized, fought and died, or assimilated. There were no higher authorities to appeal to. But now Palestine knows they can appeal to the bleeding heart west, and the appeal works. So Israel tiptoes around the only viable solution, the solution which would have been practiced at all historical times except this one. Dominance through violence, forcing total capitulation of the conquered people.
Link to video -
Our dinner guests last night were all Jewish, so the conversation was pretty spirited this subject. Pretty much all pro-Israel, of course, but spirited still. The question I asked is, since the Gaza folks voted Hamas in, are there any innocent Gazans?
“I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.” ~Winston S. Churchill
