Giving Thanks?

In our chaotic world it can be difficult to be thankful about the state of things. However, we can be grateful for the truce in Gaza and the hostage exchange. Too bad this isn't a permanent ceasefire, but merely a delay in the genocide perpetrated upon the Palestinians. One aspect is that this aggression has gone so far as to shock people awake to US and Israel's inhumanity. That story and more below the fold.

I've been thinking about the similarity of Manifest Destiny and Zionism. In both cases, the original inhabitants are corralled and controlled because the occupiers are chosen by God as the righteous "landowners". Imperial arrogance.

... historic “settler colonialism” like in the United States relates to Gaza today. Dunbar-Ortiz makes the case, on this Thanksgiving, that inherent in that settler colonialism are the various definitions of genocide.
...The plight of the Native Americans in what is now the United States serves as a base for understanding the motivations, actions and justifications for settler colonialism by the West. The war in Palestine, Dunbar-Ortiz argues, contains many similar elements employed, where the core objective of the occupying force isn’t even to necessarily kill everyone—although a strong argument can be made that this is ongoing too—but to see a group of people have their identity obliterated...
“[T]here’s a lot of resonance, I think, in the U.S. white population, especially descendants of old settlers, which most presidents are. They feel a resonance with Israel because of settler colonialism, because it is the geographical imprint on U.S. people that settler colonialism is a good thing.”

Dunbar-Ortiz makes the case, on this Thanksgiving edition of the Scheer Intelligence podcast

Since 1970, Indigenous people & their allies have gathered at noon on Cole's Hill in Plymouth to commemorate a National Day of Mourning on the US Thanksgiving holiday. Many Native people do not celebrate the arrival of the Pilgrims & other European settlers. Thanksgiving Day is a reminder of the genocide of millions of Native people, the theft of Native lands and the erasure of Native cultures. Participants in National Day of Mourning honor Indigenous ancestors and Native resilience. It is a day of remembrance and spiritual connection, as well as a protest against the racism and oppression that Indigenous people continue to experience worldwide.

We are witnessing a changing world order as the west is in decline and BRICS+ is on the rise.

Geopolitical analyst and journalist Pepe Escobar joins Kevork Almassian to discuss the challenges facing the US-led unipolar world by growing powers such as China, Russia, and Iran. (55 min)
Gaza: a pause before the storm (also featured in yesterday's OT)

The US and its allies will continue backing Israel's war on Gaza after a brief truce. But as the case for 'genocide' grows stronger, the new multipolar powers will have to confront the old hegemons and their Rules-Based Chaos...
...the US administration is not remotely “wary about Netanyahu’s endgame,” it fully endorses it - genocide included - as agreed at the White House less than three weeks before Al-Aqsa Flood, in a 20 September meeting between Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu and Joe “The Mummy” Biden’s handlers.
...As for public opinion all across the Global South/Global Majority, it “turned” long ago on Zionist extremism. But now the Global Minority - populations of the collective west - are watching raptly, horrified, and bitter that in just six weeks, social media has exposed them to what mainstream media hid for decades. There will be no turning back now that this penny has dropped.
...Had this truce been an actual “ceasefire,” in which all hostilities came to a halt and Israel's war machine disengaged from the Gaza Strip entirely, the next-day options would still be pretty dismal. Realpolitik practitioner John Mearsheimer already cut to the chase: a negotiated solution for Israel-Palestine is impossible.
It takes a cursory glance at the current map to graphically demonstrate how the two-state solution – advocated by everyone from China-Russia to much of the Arab world – is dead. A collection of isolated Bantustans can never coalesce as a state.
...while Gaza's gas is indeed a crucial vector, Gaza, the territory, is a nuisance. What really matters for Tel Aviv is to confiscate all Palestinian gas reserves and allot them to future preferential clients: the EU.
Enter the India-Middle East Corridor(IMEC) - actually the EU-Israel-Saudi Arabia-Emirates-India Corridor - conceived by Washington as the perfect vehicle for Israel to become an energy crossroads power. It fancifully imagines a US-Israel energy partnership trading in US dollars – simultaneously replacing Russian energy to the EU and halting a possible export increase of Iran's energy to Europe.
We return to the 21st century's main chessboard here: the Hegemon vs. BRICS.

Pepe is well informed in part because he is so well traveled.

All the pro-Palestine protests prove that many have escaped the MSM propaganda thanks to alternate media. Another reason to be thankful.
“Why I STOPPED Being A Zionist”
Thanks to the Israeli military’s brutal assault on Gaza, many stalwart Zionists are waking up to the reality of the occupation and what life is like for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. We highlight one video published by a young American Jewish woman who explains everything she’s learned recently about the occupation and why she’s had to let go of her former Zionist beliefs.

However as Craig Murray suggests, there's No Ceasefire in the Propaganda War

The BBC simply does not treat the Palestinians as human, whereas the emphasis on Israeli personal victimhood is incessant and unrelenting.
...
Since 1967 Israel has made over 1 million arrests of Palestinians. This “justice” system is an essential part of the imposition of apartheid and the slow genocide, which did not just start this autumn. The BBC won’t tell you that either, and appears to have no problem with permanently showcasing its Israel based correspondents churning out the Israeli propaganda narrative, with no attempt at either perspective or balance.

Western Media Operating under Influence of Zionists: US Analyst
“Western Mainstream Media is Zionist Media. In the West, the governments of the United States, the UK, and Western Europe, are Zionist Occupied Governments"
Western media outlets are operating under the control and influence of Zionists as they attempt to keep people in dark about all events taking place around the world, including the massacre of Muslim worshipers that happened on March 15 in New Zealand.

Just look at the "experts" brought on to explain the conflict...
Gaza Guests Linked to Military Industry, Pro-Israel Funding

Yes, Mainstream Journalists Are Actually PAID To Lie. (11 min)
Working in mainstream media, and even some corners of the alternative or online media, all but requires one to abandon the truth, pitch false narratives and sell out to powerful corporate interests. But why? That is the question... Jimmy, Kurt Metzger and Aaron Maté (https://mate.substack.com) discuss whether media sellouts are actually paid explicitly to do so or they merely take the path of least resistance.

None the less awareness is growing...

It is time for an intervention (2.8 min)

America's addiction to selling arms willy nilly is destroying the country and demolishing the world.

Scott Ritter: Israel is LOSING its War as Gaza Operation Exposes IDF's Failures
Former US Marine Corps Officer and UN Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter discusses Israel's failures in Gaza, namely the lack of skill on the part of Israeli forces and the critical defeat experienced in the realm of information warfare. (23 min)

Israel has characterized the attack carried out by Hamas on the various Israeli military bases and militarized settlements, or Kibbutz, which in their totality comprised an important part of the Gaza barrier system, as a massive act of terrorism, likening it to the September 11, 2001 terror attacks against the United States. Israel supports this characterization by citing the number of persons killed (some 1,200, a downward revision issued by Israel after realizing that 200 of the dead were Palestinian fighters) and detailing a wide variety of atrocities it claims were perpetrated by Hamas, including mass rape, the beheading of children, and the wanton murder of unarmed Israeli civilians.
The problem with the Israeli claims is that they are demonstrably false or misleading.

From Scott's article on October 7.

Was October 7th a Hamas or Israeli massacre?
Israel's controversial military policy of killing its own citizens to preserve national security may be its defining mistake of 7 October. Would there have even been a 'massacre' that day if Israel had not employed the Hannibal Directive?

Scott Ritter reveals why he gave up his career to fight against Netanyahu & the Israeli Right-Wing

Democracy's Ironies
In other news this week were some unexpected election results in both Argentina and the Netherlands.
There were a variety of conclusions about the results.

Pepe and Robert Barnes had almost opposite thoughts about Argentina's election.
Pepe explains his thoughts of disappointment. He gives some interesting background about the county. He thinks the oligarchs really won with Javier Milei election. (10-15 min)
Where as Robert Barnes suggests Miliei will improve the disastrous economy. He discusses his take with the Duran. (10-15 min)
Well the proof will be in the pudding and time will tell if the economy improves. Miliei vows to dismantle their central bank.
The Netherlands also elected a new leader, Wilders. The question remains, can he assemble a majority and take control? The Duran discuss the situation ...
Wilders win exposes fragile EU system, but don't count Globalists out (23 min)

The irony to me is the way the western MSM portray these two different winners as Far Right. Article after article use the same descriptor. Yesterday Alex had a funny routine of the way they escalate their insults... Far right, MAGA, TRUMP, PUTIN! I've cued the link to those concluding remarks. (2 min)

As I was thinking of the ironies of democracy it came to me that if we look at approval ratings of leaders by their own citizenry, those that holler democracy the loudest have the lowest ratings. Of the western leaders Biden is at almost 40% with European leaders more in the 20% range. Compare that to the tyrant Putin at 80% approval or the dictator Xi at close to 90% approval.

The US democracy is revealing its problematic justice system. The tapes released from Jan. 6 this week show a mostly orderly crowd in the capitol with the police showing them around. I suspect most of the violence that did occur was promoted by the 50+ FBI agents planted in the crowd. We know they were there from the FBI whistleblower testimony this summer.
Nancy Pelosi’s daughter, Alexandra Pelosi, was caught on a secret video recording talking with a group of January 6th defendants, and her comments were quite revealing. Pelosi insisted that the so-called “MAGA Shaman” who got a 31 month prison sentence had been railroaded and that Democrats would likely milk the January 6th proceedings as much as possible, even if the actual “insurrection” was nothing of the kind.

This week is the 60th anniversary of JFK's assassination. Ray Mcgovern tell the scathing story...

Ray McGovern (former CIA): They Killed JFK, Will We Let Them Kill Peace? (32 worth while minutes)
How can the US be a democracy when the CIA, the mafia branch of government, runs the show? The answer is it simply can't be a democracy.

Of course what is really controlling all governments are their economies. Looks like we will all have a rough ride as the future evolves.
Debt Will Collapse Global Economy... Will The U.S. Survive? (45 min) Brent Johnson - Dollar Milkshake Theory - cued to the discussion of the US economic system for the last 100 years. The guy interviewing him is surprisingly uninformed, but that leads to a simple basic history lesson. I find him a bit naive about the future of BRICS+ economic and overly optimistic about the stability of the USD, but the conversation was interesting. He's a banker so that explains his bias.

It is easy to be discouraged about the state of the world and our nation. However there are ways to have impact, especially if we focus on our local environment.
How This Woman Turned Arizona's Desert into a Farmland Oasis (7 min)

Extensive droughts and dwindling water supplies have wreaked havoc on the once prosperous farms that could endure the arid conditions. Arizona has also become one the fastest growing states in the last decade, as result there has been a demand for tree lined neighborhoods, golf courses and lawns, all of which require vast amounts of water. As we keep consuming the ancient groundwater, without it being replenished, water tables drop and rivers start to dry up.

However over the last 30 years Arizona has been turning this around, in this video we will show you how a low cost innovative water retention system is being used in the desert, turning the dry landscape into a fertile carbon sink stretching over 100,000 acres and we will show you how this system is recharging the aquifers, by improving water retention by at least 28% which has helped to increase biodiversity, turning the desert back into a farmland oasis. Thanks to Valer Clark Austin and Josiah Austin restoring the watershed in the Chiricahua Desert in Arizona and Mexico.

I hope you all had a great holiday weekend and managed to eat some delicious food. There's plenty going on around the world. I hope you'll share the stories and ideas you have about it all in the comments below. The thread is open!