The Tit for Tat Trap

The Israel/Iran war seems to operate in a tit for tat status. Israel blows up Iran's Damascus embassy, Iran floods Israel with old drones and missiles (probably to map their defenses). Israel murders the primary Hamas negotiator in Tehran the day Iran inaugurated its new president, Iran targets and hits Israeli military facilities. In response Israel mounts an aerial attack on Iran's air defense system. So now we're waiting for the response. Is there no way out of this tit for tat trap?

Will Iran respond to Israel’s latest attack? (10 min)
The team discusses Israel's air strikes on military sites in Iran early on 26 October during which four Iranian soldiers were killed. Israel's attack came almost a month after a barrage of ballistic missiles fired by Tehran hit at least three military and intelligence installations in Israel.
Article here.

As a new member of BRICS+ I think Iran is under pressure from Russia and China to moderate their response, but we'll simply have to wait and see. Last week we focused on the BRICS+ summit. Pepe and Larry Johnson discuss BRICS+ and how they might influence the situation in a 65 min conversation.

Veteran journalist Pepe Escobar joins Counter Currents host and former CIA analyst Larry Johnson to discuss the following issues:
BRICS Summit in Kazan
Why Brazil vetoed Venezuela’s BRICS application
Modi-Xi meeting and India-China détente
BRICS on Gaza and Ukraine

Pepe was also on with the Judge this week.
Pepe Escobar : BRICS: Did Putin or Xi Prevail?

BRICS+ will face challenges from the western lackeys. (12 min)

War on Global South: BRICS' mBridge to be Shut Down by Western Allies to Save the US Dollar

Though BRICS+ faces challenges, as Pepe delineates, they also offer a path toward peace and mutual prosperity. Contrast that cooperative approach to the western/US hegemonic war machine.

Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson (chief of staff to Colin Powell) explains the inner workings of Washington to understand the excessive militarism and why the US could not avoid imperial overstretch.
I found this discussion of the workings of the US war machine insightful coming from Larry who has seen it from the inside.

The Russians seem to understand the US strategy...
West’s Rules-Based Order To Collapse Soon – Medvedev

The so-called rules-based order imposed by the US and its allies on the global scene is an unstable structure, which is about to fall apart, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has said in an exclusive interview with RT. Creating crises such as the conflict between Russia and Ukraine in various places is how the US is trying to rule the world, Medvedev, who now serves as the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, told the broadcaster on Saturday. “So, the more crises they create, the better, they think, the situation is for America… It makes money from weapons, supplies, and by allocating money to its defense industry,” he said. “The Americans are getting what they want at the price of more blood and casualties. This is why the Americans are engaging in feeding the war. But that system is coming to an end,” the former president warned.

Sounds accurate to me.

George Galloway - Israel is in Deeper Than They Realize (48 min)

George has a long and storied background in SW Asia, and brings his experiece to us in this conversation.

Chas Freeman also has background in the region.

Amb. Chas Freeman: Israel’s Devastating Defeat in Lebanon/Iran Exposed! (48 min)
Freeman is a former U.S. assistant secretary of defense, ambassador to Saudi Arabia, principal deputy assistant secretary of state for African affairs, chargé d’affaires a.i. at Bangkok and Beijing, acting U.S. commissioner for refugee affairs and director of program coordination and development at the U.S. Information Agency. He was the principal American interpreter during the late President Nixon’s 1972 opening of U.S. relations with China.
Chas uses the term tit for tat in his description.

Banning UNRWA is a new way to kill children, aid groups warn

Palestinian human rights groups say that new Israeli legislation banning a UN agency from providing services to Palestinians under occupation “aligns with a broader pattern of Israel’s genocidal intent.”
On Monday, Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, passed into law – with near unanimity – two bills that would effectively ban UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestine refugees, from operating in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

This is clearly against international law. Starvation as a weapon is not an acceptable strategy.

The Ukrainian Disaster
NY Times Announces Ukraine Narrative Change
We are now arriving at a phase where the narrative can no longer ignore the objective reality. Ukraine is losing the war. Russia is winning.
As Russia Advances, U.S. Fears Ukraine Has Entered a Grim Phase (archived) - Nov 1, 2024
Weapons supplies are no longer Ukraine’s main disadvantage, American military officials say.
> American military and intelligence officials have concluded that the war in Ukraine is no longer a stalemate as Russia makes steady gains, and the sense of pessimism in Kyiv and Washington is deepening.
...
The Pentagon assesses that Ukraine has enough soldiers to fight for six to 12 more months, one official said. After that, he said, it will face a steep shortage. What's happening on the Front?
Since the Ukrainian command had sent its best units to die in the senseless incursion of the Russian Kursk oblast, the Ukrainian frontline in the south-east deteriorated significantly. Russian forces progressed along the whole frontline. There are simply too few Ukrainian soldiers to hold the defensive positions. The increased use of Russian FAB bombs destroy Ukrainian positions and let the Russians proceed.

Of course the US election influences all these geopolitical issues.

High Stakes, US Elections 2024 w/ Robert Barnes (2 hours)

Elections, wars and Globalist panic w/ Tom Luongo on The Duran (2 hours)

The funniest line to me was when Tom compares Nuland to Jabba the Hut.

People Aren’t Garbage. Partisan Politics Is (Matt Taibbi)

The cycle was the usual nonsense. At a Donald Trump rally in Manhattan a comic called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.” Joe Biden emerged from his crypt to croak, “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters.” The Internet exploded. Reporters were dispatched around the country to gauge how much more pissed off everyone was now. ABC’s take interviewing Harris supporters in Pennsylvania was, “Voters view one another across partisan divide with increasing animosity.” They quoted humans-in-the-street, who all felt strongly. “I would say that some of them are garbage,” said Samantha Leister, 32, while Shawn Vanderheyden, 44, opined, “I just think they are uneducated, and they believe all the lies.” ABC summed up the cultural divide: “Interviews with voters in battleground states reveal that it’s only growing deeper and more insurmountable.”
Surely people know it, but this is all a trick. First, campaign writers only talk to people at campaign events, so the pool of quotes is automatically pared to holders of Very Strong Political Opinions. Second, the odd “Who cares?” answer is instinctively culled by campaign writers as commercially/politically unhelpful. Non-voters or even just people who care more about other things than Harris/Trump — UFOs, knitting, the girl in biology class — ruin the suspension of disbelief. You end up reading copy that hugely over-represents that strange subset of people who define themselves by their votes.

Color me surprised, politics is full of spin.

I found this an effective ad/endorsement/spin?

After 20 months of advocacy for the Robert F. Kennedy Jr. presidential run, here is my closing argument about how the country can see his influence manifested in Washington. (12 min)

This woman does a great Harris impersonation. She's got the laugh down.
The Kamala Harris You've Never Met ft. Estee Palti
(16 min) Host Patrick sits down with the amazing Kamala Harris impersonator Ester Paltilova (Estee Palti) in a free-wheeling improvised exchange. As political polarization intensifies, humor often becomes both a unifying force and effective coping tool. Estee (a wife and mom of young kids, and a professional nurse) drops truth bombs about the high wire walked by comedians in an era where people are quick to take offense.

I intend to vote for Jill on Tuesday... the only pro-Palestinian Jew on the ballot. I think she may do better than expected. Time will tell.
However, I find myself in agreement with Caity about voting...

My one and only position on how Americans should vote is that they should do whatever makes them feel nice, since that’s all US presidential elections are: an emotional pacifier to let the masses feel like they have some meaningful control over their country. It’s about feelings and nothing else.
If voting for Kamala Harris makes you feel nice because it lets you pretend you’re stopping fascism or protecting women and minorities or helping to secure a ceasefire in Gaza or whatever, then go right ahead. That’s what your vote is there for.
If voting for Donald Trump makes you feel nice because it lets you pretend you’re sticking it to the establishment or punishing the Democrats for their misdeeds or ending the wars or whatever, then by all means do so. This whole spectacle is exclusively about feelings.
If voting for a third party makes you feel nice because it lets you pretend there might be some answer in electoral politics or that the empire will ever allow anyone who truly opposes the abuses of capitalism, militarism and imperialism anywhere near power, then get in there and cast that vote. Whatever makes your feely bits feel nice.
Just don’t make the mistake of thinking you’re doing anything other than sucking on an emotional pacifier, because you’re not.

Perhaps I'm voting Tuesday out of habit, or sense of duty, or see it as a national obligation...I'm unsure. So vote how you want, or don't vote if you want. To my mind it is for us each to decide for ourselves.

Only 100 years ago...

I found this conversation interesting, not that I agree on all the analysis, but that I think it is worthy of consideration.
Major “Tectonic Shift” Coming:
How to Prepare for a World You Soon Won’t Recognize - Frank Giustra

Two years later, Daniela Cambone returns to Italy for an exclusive, in-depth interview with Frank Giustra, delving into pivotal global issues: the approaching U.S. presidential election, skyrocketing U.S. debt, the rise of BRICS, and the transformative power of AI, and more. Giustra delivers a stark warning: “Eventually, we're going to see a complete reset of the global monetary system.” He explains that as the U.S. dollar’s dominance erodes due to relentless inflation and money printing, mounting U.S. debt could set the stage for a new financial order—often, he notes, brought about by conflict. Giustra highlights the mBridge project, a revolutionary model in which central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) used in trade are backed by gold, as a potential standard for a new non-dollar trading system.
00:00 US election
7:03 Media’s influence
14:21 US debt
17:03 US defaults on debt
20:35 US dollar
25:50 BRICS
32:10 Alternative to the US dollar
36:07 The power of the Fed
40:19 The US economy/ job revision
47:03 America’s middle class
48:30 Geopolitics
54:20 The role of the US
1:00:00 The new world order
1:04:53 AI
1:12:35 Mining / access to resources
1:15:59 Gold
1:29:26 Bitcoin
1:37:49 Lessons and reflections
1:41:07 Seeking the Truth

So let's wrap up today with a story...
An attractive, well endowed, young woman went to the tattoo parlor and asked the artist to add a small image to her skin art. He did a nice job, and at completion she asked him what she owed him. He said why don't you show me your lovely breasts and we'll call it even. So she did.
It was a classic case of tit for tat!

Please, add your stories, ideas, and insights in the comments below.
I hope everyone in the US enjoyed their extra hour of sleep.
Have a great Sunday!