The Evening Blues - 11-25-24

Submitted by joe shikspack on Mon, 11/25/2024 - 3:00pm

eb1pt12

The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: Blind Lemon Jefferson

Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features Texas blues guitarist Blind Lemon Jefferson. Enjoy!

^{Blind Lemon Jefferson - Match Box Blues}

"Idiot, n. A member of a large and powerful tribe whose influence in human affairs has always been dominant and controlling."

-- Ambrose Bierce

News and Opinion

US and European Officials Discussed Giving Ukraine Nuclear Weapons

According to the New York Times, US and European officials have discussed a range of options they believe will deter Russia from taking more Ukrainian territory, including providing Kiev with nuclear weapons. The outlet reports that Western officials believe the Kremlin will not significantly escalate the war before Donald Trump is sworn in as President in January. ...

American officials who were briefed on the intelligence community’s assessments told the Times that weapons will not alter the challenging situation that Kiev is currently facing. “US spy agencies have assessed that speeding up the provisions of weapons, ammunition and matériel for Ukraine will do little to change the course of the war in the short term,” the Times reports.

Desperate to bolster Ukraine’s standing in the war before the transition of power on January 20, the Biden administration is looking at a range of serious escalations. “US and European officials are discussing deterrence as a possible security guarantee for Ukraine, such as stockpiling a conventional arsenal sufficient to strike a punishing blow if Russia violates a cease-fire.” The article continues, “Several officials even suggested that Mr. Biden could return nuclear weapons to Ukraine that were taken from it after the fall of the Soviet Union.”

Alastair Crooke : Deep State vs Trump

Trump’s Cabinet Picks Aren’t Looking Good For Peace In Ukraine

Conventional wisdom about the outgoing Biden administration’s reckless escalations in Ukraine these past few days is that things will cool down once Donald Trump takes office, but Trump’s cabinet picks aren’t really selling this idea.

While Trump did campaign on ending the war in Ukraine, the president elect has given multiple cabinet appointments to strategists who say that the way to achieve that peace is to substantially escalate aggressions against Russia. Michael Tracey has been doing a great job compiling footage of Trump’s recent cabinet picks advocating extreme measures which happen to be in perfect alignment with the nuclear brinkmanship of the demented outgoing president and his handlers.

Sebastian Gorka, who Trump has named as his next senior director for counterterrorism, is on record saying that Trump has told him he plans on saying to Putin, “You will negotiate now or the aid that we have given to Ukraine thus far will look like peanuts.”

Sebastian Gorka, who Trump just named a Director of national security policy in the White House, says that Trump's strategy for ending the Ukraine war will include threatening Putin to provide Ukraine with exponentially more military "aid" pic.twitter.com/SB9RTWtqth

— Michael Tracey (@mtracey) November 23, 2024

Mike Waltz, who Trump has selected as his next national security advisor, promotes a similar vision. Waltz says Russia can be pressured to come to the negotiating table via increased energy sanctions combined with “taking the handcuffs off of the long-range weapons we provided Ukraine.” Biden has since removed those very “handcuffs” by authorizing Kyiv to use US-supplied long-range missiles to attack Russia.

If it seems like these remarks from Trump’s incoming administration work very nicely with the actions of the outgoing administration, then you may find it interesting that Waltz just told Fox News Sunday that the two administrations are working “hand in glove” as the presidency changes over.

“Jake Sullivan and I have had discussions, we’ve met,” Waltz said. “For our adversaries out there that think this is a time of opportunity, that they can play one administration off the other — they are wrong. We are hand in glove. We are one team with the United States in this transition.”

This would seem to be an oblique reference to Russia specifically, since that’s the only US adversary with any hope that the incoming administration might be a bit less hawkish toward it than the outgoing one, and since years of mass media coverage went into spinning narratives about Trump being a pawn of Vladimir Putin.

But Trump was never a pawn of Vladimir Putin. Contrary to the narratives of both Democrat-aligned punditry and Republican-aligned punditry while he was in office, Trump spent his entire term ramping up cold war aggressions against Russia which helped pave the way to the war and brinkmanship we are seeing in Ukraine today. Tracey recently shared an audio clip of Gorka on X Spaces back in January 2023 exuberantly boasting about the way Trump ordered the US military to kill hundreds of Russian mercenaries in Syria in 2018. Putin himself cited the Trump administration’s withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty in 2019 when defending his decision to hit Ukraine with a new type of intermediate-range missile the other day in response to its use of US- and UK-supplied long-range missiles to strike inside Russia.

Other cabinet appointments who have taken extremely hawkish positions on Russia include secretary of state nominee Marco Rubio, secretary of defense nominee Pete Hegseth, CIA director nominee John Ratcliffe, and National Security Council appointee Doug Burgum. But it’s those comments from Waltz and Gorka which I find most concerning, because they explicitly refer to escalatory strategies that Trump might employ once he takes office.

This all comes out as we get news that US and European officials recently discussed providing nuclear weapons to Ukraine under the gamble that Putin will not escalate against the west before Trump takes office. The more aligned the Trump administration’s posture toward Russia appears to be with that of the Biden administration, the less safe a gamble this appears to be.

It seems likely that the Trump administration will end the Ukraine proxy war at some point down the road in order to reallocate those resources toward preparation for war with Iran and/or China. But it is not at all clear that this will happen soon enough before soaring escalations spin out of control into the single worst-case scenario that could possibly unfold on this planet.

Netanyahu’s arrest warrant is just the beginning | Clare Daly interview

Hundreds flee north Gaza as IDF orders more evacuations amid intense airstrikes

The Israeli military has ordered the evacuation of new areas of northern Gaza, setting off a fresh wave of civilian displacements on Sunday as intense airstrikes continued across much of the territory. In Jerusalem, a senior minister said the war in Gaza was far from over and that Israel would stay “for years” in the territory. “Gaza will never be a threat to the state of Israel, no matter how long it is going to take … I think that we are going to stay in Gaza for a long time … I think most people understand that that will be years, “said Avi Dichter, a member of Israel’s security cabinet.

The Israel Defense Forces said the evacuation orders for the Shujaiya neighbourhood were issued after Palestinian militants fired rockets at Israel on Saturday from a location within the densely populated district. Hamas’s armed wing said it had targeted an army base over the border.

The IDF routinely circulates warnings by social media, pamphlets and phone calls, telling people to leave areas that will be attacked. “For your safety, you must evacuate immediately to the south,” an IDF post on X said.

Families living in the targeted areas began fleeing their homes after nightfall on Saturday and into Sunday’s early hours, witnesses and Palestinian media said. Images on social media showed hundreds leaving Shujaiya on donkey carts and rickshaws, with others, including children carrying backpacks, walking.

The humanitarian situation in northern Gaza has been described as apocalyptic by humanitarian officials, with tens of thousands suffering acute lack of water, sanitation, food and medical supplies.

Israel Has Killed Over 1,000 Doctors and Nurses in Gaza

More than 1,000 doctors and nurses are among at least 44,211 people killed in Israel's 13-month assault on the Gaza Strip, officials in the Hamas-governed Palestinian enclave said Sunday.

"Over 310 other medical personnel were arrested, tortured, and executed in prisons," Gaza's Government Media Office also said in a statement, according to Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency. "The Israeli army also prevented the entry of medical supplies, health delegations, and hundreds of surgeons into Gaza."

"Hospitals have been a declared target for the Israeli army, which bombed, besieged, and stormed them, killing doctors and nurses, injuring others after directly targeting them," the office said. The statement came after the director of the main partially functioning hospital in northern Gaza was injured in an Israeli strike.

Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, one of the last functioning in northern Gaza, has been injured in an apparent Israeli strike.

Safiya has refused to close Kamal Adwan despite Israeli strikes and raids, one of which killed his 15-year-old son. https://t.co/QHOHWWiPbj

— Evan Hill (@evanhill) November 24, 2024

Hussam Abu Safiyeh is the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital—which, according toAl Jazeera, Israeli forces have repeatedly attacked, damaging "the facility's generators, fuel tanks, and main oxygen station."

The wounded director said: "These people, they target everyone, but I swear, this will not stop us from continuing our humanitarian work. We will keep on providing this service no matter what it costs us." ...

Last month, 99 U.S. healthcare providers who have volunteered in Gaza since last fall sent U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris a letter detailing "the massive human toll from Israel's attack" and urging them to "end this madness now!"

"It is likely that the death toll from this conflict is already greater than 118,908, an astonishing 5.4% of Gaza's population," the Americans wrote. "With only marginal exceptions, everyone in Gaza is sick, injured, or both. This includes every national aid worker, every international volunteer, and probably every Israeli hostage: every man, woman, and child."

"We quickly learned that our Palestinian healthcare colleagues were among the most traumatized people in Gaza, and perhaps in the entire world," they continued. "All were acutely aware that their work as healthcare providers had marked them as targets for Israel. This makes a mockery of the protected status hospitals and healthcare providers are granted under the oldest and most widely accepted provisions of international humanitarian law."

They added that "we wish to be absolutely clear: Not once did any of us see any type of Palestinian militant activity in any of Gaza's hospitals or other healthcare facilities. We urge you to see that Israel has systematically and deliberately devastated Gaza's entire healthcare system, and that Israel has targeted our colleagues in Gaza for torture, disappearance, and murder."

Despite such appeals and accounts, the outgoing Biden-Harris administration has declined to cut off weapons to the Israeli government and earlier this week most U.S. senators from both major parties rejected a trio of resolutions from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) that would have blocked some American arms sales to Israel.

Israel And Lebanon Ceasefire Talks Come TOO LATE To Fix Biden Admin's DISASTROUS Foreign Policy

Rabbi in UAE killed in ‘antisemitic terror incident’, says Israel

Israel has said that an Israeli-Moldovan rabbi who went missing in the United Arab Emirates was killed in what it described as a “heinous antisemitic terror incident”.

Benjamin Netanyahu’s office issued a statement about the death of Zvi Kogan, who worked in the UAE for an Orthodox Jewish group called Chabad and had not been seen since Thursday.

“The state of Israel will use all means at its disposal to bring the criminals responsible for his death to justice,” the Israeli prime minister’s statement said.

Late on Sunday, UAE authorities said they had arrested three people over the attack. The Emirati interior ministry did not give further details on the suspects but said the ministry would use “all legal powers to respond decisively and without leniency to any actions or attempts that threaten societal stability”.

Earlier in the day, the UAE’s state-run news agency acknowledged Kogan’s disappearance but did not mention his reported Israeli citizenship, referring to him only as Moldovan. It is unclear exactly when and where the 28-year-old’s body was found.

Gunman dead, police injured in shooting near Israeli embassy in Jordan

A gunman was dead and three policemen injured after a shooting near the Israeli embassy in Jordan, a security source and state media said on Sunday. ...

Jordanian police had earlier cordoned off an area near the heavily policed embassy after gunshots were heard, witnesses said. Two witnesses said police and ambulances rushed to the Rabiah neighbourhood, where the embassy is located.

The area is a flashpoint for frequent demonstrations against Israel. The kingdom has witnessed some of the biggest peaceful rallies across the region as anti-Israel sentiment runs high over the war in Gaza.

Ray McGovern : Taking Russia Seriously

Project Ukraine demolishes German & UK economies

Zelenskyy fears Ukraine is ‘testing ground’ for Russian weapons amid rise in Shahed strikes

Ukraine’s president said the country had been targeted by nearly 500 drones in the past week as well as more than 20 missiles and complained that Russia was using the country as “a testing ground” for its munitions. Though Russia’s first ever use of the Oreshnik intermediate range ballistic missile on Dnipro on Thursday captured global attention, on Sunday Volodymyr Zelenskyy highlighted the increased level of Shahed drone attacks.

Fifty drones were shot down on Saturday night, out of 73, the Ukrainian president said. Over the previous week a total of 460 of the Iranian-designed drones were launched by Russia into Ukraine’s airspace, he added. ...

Ukraine says Russia has set up two factories to make the distinctive delta-winged Shahed 136 drones, called Geran-2 by Moscow, in Tatarstan, about 800 – miles from the border in Ukraine. Production amounts to “hundreds per week” said a government source in Kyiv. The drones are often fired into Ukraine as soon as they are ready, and while they remain easier to shoot down or neutralise compared to high-speed missiles, they tie up the country’s air defence and can cause serious damage with a 50kg warhead when they reach their targets.

In October, 2,023 Shahed drones were launched into Ukraine, a record according to Kyiv’s military. Last week’s figures suggest the rate of attacks continues to be similar with attacks on Kyiv and major cities a near nightly feature, tiring out civilian populations woken up by air raid alerts. Russia is continually modifying the drones to try to make them more deadly. Earlier this month, Ukraine’s military posted a video of a thermobaric warhead, which creates a fire cloud of about 2,000C when detonated, and is considered particularly lethal if it explodes inside buildings.

Oreshnik Transforms War, Zelensky Demands More Useless Air Defence, UK MoD Seethes, Russia Advances

Evo Morales speaks to The Grayzone, blames U.S. for failed assassination

Romania votes in presidential poll with nationalist and leftist vying for runoff

Romanians are casting ballots on Sunday in the first round of a presidential election that could pit a far-right nationalist against the incumbent leftist prime minister in the runoff. Thirteen candidates are vying for the presidency in the EU and Nato member country and the vote is expected to go to a second round on 8 December. ...

In the final vote George Simion, the leader of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), could face off against the incumbent prime minister, Marcel Ciolacu, backed by Romania’s largest party, the Social Democratic party (PSD).

The presidential role carries a five-year term and has significant decision-making powers in areas such as national security, foreign policy, and judicial appointments. Romania will also hold parliamentary elections on 1 December that will determine the next government and prime minister.

Simion, 38, is a vocal supporter of the US president-elect, Donald Trump, and has long been a controversial figure. He campaigned for reunification with Moldova, which this year renewed a five-year ban on him entering the country because of security concerns, and he is banned for the same reason from entering neighbouring Ukraine.

Tulsi Gabbard TERRIFIES Dems Because She'll CLEAN HOUSE At DNI: Michael Shellenberger

Trump Taps Project 2025 Architect Russ Vought for OMB: Wants to Fire Civil Servants, Deploy Military

Texas approves new Bible-based curriculum for elementary schools

The Texas board of education voted 8-7 on Friday to approve a new Bible-based curriculum in elementary schools. The curriculum, called “Bluebonnet Learning”, could be implemented as soon as August 2025 and affects English and language arts teaching material for kindergarten through fifth grade public school classes.

Teachers will have a choice to opt into the new faith-based learning curriculum, but the state is offering a financial incentive of $60 a student for participating school districts.

Parents, teachers and rights groups expressed outrage at the move that some say violates the US constitution and will alienate students and teachers of other faiths.

“The Bluebonnet curriculum flagrantly disregards religious freedom, a cornerstone of our nation since its founding. The same politicians censoring what students can read now want to impose state-sponsored religion on to our public schools,” said Caro Achar, engagement coordinator for free speech at the Texas chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. “We urge districts to reject this optional curriculum and uphold a public school education that honors the religious diversity and constitutional rights of Texas students.” ...

Bryan Henry, a local Cypress, Texas, parent and public school advocate affiliated with Cypress Families for Public Schools, said the curriculum was “just the latest example of Texas being a laboratory for Christian nationalism”. Henry added: “What I find particularly insidious about it is the fact that they are going to incentivize school districts to adopt the curriculum in exchange for extra funding at a time when the state government is starving public schools of needed money because they want vouchers for private Christian schools.”

Bernie Declares WAR On Dems - 3rd Party Coming?

the evening greens

World will be ‘unable to cope’ with volume of plastic waste in 10 years, warns expert

The world will be “unable to cope” with the sheer volume of plastic waste a decade from now unless countries agree to curbs on production, the co-chair of a coalition of key countries has warned ahead of crunch talks on curbing global plastic pollution. Speaking before the final, critical round of UN talks on the first global treaty to end plastic waste, in Busan, South Korea, this week, Norway’s minister for international development, Anne Beathe Tvinnereim, acknowledged the split that had developed between plastic-producing countries and others. She represents more than 60 “high ambition” nations, led by Rwanda and Norway, who want plastic pollution tackled over its full life cycle. Crucially, this means clamping down heavily on production. ...

This year, various researchers found microplastics in every sample of placenta they tested; in human arteries, where plastics are linked to heart attacks and strokes; in human testes and semen, adding to evidence of the ubiquity of plastics and concern over health risks. The plastics crisis is widely recognised as a threat to human health, biodiversity and the climate. ...

Fractious negotiations have seen divergent views, and countries with large fossil fuel industries such as Saudi Arabia, Russia and Iran, dubbed the “like-minded” group, have eschewed production cuts and emphasised waste management as the main solution to the crisis. Developing nations, which bear the consequences of plastic overproduction overwhelming their inadequate waste systems, are calling for global cuts.

The uncertainty dogging the talks has been exacerbated by the US position. One of the largest plastic producers, the US recently signalled it would support a treaty calling for curbs on production. But the impending return of Donald Trump, a fossil fuel advocate, as US president in January, has led to doubts.

U.N. Climate Summit Ends with a "Bad Deal" as Rich, Polluting Nations Nix $1 Trillion Finance Plan

Cop29 agrees $1.3tn climate finance deal but campaigners brand it a ‘betrayal’

Rich and poor countries concluded a trillion-dollar deal on the climate crisis in the early hours of Sunday morning, after marathon talks and days of bitter recriminations ended in what campaigners said was a “betrayal”. Under the target the developing world should receive at least $1.3tn (£1tn) a year in funds to help them shift to a low-carbon economy and cope with the impacts of extreme weather, by 2035.

But only $300bn of that will come primarily in the form they are most in need of – grants and low-interest loans from the developed world. The rest will have to come from private investors and a range of potential new sources of money, such as possible levies on fossil fuels and frequent flyers, which have yet to be agreed.

Mohamed Adow, director of the Power Shift Africa thinktank, said: “This [summit] has been a disaster for the developing world. It’s a betrayal of both people and planet, by wealthy countries who claim to take climate change seriously. Rich countries have promised to ‘mobilise’ some funds in the future, rather than provide them now. The cheque is in the mail. But lives and livelihoods in vulnerable countries are being lost now.”

Some of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable countries fought hard during two weeks of fraught negotiations at the Cop29 UN summit in Azerbaijan’s capital Baku for a bigger slice of the money to come directly from developed countries. They also wanted more of the available finance to go to the countries most in need, instead of being shared with bigger emerging economies, such as India.