this post was submitted on 23 Sep 2024
189 points (97.5% liked)

news

23564 readers
758 users here now

Welcome to c/news! Please read the Hexbear Code of Conduct and remember... we're all comrades here.

Rules:

-- PLEASE KEEP POST TITLES INFORMATIVE --

-- Overly editorialized titles, particularly if they link to opinion pieces, may get your post removed. --

-- All posts must include a link to their source. Screenshots are fine IF you include the link in the post body. --

-- If you are citing a twitter post as news please include not just the twitter.com in your links but also nitter.net (or another Nitter instance). There is also a Firefox extension that can redirect Twitter links to a Nitter instance: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/libredirect/ or archive them as you would any other reactionary source using e.g. https://archive.today/ . Twitter screenshots still need to be sourced or they will be removed --

-- Mass tagging comm moderators across multiple posts like a broken markov chain bot will result in a comm ban--

-- Repeated consecutive posting of reactionary sources, fake news, misleading / outdated news, false alarms over ghoul deaths, and/or shitposts will result in a comm ban.--

-- Neglecting to use content warnings or NSFW when dealing with disturbing content will be removed until in compliance. Users who are consecutively reported due to failing to use content warnings or NSFW tags when commenting on or posting disturbing content will result in the user being banned. --

-- Using April 1st as an excuse to post fake headlines, like the resurrection of Kissinger while he is still fortunately dead, will result in the poster being thrown in the gamer gulag and be sentenced to play and beat trashy mobile games like 'Raid: Shadow Legends' in order to be rehabilitated back into general society. --

founded 4 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Image is of a Hezbollah missile attack on a military camp west of Jenin.


The situation between Hezbollah and Israel is rapidly escalating, with massive bombing campaigns on southern Lebanon by Israel predominantly on civilians (as the tunnels in South Lebanon are mostly unreachable to the Zionists, just like in Gaza), while Hezbollah and its allies respond with missile attacks predominantly on Israeli military facilities. Israel is spreading an evacuation order to the residents of southern Lebanese villages while also bombing their routes of escape and civilian infrastructure, similar to a terror tactic used widely in Gaza.

Northern Israel is currently under military censorship to hide their losses, so we get very little information other than what the Resistance provides and what videos and images get through the censors.

I don't know if Israel will dare a ground incursion soon, but it seems fairly likely in the coming days or weeks.


Please check out the HexAtlas!

The bulletins site is here!
The RSS feed is here.
Last week's thread is here.

Israel-Palestine Conflict

If you have evidence of Israeli crimes and atrocities that you wish to preserve, there is a thread here in which to do so.

Sources on the fighting in Palestine against Israel. In general, CW for footage of battles, explosions, dead people, and so on:

UNRWA reports on Israel's destruction and siege of Gaza and the West Bank.

English-language Palestinian Marxist-Leninist twitter account. Alt here.
English-language twitter account that collates news.
Arab-language twitter account with videos and images of fighting.
English-language (with some Arab retweets) Twitter account based in Lebanon. - Telegram is @IbnRiad.
English-language Palestinian Twitter account which reports on news from the Resistance Axis. - Telegram is @EyesOnSouth.
English-language Twitter account in the same group as the previous two. - Telegram here.

English-language PalestineResist telegram channel.
More telegram channels here for those interested.

Russia-Ukraine Conflict

Examples of Ukrainian Nazis and fascists
Examples of racism/euro-centrism during the Russia-Ukraine conflict

Sources:

Defense Politics Asia's youtube channel and their map. Their youtube channel has substantially diminished in quality but the map is still useful.
Moon of Alabama, which tends to have interesting analysis. Avoid the comment section.
Understanding War and the Saker: reactionary sources that have occasional insights on the war.
Alexander Mercouris, who does daily videos on the conflict. While he is a reactionary and surrounds himself with likeminded people, his daily update videos are relatively brainworm-free and good if you don't want to follow Russian telegram channels to get news. He also co-hosts The Duran, which is more explicitly conservative, racist, sexist, transphobic, anti-communist, etc when guests are invited on, but is just about tolerable when it's just the two of them if you want a little more analysis.
Simplicius, who publishes on Substack. Like others, his political analysis should be soundly ignored, but his knowledge of weaponry and military strategy is generally quite good.
On the ground: Patrick Lancaster, an independent and very good journalist reporting in the warzone on the separatists' side.

Unedited videos of Russian/Ukrainian press conferences and speeches.

Pro-Russian Telegram Channels:

Again, CW for anti-LGBT and racist, sexist, etc speech, as well as combat footage.

https://t.me/aleksandr_skif ~ DPR's former Defense Minister and Colonel in the DPR's forces. Russian language.
https://t.me/Slavyangrad ~ A few different pro-Russian people gather frequent content for this channel (~100 posts per day), some socialist, but all socially reactionary. If you can only tolerate using one Russian telegram channel, I would recommend this one.
https://t.me/s/levigodman ~ Does daily update posts.
https://t.me/patricklancasternewstoday ~ Patrick Lancaster's telegram channel.
https://t.me/gonzowarr ~ A big Russian commentator.
https://t.me/rybar ~ One of, if not the, biggest Russian telegram channels focussing on the war out there. Actually quite balanced, maybe even pessimistic about Russia. Produces interesting and useful maps.
https://t.me/epoddubny ~ Russian language.
https://t.me/boris_rozhin ~ Russian language.
https://t.me/mod_russia_en ~ Russian Ministry of Defense. Does daily, if rather bland updates on the number of Ukrainians killed, etc. The figures appear to be approximately accurate; if you want, reduce all numbers by 25% as a 'propaganda tax', if you don't believe them. Does not cover everything, for obvious reasons, and virtually never details Russian losses.
https://t.me/UkraineHumanRightsAbuses ~ Pro-Russian, documents abuses that Ukraine commits.

Pro-Ukraine Telegram Channels:

Almost every Western media outlet.
https://discord.gg/projectowl ~ Pro-Ukrainian OSINT Discord.
https://t.me/ice_inii ~ Alleged Ukrainian account with a rather cynical take on the entire thing.


(page 4) 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] refolde@hexbear.net 69 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Hate it when Zionists keep getting reasons to celebrate. Those miserable excuses for human beings deserve to be suffering all the time.

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] Evilphd666@hexbear.net 69 points 1 month ago (3 children)
load more comments (3 replies)
[–] companero@hexbear.net 69 points 1 month ago (4 children)

https://t.me/warmonitors/28214

Israel just carpet bombed a densely populated area in Beirut

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] Kieselguhr@hexbear.net 68 points 1 month ago

I've watched a couple of minutes of Aaron Máté debating hasbara on Piers Morgan, and it always amazes me how natural they try to make settler colonialism. One of the debaters was Fleur Hassan.

Fleur Hassan-Nahoum is an Israeli politician, media expert and policy maker. She currently serves as Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem in charge of foreign relations, international economic development and tourism.

Fleur Hassan-Nahoum was born in London and grew up in Gibraltar. She is the daughter of Sir Joshua Hassan, who served as the first Mayor of Gibraltar and, later, also served as the first Chief Minister of Gibraltar,[2] and his second wife, Lady Marcelle Bensimon,[3] both of Moroccan and Portuguese Jewish origin.

Hassan-Nahoum grew up bilingual, speaking Spanish and English In 2001, Hassan-Nahoum emigrated to Israel.

Imagine having to debate settlers like this during the ongoing settler colonial genocide. They condescendingly talk to you about the "generous peace deals" they offered to the Palestinians and Iran being the puppet master of Hamas and Hezbollah.

It's crazy. Fuckin mad world. Go back to London for fucks sake.

[–] Redcuban1959@hexbear.net 68 points 1 month ago (15 children)

Joe Biden says Nasrallah's assassination “is a measure of justice for his many victims”, which include Americans, and calls for the two sides to accept diplomatic agreements to end the war. “It's time for the threats to Israel to be removed and for the Middle East to have stability,” he said.

load more comments (15 replies)
[–] FortifiedAttack@hexbear.net 68 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

I find it very striking how even the American elections have become just another sideshow.

There used to be a time where Trump was the main event, now whether he wins or not doesn't even seem to have any real importance anymore.

Nothing he says can shock people when worse statements and actions have been made and taken by actors that the West openly supports.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] fever@hexbear.net 68 points 1 month ago (1 children)

The Iranian media, Mehr News Agancy, wrote:

According to the announcement of IRIB, Brigadier General Abbas Nilforooshan was martyred in Israel's attack on Beirut, alongside Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.

The Israeli regime carried out heavy airstrikes on Beirut's Dahie on Friday, leaving dozens of people killed and injured.

Hezbollah secretary-general Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah was also martyred in the Israeli strike, the Resistance Movement said in a statement on Saturday afternoon.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Wertheimer@hexbear.net 68 points 1 month ago

Truthout: Kansas City Tenants Launch National Rent Strike to Demand Federal Rent Cap

Tenant unions protesting dismal living conditions at two apartment complexes in Kansas City, Missouri, have voted to withhold rent on October 1 if their demands are not met — the opening salvo in what organizers say is the first coordinated rent strike aimed at pressuring federal regulators to cap rent increases and protect tenants from abusive corporate landlords.

...

The Tenant Union Federation said tenants organizing in North Carolina, Michigan, Illinois, South Carolina, Kentucky, Montana and Illinois are preparing to join the picket line and vote in the coming weeks on withholding rent from corporate landlords that similarly benefit from federally guaranteed financing.

[–] Evilphd666@hexbear.net 68 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Israeli fighter jets forced to flee Lebanon airspace: Hezbollah

Hezbollah says its air defence units engaged and successfully forced two Israeli aircraft to leave Lebanese airspace “using appropriate weapons” near the Lebanese towns of Hula and Meiss el-Jabal.

Fighters also targeted the Kiryat Motzkin settlement with a barrage of rockets and carried out a second round of strikes with Fadi-1 missiles.

Israel has launched waves of deadly air strikes on Lebanon since Monday, killing nearly 700 people. The international community has warned against Israeli attacks on Lebanon as they raise the spectre of spreading the Gaza war regionally.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] newacctidk@hexbear.net 68 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (4 children)

I only now checked the news today by accident, death to Israel. I feel completely sickened. Nasrallah was a greater man than any Israeli can ever be.

This is so blatantly an act of war. Lebanon is at war whether it is announced by either side or not. What will still be standing by the time troops begin moving? Maybe the whole nation will be treated like Gaza but the rubble will grind down the Israelis, but by god the death toll of that. They are losing more and more equivalents to North Vietnam or the like, a place that is secure and safe for planning operations.

The death of a leader is not game over, but if Israel can keep decapitating these organizations, an orderly and planned out resistance becomes more and more difficult.

I keep thinking of Finkelstein's story about his mother testifying against that female concentration camp guard and them walking out of the court and seeing the woman just walking around and his mother says "GET HER, THEY THINK WE ARE SHEEP" and him doing unspecified actions. Make them pay, they think you are sheep

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] CyborgMarx@hexbear.net 68 points 1 month ago

Fascist scum are bombing Tyre now

[–] Parzivus@hexbear.net 68 points 1 month ago (8 children)
load more comments (8 replies)
[–] Aru@lemmygrad.ml 67 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

The former Moroccan head of government and current secretary general of the opposition Justice and Development Party (PJD), has called for a re-evaluation of Morocco's normalisation agreement with Israel, arguing that it “no longer has any reasonable, logical or moral basis” amid the ongoing “genocide” in Gaza.

He believes that “it is necessary to reconsider the normalisation agreements between Morocco and what is called Israel.”

This comes after months of protesting from the people of Morocco, my hopes aren't that high, but better than the ignoring that has been going on since October.

New Arabhttps://www.newarab.com/news/moroccos-former-pm-says-country-should-reconsider-israel-ties

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] SoyViking@hexbear.net 67 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Russia is suing Germany, Sweden, Denmark and Switzerland at the ICJ for not living up to their international commitments to prevent terrorism over their lack of will to conduct real investigations of the Nordstream attacks:

New countries may face pre-trial claims over Nord Stream (from RIA Novosti, machine translation

Zakharova: Russia may make claims for terrorist attack on Nord Streams to new countries

MOSCOW, September 28 — RIA Novosti. Russia has filed pre-trial claims against four countries in connection with the investigation of the terrorist attacks on the Nord Stream pipeline, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told RIA Novosti.

"The Russian Federation has officially filed pre-trial claims against Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Switzerland on the basis of the 1997 International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings and the 1999 International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism," she said.

Read more...

According to the diplomat, other states that may have something to do with this terrorist attack are next in line.

She noted that the bombing of Russian export gas pipelines is a flagrant act of international terrorism, which falls under international treaties obliging states to prevent such acts, investigate their commission and cooperate with other countries to do so. But these obligations are not being fulfilled.

Thus, Switzerland, where the company operating Nord Stream is registered, did not even try to investigate the terrorist attack. Denmark and Sweden, in whose exclusive economic zones the explosions occurred, quickly closed their investigations without publishing any results. And Germany, where the end point of both gas pipelines is located, has still not reported a single positive result of the investigation, Zakharova listed.

"Moreover, the arrest warrants for suspects that Berlin recently sent out, according to its claims, were not executed and as a result, at least one suspect who was in Poland, according to the Polish prosecutor's office, managed to escape to the territory of Ukraine," the Foreign Ministry representative added.

She called the reaction of Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk , who said that anyone concerned about the progress of the investigation into the terrorist attacks "should shut up," shameless.

"The West is not interested in conducting an effective investigation into the terrorist attack, despite the colossal damage caused to the European economy and environment by the blowing up of gas pipelines," the diplomat emphasized.

Zakharova recalled that Moscow has repeatedly sent requests to European countries for legal assistance in the investigation, but they have been rejected under far-fetched pretexts or without explanation at all, which contradicts the international legal obligations of these states.

If the issue is not resolved at the pre-trial stage, Moscow intends to appeal to the International Court of Justice , the Foreign Ministry representative noted.

"Russia is firmly committed to seeking to establish and bring to strict accountability all perpetrators, organizers and accomplices of the terrorist attack. International justice is not the domain of the West; it must and will work in the interests of the entire world, including and above all in the fight against international terrorism," she concluded.

The explosions on the Russian gas pipelines Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 occurred on September 26, 2022. According to Nord Stream AG, the accident is unprecedented and the repair time cannot be estimated. The Kremlin called this emergency an act of international terrorism.

According to American journalist Seymour Hersh , the explosives under the gas pipelines were planted by American divers during the NATO exercises Baltops 2022, and three months later the Norwegians detonated them. Moreover, President Joe Biden decided on the sabotage after more than nine months of secret discussions with the national security team, as he feared that Germany , which receives gas from Russia through the Nord Streams, would not want to participate in military aid to Ukraine . Washington denies these accusations.

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] Parzivus@hexbear.net 67 points 1 month ago (9 children)
load more comments (9 replies)
[–] Awoo@hexbear.net 67 points 1 month ago (4 children)

https://archive.is/ncZAG

Interesting tidbit of information in this article:

China now has the world’s only major stock market in which state-owned companies are valued on par with those in the private sector. Individual fortunes have shrunk dramatically over the past three years; the number of billionaires has fallen 35 per cent in China, even as it rose 12 per cent in the rest of the world.

spoilerLast month, Colin Huang, founder of ecommerce powerhouse PDD, attracted the usual headlines when he rose to become China’s richest man. But shortly after, PDD surprised investors with a downbeat profit forecast. Its stock plummeted. Huang lost $14bn overnight, and ceded the top spot to Zhong Shanshan, founder of beverage giant Nongfu Spring. Within 24 hours, Nongfu Spring issued its own unexpectedly depressing outlook, and Zhong, too, soon slipped from first place on the rich lists.

On Chinese social media, chatter broke out about whether corporate leaders might be competitively devaluing their own stock prices to avoid the widening crackdown on excessive wealth, which is a centrepiece of leader Xi Jinping’s “common prosperity” campaign. It is not implausible to conclude, wrote one Wall Street broker, that “nobody wants to be the richest man in China” at a time when its government is turning more assertively socialist.

Whatever the true motive for these profit warnings, the way they were spun on Chinese social media reflects a real change in the national zeitgeist. When Deng Xiaoping became paramount leader in the late 1970s, he defanged the old Maoist hostility to wealth creation. To get rich would be “glorious” in his increasingly capitalist nation.

But there was a catch. It was glorious to get rich — just not too rich. China was generating far more wealth than other developing countries, yet its largest individual fortunes remained modest compared with those in much smaller economies, including Nigeria and Mexico. Even during the roaring boom of the 2000s, an unwritten cap seemed to remain: no single fortune would rise much higher than $10bn. China’s billionaire list was also unusual for the high rate of churn in its top ranks.

By the early 2010s, at least two tycoons had seen their net worth approach that decabillion-dollar barrier, only to land in jail on corruption charges instead. That is not to say the charges were baseless, only that the choice of targets did appear to reflect a lingering, levelling tendency among China’s leaders.

That instinct flowered anew under Xi. Coming to power in 2012, he launched a campaign against corruption that reached deep into the elite. The early targets were often public sector bigwigs — bureaucrats, Communist party princelings. With China’s economy slowing, the regime seemed reluctant to scare the one private-sector goose still laying golden eggs: big tech companies. Over the years, many Chinese would build fortunes bigger than $10bn. The first three to breach that threshold, and keep rising, were tech industry founders led by Jack Ma of Alibaba. This quiet tolerance would turn in 2020, during the stimulus-driven market boom. China added nearly 240 billionaires — twice as many as the US — but late that same year Ma made a speech that helped bring this party to a halt. In a guarded but unmistakable critique, Ma questioned the direction of Communist party rule, warning that overregulation threatened to slow tech innovation, and that Chinese banks suffered from “pawnshop thinking”.

State retaliation was swift. Alibaba’s share price collapsed. Ma tumbled down the rich lists and dropped out of public view. Early the next year, Xi launched his common prosperity campaign and the crackdown spread to any company deemed out of step with its egalitarian values. In this new era, it’s dangerous to get too rich. Stories abound of the state launching investigations against this business figure or that financier. The pressure is drying up venture capital funds, scaring the young away from lucrative professions such as investment banking. The number of millionaires leaving China has been rising and peaked last year at 15,000 — dwarfing the exodus from any other nation.

The private sector is in retreat. Since 2021, the stock market has been sliding, but state companies have grown their share of total market cap by more than a third to nearly 50 per cent. China now has the world’s only major stock market in which state-owned companies are valued on par with those in the private sector. Individual fortunes have shrunk dramatically over the past three years; the number of billionaires has fallen 35 per cent in China, even as it rose 12 per cent in the rest of the world.

China’s super-rich increasingly choose to lie low. Become the richest tycoon in the US and you might launch your own space programme. In India, you might throw gazillion-dollar weddings for your children. In China, you might look for a way to lose your new title — and the target on your back.

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] Redcuban1959@hexbear.net 67 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (7 children)

Bibi gave a speech to literally only a bunch of Israelis he brought to the UN? Wtf was that?

load more comments (7 replies)
[–] InevitableSwing@hexbear.net 67 points 1 month ago

I'm watching MSNBC and they're talking about the fighting between Hezbollah and Israel. The anchor is talking to a guy from the Such-and-Such Institute for Peace. He's used the terms "ground op", "tactically", "this could tarnish Israeli's brand", and "the deaths of innocents". Even the military guys (ex-generals and such) on CNN and MSNBC don't use lingo like that because they know it's ghoulish and creepy.

[–] FuckyWucky@hexbear.net 67 points 1 month ago

"Shoot, coward, you are only going to kill a man." - joker-che

[–] mkultrawide@hexbear.net 67 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (11 children)

Watching Iran bumble it's way through this war, I have to imagine is what it felt like to watch the post-Stalin Soviets abandon their allies one by one to fight Western dogs that got unlimited backing, out of the fear of a nuclear war with the West, until there was no one left and they were effectively encircled. All of the people driving NATO policy are the same freaks who were either in charge when the Cold War was happening, or were being groomed by them. I desperately hope they have finally learned their lesson that the West will not negotiate with them in good faith.

load more comments (11 replies)
[–] Awoo@hexbear.net 67 points 1 month ago

'In its latest statement, Hezbollah declares its official entry into the war' – Channel 12 (Israeli news)

I haven't seen this from a Hezbollah source yet but Israel are reporting it. Not sure. Could be false but uhhh kinda looks like a war to me.

[–] SorosFootSoldier@hexbear.net 67 points 1 month ago

[checks news]

Things are looking great rn and I'm really excited about the future! clueless

[–] Awoo@hexbear.net 67 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

Press Release PFLP

🔴 The Popular Front: The enemy is spreading illusions and lies, and the resistance is based on solid ground and strong will

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine confirmed that what the enemy and its terrorist army are doing is committing massacres against civilians and destroying civilian infrastructure, and there is no truth to the lies and illusions it is spreading about undermining the capabilities of the resistance, whether in Palestine or Lebanon.

The Front explained that the resistance's responses and operations in all fields prove that they are based on solid ground and a strong, unyielding will, and a sincere, steadfast incubator that time rarely produces in terms of loyalty, sincerity, sacrifice and redemption.

The Front stressed that the enemy is trying to sell illusions that no one else will buy, similar to its talk about destroying most of the resistance's missile capabilities or its talk about the end of the Gaza resistance, which was confirmed by the resistance operations in recent days despite the horror of the crimes committed by the occupation against our people and our people.

The Front saluted the heroes of the resistance in all arenas, especially the brothers, comrades in blood and field, in Hezbollah, who stood firm in the face of our enemy's criminal attack, and responded to the aggression with determination and strength.

The Front stressed that what is required today from the masses of our nation and our peoples, and the free and struggling people around the world, is to escalate the struggle against the forces of aggression and the parties supporting our criminal enemy, and to strengthen support for the resistance, its incubators, and our steadfast people rooted in their land.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine

Central Media Department

September 24 2024

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] LargePenis@hexbear.net 67 points 1 month ago (2 children)

I'm on a little writing spree, so you're getting part two already. Sorry for no proofreading ofc.

The Rise of the Collective Shia Identity: Part Two

We continue the story around 15 years later, we’re now in the early 90s. Three significant events have taken place in the modern Shia story. The first and the most significant is the Islamic Revolution in Iran, the second is the Iraq-Iran War, the third is the formation of Hezbollah in South Lebanon and the real start of the Shia Lebanese story. We have to start with the Islamic Revolution. I won’t go into the details of how the Revolution happened and why it happened, but I will talk about what it meant at the time and what the consequences were. I will sum the events of the Revolution in three sentences. Mass protests break out in Iran against the Shah’s repression and economic inequality, which slowly takes a more Islamist character in opposition to the Shah’s pro-Western secular regime. The Islamization of the protests meant that some sort of spiritual leadership had to rise, Ayatollah Khomeini who was exiled in Paris becomes the spiritual leader and he manages to unify all sectors of the protest movement under his leadership. He then returned to Iran as the unopposed leader of the movement in the ending stage of the revolution and then consolidated the revolution in his vision of the new Iran working under his system of Wilayat al Faqih.

The success of the revolution in Iran led to the formation of the first modern Islamic state which draws its legitimacy from Shia Islam. Sykes-Picot created only kingdoms as in the Gulf and Iraq, and semi-functional weak republics like Syria and Lebanon. The establishment of Islamic Republic was significant on several levels. It was the first popular revolution which established an Islamic Republic, unlike the revolutions in states such as Egypt and Iraq, where military dictatorships were founded instead of the old comprador kingdoms. It also marked the end of nearly 2500 years of hereditary rule in Iran and old Persia. The events of the Islamic Revolution were frightening for the Gulf monarchies and for Iraq, as they realised the threat of Shia Islamism within their borders. One of Khomeini’s first promises after the success of the revolution was exporting the experience to other nations where “disbelievers” were in power and where Shias were barred from participating in controlling their destiny. The first seeds of a “Shia International” were planted by Khomeini very quickly. Shias in Iraq were very emboldened by Khomeini’s success, and political activities by the banned Dawa Party accelerated in late 1979 and early 1980, which ended after the execution of Muhammed Baqir Al Sadr in Iraq in 1980. If you were a Shia Islamist in Iraq in 1975 for example, you had nowhere to go, but if you needed to flee in 1980, you suddenly have a massive Shia neighbour that not only allows you to come as a refugee, but also fully supports your political activities and gives you weapons.

Saddam decided to not wait for the inevitable confrontation with the Islamic Republic of Iran and started a massive war in late 1980. The Iraq-Iran war is the most important moment in the formation of the “Shia International” and the formation of the first fully ideological generation of young Shias that would later change the world. Literally every single influential Shia character of the last 30 years had some degree of interaction with Ayatollah Khomeini or Muhammed Baqir Al Sadr or fought in the Iraq-Iran War. Qassem Soleimani fought in the war. Hadi Al Ameri, leader of Badr Brigades in Iraq fought in the war. Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah was a 16-year-old student under Al Sadr. The Houthi family lived in Qom in Iran after the revolution. Ali Khamenei was President of Iran during the war. Abu Mahdi Al Muhandis fought in the war. Even current president of Iran Masoud Pezeshkian fought in the war. Abdul Aziz Al Hakim, son of former Shia Grand Marja Muhsin Al Hakim fought in the war and later become president of Iraq for one month under the American occupation. Musa Al Sadr’s niece was married to Khomeini’s son Ahmed and Musa’s son was married to Khomeini’s granddaughter. The war itself was not that eventful, with both sides mostly in deadlock for eight years. The relevant part of the whole war was basically four battles. Iraqi capture of Khorramshahr and then the Iranian liberation of the city. Then the Iranian capture of Al Faw and the Iraqi liberation of the area. The Gulf monarchies went crazy in their support of Saddam during the war and gave him lots of money, mainly because they really wanted the defeat of Iran without shooting a bullet, which reminds us of a certain Ukrainian comedian who is getting duped now in a similar way.

The culture around the war is the most important part in the formation of the modern Shia identity in my opinion. In Christianity, the defining moment for the religion is the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, which presents Jesus as the ultimate sacrifice of humanity and the image of him bleeding on the cross is etched into the mind of every Christian. For Shia Muslims, the martyrdom of the grandson of Prophet Muhammed Imam Hussain and the wholesale murder of his entire family holds even more emotional value than the crucifixion of Jesus Christ does for Christians, because there’s no happy ending here and no Ascension to the sky. Hussain was slaughtered, his father Ali ibn Abu Talib had his skull shattered while leading morning prayers, and every single Imam was murdered in Shia beliefs. What the Iraq-Iran War did was a complete revival of the tradition of martyrdom in Shia Islam and the commemoration of martyrs became not only just an accepted practice, but also encouraged by the Iranian state. Iranian fighters that were deployed to the front wore headbands with Shia slogans such as “Ya Hussain”, “Ya Zahra” and “Ya Mahdi”, clerics held Qurans over the heads of the fighters when they were boarding trains and trucks to the front, and fighters didn’t only receive combat training at camps before reaching the front, but they also received religious lessons about the sacrifices of Hussain and his family and participated in the first sessions of state-sponsored “Matams” in modern history, where poems about martyrdom were recited while the religious Shia beat their chests. The official “music” of the Iranian state was no longer Googoosh in her skirt performing Persian Pop for the son of the Shah in his birthday party, but it was militarised and Islamised and became stuff like “Karbala Ma Darim” (“Karbala we’re coming”, a reference to the holy city of Karbala) and “Mamad Naboodi Babini” (“Mohammed you didn’t see it”, a reference to an Iranian solider that played a heroic role in the battle of Khorramshahr, but was martyred a few days before the liberation of the city). The names of the streets were changed, the names of metro stations were changed, the names of the city squares were changed. Pahlavi Street became Shahid Bahonar Street, the Tehran Metro now has over 15 stations named after some martyr, mostly from the Iraq-Iran War and the revolution. This complete transformation of Iranian society led to the creation of the concept of the Resistance itself in those years. What is the Iraq-Iran War called in Persian? Difaa e-Muqaddas, Holy Resistance.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] Awoo@hexbear.net 67 points 1 month ago (11 children)

China publicly test launches ICBM for the first time in decades

spoilerhttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gl843l90zo

China's long-range missile test sparks concerns

China says it carried out a rare test-firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) into international waters, sparking protests from neighbouring countries.

The launch on Wednesday – its first in more than 40 years - was “routine” and not aimed at any country or target, according to Beijing. Chinese media reported the government also gave “relevant countries” notice.

But Japan said it had not received a warning and expressed concerns, along with Australia and New Zealand.

The launch contributes to tensions across the Indo-Pacific region, with analysts saying it highlights China's increased long-range nuclear capabilities.

The US warned last year that China has built up its nuclear arsenal as part of a defence upgrade. An intercontinental ballistic missile can travel more 5,500km - putting China within striking range of the US mainland and Hawaii.

But Beijing’s arsenal is still estimated at less than a fifth of the size of the US's and Russia’s, and China has long maintained that its nuclear maintainance is only about deterrence.

On Wednesday, Beijing announced that the long-range missile was fired at 08:44 local time (04:44 GMT). It carried a dummy warhead and landed in the designated area - believed to be in the South Pacific.

Beijing's defence ministry added the test launch was "routine" and part of its "annual training".

But analysts said China was last known to have test-fired an ICBM internationally in the 1980s. Typically, it tests internally - having previously fired ICBMs west into the Taklamakan Desert in the Xinjiang region.

“This sort of testing is not unusual for other countries, including the United States, but is for China,” nuclear missile analyst Ankit Panda told the BBC.

China’s “ongoing nuclear modernisation” already has resulted in substantial changes, he said. This launch now appears to also show a change in its approach.

It has sparked immediate reaction from other countries. Japan said it had received “no notice” and expressed “serious concern” about Beijing’s military build-up.

Meanwhile, Australia said the action was "destabilising and raises the risk of miscalculation in the region” and that it had sought “an explanation” from Beijing. New Zealand called it “an unwelcome and concerning development”.

Mr Panda said he doesn't believe China’s actions were primarily designed to send a political message - “but no doubt this will be a stark reminder to the region and to the US that nuclear dynamics in Asia are quickly changing”.

Other analysts went further, saying it was another wake-up call for the US and its allies in the region.

“To Washington, the message is that direct intervention in a conflict across the Taiwan Strait would involve the American homeland being vulnerable to attack,” said Leif-Eric Easley, an international relations professor at Ewha Women's University in South Korea.

For US allies in Asia, the “provocative test… demonstrates China’s capabilities to fight on multiple fronts simultaneously," he added.

"Timing is everything," Drew Thompson, a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, wrote on X.

"[China's] statement claims the launch does not target any country, but there are high-levels of tension between China and Japan, Philippines, and of course perpetual tension with Taiwan."

While the relationship between Beijing and Washington has improved in the past year, China's increasing assertiveness in the region remains a sticking point. Tensions have ramped up between China and the Philippines as their ships have repeatedly collided in disputed waters.

Last month, Japan scrambled fighter jets after it accused a Chinese spy plane of breaching its air space, a move that it called "utterly unacceptable".

Beijing's relationship with self-governed Taiwan is another source of strain.

Taiwan's defence ministry said earlier on Wednesday that China had been carrying out "intensive" missile firing and other drills recently. The same statement noted that it detected 23 Chinese military aircraft operating around Taiwan on "long-range missions".

Beijing routinely sends ships and aircraft into Taiwanese waters and airspace, called a "greyzone warfare" tactic meant to normalise the incursions.

In July, China suspended its nuclear arms control talks with Washington, in retaliation for the US's continued arms sales to Taiwan.

The US last year warned of China's nuclear modernisation although its numbers still far short of Washington's. The Pentagon estimated that China has more than 500 operational nuclear warheads in its arsenal, of which approximately 350 are ICBMs.

The report projected that China will reach over 1,000 warheads by 2030; the US and Russia each say they possess more than 5,000 warheads.

There also have been conflicts around the Chinese military’s Rocket Force, the elite unit managing its nuclear arsenal. An aggressive anti-corruption campaign led to the firing of two of its leaders last year.

[–] Leper_Messiah@hexbear.net 68 points 1 month ago (7 children)

Chinese media reported the government also gave “relevant countries” notice.

But Japan said it had not received a warning and expressed concerns, along with Australia and New Zealand.

lmao data-laughing

load more comments (7 replies)
load more comments (10 replies)
[–] Redcuban1959@hexbear.net 66 points 1 month ago

It seems that there have been talks between the governments of Colombia, Chile and Brazil and the Lebanese government to evacuate their civilians from there (I believe that Brazil has the largest Lebanese diaspora in the world, along with Japanese and Italian immigrants). All these governments have already condemned Israel's bombings and Pager/Walkie Talkie explosions.

[–] sempersigh@hexbear.net 66 points 1 month ago (2 children)

His death has been confirmed

Statement issued by Hezbollah:

In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful “So let those who exchange the life of this world for the Hereafter fight in the cause of God. And whoever fights in the cause of God and is killed or overcomes, We will give him a great reward yum﴾ God Almighty has spoken the truth

His Eminence the Master, the Master of Resistance, the righteous servant, has moved to the side of his Lord and His pleasure as a great martyr, a brave, heroic leader, a wise, insightful and faithful believer, joining the immortal caravan of martyrs of the luminous Karbala in the divine journey of faith in the footsteps of the prophets and martyred imams. His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Secretary General of Hezbollah, joined his great and immortal martyrs, whose journey he led for nearly thirty years, during which he led them from victory to victory, succeeding the master of the martyrs of the Islamic Resistance in 1992 until the liberation of Lebanon in 2000 and until the divine, sustaining victory in 2006 and all the other battles of honor and redemption, until To the battle of support and heroism in support of Palestine, Gaza and the oppressed Palestinian people.

We offer our condolences to the owner of the era and time (may God bless him and grant him peace), the Guardian of the Muslims, Imam Sayyed Ali Khamenei, may his shadow be long, the great authorities, the Mujahideen, the believers, the nation of resistance, our patient and Mujahid Lebanese people, the entire Islamic nation, all the free and oppressed in the world, and his honorable and patient family, and we congratulate His Eminence the Secretary General of Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah Radwan. May God grant him the highest divine honors, the Order of Imam Hussein, peace be upon him, fulfilling his most precious desires and the highest levels of faith and pure belief, as a martyr on the road to Jerusalem and Palestine. We condole and bless his fellow martyrs who joined his pure and sacred procession following the treacherous Zionist raid on the southern suburb.

The leadership of Hezbollah pledges to the highest, holiest and most precious martyr in our journey, full of sacrifices and martyrs, to continue its jihad in confronting the enemy, in support of Gaza and Palestine, and in defense of Lebanon and its steadfast and honorable people.

And to the honorable mujahideen and the victorious and victorious heroes of the Islamic resistance, and you are the trust of the beloved martyr, and you are his brothers who were his impregnable shield and the crown jewel of heroism and redemption. Our leader, His Eminence, is still among us with his thought, spirit, line, and sacred approach, and you are in the pledge of loyalty and commitment to resistance and sacrifice until victory.

Saturday 9/28/2024 24 Rabi’ al-Awwal 1446 AH

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] SeventyTwoTrillion@hexbear.net 66 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Amal Saad, scholar of Hezbollah:

We have to stop calling Israel’s current military-security-terrorist campaign against Lebanon an escalation and start calling it a war. Not total war without ceilings yet, but war, nonetheless. Israel’s “shock and awe” offensive pursues short term tactical gains to make up for its strategic losses, while Hizbullah is aiming for longer term strategic objectives despite some tactical losses it has endured over the past week.

Israel's "fleeing forward" strategy comes with several unrealistic objectives, none of which are likely to be achieved:

  • pushing Hizbullah to retreat from the border and end its support front with Gaza
  • expel and displace people from South Lebanon to potentially use as a bargaining chip to return settlers to the North
  • demoralise and break the resolve of Resistance fighters and the Resistance community
  • significantly degrade Hizbullah’s military capabilities

The farcical claim that Lebanese households are harbouring cruise missiles is such a transparently absurd, lazy and crudely constructed Israeli fabrication that it appears to serve no purpose beyond being a tactic of blackmail to pressure Hizbullah into capitulating to Israel’s demands. Thus, when Israel claimed today that it struck a record 1,600+ “Hizbullah sites, mostly weapons stored within homes,” yesterday, this was an admission that it had surgically killed and displaced over 1600 families.

Since Israel’s mass terrorist offensive last Tuesday, Hizbullah’s strategy has been to escalate both horizontally, by widening the scope of attacks across Israel, and vertically, through intensified strikes and the introduction of new weapons, while holding back its advanced missiles for now. In doing so, it has extended the de facto security zone it established in northern Israel, reaching as far as Haifa, and increasing the number of displaced Israelis from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands.

Hizbullah has limited its strikes to key strategic military targets, such as military installations and weapons factories, avoiding civilian targets and infrastructure, even as Israel persists in committing war crimes against Lebanese civilians. While Israel’s approach has been one of displacement and massacre, Hizbullah’s strategy has focused on displacement and paralysis. Its Resistance forces aim to weaken the IDF’s resolve and erode the resilience of Israel's home front through a strategy of combined military and economic attrition. Whether or not Hizbullah will escalate further by targeting civilian objects in Israel and risk unleashing Israel’s firepower against Beirut remains to be seen. This decision will likely depend on Hizbullah’s perception of a strategic need to retaliate rather than a desire for vengeance.

Hizbullah's ability to rebound from the pager attacks and the assassination of its senior commanders is a testament to its operational capability and its resilience in absorbing shocks to its command-and-control structure. Should Israel attempt a ground invasion of South Lebanon to create a buffer zone, Hizbullah will welcome it, as Nasrallah stated in his recent speech. This is where Hizbullah’s true strength lies: in close combat and preventing occupations. IDF troops would become sitting ducks for the Resistance’s advanced hybrid warfare tactics.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] AssortedBiscuits@hexbear.net 66 points 1 month ago (10 children)

Since people have been talking about nukes lately, if the IOF dropped a tactical nuke in southern Lebanon, how would people conclusively proof that a tactical nuke was actually dropped assuming that:

  1. The Zionist entity lies about dropping the tactical nuke with a shit-eating grin

  2. The US covers up the tactical nuke by falsifying radiation readings from their satellites

  3. The US accuses the radiation readings picked up by Russian/Chinese/Iranian satellites of Russian/Chinese/Iranian disinformation

I guess my question is how obvious would it be that a tactical nuke was dropped instead of just a really large conventional bomb assuming you couldn't rely on detecting radiation from the crater?

load more comments (10 replies)
[–] QuillcrestFalconer@hexbear.net 66 points 1 month ago

Settlement in Jerusalem got it by hezbollah and lost power

[–] PorkrollPosadist@hexbear.net 65 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (12 children)

Ken Klippenstein has been banned from Twitter for publishing the J.D. Vance dossier. my-hero

(it's >200 pages, but from a glance it mostly seems to be a paper trail of his "liberal ties" and being a "never-trumper." Very much opposition research targeted at right wingers)

load more comments (12 replies)
[–] Awoo@hexbear.net 65 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

BBC correspondent in Haifa:

Massive destruction in Haifa, and the size of the missiles is large. It is not possible to talk about the large number of dead and wounded (due to military censorship). Haifa is witnessing a large displacement, while the mayor appeals not to evacuate Haifa

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] ThomasMuentzner@hexbear.net 65 points 1 month ago (13 children)

So Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, believes that Iran should not get involved in a large-scale war.

Which means that Israel will kill him soon.

load more comments (13 replies)
[–] Evilphd666@hexbear.net 65 points 1 month ago (5 children)

Just saw a Trump ad fear mongering over public funding of transgender sugeries in prisons.

cheeto-man really has no real policy beyond scapegoating minorities and pearl-clutch

load more comments (5 replies)
[–] AssortedBiscuits@hexbear.net 65 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Otherwise mid article that tells us nothing new, interesting, or important except for the last paragraph:
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202409/1320119.shtml

Multiple aerial bombs exploded around the camp of China's 22nd batch of peacekeeping troops in Lebanon on Thursday. The shockwaves and debris from the explosions damaged some facilities in the camp, but fortunately no one was injured, China Central Television reported on Saturday. The troops were in the midst of their daily peak physical training at the time of the explosions, and the bombing took place just 730 meters away from the camp, the report said.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Torenico@hexbear.net 64 points 1 month ago (8 children)

I'm out of words. Piece of "content" shared by milei on his social media lmfao, be aware of the insane levels of cringe

it reads:

"Damn"

"We are totally fucked"

"Relax, Elon"

"You're not alone. We'll fight together"

It's 95% AI generated lmao, the world is completely wrong. There's a HUGE CUBA, europe is no more (good ending) and there's commies everywhere plus massive Palestine.

load more comments (8 replies)
[–] InevitableSwing@hexbear.net 64 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

It's the top of the hour so I checked cable news to see coverage about Lebanon.

  • CNN. They're covering it right now.
  • MSNBC. Presidential election news. I shouldn't be surprised but holy fuck.

---

Edit 1

It's 11 minutes past the top of the hour - MSNBC is still doing presidential election news. They're surely doing that all the way to the first ads of the hour.

---

Edit 2

Sorry, Onion. MSNBC puts the Onion News Network to shame.

It's the top of the next hour and I went back to MSNBC. They actually covered the situation in Lebanon starting with "Now we go to Tel Aviv..." which is unsurprising but darkly funny. And then their correspondent and the anchor talked about the "possibility for destruction on both sides" for two whole minutes before the anchor segued with "The DNC is taunting Trump to participate in a second debate..."

[–] thelastaxolotl@hexbear.net 64 points 1 month ago (1 children)

The death of Nasrallah will probably to lead to the election of a more radical leadership since he was a moderate back when he became general secretary, we will have to wait and see which faction wins, maybe a Sinwar like character ends up taking over.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] AssortedBiscuits@hexbear.net 64 points 1 month ago

BURKINABÉ CREATES FIRST 100% AFRICAN TYRE BRAND:
https://xcancel.com/african_stream/status/1839271402647457995

A young man from Burkina Faso named Yannick Laurent Bado has created the first fully African-owned tyre brand, JEPEB. The company is set to produce 40,000 tyres per year that can handle rough African roads and off-road terrain for the African market which, up until now, has been dominated by imports.

load more comments
view more: ‹ prev next ›