When we talk about a politics rooted in the “movements” and “neighborhoods” and “communities” built “from the bottom up”, it all sounds so wholesome and democratic. But what it can amount to in practice is a left that is globally ignorant, and easily manipulated by the empire. /1 We should try to build a left whose cadres know as much about what is happening in East Asia and West Asia and Africa and Latin America as they know about US working class communities, and understand how it is all connected. /2

Scorecard

• Palestinian achievements:

1. Damage to the morale and material strength of the IDF ground forces.

2. Massive damage to the international reputation of Israel.

3. Israeli officials, businesses and citizens now face legal, commercial and social threats globally. /1 4. Increased political discord inside Israel.

5. Social insecurity and demoralization leading to some emigration and disenchantment with the Zionist project. /2

My beliefs:

1. Netanyahu and other top Israelis are happy Trump won.
2. Trump has staffed his security state with extreme Zionists.
3. There is no “rift” between Trump and Netanyahu.
4. This ceasefire was designed to roll out in conjunction with the Trump inauguration.

/1 5.Witkoff did not “force” Netanyahu to accept this pre-arranged deal.
6.Trump did not lay his thing down on Israel and press stories of the Israeli governments chagrin are fake and planted.

/2

It’s completely ludicrous for western left observers to criticize a single member of the Resistance. The Resistance has stood alone against a genocidal and psychopathic regime while most of the west has looked on at the horror voyeuristically. /1 Hezbollah harassed Israel from the north, and prevented the Zionists from making any ground gains in Lebanon, even while the genocidal regime blew them up with sabotaged pagers, assassinated their leaders and obliterated civilian neighborhoods. /2

US Democratic Party progressive wing:

First they said, “Don’t say, ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!’ Just say. ‘Peace now.’”

/1 Then they said, “Don’t say ‘Boycott, divest and sanction!’ Just say, ‘Humanitarian pause now. Let the aid in.’”

/2

OK, my advice? Not many political movers and activists in the US seem to want to hear this message, but here goes:

/1 There are about 2 billion Muslims in the world, 1.5 billion Chinese, 1.5 billion Indians, 1.4 billion Africans. These people are smart, youthfully energetic and optimistic, hard-working, hungry for progress … AND they know how to cooperate for the mutual good. /2

Democrats like the Clintons are prepared for both a Harris win and a Harris loss. If they lose, they will immediately move to capture and co-opt opposition to Trump by dangling rhetorical bait that hooks naive progressives, but moves them in an awful direction. /1 I’m sure such a movement is already fully funded and astroturfed, and ready to roll out. Possibly it will be another version of the Resistance™️/Pussy Hat Rebellion, where all of Hillary Clinton’s hateful paranoia and murderous xenophobia is gussied up as a “women’s movement.” /2

I really don’t see the US as a “revisionist” power as per @adam_tooze and @RnaudBertrand here. The US is a typical expansionist imperial power that has always sought to expand its order, not just protect and preserve it. /1

https://twitter.com/rnaudbertrand/status/1844575114937106467

Expansionism has been part of the US orientation to the world since its founding. The expansion has come in several dynamic and violent phases: first westward and continentally, then into what we now call the global south. Then the postwar reduction of Europe to vassalhood. /2

Everything about what Israel is doing in Gaza, and increasingly the West Bank, makes sense if you understand their military operation as a genocidal ethnic cleansing operation, not a war, and in turn part of their long-term ethnic cleansing operation for all of Palestine. /1 In a war, the goal is to engage and defeat enemy fighters. Civilians, the non-combatants, are in the way. Some are killed and become “collateral damage”, but killing them is not the main goal. Defeating the fighting force is the main goal. /2

Vietnam is about 930 times the size of Gaza. Algeria is more than 6,500 times the size of Gaza. Gaza is about the size of Bakersfield, California. Israel and its US big brother are working together to totally obliterate it. /1

https://twitter.com/nour_zeidan/status/1827776339329654802

They will succeed unless they are thwarted by many people coming to Gaza’s aid. Some are. The regional resistance in Lebanon, Iran and Yemen are helping heroically. But we in the United States and the west must also act to resist and stop our own governments. //2

Don’t people get it? We are ALREADY in fascism.

• The Governor of California was just filmed personally dismantling the dwellings of the destitute.

• One of the best universities in Florida just purged its library of books deemed ideologically offensive.

/1 • We are all under constant surveillance.

• One of our parties is nominating a candidate who received no votes and might not even release a policy platform.

• The other party openly endorses theocracy, fascist policing, white supremacism and deportation of its enemies.

/2

I’ve been telling people that Harris is planning to run to Trump’s right on Palestine. Don’t believe me? Here’s how:

/1 First, they roll out Russiagate and the second impeachment again, which still fires up liberals and has had some staying power where Trump is concerned.

/2

Remember the South Africa ICJ case: They presented abundant evidence, based on statements of Israeli officials, of Israel’s genocidal intent in Gaza. /1 That was months ago, and since then we have had numerous other public statements, leaked statements and poll results giving evidence of the widespread determination in Israel, both in the government and among the general public, to wage a genocidal campaign against Gaza. /2

I want to review, so there is no misunderstanding about my position.

As I have said from the beginning, it is my view that the goal of Israel’s military operation in Gaza is to ethnically cleanse Gaza. /1 The goal is not to fight and win a “war against Hamas.” The goal is also not to rescue the hostages. The war against Hamas is a cover story, and the hostages are a prop. /2

With respect, I think @RnaudBertrand is overthinking this. Yes, we all know the agenda of Carlson and other likeminded portions of the American right with respect to China. /1

https://twitter.com/rnaudbertrand/status/1755782272098488350

But the important thing right now is to end the atrocious war in Ukraine, which has probably killed half a million people, and is threatening to drag even more Ukrainian cannon fodder into the doomed proxy struggle. /2

Israel cannot be resisted effectively if its strategic goals are not understood. The point of its ongoing operation is not to defeat Hamas or recover its hostages. Nor is it merely to inflict collective punishment. /1 Israel’s goal is to eliminate permanently the presence of Palestinian people and Palestinian civilization from the territory of Gaza. //2

The Israelis are not carrying out “indiscriminate” bombing. They are executing a ruthless and well-planned ethnic cleansing operation. In the coming years we will learn how this plan was put together. The plan has surely existed for a long time, but 10/7 provided the pretext. /1

https://twitter.com/danmkervick/status/1721686985859899594

Destroying mosques and churches are not random acts of impulsive vengeance. Places of worship are among the key structures attaching people to a geographical community. If you are trying to remove people from a place, you destroy what attached them to that place. /2

The Israelis are conducting a massive ethnic cleansing campaign. They have already murdered more Palestinians in this operation than were killed in the 1948 Nakba. /1 And there is very good reason to think that when it is over, they will have displaced more than the 750,000 who were displaced by the Nakba. /2

I’m losing my mind. It seems so hard to get through to some people. I not talking about crazed Zionists. They are always the same. I’m talking about zombified normies who seem incapable of grasping and responding to what is happening.

Some normie clichés I’ve come to hate:

/1 “I’m worried Israel doesn’t have plan for the day after.”

(Yes, what, oh what will they do the day after they finish committing GENOCIDE?)

/2

The US and NATO wanted this war. They created the conditions for it for years. They interfered in Ukrainian domestic politics to subvert its elected government and get pro-west nationalists in charge. They sabotaged all efforts at a peaceful diplomatic settlement. /1 The reason they did this is because they expected east victory and Russian regime change. They though a combination of western weapons and sanctions would bring Putin down and Russia to its knees. /2

Where do liberals get their military analysis of the war in Ukraine? I ask this because they always seem convinced the war is “going badly” for Russia. I think many of them honestly believe that. Where do they come by this analysis? /1 Based on the analysis I read and listen to, this is the picture I have:

First, Russia has annexed for Ukrainian regions. They seem to be holding them successfully, and have built massive fortifications and three lines deep defensive lines. /2