"Trump indicated (to the NYT reporters) he believed that the decapitation of the Maduro regime had intimidated other leaders in the region to fall into line."
nytimes.com/2026/01/08/us/… Trump spoke to the NYT about Venezuela, what he says is complete fiction.
He says Venezuelan authorities are cooperating.
He declined to give a timeline or info about troops on the ground.
What is most significant is his undeclared fear that the operation will end up a failure.

Outstanding presentation at the conference on 'Palestine and Europe' currently taking place in Paris at the @ArabCenter_en by Mandy Turner, Queen Mary University, London, on the origins of Oct. 7 (thread)

https://x.com/les_politiques/status/1988990788064174107?s=20

In his talk at the Conference on Palestine and Europe on Nov 14 at the @ArabCenter_en, Gilbert Achcar exposes how Zionism collaborated with Hitler to advance the nationalist project in Palestine over the lives of European Jews, including children.

Mandy Turner at 'Palestine & Europe, weight of history and contemporary dynamics':
What caused Oct7? The structural cause is Israeli Apartheid, the proximal cause is Oslo with Palestinians subjected to more control, and Israel none, and the immediate cause is the Abraham Accords Mandy Turner: Oslo was transformed into a counter insurgency. Counter insurgency was used by European colonial powers to defeat anti-colonial movements.

Israel and the US are in a dilemma. They can't effect regime change, their declared goal, unless they commit troops, and neither can do this. Iran is not Iraq: It is bigger in size and population centres, it has a capable army, and it is not isolated like Saddam's Iraq. 1/ Collapse from the inside didn't happen despite many US attempts. Still the case. Mossad and MEK cells operating in Iran have no links to the political and military elite. Despite its fractious politics, the Islamic Republic's power architecture is based on solid institutions. 2/

Why the sudden flare-up between India and Pakistan ? It is not the first time we see terrorist actions in the disputed region of Kashmir. 1/ The world is disintegrating because it is collectively accepting a genocide being conducted in broad daylight and streamed on social media. If genocide is possible then everything becomes possible, including world war and global chaos. 2/

Massad Boulos, Trump's senior advisor on Arab and Middle Eastern affairs gives an extensive interview to Le Point. lepoint.fr/monde/liban-is… On Lebanon, Boulos says the country can afford to wait to elect a president and a form a new gov where the opposition should be represented. He says a 'global' solution takes into consideration the application of the ceasefire, disarmament of armed grps & economic restructuring.

The Aleppo front will not collapse for Assad but it will cause enough headache for Syria, Iran and Russia, just when Hezbollah cannot provide the kind of help it used to provide. 1/ The centre of struggle now between Israel and the Axis of resistance has shifted to Syria and Iran.
The US is fully in. It is defying Russia in Syria because it lost the plot in Ukraine. 2/

Hochstein should no longer be welcome in Lebanon.

https://x.com/samizog/status/1848090486718046229

Before Israel started its bombing campaign on Lebanon, every time Hoschstein visited Lebanon on behalf of the US and Israel, he brought threats with him. Now he brings a new wave of air strikes on Beirut. This man should be banned from Lebanon.

Trump/Kushner initiated the project of a greater Israel by transgressing the few remaining legal obligations on Israel for Jerusalem, the Golan and a Palestinian state. Biden/Harris took the same path by helping Israel in destroying the polity of the resistance to this project. It is now obvious that the American project for a 'New Middle East' passes through violating international norms and laws to make the project of a greater Israel a reality.
The project is one and the same.
This is America's second genocide.

CNN: 'A win won't be easy' for Israel in its current ground war in Lebanon.
cnn.com/2024/10/12/mid… When the IOF "launched a ground operation against... Hezbollah in southern Lebanon last week, its commanders insisted any action across the border would be “limited”... But the reality on the ground indicates it might be preparing for the possibility of a much bigger war."

The leader and the brightest star of the Resistance, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah is dead, killed by criminal Israel along with thousands of Lebanese. I have nothing but love and admiration for Nasrallah. He gave Lebanese their dignity back and for this we were severely punished. I hope Israel's lust for blood can end here, but many more will suffer and die in the coming days, weeks and months. Israel could not accept a just peace, it wants subjugation. And when it could not accept a just peace, it could not accept defeat.

Eight killed, fifty-nine wounded from the Israeli strike on Beirut today. Netabyahu wants Hezbollah to attack Israel so he can have carte blanche, unlimited supply of weapons to flatten Beirut and the South and active US intervention. Hezbollah won't give him this. But we have to expect Netanyahu escalating every day from now until the US election.

The supply chain for the exploding devices in Lebanon is looking more and more like the one for the Ammonium Nitrate that exploded in Beirut port 4 years ago: opaque shell companies all along. Israel's signature on the Beirut port explosion is becoming clearer. 1/ I guess Israel is showing all its cards now because the West has openly endorsed its terrorism and it has nothing left to lose in terms of reputation, while Netanyahu feels that the stakes are very high as now is the time to play all the cards at once. 2/

"Israel will collapse within a year if the war of attrition against Hamas and Hezbollah continues."
This is an opinion from Israel. But this is also what Nasrallah has been saying since the beginning of the war in Gaza. h/t @antipodeane
haaretz.com/opinion/2024-0… "Most of the pretentious declarations made by Def. Min. Yoav Gallant throughout the war in Gaza have proven to be groundless.
After the occupation of Gaza City, he said that Israel was in total control of the city and its tunnels, and within a short time, Hamas would surrender"

In a speech today Nasrallah describes Netanyahu's military campaign in the city of Rafah, 27 sq Km, as a failure, for what was claimed will be achieved in 2-3 weeks, hasn't been achieved yet, after 2 months and 4 days, and going. 1/ Nasrallah says Israel's military campaign failure in Gaza in general and in Rafah in particular is proof that Israel's threats to invade South Lebanon have no substance. 2/

Any response from Iran to the Israeli attack on its consulate in Damascus will be made in consultation with China and Russia, as we will be stepping in a full blown regional war should Israel respond to Iranian retaliation. 1/ So this will take time. Neither Russia, nor China, nor the US want a war between Israel and Iran, which means a regional war in the ME. So what are the options? 2/

There is a coordinated and ongoing attempt, on behalf of Israel, by its Arab allies in the Gulf, to reintroduce the divisions that existed before Oct. 7 between Hamas and Fatah, and between Hamas and allies in the Resistance. 1/ Israel conducted a genocide in Gaza and these potentates are suddenly behaving as if nothing happened, resorting to their old tricks. Why? 2/

I missed Nasrallah's speech today but I promise a thread on this today and tomorrow. It was broadcast live on PressTV X account.
twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1… Nasrallah yesterday spoke on the combined occasions of the day of the wounded, the day of the prisoners, and the birthday of Imam Hussein birthday.  Also, the day of the birth of Imam Hussein has been chosen as the day of the guardians of the Islamic revolution in Iran. 1/

I am watching the Tucker Carlson interview with Putin.

Q: why did you invade Ukraine, is it because the US and NATO might initiate (quoting Putin) 'a surprise attack on our country?'
Putin starts an answer that goes back to the foundation of Russia, the year 862. 1/ Putin: In 882, The Scandinavian dynasty who founded Novgorod began to develop the Russian state with two centres, Novgorod and kiev. 2/

Prof. Mearsheimer has previously written on South Africa's application against Israel at the ICJ:

Here he discusses Israel's arguments in response to South Africa at the ICJ with @Judgenap
mearsheimer.substack.com/p/genocide-in-…
Mearsheimer: all speakers on behalf of Israel at the ICJ tried to shift the focus from the genocide accusation to Oct. 7. This isn't going to trick the judges but it was done for propaganda purposes.

"When German politicians talk about Israel, they are really talking about themselves." (May 2020)
mondediplo.com/2020/05germany… "German-Israeli relations are rich in irony...the publications of the Springer house, which celebrated Israel's 1967 victory as a Blitzsieg, complimented Israeli gen. Moshe Dayan by comparing him to the Wehrmacht general Erwin Rommel, and denigrated the conquered Arab armies"