HEADLINES: 2024

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War rages in Gaza. We know that.
Civilian hardship there has long surpassed crisis level.
The U.S. has been drawn in, broadening the conflict. The U.S. has attacked Iran-backed Houthis assets which have been attacking civilian / commercial shipping.
That's noble U.S. robin hood, stabilizing global commerce, right? Perhaps. But even if so, at what cost?

The following is counterpoint, a perspective not often heard in the U.S.

OPINION | Israel War on Gaza

Houthis couldn’t stop genocide, but exposed the West’s moral bankruptcy​

They proved that the West values swift shipping at reasonable prices much more than the lives of Palestinian children.

• 
  Ahmed Twaij
  Freelance journalist and filmmaker / Published On 7 Feb 20247 Feb 2024

The British and American air strikes on Yemen since January 12, launched with support from Australia, Canada, and the Netherlands among others, demonstrate yet again how most Western nations value their money and profit much more than human life.
Israel’s devastating war on Gaza, the first live streamed genocide in history, has claimed more than 27,000 Palestinian lives, many of them children, since October 7. Most of the Gaza Strip has been reduced to rubble and over a million people have been displaced due to relentless and seemingly indiscriminate Israeli bombardment. The near-total siege on the Strip, meanwhile, brought survivors to the brink of starvation and forced doctors to perform amputations without anaesthetics using unsterile tools. In the face of this undeniable humanitarian catastrophe, Western governments took no meaningful action. In fact, both US President Joe Biden and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak repeatedly made it clear that they will continue to unconditionally support Israel’s onslaught on Gaza and efforts to “eradicate Hamas” whatever the human cost may be for the Palestinians.

In the end, it was not the killing and maiming of tens of thousands of civilians, but a number of non-fatal attacks by Yemen’s Houthi fighters on commercial ships passing through the strategically important Bab al-Mandeb Strait that sprung Western nations into action. Clearly, the dollars and pounds lost to the rapid rise in shipping costs caused by the attacks proved more valuable to the leaders of “the free world” than rivers of Middle Eastern blood. ...
more at:

Houthis couldn’t stop genocide, but exposed the West’s moral bankruptcy

They proved that the West values swift shipping at reasonable prices much more than the lives of Palestinian children.

www.aljazeera.com

How could a rational mind argue that U.S. citizens that pay federal tax are not party to this carnage?

 

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"Navalny" AP #22

Very sad.
Reminds me a bit of a written account of the murder of Rasputin. (took quite a bit of killing)

Putin tried radioactive poison on Navalny and failed.

It's been an active news week for Putin, his ships off shore Crimea, sitting ducks.
Nuke power in space.
And now murder of Navalny.

"Fight fire with fire"?
Hmmm, where in the U.S. can we find a ruthless, lawless dictator personality to run our country for us, to keep us safe? If we don't find one, Putin may be tough to trump. 'Til we find one, we'll be Biden our time.

 

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Shock and fury at a conference of world leaders over the death of Alexei Navalny​

His wife, Yulia Navalnaya, delivered an impassioned statement to thunderous applause, imploring the international community to come together: “We should fight this horrific regime in Russia today.”

Shock and fury at a conference of world leaders over the death of Alexei Navalny

His wife, Yulia Navalnaya, delivered an impassioned statement to thunderous applause, imploring the international community to come together: “We should fight this horrific regime in Russia today.”

www.nbcnews.com

 

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"Alexei Navalny wife, Yulia Navalnaya, delivered an impassioned statement to thunderous applause, imploring the international community to come together: “We should fight this horrific regime in Russia today.”" #24​

I apologize if this is too much of a stretch. I point the accusatory finger directly at U.S. President GHWB.
"The Wall" fell during his administration, and the elder President Bush allowed the former Soviet Union (chiefly Russia) to twist in the wind, a political blunder of gargantuan proportions,
PARTICULARLY for a master spy like former CIA chief George HW Bush.

What could GHWB have done instead? He could have sent a letter to Moscow, rough draft as follows:

Dear President Gorbachev:
For decades the U.S. and U.S.S.R. were locked in a mutually depleting Cold War that threatened our mutual annihilation.
That War is now over, and some might expect the victor to harvest the spoils.
But the United States of America maintains a proud tradition of welcoming our former adversaries as friends, as we have with both Germany and Japan after WWII.
Not a mere rhetorical welcome without substance or concern, but genuine, substantial peace and prosperity.

The Soviet economy was a zero sum game. For government to have more, the good people of the Soviet Union had less, and for the Kremlin to keep pace with the Pentagon, the good people of the Soviet Union were forced to have a great deal less.
As president of the United States I offer to you, to Russia and the good people that populate her, the same determined hand of friendship that it is our tradition to extend.

It will be a very long road Mr. Gorbachev, measured not in miles, but decades. Many challenges and obstacles await us in our mutual effort to welcome Russia to a far more prosperous, more comfortable, more secure future.
"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." There is no benefit to delay.The sooner we begin to rebuild, to modernize, to benefit all of Russia the better.

I have appointed a liaison team to establish communications with their counterpart working group in Russia.
This combined team can begin by establishing the objectives Russia chooses to achieve, prioritized to your preference,to be executed only upon your approval.
If any time you sense a snag in their progress, or if you simply wish to touch base to solidify mutually beneficial diplomatic relations, please feel free to contact me directly.

Both our nations have paid a price.But the wisdom of your world-class leadership is surely equal to this task that lays before us. Our liaison team has communication keys to share with yours, for their consultation with Germany, Japan, and other Western nations eager to offer constructive suggestions on how to optimize Russia's post War transition.

All best to you and Raisa.

Your partner in Russia's prosperity, with kindest regards
United States President George Herbert Walker Bush
202-456-1111

It seems Putin is waging War against the West because Putin perceives such carnage offers more to gain than to lose.
If otoh this late after the Cold War Russia were enmeshed in the globalized economy, quite likely Russia's Putin would understand Russia has more to lose than to gain my military conquest.

If Bush had done that then, would it be this way now?

 

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Aljazeera News

US says Russia developing ‘troubling’ space-based anti-satellite weapon​

“This is not an active capability that’s been deployed, and though Russia’s pursuit of this particular capability is troubling, there is no immediate threat to anyone’s safety,” US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said on Thursday.

US says Russia developing ‘troubling’ space-based anti-satellite weapon

White House says weapon is not yet operational and poses no immediate threat but puts astronauts at risk.

www.aljazeera.com

John:
If Russia splashed every artificial satellite in Earth orbit except the ISS, as long as the debris vaporized in ablative descent instead of injuring a human on the planet, that wouldn't be a "threat to anyone's safety".

What are you hiding here Kirby? A "threat to anyone's safety" is not the only risk.

 

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Alexei Navalny’s Death is Another Bloody Victory for Putin​

Russia’s most prominent opposition leader joins the long list of those who have fallen standing against a regime of ‘crooks and thieves’
BY MAC WILLIAM BISHOP

RUSSIAN PRESIDENT Vladimir Putin is on a decades-long quest to restore his country to what he views as its rightful place in world affairs, and he is willing to crush anyone who stands in his way. Putin’s regime has ruthlessly consolidated power through murder and oppression, while using unfettered militancy abroad to expand the Kremlin’s reach.

Until recently, the West has largely accommodated Putin, deluding itself that engagement and dialogue would temper his remorseless thirst for control and appetite for conquest. Western inaction, infirmity, and addiction to cheap Russian oil and gas have allowed the dictator to prevail despite a series ...

CONTINUED

 

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"Navalny’s Death is Another Bloody Victory for Putin" #27​

I was surprised at the detail investigators were able to collect after journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
They showed the airport x-ray of the saw used to dismember Khashoggi among other stunning details.

Based on Putin's record, it seems we're not likely to get much detail on Navalny's murder. But some may be amused by what detail we do have, that reportedly Navalny was likely unconscious but still alive, before finality was inflicted.
That presents Putin as a spectacular coward. Might not surprise anyone, but confirms it those that might have believed there was a bottom to the Putin moral abyss.
- nope -

 

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Perhaps the following Al Jazeera opinion doesn't quite qualify as a headline in U.S.
But it's likely to get attention in the Middle East.

OPINION

Thomas Friedman: Dehumanisation par excellence amid a genocide​

It is hardly surprising that these days, America’s leading columnist is working hard to dehumanise the people of the Middle East.
Belén Fernández / Al Jazeera columnist / Published On 17 Feb 202417

There are few American journalists who so transparently embody the United States’ pompous and demeaning approach to Arab and Muslim lands and peoples as Thomas Friedman, the foreign affairs columnist for the New York Times since 1995.
Friedman laments: “We have no counter strategy that safely and efficiently kills the wasp without setting fire to the whole jungle”.

Thomas Friedman: Dehumanisation par excellence amid a genocide

It is hardly surprising that these days, America’s leading columnist is working hard to dehumanise the Middle East.

www.aljazeera.com

Al Jazeera / Fernández is half-right, which is a polite euphemism for all wrong.
Even those that sincerely support criticism of the carnage in Gaza should understand, Israel did not request this.
It is allegedly the attack from Hamas that has resulted in this counterattack from Israel.

Fernández criticizes Israel for winning, a long-tenured objective for nations at war. "If you will the end, you must will the means to that end." George Will

This horrific carnage Fernández is not a matter of Hamas' moral rectitude, but scale of lethality.

The compounding tragedy here is that more sober diplomacy has not intervened during recent generations, to separate these notorious mortal enemies.

 

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s #29

An other side of the coin follows:

US admiral says the fight against the Houthis in the Red Sea is the largest battle the Navy's fought since World War II​

Kwan Wei Kevin Tan / Updated Mon, February 19, 2024 at 6:27 AM EST

• The Red Sea conflict is one of the largest battles the US Navy has fought in decades, a US admiral says.
• "I think you'd have to go back to World War II," Vice Adm. Brad Cooper said on CBS's "60 Minutes."
• He said the Navy had committed about 7,000 sailors to the Red Sea.

Read the original article on Business Insider

US admiral says the fight against the Houthis in the Red Sea is the largest battle the Navy's fought since World War II

Vice Adm. Brad Cooper said the US Navy had committed about 7,000 sailors to the Red Sea.

news.yahoo.com

 

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"it was not the killing and maiming of tens of thousands of civilians, but a number of non-fatal attacks by Yemen’s Houthi fighters on commercial ships passing through the strategically important Bab al-Mandeb Strait that sprung Western nations into action. Clearly, the dollars and pounds lost to the rapid rise in shipping costs caused by the attacks proved more valuable to the leaders of “the free world” than rivers of Middle Eastern blood." Twaij

Thats an agenda driven oversimplification Twaij. What's your solution? Criticize without consequence? Do you advocate negotiation? What terms would you support? Abandoning international trade?

 

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t #31

"it was not the killing and maiming of tens of thousands of civilians, but a number of non-fatal attacks by Yemen’s Houthi fighters on commercial ships passing through the strategically important Bab al-Mandeb Strait that sprung Western nations into action. Clearly, the dollars and pounds lost to the rapid rise in shipping costs caused by the attacks proved more valuable to the leaders of “the free world” than rivers of Middle Eastern blood." Twaij

"Thats an agenda driven oversimplification Twaij. What's your solution? Criticize without consequence? Do you advocate negotiation? What terms would you support? Abandoning international trade?" t #31

t #31,
Some might criticize the idea of negotiating with terrorists.
The obvious counter: doesn't make sense to negotiate with our allies, peace negotiations are conducted with enemies.
The Biden administration via Secretary Austin seems to be pressuring Israel on this already.

"The center of gravity is the civilian population. And if you drive them into the arms of the enemy you replace a tactical victory with a strategic defeat." United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin commenting the first week of December, 2023 From Simi Valley, CA on Israel's War on Hamas

Twaij's counterpoint seems to be, it's not enough, words don't outweigh deeds.

"Negotiation" seems a good idea. But with whom? Houthis directly? Iran directly? Hamas, Houthis & Iran? And what's the U.S.' opening bargaining position? And what would the U.S. consider an acceptable agreement?

 

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Mitch McConnell Is Stepping Down as Republican Senate Leader​

The longtime Republican Senate leader announced on Wednesday that he will step down from his post in November
BY RYAN BORT

Mitch McConnell is stepping down from his post leading Republicans in the Senate.

The Kentucky Republican announced on Wednesday that he’ll leave his leadership role in November. He will serve out the remainder of his term, which ends in 2027. “One of life’s most under-appreciated talents is to know when it’s time to move on to life’s next chapter,” he said in an address before the Senate. “So I stand before you today … to say that this will be my last term as Republican leader of the Senate.”

“Believe me, I know the politics within my party at this particular moment in time,” the Senate minority leader added. “I have many faults. Misunderstanding politics is not one of them.”

CONTINUED

 

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Judge says Mike Lindell must pay $5 million to man who won his 'Prove Mike Wrong' challenge

The ruling paves the way for Robert Zeidman to begin collection efforts after winning the MyPillow founder’s challenge to debunk his stolen-election claims.

www.nbcnews.com

 

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People accompany the hearse to the cemetery, chanting "Navalny"​

https://imgur.com/4NC0yDu

There's vid of the funeral as well - warning - it's VERY long and in Russian

 

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the Senate minority leader added. “I have many faults. Misunderstanding politics is not one of them.” #33​

I don't deny your political skill senator.
But my impression Senator McConnell is your skill is making rational arguments that appeal to the rational mind.
Not clear to me how useful that is in dealing with Trump.
Your absence will be conspicuous senator.

"Republican demands ..." S2 #34

And they think this time holding the U.S. economy & government hostage will be different?

Mike owes $5 $M. #35

For once it seems I'm the one that will get a good night's rest.

chanting "Navalny" S2 #36​

Some reports indicate Navalny was tortured before he died, perhaps tortured to death. Guess that shows what a brave heroic dictator Putin is.

Not sure how strong the connection, but in recent news, more reports of Putin rattling the nuclear sabre, for example, if Western troops intervene to help Ukraine.

 

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SOU
It's Joe's big night.
Some say Biden is better at governance than he is at election campaigning.
If President Biden is competent enough to recognize his own political vulnerability he may be tempted to demonstrate he's not too old for 4 more years.
The risk is that such attempt will backfire on him, confirming rather than refuting.

There may never have been a more politically consequential State of the Union address. Literally our Constitution may hang in the balance. No pressure Joe.

 

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Navy demoted Ronny Jackson after probe into White House behavior​

Ronny Jackson, the former White House physician turned GOP congressman, regularly touts his military bona fides.

“As a retired U.S. Navy Rear Admiral with nearly three decades of military service I understand the commitment and sacrifices made by servicemen and servicewomen to serve our country,” the two-term Texas representative writes on his congressional website, posted to a page listing his work on veterans issues.


But Jackson is no longer a retired admiral. The Navy demoted him in July 2022 following a damaging Pentagon inspector general’s report that substantiated allegations about his inappropriate behavior as a White House physician, a previously unreported decision confirmed by a current defense official and a former U.S. official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive personnel move.

Jackson is now a retired Navy captain, those people said — a demotion that carries significant financial burden in addition to the social stigma of stripped rank in military circles.

Despite the demotion, Jackson has continued to refer to himself as a retired rear admiral, including in statements released since the Navy reclassified him as a retired captain. Former president Donald Trump and other ...

MSN

 

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I checked here: https://www.state.gov/protocol-reference/
Not much help.

Hillary Clinton a useful example. Hillary was the First Lady of Arkansas. BUT !
She was also the First Lady of the United States. BUT !
She was also Junior U.S. Senator from New York. BUT !
She was also U.S. Secretary of State. BUT !
She was also Democrat nominee for the 2016 U.S. presidential election. So !

Which of these titles should be applied when addressing Hillary Clinton?

Generally the protocol seems to be the title of highest rank is the title to be applied.
Whether there's an exception for military demotions, I'm not sure.