3 fmr #UnitedStates foreign policy ofcls in Trump's admin met w/ Benjamin Netanyahu & other public figures in #Israel on Mon….
The delegation was comprised of Robert O'Brien, who served as Trump's 4th & final #NationalSecurity adviser, as well as fmr Ambassador to the #UAE John Rakolta & fmr Ambassador to #Switzerland Ed McMullen….
In addition to #Netanyahu, the #Trump delegation met Israeli opposition ldr Yair Lapid & several other Israeli ofcls….
[They say] Among the main goals of the trip was to obtain a better understanding of #Israel's domestic #political situation…. Netanyahu's coalition is beset by internal disagreements, w/many Israelis blaming his govt for failing to prevent the #Hamas attack.
…[the meeting] took place amid strains between Israel & the #Biden admin about Israel’s conduct …in #Gaza.
#Russia’s Foreign Ministry has been drawing up plans to try to weaken its Western adversaries, including the #UnitedStates, & leverage the #Ukraine#war to forge a global order free from what it sees as American dominance, acc/to a secret Foreign Ministry document.
The doc for the 1st time provides ofcl confirmation & codification of what many in the Moscow elite say has become a hybrid #war against the West. #Russia is seeking to subvert Western support for #Ukraine & disrupt domestic #politics in the #UnitedStates & European countries, thru #propaganda campaigns supporting #isolationist & #extremist policies….It is also seeking to refashion #geopolitics, drawing closer to #China, #Iran & #NorthKorea in an attempt to shift the current balance of #power.
Wait, what? So Israel can break international law with impunity, bombing whoever it likes, but if they bomb your Embassy in a third country, you get sanctioned?
I'd like to see this theory tested on a country that isn't Iran.
@Nicovel0 And then there's the British Embassy attack in Iran, 2011, after which a certain David Cameron said this:
"The Prime Minister had warned of far more 'serious consequences' towards Iran, for its failure to uphold its international obligations in line with the Vienna Convention."
Someone should remind 2024 DC that the Convention still exists. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_attack_on_the_British_Embassy_in_Iran
" 'I think Trump and Grenell would upend American leadership of the free world, from Truman on the left to Reagan on the right, and replace it with something much darker,' said Daniel Fried, who spent four decades in top State Department posts, including as an assistant secretary of state and a director of the National Security Council. 'It’s transactional. Democratic values are irrelevant, and it’s isolationist.' ”
« #Russia is not going to stop. Today we hear that #Putin is mobilising another 500,000 troops, which is more than he needs to win in #Ukraine, so he's obviously got plans to go further. Let that sink in. »
@vdonnut Never done it, and afaik the 10 or so friends I know who have played diplomacy have not either. It does sound like a wonderful, intentionally slow and low tech way of playing.
Would you also limit conversations to mail, or only the sending of moves?
When I have played it async then we used one of the online versions of it, which also sorts out the faff of working out moves and sharing the board state. That was during covid, though - I prefer playing in person.
I know North Korea isn't on much of anybody's mind right now but this article on their ability to leverage Russia's invasion of Ukraine to put themselves in a much stronger position vis-à-vis sanctions is worthy of consideration.
Sanctions and North Korea: The Good Old Days Are Gone for Good
By: Joseph DeThomas
February 22, 2024
@JSharp1436 DPRK is pretty cold in the winter, dry, and heavily mountainous. They're also aware of global warming - they just finished a new and what appears to be genuinely much improved water retention and irrigation system in a big chunk of their primary agricultural belt. (And it's only the latest addition.)
Here, I got it from 38 North, you can read it if you like:
Water supplies have been a big problem there for basically forever, this actually should help. Big question is going to be whether climate change brings them even less water, or somewhat more, and I don't know enough even to guess about that.
@damemagazine@themaxburns the republicans are NOT cowards. They are loyal to Russia. They are DISLOYAL to the interests of America. I hesitate to say traitor - so far
Trump & top advisers have talked w/fmr Hawaii congresswoman #TulsiGabbard about #ForeignPolicy & how the #Defense Dept should be run in a 2nd Trump term…. The talks w/ #Gabbard — who has staked out a role as an outspoken critic of aid to #Ukraine & US military interventions overseas — are part of a broader conversation about how Trump would manage the #Pentagon differently if voters award him a 2nd term….
I don't know why the biggest funders of UNRWA decided simultaneously to withdraw their support, but I do know what I think the reason was, and it's so fucking awful I don't even want to say it out loud.
If you want to donate to UNRWA, you can do so here.
What are the major wars of our time? Ukraine and Gaza, of course. But what about Syria, Yemen, Ethiopia, Myanmar, Sudan? Most of these are civil wars with very large numbers of fatalities. But they inspire much less interest than Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine or Israel’s attack on Gaza. The war in Syria received...
The next major geopolitical conflict is brewing in the Sahel region, in the north-central stretch of Africa south of the Sahara. Islamists and armed militias are plunging the entire region into chaos, and it is even possible a new jihadist emirate may emerge. Experts are already predicting there will be thousands of new...
@Thebratdragon Revolting. I just read that six of the activists who painted Scotiabank have been arrested, potentially on terrorism charges, because the protests have got "out of hand" 🤬
In a region historically linked more closely with Israel than Palestine, some activists in the Pacific Islands have been speaking up against the status quo, staging rallies and voicing solidarity on social media.
