As we see Colombian protesters about to be "cleared" by the riot police, it is difficult to be optimsitc about the chances for Biden. But long way to go.
In meantime one aspect of Juan Cole's piece that struck me was this on the contrast between what Israel does in Gaza - and their proven ability at 'cleanly targeting' and hitting 'isolated persons'. Once made it is obvious. But certainly - I had not put this together before, and i do not think I have (knowingly) seen prior discussion of this. It is a very insightful connection to make, in my view. Says Juan Cole:: "An Israeli campaign to detain or kill the perpetrators would of course have been justified. Israeli intelligence had mapped Gaza intensively and knew the cell phone GPS of all members of the Hamas paramilitary, the Qassam Brigades. Intelligence had more than that. They had facial recognition information and home addresses. They routinely fly drones over the Gaza Strip. When the Israeli military wants to kill an individual, they can. Last January, the Israelis assassinated a Hezbollah commander in Lebanon with a strike on his SUV. Nobody else was killed. No buildings were destroyed– not apartment buildings with civilian families in them, not schools, not hospitals. The extremist Israeli government could have done the same thing to the paramilitary cadres behind October 7. The extremist cabine had other plans. They wanted ethnic cleansing. In short, the allegation that Hamas fighters can’t be killed cleanly because they hide among the population is a bald-faced lie. The Israeli investigative reporters at +972 Mag have revealed that the Israeli military tracks suspected Qassam Brigades cadres through the day, presumably through drone facial recognition since they surely can’t be dense enough to still be carrying around smart phones. The Israelis wait until the individual has gone home to his family at night and strike him in his own home, killing his wife, children, relatives, friends and neighbors as well. Their shockingly inhumane rules of engagement allow for 15-20 civilian deaths per killed operative. Apparently this technique helps account for the wholesale destruction of apartment blocks, some of which have been targeted with 5,000-pound bombs. The US did not use 5,000-pound bombs against ISIL, the most virulent terrorism threat of the past decade. " H -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#30156): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/30156 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/105821380/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: marxmail+ow...@groups.io Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [arch...@mail-archive.com] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
