Hatfort

He does the interviews that he considers worth doing and sharing as an independent journalist capable of making his own decisions he is.

Here is an interview worth watching of Owen Jones with a Palestinian refugee who has tracked many of Israel's lies and attempted manipulations. How unbearable Israel was making life for Gazans and Palestinians before October last year, and all the lies that have come after too.

I'm providing my analysis of the current situation and making a prediction. I never pretended otherwise.

I don't buy it. You can't mold the reality that much. The debate was awful for Biden's image, this damaged his position, and it's a one-against-one race, so Trump is better than before now in consequence.

I think the Democratic Party needed three pillars. First was how awful the opponent is, that still works. Second, some accomplishments to show about his current term, at least in socio-economic areas, I think there's something there too. The Palestinian conflict will not help, the student and Muslim communities' support are likely affected. Third was the candidate and a good campaign where you need to show him more than hide him. Right now it's better to hide the man, that's bad. Every appearance of him is a potential disaster. It was needed for undecided voters not to have a clear reason like this where they could say Trump is better. Now they have it.

Yeah, I told you that, the issue is not the other day's debate, the issue is that he can't debate anymore. Don't misunderstand, we are not talking about debates here, he is not capable of reading the room he is in, and what's happening around him without someone telling him. A lot of people is not going to vote for that mess no matter how awful the other person is. Even some people who could have voted for him is going to vote for Trump, because at least he is capable of basic things for his jobs like traveling to other countries and meet other presidents and have conversations with them. I don't care that much that the team behind his corpse covers for him, I care that we are not going to get to that because he is not going to win.

It's not about the event the other night. Yeah, Biden lost, no matter what Trump said, but the problem goes beyond that. Four years ago he could still speak well and inspire some leadership. The debate showed how much he has deteriorated, his age caught up, and everyone saw it. The way he moves, speaks and his expression have changed, and is going to get much worse during the next years in which he pretends to govern. The debate not only turned some undecided votes to Trump, but will demotivate part of the bases that don't like Trump, and could have voted the alternative, but won't do it for such an old man. I understand there's a team behind every president, but I find almost insulting that the Democratic party pretends people to vote for someone in this condition for such an important position. We should be talking about the awful lies of Trump and the good things that has achieved Biden, but the conversation is about his age and condition of him. It's the elephant in the room, there's no way to unsee it, and avoiding addressing it is not even possible. The only way out is to get another candidate, but won't happen. Trump is going to win.

The debate settled it, there were hints of the decline before, but this showed another level yet unseen. The man can't speak clearly, he gets lost in his head, and is not fit for the job. Cenk Uygur was saying it a year before, the man was so right. He is asking for a replacement now. This is what the Democrats should do right now but won't do. Biden quits the race, explaining he thought he would be in better shape and wanted to serve another term, but that sees it's not how it is, so he accepts to leave his place to someone younger. Not Bernie, sorry. Make an express process to choose a successor in one month max, and fight like a beast the time left. Not ideal at all, but keeping the walking dead is just a lost cause.

Biden should quit right now. This is lunacy, he is going to lose. He talks like a very old man because that's what he is.

Biden advanced age is very noticeable, and he aspires to run a powerful country, it's a big problem, and not only aesthetically. Trump is not much younger but doesn't look and move like a mummy, at least. Even Bernie Sanders, who is older than Biden, seems to have more clarity and sharpness yet. I would still vote for Biden, his social and economic policies are better and he is the lesser of two evils internationally. Although he is not good, mostly about Palestine, he's burned himself with that, and Netanyahu, Israel, and AIPAC will support the candidate they prefer anyway, which is Trump. Not like Biden isn't a totally convinced supporter of Israel, but all those awful war crimes in broad light stink too bad even for him, so I think he should have been more critical about at least those aspects for his own good. Either way, it's an issue he would have received burns no matter what. Ukraine is another hot potato that didn't go his and the USA's way, and this is on him. Newsom would have been a much better candidate. He has decided to stay loyal to Biden, as the old man didn't step down. Kamala Harris is awful, so uncharismatic, she would be crushed as Hillary Clinton was. Buttigieg is better than her, at least he can speak coherently and return the punches he receives from Republicans in real-time, but I don't know, I don't think he can carry all the wagons Democrats need. Newsom is the best, he debated DeSantis for fun, and he did well.

Here a good analysis of the early times of the war, but more importantly, of the 2014 and subsequent years.

If you are winning on the battlefield, that is what you are giving up, gaining more land. But it's not out of the cost of human lives and big wars are always risky, so it would be very satisfying for Putin and Russia the terms he put on the table, even if they have the advantage. The NATO and Zelensky side don't want it, they still have to admit they have lost, and that they won't regain the lost territories by force, or by dialogue. But they should come to terms with the fact that Russia can gain even more, that's why they should sit down, apart from stopping the slaughter on both sides, but mostly on theirs, as it's understandable. Ukrainian common citizens don't want to fight, because they know their fate if they do, death. They send them into the first front which is a meat grinder and the Zelensky loyal Azov battalions wait on a second front and kill them if they retreat. Russians on the other hand, not only outnumber them, but they are willing to fight. They receive good training before going and good benefits. NATO countries are using the gray areas of sending long-range weapons, instructors, and things like that as much as they can. I don't think they'll send troops, because Russia will attack anyone who does that directly. USA, which moves the strings in NATO, will abandon any member who makes such a stupid decision on his own because they don't want to get involved directly in a full war against Russia. Maybe they even understand the high risks of that on a global scale. So let's say Poland decides to send troops without the permission of the USA, which they won't give, then they are fucked, Russia will attack them directly, and NATO won't do shit, even if they are NATO members. You've eaten a lot of propaganda. I remember the first few days of the war with YouTube videos with titles like Why Russia has already lost. They've aged like milk in summer, I wonder if they're still up there. They probably disappeared as all these social media accounts with the Ukranian colors in their nicknames did. The videos stated how weak and bad the Russian military force was, predicted a total economic collapse, and that the Russian citizens would personally put Putin down of power. They were wrong in everything, they were just winning the propaganda war, and thought that was enough, but the battlefield is what matters most in times of war, and after three years, Russia is consistently winning on that front, the one that matters. The advance is slow, Ukraine can still defend itself, but the erosion will affect them more and more. No Western weapon will fix that. Russia has good equipment and won't get out of it. You are wrong on that, they are not using 80-year-old equipment as you say, that's ridiculous. Maybe some yes, who knows, if they still work, whatever. But what they didn't have ready in 2022, they have developed it by now or bought it to their numerous allies, and they are not out of money. I'm telling you, pure propaganda, the specialty of the West, which is nice in times of peace, but in real war you need real results.

One thing that I think is that you gotta be a big piece of shit to release a big dog to attack an elderly man or woman, no matter what your creed or the other person's is. That happened in Nazi Germany, and is happening again in Zionist Israel. Hasbara all you want about it with the US pay dollars, but that won't change. This is my insight right now. You're welcome.

Yeah, maybe he was naive enough to believe that the US believed in freedom of the press and speech as they claim they do. Obviously, they don't. Anyway, even at the incredibly high cost to his life and integrity, I think he won't regret what he did after some years. Now it's early to say, the man has been suicidal for years due to his imposed conditions. He'll need time to heal.

Ukraine is out of soldiers, those poor guys without any training have no chance of surviving in the front. I see the evidence that they are practically kidnapping men in the streets or tricking them, because they see beyond propaganda that Russia is winning. They don't want to die, but if they speak up against Zelensky, they'd be in big trouble too, not to say dead. The West is playing with their lives when there are diplomatic routes they could and would have taken if it was men from their own countries dying. Apparently, ISIS is now very interested in attacking Russia. They claimed the terrorist attack that killed more than 100 civilians in Moscow. Could the CIA be messing? I don't discard it at all. At minute one of the attack the USA was saying it wasn't Ukraine, that it was ISIS. How did they know anything that fast? The terrorists were caught escaping towards the border of Ukraine, according to Russia. We can't say things for certain from our seats, but Russia's number one enemies are Ukraine and NATO countries right now. The war against Ukraine hasn't decimated Russia's military capabilities like many predicted it would when it started. Now it's better than ever, like taking an old rusty car, after lubricating and replacing some pieces here and there, you put it to run some miles, and there you go. Their military industry is functioning again, they have thousands of officials and soldiers with real combat experience, more war vehicles like tanks and the capabilities to fix them when damaged, international military commerce relations, etc... NATO really messed up with this, one of the brilliant minds behind was the recently fired Victoria Nuland. Ukraine was gonna be first, then Georgia, and Taiwan was on the list, they want to mess with China too. China won't allow them to do anything either, but at all. With BRICS Russia and China have developed a good relationship, that's the worst that could have happened to the USA its European stupid puppets. France is barking like an annoying chihuahua because they are some of the most awful excolonizers of Africa, and Russia and China are helping some of these countries to cut ties with them and the USA. Then there is the Middle East, Biden's words, if we had not an Israel in there, we would have to invent it. Israel's existence and presence in that region respond to the way the USA sees the world as something they have to control, police, and dominate. Instead, Russia and China are developing a respectful relationship with Iran, and they hate that too. Lebanon hasn't been asleep the last twenty years and their military force is very considerable now. I don't know what Netanyahu is thinking, but those are not cornered like Hamas, if they fight them, IDF soldiers will die by thousands, and I don't think they are willing. The IDF men and women are trained to torment unarmed civilians and fire buildings from the sky, but they will shit in their pants against something big like Hezbollah. The north of Israel has already evacuated its civilians, which is a huge problem. The cherry on top is Yemen, they are firing all carrier ships that stop in Israel, which costs them billions, and the USA hasn't been able to do shit about that, because if they get close, they get fire too. Will they go to war against Yemen? What's new about that? That's been happening for years through Saudi Arabia.

Hamas has already agreed to the release of all hostages in exchange for a permanent ceasefire, this has been true for months, it was even in the plan presented by Biden, who said Israel had agreed. They must have lied to him, because they pulled out as soon as the plan was made public. If the IDF is still killing innocent Palestinian people and destroying cities like Rafah, is because that's exactly what they want to do. That's more important to them than the lives of the hostages, who could be all safe by now. Hamas won't kill them, they have only died at the hands of the IDF since this started. The IDF has not been effective in their rescue missions, they have achieved to save four. We know they don't care about the thousands of Palestiniens that died in the operation, I can even understand that, but other hostages died too, and hundreds of IDF soldiers have died by now. This wasn't necessary, because Hamas has agreed to return all hostages anyway, the price is a permanent ceasefire. The other stated objective was to finish with Hamas, which hasn't been successful either. They are mostly safely hidden in their tunnels and have shown they are able to attack and kill IDF soldiers and vehicles with their limited resources. If only the real objective wasn't to cause as much killing and destruction as they can, they would be out by now and with all their hostages getting safely home.

Well said. There's only one time when we'll stop denouncing atrocities. When they stop happening. It's not like we'll forget them anyway, but right now they just keep doing it, killing innocents and destroying a land they want to steal. This is where we still are.

It's not about an agenda, you're sick.

Again the same shit? It's not comfortable, it's sickening. Stop throwing food meant for hungry people, stop killing children, stop using human shields, and stop torturing hostages. It's not that hard to get, it's not about a stupid online hasbara debate.

Yeah, keep killing more innoncent children, and bombing more buildings with people in, we want more of that. We'll be so happy!! Fuck! We've been asking Israel to stop their atrocities since October, so don't give us that. We are horrified by the awful things your army, politicians, and civilians are doing. Civilians are stopping aid trucks and destroying the food meant for people whose homes and families have been torn apart. You think all is about the debate in your Hasbara bullshit, but no, we are really sickened by what's happening.

No, it's history too, I've acknowledged it as that. But we are talking 70 years, which is still the normal lifespan of a human being, and an ongoing ethnic cleansing and genocide, it's happening right now. I'm not going to pretend it's not happening, it's not fair for the Palestinian people today, not 200 years ago. It can't be done much about the colonialism of centuries ago, maybe acknowledge that it was bad for the people in those places, but we are at least not going to turn our heads to the awful crimes that are being done to the Palestinians by colonizers now. They are human beings, with they lights and shadows, like every other culture, but they don't deserve what's being done to them.

It's not a cartoonish depiction, Israel's foundation is based on the killing and the displacement of the people who were living in that land before it was decided that it was going to be a colony for all the Jewish people of the world, mostly from Europe. This is a historical fact, it's what happened. I'm not antisemitic, I'm totally fine with the Jewish people in the world. I don't necessarily oppose an ethnostate, but I think it's not fair what has been done to the Palestinians. They weren't responsible for what the Nazis did to the Jewish people, so they shouldn't have to pay such a high price to repair the harm caused by others. Since the USA, EU, and NATO countries support a Jewish ethnostate, I think they should be the ones to offer land for that, I wouldn't oppose that at all. But the US and EU are very generous with other people's lands, but very tight with their own. I also want to mention my total recognition to Jewish people like Norman Finkelstein and so many others that recognize the barbarity that has been happening in Palestine for the last 70 years, because it's not easy to go against the grind of your own people.

@zazen Thank you! Conflicts in the world are complicated and each side will always hold their justifications for their aims. I think conflicts have to be analyzed on a case-by-case basis, you can't translate what's happening in one place to understand another, that will always fail. About Russia, Leo says Putin will take as much as he can, which may be true to some extent. I say some extent because I think Ukraine can still hold the territories that hasn't lost by now if they get that Russia won't accept more NATO expansion on their border. Then again, Russia put thousands of Russian men's lives on the table, so what they have conquered by now, they won't withdraw. Now it's easy to say, but Putin took a big gamble at the time, he could have lost the war or gotten all Russians against him for this. I don't think NATO or Zelensky thought he would take this step, so they were enforcing their military intentions, not officially as NATO, but it was happening in practice. Not to speak about the war and oppression that Russian sentiment people in the Donbas were suffering mostly since 2014, obviously, that wasn't liked in Moscow. You know, if they were Moldovan sentiment people, they would be screwed, I know how the world works, but their big brother was Russia, a really big one. About geopolitics, I believe diplomacy is helpful, I prefer Trump sending love letters, and Putin driving with karaoke with Kim Jong Un, than saying North Korea will become a fire Hell, Trump's words at the beginning of his term. Even if Kim Jong Un is a dictator, that's bad enough for North Koreans, I don't want them to be nuked on top of that. Not to mention that they would respond equally, bye South Korea, Japan, and whatever they could reach. The nuclear war is possible, I hate to even say it. I think NATO is the one being most irresponsible right now, because they are escalating as much as they can against Russia through Ukraine proxy. They can't accept Russia is winning in conventional warfare terms. We are a singular species with many different nations and cultures in one world, that's what has to be accepted. I don't say it from a naive standpoint, but a realistic one. That's how it really is.

Yeah, they took a land that was already inhabited and decided that it was going to be for the Jewish people all over the world, and it has been justified and still is by ancient books. It's currently a Jewish ethnostate, with the Jewish star symbol in the middle of the flag, while the Palestinian flag is prohibited. The rest of the world doesn't care if the Jews think they are chosen by god, which they are not, but we don't care what you believe. It's quite a supremacist belief, and even if most Jewish don't hold it as truthful, there's no out-of-influence in Israel's current government making the decisions right now. If you tell me many countries have religious themes in their flags, like Christian-based crosses, or Islamic moons. Yeah, but they are not colonies created in an already inhabited land last century, those places molded to be as they are through history. The natives of Palestine didn't agree to be colonized by foreigners, obviously, no place in the world would have. The foreign Jews could do it because they had and have the economic and military support of the US and Europe. It was a death and displacement-based massacre then, and it is exactly the same now. It's never going to work in the terms proposed by Zionism.

Seems like a diplomatic visit, since North Korea has also been selling shells and weapons to Russia in these times of war. They are almost neighbors and might be seeking mutually beneficial accords. The West proclaims both of them as enemies, so it's not that a strange move. I don't think Russia is becoming such as North Korea, which is a dictatorship. Russia has big issues, and I'm sure many of the bad things you can say about Putin are true, but he is winning his elections broadly now. One of the important things is that he is not a puppet to the West, and that's what is best for Russia right now.