Pondering Fool

Reminiscent of Anand Gopal's reporting in "The Other Afghan Women" (2021) and a host of other reporters. Heartbreak, rage, and hopelessness that "justice" could ever be done for these people. Κύριε, ἐλέησον!

The problem here is that the facts asserted are not facts. The western press keeps reporting that Hamas is dragging out negotiations when Israel is extremely straightforward about the fact that it refuses to end the war. Even if a ceasefire is achieved, Netanyahu says, they…

You actually have a responsibility to anticipate these “changes”. to lead not to lag @mattyglesias @DouthatNYT

Prior to the war on terror “death cult” almost exclusively referred to mortuary cults; the contemporary meaning of “worshipping death itself” is so obviously incoherent that trying to trace a genealogy for it led me to seriously consider whether it originated with Warhammer 40k

I'll believe they're serious about negotiating when they pick the most boring city possible to meet in. If in another 90 days we're meeting with the Chinese in Rome, nothing is getting done. If we're meeting with them in Winnipeg, then maybe something is happening.

I'm starting to think Scott Bessent is just in this for the quarterly European vacation

Given that Netanyahu has quite publicly stated that the moment Hamas surrenders the ethnic cleansing of Gaza begins in earnest, I'm unsure how such a surrender could be morally justified, let alone expected.

What did they think was going to happen to people’s willingness to have kids when the cost of these things went up by this much?

Imagine this: Settlers stole 3 sheep from my neighbours , and then came back at night — with full Israeli military support— to steal a fourth. From the same family. The same brutality. This isn’t about sheep. It’s about power, humiliation, and erasing Palestinian life.

what’s wrong babe you haven’t touched your Dongfeng Motor Corporation Ltd. concrete mixer-brewed pu’er tea

What Hasbara entails is having to act like you never took a single class in international relations in college

We are at the stage of resorting to naturalized fairytale.

“While White House officials say Trump is genuinely disturbed by the killing of Palestinians and wants the war to end, he has applied virtually no pressure on Netanyahu to end it in the last few months, according to Israeli officials.”

But have they changed their mind? Or do they just want Gaza to be extinguished more slowly, with fewer photo essays? If you oppose the war and occupation, you should say so. “I call on Israel to let in trucks” is bullshit which Democrats have been saying for 20 years.

I candidly prefer Bret Stephens open bloodlust to this moral obfuscation around assumed goodness of “civilized nations.”

You could take Gaza out of the picture entirely—what’s happening in the West Bank alone is grounds enough to sever all ties with Israel and deploy an international force to liberate the Palestinians.

Keep up that steady diet of corporate “centrism” to target the non existent moderate swing voters

A key point to bear in mind is that Israel is absolutely underwater with Democratic voters right now and has been for over a year. The "coalition" already exists and *has* existed since no later than mid-2024. The problem isn't building the coalition. The problem is leadership.

It appears that Netanyahu realized the current aid policy was a catastrophe weeks ago. But was determined to hold on until the Knesset break began before announcing a change so that Ben-Gvir and Smotrich would not be able to dissolve the government. Today is the 26th which is…