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Tuesday, April 5, 2022

04/05 Links Pt1: Russia wants to turn us into slaves, Zelenskyy tells Security Council; The endless ignorance of tying Ukraine needs to Israel’s Iron Dome

From Ian:

Russia wants to turn us into slaves, Zelenskyy tells Security Council
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed the United Nations Security council on Tuesday after even more grisly evidence emerged of civilian massacres in areas that Russian forces recently withdrew from.

"Russia is committing the most serious crimes since World War II. There is no crime that Russia hasn't committed. It wants us to become slaves," Zelenskyy said, calling on the West to increase sanctions on Moscow, highlighting the need to stop European dependence on Russian gas.

"Moscow must get away with this without punishment," the Ukrainian president said.

The dead were discovered after Russian forces pulled out of a town on the outskirts of the capital, Kyiv, and have sparked global outrage and vehement denials from the Russian government that it was responsible.

Videos and photos of streets in the town of Bucha strewn with corpses of what appeared to be civilians, some with their hands tied behind their back, have led to global revulsion, calls for tougher sanctions on Russia and its suspension from the UN's premiere human rights body, the Human Rights Council.


Zelensky Says Ukraine Will Become a ‘Big Israel’ to Defend Itself
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made the most explicit identification of his embattled country with the State of Israel on Tuesday, saying that Ukraine will have to become a state on permanent war footing in order to protect itself from further Russian aggression.

In comments reported by Israel’s N12 news, Zelensky said on state television that even if a ceasefire is reached via ongoing talks with Moscow, Russia will still be capable of striking Ukraine again within a few years.

“We will become a ‘big Israel,’” Zelensky said, “with security becoming the highest priority issue for the next 10 years.”

Zelensky has previously identified Ukraine with Israel as a nation threatened by a much larger neighbor that is nonetheless fighting successfully to defend itself, and has cited former Israeli prime minister Golda Meir — who was born in Ukraine — as a model to be emulated.

At the same time, some pro-Palestinian forces have compared the defense of Ukraine to the Palestinian cause, while calling for a comprehensive sanctions regime to be placed on Israel similar to that imposed on Russia.


Bennett issues condemnation of Bucha Massacre
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett condemned the massacre in Bucha, Ukraine on Tuesday, four days after photos of mass civilian casualties came to light, but stopped short of accusing Russia of war crimes.

"We are shocked by what we see in Bucha, horrible images, and we condemn them,” Bennett stated. “The photos are very harsh. The suffering of Ukrainian citizens is huge and we are doing all we can to help."

In contrast to Bennett, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid reiterated his accusation that Russia committed war crimes.

“A large and strong country is invading the territory of a smaller and weaker country with no justification,” Lapid said in Athens. “The photos and testimony from Ukraine is horrific. Russian forces committed war crimes against a defenseless civilian population. I condemn these war crimes.”

Lapid said that there is hope, because “the world is not silent; the world is not cynical and limited to interests and economic benefit” and is working together stand with Ukraine.

Corpses were found in the streets of Bucha, outside of Kyiv, shortly after Ukraine retook the town from Russian forces over the weekend. Hundreds were buried in mass graves. Some had their hands tied behind their backs and appeared to have been shot at short range.

Photos released of the incident show that Russian forces organized the killing of civilians in Bucha by a gunshot with their hands tied behind their backs, according to a report by The Kyiv Independent. Similar killings took place in the city of Irpin, the report added. A mass grave with bodies of civilians, who according to local residents were killed by Russian soldiers, is seen, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in Bucha, in Kyiv region, Ukraine April 4, 2022. (credit: REUTERS/VLADYSLAV MUSIIENKO)


Noah Rothman: Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine Is Not the Iraq War
To the extent that crimes were committed by American service personnel or contractors in Iraq, we know about them because they were investigated by independent media outlets and confirmed by prosecutors, and their perpetrators were punished in accordance with the law. That’s more than can or will be said of Russia’s conduct in Ukraine, but that worldview-shattering caveat is left to be articulated only by those capable of holding two competing thoughts in their heads simultaneously.

As the Spectator’s Andrew Bacevich demonstrated in a March 2 article, the Iraq War analogy was deployed well before anyone could have rightly known the salience of such comparisons. The columnist rightly notes that Russia’s actions in Ukraine have exposed the falsity of the idea that the world is governed by liberal “norms.” Those “norms” were a byproduct of America’s preponderant military power alone. And yet, “the United States…has routinely demonstrated a willingness to write its own norms while employing violence on a scale far exceeding anything that Russia has done or is likely to do,” Bacevich continued. “As for the calamitous results of the U.S. invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, the impact of Russia’s incursion into Ukraine rates as trivial by comparison.”

Okay, but how could he have known so early in the war how bad it would go for Russia? Perhaps by engaging with Ukrainians, for one. Or maybe by consuming any of the declassified pre-war intelligence forecasting planned war crimes and the mass mobilization of the Ukrainian people to resist Moscow’s designs. If your only living memory of a popular insurgency is the one that materialized in Anbar Province, you could be forgiven for dismissing as inconceivable the scale of the resistance Russia is encountering from Ukrainian regular forces and citizens alike. It must be satisfying to project that failure of imagination onto everyone else.

If Vladimir Putin was presiding over a debacle akin to the West’s alleged misadventure in Iraq, his troops would today be entering their second week in total control of Ukraine’s capital city. Three weeks from now, he’d be declaring the end of combat operations in Ukraine. The occupation would face a restive populace, particularly in areas populated by ethnic groups that benefited most under the old regime, but the insurgents would be outnumbered by a population that was either ambivalent toward or outright supportive of the new status quo. And in 20 years’ time, despite many growing pains and external attempts to destabilize the country, Putin could count on a stable and secure government in Kyiv that no longer opposed Moscow’s interests.

If Putin is still betting on that outcome, the Russian autocrat is as deluded about the Iraq War as so many of its detractors seem to be.


Seth Frantzman: The endless ignorance of tying Ukraine needs to Israel’s Iron Dome
HOWEVER, THE West kept Ukraine out of NATO and kept it from acquiring all of the air defense it needed. Iron Dome only came up later. Unsurprisingly Israel couldn’t supply Iron Dome to Ukraine, because Israel has never supplied the system abroad, except to the US.

This is no minor point. Israel doesn’t sell Iron Dome all over the world, at least not yet. It was complicated enough just to supply the US with a complex and sensitive system. While it is true that some countries have acquired the radar used by Iron Dome, it doesn’t appear that the system is operational anywhere except in Israel.

Thus, the critique of Israel makes little sense and those complaining about Israel not giving Iron Dome away don’t seem to hold the US or western countries to the same standard. The obsession with Israel that often borders on antisemitism, posits that Israel should supply the Iron Dome in the midst of a conflict but that the corollary is not expected; the US needn’t supply Patriot batteries.

Israel is not only a smaller and more vulnerable country than the US, but the ramifications for Israel of getting involved in the Ukraine war are greater for Israel. Russia has based air defense systems in Syria and Israel has sought to prevent Iranian entrenchment in Syria. Any attempt by Russia to move more advanced air defense systems to Syria could be a problem for Israel.

Nevertheless, the real ignorance behind the Iron Dome complaints is that the authors of these complaints often know little or nothing about air defense. Iron Dome is a short-range air defense system that wouldn’t help Ukraine and requires long training. How could it be sent in the midst of a war?

Meanwhile, there are other air defense systems that the West and Israel make about which it might be more reasonable to inquire. The Arrow system, for instance, which reports say the Germans may want to acquire. There is also David’s Sling, which is similar to Patriot. There are also Barak missiles, which foreign reports say have been acquired by Azerbaijan and Morocco. In addition, Israeli defense companies such as IAI have worked with India on the MRSAM system. Then there is the Spyder system and many others.

The obsession with Iron Dome often comes from ignorance. It’s a buzz word and it is often used by people who know nothing about the system or the complexities involved in outfitting a country with air defense.
Terrorism, Ukraine, Taiwan and the Outsourcing Wars
Russia isn't fighting for Communism, but for market dominance.

Europeans outsourced the responsibilities of powering their cities and heating their homes to Russia. While they tinkered with windmills and solar panels, Russia built an energy monopoly. Now it's expanding its monopolistic control the way that most powers and empires used to.

Russia may want all or part of Ukraine for nationalistic reasons, but, more importantly, because of pipeline routes and energy reserves. The underlying motive for this war is gas and the European nations decrying the invasion were the ones who provided the motive for the war.

The PRC [Communist China] may also be obsessed with claiming Taiwan because of its nationalistic One China program, but the island refuge also possesses TSMC, the world's largest semiconductor foundry which dominates chip manufacturing. If China were to take Taiwan and then help North Korea swallow up South Korea, the PRC and its allies would control over 80% of global semiconductor contract manufacturing. And that would provide China with a virtual monopoly on the future.

Solidifying control over Hong Kong and then taking Taiwan is Xi's equivalent of Russia's invasion of Ukraine with tech instead of energy.

Even the most socialist leaders had come to think of the world as a set of commodity exchanges. They outsourced the dirty work and salved their conscience by financing some local NGOs.

That's how we ended up with the War on Terror, now the Ukraine war, and quite possibly a Taiwan war before too long. Western nations may have decided to abandon imperialism, but all they did was outsource it to the Muslim world, to Russia, and China who are happy to take it on.

We can either build empires, grow poor, or become self-sufficient.

The green fantasy in which we can leave behind pollution and unsightly factories by embracing solar panels, electric cars, and products with green labels is a lie. Green products are no cleaner, they're just marketed that way. Behind the scenes there are still strip mines, grimy factories, and exploited workers because it takes even more dirty work to make something look shiny and clean.

If we want to stop the wars, we have to stop funding Chinese, Russian and Islamic imperialism with our wealth and our industries.

The only way to bring the troops home is to bring the industries and resources home.


IDF Foiled 10 Terror Attacks in Last Two Weeks, Chief of Staff Says
Israeli security forces foiled at least 10 attempted terrorist attacks in the last two weeks, the military’s chief of staff said Monday.

Speaking at a ceremony to install a new air force commander, Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi said preventing such attacks “is the current mission” of the Israel Defense Forces, local media reported.

In the past two weeks, 11 people were killed in a succession of terrorist violence, including a car-ramming and stabbing spree in Beersheba, mass shootings in Bnei Brak and Hadera, and a stabbing in Gush Etzion.

“We will go into every neighborhood and every house in order to lay our hands on the attackers, and we will operate in any place, as long as required, by any method, in order to stop terror,” Kochavi pledged.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said on Sunday that Israel is now in a situation of routine alertness.

“We want the citizens of Israel to go back to routine and the security forces will be on maximum alert,” he said. “Together we will make the effort to break this wave.”


The Condemnation of Terror by Mansour Abbas: Is It Real?
In Israeli political circles there is disagreement about the sincerity of Mansour Abbas’ recent condemnations of terror.

Some see them as reflecting a moderate and courageous line of Ra’am and the Islamic Movement, while others view them as no more than a propaganda exercise.

The condemnations do not jibe with Ra’am’s and the Islamic Movement’s consistent support for the security prisoners, most of whom are convicted terrorists. They portray them as freedom fighters and heroes, and the Islamic Movement funnels aid to them through its charity organization.

The fact that the condemnations were voiced almost exclusively by Abbas probably points to disagreements among the senior Ra’am and Islamic Movement leadership about the policy toward the armed jihad operations—or “wave of terror.”

By giving Abbas alone the task of condemning the attacks, Ra’am and the Islamic Movement want to have their cake and eat it too—paying lip service to partnership in the government coalition without requiring the leaders of the movement, and particularly its institutions of religious law, to take an official stance against armed jihad.

Still at the top of Ra’am’s order of priorities are the perks of being part of the coalition—a large budget for the Arab sector, influence over outline plans, recognition of Bedouin communities in the Negev, and the fight against crime. At this stage, they have no interest in breaking up the coalition. They believe that, with the condemnations, they can overcome the challenge to its stability posed by the security incidents.
Ramadan riots: Police detain PA ‘governor’ of Jerusalem
The Palestinian Authority “governor” of Jerusalem, Adnan Gheith, was detained on Tuesday morning by the police, as clashes continued for the third straight day near the Old City’s Damascus Gate.

Gheith, a resident of the village of Silwan who holds an Israeli-issued ID card, was released hours later after being served with a decision to extend an IDF order banning him from entering the West Bank.

The order means that Gheith can’t arrive at the offices of the PA’s Jerusalem Governorate in the town of Al-Ram, north of Jerusalem, which is located outside the boundaries of the Jerusalem Municipality. It also means that he can’t participate in meetings with PA officials in Ramallah or in other Palestinian cities in the West Bank.

The Jerusalem Governorate is divided into two sub-districts: Jerusalem 1, which includes areas under Israeli sovereignty, and Jerusalem 2, which includes 29 villages and towns surrounding Jerusalem, but located in the West Bank.

Like all Palestinian governors, Gheith was appointed by PA President Mahmoud Abbas in 2018. The governors are regarded as the PA president’s personal representatives.
Israeli farmers in limbo as exports halt due to Ukraine war
As war rages on in Ukraine, farmers in Israel face the effects, forced to destroy thousands of tons of produce as regular export shipments to Ukraine and Russia have ceased.

Some producers have had to wipe out entire crops, resulting in crisis, as they cannot put food on their own table.

"It's pretty serious... there are hundreds and hundreds of Israeli farmers who've built businesses over the years exporting to Russia and Ukraine, and because of this situation ... all those exports have ground to a halt," Joseph Gitler, the founder of Israel's national food bank Leket said.

He noted these include primarily crops that Russians are "famous for" but cannot grow themselves during the harsh winter.

"Israelis have made a market, because of the great weather and the great bounty, of growing crops specifically for those markets during the winter months," Gitler said.

He also explained that while the solution may appear simple – to just "sell the crops somewhere else" – it is far more complex in actuality.

"The real problem is that in general, we produce 30-40% more produce than we need in the world, so when situations like this arise, it's not always so easy to find alternative customers."
PMW: “Our war is with the Jews,” says Fatah official
Three weeks prior to the Bnei Brak attack, and other attacks in which a total of 11 people were murdered in one week, an official in Abbas’ Fatah Movement called on Palestinians to continue terror - and to use 15-year-olds:
Fatah Revolutionary Council member Abd Al-Ilah Atteereh: “We have no choice but to strengthen the resistance with what Allah will provide us with. When you see a 15-year-old Palestinian child carrying a rock or another tool or a knife, know that this cause continues in the blood of our people, and that it is inherited.”

[Official PA TV, Topic of the Day, March 7, 2022]

He also called for terror using the PA’s euphemism “struggle with all means.”
“I give [the Israelis] a clear and explicit message from Fatah, [groups] other than Fatah, and every Palestinian patriot: … We’ll continue the struggle with all means, with all that Allah enables us to fight you with.

[Official PA TV, Topic of the Day, March 7, 2022]

Those terrorists who answered Fatah’s call have been honored by Fatah. The Palestinian terrorist who murdered 5 people in Bnei Brak near Tel Aviv last week was “heroic” if you ask Fatah. Accusing Israel of killing three other terrorists as an act of revenge, Fatah’s Secretary in the Jenin Branch, Ata Abu Rmeileh, called the murderer a hero, thus proving Abbas’ condemnation of the attack insincere, as pointed out by Palestinian Media Watch:
Fatah Jenin Branch Secretary Ata Abu Rmeileh: “It is clear that in this [arrest] operation that the occupation carried out, it wants to take revenge for what happened in Tal Al-Rabia (i.e., shooting attack in Bnei Brak), the operation of heroic Diya Hamarsheh (i.e., terrorist, murdered 5). The occupation wants to take revenge. The occupation’s morale is at a low. They are attempting to raise the morale by carrying out additional crimes against our Palestinian people.”

[Official PA TV, Palestine This Morning, March 31, 2022]


“Our war is with the Jews,” says Fatah official

All of Israel is “occupied land” in song on PA TV



Hamas Prevented Islamic Jihad From Firing Rockets at Israel to Avoid Escalation: Report
Hamas, the Islamist terrorist group that rules the Gaza Strip, recently prevented the enclave’s second-largest armed faction from firing rockets at Israel in a bid to avert an escalation in hostilities, Israeli media reported Monday.

Hamas intervened after three Palestinian Islamic Jihad members were killed while opening fire on an Israeli security team that sought to arrest them in the West Bank, according to public broadcaster Kan.

Unnamed Palestinian sources cited by the outlet said Hamas made it clear to PIJ that it does not want another round of fighting with Israel at this time.

Hamas seeks to retain control of Gaza and appears to want any renewed fighting with Israel to take place on its own terms, Kan observed. The terrorist group is reportedly focusing on Jerusalem, where the situation is extremely tense due to the Ramadan holiday and a series of terrorist attacks in Israel that killed 11 people in the past two weeks.

Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz likewise said on Sunday that “Hamas doesn’t want escalation.”

“We’re assuming there could be escalation, but the residents in Gaza — including Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad — need to choose what kind of Ramadan they want,” he told Yedioth Ahronoth.

“If there will be action against Israel from the strip, Gaza will feel the kind of pain that I suggest it spares from itself,” he added. “They’re familiar with our abilities, with all our resources. If they release the gunlock, we’ll come crashing down on them.”


Pope to visit Lebanon amid unprecedented economic meltdown
Pope Francis will visit Lebanon in June, the president’s office said Tuesday, in an apparent show of support for the country experiencing an unprecedented economic meltdown.

Pope Francis has held special prayers for Lebanon and has repeatedly said he plans to visit the small country since the economic meltdown began in October 2019.

It will be the first visit by a Pope to the Mediterranean nation since 2012, when Pope Benedict XVI paid a three-day visit to Lebanon.

Lebanese President Michel Aoun’s office said he received the Vatican’s ambassador to Lebanon who informed him that Pope Francis will visit in June and the exact date and schedule would be decided later.

“The Lebanese have been waiting for this visit for a long time to express their gratitude to the Pope for his stance toward Lebanon and its people,” Aoun was quoted as saying.

Pope Francis’ visit will also come after a massive blast at Beirut’s port on August 4, 2020, which killed at least 216 people, injured over 6,000, and damaged parts of the capital. The explosion of hundreds of tons of improperly stored ammonium nitrate was one the largest non-nuclear blasts in history.


US, Iran trade blame over impasse holding up signing of nuclear deal
The United States and Iran blamed each other Monday for a weeks-long impasse that has held up a return to the 2015 deal that sought to prevent Tehran from developing nuclear weapons.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said that the country’s negotiators would not return to Vienna, the site of the year-long talks to restore the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA,) until Washington settles outstanding issues.

“We will not be going to Vienna for new negotiations but to finalize the nuclear agreement,” Khatibzadeh told reporters in Tehran.

“If Washington answers the outstanding questions, we can go to Vienna as soon as possible,” he said, without explaining the specific questions that remained.

“At the moment, we do not yet have a definitive answer from Washington,” he said.

Push back
But in Washington, Khatibzadeh’s State Department counterpart Ned Price pushed back, suggesting it was Tehran that was not giving way to make a deal possible.

And Price warned that time was running out, as Iran gets closer and closer to the nuclear “breakout” point when it has achieved the capacity to construct a nuclear weapon.

“Anyone involved in the talks knows precisely who has made constructive proposals, who has introduced demands that are unrelated to the JCPOA, and how we reached this current moment,” Price said.

“We still believe there is an opportunity to overcome our remaining differences,” Price said.

He said Iran’s continuing nuclear development has put it within “weeks” of breakout, which would nullify the benefits of a new agreement.




 

 

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