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ruminativerabbi · 4 months

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The Two-State Solution

You would think that by now no amount of hypocrisy on the part of the great world out there could surprise, let alone startle, me at this point. Even I think that! And yet I find myself consistently amazed to find myself amazed at the duplicity of our so-called friends, not to mention the out-and-out phoniness of self-proclaimed allies who insist that they only want the best for the Jewish people or for the State of Israel.

If I had nothing to do for the rest of my life I could begin a list. But since my time is limited, I’ll settle for writing about our “friends” who have suddenly discovered, or rather re-discovered, the “two-state solution” as the cure for all that ails Israel and its neighbors. And they are legion: I’ve lost track of how many different newspaper articles I read this last week alone in which the author breathlessly announces that the reason the entire Arab-Israeli sikhsukh wasn’t resolved long ago has to do with the intransigence of Israelis with respect to the famous “two-state” solution, the compromise invariably touted by such authors as the obvious panacea to all that ails the Middle Eastern world. Here, for example, is a story from Taiwan explaining to readers of the Taipei Times how things would calm down instantly if only Bibi would heed President Biden’s call for a “two-state solution.”

The notion itself of a two-state solution to the Arab-Israeli problem, of course, is as old as the state itself and, in fact, there actually are two states, one Arab and one Jewish on the territory of the old British Mandate of Palestine. Or, rather, there would be had the British not unilaterally sawn the entire kingdom of Jordan, then called Transjordan, off of the mandated territory and offered it to the Hashemites as their own country. So the U.N. was dealing with the part that was left and that, indeed, they voted on November 22, 1947, voted to split down into two nations, a Jewish one and an Arab one.

The next part, everybody knows. The Jews of the yishuv accepted the plan and declared independence on May 14, 1948. (Our apartment in Jerusalem is actually just half a mile or so from November 22nd Street, a pretty place named specifically in honor of the U.N. decision.) The Arabs of British Palestine, however, did not follow suit and declare their own state. Instead, they went to war and lost, which failure laid the groundwork for the subsequent seventy-five years of hostility towards the Jewish state.

Whatever the problem really is, it certainly doesn’t have to do with not enough ink having been spilt—or time wasted—trying to work things out. The Madrid Conference of 1991, the Oslo Accords of 1991 and 1993, the Wye Plantation Memorandum of 1998, the Camp David Summit of 2000, the Annapolis Conference of 2007, the John Kerry shuttle diplomacy of 2013, the Trump administration’s “Peace to Prosperity” plan of 2020—all of these were “about” the two-state solution, each in its own way an effort to finesse the details while ignoring the fact that only one party to the dispute seemed even remotely interested in recognizing the other’s right to nationhood. Nor does the concept lack international sponsors: a quick google of “international leaders in favor of a two-state solution” yields a very impressive list, a list that includes President Biden, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, German Chancellor Olaf Scholtz, British P.M. Rishi Sunak, French President Emmanuel Macron, Canadian P.M. Justin Trudeau, Australian P.M. Anthony Albanese, New Zealand P.M. Christopher Luxon, and, saving the best for last, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan. They are all on board!

Most impressive of all is that a full 138 nations have alreadyrecognized the State of Palestine, the fact that none of the above efforts to create a viable two-state solution has succeeded waved away as a mere detail hardly worth mentioning.

So, all that being the case, what actually is the problem? Just this week, we were exposed to the current administration’s pique with Israeli P.M. Netanyahu for not being fully enough behind the two-state solution. The L.A. Times had a particularly interesting op-ed piece on the topic (click here). CNN’s piece (click here) was also quite good. And, of course, nothing could ever deter the New York Times from trying to pry some space out between the Biden and Netanyahu administrations, of which only the latest examples appeared in the last few days: Peter Baker’s “Netanyahu Rebuffs U.S. Calls to Start Working Towards Palestinian Statehood,” Thomas Friedman’s “Netanyahu Is Turning Away from Biden,” or Aaron Boxerman’s “Biden Presses Netanyahu On Working Towards Palestinian State.”

So, okay, I get it. The only solution is the two-state one. But why is everybody so irritated with Israel? The Palestinians could solve the problem overnight by declaring their independence, agreeing quickly to exchange ambassadors with the 130+ nations that already recognize their state, and getting down to the gritty business of negotiating safe and secure border with Israel. Bibi would probably not be pleased. But what could he do? The entire world would be on the Palestinians’ side and all it would take was a single unilateral announcement on the part of the Palestinians to get the ball rolling. The presence of Jewish so-called “settler” types in Judah and Samaria would not be a problem unless the State of Palestine intended itself to be totally judenrein—otherwise, why couldn’t those people live on their own land in an independent Palestine if they wanted to? (Most, I think, would not want to. But some surely would.) Nor would the status of Jerusalem itself be an issue: while the Palestinians are in unilateral-proclamation-mode, they could simply declare East Jerusalem to be their capital, then get down to work organizing a workable plan with Israel for policing the city, controlling traffic, and figuring out who picks up whose trash on which days.

Yes, I’m making light of intense issues. But, at the end of the day, why precisely couldn’t this happen? Everybody is happy to be irritated with Bibi, but Israel has demonstrated over and over—including in the context of all the above-listed conferences—that it is ready to negotiate for peace. And declaring independence would assist in Gaza as well: terror organizations like Hamas flourish in the atmosphere of hopelessness and desperation, but that would quickly move into the past if the Palestinians were occupied with nation-building and self-determination instead of endlessly complaining that the world hasn’t given them enough aid. If the Jordanians were big-enough hearted to create a kind of economic union with New Palestine, then there really would be no stopping the peace train. Even the United Nations would be unable to stop the momentum.

But, of course, none of the above has happened or, I fear, ever will happen. It’s much easier for the Biden administration to waste its time trying to bully Bibi into making concessions in the context of theoretical negotiations in which the other side has not given the slightly indication it wishes to participate. Yes, it’s more dramatic to build terror tunnels, murder babies, rape women, and take innocent civilian hostages. But that cannot—and will not—ever lead to statehood for Palestine. What will lead in that direction is the clear indication that the Palestinian leadership is prepared to create a viable Palestinian state and then to live within its borders peacefully and productively.

If the United States wants to defang Iran and lessen the likelihood that the Iranians will lead the world into World War III, it could take no more profound and potentially meaningful step forward than convincing the Palestinians to stop complaining, to take the independence the entire world wishes to offer them seriously, and to get down to the actual business of nation-building. The mullahs will be outraged. But they’ll get over it. And the world will be a safer and better place.

#Israel #Two-State Solution #Netanyahu

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usafphantom2 · 2 years

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Even if Turkey receives modernized F-16s, Greece will still have a technological advantage in air power.

Fernando Valduga By Fernando Valduga 07/10/2022 - 11:36 AM in Military

The 2022 NATO Madrid Summit ended on June 30. The observations made by U.S. President Joe Biden and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on the last day of this meeting may provide some initial information on what Greek and Turkish air forces could look like at the end of this decade.

President Biden said at a press conference that the United States supports the sale of modernized F-16 fighters to Turkey.

On Tuesday, Turkey provisionally agreed to raise its objections prior to Finland and Sweden's accession to the alliance. Biden denied that his declared support for the sale of the F-16 was in exchange for Turkey's crucial approval for the admission of the two Nordic countries, pointing out that he had expressed his approval even before this issue arose.

"I said in December, as you may remember, that we should sell the F-16 jets and modernize these jets as well," he said. "It's not in our interest not to do this."

"And there was no quid pro quo with it," he added. "It was just that we should sell, but I need the approval of Congress to be able to do this. And I think we can do that."

Biden was referring to a Turkish request last October to buy 40 new F-16 Block 70/72 and 80 modernization kits for his existing fleet in a $6 billion deal. Turkey needs these new fighter-bombers and modernization kits to keep its air force up to date, especially since it was banned from buying fifth-generation F-35 Lightning II jets after its fateful purchase of Russian S-400 air defense missile systems.

F-35 in the colors of the Hellenic Air Force. Photo: Antonis Roen)

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis also said at the Madrid summit that his country sent a letter requesting the purchase of an F-35 squadron, 20 aircraft according to Greek authorities, with a possible option for a second, or up to 40 F-35s in all.

Mitsotakis acknowledged that it would be a time-consuming process from the order to the receipt of the aircraft, estimating that Athens would not receive the stealth jets until at least 2027-28.

"Part of this procedure is the sending of the Requesting Letter, which has occurred in recent days," he said.

If both agreements are approved, the Hellenic Air Force (HAF) will still have a technological advantage over Turkey's largest air force.

F-16 Viper of the Hellenic Air Force.

As previously described here, if the United States does not allow Turkey to buy these new F-16s and modernization kits, HAF would probably end up putting a more technologically advanced fighter fleet in the field by the end of the 2020s.

On the other hand, if Athens received its F-35 squadron and Ankara its new F-16s and modernization kits, the former would still have a clear technological advantage. And not only because it would be the only one with fifth-generation jets.

Greece has already secured a contract to upgrade 84 of its F-16s to the Block 72 configuration. Lockheed Martin will conclude this contract in mid-2027. Therefore, even if the Biden administration can obtain Congressional approval for the Turkish F-16 agreement soon, which is far from guaranteed, Greece will still place 84 modernized F-16 fighter jets before Turkey.

In addition, Greece would also start receiving the F-35s at the same time that Lockheed Martin finished updating these HAF F-16s, assuming that it can secure an agreement for at least one squadron, which is not unlikely. Athens would have previously expressed its willingness to buy second-hand F-35, which could mean that it could purchase the aircraft a little earlier.

Dassault Rafale of the Hellenic Air Force.

And not to mention the 24 Dassault Rafale F3R generation 4.5 jets that Greece has already begun to receive from France, which are more advanced than any aircraft in the Turkish arsenal.

Before the NATO summit, the Turkish government would have considered buying Eurofighter Typhoons from the United Kingdom if there was no progress in the agreement with the F-16. London suspended all arms export restrictions it had imposed on Ankara during its October 2019 cross-border military offensive in Syria in May, making the sale possible. The United Kingdom is also pushing for the sale of Eurofighter to Turkey.

Buying Eurofighters would make a lot of sense for Turkey. They could serve as a 4.5 generation palliative solution for the Turkish Air Force until it can finally acquire or build a fifth-generation aircraft and a counterweight to the Greek Rafales.

However, if Ankara gets approval to buy the F-16 Block 70/72, you can decide that such a purchase would be unnecessary, since the Viper variant has many fifth-generation features.

In any case, Turkey will still have difficulty overcoming the substantial technological advantage that the Hellenic Air Force is likely to achieve by 2030.

Even if Turkey places 120 F-16 Block 70/72 fighters (40 new and 80 updated), they will face 84 F-16 Vipers Block 72 (all in service until the second half of 2027), 20-40 F-35s and at least 24 Rafales. In other words, no less than 128 fighter jets from Greece with capacities equal to or greater than the best jets in Turkey.

And even if Turkey buys one or two squadrons of advanced Eurofighters, in addition to its modernized F-16s, Greece will probably maintain this technological advantage.

Source: Forbes

Tags: Military AviationF-16 Block 70HAF - Hellenic Air Force / Greek Air ForceTAF - Turkish Air Force / Turkish Air ForceWar Zones - Greece Turkey

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Fernando Valduga

Aviation photographer and pilot since 1992, he has participated in several events and air operations, such as Cruzex, AirVenture, Dayton Airshow and FIDAE. He has works published in a specialized aviation magazine in Brazil and abroad. He uses Canon equipment during his photographic work in the world of aviation.

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jerseydeanne · 2 years

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Kitty Links: This is a build-up to WWIII

General Sir Patrick Sanders, who assumed overall command of the British Army this week, warned soldiers ‘we are the generation that must prepare the Army to fight in Europe once again’ as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine rocks global stability.

In a tub-thumping message to British troops, he wrote: ‘I am the first Chief of the General Staff since 1941 to take command of the Army in the shadow of a land war in Europe involving a continental power… The scale of the enduring threat from Russia shows we’ve entered a new era of insecurity.

‘It is my singular duty to make our Army as lethal and effective as it can be. The time is now and the opportunity is ours to seize.’

This has been in all the MSM .

Zelensky wants 5 billion a month to "secure " Ukraine.

The G7 are sabre rattling . The last time an American President toured Europe like this was before WW2, They want war JD. It's becoming more possible as time goes on

Or this :

Tyranny is a habit which may be developed until at last it becomes a disease. I declare that the noblest nature can become so hardened and bestial that nothing distinguishes it from that of a wild animal. Blood and power intoxicate; they help to develop callousness and debauchery. The mind then becomes capable of the most abnormal cruelty, which it regards pleasure; the man and the citizen are swallowed up in the tyrant; and the return to human dignity, repentance, moral resurrection, becomes almost impossible.” Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The House of the Dead

youtube

Suspiciously Observe,

Does Liz Truss understand the enormity of her statement . ?

Logan44,

More importantly, has Truss got a single brain cell?

JD: China has a million-man army. Is anyone paying attention? Didn't that rat bastard Scwab say limited wars? I9 guess they are playing catch up since Trump won last time. Get ready, woke people, you're going to War!

All in it together? Yes. This is unadulterated insanity. I saw this and couldn't believe what I was reading.

Kitty 💋

We like to read your comments!

#Kitty Links #world war 3 #Daily mail #liz truss #the truth seeker #off guardian #Youtube

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theculturedmarxist · 2 years

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I hate all these fucking people and they deserve the wall

Every last one of these people is a waste of skin.

Three days after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, President Biden used a break between Group of Seven summit meetings at the luxury Schloss Elmau resort in Germany to get an update on the stunning and sudden loss of abortion rights for millions of Americans back home.

There was nothing "stunning" or "sudden" about it. The draft was leaked on May 2nd. The decision was handed down on June 24th.

Huddling with top aides, including some who dialed in from the White House, Biden declared at the outset of the call that he wanted to endorse ending the Senate filibuster to codify Roe into law, a position he so far had refused to take, angering many Democrats in the process.

But Biden kept his decision private until three days later when, during a news conference in Madrid, he deployed the carefully crafted language he and his team had perfected just moments before, denouncing the “outrageous behavior of the Supreme Court” and calling for “an exception to the filibuster for this action to deal with the Supreme Court decision.”

Don't forget that Biden is a piece of shit that refused to end the filibuster before because he didn't want to upset Republicans.

For many Democrats, however, it was too little and too late — just one more example over the two weeks in which Biden and his team struggled to come up with a muscular plan of action on abortion rights, even though the Supreme Court ruling had been presaged two months earlier with the leak of a draft opinion.

Biden and his team were also caught off guard by the timing of the decision and, in the immediate hours afterward, failed to channel the raw and visceral anger felt by many Americans over the decision.

How in the fuck were they "caught off guard" or "struggling to come up with a muscular plan of action" of a decision that they knew about two fucking months in advance?

To many increasingly frustrated Democrats, Biden’s slow-footed response on abortion was just the latest example of a failure to meet the moment on a wave of conservative rollbacks, from gun control to environmental protections to voting rights. Some aspects of the White House reaction have felt to some Democrats like a routine response, including stakeholder calls and the creation of a task force, to an existential crisis.

“Leadership right now is coming from the streets, and we would love to be met in that effort by the White House and the Democrats more broadly,” said Rachel Carmona, the executive director of the Women’s March, on Thursday. “I think that Biden has an opportunity to step forward in a leadership role in a way that he has not.”

This account of the administration’s 14-day struggle to craft a message and policy plan after the Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization is based on interviews with 26 senior White House officials, Democratic lawmakers, abortion rights activists, Democratic strategists and other Biden allies, many of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to share candid details.

"Condition of anonymity?" Fucking cowards.

White House officials defend the urgency of Biden’s response and the actions he has taken on abortion, which they argue are in step with mainstream opinion. “The president has been showing his deep outrage as an American and executing his bold plan — which is the product of months of hard work — ever since this decision was handed down,” White House communications director Kate Bedingfield said in a statement Saturday.

So which is it? Were they caught off guard and scrambling to come up with their non-plan, or have they been working hard for months to come up with their bullshit non-plan?

“Joe Biden’s goal in responding to Dobbs is not to satisfy some activists who have been consistently out of step with the mainstream of the Democratic Party. It’s to deliver help to women who are in danger and assemble a broad-based coalition to defend a woman’s right to choose now, just as he assembled such a coalition to win during the 2020 campaign,” she said.

If you want the Democrats to make real efforts to combat reactionary politics you're an "activist who is consistently out of step with the mainstream Democratic Party." There you have it. From the horse's mouth itself. If you vote Democrat, you're a fucking idiot.

While many exasperated Democrats and activists argue the administration could do much more, others say they understand the White House view that its options are limited and that most major steps would need to come from Congress or the states.

“The reason this one feels different is because the decision we have feared for nearly 50 years finally happened,” said Scott Mulhauser, a Democratic strategist who previously served as a senior adviser to Biden’s commerce secretary. “This moment, as the country takes a giant step backward, and moments like it are too often laid on the White House, as if they had a magic wand to fix it all, rather just insufficient votes in Congress and a regressive Supreme Court majority.”

"Long have we foreseen this doom." "Foreseen and done nothing."

On Friday, Biden gave an emotional speech that cheered many Democrats with its tone of outrage and a call to combat, while signing an executive order bolstering abortion rights and access to contraceptives. He railed against the Supreme Court ruling, calling it “wrongheaded” and “an exercise in raw political power,” and urged women to “turn out in record numbers to reclaim the rights that have been taken from them by the court.”

lol the "call to combat" is "go out and vote"

Yet Biden’s genteel tendencies were still in evidence, as he referred to “my Republican friends” even while calling them “extremist” and deriding them for “talking about getting the Congress to pass a national ban” on abortion.

Finger wagging at his extremist friends.

“One of the reasons he was elected was that he is a decent, temperate person, and there is no doubt that he can raise his voice, but it doesn’t come naturally to him and it doesn’t land well,” said David Axelrod, a former senior adviser to President Barack Obama. “People got the president they voted for, and I think those are good qualities that he has, but they may not be the qualities that some people, particularly activist Democrats, are looking for right now.”

Yeah, I guess that part's true. This is the piece of shit that millions of people voted for.

About four hours after the decision overturning Roe v. Wade was handed down on June 24, the White House emailed numerous abortion rights allies asking them to join a call with top officials that afternoon to “hear more about the Supreme Court ruling and the fight ahead.” Those invited expected a fiery call to action and a detailed plan from the White House, a road map not just for the immediate aftermath but for the weeks and months ahead.

Instead, top White House and administration officials stressed the issue was important to Biden and reiterated the actions the president had already outlined earlier that day, including expanding access to the abortion pill and protecting women who travel across state lines to get an abortion. The call lasted about 20 minutes and officials took no questions, according to an outside adviser who was on the call. Afterward, multiple attendees complained to each other that the call was a waste of time, the outside adviser said, and left deflated.

This is really the purpose of the Democratic Party: to poor water people's passions, dissuade them from taking any proactive action, and do everything possible to make them feel demoralized. Mission accomplished!

The sentiment was similar after the draft opinion leaked nearly two months prior. At the time, Democratic activists quickly contacted the White House asking for ways to organize a response. But many of the groups felt they were met with vague platitudes, a handful of listening sessions and promises the administration was working on a plan, said a Democratic strategist who works with some of the groups. After the official decision came out, some Democrats felt the administration had wasted valuable time in organizing the party apparatus to respond, the strategist added.

Only "some" Democrats? You mean the ones paying attention? The ones with a fucking brain stem?

Decision day did not unfold as White House officials had expected, or as Democrats had hoped. White House aides had expected the Supreme Court to release the ruling as its final decision of the term on June 30, the day Biden was set to return from Madrid. It is not clear why they believed that. The court announces expected release dates shortly ahead of time but does not say which opinions will be dropped on a specific day.

Wishful thinking? More Lucy and the football shit on the part of the Republicans? Or did they really just not care because they had no plan or intention to make a fucking plan, so it really didn't matter?

Still, the president had already signed off on his prepared remarks. Had the decision been released on June 30, Biden would have given his speech upon returning to Washington, one White House official said.

Oh, it actually didn't matter because their non-response was prepared ahead of time.

Biden had been planning to nominate a conservative opponent of abortion rights to a lifetime federal judgeship in Kentucky on the very day that Roe was overturned, according to emails first reported by the Louisville Courier Journal. The White House appears to have abandoned that idea after the abortion ruling, according to those emails.

Lol, nope

After the decision dropped, the White House scrambled to accelerate its timeline. In an Oval Office meeting that morning, Biden gathered with top advisers to fine-tune his remarks. The group focused on what actions he quickly could take to protect women’s rights, as well as the impact the ruling would have on the lives of millions of Americans and the nearly 50-year effort by Republicans to restrict abortion access,two senior administration officials said.

Then, they sent the president out to deliver his speech. “Make no mistake: This decision is the culmination of a deliberate effort over decades to upset the balance of our law,” Biden said at the time. “It’s a realization of an extreme ideology and a tragic error by the Supreme Court.”

But Biden’s delivery lacked the urgent tone that many Democrats felt was required, and even some White House officials later said they wished the president had been more fiery, another senior administration official said. The official added that they felt Biden had missed the mark in part because he and his team had been unprepared for the timing of the decision, and the reality of the ruling had not fully set in.

Which the "actions he quickly could take" were also basically bullshit "expanding access" and "directing committees to investigate" bullshit. This response is just completely flaccid, and acting like it came completely out of left field after a 50 year effort to make it happen is just insulting.

Vice President Harris was on her way to a previously scheduled speech in Illinois when the ruling came down. Her team printed it out for her aboard Air Force Two, and she pored over it on the plane as her motorcade sped to her first event, where she and her aides overhauled her remarks to reflect the sudden crisis. “This is the first time in the history of our nation that a constitutional right has been taken from the people of America,” Harris said.

lol. lmao even.

The White House also canceled the previously scheduled briefing by press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. Although she did an MSNBC interview, the canceled briefing dismayed some White House allies, who felt the administration should have used all available opportunities to drive its message and attack Republicans in the immediate aftermath of the decision. A White House official, however, said the decision was made to let the remarks from Biden and Harris carry the day.

Meanwhile, some progressive lawmakers began calling on the administration to declare a public health emergency, a mostly symbolic gesture that would signal how seriously the administration viewed the issue but that would make limited difference in terms of policies or actions Biden could take.

Some in the White House and Department of Health and Human Services supported the idea, believing it would bring more attention to the issue, according to a person familiar with the discussions. But White House aides and agency officials became uncomfortable declaring the Supreme Court decision a public health emergency, the person said.

"Instead of doing something we decided to do nothing. Hope this helps!"

They worried that declaring an emergency without the ability to fundamentally change things would backfire and argued that such a declaration would not necessarily unlock many new authorities or funds for the White House to deploy, this person and another familiar with the discussions said. Still, the second person added that the White House has not yet ruled out such a declaration.

If it's an empty gesture, why hold it in your back pocket for later? It's only use is as an non-action to pretend like something is being done in order to defuse anger.

White House officials have also been reluctant to put forward policy proposals that are likely to be struck down in court. The administration’s most ambitious policies on the coronavirus response, for instance, have almost all been overruled in court, including a vaccine mandate for businesses with more than 100 employees and a federal mask mandate on public transportation.

"Let's not do anything because doing anything would be useless." Okay. Maybe the administration could do something to pressure those courts to not strike down these extremely necessary laws? Just a thought.

But some Democrats and advocates have called on the administration and Democratic lawmakers more broadly to adopt the Republican playbook and put forward more creative policies and proposals, even if they may ultimately get struck down, as a signal to voters that they are fighting for them.

Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.), who is among a group of Democratic women who have consulted with White House officials on possible actions since May, applauded Biden on Friday for finally taking action after weeks of consultation. But she said the moment demands more.

“I do think that he is working overtime with his administration to figure out ways that can protect women,” she said. “I do have to say, though, I myself favor a public health emergency. And I think there are others that do as well.” She added, “I think it is worth being bold, and then deal with the legal challenges in court. The issue is that there is suffering right now.”

Young Democrats have been particularly disappointed with their party’s response to the Supreme Court ruling. In a focus group of 10 Democratic base voters between the ages of 25 and 39 convened Wednesday evening by Democratic consulting firm HIT Strategies, participants reported feeling disappointed and discouraged.

Disappointed and discouraged? Working as intended.

Most of the voters said they wanted elected officials like Biden to demonstrate and clearly articulate how lawmakers are fighting for them, and said they wanted to see a specific plan. Some pointed to tweets from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) shortly after the decision that clearly outlined steps Democrats could take.

“They still concluded at the end that, ‘Yes, I’m going to vote no matter what,’ but they’re craving Democrats” being “active in the way they are being active,” said Ashley Aylward, who moderated the group, noting that young voters engage by donating to women’s funds, volunteering for abortion rights groups and helping to transport friends in states with restrictive abortion laws. “They’re looking for many more specifics in the plan to react to the overturning of Roe and protecting their abortion rights.”

"We want strong, decisive leadership, and if we don't get it we're going to vote for Democrats anyway." Great job you fucking morons.

On Friday, exactly two weeks after the abortion ruling, Biden again stood in the White House and addressed the nation. He excoriated the Supreme Court ruling and railed against the “extreme” laws in some states that do not allow abortion even in the cases of rape and incest.

And he became visibly moved as he recounted the story of a young girl, pregnant by rape, who was reportedly forced to travel out of her home state of Ohio to seek an abortion in Indiana. The case, described by a doctor to the Indianapolis Star, has not been corroborated.

Did this even happen, or is this just as imaginary as Biden marching for civil rights?

“Ten years old. 10 years old! Raped, six weeks pregnant, already traumatized, was forced to travel to another state,” Biden said. “Imagine being a little girl.”

It took two weeks but, in the view of many Democrats, Biden had finally hit the right tone. “I was glad to see him come out today with some specific responses,” said Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nev.) after his remarks Friday, adding that it likely “put some of that criticism to rest” from Democrats who have been eager for the president to mount a more aggressive response to the overturning of Roe.

The White House began planning for a possible overturning of Roe last summer, when the Supreme Court did not stop a Texas law that banned abortions at around six weeks, two senior White House officials said. Biden appointed Jennifer Klein, director of the Gender Policy Council, and White House counsel Dana Remus to run a response team “on the anticipated wholesale assault on women’s rights,” one of the White House officials said.

How many times are we going to be gaslit in the same fucking article? If they were planning a response since last summer then why was their fucking response so fucking weak?

That work “went into overdrive” after the leak of the draft decision in May, culminating in an effort that involved the White House Counsel’s Office, the Justice Department and Health and Human Services Department, along with outside allies and advocacy groups, the White House official said. Biden began receiving regular briefings on potential policy responses, and White House officials held calls and meetings with stakeholders ranging from abortion providers and doctors to patients and faith leaders.

IF HE WAS RECEIVING REGULAR BRIEFINGS ON POTENTIAL POLICY RESPONSES THEN WHY IS THERE STILL ANY QUESTION ON HIS POTENTIAL POLICY RESPONSES, LIKE DECLARING A PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY?

On the day the Supreme Court decision came down, White House aides argue that not only did Biden and Harris speak forcefully on the issue, but the administration held several calls with roughly 2,000 individuals in the abortions rights community.

Still, some Democrats and activists felt Biden’s tone and the White House response more broadly failed to capture the anger, betrayal and fear that many of them felt. Progressive lawmakers, including Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), began calling on the administration to do more, such as opening up abortion clinics on federal lands in states that had banned or would soon ban abortion.

The White House was intrigued by the proposal, one senior White House official said, and began evaluating it. But while they found they could protect federal employees who used that option, they could not protect other women or providers once they stepped off federal land, putting them at legal risk, an assessment echoed by outside legal experts.

More Democrat hand wringing about how they refuse to do anything because they either aren't sure it will work, or aren't willing to do anything to make sure it will work. Their justification for not doing the abortions on federal land thing is that there's no federal protection for getting abortion, so Republicans might prosecute later if/when they retake office. So instead of passing protection and doing it anyway, they're just not going to do it.

A White House official also pointed to an NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll that found Biden’s approval ratings rising from 77 percent to 84 percent among Democrats in the wake of the Supreme Court decision.

lol, lmao

But other polls show differing results. A Monmouth University poll that overlapped with the decision found 74 percent of Democrats approved of Biden, down from 81 percent in May. An Economist/YouGov poll in early July found 59 percent of Democrats said they approve of the way Biden is handling the abortion issue, which is 18 points lower than his overall approval rating among Democrats, at 77 percent. About 1 in 4 Democrats disapproved of his handling of the issue, at 26 percent, while a sizable 16 percent had no opinion.

Several Democrats who were critical of Biden’s initial response welcomed the more forceful spirit of his speech on Friday. “The tone was right, the political symbolism was right, all of the values and deepest concerns that advocates have raised were addressed,” said Lawrence Gostin, a professor of medicine at Georgetown University and faculty director of its Institute for National and Global Health Law. “The one thing that was missing was tangible concrete action.”

Tangible, concrete action? With Democrats? Never.

For Jennifer Palmieri, a White House communications director under Obama, the criticism was never fair to begin with. “Republicans gamed the system, and they got two Supreme Court justices they shouldn’t have, and those people had a 40-year plan to overturn Roe and they did it. And to continue to blame Biden for the fact that more Americans didn’t vote for Democrats is an epic example of missing the forest,” she said.

"This isn't our fault for running a dogshit candidate and letting Republicans 'game the system'. This is the voters' fault for not voting for more democrats." Jennifer Palmieri kill yourself challenge.

“We are in such a bigger fight than what the president of the United States can deliver, and if you’re thinking that it can be solved by a president taking any action in the course of the two weeks after the decision, then you’re not appreciating what a big fight it is and what a precarious moment it is,” Palmieri added.

What a piece of shit.

#democrats #roe v wade #joe biden #biden administration

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mariacallous · 2 years

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Editor’s Note: This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

BRUSSELS — Oleksii Reznikov, Ukraine’s defense minister, was in an excellent mood after several intense days of closed-door meetings at the NATO headquarters.

The Alliance hosted a meeting of defense ministers of all 30 member nations on Oct. 12-13 in Brussels. The so-called Ramstein group of 50 nations providing assistance to Ukraine amid Russia’s war also met for its sixth summit.

Ukraine was at the very center of attention in the NATO corridors, again.

Just days after Russia launched massive missile attacks against critical civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, Reznikov’s mission was to motivate the West to step up support and help Kyiv build an air defense shield.

Ukraine has been asking the West to “close the sky” over the country, by either declaring a no-fly zone or providing advanced air defense systems, since the early days of Russia’s full-scale invasion. But neither of the requests has been fully satisfied.

The call for a “no-fly zone” was rejected, as it would directly involve NATO in the war – an idea the West has uncompromisingly opposed.

As for air defense systems, Ukraine’s backers have indeed been supplying them, albeit at a pace too low and in quantities too small to make a real difference. According to President Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine has only about 10% of the air defense it needs.

But following Russia’s relentless missile strikes which killed at least 20 people, injured over 100, and damaged vital public infrastructure across Ukraine, it appears positions have shifted.

Providing air defense systems takes time and money, but many countries seem to be genuinely ready to finally give Ukraine the air defense equipment it needs to save lives, and as soon as possible. Some, such as the U.S., France, and Spain, have already made announcements about some of the upcoming supplies.

“The political decision on air defense has been made,” Reznikov told a small group of Ukrainian journalists in Brussels.

The Kyiv Independent attended the meeting.

The Ramstein group, including the U.S., said it’s ready to work on bolstering Ukraine’s air defenses. Are new and better air defense systems to Ukraine forthcoming?

Oleksii Reznikov: Nearly a month and a half ago, we were thinking about what else we could request from our partners to make our air defense stronger. It’s about things they have on hand, things they can provide us without any problems.

Let me put it this way — we have picked a system and started figuring out if getting it was realistic. I’ve made an official request to my American colleague Lloyd Austin. Here during the Ramstein meeting, we finally discussed this at a high level.

What we have heard is that this option is possible. The most important thing is that the American side voiced a message on the necessity of bolstering Ukrainian air defense as soon as possible. It’s not about only the NASAMS and the IRIS-T, which are already known. In the coming weeks, we’ll see if it all works out and if certain nations are able to take on these liabilities, then we can announce what (this new air defense system) is.

The Ramstein group ministers keep telling me two things: “You are defending not just yourself but the entire democratic world.” These are not just empty words. And the second thing: “We’re reassuring you we’ll be by your side as long as it takes, in the short and the long run.”

We’re also discussing the production of new weapons and munitions. They ask me what we will need in six, eight, 12 months, they are ready to keep rendering assistance until the very end of the war. They really perceive Ukraine as the eastern shield of Europe.

What’s even more interesting is that on the sidelines, ministers were saying: “The Madrid summit designates Russia as a direct threat to NATO, and Ukraine demonstrates the best expertise in repelling the Russian military, deterring and defeating it — what else could be a better reason to admit Ukraine in NATO?”

It was a very pleasant thing to hear. So far, it’s about discussions on the sidelines, but, you know, it’s a future decision in the making.

How long does it take to train Ukrainian air defense operators?

Oleksii Reznikov: Our specialists are currently undergoing a training course for NASAMS; Immediately after training for the IRIS-T training was completed, the system crossed the Ukrainian border.

It takes time — weeks, not months or years, of course. The same goes for every weapon and equipment type we get from the West.

I’d like to stress that our partners think highly of our military personnel capabilities, as they master complex weapon systems faster than it’s expected in manuals.

Relatively speaking, a training course for a 155-millimeter howitzer lasts three months. Our guys finish it within three weeks, as instructors declare them ready to use the weapons in combat.

Some 10,000 Ukrainian troops trained by the U.K. are now getting back home to join the fight?

Oleksii Reznikov: Yes.

The British training program that many other nations also joined envisaged 30,000 prepared Ukrainian troops. They are getting basic training — something we need to be able to do in Ukraine but can’t. We all remember Russian missile attacks against the Yavoriv training center (in which many troops were killed).

Britain has led a helping hand. They provide recruits with everything — lodging, nutrition, instructors — and their training is adapted to our Ukrainian military regulations and standards. And all of them get full body armor gear donated by our partners. It’s basic training.

10,000 troops are about to complete the training. And the next 10,000 will follow immediately.

We have also discussed new programs that could unfold in training centers in Europe — at the scale of battalions. We can send 600 troops and let them practice their interconnections, command and control procedures, maneuvers, and decision-making.

The next level is at the brigade scale. Our command units would be able to practice tactical decision-making using simulator programs provided by our Western partners.

What about Israel? Is it part of the Ramstein meetings? Is it possible to finally get air defense systems from Israel?

Oleksii Reznikov: Israel is represented in the discussions, yes.

Providing Ukraine with defense aid, especially lethal weapons, requires a political decision. Unfortunately, so far, we have not seen readiness from the Israeli side to make such a political decision.

We’re working on it, but as of now, I’m not optimistic enough to say we can get weapons from Israel tomorrow.

Could new air defense systems bring Russian missile strikes to an end?

Oleksii Reznikov: Let’s be realistic — not a single air defense system can guarantee 100% efficacy. There should not be any illusions regarding such weapons in the U.S., Israel, or elsewhere. But we can make intercepting missiles more probable.

Right now, our glorious air defense forces systemically intercept up to 50% of Russian targets. If we can make it 60%, or 70%, or 80%, that would be great.

The next month will give us answers to questions about what, when, and how. But we have entered this new epoch — the political decision has been made.

I am experiencing so many positive emotions — you won’t believe how strong the support for Ukraine is. I assert that the age of Ukraine-centrism has begun!

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brookstonalmanac · 5 months

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Events 12.20

AD 69 – Antonius Primus enters Rome to claim the title of Emperor for Nero's former general Vespasian. 1192 – Richard I of England is captured and imprisoned by Leopold V of Austria on his way home to England after the Third Crusade. 1334 – Cardinal Jacques Fournier, a Cistercian monk, is elected Pope Benedict XII. 1803 – The Louisiana Purchase is completed at a ceremony in New Orleans. 1808 – Peninsular War: The Siege of Zaragoza begins. 1832 – HMS Clio under the command of Captain Onslow arrives at Port Egmont under orders to take possession of the Falkland Islands. 1848 – 1848 French presidential election: Having won the popular vote in a landslide, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte is inaugurated in the chamber of the National Assembly as the first (and only) president of the French Second Republic. 1860 – South Carolina becomes the first state to attempt to secede from the United States with the South Carolina Declaration of Secession. 1915 – World War I: The last Australian troops are evacuated from Gallipoli. 1917 – Cheka, the first Soviet secret police force, is founded. 1924 – Adolf Hitler is released from Landsberg Prison. 1940 – Captain America Comics #1, containing the first appearance of the superhero Captain America, is published. 1941 – World War II: First battle of the American Volunteer Group, better known as the "Flying Tigers", in Kunming, China. 1942 – World War II: Japanese air forces bomb Calcutta, India. 1946 – It's a Wonderful Life premieres at the Globe Theatre in New York to mixed reviews. 1946 – An earthquake in Nankaidō, Japan causes a tsunami which kills at least one thousand people and destroys 36,000 homes. 1948 – Indonesian National Revolution: The Dutch military captures Yogyakarta, the temporary capital of the newly formed Republic of Indonesia. 1951 – The EBR-1 in Arco, Idaho becomes the first nuclear power plant to generate electricity. The electricity powered four light bulbs. 1952 – A United States Air Force C-124 crashes and burns in Moses Lake, Washington, killing 87 of the 115 people on board. 1955 – Cardiff is proclaimed the capital city of Wales, United Kingdom. 1957 – The initial production version of the Boeing 707 makes its first flight. 1967 – A Pennsylvania Railroad Budd Metroliner exceeds 249 kilometres per hour (155 mph) on their New York Division, also present-day Amtrak's Northeast Corridor. 1973 – Assassination of Luis Carrero Blanco: A car bomb planted by ETA in Madrid kills three people, including the Prime Minister of Spain, Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco. 1984 – The Summit Tunnel fire, one of the largest transportation tunnel fires in history, burns after a freight train carrying over one million liters of gasoline derails near the town of Todmorden, England, in the Pennines. 1984 – Disappearance of Jonelle Matthews from Greeley, Colorado. Her remains were discovered on July 23, 2019, located about 24 km (15 mi) southeast of Jonelle's home. The cause of death "was a gunshot wound to the head." 1985 – Pope John Paul II announces the institution of World Youth Day. 1987 – In the worst peacetime sea disaster, the passenger ferry Doña Paz sinks after colliding with the oil tanker MT Vector in the Tablas Strait of the Philippines, killing an estimated 4,000 people (1,749 official). 1989 – The United States invasion of Panama deposes Manuel Noriega. 1991 – A Missouri court sentences the Palestinian militant Zein Isa and his wife Maria to death for the honor killing of their daughter Palestina. 1995 – NATO begins peacekeeping in Bosnia. 1995 – American Airlines Flight 965, a Boeing 757, crashes into a mountain 50 km north of Cali, Colombia, killing 159 of the 163 people on board. 1999 – Macau is handed over to China by Portugal. 2007 – Elizabeth II becomes the oldest monarch in the history of the United Kingdom, surpassing Queen Victoria, who lived for 81 years and 243 days. 2019 – The United States Space Force becomes the first new branch of the United States Armed Forces since 1947.

#Events

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cherryjoobebe · 1 year

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