Chit Chat

By Ted Belman

From now on comments on every post must relate to the content of the post.

Comments that don’t relate to the post must go here.

Any person who contravenes this demand will be put on moderation. Also their offending comment will be trashed.

The reason for this demand is so that people who want to read comments which pertain to the post, don’t have to wade through the chatter.

Everyone will be happier.

April 16, 2020 | 7,967 Comments »

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  1. According to a Report from the Wall Street Journal; Iran has told Arab Diplomats and Officials that it is planning a “Strong and Complex” Response involving both the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its Conventional Army against Israel, for their latest Attack. They claim that the Attack won’t just involve Drones and Missile like in prior Retaliations, but additional Weapons Systems, and that the Missiles they do use would be equipped with more Powerful Warheads. Iranian Officials have also claimed that they do not want to Influence the ongoing U.S. Election with its Attack, adding that any Response against Israel would come after Election Day on November 5th.

    OSINTdefender

  2. I highly recommend this book written by a psychiatrist Kenneth Levin:

    The Oslo Syndrome: Delusions of a People Under Siege is a 2005 book by Kenneth Levin, a psychiatrist with doctorate in history. The book applies psychiatric insights to the Arab-Israel conflict by arguing that Israel’s reaction to perceived Arab hostility is a corollary of the Stockholm syndrome in which hostages come to identify and empathize with their captors.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Oslo_Syndrome

    What if one day the “intransigent“ terrorists AGREE to the project?

    Have you looked at the actual MAP?

    Are you going to TRUST the terrorists who vowed to destroy Israel together with its Jews and to TRUST Israel’s feudal lord to actually hand over what is written on paper in 4 years?

    DO NOT MAKE ME (and THEM) LAUGH!

    Israel perpetuates the fake conflict by playing the game of “Palestine“, “Palestinians“, “two-state solution“, etc., etc.

    As long as Israel plays this game, it supports the enemy’s narrative and the enemy’s tactics (the plan of phases).

    There has never been a Palestine, the so-called Palestine is Judea renamed by the Romans.

    IT MUST BE MADE ILLEGAL – in Israel, at least, to use this term.

    Israel must QUIT acting as a Warsaw Ghetto!

    1

  4. Yes Reader, Peloni is correct. The Arab Terrorists Totally refused to even peruse the agreement, and rejected it out of hand.

    This gave Israel 30% of YESHA immediately and the other 70% within the next 4 years, and ALL legally signed and sealed.

    In fact the 4 year “delay” was a good idea because it gave Israel enough time to perfect a plan to move in everywhere immediately “allowed” by the document, and not piece by piece………..A blanketed move of everywhere at one time.

  5. @Reader
    Again, the Trump plan was never going to be fully implemented due to Pal intransigence, but in fact it wasn’t implemented due to Israeli intransigence, regretfully. For having agreed to entertain the Trump plan, the TSS would have been ended and Israel would have had sovereignty extended over 30% of J&S, and perhaps more. Notably, the Pals could never agree to the plan, so the Trump plan would have ultimately devolved into the JO, because the JO is the only plan which allows for a reasonable outcome after acknowledging that the TSS is dead.

  7. IF- and it looks more than likely, 6 more IDF are killed the total wiil pass the number of IDF heroes killed in The Six Day War.

  9. Robert Kagan, yes, Victoria Nuland’s husband, resigned as Washington Post editor following their decision not to endorse a presidential candidate

  10. Major election blow in Georgia
    The Georgia State Election Board’s (SEB) rules are dead for this election cycle. The Georgia State Supreme Court won’t consider the matter until AFTER this cycle is over, rejecting the RNC’s bid for expedited review

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  12. Body of Hashem Safieddine, the Head of Hezbollah’s Executive Council and its Newly-Appointed Secretary-General, has finally been recovered from the ruins of the October 3 strike which re-decapitated Hezbollah’s leader, not to mention many of his immediate subordinates.

  14. The Political Source THE HILL says, for the first time that Trump is leading 52% to 41% in all important states except Penn. But still says it’s close.

  15. Former U.S. President Donald J. Trump says that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu asked him recently about his Opinion on a Retaliatory Strike against Iran, for which he says he told him, “You do what you have to do.”

    OSINTdefender

  19. Michael

    It’s actually Kohelet 5.10, and “the seeing of them with HIS eyes.”
    I don’t think I used the KJV but the Torah.

    According to the Preface of The Revised Standard Version there are over 4,000 mistakes in the KJV.

  22. @Michael

    every nation in history has had to deal with some demographic problem or other.

    Well, this is inevitably true, either initially or with time and the encroachment of foreigners. Then Ancient Greeks described any non Greek as barbarados, ie barbarian, and this was no mere misunderstanding in language, as you were either civilized, ie a Greek, or you were a savage, at least thru the lens of the Greeks. But we should not forget that the Pal Cleft is one which was not only forced upon Israel by the so called international community, but it was weaponized against Israel, and this weaponization was in fact initiated, supported and funded by the international community. This situation is actually unique among all the nations of all world history in fact. Notably, the issue which plagues Israel is not the presence of the expanding Pal Cleft but its permanent Cleft status as the Cleft is cultivated to grow in size and support with every generation, something which has been turned like a screw into the heart of Israel with the full support of both Israel’s enemies and allies alike. So, while all nations have demographic considerations with which to deal, none but Israel face the might of the world community supporting explicit barbarian Cleft against the civilized population, with no lens needed to determine which is the barbarian and which the civilized population, as was needed with the Greeks of old.

    I’ve noticed some experts have been lauding the benefits of smoking

    This truly does serve to reminds me of the fact that there is too much politics involved in medicine. Nicotine, like cannabinoids, have many medical uses, but this does not indicate that smoking either tobacco or marijuana should be considered to be a healthy practice, or so I would strongly argue. Despite this fact of course, my father of beloved memory began smoking at the age of 13, and except for a period of about 6 months when he once tried to quit (suffice to note that this didn’t go very well for anyone who knew him), he continued to do so til his death, which was quite unrelated to his smoking, at an age well into his 80’s. Even after nearly twenty years, every time I smell that familiar aroma of side stream smoke by a near passerby, it calls to memory of him as he nearly constantly had a lit cigarette in hand while he was not sleeping, and yet I likely experienced a greater consequence than he did as a result of his habitual smoking. He was of course what I would describe as a lucky exception. But as you said,

    Regardless of whether we live a short life or long, healthy or not, we all die

  23. Hi, Peloni

    Lately, I’ve noticed some experts have been lauding the benefits of smoking — something about nicotine receptors. I used to smoke, and wouldn’t wish the COPD that goes with it on anyone. Regardless of whether we live a short life or long, healthy or not, we all die; and every nation in history has had to deal with some demographic problem or other. As Solomon said, 3000 years ago,

    When goods increase, they are increased that eat them: and what good is there to the owners thereof, saving the beholding of them with their eyes?
    — Qoh 5:11, KJV

    “The Indian fights because it is good for him” is a quote from the 1970 movie Little Big Man. Or as God said through Samuel,

    Judges 3
    1 Now these are the nations which the Lord left, to prove Israel by them, even as many of Israel as had not known all the wars of Canaan;
    2 Only that the generations of the children of Israel might know, to teach them war, at the least such as before knew nothing thereof;

  24. @Michael

    It’s open for debate, of course, which is the cause and which is the effect.

    Good point. Also, whether it is simply a confounding factor, ie unrelatable to the situation, such as smoking increasing someone’s age should older people be more prone to smoking.

  25. True, Peloni — War is SO doggone inefficient (?); and its alternative, democracy, is becoming so popular. Why, in Michigan there are so many voters — far more voters, in fact, than people!

    MI Shock: ‘53 Counties with More than 100% Registration’

    https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2024/10/16/peter-schweizer-gai-study-details-50-threats-to-election-integrity/

    Still, war has never totally lost its charm, nor declined much as mankind’s most consistently used means of diplomacy. The demographics problem persists (perhaps having to do with the legalization of birth control circa 1961 and legal abortion in 1971?) in the US and elsewhere (as in Israel):

    https://images.populationpyramid.net/capture/?selector=%23pyramid-share-container&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.populationpyramid.net/israel/2100/%3Fshare%3Dtrue

    Concerning the “happiness index”, I did my own ad hoc study a few years back, and noted that countries committing demographic suicide, such as Germany and the USSR, tended to be experiencing a fall in national self-esteem. It’s open for debate, of course, which is the cause and which is the effect.

  26. @Michael
    The lack of offsprings around the globe is not a new concept as you probably are aware, and in fact Israel is among the very few nations among the West which bucks this trend and has an expanding population rather than a depleting one.

    I have read previously that this is hypothesized to be related to the Happiness Index where Israel stands at #5 and Ukraine and Russia stand at #105 & #72, respectively (The US stands at #23, fyi). Others have speculated that this is related to the enviornmental conditions or some other such trivia, but by whatever the drop in reproduction trend is caused, Israel is not so affected as her sister so called democracies.

    Also, not to revisit our earlier arguments on Ukraine vs Russia, but another trend to which Israel is less associated is the pursuance of silly wars such as is raging in Ukraine. As I have noted in previous conversations with you, Russia was willing to negotiate a peaceful settlement, and Ukraine, or dare I say the US, had a period of 8yrs to do more than pretend an interest in such negotiations. Meanwhile, Israel has pursued one peace initiative after another with the same faux peace partners attempting to find a way to peace while war has only come about after it being forced on the Jewish state. The consequence of this has been October 7, just as the consequence of American military adventurism has been the use of war to deplete the Russians at some level at the expense of the Ukrainians at what I sincerely believe is devastatingly high level, which is why they needed to expand the draft age while still failing to push Russia out of Ukraine.

    Hence, your suggestion that war is now being utilized as a form of depopulation tool, which I have to admit strikes me a bit macabre while also being highly inefficient, is not likely to be very successful in Israel, and I would argue that the wider world will likely be less agreeable to accept the war policy which is being forced upon it than were the Ukrainians, who I have argued previously were well accustomed to being pawns of their political masters with only rare reversals of this trend, all of which only served to be used by their political masters to ever greater levels of pernicious goals, such as the American led Orange and Maidan Color Revolutions. No doubt you will have your own thoughts on these obervations, but these are my own, such as they are.

    Regarding your comment to Ted:

    The best solution for Israel, though few might admit it, might actually be continual warfare, with the Pallies suffering most of the damage in both population and infrastructure.

    I completely disagree with this.

    War is the unraveling of societies and in fact it serves to unravel many of those who are forced to run such a terrible gauntlet. No nation should hope to survive long from continuous war, as the effects of doing so would change the very nature of the country pursuing such a gruesome goal. Furthermore, as I hope we will both come to see, Israel’s future will be supported not by war, but by peace, and not a faux peace as has been pursued over the past years by silly and malicious minds, but one based upon economy and trade and good relation, as opposed to the so called use of such villains as the Hashemites who are mistakenly said to be necessary evils which must be endured rather than replaced.

    In fact, the Pallies as you describe them should be sent packing, to find a home somewhere else where there are few to no Jews upon which to exercise their pathological rages. Fortunately for them, all of Arabia would meet this qualification, and to the level possible, this should be the manner by which the Cleft forced on Israel should be remedied and not a state of constant war which you suggest as being the best solution.

  27. Ted,

    In view of the graphs I just posted to Peloni, I note that the Israel / Gaza problem is not really geographic, but demographic. The best solution for Israel, though few might admit it, might actually be continual warfare, with the Pallies suffering most of the damage in both population and infrastructure.

    Every country has such a demograpic problem. This might be a contest of which is the most humane solution: direct euthanasia, mass immigration (aliyah), COVID-type lockdowns and vaccinicide, fentanyl poisoning or an Apocalypse.

    Each has its benefits and failings.

  28. Peloni,

    We’ve had some exchanges over the years, about the Russia-Ukraine war. I just saw a couple of graphs, which might shed some light on the situation:

    https://preview.redd.it/ukraine-and-russia-population-pyramid-comparison-2021-v0-90g0vsa5koqa1.png?width=1080&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=d626e9967ba161f2f7f319d354617381165430b3

    The graphs compare the Russian population, stratified according to age and sex, side-by-side with that of the Ukraine. The Russian population is obviously larger, but otherwise it is virtually a copy of Ukraine’s. The most obvious feature of both, is how few young people are available to take care of the older population.

    America and Europe have a similar problem, and we are trying to compensate for it by importing millions of young people from across the globe. This has led to internal conflict in the West: increased crime, economic upheaval and, most notably, the degradation of the once-dominant culture.

    Ukraine has compensated in a different way: sending their middle-aged men, who are destined to become elderly and dependent seniors, to the war zone. This amounts to “elder genocide” — which decreases the population somewhat, but preserves the native cultural balance.

    For comparison, the USSR’s demographic graph for 1927 (before WWII) is shown below:

    https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/67/Russian_population_by_age_and_sex_%28demographic_pyramid%29_on_01_January%2C_1927.png

    I wonder how long it will be, before the West (including Israel) adopts the “Ukrainian Solution”.

  30. Ted, I’m getting mixed signals: My post appears on the left-hand column, but not tin the main body. Let me try clicking again…

    It works.

  31. Hi, Ted. I receive what you say about the current disinformation. I’m just hunkering down, and waiting for my ballot to (hopefully) come in the mail.

    This is bizarre:

    https://youtu.be/cIpqUtgtk6A

    It’s a retired US general (read, “misdirection and disinformation”), calmly telling me that “Yes, US troops are now on the ground in Israel”, and “No, there’s nothing to worry about until one of them gets killed”.

    He also calmly tells us that Israel has been given “plenty of targets” to play with — as though Israel were engaged in this war for the sheer pleasure of it.

    Meanwhile, the real war directly assaults my family every day in the US schools, with “thought missiles” that hit directly at my grandchildrens’ minds, where lasers and missiles have no effect against them; and in the airwaves, where the “truth sappers”, called “the news”, has been undermining the US election and everything else on this side of the Atlantic.

    The background to the general’s talking head depicts the Israeli night sky, being lit up with inocming missiles being intercepted (and sometimes not). We are told, in essence, that this isn’t really “war” until an actual rocket hits us personally. Welcome to “Alternate Reality”, and what it actually is:

    WORLD WAR III.

  33. We will know what Israel does once they do it! Whatever we read now could be disinformation to not let Iran know ahead of time what Israel actually intends to do.

    Feeding certain elements in the US government disinformation that surely will be leaked is one to add confusion to the Iranians.

  36. Netanyahu calls on the UN Secretary General to withdraw UNIFIL forces immediately.

    The latest news reports that Guterres refused to even consider removing UNIFIL troops from the line of fire. He is presenting those troops as shields to Hezbollah.

    Those screaming loudest, Spain and Portugal, have sent these troops, but they are also not thinking of retracting their troops or statements. I wonder how they intend to respond if anyone from UNIFIL gets hurt. Will they send “normal” troops to get involved in the fighting? This could explode very quickly.

  38. Senior Israeli defense source:
    Attack on Iran will be powerful, not moderate; high probability that Tehran will retaliate; Israel needs to prepare to strike again after Iran responds…

    Netanyahu informs US: Israel will strike Iranian military targets, avoid attacks on nuclear & oil sites.

    Israel Radar

  39. 57 minutes ago News
    Armed Coachella Rally-Goer Vem Miller is Pro-Trump, Independent Reporter, NOT Would-Be Assassin.

    A man arrested near a rally for Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump on Saturday has denied allegations of planning an assassination attempt.

    Vem Miller, 49, who is personally known to The National Pulse, and has interviewed The National Pulse’s Editor in Chief, Raheem Kassam, asserted in a lengthy video statement that he is a dedicated Trump supporter who has never fired a gun.

  45. @Michael

    there’s nothing political to be gained…

    Indeed, that which might be achieved is the death of politics, the silencing of debate and the banishment of free speech. And of course, that is not only the result of such raw, senseless violence, but the very intent of it as well. It is the mark of non-free societies, or free societies soon to be cast into the clutches of tyrants.

  46. Thanks, Peloni. What I wrote was,

    “Now is the time for all good men to come the aid of their party.” (a traditional typing exercise)

    I think you agree, that there’s nothing political to be gained, by any party, by ganging up to an unarmed blind man and beating him up — it’s raw, senseless evil (except for the HAMAS, who think it’s a virtue)

  47. @Michael
    I rescued your comment.

    The site doesn’t post foreign scripts such as Cyrilic.

    There was nothing political about that, just hatred.

    Well, I am not aware of the situation, so I will take your estimate of the situation as fact. Not all violence is political violence, rather political violence is violence exercised to either force a political outcome or to change the free atmosphere of political expression. It must always be noted, chastised and prosecuted, at least in countries which hope to maintain themselves as democratic.

    Gemar chatimah tovah

  49. Hi, Peloni. I don’t think Israpundit can handle Cyrilic script. Let me test it:

    ????? ?????? ??? ???? ?????? ????? ?????? ?? ???????? ????? ??????.

    (It’s as I thought)

    In the mid-1970s, some of the (probably black) teens in our neighborhood beat up a well-known blind man, while repeatedly calling him by name as they taunted him. There was nothing political about that, just hatred.

  50. @Michael

    You manage to weave the Maidan Uprising into so many of your posts

    In fact, political violence is one of the most effective manners to unseat democracy, and it has been a particular interest of mine going back to the assassinations in the US from 50 years before the Maidan coup, but the use of political violence was far more effectively employed in the Maidan coup and in the Nazi coup of the 1930’s. Of course, the Maidan coup is far more relevant today, which is why I noted it, but political violence is an important topic to challenge in any context, which is why I was grateful to you sharing the article and news report you cited.

    So no need to translate you commentary into Cyrillic characters, as the defense of democratic norms is too important to be discussed in any language besides English at the moment, IMHO in any event.