Israel at war day 130
- The Biden administration is working “intensely” on a hostage deal, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday night as the Israeli delegation to the Cairo talks returned home without any clear results.
- Former secretary of state Mike Pompeo visited the Gaza border today and met with soldiers
- IDF releases video ofSinwar and his wife with some of their children walking through a tunnel with an unknown terrorist.
- Israel obtains video of Hamas leader Sinwar surrounded by ‘2-3’ children in Gaza tunnel
Israel has obtained footage of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in a Gaza tunnel surrounded by “two or three” children, Channel 12 reports without airing the video.
- The Democratic-led U.S. Senate on Tuesday passed a $95.34 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, though it faced an uncertain path ahead in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.
- A Mother, and her teen son seriously hurt in Hezbollah rocket attack on Kiryat Shmona
- 3 more soldiers killed in Gaza bringing death toll in ground operation to 232
Netanel Yaacov Elkouby, 36, from Chaifa
Yair Cohen,30, from Ramat Gan
Ziv Chen, 27, from Kfar Saba
- Biden says US working on Gaza hostage deal that would lead to six-week period of calm
“The key elements of the deal are on the table, there are gaps that remain, but I have encouraged Israeli leaders to keep working to achieve the deal,” Biden said.
- New details about rescued hostages, Fernando Marman and Louis Har.
Their relatives say that they had cooked for the family that had held them captive.
They lived mostly on pita bread and white cheese and returned having lost much of their body weight.
They had not seen sunlight during the 129 days since their abduction.
They were asleep when the Israeli forces entered and, until they realized that they were in the hands of Israelis, were sure they were going to die. Their extraction came as a complete surprise.
The men had not seen news for the entire time they were held hostage, except for one time when they were able to watch a broadcast on Al Jazeera.
People, we are going to be in a lot of trouble if the House does not pass the Senate bill.
ReplyDeleteI apologize for warning you, but unfortunately we are headed to another century of mass destruction is the isolationist win out as they did in 1920.
Make no mistake, the Russians are rebuilding the Soviet Union. If we go isolationist, Germany, or some group of European countries are going to unilaterally rearm without us and become the fourth superpower. Not to mention Japan rebuilding its military power if we abandon them.
They all have universities, centuries of leading the world in industry and science, an airplane and automobile industry that can compete with ours and can easily be converted into armored vehicle and military production, the nuclear technology, and the history of world power. Don't for a second compare them to bear claw primitive countries like Iran and North Korea, that are 100 years behind just beginning their nuke program.or even India and Pakistan, two existing nuclear powers,
Let's hope that the Republicans put country before their man. We cannot allow the Churchill, Kennan, Kissinger world order to collapse that has brought 80 years of peace. As long as America keeps its commitments, America will be boss and exercise strategic dominance and make the decision when or if these powers go to war with Russia or China. Otherwise, they will certainly drag us into WWIII. Free article:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/12/us/politics/republican-defectors-ukraine-aid.html?unlocked_article_code=1.VE0.WUe2.4JPTbqiKKlka&smid=url-share
You are watching too much liberal junk news. The senate can easily take out the border stuff and everyone will vote for the bill!
ReplyDeleteLet's hope but you are wrong for accusing me of reading junk news. Have some respect. These kind of comments lower the intellectual debate that we can enjoy on this site.
ReplyDeleteWith that said, are you saying that there is border stuff in this bill that just passed? Do you think the House Republicans will pass aid to Ukraine and bolster our defenses in Europe or let the Europeans take care of themselves like in the 1920s?
Let's hope but you are wrong for accusing me of reading junk news. Have some respect. These kind of comments lower the intellectual debate that we can enjoy on this site.
ReplyDeleteWith that said, are you saying that there is border stuff in this bill that just passed? Do you think the House Republicans will pass aid to Ukraine and bolster our defenses in Europe or let the Europeans take care of themselves like in the 1920s?
“In the absence of having received any single border policy change from the Senate, the House will have to continue to work its own will on these important matters,” Johnson said in a statement. “America deserves better than the Senate’s status quo.”
ReplyDeleteWhat is going on with the House Republicans? First they demand a border bill to go together with Ukraine and Israel aid. Then the Senate gives them the most conservative bill that can ever possibly come out of Congress (maybe they're worried they'd lose their cleaning ladies) without any path for the Dreamers and real teeth to close the border, and they reject it because the Commie lover Trump said so. Now they got a separate Ukraine and Israel bill out of the Senate, as they said after their first flip-flop. There is no question, this Republican party is not fit for governing.
Please explain. I have to be missing something in the details.
Please don't accuse me of being influenced by popular press. You don't even know who I am, my expertise, or what kind of formal education I have. Stick to substance.
Infantile. What about the debt death spiral? Do you really think it's sustainable to have United States paying for the defense of the whole Western world? Do you really think that socialist Europe Germany France etc can actually afford to build large armies? It was for a good reason they've been leaning on the US for all these years.... Centuries of leading the world in science. hilarious. So have the Arabs. Discovering algebra 500 years ago will not help them very much building The latest chip.... 80 years of peace what about Vietnam The Cold war ?
ReplyDelete"Infantile?" I am done with you.
ReplyDeleteAs for the more respectable members of this blog, I did a quick check of industrial output in order and this has nothing to do with quality:
ReplyDeleteChina – 28.4% Global Manufacturing Output
United States – 16.6% Global Manufacturing Output
Japan – 7.5% Global Manufacturing Output
Germany – 5.8% Global Manufacturing Output
India – 3.3% Global Manufacturing Output
South Korea – 3% Global Manufacturing Output
Italy – 2.3% Global Manufacturing Output
France – 1.9% Global Manufacturing Output
United Kingdom – 1.8% Global Manufacturing Output
Indonesia – 1.4% Global Manufacturing Output
Now if we look at who has what, India and Indonesia are not known for heavy machinery. Their aircraft are generations behind. French and UK aircraft are state of the art. Germany's auto industry still is a world leader. As for the Soviet Union, yes, they are having problems, but they are going to rise again. I have no doubt about that.
The allies will pay up but we should not be be making our own security depend upon their decisions over war and peace.
Rank & Nation Power Index (lower score is stronger) Total Military Personnel (est)
#1 United States 0.0699 2,127,500
#2 Russia 0.0702 3,570,000
#3 China 0.0706 3,170,000
#4 India 0.1023 5,137,550
#5 South Korea 0.1416 3,820,000
#6 United Kingdom 0.1443 1,108,860
#7 Japan 0.1601 328,150
#8 Turkey 0.1697 883,900
#9 Pakistan 0.1711 1,704,000
#10 Italy 0.1863 289,000
Pleaser note that Germany is not in there. I have no question that Germany will rebuild when America disengages and perhaps with France or England, defeat Russia if we pull out of NATO. The Germans have always been known as, if I can say this, warlike barbarians. Prussia was basically a military state. I can guarantee you that Germans still learn about the Prussian General staff and can quickly put back together its army (not the SS criminals) as it was under Gneisenau's reforms. Remember, we still study Clausewitz. How can a country that produced Clausewitz become weak within 100 years. Arabs! Do they have colleges? Car companies? I remember Daniel Moynehan in the Senate laughing before Operation Dessrt Storm holding up an Iqaqui Dinar saying that these people are basically cavemen. Even their money was printied in England. 1,000 years ago the Iberians had the arts but they were left in the dust a long time ago. Not so with China. It took several hundred years, but China is back where it belongs, as one of the world's great powers.
We are going to see a pre-WWI arms race if the US drops its commitments. When that happens, we will not longer be the boss of the Western World and our fate will be sealed by the mistakes or recklessness of other countries. Right now, there cannot be a start to WWIII without America as there was with WWI and WII because America has the final say over the allies. That will change if we withdraw from our committments.
You offer stats which don't point to your conclusions.....but then guarantee... I have no question...I have no doubt.....offer your predictions....... not very intelligent. Things are the way they are for some good reasons it takes a lot for a country to change course.dont bet on change......
DeleteNapoleon said "Laissons la Chine dormir, car quand elle se réveillera, le monde tremblera" Let China sleep, for when she awakes, the world will tremble
ReplyDeleteChina has a'woke'n, yet you're chilled. You're obsessed with elsewhere
Not true. Our China policy has to maintain superiority in the Pacific. However, we will have to find some to deal with the eventuality that the Chinese navy will be a close second to us. We cannot allow China to take control of the South China Sea. There is much to be said about China. But Europe is a no brainer. China is a big problem because it is somewhat uncharted. I have not studied China enough to advocate any course of action. There is no accepted course of action other than the failed Truman Doctrine that brought us into conflict with the Commies. We have never been drawn into an Asian War other than by our own folly. We have reluctantly been drawn into every major European war against our will. But I will say that we need to keep our commitments in ANZUS and Japan if we want to deter China.
Deletehttps://nationalpost.com/pmn/news-pmn/canada-news-pmn/trudeau-told-nato-canada-cant-meet-defence-spending-target-washington-post-reports
ReplyDeleteMacarthur overseas, McCarthyism at home
ReplyDeleteThe Democrat party has come full scale Totally inverted their portrayal of GOP of early '50s.iirc Communism was at least a real pernicious pervasive menace (though liberal democrats denied )which the GOP & old conservative coalition Democrats faced with backs to the global wall
I don't know what you are talking about the 1950s. I don't know what that has to do with anything. Was there something MacArthur did that can enlighten our present problem? What was inverted? I think in the 1950s every American hated Communism just as they do today. What do you mean about the conservative Democrats? Do you mean their opposition to civil rights? Please explain. Do you think we should maintain our international commitments? Should we drop out if they don't pony up more money?
Delete"every American hated Communism just as they do today. " Really so ?
DeleteIn 1949, Gallup probed Americans' knowledge of socialism, asking people to explain what they thought it was and whether socialism existed in the U.S. The most common description involved government ownership of business and utilities, mentioned by 34%. Another 12% of Americans said socialism stood for equality, including equal rights and equal distribution of wealth. More broadly, a combined 50% associated socialism with progressive policies while another 7% said it was "modified communism" or a "restriction of freedom." A little over a third couldn't answer.
Gallup poll, July 26-31, 1946. Text of question: "In general, do you think most Americans who belong to the Communist party in this country are loyal to America or to Russia?" Loyal to the United States, 23 percent; loyal to Russia, 48 percent; no opinion, 29 percent. [Back] Gallup poll, March 28-April 2, 1947.
The actions of the House Committee on Un-American Activities remained controversial throughout the 1940s. A November 1947 Gallup poll found nearly 80 percent had heard or read about the committee's investigations of suspected communists in Hollywood. But opinion was evenly split about the committee's handling of the issue: 37 percent approved, 36 percent disapproved, and 27 percent had no opinion.
Fast forward, a June 1989 poll found two-thirds disagreed with the proposition that "communism is dying out.
Thank you for the numbers. I guess that you and I are not in the overwhelming majority. As far as I am concerned, it is all Communism. Totalitarianism, Fascism, Nazism, Socialism, Authoritarianism, Jihadism, all words for dictatorship. Same enemies of America and liberty. I wonder what the kids would say today?
ReplyDeleteI hope all you wonder, and we can put this rest, and I can prove why we have liberal government even as Jewish people. There is not dina d'malchusa in Ancient Israel, so a dictator or king cannot tax without consent of the governed (Even goyish, the poskim say have to follow their constitution).
ReplyDeleteMoney and votes are the two pillar of liberal democracy (which is in s'fara the individual and free enterprise, and it did not exist in Poskim or before America). The power of the purse is the basis of modern government. Think about a king or executive and Parliament. So you have to refer to choshen mispath for how to tax and it is in 163 (Interesting balance in peskai tshuva about it is more important one man one vote than You don't want pure democracy and no influence of money which basically means intensity of interest.
Our partial solution to the disorder of democracy, Washington said to Jefferson when he missed the Constitutional Convention (could you imagine being there?), you have the Senate to cool off the House.
This is why I say Trump might mess us up, and help make Europe too strong. But after his term it will be fine because the Senate is on the right side. Trump can't have a permanent effect unless he succeeds in building up England and France so strong (who cares, they will never get in a war without us) and Germany, who anyway is going to build up, Trump and his successor has to makes sure Germany never has nukes.
Same with Japan, we can't allow Japan, Australia or New Zealand go their own way because they will draw us into a war. I hope everyone understand that this is the world order. In the Seven Years War, the Napoleon Wars, WWI and WII they dragged us in.
Here is the story:
America is a liberal republic. Socrates, Plato and Aristotle held that democracy was not good because it was fickle and therefore led to disorder. The Roman Republic (and they lost their freedom and became a dictatorship) and America proved them wrong. Both countries showed the world you can have the maximin freedom, more than any country in the world, and the maximum order (look how many laws we have) than any country in the world.
China, and everyone who isn't an Englishman or American or old Roman, thinks there is a tradeoff between freedom and order. We showed the world that you can have the maximum of both. That is American Exceptionalism.
Never the classic nor earlier colloquial definition of Liberal, nor Democracy, [neither term cared for by the Founders anyway]nor surely Republic.
ReplyDeleteI guess. And they say we are a "liberal republic" and Rome was a "civic republic." But I think the a "fundamental worth of the individual" that gets our form of government the "liberal" adjective.
ReplyDeleteI love the insight that we excel in both freedom and in order, which classically was thought of as a tradeoff. China is going to be a challenge for our kids because we know so little about them. Alas, plenty of people will make it their professional study and careers to learn and understand their history and culture. There will someone in America to influence our policy with China just like we had Kennan for Russia.
The point I have been making is that we have generations of experience and scholarship about Europe. The Atlantic has protected us from invasion, but not from being dragged into their wars. So we know Europe as well as we know our own side of the world. China is exotic, different, Oriental. We don't even learn Chinese history in school. It is uncharted territory.
There are other tradeoffs
ReplyDeleteDignity
Constitutional Edifice
Meaning
[Manifest] Destiny
Manifest Destiny is a tough one. It seems so morally wrong but at the same time so manifestly destined. I must say that Polk lied when he asked Congress for war (much like the Battleship Maine, the Gulf of Tonkin, and Iraq's WMDs). The Roman Republic also had this kind of self-centered contradiction, the policy of preemptive war. Good excuse for taking over the world.
ReplyDeleteThe very first Rashi resolves it
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