Politics & Stuff

[Fulham Broadway 16,497]

I helped out in an old peoples home many with dementia. They had entertainment days when they would do karaoke etc with their relatives encouraging.

I saw less patronising applause from their relatives than Jill Bidens of her husband after that car crash head to head, and actually better performances -4 more years ?

[Vesper 27,676]

Haaretz: Three Israeli Army Reservists Explain Why They Refuse to Continue Serving in Gaza

Yuval was required to torch two residential buildings; Michael realized how many civilians were likely to be killed during every bombing he observed; and Tal broke down when Israel entered Rafah. They are willing to suffer the price for their refusal to serve in Gaza

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-06-27/ty-article-magazine/.premium/three-israeli-army-reservists-explain-why-they-refuse-to-continue-serving-in-gaza/00000190-5014-d3c0-a5d4-737644c90000

https://archive.ph/0WTS1

When Tal Vardi, a civics teacher from Jerusalem, was absent for a prolonged period from the high school where he teaches because he was called up for reserve duty, his students were surprised. He was one of the only members of the school faculty who disappeared for a long time, from the start of the war until the end of December, although he was considered the most left-wing of them all. "Indeed, I'm a very political teacher," admits Vardi, 28, in a conversation with Haaretz. "My students know my political stances on most issues. I believe that I share them in a thought-provoking way which gives rise to a healthy discussion in class." At the end of last month, Vardi, along with 41 other reservists who have served in the military since October 7, signed the first letter of refusal published by reservists since the beginning of the war in the Gaza Strip.

'A friend told me: 'I was in Shifa with my tank ... and four months later they sent me another emergency call-up to return to the same place, to occupy places that I'd already occupied.' "The six months during which we participated in the war effort proved to us that military activity alone won't bring the hostages home," wrote the signatories to the letter, 10 of whom signed with their full name and the others with initials. The writers then referred to the invasion of Rafah: "This invasion, aside from endangering our lives and the lives of innocents in Rafah, won't bring back the hostages alive… It's either Rafah or the hostages, and we choose the hostages. Therefore, after the decision to enter Rafah rather than to bring about a hostage deal, we, male and female reservists, are declaring that our conscience doesn't allow us to lend a hand to forfeiting the lives of the hostages and torpedoing another deal."

The signatories include 16 in Military Intelligence and seven in the Home Front Command. The others serve in infantry, engineering and tank units. Two of them serve in elite units, the Commando and Lotar units. One of the seven from the Home Front Command noted that many reservists serving in his command were assigned after October 7 combat missions such as serving on the line in the West Bank, to replace the many conscripts redeployed to Gaza. Most of the signatories told Haaretz that they're aware that their views are an exception among reservists. Vardi, a Tank Corps commander, is one of three signatories who agreed to be identified in this article. His reserve brigade was first sent to the war in the north to replace the battalions of conscripts who were sent to the south. He was engaged there mainly in teaching younger reservists, who were trained to fight in state-of-the-art tanks, but now had to learn how to operate older tanks.

"I grew up in the north and I spent the summer vacation between fifth and sixth grade, during the Second Lebanon War, running to the safe room," he explains. "I didn't have any doubts about doing so. I felt that I was doing my small part in the effort to protect the country's citizens." Even now, he says, if called up again for reserve duty in the north, he'll report, but if he's summoned to a job related to the fighting in Gaza, he'll refuse. "When I returned from reserve duty I started to question where this thing was going," he recalls. He says that after October 7 he had no doubt that Israel would begin a ground operation in Gaza, that it would last for a few months, and that in the end they would bring back the hostages. But the more time passed, the stronger were his doubts, in part after conversations with friends serving in the career army and the reserves.

snip

[KEVINAA 65]

 

Kanye West has arrived in Moscow, Russia

[Fulham Broadway 16,497]

The populist right continues to grow in Europe and the US...LBGQT and Immigration the main targets, whipped up by mainstream media billionaires

Marine Le Pen’s far-right, anti-immigration party is in reach of becoming the biggest political force in the French parliament after a historically high showing in the first round of snap parliament elections.

National Rally (RN) has won about 34% of the national vote share, according to exit polls from Ipsos, Ifop, OpinionWay and Elabe. Comprising about 12 million votes, this was a significant increase on its vote share of 18% in the last parliamentary elections in 2022.

[cosmicway 1,278]

Marine's party came first with 34%.
But it's not over yet re. absolute majority for her.
Two things I don't understand:
First Lepen score 43% in the last presidential election in 2022. Why is the 34% an improvement ?
Second why the Frenchies hate Macron so much, having previously voted for him ?
I understand the Macron camp in 2022 was a broad coalition so the 20% hh got now does n't compare with the 57% of the presidential election, but what was his previous score ?