Nèdeem Elmahjoub's blog

From an article available to subscribers “In  May 1945, soon after Germany surrendered, the French Institute of Public Opinion (IFOP) asked people which country they felt had contributed the most to its defeat. At the time, respondents were highly conscious of the millions of Soviet troops who had died on the eastern front and their decisive role in weakening the Nazi forces, as well as the United States’ late entry into the war: 57% chose the Soviet Union and only 20% the US. When IFOP asked the same question this year, the ratio was inverted: the US scored 60% against 25% for the Soviet Union. “For many years, D-Day was seen as a relatively minor event…  In 1964 De Gaulle himself refused to attend: ‘Why should I go and commemorate their landings when they were a prelude to a second occupation of France? I won’t do it!’ “That all changed in 1984 amid growing US-Soviet tension…  The countries of the ‘free world’ made a show of unity, presenting themselves as defenders of ...

Thanks to James Meek for his long report Excerpts The Western companies that make the best prostheses are working flat out. One of them, the German firm Ottobock, is supplying both Russia and Ukraine, a fact Ukrainians blame for the delay in the supply of spare parts, although I wondered if the Palestinians and Sudanese also have a place in the line. despite efforts at reform, the mobilisation system is corrupt, with the rich and influential able to find ways round it; that the army doesn’t value skills, but is only looking for cannon fodder; that if you lose limbs, you can’t count on being looked after. The situation is a miniature of the tridentine internal politics of Ukraine since the Orange Revolution of 2004: the archaic, populist, nationalist-patriotic tendency; the geeky, bourgeois strand, people who aspire to what they see as a liberal European ideal of personal freedom, communal fairness and the rule of law; and the cynical, apolitical, transactional, personal loyalty-based m...

In Gallup’s latest surveys of Ukraine , conducted in August and October 2024, an average of 52% of Ukrainians would like to see their country negotiate an end to the war as soon as possible.

Back to the origins and context of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which many if not most people, only have a superficial idea about it or a distorted one. I think Volodomyr Ishchenko provides an excellent approach .

The data on the impact of the decades-long embargo ranges from a ‘negligible’ effect to ‘an extreme’ one. “Since 1992, the UN General Assembly has passed a non-binding resolution every year, except for 2020, condemning the ongoing impact of the embargo and declaring it in violation of the Charter of the United Nations and of international law. There was no voting on this issue in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Israel [surprise! surprise!] is the only country that routinely joins the U.S. in voting against the resolution…187 countries voted in favor of the resolution in 2023, with only the United States and Israel voting against it and Ukraine abstaining.”  ( Wikipedia )

I like the use of the term regime rather than the mainstream one ‘government’. The latter has been made prevalent by the corporate media and most politicians, including a few on the left. Thus the term regime, they claim, can be applied only to authoritarian states. Like other definitions, once you repeat it many times it become normalised. The accurate terms – the ones that reflect the nature of something, the social relations, etc – are marginalised. This is also found in the academic fields. How is the Starmer regime likely to govern? Related Landscapes of capital

Interview with Kevin B. Anderson Related A multi-polarity: a new alignment?

The mainstream press has been afraid to say this directly and succinctly.  As it was argued when Trump lost to Biden, Trumpism is here to stay even if it looses to Harris.

Ukraine is mentioned, but Israel and Palestine, according to Katya and the BBC , have no relation to the EU imperialist policies. 

  "Israelis are unified to eliminate this evil from the world,” said Prime Minister Netanyahu in November 2023. “You must remember what Amalek has done to you, says our Holy Bible.” The point was not what Amalekites did to Israelites, but what Israel was told by God to do unto Amalek. “Go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass." The enemy is construed as one with whom those  waging holy war  cannot possibly live in peace. The First Crusade constructed the Muslim as such an enemy. That image was bequeathed to future generations and lives with us today. Believing themselves to be authorized by a suprahuman authority, holy warriors deem their enemies subhuman and treat them with deliberate inhumanity. The crime of crimes since the twentieth century is  genocide , which is currently aided and abetted by elites in the collective West. When  Pope Franci...

I think the figure is reasonable and could be higher as the BBC suggests.

It looks a very interesting dossier Alameda

I wonder why the comparison of the civilian deaths is focused on the civilian deaths during the US-led campaign against ISIS. Is the implication ‘the collateral damage is worth it’? ISIS attacked civilians in ‘democracies’. Hamas attacked ‘the only democracy in the Middle East’. Both organisations are ‘terrorists’, according to the ‘free world’. Israel’s war on Palestinians in numbers

Double standards even in terms of ‘internal law’ and liberal dogma

Why I have not taken part in protests for years. In UK alone hundreds of thousands demonstrated prior to the war on and invasion of Iraq. They were sent/went back home on the same day. They did not stop the British regime from being part of the crime, and the destruction of Iraq that ensued and lasted for years. May times demonstration/protests in support of the Palestinians took part in London. They did not change the British regime’s policy in supporting the Israeli state. In this regard, Mark Fisher’s argument is still valid : radicals in Britain should direct their efforts to mobilise working people around social issues at home and attack the British regime’s socio-economic policies.  A regime change at home is the way forward. We have seen that even with a self-proclaimed socialist like Bernie Sanders , leaders can side with the oppressors and be complicit in crime. Sanders would have not changed American imperialist support of the Israeli state. Social movements in the beginn...

"We need to keep quiet on the whole issue of strategic ambiguity, while arming Taiwan to the teeth."

“According to media reports, since 7 October, hundreds, and potentially thousands of British citizens have left the UK to fight for the Israeli Defense Forces in Israel’s war on Gaza. Many of these Britons may already be complicit in potential war crimes and crimes against humanity, and could face future prosecution should these matters go to trial.  ICJP has urgently asked the government to clarify its position on the legality of British citizens going to fight in Israel or Gaza, noting the difference with its policy on Ukraine.” ***** In a panel discussion in London ,  emeritus professor Avi Shlaim, lecturer of International Relations at the University of Oxford  spoke about how Palestinian resistance has been “decontextualised” and that Palestinians are engaged in a decolonial struggle. During the panel discussion, Wadah Khanfar spoke about a “shameless, explicit hypocrisy” from Western politicians. “Every kind of mask has dropped. And we see the faces of these leader...

Frédéric Lordon : «   Terrorisme   » est un mot impasse. Concéder «   terrorisme   », c’est annuler que ce qui se passe en Israël-Palestine est politique. Au plus haut point. Même si cette politique prend la forme de la guerre, se poursuivant ainsi par d’autres moyens selon le mot de Clausewitz. Le peuple palestinien est en guerre – on ne lui a pas trop laissé le choix. L’acharnement à faire dire «   terrorisme   » ne satisfait que des besoins passionnels – et aucune exigence intellectuelle. «   Terrorisme   » a une irremplaçable vertu : donner une violence pour dépourvue de sens. Et de causes Les tragédies israéliennes sont incarnées en témoignages poignants, les tragédies palestiniennes sont agglomérées en statistiques. Le bloc bourgeois quand il fait bloc derrière Israël à l’extérieur saisit surtout l’occasion de faire bloc contre ses ennemis à l’intérieur. Le bloc bourgeois français est plus israélien que les Israéliens : il refuse q...

BBC: Hamas attack on Israel. Middle East Eye: Palestinian attack on Israel. That is expected from the BBC. Watch how little sympathy and concern there will be from the West for the many Palestinian men, women and children who are killed once again by Israel. Their immense suffering will be obscured, and justified, by the term "Israeli retaliation ". —Jonathan Cook Related Blood and Religion - The Unmasking of the Jewish and Democratic State   (Pluto Press 2006). Interview with Jonathan Cook, a former staff journalist of the Guardian and Observer newspapers, from Nazareth, Israel.   >>  Listen to Jonathan Cook . How Israel went from helping create Hamas to bombing it My interview with Khaled Hrub , author of  A Beginner’s Guide to Hamas

Western journalists are all but unanimous that negotiating with Russia would equal forgiving it its aggression . Related Longing for crusades Sleepwalking elites