bolverk

Protests in Slovakia against Fico cozying up with Putin.

“Any prolonged pause in funding could disrupt H.I.V. treatment programs, leading to treatment interruptions, rise of drug-resistant H.I.V.,” said Jirair Ratevosian, who served as chief of staff for Pepfar during the Biden administration. “That’s playing with fire, risking progress that we’ve made over decades to control the H.I.V. epidemic.”

The UN has provided at least two definitions of ethnic cleansing: "… rendering an area ethnically homogeneous by using force or intimidation to remove persons of given groups from the area." “… a purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic or religious group from certain geographic areas.” One can argue extenuating circumstances, explanations, justifications, and excuses until the end of time, but like it or not, displacing Palestinians from their land IS the history of Israel. In fact, that's been the entire point from the very beginning: carving out a chunk of land for a single ethno-religious group. And the Israelis are very accomplished (with a whole lot of help from the US) in doing just that.

If you consider murdering a thousand innocent civilians in a refugee camp as "kicking ass," congratulations, you're celebrating a terrorist and war criminal. If you consider expanding illegal settlements on stolen land in occupied territories an "accomplishment," congratulations, you're celebrating a terrorist and a war criminal. You know, it sounds like you actually regard Sharon as a hero.

It saddens me, too, when war criminals have to suffer the consequences of old age.

I don't get why this has to be so divisive. Maybe we should compromise on a name in English AND Spanish.

Ever heard of Ariel Sharon?

Yes, a proper accounting for of actions by all war criminals is greatly needed. https://www.icc-cpi.int/news/situation-state-palestine-icc-pre-trial-chamber-i-rejects-state-israels-challenges

Very very few Israeli soldiers ever actually get punished for abuse allegations. And, if they do, it's usually for only a month or two. For example: Between 2017 and 2021, the Israeli military received 1,260 cases of alleged offenses by Israeli soldiers against Palestinians, including 409 cases involving the killing of Palestinians, according to military data obtained by the group Yesh Din and released in December after a freedom of information request. The Israeli military opened 248 criminal investigations into instances of possible misconduct in response to those complaints — just 21.4% of the total, Yesh Din said. Only 11 investigations during that five-year period have yielded indictments. https://apnews.com/article/israel-soldiers-arrested-abuse-palestinians-be9a247497d7ede7d7b866f2e725fcfd Take, for another example, the Israeli protestors who broke into a prison to free the soldiers accused of abuse. Demonstrators also entered the Beit Lid military base in central Israel where the accused reservists were taken for questioning. Defence Minister, Yoav Gallant, said the investigation into the soldiers’ conduct must be allowed to continue, adding “even in times of anger, the law applies to everyone”. However some Israeli politicians have condemned the arrest of the reservists. Itamar Ben-Gvir, the far-right national security minister, called their detention “nothing less than shameful”.Since the 7 October Hamas attack, Israeli authorities have rounded up and held thousands of Palestinians, often without legal representation. The BBC has previously spoken to medical workers at a field hospital set up in Sde Teiman, who alleged that detainees have been blindfolded, permanently shackled to their beds, and made to wear nappies rather than having access to a toilet. Last month, Israel’s Haaretz newspaper published allegations made by a doctor at Sde Teiman that leg amputations had been carried out on two prisoners, because of cuffing injuries. The BBC has not independently verified the claims. Detainees there have told journalists and United Nations officials that they were beaten and attacked. The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) have denied systematic abuse. Many Gazans detained by Israel’s army are released without charge after interrogation. Amnesty International this month called on Israel to end the indefinite detention of Gaza Palestinians and what it called "rampant torture" in its prisons. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2q07kd3ld6o I, in no way, defend Hamas's actions -- we all know what they do is evil. But some of us apparently don't seem to apply the same standards to all parties. You know: hypocrisy.

Israel Appears Poised to Keep Its Troops in Lebanon Beyond Deadline Israel and Hezbollah agreed to withdraw from southern Lebanon, but Israel says that Hezbollah hasn’t upheld its promise and that the Lebanese Army isn’t ready to fill the void. Israel is set to occupy parts of southern Lebanon after a deadline for its full military withdrawal lapses on Sunday, the Israeli government implied in a statement on Friday, amid Israeli concerns that Hezbollah remains active there and doubts about the Lebanese Army’s ability to stymie the militia’s resurgence. Under the terms of a truce between Israel and Hezbollah in late November, Israeli troops were supposed to withdraw within 60 days from areas of Lebanon that they had recently wrested from the group’s control. Hezbollah was also required to withdraw from the region, allowing the Lebanese military to assert its control over an area where Hezbollah, an Iran-backed Shiite force and political movement, had long dominated. Less than two days before the deadline, the office of Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, announced that Israel’s withdrawal was dependent on the Lebanese Army asserting its full control over the area, adding that the timeline was flexible and implying that Israeli troops would remain in Lebanon beyond the cutoff. “Since the cease-fire agreement has not yet been fully enforced by Lebanon, the gradual withdrawal process will continue under full cooperation with the United States,” the statement from the Israeli prime minister’s office said. Asked for clarification, the prime minister’s office declined to say if this meant that Israeli troops would definitely remain in Lebanon after the deadline. But Israeli leaders have told American and French mediators that they want to keep some soldiers in southern Lebanon beyond Sunday, according to three officials briefed on the negotiations. There was no immediate response from the Lebanese government. In a brief message, Hezbollah’s media office said it was awaiting reaction from the countries overseeing the cease-fire, the United States and France. In a longer statement released on Thursday, Hezbollah said that any “breach” of the deal would not be tolerated, because it would be “a blatant violation of the agreement, an attack on Lebanese sovereignty and the beginning of a new chapter of occupation.” Hezbollah officials did not respond to accusations that Hezbollah had failed to live up to its commitments and that the Lebanese military had not yet taken control of the territory in question. Its media relations office said the group was “committed” to the terms of the cease-fire deal but would not go into further detail. Violations of the truce are monitored and investigated by a committee chaired by the United States and involving France. Hezbollah has called on those international monitors and the Lebanese government not to allow “any pretexts or excuses for prolonging the occupation,” but did not say what action it would take if Israeli troops remained. After two months mostly without conflict, despite occasional violations, the specter of renewed fighting looms again, even if Hezbollah, battered and exhausted, no longer poses the same threat to Israel as it did at the start of the war nearly 16 months ago.

Israel’s Campaign in Syrian Border Area Prompts Fears It Plans to Stay Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s order for Israeli troops to “take over” a buffer zone with Syria upended decades of relative calm along the de facto border between the two countries. Israeli soldiers have raided Syrian border villages, prompting nervous residents to huddle in their homes. They have captured the country’s highest peak, have set up roadblocks between Syrian towns and now overlook local villages from former Syrian military outposts. The stunning downfall of Syria’s longtime leader, Bashar al-Assad, closed a chapter in the country’s decade-long civil war. But it also marked the start of an Israeli incursion into the border region, which Israel has called a temporary defensive move to protect its own security. Thousands of Syrians now live in areas at least partly controlled by Israeli forces, leaving many anxious over how long the campaign will last. Israeli troops have detained some residents and opened fire during at least two protests against the raids, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an independent monitor. At least some Syrians now say they fear the Israeli presence could become a prolonged military occupation. “We’re the only part of the country that didn’t truly manage to celebrate the fall of the Assad regime — because even as the tyrant fell, the Israeli military came,” lamented Shaher al-Nuaimi, who lives in the border village of Khan Arnabeh, which has been raided by the Israeli military. Israel and Syria have fought multiple conflicts, but for decades, the border separating the two has been largely quiet. They last went to war in 1973, when Syria and Egypt attacked Israel on Yom Kippur, Judaism’s holiest day. Afterward, both sides agreed to create a demilitarized buffer zone patrolled by United Nations peacekeepers that served as a de facto border. But when Syrian rebels drove Mr. al-Assad from power on Dec. 8, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel ordered his country’s troops to “take over” the buffer zone, home to a number of Syrian villages. He called it a temporary move to “ensure that no hostile force embeds itself right next to the border with Israel” amid Syria’s internal upheaval and after the Hamas-led surprise attack from Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023, that left some 1,200 people dead in Israel. Israeli forces quickly seized the peak of Mount Hermon, the highest mountain in Syria, and advanced along the length of the buffer zone and beyond it. Around the same time, Israel said it conducted hundreds of airstrikes around the country targeting fighter jets, tanks, missiles and other weapons belonging to Mr. al-Assad’s government. The continued military campaign, particularly the ground operation in the de facto border area, has prompted international accusations that Israel is violating the decades-old cease-fire. Several groups still hold territory in parts of the country in addition to the new Syrian government in Damascus, with Turkish forces in effect controlling areas along the northern border and a Kurdish autonomous region in the northeast. The Israeli military is operating in the border area “now similarly to the West Bank, in that it can go in and go out anywhere it wants and arrest whomever it wants,” said Rami Abdulrahman, the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, in a phone interview.

You must've missed all the news about Palestinian hostages being sexually abused and tortured in Israeli prisons and hospitals.

I guess we don't have to worry about collateral damage at wedding parties anymore.

Wordle 1,315 5/6 ⬛⬛⬛⬛🟩 🟩🟩⬛⬛🟩 🟩🟩⬛⬛🟩 🟩🟩⬛⬛🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Connections Puzzle #593 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟪🟪🟪🟪 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🙂 Daily Quordle 1096 4️⃣5️⃣ 7️⃣6️⃣ m-w.com/games/quordle/ ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟨 🟩🟩⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜🟩⬜ 🟨⬜🟩⬜⬜ 🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩⬜⬜⬜🟨 ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩 🟨⬜🟨⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟩⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟨🟨🟩⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛

Wordle 1,314 4/6 ⬛⬛⬛⬛🟨 ⬛⬛⬛🟩🟩 🟨⬛⬛🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Connections Puzzle #592 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟪🟪🟪🟪 🙂 Daily Quordle 1095 9️⃣7️⃣ 5️⃣8️⃣ m-w.com/games/quordle/ ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨 🟩⬜🟨⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟩⬜⬜🟩 ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩 ⬜🟩🟨⬜🟩 ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩 ⬜⬜🟨⬜🟩 ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩 ⬜⬜🟩⬜🟩 🟩🟩⬜⬜🟩 ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨 ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ ⬜🟨⬜🟨⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟩🟩🟩 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

You know? Come to think of it, this law might not be half-bad. I mean, it sure would solve a lot of that state's problems they made it against the law to breathe.

Semen ain't the only way for your body to "discharge genetic material".

Along with spitting, sweating, coughing, breathing, pronouncing the letters D, T, K, G, and S (among potentially several others), sharting, and farting... probably.

Good question, but it looks like he logged off right after posting/editing it. @bluto We need an explanation when you sign back in.

A statement of "very fine people on both sides" does sound awfully familiar and uncannily apt.