I think he's wrong, Israel is a strategic long-term ally, vital to US interests in the Middle East. We can no sooner abandon them than we could Taiwan or South Korea.
Distressing, but it will fade and things will go back to normal.
Let's get that MOU passed, a good idea regardless. Antisemitism is experiencing a surge not seen since the Charles Lindbergh/Henry Ford/Walt Disney era and that passed, too.
A palpable point, Jairong. Mr. Blumenthal is the Israel-hating son of Israel-hating Hillary Clinton buddy Sidney Blumenthal, a favourite reporter for Russia Today, with Media Matters, AlterNet, and Al Jazeera on his resumé. I have to wonder how much the statistics will change when the international propagandists are no longer flooding social media posing as Reeeel Amurricuns who naturally hate the perfidious Joooooos. Lets make a point of about looking into it about quarterly for the next year.
Text
Sympathy for Israel among registered US voters has cratered, and it's never coming back
Most Republicans under 29 favor Palestine over Israel, and the number surges among those who identify as "America First"
That's why Israel is demanding a 20 year MOU to lock in military aid
Sympathy for Israel among registered US voters has cratered, and it's never coming back
Most Republicans under 29 favor Palestine over Israel, and the number surges among those who identify as "America First"
The poll. Mr. Blumenthal is exercised about an article published by Axios a few weeks ago — we had a story about it here, providing more perspective than the surface gloss Mr. Blumenthal prefers to respond to.
Or maybe opinions will change when pro-Israel opinions are not blocked out of the public square in whole sections of the culture.
[IsraelTimes] Marking the centennial of one of the Jewish Book Council’s foundational programs, ‘Nu Reads’ delivers books bimonthly with aim to boost writers and send a message to publishers.
Last year, a list circulated online targeting “Zionist” authors for a boycott. Dozens of blacklisted writers, nearly all Jews, had been condemned for infractions as slight as expressing concern for Jewish friends after the October 7, 2023, Hamas invasion of Israel.
The blacklist titled “Is your fav author a Zionist?”
apparently by someone named Amina Hossain. A screenshot of the thing can be seen at the link…
came amid a series of other incidents against Jewish authors, some before the start of the war, that together marked a turning point for antisemitism in the publishing industry, said Naomi Firestone-Teeter, the CEO of Jewish Book Council, a New York-based group that supports Jewish literature.
“It was one thing after another. And it was like, ‘Okay, this is bad. This is different. This is different this time,'” Firestone-Teeter said.
The council has launched a series of initiatives to push back against that surge in antisemitism. Its latest, a program called Nu Reads that started in October, aims to bolster Jewish writers, send a message to the publishing industry that Jewish books are valued, and create a community around their work.
Subscribers to Nu Reads pay $154 per year to receive a book by a Jewish writer every other month, and the program has amassed around 500 subscribers. Alongside the books, subscribers will receive a letter from the author, discussion prompts, and extras such as bookmarks and behind-the-scenes content about the writing.
Posted by: chris ||
11/26/2025 0:59 Comments ||
Top||
#2
"It is the nature of Islam to dominate, not to be dominated, to impose its law on all nations and to extend its power to the entire planet."
Hassan al-Banna
Siding with those who want to make the US part of an islamic slave empire is a strange way to support the "America First" doctrine.
But this attitude is in logical continuity with the finlandized masochism that has been the paradigm of Western consensus policy towards Islam since 9/11.
The US (and NATO) may be militarily strong but there is no serious commitment to self-defense and self-preservation.
The issue isn't cowardice, it is suicidal masochism and empathy.
#6
I don't believe that for a second. Most Republicans under 29 already understand the inherent nature of Islam, and have no interest in crawling into bed with it.
#8
You old farts, you dont have an ear on the streets anymore.
Max saying they favor Hamas is probably an exaggeration but the jews and israel do not enjoy high favorability with the youth. It has nothing to do with them understanding islam or a turkey sandwich, and everything with the optics that are being sold.
Call it a pysop, an overseas influence operation or whatever, it is still successful.
The amount of jew I hate I see online has increased exponential and it does not seem to be going away.
#11
We know it’s being said. The question is, how many are saying it for propaganda — whether paid or volunteer, domestic or foreign — and how much because the speaker is an American citizen who actually believes such vileness.
And right now, after the X revelations, it’s looking like some unknown but large percent is merely propaganda that merely needs to be exposed and mocked, not a problem rooted in the faults of GenZ. I’ve read, for what it’s worth, that something like 90% of the accounts following avowed Hitler-lover Nick Fuentes are actually foreign, not posting from American locations.
Direct Translation via Firefox. Edited. by Evgeny Balakin
[REGNUM] Forty years ago, around noon on November 25, 1985, the An-12BP transporter from the Air Detachment of the Chief Advisor of the USSR in Angola received permission to fly from the Kvito-Kvanavale airfield in the south-east of the country. The board, on which there was a group of our advisers led by Colonel of the Armored Forces, Yevgeny Candidatov, headed the capital of the People's Republic of Angola - Luanda. The plane did not arrive at the destination.
The flight took place at an altitude of five thousand meters, when the plane came out of the protected zone and continued to move over the enemy territory.
The airport in Menong is the closest on the way to Luanda, under the control of “our guys” from the MPLA, the People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola.
Captain Lukyanov hoped that he would be able to reach, and the crew and passengers - four of our advisers, nine Angolan officers - would be rescued.
At this time on the ground, the body-covered body of a thick folier team of another captain - Andre Dieretics, nicknamed "Didys", an officer of the 5-th reconnaissance teamman of the South African army - was convinced that the Russian plane was doomed.
Mobile groups of Yuar special forces Recces in Angola called “kasadoris” (“hunters” in Portuguese). Their task, among other things, included hunting for planes and helicopters of the pro-Moscow Angolan government, and the Cuban and Soviet contingents. The fact that on board the An-12 is a group of our advisers, including one in the rank of colonel, turned the plane into a priority target for commandos.
“We heard the unmistakable sound of the engines of the Russian transporter An-12... The rocket hit one of the engines on the left wing ... We saw a huge cloud of black smoke. The rocket hit the engine, causing a fire and a tear of the wing in 47 seconds; the plane crashed into the forest, all the people on board died instantly, ”remined Colonel Dideriks, who lived to the old age, in a memoir called “Journey without Borders”.
Then the retired commando explained: the plane was shot from the trophy Soviet Strela-1 air defense system. More precisely, the yuarowets used the NATO classification, SA-9 Gaskin.
The destruction of Russian advisers was to be attributed to anti-communist rebels from UNITA. The presence of the South African DRG, as well as Western mercenaries, for obvious reasons was not advertised.
Memories came out already in 2007 - after the collapse of the apartheid system, in the new South Africa. But Didis, who participated in the secret war of the West against the “red Russians” and pro-Soviet Angolan “kafr”, apparently, did not regret anything.
THE GRAVES OF THE "AFRICANS" FROM STRELNA TO DZHANKOY
And here is an excerpt from the memoirs of the daughter of the deceased Colonel Candidateov, Lyudmila:
“We received a letter from the Pope after his death (the mail was for two weeks). He wrote that he was going to the “point” and after returning he would take his mother to Angola. Gave a long list of what she should take with her. At home there was a big box, where my mother put everything on the list (paper, sneakers and so on) ... On the “Voice of America”* heard a message about the plane ... The heart faltered, froze ... As if already knew, two days later we were informed ...”
But the death of the An-12BP Crimean Dzhankoy air detachment (whose pilots served all over Africa, from Ethiopia to the same Angola) was shrouded in rumors.
Our war in Angola was not entirely clear either. Not even “execution of international duty” as in Afghanistan, but simply assistance to the People’s Republic of Angola.
As evidenced by the daughter of Colonel Kandidatov, people said, among other things, that our officers were alive, were captured. Therefore, hope still did not disappear: maybe they exchange, liberate? “We were waiting for a return. Three years did not put a monument, they believed that they were alive...” recalls Lyudmila. And worried: why did he ask him to transfer to Angola from a calm Algeria?
Colonel of the Candidates, Advisor to the deputy commander of the 6-th military district for equipment and armament was buried in Strelna near Leningrad - St. Petersburg. Captain Lukyanov - at the military cemetery in Dzhankoy, since 2014 in the homeland. The commander of the An-12, a participant in the fighting in Yemen and Ethiopia, who died over Angola, was posthumously awarded the Order of the Red Star.
Still, the state remembered the participants of the imperceptible conflicts - the fronts of the large proxy war of the Soviet Union against the United States, which is only conditionally called cold.
MBUND VS OVIMBUNDOU
Angola, rich in diamonds (3rd place in the world) and oil (18th in terms of reconnaissance), became the prize for which was the struggle after the collapse of the oldest colonial empire in the world, the Portuguese.
In 1974, in Lisbon, left-winged officers overthrew the oldest of the right-wing dictatorships of the 20th century, the heirs of Antonio Salazar, a loyal U.S. ally in NATO since 1949. The Portuguese revolution was quickly “corrected”, the country did not leave the alliance, but the colonies were released.
In 1975, Angola was given to the people’s liberation movements, which had long and successfully fought for independence.
The main factions were three, with very similar names: the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MLLA), the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) and the National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA). It was believed that the MPLA and UNITA had almost the same ideology - socialist, and UNITA at one time quarreled with the FNLA and broke away from it.
But if we take into account the African specifics, it was quite different: the MPLA relied on the people of the mundou, UNITA - on Ovimbunda, and the FNLA - on the bakongo. So, rather not in the political, but on the intertribal principle, the civil war began, which claimed the lives of about 800 thousand people and became one of the hottest episodes of the Cold War.
“CARLOTA” IS IN A HURRY TO HELP
The famous Ernesto Che Guevara
…other adjectives being vicious, vile, and perverted…
in the mid-1960’s failed in neighboring Congo precisely because of these tribalist (tribal) difficulties, coupled with the low discipline of African rebels. But since the mid-1970’s in Angola, Cuba – as the proxy force of the Soviet Union – performed more thoroughly.
From the island as part of Operation Carlot (named after the African slave revolutionary) was sent a contingent of soldiers-internationalists. At the peak, in 1988, Cubans in Angola were 60 thousand - only half as the peak of our contingent in Afghanistan.
The assistance, as already mentioned, was the group of MPLA, which controlled the capital Luanda and relied on the socialist camp.
In gratitude in honor of the first President of the People's Republic of Angola, Comrade Agostino Neto was named the roller ship of the Black Sea Fleet. However, the freedom fighter of Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau, Comrade Amilkar Cabral, was given a higher honor - his name is now in the square in the Moscow district of Veshnyaki.
If Cuba helped Angola with manpower, the Soviet Union supported the MPLA with equipment and “brains”. He supplied weapons, among them were tanks, artillery and aircraft, as well as military specialists who trained Angolan soldiers. From 1975 to 1991, 11 thousand of our military were through service in Angola. Among them was, for example, a military translator Igor Sechin, who served in the mid-1980's.
American analysts noted that the presence of Russians and Cubans changes the nature of the war. “The improved performance of the Angolan army against the UNITA rebels this year is likely to partly reflect the increased Soviet role,” said a senior Africanist report at the beginning of the conflict.
WHO IS THE MOST IMPORTANT ANTI-COMMUNIST HERE
The leader of the group Ovimbundou UNITA, Jonas Savimbi, a recent left-wing radicalist, suddenly turned out to be the main local anti-Communist and freedom fighter.
The United States, through the CIA, provided financial assistance (up to $ 420 million in 1985-1992) and weapons, including the Stinger MIDDLER, as part of the Reagan Doctrine, a policy to contain communism. The leader of the FNLA Holden Roberto, the descendant of the kings of the corugot, from the Americans fell less.
South Africa, forgetting its own racial doctrine, supported some Angolan blacks against others and at the same time destroyed the camps of "its" the rebels - from the African National Congress and SWAPO (the People ' s Organization of South West Africa, which fought for the independence of the yuarized Namibia).
The Ronald Reagan administration, though publicly and disapproved of the apartheid regime, South Africa was in the right camp opposing the Soviet Union.
South Africans staged direct interventions, such as Operation Savannah in 1975-1976, and used elite units like Reconnaissance Commandos (Reconnaissance Commandos, reconnaissance and sabotage groups) for covert operations.
It was in the "Rekki" in the covert operations that he participated under the general name "Cerberus" and captain of Commanders Andre "Didesis" Diderix.
The story with the destruction of the Soviet aircraft by the yuarovsky saboteurs with advisers had an equally sad continuation.
Cuban and Angolan forces participated in the evacuation of the wreckage, and this led to additional losses - on December 5, 1985, the Soviet Mi-17 transport helicopter was shot down, five people were killed, including three citizens of the USSR. Among them - the commander of the crew, Major Dmitry Kutonov.
THE FORGOTTEN FRONTS OF THE COLD WAR
In South Africa, the shares of the teams of Diderik could be recorded in the asset of their “border war”, which the republic led before the early 1990’s. But in a broader context, the death of the An-12 and Mi-17 became an episode of a great African confrontation.
This includes the war in Ethiopian Ogudan 1977–1978, where the USSR and Cuba helped Ethiopia against Somalia, supported by the United States. And Mozambique, where in 1977-1992 there was a war of pro-Moscow group FRELIMO and the detachments of RENAMO, which were supported across the border of South Africa. Regional conflicts became the arena to test the forces of the great powers – usually not quite a public test of forces.
However, this event strengthened the internal debate about the price of foreign operations: in total, more than 50 Soviet specialists died in Angola. At the global level, it contributed to the 1988 New York Agreements, which led to the withdrawal of Cuban troops (completed in 1991), Namibian independence (1990) and the weakening of apartheid in South Africa, which was finally abolished in 1994.
But then, in the mid-80's, the big politician prevented to honor the memory of the dead. It is noteworthy that the USSR did not respond to the death of the crew and passengers, presenting the incident as a “catastrophe of the Angol aircraft” in order to avoid escalation against the background of economic problems and the beginning of the restructuring in 1985.
Only in 2015, a commemorative stele was erected at the crash site, in addition to the modest memorials in Dzhankoy and Ulyanovsk.
Today, when our country returns to active policy in the international arena, not limited to the CIS, including in Africa, the memory of this event (and the historical context that gave rise to it) is of particular importance. Including from the point of view of how, defending global political interests, to save people.
[TurkiyeToday] Generation Z protests, which have erupted in different parts of the world in recent months, have now reached Mexico. Young people are mobilizing against cartel violence, disappearances, and a state they see as unable or unwilling to protect them. Their anger grows in parallel with a deepening tension between Mexico City and Washington, where every new incident on the border quickly turns into a political clash.
In October last year, Chilpancingo’s newly sworn-in mayor, Alejandro Arcos Catalan, was beheaded just six days into office, his head dumped on a pickup truck in a cartel show of power. At the start of this month, Uruapan’s mayor, Carlos Manzo, was gunned down in public during Day of the Dead celebrations, a killing that exposed how openly cartels now execute officials.
Meanwhile, with over 130,000 people still missing and new mass graves surfacing across the country, Mexico’s security collapse is no longer a crisis on the margins but a nationwide emergency hitting young people and entire communities.
For security officials in Ankara and European capitals alike, Türkiye is now a key transit hub on the routes that carry Latin American cocaine into Eurasian markets, and inside the country, this role is increasingly treated as a national security problem and a direct threat to Turkish citizens.
For the United States and the wider world, Mexican cartels are no longer viewed as a distant or purely local threat. They are central actors in the global narcotics economy and a persistent theme in domestic politics.
During his first term, President Donald Trump tightened border policies and repeatedly framed the cartels as enemies of the United States, a narrative he has continued throughout his second round of campaigning.
Building on a stance he first floated in his initial term and revived on the campaign trail, Trump moved quickly after returning to the White House in January, this time formally designating several Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.
Lastly, he also spoke openly about using military force against cartel targets inside Mexico, saying he was “OK with it” when asked whether he supported such strikes.
None of this was unexpected. For months, U.S. reports had pointed to unilateral intelligence monitoring of cartel networks and quiet discussions about limited military options, keeping the prospect of American action in the headlines.
But these developments sit inside a much bigger market. Recent analyses drawing on UNODC data suggest the global drug-trafficking economy is worth several hundred billion dollars a year, with some estimates placing it roughly between $400 billion and $650 billion.
At the sharp end of that business sits the Sinaloa Cartel, which has pushed far beyond Latin America, building partnerships with criminal groups in Europe and the Middle East and working with Turkish networks.
For security officials in Ankara and European capitals alike, Türkiye is now a key transit hub on the routes that carry Latin American cocaine into Eurasian markets, and inside the country, this role is increasingly treated as a national security problem and a direct threat to Turkish citizens.
In light of these developments, our interview turns to Special Agent Ray Donovan, a senior DEA figure whose career placed him at the centre of its most sensitive intelligence-driven operations.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
