[Townhall] Back in September, over 1,200 Hollywood celebrities pledged to boycott Israeli production companies, citing the alleged (read: nonexistent) "apartheid and genocide" in the Jewish state. The list of celebs includes Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, Joaquin Phoenix, Tilda Swinton, and Javier Bardem.
Now, studio Paramount, parent company of CBS, is pushing back under new studio head David Ellison, and it appears the celebrities who signed the Israeli boycott list are blacklisted from Paramount productions.
Here's more from KOMO News:
Amid A-list celebrities' accusations that Israel is committing "genocide and apartheid" in Gaza, Paramount has reportedly created a "blacklist" of actors and actresses, determined to be "overly antisemitic," "xenophobic," or "homophobic."
Sources familiar with the alleged list shared this information with Variety. The report comes as David Ellison was selected to head Paramount in August after Paramount's parent company Paramount Global solidified its acquisition of SkyDance. Ellison's father is Larry Ellison, who is the co-founder of Oracle. The Ellison's are considered to be close friends with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
When the Israeli boycott letter was released, Paramount condemned it. In a statement from Paramount's chief communications officer, Melissa Zukerman, the studio said, "At Paramount, we believe in the power of storytelling to connect and inspire people, promote mutual understanding, and preserve the moments, ideas, and events that shape the world we share. This is our creative mission."
Paramount recently merged with Skydance, and the company is focused on reducing costs. That's led to staffing cuts at places like CBS News, which have been described as a "bloodbath."
For the second quarter of 2025, earnings beat expectations, but quarter one earnings lagged and grew by only 0.5 percent year-over-year. Quarter three earnings will be released on November 10.
Earlier today, we told you that actress Jennifer Lawrence (who was not one of the signatories on the Israeli boycott letter) realized that Republicans watch movies, too. This is likely the standard under which Paramount is operating, too, and they want to avoid entering into a hot-button issue that will alienate at least half of its potential viewing audience.
An even playing field in a politics-free space — everybody wins.
#2
Commentary here. Appears someone is interested in making movies that Americans want to pay to see.
Before anyone cries a river for those who tank their careers, just remember all the actors on the other side of the political spectrum that have been effectively blacklisted.
#3
Not so much a blacklist for antisemitism, as for people who are a hassle to deal with.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
11/10/2025 8:11 Comments ||
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#4
...Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, Joaquin Phoenix, Tilda Swinton, and Javier Bardem.
It says something about the current state of the movie industry that I only know who one of these people is.
Actually, this article isn't true. I have it on good authority from an insider that all those folks have been given pagers so they can be sure to be contacted for their new roles.
#5
#3 Not so much a blacklist for antisemitism, as for people who are a hassle to deal with.
Yeah, that. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
In other Hollywood news, actors are freaking out that they may be replaced by generative AI. Seems a reasonable fear. We already do credible face replacement, motion capture, crowd scenes, and create digital body doubles for dangerous stunts. The question for human actors will be "What do you bring to the table that we cannot get digitally?" The ability to alienate half your potential audience is probably not a good answer.
[GEO.TV] Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman
...Crown Prince and modernizer of Saudi Arabia as of 2016. The Turks hate him, so he must be all right, despite the occasional brutal murder of Qatar-owned journalists... is set to visit the White House this month, but despite US President Donald Trump ...His ancestors didn't own any slaves... repeatedly touting an imminent breakthrough, diplomats say Riyadh is unlikely to seal any deal to normalise ties with Israel during the trip.
Then don’t. If they don’t come eagerly to the table, the thing is pointless, given they already have quietly normalized without any formalities whatsoever.
The establishment of diplomatic relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start... after decades of enmity could shake up the political and security landscape in the Middle East, potentially strengthening US influence in the region.
Trump said last month he hoped Saudi Arabia would "very soon" join other Moslem countries that signed the 2020 Abraham Accords normalising ties with Israel.
But Riyadh has signalled to Washington through diplomatic channels that its position has not changed: it will sign up only if there is agreement on a roadmap to Paleostinian statehood, two Gulf sources told Rooters.
The intention is to avoid diplomatic missteps and ensure alignment of the Saudi and US positions before any public statements are made, they said. One said the aim was to avoid any confusion at or after the White House talks on November 18.
The Crown Prince, widely known as MBS, "is not likely to entertain any possible formalising of ties in the near future without at least a credible pathway to a Paleostinian state," said Jonathan Panikoff, former deputy US national intelligence officer on the Middle East.
MBS is likely to try to use his influence with Trump to seek "more explicit and vocal buy-in for the establishment of a sovereign Paleostinian state," said Panikoff, who is now at the Atlantic Council think tank in Washington.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/10/2025 00:00 ||
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[ARCHIVE.IS] The view that Islam is problematic and should be criticised is a protected belief under equalities law, a judge has ruled.
Patrick Lee, 61, was found guilty of misconduct by the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) last April over posts on X. After a four-year disciplinary process, he was banned from the professional body and ordered to pay nearly £23,000 in costs.
The trade body ruled that 42 of his posts that criticised Islam, including calling the Prophet Mohammed a ''monster'', were ''either offensive or inflammatory or both'', adding that 29 were ''designed to demean or insult Muslims''.
But following an employment tribunal hearing, the actuary has won legal protection for his beliefs.
It is the first time a court has ruled that ''Islam-critical'' beliefs are protected under the Equality Act 2010. Previous claimants had been told such views were not ''worthy of respect in a democracy''.
The decision follows a 2021 ruling that Maya Forstater's gender-critical beliefs were protected under the same law.
Ms Forstater later won her discrimination claim and her case has reshaped public debate on gender ideology. Mr Lee, whose final hearing in February will decide whether his posts on X were an expression of his protected belief and whether the regulator discriminated against him, thinks his case could have a similar impact.
[IsraelTimes] As 60 demonstrators call for abolishing ‘Jewish lobby,’ community and political leaders denounce both hateful protest and authorities’ failure to prevent it
An antisemitic neo-Nazi ...adherents of a philosophy that was seen even at the time as pure evil, which makes them either consciously purely evil, or attention-seeking ratbags. Pick one, or both.... rally outside Australia’s New South Wales (NSW) parliament on Saturday morning drew about 60 participants and sparked widespread condemnation, not only of the protesters’ hateful messages but also of the authorities’ decision to allow the demonstration to take place.
The demonstration, which lasted some 20 minutes and called for the abolition of the "Jewish lobby," was authorized by police, who said they had not objected to the assembly under the Summary Offenses Act, which allows public gatherings to proceed if authorities are notified at least seven days in advance and a court has not prohibited the event.
Footage from the rally showed participants dressed in all black standing in two rows, in front of a banner reading "Abolish the Jewish Lobby."
Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon said the force received a notification from the krazed killer group "White Australia," which organized the demonstration, on October 28, but he acknowledged an internal communication error had left him unaware of the protest until after it occurred. He added he would review the decision to allow the rally.
At a press briefing, NSW Premier Chris Minns described the event as "distressing" and a "shocking display of hatred and racism and antisemitism."
"I want them [the demonstrators] to be met with a clear and unambiguous message from the government, from politicians, from civil life, from average New South Wales residents, that we’ve got no interest in neo-Nazis in Sydney," he said.
He signaled that the government may move to grant police additional powers to prevent similar incidents.
The rally came against a backdrop of large-scale pro-Paleostinian demonstrations across Australia this year.
In October, organizers reported 30,000 people in central Sydney protesting Israel’s actions in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... , while in August, tens of thousands joined rallies nationwide, amid strained diplomatic relations between Canberra and Jerusalem following Australia’s conditional recognition of Paleostinian statehood.
[X]
New footage shows about 70 members of the National Socialist Network protesting outside NSW parliament in Sydney today against the Jewish lobby's influence on Australian politics. pic.twitter.com/FoF4DoFMgW
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] A Saudi refugee accused of killing six people and injuring 300 when he drove into a crowd at a German Christmas market has been photographed sitting behind bullet-proof glass as his trial begins.
Taleb Jawad al-Abdulmohsen, a 50-year-old psychiatrist, was arrested next to the battered vehicle after the attack on December 20 last year in the eastern city of Magdeburg.
Prosecutors say Abdulmohsen - a critic of Islam and an adherent of far-right views and radical conspiracy theories - was motivated by 'dissatisfaction and frustration'.
They say he aimed 'to kill as many people as possible' in the attack that stunned the nation days before the Christmas festival.
The attack, in which a rented BMW raced into the crowd, killed a nine-year-old boy and five women aged between 45 and 75.
Security services later faced uncomfortable questions about whether the attack could have been prevented, given Abdulmohsen's history of extreme rhetoric and violent threats.
He will face six counts of murder and 338 counts of attempted murder in a trial expected to last until at least March.
The enormous number of victims and witnesses means that the trial will be held in a specially built temporary hall as no existing courtroom in the state of Saxony-Anhalt could accommodate the trial.
Abdulmohsen, who will be seated in a bullet-proof booth, faces life in prison if convicted.
He first arrived in Germany in 2006 and was awarded refugee status 10 years later.
Active at times as a migrant rights campaigner, he was also a prolific user of social media, writing rambling posts critical of Islam and repeating far-right conspiracy theories.
As well as clashing with other activists, he criticised the German government for its supposed complicity in the country's 'Islamisation'.
He had been working as a psychiatrist since 2020 despite concerns over his competence that led some colleagues to nickname him 'Dr Google', according to news magazine Der Spiegel.
The magazine also reported that Saudi authorities tried to warn German intelligence about a social media post in August 2024 in which Abdulmohsen mused about attacking a German embassy or 'randomly killing Germans'.
However, Abdulmohsen's threats were often not taken seriously and his often bizarre ideology appears to have contributed to him falling through the cracks of surveillance by anti-terror authorities.
The spark for the attack seems to have been a court ruling that went against Andulmohsen in a civil lawsuit against other refugee activists.
The trial will also examine flaws in the security measures at the market, which should have been significantly reinforced following a deadly truck attack on a Christmas market in Berlin in 2016. This year, some cities have cancelled the tradition because of the cost of anti-terrorism measures.
The attack in Magdeburg was one of a string committed by foreign nationals that inflamed Germany's debate on immigration in the run-up to a general election in February. That election saw the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) win a record 20 percent. The party are now riding high in opinion polls in Saxony-Anhalt, of which Magdeburg is the capital, and observers say they have a real chance of taking control of a state for the first time in elections next year.
[IsraelTimes] Jews in Oslo are concerned that a ceremony today commemorating the 87th anniversary of Kristallnacht will focus on the cause of the Palestinian people instead of the pogrom carried out by the Nazis against German Jews on November 9-10, 1938.
The Norwegian torchlight vigil is organized by the nonprofit Center Against Racism, which has accused Israel of genocide in Gaza. The event lists several pro-Palestinian groups among its organizers, and the speakers list includes Yonatan Shapira and Mia Habib, members of Jewish Voices for Just Peace, an organization that is highly critical of Israeli policies.
Center Against Racism director Omar Ashraf has said that the event is not antisemitic, and that Jews are invited to attend.
”It’s not antisemitic to hate the only Jewish state, IsraHell, with the fire of a thousand desert suns. And anyway, Arabs are Semites, so we can’t be antisemites,” Omar explained condescendingly.
The country’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and Oslo Mayor Anne Lindboe are scheduled to speak, after shunning a different event organized by the local Jewish community, local media reports.
Nope, not antisemitic at all.
Oslo Jewish community Rabbi Joav Melchior told broadcaster NRK last week that using this day to criticize Israel shows “a lack of empathy.”
Not a lack of empathy so much as a presence of vicious hatefulness.
Representatives of the local Jewish community have said in a letter to the Center Against Racism that the strong presence of left-wing and anti-Israel organizations is inappropriate and dangerous.
Exactly what the left-wing Jew-haters mean to display, so they’ll be glad you noticed.
[IsraelTimes] Four people have been charged over disrupting a Paris concert by Israel’s most prominent orchestra, including by lighting flares, French prosecutors tell AFP.
The three men and one woman were arrested on Thursday following the incident at a concert at the Paris Philharmonic hall.
The visit by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra was targeted by pro-Palestinian activists. Several individuals repeatedly interrupted Thursday’s concert, the venue said. The performance ended up going ahead after the disruption.
Videos posted on social media show a protester holding a red flare inside the concert hall with smoke billowing. Other people present were then seen to rush to strike the individual.
“All four individuals involved were formally charged and placed under judicial supervision” after appearing before a judge today, the prosecutor’s office says.
They are suspected of damaging property, endangering others, possession of incendiary materials, organizing a demonstration on public roads without prior notification, refusing to submit to fingerprinting and identification procedures for inclusion in a police database, and violence involving the use or threat of a weapon, prosecutors say.
Top Biden State Department Advisor who is from Somalia boasts about changing immigration rules to benefit Somalians during the Biden admin pic.twitter.com/99AWrUrKLJ
🚨 BREAKING: In a stunning move, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that President Donald Trump can deploy National Guard troops into Portland, Oregon, to protect Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities. This is huge 🔥 pic.twitter.com/lPNXAKLQVS
[GEO.TV] Pakistain on Sunday castigated the Afghan Taliban ...mindless ferocity in a turban... regime for using the Istanbul talks to malign Pakistain rather than address Islamabad's core concern of terrorism emanating from Afghan soil.
"Instead of finding solutions to address Pakistain's core concern, the Afghan regime used the opportunity to malign Pakistain through hypothetical accusations and jingoistic rhetoric," Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Hussain Andrabi said in a statement.
The peace talks between the Afghan regime and Pakistain broke down, although a ceasefire continues between the South Asian neighbours.
On November 7, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif told Geo News that the negotiations have been suspended, with "no programme for the fourth round of talks". "There is a complete deadlock. The negotiations have entered an indefinite phase."
In his statement, the FO spokesperson noted that anyone following the talks held under the mediation of Turkiye and Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... could easily "discern that the Taliban regime was only interested in prolonging the temporary ceasefire, but without taking concrete and verifiable actions against the terrorist elements present on Afghan soil."
"It prolonged discussions and engaged in futile arguments to stonewall the efforts at reaching any concrete understanding," the spokesperson added.
The statement recalled a sharp surge in terrorist attacks from Afghanistan since the Taliban took power in August 2021, adding that Pakistain, despite military and civilian casualties, had exercised maximum restraint and avoided retaliation.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[GEO.TV] The World Bank backs language in a US-drafted United Nations ...boodling on the grand scale... Security Council resolution on Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... that would authorise a two-year mandate for a transitional governance body, according to a letter to the United States seen by Rooters.
The 15-member UN Security Council began negotiations on Thursday on the text that would mandate a so-called Board of Peace transitional governance administration, giving it the authority to establish operational entities to address issues, including the reconstruction of Gaza and economic recovery programs.
The World Bank, the UN and the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... had estimated in February that it would cost more than $50 billion to rebuild Gaza, and are finalising a new interim estimate of $70 billion.
"Our engagement in Gaza will require the ability to work with international partners who enjoy the full support of the international community and full authorisation to undertake their efforts," World Bank President Ajay Banga wrote to US Ambassador to the US Mike Waltz.
"The proposal to establish an authority, in the current draft the Board of Peace, by the US Security Council with the authorisations set out in the resolution would provide the needed framework for engagement by the Bank," he said in the letter dated Saturday.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/10/2025 00:00 ||
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[Rudaw] Two Yazidi women from Shingal (Sinjar), kidnapped by Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (ISIS) snuffies in 2014, have been rescued from an undisclosed location, an official from the Kurdistan Region Presidency said on Thursday.
"Today, we are announcing good news that two Yazidi women aged 21 and 26 were rescued," said Hussein Qaidi, head of the Office of Rescuing Abducted Yazidis. The two women were kidnapped as children and spent 11 years in captivity.
Qaidi said the rescue began when they learned that the two women were in a neighboring country.
Qaidi said the rescue began when they learned that the two women were in a neighboring country.
"After we were given the information, teams working with us were immediately tasked with the job. Thanks to the team and to those who helped us bring happiness back to their families," he said.
Qaidi declined to reveal where they had been held, citing security reasons and ongoing rescue efforts.
In its assault on Shingal in 2014, ISIS snuffies kidnapped 6,417 Yazidi women and kiddies, many of whom were subjected to sexual slavery and forced labor. A total of 3,593 of them have been rescued, Qaidi said, adding that their office will continue its "efforts to rescue the remaining missing individuals."
Many Yazidi women and kiddies have been rescued from al-Hol, the notorious camp in northeast Syria (Rojava) that houses tens of thousands of ISIS families and supporters. Others have been found in areas of Syria that were controlled by rebels or Ottoman Turkish-backed gangs, and some have been located in third countries.
Or the Palestinians could sign a peace treaty, and see what they can get Israel to give up for it… not that Israel is any longer in the mood to give up land to buy a false peace of the kind they're getting from Egypt nowadays.
[IsraelTimes] Some 5,667 housing units will be built when the tenders are awarded, will house 25,000 residents; previous high was in 2018 when tenders for just over 3,800 homes were published
[IsraelTimes] The Ministerial Committee for Legislation approves a bill sponsored by MK Yulia Malinovsky of the opposition Yisrael Beytenu party, which would prohibit the provision of electricity or water to facilities owned by or operated on behalf of UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees and their descendants.
UNRWA — the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East — provides education, health care and aid to millions of Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.
Approval by the committee means the government officially supports a bill and will back it in the Knesset, where it would need to pass an initial vote and three additional readings before becoming law.
Last month, lawmakers passed a pair of bills, one of them also sponsored by Malinovsky, barring UNRWA from operating in Israeli territory and curtailing its activities in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank by banning state authorities from having any contact with the agency.
UNRWA continued to operate for some time after the bills’ passage, but its facilities in East Jerusalem were eventually shuttered.
Malinovsky’s new bill states that it aims to clarify that the provision of electrical and water services should be considered “contact” under the law.
The legislation also proposes to allow the government to seize properties in Ma’alot Dafna and Kafr Aqab in Jerusalem, which had been leased to UNRWA by the state and used as the agency’s offices, “without the need to initiate legal or administrative proceedings.”
“This is because entities or individuals continue to own and operate in these complexes in violation of the provisions of the law without any legal right, even though warning letters were delivered by the Israel Lands Authority,” the law’s explanatory notes read.
Israel has previously alleged that more than 10 percent of UNRWA’s staff in Gaza have ties to terrorist factions, and that educational facilities under the organization’s auspices consistently incite hatred of Israel and glorify terror.
In February 2024, the IDF revealed the existence of a subterranean Hamas data center directly beneath UNRWA’s Gaza Strip headquarters. The IDF has also repeatedly targeted Hamas command centers and gunmen hiding out in UNRWA schools.
[IsraelTimes] IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir and Maj. Gen. (res.) Sami Turgeman have presented Defense Minister Israel Katz with the findings of a panel of former senior officers that was tasked with evaluating the military’s probes into Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught, the military says.
The IDF’s October 7 investigations were led by former chief of staff Herzi Halevi. Upon entering the role in March, Zamir appointed the external panel to further examine those probes.
Turgeman, a former head of the Southern Command, headed the panel, which included ex-Navy chief Vice Adm. (res.) Eli Sharvit, ex-IAF chief Maj. Gen. (res.) Amikam Norkin and other retired senior officers.
The panel was tasked with evaluating the IDF’s investigations, overseeing implementation of findings, and recommending repeat investigations or additions to probes if necessary.
The military says that the panel will present the findings to the IDF General Staff Forum tomorrow. At a later time, the findings will be made public.
Zamir is set to make “personal decisions” regarding some senior officers based on the findings, potentially including the current chief of the Intelligence Directorate, Maj. Gen. Shlomi Binder, who on October 7 headed the Operations Division. Binder’s appointment to the intel chief role was considered controversial and was met with protests from some lawmakers and the families of some fallen soldiers.
First do your homework, then such things can be discussed — assuming Israel will then agree.
[IsraelTimes] Hussein al-Sheikh, deputy to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, tells Sky News Arabia that Hamas and the PA reached an agreement in Cairo that the temporary committee to manage the Gaza Strip will be headed by a minister representing the Palestinian Authority.
However, al-Sheikh did not elaborate on whether other parties, such as the United States or Israel, have agreed to the arrangement.
See?
Five days ago, Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzouk told Al Jazeera that Hamas had agreed with the PA that a minister representing the PA would head the committee.
Media outlets have recently reported that one of the candidates to lead the committee is Majed Abu Ramadan, currently the PA health minister, originally from Gaza and a former mayor of Gaza City.
Al-Sheikh also says in the interview that it was agreed the committee should be composed entirely of Palestinians (and not foreigners), and that further “clarifications” are needed regarding the nature of the international stabilization force expected to be deployed in the Strip — for example, who will make up the force.
[GEO.TV] An Israeli government spokesperson said on Sunday that Ottoman Turkish soldiers would not be deployed to Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... as part of a multinational force that is meant to take over from the Israeli military.
"There will be no Ottoman Turkish boots on the ground," spokesperson Shosh Bedrosian told news hounds in response to a question.
The force has yet to be established and many countries are calling for it to have a mandate from the UN Security Council.
Asked about Israel's objections to Ottoman Turkish forces in Gaza, US Ambassador to The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor... Tom Barrack said at a Manama security conference earlier this month that Turkey would participate.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/10/2025 00:00 ||
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[IsraelTimes] Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun tells US officials that his country is tackling money laundering and the financing of terrorism, days after Washington imposed sanctions on three Hezbollah members.
The trio was accused of money laundering to fund Lebanon’s Hezbollah terror group.
The US delegation’s visit to Beirut, headed by senior director for counterterrorism Sebastian Gorka, comes as Washington works to cut off Iran-backed Hezbollah’s funding and Lebanon’s government tries to disarm it.
The group was severely weakened in its most recent war with Israel, which was halted by a November 2024 ceasefire.
“Lebanon strictly applies the measures adopted to prevent money laundering, smuggling, or its use in financing terrorism, and severely punishes financial crimes of all kinds,” Aoun says he had told the delegation.
On Thursday, the US imposed sanctions on three Hezbollah members allegedly involved in the transfer of tens of millions of dollars from Iran, the group’s main sponsor.
Part of the funding was via money exchange businesses that operate in cash, said a US Treasury statement.
Since January 2025, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have “transferred over $1 billion” to Hezbollah, “mostly through money exchange companies”, it added.
“Lebanon has an opportunity to be free, prosperous and secure — but that can only happen if Hezbollah is fully disarmed and cut off from Iran’s funding and control,” deputy director for counter-terrorism John Hurley said Thursday.
Hurley later posted on X that he, Aoun and Gorka had “discussed ways in which we can partner together to stop the flow of money from Iran to Hezbollah and create a safer and more prosperous Lebanon.”
[IsraelTimes] Tehran said aiming to be able to fire 2,000 missiles at once
Another Israel-Iran war is "only a matter of time," according to a report by The New York Times, which says Iran still has a stockpile of enriched uranium and is racing to build thousands of missiles.
And has shipped rockets/missiles to Hezbollah and whatever support they’re sending to Hamas.
The piece, published Sunday, casts doubt on the idea that the 12-day war between the countries in June eliminated the threat of Iran’s nuclear program. Rather, it says that Middle East officials and experts increasingly believe Israeli and US strikes caused less damage to Tehran’s nuclear facilities than previously thought, and that both countries are preparing for the prospect of another round of conflict.
"Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, enough to make 11 nuclear weapons, is either buried under rubble, as Iran claims, or has been spirited away to a safe place, as Israeli officials believe," the report said. The ayatollahs have nothing to lose.
Sure they do. But they have to believe that Allah will intervene on their side against Israel, even though he’s allowed Israel to run roughshod over them thus far.
[IsraelTimes] Undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence says Washington wants to cut Tehran’s funding to terror group so ‘the Lebanese people could get their country back’
The United States seeks to take advantage of a "moment" in Leb ...The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else?... in which it can cut Iranian funding to Hezbollah and press the terror group to disarm, the US Treasury Department’s top sanctions official said.
In a late Friday interview, John Hurley, the undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... has managed to funnel about $1 billion to Hezbollah this year despite a raft of Western sanctions that have battered its economy.
The US has adopted a "maximum pressure" campaign on Tehran meant to curb its uranium enrichment and regional influence, including in Lebanon where the Iran-backed terror group Hezbollah is also weakened after Israel shattered its military power in a 2023-24 war.
Late last week Washington sanctioned two individuals accused of using money exchanges to help fund Hezbollah.
"There’s a moment in Lebanon now. If we could get Hezbollah to disarm, the Lebanese people could get their country back," Hurley said.
"The key to that is to drive out the Iranian influence and control that starts with all the money that they are pumping into Hezbollah," he told Rooters in Istanbul as part of a tour of The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund... , Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates and Israel meant to raise pressure on Iran.
Tehran has leaned on closer ties with China, Russia and regional states including the UAE since September, when talks to curb its nuclear activity and missile program broke down, prompting the reinstatement of United Nations ...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships... sanctions.
Western powers accuse Tehran of secretly developing nuclear weapons capability, having enriched uranium to levels that have no peaceful application, obstructed international inspectors from checking its nuclear facilities, and expanded its ballistic missile capabilities — actions that led to the June war between Israel and Iran.
Tehran, whose economy now risks hyperinflation and a severe recession, claims its nuclear program is wholly for civilian power purposes.
Meanwhile,
...back at the Council of Boskone, Helmuth had turned a paler shade of blue. Star-A-Star had struck again... Israel says Hezbollah is trying to rebuild its capabilities and is carrying out Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s at an apparently growing pace on what it says are sites and operatives from the terror group.
Lebanon’s government has committed to disarming all non-state groups, including Hezbollah, which was founded in 1982 by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. Hezbollah spearheaded the Iran-backed "Axis of Resistance®" and began firing at Israel on October 8, 2023, the day after Hamas ..one of the armed feet of the Moslem Brüderbund millipede,... carried out its devastating attack.
While Hezbollah, which is also a political force in Beirut, has apparently not directly obstructed Lebanese troops confiscating its weapons caches in the country’s south, it has rejected disarming in full.
Hurley, in his first trip to the Middle East since taking office under US President Donald Trump ...His ancestors didn't own any slaves... ’s administration, has pressed the case against Iran in meetings with government officials, bankers and private sector executives.
"Even with everything Iran has been through, even with the economy not in great shape, they’re still pumping a lot of money to their terrorist proxies," he said.
Posted by: Grom the Affective ||
11/10/2025 00:53 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1839 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Should have spent some of that $ on water infrastructure.
#3
Sounds like they have several dams, probably from the Shah's time, but they've pumped out all the groundwater. They can't fix that with a wet spring.
Also, some locals promoted cloud-theft conspiracy theories. Does Halliburton have a department for that?
Posted by: Bobby ||
11/10/2025 17:58 Comments ||
Top||
#4
they've pumped out all the groundwater. They can't fix that with a wet spring.
"That's why we deserve Heavy Water. It's condensed"
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/10/2025 19:36 Comments ||
Top||
[Rudaw] Syria on Thursday announced it will begin reinstating thousands of volunteer officers who had defected during the era of longtime Syrian dictator Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Lord of the Baath... , marking what officials say is a key step in rebuilding the country’s armed forces. The move comes only days after Damascus’s foreign ministry reinstated over 20 defected diplomats.
The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) quoted Brigadier General Badr al-Din Qassas, Director of Recruitment and Mobilization at the Ministry of Defense, as describing the decision to reinstate volunteer Non-Commissioned Officers (NCOs) "who defected from the army during the era of the former regime" as "a normal organizational procedure within the military institution, which began its reconstruction from scratch" following the fall of Assad.
Qassas explained that "immediately after the liberation, we began receiving defected officers and took the necessary steps to start the process of reintegrating volunteer NCOs who had previously defected back into the defense ministry."
He further estimated the defected NCOs at "over three thousand," while "more than two thousand defected officers have already been reinstated within the Syrian Arab Army formations."
The Syrian conflict, which erupted in 2011, was marked by a significant wave of high-ranking defections that dealt successive political, military and symbolic blows to Assad’s rule.
One of the most prominent political defections occurred in early August 2012, when then-prime minister Riyad Hijab defected after just two months in office, declaring that he could no longer serve a regime he described as one of "killing and terror."
The diplomatic corps also saw substantial erosion during the summer of 2012, with several senior envoys abandoning their posts. Among them were Nawaf al-Fares, Syria’s ambassador to Iraq, and Khaled al-Ayoubi, the chargé d’affaires in London.
A series of military defections coincided, including that of Colonel Riad al-Asaad, who went on to help lead the The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor... -backed Free Syrian Army ... the more palatable version of the Syrian insurgency, heavily influenced by the Moslem Brüderbund... (FSA) in its fight against Assad’s forces.
A pivotal moment came in July 2012 with the defection of Brigadier General Manaf Tlass, a senior officer in the Elite Republican Guard and a childhood friend of Assad. Later that year, in December, Major General Abdulaziz al-Shalal, head of the Syrian Military Police, announced his defection, denouncing the army’s transformation "into gangs of killing and destruction."
The senior defense official affirmed that "all NCOs will return to service with the ranks they held at the time of their defection from the former regime, under clearly defined standards for promotion."
Qassas confirmed that the NCOs are a "fundamental element in developing the army, due to the cumulative experience they possess, which contributes to building a professional army capable of defending Syria and safeguarding its security."
For his part, Assem Ghalyoun, Director of Media and Communication at the defense ministry, announced that the ministry "will soon begin accepting applications for the reinstatement of volunteer NCOs who defected during the era of the former regime."
Importantly, the push to reinstate NOCs comes only days after Syria’s Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani on Monday officially reinstated 21 diplomats who had defected from the Assad regime, according to SANA.
Shaibani praised the returnees for their "efforts in exposing the crimes of the defunct regime," stressing that the state seeks to build a nation where all citizens feel "security and belonging."
Director of the Diplomatic Institute at the Syrian foreign ministry, Yasser al-Jundi, remarked Monday that "the returning diplomats possess vast experience" and that "the ministry will benefit from their accumulated expertise."
Posted by: trailing wife ||
11/10/2025 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1752 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria/HTS
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.
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start...
[ARCHIVE.IS] The view that Islam is problematic and should be criticised is a protected belief under equalities law, a judge has ruled.
...adherents of a philosophy that was seen even at the time as pure evil, which makes them either consciously purely evil, or attention-seeking ratbags. Pick one, or both....
...mindless ferocity in a turban...
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling 
...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor...
..one of the armed feet of the Moslem Brüderbund millipede,...
...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor...
