[Breitbart] On Wednesday’s broadcast of CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” Harvard Professor, author, American Enterprise Institute President Emeritus, and columnist for The Atlantic Arthur Brooks stated that the Trump administration’s actions on Harvard are “overreach” but “the toolkit was actually set during the Obama and Biden years.” And Harvard needs a lot of change.
Brooks stated that at Harvard, “it’s pretty chaotic, of course, because a lot of researchers that have nothing to do with any of the controversies are being affected by this. A lot of labs are getting shut down. A lot of researchers are getting laid off at this point. And that’s sort of the collateral damage to what’s happening. And then, of course, there [are] the students. … It’s creating a lot of big problems outside of the blast zone of what I think anybody’s intended to try to change.”
He added, “[N]one of the things that the President is bringing to bear or the administration is bringing to bear on Harvard is nothing new. During the Obama administration, they were doing exactly the same thing with Title IX of the Civil Rights Act, and they were bringing all of the DEI stuff and all of the what they were talking about then and talking about, they were threatening to cut off funds then, too. And so, this is — the toolkit was actually set during the Obama and Biden years.”
Brooks also pointed to past actions against Bob Jones University before Obama and stated, “So, there’s nothing new that’s actually going on here. What’s new is that it’s such pressure so quickly on one particular university.” And the Trump administration is actually following through “And the fact that the media is actually paying attention to it right now, the media wasn’t paying attention to it when the Obama administration was doing exactly the same thing.”
He added, “There’s a ton of reform that needs to get done. And the good news is we have a new President who’s dedicated to it. Alan Garber is a very, very good President. He’s a very reasonable and tough guy.” And that while he thinks change is needed, the Trump administration is engaging in “real overreach. And it’s actually affecting things that it shouldn’t be affecting”, including on foreign students and their social media accounts and that the prohibition on foreign students is even hitting science students, which has nothing to do with DEI or antisemitism.
Brooks further stated that both sides have been “hot” but they’ll eventually work out a deal, which will lead to improvements.
[Breitbart] 60 Minutes’ chief pompous ass Scott Pelley, and CBS Mornings host Gayle King (who identifies as an astronaut), are reportedly on the CBS News chopping block, per a Daily Mail exclusive. That'd certainly warm the cockles of my cold, black heart.
I'm filing this under Opinion because Nolte calls Scott Pelley a pompous ass. Although I agree with that opinion, it is opinion and should be labeled as such just like the — tee hee —. Then there's the word schlonging, which is certainly inappropriate for a straight news article even though I think it is appropriate treatment of these so-called journalists.
According to the report, far-left CBS News is in crisis — tee hee — "with staffers crying in the hallways, fighting over story coverage and seating, and scrambling to update their resumes amid fears of mass layoffs."
According to the insiders who spoke with the Daily Mail, "morale has plummeted across the network, from the flagship Sunday news show 60 Minutes to CBS Mornings," all of it due to two things: 1) CBS parent company Paramount Global’s impending merger with Skydance Media and President Trump’s $20 billion lawsuit against CBS News for interfering in the 2020 presidential election.
Currently, the Trump suit is in arbitration and all indications are that Skydance does not want to inherit that mess, so it needs to be resolved before the merger is official.
Then there’s the reported $500 million Paramount is looking to cut "in preparation for the lucrative merger with Skydance Media against the backdrop of a ratings freefall" and the ongoing, high-level personnel shake ups.
Fallout from the merger and the Trump suit has already hit hard. No less than Wendy McMahon, the president of CBS News, and Bill Owens, the executive editor of the disgraced 60 Minutes, have already resigned.
So...
Where to cut? Where to cut?
Well, according to the report, Gayle King has become $10 million in damaged goods. Not only is she hosting the forever-in-last-place CBS Mornings, her grotesquely elitist Space Origin flight, combined with her claims that those few minutes in space mean she’s now an astronaut, have scalded her reputation.
"People don’t want to say it out loud in the office but the entire space debacle really hurt us," one 60 Minutes staffer told the Daily Mail. "Gayle being part of that is not a good look for our brand. I think a lot of people resent Gayle for that. I know I do."
King’s $10 million per-year contract is up in September.
"Multiple sources told the Daily Mail that 60 Minutes host Scott Pelley could also be on the way out."
Pelley, of course, is infamous for his self-regard, unbridled bias, and dishonesty.
"We’re in the middle of a bloodbath," a 60 Minutes staffer told the Daily Mail. "The axe is falling, people are leaving, no one knows what to do next. We’re all updating our resumes because it really feels like this is a sinking ship."
Some call it a long overdue reckoning for a corrupt regime media that, at long last, has lost its influence over public opinion.
I prefer to call it The Schlonging:
Ruth Marcus — Washington Post columnist resigns.
538 — Disney/ABC’s wildly biased polling site shutters.
Paul Krugman — Always wrong New York Times columnist forced out.
Jim Acosta — CNN anchor forced out.
Norah O’Donnell — Failed CBS anchor out.
Chuck Todd — NBC’s former Meet the Press host DEI’d out.
Andrea Mitchell — NBC harridan ages out of job.
Chris Wallace — Son of Someone out at CNN.
Joy Reid — Racist MSNBC anchor too racist for MSNBC. Fired.
Neil Cavuto — Fox News anchor scurries away.
Alex Wagner — Demoted at MSNBC.
Mohyeldin — Lost MSNBC show. Apparently he is Ayman Mohyeldin, the Cairo-born Egyptian (dad)-Palestinian (mom) former Al Jazeera reporter who was one of the first Western reporters allowed in Iraq after Saddam Hussein was captured. He also covered the 2008-9 Gaza war and the Arab Spring, and claims it was in his interview that Moammar Ghadaffy announced he was giving up Libya’s WMD program. His Master’s thesis was titled, “The News Media Paradigm in the War on Terrorism,” which sounds awfully grand.
Olivia Nuzzi — Out at New York Mag for allegedly stalking RFK Jr.
Katie Phang — Lost MSNBC show.
Jonathan Capehart — Lost MSNBC show. Steps down from Washington Post editorial board.
Lester Holt — Out as NBC Nightly News anchor.
One-third of New York Times Editorial Board — Say, bye.
Eugene Robinson — Washington Post columnist quits in snit.
Ryan Lizza — Scurries to Substack over credible misconduct allegations.
Bill Owens — 60 Minutes chief resigns in crybaby disgrace.
Wendy McMahon — CBS News president resigns after less than two years.
Trump’s triumphant reelection proved the corporate media are nothing more than an elite salon where everyone talks to each other because Normal People have stopped listening to their lies and hoaxes. The corporate media are over, and the fallout has just begun.
[IsraelTimes] As Riyadh eyes advanced weaponry, Washington’s commitment to Israel’s defense supremacy means coveted F-35 fighter jets likely won’t be part of $142 billion in potential sales
A landmark $142 billion arms deal between the United States 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... has the potential to reshape the way the Middle East looks from a defense perspective, significantly boosting Riyadh’s military might. But despite its high profile and even higher price tag, the arrangement will likely be limited by a longstanding US defense doctrine safeguarding Israel’s regional defense superiority, experts say.
While details about the deal remain scant, speculation surrounding what it may include has been colored by Saudi Arabian requests to purchase state-of-the-art F-35 fighter jets. But any such sale, analysts point out, would run afoul of a US commitment to Israel’s Qualitative Military Edge, or QME, which has long curtailed the transfer of certain advanced weaponry to the region.
The White House unveiled the deal, described as "the largest defense sales agreement in history," on May 13. According to a White House fact sheet, the US will supply Saudi Arabia with "state-of-the-art war-fighting equipment and services" from more than a dozen American defense contractors.
The Trump administration has not detailed what the agreement entails, beyond sketching out five key areas it says the deal covers: advancing air force and space capabilities; strengthening air and missile defense systems; bolstering maritime and coastal security; modernizing border protection and ground forces; and upgrading information and communications technology.
Two anonymous sources briefed on the matter told Rooters earlier this month that the US and Saudi Arabia have discussed Riyadh’s potential purchase of Lockheed Martin’s F-35 stealth fighter. But it’s unclear how serious any discussions are or if they are progressing to more advanced stages.
The Saudis have long had their eye on the F-35, hoping to become the second country in the Middle East, after Israel, to acquire the world’s most advanced aircraft.
In 2017, Saudi Arabia signaled interest in purchasing the F-35 fighter jet following what was described as a $110 billion arms agreement with the US earlier that same year.
That arms agreement took the form of commitments rather than actual defense deals, and it’s unclear if the Saudis purchased more than a fraction of that promised $110 billion. What is clear is that while Riyadh got its hands on plenty of munitions, it was ultimately unable to purchase any F-35 fighter jets.
JET-SETTERS
Despite repeated interest from regional powers, the US has consistently blocked the sale of F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries in order to preserve Israel’s QME.
"The US is committed to Israel’s QME and has taken this into account in its arms sales to the region," Zain Hussain, a researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s arms transfers program, told The Times of Israel. "Exporting F-35s to other states in the region would present a significant shift in that policy."
Israel today is the only country in the Middle East with F-35 fighter jets in its arsenal, currently operating 45 of the advanced aircraft with additional units on order.
"The export of the F-35 to another state in the region would potentially mean that state acquiring stealth, data fusion, and deep-strike capabilities widely considered superior to other aircraft currently operated in the region," Hussain said.
At the same time, he emphasized that Israel still holds a significant operational advantage: "Israel remains the most experienced operator of the F-35 in the region and has been allowed to modify the aircraft to meet its specific needs."
Indeed, Israel has uniquely customized its fleet of F-35s, rebranding the stealth fighter jet as the "Adir," Hebrew for "mighty." Through close cooperation with Lockheed Martin, Israeli defense firms have integrated proprietary technologies into the aircraft — including advanced electronic warfare systems, enhanced command and control capabilities and locally developed weapons systems.
Washington’s commitment to ensuring Israel maintains a qualitative edge in military capability dates back to Lyndon B. Johnson’s presidency. In 2008, it was formally codified into a law requiring that Jerusalem’s position be considered before any weapons sales to the region.
The doctrine is rooted in Israel’s position as a democratic ally surrounded by often-hostile neighbors. Given its geographic and demographic disadvantages, Israel cannot rely on quantity in warfare and instead depends on technological and tactical superiority.
Over the decades, US arms sales to Arab states have repeatedly put Israel’s QME to the test. At times, they have only gone through thanks to US assurances or complementary arms sales to Israel.
In 1981, Jerusalem strongly objected to Washington’s decision to sell AWACS surveillance planes and advanced F-15 enhancement packages to Saudi Arabia, fearing it would erode Israel’s technological superiority. Despite fierce opposition, Congress narrowly approved the deal, with then-president Ronald Reagan offering Israel a set of reassurances, including an additional $600 million in military aid and 15 new F-15s.
More recently, the Trump administration in 2020 agreed to sell 50 F-35s to the UAE following Abu Dhabi’s agreement to normalize relations with Israel, though officials denied any linkage between the two.
The potential F-35 sales raised red flags in Israel, but Jerusalem eventually said it would not oppose the deal, after the US agreed to sign a formal agreement reaffirming Washington’s legally enshrined commitment to maintaining Israel’s regional military advantage.
In the end, the sale was torpedoed by the UAE rather than the QME. In 2021, the Emirates suspended talks with the Biden administration on buying the planes due to various disagreements over the sale, including their price tag, and in 2024, officials in Abu Dhabi said they did not plan to revive the deal.
TRUMP AND THE SAUDIS
Ahead of Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia, some believed that arms sales would similarly be used as part of a package that would see Riyadh normalize relations with Israel, which would have likely played a role in overcoming any QME-related hurdles.
Instead, Israel was left off to the side as Trump and the Saudis heaped lavish indulgences and effusive praise on each other.
During his visit, Trump addressed the Saudi-US Investment Forum, hailing the "close partnership" between Washington and Riyadh and praising 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... for the kingdom’s sweeping transformation since Trump’s last visit as president.
"Exactly eight years ago this month I stood in this very room and looked forward to a future in which the nations of this region would drive [out] the forces of terrorism and extremism... and take your place among the proudest, most prosperous, most successful nations anywhere in the world as leaders of a modern and rising Middle East," Trump said.
"Critics doubted that it was possible," he added, "but over the past eight years, Saudi Arabia has proved the critics totally wrong," citing the kingdom’s emergence as a global business leader.
In tandem with its ambitions to become a business hub, Saudi Arabia has dramatically ramped up its military spending, signaling its intent to play a more assertive role on the regional and global stage.
According to a February statement by Ahmad al-Ohali, governor of the Saudi General Authority for Military Industries, the kingdom increased its defense budget from $75.8 billion in 2024 to $78 billion in 2025. al-Ohali also noted a consistent 4.5 percent annual growth in defense spending since 1960, placing Saudi Arabia as the fifth-largest military spender in the world, and the largest in the Arab world.
NO FAIRY GODMOTHER
After his stop in Riyadh, Trump continued to 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... and the UAE, notably skipping over Israel — a move that raised concern in Jerusalem over potential shifts in regional priorities and the optics of Israel being sidelined during a major US diplomatic tour.
"This week there was a party in the Middle East — a grand ball full of colorful costumes, money and gold changing hands — and we found ourselves playing the role of Cinderella before the transformation," columnist Sima Kadmon wrote in Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth daily.
"The fairy godmother we thought we had, flew off to Saudi Arabia and Qatar."
The Trump administration has made several moves lately that have left some wondering whether Washington is still committed to taking Israel’s position into account in cases where it is not required by law.
These include nuclear talks with Iran, a ceasefire with Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of... ’s Iran's Houthi sock puppets ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him... rebels that allows them to continue firing ballistic missiles at the Jewish state and a deal with Hamas ..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,... to free Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander that bypassed Jerusalem.
The agreement to arm the Saudis at record numbers comes amid growing frustration from Trump over Israel’s prolonged war 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... — a conflict he reportedly sees as complicating his efforts to broker a landmark regional deal.
Trump has made no secret of his ambition to secure Saudi-Israeli normalization as a cornerstone achievement of his second term. But Riyadh has made it clear that any such agreement is contingent on a ceasefire in Gaza and tangible progress toward Paleostinian statehood.
Although Saudi Arabia was not among the original signatories of the 2020 Abraham Accords, it has cautiously endorsed the initiative from the sidelines. Still, the kingdom has repeatedly stressed that its participation depends on movement toward a two-state solution — a goal that now appears increasingly remote amid the ongoing war.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt reaffirmed that Trump "wants to see this conflict in the region end," but the administration has firmly denied reports that it is threatening to "abandon" Israel over its Gaza campaign.
Dr. H. A. Hellyer, a senior associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies in London, told The Times of Israel that Trump’s visit "was primarily about the [Gulf Cooperation Council], not about the appalling situation in Gaza, and applying ’America First’ transactionalism to foreign policy in [the Middle East and North Africa] more generally."
He added that while "there is frustration in DC with Tel Aviv’s conduct in Gaza... DC is still very much supportive of Tel Aviv."
Posted by: trailing wife ||
05/29/2025 00:00 ||
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#1
Unless USA also supplies personnel to operate these weapons, what's the point?
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Igor Ivanenko
[REGNUM] The year 1812 is naturally associated in our historical memory with the First Patriotic War. But on the eve of Napoleon's Great Army's attack on Russia and four months before the Battle of Borodino, our country won a victory on another front.
On March 28, 1812, in Bucharest, the Russian Empire signed a treaty with the Ottoman Empire, according to which the Turks handed over to us the lands between the Dniester, Prut and Danube. The new territory was called "Bessarabia" - now this is Moldova and the southwestern "corner" of the Odessa region. Thus ended the next, eighth Russian-Turkish war - and the same Bonaparte had a significant role in this clash of neighbors.
FRENCH INTRIGUE
At the beginning of the 19th century, Russia, involved in the wars of the European allies with Napoleonic France, did not make plans for Bessarabia. Following the precepts of Grigory Potemkin, our country actively developed trade with the Ottoman Empire.
Order in the south was guaranteed by the Treaty of Jassy in 1791. This treaty was concluded following the results of the previous, 7th Russo-Turkish War and was the fruit of victories of two geniuses of the Catherine era - the commander Alexander Suvorov and the administrator, Prince Potemkin-Tavrichesky. Russia then secured Crimea and Novorossiya for itself and acquired the territory between the Southern Bug and the Dniester, where the "southern capital", Odessa, appeared on the site of the Turkish fortification of Khadzhibey.
Beyond the Dniester began the lands of the Moldavian Principality, a state with its capital in the city of Iasi (now in Romania). Chisinau was a provincial town, Bender and Akkerman (Belgorod-Dnestrovsky) were Turkish fortresses. In those years, Bessarabia was the name given to the southern steppe part between the Dniester, Prut and Danube rivers - in Tatar, this region was called Budzhak.
The Moldavian rulers, the hospodars, who sat in Iasi were vassals of the Turkish sultan. Just like the hospodars of another trans-Danubian principality, Wallachia, whose capital was Bucharest. But the Treaty of Iasi changed the order beyond the Danube. Moldavia and Wallachia effectively fell into Russia's sphere of influence. By the mid-2000s, the pro-Russian hospodars, Alexander Muruzi and Constantine Ypsilanti, were in power in both parts of what would become Romania.
Turkey and Russia maintained peaceful and almost allied relations. In 1798–1800, a Russian-Turkish squadron under the command of Fyodor Ushakov undertook an expedition to the Greek Ionian Islands, from where the French were expelled.
But the European agenda spoiled everything. On November 20 (December 2, new style) 1805, the famous battle of the "three emperors" took place on the field near Austerlitz: Napoleon's marshals defeated the commanders of the Austrian Emperor Franz II and our Alexander I.
The fact that Russia was drawn into a European war, and that military fortune rarely smiled upon our army at that time, did not go unnoticed by our southern neighbors, Turkey and Persia. The Persian Shah declared war on Russia back in 1804 (this campaign ended in 1813 with the complete defeat of the Persians). And Napoleon's triumph at Austerlitz prompted the Turkish Sultan to begin weaving anti-Russian intrigues.
Relations between France and Turkey were much better than they are today; Paris had been considered an ally of Istanbul since the 16th century. So the Sultan followed the lead of his European partners: in early 1806, Napoleon sent Marshal Horace Sebastiani as ambassador to Istanbul, who convinced Sultan Selim III to remove the pro-Russian rulers of Wallachia and Moldova. This was a flagrant violation of the Treaty of Jassy and a challenge to Tsar Alexander. And when the Turks closed the Bosphorus and Dardanelles to the passage of Russian warships, war became inevitable.
RESETTING THE TRUCE
In November 1806, the Russian army crossed the Dniester and, as if reluctantly, occupied the border fortresses of Khotin, Bendery and Akkerman. The Turks did not offer serious resistance at that time. And Russia acted according to the logic that Vladimir Medinsky recently recalled : at the first stage of the conflict, we offered the enemy to end the war on lenient terms.
Petersburg showed in every way that the presence of its troops in the Bessarabian possessions of the Ottoman Porte and the eastern districts of vassal Moldova was temporary. But gradually the fighting became more intense, and Russia began to consider the Danubian principalities as compensation for the costs incurred.
Moreover, an important part of the Franco-Ottoman military plans was the invasion of the Russian Black Sea region via the Dniester. The full-flowing Danube could have become a much more reliable border line.
The course of the Turkish campaign was again influenced by European affairs. In 1807, Alexander I was forced to sign the Peace of Tilsit with Napoleon. The campaign of 1808-09, which France waged against Austria, did not start very well for Bonaparte. The Emperor of the French, in order to secure the support of his "new friend", Alexander, even supported our claims to Bessarabia, Moldavia and Wallachia. But soon fortune smiled on Napoleon again, and he forgot about his promises to Russia. At the same time, the French still had cordial agreement with the Turks. Our European "ally" continued to support our Asian enemy.
CURATOR OF THE "ISTANBUL PROCESS"
By the beginning of 1811, it became clear that things were heading towards a new direct clash with France. Our country ignored Napoleon's anti-English sanctions - the continental blockade, so the French emperor decided to "punish" Russia. In view of the inevitable war with the first army of Europe, the protracted campaign on the Danube had to be ended.
Mikhail Kutuzov, who arrived in the Danube Army in April 1811, was given a very difficult task: to achieve peace in the shortest possible time with fewer forces than the enemy (45 thousand Russians against 75 thousand Ottomans), and even with territorial gains.
In June–September 1811, Kutuzov carried out the brilliant Ruschuk-Slobodzeya operation, as a result of which the main part of the advancing Turkish group was blocked on the left (Russian) bank of the Lower Danube. Having good connections in Istanbul from his diplomatic work there, Kutuzov promptly began preliminary negotiations with his old acquaintance, the Grand Vizier Ahmed Pasha.
The parties agreed on a new border along the Siret and Danube rivers. In this case, the core of the Moldavian Principality with the cities of Iasi and Galati would come under Russian control. But French intrigues again prevented this from becoming a reality. Napoleon sent a message to the Sultan about his readiness to take back the possessions ceded to Russia by the Ottomans after his victory over Russia and hand them over to restored Poland.
The "too accommodating" group of Turkish negotiators was replaced, and after a pause in the conference, a final agreement was reached on the Prut-Danube demarcation. Kutuzov could not insist on the Siret border, since the French invasion was approaching.
The ratification of the Treaty of Bucharest by Alexander I took place on June 23, 1812. The day before the start of the Patriotic War.
SPECIAL STATUS
Bonaparte was very annoyed by this turn of events - the defeat and withdrawal of the Turks from the war gave Russia new territories. But due to French intervention, Russia was able to annex only the sparsely populated eastern outskirts of the Moldavian Principality, to which the name of its southern "corner" was extended - Bessarabia. The native Moldavian lands, with the bulk of the population of the principality, did not go to the Russian Empire.
Such a course of events will be fatal for subsequent attempts to create a Russian Moldova: Chisinau will never become an equivalent replacement for Iasi.
In the area between the Dniester, Prut and Danube rivers, Russia received a conglomerate of several outlying districts of the Moldavian Principality, former Ottoman fortress cities, and the steppe possessions of the Nogais. The absolute majority of Turks and Nogais left the area between the rivers during the fighting.
Therefore, the question of settling the sparsely populated region with a loyal Christian population immediately arose, as well as the question of local government. Both of them were resolved in the spirit of Catherine II's policy of settling Transnistria, annexed by the Treaty of Jassy in 1791. At one time, the empress ordered that Moldavian boyars with their peasants be attracted to the Dniester "especially near the Moldavian borders, for the most convenient population of these". The boyars themselves were recommended to be appointed to administrative positions.
Moldovans made up a very significant part of the broad stream of immigrants that poured into the Bessarabian region of Russia, formed in 1812, from the Ottoman possessions. In the fifth year of Bessarabia's stay in the empire, the region's population almost doubled, reaching 492 thousand people. Moldovans then made up 78% of the region's inhabitants.
Later, the migration process was balanced by the influx of Slavs from the internal provinces of Russia and from Bulgaria, which was under Turkish rule. At first, the Bulgarians included the culturally close Orthodox Turks - the Gagauz, who had migrated from Dobrudja (the Black Sea coast beyond the Danube). Thus, the Bulgarian city of Bolgrad and Gagauzia appeared in southern Bessarabia.
On the issue of power, two currents immediately emerged - "Moldavian" and "imperial". Moreover, the first included not only ethnic Moldovans. They were united by the perception of the Bessarabian region as a fragment of Greater Moldova.
The "imperialists" advocated the unification of local laws with all-Russian norms and the integration of Moldavian boyars who had entered Russian service into the all-imperial elite.
The "pro-Moldavian" trend was patronized by the actual head of the Russian Foreign Ministry, the Greek Ioannis Kapodistrias, the future first ruler of independent Hellas. Kapodistrias considered Bessarabia as a base for the fight against the Ottomans in the Danubian Principalities.
But most importantly, Alexander I himself was inclined to favor the special status of Bessarabia. He saw the new territory as an autonomy, similar to the recently created Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Finland. More precisely, such a third "state in personal union" could be Greater Moldova with its center in Iasi.
The Bessarabian region of the time of Alexander I - if we draw a parallel with Soviet history - played the role of Transnistria in 1924-40, where the Bolsheviks created the Moldavian ASSR with the aim of returning the territory between the Prut and the Dniester captured by the Romanians.
In the "Temporary Rules" for the governance of Bessarabia, drawn up by Capodistrias and adopted in 1812, the Regional Council copied the structure of the Divan (government) of the Moldavian Principality. It was specifically stipulated that Moldavian boyars should constitute the majority of its members.
The symbolic special status of the Bessarabian region was confirmed by the coat of arms approved in 1817, on which the imperial double-headed eagle was adjacent to an ox's head - the ancient symbol of the rulers of Moldova.
PUSHKIN'S LAWS
The first civil governor of the region, the Moldavian boyar Scarlat Sturdza, when appointing district police chiefs, emphasized the priority of local laws and customs over Russian ones. The latter were allowed to be addressed only when it was not possible to find the necessary article in the Moldavian codes.
But the laws of the feudal principality were quite archaic, and they had to be modernized on the fly. In 1821, Kapodistrias brought in an official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs who had been sent into exile to the south to develop a new Civil Code of Bessarabia. The "seconded" official's name was Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin.
“I occupied him with translating into Russian the Moldavian laws written in French,” Pushkin’s immediate superior, Infantry General Ivan Inzov, reported to Kapodistrias
The poet's contribution to the drafting of the Moldavian Civil Code was rather symbolic - in essence, the work was done by the Greek scholar, lawyer Pyotr Manega. But Pushkin's Bessarabian impressions gave Russian literature the brilliant poem "Gypsies".
As for the dispute between the supporters of the "Moldavian" and "imperial" paths of development of Bessarabia, the "imperialists" clearly won. The reason was simple - it was necessary to defeat corruption, which, together with the deeply rooted Ottoman administrative customs, interfered with the normal management of the new territory. The Moldavian Sturdza was replaced as governor by the German Ivan (Johann) Harting in order to restore order.
He began the Russification of office work and legal proceedings, and appointed Russian officials to the post of district police chiefs. The dispute was settled in 1823 by Alexander I, who was disappointed with the results of the experiment on broad autonomy for the Kingdom of Poland.
The annexation of the Danubian principalities (including the part of Greater Moldavia that remained abroad) was highly questionable. Later, in the late 1850s, with the help and participation of Western powers, the Moldavian Principality (with Iasi, but without Bessarabia) would unite with Wallachia into a state called Romania.
And in the late 1820s, Bessarabia was united with Novorossiya into a single governorate-general with its capital in Odessa, headed by the viceroy Count Mikhail Vorontsov.
The exiled Pushkin's move from Kishinev to Odessa was connected precisely with these changes in the viceroyal apparatus. The poet, as is well known, did not have a high opinion of the failed capital of the "grand principality of Moldavia": "Cursed city of Kishinev! / The tongue will tire of scolding you. / Someday on the sinful roof / Of your soiled houses / Heavenly thunder will certainly strike..."
Decades later, Chisinau would become a thriving Novorossiysk city, one of the important centers of the south, adorned with a monument to Pushkin by Alexander Opekushin, a "twin" of the Moscow monument. But that's a completely different story.
#1
Thus ended the next, eighth Russian-Turkish war -
Eight? And those are just the ones that got into the historical record. Historically, over the centuries, and even the millennia, Russians have had one hell of a time with the Turks. I suppose they're not the only ones. It's a tough neighborhood. I think the Greeks have complaints as well.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
05/29/2025 12:17 Comments ||
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Commentary by Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin.
This is a series of videos from the GoPro camera of a Russian soldier taken at a Ukrainian naval infantry position. Not sure where.
Broadly, Russian state media routinely mentions naval infantry units in their official dispatches, but fails to tell where.
There are three Ukrainian naval infantry brigades extant and in the Ukrainian forward zone: 36th Naval Infantry Brigade, 37th Naval Infantry Brigade and the 38th Naval Infantry Brigade.
The Ukrainian soldier left alive and seen hunkering down in the slit trenches appears to be a filler only.
[ColonelCassad] First-person assault action.
Footage from a GoPro camera of a Russian assault trooper during the clearing of an enemy stronghold.
[CityJournal] Parties opposed to the Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) continue to block it from exercising its rights—all in the name of stopping “fascism.”
Germany’s self-proclaimed democracy defenders are at it again: blocking a law-abiding party from exercising its rights—all in the name of protecting democracy.
The Alternative for Deutschland (AfD), a pro-free market, anti-EU, anti-mass migration party, placed second in Germany’s recent parliamentary elections, earning nearly 21 percent of the vote to the top vote-getter’s, the Christian Democratic Union’s, 28 percent. The AfD placed well ahead of the once-dominant Social Democratic Party (16 percent) and the Greens (11 percent).
By longstanding tradition, the AfD should have been allotted committee chairmanships and vice chairmanships based on its February vote share. Doing so would have meant that the powerful budget, interior, and finance committees, along with three other committees, would have been under AfD direction, giving it the possibility of shaping legislation. But in a reversal of what is normally an automatic affirmation, on Wednesday, May 21, the other parties in Parliament voted down the AfD chairmanships and put those six committees in the control of other, often less popular, parties. The far-left Die Linke (the Left) party, which had garnered just 9 percent of the parliamentary vote, was awarded two chairs.
The rationale given for this anti-democratic coup is a recent designation of the AfD as a right-wing extremist party. On May 2, 2025, four days before parliamentary power was to change hands, outgoing Interior Minister Nancy Faeser from the Social Democratic Party announced that Germany’s domestic spy agency (the BfV) had slapped that label on the AfD, based on a 1,000-page secret dossier. According to press leaks, the dossier appeared to consist of public statements by AfD leaders, many already chewed over endlessly by the party’s opponents, relating to Germany’s mass migration problem.
AfD representatives have asserted, for example, that Germans have a cultural history tied to their ethnic and national identity; that this history and identity deserve protection; and that unchecked illegal migration threatens national cohesion.
The dossier also contained statements "implying," as a scandalized Reuters put it, that "immigrants from Muslim countries were more likely to be criminals." Actually, those AfD statements didn’t "imply" that immigrants from Muslim countries were more likely to be criminals; they asserted that fact outright, because that is what government crime statistics overwhelmingly show.
After Faeser’s announcement, the AfD accused the outgoing government of orchestrating the release to inflict maximum damage on the party in the next Parliament. The AfD’s charge then seemed speculative. Now, it looks prescient. Before the "right-wing extremist" designation had come out, a high-ranking member of the Christian Democratic Union had suggested that the AfD should be treated "in parliamentary procedures and processes like any other opposition party." Now, however, CDU chancellor Friedrich Merz says that it would be "unthinkable" to allow the AfD any of its parliamentary rights in light of the secret dossier, because, you know, democracy.
Never mind that the "extremist" designation has been suspended pending resolution of a lawsuit filed by the AfD for violation of its free speech rights. In a desperate attempt at justifying the CDU’s exploitation of the now-suspended "extremist" proclamation, the party’s parliamentary whip, Steffan Bilger, told public broadcaster ZDF on May 21 that he and his fellow elected officials had observed the AfD’s radical and extremist nature in Parliament of late. What this accusation referred to was left unexplained. In truth, nothing has changed in the AfD’s political positions or the lawful comportment of members.
In any case, the "right extremist" designation was a mere pretext for shutting the AfD out of power. Half a year before Nancy Faeser revealed the existence of the secret dossier, the establishment parties had pulled the same trick in the state government of Thuringen. They denied the AfD its earned state committee chairmanships through novel parliamentary maneuvers, even though the AfD had been the biggest vote-getter in the state election.
In mid-April, the AfD was also as usual denied a vice president position in the Bundestag. Vice presidents, ordinarily one from each party, oversee parliamentary rules and issue calls to order. The AfD’s lack of representation allows the establishment parties to rebuke it on specious grounds without check.
It is amusing to see who fervently supports democracy against the alleged incursions of the AfD. A representative of Die Linke, Clara Buenger, told ZDF that the AfD must never be "normalized," because it seeks to "infiltrate and eliminate democracy." Die Linke, by its own admission, seeks to "overcome capitalism." On May 24, 2025, hundreds of masked anti-fascists showed up in Bielefeld to counter a memorial for the victims of another stabbing by a failed asylum seeker. The counterdemonstrators waved red hammer and sickle flags.
Contrary to "eliminating democracy," the AfD has acceded to every power grab that strips it of its rights, while trying to overturn those decisions through lawful means. To add insult to injury, the Social Democratic Pary (SPD) has refused to give up the spacious caucus room that it occupied when it ran the last government, despite much diminished numbers. Having lost 86 seats in the last election, the SPD now holds a mere 120 out of 630 parliamentary seats, while the AfD, having gained 69 seats in the last election, counts 152 MPs. Even a reporter from a mainstream media outlet acknowledges that the AfD’s assigned caucus room is too small.
The reason for stiffing the AfD on real estate is the usual threat of fascism. The SPD has nicknamed its large hall Otto Weis Hall, in honor of an SPD politician who opposed the rise of National Socialism. Though Otto Weis Hall is not an official name, having the AfD take over the space would allegedly dishonor the opponents of fascism.
Alice Weidel, the co-leader of the AfD, was uncharacteristically at a loss for words in reacting to the committee chair boycott and the meeting room tantrum, before alighting upon the mots justes—"bottomless impudence"—to describe the mainstream parties. Meantime, a day after two members of the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C. were assassinated by a pro-Hamas sympathizer, Weidel called for the end of a planned evacuation of Gaza residents to Germany:
While police officers are being seriously injured at anti-Israel demonstrations in German cities and imported anti-Semitism is spreading... anyone who continues to conduct mass reception operations in the face of thousands of anti-Semitic crimes and a growing propensity for violence in radicalized circles... has learned nothing from 2015... The protection of Jewish life, our police, and public order must finally be a priority again. Humanitarian aid must be provided locally—not through further border expansion and immigration into an already overwhelmed system.
The AfD has been Israel’s strongest supporter in the Bundestag; it alone has tried to defund UNRWA and other Palestinian fronts for promoting anti-Israel ideology. Yet the party is reflexively labeled a threat to Jews, while the spawn of the establishment’s immigration policies scream their support for the Intifada’s martyrs in Berlin, Hamburg, and Stuttgart.
Ten million of Germany’s voters have again been disenfranchised in the elite’s desperate attempt to preserve the status quo. That elite’s claim to represent democracy against fascism is now long past being a silly pose. It is a blatant lie. Germany is at the forefront of the battle between power and censorship on the one hand and regime change and free speech on the other, all centered around the twenty-first century’s central issue: mass Third World migration. What happens next in Germany will be an augury for the future of democratic systems.
Posted by: The Walking Unvaxed ||
05/29/2025 00:00 ||
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#3
Lavrov and his government act
To survive Barbarossa! "In fact,
If the Poles should attack,
We've got Germany's back!"
[text of Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact]
So far, Vladi mir Vladimirovich has succeeded in murdering many, adding Finland and Sweden to NATO and energizing the German people for the first time since 1945 to re emerge as a military power.
#6
Noticed an EU judge didn't jump in and overturn travel restrictions on AfD, or smack down Merz when he was talking hard about immigration for a couple days.
#7
I also notice that van der Leyen fellow didn't get kicked out of politics and thrown into an ankle monitor for using public funds for private advancement.
#8
A parliamentary system does have advantages over a two party system. For one a party can keep itself in power or close to power whereas in a two party, one is on the outs.
[AmericanGreatness] California’s ruling elites have priced out the middle class, replacing opportunity with oppression under the guise of equity and climate justice.
Posted by: NoMoreBS ||
05/29/2025 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life, & Kleptocrats
#1
Although many people are leaving, I'm afraid many people are still moving into the state. Real estate prices continue to sky ball. Our next door neighbors are renters and they pay upwards of $5000 a month for a rather ordinary four bedroom, three bath, 2300 sq. ft. home. So you can see why people are leaving. I would too if I hadn't bought my house so long ago before it got as crazy as it is. These days, just the property taxes are more than I ever paid for the mortgage.
I don't talk much with those neighbors, They're kinda weird. Actually, they're weird as hell. But I'd like to know how they come up with $5000 a month.
Newsom keeps telling us we need more affordable housing and he's usurped local zoning in order to let developers run roughshod all over San Diego County. Apartment buildings, big ones, are popping up all over the place. But they're not affordable. Two thousand dollars a month would be about the lowest you can find...for a cracker box.
I wish more people would leave, especially if they tend to vote for Democrats like Newsom.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
05/29/2025 12:31 Comments ||
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#2
That is what communism does, it destroys the middle class.
We need to break California up, exile the commies and illegals, and liberate the West Coast. #FanFiction
#1
Just think what Trump could get done if he had the support of the Republican Party. I think they're trying to lose the mid-terms so they can be relieved of any responsibility.
Posted by: Matt ||
05/29/2025 10:16 Comments ||
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[PJMedia] A large part of the world is focused on the conflicts unfolding between Hamas ..always the voice of sweet reason... and Israel as well as Ukraine and Russia, with international observers closely scrutinizing these two wars.
However,
women are made to be loved, not understood... the plight of civilians who have been enduring extreme suffering for decades, such as in the remote areas of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... in Pakistain, largely goes unnoticed by the same level of sharp scrutiny from Western eyes.
In Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, documented attacks by Pak forces in May and April demonstrate the scope of violence against civilian populations. On May 19, for instance, a dronezap attacked North Wazoo, murdering four young children.
Six people, three children among them, were maimed when mortar shells fired by Pak security forces hit houses in Tirah from May 5 to May 8. Other events included quadcopter drone attacks in Shawwal and a landmine blast in Tehsil MadaKhel, Waziristan. The latter killed one young man.
The May 11 quadcopter drone attack in JaniKhel, Bannu, injured eleven women and five children. Operations in Betni Area, Tank, on May 9 resulted in the deaths of three young men and one injured. A separate mortar shelling incident in Tirah Valley on May 9 murdered a woman, completing a week that left dozens of civilians dead or maimed.
Meanwhile,
...back at the pound, the little lost dog backed into the corner and showed its teeth. And what big teeth they were!... residents of Tirah Valley staged a protest demonstration against the murder of a 12-year-old girl in a mortar fire in April.
All these incidents and more make a significant point that the Western world has remained oblivious to the use of modern weaponry, including armed drones, by the Pak state against its own citizens.
These Pak drones are largely procured from The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire... and China. They appear to be rigorously tested by targeting the country's own civilian population in these areas. This causes not only immense loss of lives and property but also instills a perpetual sense of fear in the minds of residents, including children.
Pakistain's use of drone technology against its own population began during Operation Zarb-e-Azb ..the Pak offensive against Qaeda in Pakistain and the Pak Taliban in North Wazoo. The name refers to the sword of the Prophet (PTUI!)... , when the military first acknowledged using armed Burraq UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) in 2015. While officials described the move as counterterrorism operations, civilian casualties from these strikes have created resentment among affected communities.
A March 2025 drone attack in Mardan that massacred eleven people, including women and kiddies, resulted in the government’s acknowledgment of "collateral damage" only after local protests demanded compensation for the victims' families.
A recent dronezap in northwest Pakistain's Mir Ali murdered four children and maimed five others, prompting thousands of residents to stage protests by placing the children's bodies on the main roads as a symbol of their demand for justice. Local communities have responded with organized resistance, led primarily by the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM). From February through May 2025, PTM organized demonstrations across the region, beginning with protests at Bakka Khel camp in Bannu on Feb. 3, followed by a Jirga gathering at Tirah Maidan, Khyber, on Feb. 15.
The movement expanded with the "Aman Quami Pasoon" protest in Wana, South Waziristan, on Feb. 18, continuing with demonstrations at Qambarabad Market, Bara, on Feb. 22. A sit-in protest at Jani Khel, Bannu, on April 25 led to the ongoing protest at Army Cantonment Mirali that began on May 19. This protest involved PTM leaders, tribal elders, and various political parties.
The situation in Balochistan presents perhaps the most systematic documentation of human rights ...which often include carefully measured allowances of freedom at the convenience of the state... violations. The Voice for Baloch Missing Persons has recorded approximately 7,000 cases of enforced disappearances since 2004, while the government's own Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances listed 2,752 active cases as of January 2024. The significant disparity between these figures and official government claims suggests the deliberate underreporting of the crisis.
The recent bombing of a school bus in Khuzdar, Balochistan, which massacred five people — including three girls — and maimed 53 others, mostly children, exemplifies Pakistain's reflexive strategy of deflecting blame for its internal failures.
The Vehicle-Borne Improvised Explosive Device (VBIED) attack targeted innocent children traveling to school. Within hours of the massacre, the Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) issued a statement accusing foreign powers of orchestrating the assault without providing any evidence to support these claims.
This pattern of shifting blame has become a familiar response whenever Pakistain faces scrutiny over violence against its own civilians.
Pakistain's heavy-handed approach against its people is largely driven by its failure to provide equitable governance to populations across the country. The majority of the population in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan live in abject poverty, deprived of even basic facilities such as functional medical or educational institutions.
Incidentally, several schools and colleges in Balochistan have been closed for at least the last six months on government orders. This order serves as collective punishment for people who are demanding basic civil liberties and human rights as promised in the country's constitution.
Pakistain's willful neglect of certain regions within its borders is reflected in several international indices, including Amnesty International reports and various human rights assessments that consistently highlight the deteriorating situation for civilians in these areas.
The systematic targeting of civilians extends far beyond isolated incidents, with documented evidence revealing a disturbing pattern of state-sponsored violence across multiple provinces.
Meanwhile,
...back at the pound, the little lost dog backed into the corner and showed its teeth. And what big teeth they were!... the discovery of over 200 decomposing bodies on the rooftop of Nistar Hospital in Multan ...Home of the Multan Sultans... in 2022 has raised serious questions about the treatment of unidentified individuals in state custody. Many activists believe these remains may belong to political activists who disappeared from Sindh and Balochistan. The additional discovery of 168 unidentified bodies in Punjab ...1. Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2. A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3. A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots
.... suggests this may represent a broader pattern that requires investigation.
The international community has begun to take notice of these developments through various human rights reports and documentation efforts. However,
women are made to be loved, not understood... the level of international attention and intervention remains limited compared to other global conflicts. Pakistain's strategic importance in regional politics and its nuclear capabilities may contribute to the relatively muted international response to domestic human rights concerns.
#1
ISLAMABAD: 5-15=2025
Pakistan has proposed a zero-tariff bilateral trade agreement with the USA aimed at expanding trade relations in multiple sectors, The Express Tribune has learnt on the authority of credible sources.
The development came after the US president expressed interest in enhancing trade with Pakistan, the sources said, adding that Pakistan proposed a bilateral agreement based on mutual interests, offering zero tariffs on selected tariff lines. They added that Pakistan wants to expand bilateral trade with the USA in multiple sectors.
Islamabad’s offer came after the US president brokered a ceasefire agreement between Pakistan and India following tit-for-tat military strikes between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.
Posted by: Albert McCoy9505 ||
05/29/2025 6:09 Comments ||
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#2
Just remember Bangladesh once was East Pakistan, till the military started to butcher its own citizens.
[Spectator] Some Palestinians reject terrorism and Hamas, but a new poll shows they appear to be outnumbered.
A recent poll conducted by the Paleostinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR) from May 1-4, 2025, highlights the reality of Paleostinian public opinion amid the ongoing war in the 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... Strip, now 19 months in from its start with the Hamas ..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,... -led attack on October 7, 2023.
The survey, covering 1,270 respondents (830 in the West Bank, 440 in Gaza) with a margin of error of ±3.5 percent, reveals strong support for Hamas, the October 7 attack, and "armed struggle." Most Paleostinians oppose Hamas’s disarmament, do not believe Hamas committed atrocities on Oct. 7, and believe the decision to attack Israel that day was "correct."
This poll challenges the dubious claim that all Paleostinian civilians are innocent. Parents who teach their children it is okay to kill Jews are complicit with the terrorist holding a gun. And indeed, many of these children did grow up to become terrorists. This was proven on October 7, 2023, when a terrorist called his parents, bragging he had killed Jews and knowing he would receive his family’s support.
And this support has not changed drastically. Paleostinian civilian support for Hamas’s October 7 attack still stands at a disturbing 50 percent and it was even higher in the past — 54 percent in September 2024 and 71 percent in March 2024. In Gaza, 38 percent of "innocent" Paleostinians still view the attack as "correct," compared to 59 percent in the West Bank. Notably, 87 percent of respondents deny Hamas committed atrocities against Israeli civilians, despite video evidence.
According to the poll, most Gazooks (51 percent) blame Israel for their suffering, followed by the U.S. (28 percent), while only 12 percent primarily blame Hamas. Although Hamas launched a major war against Israel, Hamas’s popularity still stands at 32 percent (it was 36 percent seven months ago) and even remains higher than Fatah’s (21 percent), the more "moderate" of the two parties.
In hypothetical legislative elections, Hamas would garner 43 percent of the vote among participants, while Fatah holds steady at 28 percent. In Gaza, Hamas’s support is stronger (49 percent) than in the West Bank (38 percent). Marwan Barghouti, a terrorist in Israeli prison, remains the most popular leader, securing 50 percent of voters in a presidential race against Hamas’s Khaled Mashal (35 percent) and Paleostinian Chairman the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ...aka Abu Mazen, a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial. While no Yasser Arafat, he has his own brand of evil, just a little more lowercase....> (11 percent).
The poll reveals complex sentiments in Gaza. Nearly half (48 percent) of Gazooks support recent anti-Hamas demonstrations demanding the group relinquish control, though 54 percent believe these protests are driven by "external hands." Opposition to disarming Hamas is strong, with 85 percent in the West Bank and 64 percent in Gaza rejecting it as a condition to end the war. Similarly, 65 percent oppose expelling Hamas’s military leaders.
The question is, why? Innocent people are not supposed to support terrorists. Why do the Paleostinians?
Interestingly, 43 percent of Gazooks express willingness to emigrate postwar, and 49 percent would apply to Israel for emigration assistance, despite Egypt and Jordan rejecting U.S.-backed displacement proposals.
Satisfaction with Hamas’s performance still stands at an unbelievable 57 percent (43 percent in Gaza, 67 percent in the West Bank), outpacing the PA (23 percent), Fatah (24 percent), and Abbas (15 percent). Among regional actors, although Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of... ’s Iran's Houthi sock puppets ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him... s continue to indiscriminately attack Israel’s civilians — Arab and Jew alike — by firing ballistic missiles, the Paleostinians highly approve of their attacks (74 percent), followed by 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... (45 percent) and Hezbollah (43 percent).
Additionally, the United States, which has worked around the clock to get Paleostinians humanitarian aid, received a disturbingly low approval rating of just 3 percent. Shockingly, Paleostinians gave China (26 percent) and Russia (21 percent) a much higher approval rating.
Paleostinians living in the West Bank (88 percent) say they would rather remain rather than flee to Jordan. What this means is that even with fears of Israeli counter-terrorism operations, Paleostinians understand life is better on the Israeli side of the Jordan River.
With regard to the two-state solution, support remains stable at 40 percent, rising to 61 percent when framed as a Paleostinian state on 1967 borders. Support for armed struggle is an incredible 41 percent.
Looking at these numbers, it is difficult to make the case that the Paleostinian people are a peace-loving nation. According to the data revealed by this poll, Paleostinians support Hamas, want the terrorist group to remain armed, and want to kick the Jewish people out of the Old City of Jerusalem and bar them from the Western Wall.
This is not peace. This is bullying and a desire to erase the Jewish people’s connection to their ancestral homeland, while supporting a Moslem Brüderbund terrorist group responsible for the destruction of Paleostinian life in Gaza and the deaths of thousands.
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.
[Breitbart] 
...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...
..always the voice of sweet reason...
..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,...
