Javier Johanning

[Mouin Rabbani @MouinRabbani]

Ervand Abrahamian:

I don’t buy the argument that the regime was interested in nuclear weapons. There was a short period where international surveyors concluded that Iran was interested in acquiring one, when Washington was claiming that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. If you were sitting in Tehran, and Saddam had already used chemical warfare on you, then I’m sure many people, even moderates, came to the conclusion: if the Americans are convinced that Saddam has nuclear weapons, we better do something. So they were, I think, exploring the issue of nuclear weapons at that time. But international inspectors concluded that this stopped as soon as the US invaded Iraq and it became clear that Saddam had no nuclear weapons programme. What Tehran was doing was building up knowledge and enrichment for research, which could be turned into weaponry in future if necessary. So when Obama came in and said we’ll agree with you doing research as long as you can guarantee, with supervision, that you’re not planning to weaponize, they accepted this. Even the so-called hardliners. That to me is proof that they were not really interested in weaponizing.

Remember that even when Trump pulled out of the deal, Iran continued to abide by the restrictions and the supervision, hoping that the Europeans would step in. After all, the Europeans were part of the agreement. It was only once they saw that the Europeans weren’t going to do so that they went up to 60 per cent uranium enrichment to try to force them back to the negotiating table. The reality is that the regime has been willing to negotiate on the nuclear issue. It has always been the West that has been intransigent. The demand of Israel and the West has always been that the Islamic Republic should have no nuclear research whatsoever – the exception was the Obama administration. As long as that’s the demand, I don’t see how even the moderates in Iran would be able to reach an agreement.

The Strait of Hormuz has given Tehran a better trump card. It is far more useful for them than having a nuclear weapon.
https://t.co/lfNlZnLhMf

[Gregg Carlstrom @glcarlstrom]

"White ​House officials will consider ramping up military action after the November 3 vote."

Seems plausible that they will. Some in Iran hope that a Democratic victory in the midterms would hasten the end of the war. But a wounded, lame-duck Trump is likely to be a more aggressive foreign-policy actor.

And if you're counting on Congress to stop an unpopular conflict... I mean, have you met Congress? https://t.co/ZkQYbF4QwK

[Yuen Yuen Ang @yuenyuenang]

I encountered intellectual history late in my career.

Before that, I had a world-class, mainstream, technocratic education. I learned to build on accepted canons and invest my energies in more advanced techniques.

Only decades later did I begin asking a different set of questions: Why these canons? How did they become canonical?

Ideas do not emerge in a vacuum. They are shaped by power.

Economics prizes neutrality. But neutrality can become a myth that keeps us from seeing the hand of power in deciding:

* Whose experiences become universal theories, and whose remain culturally bound?
* Whose crises are global (think polycrisis), and whose are merely regional?
* Whose priorities become everyone else’s priorities? (think industrial policy)
* What counts as knowledge?
* Who gets to speak with authority?

https://t.co/QQj37XXDQ9

[Cihan Tugal @CihanTugal]

The current world left’s readiness to cede its ground is a major issue. Puritanism has mostly marginalized strategic thinking. We should have been able to say: “Racism is a serious problem in Argentinian football, and actually in football overall. But all African and Latin American teams are ours, and we will defend them against Euro-American teams.”
That is a general statement. It can be revised depending on circumstances. Nuance is crucial, and not all subaltern teams are cut off the same cloth. Cabo Verde doesn’t have the baggage that Morocco has. (One could therefore support Morocco against Euro-American teams but not against other teams of the Global South, for instance). Also, Spain is not equivalent to England, especially at the current moment (due to its prime minister’s position on Iran and Palestine), but not only that (see my former posts and replies on Spain). You might have many reasons to support Spain against Argentina in the World Cup but writing off an entire country as “Milei’s Argentina” or “racist” is not the right way to frame it.
That is the same kind of thinking that pushed a considerably large portion of American progressives to abandon the white working class in the last few decades because “It is racist and Republican, Trumpist, etc.” American socialists have been fighting that mentality within the borders of the US, and increasingly effectively so in the last several years. But then you see some of the same people (who have been waging this justified fight) reproduce a parallel logic when it comes to football or Latin America.
The cost of this mentality is obvious: The Right opportunistically claims the ground ceded by the Left. In the US, Trump has become the alleged champion of the white working class, although he doesn’t care at all about workers. The same applies to Milei’s and Netanyahu’s relationship to Latin American football. It is not theirs unless we hand it on a golden platter.

[Cihan Tugal @CihanTugal]

We have our Spain (Catalonia, POUM, CGT, etc.) and they have theirs.
Just like we have our Argentina (anti-imperialist struggles, factory occupations, Madres de Plaza de Mayo and the footballers who have consistently sided with them) and they have theirs.
Or we should realize that we do. One of the horrible outcomes of this world cup was much of the Left's reduction of not only a football team but an entire country to its worst representatives and allies.

[Moisés Garduño García @Moises_Garduno]

La imagen confirma que la planta desalinizadora de Bunjay, ubicada en las proximidades de Jask, ha sufrido graves destrozos a causa de los bombardeos ejecutados por la aviación estadounidense. Seg��n los partes iraníes, esta ofensiva ha dejado fuera de servicio el suministro de agua para una veintena de localidades, perjudicando directamente a cerca de 10 000 civiles.

Ademas, lo que realmente evidencia este ataque es la alarmante falta de escrúpulos de Washington al dirigir sus ataques contra instalaciones civiles esenciales. Golpear una planta de agua potable no es un "daño colateral" fortuito, sino una decisión estratégica que castiga a la población inocente, violando de manera flagrante el derecho internacional humanitario.

Estados Unidos, con esta acción, demuestra que está dispuesto a emplear la sed como un arma más de presión en el campo de batalla, anteponiendo sus fines geopolíticos a la supervivencia básica de miles de personas que nada tienen que ver con el conflicto.

“Sigan manifestándose, la ayuda va en camino” decía Trump hace unos meses a los iraníes….. y ahora miren la ayuda que envía.

[The Cradle @TheCradleMedia]

In Milan, Italy, a demonstration took place in support of Palestinian doctor Hussam Abu Safia. Participants gathered to protest his ongoing solitary confinement, the denial of adequate medical treatment, and his subjection to torture while in Israeli custody.

After a visit by his legal representative earlier this month, Dr. Safia was assaulted, leading to an injury to his hand. Despite undergoing an X-ray, Abu Safia was never informed of the findings. Israeli authorities subsequently ceased his pain medication, denied Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI) access to his medical records, and blocked requests for an independent medical examination.

[Moisés Garduño García @Moises_Garduno]

Argentina celebra ante Inglaterra con una sábana que grita “Las Malvinas son argentinas”. Pero la ironía es letal: mientras la selección emociona, el gobierno auto denominado “libertario”acaba de liberar la compra de tierras para extranjeros sin control alguno. JP Morgan, BlackRock y fondos buitre ya pueden hacerse con el suelo patrio argentino. Y como corolario, Milei profundiza su complicidad con Israel: firma los “Acuerdos de Isaac”, les compra armas por millones y allana el camino para que fondos israelíes también accedan a tierras estratégicas. Hubiera sido más contundente un “viva Palestina libre”pero eso es mucho pedir para la albiceleste.

Argentina es un país del Sur Global con una gran población pobre. Ha sido víctima del colonialismo y el imperialismo, y hoy no debe dejar que el sionismo ni el mileismo se apoderen de su futbol y de su selección.

[The IMEU @theIMEU]

Take action to demand Israel release Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, the Palestinian pediatrician who Israel has held captive in its torture camps for over 500 days.

Dr. Hussam's life is in danger. Add your voice to the millions around the world calling for his safety and freedom.

[Zachary Foster @_ZachFoster]

Noa Tishby is an actress who doubles as an influencer for genocide.

I'm a historian who wrote a ph.d dissertation on the subject of Tishby's blockbuster 90 second history lesson.

Let's debunk the main claim. Tishby is narrating well-trodden hasbara, namely, that the Roman Emperor Hadrian vengefully erased the name 'Judaea' in 135 CE & replaced it with 'Syria - Palestina' to "sever the Jewish connection."

The first thing to ask yourself is why the microscopic focus on one alleged administrative nomenclature change in 135 CE in a 90 second summary of 2000 years of history. But we digress.

Tishby presents this erasure story as fact. But it's not a fact. It's a theory at best if not simply mythology.

The evidence for the theory is that some inscriptions in the Roman Empire start to refer to the land as Syria Palaestina sometime after 135 CE.

That's the closest direct evidence we've got. We don't even know if Hadrian issued an imperial decree or not ... that's already speculation.

Instead, "Syria Palaestina" gradually came into use after the Bar Kokhba Revolt was crushed in 135 CE to refer to the area.

So happened? Let's assume it was an imperial decree.

It's further speculation that the reason for the name change was in of spite the Bar khokhba revolt (what Tishby calls 'the Jewish connection').

Yet, it seems equally plausible that Hadrian changed the name to Syria - Palestina for the same reason he changed Antigonea to Mantinea, or Sepphoris to Diocaesarea. He revered ancient Greece & revived many Greek customs, traditions & names.

Or, perhaps Hadrian changed the name to Syria Palaestina because the province was now larger, and Syria Palaestina was a better term to describe what was now a larger administrative district.

Or, perhaps there was no imperial decree at all. Perhaps it was a process of dynamic evolution, evidenced by the fact that the names Palaestina & Judaea were both in use before & after the ostensible name change.

Indeed, official inscriptions bear the name Judaea from after the alleged change: 1 inscription in Austria referring to a procurator of Judaea; 1 in Ephesus, Turkey, identifying Sextus Erucius Clarus as governor of Judaea . Wouldn't that have been awkward, indeed, blasphemous, if Tishby's erasure theory was true?

Other sources like Galen, Celsus, Dio Cassius, Festus, Eutropius, Martianus Capella, Orosius, Epiphanius, & the Epitome de Caesaribus used the term Judaea synonyms ly w Palaestina centuries after “Judaea” had putatively been erased. All those writers spat in the face of Rome?

We don't know why 'Judaea' was gradually superseded by the name Syria Palaestina. There are many plausible theories.

The one presented as fact by Tishby is not a fact, it's a hypothesis, developed to support the Zionist law of the universe, namely, that everyone, everywhere in all times and all places always has and always will hate the Jews.

For sources to all points made above, see pages 103-111 of my dissertation here: https://t.co/S2yTTb4DdU

[The Political Room @Political_Room]

🇹🇷⚖️⚠️ Turquía amanece con una crisis política sin precedentes: El Tribunal de apelaciones turco anuló el jueves los resultados del congreso del Partido Republicano del Pueblo (CHP) —principal fuerza opositora del país— en el que Özgür Özel fue elegido en 2023, alegando irregularidades no especificadas. El órgano judicial destituyó al líder electo y repuso al expresidente Kılıçdaroğlu, quien perdió las elecciones contra Erdoğan a principios de ese año. La policía antidisturbios rodeó este domingo la sede del partido en Ankara para ejecutar el fallo. Özel se ha negado a marcharse y ha sido elegido líder parlamentario por los diputados del CHP en un gesto de desafío. La cúpula depuesta denuncia un "golpe de Estado judicial".

[Juan Carlos Monedero @MonederoJC]

No, mira, es que no puedo significarme porque estoy en una empresa importante; es que yo represento cosas; es que en el puesto en el que estoy es muy difícil significarse…
Al final, si te crees algo, lo haces. Puedes ser un cobarde, pero no me cuentes tus justificaciones baratas.
Lamine Yamal es hoy el futbolista favorito de mucha gente.

[Ezequiel Kopel @ezekopel]

Hijo de nazi se reúne con judío incitador a un genocidio. What a time to be alive

[Trita Parsi @tparsi]

The vast majority of the world views America's war in Iraq as a major failure. It destabilized the region, spread radicalism, and gave birth to ISIS.

But when John Bolton casts it as a success, he is not lying. He just has a different metric of success.

It achieved the key thing Bolton and his ilk aimed for: Iraq was eliminated from the regional chessboard as a major player that could project power and challenge the US or Israel.

We see evidence of that today, as Israel built a secret base in Iraq during the Iran war to attack Iran.

That is, 20 years later, the Iraq war has still left Iraq in such a weak state that Israel can willy-nilly set up secret bases on its territory to attack other countries.

It was never about human rights or democracy.

https://t.co/HHWJjPRkNl

[Ezequiel Kopel @ezekopel]

Israel asesinó 38 mil mujeres palestinas -adultas y niñas- en Gaza durante dos años. Es decir, 47 mujeres palestinas por día.

[Trita Parsi @tparsi]

Young Palestinian children are prevented from going to school after Israeli settlers - with the tacit approval of the Israeli state - blocked their path with a barbed-wire fence. Instead, they are forced to sit in the boiling heat to continue their education.

[Ezequiel Kopel @ezekopel]

Ahora estamos en la fase donde el poderoso ejército de Israel combate a peligrosos niños palestinos que pretenden llegar a la escuela

[Sina Toossi @SinaToossi]

Netanyahu’s statement is a case study in self-inflicted crises.

The uranium stockpiles he wants gone didn’t exist under the 2015 deal he helped kill. The Hormuz crisis stems from the war he pushed for.

They broke what was working & demand solutions to the problems they created.

[Ezequiel Kopel @ezekopel]

El ejército más moral del mundo usando civiles como escudos humanos? Imposible!

[Krystal Ball @krystalball]

We’ve bombed 763 schools and 316 health facilities per the Iranian Red Crescent. Monstrous indefensible crimes.