CAPITALIST TENTACLES & FRONTS

DEMOCRACY NOW—We get an update on Israel’s war on Lebanon from journalist Rania Abouzeid in Beirut. “We are seeing a definite escalation that started a month ago and doesn’t show any sign of letting up,” she observes, describing unrestrained attacks by Israel throughout the country, on all sectors of society, as Israel carries out its “Dahiya doctrine” in an attempt to foment division among the Lebanese population. “This is the Gaza playbook. … The sentiment here is that this is now a war on Lebanon,” Abouzeid says.

EDITOR—Hiz-b-ullah’s Media Relations Office organised a tour of Beirut’s southern suburb (Dahieh), to give the world a glimpse of the mass destruction of civilian infrastructure as a result of Zionist (Israeli) indiscriminate bombardment of the area. Laith Marouf and Dr Mohammad Marandi, along with Hadi Hotait behind the camera, joined the tour and commented on what they saw, the retaliation of Iran, Hiz-b-ullah repelling invading forces, and the coming expansion of the war.

CHRIS HEDGES—Woke ideology is pervasive in liberal institutions, especially universities, but does it further and hamper the liberal values and inclusiveness it purports to advocate? It seeks to transform society through what Christian Parenti calls the moralizing micropolitics of politicized etiquette. It is fixated on the politics of language and symbols, the sins of cultural appropriation and misnaming and calls for centering historically oppressed groups. It advocates identity politics, prioritizing race, gender, indigeneity, sexual orientation, physical disability, mental health diagnoses, immigration status and socioeconomic status over political content. Woke discourse, Parenti writes, “is imbued with a therapeutic mentality expressed in safety-obsessed incantations about harm, trauma, healing, care and doing the work. Personal struggles take precedent over political struggles.

MAX PARRY—One of the biggest propagandists of the Russiagate hoax was neo-conservative pundit Max Boot of The Washington Post. In July 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) issued two counts against Boot’s wife, Sue Mi Terry, an ex-CIA analyst and senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, for acting as an agent-of-influence on behalf of South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS). A self-proclaimed expert on the DPRK, Terry received payments with undisclosed payoffs, expensive dinners and designer handbags to advance ROK government positions in the media. The unsealed indictment also alleges Terry used her prestige at various think tanks on a quid pro quo basis to share private information with NIS officers and arrange exclusive meetings between South Korean and U.S. officials, without registering under FARA.

JIMMY DORE—A range of prominent commentators, business executives and celebrities including Dave Portnoy, hedge fund manager Eric Reiner, Ben Shapiro and Michael Rappaport chimed in to respond with apparent glee to the recent pager attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon. For individuals who express such concern over terrorism attacks that have killed and maimed Israelis, this giddiness represents a real surprise — or at least it would if they adopted a universal code of morality. Jimmy and Americans’ Comedian Kurt Metzger discuss these individuals’ love of Israel expressed through joy at the deaths of Lebanese children.