EDITOR—Laith and Garland comment on current events in the Middle East, the Ukraine, and US politics. Laith and Garland’s shows are being severely censored—shadowbanning and other forms of “algorithmic deletion”—are being applied, with the result that their platforms have lost considerable traffic. Only after some energetic protests did the invisible censors in charge of YouTube, Twitter, etc. relented some, but the ultimate outcome is still obscure. Commenting on the war in Gaza and Lebanon, Laith offers invaluable news and clarifications not found on regular media channels. He notes that key information and political personnel of pro-Palestinian and Hezbollah organisations continue to be assassinated, Israel’s favourite way of fighting. He also notes that America’s special envoy, Hochstein, who expected a complete cave-in by Lebanese leaders, a surrender, was practically given the finger by Lebanese authorities and went home empty-handed. Laith stresses that the IDF is not making much headway into Lebanon, despite their massive use of firepower, etc. Meanwhile, Israel’s campaign to invade and occupy Lebanon is costing Tel Aviv (and Washington) dearly in terms of equipment and personnel. The Axis of Resistance continues to attack Israeli targets, while the Zionist/American alliance increases its pressure on all parties in hopes of breaking the anti-Zionist forces.
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JAY JANSON—Today, Global South lives are still considered less important than the lives of white descendants of the conquering colonialists, who have retained a substantial amount of hegemony over most of the planet largely through powerful international reach media.
This difference in the value and importance of lives is apparent in the Middle East now. For example, the lives of a hundred Israeli hostages certainly are being given much more importance than the lives of 39,000 Arabs and the 90,000 injured, including thousands of amputees, and another thousand buried under the ruble of what was the cities of Gaza.
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BLOWBACK—The panel discusses Israel’s genocidist’s posture toward Palestinians, the negative impact of 10/7 on the myths supporting the US empire and its vassals (among which Israel stands out), and how this will probably accelerate the decline in global power by the US and the prospects for Israel’s long-term survival. Hamas’ blow, despite its immense cost to the Palestinian people, has broken the cycle of gradual asphyxiation applied by a sociopathic Israel over decades, and exposed the moral bankruptcy of Western media and political elites.
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MIKHAIL OSHEROV—In the near future, the state of Israel will inevitably lose its military superiority over neighboring countries, which is actually happening today. This means that further unilateral and unpunished Israeli aggressive actions against Syria and the Palestinians will be impossible in the future.
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According to Kachtan, military is still one of the main organizations in constructing masculinity. Kachtan explained that the discourse in Israeli society reinforces the strong and masculine concepts linked to the military. Israeli society perceives itself as better in part due to its “unique” military experience, even though there is a decline in the military status and rise in criticism in society, she added.
