i want to post an update about my views on palestine. there's no new information in this post, but i want to clarify it, moving into the new administration.

i was using the language of 'genocide' to describe israel's activity in the west bank as early as 2010, and specifically to counter the use of the term 'apartheid'. you don't hear talk of apartheid any more. maybe i got my point across, which is that israel did not want a system of apartheid, it wanted to deport them to jordan. the policy on gaza is in flux, but it used to be that gaza was seen as outside of israel because it was the philistine regions; that's insane, but it's what the israelis actually perceive of as real. there was a period when kerry was secretary of state when he tried to organize an apartheid system in order to create jobs for palestinians by bringing in israeli industry (essentially enslaving palestinians for israeli benefit), which actually would have been helpful. actual apartheid in the south african meaning of the term would have been a betterment of the material conditions of most palestinians, who are being slowly assimilated or expelled. the israelis rejected these proposals under the grounds that they wanted the jobs to go to israelis, or to african migrants (of which there are a lot of in israel). israel has not wanted a system of enslavement or apartheid at all, it wanted to get rid of them, and it was a struggle to try to correct the language.

now that activists are using more correct language about genocide in the west bank, i've once again moved past them, and i think i am again ahead of the curve. we'll find out. i also have begun to support a policy of annihilation in gaza, in response to the terrorist attacks and continued societal support of hamas. i don't see any other option but to wipe these people out, the way the romans had to wipe out the carthaginians, or, indeed, the jews themselves. they won't adapt, change or evolve; the other option is to die, and that's the bed they've made for themselves. it's their own fault.

palestine has no likelihood of success of obtaining statehood and that idea needs to be abandoned. the gaza strip should remain under israeli occupation until it can be annexed by egypt, who should be responsible for security. let the arabs rebuild the strip as they will, as a part of egypt. the saudis apparently want a port on the mediterranean.

the west bank should be annexed by israel, but that does not mean continuing oppression of the people that live there. if i'm ahead of the curve, it's in realizing that this is a political issue internal to israel and it has been for a long time, nor am i the first person to observe this. people that have solidarity with the rights of moderate palestinians in a secular society need to focus on civil rights issues inside israel. the comparison is not to south africa, it's to the southern united states, and a strong civil rights movement could succeed in ways that a sovereignty movement is doomed to fail. they don't need a nelson mandela, they need a martin luther king.

this issue appears set to morph and redefine itself yet again over the next four years. it should emerge as a civil rights issue in the state of israel. they're going to need to learn to respect each other and to get along, which means accepting things like jewish access to the western wall and the temple mount, and things like palestinian land rights, on equal terms.

you're allowed to disagree with me. please avoid mischaracterizing me.

the stock market just crashed in response to strong jobs data.

the entire theory of this stupid thing needs to be rewritten from scratch, and it probably needs to be wiped out and started fresh with stricter rules about how it works. it has no resemblance whatsoever to what it's supposed to be at all; it's a casino for the wealthy, that foolish middle class people continue to lose money in under out of date perceptions about what it is.

i would support a constitutional ban on government communicating with any media, including social media, in both canada and the united states. no government official should ever attempt to communicate with any independent body about the dissemination of any information at all.

the vaccines were probably pretty safe, but we don't actually know, and we won't know for a while. my larger concern is less that they were unsafe and more that they didn't actually work. it was helpful for media to try to explain that these were not traditional vaccines, and that the population was undergoing an experiment that most people did not fully understand that they were participating in.

america has a history of making draconiain decisions when it's in crisis that are condemned by history, such as, for example, it's periodic crackdowns on union organizers, including putting eugene debs in jail for dissenting on america's role in world war one. the period of investigation into government abuses in both canada and the united states during the pandemic is just beginning and needs to be rigorously and thoroughly conducted, and parties that made mistakes need to be held accountable.

there should be changes made to the law in both countries that prevent this kind of interference from happening in the next crisis we go through. the important thing is that we learn from our mistakes.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/mark-zuckerberg-joe-rogan-biden-officials-scream-curse-facebook-rcna187199

these are all lost canadian colonies, as far as i'm concerned, that should be rejoined to canada.

perhaps canada could consider making an alliance with mexico to partition the part of the united states that is west of the appalachians, as per the royal proclamation of 1763.

canada really has a reasonable claim to anything that's blue, which could be initially organized as the territory of "new quebec" before it's broken up into provinces.

canada could also make use of the louisiana territory and, given that it was initially french-speaking, there's a strong argument that it should be ours in the first place. this would annex most of the mississippi basin and rebuild the old trade routes south from detroit, through saint-louis and nouveau orleans, who should subsequently be renamed to their francophone titles.

annexing nouveau orleans would give canada significant refinery capacity, which it should immediately dismantle in order to meet our climate targets.

yes, putin has been in office a long time.

but, from a foreign policy perspective, it's sergei lavrov that has been the more important figure, and the one that is going to create a larger void when he moves on.

and, yes, these guys are going to move on pretty soon. the russians will not allow for repeat gerontocracy; they made that mistake already.

i did point out that trump actually kind of doesn't like the jews much, which is going to be an interesting point of conflict with his party. if you wanted somebody to force the jews to do what they're fucking told, trump is probably your best choice in decades, but it comes with the caveat that he's dragging around the kind of anti-semitic conspiracy theories at the back of his head that we haven't seen in high office since the days of lbj and richard nixon. netanyahu is clearly frustrated and annoyed by this and is trying to walk a fine line but he's going to need to end up going over trump's head to the pentagon.

conversely, as trump lines up to arrange a meeting to suck putin's cock, it's important to note that, contrary to fake left propaganda, putin and his cronies do not like donald trump very much, and putin is not very excited about the change of power that's about to take place. the democrats want to make it look like putin is pulling trump's strings, but it's actually the other way around. putin rather pointedly endorsed harris, and he meant it. trump is a loose cannon and if the russians want to avoid anything it's crazy cowboy lunatics in the white house that they can't get a clear read on. the russians hate unpredictability, and trump is nothing if not unpredictable. this is actually kind of a disaster from their perspective.

i actually suspect that a quick meeting between putin and trump could result in a horrific outcome, and i would advise the russians to stall. don't let trump come running in, excitedly looking for a reacharound. you don't want to take advantage of him, you want to avoid him.

maybe little marco can have a chat with the old purveyor of nyet, first.