Iran, the Red Sea, and the West (tm).

[innonimatu]

I'm disagree in part. The UN is little more than a diplomatic forum. That is by design and there is no way countries will ever cede it power to act independently. What little it does depends on member countries starting and backing initiatives. Sometimes those last many decades but still depend on cupport by member countries. As seen recently in the conspiracy to defund the sole relief agency providing food for Gaza.

The UN may have been an american idea originally, but every participant finds it useful. It wasn't a tool of empire. If it had been its bureaucracy and especially the security council would not have been designed as it was. As tools of empire - influence - the IMF and the WB were much more useful, designed and successfully used for that purpose.

 

[EnglishEdward]

Husi firing is always more accurate against ships with Russian oil .

How do you know it is Husi, and not the USA fleet covertly, firing ?

 

[r16]

when ı was little my mother would encourage me in my studies that ı could become a diplomat . That ı would not can easily create some diplomatic incident but ı should also add thag it is r16 that "created" that particular line of argument in the first place .

 

[Samson]

An Belize-flagged, UK-registered and Lebanese-operated open hatch general cargo ship sailing from Saudi Arabia to Bulgaria has been hit, evacuated and is in danger of sinking. I guess the Saudi connection makes it a pretty good target.

Armed Forces announce targeting of British ship and downing of [Unmanned] American plane

Truimphing the oppressed Palestinian people, who until this moment are subjected to aggression and siege.

‏and within the retaliation to the American-British aggression against our country.

‏The Naval forces of the Yemeni Armed Forces carried out a specific military operation, targeting a British ship in the Gulf of Aden, “RUBYMAR,” with a number of appropriate naval missiles. Among the results of the operation were the following:

‏-The ship suffered catastrophic damages and came to a complete halt.

‏ -As a result of the extensive damage the ship suffered, it is now at risk of potential sinking in the Gulf of Aden.

‏During the operation, we made sure that the ship’s crew exited safely.

‏ In Hodeidah, the Yemeni air defenses were able to shoot down an American plane (MQ9) with a suitable missile while it was carrying out hostile missions against our country on behalf of the Zionist entity.

‏The Yemeni armed forces will not hesitate to take more military measures and carry out more qualitative operations against all hostile targets in defense of beloved Yemen and in confirmation of the position of support for the Palestinian people.

‏ The operations of the Yemeni Armed Forces in the Red and Arab Bahrain will not stop until the aggression stops and the siege on the Gaza Strip is lifted.


The Rubymar in the Black Sea in 2022

 

[Kyriakos]

when ı was little my mother would encourage me in my studies that ı could become a diplomat . That ı would not can easily create some diplomatic incident but ı should also add thag it is r16 that "created" that particular line of argument in the first place .

Constantin Cara16.

 

[r16]

would be nice if references were like those ı would know . If not possible , then google searches should clearly identify who . Can't get what a deceased Romanian of 79 to be buried in Canada got to do with ... me . None of those ı have been accused of having had affairs are linked to Toronto , too . But yeah , am always amenable to improve standarts .

Spoiler :

yeah , the greys make it look like lingerie but everybody can tell it is mockery .

 

[Kyriakos]

Actually it was a (indeed rather cryptic) reference to the great Constantin Caratheodory, whose father was a diplomat for the Ottoman Empire (though Greek).
Caratheodory (the son) was head of the Ionian University, at Smyrna, alongside the governor with my (mother's side) family's surname ^^
Of course he is more famous for his math and scientific contributions, including instructions to Einstein.

 

[Crezth]

I'm disagree in part. The UN is little more than a diplomatic forum. That is by design and there is no way countries will ever cede it power to act independently. What little it does depends on member countries starting and backing initiatives. Sometimes those last many decades but still depend on cupport by member countries. As seen recently in the conspiracy to defund the sole relief agency providing food for Gaza.

The UN may have been an american idea originally, but every participant finds it useful. It wasn't a tool of empire. If it had been its bureaucracy and especially the security council would not have been designed as it was. As tools of empire - influence - the IMF and the WB were much more useful, designed and successfully used for that purpose.

A diplomatic forum exists for the purpose of supporting the other political structures and interests of the member parties. It’s not “just” a forum but a forum with five leading chairs and which oversaw and sanctioned the creation of hundreds of new governments. The UN came to exist because “diplomacy” in that sense had evolved to create new opportunities to connect the world to the needs and interests of the industrializing and globalizing bourgeoisie. It was not *sufficient* to rule the world through the arms of a few or just one empire anymore. It now became necessary to connect the disparate structures of independent so-called nation states, as they came to be apprehended, to the bigger picture where the powerful members keep an eye on it. Hence did you go from nothing to the primitive league of nation to the US and Russia-accorded United Nations, to today’s world of the supernational.

It is a tool of the empire in that it is a necessary ingredient to create accord between the ruling nations and the ruled nations. Indeed it was *the* necessary ingredient to articulate an outcome to WW2. And not to everyone’s benefit equally at that.

 

[Klaus Hergersheimer]

no news in a while here so:

MSN

• An El Al plane from Thailand to Israel was targeted by 'hostile elements,' according to reports.
• It's unclear if it was linked to the war in Gaza, but it took place over a Houthi-controlled region.
• Airspace disputes in Somalia could also be responsible, the Israeli airline said in a statement.

Some reports about unknown persons trying to divert civil aircraft then flying over Houthi territory by faking air traffic controllers, although it could have been someone on Somalialand (not Somalia-proper) too. Fortunately since the plane already had its route planned out, they double-checked with ATC on an alternate band and found the calls to be fraudulent. I guess that's standard procedure, thank goodness.
Still, I don't know how tough it is to override an airliner frequency!

 

[Samson]

Still, I don't know how tough it is to override an airliner frequency!

According to this youtube, it is a lot harder than just jamming GPS, but it is doable.

 

[Comrade Ceasefire]

There’s a very fundamental misunderstanding about how the UN seems to work here that I think prevails because the dominant view being articulated is one of post-9/11 natsec conservatism “it’s us versus the world” mentality, which is exactly what is having us reverse course on our relationship to these things. It is because the empire is crumbling and the UN was the arm of it designed to generate the consensus of the global governmental assemblies - mainly, as it is, bourgeois states with fraught relationships with their populations. It is exactly because these states need some kind of guarantee or forum within which to press their claims and operate with the sovereign authority of nation states that the UN exists today.

Indeed why keep the UN together? Well does it even matter if we all don’t obey the laws and invade who we please? At that rate the only thing that matters is who has the most nukes. Which is US policy. But the problem is that the UN is the glue that binds the world to the G8 nations’ lofty interests. You eliminate it and what guarantees your return. Mercenaries and Interpol? If you think the enemies are bad now, remember, they can always get worse.

Worse or the same, it's still going after all these years.

Judge tosses alleged al Qaeda operative’s suit against CIA waterboarding contractors
After being captured in Pakistan in 2002, Abu Zubaydah, also known as Zayn al-Abidin Muhammad Husayn, was waterboarded at least 83 times while in CIA custody, according to a Senate Intelligence Committee report released in part in 2014. The report said he was also subjected to a variety of other torture techniques, including being confined in a small box and being placed in so-called stress positions.

The interrogation sessions led by Mitchell and Jessen at a so-called black site in Poland continued for 17 consecutive days in August 2002. At one point, Abu Zubaydah lost consciousness and water and air bubbles began pouring out of his mouth, the Senate report said.

Since 2006, Abu Zubaydah has been held at the U.S. base at Guantanamo Bay. He’s classified as an enemy combatant, but has never faced criminal charges.

Judge tosses alleged al Qaeda operative’s suit against CIA waterboarding contractors

Abu Zubaydah's case is barred by a federal law that limits lawsuits from war-on-terror detainees, the judge ruled.

www.politico.com

If the torturers are still living and working in Poland, then it's a case of...
Duda as we say, not as we Duda.

 

[Samson]

Rubymar cargo ship earlier hit by Houthis has sunk, Yemeni government says

The cargo ship Rubymar, which was abandoned in the southern Red Sea after being targeted by Houthi rebels last month, has sunk, according to Yemen’s internationally recognised government.

“The MV Rubymar sank last night, coinciding with weather factors and strong winds at sea,” a crisis cell of Yemen’s government in charge of the case said in a statement on Saturday.

Yemen’s government statement said the ship sunk on Friday night and warned of an “environmental catastrophe”.

The ship was carrying more than 41,000 tonnes of fertiliser when it came under attack, the US military’s Central Command previously said.

 

[Bonyduck Campersang]

Found this incredible image on X

 

[Narz]

Piracy has a long history in Asia too. It is not just a "western" phenomenon. I guess those who are "not west" also think it is cool.

Not-west is very trendy by people from the comfort of their Western swivel chairs

 

[Gorbles]

Not-west is very trendy by people from the comfort of their Western swivel chairs

"you criticise society but you participate in it, curious"

 

[Birdjaguar]

Not-west is very trendy by people from the comfort of their Western swivel chairs

"Not west" is both a geographic and cultural reference. In my post the context was geographic, as in not centered around the Atlantic Ocean and its curious nooks and crannies. Pirates have been romanticized in the US into anti heroes such that even Disney includes them as part of its entertainment package. I do not no whether or not such a transformation has taken place in the non-western Eastern Hemisphere.

 

[Bonyduck Campersang]

"Not west" is both a geographic and cultural reference. In my post the context was geographic, as in not centered around the Atlantic Ocean and its curious nooks and crannies. Pirates have been romanticized in the US into anti heroes such that even Disney includes them as part of its entertainment package. I do not no whether or not such a transformation has taken place in the non-western Eastern Hemisphere.

Considering brigands and similar anti-authority Robin Hood -like figures are celebrated by common people around the world, why wouldn't pirates be romantised too?

In any case Western soft power is immense. If there were anyone who thought pirates were good-for-nothing little beggars, Jack Sparrow has surely put them all to rest

 

[Birdjaguar]

Considering brigands and similar anti-authority Robin Hood -like figures are celebrated by common people around the world, why wouldn't pirates be romantised too?

In any case Western soft power is immense. If there were anyone who thought pirates were good-for-nothing little beggars, Jack Sparrow has surely put them all to rest

That is what books and movies and TV has done for quite some time.

 

[innonimatu]

The ship was carrying more than 41,000 tonnes of fertiliser when it came under attack, the US military’s Central Command previously said.

Fertilizer, huh? Any information about wether it was ammonium nitrate, or some other nitrate? Mixed or pure? Going for which port?
The yemenis seem to have good intelligence indeed.

 

[Kyriakos]

Greece did take the leadership (for what that is worth) of the Eu "mission" in the Yemen sea, and is also sending a frigate there.
That's not itself strange, since most of the ships going through are Greek-owned (not state-owned, mind), but it'd be interesting to see what would happen if the frigate is hit. Afaik the frigate sent is one of the rather worst of the fleet.