Recent Comments

1. about 9 hours ago on Ted Rall

   Just came across an analysis of Gaza MoH casualty reports & it’s suggesting the number of women & children is being significantly overstated, among other problems. A few highlights. The full thing is easy to find.

   Analysis of new death data from Gaza’s Health Ministry reveals several concerns

   Professor Mike Spagat, An economics professor at RHUL who is interested in war. Chair of Every Casualty Counts and former Chair of Action on Armed Violence

   “This second table shows that women and children constitute 56.4% of the listed deaths. If we include only deaths with valid IDs, then the percentage of women and children drops to 53.3%.”

   “Second, the announced total number of Gazans killed in the war, now exceeding 33,000, may seem plausible but it is not a documented fact. This figure includes roughly 13,000 deaths that have, apparently, been entered into an unavailable database using an unknown methodology. The short description of sources contributing to this figure has just shifted from “reliable media sources” to that plus first responders. First responders can, potentially, provide useful estimates of numbers of people, (e.g., trapped under rubble). However, victims covered by such estimates might eventually be captured by the hospital system and/or be reported through the publicly available form. Thus, we should dismiss the common claim that, because many of the dead are trapped under rubble or are missing for other reasons, the announced totals are undercounts. To the contrary, there seem to be at least two channels, aside from hospitals, through which such deaths can be captured.”

   “Nevertheless, the MoH should, if the chaos of the conflict at all permits, return to the practice it established earlier in the war: that of reporting its information in the most straightforward and transparent manner possible. The alternative is for its data to lose credibility, over time, and this would not serve the survivors nor the dead of Gaza well.”

2. about 11 hours ago on Ted Rall

   “Source? That would be HUGE news.”

   I’m starting to think you’re only paying superficial attention to the war, Ted.

3. about 11 hours ago on Ted Rall

   Several groups are tracking missing persons in Gaza. The numbers I see range from 7,000 (per Red Cross) to 13,000 (per Euro-Med). It’s assumed some are held by Israel & it’s unlikely the total number of dead has reached 50,000.

   You’re peddling fiction to justify wiping out millions of Israelis required by your regime change in the Middle East.

4. about 11 hours ago on Ted Rall

   Before Oct. 7th, I believed in the two-state solution. All that was required was for the Israeli electorate to come to its senses and recognize that the future requires two independent states living in peace side by side with various details, like a corridor connecting the West Bank to Gaza, to work out. Now it’s clear that the Israelis will NEVER see sense

   The events of Oct 7th made you realize the Israelis are the intransigent group here. Oooookay.

   I’ve been talking with a Palestinian writer with bylines in Dissent, Jacobin, Foreign Policy, Liberal Currents on another platform & we’re mostly in agreement that a 2SS arrangement is the only way to end apartheid without a massive bloodshed & a likely exodus of millions of Israelis. The US needs to recognize a Palestinian State, limit aid to purely defensive systems & start economic sanctions to force them to find their de Klerk. Trump will do none of those things.

5. about 12 hours ago on Ted Rall

   CNN, Fox, WSJ, Jerusalem Post…

   From JP:

   In a move that has raised eyebrows in Jerusalem, the Biden administration postponed an American arms shipment destined for Israel last week, according to sources from within the Israeli government. This development marks the first instance of such a delay since October 7, sparking concerns and prompting Israeli officials to seek clarification from their American counterparts.

   Senior Israeli officials revealed that the shipment, intended to include crucial weaponry for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), was halted at a certain stage on directives from Washington. Despite repeated inquiries, neither the White House nor the American Departments of Defense and State have offered an official explanation for the delay.

6. about 19 hours ago on Ted Rall

   POP. 0? It’s a brutal war & going into Rafah isn’t going to eliminate Hamas, or get all the hostages freed. There will still be 2 million Palestinians in Gaza when it’s over.

   Meanwhile, Biden has finally started holding weapons shipments, because Israel is refusing to take a ceasefire deal. Blinken told Netanyahu during their meeting that “a major military operation” in Rafah would lead to the U.S. publicly opposing it and would negatively impact U.S.-Israel relations.

   Maybe it works, maybe Netanyahu says, “Nuts!” & ends his political career on the worst possible note. It won’t matter to the people who want nothing less than the destruction of Israel as a blow against the Evil American Empire, nor to their erstwhile allies who want nothing less than a full scale war with Iran. Biden is in the way, so he’s gotta go!

7. about 19 hours ago on Bob Gorrell

   Love the funny guy who thinks the protestors shouting “Genocide Joe” are DNC plants.

   Meanwhile, Bibi is rejecting a ceasefire & seems bent on killing a few thousand more in Rafah & thousands are marching in the cities of Israel because that won’t get any hostages back.

8. 4 days ago on Chip Bok

   Hamas remains engaged in the current ceasefire negotiation. Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said he spoke to Egypt’s intelligence chief and “stressed the positive spirit of the movement in studying the cease-fire proposal.” I’m cautiously optimistic a deal happens & the IDF Rafah operation is called off.

   Either way, the Gaza War is over by late August. This isn’t 1968, when young people were motivated by the prospect of personally being drafted to fight in a war they opposed, but many on the right are salivating over the prospect of violence. This should tell you something about what sort of people they are.

9. 4 days ago on Clay Jones

   If anyone else showed the contempt for a judge tfg has shown, every right winger would be demanding execution.

10. 4 days ago on Rob Rogers

    At this rate, it will take 30 years to eliminate the Palestinian population of Gaza, assuming the birth rate falls to zero. That leaves the West Bank, which will take another 45 or 50 years to eliminate.

    The Gaza War is horrible. All wars are horrible. Gaza is not a genocide & the only reason people insist on applying the term is because once the United States is convinced there’s a genocide, missile strikes & regime change are sure to follow.

    How has US led regime change in the Middle East been working out?