By the way, folks, it’s not just this blog. Everywhere on social media, when you publish anything in English about the Russian bombing of Okhmatdyt, the post immediately gets spammed by bots posing as “pro-Palestinian.” They very clearly and obviously have no interest or knowledge about the Middle East and clearly get paid by the post.
I don’t know why they are trying so hard. The Biden administration already announced that it has zero interest. Nobody cares. We are too white for Western media to give a hoot. And so are you, the person reading it and feeling upset at what I just said.
Clarissa's Blog 
That’s fascinating, though.
I mean, if you’re trying to win hearts and minds and stuff, it would make sense to just keep on letting UKR/RUS and ISR conflicts look like separate, unrelated things, no?
What is accomplished by connecting the two?
(serious question: I don’t know)
Like, is this RUS tipping their hand wrt involvement in Palestine?
Is it some opaque intel services attempt to undermine US involvement in both?
Curious about the end goal, and who’s holding the checkbook.
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I also wonder who’s paying. It’s definitely not anybody with warm and fuzzy feelings towards Palestinians. It’s somebody cynical enough to use Palestinians as a cudgel against Ukraine.
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Yeah, it does seem more likely as an effort to detach leftie support of UKR than anything else: anytime atrocities against UKR pointed out, OK, let’s jump on that, attach “Palestine rah rah rah” to it, and basically promote the message: talking about Russia doing bad things in UKR is taking valuable eyeballs away from the poor, poor palestinians so shut up and we can’t have that.
Which suggests RUS as the propaganda originator.
But I’m far from knowledgeable enough to have a good grasp of all the players involved, given that it seems to be a proxy war involving US, Iran, Russia… anybody else? Does China have a stake?
For better or worse (and mostly worse), it’ll mark the end of US global hegemony, and there are other polities jockeying for that seat. ISR and UKR won’t be the only smaller countries that get bulldozed in that competition. The only reason we’re still in the game at all is that the petrodollar goes byebye as soon as we’re not in the top spot.
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As someone who is appalled by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and Israel’s actions in Gaza (and Palestine in general), I think I can answer this one.
I’m human, so heartless atrocities are appalling to me. Before the Russian invasion, I met a couple of Ukrainians in a resort in Kenya. Very warm people. Then the rubles of a likely war had started (this was way after Crimea), and like most people I didn’t know what to believe. The US said Putin was most certainly going to invade, but Zelensky and most people didn’t believe. I didn’t know who was right. I asked these lovely tourists what their thoughts were and they weren’t sure either. But they were so warm and delightful that we exchanged contacts and promised to be in touch. After the invasion, I wrote to them but never heard back. I shudder to think of how many of them were conscripted, how many volunteered, how many were killed or lost loved ones, how many were maimed, how many fled the country, how many are still in the Russian gulag. Or how many are still in Ukraine still hoping for an end to the war, Putin’s horrible maniacal adventure.
I’ve followed the Israeli-Palestine conflict for as long as I’ve been alive. It comes and goes, some more intently than others. Then Abraham Accords happened and was optimistic that peace might come. I kept hope alive that the Israeli people will give the Palestinians the same benefit of the doubt they gave Morocco and Sudan and UAE, etc, so that finally all the children of Abraham can live in peace. We didn’t know how it was going to happen, but the movement of the capital to Jerusalem didn’t seem to have caused much trouble, so hope was alive. And then Netanyahu lost, which increased hope even more. Yair Lapid and the other guy seemed genuinely likely to steer the country in a good direction. Netanyahu would face his crimes in jail (not the Hague alas, but at least, like Trump, finally be held to account). And then the government faltered and Likud came back into power. It was disaster after another since then. As usual, he boosted Hamas to divide the Palestinians and prevent them from having a state. And in so doing got us to October 7.
Now, like most humans, I was appalled at the attack. Horrified because of the civilians, not because of the soldiers — who signed up for this. People partying one minute and facing Ak47s on another. A terrible day. I reached out to my Jewish friends and checked on them. And because of how terribly Netanyahu and his ilk managed the first few hours (not sending troops on time because they were elsewhere causing more commotion), Hannibal Directive to kill everyone, including Israeli hostages, etc, we knew that it would be the Palestinians that would bear the brunt, with the US hiding behind. And what has happened since then, even more horrifying. Now, it’s said that almost 200k people have been killed in Gaza by Israel. That’s insane! And it’s not over.
And so, to answer your question, the end goal of talking about both together is often to be an honest onlooker who feels appalled by the loss of innocent lives, especially for the ego of one (now two) maniacal leader(s). I’m neither Jewish or Arab not Muslim nor American so I am able to see senseless violence as senseless violence, the murder of innocents as the murder of innocents. Putin’s continued bombing of civilian infrastructure is INSANE! Biden’s incompetent in the face of this is mindblowing. But so is Netanyahu’s bloodsucking desire to destroy all Palestinian people and take all their land (either in Gaza where Hamas has played the game he set for them) and in the West Bank where the Palestinian Authority has done everything the world asked of them, and is STILL being slapped in the face at every turn. And so is Biden’s enablement of this daily massacre. Talk about one more reason why he needs to go!
So, I’m not a paid commentator. Who pays people to give opinions? I’m a human being with my own thoughts. The world would be a better place without savages like Putin, Netanyahu, and the horrible little young (sometimes American) kids that the IDF places in harms way every day with guns and ammo so they can rummage through women’s underwear when they’re not filming themselves on tiktok bombing innocent civilians. It breaks my heart every time I see it. I can empathize with Ukrainians and Gazans while condemning those who are making their lives hell. I am often astonished that this empathy is lacking in many (like the blogger) who can totally understand why Gazan children deserve bombs on their heads every day but can never fathom why Putin can keep doing what he’s doing. It’s mind-blowing.
I don’t know if this makes sense to you, but to me there is no contradiction, nor inducement. It’s called being a clear-eyed human being with children who can’t believe he shares the globe with these heartless ghouls.
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“I’m human, so heartless atrocities are appalling to me”
What a good thing that we are blessed with your exquisite moral judgements! Take me…. I was just laughing at some heartless atrocities the other day… now I know better! Thanks, anonymous rando!
“I kept hope alive that the Israeli people will give the Palestinians”
You seem to have a view of Palestinians as completely passive and lacking in agency. Start looking at them as a group with its own agenda that they are very clear about (they want a Jew-free middle east). Condescending to them as pathetic victims clouds your judgement and dishonors them (as does your facile belief that they want or would tolerate ‘single secular state’ for 30 seconds).
“the end goal of talking about both together is often to be an honest onlooker”
What about the Uyghurs being genocided in China? What about the Yezidis? What about Christians in Africa where Islam and Christianity bump up against each other? What about religious minorities in Pakistan? Why just these two conflicts? (and I could keep things up for a while).
Forget end goal… the _result_ of talking about them together is to render one impotent and powerless to actually address real situations. Progress is only made through setting priorities.
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Imagine what it would sound like every time Clarissa mentions Ukraine and I respond with “What about the Uighurs?”. What good does that do? Has Clarissa come out to dismiss the Uighur genocide? No, so no need to bring it up. We have atrocities that strike us as justly unfair. For me, it’s the invasion of Ukraine and the terrible genocide and land theft taking place in Palestine. I mention it here often because the blogger has a blind spot about one. If you have yours, speak on them. Throwing up all other conflicts in the world as a disingenuous whataboutism doesn’t send the message you think it sends. It just sounds like a way to muddle the conversation.
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“what it would sound like every time Clarissa mentions Ukraine and I respond with “What about the Uighurs?””
About like you do now…
The problem in Palestine is not ‘land theft’ but ethno-political conflict that will be resolved only by a victory on one side. Not every problem in the world can be solved win-win and Palestine is one of them and a big part of that is Palestinians repeatedly resorting to violence to start conflicts they can’t win and then acting like victims when completely foreseeable consequences arise.
the last I check a large percentage of Palestinians still approve of the Oct 7 attacks. They elected Hamas. They have choices and they keep making terrible ones and there’s no secular democracy magic wand you or I can waive to make it better.
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And yet you can’t every seem to fathom why Putin thinks exactly the same way about Ukraine: a conflict that will only end with one side winning. Again, you prove my point.
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I have no idea what Putin thinks and how you know what he thinks but yes, the war will end with one side winning. Wars tend to be like that.
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“Ukraine: a conflict that will only end with one side winning.”
But Ukraine has a road (more than one) to victory, one of the best, most innovate militaries in the world and important allies.
Palestine has no road to victory. They have no military (and don’t even have the discipline for a real military).
They have no regional state allies (because they’ve stabbed so many in the back and their touch has been malign everywhere).
Who’s on the side of Palestine? Well they have some of the worst governments in the world (russia, Iran) and Hezbollah a semi-terrorist organization funded by Iran and a bunch of westerners with no state power.
A bunch of naive college students that think that Queers for Palestine is not a grotesque joke are not going to overcome the Israeli army.
Political maturity includes realistic estimations of chances and feasibility and it also about realizing when you’ve made mistakes and trying to learn from them. From 1949 to the present day the only consistent Palestinian goal is to cleanse the area of Jews. That’s it. Nothing more about education or living standards or progress…. just kill the Jews.
Not a cause I want to support.
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In today’s news:
“FBI Shuts Down Massive Russian AI-Driven Bot Farm on X … nearly 1,000 accounts on X pretending to be Americans.”
“Russia, China and Iran are backing Hamas online – report … “In a single day after the conflict began, roughly one in four accounts on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and X posting about the conflict appeared to be fake,” … The so-called “axis” made up of Iran, Russia and China is aligned in opposition of US involvement in the Ukraine-Russia war, as well as in the Middle East.”
Yesterday I read the Statement from Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines on
Recent Iranian Influence Efforts:
I suppose, “other actors” include Russia, China, Arab countries… (?)
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And the worst part is that many people are duped by these bots and think the propaganda they are fed us their political stance. Even their political beliefs are mass-produced junk.
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Clarissa, may I write you a letter in private?
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Do you have my work email? I don’t do the Hotmail account anymore.
But of course, please do.
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Thank you very much.
\ Do you have my work email?
I sent a mail somewhere as a check, asking you to reply if this is your current email.
If yes, will send today.
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