A guy named Elia El Khazen who promotes prostitution & stripping on his wall just called me an idiot. The misogyny involved is of a piece. Maybe if I tell him I strip so strange men can ogle me lasciviously, he’ll discover an intelligence he can’t see when I’m fully clothed & not pandering. Feminism scares puny souls.

Can’t believe the number of progressive Facebook friends who actively campaign for censorship on social media? What leads them to trust the armies of censors who openly collaborate with repressive governments? To my mind, it’s important to know what the rightwing are saying, what they’re promoting, what they’re doing. What’s to be afraid of in the fullest freedom of speech? What kind of authoritarian mindset believes freedom of speech is only for those who agree with you?

The distinctions between anti-Semitism & anti-Zionism are not subtle. Claiming evil Zionists are behind every single social problem on the planet is a not very well disguised form of anti-Semitism which does not strengthen Palestinian political power one iota but, on the contrary, undermines it. Zionist influence in politics is far-reaching. They play a role in war mongering, anti-immigration programs, eugenics & forced sterilization programs. But it is not clear whether they operate in rightwing politics as a function of their Zionism or if Zionism is on a continuum with their rightwing approach to all politics. That distinction matters. It isn’t useful to demonize them because that clouds judgement & really is a slippery slope to anti-Semitism.

We think Assad propagandists Vanessa Beeley, Eva Bartlett, & Max Blumenthal (if they can pull their noses out of Maduro’s ass) should hotfoot it back to Syria to investigate why Russian & Iranian forces are engaging in repeated military confrontations with each other. By investigate, we mean get programmed by their handlers in the Assad regime about what these conflicts mean in terms of a US ‘regime change operation’. We are assured that the price paid by civilians caught in the middle between Russia & Iran are of little interest to Assad’s squad of guppies.

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20190416-11-dead-in-syria-clashes-between-russia-troops-and-pro-iran-militias/?

There are several posts chastising Kashmiris for not holding public protests over the Bandipora incest-rape-suicide case. There is also an article titled “Kashmir’s Silence Over Rape: Why is Kashmir so quiet over the horrific Bandipora incest-rape-suicide case?” The author of the article writes, “Although gruesome incidents of sexual assault shake the Valley, they are downplayed in Kashmir’s political & media circles. The only narrative that seems to matter is the “Kashmir cause”. Even incest & rape get buried under that.”

No feminist would deny that rape & incest are political acts of women’s oppression, not just personal crimes. But there is an important distinction between rape & incest within a family & crimes like Kunan Poshpora where mass rape is an instrument of occupation & state oppression. One can hold public protest rallies against state oppression & crimes committed by occupation forces but it would be peculiar & inflammatory to hold a protest outside the family home of the rape & incest victim. A public & political response is required but its character would be different than a protest rally & have more the nature of a vigil for the young victim who committed suicide. Laws protecting women & children would have to be examined to make sure they are effective, operative, & enforced. The women’s movement has only begun work on these important issues & now must get past its apolitical self-indulgent ‘empowerment’ phase to doing the political work of addressing personal crimes that fall squarely under the rubrics of women’s oppression.

The Pakistani government under Imran Khan just gave Mohammed bin Salman the award of “Global Influential Figure of 2018” in recognition of his special achievements–particularly the achievements of carpet bombing Yemen for the past four years & beheading & dismembering a prominent journalist in the Saudi embassy without facing condemnation or censure. But then who in the world could censure him? Trump? Modi? Suu Kyi? Duterte? Assad? May? Macron? Merkel? This award follows on him receiving the Order of Pakistan, the highest civilian award from Pakistan, last February for signing $20 billion in investment deals.

There was a fire at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem at the same time as the Notre Dame fire. Despite rabid fear-mongering on social media, there is absolutely no evidence that Muslims or Jews had anything to do with the Notre Dame fire. But it is of concern that Zionist extremists will get ideas from that fire since Israel has been trying to destroy Al-Aqsa for a long time, including by underground excavations that weaken the structure of the mosque.

The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) has documented about 457 cluster bomb attacks on civilians by Syrian & Russian warplanes. A cluster bomb, which is prohibited under international law, is an explosive which releases hundreds of projectiles that shoot off indiscriminately & can saturate an area the size of several football fields. According to the SNHR report, the 457 cluster bomb attacks have killed 955 civilians, including 345 children, & have wounded about 4,200 civilians, many requiring amputation of limbs. But the corrupted antiwar movement considers this carnage justified to prevent a US “regime change operation.”

https://syrianobserver.com/EN/news/49815/457-regime-and-russian-attacks-with-cluster-bombs-including-24-cases-after-idleb-agreement.html?

The father of Mir Jamsheed Jameel kindly notified all his son’s FB friends by message that Mir had died. Perhaps he doesn’t know how respected his son was & that many people, including myself, posted eulogies for Mir when he died. Those who know his father might assure him that his son was loved & honored. May he Rest In Peace.

There was a cogent article written not long ago about the problematic nature of saying Palestinians, Kashmiris, Rohingya, & other subjected to war & genocide suffer mental illness as a result. Of course they suffer psychologically. One would have to be a cement block not to. But identifying a rational response to genocide as mental illness skirts ‘blaming the victim’ which is grotesque. The psychological trauma of seeing loved ones arrested, disappeared, tortured, raped, assaulted, disfigured, disabled, demoralized is a heavy weight for any society to bear. For those who stand with Kashmiris blinded by pellet guns, it means redoubling our efforts to educate about India’s war crimes in Kashmir, campaigning internationally against the use of pellet guns, & campaigning against the occupation.

https://thekashmirwalla.com/2019/04/kashmirs-85-pellet-victims-diagnosed-with-a-psychiatric-disorder-study/?