^
They also had a big wall which kept them safe, until the Zionists saw an opportunity to play the victim again and stood down for a few hours.
BRICS member South Africa takes Zionism to court
Pretoria's genocide case against Israel is crucial, not just to stop Tel Aviv's carnage in Gaza, but to plant the first flag of mutipolarism in the globe's courtrooms: this is the first case of many that will seek to halt western impunity and restore international law as envisioned in the UN Charter.
Pepe Escobar
JAN 10, 2024
"Nothing less than the full concept of international law will be on trial this week in The Hague. The whole world is watching.
It took an African nation, not an Arab or Muslim nation, but significantly a BRICS member, to try to break the iron chains deployed by Zionism via fear, financial might, and non-stop threats, enslaving not only Palestine but substantial swathes of the planet.
By a twist of historical poetic justice, South Africa, a nation that knows one or two things about apartheid, had to take the moral high ground and be the first to file a suit against apartheid Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
The 84-page lawsuit, exhaustively argued, fully documented, and filed on 29 December 2023, details all the ongoing horrors perpetrated in the occupied Gaza Strip and followed by everyone with a smartphone around the planet.
South Africa asks the ICJ – a UN mechanism – something quite straightforward: Declare that the state of Israel has breached all its responsibilities under international law since 7 October.
And that, crucially, includes a violation of the 1948 Genocide Convention, according to which genocide consists of “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.”
South Africa is supported by Jordan, Bolivia, Turkiye, Malaysia, and significantly the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which combines the lands of Islam, and constitutes 57 member states, 48 of these harboring a Muslim majority. It’s as if these nations were representing the overwhelming majority of the Global South.
Whatever happens at The Hague could go way beyond a possible condemnation of Israeli for genocide. Both Pretoria and Tel Aviv are members of the ICJ – so the rulings are binding. The ICJ, in theory, carries more weight than the UN Security Council, where the US vetoes any hard facts that tarnish Israel’s carefully constructed self-image.
The only problem is that the ICJ does not have enforcement power.
What South Africa, in practical terms, is aiming to achieve is to have the ICJ impose on Israel an order to stop the invasion – and the genocide – right away. That should be the first priority.
A specific intent to destroy
Reading the full South African application is a horrifying exercise. This is literally history in the making, right in front of us living in the young, tech-addicted, 21st century, and not a science fiction account of a genocide taking place in some distant universe.
Pretoria's application carries the merit of drawing The Big Picture, “in the broader context of Israel’s conduct towards Palestinians during its 75-year-long apartheid, its 56-year-long belligerent occupation of Palestinian territory, and its 16-year-long blockade of Gaza.”
Cause, effect, and intent are clearly delineated, transcending the horrors that have been perpetrated since the Palestinian resistance's Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on 7 October, 2023.
Then there are “acts and omissions by Israel which are capable of amounting to other violations of international law.” South Africa lists them as “genocidal in character, as they are committed with the requisite specific intent (dolus specialis) to destroy Palestinians in Gaza as a part of the broader Palestinian national, racial and ethnic group.”
'The Facts,' introduced from page 9 of the application, are brutal – ranging from the indiscriminate massacre of civilians to mass expulsion: “It is estimated that over 1.9 million Palestinians out of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million people – approximately 85 percent of the population – have been forced from their homes. There is nowhere safe for them to flee to, those who cannot leave or refuse to be displaced have been killed or are at extreme risk of being killed in their homes.”
And there will be no turning back: “As noted by the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons, Gaza’s housing and civilian infrastructure have been razed to the ground, frustrating any realistic prospects for displaced Gazans to return home, repeating a long history of mass forced displacement of Palestinians by Israel.”
The complicit Hegemon
Item 142 of the application may encapsulate the whole drama: “The entire population is facing starvation: 93 percent of the population in Gaza is facing crisis levels of hunger, with more than one in four facing catastrophic condition" – with death imminent.
Against this backdrop, on 25 December – Christmas day – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu doubled down on his genocidal rhetoric, promising: ‘We are not stopping, we are continuing to fight and we are deepening the fighting in the coming days, and this will be a long battle and it is not close to being over.”
So, “as a matter of extreme urgency,” and “pending the Court’s determination of this case on the merits,” South Africa is asking for provisional measures, the first of which will be for “the state of Israel to immediately suspend its military operations in and against Gaza.”
This amounts to a permanent ceasefire. Every grain of sand from the Negev to Arabia knows that the neocon psychos in charge of US foreign policy, including their pet, remote-controlled, senile occupant of the White House are not only complicit in the Israeli genocide but oppose any possibility of a ceasefire.
Incidentally, such complicity is also punishable by law, according to the Genocide Convention.
Hence, it is a given that Washington and Tel Aviv will go no-holds-barred to block a fair trial by the ICJ, using every means of pressure and threat available. That dovetails with the extremely limited power exercised by any international court to impose the rule of international law on the exceptionalist Washington–Tel Aviv combo.
While an alarmed Global South is moved to action against Israel's unprecedented military assault on Gaza, where over 1 percent of the population has been murdered in less than three months, the Israeli Foreign Ministry has regimented its embassies to arm-twist host country diplomats and politicians to swiftly issue an "immediate and unequivocal statement along the following lines: To publicly and clearly state that your country rejects the outrageous, absurd, and baseless allegations made against Israel."
It will be quite enlightening to see which nations will abide by the order.
Whether Pretoria's current efforts succeed or not, this case is likely to be only the first of its kind filed in courts around the world in the months and even years ahead. The BRICS – of which South Africa is a crucial member state – are part of the new swell of international organizations challenging western hegemony and its ‘rules-based order.’ These rules mean nothing; nobody has even seen them.
In part, multipolarism has emerged to redress the decades-long shift away from the UN Charter and rush toward the lawlessness embodied in these illusory 'rules.' The nation-state system that underpins the global order cannot function without the international law that secures it. Without the law, we face war, war, and more war; the Hegemon's ideal universe of endless war, in fact.
South Africa's genocide case against Israel is blatantly necessary to reverse these flagrant violations of the international system, and will almost certainly be the first of many such litigations against both Israel and its allies to shift the world back to stability, security, and common sense."
BRICS member South Africa takes Zionism to court
A tray full of GOLD is not worth a moment in time.
UK, U.S. expected to launch strikes against Houthis - Times report
LONDON (Reuters) -Britain is expected to join the United States in conducting overnight air strikes on military positions belonging to the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen, the political editor for the Times newspaper reported on Thursday.
The U.S. has not confirmed any intention to launch air strikes and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's Downing Street office did not immediately respond to a request from Reuters for comment.
MORE https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world...rt/ar-AA1mPnoL
The expected has occurred, Yemen is a mess already so this ain't going to help but what does Iran care
'Massive strike' with ship-launched missiles and jets - AP report
US officials quoted by the Associated Press spoke of a massive retaliatory strike using warship-launched Tomahawk cruise missiles and fighter jets.
The Houthi targets included logistical hubs, air defence systems and arms depots, they said.
AP journalists in Sanaa heard four explosions, but saw no sign of warplanes. Two residents of Hudaydah said they heard five strong explosions.
It is the first US military strike against the Houthis in Yemen since the Iran-backed group began firing drones and missiles at cargo ships in the Red Sea in November.
Landmark moment for UK PM, with unknown global consequences
Chris Mason
Political editor
For Rishi Sunak tonight, a landmark moment of his premiership, a landmark moment in any prime minister's tenure in office: the decision to commit the UK to military action.
The government has the prerogative to do this without wider political consultation. But in this instance, ministers concluded there was sufficient time to brief senior Labour figures and the Speaker of the House of Commons before any strikes began.
This is more than a courtesy: ministers are aware of the scepticism, in Parliament and beyond, about the wisdom, or lack of it, attached to British military operations over recent decades. We can expect a statement and a debate in the Commons in the coming days, with the government pressed to elaborate on what it hopes to achieve, by when and at what cost.
This moment has looked increasingly likely: a military response to match the rhetoric threatening just that. And what next, diplomatically, geopolitically, militarily and economically?
There are risks associated with action. And risks associated with doing nothing. The risk of a wider conflict in the Middle East? A further shrivelling of shipping traffic through the Red Sea, a vital artery of the world economy? And all this after the twin global shocks of the war in Ukraine and the Covid pandemic.
More uncertainty beckons, unknown consequences abound.
US and UK launch strikes against Houthi militants in Yemen - BBC News
Update on the probing attacks on the "armada" by Houthi UAVs and anti-ship cruise missiles, in the Red Sea.
Greyhound Day: World War II Combat Tactics Return To The Red Sea
John Konrad
Total Views: 11586
January 10, 2024
by Captain John Konrad (gCaptain)
"When it comes to Army combat, few commands harden a soldier like “fix bayonets”. However, in merchant convoy operations at sea, the equivalent command is “attention all ships, full speed ahead”. Just yesterday, a UK Royal Navy officer issued this command over the VHF radio to all ships in the vicinity of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
That command followed the launch of a swarm of drones and a barrage of anti-ship missiles in the Red Sea yesterday in what one Naval officer in the region explained to gCaptain as “Greyhound Day” and the US Central Command described as the most “complex attack” against shipping in the Red Sea to date, at least one warship – HMS Diamond – resorted to the use of its guns, a defensive tactic reminiscent of the Battle of the Atlantic.
“A complex attack tells me that we are looking at a coordinated swarm offensive or that there were a few close calls,” said maritime historian Dr. Sal Mercogliano. “One-way drones are propeller-driven missiles and the fact is that it took three Burkes and a type 45 destroyer represents the bulk of the naval forces on station.”
Fire When Ready
No damages to ships were reported, but the UK Royal Navy stated that the HMS Diamond successfully engaged and destroyed multiple attack drones using Sea Viper missiles and guns. So far, most of the attacks have been intercepted by vertically launched missiles with a range of over fifty nautical miles. United States destroyers like the USS Carney carry SM-2 anti-air missiles with a range nearly double that. Guns, on the other hand, are used in close combat situations.
It is unclear which ‘guns’ the HMS Diamond used to destroy these attack drones. However, the ship is equipped with a pair of Phalanx Close-In Weapon System (CWIS) guns and a 4.5-inch caliber deck gun. The CWIS is considered a weapon of last resort, with an effective range measured in yards, not miles. Destroyers typically maintain a distance of at least a mile from merchant ships, so the CWIS would only be useful if the warship was in the line of fire or targeted itself ........
In conclusion, the recent events in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, coined as “Greyhound Day”, mark a significant escalation in the complexity and intensity of maritime threats. The successful defense against an unprecedented swarm of drones and missiles highlights the prowess and readiness of naval forces like the HMS Diamond and US destroyers. However, these incidents also underline the evolving challenges in maritime security, particularly in communication and the strategic use of picket ships over close escorts. The impact on the shipping markets remains uncertain, but what is clear is the heightened sense of vigilance and the need for enhanced information sharing among naval forces and the shipping industry. This incident not only tested the mettle of naval defenses but also serves as a stark reminder of the ever-present threats in strategic waterways and the critical importance of safeguarding global maritime trade routes."
Continues in depth here:
Greyhound Day: World War II Combat Tactics Return To The Red Sea
No mention on the number of the armada's "defence missiles" remaining and further ships/groups leaving ....
Details of the "armada".
Spain, Italy, France Decline US Command Of Red Sea Operation Prosperity Guardian
Reuters
Total Views: 99155
December 22, 2023
"The United States is assembling a multinational naval coalition to help safeguard commercial traffic from attacks by Yemen’s Houthi movement. On Thursday, the Pentagon said more than 20 countries had now agreed to participate in the group, known as Operation Prosperity Guardian.
WHAT HAS THE UNITED STATES ANNOUNCED?
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced on Tuesday plans to set up a multinational coalition to safeguard Red Sea shipping called Operation Prosperity Guardian.
During a trip to the Middle East, he said the operations would be joined by Britain, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles and Spain.
On Thursday, Austin said Greece and Australia had also joined the grouping, taking it to a total of 20, but added that at least eight countries taking part have declined to be publicly named.
WHAT ARE OTHER NATIONS SAYING?
– FRANCE
France’s Defence Ministry said it supported efforts to secure freedom of navigation in the Red Sea and surrounding area and said it already operated in the region but it said its ships would stay under French command and did not say if it would deploy more naval forces.
France has a naval base in the United Arab Emirates and 1,500 troops in Djibouti. Its frigate Languedoc is now in the Red Sea.
Also Read: French Navy Escorts CMA CGM Ships While US Ships Remain Stranded
– ITALY
Italy’s Defence Ministry said it would send naval frigate Virginio Fasan to the Red Sea to protect its national interests in response to specific requests made by Italian shipowners.
It said this was part of its existing operations and was not part of Operation Prosperity Guardian.
– SPAIN
Spain’s Defence Ministry said it would only participate in NATO-led missions or EU-coordinated operations. “We will not participate unilaterally in the Red Sea operation,” it said.
– BRITAIN
Britain said destroyer HMS Diamond would join Operation Prosperity Guardian. Britain’s defense ministry said the coalition would operate as part of the U.S.-led CMF.
– GREECE
Greece said on Thursday it would send a naval frigate to the Red Sea and that it would participate in Operation Prosperity Guardian.
– OTHER COUNTRIES
The Netherlands said it would send two staff officers and Norway said it would send 10 naval officers to Bahrain, the headquarters of CMF. Denmark said on Wednesday that it would take part in the operation, sending one officer. "
Spain, Italy, France Decline US Command Of Red Sea Operation Prosperity Guardian
Of the 10 named amada partners three have confirmed participation, three will not be participating in Operation Prosperity Guardian and 3 will be sending "officers".
Two partners, USA and UK, vessels appear to have been attacked by probing UAV and anti-ship cruise missile strikes.
It appears other countries are adopting Russia's attrition style defence.
For the curious, these are, allegedly, US missile prices.
From $45,409 to $6,149,000 each.
Here Is What Each Of The Pentagon’s Air-Launched Missiles Actually Cost
"Air-to-Air Missiles:
AIM-9X Sidewinder (Air Force) - $472,000
AIM-9X Sidewinder (Navy) - $430,810
These unit prices are averages for the entire projected 2021 Fiscal Year orders for both services, which include lots of AIM-9X-2 Block II and AIM-9X-3 Block II+ missiles, the latter of which is specifically for variants F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
AIM-120D Advanced Medium-Range Air To Air Missile (AMRAAM) (Air Force)- $1.095 million
AIM-120D Advanced Medium-Range Air To Air Missile (AMRAAM) (Navy)- $995,018
Air-to-Surface Missiles:
AGM-88G Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile-Extended Range (AARGM-ER) (Navy) - $6.149 million
AGM-114 Hellfire (Air Force) - $70,000
This unit price is an average for the entire projected 2021 Fiscal Year order, which may include a variety of Hellfire missiles in Air Force service, including, but not limited to the AGM-114R2, AGM-114R4, AGM-114R9E, and AGM-114R12.
This is also the unit price for orders in the base budget. The Air Force is also looking to purchase a much larger number of AGM-114 variants through the supplemental Overseas Contingency Operations budget at an average unit cost $31,000.
AGM-114 Hellfire (Army) - $213,143
This unit price is an average for the entire projected 2021 Fiscal Year order, which may include a variety of Hellfire missiles in Army service, including various different variants of the AGM-114R, as well as the millimeter-wave radar-guided AGM-114L.
This is also the unit price for orders in the base budget. The Army is also looking to purchase a much larger number of AGM-114R variants through the supplemental Overseas Contingency Operations budget at an average unit cost $76,461.
AGM-114 Hellfire (Navy) - $45,409
This unit price is an average for the entire projected 2021 Fiscal Year order, which may include a variety of Hellfire missiles in Navy and Marine Corps service, including, but not limited to the AGM-114K/K2, AGM-114M, AGM-114N, AGM-114P/P2, and AGM-114Q.
AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) (Air Force) - $1.266 million
This unit price is an average for the entire projected 2021 Fiscal Year order, which includes examples of the AGM-158A JASSM and AGM-158B JASSM-Extended Range (JASSM-ER).
The Air Force also expects the complete 2021 Fiscal Year JASSM order will also include the purchase of the first batch of low rate initial production AGM-158D JASSM-Extreme Range (JASSM-XR) missiles.
AGM-158C Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) (Air Force) - $3.960 million
AGM-158C Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) (Navy) - $3.518 million
AGM-179A Joint Air-to-Ground Missile (JAGM) (Army) - $324,805
AGM-179A Joint Air-to-Ground Missile (JAGM) (Navy) - $243,281
How much do US missiles cost? - Defence247GR
Last edited by OhOh; 12-01-2024 at 10:52 AM.
Crazies are now holding an American oil tanker.
What goes around, comes around.
Iran’s Navy seizes US oil tanker 'in retaliation' with court order
Thursday, 11 January 2024 1:06 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 11 January 2024 5:25 PM ]
"The Navy of the Islamic Republic of Iran has announced the seizure of an American oil tanker with a court order in the Sea of Oman.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) identified the tanker Marshall Islands-flagged St Nikolas, saying it was boarded at about 7:30 am (0330 GMT) off Sohar in Oman and changed course towards Bandar-e-Jask in Iran.
Ambrey, a British maritime risk company, said the recently renamed tanker was previously prosecuted and fined for carrying Iranian oil, which was confiscated by US authorities.
"Iran has previously taken action against those it has accused of cooperating with the US," it added.
The vessel had been loaded with 145,000 tonnes of crude oil in Basra, Iraq and was destined for Aliaga in Turkey via the Suez Canal, the tanker's Greece-based management company Empire Navigation said.
"Following the violation of the Suez Rajan in April and the theft of Iranian oil by the United States, the oil tanker renamed St Nicholas was seized in retaliation this morning by the court order and the approval of the Ports and Shipping Organization by the strategic Navy of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army and transferred to Iranian ports," Iran's Fars news agency reported.
The tanker, it said, had stolen the cargo of oil belonging to the Islamic Republic of Iran under the direction of the United States and transferred it to the country's ports and put it at the disposal of American authorities.
Last August, the US Navy unloaded a tanker of stolen Iranian oil worth around $56 million off the Texas port, despite warnings from Iran and after American oil firms had resisted the temptation of touching the 800,000-barrel tanker for fear of Iranian retaliation in the Persian Gulf waters.
The decision came as Iran was marking the 70th anniversary of the CIA-engineered military coup against Iran's then-PM Mohammad Mosaddeq.
The Marshall Islands-flagged Suez Rajan tanker carrying Iranian oil was illegally seized by Washington in April 2023 under the guise of “a sanctions-enforcement operation" and guided toward the Texas port.
It came days after a group of US senators and House representatives, at the behest of the Israeli lobby in Washington, began mounting pressure on the Joe Biden administration to unload the tanker, without considering its possible repercussions.
It was not the first time the US had resorted to the unconventional step of seizing a sovereign country's cargo in international waters.
In May 2022, the US seized a Russia-operated ship, the Pegas, carrying Iranian oil off the shore of Karystos near Greece to dispatch the oil cargo to the US but the Greek court ruled against the move.
In February 2021, Washington seized a tanker carrying Iranian oil off the coast of the Emirati city of Fujairah and sold more than a million barrels of oil confiscated from it for $110 million, or $55 a barrel.
The Unite States has also regularly stolen Syrian oil in recent years under the guise of anti-terror operations in the Arab country. In August 2022, the Syrian oil ministry accused the US and its mercenaries of stealing 66,000 barrels of oil per day, accounting for almost 80 percent of the country's oil production. "
Iran’s Navy seizes US oil tanker in retaliation with court order
Well, horses for courses and with that cv they’re the perfect foil for Benny Nettyahoo and his murdering thugs.
So far, the fat little fraudster has killed 23,000 men, women and children in a little over three months and wounded 60,000 more in Gaza with 340 murdered in the West Bank and 4,000 wounded.
They really picked up quite a bit of expertise from Hitler’s Warsaw pogrom, eh.
Tax, they’re all cunts but don’t insult your own intelligence by thinking the Israeli scum’s murderous savagery is not a fucking war crime committed by modern day nazis with American and British complicity.
Only a fool would buy those numbers.They are made up and provided by terrorists. It is like allowing Al-Qaeda to give casualty numbers from 9/11. Utterly laughable.
The fact that you are able to post this clownish Tiktok BS in the news without your post being deleted is utterly reprehensible and shows how biased the mods are on here. My responses to your idiocy gets deleted while your tripe is allowed to stand.
Did you ever watch any of the videos that your HAMAS buddies posted on the internet?
You really are quite addled.
The UnHCR rapporteurs and investigators discovered that between 2008 and Sept 2023 the murdering IDF killed over 6400 Palestinian civilian men, women and children and wounded over 100,000 in Gaza and the West Bank whereas the Israelis suffered 360 dead.
Go fuck youself, nazi boy.
^ Its a victimless crime ain't it? or are you selective about victims
The UN is credible? The same UN that appointed Ali Bahreini to chair the 2023 United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC)?
You are utterly, hopelessly brainwashed, it happens to lots of old people like yourself. If you were in the US, you would be a MAGA cultist or a Marxist for sure.The appointment of Ali Bahreini, Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran and Permanent Representative to the United Nations, to chair the 2023 United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) Social Forum (2 and 3 November 2023), is nothing more than a slap in the face given the human rights situation of most Iranians, particularly women, and the repeated executions in the wake of the ongoing protests in the country and, more generally, the Islamic Republic's gross human rights violations and its catastrophic and politicised handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, when its refusal to import Western vaccines cost hundreds of thousands of lives.
Given that Ali Bahreini was chosen from among other candidates, can the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union say:
- 1.Whether he intends to take action to remove Ali Bahreini from this post?
- 2.What role did the EU play in Mr Bahreini’s appointment as chair of the 2023 UN Human Rights Council Social Forum?
- 3.What concrete measures is the EU taking to restore respect for human rights in Iran?
s.a. is nothing more than an unreconstructed cowardly belligerent paddywhacking taig.You are utterly, hopelessly brainwashed, it happens to lots of old people like yourself.
still yearning for the good old days of the ira, hence his sympathy for any old bunch of ignorant murderous revolutionaries with inferiority complexes harbouring ancient and unfounded grievances against their superiors.
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