Open mike 14/03/2024

11 comments on “Open mike 14/03/2024 ”

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1. Ad 1

   14 March 2024 at 8:13 am

   So the US is proposing to build a massive floating dock to get aid to Gaza.

   https://thehill.com/homenews/ap/ap-politics/ap-how-the-us-military-is-scrambling-to-build-a-floating-dock-for-urgently-needed-aid-to-gaza/

   This is far bigger than the Berlin Airlift. It's intended to bring in over 2 million meals a day.

   Let's see what coalition is willing to assist the US in this effort.

   The UN? The Saudis – or will they just keep their focus on buying global sport? Any of those slave-owning Gulf States? Turkey? China? Which EU states if any? Gaza’s Hamas supporters across the western world?
   Time to put your money where your mouth is.

   Sure won't get any help from Israel. It is going to piss them off massively.

   Gaza has zero strategic importance for the US. Zero. It produces nothing. Exports nothing. Is a massive aid suck-hole. Is not the responsibility of the US in any form. Has far closer allies who happen to be some of the richest and emptiest countries in the world.

   No one expects the US will get any credit for it anywhere. They will either have done too much or too little.

   But it is boots on the ground and thousands of distribution trucks from the Army and Navy and Marines, from the US, in Gaza.

   Think about what that means.
   • Tiger Mountain 1.1

     14 March 2024 at 10:25 am

     Millions around the world know exactly what it means–a massive, gruesome contradiction–The yankee devils are both a substantial enabler of the Gaza Genocide and hold the solution to ending it.
     • AB 1.1.1

       14 March 2024 at 11:09 am

       There are Israeli ports where humanitarian aid could be landed. The US could tell Israel to let it through – and if they do not, then threaten the withdrawal of military aid and the sort of sanctions (rightfully) imposed on Putin's Russia.

       My suspicion is that this proposal will be backed by Israel as a way of washing their hands of Gaza. Create a big Israeli-occupied buffer zone in the north of Gaza and make the miserable remains of it in the south into a problem for the US and EU to deal with. Almost inevitably, a large-scale exodus of Palestinians from Gaza is the result – ethnic cleansing can take many forms.
       • Bearded Git 1.1.1.1

         14 March 2024 at 11:24 am

         +100 AB…that is the Israeli objective……talk about cynical.
       • Mikey 1.1.1.2

         14 March 2024 at 12:52 pm

         Gazans aren't really wanted in the Arab world. They're more useful where they are.
   • Mikey 1.2

     14 March 2024 at 12:51 pm

     The US won't be doing this without Israel's permission. How will they distribute the aid while keeping it out of hammass hands?
   • joe90 1.3

     14 March 2024 at 1:28 pm

     So the US is proposing to build a massive floating dock to get aid to Gaza.

     D-Day's Mulberry harbours.
2. Robert Glennie 2

   14 March 2024 at 11:44 am

   Biden has the power to ring Netanyahu and tell him to stop or have U.S. aid cut. We don't need to debate the probability that that will never happen.

   Whilst this brings aid to Gaza and is going to be a significant U.S material contribution, you cannot put a dollar or other currency figure on what it would mean to the U.S. reputation in the region and in the global south if Biden did as I've suggested and made good on that promise. Sure half of political Washington will fall of their rockers, but compared with the lasting damage that is being done to whatever credibility America has left on the political stage, is that a bad price to pay?

   Me thinks not.
3. Belladonna 3

   14 March 2024 at 1:05 pm

   As is clear from the comments, thus far, the US will get zero credit for this action from the international left community.
4. Drowsy M. Kram 4

   14 March 2024 at 3:28 pm

   TV presenter’s foodbank cuts 500 families as times get tough [14 March 2024]
   He [Letele] said the Ministry of Social Development (which also funds two staff members at the gym) gave them $90,000 last year, but this year, the foodbank and social supermarket received "zero from the system" and was reliant on donations and corporate support from Meat the Need, Foodstuffs, Sanitarium and NZ Food Network.
   …
   "The demand is never-ending," he said. "There is no light at the end of any tunnel. It is relentless, and it is depressing, and we cannot do any more than we are doing. A lot of it now is self-funded, so we will go broke.
   …
   "We have an online fitness programme that makes money, and that stays in the business to keep the day-to-day of the foodshare and [the gyms] going. Every day we are turning people away. We have to. It's f……. hard."

   Letele is also aghast at suggestions from Act's leader, David Seymour, that cuts could be made to free school meal provision, saying BBM saw a huge spike in demand during school holidays because families struggled to feed their children.
   …
   He's also willing to pitch to the government to take on their planned military-style "bootcamps" for wayward teens, although he's pessimistic about both the idea's chances of success and the government having any interest in his involvement.

   "The future is ‘less’ and that is terrifying to many."

   Perhaps 'terrifying' is a tad hyperbolic – how about these? Welcome ro austerity – for some.

   LESS? Unacceptable! – – – UNPALATABLE – – – – – – – UNTENABLE

   
   https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/16-08-2022/the-side-eyes-two-new-zealands-the-table
5. roblogic 5

   14 March 2024 at 4:33 pm

   thank goodness we cancelled affordable water upgrades and stopped the Mowrees from stealing everything 🙄

   Cryptosporidium outbreak: Hundreds of cases reported across New Zealand, more than three times normal amount

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