Ariana Harwicz: Persona Non Grata in Madrid

En la misma semana en la que el plantón de 28 participantes en el Festival de las Ideas de Madrid llevó a la cancelación del patrocinio de la aseguradora Allianz (acusada de financiar al Gobierno de Israel en la guerra de Gaza), la escritora argentina Ariana Harwicz ha denunciado su expulsión del Il Festival Internacional de Arte, Literatura y Humanidades Cultur-Alh que se celebrará durante toda la semana en Granada. Según Harwicz, la dirección del Festival le anunció que no podía garantizar su seguridad ante la presión de grupos de apoyo a Palestina y que, por tanto, suspendía su charla con el escritor Jesús Ortega."Desde entonces, no me han contestado las llamadas ni los mensajes", explica la autora de El ruido de una época. 

She is a celebrated Argentine writer, a fighter for freedom of expression. Local pro-Palestine groups demanded that the Granada Festival of the Arts cancel her. Because she is Jewish. 

Teheran Today

 

One look at this black regiment of witches and we surrender. 

The regime is preparing for a revolt.

Krugman eternal

 
Krugman is one of the very few economists who understood something obvious. Liquidity. I respect him. 

Quote: "Weaponized interdependence was already a well-understood phenomenon in the Sci-Fi literature. The picture at the top of this post is a still from the 2024 film Dune 2, based on the classic Frank Herbert science-fiction novel. The novel is set on the desert planet Arrakis, which is the center of conflict because it’s the sole source for “spice,” a drug crucial to the Galactic economy. In effect, Arrakis is the Strait of Hormuz with giant sandworms, and one way to think about Dune is that it’s a novel about weaponized interdependence — and how such interdependence can escalate into open warfare.

Now I am not suggesting that real-world policy should be dictated by fears inspired by works of fiction. After all, fear is the mind-killer. But the reality of weaponized interdependence is now all around us." Nothing changed; it was always so. 

Bin Salman Orphaned

"Bin Salman essentially brought this situation on himself. Today he is, more or less, an orphan in the world and in an extremely difficult position. The Saudis' capabilities today are practically nonexistent," the former senior Mossad official added. "You have to remember what the Saudi army is: it's a massive army — 260,000 soldiers, 7% of Saudi GDP, which amounts to trillions, goes to the military, they have 300 F-15 aircraft — and we see the results."

So why is this regional power being humiliated by its neighbors today? "The Saudis funded the formal Yemeni army with hundreds of millions, and they were simply lied to about the troop numbers," Eilam explained. "They paid enormous sums per head, and in practice those soldiers didn't exist. Right now, the Houthis are dictating almost everything to Saudi Arabia, and Saudi Arabia has almost no options on the table against the Houthis. I estimate that bin Salman will fairly soon submit an instrument of surrender."

Eilam noted that it was Saudi Arabia itself that started this campaign. "On July 13 they struck Sanaa airport and prevented the landing of an Iranian plane carrying members of the Revolutionary Guards. Bin Salman, as usual, zigzagged, hesitated, went right and left, and the whole thing fizzled out."

And now Saudi Arabia is alone: the United States has announced that it has no intention of striking in Yemen, and the trilateral military alliance recently signed between the kingdom, Pakistan and Turkey is not proving itself either. Is this Israel's place to step into the vacuum? "Israel should definitely take advantage of this situation, but we need to take advantage of it with the bill presented immediately," he ruled. "Our condition has to be very clear: 'You join the Abraham Accords for full normalization, and you don't even mention the Palestinian issue.' Without that, not a single hair will move toward Bab el-Mandeb — and Israel has a great deal to offer."

Let's step ahead: If Saudia reverts to chaos, what will 260,000 unemployed soldiers do? Some units will try to seize power. Without oil exports, the vast peninsula is one of the poorest places on Earth.

Its Hour Has Arrived: Saudia Begging for Help

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The UK received requests from Saudi Arabia for a range of diplomatic and military support. The Saudi requests include operational support for its military to repel the Iranian-backed group's push along Yemen's Red Sea coast ‎‎toward the Bab al-Mandeb Strait‎‎, as well as assistance in defending against attacks on its oil infrastructure, according to Bloomberg.‎

The Saudi King will meet Egyptian President Al-Sisi tomorrow. The Yemenis have taken possession of the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, cutting off Saudia. 

We may be their last resource, but they have rejected the Abraham Accords. Saudia is not very far, just in front of Sharm el-Sheikh on the Red Sea.

Sidney

 Sidney Sweeney is an American model. Beautiful. Perfect. Diosa!

Poverty in Cuba

The rich tropical island of Cuba has decayed to the point that it is barely sustaining itself. I blame the French Revolution, which invented and worshipped the fake Goddess of Reason, a disaster for humanity.  

Aquaphobia

Journalists periodically sound the alarm about water contamination.  The largest system listed as a "serious violator" requiring priority compliance in New York State is Scotia Village Water Works in Schenectady, which serves 12,800 people. Within a one-mile radius live about 1,933 children, including 452 children ages 5 and younger. Samples taken between January and June last year detected lead at a concentration of 0.0052 mg/L. Although this figure remains below the federal action level (0.015 mg/L), experts warn that even small amounts can be harmful for infants and young children.

This Expert's Analysis: The Federal EPA-allowed level is extremely low, and no harm at all has ever been proven. The maximum lead concentration found is a third of the regulated level; yet the media periodically brings up this issue, causing fear in the public. Fear sells; it has since been proven. 

Fear of water is called hydrophobia, which is a symptom of rabies, while aquaphobia is a psychological anxiety disorder involving an irrational fear of water. It can be treated with two forms of psychotherapy: exposure therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy.

Exposure therapy is the preferred treatment. During this type of therapy, the patient will be exposed to the source of the phobia — in this case, water.  With cognitive behavioral therapy, the patient learns to challenge his thoughts and beliefs about water. By learning, the patient will develop strategies to cope with those thought patterns and beliefs.

Sterilizing God's Army

 
A few minutes ago, a magnitude 4.1 tremor was felt in Lebanon following the explosion of the Hezbollah underground base deep in the Ali Tahr Ridge.

Thus Spoke Nietzsche and He Was Right!

This German philosopher wrote - despectively - that the bourgeois life-goal is to sleep well. Well, yes, when my sleeping pills were exhausted, I did not look to replenish my precious hoard, but weaned myself off the sedatives. Ten days later, I am sleeping like a fat German bourgeois, and my blood pressure has stabilized in the desired range. It was easy! Do I dream? Yes. I am reliving, in detail and technicolour, every one of the girls who left an impression on me in my eighty years of existence. And lamenting the many, the too many opportunities that I missed. Once, we were seated in the first row in the Ramat Gan aficionados theatre, "Cats"; a young actress - a fat-assed girl - was dancing on the floor so near me that I breathed her heavy, inebriating perspiration. I am reliving that hypnotic odour and my feeling. Summary of a life: I have lived.

Zionist growing pains

 Navitas, an Israeli oil company, struck oil in the Falkland Islands. Argentina, with its permanent PTSD from losing the war against Britain, has declared it illegal, together with its shareholders: Harel, Migdal, Phoenix, and Meitav Insurance companies. It is astonishing how far Zionist interests have expanded. Argentina has resurrected Frondizi's refrain: "El Petróleo es Argentino," and is talking about fighting the Brits. But they have no means to act; if the British Navy is in poor shape, Argentina is even worse. The South Atlantic is unfit for human habitation, with nonstop freezing winds from the Antarctic and desolation to an excess. Sheep are the main economic activity; tourism for masochists could be developed. 

Summer Down

My Givat Ada gas station was rejected - I misunderstood the instructions. Also, the Petach Tikva project was rejected due to an incorrect pipe slope.  I almost had no income from work in August. Depressing. I am starting to make mistakes; at my age, it is only natural. 

A mi! La Legion!

 Spain is going crazy! They are asking for a war with Morocco. 

To understand Spanish overexcitement, we have to refer to the  Green March (Arabic: المسيرة الخضراء, romanized: al-masīrat ul-khaḍrāʾ), a strategic mass demonstration in November 1975, coordinated by the Moroccan government and the military, to force Spain to hand over the disputed, autonomous semi-metropolitan province of Spanish Sahara to Morocco. The native inhabitants, the Sahrawi people, aspired to form an independent state. The demonstration of 350,000 Moroccans advancing into Spanish territory forced Spain to give up the colony. 

Apparently, Spain perceived the Ceuta spontaneous migration as an organized aggression to liberate the enclave. The current situation of the former Sahara Occidental is disputed; the UN decolonization commission paradoxically takes the Colonizer's side.    

Spain Excited

For more than two weeks, Spain has been excited by the "Moroccan invasion". It has organized daily mass demonstrations and declarations to affirm that Ceuta was, is, and will be forever Spanish territory in Africa. It's too excessive, since there are no signs that Morocco intends to take Ceuta. It is role-playing old wars and conflicts. Europe is very perturbed by Muslim immigration and cannot mentally deal with the situation. 

BTW, the pic contains spelling errors. 

P.S.: All over Spain, masses are demonstrating against "the Moroccan invasion". The publicity shows soldiers and past military glories. Maps show lost Spanish territories in the Rif and the Sahara. Could it be that Spain is heating up the population for an African adventure? 

Morocco is a friend of Israel. What shall we do if Spain attacks? 

The Lavi Fighter Jet did not die

 The Chinese J-10 has been sold to several Muslim countries. The J-10 bears a strong resemblance to Israel’s Lavi fighter jet, developed by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) following an audacious decision by Moshe Ahrens. The Lavi never entered production because the government considered it too ambitious for tiny Israel. The design was based on the Kfir Israeli fighter.

It was never published that China bought the Lavi's designs to accelerate the development of a domestically produced fourth-generation fighter jet. The funds China paid covered the project's costs in Israel. Instead of the Lavi, Israel bought American fighters. 

I read in Hebrew Moshe Ahrens's book Flags over the Warsaw Ghetto, on the neglected role of the right-wing (Jabotinsky-inspired) youth movements in the revolt. The Labor governments of Israel glorified Mordechai Anilevich and the role of the socialist movements while cancelling the heroism of their political rivals. Ahrens writes that it was impossible to start the revolt while people hoped to survive the war; only near the very end did they understand that the ghetto was to be liquidated and there was no more chance of survival.