Daily Discussion - April 23, 2024

Hizbullah Serang Israel Dengan Serangan Dron

Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah group said on Tuesday it had launched a drone attack against Israeli military bases north of the city of Acre, in its deepest strike into Israeli territory since the Gaza war began.

The Israeli military said it had no knowledge of any of its facilities being hit by Hezbollah, but had said earlier on Tuesday that it intercepted two "aerial targets" off Israel's northern coast.

The two sides have been engaging in regular exchanges of missile fire and airstrikes since the start of the war in Gaza last October, but have refrained from pushing the conf…  lict into all-out war.

As the strikes have continued, however, fears have grown that an accident or miscalculation on either side could see the conflict could escalate rapidly, possibly drawing in other regional and world powers including the United States.

Hezbollah said it had acted in retaliation for an earlier Israeli attack killing one of its fighters. The group published what appeared to be a satellite photo, with the location of the strike symbolized by a flash with a red circle around it that sat halfway between Acre and Nahariyya to the north.

In response, the Israeli military said fighter jets hit military targets in Ayta ash Shab and Blida and in the area of Markaba in southern Lebanon.

IOC Study Says Trans Women Athletes Are At A Disadvantage Vs. Cis Women

A Study commissioned by the International Olympic Committee and the University of Brighton found that while trans women are stronger in some respects, like grip strength, cis women have stronger lower bodies.

The study also found that trans women have a similar bone density as their cis women counterparts, which rebuts a frequent refrain from conservatives who’ve argued otherwise to justify banning trans girls and women from sports.

All the participants in this study participated in competitive sports or took part in physical training at least three times a week. The 35 trans…   athletes had to have completed at least one consecutive year of hormone replacement therapy.

Researchers invited 23 trans women and 12 trans men to undergo a series of performance tests in laboratory conditions, while also putting 21 cis women and 19 cis men through the same tests.

In certain cardiovascular tests, the trans women performed worse than the cis women, and were found to have less lower-body strength, according to the study published Wednesday in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

Lead researcher Professor Yannis Pitsiladis told Outsports “the main takeaway message is the requirement of international federations (and their “experts”) to treat trans women very differently to cis men.”

Victims In Gaza Mass Grave Were "Stripped Naked With Their Hands Tied."

A total of 283 bodies were recovered at Nasser Hospital, of which 42 were identified.

“Among the deceased were allegedly older people, women and wounded, while others were found tied with their hands…tied and stripped of their clothes,” said Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

“Reports suggest that there were 30 Palestinian bodies buried in two graves in the courtyard of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City; one in front of the emergency building and the others in front of the dialysis building,” Ms. Shamdasani told journalists in Geneva.…  p>

“There are reports that the hands of some of these bodies were also tied,” Ms. Shamdasani said, adding that there could be “many more” victims, “despite the claim by the Israeli Defense Forces to have killed 200 Palestinians during the Al-Shifa medical complex operation”.

Bernie Sanders Introduces Amendment To Block Israel Military Funding

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders said Monday that he would put forth an amendment to remove offensive military funding for Israel from a House-passed aid package that the Senate is set to consider this week.

The amendment would “cut billions in offensive military funding to Israel from the proposed national security supplemental package,” Sanders (I-Vt.) said in a statement. The package, approved by the Republican-controlled House over the weekend, includes $17 billion in unconditional military assistance to the Israeli government, which stands accused on the world stage of perpetrating genoc…  ide in Gaza.

The senator said he would also offer an amendment to “protect essential humanitarian operations” in the Gaza Strip, where millions of people are facing the possibility of starvation due to Israel’s suffocating and illegal blockade. At least 28 children under the age of 12 have starved to death in Gaza in recent weeks.

Sanders said Monday that the Senate “should have a chance to debate and vote on the key components of such a massive package.”

“In poll after poll, Americans have showed their increasing disgust for [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s war machine and the humanitarian disaster it has caused in Gaza,” the senator added. “Enough is enough. We cannot continue to fund this horrific war.”

Iran lebih lemah daripada yang kita sangka

As for Iran’s military chiefs, their standard of success is so low that, in the immediate aftermath of the failed aerial offensive, Mohammad Bagheri, chief of staff of the Iranian armed forces, declared that Iran “has achieved all of its goals”. He then unwisely added a vainglorious threat: “If the Zionist regime or its supporters demonstrate reckless behaviour, they will receive a decisive and much stronger response.”

Iran’s response was an all-out air offensive with hundreds of ballistic missiles, drones, and cruise missiles. But this very expensive attack failed most miserably, wou…  nding just one Israeli, a seven-year-old Bedouin, and inflicting only trivial damage to the non-functional edge of a runway.

The power of the Revolutionary Guards within the regime steadily increased because of the military strength it generated with its abundant, cheap and, above all, expendable molokh khor “lizard-eater” Arab manpower (Ever since the huge losses of the Iraq war, Iran has been very casualty-sensitive).

But the Revolutionary Guards finally failed strategically because their Arab recruitment policy was so successful that it overshot the culminating point of success: seeing the historic Sunni capital of Damascus under Shia domination, and Baghdad the very seat of the Sunni Arab Caliphate ruled by Iran’s agents, Sunni Arab states from Morocco to Jordan and Saudi Arabia, which had repeatedly fought Israel from 1948, moved to abandon their hostility, openly or discreetly. And while the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war on October 7 gained no goodwill for Israel or the Jews, Israel’s overall response proved that it has the strength to resist Iran’s imperial ambitions. When an Israeli air strike decapitated the Revolutionary Guard expeditionary high command gathered in Damascus on April 1, by killing its chief and his entire staff, not a word of criticism was heard in the Sunni Arab world.

Perbelanjaan senjata dunia mencecah $2.5 trilion

Total military spending by nations reached a record high of $2.443 trillion in 2023, according to a new report released Monday by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, or SIPRI.

Across the globe, military expenditures increased by 6.8% in real terms over 2022, the steepest rise since 2009, according to the Swedish think tank which has tracked the military spending by countries based on open sources since the 1960s. Every region saw an increase, but Europe, Asia and Oceania, and the Middle East saw the greatest growth..

“The unprecedented rise in military spending…   is a direct response to the global deterioration in peace and security,” according to Nan Tian, the report’s senior author. “States are prioritizing military strength but they risk an action-reaction spiral in the increasingly volatile geopolitical and security landscape,” he added.

As in the recent past, the United States topped the list of military spenders at $916 billion. It was followed by China with an estimated $296 billion, Russia at an estimated $109 billion, and India at $83.6 billion

Bank China Bantu Rusia Membiayai Perang Dengan Ukraine

Amerika Syarikat sedang menyusun sanksi yang mengancam untuk memotong beberapa bank China dari sistem kewangan global, memberikan kekuatan diplomasi kepada utusan tertinggi Washington yang diharapkan akan menghentikan sokongan komersial Beijing terhadap pengeluaran ketenteraan Rusia, menurut individu yang akrab dengan perkara tersebut.

Bank-bank tersebut berperanan sebagai perantara utama untuk eksport komersial ke Rusia, mengendalikan pembayaran dan memberikan kredit kepada syarikat-syarikat pelanggan untuk urus niaga perdagangan.

Pegawai Amerika Syarikat berkata menarget bank…   dengan sanksi adalah pilihan eskalasi jika usaha diplomasi gagal untuk meyakinkan Beijing untuk mengawal eksportnya. Pegawai Amerika Syarikat telah meningkatkan tekanan ke atas Beijing dalam beberapa minggu terakhir dalam mesyuarat dan panggilan peribadi, memberi amaran bahawa Washington bersedia untuk mengambil tindakan terhadap institusi kewangan China yang mengendalikan perdagangan dalam barangan dual-guna seperti itu.

"Mana-mana bank yang memudahkan urus niaga penting yang mengalirkan barangan ketenteraan atau dual-guna ke pangkalan industri pertahanan Rusia terdedah kepada risiko sanksi Amerika Syarikat," kata Setiausaha Kewangan Janet Yellen awal bulan ini semasa mesyuarat dengan rakan sejawat di Beijing.

Kolej-Kolej Terjebak Dalam Kegelisahan Akibat Protes Pro-Palestin

Kurang dari seminggu selepas penangkapan lebih daripada 100 penyokong di Columbia, pentadbir di beberapa universiti yang paling berpengaruh di negara ini berusaha, dan kebanyakan gagal, untuk menenangkan kampus yang dilanda konflik di Gaza dan Israel.

Senarai pilihan untuk pentadbir yang mengendalikan protes nampaknya semakin berkurang dengan cepat. Hampir pasti bahawa demonstrasi, dalam satu bentuk atau yang lain, akan berlangsung di beberapa kampus sehingga hujung tahun akademik, dan walaupun begitu, upacara konvokesyen mungkin menjadi perhimpunan yang dipertikaikan dengan…   pahit.

Di Universiti New York, polis tiba untuk menangkap pelajar yang berprotes pada malam Isnin, mengakhiri kebuntuan dengan pentadbiran sekolah.

Di Yale, polis meletakkan tangan peserta protes ke dalam zip tie pada pagi Isnin dan mengiring mereka ke bas kampus untuk menerima saman atas masuk tanpa izin.

Columbia mengekalkan pintu bilik darjahnya ditutup pada hari Isnin, memindahkan kuliah secara dalam talian dan menggesa pelajar untuk tinggal di rumah.

Harvard Yard ditutup kepada orang awam. Di kampus-kampus berdekatan seperti Tufts dan Emerson, pentadbir mempertimbangkan bagaimana untuk mengendalikan perkhemahan yang kelihatan seperti yang polis bongkar di Columbia minggu lalu - yang penyokong dengan cepat bangunkan semula. Dan di Pantai Barat, satu perkhemahan baru muncul di Universiti California, Berkeley.

Peperangan Gaza Meletakkan Sayap Kiri Memerintah Parti Demokrat

Buat pertama kalinya dalam beberapa dekad, mungkin sejak gerakan anti-Perang Vietnam dan alam sekitar, sayap kiri telah memimpin pusat Parti Demokrat dalam arah politik baru mengenai isu utama — satu yang sangat kritikal terhadap kerajaan Israel, tidak sabar dengan kepimpinan Perdana Menteri Benjamin Netanyahu dan semakin bersedia untuk menggunakan pengaruh Amerika untuk mengekang rancangan tentera Israel.

Dalam beberapa minggu terakhir, pemimpin Demokrat telah mula mendekati pandangan progresif bahawa adalah bertentangan dengan kepentingan Amerika untuk terus menghantar bantuan tente…  ra Amerika tanpa syarat kepada kerajaan Mr. Netanyahu dalam peperangan asimetri yang telah membunuh ribuan warga awam di Gaza. Dan mereka telah mengakui bahawa kemarahan di kalangan pengundi Demokrat — terutamanya pengundi muda — terhadap peranan Amerika di Gaza adalah ancaman serius terhadap pencalonan semula Mr. Biden yang tidak boleh diabaikan.

Berkaitan dengan Israel, tekanan dari kiri telah jelas: protes oleh rakyat Amerika muda dan banyak lagi menentang peranan Amerika dalam konflik; gerakan "tidak komited" yang membawa ribuan Demokrat untuk mengundi undi protes daripada mengundi untuk Mr. Biden, terutamanya di Michigan, sebuah negeri ayun kunci; dan usaha lobi yang intensif di belakang tabir di White House dan di Kongres oleh Demokrat progresif.

16 Orang Meninggal, 28 Hilang Selepas Bot Migran Terbalik Di Djibouti

Enam belas bakal migran telah meninggal dan 28 lagi hilang selepas sebuah bot yang membawa 77 orang terbalik di lepas pantai Djibouti, kejadian kedua dalam tempoh dua minggu, kata agensi migrasi Pertubuhan Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu pada hari Selasa.

Penghuni bot termasuk kanak-kanak, kata Pertubuhan Migrasi Antarabangsa (IOM) dalam satu pos di platform media sosial X.

Ia berkata pejabat Djibouti sedang membantu dalam usaha penyelamatan.

Korea Utara Mensimulasikan Serangan Peluru Berpandu Nuklear

Pemimpin Korea Utara, Kim Jong Un mengawasi pelancaran salvo peluru roket "super-besar" negara itu yang mensimulasikan serangan balas nuklear terhadap sasaran musuh, kata media negara pada hari Selasa, menambah ujian dan ancaman yang telah meningkatkan ketegangan di kawasan tersebut.

Laporan oleh Agensi Berita Resmi Korea Utara, Korean Central News Agency datang sehari setelah tentera Korea Selatan dan Jepun mengesan Korea Utara melepaskan apa yang mereka sangka adalah peluru berjangka pendek berbilang dari kawasan berhampiran ibu negara, Pyongyang, ke arah laut timur.

Para anal…  is mengatakan roket artileri berukuran besar Korea Utara mengaburkan sempadan antara sistem artileri dan peluru berjangka kerana mereka boleh mencipta daya tolakan sendiri dan dipandu semasa penghantaran. Korea Utara telah menggambarkan beberapa sistem ini, termasuk peluncur roket berbilang 600mm yang diuji pada hari Isnin, sebagai mampu menghantar kepala nuklear taktikal.

KCNA mengatakan pelancaran pada hari Isnin mewakili demonstrasi pertama sistem pengurusan dan kawalan senjata nuklear negara yang dipanggil "Haekbangashoe," atau "pencetus nuklear." Laporan itu menggambarkan latihan itu bertujuan untuk menunjukkan kekuatan dan pelbagai cara serangan pasukan nuklear Korea Utara di tengah-tengah ketegangan yang semakin mendalam dengan Amerika Syarikat dan Korea Selatan, yang digambarkan sebagai "pengganas perang" yang meningkatkan ketegangan di kawasan dengan latihan tentera gabungan mereka.

Foto media negara menunjukkan sekurang-kurangnya empat roket ditembak dari kenderaan pelancaran ketika Kim menyaksikan dari pos pengawasan. Ia mengatakan roket terbang sejauh 352 kilometer (218 batu) sebelum mengenai sasaran pulau dengan tepat dan latihan itu mengesahkan kebolehan "sistem pengurusan, kawalan, dan operasi pasukan nuklear keseluruhan."

KCNA mengatakan Kim mengungkapkan kepuasan, mengatakan bahawa peluncur roket berbilang itu seprecis seperti "rifle penembak tepat."