Joshua Leifer in Haaretz: ‘On paper, the settlement security-squad leaders are civilians (…) with army approval and coordination (…) In practice, however, some settlement security squads have become part of the quasi-autonomous network of settler vigilante violence.’

And: ‘The settlers’ display of force in Tel Aviv comes against the backdrop of spiraling violence in the West Bank and near daily attacks on Palestinian civilians and villages, as well as on Israeli and foreign activists.’

Also: ‘For more than three decades, the radical right has threatened violence to defend its goal of occupying Greater Israel. At times it has made good on that threat, as in the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995. One of the ominous signs of the times is that, as in the mid-90s, a desperate and radicalized settler movement is brandishing its arms within Israel.’

The mid-90s were foreplay compared to what’s happening now.

(a sf 2269)

Valerie Hopkins in NYT: ‘Now, exactly a year after the oil sanctions, Mr. Putin has never been so close to his goal of normalizing relations with Washington without having to make any compromises on Ukraine. Over the past week and a half, Mr. Trump has set aside years of U.S. foreign policy by openly embracing Mr. Putin and easing the economic pressure on the Kremlin. At the same time, Mr. Trump has vilified President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, the putative American ally trying to defend his nation against a Russian invasion.’

And: ‘Russia’s goal, she [author Hanna Notte] said, was to advance “this whole idea that you can compartmentalize the relationship with the United States and do stuff together even while you’re still prosecuting the war.”’

A bit of war here, a tad of diesel there.

The icing on the cake? From Russa with love.

(a sf 2267)

The Economist: ‘As he rose to power a decade ago, Prince Muhammad made a few big gambles. He wagered that he could defeat the Houthis; that he could reshape the Saudi economy; and that Donald Trump would prove a reliable ally. All of them have gone awry at once.’

And: ‘A year ago the IMF expected the Saudi economy to grow by 4% in 2026; now it expects a 3.3% contraction. Whether it rebounds in 2027 will depend on whether peace breaks out in the Middle East—and that will depend largely on Mr Trump. The kingdom thought it had influence over him.’

As well: ‘The Mecca pact, a mutual-defence agreement with Pakistan and Turkey, is an effort to find new allies that could supplant a now unreliable America.’

So many leaders and politicians imagined themselves Trump-whisperers. They turned out to be mistaken.

The Trump-empire does not like to be influenced.

(a sf 2268)

Oliver Meiler in The Süddeutsche: ‘“He [Marcon] was, after all, an administrator,” [sociologist Jean] Viard says, already speaking of him in the past tense. A number-cruncher, not a politician. “What drives nations is desire, longing and not administration.” When the French have nothing to dream about, they tend towards pessimism, towards defeatism. Viard has spent years researching this.
“We think of ourselves as a messianic nation,” he says. “Whenever we do something, we always believe that it is first and foremost for the good of all humanity, and only then for our own good.” The French Revolution, for instance, was carried out primarily in the name of human rights, and only secondarily for France. “So we always imagined ourselves to be at the vanguard of everything, producing numerous Nobel laureates, great mathematicians and artists.”’

Disappointment and messianism.

Not an administrator. Another Mozes, leading the French to a higher retirement age.

(a sf 2265)

Ben Rhodes earlier this year in NYRB: ‘One of the curious aspects of McNamara’s character is that he seemed to view Vietnam as a calamity that happened to him. To be sure, the war made his life difficult. His children came to oppose it. His wife developed severe ulcers from the stress.’

And: ‘Henry Kissinger, for his part, was not tortured by second thoughts. He mocked McNamara, the Taubmans recount: “‘Boohoo, boohoo,’ Kissinger said, pretending to cry and rub his eyes. ‘He’s still beating his breast, right? Still feeling guilty?’” Kissinger was entirely comfortable with power and was thus lauded and handsomely rewarded by the ruling class until his death, in a way that McNamara wasn’t. Perhaps this was because Kissinger never really believed in a virtuous American exceptionalism in the first place.’

Kissinger believed that the empire should set the rules—for him, that was exceptionalism. An honest man.

(a sf 2266)

The Economist: ‘French history has long been marked by upheaval and revolt. The republic established by Charles de Gaulle in 1958 erupted a decade later in the student protests of May ’68; the following year the general resigned. Emmanuel Macron faced months of widespread and violent demonstrations by gilets jaunes (yellow jackets) in 2018-19; the president sent armoured vehicles rolling over the cobblestones of the capital to restore order.’

And: ‘“The casseurs are discrediting our movement,” complained Pauline, a 20-year-old student at the University of Bordeaux.’

As well: ‘There is a France that was not on the streets on Saturday, and knows what needs to be done. This silent constituency was out again in the terrace cafés in the late-autumn sunshine the day after the riots; one waiter in Bordeaux described the violence as “scandalous”.’

The silent majority prefers the terrace.

Let other people do the burning and the looting.

(a sf 2264)

Haaretz: ‘At the height of olive harvest season in the West Bank, came a deluge of reports of violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians, journalists and even European diplomats. Among the most widely-reported stories was an attack on Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine.’

And: ‘Although attacks by masked settlers against Palestinians have become commonplace in the West Bank, Levine's case brought more international attention than usual to the scourge of Jewish terrorism. She is a member of several classes that one would assume to be protected: an older woman, a Jew, a member of the media, an American citizen, a longtime resident of Israel.’

Also: Bibi’s office said that ‘we will not allow disputed incidents to be exploited to demonize the hundreds of thousands of law-abiding Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria.’

Army and politicians enabled the settler violence. And Bibi is willing to destroy everything in order to get re-elected.

(a sf 2263)