Shims

A long thread on the war and the current situation. Although the worst-case scenarios didn’t materialize in 2024, it was the most difficult period since spring 2022. There were positive developments, and bright spots, but the current trajectory is negative. 1/

We super bitsy boots blast off every where we go

Putin enshrined his alleged policy of Ukrainian "denazification" in a new state strategy document about countering extremism, demonstrating how Putin continues to make the same demands for the removal of the Ukrainian government that he made in 2022 when launching the full-scale invasion. (1/3)

Arendt explained that one of the most important techniques for a regime to stay in power is to make people accept what she called the argument of the "lesser evil." Referring to the Holocaust, she wrote: "The extermination of Jews was preceded by a very gradual sequence of anti-Jewish measures, each of which was accepted with the argument that refusal to cooperate would make things worse – until a stage was reached where nothing worse could possibly have happened." This makes the deterioration of moral standards gradual and, for the inner dialogue, harder to detect. The Israeli public is asked to accept the destruction of Gaza step by step, being assured time and again that the alternative would be an even greater evil. That not accepting yet another deadly airstrike would make things worse. The "acceptance of lesser evils is consciously used in conditioning the government officials as well as the population at large to the acceptance evil as such," Arendt wrote.

Israelis today have largely accepted the evils of this war. Even more, they are accepting the gradual deterioration of the values their state is build upon. How to prove the argument of the "lesser evil" wrong is to see that while you might choose a lesser evil, you are still choosing evil. Right now, Hamas is winning this war – even if it will be defeated militarily. It is winning because the ultimate question is whether Israel will be able to live with itself once the war is over.

Brilliant piece.
www.haaretz.com/magazine/202...

Passage from A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens: "‘Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more; and to Tiny Tim, who did not die, he was a second father. He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world."

Gonzo's delivery of the single greatest line in film history is made infinitely better once you realise it is an EXACT rendering of Charles Dickens' own emphasis in the original story.

🔥 Tens of thousands march to the center of Tbilisi, paralyzing the city with traffic jams. Protests in Georgia continue over election fraud and the government's refusal to pursue EU membership talks until 2028.

Looks like Russia's ongoing disinformation campaign has changed up tactics, and is now finding students talking online and deepfaking their voices so they can use them to put out their usual anti-Western messages. The below is taken from this original www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9L5...

Ukraine’s Hardest Winter Weary soldiers and citizens express fatalistic optimism while preparing for the loss of U.S. military support.

Brilliant article, thanks for sharing. Here's is the 🎁 link (i.e., no paywall)

Perfection.

New development regarding North Korean troops in Kursk: Zelensky says “Russia has begun using a significant number of North Korean soldiers in its assaults.” He adds the North Koreans “are being integrated into combined units and deployed in operations within the Kursk region.”

In 2014, my team was studying rumors of crisis events. Analyzing tweets shared after the downing of MH17 (by Russia-backed separatists in Ukraine) made our heads spin. There were so many counter narratives to the truth, eg claims that someone else did it or that the plane was full of dummies, etc.

Overnight, Ukrainian saboteurs were able to sneak onto Russia's Krymsk Airbase and torch a modern Russian Air Force Su-30 Flanker.

Reporting from the Syrian revolutionary celebrations in Ummayad Square, Damascus

Europe must determine whether Ukraine is essential to the continent’s security.

‘My God there is light’: CNN witnesses moment Syrian prisoner is freed from Assad’s forced detention | CNN While searching a secretive prison in the belly of the Assad regime’s legacy of torture for American journalist Austin Tice, CNN’s Clarissa Ward made a startling discovery when a rebel fighter uncover...

Great reporting from Clarissa Ward and the CNN team - ‘Are you serious?’: He spent months in a Syrian prison. CNN’s camera caught the moment he’s freed edition.cnn.com/2024/12/11/w...

Jealous of how good this is.

If video games turned you into a killer I'd have a wardrobe full of human skin suits by now.

do wonder what it must feel like to be Assad and be watching this from afar; presumably being a dictator involves a level of lying to yourself about doing horrible things "for the right reasons", and about most of your people being okay with it - how odd it must be for him to watch Syria rejoice

In images I never thought I would see in my lifetime, the revolutionary Syrian flag is being raised at the Syrian embassy in MOSCOW.

Few things explain the scale of Russia’s military and strategic defeat in Syria more than this.

Bashar al-Assad’s biggest mistake? Not going on Joe Rogan.

The unprecedented decision to strike down the vote, which was won by far-right candidate Călin Georgescu, came after documents published this week indicated Moscow co-ordinated hybrid attacks seeking to undermine the election. www.ft.com/content/2248...

The Battle for Aleppo is over, the Battle for Hama now begins.

The good news: European Council greenlights accession negotiations for Ukraine and Moldova. Phew.
The bad news: EU released 10bln to Orban so he wouldn't block the decision. He didn't vote for, but was absent as the rest voted unanimously. Expect more Orban blackmail in the future.

People who say Hank Hill would have voted for Trump are smoking something.

Pay attention to how Republicans are justifying impeaching Biden using the same sophistry they used to justify J6. They scream for months about baseless conspiracy theories, then turn around and cite the fact their voters believe them as evidence what they're saying is true.

You've entered someone's home without their knowledge and permission and they've responded violently? Leave. Shut the door behind you. Draw your weapons once you're safely out of the building, if you want. But you do not, by any means, need to stand your ground.

People that took health advice from Joe Rogan were always destined for insanity

I can't tell you how impossible it would have been for me to get this shot on my old Nikon D7100 or D750 cameras, but the dynamic range of the Z7ii (mirrorless) is just so great, the glare of the city doesn't blow out. The clouds threw a lot more ambient light out too sadly.

“Yep, here’s your problem. Someone set this thing to evil.”