Beyond the Barriers: Security and Segregation in Gaza

While listening to an interview with David Petraeus on Iran International (run by Iranian opposition), I was struck by his mention of the “gated communities” concept for post-war Gaza (17:37). As the former commander of Multi-National Force – Iraq during the Iraq War, Petraeus oversaw various security strategies, including the implementation of walled-off neighborhoods designed to control movement and reduce violence. However, it appears that the U.S. military ultimately abandoned the idea, likely due to growing resistance from Iraqis, who viewed the barriers not as security measures but as a form of forced isolation.

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The DOGE Is All Wrong

W.J. Astore

You can’t do a wrong thing the right way

During World War II, the Nazi system of extermination camps was fairly efficient. Relatively small death camps like Belzec, Sobibor, and Treblinka killed an astonishing number of people, more than 1.6 million and nearly all Jews, quickly and efficiently. If there were a Nazi DOGE, I suppose these death camps may have won “efficiency” awards from it. They stripped the incoming victims of all their valuables and then killed virtually all of them. The loot stolen by the SS was then distributed, again fairly efficiently.

The DOGE Is All Wrong

[03-08-1987] Thomas Sankara: The revolution cannot triumph without the emancipation of women

The revolution cannot triumph without the emancipation of women

The specific character of women’s oppression

Woman’s fate is bound up with that of the exploited male. This is a fact. However, this solidarity, arising from the exploitation that both men and women suffer and that binds them together historically, must not cause us to lose sight of the specific reality of the woman’s situation. The conditions of her life are determined by more than economic factors, and they show that she is a victim of a specific oppression. The specific character of this oppression cannot be explained away by setting up an equal sign or by falling into easy and childish simplifications.

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PH: Stratbase, CIPE (NED), and the Belt and Road Initiative

07-31-2024: If it’s bad business, it’s bad for the Philippines (archived)

Our organization, the Stratbase ADR Institute, received an award from the prestigious Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE), one of the four core institutes of the National Endowment for Democracy in Washington, DC. We were recognized for our research, advocacy, and strategic communication on four infrastructure projects entered into by the Philippines, during the administration of former President Rodrigo Duterte, under the Belt and Road Initiative of China.

The Philippines has currently withdrawn from the Belt and Road Initiative and the current administration has been careful to consider other partners aside from China.

Victor Andres “Dindo” C. Manhit is the president of the Stratbase ADR Institute.

Just like the National Endowment for Democracy, CIPE has been scrubbing their website. Search for the Philippines and click on the results. Most of the links are missing.

Related:

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At least 6 killed, scores injured in Pakistan suicide bombing +

AFP reprint: At least 6 killed, scores injured in Pakistan suicide bombing

At least six people including Pakistani paramilitary troops were killed and scores injured on Saturday, in a bombing claimed by separatists in volatile southwestern Balochistan province, officials said.

The BLA is also behind a surge in attacks in the region targeting Chinese workers.

Much of the violence is directed against Chinese infrastructure projects in Pakistan to connect China’s Xinjiang region with the Arabian Sea to reach markets in the Middle East, Europe, Africa and beyond.

Of course, AP makes no mention of Chinese workers being targeted.

Related:

AP reprint: Blast in southwestern Pakistan kills 1 person and wounds 35 (archived)

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