In September, a U.S. drone strike in Somalia killed Omar Abdillahi, a well-known clan leader local officials and residents say had supported the local government
This piece shows how “precision” warfare collapses the moment accountability disappears. If a well-known clan elder who met regularly with Puntland officials can be incinerated on a public road based on opaque intelligence, then the problem isn’t just a single bad strike—it’s a system that treats Somali lives as expendable. Transparency, due process, and reparations shouldn’t be radical demands.
After the Vietnam debacle, research was conducted on the effect of the US air bombardment on the war. It turned out that air bombardment was a huge factor in increasing support for the North Vietnamese in the war against the US and the South Vietnamese government, I.E., air strikes are counterproductive. Perhaps the US Air Force command should revisit that old study.
Two things I noticed. Targeting a leader who was negotiating seems like the patterns of assassinations of the Hamas lead negotiator and the last failed one in Qatar. Similarly to the Iranian negotiators this year.
I agree that I also see that as weapon testing on who to target and where. Israel used them to kill two brothers in Beirut in their shop and their home right above it back in Sept. 2024.
Another targeted assassination with no accountability or punishment. The United States of Israel is just as guilty as Israel of murder either through direct hits or by supplying the weapons that fuel multiple genocides. Hard times for hope in this psychotic world.
After spending the last year taking a deep dive into the current state of world affairs thanks to Drop Site, Zeteo and Tangle, I am finding myself in need to take a giant step back here. Somehow, after jumping down a rabbit hole on Governor Landry’s recent appointment by Trump to serve as special envoy to Greenland, I ended up at an article about the injustices perpetrated on the native Greenlanders - implantation of contraception - during the 1960s and 70s that resulted in over 50% of the women who were interfered with by the Government of Greenland being unable to conceive, and now, currently, “ parenting tests” that render five times the number of native Greenlanders living in Denmark as unfit to raise their own children, compared to the Danish population as a whole. The cruelty, maliciousness and downright evil of those entrusted to care for the people of a nation -any nation- is a rip in the fabric of the world. At this point, I’m not sure I want to know anything. I feel completely at a loss. Being informed does me no good at all if I have no means or method to address the worldwide injustice perpetrated upon us all by our “leaders”. Of course as journalists, you have done your job. Or have you? Now I am armed with enough information to want to start my own insurrection, where do I go from here?
I really appreciate your reply (more than you know...) What they are currently doing in the UK re: Free Speech is horrifying. I'm not sure anyone in the US is even aware. Seriously. I live in a tiny rural town 100 miles away from civilization, you would think I would take one more giant step off the grid and I wouldn't have to worry about any of this crap anymore. Instead, I am feeling tortured by a feeling of desperate hopelessness. I do run a tax office and interact with clients all over the US, perhaps I can do something to raise awareness even if it is just a tag line on email communications. It seems as if the more I know, the more powerless I feel. Corruption is everywhere, no one seems to operate for the common good anymore. Greta is right. Thank you for the feedback. A lot of people would think my comments unsophisticated or naive. Your kindness means everything.
i fool myself ;-) into thinking that an e-mail tag line is a good idea. i have three different ones, depending on who i send messages to. "war is not a must. peace is." being one of them ;-)
@leslie: if you haven't already joined a group of activists, maybe doing so will help you feel less desperate?
until the day that seems to have arrived in the UK already, while we can only hope that keir starmer's precedent won't motivate his counterparts around the globe to follow suit. that, at least, is my takeaway from jonathan cook's recent piece titled 'How reporting facts can now land you in jail for 14 years as a terrorist'. the subtitle lays out that "starmer's gov't has set the most dangerous of precedents: it can now outlaw any political group it chooses as a terrorist organization – and thereby make it impossible to defend it."
keeping jonathan cook's excellent, if sinister, reporting and analyses of events in mind, i'll also cite greta thunberg who said: "when we start to act hope is everywhere." so, as long as we still can ...
james kilby, the navy’s top admiral, called the operation in may this year the “largest airstrike in the history of the world.” was/is he proud of this 'achievement'? did he have no motivation NOT to drop such huge amounts of munitions on supposed! 'terrorists' - people who, not too long ago, would have been considered "innocent until proven guilty as charged."?
arbitrary, brutal, coldblooded, and, as george leone pointed out before me, yet another glaring demonstration of how little value people [in power] in the global north attach to those in the global south. it has been like that for centuries. obviously, old 'habits' die harder than the people who are their victims.
This piece shows how “precision” warfare collapses the moment accountability disappears. If a well-known clan elder who met regularly with Puntland officials can be incinerated on a public road based on opaque intelligence, then the problem isn’t just a single bad strike—it’s a system that treats Somali lives as expendable. Transparency, due process, and reparations shouldn’t be radical demands.
After the Vietnam debacle, research was conducted on the effect of the US air bombardment on the war. It turned out that air bombardment was a huge factor in increasing support for the North Vietnamese in the war against the US and the South Vietnamese government, I.E., air strikes are counterproductive. Perhaps the US Air Force command should revisit that old study.
Two things I noticed. Targeting a leader who was negotiating seems like the patterns of assassinations of the Hamas lead negotiator and the last failed one in Qatar. Similarly to the Iranian negotiators this year.
I agree that I also see that as weapon testing on who to target and where. Israel used them to kill two brothers in Beirut in their shop and their home right above it back in Sept. 2024.
Another targeted assassination with no accountability or punishment. The United States of Israel is just as guilty as Israel of murder either through direct hits or by supplying the weapons that fuel multiple genocides. Hard times for hope in this psychotic world.
After spending the last year taking a deep dive into the current state of world affairs thanks to Drop Site, Zeteo and Tangle, I am finding myself in need to take a giant step back here. Somehow, after jumping down a rabbit hole on Governor Landry’s recent appointment by Trump to serve as special envoy to Greenland, I ended up at an article about the injustices perpetrated on the native Greenlanders - implantation of contraception - during the 1960s and 70s that resulted in over 50% of the women who were interfered with by the Government of Greenland being unable to conceive, and now, currently, “ parenting tests” that render five times the number of native Greenlanders living in Denmark as unfit to raise their own children, compared to the Danish population as a whole. The cruelty, maliciousness and downright evil of those entrusted to care for the people of a nation -any nation- is a rip in the fabric of the world. At this point, I’m not sure I want to know anything. I feel completely at a loss. Being informed does me no good at all if I have no means or method to address the worldwide injustice perpetrated upon us all by our “leaders”. Of course as journalists, you have done your job. Or have you? Now I am armed with enough information to want to start my own insurrection, where do I go from here?
I really appreciate your reply (more than you know...) What they are currently doing in the UK re: Free Speech is horrifying. I'm not sure anyone in the US is even aware. Seriously. I live in a tiny rural town 100 miles away from civilization, you would think I would take one more giant step off the grid and I wouldn't have to worry about any of this crap anymore. Instead, I am feeling tortured by a feeling of desperate hopelessness. I do run a tax office and interact with clients all over the US, perhaps I can do something to raise awareness even if it is just a tag line on email communications. It seems as if the more I know, the more powerless I feel. Corruption is everywhere, no one seems to operate for the common good anymore. Greta is right. Thank you for the feedback. A lot of people would think my comments unsophisticated or naive. Your kindness means everything.
i fool myself ;-) into thinking that an e-mail tag line is a good idea. i have three different ones, depending on who i send messages to. "war is not a must. peace is." being one of them ;-)
@leslie: if you haven't already joined a group of activists, maybe doing so will help you feel less desperate?
until the day that seems to have arrived in the UK already, while we can only hope that keir starmer's precedent won't motivate his counterparts around the globe to follow suit. that, at least, is my takeaway from jonathan cook's recent piece titled 'How reporting facts can now land you in jail for 14 years as a terrorist'. the subtitle lays out that "starmer's gov't has set the most dangerous of precedents: it can now outlaw any political group it chooses as a terrorist organization – and thereby make it impossible to defend it."
keeping jonathan cook's excellent, if sinister, reporting and analyses of events in mind, i'll also cite greta thunberg who said: "when we start to act hope is everywhere." so, as long as we still can ...
james kilby, the navy’s top admiral, called the operation in may this year the “largest airstrike in the history of the world.” was/is he proud of this 'achievement'? did he have no motivation NOT to drop such huge amounts of munitions on supposed! 'terrorists' - people who, not too long ago, would have been considered "innocent until proven guilty as charged."?
arbitrary, brutal, coldblooded, and, as george leone pointed out before me, yet another glaring demonstration of how little value people [in power] in the global north attach to those in the global south. it has been like that for centuries. obviously, old 'habits' die harder than the people who are their victims.