Queenie Organics

If you’re wondering why Trump is passing brown envelopes with Putin, it’s possibly because Putin helped him win two elections, according Timothy Snyder. The thesis of the book lays out the evidence and geography of how Putin’s worldview influenced by writer Ivan Ilyin is remaking the power structure in a post ‘end of history’ world. Bringing down the ‘degenerate’ societies of the USA and Europe by cyber warfare, flooding Facebook with right wing, anti-gay rhetoric; they have been able to heavily influence the politics towards the right in the past 10 years. Militarily, by striking Syria sending refugees to Europe that emboldened the far right; by invading Crimea in 2014 and Ukraine in 2022, destabilising Europe further, Snyder’s thesis is a convincing argument. With the US now clearly in Putins pocket, Europe must stop looking to the past US support and pivot further against Putins and now Trump’s, aggressive, narcissistic road to destruction for all. We would all do well to follow Zelensky, who is again, showing his moral and political integrity at the front line of Europe.

Great accessible article from Foreign Affairs by Steven Levitsky and Lucan A. Way-

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/united-states/path-american-authoritarianism-trump

This is a great graphic novel about the everyday experience of Palestinians in Palestine. Published originally in 1993, it’s almost astonishing how little has changed and now in full view, has and is, getting far worse. If you’re ever wondering why Israel is holding so many Palestinians in detention that they could release in the recent hostage exchange, this book shares some narratives.

This book makes accessible what is often a complicated subject, easier to understand.

The only thing ‘shocking’ about Trump and Netanyahu’s desire to decimate and expel Palestinians from Palestine is that it was said out aloud by leaders of countries. There is nothing shocking about this thinking towards Palestinians, it’s been ever present in Israeli politics and indeed, ‘settler’ mentality for a very long time. Hence why there is an occupation of the West Bank at all. The real shocker is why many journalist do not challenge this during press conferences or articles about this- this should not be normalised. You DO NOT ask if or how it can be done- you say that not only is the suggestion ok to think or say, but there is no way on earth that Palestinians will be forcibly removed from where they live, just as you cannot suggest Jews be forcibly removed from Isreal and live in say, Texas?

Ethinic Cleansing? This book was published in 2006 and dates this offensive to the early 1900s.

Been a while. So much to express. 2024 was so awful that digestion was required before response. A friend sent me this today and was too funny I had to share. 2025 needs to the start of an offensive against the far right, autocracy, oligarchy, socially regressive policies and evil as****es like these.

Beirut, Lebanon, 2016.

There are many buildings in Beirut and in Tripoli that exhibit the evidence of war, this, probably from 2006 which was 10 years prior to when I was there. If you come from a modern western country as I do, the sight of buildings with heavy artillery shrapnel is unnerving and something to take in. The history of destruction is literally embedded in the walls all around you, a reminder of the ever present threats of conflict.

If here in the west, our governments think of Iran as a threat, or Hezbollah as a terrorist group, we must ask why. How did this come to pass and how did this sentiment on either side develop. This you can do your own research. Though wide and complicated, there is a simple fact that cannot be disputed- that the west, mostly through US foreign policy, is the nail that has jabs at the Middle East. We can see this right now with its arming of Israel ‘hugging Bibi’ policy married with its toothless rhetoric for peace. Anthony Blinken, bless him running around the Middle East trying to make a deal. Stop the arms and save your air miles… Force Israel to stop building settlements in the West Bank. Vacate the existing settlements in the West Bank. Aid in rebuilding Gaza and the West Bank. Jerusalem will have to be the compromise, it will have to be shared. The right of return may need to be the compromise for the Palestinians.

Use your leverage to force change in this ever volatile region. What is the use of power when it is not to stop wars? Ah, to facilitate them perhaps?

Let’s be clear, Iran and Hezbollah clearly did not want a wider war- they have demonstrated this by in the last 12 months. Israel on the other hand have demonstrated the opposite with the rhetoric that it is the other sides fault for using human shields. Justifying killing 300 people for a one person target is beyond farcical and in the eyes of the world, Israel and the US is increasingly being seen as rogue as Russia is.

Right now, Iran can demonstrate more restraint, lose the battle and its credibility, or it can strike in kind, bringing the US ever in closer direct conflict to one of two of proxy wars in our midst.

Beirut, Lebanon, 2016.

Perhaps only in a city which has experienced war with Israel in 1982, 2006 and now in 2024, can you see such a billboard that has no irony. So far, the IDF have killed more than 800 people in Lebanon coming right off the back of committing 41,000+ death toll in Gaza.

However way you frame or see what has happened thus far in Gaza, the numbers speak for themselves. The framing is important. A majority killed in both have been civilians. Most of the media coverage has been about the intents of the IDF- not the ‘collateral damage’ of which when asked they divert and make no excuse or apology for civilians deaths which if you will extrapolate, can be said that these coordinated strikes that level several buildings kill hundreds of civilians- Netinyahu doesn’t care- it is as simple as that. When one accepts this fact, it makes sense. He doesn’t differentiate between Hamas or the civilians of Gaza or Hezbollah and the civilians of Lebanon. But we should.

For a country that is barely functioning and hosts more than a million refugees, 50,000 Lebanese are now themselves on the move.

Coming up to one year and 41,000+ Palestinian deaths, why has not Netanyahu been able to bring the hostages home? Perhaps it due to the fact that his power would be pulled soon after and he would face corruption charges. Prison is where he belongs. If he doesn’t step foot in Den Haag first.

Sadly, without serious international intervention, Netanyahu will continue its killing spree that has already caused unspeakable pain and suffering in Gaza, it will NO DOUBT- make Israel and western countries less safe for decades to come. Israel and its enablers will face a new age of terrorism for the 21st century.

Mohammad Al-Amin mosque, Beirut, Lebanon, 2016.

As part of the refugee documentary I was shooting, we went to Lebanon. We went to refugee ‘camps’ in Beirut and a school near Tripoli in north Lebanon. Lebanon has a population of 5 million people, a quarter of whom are refugees. Between 2021-23, the currency has plummeted 90% against the dollar. During the pandemic in 2020, the enormous port explosion caused 218 deaths and over 7000 injured as well as billions in damages. The state is barely functioning. And now, Netanyahu is committed to causing more pain and destruction to its population. Exploding pagers of Hezbollah members while they are going about their everyday business among the public is STATE- SPONSORED- TERRORISM: most media fails to call it out for what it is. It’s called this in London 7/7, in Paris 2015 and Boston 2013. On that day along with the following bombing, over 600 people, mostly civilians, were killed and thousands injured, among which were women and children- just like in Gaza, killing seems indifferent to whom it is- if you happen to be an Arab.

The Biden administration can use its leverage to put an end to this, but the upcoming election forces the status quo until the results are in. Instead, Netanyahu is invited to New York to speak at the UN convention. And during the convention, he gives the finger to the 21 day ceasefire.

Until the US flip its hipocrisy, Netanyahu’s vice grip on power and impunity to murder civilians will rampage on.

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I’d probably vote Greens or the Lib Dem’s but neither are going to win. In order to put policy into place, you need to be in power. I’m not a fan of some of the things Starmer has said and done but I understand that some of these things were to show strength and, in their perspective, a broadchurch- despite the very unfair dismissal of Faiza Shaheen and the long wait for Diane Abbott. Bulldozing your way to power may have seemed the only way to Starmer and the NEC but they will also have lost votes along the way although not enough to deter their reasoning for ratios.

So much can and has already been said about the state of the nation, the (literal) criminal behaviour of Conservative MPs and the policies that have crushed communities. What everyone, and I mean everyone should know is that they need to be out of their seats for their folly to end and that trust be restored over time for this institution that is supposed to actually govern well.

Please, go vote.

It has been clear for a while now that the US presidential nominees are both a little past their sell by date. Like that forgotten pint of milk you left in the fridge, when it was time to make a cup of tea, you realise that the pint was not usable, despite your hopes it would last that little bit longer. This is what happened within minutes during the US presidential tv debate last night. The realisation that Biden really shouldn’t be the person to beat the person who will dismantle US democracy (and by extension, make the world an infinitely more dangerous and unstable place). For many of Biden’s supporters, it is clear now that to not replace him would be a dereliction of duty. They have already not prepped Biden properly and no amount of damage control will change the polling now which shows Trump being ahead. The sensible thing to do is to give a fresh new, younger candidate that can look and feel that way to swing voters. Someone who can speak clearly, know the facts and slam Trump during the upcoming tv debates. Optics matter. Trump will look like old- literally old news by comparison.

Biden of course has been an honest public servant for over 50 years but everyone has their time.

Biden and the party need to pivot and they need to do it now.

*image was taken at art gallery M+, Hong Kong. It shows world leaders banging each other on their wheelchairs.

I recently watching the Apple TV show, Masters of Air. It was surprisingly good at depicting the ratio of men who did not return from missions to drop bombs. It’s matter of fact of the fragility of life- brought to the fore during a war. This I imagine was also more devastating during the D Day landings.

Despite not being a supporter of conscription, WW2 was an exception and possibly the last war the west fought that was just.

Photo: Galerie Bilderwelt (The Denver Post)