President Biden’s condemnation of the ICC’s announcement to intend to prosecute Benjamin Netanyahu makes the U.S. look like a rogue state that does not support a rules based order. He is a terrible “leader of the free world,” and I wish he would put his personal biases aside and understand the long-twrm implications of his actions.
The UK followed suit. France and Germany released statements that they respect the ICC’s independence. Canada has said nothing.
"How the renowned physicist started out as a Zionist but ended up opposing the occupation of Palestine, and why everyone would rather talk about his science than his politics"
Deeply telling about how far the Overton Window has shifted in 40 years that Ronald Reagan took a harder line with Israel than Joe Biden, never mind Mitt Romney.
(But then, per wikipedia Romney was best buds with Benjamin Netanyahu at university. So this tracks.)
Mark Watson was ten when the 1984 miners' strike took over his life.
Forty years on, he wants to know what really happened and how it changed his community - and this country. Tales of violence, desperation, and determination.
Today in Labor History March 3, 1985: Arthur Scargill declared an end to Britain’s National Miners’ Strike. The miners returned to work without winning any major demands. After the strike, most of Britain's coal mines closed, supposedly because they weren’t profitable. Consequently, the union shrunk from 170,000 members down to 100 by 2015. Margaret Thatcher declared the miners the “Enemy Within.”
Probably the strongest words I've heard from a mainstream UK politician (I don't mean the ones who attend the protests or were suspended)
Guardian: "Former UK foreign secretary William Hague called for the removal of Benjamin Netanyahu. He said: 'The long shot of building trust and a two state solution has little chance without the removal of Netanyah'."
Worth remembering that the #UKGovernment imposed a ban on the export of weapons to #israel in 1982 which lasted until 1994. Whatever else #MargaretThatcher may have been she was no #antisemite !
Today in Labor History January 31, 1606: Guy Fawkes jumped to his death moments before his execution for treason. Guy Fawkes belonged to a group of provincial English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605. Fawkes, who had converted to Catholicism, also fought in the 80-Years War for Catholic Spain against the Dutch. He later traveled to Spain seeking support for a Catholic rebellion in England. The English tortured him into confessing the names of his co-conspirators. Brits have celebrated Guy Fawkes Day ever since, usually accompanied by fireworks and burning effigies, traditionally the pope, but recently they’ve burned effigies of Liz Truss, Rishi Sunak and Margaret Thatcher, instead. James Sharpe, professor of history at the University of York, called Fawkes "the last man to enter Parliament with honest intentions." Numerous historical novels and children’s books have been written about Fawkes, including William Harrison Ainsworth's 1841 historical romance “Guy Fawkes; or, The Gunpowder Treason.”
It's certainly nice to have some good news once in a while. I haven't witnessed this level of shared celebration since #MargaretThatcher kicked the bucket. #HenryKissinger
Fears that #Israel or international partners could pressure #Egypt into accepting millions of #Palestinians settling in the #Sinai have abounded for decades in #Cairo: #HosniMubarak strenuously denied reports in 2017 that he had cut a deal with #MargaretThatcher in 1983 to resettle Palestinians exiled in Lebanon in the peninsula, adding that #BenjaminNetanyahu, had also proposed the idea in 2010.
Today in Labor History October 12, 1984: The Provisional Irish Republican Army failed to assassinate Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her cabinet at the Brighton Hotel. Thatcher narrowly escaped, and her popularity soared in the aftermath. The bomb did kill five Conservative Party members, including a sitting MP, and wounded 31 others. The Miners’ Strike was currently underway in Britain. Morrissey, from the Smiths, said: "The only sorrow of the Brighton bombing is that Thatcher escaped unscathed." The tabloids were full of similar jokes. The Angelic Upstarts celebrated the bombing with their single "Brighton Bomb." The bomber, Patrick McGee, got 8 life sentences (just to make sure he was thoroughly remorseful). Magee was released in 1999 under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, after serving 14 years. The bombing was depicted in the novels “High Dive” (2015) by Jonathan Lee, and “In the Morning I'll Be Gone” by Adrian McKinty.
Over the past 40 years, Republicans have pulled off an incredible magic trick. They’ve convinced average working people that tax cuts benefit them when in fact the opposite is true. How much longer will America fall for their BS?
Of the music she created, one song sticks out in my mind as more important. Her scathing take-down of #MargaretThatcher in 1990, after a decade of Thatcherism in Britain.
"Black Boys On Mopeds"
England's not the mythical land of Madame George and roses
It's the home of police who kill Black boys on Mopeds
Many others have covered the song and repeated its truths.
I wish there were more politicians who were a) completely open about how bad some issues are (Climate Change, Housing, Healthcare) and b) completely honest about how solutions to these issues will require pain and sacrifice from everyone. But they know they won’t get elected if they do this. This is more a reflection on the average voter than on the politician. The average voter just wants to be told their privileges will be preserved, and that all the problems can be blamed on someone else.
@Jgmeadows Maybe that was #MargaretThatcher’s true talent: she convinced voters to accept the pain to get the gain. Sadly, in her case, she was probably mostly wrong, so it didn’t work out so well for everyone. 🤔
Similarly,perhaps, #EmmanuelMacron is arguably right about the need for pension reform, but the unpopularity of such measures has been successfully exploited by others to forward their own political future by making unrealistic promises they can’t keep. 🤷♂️
Y'know how "#realist" became a synonym for "#asshole?" As in, "I'm not a racist, I'm just a #RaceRealist?" That "realism" is also used to discredit the idea of democracy, among a group of self-styled "#LibertarianElitists," who claim that social science proves that democracy doesn't work - and can't work.
If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read/share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog: