Wars & Rumours of Wars

pigfarmer

pigfarmer

tall, thin, irritable
82 years old and still relevant, at least to me. Only slightly edited to make it understandable

“The President had one final thing to add, however, which presaged not only American determination to avenge Pearl Harbor, but a far more historic resolve.

... ‘will make very certain that this form of treachery shall never endanger us again.’ In order to achieve that certainty, we must begin the great task that is before us by abandoning once and for all the illusion that we can ever again isolate ourselves from the rest of humanity. “In these past few years—and most violently, in the past three days—we have learned a terrible lesson. “It is our obligation to our dead—it is our sacred obligation to their children and to our children—that we must never forget what we have learned. “And what we have learned is this,” he continued. “There is no such thing as security for any nation—or any individual—in a world ruled by the principles of gangsterism. . . . that we cannot measure our safety in terms of miles on any map any more. We may acknowledge that our enemies have performed a brilliant feat of deception, perfectly timed and executed with great skill. It was a thoroughly dishonorable deed, but we must face the fact that modern warfare as conducted in [ this manner] is a dirty business. We don’t like it—we didn’t want to get in it—but we are in it and we’re going to fight it with everything we’ve got.”



— The Mantle Of Command: FDR at War, 1941–1942 by Nigel Hamilton
 
Non smoking gun

Non smoking gun

Honorable
Is this not a win win for Iran?
HB are just a proxy for Iran and their attack:
1. Spiked the price of oil, Iran's main source of income
2. Israel had begun establishing relations with several Arab states, now ceased
3. The US will take a hit of tens of billions for the aid it will provide to Israel (when it is already extended by even greater sums for Ukraine)
 
nivek

nivek

As Above So Below

Israel agrees to a four-hour 'pause' in fighting to let Hamas hostages out - but Biden says there's NO chance of a long-term Gaza ceasefire and warns of MORE Middle East airstrikes after U.S. F-15s bombed Iranian weapons depot in Syria​

Israel agrees to four-hour 'pauses' in fighting to let Hamas hostages out, White House

The White House says Israel has agreed to four-hour daily humanitarian pauses in its assault on Hamas in northern Gaza to get hostages out. National Security Spokesperson John Kirby confirmed the pauses will be announced three hours in advance and will begin today. The move was announced as President Joe Biden said he had bleak hopes for a long-term ceasefire in Gaza. He also warned he was prepared to order more airstrikes in the Middle East in retaliation for attacks on U.S. troops. The president said he dispatched two F-15s to attack Iranian Revolutionary Guard weapons depots in Syria because 'they struck us'. When asked about the 'chances' of a ceasefire before boarding Air Force One for a trip to Illinois, he said: 'None. No possibility.'

(More on the link)

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nivek

nivek

As Above So Below

Adobe is selling fake AI images of the war in Israel-Gaza without marking them as Fakes​

Adobe is selling artificially generated, realistic images of the Israel-Hamas war which have been used across the internet without any indication they are fake.

As part of the company’s embrace of generative artificial intelligence (AI), Adobe allows people to upload and sell AI images as part of its stock image subscription service, Adobe Stock. Adobe requires submitters to disclose whether they were generated with AI and clearly marks the image within its platform as “generated with AI”. Beyond this requirement, the guidelines for submission are the same as any other image, including prohibiting illegal or infringing content.

People searching Adobe Stock are shown a blend of real and AI-generated images. Like “real” stock images, some are clearly staged, whereas others can seem like authentic, unstaged photography.

This is true of Adobe Stock’s collection of images for searches relating to Israel, Palestine, Gaza and Hamas. For example, the first image shown when searching for Palestine is a photorealistic image of a missile attack on a cityscape titled “Conflict between Israel and Palestine generative AI”. Other images show protests, on-the-ground conflict and even children running away from bomb blasts — all of which aren’t real.

Amid the flurry of misinformation and misleading online content about the Israel-Hamas war that’s circulating on social media, these images, too, are being used without disclosure of whether they are real or not.

A handful of small online news outlets, blogs and newsletters have featured “Conflict between Israel and Palestine generative AI” without marking it as the product of generative AI. It’s not clear whether these publications are aware it is a fake image.

RMIT senior lecturer Dr T.J. Thomson, who is researching the use of AI-generated images, said there are concerns about the transparency of AI image use and whether audiences are literate enough to recognise their use.

“There is potential for these images to mislead folks, to distort reality, to disrupt our perception of truth and accuracy,” he told Crikey.

Thomson said discussions with newsrooms as part of his research have found that fears about the potential for misinformation are a top concern, but there are also questions about the labour implications of using AI images rather than on-the-ground photographers.

While AI images can be a tool, he also warned of their misuse: “You don’t want to be overly cautious, you don’t want to be scared of everything, because there are good reasons to use them. But you also have to have a bit of wisdom and cautiousness.”

Adobe did not respond to a request for comment.




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nivek

nivek

As Above So Below
Iran’s funding for extremist groups.



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pigfarmer

pigfarmer

tall, thin, irritable
An old argument multiplied thousand fold here in the States. I have no answer for any of that and it's never a simple black & white issue despite podcasters wanting it to be that way.

A typical counter to an argument about property rights would be cars. I have the right to own them. The municipality makes rules about how I store them - some will let you fill a field with junk while others will break your chops for having one in the driveway without a plate on it. First (here) is State's rights - what works for Maine may not work of California etc. There was some kerfluffle regarding all that a few years ago, wasn't there? Laws should be set according to the will of the municipality.

Cars are probably more inherently dangerous than firearms considering their overall numbers and in all states a license is required which involves some demonstration of skill - that's not a bad idea to me. Most places require proof on insurance and vehicle registration, some require annual inspection. None of that is infringing on my right to own one just how it's operating amongst all the other people I live near, you have to make some compromises in an ordered society. A lot of those rules are shown to be arbitrary and pointless like NY State firearms laws that are ignored by neighboring states. I'd like to say things like that are addressed at the ballot box but in this state that's virtually pointless - which is one of many reason people are fleeing in record #s. I'd like to GTFO just for the killer taxes alone but can't at the moment.
 
nivek

nivek

As Above So Below

End of a nightmare: Tearful Israeli hostages - including elderly women and tiny children - take their first steps of freedom as they are finally released after 48 days in captivity in Gaza​

Free at last! Joy for Israeli hostages as 13 women and children are finally released after
Thirteen women and children, who were kidnapped and taken into Gaza by the terror group during October 7 attack on Israel, were finally freed today, along with 12 Thai hostages who were also sized during the attack. Going the other way were a number of Palestinian prisoners who have been released by Israel as part of the deal that paused the fighting for the first time in seven weeks. The fragile four-day truce begun at 7am local time (12am ET and 5am GMT), with guns due to be laid down across the region for the first time in almost seven weeks. Over the four days of the ceasefire, at least 50 hostages are expected to be freed, leaving an estimated 190 in the hands of Palestinian militants.

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nivek

nivek

As Above So Below
gv112323dAPR.jpg
 
nivek

nivek

As Above So Below

Outrage in Oakland as residents DENY that Hamas killed Jews on October 7 and say anyone who supports Israeli strikes is a 'white supremacist' in SIX-HOUR town meeting​

The remarks spilled out at a town meeting to discuss a resolution on a ceasefire on Monday night where Jewish City Councilmember Dan Kalb suggested that the wording of the proposed resolution be amended. He didn't want to whitewash October 7, and felt it was appropriate to add it into the resolution before voting on it. Kalb was met with the fury of local residents who said it was 'racist' to call Hamas a terrorist organization, and who denied the fact Jews were murdered by them. Instead, they said IDF killed their own people that day.

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