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Sunday 19 November 2023

Musk to punish ‘genocide advocates’

Elon Musk attends the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups at the Porte de Versailles exhibition centre on June 16, 2023 in Paris, France
©Getty Images/Chesnot/Getty Images

Elon Musk, owner the X social media network (formerly Twitter) has said that anyone appearing to condone or advocate for the genocide of any group of people on the service will be removed from the platform.

Musk, who last year finalized a multi-billion-dollar takeover of the company he later rebranded as X, has faced accusations that hate speech, including anti-Semitism, has increased significantly under his leadership. On Wednesday, Musk himself was accused of promoting an anti-Semitic trope after he said he agreed with a statement written by another user which suggested that Jewish people are stoking hatred against white people.

But, writing on X on Friday, Musk appeared to adopt a more neutral tone in his platform’s stewardship of controversial content. “At risk of stating the obvious, anyone advocating for the genocide of any group will be suspended from this platform,” he said.

The billionaire added that terms such as “decolonization” and “From the river to the sea” are phrases that “imply genocide” and would be sufficient to trigger a ban, adding that “clear calls for extreme violence are against our terms of service and will result in suspension.”

“Decolonization,” within the context of Israel, is generally considered to refer to the dismantling of the Jewish state. The rallying cry “From the river to the sea,” which refers to the geographic area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, is a call for peace and equality, many pro-Palestinian activists would say. Its critics, though, view it as a demand for the destruction of Israel.

Following Musk’s controversial post earlier this week, the American tech manufacturer IBM said that it was pulling its advertising spend from X.

“IBM has zero tolerance for hate speech and discrimination,” the company said on Thursday. “We have immediately suspended all advertising on X while we investigate this entirely unacceptable situation.” Additionally, the White House on Friday accused Musk of the “abhorrent promotion of anti-Semitic racist hate.”

On Thursday, X CEO Linda Yaccarino said that the platform has been clear in its mission statement to “combat anti-Semitism and discrimination,” adding that “there’s no place for it anywhere in the world.”

In addition to IBM, major companies such as NBCUniversal, Disney, Paramount and Apple were among several others that said they were withdrawing advertisements from X in protest at Musk’s Wednesday tweet. In July, Musk admitted that the social media company’s advertising revenue had plunged by about 50% since he took control.

Elon Musk, under fire, threatens lawsuit against media watchdog

Elon Musk threatened on Saturday to sue media watchdog Media Matters and those who attacked his social media platform X, following moves by several large U.S. companies to halt advertising on the site after being promoted alongside antisemitic content.

Musk and X have been under a microscope all week for antisemitic and racist content that has proliferated on the site since he purchased it in 2022.

Liberal watchdog group Media Matters for America said earlier this week that it found ads from IBM, Apple and others were placed alongside content promoting Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party.

Musk on Wednesday endorsed an antisemitic post on X that falsely claimed members of the Jewish community were stoking hatred against white people, drawing sharp condemnation, including from the White House.

"The split second court opens on Monday, X Corp will be filing a thermonuclear lawsuit against Media Matters and all those who colluded in this fraudulent attack on our company," Musk wrote in a post on X, without naming any other parties.

Numerous companies suspended ads in the last two days, including IBM, Disney, Warner Bros Discovery and Comcast, Lions Gate Entertainment and Paramount Global. Axios reported that Apple, the world's largest company by market value, would do the same.

"This week Media Matters for America posted a story that completely misrepresented the real experience on X, in another attempt to undermine freedom of speech and mislead advertisers," a statement posted by Musk said. He accused Media Matters of creating an alternative account designed to "misinform advertisers" about their posts.

Tesla, X (formerly known as Twitter) and SpaceX's CEO Elon Musk speaks with members of the media during the AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park in Bletchley, Britain on November 1, 2023. Leon... Acquire Licensing Rights Read more

Media Matters on Saturday said Musk was a "bully" who threatens "meritless lawsuits".

"Musk admitted the ads at issue ran alongside the pro-Nazi content we identified," Media Matters President Angelo Carusone said in a statement.

"If he does sue us, we will win."

Musk has threatened legal action against other parties in the past, most specifically the Anti-Defamation League, a nonprofit organization that fights antisemitism, blaming it for X's loss of ad revenue. He has not yet sued the ADL, however.

Advertisers have fled the site since Musk bought it in October 2022 and reduced content moderation, resulting in a sharp rise in hate speech, according to civil rights groups.

The White House on Friday condemned Musk's endorsement of what it called a "hideous" antisemitic conspiracy theory, and accused Musk of an "abhorrent promotion of antisemitic and racist hate" that "runs against our core values as Americans".

Musk is also CEO of electric carmaker Tesla (TSLA.O), which has been hit by several lawsuits that allege rampant racial or sexual harassment of workers.

Antisemitism has been on the rise in recent years in the United States and worldwide. Following the outbreak of war between Israel and Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, which attacked Israel on Oct. 7, antisemitic incidents in the United States rose by nearly 400% from the year-earlier period, the ADL said.

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Watch Russian Paratroopers Score Lucky Missile Shot

Across the battlefields of the Ukrainian conflict, soldiers from various branches of the Russian Armed Forces continue to hammer the forces of the Kiev regime.

A short video recently released online by the Russian Ministry of Defense tells the brief tale of a team of Ukrainian militants who were unfortunate enough to run afoul of a Russian airborne forces squad in the Artemovsk (Bakhmut) sector.

Having spotted the advancing Ukrainian soldiers before the latter could realize their predicament, Russian paratroopers promptly fired an anti-tank guided missile at them.

Watch Russian Drone Drop Leaflets to Prompt Ukrainian Soldiers' Surrender

Dozens of Ukrainian soldiers have already laid down their arms upon reading the flyers that are distributed in the Russian special military operation zone.

The Russian Armed Forces’ Dnepr Battlegroup has used "specially equipped drones" to drop leaflets calling on Ukrainian soldiers to surrender, a source familiar with the situation told Sputnik. The Dnepr Battlegroup is stationed in the Kherson area.

The source added that apart from the calls to lay down the arms, the leaflets contain "detailed instructions on how to do so" in a safe manner.

According to the insider, scores of Ukrainian soldiers, who earlier surrendered to the Russian army thanks to the leaflets, are currently safe and sound.

A video obtained by Sputnik showed heaps of the flyers being dropped from a Russian unmanned aerial vehicle on what looked like positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

What is Russia's Igla-S Man-Portable Air Defense Missile System

Moscow and New Delhi signed a deal to supply India with Russian Igla-S man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS) this week, as well as to allow India to produce these weapons under license.

Igla-S is a portable missile system designed to take out all types of aircraft and helicopters, as well as small airborne targets, such as cruise missiles, at ranges up to 6,000 meters and altitudes up to 3,500 meters.

It can be used against targets moving on collision and catch-up course and account for thermal interference both background and artificial.

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Saturday 18 November 2023

At a Gaza hospital, a midwife brings new life and volunteers tend to the dead

Samah Qeshta, a Gaza midwife, shared this recent picture of herself with her newborn baby and older children. Handout via REUTERS

A Palestinian medical worker holds a newborn child at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, on Nov. 2, 2023.

Naya, meaning “deer or “flute” in Arabic, is a baby born into war. She emerged by Caesarian section at 1 p.m. on Saturday, November 11, in southern Gaza.

Samah Qeshta, 29, cradled her newborn and surveyed the tiny face and raven-black eyes. Then Qeshta wept, because, she later recalled, she was ashamed that “circumstances forced me to deliver at a time when I am unable to provide her with anything.”

Though a midwife herself, Qeshta is facing the same acute shortages as most other Gazan mothers. She came to the hospital with a few diapers, a packet of baby milk and a bottle of water to mix it. Shortly after giving birth, she was in a bed by the window with Naya when a house nearby was hit in an airstrike.

“I was scared and held her tight,” Qeshta said. “I was afraid that any moment we could be bombed. All I thought was to hold her close.” She later learned from hospital nurses that people died in the strike.

The Al-Helal Emirati maternity hospital where Qeshta gave birth is in the town of Rafah, on the border with Egypt. It lies about 30 kilometres south of Gaza City and 20 kilometres south of an evacuation line that Israel declared. People here feel besieged, too: Towns like Rafah are being hit by airstrikes.

They – like hundreds of thousands of Gazans – have now moved south, to the town of Khan Younis, about 6 km from Rafah. It’s in Khan Younis, at the Nasser Hospital where Qeshta works, that a Reuters reporter first met the midwife as she delivered babies. A short distance from the maternity ward is the mortuary, where director Saeed Al-Shorbaji records the dead.

Midwife Samah Qeshta cares for a newborn at Nasser Hospital earlier this month. The boy is one of twins, born to the Abu Odah family. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem

Under blockade in Khan Younis

Khan Younis is a dusty town, dating back to the 14th century, that merges with a sprawling refugee camp by the same name. The camp was set up for Palestinians who fled when Israel was founded in 1948, and it is operated by the United Nations. Together, the town and camp stretch from the border fence with Israel to close to the Mediterranean Sea.

By night, there are explosions; some distant, others close by. By day, a constant hum like a revved-up 2-stroke engine comes from the drones – Israeli unmanned planes that circle high above, appearing here and there beneath the cloud.

And there are dangerous shortages. Israel’s blockade of fuel, power and most food to Gaza has been tight. Water is in short supply. On Friday, the U.N.’s World Food Program said civilians face the “ immediate possibility of starvation” due to a lack of food supplies.

At least 50’ dead in Israeli strike on Gaza school

The head of the UN’s Palestine relief agency (UNRWA) said it had received “horrifying” images and footage of scores of people killed and injured in an attack on “another” UNRWA school in the north of Gaza, Al-Jazeera cited AFP as reporting.

“These attacks cannot become commonplace, they must stop. A humanitarian ceasefire cannot wait any longer,” UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said in a post on X.

Tel Aviv waged the war on Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian Resistance movement Hamas carried out the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in retaliation for intensified Israeli crimes against Palestinians.

According to the Palestinian authorities, at least 11,500 Palestinians, including over 4,700 children and 3,155 women, have been killed and over 29,200 others injured in the Israeli strikes.

As the Israel-Hamas war continues, UN-run schools in the refugee camps have become a place of shelter for many escaping the relentless humanitarian crisis. Hundreds of individuals are seeking shelter at these places while Israel entered offensive mode to eliminate the Hamas Islamist group.

Reports suggest that there is a scene of widespread casualties at the refugee camp, with medical teams working to evacuate the wounded.

Expressing condemnation, Philippe Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA, decried the strikes on UN-run schools in Gaza.

Lazzarini spoke of the severity of the situation, stating that he had witnessed "horrifying images and footage of scores of people killed and injured" in one of the agency's schools that had been providing shelter for thousands of displaced individuals. Lazzarini took to X, formerly Twitter, to assert, "These attacks cannot become commonplace; they must stop."

The Israeli army has struck the UN's Al-Fakhoura school in an attack that has left 50 people dead according to an official from Gaza's health ministry.

Earlier on Saturday the Israeli army gave the Al-Shifa hospital one hour to evacuate as concerns persist over doctors' ability to move critically ill patients southwards without the use of ambulances.

According to the United Nations, some 2,300 people remain at the hospital, many of whom are displaced persons seeking shelter from other areas of north Gaza.

The evacuation order comes as Israeli airstrikes continue to devastate central and southern Gaza, which the Israeli army has designated a non-combat zone where Gazans can flee.

Two Israeli airstrikes that struck the city of Khan Younis this morning killed 28 people, with dozens injured and buried under the rubble. Another airstrike in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza killed six, with many others wounded.

Since the start of Israel's siege and bombardment of Gaza, 12,000 people have been killed, including over 5,000 children.

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Go green, go broke - ‘Clean energy’ fails a basic economics test

Russian Market is a project by a financial blogger, Swiss journalist and political commentator based in Zurich. Follow him on X @runews.

The once-glorified clean-energy stocks are now facing their darkest days, plunging the industry into a financial abyss that threatens America’s ambitious environmental aspirations. The much-touted green revolution is looking more like a red alert as the sector hemorrhages tens of billions in market value.

Sure, we’re told that hundreds of billions is still pouring into renewable energy projects, despite the fact that the stock market seems to have declared a resounding “no thanks” to these ventures. The iShares Global Clean Energy ETF (Exchange-Traded Fund), the poster child for the industry, has nosedived by over 30% this year and a whopping 50% since the dawn of 2021.

Not to be outdone, specific sectors are getting their fair share of punishment. The Invesco Solar ETF is down over 40% in 2023, while the First Trust Global Wind Energy ETF is witnessing losses of about 20% this year and a grim 40% since January 2021. It seems the wind has been knocked out of their sails.

Blame it on rising interest rates, the industry’s newfound nemesis. These higher rates have not only increased costs but also put a damper on consumer enthusiasm, leading to a nosedive in stock valuations for companies that once promised a green utopia but are now struggling to turn a profit.

Solar companies such as SolarEdge and Enphase Energy are feeling the burn as demand for their products dwindles. Meanwhile, wind energy giant Orsted is singing the blues, with shares plummeting after revealing potential multibillion-dollar write-downs on its offshore wind projects in the US.

In Germany, after the Nord Stream sabotage, because, you know, energy geopolitics and straightforward plans always go hand in hand, a whopping 77% of skeptics are shaking their heads, expressing disbelief that the nation will magically conjure up 80% of electricity from renewables by 2030. I guess turning skepticism into solar power hasn’t quite hit the mainstream yet.

Switzerland, the poster child for phasing out nuclear power, is now flexing its green muscles by entertaining the idea of keeping nuclear plants running longer, because who needs a clear exit strategy when you can just extend the atomic party until 2040?

Biden’s green dreams are melting faster than his favorite ice cream in the sun

In the US, the demise of two New Jersey wind projects is just the tip of the iceberg, with inflation, sky-high interest rates, and a supply chain in shambles throwing a wrench into the gears of Joe’s climate ambitions. Despite a whopping $369 billion in federal aid from his climate law, clean energy projects are dropping like flies. Even the postponement of a Kentucky EV battery plant by Ford and General Motors trimming their EV plans couldn’t escape the economic tempest. It seems the only thing rising faster than hopes for a clean energy revolution is the cost. But hey, who needs affordable, reliable energy when we’ve got grand climate goals, right? Biden’s green plans are becoming a chilling reality check, and it’s not just the polar ice caps feeling the heat.

It’s ironic, isn’t it? Not too long ago, clean energy was hailed as the savior of our planet, but now it seems the green agenda is drowning in a sea of red ink. The S&P Global Energy index, once a shining star, has seen its value halved since 2020 – a spectacular fall from grace.

Fast forward to the present, and we witness the mighty green stocks taking a severe beating. Despite the EU and US governments offering billions in tax credits and subsidies to support the so-called green transition from Russian oil and gas, investors are losing confidence faster than you can say “renewable.”

The S&P Global Clean Energy Index has experienced a gut-wrenching 30% freefall in 2023, with the biggest quarterly outflow of $1.4 billion. The once-booming sector now holds a 23% decline in total assets under management, a far cry from its heyday just a few months ago.

Blame it on the current economic climate, they say – high interest rates, soaring costs, and supply chain woes are the villains of this melodrama. And let’s not forget China, the puppet master of the solar supply chain, flooding the market with cheap alternatives, undermining the EU’s dreams of a local green market.

As utility stocks struggle to convert to green energy, the sector’s operating margins are squeezed.

The final nail in the coffin? NextEra Energy Partners cutting its growth target by half, sending shockwaves through the renewable industry. I dismiss the sell-off as overblown, but the damage is done, and confidence in renewables has hit rock bottom.

So, what’s the moral of this green tale? It turns out, going green is not just about saving the planet; it’s an expensive affair. As the renewable energy stocks hit rock bottom, analysts are left wondering: is it time to buy, or is the green dream truly over?

In a deliciously ironic plot twist, Greta Thunberg is currently sizzling in the crucible of criticism for daring to support Gaza. It seems our climate crusader is now facing a cancel-culture bonanza, much like the tweet she swiftly deleted – you know, the one prophesying Armageddon and cautioning that climate change might just “wipe out humanity” unless we magically halt fossil fuel usage by the grandiose deadline of 2023. The irony is thicker than Beijing’s smog, folks.

Seems like even the green warriors can’t escape the unforgiving reality of the market.

Rex Murphy: Go green or go broke — the Liberals' new budget does both

Like another in the fellowship of the great minds of our day, I pay no attention to monetary policy. Or to fiscal policy.

And what is a budget but a massive tool of that latter? Budgets get as much attention from “communications advisers” — the most empty phrase and occupation of our time — as they do from … people who might know something about the economy. Most likely more. Besides, budgetary promises do not stand up in time, at all.

You want an example? Recall.

In 2015, Justin Trudeau “looked straight at Canadians” (his phrase) and in that soft, hushed, mellow tone he struggles to adopt when he’s about to burst from the magma force of his urgent sincerity, promised — “being honest the way I always have” — that by 2019 (four years back for those who are counting), Canada would have a “balanced budget.”

Trudeau in 2015: "I am looking straight at Canadians and being honest the way I always have. We said we are committed to balanced budgets, and we are. We will balance that budget in 2019" It is now in the year of our Lord 2023. And our Canadian deficit is an admirable — impressive by the finest standards — more than $40 billion. Four years off target. Forty billion plus in the red. And the national debt — well that’s on a rocket somewhere far up in space.

So pay no attention to budgets. In politics, they are screenplays for movies that will never get made. Kind of like “tree-planting ” boasts (two billion promised, 10 million planted), if you want another example.

There was one part of the budget mildly worth paying attention to — the commitment (how they love that word in this context) to fighting global warming. Chrystia Freeland, with nary a scuff on her new finance minister’s shoes, projected something like $21 billion to keep the world from burning up on her watch. Just what we need.

I wonder how close that comes to the amount Germany just pledged to hand over to Qatar for natural gas. It signed a multi-billion contract mere months after being driven out of Canada because there was “no business case” — as per our green PM — for the same deal here.

Here’s a line that wasn’t in the budget I didn’t listen to. If you turn down revenues that can be produced from natural resources that you have, and spend revenues on dream projects you do not yet have, you probably should not be in finance or business. A portfolio in arts, or perhaps heritage.

Under this mesmerized government, green is god. Which ignores the present-day world (see Russia and Germany), the realities of the Canadian economy, and already existing illustrations of sublime and costly folly.

Germany went mad for green and, as just said, had to run to Qatar just to keep the home fires burning.

Ontario went mad for green, drove up electricity and fuel costs, cancelled gas plants, shut down coal — and then — had to subsidize the people for the huge household costs these same demented green policies caused. It’s still subsidizing them in the green wasteland left by Dalton McGuinty and Kathleen Wynn. Go green; go broke. And look foolish in the attempt.

Go green; go broke. And look foolish in the attempt

Gerald Butts was the chief adviser to McGuinty during that golden period. He “owns” the vinegar “success” of Ontario’s green dreams. He went from there to Ottawa, where he could pour the same advice into more powerful and certainly more eager ears, already attuned to hear the siren call of green apocalypse and a beautiful, Edenic, net-zero new world.

Trudeau himself is — if such is possible — even more green than he is feminist, and has had around his high cabinet table the most febrile green zealots — outside of an Elizabeth May celebration dinner hosted by David Suzuki — it is possible to congregate.

So quelle surprise, as our French-Canadian citizens say, that the budget lists numerous more billions to toss down the same vain and failed alleyway?

Canada, being the linchpin and only guardian against existential global warming, must spend, spend, spend on green. What are deficits, what are debt, in the face of a total planetary extinction?

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Laman

Sunday 19 November 2023

Musk to punish ‘genocide advocates’

Elon Musk, under fire, threatens lawsuit against media watchdog

Watch Russian Paratroopers Score Lucky Missile Shot

Watch Russian Drone Drop Leaflets to Prompt Ukrainian Soldiers' Surrender

What is Russia's Igla-S Man-Portable Air Defense Missile System

Saturday 18 November 2023

At a Gaza hospital, a midwife brings new life and volunteers tend to the dead

At least 50’ dead in Israeli strike on Gaza school

Donate for Palestine

Go green, go broke - ‘Clean energy’ fails a basic economics test

Biden’s green dreams are melting faster than his favorite ice cream in the sun

Rex Murphy: Go green or go broke — the Liberals' new budget does both

Go green; go broke. And look foolish in the attempt

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Israeli strikes on Gaza mosque and school kill dozens – officials

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