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Brand new [MENA] thread- Middle East and North Africa
Organichu
poopspeesRegistered User regular
poopspeesRegistered User regular
(Unfortunately the extant MENA thread is inaccessible due to a software issue around threads with kicked users. Many of the things happening in that part of the world right now are deeply upsetting and also hugely important to regional and global politics. I decided to make a replacement thread so everyone can discuss current events and issues in MENA, in spite of the forum glitch. Note that I can't access the last thread, so I'm unable to crib the original post. I'll mention a few things here for the OP, but if you think there's some other worthwhile stuff foundational to the first page of the thread, let me know. Also note that since thread kicking is busted- moderation in this thread is going to involve more forceful, forum-wide infractions. Some of the things happening in this part of the world right now are tremendously disturbing and emotionally charged, so I'm understanding of extreme responses. But especially without a thread kick- if you're incapable of posting within the rules in this thread, stay away.)
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https://www.amnesty.org/en/location/middle-east-and-north-africa/report-middle-east-and-north-africa/
This Amnesty International portal looks at some of the principal concerns in the region, wrt human rights. It's clearly out of date for some of the rapidly changing conflicts. I'll briefly touch on two of the current issues that seemed to draw the most discussion in the last instantiation of this thread:
Wiki and some other sources I've seen are broadly calling the current situation in Israel-Palestine the 'Israel-Hamas War', with Al Jazeera placing the current Palestinian death toll at over 29,000, with over 12,000 of them being children. More than 1.5 million people are taking refuge in Rafah in extreme humanitarian crisis- a huge number of them displaced from other parts of the strip. Another longterm ceasefire resolution was just vetoed by the US, in contrast to a temporary proposal by the US contingent upon total hostage release.
There is an ongoing crisis in the Red Sea between the Houthis in Yemen and a varied-depending-on-who-you-ask coalition of Israel, the UK, and the United States. Missiles have been fired off, drones shot down, and a couple American military members have died- and just over 30 Houthis (plus strikes on dozens of Houthi resources). This conflict draws attention to the crucial leverage that can be applied to important waterways and trade routes, and posits the question of what we consider legitimate violence qua political action.
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The Middle East and North Africa (MENA), also referred to as West Asia and North Africa (WANA), is a geographic region. While still referring to most of the Middle East (or West Asia) and North Africa together, it is widely considered to be a more defined and apolitical alternative to the grouping of countries that is known as the Greater Middle East, which comprises the bulk of the Muslim world.
As a regional identifier, the term "MENA" is often used in academia, military planning, disaster relief, media planning (as a broadcast region), and business writing. Moreover, it shares a number of cultural, economic, and environmental similarities across the countries that it spans; for example, some of the most extreme impacts of climate change will be felt in MENA.
Some related terms have a wider definition than MENA, such as MENASA (lit. 'Middle East and North Africa and South Asia') or MENAP (lit. 'Middle East and North Africa and Afghanistan and Pakistan'). The term MENAT explicitly includes Turkey, which is usually excluded from some MENA definitions, even though Turkey is almost always considered part of the Middle East proper. Ultimately, MENA can be considered as a grouping scheme that brings together most of the Arab League and Iran and variously includes their neighbours, such as Turkey, Israel, the Caucasian countries, Afghanistan and Pakistan, and a few others.
https://www.amnesty.org/en/location/middle-east-and-north-africa/report-middle-east-and-north-africa/
This Amnesty International portal looks at some of the principal concerns in the region, wrt human rights. It's clearly out of date for some of the rapidly changing conflicts. I'll briefly touch on two of the current issues that seemed to draw the most discussion in the last instantiation of this thread:
Wiki and some other sources I've seen are broadly calling the current situation in Israel-Palestine the 'Israel-Hamas War', with Al Jazeera placing the current Palestinian death toll at over 29,000, with over 12,000 of them being children. More than 1.5 million people are taking refuge in Rafah in extreme humanitarian crisis- a huge number of them displaced from other parts of the strip. Another longterm ceasefire resolution was just vetoed by the US, in contrast to a temporary proposal by the US contingent upon total hostage release.
There is an ongoing crisis in the Red Sea between the Houthis in Yemen and a varied-depending-on-who-you-ask coalition of Israel, the UK, and the United States. Missiles have been fired off, drones shot down, and a couple American military members have died- and just over 30 Houthis (plus strikes on dozens of Houthi resources). This conflict draws attention to the crucial leverage that can be applied to important waterways and trade routes, and posits the question of what we consider legitimate violence qua political action.
Organichu on
+8
Posts
https://www.vox.com/24055522/israel-hamas-gaza-war-strategy-netanyahu-strategy-morality
Nothing is going to end here till Netanyahu is gone imo. It's a necessary condition of this conflict ending.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-biden-order-attaches-human-rights-conditions-to-us-military-aid-easing/
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/white-house-to-require-countries-using-u-s-weapons-to-abide-by-u-s-law/
The TLDR is that a bunch of Democratic Senators went and talked to Biden to get him to add some actual rules to the US's conditions on it's military aid. Reporting deadlines and such rather then what I gather was just a vague promise that it should be looked in to.
I'm not going to bother trying to opine on what Netanyahu thinks about all the war criming in Gaza. That's almost irrelevant if you think, like I do, that Netanyahu is looking to ignite a larger conflict either internally and/or against an external group in order to use the crisis of being at war to stave off any attempts to remove him from power.
I like to think this will do anything, but Israel has constantly provided assurances they're doing what they can to reduce civilian casualties and the US has parroted those reassurances when they're not actually doing anything.
{Twitter, Everybody's doing it. }{Writing and Story Blog}
edit:Analysis of Sudan, leads you in with story of Palestinian guy who left gaza for Sudan, then left Sudan when it got violent
Error in reporting, mistakenly reports 10.7 casualties as 1,400 instead of 1,200
It could lay the groundwork for (very) limited reductions, targeted sanctions, or investigations against Israel. On its own I doubt it can accomplish much, but it might be a useful aid for something like the ICJ investigation, depending on how that is used. "Dear Israel, you communicated to the U.S. on XYZ that you aren't doing war crimes but look at all these war crimes!" Not exactly a slam dunk but 0.1 is more than 0.0.
My suspicion is the directive won't be able to do much alone and Netanyahu will mostly ignore it, but every piece of pressure helps.
I think it probably at least generates reports that make it to Congress where they can yell about it.
But the point is it would have been a moment of clear executive leadership holding an ally to account for a major fuckup. No one worth listening to would have complaintes because this would have been the American president demanding answers for the deaths American citizens.
Clear cut and dry actions.
Yet here we are months later and support for the Netinyahu regime continues unabated
Looting https://www.972mag.com/israeli-soldiers-looting-gaza/
The "posting videos of us looting on social media" part is newer though. Reminds me of Russians stealing washing machines.
Not just looting, apparently credible reports of rape and sexual violence as well:
https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/02/1146667
Worse imo. A lot of Russian soldiers/conscripts lack those amenities at home. And Russia's army could never be described as professional.
The IDF is meant to be a professional western army staffed by people who can afford these kind of things if they felt like it.
I liked/hated that piece in Haaretz last week showing IDF personnel rifeing through the pantries and cooking in the kitchens of abandoned homes and treating it like a party, while the people they forced to flee are sometimes not even eating one meal a day.
~ Buckaroo Banzai
That may be playing a part in how / why some of these IDF war crime TikToks are coming out. No reason to discipline your army for bad behavior if bad behavior is the fuel for your political faction.