Two were confirmed miltants. Problem is that they were there to get medical treatment... Israel could have arrested them and given them a trial, but instead, they chose to shoot them and terrorize and risk the lives of all the patients in the hospital.
From the title, you'd think these men were armed and inside the hospital terrorizing people. Turns out one of them was getting treatment there. The Israeli forces that killed those three (who were getting treatment or visiting someone getting treatment) were also dressed as civilians (nurses and doctors)
Truly the most pathetic and most cowardly army in the world.
Hamas claimed one of the dead in Ibn Sina hospital as its member. The allied faction Islamic Jihad claimed the other two, saying they were brothers. Ibn Sina said one of the brothers had been receiving treatment for an injury that paralysed his legs.
No trial, no evidence except that from the Israeli side, just a field execution. No threat from these men whatsoever... and one of them was had a mobility disability too.
Pretty sure killing wounded combatants who have no means of resistance is a war crime. It's even worse since it happened inside a hospital which should be shield from any fighting. Most moral army is acting as a bunch of war criminals as usual.
I still think it would be cleaner if they used the official mechanism for this, ie. stripping then of voting rights, rather than resorting to extra-legal tactics like these which is essentially just blackmail.
They can't. Hungary was protected by Poland and now will be by Slovakia. The EU Commission can theoretically act independently but in practice, this is political. And the EU Council can only take official action if Hungary has no friends at all.
This will just help Orbán, because he can legit say now that the EU hurts Hungarians on purpose. Not him, but all Hungarians. He was telling this for years, without any proof, but now EU just did him a favor, thanks...
The current freezing of EU fund things are somewhat working. And he can't use them to make himself look like a victim. He likes to speak about himself as "We Hungarians", and this just helps him with that.
This stops working when the matters that Orban is vetoing are time-critical. Like military aid for Ukraine.
Orban is creating a situation where the EU has two bad alternatives to choose from, and he doesn’t think they’ll turn on Hungary. But they might, because at this point, most of Europe seems like they’d prefer Ukraine being in the union over Hungary. So if Orban calls the EU’s bluff, there’s a very good chance that the EU will call Orban’s bluff and kill their voting rights, with full knowledge that it would strongly push Hungary towards leaving the Union. It’s a trade off; everyone’s done the math at this point. We’ll see how it actually pans out in the coming weeks.
I'd take Ukraine instead of Hungary any day. I feel bad for the Hungarians and suspect the reason for the problem is Kremlin propaganda trying to divide the EU, but at a certain point enough is enough. They can be an example for other countries, like Brexit.
I get your point, but at the other hand Orban has been doing everything he can to get the EU to take an action like this ao he can use it for his narrative against them.
It's high time that Hungarians decide if they want in the EU or not. The sooner they make that decision the better.
And yes I fully realize that the democratic process is broken in Hungary, and that any attempt to pretend this will be a democratic decision will fail, and that Hungarians will have to take to the streets eventually.
No way around it. I'm their neighbor and we've been through this stuff ourselves and it was hard but it's something that needs to be done if they hope to ever regain democracy. Eternal vigilance and all that. Postponing it only makes it worse.
We will stand with them but it's not a problem we can solve for them.
Whatever the EU does will help Orban. So why not try this approach? Hell Orban is already doing half the work, making sure the country's economy goes down the shitter.
Just accept the fact that no matter what the EU does, Orban will stay popular. The brain of the average Hungarian voter is mush anyways.
Either he leaves the EU and everyone is happy, or the population fed up with the economy tanking will finally get rid of him.
Either way it's a win for the rest of the bloc.
It's just a pity for the people who didn't vote for him and aren't able to move
It may be me, but this all doesn’t sound like a stable relationship. Plus, it will give other EU members (especially where the growing ultra right wing anti-EU parties are reigning) more reason for their own Brexit-like plans.
You have to draw the line somewhere. Enough is enough. They've been nothing but cooperative until now and all the goodwill has been taken advantage of and painted as weakness. It's about damn time they switched from passive to active pushback.
And it's not going to provide anti-EU people with anything they haven't dreamed up themselves long ago. Have you listened to anti-EU propaganda? It's mostly demented, wild conspiracies.
The EU is an association of like-minded societies. If Hungary doesn't feel like it belongs anymore they can start considering withdrawing.
Poland has a pro EU government now, albeit society remains split. Still if they wouldn't align with the EU, they would have to align with Russia. They are fiercly against that.
Slovakia and Hungary are in the same boat. Orban doesn't really want to leave the EU. He knows that aligning with Russia would kill the countries economy and he either gets to rule over rubble or the people will kill him.
They instead want to play the EU and Russia by playing both sides for as much opportunistic gain as possible. By not playing, the EU calls the bluff.
It shows dips in 2009, 2011, 2012, 2015, and the pandemic.
Now compare that to ECB's report on unit profits where only twice (2009 and pandemic years) did profits dip ... and in fact in 2022-23 profits have risen dramatically.
Workers have always been short changed and these stats show it.
Wyden, who released the Dec. 11 letter, called upon U.S. intelligence officials to stop using Americans' personal data without their express knowledge and consent, saying it was unlawful
Anybody able to explain how this is unlawful?
Is there a restriction on intelligence gathering agencies that would apply?
I don’t believe this is right or fair but I’m not clear on how it’s illegal.
Y'all are seeing the real problem here, right? Your data is just available for anyone with the cash to pay for it. Stopping just the NSA from buying this data is attacking the issue from the wrong end.
And all Germany and Russia had/have to do is get out of the countries that were invaded. This also won’t bankrupt the country. The sanctions on the other hand…
And if that were the only concern, then it wouldn't matter. It's when a population realizes that they have nothing left to lose, that they might as well follow the fascist dictator into wars to reclaim glory, in the hopes that tomorrow will be better. The next fascist might well attack NATO, then we're all in it.
It’s when a population realizes that they have nothing left to lose, that they might as well follow the fascist dictator into wars to reclaim glory, in the hopes that tomorrow will be better.
You're talking like that is a possible future event. How is that different than how Russia is acting now?
The next fascist might well attack NATO, then we’re all in it.
Russia has already expended half of its military capability and is only holding about 25% of Ukrainian land while it continues to lose more military capacity. We're already in it if we let Russia win in Ukraine.
I hope this means we are closer to nuclear annihilation than ever before. Humans have ruined the earth, and themselves. There is no possibility for peace or peaceful coexistence - and really, there never was. The best solution that humans can hope for now is total extinction and eradication.
I've had more dreams of nuclear bombs falling lately. I can see how it will happen, suddenly without warning with a feeling of immense anger that we had and never have had any control over what happens to us. I see the structures and homes around us burning and swept away by immense winds of heat and people melted to the ground.
This is how it WILL end for us all, sooner or later. I for one don't particularly want to see us drag it out any longer than necessary.
Erdogan got out of the way, and Orban made a huge deal about how Hungary wouldn’t be the one to hold it up… and then Erdogan timed it so Hungary would be the one to hold it up.
I genuinely hope Erdogan and Orban backstab each other more aggressively going forward, as it would be good for NATO, the EU, and the world in general.
reuters.com
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