Now in our second week of the conflict, we have seen continuing damage to both Israel and Iran, as well as direct US intervention which nonetheless seems to have caused limited damage to Fordow and little damage to Iran's nuclear program. Regime change seems more elusive than ever, as even Iranians previously critical of the government now rally around it as they are attacked by two rabid imperialists at once. And Iran's government is tentatively considering a withdrawal, or at minimum a reconsideration, of their membership to the IAEA and the NPT. And, of course, the Strait of Hormuz is still a tool in their arsenal.
A day or so on from the strike on Fordow, we have so far seen basically no change in strategy from the Iranian military as they continue to strike Israel with small barrages of missiles. Military analysts argue furiously - is this a deliberate strategy of steady attrition on Israel, or indicative of immense material constraints on Iran? Are the hits by Israel on real targets, or are they decoys? Does Iran wish to develop a nuke, or are they still hesitating? Will Iran and Yemen strike at US warships and bases in response to the attack, or will they merely continue striking only Israel?
And perhaps most importantly - will this conflict end diplomatically due to a lack of appetite for an extended war (to wit: not a peace but a 20 year armistice) or with Israel forced into major concessions including an end to their genocide? Or even with a total military/societal collapse of either side?
It seems that our rulers, here in the 'liberal' West, have homed in on a new way of turning a person into a non-person. Here is a man, Hüseyin Doğru, a German journalist (of Turkish origins, but not a dual citizen) whom the EU authorities have found a novel, immensely cruel, way of punishing for his coverage of, and views on, Palestine.
The German authorities learned a lesson from my case. Not wishing to be answerable in court for any ban on pro-Palestinian voices (similar to the court case I am dragging them through currently), they found another way: A direct sanction by the EU utilising some hitherto unused directive, one introduced at the beginning of the Ukraine war, that allows Brussels to sanction any citizen of the EU it deems to be working for Russian interests. Clinging to the argument that Hüseyin’s website/podcast used to be shown also on Ruptly (among other platforms), they are using this directive aimed at an ‘anti-Russian asset’ to destroy a journalist who dared oppose the Palestinian genocide.
In practice, this means that Hüseyin’s bank account is frozen; that if you or I were to give him cash to buy groceries or make rent then we would be considered his accomplices and subject to similar sanctions; it also means that if he were a civil servant, he would be fired; if he were a student he would be expelled from his university; if he received a pension it would be suspended; if he received any social benefit it would be frozen. It also, astonishingly, means that he cannot leave Germany! Last, but definitely not least, it means that Hüseyin cannot sue his government for turning him into a non-person but only challenge the European Commission in Brussels – where he is not even allowed to go!
Need I say more? Is it not abundantly clear that we live, today, in a nominally liberal Europe where, in a jiffy, your political and human rights can be rescinded, including your right to challenge your government in a court of law?
normal Western democracy hours
This is fucking insane
Yeah, the whole "you can't have any money, and you also can't leave the country" bit... like just imprison him at that point? How is this in any way meaningfully different from just jailing political dissidents?
Even then, prisoners are at least supposed to be fed by the state (albeit not to a necessarily high standard...), this guy literally has to submit a document to gain permission to buy food?! (https://xcancel.com/hussedogru/status/1925845756927197233)
They're actually sanctioning individual people lmao. Reads like a heavyhanded parody
Is there any way for someone else to submit a challenge on this guy's behalf?
He has a lawyer who will appeal the decision (and is presumably working pro bono, given that Hüseyin cannot access or receive any money to pay anyone with...) and is planning on suing the European Commission - but there is no clear timeframe on a response by the Commission (see from this timestamp: https://www.youtube.com/live/MZ0l78jIg3U?t=1711).
So I guess theoretically they could just drag this out for years - and, given that he's legally forbidden from holding a job and earning any more money than what he had at the start of the sanctions, and anyone sending him money or food could also be sanctioned... he and his family would eventually just straight up starve to death? Like I genuinely still can't grasp the absolute insanity of the way these sanctions work, we're not talking about some corporate entity here, this is one guy who's just... not allowed to have money anymore?!
and anyone sending him money or food could also be sanctioned
Even food? That's just, comically psychotic. Even if people send him crypto, he wouldn't be able to buy regular use items. I doubt the german government of all things will leave his mail be, so him ordering things online or being given donations by mail would be out of the question.
The German government is literally enacting a "food dictatorship" (what the anti-communists prejoratively referred war Communism as). Controlling dissent by means of controlling food. Every day, that dogshit state proves that anti-communists can always go lower.