Kostas Kalevras

"We assert that no nation can long endure half republic and half empire, and we warn the American people that imperialism abroad will lead quickly and inevitably to despotism at home." -- 1900 Democratic Party Platform

@YechielLevin @nxt888 The reality is Zionists treat every Palestinian as a combatant as you have proven already conclusively

@kkalev @nxt888 You don't know any such thing. You project your cartoonish ideas onto reality, and then you wonder why reality disagrees.

Your analogy requires Greece to have a law saying any Orthodox Christian anywhere in the world, regardless of ancestry, regardless of whether they or any ancestor ever set foot in Greece, can move to Greece tomorrow with full citizenship rights. Greece does not have that law. Israel does. You didn't describe how nation-states work. You described how you wished Israel's law worked so the comparison would hold. It doesn't hold.

@YechielLevin @nxt888 International law and the international community which renewes the UNRWA mandate annually disagree. We'll trust them

@kkalev @nxt888 Refugee status is absolutely NOT heritable for every non-Palestinian refugee in world history. That has no impact on family separation. Anyone who was born when the refugee-creating action (i.e. the war) occurred is a refugee. Refugees get resettled. Then they're not refugees.

Does anyone still have doubts that Palestinians are being tortured and raped? This is how Israel treats international protestors in public. What they do to Palestinians in private is a million times worse.

A fascinating article today in Haaretz on how the Lebanon war has gone wrong. Through interviews with soldiers who served there, we get a clear picture of why it is going so badly and so many soldiers are dying with little gain: 1) The looting and moral collapse issue. Nightly supply convoys doubled as extraction routes for stolen goods. Soldiers competed over villas and shops while commanders, up to the brigade commander, looked away. Some justified it as religious duty, others shrugged that everything would be destroyed anyway. One soldier said, "The IDF has become like an army of Vikings, they let soldiers loot so they'll stay happy and keep fighting." 2) Mental health is being neglected. After freezing in a firefight and falling apart, one of the soldiers asked repeatedly for psychological help and was stalled. The session he finally got amounted to breathing exercises and a push to return to the field for "functional continuity." Real care came only after a journalist intervened. He said, "I felt I needed to harm myself for anyone to start paying attention." 3) Destruction of buildings seems to be the main mission. One soldier entered empty villages with no fighters and no battles, just demolition. Civilian contractors paid per house flattened schools, clinics, and homes while soldiers guarded the bulldozers. Daily quotas were tallied as "achievement assessments." "This is the IDF of the last two years, the Israel Home Demolition Forces," the soldier in question said. 4) Inability to stop drone attacks. Unlike conventional combat, drones leave soldiers feeling like stationary targets dependent on luck. The army's answer, "sky spotters" staring upward for hours, felt absurd. Soldiers in Tomer's platoon wrote wills and rehearsed their own funerals. One soldier explained, "On the news they say 'ceasefire', do you know how many drones they send at us? This shit isn't over." The overall picture is not dissimilar to the Vietnam War. Lack of purpose, soldiers developing paranoia as they get killed one by one. Lack of discipline. This war was a horrific mistake. Massive war crimes are being committed, soldiers are coming home in body bags and there can be no winner.

Insane. Just insane.

The Congressional Research Service just listed the 42 US aircraft lost or damaged so far during the war with Iran. 4 x F-15E Strike Eagles destroyed 1 x F-35A damaged by Iranian ground fire 1 x A-10 destroyed 7 x KC-135 Stratotankers (2 destroyed, 5 damaged) 1 x E-3 Sentry AWACS damaged 2 x MC-130J destroyed 1 x HH-60W helicopter damaged by small arms fire 24 x MQ-9 Reapers destroyed 1 x MQ-4C Triton destroyed

💢 DAY 218 of the Gaza “Ceasefire” Not a single aid truck entered Gaza on Sunday and no patients or humanitarian cases were allowed to leave through the Rafah crossing, as Israel continues collectively punishing Gaza’s population amid demands for Hamas to disarm, according to field monitoring shared with mediators. In the seven months since Israel’s cabinet and Prime Minister approved the Trump-brokered ceasefire agreement, Israeli forces have violated its terms nearly 3,000 times. Sunday alone saw 14 new violations, including attacks that killed 6 Palestinians and wounded 40 others. Incidents recorded on Sunday: 🔹 One civilian killed and others wounded in an Israeli strike near Rafah Garage in central Khan Younis 🔹 Three civilians killed and several wounded after an Israeli drone targeted a kitchen belonging to a Turkish organization near Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah 🔹 One civilian killed and others wounded in an Israeli drone strike targeting civilians in the Mawasi area of Khan Younis 🔹 12-year-old Karam Omar Lotfi Al-Masri wounded in a drone attack in Khan Younis 🔹 Five civilians wounded, including one critically, in a drone strike near the old Al-Yazji Bakery in Tal al-Hawa 🔹 70-year-old Fadl Arafat Irhaim killed by Israeli live fire in Al-Zaytoun neighborhood east of Gaza City 🔹 An elderly woman wounded by Israeli live fire in the Asdaa area northwest of Khan Younis 🔹 Several civilians wounded, including three critically, after Israeli drones struck a vehicle on Al-Baraka Street in Deir al-Balah 🔹 Israeli forces advanced military vehicles in Khan Younis and expanded the so-called “yellow zone,” displacing residents from the Al-Reqib and Abu Shab families Totals Since the ceasefire took effect, 877 Palestinians have been killed — including 217 children, 94 women, and 25 elderly — while 2,602 have been wounded, including 730 children, 457 women, and 117 elderly. 79 civilians have also been detained. Israeli forces have now carried out 1,291 airstrikes and shelling attacks, 1,119 live-fire incidents, 113 military incursions, and 309 home demolitions across Gaza since the agreement took effect. Ongoing Violations Israel also continues to hold approximately 34 square kilometers beyond agreed withdrawal lines and has blocked repairs to electricity, water, and sewage infrastructure, while preventing the entry of heavy machinery needed for reconstruction. Aid and movement restrictions also remain severe: Aid entry ▪️ Only 36.8% of agreed humanitarian aid has entered — 221 trucks per day on average vs. 600 agreed ▪️ Fuel deliveries remain at just 14.7% of agreed levels Rafah crossing ▪️ Only 5,304 of 15,800 planned crossings carried out (~33.5%) ▪️ 88 individuals turned back at the crossing ▪️ Rafah Crossing remained closed on the reported day ▪️ Medical and humanitarian travel continues to face severe restrictions even as 10 patients on the WHO-approved evacuation list die each day due to lack of treatment

@YechielLevin @nxt888

@kkalev @nxt888 Cite please. I don't see specific, direct reference to either.

@YechielLevin @nxt888 Funny how the part that "Israel took on the obligation of facilitating the resolution of refugee problem during its acceptance in the UN" is left out when not convenient Yeah refugees can choose to be compensated, return to Israel or to the state of Palestine on a personal basis

@kkalev @nxt888 1. Res. 194 is declarative, not prescriptive. Like all General Assembly resolutions, t's non-binding -- it doesn't possess the power of law. Its "obligating" word is "should", not "shall" or "must".

@YechielLevin @nxt888 We know that Zionists consider and treat every Palestinian man, woman and child as a lethal threat, no need to keep saying it Refugee status is definitely heritable. Families are not allowed to be separated and property rights are transferred to descendants

@kkalev @nxt888 2. Even if you don't agree with that, in any case Res. 194 SPECIFICALLY refers to refugees wishing to return AND LIVE AT PEACE WITH THEIR NEIGHBORS. We're still looking for any evidence of such people. Anyway, most of those refugees (original UNHCR definition) are long dead.

@YechielLevin @nxt888 1. "See, if we managed to leave even one Palestinian in Israel it's not ethnic cleansing" 2. "See, all Palestinian men, women and children are combatants"

@kkalev @nxt888 3a(1). 1. Its basis is exclusively ethnic (it isn't--see 2 million Arab full citizens of Israel). 2. It's for the purpose of "cleansing" (i.e. "racial purity") and not self-defense.

@YechielLevin @nxt888 "The Holocaust was not a genocide since the term genocide was coined after WWII"

@kkalev @nxt888 3. "Ethnic cleansing" per se is nowhere to be found in those examples of international law, as the term was only coined 40 years later and doesn't apply to all population transfers, certainly not retroactively.

@DropSiteNews home.treasury.gov/news/press-rel… America now sanctions sumud flotilla organisers, in addition to Palestinian human rights organisations, icc prosecutors and judges, and UNSR on the oPt. Ridiculous.

The First-Use Question I have seen this idea surface over and over. Israel can nuke Iran; the US can nuke Iran. Sure, they can physically do it. If they could credibly threaten to nuke Iran, they may be able to coerce Iran. So why have they not been able to coerce Iran with nuclear threats? Consider the fact that the Russians are having a difficult time securing their objectives in Ukraine. They have been grinding out a war of attrition that they’re rigged to win but is proving very costly indeed. And now the Ukrainians have been carrying out counter-value strikes at scale within Russia. Yet, Russia has not nuked Kyiv even though it can, just as well as the Israel or the US can nuke Iran. Why? On Oct 2022, I argued that Russia was seriously considering the possibility of first-use (policytensor.substack.com/p/a-nuclear-zu…). This was later confirmed by US security principals (csis.org/analysis/six-d…). The Post reported that “Burns shared U.S. intelligence documenting Russia’s “active consideration” of using tactical nuclear weapons with the head of China’s Ministry of State Security.” (washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/….) In that article, I argued that the Russian nuclear threat was credible because the Russian military position was at risk of collapse and this threatened its existence as a great power. “Russia’s entire world position is now at stake. For if Russia cannot avoid military humiliation in Ukraine, it will not survive as a great power.” This was the closest we got to nuclear escalation in the recent past. Note that this was a deterrent threat, not a coercive threat. A US or Israel threat to nuke Iran would be a coercive threat. It’s important to understand this distinction because nukes have largely succeeded when tasked with deterrence; they have failed uniformly at coercion. Ask yourself why the US accepted a stalemate in Korea and refused to use nukes? despite the theater commander demanding it? Why did the US accept defeat in Vietnam without resorting to first use? Why was Rolling Thunder capped below the nuclear level, even though it was designed as an escalating counter-value coercion campaign? (“Pure violence, like fire, can be harnessed to a purpose!”, Schelling wrote.) The decisive case is actually Dien Bien Phu. If there was ever a government that was trigger happy with nukes, it was the Eisenhower Administration (nukes were no different from conventional bombs, per Ike). Moreover, Secretary Dulles made clear threats of first use. And, importantly, at this time, the US had unambiguous nuclear primacy. Yet, the threat was not seen as credible. The communists called his bluff and destroyed the French position at Dien Bien Phu. It is this shock that led to the civilian military-intellectual revolution on nuclear strategy. The truth is that the threshold for first-use is very high for reasons that became understood in the heroic age of nuclear strategy unleashed by the humiliation, 1954-1960. (See my researchgate.net/publication/33….) Unless a nuclear power’s world position is on the line, it is very, very hard to resort to first-use. Coercive nuclear threats against non-nuclear powers have an uninterrupted record of failure. We can see that this in case as well. When Trump made the obvious nuclear threat to ‘obliterate Iranian civilization’, he had to call it off himself without the Iranians conceding an iota. Ask yourself why. And ask yourself what has changed since then. If Trump or Bibi were to again threaten to nuke Iran, the Iranians would not bat an eyelid just as they did not then. And if they nuke Iran anyway, that would in effect be a choice to burn the gulf down, plunge the world economy into depression, end Israel’s regional nuclear monopoly, and likely lead to further use of nukes against Ukraine and elsewhere, and eventually against Israel as well. Ultimately, the genocidal idea of first-use is a mental device to evade the fact of military defeat. It’s not serious. It did not even work when the US had unchallenged nuclear primacy. youtube.com/watch?v=UrgpZ0…

@Relaxinginhouse @policytensor "Take off the gloves" can only mean countervalue attacks on a massive scale. We already know that Iran has a credible countervalue response against Gulf targets and even Trump does not want to be the president who brought us the second Great Depression

@policytensor The United States doesn't need to nuke Iran. It can still easily bring Iran to its knees through conventional means; it simply needs to take off the velvet gloves.

@ShadowTraderCT @MarioNawfal You still have not realized the difference between authoritative and binding. ICJ concluded that Gaza is still under effective occupation. That gives the inherent right to the occupied population to resist it. Israel's occupation of the WB is also inherently illegal

@kkalev @MarioNawfal Jus cogens norms would only apply if territory would have been forcefully acquired. Israel has not acquired any territory in Gaza. Sticking to facts is not a matter or being zionist or anti-zionist, everyone should be able to do that.

🇮🇱 Israel has quietly seized roughly 1,000 sq km of territory across Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria. More than half is in southern Lebanon. Israeli forces now control more than half of Gaza, squeezing 2 million people into 40% of the enclave's pre-war territory. In Syria, Israel has established positions covering around 233 sq km near the border. Netanyahu says troops are "not leaving" Lebanon. Diplomats say Israeli officials privately insist otherwise. Far-right ministers are less subtle, with Smotrich calling for the Litani River to become Israel's new northern border. An Arab diplomat said exactly what most of us think: "What Israel is doing now in the West Bank, 20 years ago we would have thought that was extreme. This shows the trajectory of this society." Source: Financial Times

@ShadowTraderCT @MarioNawfal Like I said, jus cogens norms are legally binding and Israel is violating them in the OPT. Israel itself made it clear for years that the blockade had the aim of putting the population "on a diet". Again, you are just a born again Zionist

@kkalev @MarioNawfal AO is not legally binding, there is no question about that. You know that by now but you can’t let it go. There is also no question that Israel is not starving Gaza. That’s really not even debatable considering how thoroughly disproven that clam is.

Norway and the UK drilled the same North Sea. 🇳🇴Norway got $2 trillion. 🇬🇧The UK got tax cuts. Same basin,Same era.... Completely different outcomes. Norway captured $30 per barrel in government revenue. The UK captured $11. That gap, compounded over 50 years of production, is the entire difference. Norway's model was simple: tax heavily (78% marginal rate), take direct equity stakes in fields via the SDFI, own part of Equinor, and put everything surplus into a fund invested abroad. The Government Pension Fund Global now holds over $2 trillion in assets. That's $390,000 per Norwegian citizen about 1.5% of all listed equities on earth. The fiscal rule: only spend the 3% annual real return. Never touch the principal. The UK started producing earlier, at lower prices, with a lower tax rate (40%) and no saving mechanism. North Sea revenues flowed straight into the general budget. Economists estimate the UK missed out on roughly £400 billion compared to a Norwegian style regime. The windfall largely financed tax cuts in the 1980s rather than a fund. Where things stand in 2026? Norway's petroleum sector will generate $63 bn in net cash flow this year alone feeding a fund already large enough to cover 10-15% of the national budget from returns alone. The UK is a net energy importer. Since 2021 it has paid countries like Norway more than £100 billion for gas. One country treated oil as a finite resource to convert into permanent financial wealth. The other treated it as income. image source:eia

@ShadowTraderCT @MarioNawfal As ICJ/2024 authoritatively concluded, Gaza is under effective Israeli occupation which is an act of aggression. As is an illegal blockade with the aim of starving the civilian population

@kkalev @MarioNawfal Glad you agree regarding the AO. Israel hasn’t acquired Gaza or parts of Gaza so no jus cogens norms have been violated.

@ShadowTraderCT @MarioNawfal Fortunately, Israel is violating BINDING jus cogens norms in the OPT (prohibition of acquisition of territory by force, right to self-determination) so its obligation IS binding due to the nature of the violations. Glad I could help

@ShadowTraderCT @MarioNawfal When the ICJ states that Israel has no recourse to the right of self-defense against occupied territories that is an AUTHORITATIVE statement. When it states that Israel MUST vacate the OPT that can raise questions about the decision being binding