Bulletins and News Discussion from December 4th to December 10th, 2023 - The Legacy of Kissinger - COTW: Laos

Due to American cluster bombing campaigns advised by Kissinger during the Vietnam War to damage supply lines, over 2 million tonnes of ordinance were dropped on Laos over about a decade, averaging a planeload of bombs every 8 minutes. Laos is thus the most bombed country on the planet up to this point. 80 million bombs failed to explode - the cleanup operation is expected to take centuries, and 25,000 people have been killed and injured by bombs in the last 50 years. About 50 people are killed or injured every year to this day.

After the United States withdrew from Laos, the Pathet Lao took power and abolished the monarchy. Kaysone Phomvihane became a dominant figure in Laotian politics, keeping the course on Marxism-Leninism and implementing the first Five Year Plan in 1981. The second Five Year Plan in 1986 was modelled on Lenin's NEP, and this doubled rice production and significantly increased sugar production. After the fall of the USSR, Laos allowed a small capitalist class to exist, with similar control over them as in China. Laos maintains a 48-hour work week with paid sick leave, vacation time, and maternity leave, and workers are well-represented in trade unions. They faired relatively well during coronavirus from a social standpoint due to quick and efficient action to lock down the country, experiencing ~750 deaths out of a population of over 7 million.

There is hope even after utter destruction by genocidal oppressors.

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The IDF is kettling Gazans in Khan Younis into the LAX-sized Al-Mawasi on the Meditraian. Al-Muwasi is mostly wasteland. Like Gaza - it's also a strip of land that surreally looks like Gaza itself. CNN apparently does not have spellcheck technology. They misspelled it as Al-Muwasi. Clowns.
Israeli military tells Khan Younis residents to evacuate to area with few facilities on the coast
The Israeli military has instructed residents of much of Khan Younis, the second-largest city in the Gaza Strip, to evacuate to the Al-Muwasi area, a strip of land with few facilities on the coast, as well as specified blocks shown on an IDF interactive map.
The Israel Defense Forces said:
"The general instruction for residents is to move to the Al-Muwasi area, as well as blocks updated in the IDF interactive map published last week.” The military was responding Saturday to a CNN inquiry about where people should go. Earlier, the IDF issued what it called "an urgent appeal" for civilians to leave much of the area in and around Khan Younis where fierce fighting is underway.
In a post on ‘X,’ the IDF’s spokesperson for Arab media, Avichay Adraee, urged residents of the "neighborhoods of Al-Katiba, Al Mahatta, and the city center in Khan Younis Governorate” to evacuate.
Adraee specified five blocks (47, 55, 104 – 106) on the map published by the IDF.
“We call on you to leave where you are urgently and go toward known shelters west of Khan Younis,” he said.
It’s unclear how many people might be aware of the instruction given the lack of communications networks and internet availability in much of Gaza. It’s also unclear what shelters Adraee is referring to. CNN has reached out to the IDF for further clarification.
Al-Muwasi is a strip of some 20 square kilometers on the coast.
A statement last month by United Nations agencies and humanitarian groups such as Care International, Mercy Corps and the World Health Organization, said the area could not function as a safe zone until all sides pledged not to fight there.
Al-Muwasi is largely open land but has already seen an influx of people trying to escape from the fighting.
CNN
--
Edit
At least 10 Palestinians killed in Israeli strike on Khan Younis
An Israeli air strike hit a house earlier today, killing at least 10 Palestinians and injuring dozens more, WAFA news agency reported citing medical sources. An unconfirmed number of people remain missing under the rubble in the west of Khan Younis. The city, now hosting tens of thousands of Palestinians displaced by fighting in northern Gaza, has endured relentless shelling from the Israeli military.
Al Jazeera
- Al Mawasi! That's the place they were tying to get Palestinians to crowd into even back when they were first trying to force people to evacuate northern Gaza. I knew it wasn't Khan Yunis (or, I guess, not Khan Yunis generally, if Al Mawasi is a part of it). I'd heard that way back near the start of Israel's "ground operation", but couldn't remember the name.
  
  The Israelis are in the middle of doing Old Testament wrath. Once there's a sizable number of Gazans crammed into Al Mawasi suffering and managing to stay alive in tents in the wasteland with very little food and water - I'm certain the Israelis will bomb it. Biden will say he's "very concerned" about the situation and the majority of Americans won't use their critical thinking skills and connect the dots.
  
  Yep. I was kind of wondering if they want them all right on the coast like that to put them right in the crosshairs of Israeli ships or something.
  That Old Testament god sure was a petty and jealous little shit, wasn't he? One might say paranoid, even. I guess when you insist on recognizing only a single deity and even hs is a fascist....

1512 comments