Imperialism
Fig. 1. “Map of the Roman Empire during 69AD, the Year of the Four Emperors. Coloured areas indicate provinces loyal to one of four warring generals.” Original: User:Steerpike and en:User:Andrei nacu, August 11, 2009, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Ishaan Tharoor, “How the Venezuela-Guyana border almost started a U.S.-British war,” Washington Post, December 11, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/12/11/venezuela-guyana-oil-borders-history-us-british-war/
Israel
Palestine
Fig. 2. The ruins of a terminal at the Gaza airport. Image by Said Khatib (Agence France-Presse) on September 9, 2018, via the Times of Israel,[1] fair use.
Peter Beaumont, “Angry relatives of Hamas captives and ex-hostages confront Netanyahu,” Guardian, December 5, 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/05/angry-relatives-of-hamas-captives-and-ex-hostages-confront-netanyahu
Loveday Morris, “Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas. Yet the group remains largely intact,” Washington Post, December 5, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/12/05/israel-military-offensive-hamas-destruction-gaza/
Ishaan Tharoor, “Israel’s Netanyahu is fighting two wars, and may not win either,” Washington Post, December 5, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/12/05/netanyahu-wars-win-lose-political-endgame-career/
Steve Hendrix, Miriam Berger, and Hazem Balousha, “Israel touts civilian warning system, but for Gazans, nowhere is safe,” Washington Post, December 6, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/12/06/israel-gaza-civilians-protection/
John B. Judis, “Yes, Israel Is a Colonialist State. But Does That Matter Today?” New Republic, December 6, 2023, https://newrepublic.com/article/177306/israel-colonialist-state-history-today
Guardian, “US highlights ‘gap’ in Israel’s commitment to protect civilians in Gaza,” December 7, 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/08/us-israel-hamas-war-gaza-civilian-protection-anthony-blinken
Nataliya Vasilyeva, “IDF strip Palestinian men and parade them through square once used by Hamas,” Telegraph, December 7, 2023, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/12/07/palestinian-men-stripped-to-underwear-gaza-idf/
Ron Kampeas, “US officials deny pressing Israel for a war ‘deadline,’ but differences between the two are emerging,” Jewish Telegraphic Agency, December 8, 2023, https://www.jta.org/2023/12/08/united-states/us-officials-deny-pressing-israel-for-a-war-deadline-but-differences-between-the-two-are-emerging
Times of Israel, “National security adviser indicates war against Hezbollah likely once Hamas is defeated,” December 9, 2023, https://www.timesofisrael.com/national-security-adviser-indicates-war-against-hezbollah-likely-after-defeat-of-hamas/
Rory Jones et al., “The Hamas Leader Who Studied Israel’s Psyche—and Is Betting His Life on What He Learned,” Wall Street Journal, December 10, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/hamas-yahya-sinwar-israel-palestinian-hostages-6407dc41
Lebanon
Fig. 3. “Sabra & Shatila Massacre 1982 Memorial in Sabra, South Beirut,” photograph by Bertramz, via Wikimedia Commons,
Don’t like Syria’s Bashar al-Assad? You should dislike Binyamin Netanyahu for the same reason:
Israeli forces continued to shell the town [Dheira, Lebanon] with white phosphorus munitions for hours, residents said, trapping them in their homes until they could escape around 7 a.m. the next morning. Residents now refer to the attack as the “black night.”[2]
It’s worth highlighting that this occurred in Lebanon,[3] not Gaza. It’s all a bit bizarre: The war on Hamas might take years, but Israel appears desperate to start a war against Hezbollah.[4]
Housekeeping note: Lebanon now has its own page in my hierarchy.
William Christou, Alex Horton, and Meg Kelly, “Israel used U.S.-supplied white phosphorus in Lebanon attack,” Washington Post, December 11, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2023/12/11/israel-us-white-phosphorus-lebanon/
Illiberalism
Gilead
Donald Trump
Coup attempt
Fig. 4. Donald Trump booking photograph by Fulton County (Georgia) Sheriff’s Office, August 24, 2023, via New York, August 25, 2023,[5] public domain.
Sam Levine, “Rudy Giuliani faces trial over defamation of 2020 election workers,” Guardian, December 11, 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/dec/11/rudy-giuliani-court-defamation-2020-election-workers
- [1]Agence France-Presse and Times of Israel, “20 years after its opening, destroyed Gaza airport embodies grounded peace hopes,” Times of Israel, September 12, 2018, https://www.timesofisrael.com/20-years-after-its-opening-destroyed-gaza-airport-embodies-grounded-peace-hopes/↩
- [2]William Christou, Alex Horton, and Meg Kelly, “Israel used U.S.-supplied white phosphorus in Lebanon attack,” Washington Post, December 11, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2023/12/11/israel-us-white-phosphorus-lebanon/↩
- [3]William Christou, Alex Horton, and Meg Kelly, “Israel used U.S.-supplied white phosphorus in Lebanon attack,” Washington Post, December 11, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2023/12/11/israel-us-white-phosphorus-lebanon/↩
- [4]Jamie Dettmer, “Israel could open second front in Lebanon, defense minister hints,” Politico, December 6, 2023, https://www.politico.eu/article/israel-could-open-second-front-lebanon-defense-minister-hintsgaza-hamas-war-yoav-gallant/; Times of Israel, “National security adviser indicates war against Hezbollah likely once Hamas is defeated,” December 9, 2023, https://www.timesofisrael.com/national-security-adviser-indicates-war-against-hezbollah-likely-after-defeat-of-hamas/↩
- [5]Margaret Hartmann and Nia Prater, “All the Mug Shots of Donald Trump and His Alleged Co-Conspirators,” New York, August 25, 2023, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/trump-mug-shot-gallery.html↩