Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I was confident that someone would point it out and thought why not me.

Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

The republican speaker is a slippery little devil.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

Today’s gop: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

Ron DeSantis, the grand wizard, oops, governor of FL.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

Every one of the “Roberts Six” lied to get on the court.

Tide comes in. Tide goes out. You can’t explain that.

Shut up, hissy kitty!

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

People really shouldn’t expect the government to help after they watched the GOP drown it in a bathtub.

Consistently wrong since 2002

American History and Black History can not be separated.

You cannot shame the shameless.

Elections aren’t won by handwringing, cowering, and/or bashing your own candidates.

The US Supreme Court is on the ballot in november.

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

“Joe Biden deserved better than he got from some folks in his own party.”

You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / War for Ukraine Day 659: President Zelenskyy Addresses the European Council & Visits US Army Europe

War for Ukraine Day 659: President Zelenskyy Addresses the European Council & Visits US Army Europe

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Photo of President Zelenskyy with GEN Williams, GEN Cavoli, and LTG Aguto at US Army Europe Headquarters

(Image from President Zelenskyy’s official site)

The Sword of Freedom!

President Zelenskyy paid a visit to US Army Europe headquarters. Facing us, from left to right is: LTG Aguto, Commander, Security Assistance Group-Ukraine, Operation ATLANTIC RESOLVE, Germany; GEN Williams, Commander US Army Europe & US Army Africa; President Zelenskyy, and GEN Cavoli, Commander US European Command/Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR). Full disclosure: GEN Williams was the Deputy Commander of US Army Europe when I was assigned as the Senior Civilian Advisor/Cultural Advisor to the Commander of US Army Europe from DEC 2013-AUG 2014.

Here’s the details from the President of Ukraine’s website.

After his official visit to Norway, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the command of the U.S. Army Europe and Africa in Wiesbaden, Germany.

The Head of State met with Commander of the U.S. European Command and Supreme Allied Commander Europe General Christopher Cavoli, Commander of the U.S. Army Europe and Africa General Darryl Williams, Commander of the Security Assistance Group – Ukraine Lieutenant General Antonio Aguto.

During the meeting, the parties discussed the work of the Security Assistance Group – Ukraine, as well as the specifics of the logistics of ammunition and military equipment supply, repair and sustainment.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy also spoke with the Ukrainian military, who are working in Wiesbaden as part of the Armed Forces of Ukraine’s task force under the Security Assistance Group – Ukraine.

Representatives of the Armed Forces are responsible for coordinating the supply of materiel assistance from partner countries to the Ukrainian Defense Forces, as well as training of the Defense Forces personnel in partner countries. They also coordinate the repair and sustainment of Western military equipment provided by Ukraine’s partners.

“I am honored to be here today to thank every warrior for their service in defense of our country. I am very glad that you are working as a team together with our partners, our true friends. I wish you only victory. This is the most important thing. It is the beginning of life and the future,” the President said.

President Zelenskyy addressed the Council of Europe. Video below, English transcript after the jump.

Europe must win, agreements must be honored – address by the President of Ukraine to the participants of the European Council meeting

14 December 2023 – 16:18

Thank you so much, Mr. President!

Dear Charles, dear colleagues, greetings to you all.

Thank you for this opportunity to address you.

Today is a special day. And this day will go down in our history. Whether it’s good or bad for us, history will capture everything. Every word, every step, every action and inaction. Who fought for what.

This year, we didn’t make any mistakes. Not a single one. Europe went through this year with dignity. There was no cowardice, no indecision.

And Putin gained nothing over the year. Neither in the battles against Ukraine, nor in his attempts to divide and demean Europeans. He lost everything this year. It’s crucial that he lost not just in Ukraine, but in every aspect of European life.

Europe maintained its unity. Europe didn’t let its people get dragged into any of the crises the Kremlin always dreams of. You all realized that now is not the time for half-measures or hesitation. Europe has made strong decisions. I am very thankful – Europe made strong decisions and implemented them effectively.

I’m grateful for such strength in Europe.

And it’s very important that Europe doesn’t fall back into indecision today.

Nobody wants Europe to be seen as untrustworthy. Or as unable to take decisions it prepared itself.

Dear colleagues! 

Today is the day when determination will either be in Brussels or Moscow. People in Europe won’t understand if Putin’s satisfied smile becomes the reward for a meeting in Brussels.

These days I’ve communicated to many of you. We’re talking about a decision that was promised. And I haven’t heard any counter-argument as to why we shouldn’t implement the plan agreed upon by all of Europe. All of Europe.

Last year, Ukraine received clear recommendations on how to move forward. We have passed the key laws. You all – and I emphasize: all – know well that we fulfilled every obligation.

And there was a clear schedule for the EU – today is a day for a political decision in response to what we’ve accomplished. It’s about opening accession negotiations with Ukraine. And in March next year – approving the negotiation framework for moving forward.

No bureaucracy. Everything is very clear.

This isn’t about what politicians need. It’s about what people need. All those people in the trenches, shooting down drones and missiles every night… And all those working so children can learn even under constant Russian terror, and doctors can save lives even when Russia tries to destroy our energy or communication systems.

Today’s decision on opening accession negotiations is also vital for all those people in EU countries who believe that Europe can avoid falling back into old times of endless fruitless disagreements between capitals.

Europe deserves to be strong. Europe’s strength is in unity and resolve. Europe deserves a dignified policy. Deserves to have agreements respected, and for people in Europe to know they won’t be deceived.

10 years ago, in Ukraine, people rose-up under the flags of the European Union. It was a symbol of truth for them, and it should remain so.

I ask you one thing today – do not betray the people and their faith in Europe.

If no one believes in Europe, what will keep the European Union alive?

People in Europe won’t see any benefit if Moscow receives a pass from Brussels in the form of negativity towards Ukraine. Putin will surely use this against you personally, and against all of Europe.

Don’t give him this first – and only – victory of the year. Europe must win, agreements must be honored, and words must matter.

Thank you so much, Charles, all of you!

Слава Україні!

The European Council has decided to open accession negotiations with Ukraine & Moldova.

#EUCO granted candidate status to Georgia. And the EU will open negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina once the necessary degree of compliance with the membership criteria is reached and has invited the commission to report by March with a view to taking such a decision.

A clear signal of hope for their people and for our continent.

Orban folded and/or the 10 billion Euro cheque cleared.

Amazingly, the FY 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) passed both the Senate and the House today. Given the House Freedom Caucus’s threats, it was unclear if it would be brought to the floor. CNN has the details of what is in it: (emphasis mine)

The House and Senate have approved a $886.3 billion defense policy bill, which would provide the largest raise for service members in more than two decades, temporarily extend a controversial surveillance program and strengthen the US posture in the Indo-Pacific region to deter Chinese actions.

The nearly 3,100-page National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2024 now goes to President Joe Biden for his signature. The package authorizes $28 billion, or about 3%, more than the previous fiscal year.

The legislation outlines the policy agenda for the Department of Defense and the US military and authorizes spending in line with the Pentagon’s priorities. But it does not appropriate the funding itself.

The defense authorization bill would extend the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative through the end of 2026 and authorize $300 million for the program in the current fiscal year and the next one. The program provides funding for the federal government to pay industry to produce weapons and security assistance to send to Ukraine, rather than drawing directly from current US stockpiles of weapons.

Before anyone decides to take a victory lap in the comments, the NDAA is not the FY2024 Defense appropriation. All the NDAA does is delineate what the DOD should do and what it should spend to do it. It DOES NOT actually appropriate/provide any funding to do those things! Funding will be provided in the Defense appropriation, which is one of the 12 appropriations bills that the House is supposed to pass and then send to the Senate. The Senate has finished its version of all 12, including the Defense appropriation, but the House has not passed a single one. Some are in the drafting process. Some haven’t even been started yet. The Continuing Resolution that funds the DOD runs out at the beginning of FEB 2024.

Funding for Ukraine and the authorization to use it runs out at the end of December. Despite that reality, the Pentagon spokesman issued a statement today that contradicted itself and the White House statement from last week that support would be ending because funding would run out at the end of the month.

What this seems to mean is that the Pentagon is planning on just shipping equipment to Ukraine under drawdown authority without funding to replace them in the US inventory. I think that’s the only way to parse that there is $0 left and the authorization to spend even if there were dollars has expired, but we’re going to continue to drawdown another $4 billion or so, which we don’t have and aren’t authorized to spend.

It’s been a long week and this makes my head hurt.

The Senate is staying in session to continue trying to negotiate a Ukraine supplemental aid package in exchange for writing a number of Stephen Miller’s failed executive actions on immigration into statutory law. The House has recessed and gone home for the holidays.

For those of you marking Advent on your calendars this season:

Ukrainian Advent Calendar: Day 14

Today, we would like to thank our American (@Deptofdefense), British (@DefenceHQ) and Estonian (@MoD_Estonia) friends for Javelins.

This man-portable anti-tank system has become a legend on the battlefield and even turned into a Ukrainian pop culture icon. It helped our soldiers shatter the Kremlin’s dream about seizing Kyiv in three days. It’s no surprise that it’s often referred to as Saint Javelin.

You can guess the 15th Weapon of Victory in comments. Let’s test your intuition.

#StandWithUkraine #UAMoDAdvent

Here’s more details on the German aid package announced yesterday:

One more Patriot air defense system from Germany arrived in Ukraine!

@BMVg_Bundeswehr is providing Ukraine with much needed military support. The new aid package includes:

◾️Patriot air defense system
◾️Patriot missiles
◾️9 BV 206 tracked all-terrain vehicles
◾️3 mine clearing systems
◾️14 drone detection systems
◾️8 Zetros trucks
◾️4 semi-trailers
◾️8 Zetros tankers
◾️4 vehicles (trucks, minibuses, all-terrain vehicles)
◾️7,390 rounds 155mm ammunition
◾️47,040 rounds 40mm ammunition

Vielen Dank!
🇺🇦🤝🇩🇪
#StandWithUkraine

Estonia also announces another aid package:

Here are the details from the Estonian Ministry of Defense:

The government cabinet supported Minister of Defence Hanno Pevkur’s proposal for long-term military aid to Ukraine and an extensive military aid package for Ukraine in defence against the Russian aggression. The aid includes Javelin anti-tank missiles, vessels, and other much-needed equipment.

“Just like the Estonian Javelins played a decisive role last year in defence of Kyiv and inspired other countries to lend a helping hand to Ukraine, our aim with this extensive aid package is to show that Ukraine’s fight for freedom can only succeed if Allies continue helping Ukrainians,” said Pevkur.

In addition to a large quantity of Javelin anti-tank mines, the newest aid package also includes machine guns, ammunition for light weaponry, various vehicles and vessels, as well as diving equipment. The exact amounts are not public for security reasons. The replacement value of the package is nearly 80 million euros.

“This aid package is compiled with the aim of maximum benefit for Ukraine without harming Estonia’s own defence capability. We are replacing the necessary stocks,” explained Pevkur.

“The Russian regime is betting on the free world giving up their support to Ukraine. In order to break the flawed calculation of the criminal Russian regime, we must send a strategic message: we will continue significant and sustained support to Ukraine until Ukraine has won the war. What’s at stake isn’t only the security of Ukraine, but also Estonian, transatlantic, and global security as a whole,” said the Minister of Defence.

In addition, the analysts at the Ministry of Defence have compiled a discussion paper for setting up transatlantic security for success. The paper includes calculations to show that to insure a victory for Ukraine and loss for Russia, it is enough for supporters of Ukraine to allocate 0,25% of their GDP to Ukraine per year.

“Allies have what it takes – Russia spends more than twice on warfighting in Ukraine than the Ramstein coalition, whose combined economies are 30 times those of Russia, does on military aid to Ukraine. Our calculations show that if the free world would be willing to aid Ukraine at a rate of 0,25% of their GDPs per year, it would be enough to break the backbone of Russia, who only understands brute force. This is a small price to pay compared to what the costs will be if the Russian aggression ends up paying off for them,” said Pevkur.

For the next four years, Estonia is ready to allocate 0,25% of its GDP to military aid to Ukraine and will use the defence budget means to finance the aid. “Ukraine is also fighting for us and each war machine destroyed with our help is a step towards reducing the Russian threat towards Europe. Therefore, we must be ready to support Ukraine in the long term and also demonstrate to our Allies that where there is a will, there is a way to help Ukraine,” explained Pevkur.

With the addition of the newest military aid package, since 2022 Estonia has provided Ukraine with military aid in the value of 500 million euros, which amounts to ca 1,4% of the GDP.

Earlier aid packages from Estonia to Ukraine have included, for example, Javelin anti-tank missile systems, howitzers, artillery ammunition, anti-tank mines, anti-tank mortars, machine guns, vehicles, communications equipment, field hospitals, medical supplies, personal protective gear (helmets, body armour, etc.), and military food rations.

Russia once again opened up on Ukraine over night:

Putin is counting on this:

Odesa Oblast:

Kyiv:

Avdiivka Axis:

This interview with one of the members of the Avdiivka garrison was recorded in November. “Zam”, a company commander, has been in Avdiivka for many months now. He first saw massive Russian columns advancing on his positions on 10 October ’23. This interview will give you an idea of the cost of holding off the hordes, and a truthful, unique insight into the mindset of a Ukrainian commander.

Source: https://youtu.be/hEnb2-eXlaQ

Here’s the video as a direct embed:

Bakhmut:

Russian occupied Mariupol:

For you drone/anti-drone enthusiasts:

Somewhere in Russia or Russian occupied Ukraine:

More on the Kyivstar cyberattack:

From Reuters:

Dec 14 (Reuters) – Ukraine’s biggest mobile operator Kyivstar may need several weeks to reinstate all its services after a massive cyber attack, though major services could be restored by the end of this week, the company’s CEO Oleksandr Komarov said on Thursday.

Tuesday’s attack on Kyivstar, which counts more than half of Ukraine’s population as mobile subscribers, knocked out services and damaged IT infrastructure and air raid alert systems in several regions.

Komarov said he hoped the company would be able to fully restore three major services – mobile internet, voice services, and SMS – by the end of this week.

“(To restore) all additional services, from my point of view, will probably take several weeks,” he said in televised comments.

On Wednesday, a group called Solntsepyok, believed by Ukraine’s security service SBU to be affiliated with Russian military intelligence, said in a post on the Telegram messenger that it carried out the attack. It published screenshots appearing to show that the hackers had accessed Kyivstar’s servers.

“Photos appeared in Telegram channels are fabricated,” he said. Data was not damaged or lost, he stressed.

In its Telegram post revealing the hack, Solntsepyok thanked unnamed “concerned colleagues” at Kyivstar. The SBU said on Tuesday that it had opened a criminal case following the cyberattack.

Kyivstar’s CEO said the hackers used an employee’s compromised account for the attack but how exactly they got access to it is a matter of ongoing investigation.

That’s enough for tonight.

Your daily Patron!

A newish video from Patron’s official cartoon TikTok!

@patronthedog

Друзі назавжди ❤️🐾

♬ Always Forever (you and me always forever) – Cults

Here’s the machine translation of the caption:

Friends forever ❤️🐾

Open thread!

Reader Interactions

27Comments

  1. 1.

    Alison Rose

    Some good news, some okay news, some not good news. I suppose we have to take what we can get these days.

    I was glad to hear of the EU decision, especially since it seems to make (at least most) Ukrainians happy and (probably nearly all) russians mad. Therefore it is a good thing.

    Zelenskyy posted a late address just a bit ago. FB link to the captioned version if anyone wants to see.

    Thank you as always, Adam.

  2. 2.

    japa21

    Adam, as usual, thanks for your hard work.

    This article in the Chicago Sun-Times this morning was disturbing.

    Stickers bearing the letter “Z” appeared on buildings throughout Ukrainian Village this week.

    The simple letter might not mean much to many Chicagoans, but Svitlana Iva-Ugryn knows exactly what it means — and was disturbed to see one on her office window.

    The symbol signifies support for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

    “For Ukrainians, it’s a very triggering symbol because it’s on these military machines that invaded Ukraine, especially in the territories where people were tortured, killed and where the mass graves were found,” Iva-Ugryn said.

    And to underscore that message, the sticker that appeared on the windows of the office she shares with her husband in the Near Northwest Side neighborhood carried Russian words meaning “for the victory.”…

    But no matter its origins, the symbol has come to stand for something sinister, Ukrainian-Americans say.

    It is a “symbol for Russian fascism,” Liliia Popovych of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America told the Sun-Times.

    “They’re basically trying to tell us that they’re going to reach Ukrainians everywhere,” Popovych said. “It’s not just a war for territory, they basically want to erase all of the Ukrainians.”

    And the sudden appearance of the symbol is especially alarming to Chicago’s Ukrainian community as support for the country’s fight against Russia has waned since the war started nearly two years ago…

    At first, Iva-Ugryn worried it was a personal assault because of the Ukrainian flag hanging in their window. But when she went on Facebook, she learned that other Ukrainian businesses, the Ukrainian National Museum, St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral and St. Nicholas Cathedral School had all been marked.

    “The Ukrainian school is most disturbing to me. There are refugee children there. Imagine that for them,” Iva-Ugryn said. “It’s disturbing because we didn’t know why it’s happening right now. It’s the second year of the war, and all of a sudden for this to happen, it feels like an attack.”

    She wonders if it’s in part because of the ongoing tension in Congress over supplying additional aid to Ukraine.

  3. 3.

    Martin

    I don’t know how the US values its inventory. I’ve tried to find an explanation and haven’t found one.

    It makes me wonder if a missile that cost $1M in 2010 or whenever appropriation budget, sitting around waiting to be used and now superseded and earmarked for decommission counts as a $1M cost to the Ukraine program if we send it to them, or if it’s depreciated in any way, or if it’s set to $0 because it’s earmarked for decommission.

    This is a regular place for financial shenanigans in the corporate world (See: Trump, Donald J) as well as in government, but I don’t know what kind of latitude the WH has here. My suspicion is we cost this stuff in appropriation dollars which means that the value to the taxpayer is actually lower because the tax dollars were already paid, and we’re in some cases at least giving away stuff we were never going to use.

  5. 5.

    currawong

    I’m not sure if this has been asked and answered. How many representatives and senators have been compromised by Russia? I remember a visit by US Senators to Russia a few years ago. I’m assuming lots of kompromat was generated. I would also assume that US intelligence is aware of anyone in authority that has been compromised. Are we likely to see any movement by the FBI in relation to these. It would appear that a number of them are working directly on Putin’s directions.

  6. 6.

    Another Scott

    What this seems to mean is that the Pentagon is planning on just shipping equipment to Ukraine under drawdown authority without funding to replace them in the US inventory. I think that’s the only way to parse that there is $0 left and the authorization to spend even if there were dollars has expired, but we’re going to continue to drawdown another $4 billion or so, which we don’t have and aren’t authorized to spend.

    I think the tweeter is referring to the two different buckets of money that the DoD deputy press secretary was talking about in the November quote I posted in a comment a day or so ago. There’s still some money in the presidential drawdown authority that was part of the previous Supplemental (the 5%/$3.mumble billion). There is apparently no longer any money in the USAI program (the presidential authority to buy stuff from defense contractors).

    Twitter is terrible at nuance and explaining complexity, part MCMXXIV (b)(3)(iii).

    My $0.02.

    Thanks.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  11. 11.

    Gin & Tonic

    @BR: The vote took place when Viktor Orban had left the room, so in effect he abstained. This was likely theater; reportedly arranged by Scholz.

  13. 13.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Another Scott: No, there is no money left in the drawdown. That hit $0 a week to ten days ago. If they send anything else under drawdown authority it means they will not be replenishing/backfilling that inventory. The expression for this is taking it out of hide.

  14. 14.

    BR

    @Gin & Tonic: ​
    Yeah, I read about the theatre around Hungary’s abstention. I’m reading some comments that the EU ministers are saying they have time for the funding vote, but they don’t seem to be in any hurry since they’re talking about late January for trying again.

  15. 15.

    japa21

    @Martin:

     

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Not good and I wonder if it is just prelude to some action being taken against Ukrainian businesses by some unknown parties.  Hopefully not.  Remember when all this started how some Russian businesses suffered?  Some people may think it is payback time.

  16. 16.

    Martin

    @Adam L Silverman: But given that we bought most of this stuff with the expectation that it would be needed to defeat a Russian/Russian backed military, surely we can afford to go without it, no?

  17. 17.

    Adam L Silverman

    @japa21: All the extremists are going to be coming out of the woodwork over the next year because of the election. No ethnic minority or religious minority or anyone in the LGBTQ+ community is going to be safe from what is coming. Even if you present as white and nominally Christian.

  18. 18.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Martin: Depends on how long it takes to get a FY2024 Defense appropriation in place, whether the automatic $35 billion cut to the DOD that was part of the debt ceiling raise kicks in on 1 JAN 2024 because the Defense appropriation has not passed by 1 JAN 2024, and whether we need to either attack something or defend against someone.

  20. 20.

    rekoob

    @Martin: It’s an interesting conundrum. You hint at what the accounting world would call “First In, First Out” (FIFO), meaning that the oldest (fully depreciated) items would move out of inventory first. That would make the most sense, but I’m not a Department of Defense accountant. Companies, as you note, love to find ways to switch between FIFO and LIFO (Last In, First Out) to manipulate earnings, but that seems less relevant to government budgeting (once again, I’m not a DOD accountant). Although creativity is not normally encouraged among auditors, I’m hoping someone at The Pentagon is finding a way to get the most to Ukraine as possible.

  22. 22.

    way2blue

    The first time I thought much about Ukraine was several years back now.  Reading an article in Wired magazine about an engineer looking out his window at the city lights.  I think it was Christmas Eve.  And he was wondering which infrastructure would be hit by a cyber attack that night.  As he looked out, he saw swaths of city lights wink out…  Apparently every year at the end of the year–the Russians would pick something (trains the year before) to hack.  My first insight into their sick, twisted lives.  Sad to see this year is right on schedule.

  23. 23.

    wjca

    @Martin: we bought most of this stuff with the expectation that it would be needed to defeat a Russian/Russian backed military.

    And, by sending this stuff to Ukraine, it is being used as intended.  How appropriate.

  25. 25.

    Another Scott

    Someone with more time than me can carefully total up the 53 PDA announcements so far – I get $25.625B – and compare it to the CRSReports.congress.gov (3 page .pdf) that says the FY22 and FY23 drawdown authority total was $25.93B.

    It’s not clear to me how the $6.2B the DoD found by redoing the accounting figures into these numbers.

    Maybe there’s $300M left; maybe there’s $6.5B left. I guess we’ll find out soon…

    FWIW.

    Slava Ukraini!!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  27. 27.

    Bill Arnold

    A couple of links of general interest. First is a (very) long pdf with details about the Russian intelligence services, assembled from open sources. (I just looked at a couple of sections; looks useful.)
    RUSSIAN INTELLIGENCE – A Case-based Study of Russian Services and Missions Past and Present (KEVIN P. RIEHLE, 2022. 370 pages (pdf). Download link is given in the text, so appears to be legal.)

    And a Times of Israel piece with some details about part of the conflict between the Biden administration and Israel.
    Israel urging US not to talk publicly about two-state solution — officials – Request not just being made by PM, but Herzog, Gantz and Lapid as well, who argue that framework has no support post Oct. 7; US official says Washington in no position to heed call (Jacob Magid, 2023/12/15)

    WASHINGTON — Israeli leaders have been privately urging the Biden administration to refrain from publicly talking about the two-state solution in the fallout of Hamas’s October 7 terror onslaught, four Israeli and US officials told The Times of Israel this week.
    …
    A US official confirmed to The Times of Israel that there has indeed been a multi-front effort to convince the Biden administration to tone down the public rhetoric regarding the need for a two-state solution, but they said that Washington has no intention to budge.
    “We have our own domestic politics and our global diplomatic standing to take into account,” the official says. “We’re doing a lot for Israel, and they need to understand this is something we need to do.”

    A bit cynical, that last. A large sub-population with no rights (compared to citizens) is an extremely bad look. The Israeli approach of working the refs to make comparisons with apartheid equivalent to antisemitism will be increasingly pathetic.

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