The close of 2023 brings with it an escalation with the Hamas - Israel War which began on October. Intially 1400 Israelis were killed in the surprise strike within Israel. To date over 11,000 have been killed in Gaza. Gaza is divided in half. Israel argues that Hamas headquaters under hospitals, schools, and mosques. Hamas counters that this is only a pretext for continued assaults.

Israeli PM claims that the mission is to destroy Hamas. Hamas argues it is not interested in protecting the lives of Palestinians, it wishes to eliminate the entire situation where Israel is in control of Gaza security as  blockades.

It appears that this is a deadly game of musical chairs. In my opinion it is unlikely that Hamas could of attacked Israel unilaterally. This appears to reflect on Iran and Russia as task masters.

Putin is bogged down in Ukraine and the distraction favors him in the short run.

Fascism: Patrons and Partisans

                                          

                                                                   Mussolini and Hitler

The Committee of National Liberation for Northern Italy (Italian: Comitato di Liberazione Nazionale Alta Italia, CLNAI) was set up in February 1944 by partisans behind German lines in the Italian Social Republic, a German puppet state in Northern Italy. It enjoyed the loyalty of most anti-fascist groups in the region.

Members of the Fascist government and the gerarchi of fascism who are guilty of suppressing constitutional guarantees, destroying popular liberties, creating the Fascist regime, compromising and betraying the fate of the country, and leading it to the present catastrophe are to be punished with the penalty of death, and in less serious instances life imprisonment.

CLNAI, Decree issued 25 April 1945, Art. 5

Who were the patrons in Italy during WWII?

During World War II, Italy was under the fascist regime led by Benito Mussolini and the National Fascist Party. The fascist government had several prominent figures who can be considered patrons or supporters of the regime. Some of the key patrons in Italy during World War II were:

1. Benito Mussolini: Mussolini was the dictator of Italy and the leader of the National Fascist Party. He established the fascist regime in Italy in 1922 and was the driving force behind Italian involvement in World War II. Mussolini aimed to expand Italian territories and restore Italy to its former Roman Empire glory.

2. King Victor Emmanuel III: Victor Emmanuel III was the King of Italy during World War II. Initially, he supported Mussolini's fascist government, but as the war progressed and Italy faced significant setbacks, he started distancing himself from Mussolini. In 1943, he dismissed Mussolini from power and later abdicated the throne.

3. Fascist Party Officials: Several high-ranking officials within the National Fascist Party supported Mussolini and played key roles in the Italian government during World War II. Notable figures include Galeazzo Ciano (Mussolini's son in law and Foreign Minister), Italo Balbo (Marshal of the Air Force), and Achille Starace (Secretary of the Fascist Party).

4. Italian Military Commanders: Many Italian military commanders pledged their support to Mussolini and fought alongside Axis forces during the war. Notable military leaders included Marshal Pietro Badoglio, General Rodolfo Graziani, and Marshal Italo Gariboldi. However, Italy's military performance during the war was often criticized, and they faced numerous setbacks.

5. Industrialists and Business Elites: Several prominent Italian industrialists and business elites supported the fascist regime due to various reasons, such as economic advantages, political influence, or ideological alignment. These individuals provided financial support to the government and profited from the war economy. Some influential figures in this regard were Giovanni Agnelli (Fiat), Alberto Pirelli (Pirelli), and Leopoldo Pirelli (Pirelli).

It's important to note that while the fascist government had supporters and patrons, there were also many Italians who opposed the regime and actively resisted it, including anti fascist groups and individuals.

Benito Mussolini was driven from power by a combination of internal and external forces.

The primary factor was the deteriorating military situation for Italy during World War II, which led to significant losses on the battlefield. Here are the key events and actors involved in Mussolini's fall from power:

1. Grand Council of Fascism: In July 1943, as Italy faced military defeats and Allied forces invaded Sicily, the Grand Council of Fascism, a body composed of top Fascist Party officials, passed a motion to strip Mussolini of his powers. This decision was influenced by growing discontent within the party regarding Mussolini's leadership.

2. King Victor Emmanuel III: After the Grand Council's decision, King Victor Emmanuel III, who had previously supported Mussolini, dismissed him from power on July 25, 1943. The king appointed Marshal Pietro Badoglio, a senior military officer, as the new Prime Minister.

3. Arrest and Imprisonment: Following his dismissal, Mussolini was arrested and imprisoned. However, he was later rescued by German special forces in a daring operation known as the Gran Sasso raid. Mussolini was then installed as the head of the Italian Social Republic  (a puppet state established by the Germans in northern Italy).

4. Allied Advances: Despite his rescue, Mussolini's authority was greatly diminished. As the Allies made significant progress in liberating Italy, the Italian Social Republic became increasingly isolated and faced military pressure from both the Allied forces and Italian resistance groups.

5. Capture and Execution: In April 1945, as the war was reaching its conclusion, Mussolini attempted to flee Italy with his mistress, Clara Petacci. However, they were captured by Italian partisans near Lake Como. On April 28, 1945, Mussolini and Petacci were executed by firing squad. Their bodies were later publicly displayed in Milan.

In summary, Mussolini's fall from power was primarily driven by a combination of internal dissent within the Fascist Party, military setbacks, and the changing tide of World War II, which led to his dismissal by King Victor Emmanuel III.

Who were the partisans in Italy during WWII?

The Italian partisans were individuals and groups who formed a resistance movement against the fascist regime of Benito Mussolini and the German occupation of Italy during World War II. They were made up of various political backgrounds, including communists, socialists, anarchists, liberals, and nationalists. The Italian partisan movement played a significant role in opposing the fascist regime and supporting the Allied cause. Here are some key groups and figures within the Italian partisan movement:

1. National Liberation Committee (Comitato di Liberazione Nazionale or CLN): The CLN was an umbrella organization that brought together various anti-fascist groups and political parties. It coordinated partisan activities, including acts of sabotage, intelligence gathering, and guerrilla warfare against Axis forces.

2. Italian Communist Party (Partito Comunista Italiano or PCI): The PCI was one of the largest and most organized political parties within the Italian resistance movement. Communist partisans played a prominent role in fighting against the fascist regime and the German occupation.

3. Giustizia e Libertà (Justice and Liberty): This anti-fascist movement, founded by Carlo Rosselli and others in the 1920s, continued its resistance activities during World War II. Giustizia e Libertà advocated for liberal democracy and actively fought against the fascist regime and Nazi occupation.

4. Action Party (Partito d'Azione): The Action Party was a liberal and anti-fascist political organization that opposed Mussolini's regime. Its members played a significant role in the resistance movement and collaborated with other partisan groups.

5. Women's Antifascist Organization (Organizzazione Femminile Antifascista or OFA): OFA was a women's resistance organization that played a crucial role in supporting the partisan movement. Women in the OFA engaged in various activities, including distributing propaganda, providing medical aid, and participating in armed resistance.

6. Garibaldi Brigades: Named after the Italian revolutionary Giuseppe Garibaldi, the Garibaldi Brigades were armed partisan groups that operated in different regions of Italy. They carried out acts of sabotage, attacked German and fascist targets, and worked closely with the CLN.

7. Osoppo, Matteotti, and other partisan formations: These were some of the other partisan groups that operated within specific regions of Italy, carrying out acts of resistance against the Axis forces.

The Italian partisan movement played a vital role in supporting the Allied cause, disrupting enemy operations, and preparing the way for the liberation of Italy. Their efforts contributed to the downfall of Mussolini's fascist regime and the eventual liberation of Italy from German occupation.

What is the difference between a patron and a partisan?

The terms patrons  and  partisans srefer to different groups of people involved in distinct contexts:

1. Patrons: The term  patrons  typically refers to individuals or groups who provide support, sponsorship, or financial assistance to another person, organization, or cause. Patrons can be influential figures who offer resources, protection, or endorsement to artists, scholars, institutions, or political movements. In historical contexts, patrons often had a significant impact on the development and success of their beneficiaries.

2. Partisans: Partisans, on the other hand, are individuals who engage in armed resistance or guerrilla warfare against an occupying force or an oppressive regime. Partisans are members of a resistance movement, typically fighting for the liberation, independence, or political change of their country or region. They operate covertly, engaging in sabotage, guerrilla tactics, and acts of defiance to undermine the authority of the occupying or oppressive forces.

In summary, the main difference between patrons and partisans lies in their roles and actions. Patrons provide support, sponsorship, or assistance, often in non-military contexts, while partisans are involved in armed resistance and guerrilla activities, primarily during times of conflict or under oppressive regimes.

ChatAI

Death of Benito Mussolini (2023, June 30).  Wikipedia. Retrieved 20:05, July 2, 2023, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Death_of_Benito_Mussolini&oldid=1162615881

Donald Trump

Former President Donald J. Trump faces legal predicament from several  actions  the country, at both the state and federal levels, nd civil litigation concerning his behavio before and after his presidency.

Trump has been indicted in two cases. One concerns  federal criminal charges as part of the special counsel's investigation into his  handling of classified documents and whether he obstructed federal efforts to retrieve them.  

Mr. Trump faces 37 criminal counts: 31 related to withholding national defense information, five related to concealing  classified documents and one related to making false statements.

Trump was previously  indicted in Manhattan on 34 felony counts related to his role in what  is alleged by prosecutors  as a hush money scheme to cover up a potential sex scandal iwith actress Stormy Daniels before his path to the presidency in 2016.

Jack Smith, the special counsel  is also examining Mr. Trump's behavior after  his election loss in 2020 and his role in the events that led to the rioting at the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

The  Georgia prosecutor is in the final stages of an investigation into Trump's attempts to reverse the election results in that state.

It appears that former President has been entrapped along his entire career from real estate to the White House. Fast risers are often scapegoats. The issues concerning the MAGA or Make America Great Again Movement have raised suspicions about Alt Right and Irrationalist Movements, hence hate groups.

Trump has slowly matured as the First Citizen. The world's zeitgeist is heavily polarizes with the Ukraine War entering it's second year.

The Yellow Brick Road or defection via prisoner's dillema is a precarious choice to undertake. It appears the entire culture is under eugenic breeding and career shaping. Trump could have easily been targeted from his parents activities.

This is an ongoing concern as technology emerges more potently and the performance of humans is declining.

https://www.nytimes.com/article/trump-investigations-civil-criminal.html

The Weaponization of Culture and Objects

The use of epistemological attacks concerning species life or reproduction have escalated in to polarized conflicts and war. Humans need to sustain as a species:

Oxygen

Food Water

Clothing Shelter

Reproduction

The elementary epistemology of  Humans:

See

Hear

Taste

Smell

Touch

The criminalization or the imposing of a racketeered influenced structure over the individual weaponizes the basic minimum to survive. One would live for maybe two weeks at the very most without water. One month is the outer boundary for lack of food. A person could become brain dead in only minutes without oxygen.

The external environment especially the extremes of heat and cold help despotism criminalize life itself. 

Yemen is a solid example to where access to food, water, clothing, shelter, and medical attention are controlled by warring militias and factions.

Religious epistemology is also a contributing factor in the morbidity of the population. Different interpretations of Islam are driving conflict.

The United States and Gulf state actors support the conflict. The Houthis are Shiites aligned with Iran and in January 2015, rebelled leading President 

Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi to resign whom was leading the Sunni government.

Amnesty International reports that the intervention of regional powers in Yemen’s conflict, including Iran and Gulf states led by Saudi Arabia, threatens to draw the country into the broader Sunni Shia divide. Numerous Iranian weapons shipments to Houthi rebels have been intercepted in the Gulf of Aden by a Saudi naval blockade in place since April 2015. In response, Iran has dispatched its own naval convoy, which further risks military escalation between the two countries.

The conflict continues to exact a heavy toll on Yemeni civilians. Yemen is the world's worst humanitarian crisis. The UN estimates that 60 percent of the estimated 377,000 deaths in Yemen since 2015 are the result of indirect causes like food insecurity and lack of accessible health services. Nearly 74 percent, or twenty five million Yemenis, remain in need of assistance. Five million are at risk of famine, and a cholera outbreak has affected over one million people. All sides of the conflict are reported to have violated human rights and international humanitarian law.

The use of Prisoner's Dilemma to divide and conquer and or marginalize is easily demonstrated by the regional and international hegemons to continue what borders on genocide.

Democracy is not stable nor is the human repertoire. Lawlessness and economic hardship distract for any attempt by NGO's to act decisively. These issues are replicable over time any where.

Hence this defection not the cooperation of the rule of law. 

https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/war-yemen

Ideology and Regression

Ideology has taken a forefront in the shaping of our culture as it is non place. Ideology is a very fluid concept. It currently refers to an individual or groups belief system. In this nexus it may be mechanistic or theistic. That is to state that one can become a Muslim, Christian, or atheist without having to be or live in a fixed geographic location. Technology has permitted large numbers of persons to migrate and in doing so bringing their belief system with them.

 Antoine Destutt de Tracy, a French Enlightenment aristocrat and philosopher, conceived it in 1796 as the science of ideas to develop a rational system of ideas in opposition to the irrational impulses of the mob. In political science, the term is used in a descriptive sense to refer to political belief systems. [1]

Regression is a Freudian defense mechanism where the individual returns to an earlier or juvenile time period. I recently saw a Facebook post where there was a perhaps 40 years old male whom wanted to live his life out as six year old girl. In psychoanalysis this would be abnormal defense of one's ego in an attempt to defend it.

Violence as war has been portrayed from many different perspectives. The term jus belle or just war is in contrast to guerra bellicose  where an actor is the aggressor.

The Right to Protect is an emerging norm which attempt to legal insure that gross forms of mass destructions are prevented or dealt with.

If a State manifestly fails to comply with its obligation to protect its population from four particular crimes – genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity – the international community has a responsibility to take joint action to protect the people in question. 

Such action can take various forms: diplomacy, humanitarian measures or other  peaceful means; it can also, as a last resort, involve the use of force, but only after the UN Security Council's authorization. 

It is clear in March, 2023 where the ICC has issued a warrant for Vladimir Putin that international collective security remains in the Hobbesian State of Nature. 

1. van Dijk, T.A. (2006). "Politics, Ideology, and Discourse" (http://www.discourses.org/OldArticles/Politics,%20Ideology%20and%20Discourse.pdf) (PDF). Discourse in Society. 

Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20110708194631/http://www.discourses.org/OldArticles/Politics,%20Ideology%20and%20Discourse.pdf) (PDF) from the original on 2011-07-08. Retrieved 2019-01-28.

Identity and Conscience

The identity of both individuals and groups have interacted to create a polarized zeitgeist that is unstable. Political systems as the United States and Russia are strong enough as types one against another to sustain even though heavily disrupted.

Sigmund Freud ‘s theory of conscience emerges from genetics and is learned from the primary parents. This is the Super Ego. This psycho-sexual approach focuses on infancy, especially the first five years of age. All individuals use resources and consequently as feedback leave artefacts in the environment.

The collective action of groups then forms the social conscious from individuals. There are a multiplicity of events that individuals emerge from. As I am now 61 years of age, precisely one day older than Barack Obama the consideration of failed generations are extant as issues as the Ukraine War, Covid 19, and ecological disasters appear more frequent.

The alienation of the individual or group is a salient point of departure in social science. One should observe that this is occurring from outside the individual all though it is not exclusive of conscience or unconscious behavior.

The interaction between controller and controlled appears more unsolvable as different powers emerge or attempt to consolidate their status.

Hence the zeitgeist is static or inverse. The collective or culture does not have a Super Conscience to shape what is right or wrong.