Cruelty As Diplomacy

Revealed via Wikileaks:

Israel told U.S. officials in 2008 it would keep Gaza's economy "on the brink of collapse" while avoiding a humanitarian crisis, according to U.S. diplomatic cables published by a Norwegian daily on Wednesday.

Three cables cited by the Aftenposten newspaper, which has said it has all 250,000 U.S. cables leaked to WikiLeaks, showed that Israel kept the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv briefed on its internationally criticized blockade of the Gaza Strip.

The territory, home to 1.3 million Palestinians, is run by the Islamist Hamas group, which is shunned by the West over its refusal to recognize Israel, renounce violence or accept existing interim Israeli-Palestinian peace deals.

"As part of their overall embargo plan against Gaza, Israeli officials have confirmed to (U.S. embassy economic officers) on multiple occasions that they intend to keep the Gazan economy on the brink of collapse without quite pushing it over the edge," one of the cables read.


Israel wanted the coastal territory's economy "functioning at the lowest level possible consistent with avoiding a humanitarian crisis", according to the Nov. 3, 2008 cable.

I guess the bar for "avoiding a humanitarian crisis" was lowered quite a bit when Israel used White Phosphorus on the Gaza Strip in January 2009.

Person of the... what?

Time somewhat inexplicably today chose Mark Zuckerberg over Julian Assange for person of the year, despite the fact that Assange received more than twenty times the online votes (382,000 to 18,000), and Zuckerberg's main contribution to society (Facebook) did not take place in this year while Assange's (leaks leaks leaks!) most definitely did. I guess there was that tight movie about Zuckerberg this year, but other than that I just can't see the reasoning.

If anything, it is yet another reminder of how Time has fully committed to its new mission as a magazine for children:


TIME Announces New Version Of Magazine Aimed At Adults

Meanwhile, the US Air Force has entirely prohibited its members from accessing any content on sites that posted wikileaks cables, including the New York Times, the Guardian, der Spiegel, El País, and Le Monde. HOLY LIVING CRAP THAT'S CRAZY.