Also Media.

Also Media.

Greetings podcast Into theis. It's me James, a man who has commenced his one man war against cutter airlines, who detained me against my will for most of the last two days in a very small part of a very big plane. See there's a there's.

Greetings podcast Into theis. It's me James, a man who has commenced his one man war against cutter airlines, who detained me against my will for most of the last two days in a very small part of a very big plane. See there's a there's.

A You know, airlines from Middle Eastern countries are are usually like the best airlines are like Royal Jordanian and the Air Immirates. If it's if it's owned by a king, it's usually a safe bet. But but cutter airways, that's what they say about England breaks that mold, proudly breaks that mold. Yeah, yeah, fuck me.

A You know, airlines from Middle Eastern countries are are usually like the best airlines are like Royal Jordanian and the Air Immirates. If it's if it's owned by a king, it's usually a safe bet. But but cutter airways, that's what they say about England breaks that mold, proudly breaks that mold. Yeah, yeah, fuck me.

One of the one of the less pleasant experiences available to a human being that doesn't end in death is a thirty six hour trip from Kingston to now in California, which see I've just enjoyed.

One of the one of the less pleasant experiences available to a human being that doesn't end in death is a thirty six hour trip from Kingston to now in California, which see I've just enjoyed.

I always enjoyed those trips back from Air Emirates because when you're on the Air Emirates flight, if you ask the steward or whatever to you, if you tell him, hey, I would like eight shots of vodka and four glasses of orange juice, He'll just give it to you, like, not even a question, not even a question. And so have I vomited on a couple of Air Emirates flights?

I always enjoyed those trips back from Air Emirates because when you're on the Air Emirates flight, if you ask the steward or whatever to you, if you tell him, hey, I would like eight shots of vodka and four glasses of orange juice, He'll just give it to you, like, not even a question, not even a question. And so have I vomited on a couple of Air Emirates flights?

Yes?

Yes?

Is it always a good time? Probably you don't remember. No, No, yeah, I see.

Is it always a good time? Probably you don't remember. No, No, yeah, I see.

I was at the point of frustration where like and I'm as an english Man, if if I've become frustrated and drunk, then my instinct is to fight everyone or throw bottles, and I thought that would probably result in further detention, so decided against decided against becoming bladdered. Or it could have started singing. I guess that's the other option available to me that fits my culture. Yeah, so we're not here to talk about things that I like to do in my free time, as much as I would love that, but we are here to talk about things that I have been seeing in my worktime. When I was traveling to Kurdistan last couple of weeks. Kurdistan, for people who are not familiar, is a big area, the area where Kurdish people live, and it spans several countries. The areas I went, we're in Iraq and in Syria or in that it's not really in I guess Syrian regime territory. But if you look on the.

I was at the point of frustration where like and I'm as an english Man, if if I've become frustrated and drunk, then my instinct is to fight everyone or throw bottles, and I thought that would probably result in further detention, so decided against decided against becoming bladdered. Or it could have started singing. I guess that's the other option available to me that fits my culture. Yeah, so we're not here to talk about things that I like to do in my free time, as much as I would love that, but we are here to talk about things that I have been seeing in my worktime. When I was traveling to Kurdistan last couple of weeks. Kurdistan, for people who are not familiar, is a big area, the area where Kurdish people live, and it spans several countries. The areas I went, we're in Iraq and in Syria or in that it's not really in I guess Syrian regime territory. But if you look on the.

Mout northeast Syria known as Rojava. The other two parts that are generally considered part of Kurdistan are a chunk, big chunk of southern Iran and also a big chunk of southern Turkey.

Mout northeast Syria known as Rojava. The other two parts that are generally considered part of Kurdistan are a chunk, big chunk of southern Iran and also a big chunk of southern Turkey.

Yeah, so Java just means west. I think Roja lat is east eastern Kurdistan. So yeah, I've spent the last several last week and change in that area. And while I was there, the Turkish state began and a massive drone bombing campaign, which is what we are gathered here today to discuss. So for people who are not familiar, it's four years almost to this drone bombing campaign started almost four years to the day since Turkey's invasion of what they call the M four Strip. So that's the area around Surakania and tell Abayad, we've talked about that before on the Podka, So if you want to know more about that, you can go back and listen to it. It's the area along the border, one of the areas on the border between Turkey and Syria. And as people will know, Syria is a country that has had a long and terrible civil war, which they've heard about in lots of episodes, right, and we're not talking about that today, so much as we're talking about the Turkish state's use of drones to bomb, what people generally in this country will know as for a Java, right, So just to give them statistics off the top, this is the fourth year in a row of aggression at this time of year, right, So there have been two land attacks I think Operation Olive Branch and Operation with someone called peace Spring, and then two years the last two years there have been drone strikes at this time of year, this time of year, it seems very hard not to conclude that these are attempts to destroy civilian infrastructure and make it very hard for people in the cold months of the year. So right now, around two million people in north east Syria are going to be without power and without water. And I experienced some of that when I was there, and the places I stayed will run off generators, so you'd have like intermittent power, you'd have power from it and then they'd put some petrum in the generator and the power will go down, or the generator would have a little tantrum and the power would go down. But generally I had a lot better access to power that some people had a lot better access to water. So as I was traveling around, I noticed some people didn't have access to to like running water, right they can't turn on the tap and get water. Obviously that's a massive problem. It's something I think like as people are listening to this, Israel is also bombing the shit out of Gaza, the whole of the Gaza Strip, and the US recently intervened to ensure that people there have access to water, and they have done very little in the case of protecting people in North and East Syria. Right. So across this drone campaign, forty eight people have died, and in the worst of I guess the highest casualty of producing strike was one that happened while I was there, twenty nine internal security forces. Sometimes you'll see it translated as police, but I don't think that's quite accurate, like that they don't do cop shit, Like they're not there to you know, like arrescue for parking in the wrong place, or and they do the things that cops do. They're there largely as like internal security to the various non state armed groups that are in the area and state armed groups. I guess that they're operating in the area that would make things dangerous for people living there. So these particular essays were anti narcotics essays. And again why I'm grounding this and what they do is because they're not the people who like send you to jail for the rest of your life for like having an ounce of weed. They're the people whose job is to prevent the trading cap to gone will people know what people know what captagon is.

Yeah, so Java just means west. I think Roja lat is east eastern Kurdistan. So yeah, I've spent the last several last week and change in that area. And while I was there, the Turkish state began and a massive drone bombing campaign, which is what we are gathered here today to discuss. So for people who are not familiar, it's four years almost to this drone bombing campaign started almost four years to the day since Turkey's invasion of what they call the M four Strip. So that's the area around Surakania and tell Abayad, we've talked about that before on the Podka, So if you want to know more about that, you can go back and listen to it. It's the area along the border, one of the areas on the border between Turkey and Syria. And as people will know, Syria is a country that has had a long and terrible civil war, which they've heard about in lots of episodes, right, and we're not talking about that today, so much as we're talking about the Turkish state's use of drones to bomb, what people generally in this country will know as for a Java, right, So just to give them statistics off the top, this is the fourth year in a row of aggression at this time of year, right, So there have been two land attacks I think Operation Olive Branch and Operation with someone called peace Spring, and then two years the last two years there have been drone strikes at this time of year, this time of year, it seems very hard not to conclude that these are attempts to destroy civilian infrastructure and make it very hard for people in the cold months of the year. So right now, around two million people in north east Syria are going to be without power and without water. And I experienced some of that when I was there, and the places I stayed will run off generators, so you'd have like intermittent power, you'd have power from it and then they'd put some petrum in the generator and the power will go down, or the generator would have a little tantrum and the power would go down. But generally I had a lot better access to power that some people had a lot better access to water. So as I was traveling around, I noticed some people didn't have access to to like running water, right they can't turn on the tap and get water. Obviously that's a massive problem. It's something I think like as people are listening to this, Israel is also bombing the shit out of Gaza, the whole of the Gaza Strip, and the US recently intervened to ensure that people there have access to water, and they have done very little in the case of protecting people in North and East Syria. Right. So across this drone campaign, forty eight people have died, and in the worst of I guess the highest casualty of producing strike was one that happened while I was there, twenty nine internal security forces. Sometimes you'll see it translated as police, but I don't think that's quite accurate, like that they don't do cop shit, Like they're not there to you know, like arrescue for parking in the wrong place, or and they do the things that cops do. They're there largely as like internal security to the various non state armed groups that are in the area and state armed groups. I guess that they're operating in the area that would make things dangerous for people living there. So these particular essays were anti narcotics essays. And again why I'm grounding this and what they do is because they're not the people who like send you to jail for the rest of your life for like having an ounce of weed. They're the people whose job is to prevent the trading cap to gone will people know what people know what captagon is.

Absolutely yeah, it's it's it's it's one of the drug I mean, it's that when you when you hear about drug interdiction forces, like like police in Rojava, they're going after CAPTI Gone. It's a big chunk of both what kept isis it's it's the it's the purveten, you know, the meth that Nazis took that for isis right, and it was also a big chunk of how they got their funding was was moving and the a sad regime also gets a piece of a lot of the captivegone trade.

Absolutely yeah, it's it's it's it's one of the drug I mean, it's that when you when you hear about drug interdiction forces, like like police in Rojava, they're going after CAPTI Gone. It's a big chunk of both what kept isis it's it's the it's the purveten, you know, the meth that Nazis took that for isis right, and it was also a big chunk of how they got their funding was was moving and the a sad regime also gets a piece of a lot of the captivegone trade.

It continues to fund these largely these like it's the mist insurgent groups right in the area because it's small and it high value, and like Roberts also to give it to their fighters. This is very common, like around the world, We discuss this in Miandmar too, right, that the military there take something else called yabba. But these kind of meth derivatives are very common and they're very commonly sold. That's how a lot of these non state armed groups get money to buy stuff. Right. So when we're talking about drug interdiction, it's not done in a vacuum. It's not done because they think that necessarily that drugs are bad or that you know, there's some kind of moral failure that comes from the use of these substances. It's because it allows funding for groups that are trying to kill people on the ground. So like interdicting the drugs is part of an anti terrorism operation that allows people to live safely, which is what they deserve after ten plus years of war in that area. So twenty nine people is a lot of people, right, twenty nine anti narcotics assay issues is a lot of the people who do that job. It's going to make it signific currently harder for them to continue doing that job, which means it's going to make it significantly easier for those armed groups to get funding. Right. It's also so while I was there, there was a massive funeral for these people right, every town, every settlement across where Java has lost somebody in that strike, right, So in Kambishloh, in Kabani, in Alhasaka, like all these places had big funerals because you know, three or four or ten people came from that town, and like that's I saw a little girl like going to her dad's funeral, right, like a little girl holding a picture of her dad. And it's pretty fucked up. Like it's hard for that not to affect you, especially as like these people weren't fighting anyone, they weren't attacking anyone, right, they were just they were taking a training. They were taking an anti narcotics training at night, and sixty of them were gathering. It's building. Twenty nine were killed, twenty eight rain injured. And it's in the sort of furthest northeast part of northern Eassyria, but around a town called Derek, which is on the board of at al Malkay. Derek. Yeah, probably my pronunciation is asked al Malachaia might say on the map if you're looking at a Google map, so you're trying to work out what it is. Lots of these places. The reason they will have two names is cored edition and Arabic.

It continues to fund these largely these like it's the mist insurgent groups right in the area because it's small and it high value, and like Roberts also to give it to their fighters. This is very common, like around the world, We discuss this in Miandmar too, right, that the military there take something else called yabba. But these kind of meth derivatives are very common and they're very commonly sold. That's how a lot of these non state armed groups get money to buy stuff. Right. So when we're talking about drug interdiction, it's not done in a vacuum. It's not done because they think that necessarily that drugs are bad or that you know, there's some kind of moral failure that comes from the use of these substances. It's because it allows funding for groups that are trying to kill people on the ground. So like interdicting the drugs is part of an anti terrorism operation that allows people to live safely, which is what they deserve after ten plus years of war in that area. So twenty nine people is a lot of people, right, twenty nine anti narcotics assay issues is a lot of the people who do that job. It's going to make it signific currently harder for them to continue doing that job, which means it's going to make it significantly easier for those armed groups to get funding. Right. It's also so while I was there, there was a massive funeral for these people right, every town, every settlement across where Java has lost somebody in that strike, right, So in Kambishloh, in Kabani, in Alhasaka, like all these places had big funerals because you know, three or four or ten people came from that town, and like that's I saw a little girl like going to her dad's funeral, right, like a little girl holding a picture of her dad. And it's pretty fucked up. Like it's hard for that not to affect you, especially as like these people weren't fighting anyone, they weren't attacking anyone, right, they were just they were taking a training. They were taking an anti narcotics training at night, and sixty of them were gathering. It's building. Twenty nine were killed, twenty eight rain injured. And it's in the sort of furthest northeast part of northern Eassyria, but around a town called Derek, which is on the board of at al Malkay. Derek. Yeah, probably my pronunciation is asked al Malachaia might say on the map if you're looking at a Google map, so you're trying to work out what it is. Lots of these places. The reason they will have two names is cored edition and Arabic.

Right.

Right.

So, like under the previous Sad regime, like Arabic was the sort of language that people were enforced to speak and use, and now under the self administration, people tend to use Kurdish, and they tend to use a Latin script as opposed to an Arabic script. Right, So that's why you'll see two names very often you're looking on a map, But like twenty nine is only you know, there's nineteen other people, mostly civilians, right, who were killed, and two million people are now living without power, without water and without these basic services, which in turn will result in more death. Right, more people will die because they don't have access to those things which are life sustaining, right, old people, young people, sick people. Both things are the very basics of sustaining human life, and so without them, things are going to get a lot harder. I want to talk a little bit about like where these drone strikes happened, because largely aside from the one of their age, they weren't at like large groups of people or buildings. Instead, they were like deliberately targeting infrastructure. So of the ones that I saw and the ones that I read about, they targeted like an electricity substation in one case, they targeted a lot of water facilities, right, like water pumping stations, et cetera, that allow people to get water, a cooking gas plant, which it's pretty obvious what that does, right, It allows people to get bottles of gas to cook their food, and a lot of oil in destructures. So I saw a few of those called like donkeys, you know, the things that go up and down, yeah, using.

So, like under the previous Sad regime, like Arabic was the sort of language that people were enforced to speak and use, and now under the self administration, people tend to use Kurdish, and they tend to use a Latin script as opposed to an Arabic script. Right, So that's why you'll see two names very often you're looking on a map, But like twenty nine is only you know, there's nineteen other people, mostly civilians, right, who were killed, and two million people are now living without power, without water and without these basic services, which in turn will result in more death. Right, more people will die because they don't have access to those things which are life sustaining, right, old people, young people, sick people. Both things are the very basics of sustaining human life, and so without them, things are going to get a lot harder. I want to talk a little bit about like where these drone strikes happened, because largely aside from the one of their age, they weren't at like large groups of people or buildings. Instead, they were like deliberately targeting infrastructure. So of the ones that I saw and the ones that I read about, they targeted like an electricity substation in one case, they targeted a lot of water facilities, right, like water pumping stations, et cetera, that allow people to get water, a cooking gas plant, which it's pretty obvious what that does, right, It allows people to get bottles of gas to cook their food, and a lot of oil in destructures. So I saw a few of those called like donkeys, you know, the things that go up and down, yeah, using.

I don't know the word, but the little crane things.

I don't know the word, but the little crane things.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, the like the the things you can see if you drive through Bakersfield.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, the like the the things you can see if you drive through Bakersfield.

I'm sure there's a name.

I'm sure there's a name.

Yeah. Are they oiled derricks? Yeah? Someone someone googled the name of the nodding dog they pumps jack?

Yeah. Are they oiled derricks? Yeah? Someone someone googled the name of the nodding dog they pumps jack?

Is that no?

Is that no?

Yeah, that's that's the first sounds like like a dude who goes to the gym a lot, Yeah, broke and pump jecked.

Yeah, that's that's the first sounds like like a dude who goes to the gym a lot, Yeah, broke and pump jecked.

I mean it is called the an oil donkey as well. So you were, yeah, nodding donkey pumps. Yeah's thought they were noding donkeys. Okay, yeah, that's that's that's a phrase we're going with. So you could see a lot of these that were like knocked over on their side, right that had been drawn struck, and then you could see others that were just knocked out because the power to them had been knocked out. So obviously that's not only a major revenue source, but also like that is how people in the region get fuel, right, so like it's going to be harder for them to get diesels, going to be harder for them to drive around. People already don't drive around a lot because a lot of the drone strikes on people in the Yepagay Yepja, so that the People's Defense Forces and Women's Defense Forces, lots of drun strikes have happened when those people are driving their cars. When they get in a car, so it can be quite hairy driving. And so a lot of people were driving to like I drive around, but that's just one of the areas of risk for people.

I mean it is called the an oil donkey as well. So you were, yeah, nodding donkey pumps. Yeah's thought they were noding donkeys. Okay, yeah, that's that's that's a phrase we're going with. So you could see a lot of these that were like knocked over on their side, right that had been drawn struck, and then you could see others that were just knocked out because the power to them had been knocked out. So obviously that's not only a major revenue source, but also like that is how people in the region get fuel, right, so like it's going to be harder for them to get diesels, going to be harder for them to drive around. People already don't drive around a lot because a lot of the drone strikes on people in the Yepagay Yepja, so that the People's Defense Forces and Women's Defense Forces, lots of drun strikes have happened when those people are driving their cars. When they get in a car, so it can be quite hairy driving. And so a lot of people were driving to like I drive around, but that's just one of the areas of risk for people.

Right. Of the people killed, thirty fives a eleven were civilians and two SEFs, So most of these were either internal security or civilians. And I think Robert you were Robert and I spoke well while I was there, and Robert made a good point about how this like enables these non state armed groups like either ISIS or like.

Right. Of the people killed, thirty fives a eleven were civilians and two SEFs, So most of these were either internal security or civilians. And I think Robert you were Robert and I spoke well while I was there, and Robert made a good point about how this like enables these non state armed groups like either ISIS or like.

HID that My main concern for you while you were there was not the you would get hit in an air strike, but it was that because of the damage done to the security forces as a result of the Turkish are strikes, you would it would, it would. There's there's always been is as cells there right that they're they're they've never gotten rid of all of them. And periods where the A and E. S self administration is under attack are the periods in which it's most dangerous because it provides there's less security forces, you know, watching everything. People in general are are outless, which provides cover for for some of these groups that may want to do like a kidnapping.

HID that My main concern for you while you were there was not the you would get hit in an air strike, but it was that because of the damage done to the security forces as a result of the Turkish are strikes, you would it would, it would. There's there's always been is as cells there right that they're they're they've never gotten rid of all of them. And periods where the A and E. S self administration is under attack are the periods in which it's most dangerous because it provides there's less security forces, you know, watching everything. People in general are are outless, which provides cover for for some of these groups that may want to do like a kidnapping.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, and it's not a place where a lot of I guess folks who look like memory. That was a concern for us, and like it's a concern for these people too. Write they still do car bombs in derizor not, you know that they think still kill civilians. Yeah, they roll up IIS people on a probably weekly basis, and people are interested in getting more information both the drone strikes and about what they call sleeper cells. The Java Information Center very nice people. They have a good website. It's Jarva Information Center Org, which they produce monthly reports on both things, so that will give more information on those things. That would be a good time to pivot to adverts. But I've got all that is. Do you know who else provides great services? I don't think we can. I don't reasonably make that claim.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, and it's not a place where a lot of I guess folks who look like memory. That was a concern for us, and like it's a concern for these people too. Write they still do car bombs in derizor not, you know that they think still kill civilians. Yeah, they roll up IIS people on a probably weekly basis, and people are interested in getting more information both the drone strikes and about what they call sleeper cells. The Java Information Center very nice people. They have a good website. It's Jarva Information Center Org, which they produce monthly reports on both things, so that will give more information on those things. That would be a good time to pivot to adverts. But I've got all that is. Do you know who else provides great services? I don't think we can. I don't reasonably make that claim.

The products and services that support this podcast here they are.

The products and services that support this podcast here they are.

We're back and we are discussing torone strikes North Asyria, I guess not just from North Asyria, like these also happen up around Slimani sort of many if you're looking on the map, depends again on the language. Right, those have happened again against KSEK, which is like the Kurdistan Communities Council, So that would be the I guess the the that if you look at like Syria, Iran, Turkey and Iraq as different countries, all of which have some administrative control over the nation of Kurdish people, right, Kurdish people live in all four countries, and they live in other countries too. Of course, then the movements in each of those countries are subsidiary to the k c K, and so some of those KTK folks are up in Solimani. So like that there will be drowne strikes there, and that's that's far inside Iraqi Kurdistan. Right, You're you're a long way from the border there, and that's that's what these drone strikes. I guess. The drone strikes allow Turkish intelligence in the Turkish military to target people much much further inside with with a little consequent or risk on their own. Right, these drones are largely not being targeted because, certainly in an Ees, the Autonomous Administration in North Eastyria, they don't have the means to target them, right. The United States hasn't supplied them with the weapons that they would need to shoot down those drones, which I think brings me onto the role of the US in this and I guess, more broadly, the role of the coalition in this case. Coalition is a coalition to defeat ISIS. Right, it's made up of dozens of countries, the UK, the US, Germany, lots of other Western I guess countries broadly, and countries in that part of the world too, like I think Iraq is part of it. Certainly, like Iraqi, Kurdistan has done their own operations against ISIS sleeper cells, peshmurger and like everywhere you go you go through pesh mega checkpoints. Like I was going through an area where they had arrested and isis member the day before, So like it's they'll be getting you out of the car, you know, going through your bags, looking through your stuff. Right, So that's all part of the same operation. But the US has a base in a place called Alhassaka, which again you can look up on the map, right, it's a little west. I'm trying to land up my compass here, a little west of Camishlo, which is a capital of the region, and the US pretty much US troops don't do a great amount of leaving that base. It's fair to say they'll come out in helicopters. They were going out like sort of supporting SDF patrols in the Ahaska region, but they were supporting them from the air.

We're back and we are discussing torone strikes North Asyria, I guess not just from North Asyria, like these also happen up around Slimani sort of many if you're looking on the map, depends again on the language. Right, those have happened again against KSEK, which is like the Kurdistan Communities Council, So that would be the I guess the the that if you look at like Syria, Iran, Turkey and Iraq as different countries, all of which have some administrative control over the nation of Kurdish people, right, Kurdish people live in all four countries, and they live in other countries too. Of course, then the movements in each of those countries are subsidiary to the k c K, and so some of those KTK folks are up in Solimani. So like that there will be drowne strikes there, and that's that's far inside Iraqi Kurdistan. Right, You're you're a long way from the border there, and that's that's what these drone strikes. I guess. The drone strikes allow Turkish intelligence in the Turkish military to target people much much further inside with with a little consequent or risk on their own. Right, these drones are largely not being targeted because, certainly in an Ees, the Autonomous Administration in North Eastyria, they don't have the means to target them, right. The United States hasn't supplied them with the weapons that they would need to shoot down those drones, which I think brings me onto the role of the US in this and I guess, more broadly, the role of the coalition in this case. Coalition is a coalition to defeat ISIS. Right, it's made up of dozens of countries, the UK, the US, Germany, lots of other Western I guess countries broadly, and countries in that part of the world too, like I think Iraq is part of it. Certainly, like Iraqi, Kurdistan has done their own operations against ISIS sleeper cells, peshmurger and like everywhere you go you go through pesh mega checkpoints. Like I was going through an area where they had arrested and isis member the day before, So like it's they'll be getting you out of the car, you know, going through your bags, looking through your stuff. Right, So that's all part of the same operation. But the US has a base in a place called Alhassaka, which again you can look up on the map, right, it's a little west. I'm trying to land up my compass here, a little west of Camishlo, which is a capital of the region, and the US pretty much US troops don't do a great amount of leaving that base. It's fair to say they'll come out in helicopters. They were going out like sort of supporting SDF patrols in the Ahaska region, but they were supporting them from the air.

Right.

Right.

They generally aren't going out and about like with people on the ground, talking to people unless it's a specific mission, which they do sometimes you can if people are interested in like the US presence. It's called Operation Inherent Resolve, And they have a Twitter account whether sometimes post themselves doing things. But what they don't do is protect that and So the US and the Autonomous Administration are allies in this fight against ISIS, right, but they are only allied in this fight against ISIS. The US is not supporting them in defending themselves from drone strikes or like ensuring that a civilian population is protected from those attacks. So the US has the capacity to shoot down these drones, and they prove that by shooting one down last week or the week before. I'm a little bit jet lagged, a bit bangledo on time, but I think it was last week the US shut down a Turkish drones that came out two weeks ago for when this is airing, Yes, yeah, sure, good point. Yeah. So yeah, two weeks ago the United States shut down and F sixteen shut down a Turkish drone. So specifically, it was a drone called an a Kinji, which is a newer variant of the Bairaktar drone. We've spoken about these drones before, right, they're the drones that people like, I know, you can go on actually by a stuffy version of these drones, which rights that's concerning.

They generally aren't going out and about like with people on the ground, talking to people unless it's a specific mission, which they do sometimes you can if people are interested in like the US presence. It's called Operation Inherent Resolve, And they have a Twitter account whether sometimes post themselves doing things. But what they don't do is protect that and So the US and the Autonomous Administration are allies in this fight against ISIS, right, but they are only allied in this fight against ISIS. The US is not supporting them in defending themselves from drone strikes or like ensuring that a civilian population is protected from those attacks. So the US has the capacity to shoot down these drones, and they prove that by shooting one down last week or the week before. I'm a little bit jet lagged, a bit bangledo on time, but I think it was last week the US shut down a Turkish drones that came out two weeks ago for when this is airing, Yes, yeah, sure, good point. Yeah. So yeah, two weeks ago the United States shut down and F sixteen shut down a Turkish drone. So specifically, it was a drone called an a Kinji, which is a newer variant of the Bairaktar drone. We've spoken about these drones before, right, they're the drones that people like, I know, you can go on actually by a stuffy version of these drones, which rights that's concerning.

Yeah, it's really dystopian and crazy.

Yeah, it's really dystopian and crazy.

I don't like it. Yeah, I do not like it either. I think it illustrates the way the war in Ukraine has become like a football match for some people, yeah yes, or like a film where like I just want to reinforce it.

I don't like it. Yeah, I do not like it either. I think it illustrates the way the war in Ukraine has become like a football match for some people, yeah yes, or like a film where like I just want to reinforce it.

Like it's turned into like fandom.

Like it's turned into like fandom.

Yeah yes, yeah, I think that's an excellent way of putting it. Garasay, Like, it's not cool when anyone gets fucking drone struck. It's not cool when like everyone in an area spends every night worrying if death is going to come from the sky at some point, right Like, the effect of these drones trucks isn't just on the people killed, or the people injured, or even the infrastructure. The effect is on every single person worrying what's going to happen tonight? Right Like, And I can speak to a tiny part of that experience. Right Nothing compared to what people are living there have gone through at all, But it's a concern every time it gets dark, you know, well it it's tonight then, I especially for the rural folks who might be living in a rural area but near to a substation, or near to one of those nodding donkeys or other infrastructure which has been targeted, or near a cooking gas plant, right those things I can imagine explode with quite some force. They can't leave, right, they can't just up and and not live near any infrastructure. Infrastructures what allows the place to be survivable for civilians. So they just have to live with this constant fear. And it's very odd to see that and then simultaneously see this this sort of deification of drone strikes that are happening in Ukraine and like this, you know, people with dog dressed as Napoleon Twitter avatars, Yeah, cheering someone's kid dying.

Yeah yes, yeah, I think that's an excellent way of putting it. Garasay, Like, it's not cool when anyone gets fucking drone struck. It's not cool when like everyone in an area spends every night worrying if death is going to come from the sky at some point, right Like, the effect of these drones trucks isn't just on the people killed, or the people injured, or even the infrastructure. The effect is on every single person worrying what's going to happen tonight? Right Like, And I can speak to a tiny part of that experience. Right Nothing compared to what people are living there have gone through at all, But it's a concern every time it gets dark, you know, well it it's tonight then, I especially for the rural folks who might be living in a rural area but near to a substation, or near to one of those nodding donkeys or other infrastructure which has been targeted, or near a cooking gas plant, right those things I can imagine explode with quite some force. They can't leave, right, they can't just up and and not live near any infrastructure. Infrastructures what allows the place to be survivable for civilians. So they just have to live with this constant fear. And it's very odd to see that and then simultaneously see this this sort of deification of drone strikes that are happening in Ukraine and like this, you know, people with dog dressed as Napoleon Twitter avatars, Yeah, cheering someone's kid dying.

Yeah, I mean throughout all of the kind of new conflicts we've had the past five years, like the and especially the past like two three years, Like the idea of like politics as fandom has produced some of the like most like inhumane, gross aspects of how people have been like consuming social media and just the sheer. It's like people forget that this is like thousands of people's actual, like human lives that they're like meaming about, and it's it just it just becomes just they talk about it in the same way they talk about like a Marvel movie or like a star sport like it's it's it's yeah, or sports like it's it it it it's like this weird like gamified. It allows you to to approach these things from a just a from a very separate perspective when you're when you're viewing it from like this fandom angle, I think. But politics is fandom in general. I think it's gotten a whole lot worse since the Trump era, YE had, you know, like that's where we had like resistance libs that were like copying off some of the stuff from the New Star Wars trilogy, which is kind of the inspiration for a lot of their stuff. We got Nazis doing a whole bunch of politics as fandom as well. It just creates like it's it's it's like this team sports like fandom thing that is just pervate. It's it's it's it's seeped into like almost every single aspect of like not just politics, but now like conflict and like geopolitics.

Yeah, I mean throughout all of the kind of new conflicts we've had the past five years, like the and especially the past like two three years, Like the idea of like politics as fandom has produced some of the like most like inhumane, gross aspects of how people have been like consuming social media and just the sheer. It's like people forget that this is like thousands of people's actual, like human lives that they're like meaming about, and it's it just it just becomes just they talk about it in the same way they talk about like a Marvel movie or like a star sport like it's it's it's yeah, or sports like it's it it it it's like this weird like gamified. It allows you to to approach these things from a just a from a very separate perspective when you're when you're viewing it from like this fandom angle, I think. But politics is fandom in general. I think it's gotten a whole lot worse since the Trump era, YE had, you know, like that's where we had like resistance libs that were like copying off some of the stuff from the New Star Wars trilogy, which is kind of the inspiration for a lot of their stuff. We got Nazis doing a whole bunch of politics as fandom as well. It just creates like it's it's it's like this team sports like fandom thing that is just pervate. It's it's it's it's seeped into like almost every single aspect of like not just politics, but now like conflict and like geopolitics.

It's like whoever has the best branding is the one that has the best chance.

It's like whoever has the best branding is the one that has the best chance.

Yeah, and it's I don't know, it's it's it's disturbing to watch.

Yeah, and it's I don't know, it's it's it's disturbing to watch.

I I don't know how to like counter counter it, because it feels like the more you engage the further sucked into the abyss you become. But it also doesn't feel good to just like ignore it as well, because it's just it's like, it feels like this kind of endless trap that is just a part of existing in this weird postmodern internet world.

I I don't know how to like counter counter it, because it feels like the more you engage the further sucked into the abyss you become. But it also doesn't feel good to just like ignore it as well, because it's just it's like, it feels like this kind of endless trap that is just a part of existing in this weird postmodern internet world.

Yeah, I don't know. I think like one would hope that the Internet in some ways could help us see that, like at the end of every drone strikes a little fucking child most of the time, or like like I spent some time last week with the family who almost exactly one year ago lost their fifteen year old turn in a drone strike, and like it that, Like I understand people die in these things, like on an intellectual level and even on a personal level, like having spent time in these places for a decent amount of my life, But fuck me, it's just like it destroyed you. Like seeing a mum bury her son cry for her little boy. It's fucking heartbreaking, and like I got to live that for one morning, and those people live that every single day and every time, like and I don't, I don't know, it makes me want to shout at people when I see this.

Yeah, I don't know. I think like one would hope that the Internet in some ways could help us see that, like at the end of every drone strikes a little fucking child most of the time, or like like I spent some time last week with the family who almost exactly one year ago lost their fifteen year old turn in a drone strike, and like it that, Like I understand people die in these things, like on an intellectual level and even on a personal level, like having spent time in these places for a decent amount of my life, But fuck me, it's just like it destroyed you. Like seeing a mum bury her son cry for her little boy. It's fucking heartbreaking, and like I got to live that for one morning, and those people live that every single day and every time, like and I don't, I don't know, it makes me want to shout at people when I see this.

I don't actually think it's I don't mean to be a doomer here. I don't think it's a solvable problem. Yeah, this is we are talking about it within the language of fandom because that is kind of the defining public social relationship of our time. But like this is always what people have done to watch, sure one way or the other. Right, Yeah, it's faster now and and more commercial, right, like one thing for whatever reason, I think just because we're a culturated to it. Hearing people talk about, you know, doing what they do in times of war because of patriotism, because of nationalism, because of belief in the founding principles of their country, seems a little bit less coarse than like doing it because you fell in with a bunch of memers who use little dog avatars and shit. But like, I don't know, it's it's not like less logical than yeah, being right or die, because like you happen to be born under you know so and so the king.

I don't actually think it's I don't mean to be a doomer here. I don't think it's a solvable problem. Yeah, this is we are talking about it within the language of fandom because that is kind of the defining public social relationship of our time. But like this is always what people have done to watch, sure one way or the other. Right, Yeah, it's faster now and and more commercial, right, like one thing for whatever reason, I think just because we're a culturated to it. Hearing people talk about, you know, doing what they do in times of war because of patriotism, because of nationalism, because of belief in the founding principles of their country, seems a little bit less coarse than like doing it because you fell in with a bunch of memers who use little dog avatars and shit. But like, I don't know, it's it's not like less logical than yeah, being right or die, because like you happen to be born under you know so and so the king.

Yes, yeah, yeah, and like that dehumanization. I think the difference, like to me is like so like Robert and I have bose experiences, right to in order to kill somebody, you have to dehumanize them. To kill people on mass you have to do that on mass right, if you're fighting a war, it doesn't behoove you to make it sound like we're killing people.

Yes, yeah, yeah, and like that dehumanization. I think the difference, like to me is like so like Robert and I have bose experiences, right to in order to kill somebody, you have to dehumanize them. To kill people on mass you have to do that on mass right, if you're fighting a war, it doesn't behoove you to make it sound like we're killing people.

Ge.

Ge.

Well that's the thing that we do on the podcast, Robert, Yeah, we kill people in maths.

Well that's the thing that we do on the podcast, Robert, Yeah, we kill people in maths.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, sure, you're going to have to school. A zone is where we talk about the killings. If people want to subscribe, that's what we do instead of adverts, is we list the people we've killed.

Yeah, sure, you're going to have to school. A zone is where we talk about the killings. If people want to subscribe, that's what we do instead of adverts, is we list the people we've killed.

Yeah, James as the as the quote on your Blue Sky account says, one death is a tragedy, one million is a statistic James Stout.

Yeah, James as the as the quote on your Blue Sky account says, one death is a tragedy, one million is a statistic James Stout.

Yeah, yeah, that's right, and it's every every day I strive to get my number up, you know, but so far I've let everyone down. That's not true. And to my knowledge, none of us have killed anyone but your knowledge, to my knowledge, yeah, Sharen's probably got some bodies in the in the class, you know, Jesus Christ. It's so what I want to to say is that like when yeah, like if you're in the military, you probably know this, right, like like this sort of blood makes a grass grows, shit, fine, whatever, Like that's how wars work. War is undesirable, it's horrible. You have to be horrible. You have to you have to dehumanize people to kill them. You don't have to fucking do that if you're on Twitter dot com. But like people, you know, people with the silly dog advatars chiefly, but other people to have begun to see themselves as like participants in conflict in a way that they maybe didn't. Maybe they did and I just wasn't around in the second world.

Yeah, yeah, that's right, and it's every every day I strive to get my number up, you know, but so far I've let everyone down. That's not true. And to my knowledge, none of us have killed anyone but your knowledge, to my knowledge, yeah, Sharen's probably got some bodies in the in the class, you know, Jesus Christ. It's so what I want to to say is that like when yeah, like if you're in the military, you probably know this, right, like like this sort of blood makes a grass grows, shit, fine, whatever, Like that's how wars work. War is undesirable, it's horrible. You have to be horrible. You have to you have to dehumanize people to kill them. You don't have to fucking do that if you're on Twitter dot com. But like people, you know, people with the silly dog advatars chiefly, but other people to have begun to see themselves as like participants in conflict in a way that they maybe didn't. Maybe they did and I just wasn't around in the second world.

Yeah, No, I think I think that does tie into part of how the fandom things works, because a part of participating in fandom is being in these kind of very very alienating online spaces. Because any type of like engagement on the Internet in this way is fuel through the process of alienation. But when that kind of starts applying to politics, you feel like either the act of consuming or or like you know, joining in on conversation is itself like a form of activism. By just like just through like a consuming or sharing content, you feel like you're actually participating in the thing itself.

Yeah, No, I think I think that does tie into part of how the fandom things works, because a part of participating in fandom is being in these kind of very very alienating online spaces. Because any type of like engagement on the Internet in this way is fuel through the process of alienation. But when that kind of starts applying to politics, you feel like either the act of consuming or or like you know, joining in on conversation is itself like a form of activism. By just like just through like a consuming or sharing content, you feel like you're actually participating in the thing itself.

Yeah, And I think some of it's this almost narcissistic need to not let the world pass you by because it's there. There's something deeply uncomfortable about just like watching massive things happen and realizing like there's nothing I can do about this. Yeah, to feel there isn't a lot of the time, right, like your your take, you know, the the instant a hospital gets attacked in Gaza, your your take on that is is not particularly helpful or necessary unless your I don't know Joe Biden, right, but which is not. I don't think his take was helpful, but right, it was like it had an impact because he's the president, but like most of us were just kind of part of the churn, And there's almost there's like a degree of emotional need to it, especially when you see these horrible footage of bodies piled high. Right, you feel like I'm a bad person if I don't do something, and the only thing I can do is tweet or whatever your social.

Yeah, And I think some of it's this almost narcissistic need to not let the world pass you by because it's there. There's something deeply uncomfortable about just like watching massive things happen and realizing like there's nothing I can do about this. Yeah, to feel there isn't a lot of the time, right, like your your take, you know, the the instant a hospital gets attacked in Gaza, your your take on that is is not particularly helpful or necessary unless your I don't know Joe Biden, right, but which is not. I don't think his take was helpful, but right, it was like it had an impact because he's the president, but like most of us were just kind of part of the churn, And there's almost there's like a degree of emotional need to it, especially when you see these horrible footage of bodies piled high. Right, you feel like I'm a bad person if I don't do something, and the only thing I can do is tweet or whatever your social.

Media, I feel like I just just to play Devil's advocate for hot sake. I think it's a little different when there's so much conflicting information, especially I mean, like the Gaza think is a great example. Because the electricity is out, they don't want them to share anything. So I think when it comes to something like that, it's more about like spreading awareness versus like having a take. In my opinion. It's more just like, hey, the news might say this, but this is from the actual person on the ground telling you what's happening. So I think there's a little bit of nuance because I also think the only reason that like, like just for Palestine for example, just is we don't have to go into it too much. But a huge reason why there's so much more support for the Palestinian movement is because of social media.

Media, I feel like I just just to play Devil's advocate for hot sake. I think it's a little different when there's so much conflicting information, especially I mean, like the Gaza think is a great example. Because the electricity is out, they don't want them to share anything. So I think when it comes to something like that, it's more about like spreading awareness versus like having a take. In my opinion. It's more just like, hey, the news might say this, but this is from the actual person on the ground telling you what's happening. So I think there's a little bit of nuance because I also think the only reason that like, like just for Palestine for example, just is we don't have to go into it too much. But a huge reason why there's so much more support for the Palestinian movement is because of social media.

Yeah, so definitely, Yeah, people see people in gods are as people now, not as statistics or just through the lens of hamas or whatever.

Yeah, so definitely, Yeah, people see people in gods are as people now, not as statistics or just through the lens of hamas or whatever.

Like yeah, yeah, I mean it depends. I think it depends on how you do it. And like, I mean, it is it is accurate to say that to a significant extent, the ultimate outcome of these conflicts are determined in large part due to public sympathy, right Like, That's going to be probably true of, however, things that ultimately shake out in Gaza, And it's certainly been true of the conflict in Ukraine, right Like, the degree to which weapons keep flowing to that country is going to be heavily based on the degree to which sympathy for that cause remains among US tax payers and taxpayers in other countries that are sending them those weapons. That's going to have an impact on the presidential election maybe, I mean that is the other thing, right that, like everyone who is engaging with this stuff via social media, the a tendency to get caught up in a bubble in terms of just thinking about how much this is on the mind of like American voters. Maybe it'll be different this election, but generally, like again, my feelings on this are kind of muddle, but like very very often, no matter how big a deal a story is, you know, online and stuff, American voters rarely vote based on foreign policy concerns.

Like yeah, yeah, I mean it depends. I think it depends on how you do it. And like, I mean, it is it is accurate to say that to a significant extent, the ultimate outcome of these conflicts are determined in large part due to public sympathy, right Like, That's going to be probably true of, however, things that ultimately shake out in Gaza, And it's certainly been true of the conflict in Ukraine, right Like, the degree to which weapons keep flowing to that country is going to be heavily based on the degree to which sympathy for that cause remains among US tax payers and taxpayers in other countries that are sending them those weapons. That's going to have an impact on the presidential election maybe, I mean that is the other thing, right that, like everyone who is engaging with this stuff via social media, the a tendency to get caught up in a bubble in terms of just thinking about how much this is on the mind of like American voters. Maybe it'll be different this election, but generally, like again, my feelings on this are kind of muddle, but like very very often, no matter how big a deal a story is, you know, online and stuff, American voters rarely vote based on foreign policy concerns.

Yeah, tends to be elections, I want to say. I'm not saying that's what matters morally. I'm just talking about, like you're totally correct. Yeah, yeah, and especially in terms of your ability to influence something, it doesn't matter how much other people don't. An election time, I want to maybe finish up. I've just knocked over bottle of os of procol alcohols. My office is rapidly becoming yourself. That's why I went to turn on the fan and open the door. Good times. So maybe I want to finish up before I evacuate by saying that that it's something you can do, and like it's to give your time and money. I know that doesn't feel as good as like, yeah, you know, trying to do amateur ocin on Reddit. But you can help, actually, like and you can make a meaningful difference with a few bucks. And I know I sound like an NPR advert now, but like the rajarv of Information Center has some good resources, and like they they have, I'm not going to read them because it's very complicated, like I say, it's bank transfer information. But if you feel helpless, you are not, Like you can do a lot with a little. You can raise money, you can help to organize donations, right that, Like these things make a difference. If someone who doesn't have water now gets a palette of bottled water, that makes a difference. If someone gets a heater for their home, that makes a difference. If even if it's someone whose kid has died, right like, making their life a little less painful in a physical sense, rightly helping them be warm at night, that does make a difference. And you can do that. And if you want to make a difference, I would really encourage you to do whatever it is, and it doesn't have to be here, right, it's had that like that, Like there's an ethnic cleansing happening in Azerbijan, there is an ethnic cleansing happening in Gaza, right, Like these are places where like you can show meaningful solidarity and support with a little bit of a donation or a fundraiser. Right, it's happening at our fucking border, right, Like someone died at our border since I last recording. Someone else got run over by some chat in the truck. Like, you can make a difference in a meaningful way with actions, And it's really easy to get sucked into like just posting into the void and feeling helpless. But like there are helpful things you can.

Yeah, tends to be elections, I want to say. I'm not saying that's what matters morally. I'm just talking about, like you're totally correct. Yeah, yeah, and especially in terms of your ability to influence something, it doesn't matter how much other people don't. An election time, I want to maybe finish up. I've just knocked over bottle of os of procol alcohols. My office is rapidly becoming yourself. That's why I went to turn on the fan and open the door. Good times. So maybe I want to finish up before I evacuate by saying that that it's something you can do, and like it's to give your time and money. I know that doesn't feel as good as like, yeah, you know, trying to do amateur ocin on Reddit. But you can help, actually, like and you can make a meaningful difference with a few bucks. And I know I sound like an NPR advert now, but like the rajarv of Information Center has some good resources, and like they they have, I'm not going to read them because it's very complicated, like I say, it's bank transfer information. But if you feel helpless, you are not, Like you can do a lot with a little. You can raise money, you can help to organize donations, right that, Like these things make a difference. If someone who doesn't have water now gets a palette of bottled water, that makes a difference. If someone gets a heater for their home, that makes a difference. If even if it's someone whose kid has died, right like, making their life a little less painful in a physical sense, rightly helping them be warm at night, that does make a difference. And you can do that. And if you want to make a difference, I would really encourage you to do whatever it is, and it doesn't have to be here, right, it's had that like that, Like there's an ethnic cleansing happening in Azerbijan, there is an ethnic cleansing happening in Gaza, right, Like these are places where like you can show meaningful solidarity and support with a little bit of a donation or a fundraiser. Right, it's happening at our fucking border, right, Like someone died at our border since I last recording. Someone else got run over by some chat in the truck. Like, you can make a difference in a meaningful way with actions, And it's really easy to get sucked into like just posting into the void and feeling helpless. But like there are helpful things you can.

Do and yeah, yeah, and you don't have to just you don't have to be like rich or have a lot of disposable income to do this. There's a lot of like traditionally anarchist communities have put on benefit shows to run to fundraise from an entire community. So that's not just you trying to you know, you know, put like your few pennies aside. There's there's ways, there's ways to do this that just involve you actually like getting involved with your like local culture, and a part of that is like it's not politics as fandom, it is metapolitics. It's where you actually put your politics into your into your actual everyday life and it influences the friends you have, the communities you have. So whether that's you know, a whole bunch of trans musicians doing a benefit show to get donations to send over to Rajava or send over to to Gaza, or you know, there's a lot of other sorts of things that that is a way of actually having part of your politics be not just like consumption have not it's not just like Twitter accounts with flags and your avatar. It's actually like living your life in a way that matches the things that you believe.

Do and yeah, yeah, and you don't have to just you don't have to be like rich or have a lot of disposable income to do this. There's a lot of like traditionally anarchist communities have put on benefit shows to run to fundraise from an entire community. So that's not just you trying to you know, you know, put like your few pennies aside. There's there's ways, there's ways to do this that just involve you actually like getting involved with your like local culture, and a part of that is like it's not politics as fandom, it is metapolitics. It's where you actually put your politics into your into your actual everyday life and it influences the friends you have, the communities you have. So whether that's you know, a whole bunch of trans musicians doing a benefit show to get donations to send over to Rajava or send over to to Gaza, or you know, there's a lot of other sorts of things that that is a way of actually having part of your politics be not just like consumption have not it's not just like Twitter accounts with flags and your avatar. It's actually like living your life in a way that matches the things that you believe.

And I think that that like, sorry, having spoken to people in more Java, in the Yepigay and the Yepijay and these other organizations, Like one of the things that makes them distinct from other militaries is that they are building the well they want to see. They're fighting against the thing that's killing it right like they're destroying it. Like a lot of times we'll see leftist military is not exactly doing the equality that leftism is about. One hopes. So like you can participate in that, as Garrison said, right, by doing the mutual aid, by doing the benefit, sure, by doing the fundraiser, Like you are making a world in which this shit will happen less when you do things to stop it happening or to ease the pain of it happening. Now. So and you're building communities, right and in strong communities are more resilient to this shit. Yeah, And like things are getting pretty bleak and we're only going to get through them by helping each other and so building a network that continue. Like if I think about how much better the mutual aid response has been this time to what's happened at the border compared to what it was in May, that's because people built networks didn't go away, and it was good in May in part because we built networks that help to make being on housed in San Diego feel be survivable. Right, And like those networks to resilient and they're flexible that they and they help us like mentally process all the horrible shit and also physically help people. So yeah, you have that within your means too, Right, you have a signal on your telephone, like you can organize things. I don't have to feel helpless, but I feel dizzy due to the I suprise but alcoholic that has feeled. So maybe that's a wonderful time to end the All right, everyone, James is going to hallucinate in his office, and you, I hope, are going to hallucinate wherever you happen to be right now. Enjoy the better world. Hallucinate the better world. It might be the only way to live through one wonderful podcast. To Garrison Davis's everyone, Hi, it's me James. You thought I died, but I have not. I survived the uproble alcohol fumes. I wouldn't advise doing that to yourself. Very unpleasant, But I'm back just to update you. We recorded that last week and I am recording this today before this goes out. So I'm recording this on the afternoon of Monday, the twenty third of October. I just wanted to update everyone. As Robert mentioned in the show, the weakening of the Sae Shrint and the fact that people are not able to be out and about because of these drones strikes, combined with the events in Israel and Palestine in the last couple of weeks, have resulted in a significant uptake in violence in the area. So I just wanted to update you on that, especially as I've seen a decent amount of misinformation which will be shocking to many of you on Twitter dot com. So there have been a series of rocket and uav UV and manned aerial vehicle right drones drone attacks on US bases across the north of Iraq and across Syria. So some of those happened to Altant, which is further south. Some of them happened to Al Hassaka. Some of them also happened to oil pipelines. And I would be very wary of people posting, which is are big fires and claiming that there are attacks at the US Bass. Every time I've seen that, it's actually been an attack on an oil pipeline, and either the person doesn't know that that's not a US base or they are willfully being leading to try and get more clicks. People get paid on Twitter for engagement now, so I'm quite cynical about people's reasons for doing that. But there definitely have been attacks that they have not resulted in much loss of life. One contractor I believe did lose their lives due to Carliac incident that happened when they were sheltering from a what turned out to be a false alarm of a drone attack, but no one has been directly killed by those drone munitions. There have been a number of people killed in increasing conflict in the area. Both One person was killed in Camishlow, very very close to where I stayed. Actually you can probably see it from my outolium in a car bomb, which is not a normal thing to happen in the middle of that city, a car bomb going off, So that's obviously cosst for concern for some people in Deir rezor SDF and coalition forces have conducted a number of operations against ISIS sleeper cells who are still there, arrested, obtained a number of suspected ISIS members. They've also been fighting against Iranian backed militias across the Euphrates. We've also seen fighting between the Peshmerger so that those are the military forces of the Kurdis down regional government in that area of Iraq and the Iraqi Army around the Macmaal refugee camp, which is a refugee camp for Kurdish people who have fled from Turkey, and of course we've seen a lot of threats, a lot of even fighting inside Iran, but it it's generally been an Iranian backed militias attacking US bases so far across that whole area. So I just wanted to update you on those things. Obviously we'll keep updating you on them, and also to just suggest once again that people verify the sources of information because I have seen, especially about this area where I think literacy is really among the general US populations, and outrageous claims being made by people who either don't know what they're talking about or are wilfully misleading people. So I wanted to counsel people to be concerned about that. We don't have exact I don't have exact numbers of the numbers of drone attacks. I'm looking at a Pentagon press conference that happened thirty nine minutes ago, and they're not giving them out there. So I have asked them for comment on a couple of things. So didn't email me back, very sad ghosting me a bit. Yeah, that's the latest information on that. I wanted to make sure that we had the leaders update for you.

And I think that that like, sorry, having spoken to people in more Java, in the Yepigay and the Yepijay and these other organizations, Like one of the things that makes them distinct from other militaries is that they are building the well they want to see. They're fighting against the thing that's killing it right like they're destroying it. Like a lot of times we'll see leftist military is not exactly doing the equality that leftism is about. One hopes. So like you can participate in that, as Garrison said, right, by doing the mutual aid, by doing the benefit, sure, by doing the fundraiser, Like you are making a world in which this shit will happen less when you do things to stop it happening or to ease the pain of it happening. Now. So and you're building communities, right and in strong communities are more resilient to this shit. Yeah, And like things are getting pretty bleak and we're only going to get through them by helping each other and so building a network that continue. Like if I think about how much better the mutual aid response has been this time to what's happened at the border compared to what it was in May, that's because people built networks didn't go away, and it was good in May in part because we built networks that help to make being on housed in San Diego feel be survivable. Right, And like those networks to resilient and they're flexible that they and they help us like mentally process all the horrible shit and also physically help people. So yeah, you have that within your means too, Right, you have a signal on your telephone, like you can organize things. I don't have to feel helpless, but I feel dizzy due to the I suprise but alcoholic that has feeled. So maybe that's a wonderful time to end the All right, everyone, James is going to hallucinate in his office, and you, I hope, are going to hallucinate wherever you happen to be right now. Enjoy the better world. Hallucinate the better world. It might be the only way to live through one wonderful podcast. To Garrison Davis's everyone, Hi, it's me James. You thought I died, but I have not. I survived the uproble alcohol fumes. I wouldn't advise doing that to yourself. Very unpleasant, But I'm back just to update you. We recorded that last week and I am recording this today before this goes out. So I'm recording this on the afternoon of Monday, the twenty third of October. I just wanted to update everyone. As Robert mentioned in the show, the weakening of the Sae Shrint and the fact that people are not able to be out and about because of these drones strikes, combined with the events in Israel and Palestine in the last couple of weeks, have resulted in a significant uptake in violence in the area. So I just wanted to update you on that, especially as I've seen a decent amount of misinformation which will be shocking to many of you on Twitter dot com. So there have been a series of rocket and uav UV and manned aerial vehicle right drones drone attacks on US bases across the north of Iraq and across Syria. So some of those happened to Altant, which is further south. Some of them happened to Al Hassaka. Some of them also happened to oil pipelines. And I would be very wary of people posting, which is are big fires and claiming that there are attacks at the US Bass. Every time I've seen that, it's actually been an attack on an oil pipeline, and either the person doesn't know that that's not a US base or they are willfully being leading to try and get more clicks. People get paid on Twitter for engagement now, so I'm quite cynical about people's reasons for doing that. But there definitely have been attacks that they have not resulted in much loss of life. One contractor I believe did lose their lives due to Carliac incident that happened when they were sheltering from a what turned out to be a false alarm of a drone attack, but no one has been directly killed by those drone munitions. There have been a number of people killed in increasing conflict in the area. Both One person was killed in Camishlow, very very close to where I stayed. Actually you can probably see it from my outolium in a car bomb, which is not a normal thing to happen in the middle of that city, a car bomb going off, So that's obviously cosst for concern for some people in Deir rezor SDF and coalition forces have conducted a number of operations against ISIS sleeper cells who are still there, arrested, obtained a number of suspected ISIS members. They've also been fighting against Iranian backed militias across the Euphrates. We've also seen fighting between the Peshmerger so that those are the military forces of the Kurdis down regional government in that area of Iraq and the Iraqi Army around the Macmaal refugee camp, which is a refugee camp for Kurdish people who have fled from Turkey, and of course we've seen a lot of threats, a lot of even fighting inside Iran, but it it's generally been an Iranian backed militias attacking US bases so far across that whole area. So I just wanted to update you on those things. Obviously we'll keep updating you on them, and also to just suggest once again that people verify the sources of information because I have seen, especially about this area where I think literacy is really among the general US populations, and outrageous claims being made by people who either don't know what they're talking about or are wilfully misleading people. So I wanted to counsel people to be concerned about that. We don't have exact I don't have exact numbers of the numbers of drone attacks. I'm looking at a Pentagon press conference that happened thirty nine minutes ago, and they're not giving them out there. So I have asked them for comment on a couple of things. So didn't email me back, very sad ghosting me a bit. Yeah, that's the latest information on that. I wanted to make sure that we had the leaders update for you.

It could happen here as a production of cool Zone Media. For more podcasts from cool Zone Media, visit our website cool zonemedia dot com or check us out on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts, you can find sources for It could happen here, updated monthly at cool zonemedia dot com slash sources. Thanks for listening.

It could happen here as a production of cool Zone Media. For more podcasts from cool Zone Media, visit our website cool zonemedia dot com or check us out on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts, you can find sources for It could happen here, updated monthly at cool zonemedia dot com slash sources. Thanks for listening.