#explainer

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However, some on the ground in north Gaza say this statement is dishonest. When the UN makes these statements, it implies that it is servicing the entire Gaza Strip. They are not. Due to Israeli blockade, absolutely no aid of any kind has reached northern Gaza in about two months.

People in northern Gaza are starving to death because there is no food, none. Some report having to make bread out of animal feed, eat cardboard, and drink seawater and dirty puddles. What little food can be scrounged up is not enough to support anyone’s nutritional needs, let alone those of 800,000 people.

If people in the central and southern regions are still starving, even with the UN and partners brining in food twice a week, imagine the state of people in the north. If even adults in the north are reporting severe hunger pains, imagine what children are experiencing.

by Sarah Tuttle-Singer  on Facebook:

I feel like the world needs a basic primer on this:

Criticizing Netanyahu and the current government of Israel isn’t antisemitic.

Holding Jews everywhere responsible for the actions of the Israeli government and calling them N@zis is.

Supporting Palestinian rights isn’t antisemitic.

Saying Jews don’t deserve self-determination anywhere and that Israel has no right to exist is.

Advocating for peace, equality, and dignity for both peoples isn’t antisemitic.

Celebrating the murder, kidnapping, or r@pe of Jews is.

Being horrified by the suffering in Gaza isn’t antisemitic.

Denying or minimizing the suffering of Israelis on October 7 is.

Opposing specific Israeli policies isn’t antisemitic.

Using classic antisemitic tropes about Jewish power, money, blood, or control is.

Wanting an end to the war isn’t antisemitic.

Calling for the elimination of Israel while demanding no other nation on earth disappear is.

Criticizing Netanyahu isn’t antisemitic.

Saying “the Jews are Nazis” is.

Supporting Palestinian nationalism isn’t antisemitic.

Erasing Jewish indigeneity and history in the land is.

Calling out extremism in Israel — including the army — isn’t antisemitic.

Applying a moral standard to Israel that you apply to literally no other country is.

Wanting accountability for all sides isn’t antisemitic.

Attacking random Jews, synagogues, or Jewish businesses around the world is.

Feeling grief for Palestinian children isn’t antisemitic.

Mocking or dismissing or even celebrating dead Israeli children is.

Defending free speech on Israel-Palestine isn’t antisemitic.

Harassing Jewish students and making campuses unsafe for visibly Jewish people is.

Saying Palestinians deserve freedom isn’t antisemitic.

Saying Jews are “colonizers” is.

Calling for coexistence isn’t antisemitic.

Calling for intifada “from the river to the sea” without acknowledging what that means to many Jews is.

You can oppose war without opposing the existence of a people.

You can advocate for Palestinians without dehumanizing Jews.

You can love Israelis and Palestinians enough to believe neither should have to bury their children.

Do you ever get the feeling that online arguments are designed to make people angry? You're correct. Much of the outrage you see is fueled by an age old strategy called "Divide and Conquer."

The goal is simple: to gain or maintain power by breaking down unity among people. Propagandists exploit existing divisions and create narratives that blame one group for the problems of another. This keeps everyone fighting each other, distracted from the real systemic issues that affect everyone.

The good news is that once you can see the game, you can stop playing. This guide will teach you how to spot the five main tactics of "Divide and Conquer" and give you a simple, powerful reply for each one.

The Five Tactics or 5Ds of Disinformation: Propagandists use a five-step playbook to create division. These are often called the "5Ds": Dismiss, Distort, Distract, Dismay, and Divide. They are the specific actions taken to turn people against each other.

The Battlegrounds Framed Using the 9 Categories of Division The 5D tactics are almost always aimed at real, identifiable differences between people. This makes the manufactured division feel more natural. Common battleground topics include: Skin Color, Sexual Preference, Nationality, Language, Social Customs, Class, Religion, Political Identity, Profession

Each tactic with an example, and a simple reply to disarm it:

1. Dismiss This tactic attacks the messenger, not the message. The goal is to discredit a person, group, or source so you won't listen to their argument, regardless of whether it's valid.

Example (using Profession): "You can't believe that study, it comes from 'ivory tower' academics. They don't know anything about the real world."

The Response: "Your comment is using the 'Divide and Conquer' tactic known as 'Dismiss'. It is an attempt to attack the messenger by being dismissive, in order to shut down a conversation about the real issues."

2. Distort This tactic works by twisting facts, using misleading statistics, or telling half-truths to create a false and emotionally charged narrative about a group.

Example (using Nationality): "These videos of immigrants shoplifting prove they are criminals and a threat to our country."

The Response: "Your comment is using the 'Divide and Conquer' tactic known as 'Distort'. It is an attempt to mislead people by distorting the facts, in order to distract from the real issues."

3. Distract This is the classic "whataboutism" tactic. It works by changing the subject to avoid the current conversation, often by bringing up another grievance to create a new conflict.

Example (using Class): "Why are we talking about corporate tax cuts when the real problem is lazy people on welfare?"

The Response: "Your comment is using the 'Divide and Conquer' tactic known as 'Distract'. It is an attempt to change the subject with a distraction, in order to shut down a conversation about the real issues."

4. Dismay This tactic aims to spread hopelessness and fear. The goal is to make people feel so overwhelmed and powerless that they give up and stop trying to solve problems.

Example (using Political Identity): "The whole system is rigged and corrupt. Voting doesn't matter. There's nothing any of us can do to stop them."

The Response: "Your comment is using the 'Divide and Conquer' tactic known as 'Dismay'. It is an attempt to spread hopelessness, in order to make people give up on fixing the real issues."

5. Divide This is the final goal of the other four tactics. It explicitly creates a stark "us vs. them" conflict, making it clear who you are supposed to fight.

Example (using Religion): "This is a battle for the soul of our nation between our faith and theirs. You have to pick a side."

The Response: "Your comment is using the 'Divide and Conquer' tactic, known as 'Divide'. It is an attempt to be divisive by creating an 'us vs. them' conflict to distract from the real issues."

How can this method be effective? Using these replies may feel different from a normal argument, and that's the purpose. Here’s the strategy behind the phrasing:

It's Not a Personal Attack. Notice that the replies focus on the comment ("Your comment is using…") and not the person. You are analyzing their words, not judging their character. This makes it educational rather than confrontational.

You Don't Take the Bait. Propagandists want you to get trapped arguing about their distorted facts. By labeling their tactic, you refuse to play their game. You shift the focus from their topic to their method, which disarms them.

You Educate Onlookers. Your reply isn't just for the original commenter. Everyone else reading the thread sees it and learns to recognize the tactic for themselves. You are effectively inoculating the audience against this kind of manipulation.

What is the strait of Hormuz and why is it crucial for oil supplies?

Effective closure of the narrow waterway could spell trouble for many developed economies

The US-Israeli war on Iran has ignited fears that escalating military aggression in the Middle East could send oil prices soaring, push up prices at the pump and drive a global economic downturn.

The US began “major combat operations” in Iran on Saturday morning, shortly after Israel launched a strike against Tehran. Within hours of the US-Israeli strikes, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards reportedly warned tankers in the strait of Hormuz that no ship would be allowed to pass through the world’s most critical oil trade route.

Iran has not formally confirmed a block on the narrow waterway, which would be an unprecedented escalation in the region, but ships appear to be avoiding the strait after an attack on a ship off Oman. At least 150 tankers carrying crude, liquified natural gas and oil products had dropped anchor in open waters across the Gulf past the strait on Sunday, Reuters reported.

If the halt continues, it could block up to 15m barrels a day of crude oil from reaching their destinations.

In a worst-case scenario, experts have said oil market prices could surge from about $67 a barrel on Friday night to $100. This would spell trouble for many developed economies, including the US, that have struggled to shrug off the impact of inflation on growth and productivity. That has left households facing a cost of living crisis.

Bjarne Schieldrop, the chief commodities analyst at the financial services group SEB, said: “It has become quite clear now that this is the biggest bluff in history and it has gone horribly wrong. Now it is difficult for Trump to back down and pull out all his gunboats and fighter jets without losing face.”

How much oil does Iran have?

Iran is home to the world’s fourth largest proven oil reserves, holding up to 170bn barrels of oil, or about 9% of all global crude. It is behind only Venezuela, Saudi Arabia and Canada as the largest country by domestic oil reserves.

It is the fourth largest oil producer in Opec and one of the largest crude exporters in the world. It also has the world’s second largest proven gas reserves, with about one-sixth of global gas.

Decades of political unrest, war and sanctions throttled its crude production from a peak in 1974 of about 6m barrels of oil a day to about 3.5m barrels. In recent months its output has reached historic highs, despite US sanctions and Israeli bombardments, due to close ties with China. Beijing imports about 90% of Iran’s crude, which is subject to international sanctions.

Although Iran’s crude exports make up about 3-4% of the global market, its significance for the global oil markets extends well beyond its own production, according to experts.

Jorge León, the head of geopolitical analysis at Rystad Energy, said: “The country’s geopolitical weight is rooted in its strategic location, its influence over regional security dynamics and its capacity to disrupt critical energy infrastructure and transit routes.”

Why is the strait of Hormuz so important?

The strait of Hormuz is one of the most important arteries for global trade. About 20% of all oil supplies and about 20% of seaborne gas tankers pass through it.

The strait lies between Oman and Iran. It links the Gulf to the north with the Gulf of Oman to the south and the Arabian Sea beyond. It is 20 miles (33km) wide at its narrowest point, with the shipping lanes just 2 miles (3km) wide in either direction.

This location makes it a crucial choke point for oil deliveries from Opec countries to customers in Asia. Options to bypass the strait are limited.

Will Iran formally shut the strait?

For years, Tehran has warned that it could shut the strait in retaliation against any military aggression, but it has stopped short of a prolonged block on the trade route.

León said Iran had now retaliated in a “far more aggressive and expansive manner than in prior exchanges”, which he said “marks a structural widening of the conflict beyond contained or symbolic strikes”.

Ajay Parmar, a director at the energy market specialists ICIS, said: “Shutting the strait would be a last-resort tactic for Iran. We would expect to see this in a hot-war scenario.”

However, with tankers anchored and crew waiting outside the strait to see how events unfold, the impact on trade is already being felt. León added: “Whether the strait is closed by force or rendered inaccessible by risk avoidance, the impact on flows is largely the same.”

The tankers in limbo include a vessel chartered by Centrica, the owner of British Gas, containing a spot-market cargo of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Qatar. The destination of the vessel is not certain, although it may have been on the way to Asia. A Nigerian vessel due to arrive in Qatar on 5 March before importing LNG to Europe aborted the trip before arriving in the strait.

Tamsin Hunt, a senior analyst at S-RM, a global intelligence and cybersecurity consultancy, said: “Closing the strait in full would be devastating for Iran’s own economy, as it would mean halting all its exports of oil and other goods. Iran would likely only close the strait as a last resort if the regime feels its core survival is under threat.”

Parmar said Donald Trump would hope to avoid an escalation that caused global oil prices to rocket, raising costs for US voters before midterm elections in November.

But a full closure of the strait is not the only tactic at Iran’s disposal. Hunt said: “Vessels could face potential signal jamming, detentions of ships and crew, firing of warning shots, and sea mines that would partially obstruct the strait. Even small disruptions would have an outsized impact on the global oil sector, with delays, diversions and increased insurance and freight costs likely to drive global prices up.”

What does the US attack mean for global oil markets?

Before the strikes, oil market observers had expected scenarios involving limited military action to add about $10 a barrel to the global oil price.

Financial markets now expect a 9% jump in the price of Brent crude to $73 a barrel on Monday alone. Rystad Energy has said the price could jump by as much as $20 at the start of the week, to about $90 a barrel, unless there is a rapid de-escalation on Sunday before the New York oil futures market resumes trading at 11pm UK time. The price is still expected to rise despite the Opec nations and other oil-producing countries such as Russia agreeing a larger than planned production increase when they met on Sunday to counter the effects of the conflict.

A prolonged disruption of the strait of Hormuz could drive oil prices above $100 a barrel, analysts said. Even in the scenario of a short and targeted US campaign, Hunt said, any strikes on Iran’s oil production and supply lines would disrupt flows to its key trading partner, China, driving increased prices globally as China competed in the global market to replace its losses from other sources.

GET HYPED FOR #UNEND ☁️ 🚀

Our amazing Junior Lore Keeper Jared Deiro is BACK and broadcasting straight from the Fold with all the latest happenings in the Cosmos! A supernatural ship is launching into the UN-known as the new series begins, and there's already intrigue lurking between the crewmates...

In my Voting With Spite post, I mentioned that Australia has compulsory voting, and I noted that quite a few people had either positive or negative reactions to that idea. I thought it might be a good idea to talk briefly about what Compulsory Voting actually does to your voting scene.

Now, to be clear, I'm going to be talking about the Australian Experience - that's what I know. I'm aware that Brazil and Belgium both have Compulsory Voting as well, and their experiences are likely to be a bit different. So, let's go through the big ones: