Are the exploding pager attacks killing 9 including a girl and boy state-sponsored murder or an act of war?

Image: Mohamed Azakir/Reuters

I asked AI the above question. Note: for me this alleged Israeli attack on Hezbollah is very close (or is) state-sponsored murder as a boy and girl were killed and of course non-Hezbollah members might have been killed or badly injured. It was reckless. How could Israel (if they did it) guarantee that only Hezbollah members would be carrying the pagers? There was a real risk of killing and injuring innocent civilians which is what has happened. Update: latest count is 12 dead with thousands injured some very seriously. Further update: Hezbollah say that 300 have been injured and 9 dead so far.

Further update, next day: 'New phase' in conflict as walkie-talkie blasts kill 20. Same sort of thing. In this case 20 killed and 450 injured by booby-trapped walkie-talkie devices that blow up in your hands. This is certainly the work of sophisticated Mossad, Israel's spy service. This is a different kind of warfare but is it cold-blooded murder?

Further update: Also hand-held radios used by Hezbollah have exploded across the country's south, and in the southern suburbs of the capital. And solar energy systems have exploded in several areas as well. This is an incredible example of underhand warfare which I have suggested might be state sponsored murder and mayhem. But if it is Israel, they won't give a damn. They've killed tens of thousands of innocent civilians including children and babies in Gaza, by recklessly shelling and firing rockets into civilian buildings.

The pagers where were made under licence in Budapest by a firm called BAC Consulting, using the Gold Apollo name.

 Here is AI's response (ChatGPT).

The incident you’re referring to involving exploding pagers killing nine people, including a girl and boy, sounds like a targeted or violent attack, but without additional details about the specific case, it's difficult to categorize it definitively as state-sponsored murder or an act of war. The distinction depends on several factors:

1. State-Sponsored Murder: This occurs when a government or a state-backed entity carries out or orders the assassination or killing of individuals. Examples include targeted assassinations, politically motivated killings, or extrajudicial killings that a government either directs or endorses. These are typically covert operations intended to silence or eliminate threats or opposition.
2. Act of War: An act of war refers to aggressive actions between states or factions engaged in armed conflict. If the attack was carried out by one state or an armed group as part of a larger military campaign against another state, then it could be seen as an act of war. In this context, civilian casualties can occur as a result of broader hostilities.

To determine whether this particular attack was state-sponsored or an act of war, you'd need to consider:

• The perpetrator: Was it a state or state-backed group that carried out the attack, or was it a non-state actor, such as a terrorist organization or criminal group?
• The motive: Was the attack politically motivated, part of a conflict, or related to some other cause like terrorism or organized crime?
• The context: Was the attack part of a larger military conflict, or was it a targeted strike on individuals?

If this attack was part of a broader conflict between states, it could be considered an act of war. If it was a targeted killing carried out by or on behalf of a government, it could fall under the category of state-sponsored murder. If more context can be provided, a more specific classification could be offered.

When an innocent boy and girl are killed and possibly non-Hezbollah individuals too this is very close to murder isn't it?

Yes, when innocent civilians, including children, are killed in an attack—especially if they are not involved in any armed conflict or militant activities—it is generally viewed as a grave injustice and could be described as murder. Whether or not the attack was carried out by a state or a non-state actor, the intentional or reckless killing of non-combatants, especially children, is often considered a violation of international humanitarian law and human rights.

Here’s how different perspectives might frame such an event:

1. Murder: From a moral and legal perspective, the killing of innocent civilians, particularly children, could be considered murder if it was intentional or if the attackers acted with reckless disregard for human life. Murder implies an unlawful, unjustified, and deliberate act of killing. Even in conflict zones, the deliberate targeting of civilians is a criminal act.
2. War Crime: In the context of armed conflict, if the attack violated the rules of war, such as the Geneva Conventions, which prohibit attacks on civilians, it could be considered a war crime. Targeting civilians, including children, is explicitly forbidden, regardless of the attackers' affiliation.
3. State-Sponsored Assassination vs. Collateral Damage: If a government or state-backed entity carried out the attack, and it was aimed at specific targets but resulted in civilian deaths, it could be categorized as state-sponsored murder or extrajudicial killings. Even if the target was not civilians (but militants, for example), the killing of innocent bystanders, especially when children are involved, could be interpreted as a failure to observe the principle of proportionality and distinction in warfare, potentially leading to criminal liability.

Innocent lives lost in such a situation, especially if the victims were not involved in any hostile activities, reflect the devastating human cost of violence. Even when not labeled outright murder, the attack would likely be condemned as reckless, unjustified, and deeply tragic.

If this incident occurred in the context of a military operation or state-sponsored attack, international law, ethics, and public opinion would view the loss of innocent lives as highly problematic and likely demand accountability.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins. Also: sources for news articles are carefully selected but the news is often not independently verified. Also, I rely on scientific studies but they are not 100% reliable.

Russian citizens terrorised into complete silence on pain of death

This is an opinion article. It's based on the news. It is not hard news. Although I am sure many agree with me. Russian citizens are terrorised into complete silence on pain of death and indoctrinated into false beliefs. Of course the Kremlin denies it.

Image: MikeB - free to use.

Russia is not only a terrorist state, terrorising other countries. In fact Russia is terrorising the entire world because Vladimir Putin and his cabal of mafia-like comrades in the Kremlin consistently threaten nuclear war. Medvedev has threatened that they will use nuclear armaments if NATO intervenes in Ukraine and if the land in Ukraine seized by Russians is taken back as a consequence. This is threatening the world because you can't use nuclear arms against another country without a global threat.

It's almost certainly a bluff and playing poker for the Russians but it is an example of how they terrorise the rest of the world. 

And what is depressing is that the rest of the world accepts his presence. We just get around the problems as they occur and wait for the next attack or murder. Surely we can do better. Putin and his cronies need to be stopped. Russia is a bad apple in the barrel and it is poisoning the world. He has supporters from fellow dictators which indicates the moral turpitude of the world. No hope is there, really?! For instance the UN allows Russia to remain on the Security Council where their representative lies and lies and lies.

Nebenzya is brazenly lying at the UN about the attack on the children's hospital.

He has been blatantly lying for years.
And will he continue? Does the UN seem to be fine with that? https://t.co/hmnIG1d6j3 pic.twitter.com/o3EyozP1QC

— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) July 9, 2024

But this article is about how Putin and his cohort of gangsters terrorise their own citizens consistently and perpetually.

Putin terrorises his own citizens by picking up people who criticise the Kremlin and Putin's diktats and then killing them by placing them into a Gulag somewhere in Siberia where they die mysteriously. The charges against these brave people are completely spurious and fictional.

If the Russian who criticises Putin isn't killed in this way they are simply murdered on the streets of Moscow or in some other place. The murders are nearly always dressed up as accidents such as "a 55-year-old man falls out of the sixth floor a block of flats". If that can't be arranged they simply shoot them in the back of the head. Nobody is ever prosecuted because this is a terrorist state. It's run by the 'mafia' which brings me to the next point and the point of this article.

Yulia Navalnaya

Yulia said: 

“When you write about this, please don't forget to write the main thing: Vladimir Putin is a murderer and a war criminal. His place is in prison, and not somewhere in The Hague, in a cosy cell with a TV, but in Russia – in the same [penal] colony and the same 2-by-3-metre cell in which he killed Alexei.”

Ой, а что не будет обычной процедуры? Иностранный агент, потом заведение уголовного дела, потом уже арест?! Когда будете писать об этом, не забудьте, пожалуйста, написать главное: Владимир Путин - убийца и военный преступник. Его место в тюрьме, и не где-нибудь в Гааге, в уютной…

— Yulia Navalnaya (@yulia_navalnaya) July 9, 2024

The Kremlin has denied ordering the killing of Mr Navalny, her husband who died under mysterious circumstances in a Siberian prison. Some say he was killed with a punch to the heart under extended freezing conditions. Yulia has vowed to fight on in his name.

All over the news today is the story of a Moscow court issuing an arrest warrant for the widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. That person is Yulia Navalnaya. If I may say, she is a statuesque beauty and I mean that in the best possible way. She looks good and she is good. She has vowed to continue her husband's fight against this terrorist state.

As a consequence Putin's administration has ordered a Moscow court to issue an arrest warrant on trumped up charges which happen to be the "participation in an extremist society". Just another fictional charge which is not in any way grounded in reality.

That said, the laws of Russia as enacted by Putin's administration have effectively silenced all people in that benighted country because if you even hold up a sheet of white paper with nothing on it you are arrested as a protester against the Ukraine war. That actually happened.

A young man held up an A4 sheet of blank paper. Nothing on it at all. Within minutes the police arrested him for protesting against the war. We don't know what happened to him but he almost certainly ended up in some ghastly prison where he might well have been murdered.

In combination with terrorising Russian citizens to shut up and put up and never criticise Putin and his Mafia comrades, the Russian government indoctrinates all Russian citizens into believing that Putin is a wonderful leader in the Stalin-style. Strong and very nationalistic. The Russians like that but most of them don't understand that he is a dangerous mass murderer of the worst kind, terrorising his own citizens into complete silence.

Yulia Navalnaya lives outside Russia and she must remain outside Russia for the rest of her life because if she goes back to Russia she will be arrested and incarcerated where she will die. In fact, she must be on her guard all the time from now on because Putin likes to murder people on foreign soil as well. His tentacles spread everywhere. It isn't just murder that he engages in worldwide but his computer hackers hack into databases worldwide to try and damage economic activity in foreign countries.

A bunch of Russian hackers recently hacked into the NHS in the UK and damaged blood testing services perhaps for as long as one year. This has had a very negative impact on medical operations. Another setback to the NHS but this time from perhaps the greatest terrorist state the world has ever known.

Some examples:

Here are a couple of notable examples of Russian dissidents who were murdered, allegedly by the Kremlin:

1. Boris Nemtsov:
   • Date: February 27, 2015.
   • Details: Boris Nemtsov, a Russian politician and vocal critic of President Vladimir Putin, was assassinated while crossing the Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge in central Moscow. An unknown assailant fired several shots, hitting Nemtsov in the head, heart, liver, and stomach, killing him almost instantly. His Ukrainian partner, Anna Duritskaya, witnessed the killing but was unharmed.
   • Motive: Retaliation for Nemtsov’s criticism of Putin and opposition to the government.
   • Perpetrators: Zaur Dadaev and Anzor Gubashev, among others, were convicted for their involvement in the crime.

2. Anna Politkovskaya:
   • Date: October 7, 2006 (on Putin’s birthday).
   • Details: Anna Politkovskaya, an investigative journalist and dissident, was shot dead in the elevator of her building. She worked for the Russian Novaya Gazeta newspaper and had been a fierce critic of the Kremlin.
   • Motive: Her reporting on human rights abuses and corruption in Russia.
   • Perpetrators: The murder remains unsolved, but it is widely believed to be politically motivated.

About Navalny

Alexei Navalny: A Life in Opposition

Alexei Navalny (1976-2024) was a prominent figure in Russian politics, best known for his fierce opposition to President Vladimir Putin. His life can be summarized by his work as a lawyer, anti-corruption activist, and politician.

Early Life and Education:

• Born in 1976, Navalny earned degrees in law and finance.
• He studied at Yale University's World Fellows program in 2010.

Rise to Prominence:

• Navalny gained recognition in the early 2000s through his online investigations into corruption by government officials.
• He used a LiveJournal blog and later social media to expose his findings.
• In 2011, he founded the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), which produced investigative documentaries about corruption at the highest levels of Russian government.

Political Activism:

• Navalny became a leading figure in Russia's opposition movement.
• He participated in anti-government protests and formed a political party.
• In 2013, he achieved a surprise second-place finish in the Moscow mayoral election.
• He attempted to run for president in 2018 but was barred due to a disputed embezzlement conviction.

Poisoning and Imprisonment:

• In 2020, Navalny was poisoned with a nerve agent, an attack he blamed on Putin.
• He survived after receiving medical treatment in Germany.
• Upon returning to Russia in 2021, he was arrested and imprisoned on charges widely seen as politically motivated.

Legacy:

• Navalny is considered a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International and received the Sakharov Prize for his human rights work.
• Though imprisoned, he remains a symbol of opposition to Putin's regime.
• He died in prison in 2024.

It's important to note that Navalny's story is complex and controversial. Further research using the resources above can provide you with more details.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.