Saturday, January 20, 2024

'This Is Not Self-Defense... This Is Ethnic Cleansing': Israel Blows Up Gaza University

"All the universities in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed," said one international relations expert.

The Israeli military used hundreds of mines to blow up Israa University in Gaza on January 17, 2024.
(Photo: Screengrab)

JULIA CONLEY

COMMON DREAMS
Jan 18, 2024

The Israel Defense Forces' detonation of more than 300 mines planted at Israa University in Gaza on Wednesday provided the latest evidence that Israel's objective in its bombardment of the enclave is not self-defense, rights advocates said.

"This is not self-defense," said Chris Hazzard, an Irish member of the United Kingdom's Parliament. "This is not counter-insurgency. This is ethnic-cleansing."

The International Middle East Media Center (IMEMC) called the destruction of Israa University Israel's latest attempt to carry out a "cultural genocide" along with the slaughter of at least 24,620 people in just over three months—people who Israeli officials have claimed are legitimate military targets despite the fact that roughly half of those killed have been children.

The wiping out of cultural landmarks was included in South Africa's International Court of Justice case accusing Israel of genocidal acts in Gaza last week, with the complaint noting that "Israel has damaged and destroyed numerous centers of Palestinian learning and culture," including libraries, one of the world's oldest Christian monasteries, and the Great Omari Mosque, where an ancient collection of manuscripts was kept before the building was destroyed in an airstrike last month.

"The crime of targeting and destroying archaeological sites should spur the world and UNESCO into action to preserve this great civilizational and cultural heritage," Gaza's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities said after the mosque was bombed.

Now, international relations professor Nicola Perugini of the University of Edinburgh said, "all the universities in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed."

On its Facebook page, the university said the IDF had occupied the campus for about 70 days before planting 315 mines and detonating the institution's main building, its museum, a university hospital, and other buildings.

The IDF occupied Israa University, said administrators, "and used it as a military base for its mechanisms and a center for [the] snatching of isolated civilians in the areas of Rashid, Maghraqa, and Zahraa streets, and temporarily detained [them] to investigate with citizens before moving them."

Mitchell Plitnick, president of Rethinking Foreign Policy, said the fact that 315 mines were detonated meant that "by definition... it was not a legitimate military target."

"Israel would have to have full control to plant so many mines," said Plitnick. "This is a clear example of a war crime and destruction for the fun of it."

Eight universities in Gaza have now been targeted since the IDF began its bombardment on October 7, according to the IMEMC.

Birzeit University, in the occupied West Bank, condemned the destruction of the school and accused Israel of stealing 3,000 rare artifacts from Israa's museum.

"Birzeit University reaffirms the fact that this crime is part of the Israeli occupation's onslaught against the Palestinians," said the school on social media. "It's all a part of the Israeli occupation's goal to make Gaza uninhabitable; a continuation of the genocide being carried out in Gaza Strip."

Sanders: If Netanyahu Says No to Palestinian State, US Must Say No to Netanyahu

"There must be no more U.S. military aid to Israel to continue Netanyahu's war," the senator said.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) delivers a speech on the Senate floor on Thursday,

September 10, 2020.
(Photo: Sen. Bernie Sanders/YouTube Screengrab)

OLIVIA ROSANE

COMMON DREAMS
Jan 20, 2024

Independent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders said on Saturday that the U.S. must stop providing military aid to Israel for its war on Gaza now that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has publicly stated his opposition to a Palestinian state.

Sanders' remarks came two days after Netanyahu said in a televised address that, in the future, Israel needed to have "security control of all territory west of the Jordan" and that he had told this to Israel's friends in the U.S., adding that "a prime minister of Israel has to be able to say no, even to the best of friends."

"Prime Minister Netanyahu is right," Sanders said in response. "We do need to be able to say NO to our friends."

"If Netanyahu continues down the path of military domination, he must do so alone. The United States cannot be complicit."

"He has made his position clear," Sanders continued. "He will never allow a Palestinian state, ever. He will continue his devastating war against innocent Palestinian men, women, and children. He will block the food, water, and medical supplies needed to prevent mass starvation and sickness. Now, we must make our position clear."

Sanders wrote that U.S. President Joe Biden must depart from his "unconditional support" for Israel.

"President Biden must now loudly and clearly say NO to the policies of Netanyahu's right-wing extremist government," Sanders said. "That is what a true friend of Israel must do in this moment."

He also called on Congress to take action.

"There must be no more U.S. military aid to Israel to continue Netanyahu's war," he said.

He also advocated for humanitarian aid to Gazans in need, a release of all hostages, and a "lasting peace" that includes a two-state solution.

"If Netanyahu continues down the path of military domination, he must do so alone," Sanders concluded. "The United States cannot be complicit."

Sanders' response to Netanyahu's remarks contrasted with Biden's, who insisted on Friday that a two-state solution was still possible while Netanyahu remained in office. Biden further told reporters that Netanyahu was not opposed to all two-state solutions and mentioned that some United Nations member states do not have militaries, according to Reuters.

When asked if he would consider putting conditions on aid to Israel given Netanyahu's remarks about a Palestinian state, Biden answered, "I think we'll be able to work something out... I think there's ways in which this could work."

Biden and Netanyahu spoke on the phone on Friday for the first time in almost a month, and a person familiar with the conversation toldCNN that Netanyahu told Biden his statement Thursday did not mean he opposed all potential forms of a Palestinian state. The person also said that Biden found the idea of a demilitarized Palestinian state "intriguing."

On Saturday, however, Netanyahu's office issued a statement saying: "In his conversation with President Biden, Prime Minister Netanyahu reiterated his policy that after Hamas is destroyed Israel must retain security control over Gaza to ensure that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel, a requirement that contradicts the demand for Palestinian sovereignty."

Also on Saturday, Netanyahu issued a similar statement on social media.

"I will not compromise on full Israeli security control over the entire area west of Jordan—and this is contrary to a Palestinian state," Netanyahu wrote.

Journalist and former MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan reshared Netanyahu's remarks on social media.

"The ongoing, public, deliberate humiliation of Biden at Netanyahu's hands continues," he wrote.

Peace Action Statement on last night’s 72-11 Senate vote to table Senator Sanders' resolution

WASHINGTON - Peace Action Executive Director Jon Rainwater issued the following statement after the Senate voted 72-11 to table Senator Sanders' resolution calling for a U.S. investigation into how U.S. arms are being used in Israel’s military campaign in Palestine.

“Anyone who cares deeply about human rights should be disappointed if not disgusted by the Senate’s vote tonight. This vote blocked a State Department investigation of how U.S. weapons are being used by Israel. Senator Sanders’ resolution should have been uncontroversial. It didn’t cut off a penny of aid. It simply asked that the U.S. find out how U.S. weapons are being used given the massive humanitarian catastrophe being caused by Israel’s war. Seventy-one senators stood up and said 'we don’t want to know.' They voted to keep their heads in the sand.

"Polls show that the majority of Americans want this brutal war to end. Congress is out of step with the voters and that’s not sustainable on such a high profile issue. We thank Senator Sanders and the ten senators who voted with him to start a needed Congressional debate over this war. That’s a critical first step in pushing Congress to do the job it is supposed to do: ensure that taxpayer funds are not being used in human rights violations. The pro-peace public must now continue the fight until this brutal war and the resulting killing, displacement, and dispossession of Palestinian civilians ends.”

Peace Action is the United States' largest peace and disarmament organization with over 100,000 members and nearly 100 chapters in 34 states, works to achieve the abolition of nuclear weapons, promote government spending priorities that support human needs and encourage real security through international cooperation and human rights.

Netanyahu Takes Palestinian State Off the Table, Vows Israeli Control From the Jordan River to the Sea

"So it's okay for Netanyahu to say 'from the river to the sea', but not for Palestinians?"

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holds a map of "The New Middle East" without Palestine during his September 22, 2023, address to the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
(Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

BRETT WILKINS

COMMON DREAMS
Jan 18, 2024

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday informed the United States that there will be no independent Palestinian state after the current war on Gaza is over, and that Israel will control Palestine "from the river to the sea."

"For 30 years I have been very consistent. This conflict is not about the lack of a Palestinian state, but the existence of a Jewish state," Netanyahu—who has previously boasted about thwarting the so-called "two-state solution" favored by Washington—said during a nationally televised press conference.

"From every area we evacuate we have received terrible terror against us. It happened in southern Lebanon, it happened in Gaza, and also in Judea and Samaria," he continued, the final part a reference to the illegally occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

"Therefore, I clarify that in any arrangement in the future the state of Israel needs security control over all territory west of the Jordan River," he stressed. "This is what happens when you have sovereignty."

"This truth I say to our American friends—and I also stopped the attempt to impose on us a reality that will jeopardize us—a prime minister of Israel has to be able to say no, even to the best of friends," the prime minister added. "To say no when you need to and to say yes when you can."

The "from the river to the sea" mantra—a claim to all of historic Palestine from the Jordan River in the east to the Mediterranean Sea in the west—is expressed in both the original charter of Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party and the aspirational chants of Palestinians and their supporters around the world.

"So it's okay for Netanyahu to say 'from the river to the sea', but not for Palestinians?" quipped journalist Richard Medhurst following the press conference. "Gee, I wonder which of them has not just said it, but forced millions of people from their native homes for 75 years and just killed 24,000 people of them to achieve it."

Following Netanyahu's comments, U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Thursday that "there is no way to solve [the region's] long-term challenges to provide lasting security and there is no way to solve the short-term challenges of rebuilding Gaza and establishing governance in Gaza and providing security for Gaza without the establishment of a Palestinian state."

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres responded to Netanyahu's comments in a statement reiterating his stance that "the only way to stem the suffering" in the region is "an immediate humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza and a process that leads to sustained peace for Israelis and Palestinians, based on a two-state solution."

Unnamed sources have told reporters that U.S. frustration with Netanyahu's far-right government has been increasing along with the casualty count in Gaza—which Palestinian officials and international groups say is over 100,000, mostly innocent men, women, and children.

President Joe Biden has accused Israel of "indiscriminate bombing" of civilians in Gaza but continues to back Netanyahu's policy unconditionally and the U.S. has supplied Israel with billions of dollars in military aid and diplomatic support at the United Nations and beyond.

On Wednesday, Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid filed a no-confidence motion against Netanyahu's far-right government over its inability to secure the release of the 136 Israeli and other hostages still held by Palestinian militants in Gaza.

"This government cannot continue to exist," Lapid's Yesh Atid party said in a statement. "It is a failure that costs human lives and the future of the country."

Netanyahu has survived two previous no-confidence votes. He is also facing three criminal corruption cases, and opponents allege he is dragging out the war in an effort to evade justice.

Update: This piece has been updated to better reflect the exact wording of Netanyahu's statement, though the meaning has not changed.

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.

Biden Admin Signals Arms Will Keep Flowing as Netanyahu Rejects Palestinian State

"I don't think we need to offer any kind of pressure" on the Israelis to accept a Palestinian state, said a spokesperson for the U.S. State Department.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken talks with spokesperson Matthew Miller and others after he departed from Manama for Tel Aviv on January 10, 2024.
(Photo: Evelyn Hockstein/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

JAKE JOHNSON

COMMON DREAMS
Jan 19, 2024

A U.S. State Department spokesperson signaled Thursday that American weaponry will continue to flow to the Israeli military even after the nation's prime minister ruled out calls for a sovereign Palestinian state, openly defying the Biden administration's push for a two-state solution to the crisis.

"Our support for Israel remains ironclad," the State Department's Matthew Miller said during a press briefing on Thursday in response to a question about how the U.S. intends to react to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's position.

"I don't think we need to offer any kind of pressure" on the Israelis to accept a Palestinian state, Miller said. "The pressure is reality. The pressure is the reality that I just laid out, that without a tangible path to the establishment of a Palestinian state, there are no other partners in the region who are going to step forward and help with the reconstruction of Gaza."

Asked whether the U.S. will "continue to supply weapons and other support to an ally that is not listening to the warnings that you're giving," Miller acknowledged "differences with all of our allies" but said that "this is not a question of the United States pressuring them to do anything."

"This is about the United States laying out for them the opportunity that they have," Miller added. "There is a path for real security assurances—but again, we can't make those choices for anyone. They have to make them for themselves."

In an indication of its unflagging support for Israel's war assault on Gaza, the U.S. State Department has twice bypassed Congress to expedite weapons sales to the nation's government since the Hamas-led attack on October 7. Earlier this week, the U.S. Senate rejected a resolution from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) that would have required the department to produce a report on Israel's human rights practices in Gaza—which by virtually all accounts are atrocious.

The Biden administration, which could soon be facing a lawsuit at the International Court of Justice over its complicity in Israeli war crimes, opposed the Sanders resolution and has refused to formally assess whether Israel is adhering to international humanitarian law.

The Guardianreported Thursday that the State Department has "in effect been able to circumvent the U.S. law that is meant to prevent U.S. complicity in human rights violations by foreign military units—the 1990s-era Leahy law, named after the now retired Vermont senator Patrick Leahy—because, former officials say, extraordinary internal state department policies have been put in place that show extreme deference to the Israeli government."

"No such special arrangements exist for any other U.S. ally," the newspaper added.

The administration is currently working to exempt U.S. arms transfers to Israel from a "mandatory congressional notification process that applies to all other foreign arms sales," The Washington Postreported last week.

Overall, the Biden administration has sent more than 10,000 tons of weaponry to Israel over the past three and a half months, declining to place conditions on the arms even as the Israeli military openly flouts U.S. officials' entreaties to protect Gaza civilians, attacking homes, schools, bakeries, hospitals, and refugee camps.

"If Biden was truly as dissatisfied or impatient or whatever other terms are being fed to the media about his supposed handwringing over Bibi's war, he could have acted. But he didn't."

Israel's unrelenting bombing campaign and ground invasion have killed nearly 25,000 people in Gaza since October, and much of the territory is in the grip of famine as the Netanyahu government restricts the amount of aid allowed to enter the besieged territory.

Ajith Sunghay, head of the United Nations human rights office in the occupied Palestinian territory, expressed horror Friday at conditions on the ground in Gaza, calling the situation "a major, human-made, humanitarian disaster."

"People continue to arrive in Rafah from various places in their thousands, in desperate situations, setting up makeshift shelters with any material they can get their hands on," said Sunghay. "I've seen men and children digging for bricks to be able to hold in place tents made with plastic bags."

"It is a pressure cooker environment here, in the midst of utter chaos, given the terrible humanitarian situation, shortages, and pervasive fear and anger," he added. "The communications blackout has continued for a sixth consecutive day, adding to the confusion and fear, and preventing Gazans from accessing services and information on areas to evacuate."

In a column on Thursday, The Intercept's Jeremy Scahill noted that "over the course of the past 100 days of Israel's bloody rampage in Gaza, Biden has had an infinite series of events that each could have justified ceasing U.S. political and military support for Israel's explicitly offensive war."

"There is no nation on Earth that wields more influence over Israel and no politician who holds more sway than Biden. The U.S. is the arms dealer and defender of this entire enterprise," Scahill wrote. "If Biden was truly as dissatisfied or impatient or whatever other terms are being fed to the media about his supposed handwringing over Bibi's war, he could have acted. But he didn't."

"Instead, the White House made sure no cease-fire took hold, offered a public defense of Israel's conduct in the face of clear evidence of its genocidal intent submitted before the world court, circumvented Congress to keep the arms flowing, and then publicly opposed a resolution that sought to uphold U.S. law aimed at ensuring U.S. weapons and other aid are not used to commit human rights abuses. Those are the relevant facts," he continued. "There is no need for media outlets to serve as conveyor belts for the administration's disingenuous posturing. Biden's actions are the only evidence that matters. And that evidence is damning."

Thousands take to the streets again in Israel to protest Netanyahu

dpa

DPA International

It’s All About Me: Netanyahu Rejects Palestinian Statehood

by Binoy Kampmark / January 19th, 2024

Israel has been given enormous license to control the security narrative in the Middle East for decades. This is not to say it is always in control of it – the attacks of October 7 by Hamas show that such control is rickety and bound, at stages, to come undone. What matters for Israeli security is that certain neighbours always understand that they are never to do certain things, lest they risk existential oblivion.

For instance, no Middle Eastern state will be permitted to acquire nuclear weapons on the Jewish State’s watch. Nuclear reactors and facilities will be struck, infected, or pulverised altogether (Osirak at Tuwaitha, Iraq; the Natanz site in Iran), with, or without knowledge, approval or participation of the United States.

This is a signature mark of Israeli foreign and defence policy: the nuclear option remains the greatest, single affirmation of sovereignty in international relations. To possess it, precisely because of its destructive and shielding potential, is to proclaim to the community of nation states that you have lethal insurance against invasion and regime change. Best, then, to make sure others do not possess it.

Israel, on the other hand, will be permitted to develop its own cataclysmic inventory of weapons, platforms, and doomsday options, all the while claiming strategic ambiguity about the whole matter. In that strangulating way, Israeli policy resembles the thornily disingenuous former US President Bill Clinton’s approach to taking drugs and oral sex: he did not inhale, and oral pleasuring by one by another is simply not sex.

The latest remarks from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on January 18 suggest that the license also extends to ensuring that Palestinians will never be permitted a sovereign homeland, that they will be, in a perverse biblical echo, kept in a form of bondage, downtrodden, oppressed and, given what happened on October 7 last year, suppressed. This is to ensure that, whatever the grievance, that they never err, never threaten, and never cause grief to the Israeli State. To that end, it is axiomatic that their political authorities are kept incipient, inchoate, corrupt and permanently on life support, the tolerated beggars and charity seekers of the Middle East.

At the press conference in question, held at the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv, Netanyahu claimed that, “Whoever is talking about the ‘day after Netanyahu’ is essentially talking about the establishment of the Palestinian state with the Palestinian Authority.” (How very like the Israeli PM to make it all about him.) The Israel-Palestinian conflict, he wanted to clarify, was “not about the absence of a state, a Palestinian state, but rather about the existence of a state, a Jewish state.”

With monumental gall, he complained that “All territory we evacuate, we get terror, terrible terror against us”. His examples, enumerated much like sins at a confessional, were instances where Israel, as an occupying force, had left or reduced their presence: Gaza, southern Lebanon, parts of Judea and Samaria (the West Bank). It followed that “any future arrangement, or in the absence of any future arrangement,” Israel would continue to maintain “security control” of all lands west of the Jordan River. “That is a vital condition.”

As such lands comprise Israeli territory, Gaza and the West Bank, Palestinian sovereignty can be assuredly ignored as a tenable outcome in Netanyahu’s policed paradise. He even went so far as to acknowledge that this “contradicts the idea of sovereignty” as far as the Palestinians are concerned. “What can you do? I tell this truth to our American friends.”

As to sceptical mutterings in the Israeli press about the country’s prospects of defeating Hamas decisively, Netanyahu was all foamy with indignation. “We will continue to fight at full strength until we achieve our goals: the return of all our hostages – and I say again, only military pressure will lead to their release; the elimination of Hamas; the certainty that Gaza will never again represent a threat to Israel. There won’t be any party that educates for terror, funds terror, sends terrorists against us.”

This hairbrained policy of ethno-religious lunacy masquerading as sane military strategy ensures that permanent war nourished by the poison of blood-rich hatred and revenge will continue unabated. In keeping such a powder keg stocked, there is always the risk that other powers and antagonists willing to have a say through bombs, rockets and drones will light it. Should this or that state be permitted to exist or come into being? The answer is bound to be convulsively violent.

It is of minor interest that officials in the United States found Netanyahu’s comments a touch off-putting. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had, it is reported, dangled a proposal before the Israeli PM that would see Saudi Arabia normalise relations with Israel in exchange for an agreement to facilitate the pathway to Palestinian statehood. Netanyahu did not bite, insisting that he would not be a party to any agreement that would see the creation of a Palestinian state.

Blinken, if one is to rely on the veracity of the account, suggested that the removal of Hamas could never be achieved in purely military terms; a failure on the part of Israel’s leadership to recognise that fact would lead to a continuation of violence and history repeating itself.

In Washington, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller stated in the daily press briefing that “Israel faces some very difficult choices in the months ahead.” The conflict in Gaza would eventually end; reconstruction would follow; agreement from various countries in the region to aid in that effort had been secured – all on the proviso that a “tangible path to the establishment of a Palestinian state” could be agreed upon.

For decades, administrations in Washington have fantasised about castles in the skies, the outlandish notion that Palestinians and Israelis might exist in cosy accord upon lands stolen and manured by brutal death. Washington, playing the Hegemonic Father, could then perch above the fray, gaze paternally upon the scrapping disputants, and suggest what was best for both. But the two-state solution was always encumbered and heavily conditioned to take place on Israeli terms, leaving all mediation and interventions by outsiders flitting gestures lacking substance.

Now, no one can claim otherwise that Palestinian statehood is anything other than spectral, fantastic, and doomed – at least under the current warring regime. Netanyahu’s own political survival, profanely linked to Israel’s own existence, depends on not just stifling pregnancies in Gaza but preventing the birth of a nationally recognised Palestinian state.

Binoy Kampmark was a Commonwealth Scholar at Selwyn College, Cambridge. He lectures at RMIT University, Melbourne. Email: bkampmark@gmail.com. Read other articles by Binoy.

U.S. space company upbeat on next Moon mission despite lander's demise

Agence France-Presse
January 20, 2024

Full Moon (Shutterstock)

The head of the American space company whose lunar lander failed this week in its mission to reach the Moon expressed optimism Friday that the next attempt would achieve its goal.

"I am more confident than ever now that our next mission will be successful and land on the surface of the Moon," Astrobotic CEO John Thornton told a news conference, highlighting challenges his team had overcome in the "unexpected but very exciting mission."

Astrobotic's Peregrine lander was launched on January 8 under an experimental new partnership between US space agency NASA and private industry intended to reduce costs for American taxpayers and seed a lunar economy.

But the lander experienced an explosion shortly after separating from its rocket and was leaking fuel, damaging its outer shell as well as making it impossible to reach its destination.

Thornton called it a "difficult" moment, saying the problem likely stemmed from a faulty valve and that a full investigation would be carried out.

But he remained upbeat about the mission.

"After that anomaly we just had victory after victory after victory, showing the spacecraft was working in space, showing that the payloads can operate," he said, referring to scientific experiments onboard, particularly from NASA, that were able to gather data.

Thornton said he had "independent confirmation" the crippled Peregrine lander had burned up in the atmosphere as it plunged back to Earth.

Astrobotic's next mission, scheduled for November, is to carry a rover developed by NASA to the Moon's South Pole, where American astronauts are meant to explore in coming years.

The Viper rover's mission is to learn more about the origin and distribution of water -- in the form of ice -- and determine how it could be used on future missions.

Viper will ride to the Moon on Astrobotic's Griffin lander, which is about three times the size of the ill-fated Peregrine.

Viper is "very sophisticated and costly," senior NASA official Joel Kearns said. "So we want to make sure we really understand the root cause and the contributing factors of what happened on Peregrine."

"If we have to modify our plans for Griffin... we will," he added.

NASA had paid Astrobotic about $100 million under the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program to ship its science instruments to the Moon, as it prepares to send American astronauts back to the barren world later this decade under the Artemis program.

Officials at NASA have made clear their strategy of "more shots on goal" means more chances to score. The next attempt under CLPS, by Houston-based Intuitive Machines, launches in February.

U.S. spaceship lost over South Pacific following failed Moon mission

Agence France-Presse
January 19, 2024

Peregrine Lunar Lander © - / NASA/AFP/File

A crippled American spaceship has been lost over a remote region of the South Pacific, probably burning up in the atmosphere in a fiery end to its failed mission to land on the Moon.

Astrobotic's Peregrine lander was launched on January 8 under an experimental new partnership between NASA and private industry intended to reduce costs for American taxpayers and seed a lunar economy.

But it experienced an explosion shortly after separating from its rocket and had been leaking fuel, damaging its outer shell as well as making it impossible to reach its destination.

In its latest update, Astrobotic posted on X that it had lost contact with its spacecraft shortly before 2100 GMT Thursday, mid-morning on Friday in the local time zone, indicating a "controlled re-entry over open water" as it had predicted.

The Pittsburgh-based company added it would await independent confirmation of Peregrine's fate from the relevant government authorities. A previous update provided atmospheric re-entry coordinates a few hundred miles (kilometers) south of Fiji, albeit with a wide margin of error.

Engineers had executed a series of small engine burns to position the boxy, golf cart-sized robot over the ocean to "minimize the risk of debris reaching land."

Astrobotic also tweeted a photograph taken by the spaceship on its final day, revealing the Earth's crescent as it positioned itself between the Sun and our planet.

Peregrine operated for over 10 days in space, exciting enthusiasts even after it became clear Astrobotic would not succeed in its goal to be the first company to achieve a controlled touchdown on the Moon -- and the first American soft landing since the end of the Apollo era, more than five decades ago.

NASA had paid the company more than $100 million under the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program to ship its science instruments to the Moon, as it prepares to send American astronauts back to the barren world later this decade under the Artemis program.

Astrobotic also carried more colorful cargo on behalf of private clients, such as the DNA and cremated remains of some 70 people, including Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and sci-fi author Arthur C. Clarke.

Though it hasn't worked out this time, NASA officials have made clear their strategy of "more shots on goal" means more chances to score. The next attempt under CLPS, by Houston-based Intuitive Machines, launches in February.

The Japanese space agency's "Moon Sniper," which launched in September, will be the next spaceship to attempt a soft lunar touchdown, a notoriously difficult feat, shortly after midnight Japan time on Saturday (1500 GMT on Friday).

If it succeeds, Japan will be the fifth nation to complete the achievement, after the Soviet Union, United States, China and India.

SpaceX Launch Sends 4 Private Astronauts to ISS

Once they arrive at ISS, the Axiom Space astronauts will conduct 30 scientific experiments that NASA says will help advance research in low-Earth orbit.

By Kimberly Johnson

January 19, 2024

Axiom Mission 3 (Ax-3), the third all private astronaut mission to the International Space Station, lifts off Thursday from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. [Courtesy: NASA]

SpaceX and Axiom Space successfully launched four private astronauts into orbit Thursday, marking the third commercial mission to the International Space Station (ISS).

Axiom Mission 3 (Ax-3) on board SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft lifted off via a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 4:49 p.m. EST from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

On board the spacecraft is the first all-European commercial astronaut crew, which is scheduled to spend about two weeks aboard ISS conducting microgravity research, educational outreach, and commercial activities, according to NASA.

Ax-3 crew checks in from orbit on January 18. [Courtesy: Axiom Space]

“Together with our commercial partners, NASA is supporting a growing commercial space economy and the future of space technology,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a statement. “During their time aboard the International Space Station, the Ax-3 astronauts will carry out more than 30 scientific experiments that will help advance research in low-Earth orbit.”READ MORE: First U.S. Moonshot in Decades Will Fall Short—What It Means

In a quick check-in shortly after liftoff, “Ax-3 commander Michael López-Alegría confirmed the crew’s well-being and safety,” according to Axiom Space.

The Dragon spacecraft is expected to autonomously dock with the forward port of the ISS Harmony module on Saturday around 4:19 a.m. EST.

“Hatches between Dragon and the station are expected to open after 6 a.m., allowing the Axiom crew to enter the complex for a welcoming ceremony and start their stay aboard the orbiting laboratory,” NASA said.

NASA is providing live coverage of the docking event starting at 2:30 a.m. EST. It may be viewed here.

The Ax-3 astronauts are scheduled to leave the ISS on February 3 for their return to Earth and will splash down off the coast of Florida.

Black hole, neutron star or something new? We discovered an object that defies explanation

The Conversation
January 19, 2024

An artist’s impression of the the NGC 1851E binary system, looking over the shoulder of the dark mystery companion star. MPIfR; Daniëlle Futselaar (artsource.nl),

Sometimes astronomers come across objects in the sky that we can’t easily explain. In our new research, published in Science, we report such a discovery, which is likely to spark discussion and speculation.

Neutron stars are some of the densest objects in the universe. As compact as an atomic nucleus, yet as large as a city, they push the limits of our understanding of extreme matter. The heavier a neutron star is, the more likely it is to eventually collapse to become something even denser: a black hole.

These astrophysical objects are so dense, and their gravitational pulls so strong, that their cores – whatever they may be – are permanently shrouded from the universe by event horizons: surfaces of perfect darkness from which light cannot escape.

If we are to ever understand the physics at the tipping point between neutron stars and black holes, we must find objects at this boundary. In particular, we must find objects for which we can make precise measurements over long periods of time. And that’s precisely what we’ve found – an object that is neither obviously a neutron star nor a black hole.

It was when looking deep in the star cluster NGC 1851 that we spotted what appears to be a pair of stars offering a new view into the extremes of matter in the universe. The system is composed of a millisecond pulsar, a type of rapidly spinning neutron star that sweeps beams of radio light across the cosmos as it spins, and a massive, hidden object of unknown nature.

The massive object is dark, meaning it is invisible at all frequencies of light – from the radio to the optical, x-ray and gamma-ray bands. In other circumstances this would make it impossible to study, but it is here that the millisecond pulsar comes to our aid.

Millisecond pulsars are akin to cosmic atomic clocks. Their spins are incredibly stable and can be precisely measured by detecting the regular radio pulse they create. Although intrinsically stable, the observed spin changes when the pulsar is in motion or when its signal is affected by a strong gravitational field. By observing these changes we can measure the properties of bodies in orbits with pulsars.

Our international team of astronomers has been using the MeerKAT radio telescope in South Africa to conduct such observations of the system, referred to as NGC 1851E.

These allowed us to precisely detail the orbits of the two objects, showing that their point of closest approach changes with time. Such changes are described by Einstein’s theory of relativity and the speed of a change tells us about the combined mass of the bodies in the system.

Our observations revealed that the NGC 1851E system weighs almost four times as much as our Sun, and that the dark companion was, like the pulsar, a compact object – much denser than a normal star. The most massive neutron stars weigh in at around two solar masses, so if this were a double neutron star system (systems that are well known and studied) then it would have to contain two of the heaviest neutron stars ever found.

To uncover the nature of the companion, we would need to understand how the mass in the system was distributed between the stars. Again using Einstein’s general relativity, we could model the system in detail, finding the mass of the companion to lie between 2.09 and 2.71 times the mass of the Sun.

The companion’s mass falls within the “black hole mass gap” that lies between heaviest possible neutron stars, thought to be around 2.2 solar masses, and the lightest black holes that can be formed from stellar collapse, around 5 solar masses. The nature and formation of objects in this gap is an outstanding question in astrophysics.

Possible candidates

So what exactly have we found then?

An enticing possibility is that we have uncovered a pulsar in orbit around the remains of a merger (collision) of two neutron stars. Such an unusual configuration is made possible by the dense packing of stars in NGC 1851.

In this crowded stellar dance floor, stars will twirl around one another, swapping partners in an endless waltz. If two neutron stars happen to be thrown too close together, their dance will come to a cataclysmic end.

The black hole created by their collision, which can be much lighter than those created from collapsing stars, is then free to wander the cluster until it finds another pair of dancers in the waltz and, rather rudely, insert itself – kicking out the lighter partner in the process. It is this mechanism of collisions and exchanges that could give rise to the system we observe today.

Simulation of the three-body interaction that is thought to have produced the NGC 1851E system.

We are not done with this system yet. Work is already ongoing to conclusively identify the true nature of the companion and reveal whether we have discovered the lightest black hole or the most massive neutron star – or perhaps neither.

At the boundary between neutron stars and black holes there is always the possibility that some new, as yet unknown, astrophysical object might exist.

Much speculation will be sure to follow this discovery, but what is already clear is that this system holds immense promise when it comes to understanding what really happens to matter in the most extreme environments in the universe.

Ewan D. Barr, Project scientist for the Transients and Pulsars with MeerKAT (TRAPUM) collaboration, Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy; Arunima Dutta, PhD Candidate at the Research Department Fundamental Physics in Radio Astronomy, Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, and Benjamin Stappers, Professor of Astrophysics, University of Manchester

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

SPACE

NASA GUSTO Scientific Balloon Mission Underway at South Pole

The space agency is aiming to set a record of more than 55 days in flight for the long-duration balloon operation.

By Kimberly Johnson

January 18, 2024

Launching from Antarctica, Galactic/Extragalactic ULDB Spectroscopic Terahertz Observatory (GUSTO) will fly a long-duration balloon carrying a telescope with carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen emission line detectors to measure emissions from the interstellar medium, the cosmic material found between stars. [Courtesy: NASA]

For weeks, NASA researchers have been exploring the universe—by balloon.

The space agency successfully launched the Galactic/Extragalactic ULDB Spectroscopic Terahertz Observatory (GUSTO) scientific balloon December 31 from McMurdo Station in Antarctica in order to map portion of the Milky Way and nearby Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). The telescope tethered to the balloon is collecting data that will be used in the making of a 3D map of the Milky Way and the LMC dwarf galaxy near it using high-frequency radio waves.

“By studying the LMC and comparing it to the Milky Way, we’ll be able to understand how galaxies evolve from the early universe until now,” Chris Walker, GUSTO principal investigator, said in a statement.

On Wednesday, NASA reported that the balloon mission was maintaining its course while circumnavigating the South Pole.

The scientific balloon mission is measuring emissions from the material between stars to help scientists determine the life cycle of interstellar gas in the Milky Way galaxy. The floating observatory collects data at an altitude of about 128,000 feet then it transmits it back to a team on the ground.

[Courtesy: NASA]

The balloon is “so large it could easily fit 195 blimps inside of it,” according to NASA, which is hoping the mission will break the record of 55-plus days in flight.

In October, a NASA C-130 Hercules made its first flight to Antarctica to deliver the GUSTO to McMurdo Station.

READ MORE: NASA C-130 Makes First Flight to Antarctica

Antarctica is an ideal location to launch long-duration balloons during the Southern Hemisphere’s summer because the constant sunlight helps stabilize the balloons, and the atmospheric zone around the South Pole allows them to fly in circles without disturbance.

The Galactic/Extragalactic ULDB Spectroscopic Terahertz Observatory (GUSTO) awaits its flight on a scientific balloon with a picturesque view of Antarctica’s Mount Erebus in the distance. GUSTO successfully launched December 31 at 7:30 p.m. local time and remains in flight. [Courtesy: NASA]

“Missions will fly in circles around the South Pole for days or weeks at a time, which is really valuable to the science community,” said Andrew Hamilton, chief of the NASA Balloon Program Office at the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. “The longer they have for observation, the more science they can get.”

The GUSTO mission may be tracked in real time here.

Kimberly Johnson is managing editor of FLYING Defense & Space.

New Jersey bill would legalize ‘magic mushrooms’ for medical, recreational use

2024/01/18

Psilocybin mushrooms stand ready for harvest in a humidified "fruiting chamber" in the basement of a private home on July 28, 2023, in Fairfield County, Connecticut.

- John Moore/Getty Images North America/TNS

New Jersey lawmakers have introduced a bill that would make it the third state to legalize “magic mushrooms.”

Under the legislation, anyone 21 and older could consume or grow the mushrooms for medical or recreational purposes.

The bill would also expunge past and pending offenses involving the psychedelic drug.

The bill comes as Hackensack Meridian, one of the state’s largest healthcare providers, and U.K. biotechnology company Compass Pathways partnered to research a synthetic psilocybin treatment, according to NorthJersey.com.

The state health department would oversee licenses for facilities for production and sales. Those sites would not be allowed in residential neighborhoods or within 1,000 feet of a school.

Residents would also be allowed to grow their supplies own at home in limited amounts for personal use.

New Jersey’s state senate mulled over a similar bill last year, before it was pulled for revisions.

In 2020, Oregon used a ballot measure to become the first state to decriminalize psilocybin. Colorado followed suit in 2022. California lawmakers advanced legislation to do the same in 2023. The cities of Denver, Oakland, Seattle and Detroit have legalized the drug, too.

New Jersey previously legalized marijuana for recreational use in 2021 and sports betting in 2018.

Studies have shown that psilocybin — the naturally occurring chemical in psychedelic mushrooms that causes hallucinations — improves cognitive behavioral therapy for disorders like depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and even alcoholism.

© New York Daily News

SEE

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LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for PSYCHEDELIC

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for PSYCHEDELIC SASKATCHEWAN

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LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for ALDOUS

L.A. Times staff walk out over job cut threats

Agence France-Presse
January 20, 2024

Unionized journalists at the Los Angeles Times walked off the job over planned job cuts (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP)

Unionized journalists at the Los Angeles Times walked off the job Friday for the first time in the paper's 142-year history, after management said it planned significant job cuts to help plug a gaping financial hole.

Scores of employees gathered at a park in downtown Los Angeles to protest what they said were "obscene and unsustainable" contract changes being pushed on staff at the storied outlet in America's second-biggest city.

Others based in California state capital Sacramento and in Washington also downed pens, labor leaders said.

"The changes to our contract that management is trying to pressure us into accepting are obscene and unsustainable," said Brian Contreras of the Los Angeles Times Guild.

"If management thinks our financial situation is untenable, they need to come to the bargaining table in good faith and work out a buyout plan with us."

Contreras told AFP at least 90 percent of guild members were participating in the walkout.
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The action came the day after managers at the troubled paper said widening losses meant substantial job losses were unavoidable.

"We need to reduce our operating budget going into this year and anticipate layoffs," Times spokeswoman Hillary Manning said Thursday.

"The hardest decisions to make are those that impact our employees, and we do not come to any such decisions lightly.

"We are continuing to review the revenue projections for this year and taking a very careful look at expenses and what our organization can support."

No official number was put on the planned job cuts, but reports said it could be at least 100 journalists -- around a fifth of the newsroom.

That would come on top of the 70 jobs that were lost last June.

The Thursday announcement comes days after the abrupt departure of executive editor Kevin Merida, a respected industry figure who only joined the paper in 2021 with a brief to offer stability in a time of turmoil.

The paper, like much of legacy media, has struggled to adapt to the disruptions of the internet age, particularly the loss of advertising revenue and dwindling subscriber numbers.

Billionaire owner Patrick Soon-Shiong, who bought the outlet six years ago, is understood to be subsidizing it to the tune of between $30 and $40 million a year.

The Times was once a giant on the US media stage, with correspondents all over the country and around the world.

But years of retrenchments have seen it shrink its once-mighty reach.

Critics say while it still paints itself as a national paper with a West Coast perspective, it has a much more parochial feel nowadays.