unusual messaging View quoted note →

Someone would developed it anyway, wouldn't they? View quoted note →

The Burning Rain of Gaza: Ewa Jasiewicz’s Podpalić Gazę and the Hidden British Origins of Incendiary Warfare In the landscape of modern conflict journalism, few works capture the raw, unfiltered devastation of urban siege with the technical precision and moral urgency of Podpalić Gazę (“To Set Gaza on Fire”) by the Polish-British journalist and human rights activist Ewa Jasiewicz. Published exclusively in Polish, the book stands as a rare artifact of independent frontline reporting. Jasiewicz was one of the few international journalists physically present inside the Gaza Strip during the devastating weeks of Operation Cast Lead (2008–2009). While mainstream Western media outlets filtered the conflict through a lens of geopolitical distance, Jasiewicz’s work paired visceral eyewitness testimony with a damning, forensic indictment of Western military logistics—specifically exposing the hidden hand of British manufacturing in the deployment of white phosphorus. The visual centerpiece of Jasiewicz’s documentation, and the defining image of her reporting, is the catastrophic shelling of civilian infrastructure, including United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) schools. Her book features graphic photographs of air-bursting artillery shells over densely populated areas. The visual phenomenon, often described by survivors and journalists as "burning rain," consists of descending wedges of white phosphorus that cut through concrete, ignite buildings, and cause horrific, deep-tissue chemical burns upon contact with human skin. By capturing these images alongside meticulous technical captions, Jasiewicz did not merely document human suffering; she established a clear, traceable link between the atrocities on the ground and the quiet factories of the United Kingdom. 1. The Anatomy of the Weapon: How British Components Fueled the Fire To understand the depth of British complicity exposed in Podpalić Gazę, one must look at the mechanics of the specific weapon used: the M825A1 155mm White Phosphorus artillery shell. Ostensibly an American-manufactured munition, the shell functions by ejecting 116 felt wedges saturated with white phosphorus over a target area. Upon contact with oxygen, these wedges ignite spontaneously, burning at temperatures exceeding 800 degrees Celsius (over 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit) until the chemical is entirely consumed or deprived of air. While the complete artillery shells were assembled and shipped from the United States, British investigative journalists and arms-monitoring organizations revealed a hidden supply chain. Crucial component parts—specifically the specialized phenolic resin liners used to contain the highly corrosive incendiary payloads, as well as critical ignition and detonation sub-assemblies—were manufactured in British factories. These components were routinely exported to the United States under open licensing agreements, where they were integrated into the final M825A1 shells before being transferred to foreign militaries. Jasiewicz utilized her unique background—rooted in both Polish independent media and British investigative traditions—to bypass standard press restrictions. Her captions explicitly detail these manufacturing origins, illustrating a stark contradiction: while the United Kingdom had strictly banned the use of incendiary weapons against civilian populations under international treaties, British corporate infrastructure remained a vital cog in the machine that produced them. 2. A Banned Legacy and the Silence of Translation The systemic hypocrisy surrounding these weapons forms the core structural critique of Podpalić Gazę. Under Protocol III of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW), the use of air-delivered incendiary weapons against civilian concentrations is strictly prohibited. The UK is a signatory to this treaty. However, a notorious legal loophole allows white phosphorus to be classified primarily as a "smokescreen" or "signaling" agent rather than an incendiary weapon, despite its predictable, catastrophic incendiary effects when detonated over urban centers like Gaza. Jasiewicz’s choice to publish her findings in Polish created a powerful, localized document, but it also meant that her specific, granular indictments of British supply lines evaded the mainstream political discourse within the UK itself. For obvious geopolitical and corporate reasons, the book was never picked up by major English-language publishing houses. This lack of translation effectively insulated British arms manufacturers from the immediate domestic legal and public relations fallout that a widespread English release might have triggered. Today, Podpalić Gazę serves as a vital historical record and a masterclass in independent investigative journalism. It stands as a testament to the fact that modern warfare is never localized; the "burning rain" that fell upon the schools of Palestine was fueled, engineered, and capitalized upon by an international supply chain stretching directly back to the industrial heartlands of Great Britain.

yes, smart is not what it used to be... 😂 View quoted note →

What does self-claimed mean? Tell me the difference between 'claimed' and 'self-claimed'. View quoted note →

@Matt see this one: nevent1qqs2alcu826xxztdqtplxedmtcrxtnyrqp4lwtvp265mvd4wntyfnrqpz9mhxue69uhkummnw3ezuamfdejj7q3qf9r7ay2xeamz2tlv9y8dez64evxz9e6quy9eqs7um0swsn6x2c2qxpqqqqqqz3uuvff nevent1qqs2cl6l7jhu2gmtdqulcecj4qlwhn7g02nzhjykxzrv8gfxegkz2zgppemhxue69uhkummn9ekx7mp0qgsv0l5jlqx9zmqv2jc4arf9dtq89qgrdkf5ag0l88asek9ql4nhwdsrqsqqqqqpjqf5yy