By Stacy Liberatore

Microsoft‘s Azure, one of the world’s biggest cloud service providers, is suffering outages, triggering widespread internet disruptions across major companies.

According to Downdetector, problems began around 11:30am ET, with reports surging from users who could not access cloud-connected services, websites or apps.

The outage appears to be affecting dozens of platforms that rely on these cloud networks, including Microsoft 365, Xbox, Outlook, Starbucks, Costco and Kroger.

Even popular developer and data tools like Blackbaud and Minecraft are showing connectivity issues.

Downdetector has received nearly 20,000 issue reports from Azure users in the US.

The Microsoft outage comes just days after Amazon Web Services disrupted ‘half the internet.’

The incidents have raised concerns about how much of the global online infrastructure depends on these two companies, which host everything from retail and entertainment platforms to business operations and cloud storage.

Frustrated users have flooded social media to vent, with one post on X reading: ‘First AWS, now Azure goes down. I love it when big companies own half the internet!!!’

[…]

Via https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-15239249/Amazon-cloud-crash-leaves-half-world-without-internet-AGAIN.html

Episode 21 Languages of the South Pacific Part 1

Language Families of the World

Dr John McWhorter (2019)

Film Review

After living in the South Pacific for 23 years, I have a special interest in the Austronesian language family, which consists of 1000 languages. Austronesian languages are generally characterized by short two to three syllable words, sentences that begin with the verb and reduplication (doubling nouns to create subtle changes in meaning – eg in Maori ringa (arm) becomes ringaringa for fingers.

Most linguists believe that the Austronesian languages are derived from Thao, a language spoken in Taiwain (and possible southern China). All Austronesian words for rice, sugar cane, ax and canoe are similar to words used in Taiwan for similar objects. Northern South Pacific languages are referred to as Melanesian – Southern South Pacific languages are called Polynesian.

Melanesian (Northern South Pacific  Languages)

• Malay (spoken in Malaysia and Indonesia)
• Tagalog (spoken in Philippines)
• Motu (spoken in New Guinea)
• Fijian
• Samoan.
• Tai-Kadai languages (spoken in Thailand and by indigenous Ainu people In Japan).
• Baruto languages (spoken in Malagasy off the southeast coast of Africa)

https://www.kanopy.com/en/pukeariki/watch/video/6120000/6120040

Jordanian protesters chant slogans against a government agreement to import natural gas from Israel, in Amman, Jordan, October 14, 2016. The center placard reads: “The enemy’s gas is occupation.” Muhammad Hamed/Reuters

Majd Bargash

On the morning of June 13, 2025, air-raid sirens sounded across Amman and other Jordanian cities warning residents to shelter in place. Hours earlier, Israel had launched an unprecedented attack on Iran, triggering 12 days of retaliatory missile and drone strikes.

As Israeli fighter jets and Western air-defense systems used Jordanian airspace to intercept Iranian projectiles, Jordan’s military also played a decisive role in shielding Israeli cities—even as government officials warned that Jordan would not become a battleground for adversaries. Over the same tense hours, Israel abruptly curtailed natural gas supplies to Jordan and Egypt when it shut down two major offshore gas fields in the Mediterranean, the Leviathan and the Karish. The move was preemptive: Israel feared Iranian retaliation after it had targeted one of Iran’s largest gas fields in the Gulf.

The escalation exposed the asymmetrical dynamics of Jordan’s normalization with Israel. On one hand, Jordan is expected to fulfill its obligations, such as facilitating Israel’s defense—whether through direct military coordination or logistical lifelines like the “land bridge,” a trade corridor aiming to connect Israel to the Arabian Peninsula. On the other hand, Jordan has to face the consequences of this position. Since Israel began its genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023, anti-normalization sentiment has intensified, with public outrage growing at the government’s perceived complicity in enabling Israel’s military.

But Jordan’s present bind sits atop a deeper history. In 1994, it became the second Arab state to normalize relations with Israel by signing the Wadi Araba agreement. Initially framed in terms of a shared peacekeeping agenda, this relationship has been marked by Jordan’s growing economic and political dependency on donor states and on Israel itself across a range of sectors, from security and intelligence to water, energy, agriculture, manufactured goods, technology and tourism.

Hand in hand with the Oslo Accords of 1993 and 1995 between the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel, the Wadi Araba treaty marked a decisive shift in the region’s political economy. Oslo created the Palestinian Authority, which fragmented resistance and embedded fiscal and infrastructural dependency on Israel while relieving Israel of the direct costs of occupation. Wadi Araba extended this logic to Jordan, binding its economy into Israel’s orbit and international donor-led neoliberal frameworks. Together, these agreements transformed Israel from a regionally isolated rogue state on the margins of Arab markets into a central node of integration, advancing the Zionist project and expanding its influence under the guise of economic restructuring and so-called peace dividends.

Energy and water, in particular, have become flashpoints in Jordan’s material relationship with and dependence on Israel. These vital sectors tie the kingdom’s economy and daily life to the Zionist state, leaving trade, industry and political stability vulnerable to its leverage. The costs are not just economic: Dependence and deepening normalization, amid an ongoing genocide, fuel social unrest and widen the gap between the government and its people.

Energy Insecurity

Historically, Jordan relied on neighboring Arab states for oil and gas. From the 1960s through the 1980s, supplies came largely from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states. After the first Gulf War in 1990, dependence shifted to Iraq until the 2003 US invasion. Jordan then turned to Egypt. But upheavals following the revolution in 2011 disrupted supplies. To compensate, Jordan imported crude oil from the global market at a high cost, pushing the National Electric Power Company (NEPCO, a government owned entity) into deep deficit.[1] As political ecologists Benjamin Schuetze and Hussam Hussein have noted, this trajectory reflects more than regional disruptions. It also marks a deeper structural dependency shaped by geopolitical alignments, economic liberalization and the erosion of energy sovereignty.[2]

In 2016, in a highly controversial move, NEPCO signed a purchase agreement with Israel, represented by NBL Jordan Marketing Limited (a subsidiary of Noble Energy, a US-based oil and gas company) to supply Jordan with natural gas. This gas was to be extracted from the Leviathan Gas Field in the Mediterranean, operated by the US oil giant Chevron and controlled by Israel. To date, the government has refused to release the full agreement. In the face of criticism, they cite a constitutional court ruling that parliament cannot vote on deals signed between private companies. Yet the government of Jordan is an official party to the deal, having signed supporting agreements with the Israeli government to guarantee the flow of natural gas.

The deal triggered widespread protests from the moment news leaked that the government of Jordan had signed an intent letter to buy gas from Israel.

[…]

Many Jordanians view Leviathan gas through the framework of settler colonialism: as a resource taken from the earth beneath stolen Palestinian land being used to reinforce Israel’s economic power.

[…]

Israel’s weaponization of water and electricity in Gaza—as documented in South Africa’s genocide case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ)—has made Jordanians even more wary of their own reliance on Israel for utilities.

[…]

[…]

.Water Inequalities

Normalization has reshaped Jordan’s water sector much as it has electricity. The two utilities are tightly bound together: Electricity makes up more than half of the water sector’s operating costs, meaning problems in the power sector spill directly into water management. Together, the two account for about a quarter of the country’s public debt.

Imbalances between cost and revenue afflict both sectors. The state-owned electricity company, NEPCO, purchases power from producers then sells it to distributors at below-cost, government-regulated rates that guarantee private profits while locking NEPCO into chronic deficits. The water sector faces its own leakage. Nearly half of Jordan’s water is classified as “non-revenue water,” lost to theft, leaks or inefficiency, compared with around 27 percent in Morocco.[7]

Today, with the 2024 collapse of Syrian President Bashar al-Asad’s regime and Israeli military expansion into southern Syria, Israel controls most of the water that flows into the Jordan and Yarmouk river basins.

These financial weaknesses are compounded by a long history of contested water rights. The Wadi Araba agreement’s division of water from the Jordan and Yarmouk rivers was only the latest chapter in long and protracted conflict over water in the region. Since the First Zionist Congress in 1897, Zionist leaders tried to draw borders around water sources, like the Litani River in southern Lebanon. By 1967, Israel’s control of the Golan Heights, including the Banias and Hasbani rivers, shifted the hydro-strategic balance decisively in its favor. Today, with the 2024 collapse of Syrian President Bashar al-Asad’s regime and Israeli military expansion into southern Syria, Israel controls most of the water that flows into the Jordan and Yarmouk river basins. Access to rivers and aquifers to expand settlements and dispossess Palestinians has been central to Israel’s colonial settlement project in Palestine.

Israel has long weaponized this control vis-a-vis Jordan too. In the 1970s, it took three to four times its share from the Yarmouk River—as delineated by the Johnston Plan of 1955—and blocked Jordan from carrying out projects using the river, like the Maqarin (or Wehda) Dam.

[…]

Severe water scarcity has forced Jordan to seek alternative supplies. Most recently, the IFC along with the European Union and EU Banks, as well as individual states of the United States, France, Italy, Germany, Holland, Spain and Japan have pledged support for financing the Aqaba-Amman Water Desalination and Conveyance Project: an ambitious proposal to use renewable energy to desalinate water from the Red Sea in Aqaba and distribute it nationally through pipelines. The project claims it will provide a third of the country’s water supply by 2030. But local critics point out that the massive debt, almost 64 percent of the $3.5 billion needed to fund this project, further binds Jordan into a dependent relationship to foreign investors, rather than addressing root inequalities in water access linked to normalization and mismanagement.

Against this backdrop, the 2022 water-for-energy memorandum of understanding with Israel and the UAE provoked sharp public opposition. Under the deal, Jordan would build 600 MW of solar capacity to export to Israel, while Israel would supply Jordan with 200 million cubic meters of water annually. The UAE would finance both sides of the project. As with the gas deal, this deal, if enacted, would have deepened Jordan’s political and economic dependence on Israel. Jordan’s former prime minister, Ahmad Obeidat, questioned the benefit of the deal for Jordan by noting it covers 20 percent of Jordan’s water needs and only 3 percent of Israel’s energy needs. His opposition added to the widespread dissent against the deal across Jordan, which forced the Jordanian government to rethink its position.

Although Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi cancelled the deal upon the start of Israel’s genocide on Gaza, questions remain about whether it will be revived.

Material Resistance to Normalization

[…]

Since October 2023, mass protests in the streets of Jordan have demanded the government take serious action to stop the genocide and end ties with Israel. There have been calls to nullify the Wadi Araba agreement, for the expulsion of western military bases and to take concrete steps toward economic recovery. The government has resisted these demands, while reiterating its support for the Palestinian cause and a two-state solution.

In this way, its diplomatic stance provides cover for Israel’s ongoing genocide and renders normalization ordinary. Instances that would have been unthinkable a decade ago, such as a prominent academic praising Israel on national television even as Israel faces ICJ prosecution for genocide and war crimes, reflect the cultural hegemony shaping public discourse. In recent polls, 42 percent of Jordanians oppose cancelling the Wadi Araba agreement.

…while some support normalization, activist movements continue to focus on material politics as a site of disruption—even in the face of growing restrictions.

But while some support normalization, activist movements continue to focus on material politics as a site of disruption—even in the face of growing restrictions. “The Jordanian National Campaign to Overturn the Gas Agreement with the Zionist Entity” began out of opposition to the gas deal in 2014 and includes a wide range of activists, lawmakers, professionals, party members, MPs, trade unions and youth movements from across the political spectrum. In June 2025, Amman’s governor for the first time denied this group a permit to protest against the gas deal. Later the campaign stated on Facebook that the governor’s office had implicitly threatened to detain organizers or participants if the protests actually took place.

Governors—appointed by the prime minister rather than elected—hold broad powers to administratively detain anyone deemed to be a “security threat.” This authority has been used against protestors, journalists and social media influencers. Many contemporary activists were born amid or after the 1989 elimination of martial law and are confronting levels of repression unfamiliar to their generation. Recent detentions have extended to party members like Issam Khawaja—a pediatric neurologist and recently elected secretary general of the Jordanian Democratic Popular Unity party. Khawaja was arrested while leaving his workplace at Al-Basheer Hospital for a speech he gave in a protest in downtown Amman. Other recent arrests include students and social media influencers, like Ayman Aballi, who made a video criticizing the government for holding the Jerash music festival during Gaza’s famine, and journalists like Hiba Abu Taha, imprisoned for reporting on the movement of goods between the Gulf and Israel through a land bridge passing through Jordan.

Her case is telling. By highlighting trade with Israel during the genocide, Abu Taha directly questioned the material infrastructure of normalization. Abu Taha was sentenced under the widely-criticized cybercrime act, which was amended in August 2023. The law’s broad provisions against “threatening social harmony” serve as a ready tool against any dissent and journalism the state objects to, raising red flags for international human rights groups.

[…]

Via https://libya360.wordpress.com/2025/10/29/energy-water-and-the-cost-of-jordans-dependence-on-israel/

Democratic member of the US Congress, Seth Moulton, has announced that he will return donations received from AIPAC. (Photo: via Moulton X Page)

By Robert Inlakesh

The litmus test for whether a politician is truly interested in representing the people who elect them to power is becoming their stance on Palestine, more specifically, Gaza.

As American public opinion continues to shift against Israel, the US political landscape is also undergoing a dramatic transformation. AIPAC, once viewed as an asset to aid in election races, is now becoming a liability, giving birth to a new generation of politicians who are demonstrating their sincerity through a refusal to be bought by the Israel Lobby.

While New York Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani has perhaps received the most attention for his pro-Palestinian stances, he is in no way alone. In fact, he is joined by countless others who use their anti-genocide stances as a means of connecting with their voter bases.

All authoritative polling data suggests the majority of Democratic Party supporters currently hold a more favorable view of the Palestinians than Israel. According to a recent Gallup poll, 92 percent of all Democrats said they oppose the war in Gaza. Yet, the ability of candidates to reject funding from the Israel Lobby and freely speak their mind on the issue transcends a simple agreement with constituents on a single foreign policy issue.

Instead, refusing to take AIPAC money is rapidly becoming a prerequisite in order to be viewed as authentic, and it drives belief amongst the public that any given candidate will actually work to achieve key campaign promises. In other words, AIPAC equals corruption, and being pro-Palestinian equates to authenticity.

One of the most successful campaigns, coming from this new generation of politicians, is that of Graham Platner, who is a Democrat running for a seat in the US Senate for Maine. In his campaign ads, he promotes a “Mainers First” mentality, centering the working class and also explicitly opposing Washington’s support for the genocide in Gaza. He has publicly rejected funds from AIPAC, as opposed to Senator Susan Collins, who seeks to unseat him and has taken at least $647,758 from the Israel Lobby.

Platner is a Marine Corps veteran who did four combat tours and also worked as an Oysterman. Despite countless attempts, from within the Democratic Party establishment and the Israel Lobby, to stir up controversies and undermine his campaign, the progressive candidate is still polling above his Democratic primary opponent and Maine Governor, Janet Mills.

Although the uptick in pro-Palestinian sentiment is more prominent amongst Democrats, there is also a notable shift amongst Republicans. Pew Research polling data shows that, while unfavorable views amongst Republicans overall stand at around 23 percent, amongst those aged 18-49, a whopping 50 percent said they viewed Israel unfavorably.

Harnessing the energy of the shift, the likes of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Rep. Thomas Massie, and Rep. Matt Gaetz have all explicitly come out in opposition to AIPAC. Their messaging around the issue is to assert that they are “America First”, as opposed to their Republican colleagues, whom they accuse of being “Israel First”. These representatives align themselves with popular conservative commentators like Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson, amongst others, who also carry the same rhetoric.

Ultimately, the idea of America First and slogans like Mainers First transcend partisan lines. The idea of prioritizing Americans above the interests of Israel has long been taboo, yet we saw this collapse during the Democratic primary campaign for the Mayor of New York.

When Zohran Mamdani was asked where he would first visit as Mayor, he answered calmly that “I would stay in New York City. My plans are to address New Yorkers across the five boroughs and focus on them.” Although he was then challenged repeatedly and asked to recognize Israel as a Jewish State, which he refused to do based upon opposition to systems of ethnic or religious hierarchy, the clip of his answer went viral, receiving broad agreement amongst both Democrats and Republicans.

Other politicians running for Congress, who are explicitly anti-AIPAC, include the following candidates:

Robb Ryerse for Arkansas’s Third District, who is seeking to unseat Steve Womack, funded to the tune of $142,030 by the Israel Lobby. In California, there is Chris Bennet running for the Sixth District, Mai Vang for the Seventh District, Saikat Chakrabarti for the Eleventh District, Chris Ahuja for the Thirty-Second District, as well as Angela Gonzales-Torres for the Thirty-Fourth District.

In Colorado, there is Melat Kiros for the First District, as well as John Padora for the Fourth District. Within Florida, there is also Bernard Taylor running for the Twenty-First District, Elijah Manley for the Twentieth District, Marialana Kinter for the Seventh District, and Oliver Larkin for the Twenty-Third District.

Running in Illinois, there is Robert Peters for the Second District, Junaid Ahmed for the Eighth District, Morgan Coghill for the Tenth District and Dylan Blaha for the Thirteenth District. Meanwhile, in Indiana, there is Jackson Franklin, who is running for Congressional District Five and, in Massachusetts, Jeromie Whalen is running for the First District.

Seeking to win Maryland’s Fourth District is Jakeya Johnson, while Donavan McKinney is running for Michigan’s Thirteenth District and Kyle Blomquist is competing for its First District. Crossing over to Missouri, there is a well-known progressive candidate, Cori Bush, for its First District and Hartzell Gray for Missouri’s Fourth District.

For New Hampshire’s First District, Heath Howard is in the running, while, in New Jersey, Katie Bansil is running for the Sixth District. Meanwhile, there is James Lally running for Nevada’s Third District, Aftyn Behn for Tennessee’s Seventh District and Zeefshan Hafeez for Texas’s Thirty-Third District.

Also contending for Washington’s Ninth District is Kshama Sawant, while Aaron Wojchiechowski is running for Wisconsin’s Fifth District and Brit Aguirre is contesting for West Virginia’s First District.

Meanwhile, Abdul El-Sayed is running for Senate in Michigan, and Karishma Manzur is a Senate Candidate in New Hampshire, both of whom reject AIPAC funding and oppose the ongoing genocide.

It is important to note that new projects, like AIPAC Tracker, are also now promoting candidates who refuse to take funding from the Israel Lobby and have set up a page whereby citizens can donate to these anti-AIPAC politicians. AIPAC Tracker has played a particularly important role in educating the public, through graphics, showing how much the Israel Lobby has given to individual politicians.

Despite the majority of the anti-AIPAC campaigns being led by progressive Democrats, it is clear that the infamy of the Israel Lobby is having a major impact on mainstream Democrats, too.

For example, earlier this month, AIPAC appeared to be experiencing an existential crisis following an announcement from prominent lawmaker, Seth Moulton, who declared he would not receive funds from the Lobby group and would even be returning their contributions.

In an official statement, Moulton claimed to be making his move due to AIPAC’s alignment with the Israeli government of Benjamin Netanyahu, in particular. For such a right-leaning Democrat, on foreign affairs, to be publicly disavowing AIPAC, it signaled the toxicity of its brand more than anything.

Back in 2024, AIPAC claimed victory after it managed to unseat progressive Democratic Party Representative, Jamaal Bowman, over his pro-Palestinian stances, in the “most expensive House primary ever” in US history. At the time, AIPAC had spent at least $14.5 million on anti-Bowman ads through its PAC, United Democracy Project, alone.

Just over a year later, it appears as if the Israel Lobby had forked out tens of millions for what can be labeled, in hindsight, as a pyrrhic victory. Although the Zionist Lobby groups have injected unprecedented funding into continuing their purchase of American elected officials, their strategy appears to be collapsing.

Over time, more and more Americans from across the aisle are beginning to correlate support for Israel with political corruption. The litmus test for whether a politician is truly interested in representing the people who elect them to power is becoming their stance on Palestine, more specifically, Gaza.

The more Israel interferes in American domestic affairs, demands free speech crackdowns, unconstitutional legislation, billions in taxpayer dollars to fund their wars of aggression, unlawful deportations of Israel critics and drags the US into more conflict overseas, the more the American opposition to the Israel Lobby grows.

Recently, Illinois-based journalist Matthew Eadie uncovered that AIPAC is now employing new tactics to get around its own toxic brand, by “driving donations without any transparency” through Unique ID campaigns.

One series of “AIPAC secret campaigns” has been in support of Minority Leader of the US House, Hakeem Jeffries, nicknamed “AIPAC Shakur” by popular radio-show host, ‘Charlamagne tha god’, whereby certain links to donate were shared and will not pop up as direct AIPAC contributions, yet are still traceable by the Israel Lobby and directed by them.

Social media activists are not letting these tactics slip and are actively pointing out what they claim to be deceptive tactics, only fuelling more anger at the Lobby, in general. Yet, such tactics appear to prove desperation on AIPAC’s behalf, especially amidst growing calls for them to register as a foreign agent.

[…]

Via https://www.palestinechronicle.com/falling-from-grace-who-are-the-us-candidates-refusing-aipac-money/

Chairman Rand Paul Introduces the Safeguarding Personal Information Act of 2025

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Chairman Rand Paul (R-Ky.) of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has introduced the Safeguarding Personal Information Act of 2025, legislation to repeal the federal mandate requiring every state to share citizens’ personal data and redesign driver’s licenses to meet federal standards.

“REAL ID is effectively creating a national ID card with no limit on the personal information being shared between all 50 states, the District of Columbia, possessions, and territories,” said Chairman Rand Paul. My bill repeals this dangerous mandate and restores the privacy, due process, and First Amendment rights stripped away in 2005. The government should not have a dossier on every American. You should never have to ‘show your papers’ to travel freely within your own country or enter a building your tax dollars paid for.”

REAL ID forces the states to adopt uniform federal standards for driver’s licenses and IDs, embedding machine-readable technology that makes it easier for the government to track U.S. citizens’. To obtain one, Americans must surrender layers of personal documentation, including proof of identity, a Social Security number, proof of residency, proof of lawful presence, and in some cases, proof of name change. After gathering these documents, citizens often wait weeks for DMV appointments or stand in hours-long lines, paying additional fees in many states simply to upgrade their licenses.

These documents are then stored and can be shared across state databases.

Only IDs that comply with these federal rules are accepted for “official purposes,” such as boarding commercial flights, entering federal buildings, or accessing other federally controlled spaces. In practice, the REAL ID Act functions as a domestic passport that conditions basic rights—like travel and petitioning your government—on government approval.

The Safeguarding Personal Information Act of 2025 repeals the de facto national identification mandate in full, restoring the right of every American to move freely, speak freely, and live without government intrusion.

Read the bill here.

[…]

Via https://www.paul.senate.gov/chairman-rand-paul-introduces-the-safeguarding-personal-information-act-of-2025/