Category: Foriegn Affairs

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The Middle East is a problem of the West’s making and, because of that, the West bears a good deal of responsibility in sorting the problem out.

Why it is our responsibility can be summed up in one word — oil. The West’s economy runs on oil. If there is no oil, the economy grinds to a halt. The West has known, for at least 100 years, that the Middle East sits on top of a large patch of oil thus making it very important piece of real estate.

This also explains why we have been fucking about with the Middle East. The US, in particular, has been stirring up trouble there for a number of years. Installing governments, reaping the whirlwind when those governments are overthrown, going to war numerous times to ensure that the right government is in charge of oil production. Supporting Saddam Hussein one moment and the next one we oppose him. Saying we want democracy in the region while propping up a medieval monarchy in Saudi Arabia. The Taliban is good give them arms. The Taliban is bad go to war with them.

The one overriding factor in our strategy, if it can be called that, is who will keep the flow of oil running. None of this is based in any real commitment to the people of the region. This incoherence, if nothing else, makes it clear to people living in the region that our commitment is to one thing and one thing only — oil.

Very little comfort can be taken by people living in the region when Americans say it is just business don’t take it personally. This may work if you are looking at an Excel spreadsheet in Washington DC; on the other hand, if you’re facing a firing squad in Baghdad, you might feel a little more alarmed. It certainly wouldn’t encourage anyone to risk his life for the USA.

Part of the reason alternate energy sources were pushed was to make the West more energy independent so we wouldn’t have to worry about the Middle East and perhaps take a stand there that might remotely be called moral and civic minded. Instead, and for reasons beyond me, alternate energy sources have become a hair shirt for eco-weenies. Why do we need alternate energy sources when we have plenty of oil. All we have to do is maintain a huge armed force to make sure we keep that oil coming through the Strait of Hormuz.

So we are back to where we started — dependent on oil which is both dangerous and expensive.

Do you get it? Neither do I.

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Every so once in awhile I am reminded that the two countries with the largest stockpile of nuclear weapons are led by narcissistic idiots. The fate of the world is in the hands of two men who stopped developing mentally at 12 years of age.

Neither one seems to understand warfare in the way they rest of the world understands warfare. Putin has refused to say he won’t use nuclear weapons in the Ukraine which may, and I am using the word may here very liberally, make sense if Russia didn’t border the Ukraine. Is wind so difficult of a concept for him to realize that Russians would be in danger if he shot a nuclear missile into the Ukraine? Worse still is the possibility that he thinks it is perfectly willing to devastate parts of his own homeland in order to defeat the Ukrainians. Given the amount of Russians he has sacrificed already, I am afraid it is the later.

Then there is Trump who talks about invading countries, blowing up countries as if it is a school boy’s war games. His understanding of strength boils down to killing anybody and everybody unfortunate enough to live in a country he is angry with. Since he never follows through with it, thank God, he looks increasingly like the guy at the end of the bar who is telling war stories that nobody believes. Yeah right, Donnie, you charged up the hill and single handedly won the battle, are you buying another round?

Because there growth was stunted in early adolescence, it is impossible to talk to them like you would talk with another adult. If you try to talk sense to them, you are dead politically in Trump’s case and dead in reality in Putin’s case. And all any of us can do is whistle past the graveyard.

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What is happening in Gaza is horrible and, with no possible solution that both sides will agree to, it will continue to be horrible.

The idea that defunding Israel will somehow stop it is absurd. Donald Trump is an idiot and no competition for the evil genius of Benjamin Netanyahu. So you are more than welcome to dream on with that but be prepared to be disappointed.

The only device left in Hamas’ arsenal is pictures of dying children which tells you everything. When all else fails, dying children will do the trick. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work. There are dying children everywhere, why this particular subset of dying children should get more attention than the other dying children in the world is debatable. Why are the dying children in South Sudan any less worthy of our attention than the dying children in Gaza?

Dying children always occur during war. It is a terrible awful fact. Children died when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7. So when pro-Palestinians try to guilt the West into supporting their side because of all the dying children. I find it difficult to take their complaints seriously when Hamas has the blood of children on their hands.

But Israel is eliminating the Palestinians in Gaza. Probably but how has October 7 made this situation better. Indeed, it has made the Palestinians situation in Gaza a good deal worse and Hamas, instead of surrendering which would save their civilian population, continue this losing strategy in the hopes that the world changes their mind and turn on Israel.

The problem for the Palestinians is what is the world willing to do about it. Israel has an overwhelming military force, advanced technology and atomic weapons. Gaza has dying children, bombed out building and Hamas. What can change this dynamic? More attacks like October 7? Pictures of dying children? Good luck with that.

It’s not as if Israel’s stance is above reproach. It most certainly is. Israel has definitely pursued policies that have robbed Palestinians of their land. On the other hand, the leadership of the Palestinians have pursued a strategy that is even more alienating to the West than Israel’s. What advantage have they gained since October 7? They probably will lose control over Gaza. Since 1948, all that the Palestinian leadership has been able to achieve is less and less territory and lots and lots of dead children.

So, by all means, continue to show pictures of dead children as the Israelis take over Gaza. All those martyrs were worth another crushing defeat.

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I don’t know why Hamas thought attacking Israel on October 7 was a good idea but they were wrong. What a disaster. It has failed utterly to do anything of value for the Palestinian people. All they are getting from it is more martyrs. A whole population ruined again by this ill thought out attack.

And I don’t blame the Israelis for kicking the shit out of the Palestinians. Hamas attacked the civilian population of Israel — killing men, women and children. Did they really expect the Israelis to do nothing? Anyone watching the Middle East for the past 70 years knew they were going to retaliate. Unsurprisingly they did with the full might of their military.

Maybe Hamas thought that they could change world opinion which might have worked if October 7 had not been so vicious. But it was so much so that whenever I try to get mad at the Israelis, I remember October 7 and I no longer can muster the requisite anger to actually change my mind.

The modern world doesn’t work in a way that matches the Hamas’ strategy. The news is everywhere. What you do is seen and once it has been seen, it can’t be unseen. Terrorism still scares the shit out people. The more repellant the terrorism, the less likely that any positive message you have will be heard. October 7 was truly repellant.

What about the Israeli merciless attack on Gaza. Yes it was bad but, again, I keep coming back to Hamas. Israel wanted the perpetrators of the October 7 attack. They were hiding in Gaza. If Hamas truly wanted to stop the Israeli counter attack, they could do what any losing army does when their civilian population is getting the shit kicked out them — they can surrender. They refused to do it, so then who is responsible for the long bloody war in Gaza? To my mind, Hamas.

Unfortunately for the Palestinians, it looks like the world agrees or, at least, they aren’t willing to do much to save them outside of street demonstrations. So, Hamas allowed its civilian population to take the brunt of Israelis justified anger after a pointless, but savage, attack of Israeli citizens. How has it helped the Palestinians in any way? I mean fucking Donald Trump wants to take over Gaza, kick out the Palestinians and put up resort hotels.