Tag Archives: Gaza

February 22, 2025 · 19:01

A marker was reached

On the second of December 2024 (one of several) mentions for the eradication of Hamas (among others) was called by me, I did so in the story ‘When it rains it pours’ (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2024/12/02/when-it-rains-it-pours-2/) there I put “Saudi Arabia has been under attack through Iranian proxies for too long and as such the three terrorist organizations Hamas, Hezbollah and Houthi their eradication becomes a near essential.” IU don’t do this lightly. At some point Iran will set the stage of their ‘wanted’ assistance, all for the greater good of Shia muslims everywhere and they will strike against Saudi Arabia and the UAE. All for a bigger seat at the Muslim table. Iran will go for that at their earliest convenience (read : tactical opportunity) and I reckon that Hamas will be the first to ‘approve’ the action. I was under the impression that this stage was going to happen, but Saudi Arabia and the UAE might wait for too long to take affirmative actions. That was until today. Today, mostly via LinkedIn I saw the news that we see below:

Here we are shown “What we saw today in Gaza is a disgrace to Islam, an act of blasphemy against Allah.” and a source gave us “Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti makes shocking statement against Hamas” in this we are talking about Grand Mufti Abdulaziz bin Abdullah Al-Sheikh. He was appointed in June 1999, serving islam most of his life and was appointed to a seat of leadership as early as 1969. We can therefor clearly see that he knows all levels of Islam (as I personally see this) and for a person like this to speak out against the acts of Hamas is a first sign that the days of Hamas are numbered. You see, they cannot hide behind islam with their hatred of jews to such a degree that clear sounds come from one of the most conservative Islam places for those people to speak out against Hamas. I might not phrase it in the best ways, but as I see it Hamas is about to take a dive for their own mass hatred. When other Islamic clerics follow the words of Grand Mufti Abdulaziz bin Abdullah Al-Sheikh, Gaza’s and Hamas will only be able to rely on the scraps that Iran will give them and they have problems of their own now. As I see it the pro Gaza rallies everywhere will dry up and those who rallied for Gaza will have to investigate their own souls and face their own anti-semitic side of things. 

I got the initial setting from Mr. Noor Dahri, he is the Founder and Executive Director of Islamic Theology of Counter Terrorism – ITCT, a UK based Counter Islamist Terrorism Think Tank. He is an independent researcher in Counter Islamist Terrorism and Radicalisation. And it is important that we see this, there is a larger context in the acts of Hamas, especially as even islamics are opposing their action. When the dust settles Hamas will have but one recourse, to let go all the Jewish captives they still have and when the second hurdle is passed and optionally the bulk will have been killed there are two settings. The first is that Israel will go insane with rage (which is really bad for all Gaza) and the more important side is that Islam kill turn against Hamas, making them useless to say the least. 

But beyond what could be and what is, is the clear voice of Grand Mufti Abdulaziz bin Abdullah Al-Sheikh who gave us “What we saw today in Gaza is a disgrace to Islam, an act of blasphemy against Allah.” The one voice of reason that all people could and themselves behind. Muslims, Christians and Jews. It might be the first time a setting like this happens and recognizing this is essential. Even for a simple blogger like me. We can all hide behind populistic hate and numbers in a blog, but that was never my setup. And seeing the voice of reason is essential, no matter the faith he belongs to. 

Have a nice Saturday and an optional really lazy Sunday to come.

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February 6, 2025 · 14:52

It’s al about timing

Timing is an odd thing, the ridiculous idea that could be laughed out of the house is ‘suddenly’ accepted when the timing is tweaked. That happens in all walks of life and usually thing comes with a hindrance or an opportunity. It is a balancing of events that enable timing to get away with all things normal or not. In todays world (especially politics) it is a blending of events almost like a chemist mixing volatile matters. It is no longer the 1200’s when a person mixed charcoal, sulfurous ash and gull droppings and with a hail Mary produced gunpowder. So when President Trump announced ‘his’ idea for turning Gaza into a Riviera and set boots on the ground event to move the Palestinians to other places (temporary or not) there was a hushed silence (my giggling was seen as offensive). Yet now mere hours ago Al Jazeera gives us ‘Palestinians reject Trump’s Gaza plan’ with the byline “Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have said they would “never leave, no matter what”, after US President Donald Trump proposed the US would “take over” Gaza and relocate Palestinians from there “permanently”.” And that is not all. The same Al Jazeera also gave us (at https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/2/5/non-negotiable-saudi-arabia-flatly-rejects-trumps-gaza-takeover-plan) ‘‘Non-negotiable’: Saudi Arabia flatly rejects Trump’s Gaza takeover plan’ with the setting that we are given with “Establishing a Palestinian state ‘is a firm, unwavering position’, Saudi’s Foreign Ministry says, rejecting Trump’s ethnic-cleansing of Palestinians from Gaza.” As well as “Saudi Arabia reacted swiftly and sternly to US President Donald Trump’s pledge to “take over” the Gaza Strip, reiterating no normalisation deal with Israel will occur until Palestinians receive their own independent state.” So all this sweetness, which requires a cherry on top and the Guardian (at https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2025/feb/05/trump-gaza-take-over-reaction-israel-netanyahu-middle-east-latest-live) ‘Trump officials try to walk back president’s Gaza comments – as it happened’ which gives us “Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, said the US president does not want to put any American troops into Gaza. Witkoff was on Capitol Hill on Wednesday to clarify Trump’s comments the day before, during which he did not rule out deploying US troops to the Palestinian territory.

“Witkoff said that the president doesn’t want to put any troops into Gaza, and that he doesn’t want to spend any US money on Gaza,” the Republican senator for Missouri, Josh Hawley, said, according to the Washington Post. But Witkoff did not suggest that Trump had abandoned his proposal that Gaza’s population of 2.2 million Palestinians be displaced from their land, the paper writes. It cited one senator as saying: [Witkoff] painted a scenario of a Gazan family moving back into tents, thinking ‘I’m going to get back into a dwelling in five years,’ and that is just not going to happen. It is a wasteland of rubble.”

Yet the cherry is not found I n what was said, it is seen in what was not said. There is an overbearing amount of “does not want to”, yet what he wants to do isn’t said either. I reckon that Steve Witkoff was handed a piece of garbage with the message to sort it out (what a life he must have) and that is what he was trying to do. In all this what I seem to miss is that President Trump went in to speak his mind (sort of) and didn’t bother to rely on the people around him to test the speech he had in mind. This gives him bad reviews from the people he desperately wants money from (mainly Saudi Arabia) whilst one person stated that it would be “a breach of international law” all whilst others try to hide behind “it was prudent to sometimes “sit back” and not comment on all of Trump’s claims” which is an almost weasel setting as we have been made to believe during decades of presidency that the word of the president goes, which makes timing an interesting factor. This isn’t President Kennedy stating that we will put a man on the moon in a decade, this is someone stating to get rid of the Palestinians in no uncertain way. I would add to that that if it gets rid of Hamas he gets my blessing. But the reality is that When Egypt gets Hamas in their area they get a new dimension of troubles. As long as Hamas is focused on Israel Egypt is fine with them, in Egypt not so much. The same could be said for Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon. Perhaps Iran would take them, but I am not holding my breath on that and for Iran it comes with other issues. As I see it no-one wants the Palestinians as they come with added baggage of terror and violence. Did no one figure this out as the Palestinians had nowhere to run to?

As for the setting of “he doesn’t want to spend any US money on Gaza” I come to the question “Why are you getting involved?” He didn’t want to boots on the ground, he doesn’t want to spend money, so what is there? Why get involved in the first place? As I see it the democratic party of President Bartlett would have done a much better job and they are merely actors. So what gives? As for Amnesty International (that now regarded useless bunch) gives us “Donald Trump’s description of Gaza as “demolition site” completely fails to include the Israeli government’s responsibility for causing the devastation to the Palestinian territory, Amnesty International said.” Gives rise to their uselessness as this started with Hamas starting an attack on the NOVA music festival on October 7th 2023, that was the exploding powder keg and Amnesty International better start doing a much better job at giving us facts that giving us “Israeli government’s responsibility for causing the devastation” which is as I see it a new level of political uselessness. 

That is the missing setting. The responsibility of Hamas. As I see it, the only Political player who had anything to say on this was Melanie Joly (Canada) as she gave us “Canada’s longstanding position on Gaza has not changed. We are committed to achieving a two-state solution, where Israelis and Palestinians can live securely within internationally recognised borders. There is no role for Hamas in the governance of Gaza. We support Palestinians’ right to self-determination, including from being forcibly displaced from Gaza” this is the missing piece. No matter what is done about the Palestinians it needs to clearly state that Hamas is no longer welcome in Palestine or the rest of the world. This will start again and again as they either by themself or through ‘requests’ from Iran will hit Israel again and this will start all over again and at present the Israeli’s are united and the next time could end the existence of Palestine or its people and the Palestines better be clearly aware of this. They better realize that they have lot grip on their media friends and political friends, even support will wane after the next Hamas attack. The film shots of the entire Palestinian population ‘walking out’ the hostages whilst showing them all the hate they could. 

With these images (CNN Drone) they are shown the people they are and people are realising that the world without Palestine could be a better place altogether. That is what Hamas ensured and enabled. That part is hugely missing in what I see it the Palestinian setting. The cause was Hamas, not Israel. Israel is merely fed up with the setting and we cannot blame them for that. 

But that isn’t stated in any of this, so whatever people try to walk back is depending on the realization that the plan was flawed from the beginning, not merely the talk from President Trump, but the actively guilty parties in play.

Have a great day.

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January 7, 2025 · 08:49

UN Redundant Whining Association

Let’s see how we could optionally expose the media and set a department of the UN to the trashcan of useless to the maximum degree. It is a ride that has seen some time. The first part we got around late July 2024. The rumours went round and at some point the UN decided to put a stop to it and on August 5th (at https://www.unrwa.org/newsroom/official-statements/investigation-completed-allegations-unrwa-staff-participation-7-october) we were given under the headline ‘Allegations on UNRWA staff participation in the 7 October attacks’. There we see “I acknowledge the completion of the investigation by the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) into the serious allegations that 19  area UNRWA staff members in Gaza were involved in the abhorrent attacks of 7 October on southern Israel” with the added “In April, an independent Agency-wide review by three reputable research centres under the leadership of former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna concluded that UNRWA ‘possesses a more developed approach to neutrality than other similar UN or NGO entities’. The Agency has started implementing the recommendations of the review” and is fully committed to them.” Now we can accept that for what it is (I do not), but the massive takeaways here in this brief are ‘the completion of the investigation by the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS)’, ‘an independent Agency-wide review by three reputable research centres’ and ‘UNRWA ‘possesses a more developed approach to neutrality than other similar UN or NGO entities’’ as such we could surmise that the UNRWA is well versed in tradecraft, they even pulled the wool over the eyes of the French foreign minister and three ‘reputable’ research centres. The other option is that these four players were in league with Hamas which I find unrealistic. 

Less then 24 hours ago we were given (at https://nypost.com/2025/01/06/us-news/un-watchdog-group-urges-dismantlingly-of-unrwa-for-enabling-crimes-gainst-humanity/) ‘UN watchdog group urges dismantling of UNRWA for ‘enabling crimes against humanity’’ we get the added “A United Nations watchdog group says the infamous UN relief agency that provides $1.5 billion a year to Palestinians should be disbanded for colluding with terrorists and “enabling crimes against humanity.” “The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) is neither independent nor neutral,” says a scathing new report by the Swiss-based group UN WATCH.” So, why did the OIOS miss this? More important, as we see that several Israeli news sources gave us parts of this already, why were these parts (as I see it) intentionally overlooked? It was not by all media, but the largest collection of media courtesans merely used part of the past news as a source for (as I personally see it) pursuit of digital dollars. And it took the watchdog some time to figure this out. Which I do not hold against them. But the larger setting is reached. The United Nations is as useless as some say they are and now in the setting with Trump and Musk, we can safely set the premise that the UN is a cost that the United States can avoid having.  As I see it António Guterres will have to do a lot more than smooth talking. There might be a setting where the UN could be disbanded. There is every cause to consider that the organisation’s 37,000 staff members could find themself thrown of that gravy train. To illustrate further I offer the image below. I cannot vouch for the numbers, but the image is powerful. So don’t use these numbers as is, trust but verify I say and so did some marine named Gibbs.

What it does show is that the UNRWA is as useless as some expect them to be and the crying newscasts we see now like ‘7 infants dead in Gaza from cold weather, inadequate shelter: UNRWA’ and ‘Social order in Gaza will collapse if Israel ends cooperation with UN aid agency, official says’ it is too late for that, the UNRWA is done for (unless massive amounts of evidence ‘suddenly’ comes forward. We saw in the beginning of December aid from the UAE get to Gaza. In the day after that we see armed masked men (supposedly Hamas) drive of with a whole stack of these boxes. We cannot hold the UAE on that, they did the almost unthinkable, they found hundreds of volunteer who created these care packages in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. What happens in Gaza becomes the question. So was the UNRWA involved? Or was Hamas merely a block away collecting these boxes? Your guess (or speculation) is as good as mine. However, when we consider the timeline from August I have to conclude that Hamas is the cancer on the Palestine people and they will not ever find release unless Hamas has been eradicated. 

It is a harsh reality we see here (I saw that about a year ago). But change has to happen and disbanding the UNRWA might be a first requirement.

Have a great day.

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December 2, 2024 · 00:04

When it rains, it pours

That was the very first thought I had when I was confronted with the opinion piece in the Middle East Monitor (at https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20241129-saudi-arabia-abandons-pursuit-of-us-defence-treaty-over-israel-stalemate/) where we see ‘Saudi Arabia abandons pursuit of US defence treaty over Israel stalemate’. I have said it before and I will say it again. The US needs to stop their stop gap resolution of “We can do this, if we can have….” That is a setting that is past tense. America needs to open all valves to get any revenue out of Saudi Arabia (and other nations there). Now that we see “Saudi Arabia is now pushing for a more modest military cooperation agreement, two Saudi and four Western officials told Reuters” the US needs to stop its appeasement trajectory. On the plus side China is pretty happy with that flawed approach from America. There is every chance that China will open the flood gates and let Saudi Arabia go nuts on the Chengdu J-20. 

Is this a given? Nope, but for others to see Saudi Arabia embracing the J-20 is the first sign that America is about to lose several contracts. Not all (it fits with the modest military cooperation agreement setting) I predicted a loss of 40% towards the US defense contracts and so far there are indications that 30 billion left American shores for Europe and China (unverified numbers). But the first stage has been reached. And the setting changes if this does happen. The American loans are set to a 90%-95% fulfilment of contracts and there are larger consideration that America will at best get 60%-65% restated for America. And it gets worse for the US, Saudi Arabia has stated to grow its national defense settings and if China makes that happen all whilst Antony Blinken remains in the appeasement setting, the losses will get worse. I speculate a lot worse, but I don’t have access to anything reliable for the numbers in that game. As such, I need to add the ‘speculation’ label as I haven’t been connected to defence parties for 42 years. 

We are also given “Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman has again made recognition of Israel conditional on it taking concrete steps to create a Palestinian State” I understand that setting, but I personally belief that this should be done after the eradication of Hamas. Saudi Arabia has been under attack through Iranian proxies for too long and as such the three terrorist organisations Hamas, Hezbollah and Houthi their eradication becomes a near essential. You want to doubt this? That’s fair but the essential setting becomes that Iran wants to stop the achievements of Neom (including Sindalah, the Line, Trojena, Oxagon and Magna). At some point One of these three parties will be added to the work roster of them and they will introduce small flaws, flaws that might not be noticed now, but in a year or two when things start to go wrong, the costs will enormous. An Iran will be quiet for a larger share of the table that is how it starts and Saudi Arabia is too far ahead now. If we want to protect the achievements of Saudi Arabia eradicating Hamas, Houthi and Hezbollah forces becomes the larger setting. All those weakhearted lefties will argue that these people are really sorry and should be forgiven. I say hell with that and eradicate them all. Or have you all forgotten how Saudi Arabia was on the verge of setting the larger stage to include Israel? Some will say that Hamas was brilliant and I say that this is the final straw setting the stage of eradication for these three puppets of Iran. And Iran knows that Israel is about to settle the attacks on the territory of Israel and that would escalate things even further. Now that will happen in two stages. In the first the attacks that Hezbollah will vie for and the threats from Iran takes it even further. The danger here is that Iran could ‘press’ Houthi forces further and that would force the hand of Saudi Arabia. In that stage China could proceed by handing Saudi Arabia a support setting of the Chengdu J-20 as well as the primary delivery of the speculated Xi’an H-20. I reckon that it is not completed yet, but they could hand 3 of these puppies to Saudi Arabia so that the Saudi Airforce could strike against the Houthi Forces. (I did say could, not will). Consider that these two planes would be readily sought by other Arabian nations (including Egypt, Jordan and Iraq) this is largely speculative, but it allows China to take more and more slices from American defence industries. And as this happens Iran needs to hide, because these choices would reduce the Houthi forces to next to nothing and at that point Iranian actions would fall flat and at that point Israel has options and Hamas should have none left. 

As such the Saudi war hammer will carve slices of Yemen to rubble. In all this there are two sides that matter. The first is that the west ignored that stages that China prepared for and now we see that Saudi Arabia has selected for “a more modest military cooperation agreement” with America, as scheduled the door opens for China to get more of towards America assigned spending. As I personally would speculate is that Saudi Arabia is now in a good place to negotiate and as Blinken seemingly trusted on “We can do this, if we can have….” We see that America endangered its position for defence spending. I believe that I am correct, but there are signs that it is based on a opinion piece. Not on reported facts.

What people need to realise is that this all started on October 7th 2023 when Hamas struck the Nova music festival massacre, overall 1,139 people were killed and 250 Israeli civilians and soldiers were taken as hostages to the Gaza Strip. That started this mess but the media is extremely willing to avoid certain matters. And now we see a larger setting Saudi Arabia is (as I personally see it) ready to find a new defence partner and spend billions with that new partner. 

So when some will call this a mild rain, consider that thought because those billions would have paid for the loans which could now fall short of payment for the next few years.

As such appeasement becomes deadening. America made a massive booboo as I see it. Have a fun day.

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November 28, 2024 · 21:49

The edge of darker creativity

There is a dark corner. It is not a unique setting, it is in everyone. The problem comes when any person gets their creativity and taps into that darkness. Is everyone on board? You see, I just tapped into this and what I created scared me to near death. When we see the news, we see that there is an armistice in Lebanon. Reuters reported a mere 12 hours ago: “A ceasefire between Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah held on Wednesday under a deal brokered by the U.S. and France as people in both countries began returning to homes in the border area shattered by 14 months of fighting.” Sounds lovely doesn’t it? Well, in under an hour all these ‘Lebanese citizens’ came out in droves waving Hezbollah flags. As such I wonder how long this seize fire will hold. Some Hezbollah idiot will think that it is a good idea to send a missile into Israel, to gain fame with others. And Israel will go berserk and strike out. That is what realism tells me. We do not know what will happen. The minds of terrorists tend to go where most are fearful. And there is a second sight. Someone has to appease the will of Iran and someone will.

As such I came up with the Bullet Plus, as you can see it seems like a simple bullet, It is however not intended to shoot someone. In the bullet is a small canister, as the bullet impacts, the canister will break and the fluid will be released. You can have any kind of fluids there. There is Sarin, Novichok (Ask the Russian GRU for details on that one), there are also diseases like pulmonary diseases. Not directly fatal (like Novichok) but now we get an area issue. You see, pulmonary poisons will affect people in an area and hospitals will pick up on these. The result of a stray bullet. Consider shooting Sarin into an Hamas building, suddenly we start getting a range of intel we never had before (Mossad didn’t have it either). Sarin is too deadly, Novichok is an option and others are options too. You see, we might know 1-2 Hamas agents, but the 5-9 support staff remain unknown. Now they come out of the woodworks. We could use something like Caesium chloride, it is highly toxic and it cannot spread from person to person. Direct interaction is needed. For this you need to look at the Goiânia accident in Brazil (1987). You see, all these terrorists and their sympathisers might scream ‘innocent, innocent’ but at some point even Saudi Arabia will need to deal with them. They need to simply because Iran will make them act in some way against Saudi Arabia. It is not a case of ‘if’ it is merely a when. And for those thinking this is an Israel issue, consider the border wall of Gaza with Egypt.

The H3 terrorists will need to be dealt with at some point. Hamas is a certainty, Hezbollah is becoming more and more needed and when these fall away Houthi actions are most likely to become zero.

Feel free to disagree with me but in all this consider that this started on 7 October 2023 with Hamas attacking a pop concert. And in all that time how many refugees were ‘allowed’ into Egypt? I will let you count the articles that have been published on this it will be less then usual. It is so much easier for the media to go anti semitic on us all. Emotional flames score more digital dollars then simple truths. That is the truth of the media. Anyhow, I decided to let the dark corner of my creativity speak and I came up with this. Perhaps DARPA had this already, perhaps they did not. I already scored 5 wins over DARPA, so my ego is just fine. If my HOPplusOne solution works I have 6 wins over DARPA. There is only so much my ego needs, for the rest I merely think of other solutions. In this, I still love the idea that I designed a solution to meltdown nuclear reactors based on a snow-globe. You probably never thought that this ‘device’ had instrumental options did you?

Anyway, we all hope that the seize fire holds, but I am not holding my breath. No matter how you slice it, 66% of damaged buildings in the Gaza Strip account for 163,778 structures in total. Consider how many Hamas people are ‘suddenly’ awarded a nice place to live and in this and the BBC gave us last week “Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesman said Hamas’s office no longer had a function because Qatar had suspended its mediation efforts on a Gaza ceasefire deal, although he stressed that it was not permanently closed. The Palestinian official told the BBC the Hamas negotiators had adjusted their presence in the region and were keeping their locations secret to avoid embarrassing host countries.” So why isn’t it permanently closed? I reckon that Qatar is feeling the anger from other islamic nations and Professor Dr Salman al-Dayah, a former dean of the Faculty of Sharia and Law at the Hamas-affiliated Islamic University of Gaza has issued a Fatwa against the October 7th attack. That is a bitter pill to swallow for Hamas. As such Hamas needs a different setting and remaining underground (optionally somewhere in Qatar) makes sense, because there are very little hiding places in Gaza left. When you add it all up my solution has a few things going for it. The largest issue is that it is becoming important to see how the claws of Hamas reach out and optionally the same goes for Hezbollah and Houthi. The nice part is that if this plan comes to fruition Iran will have to desert these three players because the impact of undeniable evidence would haunt Iran to the largest extent and the only thing going for these three players is that Iran under Qasem Soleimani was much better arranged then now. Now we see more and more issues out in the open and soon there is no denying what happens and the other players hurt by Iran will strike back at that point. How they strike back? That remains to be seen, but at that point Iran will lose whatever friends it thought it had in the first place. That is merely my point of view. 

Have a great creative day, possibly a lot less dark than the one I am having now.

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November 11, 2024 · 18:19

The unspoken truth

That is a setting we relish and fear. There is no escaping it. When some people relish the setting of total freedom, they also fear how some people might abuse that same level of freedom. We applaud the freedom of speech, but we also fear the people that abuse it, like ‘Just Stop Oil’ for example. There was an advertisement the other day. The setting was an art exhibit and two “oilers” step up to defile a work of art. Then we see a middle aged man walk up to them and shoot them in the head, a simple execution. And for a lot of them (including me) there was a sense of calm, a satisfying feeling. These abusers of ‘freedom’ were dealt with. The future innocent art was saved. The art defilers were dealt with. That is the consequence of ‘freedom of speech’, you need to be held accountable. It refers to the very beginning of my blog. On June 19th 2012 I wrote ‘The accountability act – 2015’ in this I wrote “Why 2015? Well an act like this does not grow out of a goose feather and ink jar over night. If we think of a law that could make a real change, and would be a real stop to some of the acts of greed, then it will take time and a lot of effort too.” I gave the powers that could be 3 years to get their act together. As far as I know they never did. And this reverts to a new case, an act that happened that happened on 7 October 2023. The BBC (at https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj4vw1l8xvdo) gave us ‘Gaza’s top Islamic scholar issues fatwa criticising 7 October attack’ where we see “Professor Dr Salman al-Dayah, a former dean of the Faculty of Sharia and Law at the Hamas-affiliated Islamic University of Gaza, is one of the region’s most respected religious authorities, so his legal opinion carries significant weight among Gaza’s two million population, which is predominantly Sunni Muslim.” 

The world no matter how it is tweaked by the greed driven need for digital dollars, has had enough of the media at large. There is a (seemingly) staged setting that the world of Sunni Islam is seeing the fallout the world is having. It is happening in nearly all countries in the world. Shia Islam has embraced Terrorism in Lebanon (Hezbollah), Gaza (Hamas) and Yemen (Houthi) and the world is basically fed up with this path. Now we see the BBC story and there is a chance that Sunni Islam is isolating Shia Islam and this stage could be used to isolate and invalidate Iran. So as we are given “A fatwa is a non-binding Islamic legal ruling from a respected religious scholar usually based on the Quran or the Sunnah – the sayings and practices of the Prophet Muhammad. Dr Dayah’s fatwa, which was published in a detailed six-page document, criticises Hamas for what he calls “violating Islamic principles governing jihad”.” There is a chance that the Gazan population have had enough of Hamas to the larger degree and this paper might push them to the curve of decisions. Lets see the impact On October 10th we were given “An estimated 75,000 tonnes of explosives have been dropped on Gaza with experts predicting it could take years to clear the debris amounting to more than 42 million tonnes, which is also rife with unexploded bombs. Gaza’s Media Office estimates direct damage caused by Israel’s attacks on the Gaza Strip at $33bn.” Now as I personally see it, the Gaza Media Office is not impartial and their data is debatable. But we also get from Unitar on September 30th we were given “Those 66% of damaged buildings in the Gaza Strip account for 163,778 structures in total. This includes 52,564 structures that have been destroyed, 18,913 severely damaged, 35,591 possibly damaged structures and 56,710 moderately affected.” I feel that this needs to be scrutinised to a much larger degree. The media uses it for digital dollars, they are willing to obfuscate the data as much as they can, but clarity could resolve a lot of issues and Dr Dayah’s fatwa could be a first step to do just that. For the people in Gaza it is imperative that they get clarity. Hamas will not give that. How many people were living in these 163,788 buildings? And this Fatwa was the one thing Iran did not count on. The Iranians are in a bind. They opened the door for Israel to attack them directly, attack their oil reserves. The oil reserves enable the terrorist acts of Iran and when these are gone Iran is in a stale mate with no option but to handover all they thought they gained. The first being the isolation of three terrorist organisation. It will isolate Iran to the largest of degrees and with that gone so do their ‘allies’ China, India and Russia. Russia might hold on as they have other needs, but without oil India and China are pretty much out. It is my personal view on the matter, however this could start a new wave. One that invalidates Iran and give the stability and powers for Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to create a new foundation of stability. And lets be clear (and optionally honest) do you really want Iran, the country that embraced terrorism for decades to the largest degree at that table?

This is the setting we are pushed into and lets all hope that it works out for the best. Have a great Monday.

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November 4, 2024 · 20:41

Its not just bread

We all relish bread. It is not always clearly on the front of our brains. But the one thing that keeps hunger at bay in every day of life is a piece of bread. The Khaleej Times gives us (at https://www.khaleejtimes.com/world/mena/uae-helps-gaza-bakeries-make-bread-again-amid-hunger-crisis) ‘UAE helps Gaza bakeries make bread again amid hunger crisis’ that the UAE has made clear moves to deal with this. 

Oh, and as far as I can see pretty much none of the others have done so. Can anyone show me clear evidence that the UNRWA has done the same to any degree? I do not see any of this information. Perhaps over the last 74 years that they were in some kind of office in Palestine whilst this oversight happened? The UNRWA gives us “Provide direct relief and works programmes for Palestinian refugees”, as such is bread not an essential initial need? Now we see “The UAE has started an initiative to help Gaza make bread again amid critical shortage due to the ongoing war. Countless of Palestinians have been surviving on bread as food supplies run out — but even bread is not always easy to find. Chaotic scenes have been unfolding at bakeries as crowds of hungry Gazan, young and old, scramble for a loaf.” As well as “As part of the drive, essential production supplies — including flour and other materials — have been provided so that bakeries could open again amid a worsening hunger crisis triggered by border closures and restrictions on food aid.”

It beckons the thought, did the UNRWA get anything done? No matter how ‘political’ the UN has become. The fact that the United Arab Emirates clearly shows the world that the UNRWA as well as the UN itself has become nothing less than a joke. We are given (in other media) “The UN system’s total revenue grew to US$ 74.3 billion in 2022 – an increase of US$ 8.4 billion, or 12.8%, compared to 2021. One of the entities with the highest absolute revenue growth is the World Food Programme (WFP)” an increase of $8.4 billion (not all WFP) is shown and how much went to the UNRWA? It is the Khaleej Times that gives us (see above) “As part of the drive, essential production supplies — including flour and other materials — have been provided” as such I wonder what that Russian Tool (António Guterres) is doing. He was ‘elected’ into office in 2017. As such he’s had plenty of time to seemingly do something. 

Only one day earlier we saw ‘UAE dispatches 12 trucks with urgent relief for 30,000 Palestinians’ with the underlying “So far, the country has provided more than 40,000 tonnes of urgent aid and it will continue its work to ensure the “immediate, safe, unhindered, and sustainable delivery of aid on a wide scale, through all possible means”” with that we see a first clear sign of evidence that the United Nations has a lot of explaining to do. 12 trucks is a clear start of doing just that. Whilst the United Nations is ‘discussing’ how to best go about it, the teams of Sultan Mohammed Al Shamsi is getting it done. I believe that the west, which is so stellar about the United Nations might reconsider who they think needs to be heading this disaster loaded organisation. 

That is my overly simplistic sense of this setting.

Have a great Monday.

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October 16, 2024 · 22:46

The Squeezing hand

The Arab News had an interesting piece two days ago. It starts with ‘Iran at a crossroads over support for Hezbollah’ and it can be found (at https://arab.news/9bh3s). The story comes from Dr. Majid Rafizadeh and he talks an interesting talk (you know how these Harvard types tend to be). We get to see “The ongoing conflict places Tehran in a situation in which its strategic options appear limited, forcing its leaders to weigh them up carefully.” Where we are also given “Hezbollah, which has long been regarded as a proxy force of Iran, traditionally serves the purpose of advancing Iranian interests by exerting pressure on regional adversaries such as Israel. However, recent events have reversed this dynamic. The Islamic Republic now finds itself in a position whereby it must actively protect Hezbollah to ensure the survival of its ally and the preservation of its regional strategy.” We can from this gain the insight that the actions from Israel has met its goals. This is meant plural as we see in the first that they eradicated the top of Hezbollah and as such a whole new cadre of Hezbollah need to be interned and trained to keep the money streams going, as well as the hardware they require. And here lies the second tier of a new challenge. Iran will need a whole range of ‘military advisors’ in that region and that gives its own sides of problems (as I personally see it). The second tier becomes that the initial ‘brotherly’ setting towards Hamas is backfiring. So either Hamas commits to Hezbollah as well, or they become a lot more isolated. Yet the stage that is given through “There is little doubt that Iran will continue attempting to safeguard Hezbollah, as the group represents a cornerstone of Iran’s regional influence” As Israel pounds Lebanon the options for Hezbollah decrease, by a fair bit. An expression that comes to mind is “Always know if the juice is worth the squeeze”, this is not merely the act of squeezing, but it reflects on the fruit as well. If you have a fruit half the size the squeeze is no longer worth it and that is the part that Iran faces in this year and the next. As Hezbollah is dramatically downsized by Israel, Iran loses more and more regional influence and if Israel hits oil targets the stage will soon collapse. Yes, I saw all kinds of news that Israel stated that they will limit the attack to military targets and here is the little loophole. Oil is a valid military target as Iranian oil (a slight speculation) fuels all kinds of terrorist needs. 

And then we see the immense failure of America (CIA), we are given “Hezbollah holds immense strategic value for the Iranian government. From a military standpoint, the group is viewed as a formidable force capable of engaging Israel and other adversaries in the region. The strategic importance of Hezbollah lies in its ability to wage asymmetric warfare, which allows Iran to challenge its enemies indirectly while avoiding the consequences of direct military engagement. For Iran, Hezbollah represents a crucial tool for maintaining its influence and shaping regional outcomes in a manner that serves its interests” For over a decade a clear strategy against Hezbollah was required, but the CIA and other intelligence machines fell short. So are they really out there aiding Israel, or are they aiding the setting of prolonged instability? I made this accusation a few years ago and I am seemingly proven correct again and again. 

The article ends with “the Iranian government is once again at a critical juncture, facing the challenge of protecting its non-state ally, Hezbollah. Drawing on its past experiences, Iran is likely to pursue a similar approach to the one it adopted during the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war and the south Lebanon conflict. This strategy allows Iran to maintain its influence in the region, while avoiding the disastrous consequences of a direct conflict with Israel and its Western allies” I can see this side and whilst I do not agree on this stance coming, I can clearly see that it will a likely output. To thwart this setting and steer the Arabian peninsula towards a larger shaped stability, Israel would gain a lot by pounding Hezbollah back to the stone age (as expressions go). So in the line of “Always know if the juice is worth the squeeze” there are two sides deciding this. Make the fruit smaller and weaken the squeezing hand. These two settings will end the ‘reign’ of Iran over Hezbollah and that is what is needed. Iran is playing a dangerous game going all the way back to June 2023. The attack of 7 October 2023 took time, there were training flights, there were preparations and Iran was the assisting hand since before day one. That is the side that the media ignores, that is the side that was in the open and the allies (say friends) of Israel never saw this coming? The writer (Dr. Majid Rafizadeh) brings a good case I fully agree with him, yet my (non-informed) side has issues. You see Iran has been doing this for at least 18 years and I think that more people should be in the know on this. I wonder how many people are ‘dissuading’ people due to the crude oil loophole I discussed in ‘Is it merely political?’ on October 6th (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2024/10/06/is-it-merely-political/) I wonder how many stakeholders get fed of that premise? I do not know, but the need for greed and ‘hand outs’ make this a much bigger issue than you think and that is not good. Because it allows Iran to play the same dangerous game for much too long. Agree or disagree as you see fit, but ask your self the question. ‘How is Iran playing this game for this long and the media isn’t up to speed?’ It is nice to blame the media, but the fact that they didn’t report on many occasions makes their hands tainted as I see it, and they also refrained to expose several stake holders in the process. How does that hit you?

And a mere 50 minutes ago we see the the Washington Post give us: ’Israel strikes southern Beirut; U.S. demands restraint in Lebanon, aid for Gaza’, I wonder what they didn’t report on, because that part needs to be exposed as well. The added text “Separately, the administration gave Israel a month to improve humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip, warning it could otherwise take punitive steps, including withholding military aid”, the Times of Israel gives us IDF data shows over 26,000 rockets fired at Israel. My small question becomes “What was the cost of that?” If a rocket costs a mere $100,000, than Hamas kept a little over 2.6 billion out of the mouths of Palestinians and that is merely 2023. As such Hezbollah also fired missiles, The group reportedly has up to 40,000 ballistic missiles with ranges between 160 and 300 kilometres, What were those costs? As such how could Iran pay for it all? Both Hamas and Hezbollah did not pay top dollar for that, so what was the hand out by Iran? In 1976 we got the phrase “Follow the money”, it comes from the movie ‘All the presidents men’, as I see it Bob Woodward really screwed the media over with that one (me, laughing out loud), oh, and he was involved with the Washington Post for some time. So who trailed the Iranian money?

Have a great day.

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September 28, 2024 · 00:09

The partial view that is seen

This partial view comes from the BBC. When I looked at the article (at https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz04depp2nro) the headline gave us ‘Can diplomacy bring Middle East ceasefire? Early signs don’t bode well’ it was the second part of the headline that woke me up. We are given “What they meant was they saw getting an agreement from key European countries and Arab states, led by Washington, as a big diplomatic achievement during the current explosive escalation. But this was world powers calling for a ceasefire – not a ceasefire itself.” It holds part of the problem I see. We also get “The statement urges both Israel and Hezbollah to stop fighting now, using a 21-day truce, “to provide space” for further mediated talks. It then urges a diplomatic settlement consistent with United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 – adopted to end the last Israel-Lebanon war of 2006, which was never properly implemented. It also calls for agreement on the stalled Gaza ceasefire deal.” The first part that got to me was “United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 – adopted to end the last Israel-Lebanon war of 2006, which was never properly implemented” There were ‘signals’ that were seemingly ignored. “It was unanimously approved by the United Nations Security Council on 11 August 2006. The Lebanese cabinet unanimously approved the resolution on 12 August 2006. On the same day, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said that his militia would honor the call for a ceasefire. He also said that once the Israeli offensive stops, Hezbollah’s rocket attacks on Israel would stop. On 13 August the Israeli Cabinet voted 24–0 in favour of the resolution, with one abstention. The ceasefire began on Monday, 14 August 2006 at 8 AM local time, after increased attacks by both sides.” Now we ‘see’ the message that the resolution (1701) was never properly implemented. It has been basically 18 years. So what wasn’t properly implemented? Why do we see this now after 18 years? My issue is that there are a number of issues, and there are more players than Israel and Hezbollah/Hamas involved. The journalists taking a back seat to whatever digital dollars they are trying to get. The second are the politicians, both the involved and those connected. So why did we not see the repeated messages (via the media) to state who is was lacking in implementation and why?

So there is more than the early signs. As I personally see it there is a lack of follow up in these cases. 

We then get “intensive diplomacy led by Washington has failed to reach a ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas, with the US currently blaming a lack of “political will” by Hamas and Israel. Meanwhile, the US has continued to arm Israel. That doesn’t inspire confidence that Washington and its allies can now strong-arm Israel and Hezbollah into a quick truce, especially given the fighting on the ground, the intensity of Israel’s air strikes and last week’s explosive pager attacks on Hezbollah, which has continued to fire into Israel.” The part that I do not agree with is “a lack of “political will” by Hamas and Israel.” My issue is that (possibly) both players here have seen a massive lack of commitment from several sides. The very first is given through “United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 – adopted to end the last Israel-Lebanon war of 2006, which was never properly implemented” I cannot tell who dropped the ball first, or which players lacked in their ‘commitments’ but there were players who failed (optionally merely Hezbollah and/or Israel), the simple setting taking us back 18 years as well as the fact that nowadays media (this last decade) is more driven to chase digital dollars then the news. That gives doubt to how far this thing goes. And it goes beyond the Lebanese borders. The setting that exists with Gaza is still evolving. The US administration, as well as the EU have been playing these settings fast and loose is a dangerous setting and these players are no longer regarded as reliable. That becomes the ball game. Mediation only works when the mediator or mediators are no longer trusted, no ceasefire will ever work. 

It is my speculation, one I had for many years is, that the EU and the USA have been playing a dangerous game, optionally staged towards ‘a one step tactic from destabilisation’ and in this the games that Iran is playing do not help and now that it all goes to (assumed) shit, no amount of ceasefire prays will offer any decent insight into any resolution. So the ‘early signs don’t bode well’ is to be expected. That is clear, is it not? 

If you wonder what can be done I am, like many others at a loss for words or advice. The problem is that too many player have had their own agenda in mind. That is less speculation, more presumption. In this I call for the first piece of evidence “United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 – adopted to end the last Israel-Lebanon war of 2006, which was never properly implemented” and the evidence is that in 1982 I worked for the United Nations Security Council, and they have failed to keep the audience (as far as I know) properly informed for 18 years? So what good were they? I understand that they do not inform the audience, but they do report, usually governments, and this gets to the media one way or another. As such I see a massive failure in play. And you wonder why either Israel or Hezbollah has issues with either (or both) America and the EU? I wonder if this setting is not better served by mediation through a joined council of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and USA. The USA is essential to get Israel on board. I doubt that they will accept merely the other three parties but that is merely my speculation in this.

So as I just sailed into the night of Saturday, have a great day and as Vancouver is trailing us by 17 hours. I can report to them that nothing is happening at 00:03. Have a great day, wherever you are.

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February 9, 2024 · 19:46

Is Israel failing?

That is a serious question. Hamas started all this and it was the straw that broke the camels back. The response was overwhelming. Well over 50% of Gaza has been reduced to rubble. But behind all this is a second tier that needs addressing. It is the UNRWA. We saw the accusations, we saw government pull out funds. I am OK with that, but now the media is starting another track. Australian ABC gives us that politician Penny Wong has questions. That is fair enough. 10 hours ago, the Guardian gives us ‘We don’t have all the facts on UNRWA allegations, Penny Wong admits’, now it is starting to become a problem. 

These are not alone. We see news from Channel 4, CBC and other sources making similar claims. Now, for the most the media has lost pretty much all credibility with me, so I have doubts. Yet in all this Israel has one option. To make this document public knowledge through all the sources it can trust. In the mean time, the new Arab (at https://www.newarab.com/news/no-evidence-israeli-unrwa-claims-six-page-dossier) gives us ‘Channel 4 says ‘no evidence’ for Israel’s UNRWA claims in six-page dossier’, so what gives? 

As I said, Israel’s (pretty much) only option left is to make that dossier public. If it is evidence (clear evidence mind you) the media becomes even less reliable than it already is. And lets not forget the UN Essay that newspapers used to smear the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. I poked holes in that one in under an hour. I am pretty sure I can do the same here if it does not hold up to scrutiny. 

So the question remains, is Israel failing here? The fact that the UN sacked a dozen or more workers implied that there was an issue. They weren’t set to zero hours, whilst an investigation was done, They were sacked immediately. This implied something was wrong, something was afoot. But now we get that this so called dossier does not hold evidence. It does not sound like Israel, but that accusation should be investigated as well. We are also given “inconsistencies have since appeared in Israel’s narrative, with documents shared with Sky News by Israel naming 6 rather than 12 staff as allegedly involved in the attacks. No explanation has been provided yet for this.” Now, I get that the other 6 might have intelligence value by not naming them, as such it might have been not documented (might being the operative word). Yet why mention these people at all? There are question marks and I am happy to hand the ace of spades to the media, but too many (some very respectable) are making similar mention. As such Israel needs to do something. Hamas is a blight on all and soon they will become a blight on the Muslim world. As such, should Israel deal with them now, it is fine by me. Later when they play these games to wring power away from Saudi Arabia and the UAE towards themselves and Iran it becomes a whole new mess of destabilisation and these dumb individuals are one trick ponies. They know no other way. Better to deal with them now before they create chaos in Saudi Arabia and the UAE afterwards, then These two will have to deal with them and that is a larger problem. Gaza is almost gone, Hamas will spread via Qatar all over the Arabian peninsula, it will flame all the nations there. It is my view, but I feel that I see this anticipated view correctly. So Israel needs to show the evidence to everyone, so that politicians and media cannot hide behind “I misread that? It was a simple miscommunication”, we need to get ahead of this and I reckon that this dossier once printed in the Times of Israel, Jerusalem Post and Haaretz will be picked up by everyone else. No matter what happens next, time is running short for Israel. They might have created waves, however the media is counter waving them with their own waves and the people are caught in the middle. NONE of them have produced the dossier or used clear quotes on what the dossier says, as such Israel has an option left and I reckon it might decide the fate of the UNRWA. 

I agree that it is my view, but I feel that I am seeing it all correctly. I will let you decide which view is the correct one. I am getting close to Saturday, in Vancouver Friday just started.

Enjoy the day.

 

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