Last week we discussed Palestine: The Geopolitics Of Energy. An important aspect of that discussion was the reality that Palestine, for most of modern history, has not been an energy field—rather, it has been viewed as the terminus for multiple oil pipelines feeding across Arab and Pesian lands to the Mediterranean, for shipment to Europe. Before the British and French asserted themselves in the region it was the Turks—in the form of the Ottoman Empire—who dominated the region. The entry of Western powers as players in the Great Pipeline and Oil Game—Britain, France, Russia, America—came at the same time as the resurgence of the Arabs and Persians. Western dominance came at the expense of the Arabs and Persians, and included the establishment of a state of Israel in Palestine.
"So the first reason that Israelis will never willingly make peace with Palestinians is that Israelis (and Zionist Jews around the world) live in a parallel world. They know alternate historical facts that feed more nationalism, militarism, and extremism."
We have the same situation in the United States. Leftists, with their alternate world, and the rest of us.
Turn on 'mainstream media', especially PBS and NPR. They still think Bull Connor turns the dogs loose, and the fire hydrants, against segregated blacks. They also divide men and women, LGBT and non-LGBT, Muslim and non-Muslim. It's still racist America and nothing has changed.
I'm gonna mess things up and throw some much needed "skin" to the PLO. This organization (since Arafat) has been steadily sliding downhill in terms of voice, leadership, direction. Abbas does nothing to advocate for his people and has been sidelined for some time. If they had a strong leader in the PLO I could see things much differently over the past 2 decades. Without strong leadership to engage in dialogue with Israel over their needs, make things visible, establish clear goals (civil vs. military trials) and allow the Palestinian people to be treated with more dignity and respect. This ship sailed now and I see it as the only way forward.
Understood but it doesn't explain why Abbas would not take on a larger presence and voice for the Palestinian people. Rather, let Hamas set up and rule the Palestinians in Gaza instead of putting forth more effort and leadership. Truly amazing.
I'd just like to reassure all your readers, Mark, that our very own military expert, Colonel Richard Kemp has just said that Israeli is winning the ground war. I have a strong visual of him standing before a blackboard and rubbing out "America" and "Ukraine" from the first part of that sentence. What a fool.
Former UK Prime Minister 'Dave' Cameron is now the new Foreign Secretary. Since he's not even an MP anymore this is by virtue of some or other chicanery involving the House of Lords. I'm not very up to speed on pomp and ceremony.
Dave was always an enthusiast for war with Syria but was manuevred into putting this to a vote in the Commons ten years ago. Which he lost (narrowly). Subsequently, as we know, Putin intervened in Syria quite boldly (perhaps not boldly enough, but he's a careful man) and Cameron was made to look ridiculous publicly and in private discussions between the two.
Dave's enthusiasm for <s>stealing Syrian wealth</s>, um, sorry, for justice in Syria, was based, ostensibly, on the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government.
If a false flag attack were engineered (in France maybe, where Macron has been off-message) Dave would be very on-board with just about any insane response. But is probably rather keen in any case. He very likely still smarts from being ridiculed, politely, by VVP and no one has more of a taste for revenge than posh bastards who have came off second best in the rugger scrum. (apologies for the incomprehensible metaphor)
Dave is remembered more vividly in the UK as (1) the bloke that had his wicked way with the head of a dead pig, and (2) the guy who thought the Brexit referendum would shut up the right-wing of his party once and for all.
Not a man with his finger on the pulse but a safe pair of hands from NeoCon perspective. I suppose.
Seems like a good day for retreads over there. There were stories out this morning that Netanyahu was planning to appoint Tony Blair Gaza administrator/humanitarian coordinator. Make Palestine British Again! Yay!
The AI audio playback feature embedded in this Substack is fascinating. I can’t decide if it is a good thing, or bad. I always just read your posting’s Mark, but tonite noticed the audio playback option and hit play.
Did Israeli Minister Dichter just confess to the 1948 Nakba, that Israel ALWAYS denied, so as to advocate a Nakba 2.0? Does the West & the International Criminal Court need more evidence that Israeli officials PROUDLY announce the INTENTION to commit the ultimate WAR CRIME?
Ariel Bernstein @bernstein_ariel
This is why we need immediate intl intervention:
"Gaza Nakba 2023. That's how it will end." This is what minister Dichter (former Minister of Internal Security and Shin Bet director) said to channel 12 tonight about the mass evacuation of residents from the northern Gaza Strip.
There are Lots of messages being sent, a separate issue is how they are being received, and their impact.
1. Russia to West, we are not going to accept a stalemate with current borders due to your elections. Too much blood has been spilled.
2. Israel to Hamas - using human shields won’t stop us from taking out high value targets. The bombing in the refugee camp that took out a Hamas leader using 6 bombs, with hundreds of collateral killed.
3. Russia to Arab Countries and Iran - the West and Turkey have also wronged us, and we feel your pain.
4. Iran to U.S. - daily reminders via attacks, we can inflict even more pain on you via our proxies in the Middle East.
5. Herzbolla / Iran to Israel - Oct 8 was not our fault, don’t blame us, it’s Hamas fault.
6. Israel to world - we will take an eye for a tooth, when attacked. And Hamas can’t stop us. The gloves are off.
7. U.S. to Ukraine - you better make peace asap, for we don’t have the capacity to do support Israel and Ukraine simultaneously.
8. U.S. to Russia, would you please trust us again and do another Minsk Accords.
9. Israel to world - look at the war crimes Hamas did.
10. Hamas to world - look at the war crimes Israel is doing.
11. Biden to Muslim Voters - vote for us, because the Republicans are racist and Islamaphobists.
12. Biden to Jews - vote and donate to us because we support Israel.
13. U.S. Jewish Voters, Donors, and Jewish Organizations / lobbyists - we hate the anti Semitism that is coming out of colleges and Dei groups. We will punish any supporters we can. And we are trying to blame White Supremacists for this somehow.
14. Gop - we support Israel, but no more blank checks to Ukraine.
15. U.S. to Israel privately and desperately - please stop the invasion of Gaza.
16. U.S. Muslim Groups to Biden Administration - stop Israel.
17. U.S. to Iran / Herzbolla - don’t directly make the situation hugely worse, or we will hurt you if you do, using our aircraft carriers.
18. U.S. to Hamas - return the hostages and we will give you lots of money.
19. Islamic Countries to U.S. - you are a weak horse, and we don’t trust you.
20. European Elites - we are shocked by the level of anti Semitism from our Muslim Guests we accepted, but we have no idea what to do. And we are worried about how voters are turning against immigration, and will vote us out.
22 Iran to US: you mean those aircraft carriers that you loved so that we don’t sink them? We have been patient with you for years but our patience is not endless.
Ray: “What a mess”, you took the words right out of my mouth! Every day just hammers it home with more intensity and the pity is the folks in DC are as clueless as a bag of rocks on just how far into the tall grass they have gotten us.
If I might add one more thing to your list; the administration’s continuing denial of the scale of the border crisis and the potential for catastrophic, widespread terrorist activity on US soil.
Biden is praying all those nice military age Middle Eastern Southern Border Crossers will NOT do any terrorism in the U.S., and pretending it’s not a potential threat. It would be totally Islamophobia to even mention any potential threat.
Zakharova was correct about this coming back to haunt us in the West. Does Macron really believe that an already marginalised and radicalised Muslim French population is going to shrug this off?
I deeply appreciate the exhaustive work Mark, particularly on the weekend. The Mimoun Thread makes for difficult consideration of those of us who try to be fair-minded and even-handed. Wading through MSM and other available info resources is a rough-go with variable reliability and outright gas-lighting. Likely the reason so many find MIH much more than entertainment. Please know you're supported, prayed for and that dedication you demonstrate to truth-seeking is terribly important. Blessings Sir. (WrH)
US Seeks Clarification From Netanyahu After Remarks On Gaza's Future
Israeli and other regional media are reporting Sunday that the United States is seeking clarification regarding controversial assertions of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a press conference the day prior.
Netanyahu emphasized that Israel plans to maintain security control over Gaza even after Hamas is totally defeated. "This prompted US officials to request a clarification, which has shown the growing divide between Israel and the US over the war," Middle East Eye and others report in the wake of the comments. He also said that the Palestinian Authority (PA) cannot ever run the Gaza Strip.
I'm sure Netanyahu is absolutely terrified right now. He will only stop when all financial aid is stopped until he agrees to follow the rule of law. And with new wonder speaker, that isn't go to happen.
The thing about MacGregor is that he is a career "Inter-agent" (aka, "deep state" employee/agent) who continues to receive compensation (as "retirement pay"), and as such it's exceedingly difficult to lose the Inter-Agency perspective.
Ritter, on the other hand, found is necessary to leave Inter-Agency employment mid-career; and indeed the Inter-Agency went after him. One tends to form a different perspective when the beast turns on one.
"Roberts article in which he blames Putin of all people for this mess is here."
Respectfully, I don't think Roberts is blaming Putin so much for the mess in the ME as he is warning Putin (and the Russian Establishment) that there is a risk that the US and israel are planning an attack on Iran. I think this conclusion is debatable. If correct, however, I also think that such an attack would coalesce Arab/Persian/Turk/Muslim solidarity in an unprecedented way. Neocons should be careful what they wish for.
Careful, however, seems to have been excised from their playbook.
I think it's far more complicated than that. The lefties and globalists have always hated Israel. There is also the lunatic Jihadi fringe. However, there are also millions of people who see this for what it is: ethnic cleansing and genocide. I'm always amazed at people who saw through the Covid crap and jabs from the beginning, but who refuse to recognise an equally evident truth. And that doesn't mean that Hamas are less than animals either. Just that two wrongs don't make a right.
"So the first reason that Israelis will never willingly make peace with Palestinians is that Israelis (and Zionist Jews around the world) live in a parallel world. They know alternate historical facts that feed more nationalism, militarism, and extremism."
We have the same situation in the United States. Leftists, with their alternate world, and the rest of us.
Turn on 'mainstream media', especially PBS and NPR. They still think Bull Connor turns the dogs loose, and the fire hydrants, against segregated blacks. They also divide men and women, LGBT and non-LGBT, Muslim and non-Muslim. It's still racist America and nothing has changed.
I'm gonna mess things up and throw some much needed "skin" to the PLO. This organization (since Arafat) has been steadily sliding downhill in terms of voice, leadership, direction. Abbas does nothing to advocate for his people and has been sidelined for some time. If they had a strong leader in the PLO I could see things much differently over the past 2 decades. Without strong leadership to engage in dialogue with Israel over their needs, make things visible, establish clear goals (civil vs. military trials) and allow the Palestinian people to be treated with more dignity and respect. This ship sailed now and I see it as the only way forward.
That's exactly why Israel supported Hamas--to draw support from the PLO and the Palestinian Authority, dividing and conquering.
Understood but it doesn't explain why Abbas would not take on a larger presence and voice for the Palestinian people. Rather, let Hamas set up and rule the Palestinians in Gaza instead of putting forth more effort and leadership. Truly amazing.
Arafat was a great leader. Abbas is not.
Your comment reminds me of my thought that union leadership in the US is the same way. They look out for their own interests first.
I'd just like to reassure all your readers, Mark, that our very own military expert, Colonel Richard Kemp has just said that Israeli is winning the ground war. I have a strong visual of him standing before a blackboard and rubbing out "America" and "Ukraine" from the first part of that sentence. What a fool.
"Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain."
Former UK Prime Minister 'Dave' Cameron is now the new Foreign Secretary. Since he's not even an MP anymore this is by virtue of some or other chicanery involving the House of Lords. I'm not very up to speed on pomp and ceremony.
Dave was always an enthusiast for war with Syria but was manuevred into putting this to a vote in the Commons ten years ago. Which he lost (narrowly). Subsequently, as we know, Putin intervened in Syria quite boldly (perhaps not boldly enough, but he's a careful man) and Cameron was made to look ridiculous publicly and in private discussions between the two.
Dave's enthusiasm for <s>stealing Syrian wealth</s>, um, sorry, for justice in Syria, was based, ostensibly, on the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government.
If a false flag attack were engineered (in France maybe, where Macron has been off-message) Dave would be very on-board with just about any insane response. But is probably rather keen in any case. He very likely still smarts from being ridiculed, politely, by VVP and no one has more of a taste for revenge than posh bastards who have came off second best in the rugger scrum. (apologies for the incomprehensible metaphor)
Dave is remembered more vividly in the UK as (1) the bloke that had his wicked way with the head of a dead pig, and (2) the guy who thought the Brexit referendum would shut up the right-wing of his party once and for all.
Not a man with his finger on the pulse but a safe pair of hands from NeoCon perspective. I suppose.
Seems like a good day for retreads over there. There were stories out this morning that Netanyahu was planning to appoint Tony Blair Gaza administrator/humanitarian coordinator. Make Palestine British Again! Yay!
The next Republican debate should be a discussion of this report.
https://www.unz.com/isteve/a-jew-and-a-palestinian/
The AI audio playback feature embedded in this Substack is fascinating. I can’t decide if it is a good thing, or bad. I always just read your posting’s Mark, but tonite noticed the audio playback option and hit play.
It would only be good if it was in fact Mark's voice.
How come Israelis get to have racial nationalism, and closed borders, and we do not?
The same people in charge of our open borders are in charge of our foreign policy that prioritizes Israel and its closed borders.
What are they up to?
It's called J** Privilege
Yanis Varoufakis @yanisvaroufakis
Did Israeli Minister Dichter just confess to the 1948 Nakba, that Israel ALWAYS denied, so as to advocate a Nakba 2.0? Does the West & the International Criminal Court need more evidence that Israeli officials PROUDLY announce the INTENTION to commit the ultimate WAR CRIME?
Ariel Bernstein @bernstein_ariel
This is why we need immediate intl intervention:
"Gaza Nakba 2023. That's how it will end." This is what minister Dichter (former Minister of Internal Security and Shin Bet director) said to channel 12 tonight about the mass evacuation of residents from the northern Gaza Strip.
Insightful post. Thanks Mark!
What a mess.
There are Lots of messages being sent, a separate issue is how they are being received, and their impact.
1. Russia to West, we are not going to accept a stalemate with current borders due to your elections. Too much blood has been spilled.
2. Israel to Hamas - using human shields won’t stop us from taking out high value targets. The bombing in the refugee camp that took out a Hamas leader using 6 bombs, with hundreds of collateral killed.
3. Russia to Arab Countries and Iran - the West and Turkey have also wronged us, and we feel your pain.
4. Iran to U.S. - daily reminders via attacks, we can inflict even more pain on you via our proxies in the Middle East.
5. Herzbolla / Iran to Israel - Oct 8 was not our fault, don’t blame us, it’s Hamas fault.
6. Israel to world - we will take an eye for a tooth, when attacked. And Hamas can’t stop us. The gloves are off.
7. U.S. to Ukraine - you better make peace asap, for we don’t have the capacity to do support Israel and Ukraine simultaneously.
8. U.S. to Russia, would you please trust us again and do another Minsk Accords.
9. Israel to world - look at the war crimes Hamas did.
10. Hamas to world - look at the war crimes Israel is doing.
11. Biden to Muslim Voters - vote for us, because the Republicans are racist and Islamaphobists.
12. Biden to Jews - vote and donate to us because we support Israel.
13. U.S. Jewish Voters, Donors, and Jewish Organizations / lobbyists - we hate the anti Semitism that is coming out of colleges and Dei groups. We will punish any supporters we can. And we are trying to blame White Supremacists for this somehow.
14. Gop - we support Israel, but no more blank checks to Ukraine.
15. U.S. to Israel privately and desperately - please stop the invasion of Gaza.
16. U.S. Muslim Groups to Biden Administration - stop Israel.
17. U.S. to Iran / Herzbolla - don’t directly make the situation hugely worse, or we will hurt you if you do, using our aircraft carriers.
18. U.S. to Hamas - return the hostages and we will give you lots of money.
19. Islamic Countries to U.S. - you are a weak horse, and we don’t trust you.
20. European Elites - we are shocked by the level of anti Semitism from our Muslim Guests we accepted, but we have no idea what to do. And we are worried about how voters are turning against immigration, and will vote us out.
Tower of Babble!
22 Iran to US: you mean those aircraft carriers that you loved so that we don’t sink them? We have been patient with you for years but our patience is not endless.
21. Muslim Guests to European Elites- Don’t you dare use Hate Speech against us, or else!
But it’s ok to use against Polish mep’s!
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/european-parliament-lifts-immunity-conservative-meps-facing-criminal-charges-retweeting
Love your #8, Putin, darling: Minsk in winter is without parallel; join us, won't you?
Ray: “What a mess”, you took the words right out of my mouth! Every day just hammers it home with more intensity and the pity is the folks in DC are as clueless as a bag of rocks on just how far into the tall grass they have gotten us.
If I might add one more thing to your list; the administration’s continuing denial of the scale of the border crisis and the potential for catastrophic, widespread terrorist activity on US soil.
I was trying to focus on the M.E.
Biden is praying all those nice military age Middle Eastern Southern Border Crossers will NOT do any terrorism in the U.S., and pretending it’s not a potential threat. It would be totally Islamophobia to even mention any potential threat.
Zakharova was correct about this coming back to haunt us in the West. Does Macron really believe that an already marginalised and radicalised Muslim French population is going to shrug this off?
That is literally the best comment I have read ever anywhere.
I deeply appreciate the exhaustive work Mark, particularly on the weekend. The Mimoun Thread makes for difficult consideration of those of us who try to be fair-minded and even-handed. Wading through MSM and other available info resources is a rough-go with variable reliability and outright gas-lighting. Likely the reason so many find MIH much more than entertainment. Please know you're supported, prayed for and that dedication you demonstrate to truth-seeking is terribly important. Blessings Sir. (WrH)
Blessings to you too, Wayne, in your part of the world!
Re Macgregor:
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/us-seeks-clarification-netanyahu-after-remarks-gazas-future
US Seeks Clarification From Netanyahu After Remarks On Gaza's Future
Israeli and other regional media are reporting Sunday that the United States is seeking clarification regarding controversial assertions of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a press conference the day prior.
Netanyahu emphasized that Israel plans to maintain security control over Gaza even after Hamas is totally defeated. "This prompted US officials to request a clarification, which has shown the growing divide between Israel and the US over the war," Middle East Eye and others report in the wake of the comments. He also said that the Palestinian Authority (PA) cannot ever run the Gaza Strip.
I'm sure Netanyahu is absolutely terrified right now. He will only stop when all financial aid is stopped until he agrees to follow the rule of law. And with new wonder speaker, that isn't go to happen.
RE: MacGregor vs. Ritter
The thing about MacGregor is that he is a career "Inter-agent" (aka, "deep state" employee/agent) who continues to receive compensation (as "retirement pay"), and as such it's exceedingly difficult to lose the Inter-Agency perspective.
Ritter, on the other hand, found is necessary to leave Inter-Agency employment mid-career; and indeed the Inter-Agency went after him. One tends to form a different perspective when the beast turns on one.
Inter-agent or not, I wish more former 'inter-agents' were as willing to confront the Inter-Agency perspective as Macgregor is.
"Roberts article in which he blames Putin of all people for this mess is here."
Respectfully, I don't think Roberts is blaming Putin so much for the mess in the ME as he is warning Putin (and the Russian Establishment) that there is a risk that the US and israel are planning an attack on Iran. I think this conclusion is debatable. If correct, however, I also think that such an attack would coalesce Arab/Persian/Turk/Muslim solidarity in an unprecedented way. Neocons should be careful what they wish for.
Careful, however, seems to have been excised from their playbook.
Idiocy free zone.
I think it's far more complicated than that. The lefties and globalists have always hated Israel. There is also the lunatic Jihadi fringe. However, there are also millions of people who see this for what it is: ethnic cleansing and genocide. I'm always amazed at people who saw through the Covid crap and jabs from the beginning, but who refuse to recognise an equally evident truth. And that doesn't mean that Hamas are less than animals either. Just that two wrongs don't make a right.
Your point of view isn't emphasized enough.