ADMIN: My electrical utility has informed me that we’ll be without electricity for a significant period of time, potentially from 9am to 2pm. Later in the afternoon we’ll be handling personal business. Posting may be light, if at all. Let’s start with the military situation. The most worrying part of this situation is that Zhou really does sit in the Oval Office. I’m not sure whether this bluster to 60 Minutes makes you feel safer:
A more limited view would be the idea that he US is trying to force Hezbollah to back off from war while Israel really does invade Gaza on the ground. That would inflame the entire region. Also, MoA doesn't take hypersonic missiles into account. The crazies are still running the asylum.
I'll need to shut down in half an hour, so this from LJ:
Russia reportedly is in talks with Turkey about assembling a humanitarian resupply mission with the Russian Navy providing security for a maritime delivery at Gaza’s ports. As the images of Palestinian casualties flood social media, pressure for a humanitarian mission will grow. Which brings me to the U.S. Carrier Battle Groups being deployed to the Mediterranean Sea. If the U.S. and Israel try to block the Gazan ports, this raises the risk of a direct conflict between Russia and the United States. While I think that is unlikely, it is a scenario that must be seriously considered.
Putting two of the eleven U.S. aircraft carriers in the Mediterranean is a dangerous move by Joe Biden. As long as those two battle groups are not involved in any offensive actions against Palestinians in Gaza, their mission will be confined to providing Israel a symbolic security blanket. But if Biden orders them to take any kind of offensive action this will likely fuel a massive negative reaction in the Arab and Muslim world. You know it is serious when Shia Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia and Turkey come together to support the Palestinian cause. This is unprecedented in the 76 year history of Israel and the United States no longer has the political or economic clout to coerce the Arab and Muslim nations to submit to Washington’s demands. That is what makes this so dangerous.
Key takeaway: "You know it is serious when Shia Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia and Turkey come together to support the Palestinian cause." The neocons and West in general are still dancing to last year's tunes. They simply haven't picked up on the fact that the world has changed decisively. As you say, Mark, that is what makes all this so dangerous. Let's hope that, as with Ukraine, there are a few "not-so-crazy" folks (I hesitate to use the word "sane") types in the Pentagon pushing back against the madness.
Bibi has a lot of things to juggle at present. What seems clear is that the much-vaunted IDF is following a similar trajectory to our much-vaunted wonder weapons: downwards. With Iran and Hezbollah making noises, it's not surprising he is delaying.
Biden's response is worrying but also reassuring in some ways. Worrying because it shows how irrational and therefore capable of anything he and his ilk are; reassuring because it shows that they are still thinking emotionally, rather than rationally. As we have seen, the emoters lose every time to the cold, hard logicians in Moscow, Beijing and Riyadh.
Scoop: GOP lawmakers say Jordan gave assurances on Israel-Ukraine aid
Axios ^ | 16-OCT-2023 | Juliegrace Brufke
Posted on 10/16/2023, 8:54:33 PM by SpeedyInTexas
"Four House Republicans walked away from conversations with House GOP speaker nominee Jim Jordan under the impression he'll allow a floor vote on linking Ukraine funding with Israel funding if he wins the gavel, Axios has learned."
Theoretically Biden could be going to Israel due to the fubar foreign situation, but the Biden Administration has huge domestic political concerns. And with this administration, everything is political.
The Whitehouse is in a panic due to threat to 50% of Democratic Funding from Jewish Voters.
Plus the threat of another oil embargo, as also happened last time Israel felt on the ropes (yom kipper war, 1973) could lead to a devastating election loss.
So Biden is visiting Israel on Wednesday to show he is doing something.
It’s all about the 2024 U.S. election. Results out of Louisiana are probably also driving this.
Another theory is he’s going to delay the ground invasion, perhaps trying to get Israel to cool down.
Iran provides the weaponry/intel/planning. Qatar pays for it. That the Biden administration is compromised by Iranian agents is the reason they won't finger Iran.
90-95% of time I listen Substack instead of reading due to I guess life - family, activities and mostly driving. I remember exactly where I was, on which intersection when 1st time I heard you calling CamelToe a Kama Sutra. Man, I almost hit the traffic sign, I was laughing sooooo hard.
I can't speak to the other issues raised (Israeli readiness, etc.) but I don't buy the idea that Iran was not complicit in the attack. The Jack Sullivan narrative is nonsense. Yes, Qatar finances Hamas; and yes, Turkey also supports Hamas; but Iran, which pumps a cool million into Hamas each year, is the master planner of terror operations. The Biden people want to steer you clear of Iranian complicity but I see no reason to believe them.
Learning at an early age I was born with "original sin" and required the Sacrament of Baptism and now reading I am a part of "an essential nation" I pause to reflect a new Sacrament of Neocon global Democracy exists upon me with all its rights, privileges hear to fore. Apparently, this was bestowed upon me as an American at the same time I had "original sin". Hadn't realized this until recently. The word "essential" kinda takes me back to the early Covid days where only "essential" workers were given special status. I guess we as American's have this special status to the rest of the World. Two aircraft carriers might not be enough with Hypersonic in the neighborhood.
O/T kinda glad the electric company knocked you off the pipes for a few hours Mark. Your knuckles had to have gotten raw typing over the past few days with so much content. On second thought, perhaps your steaming hot computer with all the back-and-forth of similar topics quite possibly could have caused an electrical disruption. I know many of the comments probably contributed to this including mine.
To me it would be a plus if current events allowed the UN to separate itself a tiny bit from US control. UN even supported US violent overthrow of Ukraine in 2014 as evidenced in conversation between Victoria Nuland and Geoff Pyatt: "Nuland: OK… one more wrinkle for you Geoff....I can’t remember if I told you this, or if I only told Washington this, that when I talked to Jeff Feltman [United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, former US State Dept. official] this morning, he had a new name for the UN guy Robert Serry did I write you that this morning?
[BBC, Jonathan Marcus:…Various officials attempting to marshal...efforts to get the UN to play an active role in bolstering a deal; and [as seen below] the big guns waiting in the wings – US Vice-President Joe Biden clearly being lined up to give private words of encouragement at the appropriate moment.]
Pyatt: Yeah I saw that.
Nuland: OK. He’s now gotten both Serry and [UN Secretary General] Ban Ki-moon to agree that Serry could come in Monday or Tuesday. So that would be great, I think, to help glue this thing and to have the UN help glue it and, you know, Fuck the EU.
[Jonathan Marcus:…The EU is divided and to some extent hesitant about picking a fight with Moscow….But the US clearly is determined to take a much more activist role.]
Pyatt: No, exactly. And I think we’ve got to do something to make it stick together….we want to try to get somebody with an international personality to come out here and help to midwife this thing….
Nuland: So on that piece Geoff, when I wrote the note [US vice-president’s [Biden] national security adviser Jake] Sullivan’s come back to me VFR [direct to me], saying you need [US Vice-President Joe] Biden and I said probably tomorrow for an atta-boy and to get the deets [details] to stick. So Biden’s willing.
Pyatt: OK. Great. Thanks.”
[BBC, Jonathan Marcus:…The US is clearly much more involved in trying to broker a deal in Ukraine than it publicly lets on."...]...2/7/2014, “Ukraine crisis: Transcript of leaked Nuland-Pyatt call,“ BBC...https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26079957#share-tools
That's the projection of many, but the final tallies aren't out till tomorrow. The two largest parties did as expected. The difference seems to have been in the secondary parties, with a middle ground party gaining significantly.
I wonder how big a disaster this trip will be?
I wonder if Biden was jealous of Trumps visit to Israel, and wanted to upstage it?
Arab leaders canceled meetings with Biden:
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/israel-evacuates-residents-28-towns-near-lebanese-border-hezbollah-attacks-increase
Hezbollah’s restraint is very telling.
At a minimum this article illustrates that all the moving military parts could lead to ...
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2023/10/us-deploys-large-force-eyes-on-syria.html#more
A more limited view would be the idea that he US is trying to force Hezbollah to back off from war while Israel really does invade Gaza on the ground. That would inflame the entire region. Also, MoA doesn't take hypersonic missiles into account. The crazies are still running the asylum.
This is another good article exposing our current regime’s malfeasance.
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/biden-administration-tries-hide-knew-impending-massacre-leaving-iran-untouched-hamas-lee-smith
The various us military branches are just trying to show they are contributing. I doubt there is any real us military strategy / objectives.
I'll need to shut down in half an hour, so this from LJ:
Russia reportedly is in talks with Turkey about assembling a humanitarian resupply mission with the Russian Navy providing security for a maritime delivery at Gaza’s ports. As the images of Palestinian casualties flood social media, pressure for a humanitarian mission will grow. Which brings me to the U.S. Carrier Battle Groups being deployed to the Mediterranean Sea. If the U.S. and Israel try to block the Gazan ports, this raises the risk of a direct conflict between Russia and the United States. While I think that is unlikely, it is a scenario that must be seriously considered.
Putting two of the eleven U.S. aircraft carriers in the Mediterranean is a dangerous move by Joe Biden. As long as those two battle groups are not involved in any offensive actions against Palestinians in Gaza, their mission will be confined to providing Israel a symbolic security blanket. But if Biden orders them to take any kind of offensive action this will likely fuel a massive negative reaction in the Arab and Muslim world. You know it is serious when Shia Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia and Turkey come together to support the Palestinian cause. This is unprecedented in the 76 year history of Israel and the United States no longer has the political or economic clout to coerce the Arab and Muslim nations to submit to Washington’s demands. That is what makes this so dangerous.
Key takeaway: "You know it is serious when Shia Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia and Turkey come together to support the Palestinian cause." The neocons and West in general are still dancing to last year's tunes. They simply haven't picked up on the fact that the world has changed decisively. As you say, Mark, that is what makes all this so dangerous. Let's hope that, as with Ukraine, there are a few "not-so-crazy" folks (I hesitate to use the word "sane") types in the Pentagon pushing back against the madness.
Bibi has a lot of things to juggle at present. What seems clear is that the much-vaunted IDF is following a similar trajectory to our much-vaunted wonder weapons: downwards. With Iran and Hezbollah making noises, it's not surprising he is delaying.
Biden's response is worrying but also reassuring in some ways. Worrying because it shows how irrational and therefore capable of anything he and his ilk are; reassuring because it shows that they are still thinking emotionally, rather than rationally. As we have seen, the emoters lose every time to the cold, hard logicians in Moscow, Beijing and Riyadh.
Glad you mentioned Hamas stabbing Hizbollah/Assad/Iran in the back
George, I'm not sure I'm replying to anything you had in mind, but I'm not a supporter of Hamas, only of justice.
When I think of the United States these days, sometimes the final lyrics to At the Copacabana come to mind.
"Her name is Lola
She was a showgirl
But that was thirty years ago
When they used to have a show
Now it's the disco
But not for Lola
Still in the dress she used to wear
Faded feathers in her hair
She sits there so refined and drinks herself half-blind
She lost her youth and she lost her Tony
Now she's lost her mind"
Sounds like Nuland. Let's update the lyrics: Her name was Vickie, she acted like a dickie...
There are so many possibilities....
His name is Uncle Sam
He used to be a superpower
But that was many years ago
When we used to run the show
Now it’s a banana, as in republic
But not for Uncle Joe
Thanks to Burisma’s dough
Crooked family in tow
He‘s mumbles so arcane and spends on Ukraine
When he thinks of Trump, he really blows his top
He’ll get him off the diving board ala Corn Pop
Scoop: GOP lawmakers say Jordan gave assurances on Israel-Ukraine aid
Axios ^ | 16-OCT-2023 | Juliegrace Brufke
Posted on 10/16/2023, 8:54:33 PM by SpeedyInTexas
"Four House Republicans walked away from conversations with House GOP speaker nominee Jim Jordan under the impression he'll allow a floor vote on linking Ukraine funding with Israel funding if he wins the gavel, Axios has learned."
Theoretically Biden could be going to Israel due to the fubar foreign situation, but the Biden Administration has huge domestic political concerns. And with this administration, everything is political.
The Whitehouse is in a panic due to threat to 50% of Democratic Funding from Jewish Voters.
Plus the threat of another oil embargo, as also happened last time Israel felt on the ropes (yom kipper war, 1973) could lead to a devastating election loss.
So Biden is visiting Israel on Wednesday to show he is doing something.
It’s all about the 2024 U.S. election. Results out of Louisiana are probably also driving this.
Another theory is he’s going to delay the ground invasion, perhaps trying to get Israel to cool down.
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2023/10/16/secretary-blinken-tells-joe-biden-hes-going-to-israel-on-wednesday/
'Xactly. Let's hope Biden has a senior moment and ends up in Iran instead.
Iran provides the weaponry/intel/planning. Qatar pays for it. That the Biden administration is compromised by Iranian agents is the reason they won't finger Iran.
Good article Mark. MacGregor could be holding back on Israel. Cant be surprised, for decades we were brainwashed Israel good / everyone else BAD BAD.
Btw, can you please remind me (I had to miss it) why you are calling The Fungus - supposed to be POTUS a Zhou???
Because of his China connection. Zhou is one of the most common Chinese names and is pronounced basically like Joe.
Thanks man. I should think of it.
90-95% of time I listen Substack instead of reading due to I guess life - family, activities and mostly driving. I remember exactly where I was, on which intersection when 1st time I heard you calling CamelToe a Kama Sutra. Man, I almost hit the traffic sign, I was laughing sooooo hard.
I can't speak to the other issues raised (Israeli readiness, etc.) but I don't buy the idea that Iran was not complicit in the attack. The Jack Sullivan narrative is nonsense. Yes, Qatar finances Hamas; and yes, Turkey also supports Hamas; but Iran, which pumps a cool million into Hamas each year, is the master planner of terror operations. The Biden people want to steer you clear of Iranian complicity but I see no reason to believe them.
Right?
Learning at an early age I was born with "original sin" and required the Sacrament of Baptism and now reading I am a part of "an essential nation" I pause to reflect a new Sacrament of Neocon global Democracy exists upon me with all its rights, privileges hear to fore. Apparently, this was bestowed upon me as an American at the same time I had "original sin". Hadn't realized this until recently. The word "essential" kinda takes me back to the early Covid days where only "essential" workers were given special status. I guess we as American's have this special status to the rest of the World. Two aircraft carriers might not be enough with Hypersonic in the neighborhood.
O/T kinda glad the electric company knocked you off the pipes for a few hours Mark. Your knuckles had to have gotten raw typing over the past few days with so much content. On second thought, perhaps your steaming hot computer with all the back-and-forth of similar topics quite possibly could have caused an electrical disruption. I know many of the comments probably contributed to this including mine.
To me it would be a plus if current events allowed the UN to separate itself a tiny bit from US control. UN even supported US violent overthrow of Ukraine in 2014 as evidenced in conversation between Victoria Nuland and Geoff Pyatt: "Nuland: OK… one more wrinkle for you Geoff....I can’t remember if I told you this, or if I only told Washington this, that when I talked to Jeff Feltman [United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, former US State Dept. official] this morning, he had a new name for the UN guy Robert Serry did I write you that this morning?
[BBC, Jonathan Marcus:…Various officials attempting to marshal...efforts to get the UN to play an active role in bolstering a deal; and [as seen below] the big guns waiting in the wings – US Vice-President Joe Biden clearly being lined up to give private words of encouragement at the appropriate moment.]
Pyatt: Yeah I saw that.
Nuland: OK. He’s now gotten both Serry and [UN Secretary General] Ban Ki-moon to agree that Serry could come in Monday or Tuesday. So that would be great, I think, to help glue this thing and to have the UN help glue it and, you know, Fuck the EU.
[Jonathan Marcus:…The EU is divided and to some extent hesitant about picking a fight with Moscow….But the US clearly is determined to take a much more activist role.]
Pyatt: No, exactly. And I think we’ve got to do something to make it stick together….we want to try to get somebody with an international personality to come out here and help to midwife this thing….
Nuland: So on that piece Geoff, when I wrote the note [US vice-president’s [Biden] national security adviser Jake] Sullivan’s come back to me VFR [direct to me], saying you need [US Vice-President Joe] Biden and I said probably tomorrow for an atta-boy and to get the deets [details] to stick. So Biden’s willing.
Pyatt: OK. Great. Thanks.”
[BBC, Jonathan Marcus:…The US is clearly much more involved in trying to broker a deal in Ukraine than it publicly lets on."...]...2/7/2014, “Ukraine crisis: Transcript of leaked Nuland-Pyatt call,“ BBC...https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26079957#share-tools
What happened in the Polish elections? I saw that the current party got voted out and the more E.U. friendly party gained control.
That's the projection of many, but the final tallies aren't out till tomorrow. The two largest parties did as expected. The difference seems to have been in the secondary parties, with a middle ground party gaining significantly.