Climate icon Greta adds Hamas to list of things she wants to save

I was watching footage of Greta leading a protest somewhere in Europe. It wasn’t a straight-up save-the-climate event; it was an anti-fossil-fuel, anti-war, anti-capitalist hybrid. The Greta Fan Club attracts some interesting people, as you can tell from the protest placards. One that caught my eye read “Dismantle all Oppressive Structures Now!” Huh? In the first place, it doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, does it? I mean, say what you will about the Black Lives Matter movement, but you have to admit they had a simple and catchy slogan that was also an infinite repetition of their brand, which proved a fund-raising bonanza! Secondly, what, if anything, does it mean? On a superficial level, it’s appealing. After all, every decent human being is against oppression. But here’s the problem; all social structures are oppressive from some point of view. The only way you can sort out which “oppressive structures” should be dismantled and which preserved would require the creation of some decision making body - which would in itself be another oppressive structure! But back to the rally. Greta is on stage preening for the cameras, when a befuddled schmuck emerges stage left, takes the mic out of her hand, and says, “I thought I was coming to a climate rally, not a political event...” Taken aback by an unscripted moment, Greta was momentarily discombobulated. Once her team dispatched the interloper and gave Greta back her microphone, she immediately had the crowd of many thousands chanting, and I’m sure she made it up on the spot; NO CLIMATE JUSTICE ON OCCUPIED LAND! Double huh.

Greatest Leader Since Moses risks destroying Israel to save his career

Netanyahu’s career has had an ominous trajectory. Time after time, when he is politically at risk, he engineers a security crisis. Then he swoops in, the greatest leader of the Chosen People since Moses, and gives the terrorists a sharp slap, and everybody loves him again! Things calm down and life goes on. It’s a proven strategy that has worked again and again. Mr Netanyahu has more reasons than ever to hang on to the Boss job. A slew of corruption allegations for one thing. But this time around, The Greatest Leader Since Moses seems to have miscalculated The “only democracy in the Middle East” has been stinking up the very concept of democracy in recent years. Bibi has to keep steering to the right to collect the Knesset votes he needs to stay in power and out of jail. His latest posse of far-right extremists have pushed Israel into the current crisis. We are now in an emotionally supercharged hate loop of atrocity and counter-atrocity which has no hope of ending well for anyone. You can thank The Greatest Leader Since Moses for taking us all to the edge of the abyss.

Biden pulls plug on Zelensky, will stand with Israel as long as it takes instead

After a year and a half of “whatever it takes for as long as it takes,” Uncle Sam’s caravan of freedom, democracy, and human rights is moving on. While Ukraine is still shown on maps, it has completely disappeared from the news. Trust me, I tried to find updates on the counter-offensive today, and you literally have to go to Ukrainian or Russian news sites to find anything. The days of Churchill Mandela Zelensky jetting around the world for standing ovations appear to be over. The debacle in Ottawa was his last hurrah. Instead, Washington will now focus its energies and resources on helping our brothers-in-freedom in the Holy Land defeat the terrorist uprising in Gaza. It was 18 years ago last month that Israel pulled the last Jewish settlers out of Gaza, thereby creating the independent Palestinian homeland that was to usher in an era of peace in the Middle East. And what did they get for their sacrifice? Nothing but trouble! Arabs in general and Palestinians in particular have proven over and over that they are not ready for peace and democracy. As former IDF General and current Defense Minister Yoav Gallant put it today, “those people are animals and we must respond accordingly.” To demonstrate American resolve, a US navy carrier strike group is on its way to the eastern Mediterranean as I write these words. Fortunately for the forces of righteousness, Gaza has no army, navy, or air-force, so Netanyahu’s stated goal of turning the home of 2,500,000 Palestinians into a “deserted island of ruin” should be accomplished by the time the USN gets there. Nevertheless, the Americans will take pride in having stood with Israel for as long as it takes (four or five days max), the first time the US military has come out on the winning side of hostilities since Grenada. Unless of course the entire Middle East goes up in flames, in which case we will have to revisit the situation and strategize next steps.

Gaza cease-fire "imminent"... and then Hillary shows up!

And suddenly that cease-fire is not so imminent anymore.

Hillary appeared at a press conference next to Netanyahu tonight to reaffirm Israel's right to defend itself.

Thanks Hillary. I don't think that there's anybody on the planet who doesn't already know that.

But in a truly shocking development, there was a Guardian headline on the Google news aggregator today claiming, hold on to your kippa, that the Palestinians have the right to defend themselves too!

We're living in a brave new world alright.

Hillary in the Holy Land

Hillary's trip to Jerusalem and Cairo smacks of desperation.

Thus far the only official comments out of Washington re the current Gaza "crisis" have been about Israel's right to defend itself.

While that line still has some resonance with the American audience, most of the world understands that this latest conflagration has absolutely nothing to do with Israel defending itself.

And as Washington sticks to the official AIPAC-approved script, more and more supposed US allies are making it plain that they hold Israel responsible for the events of the past week.

Senior diplomats from Tunisia and Turkey toured Gaza today in a show of solidarity. Tunisia is the cradle of Arab Spring, which the US has desperately been trying to co-opt ever since it unexpectedly sprung a year and a half ago.

Turkey is our go-to player in the Syrian revolution, and even more significantly, a NATO ally.

So while Washington spews bromides about Israel's right to defend itself, a senior minister of a NATO ally is in Gaza talking about "Israeli aggression."

It's a brave new world.

But the ultimate blow to American prestige in the region can still be averted. What if Hamas and the Israeli's came to a cease-fire agreement via the efforts of the Muslim Brotherhood intermediaries in Cairo, with no input from the biggest of big dogs, the USA?

What a catastrophe that would be for America!

That's why Hillary is in the Holy Land right now.

NYT calls out the hypocrisy of the Egyptian Government on Gaza

David Kirkpatrick takes a swing at Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood president today. Apparently it's not kosher to play peacemaker while openly favoring one side over the other, and Morsi has made it plain who he holds responsible for the current crisis.

There is no hint in David's article that he is aware that this is exactly how America and "the quartet" have been seen by most of the world, and especially the Muslim world, for the past fifty years. It does indeed undermine the credibility of the peacemakers when they clearly hold one side blameless.

In America's case and in the Nations of Virtue generally we finance and arm one side and continuously blame the other, yet we hold ourselves out to be credible "honest brokers".

The main difference between our hypocrisy and that of Morsi is that he's only been at it for five days.

We've been at it for fifty years.

Bahrain, Israel, Jordan; three reasons for invading Syria

The Middle East is in flux. If America is to preserve what is left of the status quo, she had best act sooner rather than later.

In Jordan the US-friendly King is being rocked by the most vociferous anti-regime protests in Jordan's history.

Ditto Bahrain.

Meanwhile, America's only ally in the region has bitten off an untimely war with the Palestinians in Gaza.

Just a couple of weeks ago the Emir of Qatar was touring Gaza promising moral and financial support. This is the same Emir who funds al Jazeera and funds the Syrian opposition, and has been considered a US ally for quite some time.

We're supposedly onside with their funding of the Syrian rebels, although we don't trust those rebels, but that Gaza junket raised a lot of eyebrows in Washington. That al Jazeera sponsorship has always been problematic for the US. Wasn't it Bush II who wanted to bomb their HQ?

The PM of Egypt toured Gaza today, clearly to demonstrate Egyptian solidarity with Hamas, the number one nemesis of America's only ally in the Middle East.

America has done a lot of sucking up to the Muslim Brotherhood since the demise of Mubarak, but where do Egypt's allegiances lie?

I would suggest not with America.

A Tunisian delegation will be touring Gaza in the days ahead. Tunisia is the cradle of Arab Spring, and America has been trying to convince the world that she is behind Arab Spring ever since it unexpectedly sprang.

All of which leaves America in something of a quandary. Insofar as the Syrian opposition still has any credibility whatsoever, the US can try to come out on the right side of history by supporting them.

At the same time, virtually every other country that has been touched by Arab Spring is lining up firmly behind Hamas in the current Gaza crisis.

Troubling days and nights for The Empire.

Netanyahu's ground war bluff

At last report 75,000 reservists have been called to active IDF duty in anticipation of a major Gaza invasion.

Netanyahu is bluffing.

He is betting that after another week or two of a one-sided affair in which the IAF can smash Gaza with impunity, Hamas will petition for a cease-fire and the ground invasion won't be necessary.

It is one thing to run thousands of bombing sorties over an opponent with no air force and no air defenses. It will be quite another to fight street to street in Gaza City with ground troops. It's what the militants dream of.

Any meaningful incursion into Gaza will mean Israeli casualties, and plenty of them. Yes, the traditional kill ratio of 100:1 will no doubt be maintained, but even a few dozen IDF casualties will give Israeli voters pause for thought on January 22.

Everybody in Israel understands the timing of this war. It was a war entirely of Netanyahu's choosing, a mere two months before the election. It was designed to make Netanyahu look like the strongman Israel needs to survive.

If IDF forces are bogged down in Gaza on the eve of the election, if reservists are going home dead, the voters will certainly be having second thoughts.