The Madness of King Donald. The 25th Amendment Watch List.

What we’ve done in our politics is create a situation where we’re electing idiots.

Liz Cheney

Section 1

In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become President.

Section 2

Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.

Section 3

Whenever the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, and until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such powers and duties shall be discharged by the Vice President as Acting President.

Section 4

Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.

Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty-eight hours for that purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty-one days after receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session, within twenty-one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by two-thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of his office.

January 7, 2025. 

Trump calls in and Junior puts him on speaker (in Greenland). He says we need to take over Greenland because there are “ships sailing around and they’re not the right ships.”

 Ron Filipkowski

And so the Madness of King Donald is on full display, giving room for a Regency in favor of J. D. Vance.

How long will the decent interval be?  My prediction is 18 months.

That would be Monday, July 20, 2026.

cont:

We're going to be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.

Donald Trump.

cont:  

Reporter: Can you assure the world that as you try to get control of Greenland and the Panama Canal, you are not going to use military or economic coercion?

Trump: No.. I can’t assure you on either of those two.

And:

The windmills are driving the whales crazy. Obviously.

Trump also stated he'd  use "economic force" to compel Canada to become a 51st state. 

And:

It's called rain. It comes down from heaven. And they want to do no water comes out of the shower. It goes drip drip drip ... you can have all the water you want. It makes no difference.

And, he claimed at his press conference that  Hezbollah was at the January 6 riots.

January 14, 2025

Because creating a new agency obviously makes sense:

January 16, 2025

January 22, 2025

He (Kim Jong Un) liked me, I liked him. We got along very well…I think he has tremendous condo capability. He's got a lot of shoreline.

January 23, 2025

Half pipes. You see 'em all the time. Half pipes. People live in those half pipes now. You know, they have homeless living in those halftype

and;

The head of a country that lives in forest. A number of them, actually. Finland told me this. Austria told me this. The head of Austria, the head of Finland. And it was beautiful they way they expressed it. They said, 'We live in a forest. We are a forest nation.'

and;

We're gonna be demanding respect from other nations. Canada, we have a tremendous deficit with Canada. We're not gonna have that anymore. As you probably know, I say you can always become a state. If you're a state, we won't have a deficit, we won't have to tariff you.

and;

 REPORTER: You would agree it's never acceptable to assault police officers?

TRUMP: Sure

REPORTER: Among those you pardoned is a guy who used a stun gun on a police officer. Why does he deserve a pardon?

TRUMP: Well, I don't know

January 25, 2025

I'm signing an executive order to open up the pumps and valves in the north. We want to get that water pouring down here as quickly as possible ... you're talking about unlimited water coming up from the Pacific Northwest, even coming from parts of Canada.

Um. .. there aren't any such valves. This is pure batshit crazy.

In any normal time, this would send Donny to the retirement home.  It's completely nuts.

Also, fwiw, water flows from the Continental Divide, west.  Not from north to south.

cont:

We may be a very substantially enlarged country in the not too distant— Isn't it nice to see -- for years, decades, we’re the same size to the square-foot, probably got smaller actually but we might be an enlarged country pretty soon.

I actually figure at this point there's a good chance he's going to order the military to invade Canada. 

January 26, 2025

Okay, there is now this by the person who (illegitimately and illegally) claims to be the head of the most powerful nation on Earth.

No serious nation does this. The man is a dangerous fool.

25th Amendment.

Section 4

Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.

Of course, this is aimed at the American public, with the presumption that being a mob tough guy is cute or admirable, rather than this depiction being childish and repressible.   

The American public may disagree, in which case, truly, it has become childish.

When we are past this era, and it won't be soon enough, the long lasting American anti intellectual streak in the culture has to end. Yes, some people really are smarter than other.  No, collective widom doesn't trump intellect.  People need to get educated.

January 29, 2025

We identified and stopped $50 million being sent to Gaza to buy condoms for Hamas. And you know what's happened to them? They've used them as a method of making bombs.

We didn't appropriate $50M for condoms for Hamas. 

Truly, this is rather weird, even for Donald Trump, and some people will believe it, which is pathetic.

January 30, 2024

A helicopter/aircraft collision occurred last night near Washington D.C.  The helicopter was a Blackhawk, and therefore a military helicopter.

Trump took to social media:

Let's face it.  Trump is simply stupid.  The nation has elected a wealthy, dimwitted, vengeful, ignoramus.

January 31, 2024

This is simply surreal:

January 31, 2025

This one is shameful beyond all measure:

This is, frankly, shameful in the extreme:

MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION THE ADMINISTRATOR OF THE FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION

SUBJECT:       Immediate Assessment of Aviation Safety

On January 29, 2025, a commercial aircraft and a military helicopter horrifically collided near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.  American families today woke up without their loved ones after what should have been a routine trip, and the entire Nation mourns the loss of the victims.

This shocking event follows problematic and likely illegal decisions during the Obama and Biden Administrations that minimized merit and competence in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).  The Obama Administration implemented a biographical questionnaire at the FAA to shift the hiring focus away from objective aptitude.  During my first term, my Administration raised standards to achieve the highest standards of safety and excellence.  But the Biden Administration egregiously rejected merit-based hiring, requiring all executive departments and agencies to implement dangerous “diversity equity and inclusion” tactics, and specifically recruiting individuals with “severe intellectual” disabilities in the FAA.   

On my second day in office, I ordered an immediate return to merit-based recruitment, hiring, and promotion, elevating safety and ability as the paramount standard.  Yesterday’s devastating accident tragically underscores the need to elevate safety and competence as the priority of the FAA. 

Consistent with the Presidential Memorandum of January 21, 2025 (Keeping Americans Safe in Aviation), I am further ordering the Secretary of Transportation (Secretary) and the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (Administrator) to review all hiring decisions and changes to safety protocols made during the prior 4 years, and to take such corrective action as necessary to achieve uncompromised aviation safety, including the replacement of any individuals who do not meet qualification standards.  This review shall include a systematic assessment of any deterioration in hiring standards and aviation safety standards and protocols during the Biden Administration.

Consistent with the Presidential Memorandum of January 21, 2025, the Secretary and the Administrator shall take all actions necessary to reverse concerning safety and personnel trends during the prior 4 years, instill an unwavering commitment to aviation safety, and ensure that all Americans fly with peace of mind.

Shameful.

Trump is pitting people against each other on racist grounds.  He's an embarrassment to the country.

It's worth watching when it's signed.  Trump has the appearance of a profoundly stupid man.

On his appearance, his physical condition is rather obviously declining quite rapidly.  He can no longer hide that he's bald and his hair is white. The orange tan stuff, which was always disgusting, isn't working.

Latest babble:

February 5, 2025

Trump proposed the Gazans be cleared out of Gaza and given new land, and the existing area become a real estate development belonging to the United States.

This came in a conference with Prime Minister Netanyahu, who pretty clearly thinks Trump is nuts.

If the Gazans could be resettled in a viable location, which won't happen, it would address much of their problems.  The US then owning Gaza as a sort of Levantine Club Med is bat shit crazy, however.  

Trump claimed Middle Eastern leaders thought this was a great idea, which they immediately denied.  It's pretty clear the major Middle Eastern powers also regard Trump as a lunatic.

This does provide, however, a real insight into his senile way of thinking. Trump, a real estate developer who really has nothing else to his credit, and lacks any moral character, thinks the whole world is just one big real estate developer.  Essentially he's a collision of amorality, senility, and capitalism.

February 23, 2025

February 24, 2024

King Donny appointed right-wing conspiracy theorist commentator Dan Bongino as deputy director of the FBI.

Okay, at this,  point, this has reached the mornic level.

A Palestinian Solution (that nobody is going to do).

In this thread, I suggested a solution to the "Palestinian" problem isn't all that hard:

An uncomfortable truth.*

In reality, I'd partially already proposed it:

The Palestinian Problem and its Wilsonian Solution.

Those threads are pretty complete, but let's just set out the basic facts of the problem.

Part One:

• The Palestinian Mandate's Levantines didn't want any sort of Jewish state or any sort of "two-state solution in 1948".  The neighboring Arab states didn't want one either.
• World War Two made it inevitable that Jews would seek refuge in the region they'd held historically and up until 70.
• The British tried and failed to create a two-state solution, and then washed their hands of the matter and left.
• The Israelis won the 1948 war.
• During the 1948 war, a lot of Levantines left out of fear, rational calculation of danger, or were expelled.
• Just would have invited them back in, but the Israeli's were not in the mood for that, and the Arabs largely weren't either.  That is, having fought for it, the Israeli's decided to keep what they had in every sense, and the Arabs were still dedicated to the proposition of pushing them out.
• That's now over 70 years ago and almost everyone involved in the original drama is dead.

Part Two:

• The Arabs have been happy to support a Palestinian diaspora, partially, but not to invite them into their own countries.
• The Palestinians have been unwilling to come up with a new, permanent plan, that doesn't feature, at a bare minimum, the territory that was at least partially in Mandatory Palestine.
• Gaza and to a lesser extent the West Bank were solutions that Israel was willing to put up with, but not the Levantines, even as they took advantage of it.
• The "Palestinians" have been , to a large extent, living on the Arab and Global dole since Gaza and the West Bank were created as entities subject to self rule. They don't have work, and they don't have much to do, other than to do, what people who have an income, but no work, do. . . . fill in the blanks here.

Okay now for the elements of the solution.

Part One

• The Palestinian Levantines need work and need to be taken off the dole.
• In order to do that, the pipe dream of an independent Palestinian state inside the borders of Mandatory Palestine needs to be given up on, unless Jordan, which is a Bedouin state, wishes to become that entity, and it doesn't.

So, what can be done.  There are two, and only two, possibilities.

Solution Number One.

The Palestinian Levantines can be taken in by the Arab states that have work, which would include the Emirates, Dubai, and Saudi Arabia.*

Yes, that's radical, but if they were taken in, taken off the dole, and got to work, within a generation or two, this problem would be over, and they would be better off.

Solution Number Two.

Create a Palestinian state in the Sinai.

That has obvious geoengineering problems, but the Israelis confronted those inside Mandatory Palestine and the states of the Arabian Peninsula have faced them as well.  It's been proven that you can geoengineer these areas productively.  It has been done.

And in that state, Gaza could remain part of it.

This, of course, would require Egypt to give up Sinai, but frankly, it's not making much use of it anyway.

Footnotes:

*And probably Jordan as well, as the West Bank was part of Transjordan and probably ought just go back to Jordan.

Related threads:

An uncomfortable truth.*

1940s, 1948, 70, 70s, Al Nakba, Arabs, British League of Nations Mandates, Hamas, Israel, Israeli Hamas War, Levant, Ottoman Empire, Palestine, Palestinian Revolution, Roman Empire, The Holocaust

The Palestinian Problem and its Wilsonian Solution.

Arabs, British League of Nations Mandates, Israel, Israeli Hamas War, It was because of World War One, It was because of World War Two, Kuwait, MIddle East, Ottoman Empire, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia

Wars and Rumors of War, 2024. Part 4. "Maybe I shall find them among the dead."

You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.

Matthew, Chapter 24.

I am tired of fighting. Our chiefs are killed. Looking Glass is dead. Too-hul-hul-sote is dead. The old men are all dead. It is the young men who say yes or no. He who led on the young men is dead. It is cold and we have no blankets. The little children are freezing to death. My people, some of them, have run away to the hills, and have no blankets, no food; no one knows where they are—perhaps freezing to death. I want to have time to look for my children and see how many of them I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead. Hear me, my chiefs. I am tired; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever.

Chief Joseph upon his surrender, 1877.

March 6, 2024

Russo Ukrainian War

The Ukrainians sank the Russian patrol ship Sergey Kotov with a drone strike.

It's clear that Black Sea is not safe for the Russian Navy.

March 8, 2024

Hamas Israeli War

The U.S. is setting up an artificial port on the Gaza Strip to deliver humanitarian aid.

Russo Ukrainian War

As s direct result of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Sweden has entered NATO, ending centuries of neutrality.

March 9, 2024

Indian/Chinese Border

Indian is sending an additional 10,000 troops to its border with China.

March 10, 2024

Russo Ukrainian War

Pope Francis stated in an interview with a Swiss journalist:

In Ucraina c’è chi chiede il coraggio della resa, della bandiera bianca. Ma altri dicono che così si legittimerebbe il più forte. Cosa pensa?

“È un’interpretazione. Ma credo che è più forte chi vede la situazione, chi pensa al popolo, chi ha il coraggio della bandiera bianca, di negoziare. E oggi si può negoziare con l’aiuto delle potenze internazionali. La parola negoziare è una parola coraggiosa. Quando vedi che sei sconfitto, che le cose non vanno, occorre avere il coraggio di negoziare. Hai vergogna, ma con quante morti finirà? Negoziare in tempo, cercare qualche paese che faccia da mediatore. Oggi, per esempio nella guerra in Ucraina, ci sono tanti che vogliono fare da mediatore. La Turchia, si è offerta per questo. E altri. Non abbiate vergogna di negoziare prima che la cosa sia peggiore”.

Anche lei stesso si è proposto per negoziare?

“Io sono qui, punto. Ho inviato una lettera agli ebrei di Israele, per riflettere su questa situazione. Il negoziato non è mai una resa. È il coraggio per non portare il paese al suicidio. Gli ucraini, con la storia che hanno, poveretti, gli ucraini al tempo di Stalin quanto hanno sofferto….”.

Translated:

In Ukraine there are those who ask for the courage of surrender, of the white flag. But others say that this would legitimize the strongest. What do you think?

“It's an interpretation. But I believe that those who see the situation, those who think about the people, those who have the courage to raise the white flag and to negotiate are stronger. And today it can be negotiated with the help of international powers. The word negotiate is a courageous word. When you see that you are defeated, that things are not going well, you need to have the courage to negotiate. You are ashamed, but with how many deaths will it end? Negotiate in time, look for some country to act as a mediator. Today, for example in the war in Ukraine, there are many who want to act as mediators. Turkey offered itself for this. And other. Don't be ashamed to negotiate before things get worse.

Have you also offered to negotiate?

“I'm here, period. I sent a letter to the Jews of Israel to reflect on this situation. Negotiation is never a surrender. It is the courage not to lead the country to suicide. The Ukrainians, with the history that they have, poor things, the Ukrainians at Stalin's time, how much they suffered...”.

This has been reported, in accurately, as the Pope calling upon the Ukrainians to surrender, which isn't exactly what he said. 

The head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church was in the US, calling up Congress to free up support for Ukraine.

Hamas Israeli War

Israel has built a road bisecting Gaza.

March 11, 2024

Haiti

Haiti is in internal turmoil as gangs threaten to topple the government.  The US has sent in additional forces to its embassy.

Russo Ukrainian War

The Pope's comments of yesterday have brought rebuke.

March 12, 2024

Hezbollah v. Israel

Israel struck Hezbollah targets from the air yesterday.

March 13, 2024

Russo Ukrainian War

The Pentagon is sending $300,000,000 in weapons to Ukraine, but also revealed its $10B overdrawn in replenishing weapons it has sent already.

Democrats are using the discharge petition process to go around Donald Tump controlled Mike Johnson for funding in the House.

The All-Russian pro-Ukrainian Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK), Freedom of Russia Legion (LSR), and Siberian Battalion a limited cross-border raid into Belgorod and Kursk oblasts yesterday.

Ukraine hit an oil refinery with drones.

Haiti

Haiti's prime minister resigned.  It's largely expected that the gangs that control the capital will play a role in choosing the next government.

Hamas Israeli War

Hamas Political Bureau Chairman Ismail Haniyeh presented Hamas’ delusional demands in ceasefire and hostage negotiations in a speech marking the start of Ramadan on March 10. They included a comprehensive ceasefire, the complete withdrawal of the IDF from the Gaza Strip, the complete return of displaced Gazans, and the resolution of humanitarian issues, and ending restrictions on the movement of people and goods out of the Gaza Strip.

Israel isn't going to agree to that.

March 14, 2024

Haiti

Florida is deploying 250 law enforcement officers and an air-and-sea fleet to address a potential wave of Haitian immigrants.

March 15, 2024

Russo Ukrainian War

Russian Security Council Deputy Chairperson Dmitry Medvedev called for the total elimination of the Ukrainian state and its absorption into the Russian Federation.

Hamas Israeli War

Hamas killed the head of the Palestinian Dughmush clan, claiming it had stolen humanitarian aid and cooperated with Israel. The armed clan vowed to retaliate.

March 17, 2024

Russo Ukrainian War

Russian rebels in Ukrainian service have been conducting cross border strikes while Russia is conducting an election whose results are basically preordained.  The raids have been fairly successful.

The Ukrainian State Security Service (SBU) conducted a series of successful drone strikes against Russian oil refineries in Samara Oblast.

March 23, 2024

ISIS v. Russia, Russia v. Ukraine, Syrian Civil War

ISIS launched a major terrorist attack on the Crocus City Hall in Krasnogorsk on the same day that it launched the largest series of combined drone and missile strikes targeting Ukrainian energy infrastructure since the start of the war against Ukraine.

The ISIL attack was a reprisal for Russia supporting the Syrian state.

The ISIL terrorist attack was horrific, and directed against civilians, which can be also said of much of Russia's airborne campaign against Ukraine.  Essentially, a terrorist entity has attacked a terrorist state.

cont:

Casualties from the ISIL attack in Russia are now at 153.

March 26, 2024

Afghanistan

The Taliban, whom Donald Trump surrendered to in 2019, is going to start stoning women to death for adultery.

March 27, 2024

Russo Ukrainian War

The Ukrainians struck the Konstantin Olshansky, which was formerly a Ukrainian Navy ship that was taken into Russian custody in 2014, with an anti shipping missile.

And of interest:

Ukraine destroys unique Russian ‘Doomsday Tank’

March 29, 2024

Russo Ukrainian War

March 29, 2024

The House of Representatives will see Speaker Mike Johnson push for funding for Ukraine through a bill that's been sitting in the dysfunctional House for a month when they return from their recess from not getting anything done.

Donald Putin, who loves Putin and hates Ukraine, has frustrated the advance of the Bill.  Marjorie Taylor Green will push to being Johnson down.

Absolutely pathetic.

And this while Ukraine fights for its life.

Hamas Israeli War

The International Court of Justice ordered Israel to open up more corridors for relief in Gaza.

March 30, 2024

Russo Ukrainian War

In an absolutely shocking action, The World Russian People’s Council, chaired by Patriarch Kirill, who reportedly worked undercover for the KGB during the Soviet era, declared the war in Ukraine “sacred" and called for its completely dominance under Russia.

Hamas Israeli War

The US, which can't get its act together due to the Trumpite dominated House of Representatives and Trump's admiration of Vlad Putin, is sending Israel more arms and ammunition, including more than 1,800 MK84 2,000-pound bombs and 500 MK82 500-pound bombs.

How we can somehow manage one, and not the other, is beyond me, particularly as the Ukrainian need is greater.

April 1, 2024

Hamas Israeli War

Huge protests occured yesterday in Israel over the war.

The War Against ISIL

Retired Marine Corps general Frank McKenzie appeared on this week to warn that ISIL strikes in the US are inevitable, and put the blame squarely on the Trump surrender in Afghanistan.

April 2, 2024

Hamas Israeli War

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is going to attempt to legislatively shut down Al Jazeera broadcasts in Israel.  It accuses the news organization of agitating Palestinians.

Iran v Israel

Israel killed Iranian senior military commanders in Syria Brig. Gen. Mohammad Reza Zahedi and some of his top subordinates in an airstrike in Damascus.

The building hit was next to the Iranian Embassy.

Russia v The West

A joint investigation by 60 Minutes, the Insider, and Der Spiegel strongly suggests that the Kremlin has waged a sustained kinetic campaign directly targeting US government personnel both in the United States and internationally for a decade, with the likely objective of physically incapacitating US government personnel. The investigation, which the outlets published on March 31, indicates that the infamous Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (GRU) Unit 29155 (the same unit whose operatives attempted to assassinate Sergei Skripal with the Novichok nerve agent in the United Kingdom in 2018) may be using nonlethal directed energy or acoustic weapons to target a large number of US government personnel, each of whom has reported experiencing an “anomalous health incident” (also called “Havana Syndrome”) of varying severity between 2014 and as recently as 2023.[1] The investigation cites intercepted Russian intelligence documents, travel logs, call metadata, and eyewitness testimony that places GRU Unit 29155 operatives at many of the locations where US officials experienced Havana Syndrome, either shortly before or during each attack. The investigation suggested that GRU operatives conducted a directed energy attack against an FBI agent in Florida a few months after the agent interviewed detained undercover GRU officer Vitaliy Kovalev at some point between June and December 2020.[2] Other US government officials claimed they were attacked by the directed energy weapons while they were in the United States, including in Washington, DC. The joint investigation interviewed US Army Colonel Greg Edgreen, former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)’s working group investigating Havana Syndrome, who believes that Russia is behind the Havana Syndrome incidents and that the incidents consistently have a “Russia nexus.”[3] Edgreen stated that the incidents all targeted the top five to ten percent “performing DIA officers” and that the victims were either experts on Russia or had otherwise worked to defend US national security interests against Russia. The investigation noted that many affected personnel were assigned to roles aimed at countering Russia following the 2014 invasion of Ukraine after these personnel had previously worked on other portfolios. The investigation reported that these incidents have affected senior US personnel, including a senior official in the National Security Council who served at some point in 2020-2024 and CIA Director Bill Burns’ then-deputy chief of staff who experienced an anomalous health incident in September 2021 in Delhi. Several of the US officials who experienced Havana Syndrome have severe life-altering and career-ending injuries. Many US officials’ spouses and children also experienced Havana Syndrome while deployed overseas.

ISW

April 4, 2024

Russo Ukrainian War

Ukraine has dropped its conscription age from 27 to 25.

Both of those are, I'd note, remarkably high conscription ages.  

On March 30-31, 2024, the Russian Army launched its largest armored assault of the war but was repulsed with significant losses.

According to Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell, during "the last couple of months that Russia has almost completely reconstituted militarily".

A Ukrainian drone struck a Russian Shahed 136 drone production facility in Tatarstan, over 1,100km from Ukraine.

Wow.

Iran vs. Everyone

An Iranian militia is threatening a major expansion in Jordan.

April 7, 2024

Ecuador v. Mexico

Ecuador raided the Mexican embassy in their country and arrested the former Vice President.  Mexico responded by severing diplomatic relations with Ecuador.

Ajerbaijan v. Aremenia

There have been exchanges of artillery fire, apparently, recently although I don't really have the details.

Romania

Romania is about to pass a law allowing for military intervention outside of Romania to protect Romanian citizens. Moldova would be the only logical place for the application of such a law, or perhaps Ukraine.

April 8, 2024

Hamas v. Israel

Israel has withdrawn from Khan Younis bringing its troop presence in Gaza to one of the lowest levels since the war began.  This is likely in preparation for entering Rafah.

Israel also announced it had killed Hamas brigade commander Ali Ahmed Hassin.

Russo Ukrainian War

Ukraine hit a Russian controlled nuclear reactor within Ukrainian territory in a drone strike.

Zylenskyy stated that it would be difficult for Ukraine to remain in the war without US aid, which brings up this we posted yesterday:

Turning the Tide in Ukraine (maybe) or at least helping them a bunch. What President Biden could do while Michael Johnson tries to reconcile his consience to Putin Fanboyism. Part One

April 10, 2024

Hamas v. Israel

An Iranian official, in a press interview, threatened the UAE, which maintains diplomatic relations with Israel, trying to pressure it to sever relations with the country.

Russo Ukrainian War

The US is supplying parts for the Ukrainian Hawk missle defense system on an emergency basis.

April 11, 2024

Japan told us today to get our act together:

I detect an undercurrent of self-doubt among some Americans about what your role in the world should be...At a time when our world is at history's turning point...Freedom and democracy are currently under threat around the globe.

Japanese PM Fumio Kishida addressing Congress

April 13, 2024

Iran v Israel

Iran is really saber-rattling in regard to Israel, and its warning the US as part of that.  The US has warned it back.

It appears almost certain that the war that started with the Hamas terrorist raid is about to expand.

Russo Ukrainian War

The U.S. and U.K. will begin restricting the trade of new Russian-origin metals including aluminum, copper and nickel.

China, yes, China, is supplying huge numbers of drones to Ukraine, showing that China isn't as pro Russian as might be imagined.  China's drones are much cheaper and less technological, and hence less susceptible to electronic interference, than American ones.

Last Edition:

Wars and Rumors of War, 2024. Part 3. The Putin's Cheerleaders Edition.

Wars and Rumors of War, 2023, Part XI. Our Sins coming back to haunt us edition.

You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.

 Matthew, Chapter 24.

British troops at the Jaffa Gate, April 8, 1920.

Well, Part X wasn't up for long before the next edition was necessary.

Ugh.

If any question why we died, 

Tell them, because our fathers lied.

Kipling.

And so, the byproducts of the Great War continue to visit us, specter like.  A war in Ukraine between a Slavic chauvinist empire, and one in the Middle East, sorting out the rubble of the Mandate.

So let us begin.

October 15, 2023

Hamas v. Israel.

Hamas infiltration attempts are continuing, but have dropped off on the West Bank.

Iran is warning the war could go regional, which it will not.

An Israeli ground offensive is imminent.

The US asked American citizens in Gaza (why on earth would anyone with American citizenship stay in Gaza?) to move closer to the Egyptian Rafah border crossing, which would likely suggest the U.S. has worked out some sort of deal with Egypt regarding Americans being displaced in the Gaza Strip (why on earth would anyone with American citizenship stay in Gaza?).

A bomb threat was levied against the Louvre yesterday, which is suspected to be related to this conflict in some fashion.

Russo Ukrainian War

Russian attacks on Avdiivka are continuing, but Ukrainian lines are holding.  Apparently the offensive was anticipated.

October 16, 2023

Hamas v. Israel

From Twitter, and linked directly to what was put up there.  Weapons displayed by the IDF that were used in the recent Hamas raid.

The really surprising one here is the ancient submachine gun.  Apparently it is a Lanchester, which I've never even heard of.  It looks like a German MP28 as it is in fact a version of it.  They were actually produced, to my surprise, in large numbers during World War Two.

The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Cardinal Pizzaballa stated in an interview that he was willing to exchange himself as a hostage for the kidnapped children.

October 17, 2023

Hamas v Israel

Four Iranian nationals have been detained at the Del Rio crossing between the US and Mexico since October 1, with two Iranian nationals regarded as terrorist threats.

The Church of Saint Porphyrius, built in 1150 through 1160, a Greek Orthodox Church, is now housing Palestinian refugees of all religions.

2,000 U.S. troops are being readied to deploy to the region in support roles to Israel.

Churches of the West: A Day of Fasting and Prayer: Bishop Bigler of the Diocese of Cheyenne has declared this a voluntary fast day for Peace in the Middle East.

Prayer for Peace in the Holy Land

The Diocese of Cheyenne is asking Catholics in the Diocese to pray for Peace in the Holy Land, and has issued this prayer.

Pray for Peace in the Holy Land

Lord God, merciful and strong,

     who crush wars and cast down the proud,

     who extend mercy and tenderness to all,

we pray to you for the Holy Land, for the people of Israel and Palestine

     who are under the grip of unprecedented violence,

     for the victims, especially the children and their families.

Be pleased to grant healing for the wounded, the release of hostages,

     protection for the innocent, and eternal peace to the dead.

To all those affected by war, grant healing, consolation, and the grace to forgive.

Almighty God,

     guide the minds of world leaders to act with wisdom, prudence, and justice,

     and to promote the common good.

Lord of Justice, help us to commit ourselves to building a fraternal world

     so that these peoples and all those suffering similar conditions of

     conflict, instability, and violence may walk together as sisters and brothers.

Help us to be peacemakers by practicing justice, dialogue, and reconciliation.

O God of Peace, who are peace itself,

     grant that those in conflict may forget evil and so be healed.

Help those who have experienced violence to forgive their enemies,

     as Christ taught us and after his example on the cross.

We pray that the whole of humanity may be reconciled as one family,

     without violence, without absurd wars, and with a fraternal spirit,

      and live united in peace and concord.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ Your Son, who lives and reigns with you

in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.

cont:

Russo Ukrainian War

Ukraine struck Russian airbases deep within Russian occupied Ukraine with ATACMS missiles acquired from the United States

October 18, 2023

Hamas v Israel.

President Biden is in Israel.

Democrat Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib's accused Israel of bombing a Christian's hospital in the Gaza stating "Israel just bombed the Baptist Hospital killing 500 Palestinians (doctors, children, patients) just like that," in a tweet.

Israel replied within an hour that Islamic Jihad was responsible for the strike with an errant missile.

China v Taiwan and everyone else

The U.S. has accused China of increasingly dangerous actions with its fighter aircraft.

Russo Ukrainian War

Ukraine made small gains around Bakhmut and Russians tiny gains around Avdiivka.

The US completed deliveries of M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine.

October 29, 2023

Russo Ukrainian War

Ukraine raided across the Dnipro near Kherson.

Iran v. United States

October 20, 2023

Hamas v. Israel, Iran v. The West

DOD assets in the Red Sea, Iraq and Syria responded to missile and drone attacks over the past two days, as U.S. service members look to deter groups from using the Israel-Hamas war as an opportunity to launch conflict that could engulf the region, Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said today.

Department of Defense.

Effectively, Iran, often acting through its militias, is in a low grade war with the United States right now.

October 23, 2023

Hamas v. Israel, Iran v. The West

The weekend news shows were absolutely frighting on this topic, this weekend.  A bill is being introduced in Congress to authorize the use of force under the War Powers Act, for instance.

October 24, 2023

Russo Ukrainian War.

The Chinese ship Newnew Polar Bear has entered the Port of Arkhangelsk with a missing anchor. Finnish investigators suspect it lost the anchor by dragging it into the Balticconnector gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia.  It will take six months to repair.

cont:

Congo

The Allied Democratic Forces killed people in the city of Oicha in North Kivu province on Monday. The group has ties to the Islamic State.

October 26, 2023

Hamas v. Israel

Iran and its so-called “Axis of Resistance” are pursuing a coordinated strategy to (1) deter Israel from trying to destroy Hamas in the Gaza Strip, (2) prevent Israel from destroying Hamas if deterrence fails, and (3) deter the United States from providing military support to Israel’s ground operation in the Gaza Strip.

ISW.

cont:

Russo Ukrainian War

The Administration reports that Russia has executed its own soldiers for refusing to carry out orders.

Hamas v. Israel

Israel killed the deputy head of Hamas’s intelligence directorate, Shadi Barud, in a strike in the Gaza today.

Iranian backed forces have targeted US sites in Israel and Iraq.

October 27, 2023

Iran v US

The US struck two Iranian backed militia sites in Syria in an air raid earlier today.

Hamas v. Israel

Israel has raided into Gaza.

October 28, 2023

Russo Ukrainian War

Slovakia's right wing populist government is ceasing aid to Ukraine.

Ireland has called for increased European support for Ukraine.

October 29, 2023

Hamas v. Israel

The IDF has entered Gaza.

November 1, 2023

North Korea

North Korea is closing a large number of embassies, apparently due to financial concerns.

Hamas v. Israel

From Yemen's Houthi militia:

Our armed forces launched a large batch of ballistic missiles and a large number of drones at various targets of the Israeli enemy 

The Yemeni Armed Forces confirm that this operation is the third operation in support of our oppressed brothers in Palestine and confirm that we will continue to carry out more qualitative strikes with missiles and drones until the Israeli aggression stops.

Egypt’s Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly stated, in response to reports that millions of Palestinians could cross into Egypt, that Egypt was  “prepared to sacrifice millions of lives to ensure that no one encroaches upon our territory”.

November 2, 2023

Hamas v. Israel

President Biden has called for a pause in the war to aid in removing refugees.  It's unlikely to occur.

Nigeria

Thirty-seven have been killed in a Boko Haram terrorist attack.

Russo Ukrainian War

Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief General Valerii Zaluzhnyi stated in an essay in The Economist yesterday that the has taken on a positional nature.  His article is entitled. "Modern Positional Warfare and How to Win It".

It's odd for a commander to write such an op ed during a time of war, but that the war has become static is pretty obvious. This needs to be overcome if Ukraine is to achieve victory.  If it does not, Western nations will ultimately lose interest in funding the Ukrainian effort.

November 4, 2023

China v. Everyone

Japan and the Philippines are moving towards a troop cooperation agreement.

November 5, 2023

Russo Ukrainian War

According to the ISW:

Zaluzhny’s long essay, “Modern Positional Warfare and How to Win It,” outlines Zaluzhnyi’s consideration of the changes Ukraine must make to overcome the current “positional” stage of the war more clearly than the shorter op-ed and the Economist article it accompanied. Zaluzhnyi wrote that the war “is gradually moving to a positional form” and noted that Ukraine needs to gain air superiority; breach mine barriers in depth; increase the effectiveness of counter-battery; create and train the necessary reserves; and build up electronic warfare (EW) capabilities to overcome positional warfare.[2] Positional warfare refers to military operations that do not result in rapid or dramatic changes to the frontline despite both sides‘ continuing efforts to improve their positions. Zaluzhnyi notably did not say that the war was stalemated in his essay or suggest that Ukraine could not succeed. His essay focused, rather, on explaining that the current positional character of the war was a result of technological-tactical parity on the battlefield and the widespread use of mine barriers by Russian and Ukrainian troops. Zaluzhnyi considered the opportunities presented to Ukraine by Russia’s challenges, including the significant losses suffered by Russian aviation; Ukrainian use of Western missile and artillery weapons; and Russia’s failure to take advantage of its human mobilization resources due to political, organizational, and motivational issues. Zaluzhnyi argued that to avoid World War I-style “trench war” and move to maneuver warfare, Ukraine must develop new approaches including technological and other changes, some of which depend on Western support and others require adaptations within the Ukrainian military, state, and society. Zaluzhnyi concluded that positional warfare benefits Russia as it prolongs the war and could allow Russia to achieve superiority in certain areas. Zaluzhnyi argued that Ukraine or Russia could return to rapid maneuver warfare under the right circumstances, which for Ukraine must include Western-provided military resources. Zaluzhnyi’s essay was all about how to restore maneuver to a positional war, not an argument that the war has reached a stalemate.

November 6, 2023

Hamas v. Israel War 

Secretary of State Anthony Blinken engaged in a round of regional shuttle diplomacy yesterday.

The IDF has split the Gaza Strip in two.

November 7, 2023

Sudan

Jihadi militias have murdered over 800 Massalit tribe members in Darfur, Sudan over the past few days.  Like their oppressors, the Massalit are Muslims, but they are generally somewhat relaxed in their observance and retain some pre conversion practices in spite of having long been Muslims.  Over recent decades they have become more orthodox in their observance.

I frankly don't know what this conflict is about.

November 8, 2023

Hamas v. Israel War

U.S. Rep Rashida Tlaib was censured for her "river to the sea" comment.  Tlaib is of Palestinian extraction and has a vocal critic of Israel.

U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman claimed n a television interview that Palestinian protests in the US were due to Palestinian infiltration of the U.S. government.

Russo Ukrainian War

Ukrainian's seem to have crossed the Dnipro in some force and to have ferried armored vehicles across the river.

November 9, 2023

Myanmar

Myanmar has lost control of much of its border with China due to attacks by three ethnic rebel armies in Shan State.

Iran v the West

The U.S. has attacked an Iranian backed militia's weapon storage facility in Syria via the air.

November 10, 2023

Hamas v. Israel

Israel agreed to pause its offensive actions periodically for humanitarian reasons but not to provide for a ceasefire or ceasefires.

Headline in the British newspaper The Telegraph:

‘Queers for Palestine’ must have a death wish

Truly.

The Palestinian Authority, the West Bank and Gaza, have one of the world's worst records for intolerance of this topic in the world.  Homosexual Palestinians fairly frequently flee to Israel.

Russo Ukrainian War

Russian forces have nearly encircled Avdiivka.

November 12, 2023

Hamas v. Israel

Israel has rejected calls for a cease fire and has indicated that it will retain security control of Gaza fater the war.

Russo Ukrainian War

Russian offensive activities in recent days have been resulting in huge casualties to their army.

November 16, 2023

Iran v. the West

The U.S. navy shot down a drone launched from Yemen aimed at a ship yesterday.

November 18, 2023

Russo Ukrainian War

Ukrainian forces have established bridgeheads on the east bank of the Dnipro and are pushing Russian forces back beyond artillery range of the west bank.

November 20, 2023

Hamas v. Israel

Houthi rebels have taken a cargo ship in a helicopter raid on the same.  They have asserted this is legitimate as the ship had Israeli connections.

November 22, 2023

Hamas v. Israel

Israel has agreed to a four-day cease fire for humanitarian reasons.  Hostages are to be released during that time period.

Iranian backed militias launched missiles at a US base in Iraq, causing the US to retaliate with an airstrike.

November 23, 2023

India v. Sikh separatists.

The US has announced that it foiled a plot on the life of a Sikh seperatist living in the US.  A successful attempt on the life of a Sikh figure in Canada has lead to tension between those two countries.  India denies being involved.

November 25, 2023

Hamas v. Israel

A prisoner exchange (Palestinian prisoners for Israeli and multinational hostages) took place yesterday as scheduled.  Twenty four hostages were releaed, including 13 Israelis, 10 Thai citizens, and one Filipino citizen.

December 1, 2023

Hamas v. Israel

Fighting has resumed.

Last Prior Edition:

Wars and Rumors of War, 2023, Part X, Declarations

Related threads:

The Palestinian Problem and its Wilsonian Solution.

Hamas v. Israel. Some observations, and How did we get here?

People seem shocked to learn that Egypt isn't letting Gazans in.

Saturday, September 29, 1923. Mandates and Floods.

April 25, 1920. Settlements that didn't settle.

April 8, 1920 More Strife

The Secondary Waves of the Great War.

More observations on the Hamas Israeli War. A sort of primer, war aims, and campaign aims. Part I.

War Aims.

A lot of reporting on the Hamas Israeli War, indeed nearly all of it, is devoid of discussion on war aims.  Some of it vaguely discusses Israeli campaign aims.  None of it so far that I've seen has discussed Hamas campaign aims.  Given that, a lot of the reporting is sort of naive.

Hamas, having started the campaign, will be discussed first.

Hamas was formed in 1987 (probably considerably more recently than many suppose.  Hamas controls Gaza, Fatah, the political arm of what had been the Palestinian Liberation Organization, controls the West Bank.  The two entities have actually fought each other.  Hamas started off with the goal of pushing Jews out of the boundaries of what had been the 1948 Palestinian borders, but earlier in the 2000s seemed to lessen its demands.

It seems to have returned to them.  As far as can be told, its war aims are to remove the Jews from Israel, dead or alive, and of any age, and create an Arab Palestinian, and seemingly Islamic (not all Palestinians are Muslims) state in its wake.  That's what's summed up in the phrase "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free", which like a lot of slogans is catchy but doesn't really convey the full meaning of what it seeks.

Those are the war aims.

Without abandoning them, Hamas cannot back down, and Israel cannot unilaterally realistically convert the current war into a large scale punitive action at this point.  War aims can change, but Hamas shows no desire at all to do so.  A limited raid that was not aimed at civilians could have been undertaken if it has some other goal, but it didn't.

The campaign aims are much more difficult to discern.  Perhaps it was to spark a wider war in the belief that it could be won, or perhaps it was just a gross act of terrorism in furtherance of its remote, unobtainable goal.

Of course, discerning campaign aims, is often tricky in regard to an entity like Hamas, or even large entities.  In spite of long knowledge to the contrary, they may have thought that their raid, if that is what it was intended to be, would scare Israel into submission.  Hitting civilians never does that.  The British didn't surrender after the Blitz, and the air raids on civilian populations in Germany and Japan, perhaps if we exclude the atomic bomb, didn't cause them to surrender either.  Air raids on military targets in North Vietnam which inflicted civilian deaths didn't cause North Vietnam to give up.  9/11 only made Americans mad, it didn't achieve whatever it was that Al Queda thought it would, which seems to have been a hoped for general economic collapse.

Israel's war aims are also simple.  Its goal is to destroy Hamas as it views it, correctly, as irreconcilably opposed to its existence and genocidal in nature.  Its campaign aims seem to be to occupy Gaza, or perhaps the northern portion of the Gaza Strip, trap Hamas, and destroy it and its infrastructure.

Outright destroying an underground organization, however, is very difficult to do. The US basically did it in Afghanistan, however, so it can be done.

Nobody is talking at all about what's going to become of the Palestinians.  Israel isn't addressing it. The Arabs aren't either.  Hamas is simply using their own people as human shields and for propoganda.

A cultural existential difference, or Why can't everyone get along?

Cultures play a part in wars, which people in the West are oddly inclined to forget.  Jimmy Carter famously absent-mindedly quipped that the problems between the Israeli's and Palestinians would go away if they all started acting "like good Christians", but of course neither group is predominantly Christian.

I've taken some criticism on a more stretched observation in this area recently, so I'll explain a bit what I mean.

This question posed above is really a Western one, filtered through our eyes, which are the eyes of heavy Christian influence.  As a South American atheist friend of mine once stated, culturally, "we're all Catholics", even if we often don't behave like it.  That's why we're shocked when people don't behave accordingly.  

Historically and culturally, that's not necessarily the default human norm at all, which doesn't mean that every non-Christian culture (including the two in question) default to bad behavior.   But, as Genghis Khan supposedly noted (often filtered in our culture through Conan the Barbarian in a modified form):

The greatest pleasure is to vanquish your enemies and chase them before you, to rob them of their wealth and see those dear to them bathed in tears, to ride their horses and clasp to your bosom their wives and daughters.

We don't think that way, and we don't want others thinking that way.

Back to this war, the fact of the matter is that these two groups of people aren't going to get along.  The Western concept that somehow they can be made to is simply in error at this point.

It might have been true a couple of times.  One was in 1948, just before the first Arab Israeli War broke out, although that's pretty debatable. The second time was when the 1993 and 1995 Palestinian Accords were reached. The big problem is that both times, large numbers of Palestinians simply rejected a future which included Jews within the 1948 Palestinian boundaries.

The 1948 rejection was accompanied by voting with their feet by the Palestinians, a logical choice but one that was taken advantage of by Israel in that it offered the opportunity to truly make the country principally Jewish.  Nobody can fault somebody for fleeing fighting, but the fact that it occured meant that a large Arab population removed itself.  If it had not, demographics alone would have repeated what in fact occured in Lebanon, where a majority Christian population at that time is now 32% of the population.

Instead of taking that route, the Palestinians first relied on Arab hostility to take the country back for them, and then for the PLO, which ultimately compromised on that, to do so.  Now, a certain percentage are relying on Hamas.

Regarding that calculation, relying on it in the 1950s, and even into the 1960s, wasn't irrational.  After that, it really started to be. At some point, the land belongs to those who live there.  It was Zapata who stated; “The land belongs to those who work it with their own hands”, which is how it should be (and how it's increasingly ceasing to be in the United States)  That same analogy pertains to revolutions.  It instinctively makes sense for the people ruled by another people to rebel, but not so much a people that had once lived in a land where the majority of the population isn't yours, and the majority of your population wasn't born in that land.  Indeed, the fact that the initial Jewish war for independence sort of violated that tenant is part of the reason that many nations around the globe were quite hesitant about supporting Israel early on, combined with the fact that it appeared they'd lose.

Beyond that, as an essay in Minding The Campus has related:

(Professor Mordechai) Kedar, a former officer in the Israeli Defense Forces, has spent his academic life studying Islamic and Arab history and society. He explains that the animus of Palestinians, Arabs, and Islamists against the Jewish state is based on the consensus of Islamic religious thought that believes that Jews as a religion, people, or nation are never to be the equals of Muslims, and so their independent state, Israel, must be “struck down.”

While that can be debated, there's at least something to it, or there has come to be.   For the most part, since World War Two, Middle Eastern Islam, which is its cradle, has become increasingly more "conservative", if that is the correct term, and militant over the decades.  That was always there, and indeed Saudi Arabia was founded due to the Saud family's alliance with a group so conservative it was regarded as heretical.  Islam does not have a real coexistence ethos as we'd understand it towards other religions.  It's often noted that it has allowances for "People of the Book", meaning both Jews and Christians, but that tolerance is limited and provides that they are to be second class citizens.

Neither Christianity nor Judaism have something similar towards other religions, which doesn't mean that individual Christian or Jewish societies are de facto tolerant.  People tend to generally be intolerant of any group that's different from themselves.

Interestingly, early Middle Eastern governments didn't have this feature to them, or at least not to the same extent.  Turkey just celebrated its 100th founding as a modern state, and that state was founded as a secular one.  Atatürk suppressed Islam in his country.  Jordan has always been a Muslim state, but the Hashemite family that rules it, and once controlled Mecca, has tended towards moderation consistently.  The Baath movement that controls most of Syria and once controlled Iraq was a fascist movement early on that included Muslim and Christian Arabs and which sought a secular state in the Middle East.  The PLO was a secular organization that leaned heavily on Communist thought.  There was at one time a strong sense amongst Arab nationalist that Islam had to be suppressed or, if not outright suppressed, the state's had to be secular. That really began to fall way with the Iranian revolution, and there's been a good deal of retreat from it since that time.

Which takes us to the current highly conservative (again, if that is the right word) Israeli government.

The current Israeli government is the most conservative, again if that's the word, one ever.  It follows part of the global drift towards far right populism.  Prior to the Hamas attack, it was receiving a good deal of pushback from Western nations and internally, in no small part due to an effort to subordinate the Israeli supreme court to the Knesset.  In the irony that all such conflicts create, that's all been forgotten now.  At any rate, a sharp turn to the right by Israel made it pretty clear that any current Israeli desires to really find a mutual solution to the problems now being fought over just weren't there.

All of which leaves us with this.

Hamas has attacked and made it clear that it thinks it can murder its way towards achieving its goals, a sort of accelerated variant of the 1939-1945 lebensraum at this point.  Israel can't allow that to happen.

There are paths to a lasting peace here, but nobody involved, or even with influence, is going to try to bring them about, so the question is whether the warring parties, or more precisely Israel, can bring it about by force.