Tag Archives: israel

An Allies Naughty List ; How Quaint

Posted on by
18

The following was written by my retired financial executive friend. He is referencing the article in Politico below.

“While his (Trump’s) ‘naughty’ national pals list ramps up (attached), and is cheered on by our Secretary of ‘War,’ not our Secretary of State (Rubio’s area of concern, not Hegovich’s ) it’s beginning to look as if Trump’s attacks on Iran are shaping up as his own Churchillian Gallipoli, Napoleonic Waterloo, Brer Rabbit Tar Baby, LBJ Viet Nam and Biden Afghanistan .We’ll see .

Hopefully we’ll get major concessions in coming talks that will resolve this deadlock to our satisfaction but ….jury is out , and might be for a good while.

Unfortunately it’s difficult to know whom to believe on these on-again and off-again ‘negotiations.’ Would be best if our President was not live ‘on air’ every half hour and would work through spokespersons as his predecessors did, rather than muddy the water with these numerous off-script communiques (often insane rants ).

He claims we have ‘won this war, destroyed their Navy, taken out their missiles and launchers, killed off their leadership, accomplished our goals !’ Yet Iran has the world by the balls now, stronger than before our attack. Not a good ‘win’ yet by any measure.

Silver lining ? This blockage of the Strait seems to be re-energizing global efforts to move away from fossil fuels where practical . Most everywhere but here in MAGA-land . And we aren’t even invited to the talks, which is fine as we’d probably refuse to attend anyway.

It’s amazing the financial markets have rebounded. We shall see what the global economy does if talks stall and the Strait remains closed for months and months. Surely serious oil shortages would soon be felt as reserves dwindle.”

A new term was coined for Trump last year related to his constant flip-flopping on tariffs. But, it applies to the Trump War topic as well as others – whipsawing. Many of us feel like we have been yanked in different directions or whipsawed. It is a very uncomfortable feeling caused by an uncomfortable person.



https://www.politico.com/news/2026/04/22/trump-nato-allies-consequences-list-00883619?nname=politico-toplines&nid=0000018f-3124-de07-a98f-3be4d1400000&nrid=ed5a1e22-545f-499b-a840-a76684331a05

Trump war backfired?

Posted on by
24

Let me start with the source of this opinion. Fawaz Gerges is professor of international relations at the London School of Economics. Gerges wrote the following piece for The Guardian : “Trump’s war has backfired spectacularly: Iran is now more influential than ever.”

Here is the subheading: “Tehran has shown that its grip over the strait of Hormuz is its most potent deterrent – arguably more consequential than its now defunct nuclear.” Now for a few paragraphs from his editorial.

“Donald Trump’s decision to go to war against Iran will be remembered as a grave strategic miscalculation – one that has reshaped the region in unintended and destabilising ways. With the ceasefire now extended indefinitely, we can see more clearly how the war has undermined the US’s standing in the world and failed to achieve its core objectives: it has neither brought about regime change in Tehran, nor forced Iran to submit to American demands. Far from it.

By inflicting economic pain far beyond the region and slowing the global economy, Iran has demonstrated that its grip over the strait of Hormuz constitutes its most potent deterrent – arguably more consequential than its now defunct nuclear programme. Control of the strait will be Tehran’s most powerful source of leverage in the years ahead.

And this strategy is not confined to Hormuz. Relying on its Houthi allies in Yemen, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) also signalled its ability to threaten the Bab al-Mandab strait at the southern tip of the Red Sea – a choke point through which roughly 8% of global trade and a significant share of the world’s energy and chemical shipments pass. The prospect of disruption at both Hormuz and Bab al-Mandab would amount to a double shock to the global economy.”

There is more to this ongoing story. We do know the incumbent president was advised to not do this. And, it is fairly apparent a clear strategic plan was not in place, nor was a definition of success or an exit strategy. But, Trump is not the first US president to make these mistakes. The lessons of Afghanistan, Iraq and Vietnam are there to be learned if anyone wants to investigate. My father was in the Korean conflict which did not even earn the “war” moniker, but Americans died for a bloody stalemate.

Call me crazy, but before Americans and our allies die, we should do them the honor of trying to avoid conflict. And, if we must fight – have a plan. The best line from the documentary series “The Vietnam War” by Ken Burns came from a North Vietnamese veteran. Paraphrasing, the only people who think they can win a war have never fought in one.



Nobody else is responsible

Posted on by
28


An article by David Smith in The Guardian called “‘Nobody else is responsible’: Trump to blame for Iran crisis, ex-CIA chief says” caught my eye. The subheading elaborates further: “Leon Panetta calls president ‘naive’ over strait of Hormuz closure and says ‘the chickens are coming home to roost.’” Panetta has a lot of gravitas, far more than the incumbent president and his direct reports. Here are a few paragraphs:

“Donald Trump is stuck between ‘a rock and a hard place’ after three weeks of war in Iran and ‘sending a message of weakness’ to the world, Leon Panetta, a former US defence secretary and Central Intelligence Agency director, has told the Guardian.

Panetta, who served in the Bill Clinton and Barack Obama administrations, recalled that national security officials were always keenly aware of Iran’s ability to create an energy crisis by blocking the strait of Hormuz. That very scenario is now unfolding, leaving Trump with no exit strategy beyond wishful thinking.

‘He tends to be naive about how things can happen,’ Panetta, 87, who supervised the operation to find and kill Osama bin Laden, said by phone. ‘If he says it and keeps saying it there’s always a hope that what he says will come true. But that’s what kids do. It’s not what presidents do.’

Trump’s war began on 28 February with what it hoped would be a knockout blow. A surprise strike by Israel killed Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The US and Israel soon gained air supremacy. But the longer the conflict has raged, the more that initiative appears to be slipping away.”

These few paragraphs capture what is needed to be known. Words like naive and kid-like are evoked by this piece. And, what further interests me is the risk of the strait of Hormuz being squeezed was known long before. My guess is military leaders told Trump and Hegseth this beforehand, but they chose not to listen. War is hard enough when you plan ahead, but harder still when you don’t. One thing is for certain and it has already started, any success will be claimed by Trump; any failure will be blamed on others.

Economics of Iran attacks

Posted on by
7


A newsletter from Geopolitical Futures called “Economic Implications of the Iran Attacks – Shipping and energy are among the most affected sectors” by Antonia Colibasanu is an excellent read on what may transpire. The article can be linked to below. Here a few paragraphs:

“The economic fallout from U.S. and Israeli strikes against Iran is starting to take shape. Iranian state media and senior officials from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps declared late Monday that the Strait of Hormuz was “closed” and threatened to attack any ship attempting to transit the waterway. However, even before the closure was made official, reports had suggested the strait was shut to commercial traffic. These reports were, strictly speaking, inaccurate. What happened over the weekend was more procedural, though no less consequential.

As strikes took place and insurers reassessed exposure, carriers of all kinds – container lines, tanker operators, liquified natural gas shippers and bulk carriers – halted operations and waited for updated guidance. A slowdown in vessel tracking data confirmed as much. Ships were not so much blocked as they were waiting to see what would happen next.

Insurance played a crucial role in their decisions. After the attacks began, the Gulf was designated an “extreme war risk” zone by Lloyd’s of London and several protection and indemnity clubs. Underwriters withdrew cover temporarily, reclassified voyages under special war risk clauses, or imposed sharply higher premiums. Before entering the Strait of Hormuz, shipowners had to ascertain if war risk cover remained valid – and at what price….

The immediate effects of the Iran conflict, then, are measurable: longer delivery times, higher bunker fuel consumption, increased freight surcharges and tighter vessel availability. But the longer-term consequences may prove structural. In effect, the Strait of Hormuz shows how insurance markets, elevated risk perception and geopolitical escalation can impose a de facto closure on one of the world’s most critical trade arteries – even before an official blockade is announced. The crisis is not merely about oil; it’s about the price of risk and how fast it can reshape global trade lanes, capital allocation and economic stability worldwide.”

The attached piece is not too long, but the above gives you the gist. In short, the risk, cost, and time of transportation of oil will increase. That has an impact on many countries. Israel and the US has disrupted more than Iran.

*************



https://geopoliticalfutures.com/economic-implications-of-the-iran-attacks/?tpa=MGQ5NzdmMWMxMTcwOWY4MmE1MWI1MDE3NzMzMzA5MDgwM2Q4ZGI&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=https%3A%2F%2Fgeopoliticalfutures.com%2Feconomic-implications-of-the-iran-attacks%2F%3Ftpa%3DMGQ5NzdmMWMxMTcwOWY4MmE1MWI1MDE3NzMzMzA5MDgwM2Q4ZGI&utm_content&utm_campaign=PAID%20-%20Everything%20as%20it%27s%20published

A few thoughts on Gaza from a retired attorney acquaintance

Posted on by
15

I have quoted this retired attorney acquaintance before. I find his opinions tend to be well grounded and informed. This one is on Gaza and will make you think even if you do not agree with every point.

“Here’s my take: Two years ago when Hamas killed 1,250 Isralies and took 250 prisoners, I knew Netanyahu’s right wing coalition government would use the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) to kick the ever living shit out of Hamas. What I didn’t know was that Netanyahu with the aid of Trump would wage war for two years and kill or wound 250,000 Palestinians and turn Gaza into rubble.

Why? You will recall that before the Hamas attack Netanyahu was facing trial for corruption and was facing stiff opposition to his proposal to limit the Israeli Supreme Court’s ability to reign in the Knesset. Thus, it was in Netanyahu’s best interest to stay in power and avoid an election by prolonging the war. To make matters worse, he blockaded aid to the suffering Palestinians. There is another dark factor contributing to his inhumane treatment of the Palestinians. It is racial and religious supremacy. He and his right wing coalition treat Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank with disdain and contempt as they are both brutalized and denied equality. It is one of the reasons they will not entertain a two state solution.

Trump is complicit. His abhorrent treatment of immigrants and proposal to revamp the refugee system to favor white people brings to mind our past treatment of Native Americans and Blacks. Trump chose to support Netanyahu by providing him bombs and political cover for prolonging the war. He even bombed Iran for Netanyahu when he expanded the conflict to the Houthis, Hezbollah, Syria and Iran. Now, incredibly, Trump seeks to take credit for ending the war he helped prolong. The so called Trump peace plan is really Netanyahu’s long overdue exit strategy dressed up as Trump’s creation so he can continue to lobby for the Nobel. If the Nobel committee gives in to him, Alfred Nobel will turn over in his grave and the prestige of the Nobel will be forever sullied. In addition, Netanyahu needs Trump to help pay for the clean up of the mess he has made of Gaza. So who is playing whom here?”

It should be noted the United Nations is not too kind to Netanyahu’s behavior here. He has severely damaged Israel’s standing in the world greatly diminishing their good will. That is unfortunate. Hopefully, the peace is real and not contrived. The people deserve peace and not be treated as pawns in an ugly game. We shall see what happens.

Thursday Thumbnails – end of July, 2025

Posted on by
5

Greetings on this Thursday, the last day of July. It has been an oven-like month here in the Northern Hemisphere. I reference that we have two hemispheres as some of our elected officials don’t realize we do. I am reminded one said global warming could not be occurring since it was so cold, not realizing it was 115 degrees Fahrenheit in Australia.

Speaking of climate change, the last person to get scientific advice from is the incumbent US president. He has accepted a lot of money from the fossil fuel industry to say it is not a problem and beat up on those windmills he hates so much. Just this week, he has said he wants to unwind a major conclusion on the health risks of climate change which support remedial action.*

The heat has not been kind to the folks and helpers in Gaza who are in need of food. This has been a humanitarian crisis of epic proportions with Israel’s bullying leader crushing everyone who was in his path. And, now we have this. Even Israeli intellectuals are asking for condemnation of their leaders. The powers that be must act in a concerted manner forcing Israel leadership to act with compassion. **

Humanitarians are needed in leadership. Or at least a heavy dose of empathy. This trait has to be a key part of a leader’s make-up. We need our leaders to act with stewardship of our environment and our people . We don’t need them bullying others. We don’t need them trashing our planet.

********

*Note1: Per The Guardian, “Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday proposed revoking a scientific finding that has long been the central basis for US action to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and fight climate change.

The proposed Environmental Protection Agencyrule rescinds a 2009 declaration that determined that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare.

The ‘endangerment finding’ is the legal underpinning of a host of climate regulations under the Clean Air Act for motor vehicles, power plants and other pollution sources that are heating the planet.”

**Note2: Also per The Guardian: “A group of high-profile Israeli public figures, including academics, artists and public intellectuals, has called for “crippling sanctions” to be imposed by the international community on Israel, amid mounting horror over its starvation of Gaza.

The 31 signatories of a letter to the Guardianinclude an Academy award recipient, Yuval Abraham; a former Israeli attorney general, Michael Ben-Yair; Avraham Burg, a former speaker of Israel’s parliament and former head of the Jewish Agency; and a number of recipients of the prestigious Israel prize, Israel’s highest cultural honour.”

Retired attorney acquaintance speaks to “Killing”

Posted on by
9

I have quoted or paraphrased before pieces written by a retired attorney acquaintance. This particular piece was sent under the title “Killing.” It is quite powerful and worth the read.

“The one thing all human beings have in common is life. To take that from them is not only wrong, it is insane. Whether it is done by stranger, acquaintance, former loved one or government, it is still insane. I have just finished BOYS by Roger Newman. It is a book about race and brotherhood but also about the insanity of war. It permeates any war regardless of merit. WW1, WW2, Viet Nam, Iraq or any other involve an insane amount of killing. The atrocities of October 7 do not justify genocide in Gaza. A glance around the world reveals an astonishing amount of human killing. How could we have come so far and learned so little. Killing another human being has never been the answer but has always been the go to. The explanation for it is never more than rationalization: power, control, greed, territory, property rights, evil or religion. It may well be naive to think this insanity will ever change, but a better.”

War, aggressive incursions, and military conflicts should be avoided whenever possible. Leaders owe it to soldiers and other combatants to exhaust every other means before they send people to die. The Pentagon Papers were so troubling in that four US presidents (two from each party) knew we could not win the Vietnam War and yet sent Americans to die. How many tens of thousands of Americans had to die after we knew we could not win? How many hundreds of thousands of native Vietnamese citizens had to die because we tried to win a battle of body counts?

After the invasion of Iraq, a British panel did a review of the US and British involvement. The panel determined that both George W. Bush and Tony Blair purposefully misled the British that Iraq had Weapons of Mass Destruction. Americans and Brits died because of this fiction. And, we are still reeling from these invasions decades later. As Vietnam veteran and Senator Jim Webb said on the floor of the Senate beforehand, if we invade Iraq, be prepared to be there for thirty years. That was twenty-two years ago and we are still there.

More recently, Gaza is a horrible overreaction that is punishing civilians, now starving them to death. Plus, in less than a year’s time Netanyahu has severely damaged Israel’s reputation. We can still support Israel and call its leader a bully. Same goes for others who support the US but not its president. As with playground bullies, being one is not something to aspire to.

As Bobby Darin wrote in “A simple song of freedom,” let’s put leaders on a shelf and let them fight it out. That way, the leaders might figure out a way not to fight.*
*******

*Here is the applicable stanza that Darin sang about:

”Now, no doubt some folks enjoy doin’ battle
Like presidents, prime ministers and kings
So, let’s all build them shelves 
Where they can fight among themselves
Leave the people be who love to sing.”





Will I eat today?

Posted on by
2

An article by Amnesty International called “As mass starvation spreads across Gaza, our colleagues and those we serve are wasting away” speaks volumes. This is a crisis of humanity, and it should be a concern regardless of politics. Just because so-called leaders are adversarial does not mean regular people need to suffer. Here are a few paragraphs:

“As the Israeli government’s siege starves the people of Gaza, aid workers are now joining the same food lines, risking being shot just to feed their families. With supplies now totally depleted, humanitarian organisations are witnessing their own colleagues and partners waste away before their eyes.

Exactly two months since the Israeli government-controlled scheme, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, began operating, 109 organisations are sounding the alarm, urging governments to act: open all land crossings; restore the full flow of food, clean water, medical supplies, shelter items, and fuel through a principled, UN-led mechanism; end the siege, and agree to a ceasefire now.

‘Each morning, the same question echoes across Gaza: will I eat today?’ said one agency representative.

Massacres at food distribution sites in Gaza are occurring near-daily. As of July 13, the UN confirmed 875 Palestinians were killed while seeking food, 201 on aid routes and the rest at distribution points. Thousands more have been injured. Meanwhile, Israeli forces have forcibly displaced nearly two million exhausted Palestinians with the most recent mass displacement order issued on July 20, confining Palestinians to less than 12 per cent of Gaza. WFP warns that current conditions make operations untenable. The starvation of civilians as a method of warfare is a war crime.

Just outside Gaza, in warehouses – and even within Gaza itself – tons of food, clean water, medical supplies, shelter items and fuel sit untouched with humanitarian organisations blocked from accessing or delivering them. The Government of Israel’s restrictions, delays, and fragmentation under its total siege have created chaos, starvation, and death. An aid worker providing psychosocial support spoke of the devastating impact on children: ‘Children tell their parents they want to go to heaven, because at least heaven has food.’

Doctors report record rates of acute malnutrition, especially among children and older people. Illnesses like acute watery diarrhoea are spreading, markets are empty, waste is piling up, and adults are collapsing on the streets from hunger and dehydration. Distributions in Gaza average just 28 trucks a day, far from enough for over two million people, many of whom have gone weeks without assistance.”

This is genocidal crisis in my view, but worse as the innocent people are slowly being starved to death. Pressure must be applied to address this situation. Here we are too concerned with the news of a president distracting from his relationship with his pedophile friend. This Gaza issue deserves our attention not a person covering up his seamy side.