Archive for the ‘middle east’ Category

I was pleasantly shocked this morning when the remaining living Israeli hostages were released, I really didn’t expect it to happen. I won’t be shocked if the bodies of the dead ones don’t come back but I’ll be delighted to be wrong.

I was not shocked when the Palestinians in Gaza started slaughtering each other (the ones in areas not still held by Israel of course) that was no surprise.

But if you want to see what is the least surprising thing of all, it’s this:

Not a protestor in sight over the murder of Palestinians by other Palestinians, because in the end the “protestors” don’t care about Arab lives, they simply want Jews dead.

I suspect you will see this lack of reaction from all those who loudly demanded a cease fire because the only people they wanted to cease firing were the Jews.

Unexpectedly of course

Yesterday during the Antifa conference Marco Rubio upstaged the rather important meeting with the news that they where on the verge of a breakthrough in the middle east.

Now I have woken up and the news is Hamas has accepted stage one of the peace deal and the hostages (at least the living ones) will be released on Monday.

Now I don’t for one minute doubt the deal making ability of this Trump administration which has pulled rabbits out of their hats on more occasions then I can count.

But what I DO doubt is the sincerity of Hamas, I doubt that they will release the living hostages, I doubt that they will release the bodies of the dead, I doubt they will disarm and I doubt they will give up killing Jews.

My guess is that they will (at absolute best) release the living hostages and then dig in their heels figuring Trump will not be as adamant about dead bodies when it comes to pushing the peace plan. Of course we might not actually see all the living hostages released either. Given Hamas’ history we also might not see any hostages released and Hamas back out at the last minute.

Now in fairness I’ve argued from the beginning that Israel should consider the hostages dead and crush Hamas without mercy. I know that’s a hard thing but the destruction of Hamas will save a lot more lives in the long run, but it’s not my call it’s Israel’s call and if they were willing to lose troops to free these people then so be it.

Bottom line: I’ll believe that the hostages will be released when they are all turned over to Israel till then I’ll watch and wait.

I hope I’m wrong.

If I am and Trump not only gets the hostages, but secures peace then the Nobel Peace Prize will not be good enough for him.

Trump Cancels Qatar’s Insurance Policy

Posted: September 9, 2025 by datechguy in middle east, war
Tags: , , ,

I’ve said for a long time that Qatar by allowing US bases has pretty much bought an insurance policy to prevent Israel for striking them for harboring Hamas not to mention financing antisemitism all over the world.

A couple of days ago President Trump said this:

President Donald Trump has delivered what he called a “last warning” to Hamas, urging the group to accept a U.S.-backed proposal to release hostages from Gaza — a deal he said Israel has already endorsed.

Needless to say Hamas has not released the hostages.

So two days later we discovered that the Qatar Insurance policy has run out:

The IDF and the Shin Bet on Tuesday confirmed a stunning attempt to assassinate Hamas’s leadership in Doha, Qatar.

After two years of Qatar hosting negotiations between Israel and Hamas over hostage exchanges and ceasefires, the government reached the decision that killing the remaining Hamas leaders was more important than leaving that diplomatic channel open.

A statement said that the leaders targeted were responsible for the October 7, 2023, massacre of around 1,200 Israelis in the country’s South, as well as managing the terror group’s operations for years before that.

And there is reason to believe that Qatar understood this and tried to warn Hamas to play ball

they didn’t and via Hotair and Ed Morrissey (who has an excellent piece on this) it’s likely they will never do so again:

The last word on this:

The President has put out a statement saying Israel attacking Qatar is not conducive to their or the US’s goals but also saying hitting Hamas is.

I think Trump has had it with Qatar and they have decided what profit a man if he gains the entire world and loses his life, and thus have decided that Hamas in Qatar was not worth the risk.

I’m going to plead with you, do not cross us. Because if you do, the survivors will write about what we do here for 10,000 years.

General James “mad dog” Mathis

Let’s cut to the chase.

Donald Trump was 33 years old when the Iranians Mullahs took our people hostages.

For 46 years he has seen them chant “Death to Israel” and “Death to America” and pursue policies toward that end practically unchecked and unhindered and become the number one source of worldwide terror while only being checked twice.

Once by Ronald Reagan whose mere election was enough to convince Iran that holding our people hostage would be the end of the Islamic Republic. With the hostages released Reagan choose to let them the regime survive.

And briefly by George W Bush who while recognizing them as part of the “Axis of Evil” and had armies to the east and the west of the nation and a Navy to their south, choose not to take them out when they struck at our armed forces against us in Iraq.

Donald Trump, in both cases saw the end result of letting Iran off the hook not only in the spread of radical Islam throughout the world which dates from the time of the hostages but their pursuit of Nuclear Weapons which without a doubt would be distributed to terror groups.

Yet even so, unlike the Mullahs who seized and held our people, he gave them a fair warning, a chance to give up their nuclear weapons and survive as they are.

When they did not he ended their nuclear program for them. If are an American born before 1965 as I was and do not hate your country or are not paid by our enemies, the moment that the United States of America ended the Iranian Nuclear threat to the world is a moment of great satisfaction.

Why is he not going all in to destroy Iran and bring down the Mullahs? Because he understands that while a regime change forced by America might end well with the return of the Shah’s son it might also become the next Libya with every terror group in the world making a play for power.

So now that the choice to be a nuclear power is off the table he is giving them the basic Jacksonian choice as described by the late great Steven Den Bestie:

You leave me alone and I’ll leave you alone. You play fair with me and I’ll play fair with you. But if you fuck with me, I’ll kill you.”

While they may not realize it, the Islamic Republic of Iran is in the same position it was on the day Reagan was sworn in. They may think that the choice before them is: “Do we strike back at America and if so how and when?”

It is not.

The choice Donald Trump is giving them is: “Will the Islamic Republic survive or not?”

May they choose wisely.