Archive for the ‘middle east’ Category

This Explains a Lot Some Important Context Hamas vs the Clans in Gaza

Posted: March 17, 2024 by datechguy in Israel, Israel vs Hamas
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One of the things disadvantages that people in the west have when it comes to understanding what’s going on in Gaza is their lack of knowledge of the structures that exist there. One of these structures are the clans:

Most of these large families are “native” Gazans; as in, they’re not considered 1948 refugees (30 percent of Gazans are labeled “native” – with the Strip being their ancestral origin). Gaza’s clans, such as Dogmosh, Helles, Shawwa, Sweerky, Attallah, Abdel-Aal, Mushtaha, Sager, Abu Amra, and many others, have different forms of power and influence and are prominent in various sectors of Gazan society. They have more money, land, and resources than average families in the coastal enclave, and have had essential roles in governance and political factions. They also tend to have large stockpiles of munitions and arms (not ones used in “resistance” acts against Israel but strictly for internal purposes) that they’ve used in their fights and disputes with others.

This comes from Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib who has a Palestinian American from Gaza has some knowledge of the clans and how they work.

When reports came out that Hamas had executed the head of an important clain in Gaza and that the clan in question has declared open season on members of Hamas over this attack. I suspected this might be big trouble for Hamas but apparently not only have Hamas and the various Clans have been at odds for some time but apparently it was bringing of the clans under control that gave Hamas their popularity:

I remember vividly widespread armed clashes that the Palestinian police were powerless to stop. It was Hamas that reigned in those clans and violently/robustly crushed their thuggery and clipped most of their wings, ensuring almost complete obedience and compliance with the Islamist group’s rule. Part of Hamas’s popularity in Gaza actually stemmed from the group’s ability to force and institute law and order upon clans due to its iron grip that established a monopoly on violence.

To a Sicilian like me it sounds a lot like a mafia turf wars and it was Hamas ruthlessly ending them that gave them and sustains their mandate among those in Gaza. They are playing Tito over and if they go the various clans will try to assert their authority in their own territories.

He seems to think that the clans are not a good alternative to a foreign Arab force taking over. I suspect he knows a lot more about the subject than I do but I don’t see how such a force doesn’t get co-opted by the various clans seeking control over turf and the literally billions that are going to come in to rebuild once the war is over. I suspect you will see the various commanders getting rich by suppressing some Clans and favoring others or if it’s left to the clans it becomes a vast Mafia like territory with each Clan looking for the maximum piece of the pie involving turf wars and the like, either alternative doesn’t sound good for the people of Gaza.

But then given that the alternative is a fanatical Islamic group like Hamas moving in under Iranian control to wage proxy war against Israel if I’m the Jewish state I’m more than happy enough to let the clans have the place and let the Gazans fight with each other over the coming international gravy train as long as they leave Israel alone thus freeing the Jewish state to give Iran’s other proxy Hezbollah their full undivided attention.

Haditha, Gaza and the Up Against the Wall Conundrum.

Posted: March 7, 2024 by datechguy in culture, Israel, Israel vs Hamas, middle east
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The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy describes the Marketing Department of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation as: “A bunch of mindless jerks who’ll be the first against the wall when the revolution comes.”

Curiously, an edition of the Encyclopedia Galactica which fell through a rift in the time-space continuum from 1000 years in the future describes the Marketing Department of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation as: “A bunch of mindless jerks who were the first against the wall when the revolution came.”

The attacks on Israel in the press, on campus, in large marches and in the arab have one thing in common: The complete lack of reliance on the actual facts on the ground.

No matter what Israel does, no matter how they respond they are accused of genocide and no amount of reality or the pointing out that all of this comes from Hamas not only launching the attacks of Oct 7th but their claim that they intend to repeat said attacks if and when possible.

This brought back to mind a letter I wrote to Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit about the Haditha “massacre” before the facts came out and the lawsuit against rep Murtha began and the question: “When will Biden apologize to the Haditha marines?” was asked. The email said:

There is one aspect about Haditha that seems to be ignored by everybody.

Our press and the anti-American left both in this country and outside of it has been reporting “Hadithas” over and over again over the last three years.

Time and time again our friends have accused us of every possible atrocity that there is to the point that internationally people are already able to believe this or the 9/11 stuff or all the rest.

Because of this, internationally it is totally irrelevant if the Marines actually violated the rules of war. Our foes are going to say that we’ve done things if we do them or not, so the only people that it really matters to will be; the people killed (and family) and the people in our own country who support the military.

The real danger is that we who support the war will reach the point that we say “we might as well be taken as wolves then as sheep”. At that point the left can celebrate that they have made our military and those who support it the people they claim we are. Once that happens however any compunction about respecting them will be gone, and remember one side is armed and one is not.

That is a fate that I don’t wish on any of us.

You could take out the word “haditha” and replace it with “Genocide” and take out the word “Marines” and replace it with “IDF” and take out the words “anti-American” and replace it with “anti-Semitic” and that paragraph would pretty much hold up.

This leads to the logical question. Since no matter what they do they will be accused of “genocide” why not simply flatten Raffa, slaughter Hamas without mercy or concern for civilian causalities and end the issue once and for all? You would lose the hostages assuming any are actually alive but would likely save the lives of hundreds of Israeli soldiers who would die by trying to protect a population that wants them and their families dead anyways.

That’s important to remember. The Palestinians of Gaza aren’t upset at the slaughter of Jews, they celebrated it, they’re upset that said slaughter had consequences for them.

That’s the real question: Will Israel eventually decide to treat Hamas & Gazans they same way every other Arab & Muslim leader treats them if they get in the way. The way any other nation would treat a land that attacked them as they did. When will Israel say: ENOUGH! and give notice to the arabs who want to kill them in Gaza, West Bank, Yemen or even Qatar that if they try to kill Jews or finance those who do so, neither they nor their buildings nor their treasure is safe?

I suspect they will not and the reason is the against the wall conundrum and it works like this:

At any given time there are a lot of people who deserve to be put up against the wall, the problem is as soon as you decide to start putting such people up against the wall you invariably turn into the type of person who deserves to be put up against the wall.

Speaking for myself I’d say that cost is too high.

Israel has decided to set a standard that the world is unlikely to follow, but having made that choice there is no point in changing direction now that the war is almost over.

But the temptation to do so never leaves.

Some Israel Gaza Tweets Worth Seeing

Posted: February 28, 2024 by datechguy in Israel, Israel vs Hamas, middle east
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With the league Draft a few days away ( and a 2nd league draft one week farther out) let’s turn to twitter for some updates on the war between Israel & Hamas:

A really big roundup here

Check out #7 from the above tweet:

7. Mid and upper-level Hamas government administrators, political members, and families of senior Qassam Brigade fighters & commanders are super set with access to all the tents, aid, food, supplies, medicine, and resources needed to sit the rest of the war out.

Cue my shocked face

What’s that old saying? Familiarity breeds contempt.

Well in fairness none of the leaders in the middle east jobs are at stake over this war.

Perhaps he should be called an anti-social worker

However bad you think the UN in general and UNRWA in particular are, it’s not enough.

A tragic reminder of the dangers of delusions:

Reality doesn’t care what positive attributes you assign to those trying to kill you.

Although some people are capable of learning after the fact:

Help Help I’m being repressed!

Do you really want to live in a society where you can’t hijack planes and throw Molotov cocktails? If you don’t the US won’t stop you from leaving.

And finally in response to the insane lionization of the fellow who burned himself to death.

That fellow was the ultimate useful idiot.

How DARE those Jews rescue their hostages!, An Old Fashioned Rand Paul, Mahomes Twice in one game, Glenn Reynolds on Biden and consequences and Just a Shrove Tuesday Coincidence Under the Fedora

Posted: February 13, 2024 by datechguy in Blame Biden Administration, culture, election 2020, election 2024, elections, Israel, Israel vs Hamas, nfl, politics, Sports, under the fedora
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The speed of cultural change in this country amazes me. A recently as 5-10 years ago and definitely 20 years ago a military operation that successfully recused civilians taken hostage unharmed that took only one casualty slightly wounded and killed multiple terrorists in the process would be universally hailed by both sides of the political aisle and lionized by the press.

Instead it has at best been ignored and at worst attacked by sitting members of congress as a “massacre”.

There have been quite a few national disgraces over the last few years. This is one of them.

Rand Paul did something yesterday that we don’t see much of. An old fashioned filibuster of the Ukraine Bill where people actually hold the floor and talk.

While I concede that the current cloister rules are what allowed the chances at SCOTUS which finally doomed Roe I approve of both the Filibuster and Paul’s use of it here and would bring it back if I could, HOWEVER I’d only approve of the real thing.

You see for the last few decades rather than actually holding the floor and making the face a filibuster was considered as read if enough senators indicated they were behind it. I’ve always felt that was lazy. If a bill is worth filibustering it’s worth doing it for real.

Because of a previous vote Paul’s filibuster is limited but he’s playing out the string like Jackie Robinson remaining on the field watching Bobby Thompson circling the based ready to protest if he missed any of them on his way around them in the excitement of the moment.

Agree or disagree on various issues he’s a man of principle. We need more of them in congress.

The difference between a good player and a great player is how they perform when the chips are down. 

While Tom Brady will always have the edge on Patrick Mahomes because of their head to head record in the playoffs (favoring Brady 2-0) Mahomes with his 3rd Superbowl win proves he belongs in the GOAT conversation not just by the victory. But by the fact that TWICE in the same game he lead his team down the field to score the tying or winning points where failure would have meant defeat and did so with less than 30 seconds on the clock.

A lot of stat guys are not believers in “Clutch” performers. Mahomes as well as Brady proves such an assertion is nonsense. Having Mahomes follow Brady It’s like watching DiMaggio come after Ruth or Mantle after DiMaggio.

Oh and full marks to Brock Purdy the idea that a Mr. Irrelevant forced Mahomes in a situation where he had to do that is astounding

Law Professor Glenn Reynolds, the Blogfather has been worth reading for 23 years and if I actually had a bucket list lunch with him would be on it.

At substack yesterday he posted one of the best assessment of Joe Biden’s current situation that I’ve read. That something Reynolds has written is good is a given, but this is SO far above even his standard that you must read it. There are two bits that jump out at me:

As Time magazine reported shortly after the 2020 election, a “cabal” — Time’s word — of “left-wing activists and business titans” worked to get rid of Trump. It pushed mail-in voting. It moved to block election fraud suits brought by Trump and supporters. It employed social media censorship to mute pro-Trump arguments and amplify anti-Trump arguments. It sponsored protests.

Time called this a “conspiracy to save the election,” but in truth it was a conspiracy to save the election for the Democrats. The consequences in terms of lost faith in democracy have been severe, but the worst effect is that the winning ticket was never seriously vetted by the media or the campaign process. 

As one of those who was muted by twitter and is still muted by Youtube for this reason that really strikes home. The second:

After noting the Democrats desperate to replace him he makes what I think is THE critical point:

But whatever the Democrats do about 2024, I would like to see some accountability for the election of 2020.  A cabal of insiders colluded to control the outcome, through all sorts of underhanded tactics.  (Tech companies censored the Hunter Biden laptop story broken by The Post, and retired intelligence officials falsely claimed it was fake, Russian disinformation).  The press allowed Biden to campaign from his basement, covering up the truth that he was already unfit for office.

Now we’re in a pickle.  Whatever happens in this election, I would like to see some consequences for the games played with our democracy in 2020.  Elections belong to the voters, not the insiders.  Or at least they should.

To get that point across, we’re going to have to impose some costs on the folks who rigged the last one.

This states a basic truth that blue cities that were once the envy of the world and are now lawless places where police can be assaulted with impunity, where open air drug markets reign and business have fled. There have been people trying to steal elections for as long as there have been elections just has there have been thugs, drug deals and thieves in all of human history. They only get away with it when those whose job it is to stop them turn a blind eye for their own purposes and let them do it. 

Unless there are consequences for these actions both for those who did it and those who allowed it, it will happen again until the people finally say ENOUGH! 

I suspect if it reaches that point, ENOUGH will not be conveyed via an excellent essay on substack.

Finally as you might recall the WQPH 1st Annual Shrove Tuesday Brunch is scheduled to begin at 10:30 AM at Slattery’s Restaurant in Fitchburg. There have been a lot of small coincidences that have taken place to retard this event that seemed to be overcome. About 48 hours ago it appeared there was one that would not be, the projected storm that closed my place of work today with the potential of 13″ of snow falling fast right at the travel time. The restaurant mindful of the storm and scheduled to be closed on monday gave us till 4 PM on Sunday to cancel or reschedule. After discussion with the head of WQPH we decided to go ahead even if it meant half or less would show but dreaded that is was the wrong one. Yesterday I came home from Eucharist Adoration (cancelled today because of the potential storm) to a phone message from the owner who was there because of a funeral luncheon asking for one more confirmation one way or the other.

I called the head of the station again, our speaker coming down from NH and bringing a relic of the Crown of thorns was determined to come and give his talk on the feast of the Holy Face of Jesus. It was at this time I remembered General Patton’s famous weather prayer written by Fr James H. O’Neill a Catholic priest. I tweaked it and tweeted it out while sending a copy to the head of the station who email blasted it out to her prayer group. It reads:

“Almighty and most merciful Father, we humbly beseech Thee, of Thy great goodness, to restrain the immoderate weather due tomorrow with which we have to contend. Grant us fair weather for Spiritual Battle. Graciously hearken to us as soldiers who call upon Thee that, armed with Thy power, we may advance from victory to victory, and crush the oppression and wickedness of our enemies and establish Thy justice among men and nations.

We ask this through Christ our Lord Amen”

As of this moment (4:47 AM woke up coughing) the snow that two days ago was predicted to start at 1 AM and end at 3 PM has not yet started (although it’s predicted to do so shortly and is now scheduled to end at 1 PM with an 80% chance of 1-3″ in my area, a walk in the park for any New Englander.

The Biden admin not withstanding this is still a free country and if you wish to believe this is a coincidence you are welcome to do so. If you don’t and are one of the folks who prayed that prayer at our request, thanks much for making the prayer and thanks to he who answered it.

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