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What we need here to further the discussion on Israel and Palestine is Doc Hodgeman.
A repository of a rational history of the ME so, talent, when I used the term problematic in describing DJT's actions re Jerusalem it pertained only to the reality that what Trump did and what the implications of what he did mean cannot be explained in a 90s news piece.
When Bush I invaded Iraq and then withdrew after a successful military operation without a fucking plan to stabilize that tribal shit hole, Doc and I had some great exchanges ..... all of this on World Crossing. Opinionated Ed may remember.
At that time, politically, I was as close to a Neocon as one could get and argued the strategic necessity of a strong US (military and political) ME presence. That was a bad take and demonstrated I knew nothing about the history and complexity of that region.
I do now and agree with Ed Balzar = Opinionated Ed, = et. al., that Hillary would have been a fucking disaster for US Foreign policy on multiple levels (another discussion). I voted for Trump for the same reason holding my nose along the way to the ballot box.
Anywho, my view is the two state solution is dead and has been for a long time. It's hard to figure what DJT's objectives are in yesterday's announcement. Because I'm a glass half full kind of guy, I tend to think the people around him telling him to do what he did know what they are doing ..... and some of here may not agree with it when it becomes apparent. That's where Doc, if he cared to, could add some history and perspective.
If I were to guess from 10K feet, it fits Trump's role as a disruptor and in this case the status-quo in the ME re the Hamas-Iran-Palestinian circle jerk, SA's-Arab Emirates-Qatar's continuing soap opera in robes and Israel-US ties.
The Iranians have long been satisfied with death to the US by a Thousand Paper-Cuts. Trump just elevated the stakes. Iran may find itself in less control of events than they like. SA/the Emirates (and probably the Europeans), are going to have to shift their focus from their petty and mostly tribal local shit-storms and onto the Palestinian Diaspora ..... who tend, world-wide nonetheless - to get all riled up when shit like this goes down on their brothers. The Saudis (read Sunnis), in particular, don't like this kind of crap among angry Palestinians and their often terror oriented backers and what it means for relationships with it's Iranian (read Shia) neighbors.
As an aside and consistent with Trump the disruptor, it's worth mentioning that in the conduct of an annual, routine USAF Excericse 2d ago, there's some speculation that USAF B1Bs and F35s flew undetected into NK airspace and possibly over NK nuke and ICBM launch facilities. Even the exercise is considered provocative to NK and has been for years. But if the speculation is accurate, the stakes in that area of the world were just raised by the Trumpster. It demonstrates that the US has the capability to conduct limited military operations to damage critical NK nodes that coordinate the staging, arming, and loading of missile launches.
Fun times.
A repository of a rational history of the ME so, talent, when I used the term problematic in describing DJT's actions re Jerusalem it pertained only to the reality that what Trump did and what the implications of what he did mean cannot be explained in a 90s news piece.
When Bush I invaded Iraq and then withdrew after a successful military operation without a fucking plan to stabilize that tribal shit hole, Doc and I had some great exchanges ..... all of this on World Crossing. Opinionated Ed may remember.
At that time, politically, I was as close to a Neocon as one could get and argued the strategic necessity of a strong US (military and political) ME presence. That was a bad take and demonstrated I knew nothing about the history and complexity of that region.
I do now and agree with Ed Balzar = Opinionated Ed, = et. al., that Hillary would have been a fucking disaster for US Foreign policy on multiple levels (another discussion). I voted for Trump for the same reason holding my nose along the way to the ballot box.
Anywho, my view is the two state solution is dead and has been for a long time. It's hard to figure what DJT's objectives are in yesterday's announcement. Because I'm a glass half full kind of guy, I tend to think the people around him telling him to do what he did know what they are doing ..... and some of here may not agree with it when it becomes apparent. That's where Doc, if he cared to, could add some history and perspective.
If I were to guess from 10K feet, it fits Trump's role as a disruptor and in this case the status-quo in the ME re the Hamas-Iran-Palestinian circle jerk, SA's-Arab Emirates-Qatar's continuing soap opera in robes and Israel-US ties.
The Iranians have long been satisfied with death to the US by a Thousand Paper-Cuts. Trump just elevated the stakes. Iran may find itself in less control of events than they like. SA/the Emirates (and probably the Europeans), are going to have to shift their focus from their petty and mostly tribal local shit-storms and onto the Palestinian Diaspora ..... who tend, world-wide nonetheless - to get all riled up when shit like this goes down on their brothers. The Saudis (read Sunnis), in particular, don't like this kind of crap among angry Palestinians and their often terror oriented backers and what it means for relationships with it's Iranian (read Shia) neighbors.
As an aside and consistent with Trump the disruptor, it's worth mentioning that in the conduct of an annual, routine USAF Excericse 2d ago, there's some speculation that USAF B1Bs and F35s flew undetected into NK airspace and possibly over NK nuke and ICBM launch facilities. Even the exercise is considered provocative to NK and has been for years. But if the speculation is accurate, the stakes in that area of the world were just raised by the Trumpster. It demonstrates that the US has the capability to conduct limited military operations to damage critical NK nodes that coordinate the staging, arming, and loading of missile launches.
Fun times.
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