Political and Military Conflicts Simmer Over Summer

July 2024 Global News Updates

Good afternoon Maccabee Nation!

I wanted to catch up on recent international political events for our readers and give my thoughts on them. Here are some important events since our last newsletter below.

📢 Upcoming US Election News Cycle Gets Nastier (if that was possible)

Democrats continue to eat each other as the party remains fractured over what to do about Biden’s declining mental health and sinking poll numbers.

Here’s a good article from the The Atlantic that acknowledges Biden, like Trump, also has a ego and narcissism problem. Some Democrats are finally admitting members of their own party have an equal propensity for a “toxic lemming mindset,” and they’re willing to win at any cost, even if it means “leading American democracy off a cliff.”

Trump, for his part, has been wisely postponing announcing a VP candidate in favor of watching the Democrat circular fire squad complete their execution ceremony.

Just a few of the potential Democratic candidates forming a line behind Joe, daggers in hand, waiting for their cue.

Time is running out before the Democratic convention. I estimate there’s a 75% chance Biden is swapped out no matter how much he yells “get off my lawn” before then.

Although most American polls show that the majority of the public wants to vote for a moderate presidential candidate who is under the age of 70, it feels like we may never again see such a candidate win a primary. I sincerely hope someone emerges who tries to represent all Americans and who can restore the dignity of the Presidential office. Does such a unicorn exist anymore is the question?

📢 News on Israeli Hostage Negotiations and War with Hamas Updates

It appears progress is being made thanks to sustained IDF military pressure in Gaza.

Hamas is now allegedly agreeing for the first time to cede control of Gaza to a Palestinian Authority (PA) linked political force from the West Bank in a potential deals second phase. This is a significant development on top of their prior concession that Israel does not have to agree to a permanent ceasefire as part of any hostage negotiation agreement.

Commentator David Ignatius, citing unnamed US Officials, reported that a US-trained force of 2,500 supporters of the PA would be charged with security in Gaza and would be supported by moderate Arab states.

Do I think this is sustainable long term? Not really, but that fact Hamas is continuing to concede deal points that they were intractable on before shows they are losing leverage and political support on the ground in Gaza.

Make no mistake, the IDF is whooping Hamas’ ass in Gaza militarily.

In my opinion, as long as Israel does not cede control of the Egyptian border so new weapons cannot enter and terrorists cannot escape to Turkey, they can achieve their goal of completely dismantling the terror organization both politically and militarily. John Spencer, one of America’s most competent urban warfare experts, goes into much more detail on the war in this interview, for anyone who wants to dive into strategy and tactics more deeply.

Additionally, we woke up to some great news this morning that Hamas’ military Chief, Mohammed Deif and Khan Younis Commander Rafa’s Salameh were killed in a IDF strike. Despite all the military progress the IDF is making, the press is likely to continue blaming Israel for civilian casualties, even though Israel is doing a better job at minimizing civilian deaths than any other nation in the history of urban warfare.

The unfortunate reality is that many people have already been indoctrinated to see Israel as the aggressor no matter what. No matter how many tunnels and small arms Israel destroys, no matter how many hostages Israel frees, and no matter how many high ranking terrorists Israel eliminates, these people will never concede that Israel is achieving its goals successfully MILITARILY. They would prefer Israel magically achieve its goals with wishful thinking, or more accurately, they are secretly rooting for Israel to fail and be wiped off planet Earth. We must accept our inability to ever convince these willfully ignorant critics that Israel is fighting a just war with facts, figures, and logic. We must ignore these people who want to see us exterminated. They don’t get a vote in how Israel defends herself. Ignore them.

Hamas chose this war and Hamas has the power to end it by surrendering and freeing the hostages at any time. If international pressure was applied on Hamas to these ends, the war would likely already be over now. The Pro-Hamas supporters globally are not only misguided, but they are the ones perpetrating the plight of Palestinians more then any other group. Israel destroying Hamas is a critical prerequisite for both Israelis AND Palestinians to have a bright future.

I am extremely proud of the job the men and women in the IDF are doing. The world owes them a debt of gratitude because they are fighting radical Islamic ideology on behalf of all Western Democracies and not just to protect the state of Israel.

Merkava tank, Israel’s main battle tank.

It’s important to discuss, despite the progress being made in Gaza, that the military results against Hezbollah in the North are more mixed. Soldiers and civilians in the North continue to be killed by Hezbollah rockets and UAVs and tens of thousands of civilians have not been able to go back to their homes. Wildfires, as a result of the rocket barrages, continue to erupt frequently. If you ever felt inadequate at your job, remember that almost 10 thousand UN peacekeepers exist on the border between Israel and Lebanon, to make yourself feel better. You won’t read about it on the news, but Israel is fighting a war in the North that’s also existential and must be won.

Recently, Nasrallah (Hezbollah’s leader) said that if Hamas makes a deal with Israel, they will also stop the attacks in the North. This makes sustained and aggressive military pressure in Gaza even more essential right now. Continuing the war is extremely painful on all sides, but Israel must stand tall against political pressure at this critical juncture.

📢 Surprise Upset in French Elections as Far Left Takes Power

Frances New Popular Front celebrates their victory by rioting in cities and attacking police. Later they announced plans to tax the rich 90% on income above €400K. I can literally hear businesses and Jews fleeing the country as we speak.

What’s important to note here Ensemble Alliance colluded with the New Popular Front to take power by selectively pulling their candidates out on a district by district basis. The people of France wanted reform on immigration and other issues and did not want to vote for far left Communism, but that’s what they got. Ironically, now they are saying they won’t work with Macron, so the move backfired for his party. I expect a lot of turbulence and potential violence in France this coming year as Popular Front policies clash with the will of the people.

Jokes aside, I hope French Jews seriously consider leaving and starting over in Israel. I don’t want to sound alarmist, but the reality is that the French government cannot protect you there and doesn’t much want to. While I think the jury is still out in some countries whether openly Jewish life can be salvaged, as we discussed in this recent Dear Golda; in the case of France, I’m sad to say I think it’s time for Jews to leave.

📢 The Ukraine War, the One the World Seems to be Trying to Keep Quiet

I have almost no idea what is going on with this war and I doubt you do either.

Although you can always depend on the traditional news outlets to trumpet erroneous Hamas Health Ministry causality statistics on a daily basis, we hear mostly crickets on the war between Ukraine and Russia.

As best I can tell, US officials in August put the number of Ukrainian soldiers killed at 70,000. BBC Russian, has established the names of more than 45,000 Russian service people who had died. I’ve seen estimates that the number of soldiers killed on both sides is considerably higher then both these estimates. The NY Times claims as many 500,000 soldiers and civilians have been killed cumulatively, with more Russian military casualties than Ukranian. No one seems to know and finding reliable sources is difficult (at least for me, and I think I’m a fairly competent researcher).

What I do know is that most Americans and citizens living in Western Democracies globally are completely unaware of the high human cost of this bloody conflict. It also seems that Russia has more people and military equipment, and the average age of Ukrainian soldiers keeps getting older. It’s reasonable to assume that unless Europeans are willing to commit troops on the ground in Ukraine, the scales may ultimately tip in Russia’s favor no matter how much money NATO affiliated nations collectively pour into supporting this war.

Nearly a whole generation of young Ukrainians have already been lost in this conflict. Whatever your stance on the war is, I think it’s incumbent on most us to do a better job of understanding what’s happening and why. I’m searching for a guest I can interview on this topic to help educate our community better.

There are rarely images of the war in Ukraine on TV or social media, at least not in my news feed. I don’t want to make the conflict in Ukraine about Israel, other then to say the completely lopsided coverage is clearly indicative of antisemitic bias amongst reporters that are supposed to be objectively covering these wars.

Should we be afraid of another Trump term, I’m not sure yet. That said, it’s worth asking how much worse global affairs can get after watching Biden’s foreign policy shit show for nearly 4 years. I can’t remember a time in my life when the world was in more need of American leadership and moral clarity then it is today. I hope we get it in November regardless of who becomes President.

Thanks for catching up with us today.

Stay classy Maccabee Nation!

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Sources:

Atlantic Article acknowledging Democratic tribalism https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/07/democrats-biden-debate-response/678882/

French elections, surprise left upset https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c724nnn29keo

Violence after French election https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/04/europe/fears-election-violence-france-intl/index.html

France 90% tax on income above 400K https://citizenwatchreport.com/new-french-government-calls-for-a-new-90-tax-on-any-annual-income-above-e400000/#google_vignette

Israel is winning in Gaza https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/israel-isn-t-struggling-in-gaza-it-s-winning-a-rapid-victory/ar-AA1jJ7Fy

John spencer breaks down the war in Gaza in great detail

Hamas willing to cede deal points https://www.timesofisrael.com/report-israel-hamas-to-cede-control-of-gaza-to-pa-linked-force-in-deals-2nd-phase/

Israel war in the north https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-and-hezbollah-exchange-fire-as-residents-of-north-protest-against-government/

Deif and Salameh killed in IDF strike https://www.hindustantimes.com/videos/hamas-military-chief-targeted-in-deadly-idf-strike-khan-younis-commander-feared-killed-70-dead-101720879217485.html

War in Ukraine https://nationalinterest.org/feature/ukraine-crossroads-end-war-or-risk-defeat-211780

Ukraine Russia casuality stats https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/18/us/politics/ukraine-russia-war-casualties.html