Category: Foreign policy

Some Thoughts On Israel

You guys know that I am a political history buff….so I feel it necessary to include a bit of history from time to time….thanx for indulging me.

We will start with 1948 and Truman….

In 1948, with war raging in Palestine, Harry Truman found himself trapped.

On one side were Zionist lobbyists and the president’s domestic political advisers, who were urging him to support the establishment of a Jewish state in as much of Palestine as possible. On the other were his top foreign policy and national security officials, led by the secretary of state, George C Marshall. Their unanimous recommendation was to prevent the establishment of a Jewish state, which they believed would trigger war in the Middle East and endanger the future of US relations with the Arab and Muslim world.

…

In the mid-1940s, Marshall pushed quietly but steadily against the Zionist movement’s proposals to establish a Jewish state in Palestine. He was concerned that American support would open opportunities for the Soviet Union to exploit Arab anger, put Middle Eastern oil supplies at risk in the event of a war between the Soviet Union and the United States, and require the deployment of unavailable American troops to prevent bloodshed and instability in Palestine. These were, indeed, the strongly held views of virtually all of Truman’s most important military and foreign policy advisers.

Truman was personally and deeply moved by the suffering of Jewish survivors of the Nazi “Final Solution”, but also irritated by and at times furious with the constant hectoring to which he was subjected by campaigners for recognition of a Jewish state in Palestine, including the World Zionist Organization and a host of other Jewish delegations, friends and politicians. Despite his personal exasperation, he could not ignore them. Coming in an election year that would pit him against Governor Thomas Dewey of New York, pressures from the Zionist lobby forced him into an excruciating and embarrassing position.

With Palestine engulfed by civil war, Arab states threatening to invade and the last British soldiers about to leave the country, Truman called a meeting of his top advisers on 12 May 1948. According to Marshall’s own account of the meeting, he warned Truman against adopting the policy strongly advanced by Clark Clifford, his main political adviser, to recognize the state of Israel before it was established.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2026/aug/02/pro-israel-lobby-presidents

As you can see not everyone was thrilled with the idea of Israel….but things worked out in Israel’s favor.

Now fast forward to the modern day….

The US holds states responsible for their supposed actions, Asad of Syria, Chavez of Venezuela to mention only a few and yet Israel can do as they please with impunity matters not what it is…..killings Americans, devastating Gaza with death and destruction, terrorizing the West Bank, etc. etc.

Why can’t we hold Israel accountable for their actions in Gaza?

The easy answer is money and the media…..

The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry released the report on June 23. Titled “The Essence of Childhood Has Been Destroyed,” it was the first to focus on crimes and violations against Palestinian children in Gaza and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Vijay Prashad at CounterPunch called it an “accusation of extraordinary gravity.” In 100-pages, the investigation documents Israeli security forces’ direct killing, degrading, and inhumane treatment of Palestinian children, including sexual and gender-based violence and torture. The report also documents the destruction of schools and civilian infrastructure and amounts to a gruesome compendium of how Israel is destroying Palestinian childhood and denying the Palestinian people a future and self-determination. As the human rights lawyer Srinivasan Muralidhar, who chaired the UN commission and led the press conference that announced its findings, bluntly summarized, “By targeting children, Israel is attacking the very capacity of the Palestinian people to exist.” This is genocide.

The UN report flatly contradicted the claims made by President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace that conditions in Gaza were improving. The UN report stated that the amount of available aid is woefully inadequate to meet the needs of hungry, wounded people, living in appalling conditions, who are being squeezed into 30 percent of what was once the Gaza Strip. The UN report further noted the admission of one Israeli soldier: “It feels like a game. You can sit in some basement of a house, safe, with your helmet off, scratching your balls, half-dressed, and kill Palestinians.”

https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/08/11/why-cant-we-hold-israel-accountable-for-its-genocide-in-gaza-its-the-media/

The damage done to Palestinian children is just one aspect of Israel’s conflict but there are so many more….

It is time to get this dark money out of our system…..probably not gonna happen considering how deep that well is but it should be attempted.

I Read, I Write, You Know

‘lego ergo scribo”

Onto Yemen

Yemen has been a thorn in the US presidents since GW and the US has taken upon itself to help bomb this nation back into the stone age…..GW did it, as well as Obama, Trump (first term), Biden and now looks like Donny wants to add to his bloodlust even further.

In July of 2026 Donny made it clear….

President Trump on Tuesday suggested he could restart a bombing campaign in Yemen in response to the Houthis, officially known as Ansar Allah, enforcing a blockade on the Red Sea.

Trump’s comments came after Ansar Allah announced a maritime blockade on Saudi Arabia, which came a week after the Saudis bombed Yemen’s Sanaa airport to prevent the landing of a plane carrying a Yemeni delegation from Iran to enforce its long-standing blockade on the country that was eased under a 2022 ceasefire deal but never fully lifted.

his part, Trump downplayed the blockade, claiming it hasn’t started yet. “So far, it hasn’t happened, might happen, but we take care of things,” Trump told reporters while meeting with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun in the Oval Office.

“If something like that happens, we take care of it. You know, we’ve done that with the Houthis before, and we haven’t heard from them in a while since we did what we did originally,” he added.

Trump launched a bombing campaign in Yemen on March 15, 2025, a few days after Ansar Allah announced it was renewing its blockade of Israeli-linked shipping in the Red Sea in response to Israel violating the January 2025 Gaza ceasefire deal by imposing a full blockade on the Palestinian territory.

The US bombing campaign lasted about a month and a half and involved major civilian casualties, including the bombing of the Ras Issa Fuel Port in Hodeidah, which killed 84 people, all civilians, according to the monitoring group Airwars. A few days after the strike, the US bombed a migrant detention facility in Saada, killing 68 African migrants.

(antiwar.com)

I rehash this because he has started yet another use of US military force…..

he Pentagon has quietly tallied a deadly civilian cost for a short, intense US campaign in Yemen. A new Defense Department review says three American strikes in April 2025 killed 153 civilians and wounded nearly 250 others, the Trump administration’s first public acknowledgment of large-scale noncombatant casualties since returning to office, reports the Washington Post. Two of the incidents—an April 17 strike on Ras Isa Port that killed 80 people and injured 171, and an April 28 attack that killed 68 people in Yemen’s northwest, including migrants held in a detention site—are among the deadliest US strikes since 2001, rights advocates say.

The 50-day operation, launched after Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping, followed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s move to dismantle a Pentagon office devoted to reducing civilian harm. The review, required by Congress and not yet released publicly, comes as the AP reports that concerns are rising “over civilian casualties during military campaigns.” The report says none of the three Yemen cases warranted condolence payments, a conclusion some experts call premature. Fifteen other Yemen incidents remain under review, even as the number of civilian-harm investigators has been cut by more than 90%. Human rights groups have labeled the Yemen attacks possible war crimes and also question the Pentagon’s assertion that US operations against drug traffickers in the Western Hemisphere have produced no civilian casualties.

The US does not care about civilian deaths as long as they can flex that anemic muscle they call ‘force’…..

It is time for the lazy pricks in Congress to step forward and do something, anything no matter what as long as they try to stop the civilian deaths.

This is getting out of hand…..DO SOMETHING!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

A Shift In Strategy?

For months now the conflict with Iran has been on again and off again….someone needs to make up their mind and pick a course preferably a peaceful one…..so once again Donny may have shift in tactics?

President Trump appears to be shifting into a new strategy with Iran for the time being, one that emphasizes economic pain over military strikes. “We are low-keying it,” Trump tells Axios. “We are only semi-negotiating with them,” he said, asserting that Iran is buckling under inflation, lack of cash, and a US-led naval blockade. With oil prices back under $80, Trump said Americans are feeling less strain and likened the standoff to “a chess game.” (Has he even looked at a gas pump?)

The immediate flashpoint is the partially closed Strait of Hormuz. A US-Iran-Oman deal to reopen it, granting Tehran some new authority over shipping, has stalled as Iran’s Supreme National Security Council chief unveiled tougher conditions, including sanctions relief and compensation. The president’s new posture comes amid widespread reports that the US is running short of key weapons, which the White House denies. Still, Bloomberg reports that Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg asked defense companies to “accelerate” munitions production days after Trump called him about the issue. One US official tells the outlet it will take years to replenish the stocks.

I guess a shortage of missiles can have that effect on the on-going conflict.

Iran has issued a list of demands….

Iran issued a broad, new set of demands to the US on Saturday for the full reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, a senior security official, laid out the conditions including an end to the US naval blockade and sanctions, withdrawal of American forces around Iran, payment of war reparations, release of frozen assets, and a halt to attacks on Iran’s regional allies. The list complicates ongoing talks between Iran and Oman over how to manage the strait, which Iran largely shut down after the US and Israel began their attacks in February, the New York Times reports.

The strait will not open until the US “corrects its behavior,” the statement said, per the AP. White House officials did not immediately comment. The strait runs between Iran and Oman; Iran’s foreign minister said it’s close to a deal with Oman on a temporary shipping route but insists any reopening hinges on US compliance with a June cease-fire memorandum that the two sides interpret differently. Traffic through the strait has fallen from about 130 ships a day to just over a dozen, per the Times.

Of course could not stand by and let Iran grab the headlines.

Iran has called for reparations from the US and not to be outdone Donny thinks Iran should pay to the US…..(seriously?)

resident Trump is trying to flip Iran’s push for war reparations back on Tehran. In a Truth Social post Monday, the president said he’s told his negotiators to demand compensation from Iran for Americans killed or injured in attacks linked to Tehran, calling Iran’s own reparations demand “an interesting idea” to copy. He cited deaths from roadside bombs, “many conflicts,” and even the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole—an attack attributed to al-Qaeda, not Iran, the Independent reports. The government blames Iran-backed militants for the deaths of more than 600 US troops in Iraq and the bombing that killed 241 US military personnel in Beirut in 1983, reports the AP.

  • In a follow-up post, Trump said, “Also, with respect to the Iran negotiations, Iran should be responsible for the damages and death caused to the people of Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and Gaza!  (they did not killed themselves….Israel is the aggressor)
  • Trump also said Tehran should pay compensation to the “hundreds of thousands of innocent protestors that Iran has killed over the last 50 years, not to mention the 52,000 that have been killed in the last five months.” The Independent notes that it’s not clear where Trump got the 52,000 number. US and Israeli estimates of war deaths so far are a little over 6,000. The Times of Israel notes that it’s also not clear how significant Trump’s announcement is, “given that negotiations with Iran are said to have hit a dead end.” On Sunday, Trump said the US is “low-keying it” and only “semi-negotiating.” (should the US pay reparations to it’s innocent protesters?)
  • Over the weekend, a senior Iranian official laid out six conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, including lifting sanctions, ending US military operations in the region, and paying compensation for “imposed wars.” An interim ceasefire framework expires in just over a week, with no clear path to an extension.

I apologize for I feel I must be blunt….Donny could f*ck up a wet dream.

This so-called ‘diplomacy’ that he and Little Marco and Pistol Pete play at is laughable if it were not so f*cking sad.

I weep for the diplomatic corps of this country.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Cuba In The Crosshairs

Since the Cuban revolution there has been a US embargo of goods and services to Cuba in an attempt to bring the new Castro government to its knees.

In 60+ years this dynamite plan has done little to end the current admin on the island nation.

Plus the cost of this plan is in the billions per year….that’s right I wrote….BILLIONS.

The Trump Administration’s indictment of former Cuban President Raúl Castro, the deployment of the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier and warships, and recent measures pressuring countries not to supply oil to Cuba are all intended to force regime change on the island. These policies are part of the United States’ long-standing campaign against the Cuban government, codified in 1962 with the U.S. embargo on Cuba, and have created what could be described as Cuba’s “New Special Period,” comparable to the original “Special Period” in the 1990s after the loss of support from the Soviet Union. The Cuban revolution against the U.S.-backed Batista dictatorship has survived 64 of its 67 years under what U.S. officials call an “embargo.” Cubans call it “el bloqueo” (the blockade), arguing that its impact has been just as physically isolating as a military blockade. Suffering aside, the amount of money that the United States has spent on enforcing this policy of economic isolation—the longest blockade in history—could instead have been used to address pressing social needs throughout the United States. This raises the question: Was the blockade worth the cost? And if so, for whom?

According to Doctors Without Borders’ “The Practical Guide to Humanitarian Law,” a blockade is an act of war that seeks to isolate an adversary, disrupt economic activity, and prevent the movement of vital supplies. Under an embargo, a country prohibits its own companies or subsidiaries from engaging in business with another country, rather than interfering with third parties. Through what is essentially a broader economic blockade, the United States has intermittently prevented Cuba from commerce with other nations. As President Donald Trump has become even more strident, the United Nations has criticized his administration’s policy of imposing tariffs on any country that sends oil to Cuba as a serious violation of international law. Earlier this year, a military blockade was evident as “the U.S. Coast Guard intercepted a tanker full of Colombian fuel oil en route to Cuba within 70 miles of the island,” according to the New York Times. The U.S. government knows that a blockade is an act of war, according to Connecticut.

https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/08/06/the-costs-of-the-us-blockade-on-cuba/

This whole big idea is about as successful as our idiotic war on drugs…..waste of time, effort and money.

I hope Cuba is keeping an eye on what Donny and the Boyz are planning.

What about the newest thing about Cuba?

The Cold War is getting a quiet sequel in the Caribbean, reports the New York Times. The CIA has formed a classified Cuba task force aimed at stepping up pressure on Havana to make economic, political, and leadership changes sought by US President Trump, according to officials briefed on the move. The unit is pulling in case officers, analysts, cyber specialists, and covert influence operators, and is backed by a broader intelligence shift that just elevated Cuba to a top-tier US spying priority alongside China, Iran, and Russia, the sources say.

Unlike the CIA’s Bay of Pigs-era task force, this one isn’t authorized to train armed proxies or run lethal missions. Its goal, sources say, is to expose and exploit fractures within Cuba’s ruling elite and encourage the rise of leaders more open to Washington’s demands. Cuban officials, for their part, denounce the effort as familiar “espionage, subversion and destabilization.” Adam Entous’ piece in the Times traces how this new campaign grew out of past cooperation, Trump’s hard line, and the administration’s broader regional strategy—read the full article for more. Sources who spoke to Politico similarly say the Trump administration is pushing for Cuba’s communist regime to fall entirely, or reform.

Like I said….Cuba in the crosshairs.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Conflict End Run?

Donny has been playing grab ass with Iran for months now….it is an on again off again then back on conflict….lots of chest thumping like a sex crazed primate and lots of international chaos….not to mention my grocery bill going through the roof.

In the center of this war, excluding the magical hold the Israel has on Donny, is the Strait of Hormuz….where a lot of oil must travel to get to market.

In the silence of the night two players in this conflict pull an end run on Donny….

Oil prices fell and stocks climbed into record territory on Tuesday after US Treasury chief Scott Bessent said a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz was expected “today or tomorrow,” reports the Wall Street Journal. Not much is confirmed about the deal, though the New York Times reports that Iran and Oman are close to hammering out an agreement that would route incoming ships through an Iran-controlled channel and outgoing vessels near Oman. The nations would share a “service fee”—not a toll, but that may be a matter of semantics— from traveling ships to cover security and environmental costs.

The Times notes that getting oil and cargo moving again would ease market pressure and deliver a badly needed political win for Trump, with a catch: The deal still being worked out appears to give Tehran more leverage over the international waterway than it had before the war began. As analyst Ali Vaez of the International Crisis Group puts it, Trump now faces a choice between “an unwinnable war and an unpalatable peace.”

Those “service fees” or tolls for ships transiting the Strait. Muscat and Tehran will split the funds. Additionally, Tehran will have full control over inbound traffic while Iran and Oman will have joint control over outbound shipping.

What Donny will not get his cut?

This should not fly well at the next cabinet meeting.

But believe it or not Donny has something to say….

U.S. President Donald Trump said a deal on the Strait of Hormuz could come as early as Wednesday or Thursday, while Iran and Oman inched toward an agreement to reopen the critical waterway and potentially help bring an end to the war.

Trump was asked by reporters traveling with him in California about a report on the Axios news site that an announcement on the Strait of Hormuz could be made on Wednesday.

“It could happen. Tomorrow or the next day,” he said, speaking on Tuesday evening California time, which was already Wednesday morning in the Middle East. “A lot of progress has been made.”

(apnews.com)

Positive right?

But if Donny holds true to form he will screw this up as well.

Is the lack of long range missiles fueling his acceptance?

Will Israel have something to say?

Stay tuned I am sure there will be more to this story.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Hamas Update

Last week it was announced, vaguely, that Hamas in Gaza has agreed to disarm…..and now we have a few details (not many)….

But in case my post was missed…..(not many did)….

Is This Another Donny Bullsh*t Deal?

More news has come out over the weekend….

Hamas confirmed Friday that it will begin disarming as part of a deal announced by President Trump that also requires Israel to end its strikes and withdraw from Gaza. It marks a potential breakthrough in ending the war, but implementation faces major challenges. Hamas also said that laying down its heavy weapons, which would come later in the process, was contingent on the creation of a Palestinian state, something Israel’s current government adamantly rejects, the AP reports. Israel has not officially commented on the deal, which is part of a US-brokered ceasefire announced last October.

That agreement called for Hamas to disarm and hand over power to an independent Palestinian administration. Israel was to withdraw, and an International Stabilization Force was to deploy. But progress stalled, with Israel saying everything hinged on Hamas disarming, and Hamas accusing Israel of violating the agreement by continuing to carry out regular strikes on Gaza.

  • Expectations of implementation are low, the AP reports. Disarming would represent a sea change for Hamas, whose founding charter calls for armed resistance against Israel, and which sees its arsenal, including rockets, anti-tank missiles, and explosives, as lying at the heart of its identity. Israel, meanwhile, appears unlikely to pull back significant forces or make other concessions ahead of its October elections.
  • While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has yet to comment, Itamar Ben-Gvi, Israel’s hardline national security minister, said parts of the agreement are “unacceptable” and Israel’s targeted killings in Gaza “must continue,” the New York Times reports.
  • A copy of the agreement obtained and verified by the AP said that all weapons held by the Hamas-run police will be transferred to the US-backed Palestinian technocratic committee, known as the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, upon its arrival in the enclave. It’s not clear when that would happen since it is contingent on other steps. A process to decommission and store heavy weapons, military production sites, and tunnels will begin after the arrival of the Palestinian committee and the deployment of international forces. The process will be linked to a phased Israeli withdrawal, according to the agreement.
  • During his Cabinet meeting on Friday, Trump said the newly-minted agreement will have “ups and downs.” Still, he said, the deal is a “great breakthrough” that has been helped along by the US and Israel’s war with Iran, which has served as Hamas’ prime backer. “Nobody’s ever thought that would be possible to disarm Hamas,” Trump said. “That shows you how much success we’re having with Iran, because if you go four months ago or five months ago, a deal like that would have been impossible.”
  • Asked whether he thought the deal would go through, he acknowledged that it is a “very complex situation” in Gaza, the BBC reports. “The people are very complex and difficult. In many cases wonderful, in many cases not so wonderful.” He declined to say which would come first, Israeli withdrawal or Hamas disarmament.

This just made me think of more questions…..why would Hamas disarm and leave Israel to run through Gaza willy nilly killing Palestinians?

Israel will be happy but is it because the killing will stop or is it because they will have a free hand in Gaza?

Israeli officials have made clear they have no intention of following the plan, as a senior Israeli official quoted by Israeli media as Netanyahu met with Mladenov said that Israel would not fully withdraw from Gaza and would retain its ability to strike “any threat,” meaning its attacks will continue.

Following the announcement of Hamas agreeing to the disarmament plan, which would involve the group handing its weapons to a new Palestinian body, known as the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, Israel escalated its attacks in Gaza, killing at least 19 Palestinians, including multiple children.

(antiwar.com)

There is your answer….Israel has NO intention to observe the deal.

How long before Donny screws this up?

Is this the end of Gaza as a separate entity?

What about the West Bank?

This is not good news for anyone but Israel.

Thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

He’s At It Again

Around here gas prices have come down a bit and then Donny had to open that useless mouth of his and let more manure fall out.

President Trump is preparing to escalate the five-month-plus conflict with Iran, authorizing a new round of US strikes that could start as soon as this weekend and run for several days, according to American officials. Speaking at Camp David, Trump vowed that “we will be hitting them very hard” to compel talks and predicted the regime would eventually “peter out,” the Wall Street Journal reports. “At some point, they’re going to say, ‘We just can’t take it anymore,'” the president predicted. He added, per the AP: “We just want to win.” Officials noted that the plan could still be halted if there’s sudden diplomatic movement, or if Trump simply reconsiders, per the Journal.

Sources tell CBS News that energy infrastructure such as power plants and refineries will be the likely targets. Those sources also note there’d been discussion about trying to wrap up the strikes before the financial markets kick off on Monday to minimize impact to the US and global economy. The shift comes days after a surprise Iranian attack on US troops in Jordan and subsequent American retaliation. Trump has privately dismissed the interim peace deal as meaningless and described Iranian negotiators as untrustworthy, while Iranian officials say constant US threats undermine any remaining confidence, per the Journal.

After this piece of crap….Iran has basically dared him to do what he spouted off about…..

Iran took another step Saturday toward widening the Gulf fighting, sending a wave of drones toward Kuwait in an attack that the US ally said it intercepted. The strike added tension to the region, the Wall Street Journal reports, after President Trump’s pledge to sharply escalate the US bombardment of Iran at any moment now. US embassies urged Americans to consider leaving the region, and airlines extended cancellations to key Gulf in the face of warnings that airspace closures could be next. Iran’s military warned countries in the region not to cooperate with the US, which it accused of “escalating tensions,” per AFP.

he flare-up centers on energy chokepoints: Iran has effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz, where a ship was damaged and another reported a near-miss on Friday, and unrest has spread to Egypt’s Damietta port and the Red Sea. Iran-backed Houthis say they are blocking Saudi oil shipments, while Saudi Arabia has hit Iran-linked militias in Iraq, per the Journal. Analysts describe ever-faster cycles of escalation that are eroding trust, unnerving Gulf governments, and pushing any renewed truce further out of reach.

All I can say is….’Here we go yet again’

Iran is goading Donny into making good on his infantile threats.

The idiot with the big mouth is not believing his luck….

Sources say that President Donald Trump is becoming “exasperated” as he did not anticipate it would be difficult to make Iran comply with his demands.

“The president is exasperated. I don’t think he believed it was going to be this difficult to get the Iranians to agree to a deal. There was not a real strategy for how long or what they should do to get to the endpoint,” an unnamed ally of the President told NBC News. “He did not intend this to be a long, drawn-out war.”

President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered a joint, surprise attack on Iran in February that ignited a Middle East-wide war. At the time, the leaders predicted a quick victory that would eliminate any threat Iran could pose.

However, the war has turned into a quagmire for Trump as Iran seized control over the Strait of Hormuz and the IRGC retains a significant portion of its missile capabilities. A US official speaking with NBC News explained that part of Trump’s frustration comes from his advisers’ division on what to do next.

“After all this time, there is no unity,” the official said. “We have had a series of tactical victories, but are facing a strategic defeat without clear policy guidance or a decision about where this is going.”

https://libertarianinstitute.org/news/trump-is-exasperated-with-iran-war/

Here is an idea or two….stop being such a douche bag and work to really end this and two for god sake stop listening to those bastards in Israel.

And there go the prices for gas….a I’m so happy to be here now…..sarcasm….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Is This Another Donny Bullsh*t Deal?

The news is out and the media is having a go at the story….it appears that Hamas has come to an agreement in Gaza….

President Trump said Thursday that a deal has been reached for Hamas to disarm and Israel to withdraw its forces from Gaza, but many hurdles, conditions, and long timelines remained to wind down the war in the Palestinian territory. Neither Hamas nor Israel gave immediate indication that they had agreed, the AP reports. The White House announcement comes nine months after a US-brokered ceasefire was signed. Negotiations between Israel and Hamas had largely deadlocked over the implementation of its second phase, including the disarmament of Hamas and the reconstruction of Gaza.

  • “The agreement will be carried out in carefully structured phases,” Trump said in a Truth Social post. “As disarmament is completed, Israeli forces will withdraw, and the International Stabilization Force will work with a new Palestinian police force to take responsibility for Gaza being safe for its residents and its neighbors.”

Trump’s 20-point ceasefire plan calls on the Iran-backed militant group to surrender its weapons and destroy its vast network of tunnels. It also envisions Israeli forces withdrawing from Gaza, the arrival of a new technocratic Palestinian government, deployment of an international security force, and the rebuilding of the battered Palestinian enclave after more than two years of war. But Hamas had insisted on implementing the first phase before moving to discuss its weapons. The group’s founding charter calls for armed resistance against Israel, and it has been reluctant to give up an arsenal, including rockets, anti-tank missiles and explosives, that lies at the heart of its identity.

Hamas announced earlier this month that it had dissolved its government in Gaza and was preparing to transfer power to a technical committee backed by the United Nations as part of the ceasefire deal.

  • US and Board of Peace officials, describing the deal to reporters on condition of anonymity under guidelines set by the White House, gave an extremely optimistic assessment of the agreement that laid out a scenario very similar to the one described by Trump and his top aides when the Board of Peace, an international body established by Trump to oversee the ceasefire in Gaza, was first formed.
  • The Gaza police force, however, does not include the vast majority of Hamas militants and heavy weaponry is not included in that part of the agreement, according to the officials. Instead, the surrender of heavy weapons and the decommissioning of Hamas tunnels and other infrastructure are to come later in a process that could take between 200 and 350 days, a Board of Peace official said.
  • A U.S. official said that Israel, which has been deeply skeptical about Hamas’ willingness to give up its guns or relinquish at least behind-the-scenes control of Gaza, had been consulted at every step of the negotiation. However, the official said Israel was not being asked to do anything more than what it had initially committed to when it agreed to Trump’s 20-point plan, which essentially involves withdrawing its forces from Gaza and committing to ending airstrikes on the territory. Israel’s UN mission said it had no immediate comment.

As usual with any deal the Donny says he has made there is few to no specifics….just manure about how well he is doing.

How long before this ‘deal’ falls through?

And will the boss, Israel, allow the deal to go through?

Is this just another Donny pipe dream that leads nowhere?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

How Deep Is The Rot?

The ‘rot’ I refer to in this post is that of AIPAC and the Democrats.

Addressing a reported Israeli government-funded online influence campaign aimed at sabotaging the administration’s diplomatic efforts, a furious Vance accused “certain elements within the Israeli government” of actively trying to derail peace negotiations and manipulate American public opinion. He went so far as to target the operators behind the foreign-backed campaign, telling them directly to “go to hell.”

Yet, even as fierce criticism of Israel reaches the very apex of American politics, a profound, schizophrenic rupture divides Washington. While the American public, influential media personalities, and top-tier politicians are openly turning against Israel’s unbridled violence, the traditional power structures continue to toe the line.

This is explicitly evident in Congress, where establishment politicians remain busy acting as defense contractors for Tel Aviv. Lawmakers are quietly pushing forward with Section 219 of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2027. Far from distancing the US from the ongoing regional bloodbath, this legislation aims to permanently integrate and synchronize the US and Israeli militaries under a joint “Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative.”

This institutional blind spot is why the entire alliance is beginning to look utterly ridiculous.

https://original.antiwar.com/ramzy-baroud/2026/07/28/is-it-just-about-aipacs-money-or-does-the-us-israel-rot-run-far-deeper/

The rot runs deep….AIPAC money speeds the rot….

But to me the silliest notion is that Israel is a democracy…that statement is laughable…

There are numerous myths espoused by Jewish and non-Jewish supporters of Israel that deny the violent displacement of Palestinians from Israel in 1948 as well as support for the belief that the June 1967 six-day war was preemptive. The worst of the mythologies deal with whether Palestinians left their homeland “voluntarily” in 1967—there was nothing voluntary about it. The myth heard most often, however, is cited by members of Congress—the contention that Israel is a democracy—indeed, the “only democracy in the Middle East.”

Israel was not a true democracy from the outset in 1948, since more than one-fifth of Israel’s citizens were subject to military rule based on Britain’s mandatory emergency regulations. These regulations denied Palestinians basic human and civil rights. Palestinians were subject to the rule of local Israeli military governors who were in a position to destroy their lives and their livelihood. Some of this pressure was alleviated in the late 1950s, only to worsen in the wake of the Six-Day War in 1967.

Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza never received equal treatment from any Israeli government. Israeli settlers in the West Bank who commit crimes are tried in Israeli courts, if they are tried at all, while Palestinians are tried in Israeli military courts. Currently, there are seven million Jews living in Israel and Palestine, and an equal number of Palestinians in the same space. The apartheid governments of Israel make it certain that there will not be equal rights, let alone true democracy, for both Jews and Palestinians.

https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/07/21/the-mythology-of-israeli-democracy/

The sooner the world faces reality the sooner this crap can end.

Oh sorry I digress….let’s return to the ‘rot’….

This rot has been in the GOP’s heart since the beginning….and now the Dems are just as rotten as the GOP, that is for the most part…..the coward that is the leader of the Dems, Jeffries is ass deep in the influence of Israel….

When House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries sent out a recent “dear colleague” letter, its second sentence cited “the position articulated by… pro-peace organizations like J Street.” The congressman and J Street were opposing an amendment to block $3.3 billion in military shipments and other aid to Israel.

Jeffries contended that the measure was “overly broad.” On the same day, using the same phrase “overly broad,” J Street issued a statement declaring that “we support Leader Jeffries’ decision to oppose the amendment.”

Both Jeffries and J Street respectfully noted that many members of Congress had understandable reasons to back the measure. The next day, July 15, a record 103 Democrats voted in favor of blocking weaponry to Israel.

While attempting to prevent a high number of yes votes, Jeffries and J Street had emphasized mutual agreement to validate a position that amounted to support for arming genocide.

After the House vote, J Street said that “we welcome House Democratic leadership taking a stronger stance on using U.S. leverage to pressure the Israeli government to change course.” But there are no credible reasons to believe that J Street or the “House Democratic leadership” are serious about using U.S. leverage to “change course” in ways that would really impede the genocidal state of Israel.

https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/07/28/how-hakeem-jeffries-and-j-street-teamed-up-for-arming-genocide/

This rot is starting to stink.

I will vote for anybody that wants Israel to be held accountable for the genocide they have committed.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”