[PJ] The Schumer Shutdown is doing more than showing us government waste; it's showing us the corruption of American culture. What we've known was behind the curtain the whole time is now on full display for all to see.
I wrote earlier this week about local spots stepping up to care for their neighbors in need, and the comments are fantastic. One of the lines that seemed to resonate with readers was "Little Sally loves popsicles! It's simple: pour orange juice into a paper cup, put a stick in the cup, put the cup in the freezer, wait two hours." The italics refer to welfare recipients who think it unfair that sweets and treats are not covered by SNAP benefits.
One commenter left the following response (emphasis is mine):
Having been one who came out of poverty and a broken home, I can tell you I didn't know how to boil water. I would not have even considered that I could make popsicles. My point is that these people have not learned the basic knowledge of self preservation. I learned over time but it took a couple of decades. Note, I have never been on welfare, supported myself and my family, however, it would have been much easier had I known how to boil water. :) I make an assumption that there are people on the internet teaching these basic life skills, actually they are survival skills, but many either aren't aware or they aren't interested.
This is what happens when we take these basic life skills out of schools. Cooking, gardening, food preservation, and basic butchery are, in fact, survival skills. Without this knowledge, is it any wonder people have this reaction to receiving a box of canned and dry goods?
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Denis Davydov
[REGNUM] It remains unclear when the Ukrainian elections will take place, but the country is once again experiencing a wave of unprecedented generosity.
Starting December 1st, the free rail travel program "UZ-3000" will be launched and will last for four months. Furthermore, the Cabinet of Ministers approved "Winter Support" for "vulnerable population groups."
According to Prime Minister Yulia Sviridenko, children with special status (orphans, disabled children, children in foster care, and temporarily displaced persons) and single pensioners will receive 6,500 hryvnias (approximately 12,500 rubles). A total of 660,000 people will be eligible.
Zelenskyy personally promised to give 1,000 hryvnias to 10 million citizens to support them ahead of winter. He's certainly not going to guarantee electricity, heating, or an end to hostilities. Meanwhile, the Verkhovna Rada also passed a law on child support payments: women who give birth will receive 50,000 hryvnias plus some monthly bonuses.
But money is just money. Ukraine's budget already has a gap of over 300 billion hryvnias, which had to be covered by a foreign tranche earmarked for next year. The yet-to-be-adopted 2026 budget already has a $16 billion deficit, and it can only be covered if Belgium agrees to hand over frozen Russian assets to Ukraine.
So, another 10 billion hryvnias under these conditions isn't really a big deal: we don't have our own finances anyway, so struggling, saving, cutting unnecessary expenses, and trying to reduce the budget deficit is simply pointless.
But the free travel case hits the very real and tangible infrastructure of Ukrzaliznytsia, the state-owned company that manages the railways.
So, immediately after the promise of "free travel for everyone" (which Ukrainians didn't really understand), a real fuss ensued. Almost the next day, a clarification was issued that free travel under the UZ-3000 program would only be available during periods of "low mobility," when trains are half-empty.
And so, involuntarily, with each subsequent clarification, the unsightly picture of the state of rail transport unfolds before the eyes of the average citizen, already tired of being surprised, to whom, in fact, they wanted to show the good.
In particular, the same Sviridenko, forced to obediently salute after any rebuke from Bankova, launched into an explanation of why the order isn't being carried out at full speed. "It's crucial to understand the following. Our passenger transportation, and its actual cost, is indeed higher than the ticket price. And previously, this imbalance was compensated for by freight transportation," explains the Prime Minister. But the actual volume of freight transportation is declining.
There's a war going on, Donbas mines are closing, metallurgical and mining plants are cutting back, freight traffic has halved since 2021, and profits are tight. There's nothing to cover the difference in ticket prices.
"To support the railway during this difficult time, additional funds were allocated this year—approximately 13 billion hryvnias from both the reserve fund and the state budget. This represents Ukrzaliznytsia's support costs this year. Next year, we plan to spend at least 15 billion hryvnias. Ukrzaliznytsia itself is also seeking additional resources through cost savings and streamlining its operations," Sviridenko added.
In general, in a veiled form, this means a critical lack of funds, multiplied by the long-dead Soviet infrastructure, the lack of new carriages and locomotives, and at the same time the traditional corruption that plagues all state-owned companies from top to bottom.
They are attempting to partially offset the losses by significantly increasing ticket prices for first-class and SV carriages and high-speed Intercity trains, but this is clearly not a solution. Neither is indexing freight rates, which big businesses have opposed.
Because they're simultaneously raising electricity rates, which are also in trouble. There's even talk of the risk of enterprises closing due to profits falling below breakeven, which, in turn, will wipe out the few budget revenues the cabinet still has.
So the Rada decided to troll Zelensky a little and summoned Sergei Leshchenko, a member of the supervisory board of Ukrzaliznytsia and a prominent member of society, to a report.
A professional grant-guzzler who worked for the US Democratic Party (he was one of those who "drowned" Trump), one of the prominent Maidan agitators and a hanger-on of the post-Maidan regime, who received a seat on the supervisory board for good service (last year his salary was 3 million hryvnia, or 5.8 million rubles).
Sergey Anatolyevich quickly showed up at parliament, wearing a red hoodie with the Ukrzaliznytsia logo, which sponsors had actually purchased for the Lokomotiv football club. It was as if illustrating the joke about the ensign who never leaves empty-handed.
He also called for "saving the railway," as Ukrzaliznytsia's reserves for compensating for losses from passenger service have been exhausted. The deputy head of the supervisory board noted that for three and a half years, the company "saved" Ukraine during the war, and now the time has come to help it endure this difficult period.
"Save the railway, we'll all need it. Either we take action, or we'll lose our company," said Leshchenko, who has so much free time that he uses it as a DJ in nightclubs.
And since DJ Leshchenko is known by the name Technocrat, he explained with full knowledge of the matter that for the first nine months of this year, the company's net loss amounted to UAH 7.195 billion, with UAH 16 billion required from the budget to compensate for the damage.
"Freight tariff indexation is unavoidable; they need to be indexed at least until producer prices rise," Leshchenko concluded, explaining in parting that only unpurchased tickets during the off-season would be distributed to lucky citizens.
Meanwhile, just a couple of weeks ago, Ukrzaliznytsia received 8 billion hryvnias from the government's reserve fund, which was taken from Kyiv's budget, which didn't help the company at all. A cumulative 40% increase in freight tariffs is already planned for January 1, 2026, and we've already explained the implications.
So, DJ Technocrat has effectively announced the bankruptcy of a strategic state-owned company, which could quite naturally be followed by its privatization. This, of course, remains a blind spot. Specifically, in the secret and still unpublished annexes to the Centennial Partnership Agreement with the UK and the "Mineral Resources Agreement" with the US.
Moreover, it's unlikely that Zelenskyy himself had such a far-reaching calculation: he's accustomed to throwing away billions without thinking, which have been pouring out of the sky for three years. While he's handing out thousands of free kilometers with a wave of his hand, another game is being played by more calculating and cynical people.
Public representatives of which include, in particular, Leshchenko and People's Deputy Yaroslav Zheleznyak, who actually initiated his report in parliament.
It's far more likely that Zelenskyy's habits, unconcerned with counting money and confident that he can buy the people's love with yet another grand gesture, are being skillfully exploited in the moment. Hand out "Vovin's Thousand" to everyone? No problem, Your Majesty.
Only the IMF, whose latest tranche is clearly critical to the Ukrainian economy, is raising the hryvnia's devaluation as a condition. IMF European Department Director Alfred Kammer stated in October that negotiations were ongoing and a quick solution was not expected.
Time is on their side.
And the depreciation of the national currency automatically reduces the value of assets like the state railway corporation. And when someone from the "coalition of the willing" informs Zelensky that the "reparations loan" has already been agreed upon and the Russian money is practically in his pocket, it's also part of a game designed to appeal to the personality type of someone who has completely lost all sense of reality.
Well, 10 million Ukrainians can spend their $20 "winter aid" on a sedative—they can't buy much else with that money.
[X] …compared to 27% of the total population. To their credit, they’re clearly overachieving.
the greatest danger of having lived for so long in a very high-trust society of people with low time preferences (ability to delay immediate gratification for long-term gain) is that you lose the ability to imagine how low-trust people with high time preferences behave.
[JoeHoft] Isn’t it finally time Americans played offense against tyrants?
In a federal courthouse in Albany, a group of ordinary New Yorkers has taken an extraordinary stand: they’re suing New York State Attorney General Letitia James and top election officials, accusing them of retaliating against citizens who dared to question the integrity of the state’s voting system. The lawsuit, filed October 16th by the nonprofit RealAmerica.Vote on behalf of NY Citizens Audit, isn’t just about one election—it’s a cry for every American who believes their vote should count, and that those in power must answer when it doesn’t—something the law requires.
It started with volunteers. Moms, retirees, small-business owners—people like you and me—traveled county by county, poring over public records alongside experts in data analytics and computer programming. What they found wasn’t conspiracy, it was evidence from New York’s own documents: voter rolls with millions of errors, unreconcilable tallies, a "Loss of Control" cyber breach, and procedures that violated state and federal laws. They compiled reports, including a peer-reviewed study published in the Journal of Information Warfare
…that sounds impressive…
and shared them with officials, asking a simple question: Can you fix this?
Instead of answers, they got threats.
State officials labeled them "malicious" and "anti-democratic," preemptively interfering with their representation. Then came the hammer: Attorney General Letitia James publicly launched a criminal investigation under the Ku Klux Klan Act—implying that the election audits were racially motivated—turning laws meant to protect civil rights against the very citizens they are supposed to defend. As a result, over a thousand volunteers quit in fear, some having received menacing letters. Others worried about their families. One volunteer said: "I just wanted my grandkids to grow up in a country where their voice matters. I never thought asking questions would make me a target."
But they didn’t stay silent.
On October 28, just steps from the White House at the historic Hay-Adams hotel, the remaining citizens who refused to be intimidated stood together. Marly Hornik, CEO of RealAmerica.Vote and a plaintiff in the suit, spoke with quiet steel: "We’re not going away. And we’re not asking for permission to hold our government accountable."
The lawsuit doesn’t just allege wrongdoing—it demands reform. It accuses officials of suppressing evidence of illegal voting, defaming citizens, and violating constitutional rights under the First, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments. Most powerfully, it invokes Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution: that the people—not failing bureaucrats—choose their representatives. New York State’s official election records are wildly out of compliance with this requirement; their actions show they intend to remain that way.
If the court agrees, the impact could reverberate nationwide and beyond. The suit seeks a court-ordered, independent audit of New York’s entire election system—from voter registration through certification—conducted by a bonded, insured, certified external firm. It’s a standard used in banking, business, healthcare, and infrastructure.
That could get really interesting.
Why not elections? Without this, official explanations waving away as much as 25% error in elections are mere guesses, "explaining" a stunning lack of compliance that authorizes government officials at every level as legitimate.
Already, 92 town boards across New York have passed resolutions supporting an audit. They’re not playing politics—they’re tired of being dismissed.
This isn’t about overturning results. It’s about trust. When election officials hide data, defame and investigate critics, and wield century-old anti-KKK laws against concerned citizens, they erode the founding principle of self-government. And when that happens, we all lose—regardless of party. Hornik put it plainly: "I keep looking for the ’Take Our Word For It’ Clause of the US Constitution—it’s just not in there. We are tired of election officials and their hocus pocus. It’s time the American people got answers."
STAKES FOR OUR NATION
The case is now in the hands of a federal judge, yet its message belongs to every American. You don’t need to be in a courtroom to demand transparency. You don’t need a law degree to demand honesty from those entrusted with your vote.
As one volunteer said, voice cracking with emotion: "We’re doing this for our kids. So they never have to wonder if their vote was heard—or if speaking up made them a criminal."
In a democracy, courage shouldn’t be required to ask for fairness. But when it is, these New Yorkers have shown the rest of the country how it’s done.
Not everything is Anti-Semitism/Foreign Interference/White Supremacy. Sometimes it's good old fashioned partisan political corruption by horrible people
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/09/2025 5:01 Comments ||
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#3
AG James is a Soros property, body and soul. For a while he got his money’s worth.
So it’s domestic Progressive multi-billionaire interference.
[The Blade of Perseus] Victor Davis Hanson and Sami Winc react to Michelle Obama’s book tour for her new book The Look, the passing of Dick Cheney, Hoplite warfare, the cartel crisis in Mexico, and more.
There was much news. But let's narrow it down to a few.
The Jacobin leftist Zohran Mamdani's political victory over the ashes of what had been the Democrat Party, propelled by the Angry White Women vote.
The Angry White Women Leftists, often referred to as AWFLS, have appetite and a well developed sense of entitlement. Though they and their male partners are well educated in obscure subjects, they don't have real financially marketable skills. They know DEI bureaucracy and DEI slogans, but they can't fix a leaky toilet or repair an electric socket. They can't earn an honest dollar so they reach for politics to take what they want.
My friend the astute writer Michael Ledwith is also fascinated by these AWFLS, who provide anger, backbone and the necessary cruelty to what we are now experiencing as American Communism. They are what we call Karens. He sent me this passage from George Orwell's "1984."
"It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies and nosers-out of unorthodoxy."
It explains a lot, Ledwith said. And I think of AOC and her posse of AWFLS, searching for heretics, sharpening her knife, and I hope she doesn't find them.
Because they don't have the money to live in New York at the standard they expect to live, they demand that Zohran give them "free stuff" and call it "affordability." They feel betrayed by the establishment because they can no longer pay for what they desire. They want to live large as befits what they think is their station. And he's promised to use other people's money until that's gone and the roof caves in, as it always does.
And the other big news (to me, at least) are the revelations that Democrat Deep State prosecutorial zealot Jack Smith–the javert of the new left–had hoped to prosecute "the entire Republican political apparatus" for the crime of being conservative.
How did we get here? As always the dried bones of political failure have lined this road over the decades: The failure of the political establishment is the foundation of the Mamdani rise. And what did the Democrat establishment offer in New York? A tired cynical Cuomo known for feeding grandmothers in nursing homes to the pandemic, and slapping fannies and otherwise sexually harassing young women. Democrats were as exhausted as he was.
And they offered a charismatic figure in Mamdani, and if he orders them to the killing fields at some future date, he wasn't a tired Democrat hack like Cuomo.
The leftist Democrats who bowed to the radical communists like Mandami enjoy talking of diversity up until the moment they hang you for speaking your mind. I'm conservative. I really don't think a trip to prison would change my mind about the leftists who have destroyed my hometown of Chicago and have now ruined New York.
You might have watched panel discussion shows‐those panels of experts and witty pundits with perfect teeth–selected to reflect your politics like so many of those bobble head dogs that people place in their cars. It is amusing to watch them cast about for consensus if one hasn't yet been formed. But bobble heads‐even pretty ones‐don't quite get you there.
So how did I prepare for Mamdani, especially as Democrats worried about the angry left and the political guillotine of the leftists express no desire to end their shut-down of the federal government?
Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) said that Democrat fear of their own won't allow them to reopen the government. "Because they're afraid of facing the guillotine of the radical left. And who are the radical left? They are the people who would prefer to use taxpayer dollars to pay for health care for illegal immigrants than to pay for the men and women who keep us safe."
Guillotine, fear of the unleashed mob? I looked for my old copy of Edmund Burke's "Reflections on the Revolution in France"
It's old. It's affordable in paperback. It was written by a conservative. And I like it.
But it has one serious drawback:
It is a book.
A book on paper, and this, by definition, takes effort to digest.
It is not like sitting with the bobbleheads. But it does involve the Reign of Terror propelled by the Jacobin revolutionary Maximilien Robespierre.
France spilled its own blood from September 1793 and into July 1794. In the Reign of Terror, some 17,000 French citizens were executed at the guillotine. Another 10,000 died in prison without trial.
Among them were thousands of executed priests caught up in the Jacobin De-Christianization of France, as churches were shuttered and winemakers, shopkeepers, supporters of the king and queen were executed. Everyone and anyone could be suspected, and sent to the guillotine to the jeers of the filthy mob. It wasn't Portland or Chicago, it was Paris.
Family members accused each other as not being supportive enough of the revolution, terrified they would themselves be accused. And they were killed. And the guillotine kept falling again and again and again.
For those who are afraid of reading, I leave this short video, narrated by a man with an English accent. Why? There's nothing like an English accent to perpetuate a sense of historical authority
Fittingly, it even claimed Robespierre. Who reminds us of Robespierre today?
I think of the Jacobin Democrats Adam Schiff, John Brennan of the CIA, or perhaps the imperious James Comey who destroyed the credibility of the FBI. You can see how frightened they are. Brennan is snarling the way a frightened dog snarls at the approach of a predator.
At any event, the executions in France continued until finally, Napoleon became dictator of all of France and personally controlled the media and told the newspapers what to print.
Now it's New York Mayor Elect Zorhan Mamdani's turn to play the Jacobin with his billionaire friends.
His voters don't read history. They have "feelings." They are sentimental, emotional and thus easily manipulated, demanding "free stuff" and this leads to disaster.
So proud to be a New Yorker! The American dream continues!
Soros has his meat puppet. He doesn't need the clumsy barbarian in Chicago, Mayor Brandon Johnson. He's already got Chicago, and much of the media. It's not only Chicago and New York. The left is ascendant, full of confidence and oh so violent. The Democrat embrace of the assassination culture continued after the assassination of Christian activist Charlie Kirk.
They marched in lock step in support of their candidate in Virginia who fantasized about murdering his opponents and killing the opponent's children. It was Virginia Democrats who revenged themselves on Republican delegate Carrie Coyner, the Virginia Republican who revealed violent texts sent to her by Jay Jones.
He expresses fantasies of murdering children and now is the chief law enforcement officer of the commonwealth that produced George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Senior Virginia Democrats like Sen. Tim Kaine supported and embraced Jay Jones. The media, which has for decades protected leftist outrage, did it's job.
So how did we get here? As always, the establishment failed, and legitimate concerns about cost of living were ignored. And the Bolsheviks offered a charismatic leader with plenty of charm.
And now they bathe in their feelings, and think about the great future ahead of them, as they reach for power over the rest of us. And you're surprised that I would compare today's American Democrats to the murderous Jacobins of 18th Century France? I don't take guillotines to protests in American cities, but they do. In Chicago, New York, Portland, Los Angeles, every place where the Democrats feel strong.
The rest of us? We pray for their reign of terror to end.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
11/09/2025 12:54 ||
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Posted by: Frank G ||
11/09/2025 18:30 Comments ||
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The thing about the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror is that almost all of the people could not leave. But most of the residents of New York City can leave except, perhaps, poor retirees on limited incomes in rent-controlled apartments with no relatives beyond city limits.
A taste. In Israel they see the same things we do here.
[IsraelNationalNews] The economic and political history of the twentieth century is a graveyard of movements that promised justice through equality and delivered only scarcity through control.
When New York elected Zohran Mamdani as mayor, it made international headlines. Progressives hailed the victory as a historic shift - proof that a far-left agenda could triumph in America’s largest city. But history, both political and economic, suggests something very different: this win may soon turn into a boomerang for the Democratic Party.
The euphoria that follows every revolutionary promise rarely survives contact with reality. In New York, the gap between Mamdani’s vision and the city’s complex realities may expose the same fatal flaws that have doomed socialist experiments around the world - from Moscow to Havana and Caracas.
[IsraelTimes] As the two enemies try to shape the next phase of the ceasefire, Hamas aims to limit IDF freedom of action, while Jerusalem seeks to end Hamas’s veto over the Strip’s governance
After much excitement around the ceasefire in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... last month, plus no small measure of pomp and circumstance, US President Donald Trump ...Never got invited to a P.Diddy party... ’s 20-point peace plan has lost much of its momentum.
A string of senior US officials making the pilgrimage to Kiryat Gat — a phrase no journalist ever thought they would write — injected some energy into the process, but even the ongoing visits can’t hide the fact that Trump’s vision is encountering friction at every turn.
Still, the process is crawling forward, much of it the result of Trump’s stubborn determination.
Hamas ..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,... has stretched out the handover process of slain hostages across the four weeks since the ceasefire went into effect, but now, only 6 of the 28 bodies the terror group held on October 10 remain in Gaza.
With phase one still incomplete, no talks have been held on phase two of the deal.
Yet the Trump administration is making sure things are moving in the right direction. A draft United Nations ...an organization which on balance has done more bad than good, with the good not done well and the bad done thoroughly... Security Council resolution has been circulating, aiming to create a mandate for peacekeeping forces that would make potential contributing states feel comfortable with the mission.
There are also attempts by Arab mediators, especially Egypt, to cobble together an interim administration to run Gaza until a permanent solution is found.
Amid the slow jostling of the parties as the truce shambles toward the second phase, both Israel and Hamas are trying to ensure that Gaza doesn’t become another Leb ...The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers... — but for very different reasons.
HAMAS’S FEAR — IDF FREEDOM OF ACTION
The only document Hamas has signed — the October 9 ceasefire-hostage release agreement ratified in Sharm El-Sheikh — says "the war will immediately end."
"All military operations, including aerial and artillery bombardment and targeting operations, will be suspended," it reads.
That clause is the reason Hamas accepted the deal, even at the price of releasing all 20 of the living hostages in its hands. It was facing a resolute IDF push into Gaza City, with no prospect of the international community or Israeli protestors stopping it without a comprehensive deal.
That ceasefire has largely held, giving the terror group room to reassert its dominance in the 47% of Gaza under its control. Its fighters have put their uniforms back on and are out patrolling the streets, rifles on full display. Operatives have carried out executions of rivals and alleged collaborators in broad daylight.
Even with that space to breathe and regroup, there are signs of potential danger for Hamas. Twice, Hamas bandidosLions of Islam have managed to kill Israeli forces in Rafah. In response to last week’s attack, Israel carried out Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s across the Strip, killing dozens of terrorists, including commanders in Hamas and other terror groups. Gaza health authorities reported more than 100 dead in the strikes.
That is exactly what Hamas wants to avoid — Israel enjoying the freedom to decide when and where to strike, whereas any minor Hamas attack invites a massive IDF response.
That reality, which would be quite comfortable for Israel, is what abides in Lebanon.
Hezbollah was pounded into approving a humiliating ceasefire officially signed by Lebanon in November of last year, which set in motion the mechanism for its own disarmament.
A "side letter" of guarantees from the US reportedly affirmed and detailed Israel’s right to defend itself against renewed threats.
Israel has made enthusiastic use of that right. Since the ceasefire, the IDF says it has killed over 330 Hezbollah operatives in strikes, hit hundreds of Hezbollah sites, and conducted over 1,000 raids and other small operations in southern Lebanon in response to violations by the terror group.
Those strikes have targeted important commanders in the field. The IDF carried out two deadly attacks on Hezbollah figures on Monday, one of them killing Muhammad Ali Hadid, who the IDF said was a commander in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force. Israel took out another Radwan fighter on Wednesday.
As Israel steps up its strikes on Hezbollah, with no response from the once-fearsome Shiite force, Hamas has a clear vision of what the ceasefire can morph into if it doesn’t find a way to drastically limit Israel’s ability to target its commanders and its weapons.
ISRAEL’S CONCERN — HAMAS AS KINGMAKER
It remains unclear how Gaza will be run in the coming years, and Israeli leaders and diplomats are working overtime to ensure that two of its war aims are met.
Per Trump’s vision, Hamas is meant to disarm and step away from any governance of the Strip.
But the terror group is doing everything it can to avoid giving up its weapons. Senior Hamas officials have made clear in interviews that they don’t intend to comply.
Maintaining its arms will enable Hamas to prevent Israel from achieving the latter aim of keeping Hamas away from governance.
Hamas seems to have concluded that it can’t formally rule Gaza for the foreseeable future. But it has already started playing kingmaker. On Tuesday, top Hamas leader Moussa Abu Marzouk said that the terror group and the Paleostinian Authority came to an agreement on the makeup of the temporary committee that will manage the Gaza Strip on behalf of the PA.
And it intends to remain the strongest force in Gaza for years, with no compunction about killing fellow Gazooks. So long as it retains its arms, Hamas can meet any attempt to install an administration that would threaten it and its weapons with intimidation, and if necessary, liquidations.
This would mirror Hezbollah’s hold over Lebanon until it was defeated by Israel in 2024. As the most powerful player in a weak Lebanese state, the Iran-backed terror group monitored government institutions, universities, airports, banks and private companies. It had operatives at border crossings and ports, and installed allies and party members into key ministries to guarantee budgets and divert funds into its own coffers.
"Hezbollah’s use of weapons to intimidate its opponents paved the way for it to entrench — by force — its special status within the Lebanese state and thus increase its political influence," according to Chatham House’s Lina Khatib.
The arrangement provided convenient cover for Hezbollah. Israel was limited in its military options in Lebanon, since the Lebanese state had international legitimacy and Israel’s allies wanted to see it strengthened. Yet that state was controlled by Hezbollah, which was able to build its military arsenal to threaten Israel while hiding behind Lebanese institutions, which posed no threat at all to the Shiite force.
As long as Hamas remains armed and organized in Gaza, it will be operating in a Gaza ruled by a technocratic administration that it has some veto power over, and that enjoys the backing of Washington, Cairo, Riyadh, Abu Dhabi, Ankara, and other key players.
THE STRUGGLE AFTER THE WAR
Though Israel declared victory in Gaza shortly after Trump announced his plan, the outcome of the two-year war against Hamas is far from assured.
The month since the ceasefire went into effect has seen the sides jockeying to create facts on the ground and shift the terms of the truce to meet their own interests. That struggle will continue, sometimes through diplomacy, often through violence, and occasionally by slow-walking implementation of the deal, including the return of hostage bodies.
Israel might want to think it won, but Hamas doesn’t believe it has lost. If the terror group manages to retain its weapons and its control over who runs Gaza, Israel’s ostensible victory will dissipate, and Hamas will have been proven right.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,...
