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In God we Trust. We have to start this week’s update on conflicts around the world with South Africa taking Israel to court on charges of genocide. The Jews get some serious credit for taking on these allegations with their best lawyers. Even without a country like Germany intervening it’s difficult to imagine genocide being proven.
While war crimes might be proven and debated the world can now be at peace on this subject. The entire Israeli and Palestinian conflict should have been deliberated in court years ago. It has the effect of taking the passion out of the debate. Those poor college protestors can now sit idle at home eating Top Ramen while watching updates on YouTube.
17 highly decorated international judges in what’s being framed as the most objective environment possible to have an earnest look at the WAR in Gaza has also changed what many thought of as an escalation of the special military operation in Ukraine. Russia would never go to court to talk about war crimes.
The dissident Jews have once again stood up to help define a gray area in our understanding of humanity. War is ugly, yet the definitions of how to conduct it are separating the civilized from the barbarians. Whoever finds themselves with the barbarians in the future could also find themselves the victims of the wrath of the world. Remember at this point we haven’t crossed the Rubicon. It’s more like the international community as seen through the writing on this milblog is responding to wildfires breaking out in different regions.
Hamas started the latest round of the conflict in Gaza on October 7th. It’s telling that they didn’t bring Israel to account in The Hague. If we take a step back we can see the picture of what they tried to accomplish. Hamas attacked Israel in the manner that they did knowing full well how the Jews would respond. They then turned international sentiment against the Jews calling the killing of innocent civilians from airstrikes and word choices by Israeli leadership as evidence of genocide. Then there was a pause in hostilities.
Israel claims that hostage negotiations broke down during the pause because Hamas is raping women that they took hostage and they don’t want to let them leave out of fear about what they would reveal. Then supposedly Hamas began firing rockets again. Now we’re back to hostilities that are no longer leading the news cycle. The only thing Hamas has going for it is the massive casualties of innocent civilians.
It’s interesting that South Africa would be the country to press for charges of genocide against Israel. With the Houthi Rebels attacking commercial shipping as a protest against the War in Gaza international shipping has returned to the Horn of Africa. Could this return of shipping around South Africa be causing some sort of havoc with local administrators?
It could be that South Africa’s status with BRICs could be threatened with Western interests in the area again. Yet it could also be the obvious race card of a black nation rising in prominence in international affairs wanting to prove to itself what others might express through propaganda. We can understand why South Africa doesn’t want to rely on what other countries say about the conflict. We can also once again give Israel credit for willing to go to court in order to allow for clarification in a way a powerful country like Russia would show disdain toward South Africa in this regard.
It also looks bad on Palestine and Iran for not taking this opportunity to press their interests in court. We could in fact see a countersuit against Iran for obviously calling its forces like Hamas, Houthi Rebels, and other groups to escalate violence in the region.
As we can see rules of conflict are helping to shape public opinion now. Even Palestinians are feeling sick when the way their leadership commands their soldiers to fight is exposed. Some might say they’re a smaller force going against a technologically advanced military in Israel. Yet they would be better served with a true follower of Islam leading prayers for peace and recognition of their struggles in the region.
Now to Ukraine where the Russians continue to get massacred on the frontline that remains static. Ukraine is on the defense while Russians attack in broad daylight being picked off with precision guided munitions. The only country to fear another Russian invasion is the Russians as the wives of fallen soldiers become prostitutes in the warzone as a way to pay for their search and recovery efforts. Unfortunately, their husband’s dog tags are buried with them in shallow mass graves keeping the Kremlin from having to pay for their deaths.
Let us not forget it’s election season. Putin 2.0 has shown us where he’s from with a visit to Chukotka. It’s only 50 miles from Alaska and it’s a place Putin never visited. Once again, the West Coast Milblogger gets a visit from one of the main actors in aggression around the world. Putin 2.0 gets a laugh visiting an indoor vegetable grow lab in this out of the way place that rarely gets attention – as he well knows as a former local – while the Moscow District is forced to burn furniture to stay warm.
This isn’t to say Putin 2.0 can’t be dangerous or that Russia is weak for invasion. The West stands on international law and international boundaries. If pushed Putin 2.0 could order a murder to remain in power. Only for now, he remains innocent as he attempts to heal the Russian spirit in order to find a path for peace in Ukraine allowing it to once again participate in the international community. The motivation of course being an eroding economy having been cheated on oil sales to India as Saudi Arabia looks to flood the market with cheap oil.
Staying in the Far East, North Korea continues to become more and more belligerent threatening annihilation of South Korea and America to prove loyalty to Russia where they’re most vulnerable now. This stance also keeps the Kremlin from calling out North Korea on its faulty ammunition that has killed hundreds of Russian soldiers in Ukraine. While North Korea could get lucky with a nuclear missile strike against an Allied nation, Kim Jong-Un wouldn’t survive the aftermath. This once again proves the value of US deterrence.
Yet can this policy keep China at bay? This is the main question at the end of the day. As we see Iran, Russia, and North Korea push for war with the West, none of these countries are willing to make a move without full support from China that they’ll need for manpower and weapons on par with Western countries. China becoming an Axis power would give them what they’re looking for – parity - and a real chance to win a WAR against the West.
Only there’s another part of this equation they don’t seem to understand in the conventional fight, the cohesion of their fighting forces. In this scenario it would be easy to witness Iran, North Korea, and Russia using Chinese troops as cannon fodder while taking their advanced weapon systems on the cheap to launch expensive uncoordinated strikes against civilian infrastructure around the world drawing ire from the undecided nations. On the flip side Iran, North Korea, and Russia could lose their statehood by allowing the Chinese Army sanctuary within their borders. It’s this mistrust that leads to an Allied victory every time. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be fighting; we would be united for space exploration around the solar system.
In closing, China can reunify with Taiwan if it’s done peacefully. The West has never backed away from One-China even when maintaining the status quo. Yet it is China’s hardline in Hong Kong, where they took control over a free economic powerhouse turning it against itself that has led to a Tiawan Presidential victory maintaining a more independent stance.
China has no fear of invasion from the West even as maritime troubles continue near contested borders. Ironically, most recently China has sided with the Maldives in its dispute with India, in what some might say China is doing in the South China Sea with smaller countries like Vietnam, and the Philippines. It could be like South Africa trying to prove to itself the fairness of the international courts.
For this reason, From A to Z’s think tank is not sold on China wanting to aggressively incorporate Taiwan. We think they enjoy the challenge of a peaceful takeover. However, they must become enlightened about their own society’s shortcomings of being stoic. If they can show love for their people, they can join America as a force for justice around the world.
Thank you,
Cyrus Emerson
For more analysis on the war in Ukraine check out Combat Vet News:
https://www.combatvetnews.com
Pandemic Manifesto
https://www.amazon.com/kindle-vella/story/B0BN29PWVQ
Red Roses
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA8CM-9RxCxQmoyR9kPmNTQ9tnu6Gwg6E