Stuck in the Mud
"The war-hawks' eyes were bigger than their stomachs, and still the neoconservatives are salivating"
It is day 10 of the Israel-Hamas conflict–the clock is ticking for the siege on Gaza. Hamas has dug in as Gaza is being leveled, and the gaslighting in the media has spun into a humanitarian frenzy. Blinken and Biden are trying to put out the fires diplomatically and talk Israel off of the ledge. Hashem has blessed (or cursed) the struggling nation with a rain that has delayed the ground offensive while diplomacy takes hold in the political theatre. John Kirby has made it abundantly clear that Ukraine is finished; the war-hawks' eyes were bigger than their stomachs, and still the neoconservatives are salivating over the United States Southern border and a confrontation with China.
Netanyahu is stuck in an impossible position. While he has whipped the ethnic monolith back into shape with a Unity war cabinet, he cannot satiate his corner's unbridled demand for Greater Israel and the annexation of Gaza. Unfortunately for him, ethnic cleansing is untenable and would mean the ousting of Likud. Opposition would seize the throne with a vengeance and Bibi would likely end up in jail alongside Gvir, Smotrich, and fanatic settlers determined to summon the antichrist.
The Sino-Soviet olive branch
Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov has arrived ahead of Chinese Foreign Ministry’s envoy to the Middle East next week. China and Russia both have much to lose from a regional conflict breaking out. BRICS+ and all of the Chinese philanthropy will amount to naught if nukes start flying. If the front line of the tripartite in West Asia, Iran, goes to war, then so goes the world. Is there any great nation who would stand to gain from a global conflict? If it wasn't clear before, the unipolar moment has passed. The United States must take a more passive role in Middle East affairs.
"The root cause...of the Palestine-Israel situation is that the Palestinian people's right to statehood has been set aside for a long time,"
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in a call with Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on Sunday, according to an official Chinese readout.
"This historical injustice should end as soon as possible – China will continue to stand on the side of peace and support the just cause of the Palestinian people in safeguarding their national rights. [Israel] should listen earnestly to the calls of the international community and the UN Secretary General, and cease its collective punishment of the people of Gaza, all parties should not take any action to escalate the situation, and should return to the negotiating table as soon as possible"... ”the convening of an international peace meeting as soon as possible to promote the reaching of broad consensus”
Zhai Jun "will visit the Middle East next week to coordinate with various parties for a ceasefire, to protect civilians, ease the situation, and promote peace talks…the prospect of further broadening and outward spillover [of the conflict] is deeply worrying", CCTV said in a video posted to its official social media account on Sunday.
Zhai met Friday with the Arab League's representatives in China and said Beijing supported the regional group "in playing an important role on the Palestine issue", according to a foreign ministry statement.
Netanyahu’s only way out of prison may be through the tried and true method borne out of Old Jewry: parliamentary deliberation.