Morning, Gentle Readers! There could be good news!
Maybe. As you are aware, this has been one of the craziest news weeks we have ever seen at this picnic table. Or any other picnic table we have had the chance to occupy. There may actually be some good news in the mess, or at least not as bad as it could be, so stick with us. We may have avoided something spectacular, and it is possible it even got the attention of some of the people who claim to be running this astonishing show. We will try to wade through and avoid the inclination to get back to last minute shopping or protesting.
Arrias had a nice, thoughtful piece we ran this morning on how we have arrived in this curious chaotic situation. It’s sober analysis radiates across the echeleons of the earth’s interwoven affairs. That itself is a fairly remarkable thing for level of intensity, threat and manic comedy. Yet there is some good news in the maelstrom and I will try to emphasize that. aspect with the recommendation to “stay alert,” there is a lot going on and the election here has an impact on all the stuff happening overseas. So, to quickly capture that:
We have been fixed on Iran’s response to Israel’s assassination campaign against Iran proxy leaders from Hamas (Gaza) and Hezbollahn (Lebanon). The killing of the senior Hamas leader in Tehran was a deliberate and provocative act to which Iran has declared a response. So that has had us on the “brink of war” since late last week. Consequences of even a regional conflict brinning Lebanese troops into the Golan Heights and what remains of Hamas in Gaza shooting rockets as the Houthis shoot at ships in the red Sea and Iran hurls hundreds of rockets as they did last time will cause problems for everything and everyone.
But wait! There’s more! The Daily Mail reported yesterday that the Ukrainians had hatched a plot to assassinate Mr. Putin when he appeared at the 28 July Navy Day Ceremony in St. Petersburg. It is a hugely significant event, not dissimilar to the Jewsih commeoration of Rashi B’av this coming Monday which was thought to be the date of the impending Iranian attack. Big deals, but the one we were concerned about turned out to be the smaller of the two. Russia’s FSB got word of the Putin plot and the Minister of Defense used the Hot Line to call the Pentagon to tell the US to tell the Ukrainians to knock it the hell off.
They did. As you can imagine, this is one of the few times the Hot Line has been used for the reason it was created- to avoid a direct confrontation between the two largest nuclear powers as new players are taking that field. So, the Big One did not happen this week, and that threat may actually be receding from where we were a few days ago.
People are now talking, but there are problems in Bangladesh, Muslim vs, Hindu withthe Russians telling militants to chill, Venezuela in flames over the Madura tainted re-election, the Olympics, and the on-stage kick-off of the Harris campaign as the official Zoom-call nominated candidate supported by the Rural National-guard Master-Sergeant and Governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz.
There is plenty to go along with that, with the big speeches yesterday emphasizing his testosterone and “moderation,” which doesn’t reflect his refusal to call the national guard out to shut down the riots in Minneapolis or his abrupt retirement from the same organization immediately before an Iraq deployment a few years ago.
Anyway, a mention of that dramatic increase in volume may have everyone as agitated as I was yesterday as the news about the Putin attempted snuff came in followed by updates on the Al Asad Air Base attack that injured 12 US personnel. In the domestic campaign there is more stuff than candidates- Veep actress marie Louise-Dreyfus has apparently also been called in as a senior advisor to provide gravity- but there is also active discussion that two states, led by Texas are considering Secession depending on how the election goes.
The possible reduction in global tensions may be an illusion. But things could possibly be getting a bit better. The fireworks around our election may be an admission by one side that the other is likely to win, and the game plan is now to build for 2028 while waging the same kind of bureaucratic war. conducted against his administration while saving their bench for an eight-year try in 2028. But of course the Lawfare struggle is not yet over, and New York Judge Merchan has announced his intention to deliver a sentence on Mr. Trump for his manifold felonies on 18 September, halfway to November 5th. So there will be some fireworks already on the menu, and they could include jail.
So, for this week we have already been to the Commissary, the liquor store and the Tobacco hut. We are stocked up at least through the passing of the remnant sof Hurrican Debbie, the possible attack on Isreal, and the dimiunation of the nuclear threat we did not know about. We paln to go back to the groacery store at least beofer nay presdiental canddiates are thrown in the slammeer.
But that is the kind of week this has been. And that is the good news!
– Vic
Copyright 2024 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com