(Junior U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania John Fetterman, who continues to recover from a stroke during the last campaign cycle. He has become alert, much to the surprise of many observers. Photo Commonwealth of Pennsylvania).

We like the date: 1-11, or a least the start of this one. We rose this morning with the usual heightened Thursday sense of awareness since there is a conference call in which we participate when we remember. We did remember this morning, and tuned into the news to see if anything malevolent had happened since yesterday.

That is a somewhat controversial matter on other days, since some of the Salts have eschewed “the news” and prefer to watch romantic comedies on one of the thousands of channels displayed randomly on the flatscreen. To them, it makes sense. On Thursdays, we have dispensation for a couple hours of yaba-daba-do before the Zoom call. This morning was sort of typical, since there is actual ‘news.’

The older stuff is still going on, of course. In East European trenches, there are moderately young people huddled in Ukraine’s wet chill lobbing rockets at one another. The key to that extended conflict may be the cost of the defensive systems being used against relatively cheap rockets constructed of ordinary steel piping.

In the Holy Land, the Israeli Defense Forces have apparently penetrated to the nexus of the tunnel system under Gaza. They may destroy the whole expensive network, largely funded by Iran. Which appears largely funded by the Great Satan, which improbably is us.

Demonstrations supporting the Hamas forces continue all around the world for reasons we cannot completely understand. There were bridge and tunnel blockages in New York City yesterday, and we warned folks to be alert in case they come here to Washington. Mixing it all up is another conflict with a religious streak within another religious tradition. Some elements of that one are entangled in the more prominent one this morning and has little to do with either Christianity or Judaism.

We hate to plunge into another couple crises, but need to account for what might be happening next. We were all appalled when newly-elected Senator John Fetterman stumbled to his seat in Pennsylvania. The news surpassed the National Park Service decision to pull down the statue of William Penn in Welcome Square. Apparently they want to honor indigenous but unknown people. News, for sure, but of what we are not sure.

Senator Fetterman has regained his public voice and placed the nation of South Africa in the center of the table. We are pleased he seems to have recovered somewhat, but the issue is troubling. There has been talk of ‘genocide’ in the Palestinian segment of the global crisis, but according to the Senator, there is another one in progress. He claims this one is real: the systematic elimination of Boer farmers from their productive estates.

We don’t know why the Senator adopted this crisis for publicity, but we will be following with interest as a key member of the BRIC economic alliance seizes property and imprisons or eliminates their citizens. We suppose the justification might be something called ‘reparations,’ since we hear bout that here. We suspect that the oppressed group in this case will get minimal publicity. But we are happy for the Senator.

The other issue is the determination of Iran to demonstrate their regional capability. We saw this morning that the Iranian Navy had seized a US-flag tanker in the Gulf of Oman. We are sure someone has awakened Secretary Austin in his sickbed and something might happen if he is able to speak. The Houthi rebels on the Red Sea coast have been throwing rockets at all sorts of shipping in the Red Sea. The news is reporting that the Iranians have been supporting them with supplies and inspirational rhetoric.

While both Iran and Saudi both fiercely follow the precepts of Islam, there is a distinct difference. The Saudis, a luke-warm ally of the US, are mostly Sunnis. The Iranians, once known as Persians, are Shia. So we have a segment of an old religious war in progress as we attempt to use the Abraham Accords to defuse some of the hostility to Israel. The Iranians are reportedly only 12 days away from producing an atomic weapon, so we will be watching with interest as the US navy attempts to figure out what to do about captured ships.

With current leadership issues, that is uncertain. Mention of the South African situation caused us to recall the unpleasant days of Rhodesia’s transformation to Zimbabwe. There is some baggage tht goes along with that, and something similar may be happening in southern Africa.

There is more happening here- former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has apparently dropped out of the race for the GOP Presidential nomination, which is recycled news from other campaigns even as uncertainty accompanies the re-election efforts by whomever is still in the White House.

We do a weekly series of reporting about the events in our world and others to see if there is a way to predict what will be happening next. Obviously, the Election of Elections right here in America is one of them. Coming out of the holidays, some things are vaulting to attention while others are chugging along in the back, unseen and powerful.

Today? The Iranians are reported to have seized a US-flagged tanker in the Gulf of Oman in the hours of darkness here on America’s East Coast. It will likely mean another lurch in conflict out there, or at least a higher scale. It appears that the Iranian Mullahs feel this is a good time to act. They have encouraged their proxy fighters to lob rockets at shipping. The Houthis are officially known as a group called ‘Ansar Allah,’ or “Supporters of God.’ The group emerged in Yemen in the 1990s, after our time out there.

Under the leadership of Zaidi religious leader Hussein al-Houthi, the Houthis emerged as an opposition movement to Yemen President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was said to be corrupt, or in sway to the Saudis to the north. Saleh was in power when we were operating in the north Arabian Sea near picturesque Great Socotra Island. Or ‘In the vicinity of Great Socotra Island.’ That is a phrase that has stayed with us for the last half century. We have adapted it to the changing circumstances of our times.

It looks like it may be back in the news and we will look in before next week. We have decided to let our use of the island stand with our copyright. Just stay away from the news!

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