Day 3 of a “surprise attack” on Israel and on Sunday, Oct. 8, 2023, Israel formally declared war on Hamas aka Palestine.
Months of bickering between Israel’s Netanyahu government and the US have been abnormally tense and highly unusual for these traditional allies. A rift seeming to accelerate after an earlier fallout between the US and Saudi Arabia. A shell game of global allies and alignments changing by the day.
Make no mistake, this is a war. Openly in Ukraine and now, Israel. They are not, however, being fought on behalf of “democracy”. They are skirmishes initiated to consolidate power over dwindling natural resources. Wars are spreading, globally fired by a complex layer of climate politics combined with a direct financial attack on the power of the US global dollar economy.
The US historically supports an internal, weak economy with its greatest financial weapon. War. Weapons manufacturing is a home-grown money machine. Add in the political clout of promising “jobs” and war becomes the DC politics ace card. We don’t have to declare it or join it. We just support it.
The peculiar bickering between Netanyahu’s government and the US, as noted earlier is tense and highly unusual for these historical allies. Panties in a twist, on September 3rd, Netanyahu popped over to Cyprus. An odd choice for a weekend break. Cyprus is one of the few countries hosting a Palestinian embassy and a “frenemy” historically aligned with Palestine, not Israel. Ostensibly this visit was to engage support from an amicable neighbour with years of hostile relations forgiven over a plate of baklava.
Was this instead a tit-for-tat on Cyprus from the US, with a private chat over a Turkish coffee between US officials and Israel? Political bedsheets are being changed faster than a baby’s diaper but not for the obvious reasons or for democracy.
What is inspiring Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides to potentially support Israel now?
Netanyahu claims it is for; “Our commitment to democracy and our common interest in the region—to fight radicalism, to fight terrorism, to fight those who don’t share our worldview and want to destroy our world—the combination of these things has made this partnership real”. The only words that have some ring of truth are “to fight those who don’t share our worldview.”
Harking back to the never-ending “Cyprus Problem” (orchestrated by Kissinger in 1974 with Tukey), and a country often referred to as “Little Russia” we find this hard to believe. This strategically placed island country has been a thorn in US /Middle East policies for years. Contrary to headlines, the Cyprus Problem is not about a religiously divided island. It is about military bases and military access.
With the war blowing up in Ukraine, Cyprus suddenly found itself on the hot seat regarding Russian sanctions. Cyprus banks were full of Russian money and its army was rattling along on Russian-supplied military equipment. After back-dooring EU membership in 2004, a NATO spotlight was bound to be uncomfortable. Suddenly, they were in need of cleaner money and different tanks.
In an interesting twist, in September 2022 the Biden administration quietly lifted the 1987 arms embargo on Cyprus. An embargo initially intended to prevent a military build-up on the island and force an agreement with Turkey through strong-armed diplomacy.
In reality, that embargo succeeded only in preventing Cyprus from buying US arms and the so-called Cyprus Problem became a problem the rest of the world forgot. Blocked from buying US military supplies, they turned to Russia to fill their defence needs. The annual Cyprus military parade rolled out with Russian T-80U battle tanks and TOR/M1 anti-aircraft systems. Now all that has changed, and those same Russian military weapons are now disposed of to Zelensky and Ukraine. To fight Russia and defend democracy.
This little trade-off opened the doors to Cyprus purchasing US weapons for the first time. However, this political shenanigan set “traditional” American ally Turkeys’ teeth on edge. Northern Cyprus is a nasty bone of contention. In retaliation, they welcomed fleeing Russians and their money into Istanbul and refused to join sanctions against them. The Biden administration reciprocated by imposing sanctions on 5 Turkish companies. Just 5. We still want to keep the peace and defend democracy.
It all reads like a very bad spy novel or kindergarten temper tantrums. In reality, we are watching a massive shift in global power alignments. Oddly, not with Russia. This is a super-power crash between China and the US. Russia is simply a political pawn for both players. As a country, Russia lacks the internal infrastructure, finance, and political stability to be a stand-alone threat. But it does make a very convenient bad guy.
So how does Ukraine and a new war in Israel fit the military games puzzle? Are we defending democracy or, something else? Netanyahu insists his aim is to strengthen the country’s democracy against an overly liberal court system. But, Netanyahu was headed to trial for corruption before dismantling the same judicial system that may have condemned him. Democratic protests were efficiently ignored as his trial date edged up.
In 2022 Zelensky received the John F. Kennedy Award for ‘defending democracy”. In 2023 he had to ‘clean house’ within his personal defence cabinet. Interesting timing, coming after the Biden administration objected to Ukraine joining NATO. An objection based on Ukrainian corruption underpinning a slightly non-democratic history. Shortly after cleaning up his act, Zelensky headed back to DC demanding more military aid and money from the US. In defence of, you guessed it, democracy. Not to be rude, just connecting the dots, but WTF is really going on here? A Bermuda Triangle of politics where things appear and disappear.
Back in Israel, Netanyahu’s government took unprecedented moves to manipulate power and per the people, destroy their democracy. Protests had little effect on creating policy change. However, based on interviews, his actions left Israel “wide open” to attack as the military took an unprecedented stand against Netanyahu’s coalition and sided with civilian protesters. Repeat, it was common knowledge that Israel was now “wide open to attack”.
So, let’s step back from the headlines. This is no surprise attack. It has come as clear bait to Hamas and a gilded invite to declare war. Sadly, for people on both sides of the “border,” the bait was taken, and civilians are per usual, paying the price in a bigger political war game.
It doesn’t take a genius to pick out places in the world to throw a match. It does take a few Machiavellian-directed individuals to keep the world distracted from the real game at play.
The climate crisis is not new. It’s old news to old politicians. Studies shelved in the 80s had this scenario drawn up. Additionally, equally intensive studies clearly mapped out the locations of global natural resources, humanity, and how both would be affected by a climate crisis. The levels of evil intent based on side-lining this information can only be left to our imaginations and conspiracy junkies.
More importantly, the studies illustrated the migration of massive populations due to droughts, famine, and uninhabitable environments. Israel and the Ukraine are not wars for “defending democracy”. They are starting gate volleys fighting for or defending the natural resources at the very base of Maslow’s hierarchy. Water, food, and shelter.
Countries are not building Trump/Biden-style walls to address illegal immigration. They are preparing to defend limited, internal resources against “outsiders”. Waves of desperate humanity seeking shelter and food. The global economy is crashing under a trend of ultra-conservative right-wing politics supporting the agenda. Forget sharing or, trading. This is an Us vs Them, Have’s vs the Have-Nots in an all-out war. A deliberate clash orchestrated by old politicians unable to grasp the consequences of a new world reality. Short-term financial agendas for destruction rather than collaboration. Fast money.
Which brings us back to, Israel, Cyprus, the Middle East, and a newer weapon in the arsenal. Water. 2023 has been the hottest year on record and deserts are expanding their borders.
In the West Bank, water limitations have haunted Palestinian towns and cities since the 1990 peace accords gave Israel control over 80% of the water reserves. A report by Eyal Hareuveni (Human Rights Group “B’Tselem”) noted that; “The amount of water Israel is supplying has not adapted to the needs of Palestinians and in many cases has not changed since the 1970s.” Palestinian Water Minister Mazen Ghunaim claims Israel has reduced an already sporadic water supply by an additional 25% over the summer. In Hebron, locals claim their taps have run dry many times for weeks on end.
In the usual, boring political tit-for-tat, Israel’s COGAT denies the allegations and insists supplies are per usual in accordance with pre-set agreements. Blah, blah headlines blah, blah.
However, statistics show that Israel’s agenda of knocking down Palestinian water installations has left Palestinians in the Jordan Valley, with a mere 7 litres of water per day. Far below the minimum 50-100 litres set as a basic standard by the World Health Organization.
Unlike its neighbours, due to a world-leading desalination network and recycled wastewater technologies, Israel does not currently suffer from a water shortage. Yet. Theoretically, they have enough to share. So, in the name of peace and democracy, why is nobody sharing?
Nearby Cyprus has had historical water issues and restrictions for over 40 years. It is short of surface and groundwater due to insufficient rainfall. Snowpacks in the Troodos mountains once offered a balancing effect to the issue. With global warming, this is no longer the case. In 2015, The Northern Cyprus Water Supply Project was completed in an unprecedented agenda of cooperation with Turkey. The pipeline transfers annually 75 million m³ water from the Alaköprü Dam on the Anamur-Dragon Creek in Turkey to the Geçitköy Dam in Northern Cyprus.
Both the agricultural irrigation and drinking water for all of Cyprus rely on this flow of water from Turkey. A rift between the two countries puts Cypriots on an equal footing with Palestinians in the Jordan Valley.
Water-vulnerable populations are at the political mercy of stronger, water-controlling nations. Throughout the Middle East and the world, similar scenarios are being played out. Weaker, smaller countries face a “democratic” choice of submission or invasion in the global battle for water and agricultural land.
For now, concession talks are still ostensibly taking place and some water-vulnerable populations can continue cooling off at the local public swimming pool. The tanks outside are parked, still in neutral.
No, we did not wake up to a “surprise attack” in Israel. We are waking up to a world battling over natural resource access and a near future of countries slamming their borders closed. A future where our passports might be our access passes to survival and democracy was a great idea. If only we had defended it.
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Thank you for clarifying this puzzling development. One would think that nations would have learned their lesson that wars do not accomplish anything but destruction. But now you say they do indeed accomplish something–access for the have-nots to vital supplies. That puts a new spin on things. I guess I have been lulled by the MSM’s ignoring of the climate crisis to think that crisis hasn’t yet affected people, hasn’t shown its teeth. But people on the edge have been aware all along. Defending democracy. An interesting idea. Clearly even the traditional democracies don’t value democracy for all their residents. Perhaps the only way to defend a democracy is to cease funding the corporations and individuals who have suborned them, that is, a tax strike. I’m not even sure that such a move would even be feasible, given the economic structures that keep the billions rolling into Washington. The very least we could do is to remove the veil of legitimacy from the governments by boycotting elections. BTW, some designate the U.S. as a failed state. One outlet even went on record to say it operates more like a plutocracy (https://www.cirsd.org/en/horizons/horizons-autumn-2020-issue-no-17/democracy-or-plutocracy—americas-existential-question) or an oligarchy, a study by a professor from Princeton and one from Northwestern University (https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-echochambers-27074746).
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Thank you for your thoughtful comments, Susanne. Access is a powerful thing in so many ways and social protests can, as noted take many forms that do not include violence. Money is oil that runs the power machines. There are several movements, focused on Black Friday/ Prime Day including #NoShopping2Days that are inspirational. We can all manage to “not shop” for a mere 2 days. The financial impact on corporations would be world changing for a peaceful “protest”. We are obliged to pay our taxes, we are not obligated to -shop. Have a great day and thanks for reading and sharing my work.