The Biden administration talks out of two sides of its mouth
As expected, the administration is still protecting Iran:
Many [as far as I know, all of them Republicans] are calling on Biden to refreeze the $6 billion of Iranian funds that he had unfrozen as part of a prisoner swap deal last month. …
Tuesday, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan refused to commit to taking the measure.
“You just laid out all the ways that Iran is complicit and facilitated it … is that reason enough to re-freeze the $6 billion that the U.S. helped unlock for them?” a reporter asked Sullivan.
“We have not yet had a dollar of that $6 billion spent, and I will leave it at that,” Sullivan replied.
Meanwhile, Biden’s press secretary KJP surprised me by saying the following:
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked about President Biden’s message to members of Congress who seem to be equating the Hamas terror attack with actions that were previously taken by Israel. When asked which members, Real Clear Politics reporter Philip Wegmann said that some members [that’s most of The Squad] have called for a ceasefire and not gone as far as backing the administration’s call for support for Israel.
“So, I’ve seen some of those statements this weekend. And we’re gonna continue to be very clear. We believe they’re wrong. We believe they’re repugnant and we believe they’re disgraceful,” Jean-Pierre said.
For once, those words are something I can get behind. But actions speak louder than words – much louder.
I guess this is as good a place as any to add that the American death toll in Israel from the attack has now risen to 22, with some unannounced (and perhaps as yet unknown) number probably taken hostage. The Israeli death toll is now around 1200, and that may not be the final figure. And of course there have been deaths in Gaza, perhaps 1100 but I don’t think the number is really known at this point. I will add that Israel warns civilians to leave; this was no sneak attack.
I also want to add this link to an article entitled, “Years of subterfuge, high-tech barrier paralyzed: How Hamas busted Israel’s defenses: IDF was fooled by terror group’s messaging, over-relied on remote-controlled surveillance systems and weapons that were swiftly disabled by drones and snipers, enabling onslaught.” Here’s a sample from it:
Israel long thought the high-tech security barrier dividing it from the Gaza Strip — bristling with razor wire, cameras and sensors, and fortified with a concrete base against tunnels and remote-controlled machine guns — was impenetrable. …
The massive attack at dawn Saturday came under cover of a barrage of missiles aimed at Israeli civilian areas, and involved sniper fire, explosives dropped from drones on lookout and communication towers, and bulldozers that ripped through the six-meter (20-foot)-tall double fence barrier at an estimated 30 places along the border.
More than 1,500 terrorists quickly swarmed through in pickup trucks and on motorcycles, joined by others using gliders and speedboats at sea, to unleash gun attacks on nearby communities.
I have read, and I assume, that they expected to meet more resistance and didn’t. But it also seems crystal clear that this was never meant to be a military attack – it was intended to be a terrorist attack on families, women, and children.
More:
According to details reported Tuesday by The New York Times, citing initial assessments by four senior Israeli security officials, the operational failure began when an urgent alert early Saturday morning by intelligence officials about a sudden surge in Hamas communication networks wasn’t acted upon by border guards, who presumably didn’t get it or didn’t read it. …
But the main failure was said to lie with over-reliance on the remote-controlled border fence and improper defenses of it, which allowed drones controlled remotely by Hamas to bomb and disable communication towers, surveillance centers and remotely operated machine guns near the border, as well as disabling security cameras with sniper fire, instantly rendering the border defenseless.
Few soldiers were stationed near the border, both because forces were diverted to the West Bank and because the reliance on the high-tech barrier led the military to believe troops didn’t have to physically guard the frontier in large numbers. …
It took many hours until the military was able to connect the dots and take in the magnitude of the situation in the border towns, and send in adequate forces to overrun the terrorists.
Much much more at the link.
It reminds me of a highly lethal version of the fact that in the US, because everything is computerized, if the internet goes down in a grocery store, everything comes to a halt because there’s no manual alternative and anyway young people these days have trouble with simple arithmetic.
Biden protects Iran because he and Barack have been bribed with bitcoin. And they both hate Jews.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/iran-backed-militia-threatens-to-attack-american-bases-if-us-intervenes-in-war/
The evidence is pretty clear. This is basically a continuation of the war against Israel that has continued since it was established in 1948. The Muslims, in general, and the Muslim theocracies in particular, are all in favor of the attack by Hamas.
Exactly why the left, BLM, and academia (being redundant here) are pro Hamas and Muslim atrocities against Jews is not clear. By and large Jews have been supporters of the left. There is a large leftist segment of Jews in Israel itself. Why the hate for Jews from the left? The mind boggles.
We all know why the Muslims hate the Jews. They have been enemies since the days of Mohammed. The Quran tells them the Jews are bad.
Since Israel was created, the Jews have committed an unpardonable sin. They turned an Arab desert into a productive, decent place to live. How dare they?
A major battle in this long conflict has begun. That Hamas and their supporters will lose is the way to bet. But the destruction, killing, and suffering will be horrific.
It’s clear that Israel can no longer live with a knife at its throat. What has to be done, must be done. Let God sort them out.
I expect the White House to side with Israel for a couple of weeks or so. So KJP’s comments don’t surprise me. But then the support will be dialed back over time, and pressure will start to build on Israel to suspend operations against Hamas.
Or at least that’s my suspicion.
J.J.:
I’ll try to tackle that question tomorrow.
We have read about the USS Ford and it’s Battle Group. Understand that there are 2k Marines with the USS Batan, off Kuwait. And now the USS Eisenhower is shipping out, although the Navy “says” this is a normal deployment. That is a lot firepower. Not sure if another ship with the Ford is also carrying Marines.
When I was in the Navy I was on the USS FD Roosevelt in the Med. At that time the Navy had two Carrier Groups in the Med. We rotated from the Western to Eastern Med.
Only two sides?
Historical roots of the disaster explained by shift in emphasis from offensive (deterrence, detection, and destruction of the enemy) to defensive military posture.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/why-did-israel-think-a-border-fence-would-protect-it-from-an-army-of-terrorists/
Suggest the consideration of proposals for US border protection (Dems, back when they were pretending to care: all we need are surveillance cameras!) and anti-terrorist protocols (back when terrorists were Islamic jihadis rather than American school moms: we can always find them out with media surveillance!).
Failures in the latter category are too myriad to catalog, even where the attacks were not facilitated by the Feds.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtis_Culwell_Center_attack
Ultimate proof, if more were needed, that the US “War on Terror” failed bigly.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/iran-backed-militia-threatens-to-attack-american-bases-if-us-intervenes-in-war/
No doubt Harvard and MSNBC would contribute.
I’m looking forward to the post on why the left supports the Palestinians, because that is one that I’ve never understood.
It has been made abundently clear over the past few decades that the Palestinians have no interest in a two state solution, and no interest whatsoever in living in peace with the Israelis. It certainly doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that their objective is to drive all of the Jews from the Middle East. And yet we have our western leftist elites still chanting “from the river to the sea Palestine will be free.” Many of them are just useful idiots, but the more sophisticated among them surely know that is a call for genocide. It’s chilling. Especially in a country where all of us are “settlers” if you go back far enough.
As for the $6B, there have been reports that the administration is at the mercy of Qatar to claw the money back, and that Qatar is not inclined to cooperate. Under that theory, the administration is now playing word games to deflect blame for foolishing releasing the money in the first place.
The Iran thing is another one that I just don’t get. You don’t have to go back very far at all to find a time when almost all Democrats understood that appeasing Iran is insane. Before Obama, that one lived almost exclusively on the most extreme fringes of the academic left. Yet now Iranian appeasement is an article of faith on the mainstream left. And these are the people who pride themselves on intelligence?
I’m also reminded of Robert Gates’ comment about Biden and foreign policy.
Qatar backs the Taliban, backs Hamas backs the Syrian Al Queda branch Army of Conquest, they are the competitors in the Wahhabi blood derby, with Al Jazeera with the endowment of university chairs, the 15 million to Brookings,
see here
https://twitter.com/AlbertoMiguelF5/status/1711814329593434206
Trump tried to blockade Qatar, but he was deterred,
it’s been a long time since they had any sort of real integrity, the scoop jackson wing had it, but they surrendered to Jesse Jackson’s forces of atavism, of course there was the foolishness of Oslo, the hudna of hudnas
Just in case it’s not yet clear:
“Appeasement in Real Time;
“Biden and Blinken pay the Dane-Geld”—
https://johnalucas6.substack.com/p/appeasement-in-real-time
H/T Instapundit.
Key word:
Weasel.
Continued…
To be sure, the author does not entirely get it.
“Biden” is not paying Dane-geld; “he” is hiring a PROXY—an ALLY, actually—to do the dirty work for “him” vis a vis the Zionist Entity.
IOW to do the is the dirty work that Obama/”Biden” cannot do “himself”, at least NOT YET, because of political reasons.
And so, just another aspect of the all-important Obama/”Biden” OPTICS game.
(Just another variant on the COVER-UP game, the DECEIT game, the BETRAYAL game, the PREVARICATION game.)
The FUNDAMENTAL TRANSFORMATION game.
And we’ll be seeing the next exciting episode of the globally popular (once again) “SLAUGHTER DA JEWS” game this Friday…at a neighborhood near you!
File under: Fun and games with “Decent Joe”!!
Ah yes, Jake Sullivan (national security advisor to president joke bidet); another highly educated moron.
Why does it seem that oft times one’s academic achievements are inversely correlated to having any common sense?
As George Orwell said;
“There are some ideas so absurd that only an intellectual could believe them.”
? George Orwell
Why is this?
thats spelled knave
https://www.opindia.com/2021/02/biden-jake-sullivan-mira-rapp-hooper-china-ccp-funded-alibaba-yale-centre-usa-jinping/
orwell was still a socialist, I think burnham was more right
I think the war on terrorism worked pretty well. Not perfectly…but by fighting on their territory we made their priority the defense of their own lands. And they will be our enemies no matter what we do, appeasement, dane-geld, withdrawal, cessation of funding Israeli defense. It doesn’t matter what we do they’ll still be our enemies. You can’t reason with religious zealots. They are trying to bring about Dar-al-Islam. The world in submission to the will of God. Well, their version of God anyway.
And now Hamas will finally get what they deserve. Israels past mistake has been not finishing what they started. Driving them back is not enough, they need to be forced to leave. And yes, many more innocent lives will be destroyed. Gaza can and should be flattened. It’s inhabitants force to flee. Surrender or die. At least Israeli caused atrocities will be minimal, unlike Hamas.
It’s the only way to be sure.
“Gaza can and should be flattened. It’s inhabitants force to flee.”
Yes, and what is really telling is that Egypt is keeping its border with Gaza closed. Not sure if Egypt is aligned with the idea of promoting many casualties in order to display to the world how “bad” Israel is, or they just don’t want those refugees coming in.
Tony Badran, Tablet Mag: https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/was-bidens-speech-as-pro-israel-as-you-think
“There are some ideas so absurd that only an intellectual could believe them.”
? George Orwell
Why is this?”
JohnTyler,
Not sure I can give a good answer, but from my 40+ years in academia I found the following: Almost all of those you talk about are in the humanities and social studies. The typical such person comes from an upper class family background, went to private schools, even college. I don’t ever remember any of them getting their undergrad or grad work from a state university. ie, they’ve lived their whole lives in a bubble. No McJobs in their background in high school, or working summers to get through college. No, they spent their college summers flitting about Europe, etc., and were quite proud of the fact. I guess what I’m saying, they have very little real world experience. I even saw some of that in a few physics theoreticians who tended to be much more liberal in their politics. Never had to turn a wrench in a lab, or work with the physical plant guys.
Third possibility; Egypt is fine with Hamas pancakes. Hamas is a threat to them too. How to sort the tares (Hamas) from the wheat (actual humans) is the problem for Egypt.
With regard to the advances brought on by computerization of a system:
While a “senior student” studying for a degree, I worked as the bookkeeper at a famous old waterfront bar/restaurant. Located on the banks of a lake in Seattle it is in the same building that had been there since the early 1900’s. For all those years up to the present-day computer era, the restaurant staff successfully performed these five simple things repeatedly:
1. seat customers–take their order
2. place the order with the kitchen help
3. serve the food pursuant to that order
4. provide a bill for that food to the customer
5. accept payment and provide any change
The restaurant has always sat on this site which is very vulnerable to frequent electrical outages due to wind and rain. After a full remodel to add a computer system, when the electrical went out none of the five above mentioned functions could be performed.
1. The staff could not take your order
2 kitchen could not receive the order
3 food could not be served because it was not possible to cook
4. a bill could not be presented to the customer because all bookkeeping/cash/credit systems would not function
5. the cash registers and credit card systems would not work so customers could not pay.
In short, for seventy-plus years this restaurant was able to function completely even during an electrical outage. After computerization, if the wind came up nothing functioned–it became a complete shutdown. mmm…
@ Barry > “Biden and Blinken pay the Dane-Geld”
I believe that your interpretation (buying proxy war against Israel) is a better one, but there are nonetheless Danes in the case: American universities (faculty, admin, students), activist orgs (BLM, etc), and Democrats in general, whom the Right has been appeasing for years in a futile attempt to avoid their calumny.
It hasn’t worked.
As physicsguy noted on another thread
https://townhall.com/columnists/kurtschlichter/2023/10/12/leftists-want-the-same-massacre-to-happen-here-n2629629
More Kipling is indicated, because it’s a natural double-bill: The Gods of the Copy-Book Headings.”
There are some ideas so absurd that only an intellectual could believe them.
George Orwell
Einstein pointed this out as a failure of academics that is due to the fact that their reality is words on the page without any connection to the outside world. Much harder to do in the physical sciences.
Sorry, my comment was posted in the wrong discussion. I meant to explain the simple devastating impact that computerization can have on a system.
“SLAUGHTER DA JEWS game”, continued:
Looks like Macron doesn’t wanna play?
“France Bans All Pro-Palestinian Protests In Drastic Crackdown
‘ In a surprise move which is sure to be widely condemned as brazen and massive overreach stomping on free speech [Emphasis mine; Barry M.], the French government of Emmanuel Macron has just announced it is banning pro-Palestinian protests. [Emphasis in original] Paris says it’s necessary to maintain national security and prevent anti-semitic attacks.’
Opening graf:
‘ Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin announced Thursday in a letter to law enforcement across the country that they are “likely to generate disturbances to public order.“….’ [Emphasis in original]
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/france-bans-all-pro-palestinian-protests-drastic-crackdown
Macron?
Doesn’t he know that shouting “Death to the Jews!” “Jews to the OVENS”, and intimidating and threatening Jews and Israelis is an Inalienable Right of Man?
(Guess that makes him just another ZIO STOOGE?…Right, Bob?)