Palestine Tet – 96 – High Noon in the Middle East? Is the whole region about to explode?

If I am not mistaken, this photo was taken during the  protests in Gaza in 2018 in which hundreds of Palestinian protesters were shot in cold blood by Israeli snipers and Israeli civilians – as if at a sports stadium sitting in the bleachers – cheered on the assassins

Are the guns of early February about explode in the Middle East even more? Could it get much worse?

Of course it can and we – the world – are at a pivotal moment with few signs that diplomacy has much of a chance. Both Israel and the Biden Administration are trying to provoke Iran, Hezbollah or Islamic Resistance in Iraq into responding to their bombing attacks so as the trigger a major escalation in the violence. To date, none of these Axis of Resistance forces have taken the bait.

This is a very dangerous moment.

Both Washington and Tel Aviv  to regain what they are losing diplomatically and politically in the Middle East through a major joint military strike somewhere in the region with with drum beats of war getting louder and louder. Increasingly the target whose political wings they hope to clip is Iran although a direct attack on Iran has possible dire consequences both on the region and the global economy.

It is no secret – frankly all over the media worldwide – Netanyahu needs more war to stay in office and that he’s doing his darndest to bring in the U.S. militarily more actively into spreading wars. All indications are that Biden would like to do but with his poll numbers plummeting in contrast to Trump’s, “Genocide Joe” – as he is being increasingly referred to is damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t.

A major military build up with 70% of Americans supporting a ceasefire could lead to horrific consequences as this is not 1967 nor 1973 nor 1982 – not even 2006. Washington’s adversaries in the region and worldwide are stronger, Washington and its allies far weaker. As the November 2024 election approaches, Biden is losing important elements of his base – youth, people of color who, in a world of social media, are sickened by the slaughter and ethnic cleansing Israel is perpetrating against Gaza.

Having failed to date in its goals of destroying Hamas, expelling 2.3 million Palestinian Gazans into the Sinai Desert to be disbursed worldwide, Israel is turning its military attention towards S. Lebanon and Hezbollah. in order to try to compensate for its Gaza military failure with at least the semblance of a victory somewhere else. Besides, Netanyahu’s future depends upon winning a military contest somewhere, anywhere although ‘picking Hezbollah as its target’ might be an even bigger mistake than invading Gaza

The Biden Administration along with British military midgets are bombing Yemen.

U.S. troops find themselves increasingly pinned down in their bases in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere. Today the Houthi’s claimed to have sunk a U.S. warship in the Red Sea, an allegation that Washington, to date, is silent about. Meanwhile the Palestinian Resistance has embarrassed the IDF in Gaza, Hezbollah has seriously damaged a major Israeli communication and spying base at Meron. It’s missile campaign has caused Israelis in N. Israel to flee south in large numbers. Yemen continues to attack ships in the Red Sea region heading to and fro Israel and has, through its missile strikes,  shut down the Israeli Eilat port on the Gulf of Aqaba.

And the International Court of Justice, at South Africa’s request, the ICJ has just determined that there is enough evidence against Israel to pursue in a much more extensive and detailed case to determine whether it has committed genocide in Gaza, the facts on the ground presenting a damning indictment of Israel already.

Whatever sympathy Israel might have enjoyed after the Palestinian October 7 “break out” from its Gaza prison evaporated within days as Israel pulverized Gaza with missiles and a failed ground invasion causing already more than 100,000 casualties if one includes known dead and wounded, and the thousands still buried beneath the rubble. Israel has lost the public relations battle – too much blood in the ground, too much targeting of civilians, their homes, schools, hospitals in a concentrated level of barbarism that has shocked much of the world, especially the Global South.

Meanwhile Washington dithers.

It has never looked weaker, more out of control of the situation as the Biden Administration appears today in the Middle East. Unable to control its long time favorite proxy, it finds itself increasingly drawn in militarily to the many layered military confrontations. It’s naval armada has failed to stop Ansar Allah’s version of sanctions against Israel (interfering with ships coming and going to Israel); the U.S. bombing campaign – as savage as usual – to date has only stiffent Yemeni resolve. The international balance of power is shifting and Washington is losing its grip on the world.

Washington’s growing diplomatic isolation in the Middle East was starkly revealed by its pathetic (and humiliating) request to ask China to intervene with Iran to put pressure on Yemen to end its targeting Israeli bond ships. Nothing is working. In Washington DC a struggle between neocons – John Bolton, Victoria Nuland and the like (and behind them the Clintons) pushing for all out war and some elements of ruling class wanting to dampen down the tensions until at least after the November 2024 presidential elections.

Who has the upper hand? We’ll soon see.