Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s itinerary for his unscheduled visit to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, remains undisclosed.

In an unannounced visit, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky lands in Saudi Arabia, on Wednesday, and gets greeted by Saudi officials, including the national security advisor and ambassador to Kiev, according to reports by the official Saudi Press Agency.

As of now, no details regarding Zelensky’s itinerary have been made public.

In recent weeks, Zelensky has been on a global tour to garner support and encourage attendance for an upcoming summit in Switzerland this weekend. His travels have included visits to traditional European Union allies, as well as countries in the Middle East and Asia that maintain closer ties with Russia.

Argentina’s president to join Ukraine summit in Switzerland

Argentinian President Javier Milei has opted to attend the forthcoming summit in Switzerland, according to reports from the Clarin newspaper.

He will be accompanied by the economy and defense ministers. Initially, Argentine media indicated that Milei intended to skip the G7 summit in Italy and the Switzerland conference, along with other European events, to be in Argentina for national holidays. However, he later revised his schedule to include the G7 summit.

The newspaper reported on Tuesday that Milei has once more altered his plans at the eleventh hour and will also journey to Switzerland. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky purportedly conveyed a special message to Milei, urging him to at least be present at the opening ceremony of the conference.

Argentine Economy Minister Luis Caputo and Defense Minister Luis Petri will accompany Milei to Switzerland, as reported by the newspaper. It is also worth noting that Petri is anticipated to participate in a meeting of the contact group concerning Ukraine’s defense.

Switzerland is set to host a high-level conference on the war in Ukraine at the Buergenstock resort near Lucerne from June 15-16. 90 countries and organizations have affirmed their attendance at the conference.

Source: English

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Polls show that a large percentage of Israeli citizens have lost faith in the future of their nation

Major General (Reserve) in the Israeli Army, and former ombudsman for the occupation forces, Yitzhak Brick, has sounded an alarm over the growing inefficacy of the country’s army to win a possible war.

Warning that the Israeli occupation forces have turned into an “air force army,” Brick criticized the leadership in Tel Aviv for their “sensitivity” towards human losses on the ground.

“Whoever wants to completely avoid losing on the battlefield, completely loses the deterrence of the army and the ability to win the war. This way of thinking and managing the security echelons will eventually lead to much heavier losses in the war,” the former official said in a column published on 10 May by Channel 12.

Brick went on to add that Israel’s land army and reserve system have been continuously ignored: “We lost the inter-arm combat capability and became a one-dimensional Air Force army that alone could not win a war.”

He goes on to highlight that the occupation forces in general, and the land army in particular, “are not ready for war.”

The warning comes on the heels of a number of polls showing that a large portion of Israeli citizens have lost faith in the future of their nation.

A poll published by the Pnima Movement at the start of the month showed that 40 percent of Israelis were not optimistic about the country’s future. It also showed that 33 percent of Israeli youth are seriously considering emigrating out of the occupied territory.

Meanwhile, at least 75 percent of Israeli Arabs believe Jews have no right to sovereignty in occupied Palestine, according to a survey by Habithonistim–Protectors of Israel published on 9 May.

In an article published in Yedioth Ahronoth on 7 May, former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak expressed fears of the imminent demise of Israel before the 80th anniversary of its founding.

“Throughout Jewish history, the Jews did not rule for more than eighty years, except in the two kingdoms of David and the Hasmonean dynasty, and in both periods, their disintegration began in the eighth decade,” Barak said.

Earlier this year, former Air Force chief Amikam Norkin said Israel no longer enjoys superiority and freedom over the skies of Lebanon, highlighting that this reality was apparent to the Israeli military establishment after Hezbollah began manufacturing its own drones.

In the weeks after this statement by the Israeli official, Iran notified Tel Aviv that the army of the Islamic Republic has missiles pointed at all of their nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons sites.

Source: The Cradle

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Yitzhak Brick might be the only Israeli military official to see what was coming. And he’s been warning of it for some time. He also does not see a ground invasion of Gaza as the only option. And Israel must prepare for a multi-front war given the situation in the north. Brick cautioned, among other things, of problems with the competence of ground forces and made it clear that the ground invasion does not have to be a mandatory step. But according to Brick, Israel urgently needs to “change its hard disk,” i.e. make fundamental changes.

General Brick has been warning for years about the horror we saw in southern Israel on that accursed Shabbat morning a week ago. But his assessment was dismissed by the defense establishment and the political leadership. Brick was even called delusional by many.

“There could be a massacre, the State of Israel has not yet recognized the danger,” Brick warned. “We feel among the people that everything is fine and there is no threat, but the public is not told that powers (Hamas) are preparing. These are equipped, trained fighters who will cross the border on foot and attack and occupy our settlements in the south. The likelihood of this happening is very high. Hamas will conquer settlements, throw grenades into bunkers and shelters and cause a massacre. The local residents, you and me, must defend these communities because the army will not be there.” Brick said these words months ago, but no one wanted to listen to him. After the massacre in the south, everyone now has an ear for retired general, even Bibi.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Brick spoke this week about the continuation of the war against terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip, as well as developments on the Lebanese border. The general made it clear to Netanyahu that his position was to continue the surgical strikes, divide the armed forces and find a solution through a hermetic siege of the Gaza Strip. His view contrasts with the attitude of the military staff, which assumes that no success in the Gaza Strip is possible without an Israeli ground invasion.

Brick warned that the Israel Defense Forces have turned into a primarily air-based military, and criticized the army leadership for its sensitivity to human losses on the ground. “The current situation of the land forces is tragic, they are not ready for war. Emergency supplies are not available, exercises have stopped and the battalions have not trained in years. There is also no weapons training and education, and the army is not capable of carrying out an attack.” The former ombudsman added that technology alone is not enough to win wars. “The truth is that an imaginary reality has been created by the general staff and spread throughout the army. The soldiers have lost their motivation and fighting spirit in recent years, and many are not ready to go into battle.”

“To completely avoid losses on the battlefield is to hinder the army’s ability to win the war. This type of thinking will ultimately lead to heavier casualties in war,” Brick told Channel 12 back in May.

Brick added that Israel’s ground forces and reserve system have been constantly ignored: “We have lost the ability to field an effective army and have become a one-dimensional aerial power that cannot win a war on its own.” In his view, Israel’s ground forces are not ready for war. The warning follows a series of polls showing that a large portion of Israeli citizens have lost faith in their country’s future. This was particularly evident over the last year, when the people were divided over political and judicial issues.

“In my role as general, I have visited more than 1,400 units and spoken to tens of thousands of commanders and soldiers, three to four times a week, four hours in each unit. I know the army on the ground better than anyone in the Israel Defense Forces,” Brick said years ago. “I have seen soldiers who do not take care of their weapons before leaving the base. No army in the world behaves like this. The soldiers carry their smartphones with them everywhere. Commands are sent via WhatsApp groups. These phones are being tracked by the enemy.”

Not only that, but commands are said to have been sent via email and then deleted, meaning no follow-up action is possible. “Our system has lost all control. Have we gone crazy? I cannot sleep at night. Our ground forces and armored corps are not ready for war,” Brick continually warned.

“What I present to you here is something you will not hear from the top IDF officials. Not only do many of the commanders not know anything, but even those who do know are afraid to speak out lest they be punished,” he wrote, calling on members of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee to speak to the rank-and-file soldiers and address the issue. “Let them show you what is going on, share with them their problems and difficulties. It will not be the division, brigade and battalion commanders from whom you will learn about the reality that exists in the field. You should learn it from those for whom it is the routine of their life… Their statements are the truth.”

Israel’s entire security apparatus has failed and relied too heavily on technology, with an unhealthy dash of arrogance. But as is typically the case, those who don’t go with the flow and call out the glaring problems are dismissed as lunatics, like General Brick, who saw the danger before anyone else.

Source: Israel Today

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Expert Analysis

“Bringing in Palestine Investment Fund chief Mohammed Mustafa and pushing out the current prime minister Mohammed Shtayyeh is the rearranging of the deck chairs on the Palestinian Titanic. Both men are part of the problem. They are both cronies of Mahmoud Abbas. Neither figure has the power or will to reform the PA. This is not a serious effort to bring better governance to the West Bank, let alone Gaza. The United States must demand more.” — Jonathan Schanzer, FDD Senior Vice President for Research
“The PA has become largely irrelevant and desperately needs to be reformed. Palestinians overwhelmingly reject the authority’s corruption and repression. Replacing one Abbas loyalist with another is not the reform the Palestinians need.” — David May, FDD Research Manager and Senior Research Analyst

PA Failing to Reform

Washington has repeatedly said that a “revitalized” PA should govern Gaza after the war. However, concerns remain over the PA’s ability to govern an independent Palestinian state, especially one ruled in coordination with Hamas. Abbas, who is in the 20th year of a four-year term, has presided over a corrupt and ineffective government that has lost legitimacy among the Palestinian people. The PA also continues to provide controversial welfare payments for Palestinian terrorists or their surviving families, and allows Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and other terrorist groups to operate in the West Bank without significant limitations.

In Search of Palestinian Unity

The West Bank-based terrorist organization Hamas dismissed Shtayyeh’s resignation and said that it “only makes sense if it comes within the context of national consensus arrangements for the next phase.” Hamas is expected to participate in talks with other Palestinian factions in Moscow from February 29 through March 2. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister and Special Envoy for the Middle East Mikhail Bogdanov invited as many as 14 Palestinian groups, including Fatah, Hamas, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, from various Middle Eastern countries to participate.

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Latest Developments

The third-most senior Hamas figure, Saleh al-Arouri, was killed on January 2 in a Beirut blast that Lebanese authorities blamed on Israel. Arouri was among at least four people who died in an Israeli drone strike on a Hamas media office in the southern Dahiyeh suburb of the Lebanese capital, a Hezbollah stronghold, authorities said. Israeli officials had no immediate comment.

After Yahya Sinwar and Ismail Haniyeh, Arouri was the top-ranked Hamas official. He pursued an especially aggressive Palestinian terrorism strategy, with a focus on the West Bank, where he ordered the 2014 abduction and murder of three Israeli teenagers, sparking a Gaza war. After a period of being headquartered in Turkey, Arouri relocated to Lebanon, where he spearheaded Hamas coordination with Hezbollah and their shared Iranian patron.

Expert Analysis

“Israel has openly vowed to take the Gaza war to all leaders of Hamas, no matter where they are. That Arouri apparently thought he might be immune in the Hezbollah heartland suggests a major miscalculation on the part of Hamas. The question now is how Hezbollah will calculate the risks of stepping up its own attacks on Israel in retaliation.” — Mark Dubowitz, FDD CEO

“Israel sent a message to all terror allies of Iran that no matter where they hide, they will never be secure. Whether Hamas leaders reside in Qatar, Turkey, Lebanon, or another country, they should assume their days are numbered. Hezbollah’s leadership must also factor this escalation into the group’s next move.” — Richard Goldberg, FDD Senior Advisor

“The elimination of Saleh al-Arouri stands as a significant blow to Hamas and a considerable victory for Israel in its current war against Palestinian terrorist groups. Nevertheless, it is important to recognize that this accomplishment is merely one of many goals Israel must achieve in order to dismantle Hamas and its partners.” — Joe Truzman, Research Analyst at FDD’s Long War Journal

Source: FDD

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Much like its ideological counterparts at HispanTV (Iranian-owned) and Actualidad RT (Russian-owned), Telesur wraps its incitement into a sophisticated and slick twenty-four-hour news platform through its website, broadcasts, and social media presence. Though it is difficult to gauge its influence, numbers suggest that Telesur’s message is impactful. Telesur has two million followers on its Spanish X account, 117,500 on its English X account, and more than half a million on Instagram. Its YouTube account has over 1.7 million subscribers, with 100,000 new subscribers and almost 7.4 million video views since October 7 (It also posts its videos on the Daily Motion).

The network traditionally pushes out conspiracy theories, fake news, “whataboutism,” and disinformation that serve a common agenda: demonize the West, undermine the credibility of Western news outlets, paint Western leaders as hypocrites, and promote a narrative of global resistance against America and its allies. Aware that a worldwide audience of half a billion Spanish speakers—including almost sixty million in the U.S.—could be receptive to its anti-imperialist spin, Telesur began broadcasts in 2005. Since then, Telesur has routinely packaged its allies’ imperialism as resistance, their terrorism as anti-terrorism, and their authoritarianism as democracy. It has platformed conspiracy theorists, like Thierry Meyssan, the French author of the 2002 screed, 9/11: The Big Lie, the earliest 9/11 “truther” libel, accusing the United States of orchestrating the terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers. It has also peddled anti-Semitic tropes, insinuating that “the Zionist Lobby” manipulates and controls U.S. media, falsely accusing Israelis of trafficking children and Israel of supporting ISIS.

Telesur news coverage since October 7, then, is hardly surprising. However, it has gained a new obsessive intensity, broadcasting a daily media diet of hatred. In its breaking news report on Hamas’ October 7 massacre, Telesur news anchor described that morning’s atrocities as an operation by the Hamas “resistance movement” in response to “continued Israeli aggressions.” The broadcast defined the event as “a new stage in the Palestinian struggle against Zionist occupation.” It then showed its viewers a news segment produced by their Syria-based correspondent, which made no mention of atrocities or Israeli civilian casualties. Telesur’s initial denial and distortion set the stage for the ensuing news coverage, which amplified a pro-Hamas narrative.

For example, after Western media corrected their reporting about Palestinian claims that on October 17, Israel bombarded the Al-Ahli hospital in Gaza, killing 500 people, Telesur doubled down, relying on a report from Al Jazeera.

Opinion pieces have been even more inflammatory than news segments, consistently espousing bigotry. Telesur commentators have routinely compared Israel to Nazism, denying and, at the same time, justifying the October 7 massacre. On October 9, as the gory details of Hamas atrocities were emerging, a blog entry celebrated them as a “very special page” in the history of the great battles for freedom. On October 15, TeleSur’s special envoy in Lebanon wrote a column entitled “Agony of a macabre implant,” where, after defining Israel as a European colonial-settler “implant” and accusing it of committing genocide, he proceeded to dismiss Hamas’ atrocities, lamenting a “Western media narrative, which focuses on Hamas, and not on the unprecedented fact of the united action of all Palestinian resistance organizations.”

After denial comes the systematic demonization of Israel through the casual recourse to antisemitic tropes, with Israel described as a worthy successor of Nazi Germany. 

On October 16, another blog post accused Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, of pursuing a final solution in Gaza and pleaded that the international community should not allow “the Jews to continue murdering the Palestinians in their land.”

On October 21, another commentator evoked the old Antisemitic canard of Jewish control of world media to denounce what its author considered a global media coverup of Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Those controlling the “spiral of silence” in the mainstream media were, according to the author, “the transnational Jewish lobby.” On November 3, the theme of a conspiracy of silence orchestrated by Israel, the United States, and “the hegemonic media” recurred in another column. Its goal, thundered the author, was to enable Israel to turn Gaza into “a Palestinian cemetery.” The next day, Telesur published another blog post accusing Israel, whose creation the author described as the machinations of the “international Zionist oligarchy,” of committing “the third largest genocide in history.” And on November 7, Chilean columnist Pablo Jofre Leal (an author frequently posting on HispanTV as well and a government advisor to Gabriel Boric’s ministry of health in Chile) attacked what he labeled “the Ukraine-Israel national socialist-national Zionist alliance,” called the Hamas massacres a “legitimate action of the Palestinian resistance,” and described Israel’s response as a modern version of 1942 Wannsee Conference, the Nazi gathering that finetuned Hitler’s final solution.

Telesur, whose broadcast includes an English language channel and a Washington, DC, based correspondent, continues to spread misinformation and incitement through the ether, the internet, and social media. Washington, whose battle against disinformation has taken multiple steps to curb Russia’s and Iran’s misinformation channels in the anglosphere, seems mostly oblivious to Spanish language propaganda by Maduro’s Venezuela, despite its ability to shape public opinion in Latin America.

Downplaying the importance of the battle of ideas in Spanish will have long-term implications, especially in Latin America, where the Maduro regime continues to leverage a long history of anti-Americanism to its own advantage. Commenting on Russia’s Spanish language propaganda in Latin America, Southern Command’s General Laura J. Richardson recently said, “In 2020, Russia Today (RT)’s Spanish-language media outlets more than doubled their social media followers from 7 million to over 18 million. These disinformation campaigns are just one part of Russia’s broader efforts to influence national elections throughout the region this year.”

With much of the region’s political winds blowing leftward, the pro-Iran and pro-Hamas echo chamber of the Maduro regime should draw as much urgent attention from the White House and State Department as Russia’s disinformation does.

If Washington does wake up to the threat, it can take three initial steps to address it. First, it can slap sanctions against Telesur, much like it did against Iran’s Press TV, for its key role in supporting censorship and televising forced confessions, and Russian state-owned propaganda outlets for their role in Russia’s disinformation campaign. Second, it can lobby the telecom private sector to have Telesur de-platformed. Third, it can appeal to U.S.-based social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, X, the Daily Motion, and YouTube, to ensure they restrict Venezuelan regime disinformation.

The pro-Hamas, pro-Iran disinformation that Telesur spews daily is inflammatory, inciteful, and rife with antisemitic hatred. Telesur should be treated as a foreign state influence operation of the Maduro dictatorship for its continued rhetoric inciting hatred against Jews and driving global antisemitism. It should not be given free rein. Washington has sanctioned similar media disinformation campaigns before. Telesur should not be an exception.

Source: FDD

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Toronto, Frankfurt (2/11 – 42)

World media are jumping all over the conflagration in Gaza following the 7 October attack, killing 1400 Israelis and kidnapping several hundred others – followed by an all-too-predictable retaliatory response from Israel, with indiscriminate bombardment and gunfire into Gaza. The number dead and injured in the Palestinian zone will likely never be known but it is currently estimated at over 5,000 – many of whom are women and children caught in the crossfire.

Is Hamas sorry about those who voted for them and support their cause being machine-gunned or trapped by crumbling concrete in a bombed building? Not at all – for them it’s just the cost of doing business.

What do the neighbors across the region say? As a matter of fact, the timing of the bloody 7 October attack was quite apt.

It was just three weeks ago that the “Abraham Accords”, an agreement  that would have “normalized” relations between Israel and several states of the Arabian Peninsula, complete with exchanges of ambassadors and new relations, were about to be signed. This landmark deal would have been followed by North African Islamic nations joining up. Precisely before the October 7 Hamas terror attack, normalization talks between Saudi Arabia and Israel were set to go. That hopeful move is gone with the wind.

That declaration of co-existence must have deeply displeased Hamas, Hezbollah, ISIS and the other murderous bandit gangs. They would clearly have been cut out of the deal. (Kindergarten Lesson One: “Follow the Money”)

Meanwhile, back in Tel Aviv, the fearsome Netanyahu was set to appear in court and face criminal charges that could have seen him in the cooler for quite a while. That trial has also been set aside. A survey shows that 80% of the Israeli public puts the blame for the surprise attack on him, particularly as his government pointedly ignored multiple urgent warnings from Egypt that an attack was being prepared. Convenient, no?

Netanyahu: “This is our 9/11 moment.” Truer words were never spoken. And just like the exceedingly suspicious collapse of two huge (and hugely unpopular) office buildings in downtown Manhattan, purportedly after being slammed into by jetliners, the 7 October attack is looking more and more like a false flag – something to give Israel the excuse the finish the job in Gaza.

Cut to the airport in Riyadh. A group is hurrying along.

A British reporter waylays a Saudi government minister. (You have to feel sorry for these guys – bodyguards blithely bump them out of the way … an expensive woman companion might give them a cat-scratch or snatch the microphone out of their hands … their target might just ignore them completely, or glower and growl “No comment, creep”)

Luckily for this journalist, the Saudi – young-looking for a Minister, and quite fluent in English – is eloquent and to the point.

Roving Reporter: “Can I just ask you… What is the first thing that has to happen, to achieve peace, in your view?”

Saudi Minister: “Right now we need a ceasefire.”

Roving Reporter: “Beyond that – “

Saudi Minister: “We have to restart the peace process.”

Roving Reporter: “Is that possible?”

Saudi Minister: “It has to be possible. If we are not willing to overcome all the difficulties, all the challenges, all the history that is involved in this issue, then we will never have a real peace and security in the region, so we must restart the peace process. The Arabs have shown that they are serious, they are willing to engage. We hope that we can do it soon.”

Dear Reader – studying this historical tragedy, do you not get the sensation that the “Arab world”, such as it is, really finds the Palestinians a monumental annoyance, deranged relatives anxious to drag all of them into a no-win military confrontation? (Everybody has an eye on those 200 Israeli nuclear weapons tucked away in a Negev Desert “research facility”.)

Of course it is necessary to offer deep and sincere vocal support to Palestine, which was deeply wronged some 70 years ago. Who wronged them? Hmm, how about the same perfidious colonialists whose meddling wreaked tragedy in Nigeria, Malaysia, Kenya, India and on and on… Yes, John Bull did it. The Brits “set aside” a land for the persecuted Jews, land that happened to have been occupied for hundreds of years by farmers and herdsmen known as Palestinians. Just like Malaysia or Iraq or Pakistan: they bottled up enemy peoples in the same artificially-demarcated country, grab the resources and piss off. Thanks Olde Blighty.

Israel is a reality. Most countries in the world accept that as a fact. It may have been built on stolen land but so was the United States of America, Canada, Japan (ask the Ainu), People’s Republic of China (poor Tibetans), Australia (aborigines nod sorrowfully) and many others, if you reach far enough back into history. Israel, the reality, is not going away. Hamas, the troublemaking terror gang, may have picked up some neat tricks from the Israelis (BOOM goes the King David Hotel, brought down by future Israeli statesmen).

But times change. Nobody else wants this war. The Arabs are by and large interested in getting by in life, minding their own business and avoiding trouble. Even Iran, fingered as a troublemaker by Uncle Sam, doesn’t want war – especially nuclear war. Nobody wins then.

Hamas? Nuclear war? Bring it on. They are maniacs, as all the neighbors are fully aware. But this seems to be a festive age around the planet for such manias, even among the throngs of “useful idiots” parading through Europe, Australia and North America waving Palestinian flags. Ask those entitled kids whether they support the annihilation of Israel. Then they get coy and the weasel-words flow freely.

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The Palestinians’ longstanding and legitimate grievances have been irrevocably subverted by Hamas’ brazen attack against Israel on Oct 7. Unlike previous rounds of conflicts and clashes between Israel and the Palestinians on the one hand and neighbouring Arab states on the other, Thailand has become a direct casualty like never before, as 30 Thai workers have been killed to date, with at least 16 injured and 17 taken hostage. As a militant political movement motivated by Islamic fundamentalism using methods of terrorism to achieve its objectives, Hamas has made a bad name for the Palestinian cause, eliciting condemnation and opposition all the way over here in Thailand.

Developing countries like Thailand generally tend to support underdogs in the rough-and-tumble canvas of international politics. When Israel was established as a nation-state in 1948, it enjoyed broad global support, backed by a United Nations resolution to split the land of Palestine between local Arabs and Jews. Many of the latter gravitated to Palestine after World War II when their race and religion faced persecution and genocidal extermination. Israel’s wars for survival in the face of Arab states’ invasions in 1967 and 1973 also found global sympathy and support.

After this point — perhaps Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in 1982 to eradicate the Palestinian Liberation Organisation — the tables turned. Israel became an occupying force and was seen more as the aggressor rather than the victim. Although a “two-state” deal was worked out and codified in UN resolutions, the Palestinians never got a state and the self-determination they were promised until the Oslo Accords, brokered by the United States, allotted the West Bank and Gaza Strip to the PLO to administer under the Palestinian Authority.

This was more like a one-and-a-half state solution. The Palestinian Authority became a limited self-autonomous government in both territories. The West Bank remained workable as a self-governing entity, but Gaza became problematic. Hamas, an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, eventually won an election in Gaza in 2006 over the PLO’s Fatah party. Hamas has since carried out unrelenting attacks against Israel and faced continual reprisals from the Jewish state.

Hamas’ latest violence is attributable to several motives. First, the Arab world is moving beyond the Palestinian plight. While the West Bank remains self-governing and viable despite tensions and issues with Israel, particularly Jewish settlements, Gaza under Hamas’ autocratic control was being lost on the Middle East’s geostrategic chessboard.

Over the past three years, the US-sponsored Abraham Accords have profoundly realigned regional relations in the Middle East and normalised Israeli ties with key Arab states. The peace agreements and attendant recognition of the Jewish state started with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain in 2020, building on Israel’s earlier peace treaties with Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994.

Soon after, Morocco and Sudan entered into similar normalisation agreements with Israel. Other regional players, from Saudi Arabia and Qatar to Turkey and Iran, then shuffled their strategic postures, realigning and considering normalisation deals, including with Israel.

The diplomatic remaking of interstate relations in the Middle East is favourable to Israel as much as it threatens the existence of violent non-state terrorist entities, such as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. If their sponsoring states, such as Iran, normalise relations with hitherto adversaries, these extremist movements’ days would be numbered.

Apart from sabotaging, if not altogether derailing, the peace deals among Arab states and between them and Iran and Israel, Hamas may want to regionalise or even internationalise a broad pro-Palestinian uprising in the region and beyond. The Palestinians’ death toll and sufferings in Gaza have already prompted the Malaysian government to take a supportive stance for Hamas, Indonesia, the largest Muslim country in the world, is casting a glaring eye on Israeli retaliation in Gaza, which may involve a ground incursion. Palestinians in the Arab world, not to mention the Arabs themselves, will likely become more critical of Israel as the conflict escalates.

In addition, it is reasonable to assume that Hamas knew exactly what it was doing when it attacked and wantonly killed hundreds of innocent civilians inside Israel. With Israel’s well-known doctrine of disproportionate response, Hamas was likely geared to provoke the Israeli Defence Forces into a violent overreaction. As more Palestinian lives are lost, Israel may end up being the villain perpetrating violence against a helpless population rather than the victim of Hamas’ aggression.

Global public opinion will thus be fiercely contested. It is not hard to see that the longer the war goes on, the more disadvantaged the Israelis will be. The more measured and Hamas-focused they are within a limited duration, the better the Israelis will likely come out of it. In Hamas’ calculation, Israel’s overwhelming superiority in the force of arms and military prowess may well be its chief weakness in this situation.

For the Thai people, Hamas’ killing spree on Thai workers is unfathomable. Thailand has never done anything to harm Hamas nor caused any trouble for the inhabitants of the Palestinian territories. Survivor accounts from Thai workers who have returned safely indicate that they were specifically targeted by Hamas militants. Perhaps Palestinians in Gaza were resentful of Thai workers in Israel’s agricultural farms for holding jobs that could and should have gone to them. Because of Thailand’s 30-year estrangement with Saudi Arabia until normalisation last year, Israel became an attractive employment destination. Thailand is not alone, as the Philippines has similarly enjoyed employment opportunities in Israel.

Hamas’ brutal killings of Thai workers are totally unjustified. Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin was spot-on to condemn Hamas’ action. When Thais are killed indiscriminately, the Thai government cannot conscionably stand on neutral ground. We need to condemn Hamas’ murderous acts in no uncertain terms and call for the immediate release of Thai and all other hostages. Doing so is not making enemies out of Hamas but sticking up for the innocent Thais who have been killed, injured and abducted.

Source

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UNITED NATIONS | 12 November 2023 (IDN) — A longstanding proposal for a nuclear-weapons-free zone (NWFZs) in the politically and militarily volatile Middle East has been kicked around the corridors and committee rooms of the United Nations since 1995.

Over the last 28 years, the proposal has failed to get off the ground—and remains suspended in mid-air.  

But there will be one more try—at least for minimal progress—when the fourth annual session of the “Conference on the Establishment of a Middle East Zone Free of Nuclear Weapons and Other Weapons of Mass Destruction” takes place between 13 and 17 November at the UN headquarters in New York. 

Of the world’s nine nuclear powers, Israel is the only country in the Middle East that has gone nuclear—while the other eight nuclear countries worldwide are the US, UK, France, China, Russia, India, Pakistan and North Korea.

As with the first three sessions, Israel and its closest political and military ally, the United States, are not expected to attend. They will both be MIA’s—missing in action.

Meanwhile, there is widespread speculation that if Iran goes nuclear, as threatened by the Iranians off and on, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt might follow suit.

But as US President Joe Biden once remarked: “…and the last goddamn thing we need in that part of the world is a build-up of nuclear capability.”

Israel’s nuclear weapons are best ignored?

But like most US politicians and presidents, including former US President Barack Obama, Biden too believes that Israel’s nuclear weapons are best ignored—and never challenged in public.

Dr M.V. Ramana, Professor and Simons Chair in Disarmament, Global and Human Security, School of Public Policy and Global Affairs at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, told IDN the idea of a Middle East zone free of nuclear weapons was first adopted at the 1995 NPT Review and Extension Conference.

He pointed out that the very first resolution of the UN General Assembly’s First Committee on International Security back from 1946 called for proposals for “the elimination from national armaments of atomic weapons and of all other major weapons adaptable to mass destruction”.

“The closest agreement we have that goes some way toward achieving that goal is the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) from 2017—seventy-one years after the first resolution. So, we have to be patient in this quest.” 

Important to confer on the establishment of a Nuclear-Weapons-Free Middle East

“That said, this is an important time to be holding a conference on the establishment of a Middle East zone free of nuclear weapons,” he said.

“Israel’s ongoing bombing of Gaza, and the call to drop a nuclear weapon there, albeit by a junior minister who has since been fired, only provides more reason to push for eliminating the most destructive weapons known to humankind from Israel’s arsenal.”

More generally, he argued, the highly charged security environment in the region is also a reason to prevent other countries from not just acquiring such weapons, but even the means to make the fissile materials needed for nuclear weapons.

“I am talking, of course, about nuclear power plants. In addition to what is happening in the Middle East, the other war that has receded slightly from the headlines these days—in Ukraine—should remind us of how these reactors can become targets in future wars, and produce fears of widespread and long-lived radioactive contamination, as has been the case with the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Ukraine, since February 2022 and its occupation by Russian forces,” Dr Ramana declared.

According to the 2023 Yearbook of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Russia and the US together possess almost 90 per cent of all nuclear weapons. The sizes of their respective nuclear arsenals (i.e. useable warheads) seem to have remained relatively stable in 2022, although transparency regarding nuclear forces declined in both countries in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

In addition to their useable nuclear weapons, Russia and the US each hold more than 1,000 warheads previously retired from military service, which they are gradually dismantling.

Israel—which does not publicly acknowledge possessing nuclear weapons—is also believed to be modernizing its nuclear arsenal, says SIPRI.

Meanwhile, since 1967, five nuclear-weapon-free zones (NWFZ) have been established worldwide—in Latin America and the Caribbean, South Pacific, Southeast Asia, Africa and Central Asia. But such a weapons-free zone in the conflict-ridden Middle East continues to remain elusive.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres points out that the established five zones include 60 percent of the UN’s 193 Member States—and cover almost all of the Southern Hemisphere.

According to the UN, the fourth annual session is being held pursuant to General Assembly decision A/DEC/73/546 (22 December 2018), which “entrusts the Secretary-General with the convening, … for the duration of one week at the United Nation Headquarters, of a conference on the establishment of a Middle East zone free of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction”.

The first session of the Conference was held from 18 November to 22 November 2019 under the presidency of Ambassador Sima Bahous of Jordan.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the United Nations conferences and meetings, the second session was postponed and was later held from 29 November to 3 December 2021 under the presidency of Ambassador Mansour Al-Otaibi of Kuwait.

The third session was held from 14 to 18 November 2022 under the presidency of Jeanne Mrad of Lebanon.

For information on the previous sessions, intersessional workshops, as well reports of the Secretary-General on the Conference, check the links below:

First session of the Conference – 18 to 22 November 2019

First informal workshop – 7 to 9 July 2020

Second informal workshop – 23 to 25 February 2021

Second session of the Conference – 29 November to 3 December 2021

Third session of the Conference – 14 to 18 Novembers 2022

Reports of the Secretary-General

Source: Indepth News

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The international transport corridor “Tajikistan-Europe” will be expanded. The initiative for the implementation of the “Crossroads of the World” project was announced at the IV International Tbilisi Silk Road Forum, which concluded in the capital of Georgia.

The project envisions the development of connections between Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, and Iran. This means that the Silk Road, which once passed through the North Caucasus, will now be connected to the South Caucasus hub.

“In this way, another node is added to the multimodal corridor ‘China – Tajikistan – Uzbekistan – Turkmenistan – Iran – Turkey – Europe’,” said Rahmiddin Salomzoda, the head of the Ministry of Transport of the Republic of Tajikistan.

“Crossroads of the World” project envisions the development of connections between Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, and Iran. This means that the Silk Road, which once passed through the North Caucasus, will now be connected to the South Caucasus hub. The multimodal corridor through ‘China – Tajikistan – Uzbekistan – Turkmenistan – Iran – Turkey – Europe’.

During the negotiations that took place in May 2023 between the leaders of Turkmenistan and Tajikistan, Serdar Berdymukhamedov and Emomali Rahmon, the transportation sector was identified as a priority for bilateral cooperation. In this context, the importance of enhancing efficiency and establishing new international transport corridors, including the multimodal “China – Tajikistan – Uzbekistan – Turkmenistan – Iran – Turkey” corridor, was emphasized.

The IV International Tbilisi Silk Road Forum was held under the slogan “Connecting Today Resilient Tomorrow” with the participation of approximately two thousand delegates from 60 countries worldwide. Among them there were representatives from the public and private sectors, international organizations from Central Asia, the Persian Gulf, the United States, and China, as well as experts and journalists.

They discussed matters related to expanding economic cooperation, specifically the creation of a new East-West trade architecture, the improvement of international transport corridors, and the attraction of investments for a sustainable future.

Source : Orient

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