“The Middle East war is widening, but that may be better than the alternative: new inflationary pressure from an obscure fundamentalist militia 8,000 miles from US shores.
The US and UK militaries finally struck back at Houthi forces in Yemen on Jan. 11 and 12, in response to at least 27 Houthi attacks on commercial ships navigating the Red Sea between northern Africa and Saudi Arabia. There were legitimate military reasons for the retaliatory strikes, given that the Houthis have targeted US and allied forces, including Israel. But there was a powerful economic incentive too: The attacks on commercial vessels were starting to drive up shipping costs and threatening to reignite inflation, just as the Biden administration feels it is finally taming the biggest barrier to a second term for President Biden.
The Red Sea is a crucial shipping lane because the Suez Canal, at its northern tip, connects waters that serve Western markets with the Indian Ocean and routes to Asia. Ships unable to transit the Red Sea need to take the much longer and costlier journey around the southern tip of Africa. About 15% of world trade transits the area.”
“”the [Biden] administration declassified intelligence indicating that Iranian paramilitary groups were coordinating the Houthi attacks, providing targeting information about commercial shipping passing through the waterway and the Suez Canal.””
“Israel has resumed the supply of water to southern Gaza, Israel’s energy minister Israel Katz confirmed Sunday, following an agreement between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Biden. “This will push the civilian population to the southern (part of the) Strip,” Katz said in a statement, a week after Israel had cut off water and the provision of other supplies to the entire territory. The decision came as Israel demanded one million Palestinians evacuate from Gaza’s north, in advance of Israel’s anticipated ground invasion to confront Hamas. White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told CNN’s State of the Union that Israeli counterparts had told him “they have in fact turned the water pipe back on in southern Gaza.” Sullivan said the Biden administration’s goal had been “to make sure that innocent Palestinians get access to those basic necessities and are protected from bombardment.””
“In the wake of the Hamas terrorist organization’s murderous attacks on Israel, the country’s government is admitting—not for the first time—that even Israel’s extensive security apparatus can’t be everywhere to protect everyone. Under the pressure of bloody events, officials are again making it easier for civilians to acquire and carry firearms for self-defense.
“Today I directed the Firearms Licensing Division to go on an emergency operation, in order to allow as many citizens as possible to arm themselves,” announced National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. “The plan will take effect within 24 hours.”
By no means does the order eliminate the country’s tight restrictions on guns. But it’s an acknowledgment that too many Israelis were caught with limited access to the means of self-defense when Hamas terrorists crossed the border from Gaza and attacked civilians.”
” A senior Hamas official said the militant group was taken aback by the effectiveness of its surprise multi-front attack on Israel over the weekend, saying that leadership expected their incursions to be halted by Israeli forces. “We were surprised by this great collapse,” Ali Barakeh told the Associated Press on Monday. “We were planning to make some gains and take prisoners to exchange them. This army was a paper tiger.” An unnamed diplomatic source elaborated on Hamas’ scuppered plans to the Middle Eastern news outlet Al-Monitor, saying, “They hoped to kill some Israelis, embarrass the [Israel Defense Forces] and return to Gaza with two or three kidnapped Israelis.” Now, with more than 1,200 Israelis dead as a result of the attacks and more than 100 being held hostage, Hamas “are very worried,” the source said. “They will face the entire Israeli army inside Gaza. That’s the tragedy of their success.” Ahead of an expected large-scale ground invasion over the Gaza border, Barakeh told the AP that Palestinian militants had “prepared well” for prolonged and total war.”
“they like to say that they are an elected government, which is narrowly true, but again, the last election, the last parliamentary election, was in 2006. The average person in Gaza is 18 years old. The median person is 18 years old, which means the last time there was a Palestinian election, most people in Gaza weren’t even born. So they literally have had no opportunity to choose their leadership. I’ve been going to Gaza for more than a decade now, and one thing that I find increasingly when I go is: There’s a level of popular anger and popular resentment aimed at Hamas. Of course, there’s anger towards Israel, there’s anger towards Egypt, both of which maintain a blockade on Gaza, but the group has lost a lot of popular support. It was elected in 2006, partly as a protest vote against Fatah, which is the nationalist party that controls the West Bank. It’s an incredibly corrupt party. People opted for Hamas in 2006 not necessarily because they agreed with the group’s ideology but because they thought it was a cleaner alternative.
It has turned out not to be that. Most people in Gaza think that Hamas is equally corrupt, and they think that it has done an atrocious job running the territory over the past 16 years, but they have no opportunity to change their leaders, and so they’re stuck with this unpopular, ineffective government.”
“Chinese hackers have found a dangerous vulnerability in U.S. military computer networks nearly 8,000 miles from the Pentagon — on the serene South Pacific island of Guam.
They attacked essential infrastructure in the military outpost in May, infiltrating networks in the U.S. territory closest to China. Lawmakers and federal officials fear these attacks, which used a new method that allows intruders to linger undetected, could threaten security in the volatile region and sabotage any U.S. response to a Chinese invasion of Taiwan.”
…
“Officials in Guam welcome the help.
“When it comes to not just cyber, but our critical infrastructure as a whole, it’s important to realize that we are isolated,” Scott said. “We have proximity to the pacing threats, and we don’t have a lot of the resources on our own to self-sustain.””