The Wire Weekly Rollup - February 11-17, 2024

this is the wire weekly rollup for the week of February 11th through the 17th 2024 beginning with international events in the Middle East Israel began the military campaign to gain control of the city of Rafa along the Egyptian border this operation while slow to begin has so far largely comprised of large bombing campaigns in Northern Israel tensions with Lebanon remain elevated following the Israeli targeting of Hezbollah observation posts and rocket launch sites in southern Lebanon these strikes have become more routine in response to Hezbollah rocket attacks and when combined with the large buildup of Israeli troops in the north questions remain as to whether or not Israel will commit to opening up yet another front while the majority of IDF soldiers remain committed to operations in Gaza in the Red Sea Horn of Africa region this week American forces in the region stepped up alleged self-defense targeting of houy facilities and Equipment anti-ship cruise missiles unmanned surface vehicles and various unmaned aerial systems have been the primary targets engaged daily the houy targeting of commercial shipping has continued as before with the handful of commercial ships still committed to transiting the babble MIP straet being routinely targeted by yeni forces an approximate average of one or two ships transiting the region per day have been successfully struck by houthi cruise missiles analyst comment as routine combat operations seem to have begun under the guise of self-defense strikes it is important to remember that the United States has not declared war on Yemen or the houthi forces controlling the majority of the country and the government sector in Europe this week sentiments among various Nations have increasingly indicated the desire for the Gaza War to reach a conclusion Wednesday French president macron voiced objection to the Israeli campaign in Gaza in a phone call with prime minister Netanyahu specifically macron stated that France's position was one of firm opposition to the current events in Gaza and that restricting access of Aid groups to quote a population in an absolute humanitarian emergency was unjustifiable end quote this strongly worded rhetoric follows recent ruling suggesting Dutch opposition to Israeli actions in Gaza on Monday a Dutch court of appeals ruled against the Dutch government halting the export of F-35 aircraft parts to Israel due to the legal implications of doing so specifically the Court ruled that quote it is undeniable that there is a clear risk the exported F-35 parts are used in serious violations of international humanitarian law end quote analist comment though this is merely one Court's opinion this is the very first deao admission by legal power within a European nation that suggests that violations of humanitarian law are being committed by Israel this is also the first time that a Nation legal power or entity that is not affiliated with a pro- Palestine movement has made these implications lending more weight to the allegations than claims made by obviously politically motivated entities president macron's statements add some weight to this idea as he is the only European head of state to use such strong language in the Diplomatic space surrounding Israel however macron's own reputation along with the current problems with Pro Palestinian migrants in France and his potential motivations to satisfy this demographic lessens the objectivity of his concerns in Russia prison officials in the yamalo ninat correctional District announced the death of Alexi Nali at the ik3 penal colony the circumstances of his death were reportedly sudden according to officials who state that he died shortly after collapsing naval's attorney who spoke with him a couple of days prior has stated that he appeared to be in good health considering the conditions of confinement at the facility in the United Kingdom this week the ministry of Defense announced that the HMS Prince of Wales will be unable to participate in NATO exercises off the coast of Norway as the Prince of Wales was a backup to the HMS Queen Elizabeth also out of action allegedly due to maintenance issues this means that two of the three aircraft carriers in Europe are out of action and unable to deploy on the home front in Washington DC in a late night session Monday evening the Senate passed the hotly debated 95 billion spend spending bill for Ukraine Israel and Taiwan the bill passed with overwhelming bipartisan support after Provisions for funding to counter illegal immigration at the southern US border were removed the final vote on the bill now in the house has been delayed until the end of February analist comment this is literally the routine tactic used for most bills taxpayers do not approve of to include almost all of the spending bills for Ukrainian Aid the final vote is scheduled well into the future so that horse trading can occur and various politicians can pretend to be outraged by it before capitulating and ultimately voting for it like they plan to do anyway meanwhile the average taxpayer will have long forgotten about it analyst comments for this wire at this point zero details can be discussed regarding the situation in Gaza without claims of bias the entrenchment of ideology is complete and those firmly planted in supporting one side or the other are incapable of seeing objective information interestingly almost all claims of bias from one side or the other are really just gaslighting attempts intended to remove factual information that weakens an existing narrative as such one must take care in prioritizing the neutralization of bias over the facts of what is going on this dichotomy seems like an impossibility yet it's exactly what's going on at some point perhaps even right now events are going to happen that when described in the most neutral language possible will still be perceived as bias this is happening right now because the meaning of bias like many terms has been changed to now apply to any opposing idea the situation on the information front has gotten completely out of hand hand this conflict unlike other recent major conflicts around the world is different probably due to the centuries old sentiments that are intertwined within this war however this manifests itself in the form of sheer Insanity in many ways even many of those who looked at the Ukrainian war with open minds taking everything with a grain of salt using critical thinking skills and trying to maintain a neutral perspective while learning about this conflict these good character traits have gone completely out of the window for many people during the Gaza War so many people who viewed the Ukrainian war with a critical eye are completely unable to do so for this conflict meanwhile those that attempt to remain objective are left holding the bag and trying to remain neutral in an environment where objectivity is sometimes illegal it is impossible to make a statement about the war without utterly sprinting to caveat a disclaimer for every crime Israel commits per the Geneva conventions of 1949 which Israel ratified in 1951 combined with the violation of various legal and targeting Doctrine constraints the US imposes on the recipients of military aid we must desperately point out h crimes as fast as the words can be typed even the previous sentence was unable to be written without including yet another disclaimer for failing to caveat even the most basic descriptions of the war most journalist livelihoods or Worse are on the line no one has chosen their words more carefully than those covering this war who do not wish to align with either side when the truth becomes a criminal act those seeking to tell the truth have to rely on vague wording to stay within the acceptable boundaries imposed by those who exert control and influence on various media platforms what is far more socially acceptable is the discussion of the absolute lunacy of reporting surrounding the serious security threat allegedly posed by Russia as no real details have been provided this entire Affair reeks of the military deception campaign used against the American people in the leadup to the Iraq War so far this shot forsh shot remake has all the classic scenes intelligence official citing a serious weapon of mass destruction threat that's too secret to reveal to the American people and outr waged Congress urging action hundreds of billions of dollars in defense spending lacking accountability the list goes on though this time around the threat is likely ere exaggerated rather than being outright fabricated plus Russian space nukes does have a more appealing tone than another war in the Middle East especially among a population preconditioned to hate Russia more than anything in the world Russia has undoubtedly made great progress with regards to strategic weapons as have the United States China Iran and so on however framing a broad strategic issue as an immediate life-threatening concern is disingenuous at best alarmist at worst with all of this in mind a more likely scenario is that this allegedly serious national security threat is really nothing new and this Revelation is intended to distract from some other issue or to increase funding for Ukraine in an election year when domestic us support is waning the powers that be will need as many deception campaigns as possible to maintain the control of information and to divert the attention of the masses toward whatever boogeyman is convenient at the time in any scenario it is astronomically unlikely that any member of Congress is ever given intelligence reporting that is particularly groundbreaking or exciting in any way as almost all of the analysts physically writing important intelligence reports operate under the assumption that if a congressman has told something secret it will be leaked probably to a foreign government as has already happened countless times however this does not mean that the entire Affair is made up nothingness for the military industrial complex during an election Year wishing will indeed make it so after all the US military itself recently created an entirely new service Branch the space force whose entire mission is the weaponization of space most dangerously this recent rhetoric could be a more direct way to justify NATO action against Russia before Ukraine capitulates entirely there is some Credence to the idea that the US is fabricating this threat so as to preemptively withdraw from the 1967 outer space treaty which bans stationing new nuclear weapons in orbit and presumably use this as justification to Target Russia more directly in some way historically this would be a very unlikely course of action for two reasons for one neither the us nor Russia are known for abiding by their own strategic arms treaties so fabricating the story to justify leaving a treaty no one was abiding by anyway makes no sense secondly this has been largely a moot point anyway as throughout history no one has been stupid enough to begin playing this game when other more conventional tools seem to be quite effective in shape in the world order however in our modern times these historic norms and mores are probably not the best to lean on for the confidence that strategic threats will largely continue with no real impact to the average person the comparative stability of the Cold War is gone and considering the concerning nature of all US policy makers and diplomats the United States is already well into Doctor Strange Love territory with regards to the disturbingly comical nature of Defense leadership's response to strategic military threats who have displayed an almost insatiable craving to start as many wars as possible in the shortest possible time the threat from Russia may not be direct active or even real but this will not change the actions of policy makers in the United States this concludes the wire weekly rollup for the week of February 11th through the 17th 2024