Welcome to Grappy's Soap Box - a platform for insightful commentary on politics, media, free speech, climate change, and more, focusing on Australia, the USA, and global perspectives.
Israel has pulled off a spectacular pre-emptive assault on saber-rattling, terrorist-supporting, theocratic dictatorship. It has managed in just a few days to win dominance in the air, and is in the cleaning-up stages. This includes further attacks on nuclear-related sites, the IRGC assets, and some infrastructure. The latter is specifically to discourage Iran from using its ballistic missiles against civilian targets.
The war has not been all one-way. Iran showed a surprising lack of resistance to Israel's air attack. More on this later. On the other hand, it has launched multiple waves of drones and ballistic missiles against Israel's largest cities. Despite a highly efficient protective dome, destroying some 80-90% of such missiles, the remainder do penetrate, and we have seen substantial damage to buildings, and some casualties. The number of civilians who have lost their lives is relatively small, especially given the size of the onslaught. It was only possible due to Israel's defensive infrastructure, with shelters built in or near virtually every building.
Iran has targeted a few strategic sites, Israel's defence departments' building and an Oil Refinery in Haifa, but its primary targets have been residential areas. I expect that we will soon have the ICC issue warrants for the Iranian military leaders and the Ayatollah for such war crimes. And of course, the UK, Australia, Canada and Norway will put sanctions on these people. SO that will teach them. Of course, I don't really expect any such actions. But it does show the hypocrisy of the ICC and those virtue-signalling morally blind leaders of the UK, Canada, Norway, New Zealand and shamefully Australia.
While all freedom-loving people will applaud the success of Israel, and indeed thank them for taking the action against Iran. While Israel has done this as it faced an existential threat in Iran's moves to develop nuclear weapons after they had threatened Israel's destruction often enough. They had even boasted that Israel was a one bomb state. So they only had to make sure they managed to get one through, and Israel would be destroyed. So Israel had little choice, and they took the brave steps to protect their country. Yet, we have to accept that they have done us all a favour. The Islamists who rule, perhaps I will soon be saying ruled, but not yet, have threatened not only Israel but the West in general. A nuclear-armed Iran would have perpetuated a regime that had already supported terrorism around the world, through proxies, it had fought civil wars in Yemen, Lebanon and Syria. It was a force for evil and should never have been accepted in the community of nations. The world could isolate such rogue states, but I will leave that for another day.
While the West celebrates Iran's now-likely fall, its allies, China & Russia, have a lesson to learn. Iran's inability to prevent Israel's air superiority despite anti-aircraft defence systems provided by Russia is sobering. While Russia did not supply many batteries of its best system, the SU-400, it had provided the SU-300. They turned out to be totally ineffective against Israel. To our knowledge, after 5 days, Israel has not lost a single aeroplane. That is remarkable.
So Russia's confidence in its ability to defend itself has taken a blow. Equally important, Iran was a major source of the drones that Russia had been using against Ukraine. That supply line has now been broken. Israel's success against Iran has dealt several blows to Russia.
Here is a video providing far more detail on the impact of Iran's failure on Russia.
I almost feel guilty pointing out the same issues post after post. Yes, I am criticising the MSM (Main Stream Media) again. No surprise that much of the MSM is left-leaning. Sometimes we can adjust for the known bias. If we see any article about Israel in the NY Times, we can completely discount what they say. They not only always take a view that is critical of Israel, but also, too often, they simply print lies. Even when this is pointed out later, they will take no steps to correct the lies.
Consider the case where a misdirected rocket fired from Gaza towards Israel fell short onto a hospital parking lot, killing many people. Hamas claimed Israel had bombed the hospital, killing some 500 people. All are simply anti-Israel propaganda. You guessed it, most MSM printed the propaganda as fact. When the truth was discovered, most of the media printed retractions, pretty weak ones, but of course not the NY Times.
But that is not my focus today. Today it is about the LA riots. The anti-Trump MSM, together with the Democrats, have tried to portray these riots as 'mainly peaceful'. That description is, of course, now infamous after we experienced the summer of love in 2020 with mainly peaceful demonstrations, causing the destruction of billions in property, looting, fires, and even deaths. All mainly peaceful.
Thankfully the LA riots have not been allowed to get out of hand. After what happened in 2020 Donald Trump was not going to allow these riots to continue without direct and forecful action. He called out the National Guard and sure enough the LA police also started doing their jobs.
The media, however, was once again at their worst. Instead of reporting the facts, they acted like cheerleaders for the rioters. If only there could be some way to punish the media for inciting illegality. But I note that with some hesitation, as I know what would happen if Congress were tasked with framing such a law. No, the better way is to enforce the laws as they stand.
Dr Phil presents an enlightening perspective on how the media handled the LA Riots.
In the "now for something completely different" file, I have included this video clip of the appearance of Boston Dynamics' robotic dogs in America's Got Talent reality show. They made quite a splash and were certainly a popular act. These types of casual, friendly introductions of robots are important. They serve to demystify the machines that will no doubt integrate ever more completely into our daily lives.
A few hours ago, Israel launched its much-anticipated surprise attack on Iran. It was not unexpected, but its timing may have been. It is too soon to gauge its success, though initial reports show -
a large operation with some 200 planes
Minor reported damage to Israel from Iran's defence systems
widespread damage in many locations in Iran
targets included anti-aircraft defence, high-value military personnel, missile manufacturing sites and most importantly, nuclear weapons factories
The 'neutralization' of some senior personnel has been acknowledged by Iran, including the head of the IRGC
Iran, Khamanei has vowed retaliation, and drones have been launched against Israel
These are but a few hours after the attack, so much too early to draw conclusions.
Israel has been a victim of unwarranted aggression by Iran for decades. Iran has been threatening, has been using proxies for direct attacks and just a few months ago launched hundreds of drones and ballistic missiles against Israel. Iran has declared war on Israel and has used everything in its power to attack Israel for decades. Israel has taken this step only due to the threat of Iran developing nuclear weapons.
So, by any fair evaluation, Israel was justified, and the free world will be better off if it succeeds. Success would be the elimination of Iran's nuclear threat. Even greater success would be the elimination of the terrorist theocracy that took control of Iran in 1979.
We can all hope that Israel achieved the former, and that the freedom-loving people of Iran take the opportunity of Iran's weakness to overthrow the regime.
Biden's Autopens are multiplying. As Congress delves into the use, or likely abuse, of Biden's Autopen, we are learning more. Congressman Comer has reported that there was not a single Autopen but three. One of these was only discovered recently, and more importantly, that the 3rd Autopen had been used for signing 'hundreds of proclamations'. We have also learned that four people were involved in using the Autopen, including Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco. This is building the case for legal action against some of these for usurping the power of the President.
It now seems that, due to cognitive issues, Joe Biden was not in control of his faculties throughout much of the later years of his presidency. His 'minders' should have reported his condition and had him replaced under the 25th Amendment. Instead, they lied about his condition and usurped his power, using the autopen to forge his authorisation.
If this can be proved, it will invalidate a large number of Autopen-authorised proclamations, executive orders, and pardons and launch a myriad of court cases and prison terms. Oh, 'tis a tangled web.
The media is starting to pick this one up, so many people are covering the Autopen-gate scandal.
Given the history, I guess we shoudl not be surprised, but the IDF has uncovered the UN working with Hamas to smuggle aid to Hamas for re-sale. Israel Hayom reports that
"Newly obtained data reveal a systematic mechanism by which the Hamas smuggled goods using UN aid trucks, enriching its coffers by millions of dollars during wartime. The documentation shows direct "under-the-table" cooperation between Hamas operatives and staff of the UN's World Food Programme (WFP)."
After much protest by the climate zealotry fraternity that the Spain /Portugal blackouts at the end of April were caused by unusual atmospheric conditions and were not an ongoing issue with a high proportion of renewables in the electricity grid, everyone has gone shtum. While many knowledgeable analysts at the time pinpointed the cause as the instability caused by fluctuations in the output of renewables in the grid, the zealots rejected that this was a serious concern for renewables. The media has quickly moved on, and once more, the warnings of the experts have been ignored.
Yet, given the experts' concerns, when intermittent renewables become a significant energy source of the grid, fluctuations in the energy generated will cause a cascade that is very difficult to limit. Sophisticated automated grid management systems operate to ensure that fluctuations in frequency, which would damage the grid, are detected and the offending generators are switched out of the system.
The cascade occurs when the consequence of switching one generator out of the system, in turn, causes a fluctuation that is transmitted across the next component and so on. It is just this type of process that resulted in all of Spain and all of Portugal having a blackout. Given that Spain's grid is connected to France, why didn't the cascade continue to France? The difference is that France has sufficient non-intermittent nuclear generators that ensure that the fluctuation of losing Spain is relatively small, and gives adequate time to France's grid management system to switch Spain out of its network.
So the Achilles heel of renewables is the fluctuations that occur with changes in solar output due to clouds, or just the natural changes in wind strength. The fluctuations can be handled when renewables are a relatively small proportion of the total power, but become unstable when the grid is majority renewables.
This is the canary in the renewables coalmine! Countries that have bet the farm on 100% renewables must return to the drawing board.
Australian journalist Chris Uhlmann has followed renewables technology and government policies for some time. He has developed healthy scepticism about current Australian policies. Here is a short video of his interview with John Anderson. It is well worth a view.
Mixing some good news with the constant stream of bad, comes a recent breakthrough in medical technology. Interesting Engineering magazine's article " China’s scientists use tellurium to restore vision in mice, let monkeys see infrared" tells the story. Researchers at Fudan University of Shanghai have used the rare element Tellurium to create an artificial retina. After implanting the device into blind mice, the mice regained vision. Tellurium was used because it has the unusual property of creating electrical signals in response to stimulation by light. Since the tellurium also responds to infrared light, the artificial retina allows its recipient to 'see' infrared signals too. Of course, this is brand new technology and will take some time to reach human use; it is a breakthrough.
The past 2 weeks have seen a dramatic demonstration of Ukraine's technology and strategic cunning. In multiple attacks on Russian soil, it has decimated Russia's strategic bomber fleet, destroyed a Black Sea gas platform, annihilated a strategic Black Sea communications hub responsible for coordinating attacks on Ukraine and most recently, a train carrying some hundred military vehicles, including 7 tanks. The attacks have used high-tech special-purpose drones, and with the actions spreading from the Arctic to the Black Sea and inside Russia, demonstrate an unexpected reach. Russians are now well and truly aware of this war.
Of course, Russia is a formidable bear, and they have launched multiple attacks against Ukraine's civilians, costing lives and damage to infrastructure. Ukraine has focused only on military targets and has used precision targeting, limiting casualties but destroying expensive military assets.
Who will win this battle, the fox or the bear?
Here is another video giving details of the most recent drone attack on a train.
Although the Watergate scandal is now some 50 years old, it has become the standard by which all more recent scandals have been judged. It is the scandal of all scandals, having taken the scalp of a US president together with a whole range of accomplices on the way, many having served jail sentences. A more recent scandal is threatening to take the mantle from Watergate. It is the Autopen scandal, henceforth Autopen-gate. The questions surrounding the unprecedented use of an Autopen by the Biden administration for multiple executive orders and pardons.
Why is this a scandal? While the use of an autopen goes back to the very early years of the US. Thomas Jefferson had an early version of an autopen. So that is not an issue. While it has generally not been used for executive orders, only for routine correspondence, its use is legal whenever an Autopen is authorised by the POTUS. But there is the problem. Given Biden's now accepted cognitive issues, there is serious doubt as to his conscious authorisation of its use. Did he understand what the autopen was signing? Did he even authorise its use? If he did not authorise its use, on some pardon or executive orders, are those orders, or pardons valid? If used without authority, those who used it are guilty of serious crimes.
Autopen-gate has yet to play out. The Watergate scandal took years to run its full course, and Autopen-gate will also take some time. The potential for jail terms, cancelled pardons, and revoked executive orders is evident. At this stage, Congress and Trump have also raised the issue and are asking questions.
If it is pursued, multiple court cases will likely end up in the Supreme Court. My guess is that the use of an Autopen on executive orders and pardons will be banned.
Bill O'Reilly recently covered the Autopen scandal well in a recent video. Well worth a view.
Science fiction stories are replete with laser weapons. They are the weapon of choice in space, depicted as coloured beams of light shot like arrows at enemy spaceships to invariably turn the target into explosive debris, often with unscientific thunderous noise. Even land-based confrontations use laser pistols to shoot at enemies, again with immediate dramatic annihilation. The enemy is frequently vaporised, sometimes exploded or just eviscerated. These weapons have, however, remained science fiction until now.
Israel, among many other countries, has been experimenting with so-called directed-energy weapons, laser guns, to destroy enemy projectiles, be they aircraft, missiles, or drones. However, such laser weapons have remained experimental despite some successful testing. That has now changed. In the recent war between Hezbollah and Israel, Israel used its Iron Beam laser weapon to destroy incoming missiles and drones. Despite some limitations, it was a valuable asset in preventing missile penetration into civilian areas.
Israel's much-vaunted Iron Dome system has one major shortcoming: cost. The rockets used to destroy incoming missiles cost $50,000 each. This is a relatively expensive defence system because incoming drones may cost only a few hundred dollars.
However, Laser Weapons redress this imbalance. A single shot that can destroy an incoming drone costs only a few dollars of electric energy. This rebalances such warfare towards the defending side.
Given the widespread aerial attacks on Israel, this is a most welcome development.
However, laser weapons will not be limited to defensive roles. They can be equally used for offence and no doubt they will be.
Yesterday, Donald Trump revealed that he had an extensive telephone conversation with Putin regarding several topics, including Ukraine's much publicised successful attacks on Russia's strategic military assets, and Putin's prized bridge linking Crimea to mainland Russia. Putin threatened retaliation, of course.
We are yet to see the response, but no one will be surprised, after all, Putin does not have the same values that we have in the West. Is it because he is crazy? It appears not. However, his actions over the past two decades show he is a ruthless dictator who does not hesitate to use force to achieve his ends. He has taken complete control of Russia, and all opposition has been vanquished by fair means or foul. Journalists, politicians, and those opposing his rule have been disappeared or poisoned. His military opposition had fatal accidents. He has used his military to attack his neighbours, with great success, prior to the current Ukraine invasion. What are his objectives? Most pundits believe he wants to recreate the glorious days of the USSR. He wants Russia to have the power and respect that the USSR, achieved in its heyday. Given what we now know about the hollow carcass that regime had turned out to be, this does sound hollow. It is hard for us Westerners to understand the Russian culture and how they can tolerate Putin's brutal dictatorship. Why don't they rebel? Some insight into the Russian mind was given by Konstantin Kisin in his short but forthright presentation titled "Why Americans Don't Understand Putin".
It has only been a few days since Ukraine's remarkable surprise attack on Russia's strategic military assets, when it has pulled off another significant attack. This time it was an underwater drone that delivered structural damage to the Kerch bridge. The bridge that connects the Russian-annexed Crimea to Russia.
The extent of the structural damage to the bridge is yet to be fully assessed, but the damage to Russia's military is clearly visible. Putin, instead of delivering his planned rapid takeover of the whole of Ukraine, has been bogged down in a war that is in its 4th year. Along the way, it has lost up to 1 million men, dead and wounded, many billions of roubles worth of armaments, and incalculable political capital. Russia's military has dropped from being regarded as one of the top military forces in the world, and is now considered as an outdated paper tiger. Its only asset is its nuclear arsenal, which, although untested, remains its major deterrent from NATO's even more aggressive actions.
Again, we have to be cautious about over-cheering Ukraine's success, as we can anticipate some reaction from Russia.
In the meantime, here are some of the reports on the recent attack.
Given the Trump tornado's dismantling of Biden's 'legacy', it is not surprising that the news media have had their hands full. Never does a day pass without many opportunities for outrage at Trump's policies. Whether it be another on/off on a tariff, a district judge putting a stop order on an executive order, a failed ceasefire negotiation, the anti-Trump forces have been too busy attacking Trump to look for defending Biden's legacy. There are signs that that will change soon. There are many open questions on the Biden Presidency, including:-
Who was aware of Biden's cognitive decline and when?
Who was 'running' the country over the period when Biden could not do so?
What role did his immediate family, Dr Jill Biden, and his disgraced son, Hunter, have?
Who was in charge of the auto-pen used for signing executive orders? Many were signed by auto-pen.
Are the auto-pen executed orders legal?
Are auto-pen executed pardons legal?
Did Biden's doctor do a PSA test? If not, why not? If yes, what was the result?
When was Biden's prostate cancer diagnosed?
Who was the source of the cocaine found in the White House?
While Trump's Justice Department and FBI have been busy settling into their new roles and implementing the changes required by Trump's executive orders, there are now signs that the questions circling about Biden's presidency are receiving attention. Republicans in Congress, many of whom have been doggedly pursuing Biden's questionable business dealings, are pressing for more action, oft repeating the Democrats' mantra, 'no one is above the law. ' What goes around comes around.
I expect there will be plenty of circus in the coming months.
Yesterday's surprise ambush by Ukraine of Russia's strategic military assets reminded me of a movie from the 60s by that title. A small principality in Europe decides to declare war against the US. Why? It fully expects to lose the war, but then receive the generous aid that the US was seen to bestow on countries it conquered. Obviously, it is a comedy and pretty memorable for its premise. Ukraine is far from a small principality, and it certainly did not start this war, but yesterday it certainly roared. It pulled off a massive surprise attack on Russia's most strategic assets. The extent of the damage has yet to be determined, but the attack targeted 4 separate military sites and destroyed some 40 strategic bombers, some of which were located thousands of kilometres from Ukraine's border. By all accounts, and there are many, this was a military masterpiece, executed in total secrecy despite an 18-month implementation schedule. Experts cite this as the greatest military loss by Russia since WWII.
This is a major setback for Russia, but even a greater embarrassment for Putin. So we can expect a reaction. One could ask, "What is worse than an angry bear?", and the answer would be "A wounded bear"
CDC removes children and pregnant women from COVID Immunisation Schedule
It has been some time coming, perhaps late, but the US CDC has removed COVID mRNA vaccines from the CDC's recommended immunisation schedule for healthy children and healthy pregnant women. The announcement was reinforced on X. This is a short one, just 37 seconds.
Today, the COVID vaccine for healthy children and healthy pregnant women has been removed from @CDCgov recommended immunization schedule. Bottom line: it’s common sense and it’s good science. We are now one step closer to realizing @POTUS’s promise to Make America Healthy Again. pic.twitter.com/Ytch2afCLP
Monday: COVID mRNA vaccine risks are being exposed
It has taken the re-election of Trump and the replacement of the heads of the US Health bureaucracy to open up the discussion on the COVID mRNA vaccine side effects. The new management players, RFK Jr, Dr Bhattacharya and others have started to uncover the institutional malpractice in the management of the COVID pandemic. The period included coerced vaccination with a poorly tested vaccine, false statements as to its efficacy and safety, and misinformation as to the safety and efficacy of alternative treatments. The vaccine mandates were stopped a while ago, but recommendations for boosters are now being withdrawn.
Given this new open approach, Doctors are now willing to speak out. I have come across a number of these but do not want to inundate you. Nevertheless here is one video exposing some of the issues with the COVID mRNA vaccines.
Wednesday: Net Zero destroys the economy
I penned a post on Net Zero just last week, and here I go again. Last week's post was centred on the futility of removing fossil fuels from modern society, given society's extensive dependence on the products of fossil fuels. This post focuses on the economic consequences of driving any economy towards Net Zero. I won't belabour the point as the video below provides the information in an easily digestible form. Indeed, it was a presentation by Paul Marshall at the ARC conference. While his focus is on the UK and the dramatic costs to its economy of the UK's commitment to Net Zero, the arguments apply equally to any country that has sacrificed low-cost energy via fossil fuels, or nuclear, for the so-called 'renewables, wind and solar. Invariably, the move from 24/7 baseload power to intermittent sources raises prices significantly, killing industries that rely on low-cost electricity. Many argue this is unnecessary, but electricity prices have invariably soared wherever the move towards renewables has progressed.
This video titled "Europe's going bust over Net-Zero (and the rest of the world doesn't care)" is well worth the 15 minutes or so.
Thursday: Pandemic Excess Mortality 2025
The news is not good. Yes, I would have reported it, if it were. Excess Mortality remains at unacceptable levels into 2025.
Some may not have followed the story, so let me recap. All cause mortality rates, a parameter often used by Insurance actuaries, rose significantly during the years of the Pandemic. It was noted by insurance companies first, then by many interested in evaluating the impact of the pandemic. Excess mortality refers to rising mortality rates above the 'normal'. The normal is the average that prevailed before 2020, when the pandemic started. By the way, the mortality rate has been relatively stable over the years.
An increase in mortality during a pandemic is expected, but it would have been expected to return to normal levels as the pandemic waned. Also, the increase in mortality would be expected to follow the peak infection rates and to wane as vaccination rates increase. However, neither of these occurred. The excess mortality that started in 2020/21 has remained high in all the following years. After excess deaths during the peak of the pandemic, one would expect excess deaths to become negative as the most vulnerable had already passed. But that has not happened. Excess deaths remain at pandemic levels long after the pandemic has passed.
So why is this happening? The finger of blame is pointing at mRNA vaccines! I have posted on this a number of times in the past ( see here, here, and here), so I shall not repeat it again. The evidence against mRNA vaccines is compelling.
Dr John Campbell's video below covers the recent update on excess deaths.
These statistical measures raise the nightmarish possibility that rolling out the mRNA vaccines has condemned billions of people on Earth to a shorter lifespan. If this is so, we must hold to account all those who led us to this disaster.
Tapping fingers on the table .....tap, tap, tap.
Friday: How to Stop the West's Decline!
I came across this video this morning, again, due to YouTube roulette. I was served another dish of Konstantin, having devoured several of his pithy presentations in the past. Google's algorithm is quite successful, as it hit the spot again. The only issue I have is that there is no age filter, and YouTube often presents very old delicacies.
This video is some five months old, but no matter, it is well worth it.
As always, Konstantin presents his incisive arguments with clarity and humour. His fundamental argument is irrefutable.
"The West isn’t just 'different'; it’s better (because) "in Australia there are precisely zero
people who get onto rickety boats every year to brave shark-infested waters in search of a better life elsewhere... the traffic is all one way in the opposite direction, the same is true on the southern border of the United States, the same is true in the Mediterranean...."
The presentation is part of a Holberg Debate on "Is the West in decline?", another must-see.
In what must go down as one of the most egregious episodes in the UN's already tainted record of moral clarity and honesty, the UN's Humanitarian chief, Tom Fletcher, made an outrageous claim that "there are 14,000 babies (in Gaza) that will die in the next 48 hours unless we can reach them".
The claims were widely reported in mainstream media worldwide, proving that " a lie can travel halfway around the world before the truth puts on its shoes."
Of course, the BBC reported as Fletcher claimed, but hats off to them, they did follow up to identify the basis of the claim with the relevant UN office, which referred to an IPC (Integrated Food Security Phase Classification) report. The IPC report, however, did NOT make the claim that was made by Fletcher. It projected that over the next 12 months, 14,000 were at risk of acute malnutrition—a somewhat less dramatic claim, albeit still questionable.
Given the UN's biased stance on all things related to Israel, we cannot be surprised, but the media, the supposed last barrier to misinformation, are anything but. They continue to amplify these ludicrous, extreme statements without question. Nor do they go back to correct the errors they keep making.
Thankfully, a few media organisations look at the other side of every story and try to report on the misinformation perpetrated by the media.
You had me at the headline. That was the intention, but I have to admit that after investing the next five or so minutes, I was not disappointed. It was, I am almost ashamed to admit, another video by Konstantin Kisin, who seems to be my bestie. This time, it was not via YouTube but via PragerU's five-minute instant enlightenment series. But instead of my summary, why don't you watch it? Why I left Utopia. It provides an insight into the question, 'What is Utopia?'
Imagine the possibilities!
With all the world's crises, it is easy to gloss over technologies and medical breakthroughs that have the potential to transform the world. The world's media focus on the current urgent problems and potential future crises. There is no room for good news, or it is at best rare. Yet if we look back at just the past few decades, we have seen many dramatic changes to our lives. Two decades ago, there was no social media, iWatch, iPhone, electric cars, free video communication worldwide, and many more.
Such dramatic improvements have not been restricted to technology alone. The World Health Organisation's Millennium Development Goals web page lists some of the achievements over recent decades as ;-
Globally, the number of deaths of children under 5 years of age fell from 12.7 million in 1990 to 6.3 million in 2013.
In developing countries, the percentage of underweight children under 5 years old dropped from 28% in 1990 to 17% in 2013.
Globally, new HIV infections declined by 38% between 2001 and 2013.
Existing cases of tuberculosis are declining, along with deaths among HIV-negative tuberculosis cases.
In 2010, the world met the United Nations Millennium Development Goals target on access to safe drinking-water, as measured by the proxy indicator of access to improved drinking-water sources, but more needs to be done to achieve the sanitation target.
We hear the bad news, but the good news creeps by without a mention. We should not be surprised; it has always been this way.
The advances of the past lead us inexorably into a new future built on the achievements of the past. The recent leaps in AI and robotics will totally transform human experience. The merging of AI+Robotics will see the advent of humanoid robots with Artificial General Intelligence, creating universal machines that have the potential to free humans from the need to work. All work, not just manual labour, but all labour, white collar and blue collar. Dramatic yes. World-changing, yes. A nirvana, mmm, maybe. It does pose a serious challenge for humanity. Imagine our world in a decade, with universal machines capable of replacing all the drudgery in your life. It may sound wonderful, especially after a day of hassles. But what will you do with all that time? How will humanity reorganise itself? Like most developments that have the potential to create a golden future, there are potential abuses, which are usually of equal importance. So not all a bed of roses.
A recent Elon Musk presentation challenged us to imagine the possibilities. The guru himself explains this in the video below.
Good intentions, bad results!
It is a sad truism that despite the best of intentions, too many projects fail. Why is this so? Well, of course, there can be many reasons for failure, but we can see a common theme for many failures.
Consider the multi-decade project to lift the living standards of Australian aborigines. Successive Australian governments have invested vast amounts of capital, both public and political, into reducing the 'GAP'. This GAP is a well-defined set of social measures that shows aboriginal communities, especially those living in remote areas, have lower standard of living than average Australians. Yet, year after year, we see limited improvements.
There have been multiple parliamentary enquiries with input from the communities and their representatives. They have compiled lists of recommendations. New bodies with substantial government money have been formed. They have been given the authority, the resources and the means to implement programs that address all the recommendations. This has been going on for decades, with only small improvements in the GAP. After each review, new recommendations are generated, which always entail more money and onerous commitments. While the government has been spending some $A30 billion pa, Aboriginal activists say this is not enough; they want a change to the Australian Constitution to create yet another special body, called the Voice, comprising a selected group of Aboriginals to advise government on all legislation that could affect the Aboriginal community. This was taken to the Australian people through a referendum, and it was defeated with a resounding NO vote. (Thank goodness!)
This is not over; we have yet to see what our newly elected Labor government will do. I would not be surprised if they tried to create a legislated Voice that did not require a constitutional change.
That is by the by. I only used this as an example of the failure of good intentions.
So why do these good intentions fail? The simple answer is incentives. Intentions do not cause a change, but incentives do. If one invests a pot of gold each year to reduce the GAP. Those receiving the money will want to keep receiving it, so they will not have any incentive to reduce the GAP but an incentive to NOT reduce it.
This is a general principle: you cannot solve any problem if your incentives do not provide a reward for solving the problem.
I have to confess my theme was triggered by a recent video from Konstantin Kisin. The video gives several examples of where this has worked or failed. It's well worth a view.
Abundant Energy drives the modern world
Energy and electricity policies have attracted me over the past week. This is partly due to recent discussions I have had with my circle of friends and YouTube's tendency to base its recommendations on one's previous selections. Despite this, I can not resist posting this video by Bjorn Lomborg, also presented at an ARC conference. Lomborg is well-known for his economic evaluation of the impact of Climate change. He calls out the lunacy of current climate policies that cost more than the projected economic impact of the climate change they are trying to remediate. Along the way, he dismisses many of the fallacious claims climate zealots use to panic the population into accepting climate policies that are not cost-effective.
Another must-see!
Australia's renewables obsession
After the defeat of the opposition parties at the recent election, there is nothing to prevent Labor's drive to decarbonise Australia's electricity grid, no matter the cost. And the cost will be much higher than the already unprecedented energy costs that households and industry have already borne. Many have warned the government that its path will cost too much. The costs will fall on the poorest in our society and continue to drive manufacturing offshore. Despite the warnings and real-world experience of countries that have already taken the renewables path, the Labor government insists that "renewables provide the lowest cost of electricity".
Gerard Holland at the ARC conference in Australia addressed these issues in a clear and direct presentation. In the presentation, he identifies all the cost components for the competing electricity generation technologies and conclusively demonstrates that an all-renewables solution will cost ~$2,500 vs ~$850B for nuclear and ~$550B for coal. (See the table below, taken from the presentation.)
This video is a must-see.
Progress on fusion?
I remain sceptical that fusion energy is just around the corner. The technology has been on the precipice for too long to expect a sudden breakthrough. It seems much of the media has also taken this view, so we have heard little about it for some time. Yet, there seem to be some green shoots. I came across this video about a 'breakthrough' in plasma stability. The novel German design has achieved an unprecedented 8 minutes of operation. This may not seem much, but compared to the alternative designs recorded in the seconds, it is major. I won't bother you with the technicalities, I am not an expert, but you could glean a bit of the excitement of this achievement from the video below.
Perhaps the video is a bit overenthusiastic, but it is worth a view.
The world is waking up to the false gods of climate zealots. Europe is realising that its lemming-like dash towards energy poverty may not be a good idea. It has taken multiple hits to bring about a change in attitude. The rising cost of energy in countries with extensive renewables roll-outs was the first sign. But rich countries, like the UK and Germany, persisted, closing down coal-fired power and even nuclear reactors. Then came the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the destruction of the Nord 2 pipeline and Russia's use of energy as a weapon. Most recently, there is the instability in the grid caused by too high a reliance on intermittent energy, the final nail has been the US' withdrawal from the Paris accord and the Net Zero target.
Unfortunately, much of Europe had taken the Net Zero, renewable path many years ago, and it will take a long time to convince the populations that were fed the Net Zero cool-aid for years to change their minds. Worse still, if you have closed your coal-fired power stations or demolished your nuclear power stations, like Spain, it will take decades to replace them. So let's be prepared for a rather mixed message from the countries that thave progressed along this path, but remember that some 60% of the world's emissions are from countries that no longer have any commitment to Net Zero.
So any country that is a minor emitter, eg UK (1%), Australia (1%) should, if common sense prevailed, drop the target. They are only damaging their own economies without any impact on the world climate.
Can the world live without fossil fuels, as the net-zero zealots advocate? No. Quite simply, the modern world is totally interdependent on the availability of fossil fuels. Our modern world has been built on many of the products of fossil fuels; asphalt for our roads, all plastics, fertiliser essential for food productivity, pharmaceuticals, and virtually every industry is dependent on fossil fuels. A world without fossil fuels would be a poor world, and could not support the current population of the Earth.
The Left has captured the majority of Western media organisations. Today, this seems to be accepted not only by the Right but also by the Left. It has happened gradually over the last 2 decades. I still remember my TV and Radio stations of choice were Australia's ABC, the public broad. Many from that time have often commented that today's ABC is virtually unrecognisable in its consistently one-sided reporting on most political issues. I recall one ex-reporter explaining that in the 70s, admittedly 5 decades ago, using adjectives in news stories was banned. This was to ensure reporters' views were not allowed to intrude on straight reporting. Oh, how far have the standards strayed! Today's media fails to distinguish news from opinion, and news stories often include left-wing commentary. Without doubt, there are a few media outlets that clearly lean Right, so why am I complaining? Firstly, because there are many more left-leaning organisations than right-leaning. This naturally will have a disproportionate influence on political issues. But more importantly, the publicly funded ABC, whose charter required impartiality, has been so captured by the Left that there is not one right-leaning political commentator on its political programs. This fact has been pointed out many times over recent years, yet it continues. Labor governments welcome the ABC on their side, so they will not criticise them; that is not surprising. But then, the LNP coalition also fails to make this an issue, because the ABC carries so much influence that they do not dare to start a massive media-driven campaign against them. Yet there will be no change until we get a Trumpian coalition leader who calls out the 'Fake Media' in our midst.
Apropos Trump and the US media, the problem is the same. In some ways, much worse. Given Trump's whirlwind successes and a weak Democratic party, the media have gone all out to try to redress the balance. But of course, Trump is up for the fight. I only wish Australia had someone with the same strength.
Victor Davis Hanson has a short video on this issue that is well worth a view.
Is Albo Australia's Chavez?
After the Liberal National Coalition's devastating loss in last week's election, the coalition is in disarray. Just today, the Liberals elected a new leader, Sussan Ley, the party's first female leader. While she has been in parliament for 25 years, she has not had a big footprint. Most people don't know her at all. And this is despite her having been the deputy leader of the party and being virtually invisible during the recent campaign. In some ways, that tells the story, but you never know. I am always happy to give a new leader a chance to discard their past and grow into the new role.
The re-elected Labor party has shuffled the deckchairs with a renewed ministry. Some demotions have caused ructions, and some who kept their jobs should not have. But again, let's see how they perform.
The most ominous development has been the dominance of the Left wing of the party in the new ministry. Australia is now led by the most left-wing government ever. This flows against the tide of new right-of-centre governments in the Western world.
Many commentators predict that this will cause Australia to continue its downward spiral. Previous cycles have shown Labor federal governments wear out their welcome in two terms, and leave the country in a mess. Let's see.
Here is a piece by Topher Field who warns of Albo as a re-born Chavez who will bring disaster on Australia. I think Australia's Westminster system has more checks and balances, but forewarned is forearmed.
Intermittent renewables cause grid instability
Following the unprecedented blackout of Spain and Portugal, many commentators have been crowding the airwaves to put their particular spin. In my close circle, we have had multiple, let's call them 'discussions' on the reasons. You can take it as read that, like many groups, we have a mix of political viewpoints and are passionate in our arguments. Those with a firm belief in the "Climate Catastrophe" dogma are doing their best to interpret Spain's outage as an unusual one-off, not an intrinsic instability caused by too many intermittent energy sources trying to maintain power continuity to very tight constraints. Unfortunately for them, the indications are that there is a serious stability issue when there is a high proportion of intermittent sources. I posted one source last week. Here is another.
It is rather long around 50 mins, well worth the lot, but Spain is covered in the first 10 minutes.
the balance does cover a range of issues relating to Net Zero, nuclear energy, and problems with renewables. The context is UK but applicable in broad terms worldwide.
Climate myth busting
During my discussions about the Spain blackout, our friendly discussions strayed into many of the Climate Emergency claims. Having covered this some time ago, I was reminded of the scientific paper that analysed many of the claims made by the Climate Emergency club.
As a technology freak, I keep abreast of new developments, especially in robotics. You will have noticed many articles that highlight recent milestones. The major leap in recent times has been the integration of AI with conventional Robotics. AI adds the brain to the robotic machine. The programming of conventional robots has required extensive time-consuming programming. Robots require function-specific programming to ensure the robot does exactly what was intended and nothing that was not specified. The need for each task to be programmed meant a drag on their use to repetitive tasks, where the cost of programming was justified through repetition.
That is now changing. AI is providing the facility for the robots to respond directly to instructions from a human. The AI then programs the robot to execute what is required. While this integration is in its infancy, over time, it will enable the elimination of all manual labour. The Rosie robot of Futurama will become a reality. Of course, it will create significant challenges to human organisation, but is a topic for another day.
Here is a recent video that highlights some of the most recent developments in robotics.
Is Musk's Starlink raining satellites?
Everything Musk is undergoing scrutiny. It's as if the once Dr Jekyll had turned into Mr Hyde following his taking a pro-Trump elixir. The most recent claim is that some 4 Starlink satellites are falling to earth every day. A rather stark and worrisome claim. Alas, as seems to be the case with every reason given for a new panic, there is more to the story. Once 'more' is explained, it is less worrisome.
Let me not be the one to explain, just listen to YouTube physicist Sabine Hossenfelder.
Adolescent distractions
Given the many and diverse real social issues that pervade today's United Kingdom, it is shameful to focus the nation's attention on a red herring. Yet that is the case. The Netflix series 'Adolescence" has attracted widespread and high-level attention. Spoiler alert, while I have not seen the show, I believe the series tells the story of a young teenage boy bullied on social media, ending up knifing and killing a teenage girl.
The story seems to have struck a chord, with many talk shows raising the social issues it portrays. Some claim it as being a true story, a documentary, and politicians are asked how they will address social media epidemic that causes such breakdowns. Even in Australia, family members have raised it with me and one friend thought it was a true story.
It is certainly not a true story, nor is it representative of the types of problems teenagers face. I don't have the statistics, but the much more common knife crime in the UK, and other Western cities, is teenage gang members knifing each other. Yes, the television series has exposed our feckless media once again, chasing illusive problems while ignoring the very real problems staring them in the face.
Here is Konstanti Krisin summary. Konstantin is always entertaining.
You cannot trust polls!
Given their lack of success over many elections, it is surprising that anyone would trust a poll. Just think of the 2016 US Presidential election, which Hillary would win by a country mile, or even the recent 2024 US presidential election, which the pollsters had totally misjudged. In Australia, too, the pollsters are not much better with multiple failures at National polls. The election of 2019, where the Opposition leader was predicted by pollsters to "walk it in", but ended up failing. Came close, but "no cigar".
I accept that predictions are subject to error, and we cannot assume a poll will give an accurate prediction. However, given that the results in these elections were far outside the predicted error in the polls, we have to ask why. Why does this keep happening, and why do these pollsters keep their jobs?
The recent 100-day milestone of Trump's second presidency has seen the media engage pollsters to apply a popularity gauge to Trump's performance. This resulted in many polls declaring a loss of support for Trump. But can we trust these polls? It seems not.
Victor Davis Hanson provides some insight into why many polls are just producing what the anti-Trump media wants to promulgate.
Here is the short video, well worth a watch.
Is China in chaos due to Trump's Tariffs?
The Trump China tariff battle is still in progress. I can't keep up with the numbers. However, at this stage, new very high reciprocal tariffs have been imposed on goods being transferred between the countries. Trump's argument is that this has a greater impact on China as it benefits more from US purchases. There are already some exceptions, and more will follow. Trump has already softened his position on this. We can expect more changes.
But already I am seeing multiple YouTube videos highlighting the impact on China of these tariffs. The videos claim panic as orders are being cancelled and exporters are going broke. Surprisingly, I am not seeing corresponding reports from our mainstream media. So I am somewhat skeptical, but we will see.
Here is one of these videos.
Shocking abuse by unhinged radicals
Given the distractions of our recent general election, we have forgotten about the extremists who held their repeated demonstrations at our Universities. Perhaps one may have thought it was all in the past. But no, Avi Yemini of Rebel News recently posted a shocking video of the vile abuse screamed at Mark Leach, of Never Again is Now, as he and his daughter were at a University Campus. This occurred about 4 weeks ago, during the election campaign, but that is no excuse.
While I am reluctant to give more 'air' to such vile events, we do need to remember these hateful people are amongst us.
Here is the video.
But there is something to celebrate in the election results. The Greens, the hate-filled party stoking the type of bullying and abuse demonstrated in the above video, have had a major electoral setback. Adam Bandt, the party leader, has lost his seat, and all the Greens' lower house seats are currently in doubt. This is a resounding rejection of their hateful policies. Something to celebrate!
Is Spain the canary in the renewables coalmine?
The recent Earth day, 22 April, was especially significant for Spain. It national grid had managed to run 100% renewables for the first time just 6 days earlier on 16 April. (See Spain hits first weekday of 100% renewable power on national grid). However the celebrations did not last long, just a week later Spain & Portugal were hit by a massive blackout.
"A massive blackout has caused mayhem along the Iberian Peninsula, stranding passengers in trains and hundreds of elevators and leaving millions without phone and internet coverage in Spain, Portugal and – briefly – south western France.
A state of emergency was declared in Spain in the wake of the major outage, which the country’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said occurred when about 15 gigawatts of electricity – more than half of the power being consumed at the time – “suddenly disappeared” in about five seconds." Ref Spain blackout, News.com.au
Electricity blackouts are not generally reported in headlines, certainly not worldwide. So why was this, admittedly serious, blackout so significant? It is recognition that the 100%-renewables target of much of the Western world may be flawed.
Of course, the climate zealots are looking at other explanations. Indeed several were posed by operators. Be it some technical mumbo jumbo that the average pundit cannot follow, or "very rare and unusual environmental circumstances", these causes do right the ship of doubt. If these events have occurred, they can occur again, so the unavoidable conclusion is that the new renewables grid is unstable. Moreover, the greater the proportion of renewables in a system, the less stable the grid becomes to unexpected fluctuations.
This video provides a more technical analysis of the issues, and well worth a view.
It seems the blackout in Spain is an early warning of a serious flaw in the strategy of decarbonization by using Wind and Solar. That is a difficult conclusion for the many countries that are busy trying to transform their countries' electricity grids to renewables. Hopefully they are watching!
My hopes were shattered. The polls were not wrong, but not because the swing against Labor was greater than expected, but because they failed to predict the more significant swing towards Labor. Yes, the bumbling, hapless, mendacious Albanese government has won a second term with an increased majority. How was this possible, given its singular failure to run the country effectively?
There will be much soul-searching in the coming weeks and months. There is no doubt that the campaign was mismanaged by the Coalition and was well managed by Labor. Peter Dutton as leader of the opposition, has accepted responsibility, as he should. He does not have to resign as leader as he lost his own seat. A most undignified end to a 20-year political career. I will leave my comments short, nd let the dust settle before drawing more conclusions. Alas, my flag is at half mast today.
Johannes Leak cartoon summarises my thoughts exactly.
But, obviously, the majority did not agree with me, or Johannes.
Australian election tomorrow.
After a campaign of some six weeks, Australia's federal election takes place tomorrow. Polls indicate the re-election of Labor under the leadership of Anthony Albanese, most likely in a minority government with The Greens and Teals. All the polls, however are national polls, and seats are decided in individual electorates. It is unusual, but has occure just a few years ago in 2019, where the national polls were all wrong. So, I for one am hoping, that history will repeat itself. In any objective measure this Labor government does not deserve another term. They have mismanaged the economy, have allowed the rise of anti-semitism and social division, have trashed relationship with Israel, have sucked up to China, and neglected defence. It goes on, but I won't bore you. If you live in Australia you know ,and if you don't , you don't care.
But here is a recent Liberal party ad that highlights Albanese's bumbling manner.
Despite the oft-quoted claim that "Islam is a religion of peace", observers of Europe's experiment with Muslim immigration have convinced many that it is not. Certainly, the crime rate in Europe following this experiment has risen in direct proportion to the increase in Muslim immigrants. Yes, I know immigrants are always troubled souls who find it difficult to integrate, so it should not be surprising if crime levels increased. But, it is much worse than that. Europe has experienced many waves of migrants from all parts of the world. In the sixties, it was Indians and Pakistanis. Then, after the fall of the Iron Curtain, there was a great wave of Eastern Europeans, Poles, Romanians and Ukrainians into Western Europe.
In these earlier waves, there was no great rise in crime rates. The most significant rise has occurred following the wave of migrants from the Middle East and North Africa. These migrants were mainly Muslims, coming from a different culture, and consequently, they have not integrated well. Crime rates, including sexual assault, have risen steeply.
Should we therefore conclude that the rise is due to the religion? Perhaps not. In a recent video, Konstantin Kisin analyses these questions following his recent trip to Uzbekistan. He notes that although Uzbekistan is a mainly Muslim country, it has avoided the crime rates that have plagued the West. He concludes that Western governments have failed to control the Islamists, the religious zealots who advocate global Jihad against non Muslims. Uzbekistan, in contrast, has succeeded in isolating the Islamists by insisting that non-Islamist Muslims are not allowed to be intimidated or coerced. This is achieved by strict rules against the Islamist dogma. For example, Burkas are not permitted in public.
So perhaps the religion is not to blame; it is Islamism, the violent corruption of Islam that is the source of the problems in Europe. The lesson of Uzbekistan must be heeded by all of Europe, and soon. Without significant moves to control the Islamists, Europe is destined to become a battleground with the Islamists gaining ever more population clout.
Here is Konstantin Kisin's video. Well worth the 10 minutes.
Trump's first 100 days
I couldn't avoid covering this, too, but I am sure you have already heard multiple analyses of Trump's first 100 days. No doubt, the analyses have varied widely depending on the degree of TDS of the person doing the analysis. Not only the US, but the world is polarised. I cannot remember a time when the performance of the US presidents was so widely covered by the media. Trump is a larger-than-life character, for better and for worse. Let me make just a few observations, as so much has already been said.
The Good
The southern border has been closed, DOGE has uncovered significant savings, and the deportation of the violent illegal immigrants is progressing.
His executive orders have progressed his agenda on stopping DEI, restarting energy production, removal of Climate Change red tape. He has addressed anti-Semitism on College campuses.
His support for Israel has released weapons, and he has given Israel free rein to run its defensive war against Hamas. Under Trump, the US has taken direct action against the Houthis to liberate the shipping lanes through the Red Sea. He has negotiated favourable deals for the US for its use of the Panama Canal.
The Bad
Not all has gone well, though. He has started fights where they were not required, for example, Canada and Greenland. In Canada, this has had a disastrous impact on Canada's elections, causing the reelection of Canada's liberal government, reversing a 20-point lead by the conservative party.
His bombastic approach to foreign affairs has caused unnecessary friction with allies. A more diplomatic approach could have yielded the same outcomes without the bad blood.
The Ugly
There are a couple of areas where Trump's strategy and approach have been terrible. The first is Ukraine-Russia. Commendably, Trump entered the fray to try to bring peace to the region. This was never going to be easy. His approach seemed to be to 'butter up ' Putin to get him to the table. That may have been justified, had he succeeded. But at the same time, he chose to distance himself from Zelensky. This was not necessary and was counterproductive. Putin, seeing Trump's apparent willingness to jettison the close relationship with Ukraine, only served to make Putin demand more. Not very artful deal-making. At this stage, we have had Trump move his position toward Ukraine and threaten Putin with more sanctions. It is a game in progress, so too hard to call. But it has been ugly.
The second and perhaps even uglier issue has been the handling of the Tariffs. With a rather upbeat 'Liberation Day' announcement, Trump effectively started a war against all US trading partners. Naturally, this had serious ramifications in international stock markets. A totally unnecessary own goal. He has now chosen to delay the implementation for all countries except China. Of course, that is a good idea, but he should have anticipated the consequences of his big Liberation Day hit-them-all-at-once strategy and introduced the tariffs for trading partners on a gradual basis. China remains a big issue, and Trump has already modified even the China policy by removing electronics and now some cars. Yes, this is also ugly. This tariff stuff-up is unfortunate and has not yet been sorted.
So we have seen the good, the bad and the ugly. Given the pace at which Trump has been implementing new policies, some errors are not surprising. Hopefully, he will be able to learn from these errors. But I suspect not. Trump is Trump. We knew he was impulsive and insensitive to consequences. His approach has always been to try to break his way through a problem, and if it doesn't work, reverse and try another approach. That can and has looked messy.
Here is one analysis of Trump's first 100 days from Alan Dershowitz, once a Democrat but now an Independent.
COVID conspiracies transform into Facts
The White House official COVID-19 Site has turned ideas demonised as "conspiracy theories" but a few years ago into today's accepted 'facts'. We have seen this coming. Many of my recent posts have highlighted the results of studies that questioned the 'official facts' relating to the COVID-19 pandemic.
There were too many ideas that have now been proven wrong, but let me note a few; -
The origin of COVID is believed to be a Wuhan wet market with animal-to-human transfer
that lockdowns were effective
that masks are effective in preventing transmission
that vaccines prevent infection
that vaccines prevent hospitalisation
that ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine are not safe
that side effects are low and justify vaccination even for young children
etc.
Unfortunately, the reaction of the authorities was herd-like panic. Most Western countries adopted a lockdown approach, used by China, but against their prior pandemic plans. The approach to vaccination was shameful. Authorities coerced the population to inject themselves with a vaccine that had far less testing than any other vaccine in history. The unvaccinated were vilified, and those protesting vaccination were vilified. The accepted human rights of citizens were supplanted by mandates. Mandates restricting their ability to marry, to attend funerals, to visit dying relatives in hospital, and to travel. We have yet to see the elites who imposed these restrictions even acknowledge and apologise for their errors, let alone be held accountable. Perhaps it will happen, but I won't hold my breath.
Here is the recent video from Dr John Campbell about the White House COVID site acknowledging the errors of the past.
Israel has new strategy on Gaza
While I have not seen any announcements of this, I have seen a few articles highlighting Israel's new strategy on Gaza. The news media have concentrated on the ongoing negotiations to try to release the remaining hostages. With Israel's demand for Hamas' total abdication in exchange for the end to hostilities, there is little incentive for Hamas to release more hostages. After all, they want to remain in power.
But that may be the side show. Israel has taken some dramatic steps in its battle against Hamas. Some time ago, Israel stopped all UN aid from entering the country. The justification for this was that Hamas was commandeering the aid and instead of distributing it to those in need, was taking what it wanted and then selling what was left to the highest bidders. Despite initial protests from the world, to my surprise, the issue has been forgotten. But of course, it means the supply of food must be diminishing, and will no doubt become a serious issue. It has been reported that Israel will now take responsibility for distributing all aid in Gaza. This is a game-changer, as it removes Hamas from the game. It prevents Hamas from trading on this, and also removes the influence Hamas gains by being the sole source of food.
At the same time Israel has not withdrawn its military. On the contrary, the troops have been active. They are int eh process of isolating Rafah, by creating a 2 km wide, 14 km long corridor.
Until recently, the border between Egypt and Gaza has been very porous. Egypt has played a duplicitous role, pretending that it prevented armaments from entering via the Philadelphi corridor, while turning a blind eye to it. Israel's invasion of Rafah and the corridor has proved this, exposing the large number of tunnels that were used to arm Hamas. Israel's new corridor is some kilometres from Rafah, dividing Gaza into two distinct zones. We have yet to see how Israel will exploit this division, but it will certainly enable Israel to prevent weaponry from entering Northern Gaza, and also allow its troops to clear Rafah of its Hamas terrorists.
Here is a short video highlighting these changes.
WEF's Schwab in Hot Water?
Klaus Schwab has stepped won as chairman of the World Economic Forum, following serious claims of governance malpractice. The claims were made by an anonymous letter reported by the WSJ as being from existing employees of the organisation. Naturally, the Schwab family has denied all claims and threatened to sue those making the claim. Many observers of the WEF, yes, me too, will feel some 'Schadenfreude" at this development. After all, it is the WEF that seems to have appointed itself as the de facto rulers of the world, dictating future world developments to us plebs. The WEF has a membership of 5000 of the richest /most powerful members of the world. Most are unelected, and certainly none have been elected to make any decisions as to the future of the world. Yet, they gather each year for a talkfest and make declarations that are reported widely. Their declarations seem to set some sort of agenda for those members who have leadership roles in some countries' governments. So yes, they have a disproportionate influence on our lives.
I do not care whether their plans have any merit at all. Some may, perhaps, but many are clearly abhorrent. For example, they advocate censorship and the elimination of ownership. I object to the influence they have managed to gather by bribing the elites. These bribes take the form of bestowing kudos on members. The organisation should be boycotted, and indeed any members' kudos should be negated, by boycotting those who have been members of the WEF. However, that will all take time.
But for now, we can rejoice that the WEF leadership has been 'hoist on their own petard'. Their staff are now accusing their leadership of the same sort of governance issues that have been used to bring down many organisations, think Black Lives Matter, for example.
Here is a short report on the claims against Schwab.
