COMMENT
Hamas’s terror in Israel, and Israel’s retaliation, also sent shockwaves throughout the world. One man can smile wider than anyone else, Vladimir Putin, writes Morten Strand.
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Gaza pressure cooker occurred when terrorists in Hamas spread death and depravity in a cruel way in Israel. And apart from the Israelis and Palestinians in Gaza, who were both the ones who suffered the most after last weekend’s terror, there is clearly one winner and one loser in this great drama. The winner was Russian fighter president Vladimir Putin. And the loser is US President Joe Biden.
This summer is the world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald Ford, the kingdom’s main tourist attraction. People went out of their homes to get as close as possible to these war monsters. Now the crew that turned Oslo’s nightlife upside down has a more important task. The carriers have been ordered to the southeastern Mediterranean so that the large American military presence can keep all parties in check, so that they do not create new adventures in the very tense situation that has arisen in the wake of the Hamas terror.
All parties will be kept on the skin, except Israel. Joe Biden said this in his speech on Tuesday: “Israel has the right to defend itself and its people. Dot”. This unconditional support has been well received in Israel, where a complete blockade of Gaza has been imposed. Biden, who has had tense relations with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, now suddenly has to be his best friend. And Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on the occasion: “No electricity, no food, no gas, everything is closed. We fight humans and animals and we behave accordingly.” As said, that’s it. Revenge is underway, and to legitimize it, the people of Gaza, from Israel’s perspective, must be considered animals. Because language, among other things, has the power of definition.
A war that no one can win
In the short term, yes The USS Gerald Ford helped ensure that not everything was at play in the Middle East. But what happens to the 2.5 million Palestinians who are now affected by this revenge. Israel has asked its citizens to leave Gaza, but can Palestinians in Gaza be allowed to enter Egypt, their only possible way out? Egypt, of course, does not want their arrival and considers the influx of Palestinians a national security risk. And what happens to Arab public opinion when the media and social media are bombarded with images and stories about Israeli revenge on Gaza?
The only thing we know is to be unclear, very unclear. We feel that the rapprochement between Israel and Saudi Arabia must be halted, as this would be the best diplomatic breakthrough of the year if successful. We don’t know what Iran – which may have helped Hamas orchestrate its attacks on Israel – will do in Lebanon where Iran controls the Hezbollah militia which is now also firing rockets at Israel. Will they whip more in the rough seas? But we know that an Israeli-Palestinian conflict will divert attention from American support for Ukraine, and what Biden defines as his main foreign policy challenge, China, and possible conflict over Taiwan.
And we know it’s war would lead to higher oil prices, and thus higher gasoline prices in America in a dramatic election year, and more money into Putin’s war chest. This is bad news for Biden, and only the beginning of the good news this war brings for Putin.
Low oil prices is in the process of emptying Vladimir Putin’s war coffers this fall. The war in Ukraine took up 29 percent of the country’s finances this year, three times as much as in 2021, the year before the major war began. In March next year there will be presidential elections, in which Putin will be re-elected for another six years. This means that he cannot begin a new round of forced mobilization until after the election, and that he must ensure as much normalcy as possible for consumers, as well as wages and pensions for civil servants and retirees. This is still not a war, but a military special operation.
Netanyahu’s hostage hell
And while Iran If you could choose whether to actively whip the turbulent sea created by Hamas terror, then Putin would whip it. He will use his seat on the UN Security Council to inflame anti-Western opinion in Southern countries, and he will actively support anti-Israel Arab opinion, although he will probably also emphasize maintaining traditional relations with Israel. If possible, providing obstacles to the US and Western countries is a task that revolves around the national security of Putin’s country.
No one will be affected new war in the Middle East. The US provides Israel with missile defense that can be sent to Ukraine. China can sit idly by and watch as the level of conflict between the West on the one hand, and Russia and the Arab world on the other, reaches its peak. And Hamas has punched well above its weight class, and is at risk of being eliminated. Their success could be their death.
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