There are forces in the world waiting.\u00a0\u00a0They wait for the moment, for the exact second, when the other side is \u201cdistracted\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0They are poised to pounce, to invade, to conquer; at the exact time when a Nation is least prepared.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vladimir Putin saw the United States in disarray.\u00a0\u00a0Sure Trump was out of office, but his foreign policy damage continued.\u00a0\u00a0The State Department, gutted by the Trump Administration, was stripped of many professionals who spent years learning their trade.\u00a0\u00a0Decades of acquired knowledge was lost.\u00a0\u00a0America\u2019s European allies now questioned how committed the US was to NATO, and particularly Article Five, the guarantee of mutual aid.\u00a0\u00a0And even worse, they questioned the future.\u00a0\u00a0The Biden Administration might say anything, but couldn\u2019t guarantee their promises would be honored by a future President, particularly if that was Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The United States continues to be turned inward, fighting internal political battles that are all-consuming.\u00a0\u00a0And, right or wrong (I believe right<\/em>), the new President Joe Biden pulled US Troops from Afghanistan. It was, perhaps inevitably, ugly and chaotic.\u00a0\u00a0The \u201cGreatest fighting force the world has ever known\u201d looked weak, disorganized, and disheveled.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The civilians clinging to the wheels of US C-17 \u201cGlobemasters\u201d as they taxied on Bagrum Airbase, looked hauntingly familiar, like the civilians hanging from helicopter skids taking off from the US Embassy in Vietnam.\u00a0\u00a0The US withdrawing in humiliation from another long, unsuccessful war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So it should be no real surprise that Putin took the opportunity to try to fulfill his own \u201cfever dream\u201d of Russian hegemony.\u00a0\u00a0He launched a \u201clightning strike\u201d attack at Kyiv, what the foreign policy world calls a \u201cdecapitation attack\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It failed, and the successful Ukrainian resistance bought the needed time. The Western World responded.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n The same logic applies to what happened Saturday morning.\u00a0\u00a0Israel is distracted.\u00a0\u00a0The Prime Minister is dodging criminal charges.\u00a0\u00a0His political allies weakened the Court system. They moved power to the legislature, the Knesset, where they control.\u00a0\u00a0Many, perhaps most, Israelis see this power grab as an attack on Democracy, and are in the streets protesting.\u00a0\u00a0Even the vaunted Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) is weakened, as veteran reservists refused to serve a government they see as moving towards autocracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Israel\u2019s greatest ally, the United States, openly questioned the Prime Minister’s actions.\u00a0\u00a0Just in the past couple weeks, Biden met with Netanyahu at the United Nations in New York, and asked him to retract the autocratic changes.\u00a0\u00a0Many in the US Congress spoke out against the Netanyahu administration.\u00a0\u00a0And so Israel looked weak, both internally and to the world. So, the force, quietly waiting, decided to strike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Israel is a Jewish nation.\u00a0\u00a0Many Palestinians, mostly Islamic, were pushed out of Israel into three directions: East to\u00a0\u00a0the occupied West Bank area, North to the Golan Heights in Lebanon, and South to the occupied Gaza region.\u00a0\u00a0The West Bank and Gaza Palestinians organized as a Palestinian government, but broke into factions.\u00a0\u00a0The West Bank area is controlled by the Palestinian Authority, but Gaza is controlled by the US defined terrorist group, Hamas. (While Palestinians in the north are technically in the country of Lebanon, that area is controlled by Hezbollah, a terrorist organization sponsored by Iran).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Saturday, Hamas attacked across the border into Israel.\u00a0\u00a0They broke through the \u201cimpregnable\u201d border wall, launched thousands of missiles, and landed by sea and even by glider into Israeli territory.\u00a0\u00a0Hundreds if not thousands of Hamas forces fought in the streets of Israeli<\/strong> villages.\u00a0\u00a0Perhaps worst of all, Israeli soldiers and civilians were taken as hostages, taken back to Gaza. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The United States is moving to support the Israeli government.\u00a0\u00a0All talk of Israeli democratic reforms are on hold in the face of this attack.\u00a0\u00a0Even Netanyahu’s opposition in the Knesset is pledged to support him, Israel is locking down the other borders to the east and north, preparing to counter any efforts there. Rockets were launched from the Golan Heights, but only at Israeli outposts in disputed territory.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is no question that Israel, and the world, was caught off guard by this attack.\u00a0\u00a0The vaunted Israeli intelligence service, Mossad, gave no warning.\u00a0\u00a0Neither did the vast amount of electronic intelligence apparatus, much of it supplied by the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\nFever Dreams<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Israel Surrounded<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Disarray<\/h3>\n\n\n\n