Notes on the Way

Pause kaput, diplomatic bloviation, RIP HK, debate hate, South American war clouds

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It required no great powers of prognostication to see that the pause/ceasefire/ whatever you call it between Israel and Hamas would break down at some point. And here we are. Each side blames the other for the renewed fighting, but anyone not blinded by antisemitic hatred can see that the fault lies with Hamas. On Thursday, the group claimed credit for a terrorist attack in Jerusalem by Palestinian gunmen that killed four people and wounded five more. Let’s just say that if those Hamas goons thought they could pull something like that while claiming to be negotiating in good faith over further hostage releases, they were harboring unrealistic expectations. Israelis are famously fractious—but one thing almost all of them agree on today is that Hamas in Gaza must be eradicated.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken continues to bloviate about that sovereign remedy for all the ills of the Middle East: the “two-state solution.” Nothing else, he says, can break the “cycle of violence.” It’s amazing, really, how events on the ground reliably fail to penetrate the delusional fog that creeps along the pathways and corridors of Foggy Bottom. One assumes that Anthony Blinken is not a fool. How, then, can he fail to realize that the two-state solution—Jewish and Palestinian polities living peacefully side by side—was one of the casualties of the Hamas pogrom in Israel? If not dead and buried, it's unachievable now and for a long time to come. Their support for Hamas in the wake of October 7 shows that the Palestinians have no desire to live side by side with the Jews. They want it all, from the river to the sea.

Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger died earlier this week at the great old age on one hundred, and of course a mob of leftie trolls swarmed out their fever swamps to dance around his coffin shouting “War criminal!” Many of these creeps also support Hamas and denounce Israel as an “apartheid state”—throwing an interesting sidelight on their definition of war criminality. Dr. Kissinger was indeed a controversial figure, but one need not agree with everything he did to recognize him as one of the most consequential American public servants of the twentieth century. The fact that his critics span the ideological spectrum reflects well on him, and the passage of time has clarified his role in preparing the ground for the end of the Cold War. RIP.

Last night’s debate between Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and California Governor Gavin Newsom was kind of a nothingburger. Barring the political equivalent of a comet strike, neither one of them will be on the presidential ballot in 2024. DeSantis was probably hoping to inject some life into his faltering campaign, while Newsom was obviously auditioning for 2028. But California’s Boy Wonder didn’t display much of a presidential profile. On the contrary, he came off as the Trump of the Left: younger, to be sure, and with better hair, but fully as shameless, unscrupulous and dishonest as The Donald, ready to lie at the drop of a hat. Indeed, some of his attacks on DeSantis came straight out of Trump playbook. But unfortunately for Newsom, the Florida governor was well armed with those pesky things, the facts—which go to show that Gavin Newsom presides over a state in disarray and decline, governed by a progressive cabal that serves the interests of the enlightened few at the expense of the benighted proles.

And finally, because the world can never have too many problems, Nicolás Maduro, the comical thug who misgoverns Venezuela, is threatening to invade the neighboring state of Guyana. But not to worry—democratic norms are being observed! Tomorrow, the question of war or peace will be put to the people of Venezuela in a referendum. A yes vote would give El Presidente special powers to conquer Guyana and fashion most of its territory into a new Venezuelan state. The dispute between Guyana and Venezuela goes back to the nineteenth century but after international arbitrators drew the current border in 1899, the issue lay fallow. Then oil was discovered in Guyana and Maduro began pressing his country’s claim. There are suggestions that he’s rattling his country’s rusty sabers in hopes of bolstering his own popularity and deflecting attention from Venezuela’s catastrophic economic plight. Gee, you think…?