Israel-Gaza War (and Iranian Distractions)

From the Ministry of Stupid Ideas:

Bloomberg is reporting that the US and several European countries are in discussions to form a NATO "peacekeeping" force for Gaza, on the model of KFOR in Kosovo.

The force will require tens of thousands of soldiers. And those soldiers will need very aggressive rules of engagement if the goal is to be to eliminate Hamas as an armed force, and not just to shield Hamas from Israeli wrath.

My view is that the last thing that the US needs is another endless war in the Middle East. No US combat troops in Gaza. Let Israel's large and well-equipped military take care of it. And we definitely shouldn't put ourselves into the role of protecting Hamas.

(Nov 17, 2023 05:58 AM)Yazata Wrote: From the Ministry of Stupid Ideas:

Bloomberg is reporting that the US and several European countries are in discussions to form a NATO "peacekeeping" force for Gaza, on the model of KFOR in Kosovo.

The force will require tens of thousands of soldiers. And those soldiers will need very aggressive rules of engagement if the goal is to be to eliminate Hamas as an armed force, and not just to shield Hamas from Israeli wrath.

My view is that the last thing that the US needs is another endless war in the Middle East. No US combat troops in Gaza. Let Israel's large and well-equipped military take care of it. And we definitely shouldn't put ourselves into the role of protecting Hamas.

While you might consider it a stupid idea, there is still need for them to put the consideration forwards. Most of the reason is actually down to politics. A number of democratic countries have various parties that attempt to use this particular dilemma (and the loss of human life) for their own political gain without fully fathoming just what it means to have a "Ceasefire". To make them realise to to be able to do such things requires neutral boots on the ground, is to make sure they know there is far more brevity then just their poll figures.

If it was to be gone ahead with, it does mean there would likely be excursions into Lebanon and something would have to be done about Yemen, as while they might be able to get some of the Palestinian people and some of the israeli's to play ball, theres going to be troubles from outside.

Gaza just needs to lose its autonomy and go back to a real occupation force, by Israel resuming authority for security in Gaza. Those people have proven they are not reasonable enough to be autonomous.

Since Israel likely hoped the autonomy would help defuse the accusation of "occupation," we can consider it a failed experiment. It's now clear that Palestinians will claim "occupation" as long as any part of Israel is ruled by Jews.

And no, there's zero need for the US or any NATO forces in Gaza. Israel just needs to have a more dominant military presence than it had before the PA. They need to quit trying to placate anti-Semites in the international community... at the further risk to their own people.

Hamas are desperate for a cease fire so they can move their terrorists around

War_Mapper's latest Gaza situation map. As we wait for the coming temporary ceasefire and hostage release, the Israeli military continues to expand its hold in some of the most densely built up parts of the Gaza strip.

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Hey Z-man!

What have you heard in your local news about the car that exploded at the Niagara "Rainbow Bridge" border crossing between the US and Canada? Early reports say it was traveling from Canada to the US (though others say it was going the other way) and that two people are dead. From the photos, it appears to have been a car bomb that exploded on the US side.

Right now, they say that the border is closed in the Niagara Falls area.

I don't know if this was really a terrorist event or whether it had anything to do with the Israel/Gaza war, but it's an obvious hypothesis.

I suppose that right now the US and Canadian security services are looking at who owned the car, who was driving it, and tracing it all back to see if it was a 'lone wolf' or if more people were involved.

Interesting very-early stories developing. They may or may not turn out to be true.

People are saying that the car was trying to enter the US and for some reason it was told to pull off into a security pulloff so it could be further investigated. The driver instead accelerated and drove into some sort of barrier and then the car exploded. There's also talk that a second car did a quick u-turn and got away, unclear what's up with that, but police are looking for that car. The two dead were apparently in the car that blew up. Reportedly a border officer was also injured, the severity of those injuries is unknown at this time. Officials are calling it an attempted terror attack, but that isn't official yet.

(Nov 22, 2023 07:54 PM)Yazata Wrote: War_Mapper's latest Gaza situation map. As we wait for the coming temporary ceasefire and hostage release, the Israeli military continues to expand its hold in some of the most densely built up parts of the Gaza strip.

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Hey Z-man!

What have you heard in your local news about the car that exploded at the Niagara "Rainbow Bridge" border crossing between the US and Canada? Early reports say it was traveling from Canada to the US (though others say it was going the other way) and that two people are dead. From the photos, it appears to have been a car bomb that exploded on the US side.

Right now, they say that the border is closed in the Niagara Falls area.

I don't know if this was really a terrorist event or whether it had anything to do with the Israel/Gaza war, but it's an obvious hypothesis.

I suppose that right now the US and Canadian security services are looking at who owned the car, who was driving it, and tracing it all back to see if it was a 'lone wolf' or if more people were involved.

Never heard about it until half hour ago. News says it was on the American side. They tried to drive it into US customs building from what I hear. FBI investigating. All other bridges other than Rainbow are open again. I have hardly ever used the Rainbow Bridge, the Peace Bridge is closest to me. Actually they’re both about 10km from my place. Highway traffic seems pretty normal. I don’t know if it is a confirmed terror attack.

Video of what led up to the car exploding looks very different than what was being reported at first.

The video shows a speeding car approaching (the video doesn't make clear what direction it was coming from) at a very high rate of speed. The car seems to have hit a curb or something, then went airborne. It then hit a barrier of some kind and burst into a big fireball. The fireball didn't look to my non-expert eye like it was an explosive detonation, perhaps more like the car's fuel tank. (Experts on TV seem to agree with that.) So it's doubtful whether this was a car bomb at all. The FBI says that no explosive traces have been detected and it's now being classed as "reckless driving".

The car was more than totalled, all that was left was the twisted metal fragments that certainly looked like bomb aftermath. I'm thinking that for the car to literally shatter like that, it must have been travelling very fast.

So it looks like somebody tried to blow through the border checkpoint at high speed and died for their trouble.

Anyway, things seem to be getting back to normal on both sides of the border.

https://twitter.com/sentdefender/status/...47/video/1

It’s not very far from the Seneca Casino and if the driver was trying to commit suicide, it is not that unusual in either American or Canadian city (bridge connects NF NY to NF Canada)

It has nothing to do with the Israel/Gaza war, but some last remarks about the Niagara car explosion. The car was a $300,000 2022 Bentley sedan. The two occupants (both killed) were a wealthy upstate NY married couple in their 50's on their way to Toronto to attend a music concert. The FBI could find no connection between them and any kind of terrorism. Their neighbors say that they were great people, well liked in their community. The Niagara Falls NY police are handling the accident investigation into why the car impacted the border checkpoint at upwards of 100mph. The two leading hypotheses seem to be either a medical event incapacitating the driver, or else a mechanical problem that caused the car to accelerate uncontrollably.