Xerxes

lol

Not much detail but better than nothing. Their exposure to resources was kind of interesting

Do we have Israeli, or Palestinian, or Jewish people with folks/contacts back home or Arabs from neighbouring countries in the ME that can chime in this thread ? Or are they all hiding and just lurking. I think they should be commenting more than us North Americans and Europeans

It has been said (i don't know where I read that many years ago) one bad outcome of the otherwise great Israeli decisive victory in the Six Days War was that they suddenly came into possession of the West Bank and its entire population. Typically, when you gain land over many years, inch by inch, you can de-populate by attrition, forcing people out slowly. It is much more difficult when suddenly you gain and land with people in it. That needs some long term commitment to make life miserable and brings about all kinds of problem, one of which is that from Jordan point of view, Israel has now the West Bank and the people in it. Not their problem anymore. You see, you cannot just conquer the land but deciding not be responsible to the people in it. But like I said in my post to Dinar, in my opinion Conqueror's Rule prevails. Israel won the West Bank. Fair and square. How they deal with their subjected population (And thus far, I ain't impressed) is what we can opine on, but not their right to the territory. My history of Gaza is a bit fuzzy. Not exactly an interesting topic for me to read about.

Disagree, the moment war stops Netanyahu is out of the job. That was the whole point of the embassy strike. War has to continue and take a new form. It is about Netanyahu' "right to keep his job", everybody else is acting their role as puppets, with clueless North Americans cheering on

I have a different take. It doesn't matter that much who was there 1,000 years ago. or even 500 years ago. We as humans may have personal bias and attachment to a particular culture and religion. So this kind of debate is pointless and will never stop. Should black South African put all the white people to sword because Black people were there first. In this analogy black people are like Jews "who were there first" and white people are like Arabs "that came later". What matter is (in my view) is what I call the "conqueror' law". Israel has won wars against Arab state in '73, '67 and others before. Government fight wars because they cannot agree diplomatically. The two sides could not agree diplomatically, therefore they entered into a contest. And the Gods of War have decided the matter for them. Israel prevailed. And it deserve recognition. And the fact that it is historical link to its ancestral homeland is a nice touch. Palestine (IIRC) was part of the kingdom of Jordan pre-1967, so they changed their masters from the Hashemite dynasty to Tel Aviv, but they remain subjects. Israel had signed peace treaties with most of the Arab countries that it was fighting against, but subjugated people (that swap one master for another) don't factor into peace treaties between sovereign powers. Now how Israeli treat their subjugated population is really for them. We, however, as outside observers and as human beings have every right to question when we see injustice. Wether it is from the subjugated people toward their overlord (terrorism) or vice versa (state-sponsered terrorism). So that there is no confusion, subjugation is not solely about annexation and direct rule, you could have de facto control over a population in every sense, and not annex it and just choke them for decades. In its heyday, the British ruled Egypt, yet formally it was governed by the office of the viceroy who formally answered to the Sublime Port and its Grand Vizier. It was de facto control. Gaza and West Bank be it before 2006 or after has always been under de facto control of Israel. So that makes them responsible. It is a shitty job, but that comes with victory.

There will be no Gulf money for Gaza, until they are sure there is a credible path forward with all parties involved. No one is going to pay a dime, only for Israeli to blow stuff with their 2,000 Ib bombs, two months later.

The best outcome would the sudden death of Khamenei. Not that flowers will blossom after his fall, but rather that next generation (most likely the IRGC) will have different view, as they control Iran's assets, borders and have an interest for a quid pro quo. This view would (that IRGC would be better) be counterintuitive for Westerners. But then again, Westerners are not exactly up-to-date with everything in the real world. The second best outcome, would be for Netanyahu to depart. Surely, the Israeli people deserve a better leader than this clown. Sadly, Netanyahu as hateful as he is, he is actually somewhat of a balancing moderate in his cabinet when compared to some (not all) crazy extremist in his cabinet. So he is unlikely to go. Folks (Westerners of course), like to point out to no end how Gaza voted for Hamas in 2006. Yet, they look the other way, when it comes to Israeli government and it current extremist profile.

Really .. lol. Where you expecting the rides of Rohirim out of a scene from the Lord of the Rings. Or perhaps the Ayatollah on a back of a camel, marching toward Jerusalem like a scene out of Riddly Scott’ Kingdom of Heaven. Extended Edition no less. Iran and Israel have been at it like two wild dogs for the best of the past several decades. Most of the time covertly. Sometimes overtly. When it is overtly it becomes state to state. Even shadow wars have rules of engagement. As silly as it is. Assassination, cyber wars, proxy wars are considered “covert”. Everything else is that is state-to-state is considered “overt”. Israel understands this. Iran understands this and US governments understands this. The only folks that don’t understand any of this are normal everyday folks based in Europe and North America, who SUDDENLY gets interested in a topic, and than move to their Netflix show once it is no longer exciting. Before being suddenly interested in a new topic. So yeah i don’t think the mullahs (that somehow survived for 4 decades like a parasites despite it all, that outlived many regimes) were going to get suddenly stupid and unleash their deterrent arsenal from south of Lebanon. And launch actual ballistic missiles from Iran. (Despite their news coverage) You guys just had to watch SkyNews that has excellent coverage. And great defense analysts talking.

Hamas is what it is. A terrorist organization that needs to be wiped out. Now given the things that you just wrote and that we agree what Hamas is, can you explain why Netanyahu was funding Hamas in the past couple of years, and using it to undermine PA in West Bank. North Americans may be naive but Bibi is not. Explain to me how any of that and settlement expansion was meant to forge a path forward toward the two-state solution. Why Netanyahu was funneling Qatari money to Hamas ? the reality is that neither the Israeli nor the Palestinian were and are interested in two-state solution. Like I said they deserve each other. Since they are both so hateful. ps: this last statement is not intended to offend Arabs, Israeli, Jews and Muslims. I love them all. But it is 100% intended to offend all decision makers and their racist brainwashed lackeys on both sides and everywhere.

Saw this on some site. Gaza demographics is of very young age: 61% under age of 24. majority of these were born after Hamas took over in 2006. That means the majority of the people of Gaza just happen to be born under Hamas rule. That is all they have seen and not exactly chose them.

How ? because Iran is not an Arab country. my and your statement were about Arab countries, so I thought we were talking about Arab countries. Did we not ? so again, which Arab “government” do you feel wish Israel to be removed ? And again understanding that we are not talking about Iran (non Arab) and its minions. ps: don’t get me wrong Arab government are not exactly “thrilled” and in awe of Israel. But they know now that Israel is not going anywhere. It is done.

yet in the very first line in my post I did say very clearly that it is not a genocide. … not yet anyways. That said, it is not comparable to the US case studies for the reasons I pointed out.

US didn’t not commit genocide in the Middle East. But they committed war crimes. Can you tell me which Arab country (or countries) has design to eliminate Israel. I am not talking about Iran and its proxies

Sanjeev i am many things but not naive or lacking knowledge when it comes to Middle East politics. I said it exactly as it is. Arab governments have been working hard to get close to Israel (to balance Iran) — only impediment is their own people that have a strong pro-Palestine point of view.

Is that your only criteria for right and wrong

actually this wrong as well. it is the reverse. It is mostly Arab government that wanted (pre 10/07) good relation with Israel but cannot get too close due to their people being pro-Palestine. and also I cannot think of any Arab country that has fundamentalist in power. Sure they have autocrats and dictators but not fundamentalist. Iran does however.

Genocide is a dangerous word. From my perspective Israel is NOT committing genocide …. Not yet anyways. Me and The Economist are on the same page on this. but I am still dwelling on this. Was Germany committing genocide in the mid-30s (pre concentration camp era) or was it only in the 40s ? (When the action started) To be sure Israel is committing war crimes. That is for sure. And these are not few bad apples as you like to think. When your government is filled by right-wing messianic figures demanding the creation of “greater Israel”, well guess what ? Some “people” got to go. That view permeates some in the IDF as does the nonsense coming from Ayatollah permeating IRGC. Personally I always believe pre Oct 7th that IDF was a just organization. For years I admired their contribution, but I just cannot accept somethings that I see. But that is just me. Lastly Sanjeev, you got to stop comparing Israel with US. The United States rightly or wrongly did some things, but it never had designs or incentive in “eliminating” entire group of people. Why ? Because it was NOT from the region. Its ambitions was geopolitical in the Middle East. So your comment is not valid. Israel has a stake and interest in “removing” people. Now whether it actually has state-level design or not. That is another matter. I personally do not believe so. But like I said it has a racist government that is pushing that way.

Zelenskyy must be going mad now. He is losing more and more of the spotlight.

Palestinian are to be blamed. They had every chance. They had the best offer a “loser” can get. Thats their legacy.

Israel has the right to defend itself and its people. Period. But this is more about “baby-Netanyahu has the right to keep his job”. Netanyahu knew exactly what was going to happen. Anyways. Screw him. Never like racist people. To me he is an asshole no different like the Ayatollah in Tehran. F&$k them both. PS: please, all countries in Middle East struggle over the last 80 years.

very simple. you go to West Bank to shoot kids and give medal to the brave IDF soldiers. Straight from the mouth of the Israeli minister how much of this conflict are you actually following Sanjeev

No clue Iran is not a saint but nor is baby-Netanyahu and his democratically elected racist government. Netanyahu is right about one thing, he knows he has the American by their balls.

Oh Jesus, here we go again. Another thread for people to discuss their non-markets points of view and show us how much they know Do I really need to jump in here ? lol I am about f@&ing tired to hear about Israeli and Palestinean and how their “TrUth” is more superior. To think of it, maybe they deserve each other. They both only offer hate, only care about themselves and suck an outsize amount of oxygen, and they think that exactly “they” and no one else is special. I want I hear about the Yzidies, the Armenian and Kurds. They don’t even have sugar daddies.

As someone who is into history, I really liked Prem comparing the opportunity in India to that of Singapore in the 50s and 60s. He was not saying that India will be like Singapore but rather that you could have bought (in Singapore case) the financials betting that it will be center of finance and trade in south east. He was giving the audience the opportunity to imagine what could the foundational bedrock industries that one can invest and hold in India. Much like how Michael Saylor likes to talk about owning the bedrock of the “digital Manhattan”, but just in the real world. Another big take away was for me was how big the privatization will be in India. I definitely like to increase my FIH exposure over time. Here is another example from our own Canadian business history. CN was a crown corporation that was privatize in the 90s and IPO at $3-4 a share. 3000% and some 25 years later it is close to $180. Having Hunter Harrison at later stage helped but the real bet was on the secular growth in trade in North America. If Harrison never existed it would have been another player.