There is a video on Truth Social posted by Trump or one of his lackies made by a fan with a soundtrack that sounds suspiciously like the radio broadcaster Paul Harvey from the days of old. It is a hagiography, a Valentine to #45 repeating over and over that God chose Trump to rescue America from a long list of troubles nagging at conservatives. Good heavens, there are even Marxists out there!
God took the time to plan this out for the sake of right-thinking Americans. The Big Guy who set the galaxies spinning and is the author of quantum entanglement and irritable bowel syndrome is also mucking about in Republican politics here on the pale blue dot.
This was released just prior to the Iowa caucuses to wheedle the Republican faithful to take heed and turn out to vote ’cause it’d please the Big Guy.
I am a little annoyed by the breathless attention given to Defense Secretary Austin for his “failure” to release a notice of his absence due to illness. Yes, he is the SecDef after all and he is an important player in our national defense establishment and US foreign policy. But if any organization has an extensive chain of command it is the Defense Department. His position can be covered by his direct-reports while he is out. To say that the Pentagon depends on a single person every moment of the day for critical decisions only he personally can make is to say that SecDef represents a single-point failure for the entire military apparatus of the US. This is absurd.
Could it be that the news media are hyperventilating over this? Are they so daft as to believe that this was some kind of close call? It seems likely that in the Pentagon’s PR office handbook on protocol there is a paragraph on notifications like this. Well, they muffed it. Some poor fool will get their tit in a wringer over this. Big Freaking Deal. Move on.
I imagine that in 6 AM staff meetings in newsrooms across the country, staffers buzzing on 4 cups of Folgers coffee were trying to come up with fresh news “stories”. In some eager beaver’s mind they imagined that a breach of protocol at the Pentagon involving SecDef was going to attract attention. And if one broadcaster does it, they all have to. Are you listening NPR? I think some 4th estate swimmers dove into the pool and scraped their noses on the bottom.
A recent raid on a clandestine drug lab in the Hatzic Valley east of Vancouver, BC, netted 25 kg of “pure” fentanyl and 3 kg which had already been cut for street use. Precursor chemicals used to manufacture the fentanyl were also seized. Along with the drug, the raid also seized 2,000 liters of chemicals and 6,000 liters (about 30 drums) of hazardous chemical waste, according to an RCMP news release 2 November, 2023.
The police said that the seizure represented 2,500,000 street doses.
In August of 2023 the police in Hamilton, Ontario, announced the results of Project Odeon. This was a large-scale sweep of illicit drug production in the Hamilton and Toronto area. From January 1, to July 30, 2023 there were 606 incidents related to suspected opioid overdoses and 89 suspected drug related deaths in the Hamilton area. Twelve people were charged for a total of 48 criminal charges. The police disclosed the following items that they seized-
An operational fentanyl drug lab at 6800 Sixteen Road, Smithville.
A dismantled fentanyl drug lab at 4057 Bethesda Road, Stouffville.
Approximately 3.5 tons of chemical byproduct from fentanyl production.
800 gallons of chemicals commonly used in the production of fentanyl
Lab equipment commonly used in the production of fentanyl
64.1 kg of illicit drugs, including 25.6 kg of fentanyl, 18 kg methamphetamine, 6 kg of ketamine
A loaded, Glock firearm and ammunition and four extended magazines
Over $350,000 of seized proceeds, including cars, jewelry, furniture and cash
Fentanyl is a synthetic drug first prepared in 1959 in Belgium by Paul Janssen (1926-2003). Janssen was the founder of Janssen Pharmaceuticals, now a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson. In addition to fentanyl, the Jenssen team developed haloperidol, the ultrapotent carfentanil, and other piperidine based congeners. Piperidine itself is a DEA List 1 substance in the US.
Carfentanil is just modified fentanyl. Graphics: Will O. de Wisp
The elephant in the room with fentanyl is its extraordinary potency as an opioid. In pharmacology, potency is a quantitative measure of the amount of dose needed to elicit a specific effect on an animal or human in terms of dose weight per kilogram of body mass. Potency is subject to variability across a population and rises to an asymptote which can be difficult to pin down. For these reasons potency is reported at 50 %. For highly potent drugs like fentanyl, the measure is expressed as milligrams or micrograms of dose per kilogram body weight (mg/kg or mcg/kg body weight). One milligram per kilogram is one part per million (ppm).
When matters of toxicity arise, it is important to remember the maxim that “the dose makes the poison”. This observation traces back to Paracelsus in the mid-sixteenth century.
“All things are poison, and nothing is without poison; the dosage alone makes it so a thing is not a poison.”
Fentanyl acts much like morphine in regard to its affinity for one particular opioid receptor. Morphine is commonly the “standard” with which other opioids are compared. For instance, fentanyl is said to be 50-100 times more potent than morphine. Only 0.1 mg of fentanyl is equivalent to 10 mg of morphine. Carfentanil is more potent still at 10,000 times the potency of morphine.
Morphine is an agonist which activates the μ-opioid receptor. Activation of this receptor with morphine produces analgesia, sedation, euphoria, decreased respiration and decreased bowel motility leading to the earthly delights of constipation. Fentanyl is thought to interact with this receptor as well.
Original fentanyl synthesis by Janssen. Graphics: Will O. de Wisp
So, how is fentanyl synthesized? See the synthetic scheme above. I’ll just comment on the Janssen synthesis and some issues. I have no idea of how it is made out in there by the Mexican cartels and in ramshackle American trailer parks. The synthesis above has some steps that may be undesirable for backwoods or jungle operations like hydrogenation. In the first step, aniline will be needed to make the phenyl imine. It’s pretty toxic and stinks to high heaven. Next, lithium aluminum hydride is needed to reduce the imine double bond to an amine. This innocent looking grey powder is very hazardous and should only be used by an experienced chemist. It is also available as a solution in tetrahydrofuran. The next step is the formation of the amide with propionic anhydride. While the reaction entails a simple reflux, you still have to isolate the product. Once you have recovered the amide, the benzyl protecting group on the piperidine nitrogen must be removed. It allowed amide formation exclusively on the upper aniline nitrogen and has served its purpose. Finally, the piperidine nitrogen must be festooned with a phenylethyl group and phenylethyl chloride was used to afford the fentanyl product.
In chemical synthesis generally, substances are prepared in a stepwise manner and with as few high yielding steps as possible. To begin, one must devise a synthesis beginning with commercially available raw materials as close to the target as possible. If the product has many fragments hanging off the core structure, it’s best to solve that problem early. Synthetic chemistry is almost always performed in a non-interfering solvent that will dissolve the reactants and allow the necessary reaction to occur. A low boiling point is preferable for ease of distillation. An important side benefit from a solvent is that it will absorb much of the heat of reaction which can be considerable. Left on its own, a reaction might take its solvent to the boiling point by self-heating, generating pressure and vapor. The benefit from evaporation or reflux boiling is that as a solvent transitions from liquid to vapor there is a strong cooling effect which helps to control the temperature. An overhead condenser will return cooled solvent to prevent solvent loss.
You can do any chemical synthesis in one step with the right starting materials. Unfortunately, this option is rarely available. The next best option is to take commercially available starting materials through a known synthetic scheme. People who run illicit drug labs are never interested in R&D. They want (and need) simple chemistry that can be done by non-chemists in buckets or coke bottles at remote locations. Chemical glassware can be purchased but sometimes the authorities will be notified of a suspicious order. This is especially true with 12 liter round bottom flasks.
The most difficult and risky trick to illicit drug synthesis is obtaining starting materials like piperidine compounds in the case of fentanyl and its congeners. In the case of heroin, acetic anhydride shipments have been investigated for a long time because it is used to convert morphine to heroin- an unusually simple one-step conversion. Solvent diethyl ether is similarly difficult to get outside of established companies or universities. Many other common drug starting materials are difficult to obtain legally in the US or EU by the criminal element. However, China is thought to be a major supplier of starting materials outside the US and EU. Countries with remote coastlines, loose borders, lackadaisical or corrupt law enforcement reduce the barriers for entry of drug precursors. China in particular has a large number of chemical plants that make diverse precursors for legitimate drugs. Unfortunately, some of these precursors can also be used for illicit drugs or existing technology adapted for this use. Precursors can be sold to resellers who can do as they please with them. Agents may represent many manufacturers and can mask the manufacturer’s identity and take charge of the distribution abroad. Shady transactions become difficult for authorities to detect and trace. The identity of illicit precursor chemicals are easily altered in the paperwork to grease the skids through customs. Resellers can repackage chemicals to suitable scale, change the paperwork and jack up the price for export. It has been my experience that many if not most Chinese or Japanese chemical manufacturers conduct business through independent export agents. However, behind the curtains there often a byzantine web of connections between companies and agents, so you may never know who will manufacture your chemical. As an aside, this complicates getting technical information from the manufacturer since the agent will not disclose a contact at that manufacturer.
Highly potent drugs like fentanyl must be taken in very small dosages which means that kilo-scale batch quantities of drug result in many individual sales per kilo. Small quantities of highly potent drugs are more easily smuggled than bulky drugs like weed with its strong odor.
There is a down-side to the illicit manufacture of drugs like fentanyl. It is quite toxic at very low dosages and must be handled with the greatest of care lest the “cook” and other handlers get inadvertently and mortally poisoned. Good housekeeping helps, but I have yet to see a photo of a tidy drug lab.
Fentanyl can be sold as a single drug but perhaps is cut with a solid diluent that some random yayhoo decided was Ok to use. Other drugs of abuse like heroin may be surreptitiously spiked with fentanyl to kick up the potency. In either case, a given dosage may or may not be safe even for a single use. There is no way for a user to know. Also, the concentration or homogeneity of mixed solids may be subject to wide variation. For more than a few people, their first fentanyl dose will be their last.
I heard a sarcastic moniker for Texas yesterday for the first time. It was “Howdy Arabia”. It was used by one of my favorite comedians, Trae Crowder, and refers to ultra-conservative xenophobic southern American culture. Crowder is from Tennessee and calls himself a progressive hillbilly or a liberal redneck. But Howdy Arabia has been around for a while as a Google search will show. The phrase “Y’all Qaeda” also bubbles up.
Why all of this intemperate 8th grade slander on an entire state? The abortion fiasco led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton happening in Texas presently is so foul and unnecessary that I can barely listen to it without becoming angry. Medical reality doesn’t seem to have a place in Paxton’s absolutist, linear brain. He is putting on a performance to display his Republican bona fides. His are the Bible belt constituents who elected him. In this sense, he is a duly elected official giving his voters what they want no matter the cost. It isn’t just Paxton- it is the entire GOP party apparatus at work.
Paxton is an aggressive, doctrinaire male exerting control over a woman’s body from a distance. He won’t be present as she suffers through this ordeal. He could have accepted the local court’s decision and allowed the woman to go forward with the procedure. Instead, he appealed to the Texas Supreme Court and ruled against the lower court’s decision. Further, he sent letters to local health care providers threatening severe legal consequences if they were to aid in the woman’s abortion. This is Republican Texas.
It came out that the state of Alabama is preparing to execute a prisoner by nitrogen hypoxia. Oklahoma and Mississippi are the only other states that have authorized this method of execution. The prisoner, Kenneth Eugene Smith, had previously selected nitrogen hypoxia as a secondary means of execution. This decision was backed by the US Supreme Court. The first attempt to execute Smith by lethal injection failed because of the inability of workers to find a vein after 4 hours trying.
Smith’s attorneys have made the argument that this new form of execution claim that Smith is a “test subject for this novel and experimental method.” According to the Death Penalty Information Center, some have claimed that “those who support the use of nitrogen hypoxia can only theorize that the method will be painless and quick, but opponents have likened it to human experimentation.”
Criticism of the nitrogen hypoxia method have raised safety concerns for witnesses. It’s been argued that nitrogen escaping from the condemned man’s mask could threaten the health of those nearby, particularly the preacher standing close for spiritual comfort.
Critics say that the state of Alabama has not adequately prepared for the execution and the safety of witnesses and workers nearby.
“They could start to hyperventilate because their body would detect that they’re in a low oxygen environment,” said Dr. Joel Zivot, an anesthesiologist and associate professor at Emory University School of Medicine. “And that severe hyperventilation can lead to a stroke.” The doctor expressed concern that the method is full of unknowns and seemed quite skeptical of the method.
Seems to me that on basic principles alone, this method should work just fine. It would’ve been nice to read that the state had a written procedure that specified the type of mask and the nitrogen flow rate. As for the safety of others, minimally there should be an O2 concentration meter present, which is the case. The air exchange rate in the room can be measured and increased, assuming this is possible in an Alabama prison. Best of all, supplied air hoods or masks are widely available. This would only require an air compressor in fresh air.
As of this date, the Texas Supreme Court has blocked a lower court decision by Travis County District Judge Maya Guerra Gamble that a Texas woman may obtain an abortion. Within hours the Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sent letters to 3 area hospitals saying the temporary order would “not insulate hospitals, doctors, or anyone else, from civil and criminal liability for violating Texas’ abortion laws.”
The woman is currently in another state where her condition does allow for a legal abortion.
Apart from the usual hairball of arguments about abortion itself, I’m flabbergasted at the apparent absence of medical input relating to this law. Why isn’t there a medical board of OB/GYN specialists who have some authority in this? Were obstetrics medical school faculty consulted in the drafting of this law? Was the religious conservative pressure so great that OB/GYN best practices were just disregarded? Looks like an absolutist approach was taken and exceptions could be finely scrutinized with a bias towards “no.”
Is there a religious conservative in Texas who knows what an ectopic pregnancy is or any other dangerous medical condition? Pregnancy is a hazardous business and much can and does go wrong taking the life of one or both the infant and mother. Apparently in Texas, dying in childbirth is acceptable because it is God’s will and the rest of us have to respect the wishes of Republican believers.
Perhaps the Texas AG, Mr. Paxton, has the habit of denying/prosecuting abortions across the board and letting the matter go to the Supreme Court for a decision. This keeps him free of criticism from the anti-abortion mega-church preachers in Texas.
The whole thing stinks of ignorance and religious disregard for medical reality. The Texas state motto should be- “Frequently wrong, but never in doubt.”
The political party of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). This party won the 2014 general elections by a landslide, and again in 2019. Since then the BJP has reportedly aligned with the RSS, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a paramilitary right-wing group. Modi has been accused of leading the country into what has been called a “Hindu religious autocracy.” The process of implementing a Hindu Nationalist agenda has been given the colorful name “saffronization.” No small part of it is the de-westernization of India.
Indian history and politics is very rich but unfamiliar to most westerners so I can’t go into detail other than to say that there is a strong Hindu Nationalism movement there. A level of rejection of Eurocentric values is to be expected given the history of British rule in the 20th century. India is a nuclear, space-faring nation today with much to be optimistic about.
Recently, Darwin’s theory of evolution has been removed from textbooks in 9th and 10th grade biology. The fear is that most students do not take biology later in their school years and therefore will have no understanding of this important aspect of biology. The decision to drop evolution from the 9th and 10th grade biology textbooks was a “content rationalization” made by a government organization called National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT). NCERT claims that they dropped discussion of evolution during the COVID-19 pandemic in order to streamline online classes. India currently has 256 million primary and secondary students.
This has resulted in an uproar by Indian academics, including artists, writers, historians and scientists. The notion held by most scientists and mathematicians around the world is that physical and biological science is secular, i.e. it should not contain cultural, historical or racial structural elements imposing subjectivity in modeling the physical world.
The reader should know that I would much prefer to write about sciency topics like chemistry or mining geochemistry. But I have become aware of a political tsunami that could arrive at our shores in 2025. It is a planned sequence of actions aiming to convert our American civilization, its economy and politics so drastically as to be unrecognizable by the standards of today. It is breathtaking in its sweep and amounts to nothing less than a sociopolitical revolution. I refer to “Project 2025” organized by the Heritage Foundation. Short of a mainland invasion of North America, I am hard pressed to think of something that will so drastically alter the course of American civilization. Republicans are seeking to emplace a permanent conservative state. My view is this- screw ’em.
At present, the US is the global hegemon and has been one since WWII. Many nations resent this, especially China and Russia, and seek to become the major hegemonies themselves. They strongly desire to knock the US off the sandpile and take up residence for themselves. Trump’s America First policy would allow Russia and China to step up as US foreign influence is purposely relaxed. As the unity of the US/EU and NATO collapses, Russia’s influence in Eastern Europe will rise as they move forward to the reestablishment of a Soviet-scale state. China’s dominance along the South China Sea, Southeast Asia, Taiwan, Philippines, Indonesia, Malasia and Australia will grow, as they intend it to.
The expansion of Chinese and Russian influence will come as a result of the loss of global US influence. As technology and the quality of life expands across the world, US hegemony will necessarily diminish somewhat. What we can and should hold onto is our standing as an influential and thriving democracy.
To my many friends, colleagues and readers, all I can say is that now is not the time to shrink back into your shells and wait out the 2024 political season in the US. If your visual acuity takes you past your nose you will see that Project 2025 will strongly alter the function of the federal government. This is a step towards a dictatorial architecture that will directly affect our lives and our standing in the world.
Hyperbole? Visit the link and think it through for yourself.
Project 2025 is nothing less than a coherent plan to deconstruct the administrative function of the federal government, especially under the executive branch. The many designers of this project believe in the so-called “deep state” which, they say, is firmly nested in the ponderous federal bureaucracy. As a story it has the necessary elements of a conspiracy novel. There are protagonists, antagonists, narrators and enough historical detail to make their storyline convincing. In my view, the deep state exists in the form of dark money and the subsequent influence over politicians, mostly the recipients of big conservative money.
The US media will be of little help here and will relegate themselves to documenting the downfall for the infotainment of everyone around the world. Decades hence, dissertations and documentaries will be produced attempting to explain the collapse to authoritarianism to puzzled citizens.
But Project 2025 is more than just a rejiggering of the administrative apparatus of the federal government. Significantly, it aims to intensify the many powers of the federal bureaucracy directly into the hands of the president by aligning the federal workforce job security to be politically accountable to the president.
It represents a transition from a primary emphasis on expertise to that of political reliability for one’s career-sake. The plan will go into effect the first day of the next Republican president’s administration, be it Trump or otherwise. This is what the plan states in clear English.
In our federal government, laws are passed and placed into the Unites States Code, USC. This content is then translated into the Code of Federal Regulations, CFR, for promulgation. The CFR is a structure of regulations based on the USC for practical application and enforcement.
It is easy and quite lazy to claim that the US federal government is completely broken. It seems to be hypersensitive in some areas and intractably slow elsewhere. Nonetheless, much of it functions like it should behind the curtains. Do we really want a government that is incontestably and quickly responsive to the whims of a president? Or should there be checks and balances built into the system? Handing over more power to a morally bankrupt person like Trump is grossly irresponsible, stupid and may not be reversable. Other than a foreign invasion, this could not be more serious.
The difficulties black citizens encounter with law enforcement are numerous and many have been severe. More than a few end up dead from a police encounter. Everybody has seen this in the news. I am not a legal scholar and have no official experience in law enforcement. I know only what I have observed.
What I have observed on video are episodes of escalating tension followed by a step change to violence over the course of an individual’s encounter with the police. A traffic stop results in a request for the driver’s documents. Sometimes the driver is reluctant to hand them over for some particular reason. The driver could have trouble with authority figures generally or is angered by the tone with which he is being spoken to. The driver could be frightened and given to poor judgement. Or, the driver could be wanted for some warrant or crime and is unwilling to be apprehended.
The driver could be perfectly innocent of crimes and just speeding a bit or could be carrying contraband in the vehicle. The officer is likely to be unsure of who they have stopped or may have found a vehicle they have been looking for. Officers need to be extremely careful in all interactions with the public.
What seems to happen in many of these violent encounters with police is that the officer repeatedly tries to get information from the citizen and something snaps. Either the officer loses patience or the citizen gets combative or both. Whatever the case, the officer at some point feels threatened and wants to restrain the citizen according to procedure. The citizen, not comprehending why this is happening and fearing the worst, resists following the directions of the officer. The officer notices the resistance and ratchets up the intensity. This is where things can go south.
At some point the officer may call in for other officers to help with the situation. Whether alone or with several officers present, an officer will repeatedly demand instant obedience. If there is not prompt obedience, the officer may escalate and draw and point a stun gun or service pistol at the citizen. If the citizen is agitated and out of control or threatens the officer, they might be subject to a stun or worse.
If the officer attempts to forcibly remove the citizen from the car, a struggle may ensue. In videos broadcast to the public, the officer remains with the citizen struggling for control, shouting instructions at the citizen. By this time the citizen is likely in a state of panic or anger and is irrational. The citizen could lash out violently or attempt to escape. Prompt and absolute yielding to force and shouting isn’t necessarily natural to the citizen.
It seems to be in the nature of police training that once a non-compliant citizen has been encountered, the police will not stop until they apprehend them. This approach can escalate to physical harm or the death of the suspect or the officer. Also evident, the method police use is what I can only refer to as a “shock and awe” approach. It is meant to confuse and overwhelm the suspect with police power and authority. The problem is that it doesn’t always work. As the suspect continues to struggle the officer(s) may begin to fear for injury or death. Or, the officer(s) may become unable to contain their rage. Whatever the case, a service pistol may be drawn and discharged. Pardon my ignorance, but it has never appeared to me that the police shoot to wound or disable- only to kill.
It appears that the requirement perceived by the officer is that once they have a suspect in hand they may apply whatever it takes, even as much as shooting, if they are unable to control the suspect in a reasonable time.
We have to ask, is an apprehension technique that relies on arresting officers to overwhelm and outwrestle the citizen the only technique available? Officers do not start with this shock and awe. They ask for license, registration and proof of insurance first. During that time the citizen has time to think about how he or she will react to the situation.
What happens in other countries?
Plainly, a law enforcement agency will not interact in a way that would let the citizen escape if things became difficult. In principle, the law must always prevail lest it be known that all you have to do is struggle and you can get away. This seems reasonable, except that the officer may end up the judge, jury and executioner. Should a suspect die from a kill shot delivered by the arresting officer if the officer is just out of patience? Or if the suspect is physically too powerful? Is it ever OK for the officer to relent and let the citizen escape into the wind?
How can we educate people to avoid escalating an encounter with a police officer before the point where the officer pulls their gun? Either the citizen or the officer or both can suffer from hot headedness. But in the exchange between you and the police officer, the law will always get the upper hand eventually.
The police have a responsibility to use good judgement and the training to execute their duties. But I’d say that when citizens are stopped by the police, they must realize that they are in a situation where things could go irreversibly for them if they make some poor choices. That means knowing when to stop arguing and yield to the officer(s). If the officer has engaged you in a traffic situation, they have already called in your plates for warrants and other information. If a polite exchange of information has not convinced the officer to let you be on your way, then further haggling is likely to go badly for you. At this point, you’ve already lost the game and should relent.
The reason behind this essay is to explore the idea of shock and awe as an apprehension method. How often does it work? What do criminologists say about it?
Obviously, asking citizens to behave better is not an easy strategy. But physical actions by the police that confuse and frighten the citizen puts them on alert and may trigger a violent reply. Does any agency or other organization try to have a discussion with the public about this?
It’s not all about heavy handed officers out there. Citizens must learn that there are poor choices that will ruin or end their lives and that there may well be a time for submission. Due process still exists.
The news media are devoting virtually all of their bandwidth to the savage Hamas-Israeli sh*t storm in Gaza and especially on the status of the Israeli hostages. After some digging, it is possible to learn that many Islamic militia groups in the region have been attempting to strike at Israel from far outside of the Israeli border. This is being coordinated by Iran.
The thing that I’m learning is that the historical facts aren’t so hard to understand, it’s just a large hairball of intertwined details. The emotional depths, however, are deep and abiding. It long ago morphed into a battle between certain Islamic fundamentalists and the “invaders”. The momentum to begin the State of Israel began well before 1948. The formation and settlement of Israel, Zionism, was a planned movement to first colonize the area of present-day Israel and gradually push out the residing Palestinian Arabs. There are early references to the settlement of European Jews of the First Aliyah between 1881 and 1903 to Ottoman Syria. These people were traditional Jews not necessarily interested in Zionism. It’s important to note that Zionism and Judaism are not equivalent.
According to Wikipedia, the Zionist movement is thought to have originated with Theodor Hertzl in 1897. Even before, there were Jewish villages established in Palestine, ibid. He was an Austro-Hungarian journalist and Jew who promoted immigration to Palestine for the purpose of establishing a homeland. The link gives some good background.
The formal establishment of the Israeli state from the Israeli side is well documented and is left for the reader to access. Palestinians refer to this as the Nakba, or “catastrophe”.
It seems well documented that the establishment of the state of Israel was a systematic movement to form a Jewish homeland- Zionism. This process inevitably involved the forced displacement of Palestinian Arabs from what was greater Palestine and into smaller reservations for the displaced- Gaza and the West Bank. The West Bank is being slowly but vigorously absorbed by Israeli settlers.
It will be impossible for the Palestinians to just roll over and forgive and forget. Much has to heal. Gaza has been called an apartheid concentration camp to contain and control the Palestinians and I cannot see why this is an exaggeration. The brutal Israeli reprisal on Hamas and civilian Gazans after the October 7th attack by Hamas will extend the conflict. This is driven by the Netanyahu political movement.
How can I, an American with no interest in any of the Abrahamic religions possibly know about this? Hey man, I’m tryin’. Obviously this thing has to settle down and casualties on both sides stop, just nobody knows how to make it happen. The incessant and violent meddling by Iran is inflammatory and has to be suppressed. Their interest is in sowing chaos is unrelenting and dangerous.
The state of Israel will not shut down for any reason and leave the Levant. They are there for good. To Islamic extremists, this means that all they can do is kill all of the Israelis and share the misery. It’s like two guys standing in gasoline and each threatening to light a match. This will take some realpolitik over decades on both sides to solve. Pure ideology will lead nowhere.
Unwavering American government allegiance to the state of Israel, in public at least, and the influence of AIPAC must be pushed aside to provide effective, balanced and trusted leadership in the region. Many US states have already passed laws banning the criticism of Israel or its businesses. This type of statutory tribalism is not helpful and must stop. Reflexive opposition to the Palestinians leads only to the next 100 year’s war.
Biased US leadership in the Middle East only fuels continuous conflict and strengthens the proxy war of Iran against the US. Our steadfast bias should be for a negotiated peace. There is substantial support for Israel by American Evangelical Protestant Christian nationalists whose religious beliefs require strong support for the state of Israel. It is a part of their Calvinistic dominionism theology and the return of the Messiah. This is the third leg of a serious religious conflict. Israelis understand this interference by the pesky Christian chicken coop across the Atlantic, but they need the eggs.
Lamentations on Chemistry 
