Showing posts with label blockade. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blockade. Show all posts

Sunday, May 3, 2026

14 Points On Iran: Paper, Worthless Slap in the USA's Face

 Nadene Goldfoot                                             


     President Trump must have tired of extending time to Iran to accept his deals.  He didn't like their 14 point list that was offered, thank goodness, that only benefited Iran. 

  •  Establishment of a new mechanism/protocol regarding the Strait of Hormuz and potentially allowing Iran to collect tolls, alongside lifting the blockade.
  • Safety Guarantees: Firm, binding guarantees against future military aggression by the U.S..
  • End Hostilities in Lebanon: Cessation of all hostilities in Lebanon, including Israeli offensive actions.
  • Reparations and Assets: Payment of financial reparations to Iran and the release of frozen assets.$$$$$
  • No Nuclear Talks: Iran has stated this plan does not currently involve nuclear negotiations.
  • Extradition: Reports indicate a demand for the prosecution and extradition of individuals affiliated with media outlets deemed hostile to Iran. You know Iran knows that this 14 point plan is impossible and a slap in  the face to Trump and the USA !!!
  •  It was on May 3 that the President  told congressional leaders that "hostilities" with Iran have "terminated," addressing a critical 60-day deadline under a decades-old law meant to limit the use of military force without authorization from Congress, reported CBS. The time ran out.  

    This means:  a tenuous ceasefire is in place, but a naval standoff continues with active blockades and renewed attacks, preventing a final peace deal. Iran has formally re-closed the strait to many vessels, with both sides trading accusations of violations.  

    Al jazeera mentions that:  Late on Thursday, Tehran sent the proposal to Pakistan, which got the two sides to agree on the ceasefire. According to the Iranian Tasnim news agency, the 14-point plan was formulated in response to a nine-point US plan.


    But weeks (3 weeks 4 days) since the ceasefire began on April 8,  Washington and Tehran have been unable to negotiate a peace deal. Tehran wants a permanent end to the war, while Trump has insisted that Iran first end the effective blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of global oil and gas exports pass. The US president has also made the issue of Iran’s nuclear capability a “red line”.   What is Iran's red line?  Nuclear Program: Iran has refused to surrender existing, highly enriched uranium stockpiles.  You can't make a deal with terrorists (Iran)!!  You can't ever trust them.!!!

    As of May 3, 2026, President Donald Trump has been reviewing a new 14-point proposal from Iran regarding the Strait of Hormuz crisis but had expressed doubt it was acceptable. While stating he prefers not to use military action, Trump has kept the option to resume strikes on Iran open if they "misbehave" and had not lifted pressure.

    • Blockade Remains: Trump stated, "They've used the Hormuz Strait as a weapon... Then I closed it on them," highlighting a successful naval blockade that has stopped 48 ships in 20 days.
    • Doubt on Negotiations: Despite potential negotiations, Trump expressed skepticism regarding Iran's proposed 30-day end to the war, posting on social media that they have not "paid a big enough price".
    • Active Threat: Trump has confirmed that U.S. military strikes against Iranian assets are still a possibility.
    • Strait Security: While previously stating the strait was "open" following a ceasefire in April, the current blockade is in response to ongoing tensions and Iranian mining threats. 
    As of earlier in the spring of 2026, Trump had pressured allies to take over patrol duties of the waterway and previously threatened that Iran would be "living in hell" if the strait was not opened, before implementing the current blockade. 

    PBS reports 2 hours ago that A cargo ship near the Strait of Hormuz said it was attacked by multiple small craft, according to the British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center on Sunday, marking at least two dozen attacks in and around the strait since the Iran war began. https://to.pbs.org/4urVR9L.
    • Trump has threatened to destroy Iranian infrastructure if the Strait does not reopen.
    • Iran's Position: Iran has offered a one-month deadline for a deal to open the Strait, which would involve lifting the US naval blockade. However, Iran has also threatened "long and painful strikes" on U.S. positions if attacks resume.
    • Military Action: Following failed negotiations in April, Trump ordered the U.S. Navy to enforce a blockade on ships going to and from Iranian ports.
    • Impact: The ongoing crisis has halted around 20% of global oil and gas trade, with war risk insurance increasing significantly. 
    Will Attacks Continue?
    The potential for resumed attacks is high, despite the ceasefire, for several reasons: 
    • Stalemate: Iran has refused to fully reopen the Strait while the U.S. naval blockade remains in place.
    • Negotiation Breakdown: Efforts to reach a diplomatic agreement have repeatedly hit an impasse.
    • Trump's Demands: Trump has rejected initial proposals from Tehran, stating that any deal must involve significant concessions and has indicated he may not accept the current proposal. He has not so far, I'm happy to report..
    Observers and analysts, such as those at the International Crisis Group, argue that a purely military solution to reopen the Strait is unlikely to succeed, favoring a diplomatic arrangement instead.  How, with terrorists who never ever keep their promises???

    Resource:

    https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/5/3/whats-irans-14-point-proposal-to-end-the-war-and-will-trump-accept-it

    https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/iran-war-trump-strait-of-hormuz-israel-lebanon-ceasefire/

      

    Sunday, August 22, 2021

    True Facts About Jerusalem, Part 6: in 1967: The Six Day War

     Nadene Goldfoot                                            

        Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Ethiopia, Libya, Algeria, Mauritania.  Many came to fight Israel in 1967 and they lost.  As a result, Israel became the governing authority in the Gaza Strip, Sinai Peninsula, the Golan Heights, and in the West Bank.  Under the Israeli rule from 1967 to 1992, the Palestinian population of the West bank experienced the highest standard of living of any Arab country with the exception of the oil states.                                                  
                                     Jerusalem 1940  winter

    Jerusalem since 1948 was divided into 2 parts.  The Israel section included the whole of the West and Southern part of the "New City", including "Mount Zion" and an enclave on Mt. Scopus.  The city extended westward by the construction of the Knesset and Government quarter with the National Museum and University campus nearby.  The city was the administrative center of Israel as it always had been in ancient times.

     At the outset of the Six-Day War (June 5, 1967), Jordanian troops in the Old City and Jordanian sections of the city bombarded the New City.  The Israeli army reacted and 2 days later, the entire city came under Israel control.               

    The Old City is a 0.9-square-kilometer (0.35 sq mi) walled area within the modern city of Jerusalem.  The Old City is home to several sites of key religious importance: the Temple Mount and Western Wall for Jews, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for Christians and the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque for Muslims. It was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Site List in 1981.                                                                     

                           Seeing the wall for the first time for these soldiers.  Jews were kept out of this eastern part of the divided Jerusalem by Jordan for 20 years.  Jordan lost this section by attacking and losing the battle.  

     One of the 1st reactions was mass visits to the Western Wall which had been prohibited to Jews for almost 20 years.  On June 29, 1967, the Israeli government formally united the 2 sections of the city and the barriers that had divided them were removed.  The population of the eastern portion of the city--including 139,600 Moslems and Christians--have been incorporated into the total population of 493,500 by 1990.  

     Prime Minister Levi Eshkol from 22 Dec 1964 to 26 February 1969

    Background: The special relationship Levi Eshkol  developed with President Lyndon Johnson of USA would prove pivotal in securing US political and military support for Israel during the "Waiting period" preceding the Six-Day War of June 1967.  Levi Eshkol was at the time also Israel's Minister of Defense. 

        1966 Pres.Johnson from Texas, a Democrat;  and First Lady with Israel Pres. Zalman Shazar, also Russian born like Eshkol. In 1963 he became president.   Both Israel's President and PM  were with the Mapai parties.  


    According to Michael Orenan American-born Israeli historian, author, politician, former ambassador to the United States, and former member of the Knesset for the Kulanu party and a former Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, .Eshkol's intransigence refusal to change one's views or to agree about something). in the face of military pressure to launch an Israeli attack is considered to have been instrumental in increasing Israel's strategic advantage as well as obtaining international legitimacy, yet at the time he was perceived as hesitant, an image cemented following a stuttered radio speech on 28 May. The Egyptian President Nasser's ever more overt provocations, created diplomatic support for Israel. Eshkol eventually established a National Unity Government together with Menachem Begin's Herut party, conceding the Defense portfolio to Moshe Dayan.                                                

            President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt from 23 June 1956-26 September 1970

    An example of Nasser's provocations;  speech on 26 May 1967;  "The Arab people want to fight.  We have been waiting for the right day when we would be fully prepared.  Recently, we have felt strong enough to triumph, with God's help, if we enter into battle with Israel.  On that basis, we have decided to take the actual measures, taking this step makes it imperative that we be ready to embark on a total war with Israel.  

    The question is, what caused the 6 Day War?  The previous war was in 1956, The Sinai War that lasted from 29 October to 5 November 1956, a 7 day war when the threat was removed and the blockade against Israel was broken.  Egypt again had played a critical role.  The USSR had been smuggling in  military equipment to Egypt and Syria.  The UN emergency Force in Sinai and Gaza Strip was established in order to separate Egypt and Israel.  For 10 years, they remained in its positions between the two.  The frontier with Egypt was the quietest.  The Gulf of Eilat was open in the movement of ships to and from Israel.  

    My facts are that in February of 1966, a revolution took place in Syria, the 9th one since 1949.  The left wing of the Ba'ath Party had the backing of the USSR had seized power.  This new government's policy was of hostility and hatred towards Israel.  By the first months of 1967, tension grew between Syria and Israel. "The Tension was largely due to over 2 years of sabotage activities inside Israel and border incidents, mostly undertaken by the Syrians, who were interested in involving the other Arab states in a further war with Israel.  Fearing Israel retaliation against Syria and in an effort to deflect it,  Egypt began moving its army into the Sinai peninsula on May 15, 1967.   In the middle of May, the tension was exploited by the USSR.  Egypt and Syria led the way to the Six Day War.

    They and the Soviet Union spread false reports that Israeli forces were on the Syrian frontier.  At the same time, the UN on the spot reports were saying that no such concentration existed, but these were ignored.  Egypt had its army in Sinai--90,000 men and 900 tanks.  Egypt demanded that the UN emergency Force withdraw and they did.  There went the barrier between Egypt and Israel.  Egypt closed the Straits of Tiran to all destined for Israel and called for war. The Arab States, led by Egypt, formed a war pact against Israel.  The armies of Jordan, Iraq and Syria concentrated their forces along the frontiers with Israel.  They said publicly that their intention was to destroy Israel.  

    Israel waited for 3 weeks from 15th May for international action to stop the escalation and remove the threat from its frontiers.  But, the Great Powers and the United Nations were incapable of effecting any change in the situation.  On 5th June,, war broke out.  

                                                                        


    Israel destroyed the armies that had massed along its frontiers

     and menaced its vital centers.  Cease-fire lines were established along the Suez Canal,  the Jordan River and the Golan Heights.  The Straits of Tiran were once again open to navigation.  Jerusalem was reunified.  

    "In a tense Oval Office statement, Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu told President  Barack Obama  that Israel would not withdraw to 1967 borders to aid a peace deal with the Palestinians.  "We can't go back!"  PM Netanyahu had rejected the 1967 border proposal.  Obama and Netanyahu, meanwhile, appear to have reached an impasse after two and a half years of rocky relations. The Obama White House was angered when Netanyahu refused a U.S. demand to halt building Jewish settlements in the West Bank."  The "West Bank" in reality is Judea and Samaria, the original land holdings of the Jewish people.  This is a very touchy subject.  It's similar, G-d forbid, of giving Washington DC to the Russians sometime in the not too distant future after losing it to the Chinese.  

    Judea and Samaria are the very heart of the Jewish people.  Judea was Judah, our tribe's home, designated by Joshua as our home, from a message from G-d as told by Moses.  A give-away was not in the original plans for the Jewish Homeland.  That was not what Chaim Weizmann had signed onto with the Balfour Doctrine.  Between Britain and Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, the Jewish Homeland had been chipped away so much that the Jews were left  with 20% that was being chiseled down to 10% of the Promised Jewish Homeland.  ENOUGH!  The 1967 War was the bloody miracle that gave back the Jewish homeland that had been secretly double-promised to Abdullah  that wanted land because his brother, Emir Faisal,  had been given land.  They lost it in the war.  It means far more to the Jews than it did to Abdullah.  They still held onto the Jews' 80% now called Jordan. 

    Arabs are taking a good look at history and why they have been fighting against the Jews' return to their original land.  The Abraham Accords are happening.  Israel is being accepted for the first time since 1948.  Conditions are such that Israel makes a better ally than it does an enemy when both Israel and the Arabs are facing the same enemy, and that is Iran.  The meeting that they had all attended in Khartoum, Sudan, Africa right after the 1967 war where they voiced their 3 NOs  in recognizing or making peace  or having any negotiations with Israel  is a past happening with those facing reality.  

    The Abraham Accords are a series of treaties normalizing diplomatic relations between Israel, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco, facilitated by the U.S. Administration[1] between August and December, 2020. In the span of five short months, these four Arab states joined Egypt and Jordan in making peace with Israel. The agreements were called “The Abraham Accords” in honor of Abraham - the patriarch of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam[2].  

     
      

    Resource: 

    The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

    Facts About Israel, division of information, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem, 1973

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levi_Eshkol

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_City_(Jerusalem)

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamal_Abdel_Nasser

    https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna43106082

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khartoum_Resolution

    https://www.jns.org/topic/abraham-accords/?gclid=CjwKCAjw64eJBhAGEiwABr9o2JqZBsRxnM10l4XPfQdaoSaswLqtMbE91wwDQjBhFAYY1w1PPnOj_hoC3HYQAvD_BwE

    BIG LIES:  by David Meir-Levi from David Horowitz Freedom Center

    CNN

    Tonight is the 6th presentation of Jerusalem by CNN. I'll watch it and will present my comments if it differs from my report.  

    Jerusalem: City of Faith and Fury, produced by Blackfin, is a six-part series that tells the story of one of the most controversial cities in history, through six epic conflicts that shaped and defined it. Narrated by Golden Globe-winning actor Ewan McGregor, the docuseries explores how a small arid town with no natural resources became a place of pilgrimage for three of the most prominent world religions, while investigating how three thousand years of conflicts have led directly to the struggles of today. Spanning from Biblical times to the Roman Empire to the Cold War, and examining the stories of King David, Cleopatra, Saladin, T.E. Lawrence, and more, the series brings the “City of God” to life as never before. 

    The premiere episode, “The Kingdom,” tracks how King David conquered and claimed Jerusalem from the Jebusites as the capital for the United Kingdom of Israel, setting the stage for centuries of conflict to come. (This was part I.)

    Executive producers for Jerusalem: City of Faith and Fury are Geno McDermott, Jordan Rosenblum and Shan Nicholson for Blackfin, Amy Entelis and Lyle Gamm for CNN Original Series. The series will regularly air on Sunday nights at 10pm ET/PT on CNN.

    Thursday, August 12, 2021

    The Great Famine in Lebanon : Result of Ottoman Empire Hooking up with Germany

     Nadene Goldfoot                                                  

                                      Starving man and children in Mount Lebanon 1915-1918

    Lebanon's population was made up of Muslim Arabs, Maronite Christians and a few Jews. Christians were once a majority inside Lebanon and are still a majority in the diaspora of the nearly 14 million Lebanese people living outside of Lebanon. The president of the country is traditionally a Maronite Christian, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim, and the speaker of parliament a Shia Muslim. The majority are Muslims.  Jews lived in Beirut, Tyre and mainly in Aleppo.

    The Great Famine of Mount Lebanon (1915–1918) was a period of mass starvation during World War I that resulted in 200,000 deaths.  Allied forces--Great Britain, France, USA  Russia, Italy, Romania, Japan and the United States who blockaded the Eastern Mediterranean, as they had done with the German Empire in Europe, in order to strangle the economy with the knowledge that it might lead to a profound impact on civilians in the region. 

    At the outbreak of war, the arid Mount Lebanon was a semi-autonomous area within the powerful Ottoman Empire. Its economy was based on the production of raw silk, which was woven by women in mills and exported to Europe.

    But the Ottoman alliance with Germany caused the Allies to cut off international trade routes, damaging the silk trade and choking the economy. Food was scarce and prioritized for the soldiers of the Ottoman war effort.                                                      Turkish soldiers below

    A Jewish community existed in Lebanon since King Solomon's days (961-920 BCE), when Solomon procured Cedars of Lebanon for the Temple, the population concentrating mainly in Beirut, the capital, but  also in Tripoli, Tyre and Sidon, and they  engaged in commerce.                                                                 

     The situation was exacerbated by Jamal-Djemal Pasha, commander of the Fourth Army of the Ottoman Empire, who barred crops from neighbouring Syria from entering Mount Lebanon.          

    Ahmed Djemal Pasha (1872-1922) was one of the leading members of the Young Turk administration prior to and throughout World War One, and one of few initially pro-Entente senior politicians.  Holding numerous wartime posts Djemal also served at the head of Fourth Army on the Palestine Front.  He further held the military governorship of Ottoman Syria, operating what was in effect a huge personal fiefdom encompassing Palestine and the majority of Arabia. He was known to be a cruel man.                         

            Registered Syrian refugees in Lebanon as of June 30, 2016. Source: UNHCR
        

     Additionally, a swarm of locusts devoured the remaining crops, creating a famine that led to the deaths of half of the population of the Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate, a semi-autonomous subdivision of the Ottoman Empire and the precursor of modern-day Lebanon.                   


    Other areas in modern-day Lebanon, according to multiple sources, were also famine-stricken. However, due to poor documentation, casualties were never recorded. Some of the areas hit with no documentation include Tyre, Zahle, Akkar & Bint Jbeil.                                              

    To counter the Allied blockade, the Ottomans adopted a severe policy of acquisition by which all food supplies were prioritized for the army. The crisis  further exacerbated a black market run by well-connected usurers.

                                                                   

                     Beirut, the capital; enjoyed outdoor dining before the famine

    The Ottoman government had appropriated all of the empire's railway services for military use, which disrupted the procurement of crops to parts of the empire. One of the first cities to be hit by the grain shortage was Beirut, the capital.

                                                           


    On 13 November 1914, only 2 weeks after the Ottoman Empire joined the war, a group of citizens stormed the Beirut municipality to warn the municipal council of the severe shortage of wheat and flour in the city. The train freight cars that regularly transported grains from Aleppo,  had not arrived and the bakery shelves were empty. Angry mobs looted the bakeries of whatever little reserves of flour and grain they had left.                                         


     The municipal council dispatched a message to then Beirut Vali Bekir Sami Kunduh who requested grain provisions from the governor of Aleppo Vilayet and urged the Ottoman authorities to prioritize grain shipping to Beirut. 

                                                                

                                            The bridge at Khan-M'rad, with a DHP train

    Acquiring train freight cars to transport anything to the Beirut Vilayet was impossible without paying large bribes to military commanders and to the railroad authorities. Grain prices began to soar, which prompted the president of Beirut's municipal body, Ahmad Mukhtar Beyhum, to address the grain supply bottlenecks himself.

    On 14 November 1914, Beyhum took off to Aleppo,   where he negotiated with authorities, securing grain freight cars from the Ottoman Fourth Army. The wheat was paid for from the municipal treasury. Grain freights arrived to Beirut on 19 November 1914 to the relief of the masses; however, the crisis was to worsen as both reports of the Ottoman officials and correspondence from the Syrian Protestant College indicated that food shortages were to become a daily occurrence past November.                                             


    Around 200,000 people starved to death at a time when the population of Mount Lebanon was estimated to be 400,000 people. The Mount Lebanon famine caused the highest fatality rate by population during World War I. Bodies were piled in the streets and people were reported to be eating street animals. Some people were said to have resorted to cannibalism.  There were reports of bloated bodies dead in the street, even cannibalism. One account from a Jesuit priest tells of a father coming to confess he had eaten his own children.

                                                                

    Some tried to help and soup-kitchens started to open. Thousands were fed, but there was no way to mitigate the effects of the double blow.

    Soup kitchens were set up but had little effect in relieving the starving population. The Lebanese community in Egypt funded the shipping of food supplies to the Lebanese mainland through Arwad. This assistance was delivered to the Maronite patriarchate (Christians)  who distributed it to the populace through its convents.

    The Syrian–Mount Lebanon Relief Committee was "formed in June of 1916 under the chairmanship of Najib Maalouf and the Assistant Chairmanship of Ameen Rihani" in the United States.

    The first memorial to memorialize the victims of the famine was erected in Beirut in 2018, marking the 100th year since the end of the famine. The site is called "The Great Famine Memorial", and is located in front of the Saint-Joseph University It was erected based on initiatives by Lebanese historian Christian Taoutel (curator of the memorial) and Lebanese writer Ramzi Toufic Salame.

                                                                

                           Lebanese men from Mt. Lebanon in the 1880s, all with rifles

    The finances of the world affect the affairs just as much as the people's religion does.  As a prelude to 

    Before World War I, the scene was set for further problems.  European economic activities that grew significantly during the 19th century benefited mostly Christians (and some wealthy Muslim and Jewish merchants) but damaged the livelihood of Muslim artisans and traders, members of the traditional middle classes. They and members of the lower classes were also badly affected by the newly introduced Ottoman reforms of the Tanzimat in 1839, 1856, and 1876, namely, regular taxation, mandatory recruitment to the army as well as some reduction in the role of Islam and equal status granted to non-Muslims, particularly Christians. This would be the Dhimmi status, 2nd class citizens which Jews also were who had to pay more taxes and were under certain stipulations not required by others.  

    All these developments – European intervention, the Tanzimat reforms and periodically provocative Christian behavior – led to Muslim-Christian tension and violence, particularly in Aleppo in 1850 and in Damascus in 1860

    In Damascus thousands of Christians were massacred by Muslims, assisted actively by Druze.  Around the same time Druze in Lebanon massacred many Christian Maronites in an ongoing attempt to curb their socio-political ascendancy in Mount Lebanon.


    Resource;

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Famine_of_Mount_Lebanon****

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rail_transport_in_Lebanon

    https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-30098000