Then and Now: Jerusalem and New York City

 

Curiouser and Curiouser, you might say. What do ancient Jerusalem and modern-day New York City have in common? The short answer -- Destruction!

The former was the keystone of the Jewish people, G-d’s home on earth, and was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE. The latter is the home to the largest Jewish population outside of Israel and will also be destroyed if Zohran Mamdani is elected mayor of New York City in November 2025. To understand the latter, it is essential to understand the former. However, this time destruction will not come from an outside enemy but rather from within. Still, the root cause is the same -- internal strife.

The Hebrew historian Josephus, of the first century, wrote two histories of the Hebrew civil war against Rome and the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple by the Romans in 70 CE. The first was in native Hebrew, and the second in Greek. Josephus ascribed blame for the destruction of Jerusalem to the Jewish warlords rather than to the Romans. He said it was destroyed by internal strife among the Jews, such as Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, Sicarii, and Zealots. 

Who were these religious and non-religious sects of Judea (Israel)?

PHARISEES: The characteristic doctrines of Pharisees attribute everything to Fate and to G-d. Believing only they can accurately interpret the laws of G-d, they were educated strictly according to the ancestral law, with a deeply conservative interpretation of the Torah (the Five Books of Moses). In the parlance of our day, they were snobs! We don’t know what percentage of the population at the time were Pharisees, but there is no evidence to suggest that they constituted more than a small proportion of the overall population of Judaea (Israel). It should be noted that we are told the Pharisees had frequent controversies and serious differences with the Sadducees from the mid-second century BCE to the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE because the Sadducees denied the validity of non-written traditions.

SADDUCEES: No Sadducee literature survives. Both Jewish and Christian have asserted that Sadducees were secular, Hellenistic, wealthy aristocrats of priestly origin, with links to the High Priests and the Roman administration, and a conservative attitude toward the interpretation of the Torah. Sadducees held that only those regulations should be considered valid which were written down, and that those that were handed down from the tradition of the fathers need not be observed. In other words, biblical fundamentalism. Furthermore, each Sadducee relied on his reading of the sacred text alone. However, their views on the lack of life after death and their doctrine that G-d does not influence the world made it hard to combine their philosophy with most other branches of Judaism.

ESSENES: In marked contrast to the individualist Sadducees were the Essenes, whose communal life was devoted to the study of philosophical ethics. They were Judeans only by ancestry. Sources from that time stress their lifestyle more than their specific doctrine. They may have been the first monastic order. They lived without women! However, a second order of Essenes did marry to ensure the survival of the order. The Essenes believed that Fate is primary and that nothing befalls men unless it is by G-d’s decree. The Essenes did fight against the Romans before the Jerusalem Temple’s destruction, primarily in the north and west of Judea. There is no history of the Essenes' lifestyle surviving after 70 CE.

A ‘FOURTH PHILOSOPHY, aka SICARII, cited by Josephus was dated in origin from 6 CE. No name was given to this philosophy. This school agrees in all respects with the opinions of the Pharisees, except about their passion for liberty. The immediate impact of the philosophy was to foment anti-Roman feeling, or, for that matter, against any other authority. In other words, the Fourth Philosophy advocated political anarchy on religious grounds, provoked by the heavy-handed Roman government, rather than a distinct type of Judaism. It should be noted that one group of the Fourth Philosophy was linked to the defense of the fortress of Masada by the Dead Sea against Roman forces in 74 CE. 

ZEALOTS were a group of brigands whose origins date to 68 CE. These Zealots played a major role first in the civil war between the factions in Jerusalem from 68 to 70 CE, and in the final defense of the city against the assault of Roman forces. In 68 CE, they took control of the Temple from the Jewish government led by the Sadducees. It is important to note that only when the Roman forces under Titus began their siege of the city just before Passover in 70 CE did the Zealots agree to cooperate with other Jewish forces against the common enemy (Rome). The Fourth Philosophy and the Zealots left no direct legacy in later forms of Judaism.

It is clear that by the first century CE, numerous Jewish groups with strikingly different understandings of Judaism coexisted in Judaeo society. For most Jews, the Jerusalem Temple provided a unifying force, and there can be no doubt that Pharisees and Sadducees shared in the Temple services both as priests and lay people, despite their different theology and practical issues. However, in the New York City 2025 mayoral race, no such unifying force has yet to emerge from the Democratic Party candidates to defeat Mr. Mamdani. 

The reasons for the outbreak of revolt in 66 CE, after some sixty years of direct Roman rule, are much debated; however, the primary source of the period, Josephus pointed out that tactless Roman governors had provoked disturbances in the years before the revolt. 

The debate about who was responsible for the destruction of the Temple depends on where you sit. According to Josephus, after news reached Rome of Jerusalem’s and the Temple’s unforgivable destruction, ‘Caesar (Nero) maintained that he had offered the Jews peace, self-government, and an amnesty for all past offenses, and the Jews had deliberately chosen sedition rather than unity, war rather than peace.’ That was Rome’s version. The Jews say it was Rome. And not to be left out, in later years, the Christians said it was G-d, for the killing of his son Jesus. Indeed, where you stand is where you sit.

That was then.

This is now.

Today, we are witnesses to internal strife in New York City. By that, I refer to conflict or disagreement occurring within the Democratic Party candidates for New York City mayor. It has manifested as fighting and quarreling among members of New York’s Democrats, as well as the nation’s Democratic Party high muck-a-mucks, thus leading to our current situation where three factions within the same entity struggle for dominance. This state of affairs can encompass a range of situations, from peaceful protests to violent conflicts. Yet, only one faction fights (Mamdani) while the others cower (Schumer).

However, the most egregious element is the candidacy of Zohan Mamdani. Mamdani is a 33-year-old “nepo baby” who has been a three-term State Assemblyman (6 years), with no actual real-world experience or accomplishments. However, more concerning is his leftist/socialist/communist political philosophy. 

What are we to make of the disconcerting banality proffered by Mr. Mamdani.  Mr. Mamdani’s bizarre political platform includes: defunding the police; free government-run grocery stores; mega taxes on the rich (rich has not been defined); supporting the global intifada; anti-Semitism, et al. His policies are supported not by evidence, but are based on the conviction that the narrative itself provides the evidence! I would posit that Mr. Mamdani’s bankrupt socialist policies are not supported by any empirical evidence except for failure.

Liberalism, aka Socialism/Communism, is the developed form of political and social organization that has become widespread in twenty-first-century American urban centers, and that has become the foundation of the Democratic Party, Academia, and the Mainstream Media, et al. Mr. Mandami is not so much its leader as a by-product of a broken Democratic Party. A duplicitous system where the ambition for power lurks behind the assertion of values. 

This is foisted by the exaggerated perception generated by the left that it is for “the people” or to save freedom and democracy. Bull Shit! Useful idiots, a small minority of the public, are paid to participate in well-coordinated street demonstrations, which are used to falsely provide “evidence” for the abstraction called “popular” support. Ironically, it is the same liberal left and their bankrupt socialist ideology that created society's deplorable urban conditions, such as crime and homelessness, and its concomitant urban deprivation.   

I would proffer that if Mr. Mamdani is elected, fighting, crime, and lawlessness, between the people of the City of New York, would occur, who will take the opportunity of the city’s mismanagement to give vent to past frustrations and lamentations of victimhood. The perpetuation of past victimhood, much repeated by the Left, will inevitably end up conflicting with someone else's victimhood, leading to petty disputes, repression, or worse.

Another problem with the constant repetition of Liberal falsehoods is that they inevitably become mixed up with half-truths and even downright lies, so that it is often impossible to understand the truth. If society cannot agree on the cause of a problem, then society will never be able to solve the problem. For example, inflammatory words used by the Liberal Left to justify an issue such as “Holocaust,” Concentration Camp,” “Racism,” and “Genocide” are bandied about without thought of what their actual meaning is, only to incite civil unrest.

Those like Zohan Mamdani who wish to promote hatred and resentment for their own gain, always try to distort the truth: they take past events out of context; they blame their opponents with falsifications and fabrications; and they try to convince others that historical problems continue today, such as racism. 

Have no doubt, the 2025 New York City mayoral election is a serious matter not just for New York, but for the American nation.

_____________________________________________

The following is a list of references used in this essay:

1.Martin Goodman, ‘Josephus’s The Jewish War: A Biography.’Princeton University Press (2019);

2.Martin Goodman, ‘A HISTORY OF JUDAISM,’ Princeton University Press / Princeton and Oxford (2018);

3.Martin Goodman, ‘ROME and JERUSALEM: The Clash of Ancient Civilization,’ Vintage Books, A Division of Random House, INC. New York (2007);

4.Francois Furet, ‘Interpreting the French Revolution,’ Cambridge University Press (1978).] 

Obama’s Watergate: The Russian Colusion Hoax

From March 2017 through June 2025, this author has written multiple essays regarding the greatest scandal in American Presidential history, aka, The Russian Collusion Hoax.

 Although Republicans decisively won the 2016 election, the left contends that President Trump’s victory was fraudulent, resulting from Russian interference in the election. Hence, they promoted the myth that Donald J. Trump’s victory over Hillary Clinton was illegitimate. Therefore, regardless of whether your enemy wins a “free and fair” election, the Left and the Democratic Party will do all they can to obstruct the new government’s ability to govern. 

In the 2016 election, this included using highly sophisticated government surveillance to illegally spy on the incoming administration’s transition team, using false pretexts to justify their surveillance, and certainly unethical and unlawful dissemination to the mainstream media. 

This is a serious matter in any democracy. Not since Watergate have organs of government in the executive branch been used for such nefarious purposes. Just as egregious is the mainstream media's ignoring and dismissing out of hand the matter, out of their allegiance to the Left and the Democratic Party. Immediately after the 2016 election, one of the more salient frauds had been the allegation, by the Democratic Party, politicians in Congress, Democratic politicos and pundits, and the Mainstream Media, that the Russian government under Vladimir Putin “hacked” the election so Donald Trump could win. 

The canard, unsupported by any evidence, alleged that Russia manipulated voting machines in certain closely contested states and disclosed, in concert with WikiLeaks, emails detrimental to the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton. We know today (July 2025) that the CIA and FBI concluded that it never took place, but the evidence they had to support that finding was not released to the public. Still, the Left and the Democratic Party and its deep state operatives repeated the accusations daily, and seven months after the election, cowed Republicans in Congress by conducting a hearing to investigate the canard. 

In the meantime, the real crime of the election, the Obama Administration’s use of false pretenses to secure a FISA warrant to “wiretap” the Trump campaign and Transition team, as well as “unmasking” private citizens, went without investigation When the Obama Administration violated laws that even a dimwit would recognize; their crimes are excused as the cost of doing business, fighting the good fight, or the ends always justify the means. 

It should be understood that absurd claims divorced from reality and supported by leftist enablers are the modus operandi of neo – fascism today, as it was in Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. Preposterous allegation, such as insisting that the Russians “fixed” the 2016 Presidential Election, is the case in point. http://thegreygrater.blogspot.com/2017/05/the-myth-of-fascism-neo-fascism-in.html

Trump Towergate: https://thegreygrater.blogspot.com/2017/03/trump-towergate.htm

    The Trump wiretapping, aka “Trump Towergate,” was authorized and conducted by agencies of the Federal Government, such as the DOJ, FBI, and NSA. In this case, the Obama Administration appears to have misused government power to spy on their political opponent in the 2016 Presidential Election. And make no mistake, this is serious. Like Watergate, there will be more to come out. But on this occasion, you wouldn’t read about it, and you wouldn’t hear about it in the Mainstream Media.

The Mueller Inquisition: https://thegreygrater.blogspot.com/2017/06/the-mueller-inquisition.html

    An investigation of a deceit is ipso facto a deceit. 

INDEED, WHO IS CARTER PAGE?: https://thegreygrater.blogspot.com/2018/02/indeed-who-is-carter-page.html

    It was clearly evident to me in March 2017, approximately one year ago, that the Obama Administration used the Government of the United States of America to spy and attempt to take down a candidate for the presidency, and failing that, a duly elected and sitting President. 

January 1, 2019: A Mark In Time: https://thegreygrater.blogspot.com/2019/01/january-1-2019-mark-in-time.html

    Liberalism / Socialism is, in fact, athwart to freedom and democracy. It is the home to tyrants, dictators, and global elites of all kinds. Again, you say too harshly. Then consider this. Martin Amis' meditations on tyrants and dictators expressed this menace and horror in his treatment of Stalin. Amis writes, “torture … was part of Stalin’s war against truth. He tortured, not to force you to reveal a fact, but to force you to collude in a fiction.” 

  Now think in terms of the Mueller Investigation. An investigation based entirely on deceit. Mr. Mueller’s indictments, like Stalin’s use of torture, which, after two years, have failed to produce any credible evidence to force innocent people to admit to collusion. Like any unaccountable tyrant, Mueller uses his unrestricted, expansive, and unethical practices to bring great harm to people unrelated to the reason for his Special Counsel appointment. 

The Trump Supremacy: https://thegreygrater.blogspot.com/2025/06/the-trump-supremacy.html

Lock them up!

 

Ketanje Brown Jackson: The First DEI Supreme Court Justice

 This essay is intended to be more than just a topic of intellectual interest. It is intended to be a warning of nothing less than the left’s corruption of American democracy and the rule of law.Almost weekly a rogue leftist judge issues an injunction against the Trump Administration exercising it lawful executive branch rights to govern. But, this essay is about Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson who was appointed by President Joe Biden in 2022. [1] 

I wouldn’t begin to suggest that I have any bona fide legal credentials, however I will argue that common sense should tell you Justice Jackson is unqualified to sit on the United States Supreme Court. I would posit that in her relatively short tenure on the court, she has been an embarrassment.

Her scholarship seems to be afflicted by the double influence of existentialism, aka narcissism, and Marxist/Rawlsian Social Justice, which lend themselves to poor judicial objectivity, and which manifests itself in leftist political ideology, mental laziness, and pious rehashing of bankrupt conceptual thinking. I would then proffer that a lawful society cannot allow judges to read the law with a political temperament and survive. That is exactly, by her own words, what Justice Jackson brags about doing on the court. 

In a US Supreme Court decision [2] (July 8, 2025), Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was the lone dissenter in a Court opinion (8 - 1) that allows the Trump Administration and any future administration to go forward with reductions in force (RIF) in all federal agencies in accordance with applicable law. This decision overturned a San Francisco Clinton appointed judge's injunction in February 2025, and the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals decision to uphold the lower court’s injunction (2 - 1).

JUSTICE JACKSON, in a lengthy rebuttal to the Court’s 8 - 1 decision, hence dissenting from the grant of application for stay, was an embarrassment to jurisprudence. In this case, even Justice Jackson's liberal colleague, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, corrected her to note that “Here, the relevant Executive Order directs agencies to plan reorganizations and reductions in force consistent with applicable law, and the plans themselves are not before this Court, at this stage, and we thus have no occasion to consider whether they can and will be carried out consistent with the constraints of law.” [3]

Additionally, last month (June 2025) the US Supreme Court ruled 6 - 3 that federal district court judges do not have the authority to issue nationwide injunctions. [4]

Justice Amy Coney Barrett, in her majority opinion, took an unusual stance, and chastised Justice Jackson’s dissent as follows: “We will not dwell on JUSTICE JACKSON's argument, which is at odds with more than two centuries worth of precedent, not to mention the Constitution itself. We observe only this: JUSTICE JACKSON decries an imperial Executive while embracing an imperial Judiciary.” [5]  Justice Barrett’s cogent and insightful opinion goes further, but should be read in its entirety elsewhere.

Moreover, in a recent interview (July 9, 2025) with ABC News, Justice Jackson had this to say about being a Justice on the United States Supreme Court: “I just feel that I have a wonderful opportunity to tell people in my opinions how I feel about the issues, and that’s what I try to do.” Really?

Accordingly, it is argued here that Justice Jackson lacks rudimentary jurisprudence and should be removed from the Court. Yet, can a sitting judge on the United States Supreme Court be “fired.” The short answer is yes, BUT. And the “but” is a big one. 

A clear analysis of this issue can be found on legalclarity.org. [ 6]

Essentially, Supreme Court justices cannot be fired in the conventional sense. The standard for removing a Supreme Court justice is found in the U.S. Constitution. Article III, Section 1 states that federal judges “shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour.” While not explicitly defined, “good Behaviour” is understood to mean justices can only be removed for cause. This clause is the basis for the impeachment process. 

The grounds for impeachment are not limited to indictable criminal offenses but can include abuse of power, serious breaches of public trust, or conduct that brings the judiciary into disrepute.

The removal of a justice is a two-stage process handled by Congress. The process begins in the House of Representatives, where a member introduces articles of impeachment, which are formal written accusations. The House Judiciary Committee investigates these articles, gathers evidence, and may hold hearings. For the justice to be impeached, the full House must approve the articles by a simple majority vote.

After the House impeaches a justice, the Senate conducts a trial. In this proceeding, the Senate acts as the jury, while designated House members serve as prosecutors. The impeached justice has the right to a defense, including presenting evidence and being represented by counsel. The Chief Justice of the United States presides over the trial of a Supreme Court Justice.

A conviction requires a super majority vote of two-thirds of the senators present. If the Senate reaches this threshold on any article, the justice is removed from office. The Senate’s judgment is limited to removal and disqualification from holding any future federal office. The individual may also be subject to separate criminal prosecution in the court system.

Justices more commonly leave the Supreme Court through voluntary retirement. A justice may also resign from their position, which is a formal step down without the benefits of retirement. Finally, a justice’s tenure ends upon their death.

Well, what’s it going to be Justice Jackson? It’s a retorical question. Leftist elitists never ever give up their government largesse, especially if it’s the right thing to do.  

________________________________________

1. Jackson was generally viewed as a progressive. She has a DEI Ivy League education(Harvard). She had very little record for Republicans to attack during her Senate Confirmation Hearing. She had only been an appellate judge for about eight months and had only written two appellate opinions, both for unanimous courts. While she had written many trial court opinions, those were generally on dry, procedural issues. There was no record to indicate her views on abortion rights, affirmative action, voting rights, free speech or any other controversial constitutional issues that are often at the center of confirmation battles. 

2. SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES: No. 24A1174; DONALD J. TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITEDSTATES, ET AL. v. AMERICAN FEDERATION OF GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES, ET AL., ON APPLICATION FOR STAY[July 8, 2025].

3. Ibid.

4. SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED States, TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, ET AL. v. CASA, INC., Et AL. No. 24A884. Argued May 15, 2025—Decided June 27, 2025*

 5.Ibid.

6. https://legalclarity.org/can-supreme-court-justices-be-fired

Israel - Iran Cease-Fire Deal: Trump’s Mistake

 

On January 16. 2025, this blog delineated an analysis of a cease-fire and hostage exchange between Israel and Hamas (a Terrorist Organization), scheduled to take effect on Sunday, January 19, 2025. Israel’s War on Terrorism: Lessons From History https://thegreygrater.blogspot.com/2025/01/israels-war-on-terrorism-lessons-from.html

It did not turn out as was planned or well for Israel. Half of the Israeli hostages, both the living and dead, remain in captivity in Gaza. It was widely recognized that the cease-fire was achieved because of ultimatum by Donald J. Trump who would be  inaugurated as the 47th president of the United States of America, on January 20, 2025.

Now, Israel and Iran have agreed to a cease-fire following 12 days of intense conflict, with the ceasefire now in effect as of June 24, 2025. The cease-fire was brokered by US President Trump, which was initiated at the request of Iran, and its diplomatic proxies, and begrudgingly accepted by Israel. 

However, reported today (June 26,2025) in The Times of Israel and other publications through out the world: “Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei claimed US President Donald Trump had “exaggerated” the impact of strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, while threatening to repeat the “slap” his country had dealt American forces in the region, speaking in a televised address Thursday (June 26, 2025).” Khamenei “also hailed his country’s “victory” in the 12-day air war launched by Israel, which he claimed had “almost collapsed” because of Iran’s strikes.” Furthermore, he said. “Surrender will never happen. Our nation is powerful.” Khamenei told viewers that the US had only intervened in the war because “it felt that if it did not intervene, the Zionist regime would be utterly destroyed.”

Well, there you have it President Trump.

It is usually others who never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity! Like the Hamas cease-fire in January, the Iran cease-fire in June will not bring change to the middle-east so desperately needed and hopefully sought. Yes, Iran’s nuclear capability has been diminished. However, its raison d'être has not been “obliterated”!

The lessons of history clearly predict that this settlement will result in further bloodshed and negate the sacrifices already made by Israel’s soldiers and civilian population, and US interests.

Like in Gaza, John David Lewis’s book, Nothing Less Than Victory: Decisive Wars And The Lessons of History (Princeton University Press, 2010), is instructive. Professor Lewis imparts this important lesson:

    “that the fact of defeat ... led to lasting peace only when the fact of defeat was openly recognized             and the legitimacy of the victor’s terms was accepted by the vanquished."

It should be clear, Iran and its proxies believe they have not been vanquished,  have not been defeated, and that the Regime lives on to fight another day. And fight they will. 

The Trump Supremacy

 

A man walks into a bar.

The bartender asks the man, “ what can I get for you.”

The man says, ”I want an honest politician.”

The bartender says, “well pal, you allready have that, 

Donald J. Trump.”

The bartender then brings the man a drink and says, “here pal, 

drink this Bourbon, and thank G-d for Donald J. Trump.”

What is happening? The short answer is Trump Delusional Syndrome (TDS). The disease is spread by dishonest, manipulating liberal politicians (Democratic Party); the equally dishonest, manipulating Main Stream Media (MSM); and America's Educational Institutions. Its cure is simple, and at the same time difficult.

A delusional person simply needs to ignore those that spread the disease, while at the same time believe what he/she see. It should be noted that you can accomplish this without a pernicious vaccine, isolation, social distancing, and wearing a mask.

The Democratic Party, Main Stream Media, and Educational Institutions, have failed America and themselves because their political agenda is anti-American, woke, corrupt, and mendacious. They simply have no arguments and supporting evidence to justify their case. Their philosophy is bankrupt. Their credibility is lost. They have no contrition. 

This is for the best. Like the proverbial apple, they are rotten to the core. They will not change. They cannot change. They are who they are. They are pathologically corrupt and pathetically egotistical. They have nothing to offer.

Thank G-d for Donald J. Trump! 

War in Ukraine: Elon Musk on The Reason Why

 

The Republican Nation website today published a 2014 video “Linking US To Ukraine’s Political Crisis” that Elon Musk has drawn attention (to). https://republicannation.com/musk-resurfaces-2014-video-linking-us-to-ukraines-political-crisis/ The video is an interview with Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) admitting that U.S. policies played a role in removing Viktor Yanukovych,  President of Ukraine (2010 -- 2014), from power.

By releasing the video now, Musk is bringing renewed attention to the role the U.S. played in setting Ukraine on a path to war. Well, that’s today’s news, but on March 7, 2014, exactly 11 years ago, I wrote a similar essay https://thegreygrater.blogspot.com/2014/03/plan-x-for-ukraine-game-changer.html. I am republishing it here because if you want to end this war, you damn well better know why it started.

Now (2014) that Russian President Vladimir Putin has gotten his way in Crimea and Ukraine, thanks in no small measure to the bumbling bureaucrats in Brussels, and the naïve amateurs in America (Obama Administration).  

There is nothing this administration and its allies have but excuses. American military action in the Ukraine, with Mr. Obama as Commander in Chief, is off the table. We’re spread too thin. NATO intervention requiring the support of European capitals – never happened. Besides, Ukraine is not a member of NATO, so no Charter obligation. Economic sanctions sure, but the other side can play that game too. In fact, the crisis has increased energy prices that will compensate Russia for lost revenue from other sources. Other sanctions such as visas, suspending multi-lateral talks, canceling meeting participation, and White House non-participation in the Sochi Paralympics Games, are all under consideration.

This explains a lot as to why American and European foreign policy has been so risible and pathetic. The Russians, Chinese, Israelis, Egyptians, and others, understand that the world is a dangerous place, even deadly, not classroom exercises. Lives are at stake, and the possibility of a catastrophic event is not science fiction. History for these people is long and incredibly serious, and not correlated to today’s bankrupt sensibilities and cultural deprivation.

If you follow the dialogue between Messrs. Putin and Sergey Lavrov on the one side, and Messrs. Obama and Kerry on the other, you would think you went through time and found yourself in March 1999. But, it would be confusing. Then it was Bill Clinton and Madeleine Albright, playing the parts of Putin and Lavrov defending NATO’s duty to go to war in Kosovo, and Boris Yeltsin and Igor Ivanov searching for a peaceful solution. It’s true, where you sit is where you stand.

Bill Clinton and Madeleine Albright lied about the “atrocities” being committed in Kosovo leading up to the war in March 1999. What was going on in Kosovo in 1999 was a military campaign waged by the Kosovo Liberation Army (“KLA”), to separate Kosovo from Serbia, and eventually create a greater Albania, made up of Albania, Kosovo, northern Macedonia, and the Preševo Valley in Serbia. The so-called humanitarian disaster in Kosovo was orchestrated by the KLA, not Serbia. Mr. Clinton’s statement to the nation, read: “We act to protect thousands of innocent people,” while Madeleine Albright chirped endlessly about atrocities being committed by the Serbs. It was all lies. The real perpetrator was the KLA, Mr. Clinton’s and Madame Albright’s “freedom fighters.”

Moreover, the KLA took advantage of the Holbrooke Agreement (Rambouillet) in October 1998, in which Serbia removed its forces from Kosovo, to conduct its bloody military campaign. This was never made public. There were very few incidents of Albanian civilians being attacked by Serbian forces (see OSCE reports of monitoring groups). The total number of Albanian civilians killed before the war started in March 1999, was at most, 47. So the rai·son d'être for NATO to go to war was at best suspicious.

Today we know we were being told more lies by the Obama Administration and the European Union (“EU”).  On February 18, protesters attack police lines and set fires outside parliament. Riot police respond to the violence by trying to push protesters off Independence Square. At least 26 people died and hundreds were injured. On February 20, hours after a truce is announced, violence resumes, with snipers shooting protesters from the rooftops. All the Western media and government officials reported that the snipers were under orders from the Ukrainian Government of President Viktor Yanukovych.

Not so fast. First reported on ZeroHedge.com, on March 5, 2014, a new recording of a telephone conversation between EU foreign affairs head Catherine Ashton and Estonian foreign minister Urmas Paet, revealed this disturbing news: In the conversation, Mr. Paet states that:

    “the killing was from both sides, policemen and people from the street… So there is now stronger                 and stronger understanding that behind the snipers, it was not Yanukovych, but it was somebody                 from the new coalition.”

The upshot is: first the United States orchestrated and foments the overthrow of the legally elected Yanukovych government because the West did not like his decision on the EU; and now we learn the leaders of the newly installed Coalition Government, were the ones who ordered the killings in the Maidan Square in Kyiv, the capital city of the Ukraine. There is evidence to suggest that the Coalition Government that came to power with US and EU support,  murdered its own people to fabricate the pretext under which it took power. 

Does this act remind you of anything? That’s right, Kosovo.

The Coalition was running the KLA playbook, and the US and EU were laying down cover. But this time their hand is weak. NATO is a shell of its former self, and Russia is not Serbia. As a result, Crimea and Eastern Ukraine are now for all intents and purposes part of Russia.

And finally, Mr. Obama now tells us that what Russia is doing violates international law. He lectures:

    “There is a strong belief that Russia’s action is violating international law. I know President Putin                 seems to have a different set of lawyers making a different set of interpretations, but I don’t think                 that’s fooling anybody.”

Well, Mr. Obama and Mr. Putin must have hired the same lawyers Bill Clinton and Tony Blair had to justify NATO’s war in Serbia (Kosovo). Then the Russians argued that the Kosovo War and recognition of Kosovo’s independence was a violation of international law, a UN Resolution, the UN Charter, and the principle of national sovereignty forged out of the horror of World War II. So, Mr. Obama, the only one fooling anybody is you, your Administration, and the Brussels bureaucrats. Kosovo was folly, and until you correct that mistake, it is disingenuous to tell others they are acting badly.

Mr. Obama and company have another foreign policy failure on their hands. A word to the people of Ukraine -- do you really think a man like Mr. Obama, who would not save his own Ambassador in Benghazi, Libya against a band of terrorists, would come to your rescue?

He didn’t! Hence, under the Biden Administration, the war in Ukraine has raged on since February 2022 to the present with millions of lives lost on both sides. 

Well, that’s the story, and humanity can only weep.

Trump’s Gaza Proposal

During a press conference held at the White House on February 4th, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump said, “The US will take over the Gaza Strip.” 

 

Trump on other occasions has said ‘he would like to see all Palestinians move to other Arab countries.’ He further proffered that Palestinian control of Gaza “will never work.” And he added: “You have to learn from history.” It should also be noted that there is no Palestinian state and no sovereign power in the territory.

 

When I was doing a residency with the Department of Hospitals, New York City, in 1968, the Commissioner would allow me to attend many of his staff meetings, in which one short phrase would silence the room: “let me tell you how it is.” Well, regarding Trump’s Gaza proposal, let me tell you how it is. As in many of President Trump’s pronouncements, the truth is in the details, and hidden from naive eyes. 

 

The idea of Gaza as an American protectorate is a red herring. Technically since Gaza is not a State, it cannot be a US protectorate. However, it can be a US quasi-protectorate, giving the US exclusive control or influence in the territory. I would posit that the Middle East would have difficulty accepting Israel's return to Gaza. however, the US in Gaza is ‘a horse of another color,’ and therefore is feasible.

 

The Palestinians, of course, don’t get it, or more likely don’t want to. This is the hard truth that Trump understands. The Palestinian population’s attitudes and ideology towards Israel have not been broken by its latest war. The war against Israel has been the policy of the Palestinians since, at least, 1948, in which every child has been indoctrinated into the hatred and destruction of the Israeli people and their state, i.e. "from the river to the sea."  

 

Senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya repeated the terrorist organization’s commitment to the destruction of Israel in his first public remarks (January 17, 2025). Al-Hayya described the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre of 1,200 people in Israel as a “miraculous” achievement, declaring the atrocities would “remain a source of pride” for Palestinians, “passed down through generations.” Hamas terrorists “will expel the occupation from our land and from Al Quds [Jerusalem] at the earliest time possible.” (Jewish News Syndicate)

 

Now, let me tell you this. Trump’s proposal changes the conversation, which is genius. Without a culturally bankrupt terrorist territory on Israel’s southern border, one gigantic obstacle to peace in the Middle East is solved, which also would allow Israel and other actors to concentrate on Iran, the real tyrannical state in the Middle East. Public enemy number one if you will.

 

In conclusion, the Palestinians essentially had a “Palestinian State” in Gaza and the West Bank, since the Oslo Accords in 1993. But, have created nothing; absolutely nothing except tunnels to destroy Israel. Someone should have told them that this is not the 7th Century. Maybe living elsewhere, in a civilized society, will destroy the ideology that has prevented peace in the Middle East.