Robbo,

Arent all ICBMs "hypersonic"? Which kinda makes them hard to intercept from the get go?

Mailman,
Yes it's a strange contrast: post September 11 solidarity lasted some months; Je suis Charlie solidarity lasted a week or so; I don't think October 7 solidarity lasted even an afternoon — unless you count solidarity *against* Israel. While I agree that their ignoring the condemnation of the "civilised" world has been a wise course, it wouldn't go well for them if the USA were to give them the cold shoulder. I'm sure this is what Hamas leaders were hoping would be the result, but Trump's election will have taken the wind from their sails.

On Ukraine: a fair few headlines about the Russian hypersonic missile. A bit too "hyper" I suspect. Anything going that fast in the atmosphere is going to be exceedingly difficult to keep on target. Impossible to intercept, but just what is it going to destroy?

"But they did set Israel back quite a bit in the PR stakes."

I think that perhaps one of the big differences between post October 7 Israel and pre October 7 Israel is the realistion by Israel that no one is going to save the Jews other than the Jews themselves.

Hence going after Hezbollah and Hamas the way they did, pretty much ignoring the West and everyone else demanding peace now (while those same voices continue to demand Ukrainians keep dying just because). I like the gonads on these new Jews more than the ones on the Jews who worried about international perception and negative PR.

Mailman,
I don't think the American government is a big funder of the Palestinians (not directly at least). No doubt tighter purse strings on the UN and their ilk would reduce the flow, but the thing is that, as long as there is a wide perception of the poor Palestinians suffering under the tyranny of the Israelis, funds will flow. It was naive private Americans, often imagining romantic nonsense about their Irish ancestors, that filled the coffers of the IRA. Don't you think it's similar for the Palestinians. Fundraisers sent around the world to skim what they can from useful idiots.

In any case it'll be a while before Hamas gets back to where they were before October 7. Likewise Hezbollah. And Iran. But they did set Israel back quite a bit in the PR stakes.

On that EconTalk interview with Gur, I didn't represent his story very well. He made a big thing of the Palestinian approach being modelled on the Algerian "decolonisation" terrorism. That worked in Algeria — the French lost their stomach for it and a million repatriated to France in short order — but Gur pointed out the obvious reason that it can't work with Israel: it isn't a colony; they don't have a France to go to.

He suggested that the Palestinian leaders were well aware of the impossibility of success, but that didn't matter much to them. It was really my own inference that they were enjoying the flow of money, kudos, etc.

Trump already imposed peace upon the Palestinians when he stopped funding their never ending jihad AND things actually settled down until Democrats came in and super charged their jihad again (because of course Democrats would do that given they hate Jews as much as their voters in Gaza hate Jews).

My views haven't moderated one bit...but there will be a reckoning for the Palestinian leadership caste that they will not be able to outrun, as Hesbullah is finding out in Lebanon.

The Trump Peace Dividend is coming.

Mailman,
Glad to see your view has moderated from the pretty much everyone in Gaza is complicit and deserves what's coming to them you expressed earlier. I think I used the words "organised crime" quite early on, drawing parallels with similar views I have of the IRA.

I'd look to Ireland for the pattern of the solution. Peace can't be imposed (imposed implies threat of violence — status quo since Israel was created). It's a matter of the money drying up. September 11 did it for Ireland. I don't know what's going to do it for Palestine. What we have at the moment is a lot of new subscribers being signed up for "the cause". The money won't dry up anytime soon. The one-sided media is largely to blame for that.

Thought this story of the American swamp was interesting, though complicated enough that I don't have a clear picture of all the goings on.

Nobody is above the law is as false a truism as all men are created equal. Lawmakers write the laws; that's a bit above, I think. Further above them are the law enforcers. They get to pick and choose *which* laws to enforce. Moreover, they are constrained by different laws from the rest of us: police *are* permitted to exceed speed limits, to break and enter, to take property, to shoot people, etc. Hardly a surprise that these permissions get abused. The old quis custodiet problem.

That's a toughie too, but I feel a removal of flab amongst the lawmakers and enforcers would help. This survey result suggests Minnesotans, at least, are strongly in favour of some government weight reduction. Here's hoping they get their wish, and that it's infectious.

Would also like to see a radical trimming of the statute books. As usual, hopes and expectations are at different levels.

Of course Palestinian leadership and the left doesnt want peace. There is fantastic money to be had for the Palestinian leadership and the left just wants jews dead so peace kind makes it hard to kill Jews.

Mind you, October 7 and the subsequent wars sparked off by Hamas and Hesbullah AND a very friendly American regime coming in to power has changed a lot of the calculations out there (now that Iranian influence and money is being removed systemically by Israel and the new American regime).

Thing is, if Palestinians truly wanted peace they would have settled for peace many, many years ago. They could have become the Northern Kurds of the Middle East...but they didnt. No amount of molly coddling from the EU will change anything on the ground.

Peace will come...but it will be imposed upon the Palestinian leadership and the sooner they understand this the less they will personally lose.

A couple of hours of interesting listening in the recent EconTalk interview with Haviv Rettig Gur on the prospects for peace in the Israel/Palestine conflict.

I didn't much like the guest, especially how he politely bullied his way to control the microphone for the whole show. What he was saying was also very polished, no doubt much rehearsed over the years. But neither of those things makes what he was saying wrong.

His story *did* resonate with my own biases, the basic thesis being that the Palestinian leaders always derail anything that looks like it might lead to a peaceful resolution, his most vivid story being how the savage Second Intifada was launched just after Ehud Barak won an election having talked seriously about creating a Palestinian state.

All fits with my rather cynical view — perhaps nearer to a theory of everything than the physicists can get — that behind any cause celebre — the long-suffering Palesinians, the poor Catholics in Northern Ireland, even the sufferers of Multiple Sclerosis — you will find organised criminals. And be sure, the last thing those criminals want is a solution.

The same principle works in less glamourous situations too.

Recent Brendan O'Neill show with Rick MacArthur was a splash of cold water for people getting excited about Trump's victory. Seems MacArthur loathed both candidates. Plenty of good digs on Kamala and the Democrat machine. I didn't mind the criticisms of Trump: what he actually achieves matters far more than today's predictions, good or bad. Time will tell.

This video of an interview with Javier Milei was quite uplifting. Argentina is obviously in a far worse state than the USA (or our countries), but it sounds like Milei has been making amazing progress. Time will tell for his efforts too. Interview runs for a couple of hours. People complained about the somewhat abstruse economics topics near the beginning. Seemed ok to me, but maybe I was prepared by my years of listening to EconTalk.