Vic: "The winter is supposed to be cold!!" (opens in separate window)
the us plan for gaza is absurd
friday, january 30th, 2026
Donald Trump’s strangely artificial Board of Peace event in Davos on Thursday looked like a Hollywood rendering of an international summit. Everything was too slick, faintly uncanny. Like an AI-generated image, it was photo-real yet failed the most basic human glance test. Too perfect. No wabi-sabi.
The first tell was visual: the set, complete with a crisp new institutional logo: a globe on a shield, flanked by olive branches. It carried the unmistakable whiff of Grok or ChatGPT, but the strangeness went deeper than design. The speeches themselves were weirdly messianic and utopian. The Palestinians don’t want this plan. They rejected it outright during Trump’s first term
The most peculiar part was the show-within-a-show: a piece of political meta-theatre featuring Marco Rubio, Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner and a pre-recorded video greeting from Ali Shaath, newly appointed head of the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, the technocratic body intended to run Gaza’s civil administration under the new framework. Like Hamlet’s play-within-a-play, The Murder of Gonzago, this pantomime may yet prove to be the event’s central dramatic device, designed to force an uncomfortable truth into the open. If that sounds far-fetched, stick with me.
The segment, billed as a showcase for Gaza’s reconstruction, unravelled into a series of contradictory and fantastical claims that strained credibility.
Kushner, long associated with the Peace to Prosperity plan from Trump’s first term, once again took centre stage. Despite its wholesale rejection by Palestinians at the time, the plan has been defrosted, reheated and rebranded. Today it is called Phase B of the Trump ‘point plan’. But it is the same meal, just a bit staler.
Undeterred, Kushner radiated optimism. ‘We do not have a Plan B,’ he declared. ‘We have a plan. We signed an agreement.’ He spoke of holding Hamas to its commitment to disarm, planning for what he called ‘catastrophic success’. The concern most normal people have is that the catastrophe will vastly outweigh the success.
He noted, correctly, that roughly 85 per cent of Gaza’s GDP has long come from aid. ‘That’s not sustainable. It doesn’t give these people dignity. It doesn’t give them hope.’ He may be right. Yet he spoke as if Palestinian mainstream politics were not riddled with corruption and the systematic embezzlement of aid. Yasser Arafat died a billionaire. Hamas leaders today are exceptionally wealthy, many living comfortably in Qatar. Palestinian society depends on only one natural resource – victimhood, and is consequently deeply addicted to aid. When the reserves dry up, withdrawal will be brutal.
Still, Kushner promised speed, showing absurd Jetsons style building renders. ‘In the Middle East they build this in three years,’ he said, airily ignoring that such feats of construction are often achieved through brutal migrant slave labour regimes. In ‘New Gaza’, he implausibly promised ‘100 per cent full employment and opportunity for everybody.’ His PowerPoint projected over $10 billion in GDP and average household incomes exceeding $13,000 by 2035. It was absurd.
What renders these claims detached from reality is not only the scale of destruction since October 7th, but the historical record. For years, billions in aid and resources were siphoned away from civilian prosperity and into the Palestinian war economy: tunnel networks, weapons stockpiles, command infrastructure, salaries for fighters and stipends for the families of terrorists. Alongside this sat entrenched corruption, the enrichment of leaders abroad, and the systematic militarisation of what should have been civilian reconstruction.
Against that backdrop, projecting a tripling of Gaza’s GDP and a leap to near-western household incomes within a decade reads less like an economic plan than a childish fantasy. It assumes not merely the physical rebuilding of a shattered territory, but a total transformation of governance, incentives, and security structures that have been absent for decades. Without confronting how aid was weaponised, and without dismantling the culture that turned international generosity into an engine of violence, the Davos numbers are laughable.
‘This really gives the Gazan people an opportunity to live their aspirations,’ Kushner said, as if those aspirations had not already been expressed when Gaza was handed enormous opportunity for growth, peace and self-rule, only for its population to elect a genocidal Islamist jihadist movement that abused and impoverished them on the promise of fighting Jews, and ultimately launched an invasion of Israel, slaughtering civilians in their homes and at a music festival. Perhaps their aspirations are not quite what Kushner imagines.
And that video message from Shaath, set to rousing music: ‘Judge us by our actions. Hold us to clear standards and stand with the people of Gaza as we take responsibility for our future,’ he urged. So we will.
Shaath cited the proposed imminent reopening of the Rafah crossing with Egypt as proof that a new phase had begun. The claim sat uneasily alongside the grand redevelopment promises, given that much of Gaza remains in ruins, littered with unexploded ordnance, with infrastructure destroyed and a large displaced population.
If Shaath is unfamiliar to western audiences, billed simply as a ‘technocrat’ with a background in civil engineering, they might wish to watch his Arabic-language speech from just 11 months ago at a conference titled ‘The Palestine Forum – The Genocidal Israeli War on Gaza: Scenarios for the Day After’. In that address, he presented in Arabic a paper outlining 13 possible post-war outcomes, ranked ‘mathematically’ by probability and desirability.
Ironically, he now heads the body responsible for implementing the very scenario he described as the least likely: ‘moving from crisis to prosperity, President Trump’s project within the framework of the Abraham Accords.’ He characterised Trump’s plan as ‘dangerous talk’, describing it as an attempt to turn catastrophe into prosperity through a so-called ‘new deal’.
Certainly the Palestinians don’t want this plan. They rejected it outright during Trump’s first term, choosing neither peace nor prosperity. They later launched the October 7th invasion as if to confirm their preference, opting once again for the more traditional Palestinian tradition of terrorism and violence. But maybe that disastrous decision changed some minds? Maybe not.
In that same speech, delivered well into the war, Shaath opened with a dedication to wounded Palestinians, invoking the 1925 Arabic poem ‘Nakbat Dimashq’, written in response to the French bombardment of Damascus during the Great Syrian Revolt: ‘For red freedom there is a door, knocked upon by every blood-stained hand,’ he said to the gathered conference.
The reference would have sailed over most western heads, particularly through the patchy simultaneous translation. But it would not have been lost on Arab audiences. It romanticises violent resistance and martyrdom as the path to liberation, equating Israel’s defensive actions in Gaza with French colonial brutality, while erasing the fact that the current devastation followed the October 7th atrocities initiated by Hamas and joined by other factions and civilians. Those crimes were committed against Israeli civilians in undisputed territory. They included mass murder, rape and kidnapping.
The analogy is grotesque. France was an imperial power imposing alien rule for exploitation. Israel is a sovereign democracy defending its existence against terrorist entities embedded within civilian populations. It has no imperial project, only a right to self-defence under international law.
The rhetoric of ‘red freedom’ sanctifies bloodshed. It feeds extremism. It is especially revealing coming from the man now tasked with overseeing a Trump-backed technocratic administration that claims to prioritise demilitarisation, disarmament and non-violent governance. However carefully the Davos video was scripted, it could not erase what Shaath said less than a year ago.
So when Kushner announced the mission statement of the 14 technocrats under Shaath as committing them to ‘cultivating a society rooted in peace, democracy, and justice, operating with the highest standards of integrity and transparency’, concluding with ‘we embrace peace’, it sounded unconvincing.
Of course Trump, Kushner, Rubio and Witkoff know this. They know the Palestinians rejected the plan once and are likely to reject it again. Their aspirations, repeatedly demonstrated, have centred on ‘resistance’ and violence rather than coexistence and peace. Stating this is neither pessimistic nor racist. It is empirical.
So why the spectacle? Why this fairytale fantasy? Trump might as well have promised every Gazan a unicorn to ride into the sunset. One can only hope there is a method here, not just madness.
Perhaps there is. Because running in parallel to the Davos performance is another Trump production: a significant US military buildup in the region, accompanied by blunt warnings that if Hamas does not disarm, ‘they’ll be blown away.’ He repeated the threat in talks with Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, stating that compliance would become clear ‘in the next two or three days, certainly within three weeks.’
And so we return to Hamlet. The inner play exists to expose the truth. Trump loves to put on a show. Without elevating him to Shakespearean genius, one is left wondering whether this extravagantly staged promise of wealth, investment, recognition, and statehood is itself a test. Everything is on offer – a virtual paradise lacking only the 72 virgins. All that is required is compliance.
If it fails, nobody will be able to say he didn’t try.
© 1.23.2025 by Jonathan Sacerdoti, "The Spectator".
[JS -- For the US and Europe to spend $1+ TRILLION on the shithole Gaza, and bring it into the 21st century with spectacular housing/utilities and tourism, only to give the lowlife, subhuman muslim(SPIT!) filth turn it back into a terrorist battle ground and killing field, is idiotic. Trump is ignoring the obvious.
A Day In The Life.
Up at 8a on Friday, a cold, 27°F, sunny, very breezy morning, I upped the heat, made coffee, fired-up the Win-7 Pentium HP Desktop to let its 32 million lines of code load, had breakfast, had a couple smokes in the garage and checked the leftover errands list. I scanned the weather -- MAJOR snow/ice storm -- "Fern" -- coming tonite and tomorrow -- and the breaking news, tuned into the "CP Show LIVE" at 9, and relaxed for the morning.
The coming storm's advisory has been upgraded to a warning. Natch. I've already scrapped my usual Monday trip down south, and will resume a week or so later.
★★★ WINTER STORM WARNING! ★★★
From 11:00pm EST, Jan 16 2026 until 12:00pm EST, Jan 17 2026
• WHAT...Periods of snow expected. Possibly mixed with some freezing rain and sleet. Total snow accumulations 1 to 3 inches. Ice accumulation around a trace.
• A strong cold front moving in will help to generate a line of heavier snow showers and possibly embedded dangerous snow squalls across northern and central Pennsylvania....
• WHERE...A portion of south central Pennsylvania.
• WHEN...From 10 PM Saturday to 1 PM EST Monday.
• IMPACTS...Travel could be very difficult to impossible. Widespread and prolonged travel disruptions are expected.
* ADDITIONAL DETAILS...Snow will overspread the area late Saturday evening into Saturday night, becoming heavy at times through Sunday with accumulation rates of one to two inches per hour at times. Snow may mix with sleet or freezing rain near and south of the Pennsylvania Turnpike on Sunday afternoon, which may cut down on total snow accumulations. Frigid temperatures and wind chills are expected before, during, and after the winter storm. Some blowing and drifting snow is possible.
* PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Persons should consider delaying all travel. Motorists should use extreme caution if travel is absolutely necessary.
I followed the changing forecast and radar weather maps for the national forecast and the Mid Atlantic, all day long, until my eyes were crossed. I had a large lunch, tired quickly, and took a mid-afternoon 2hr snooze on the LR couch. Temps were dropping very quickly, as forecast, and from 47° to 11°, it was brutal, and would get worse. I watched the evening news, had dinner and switched to Discovery's "Gold Rush" until 1a, as I was also following weather report of the coming ice/snow storm. Lights out.
Up at 8:15a on Saturday, a very cold, 7° cloudy, windy morning, I fired-up the furnace, made coffee, and scanned the weather forecasts and news reports. I had a nice breakfast and big lunch, did some condo chores, kept scanning the weather radar maps, and finally hit the LR couch, around 2p. A 2,300 long snowstorm, 200 million people in 40 states with "states of emergency" in place, 12+ people dead, and 37,400+ airline flights canceled, are being affected by Winter Storm "Fern", and it was getting worse by the hour.
I opened 3 weather-related windows on my desktop, watched The Weather Channel (TWC) on TV, and planned next week: stay home. I made dinner, watched the evening news, and switched to Discovery's "Expedition Unknown" and "Expedition X", and The Weather Channel and Barrett Automobile Auction until 1a, and bagged it for the night. This snowstorm makes me giddy as a 5yr.
Up at 5:30a on Sunday, heavy snowstorm-in-progress, 13°, 0-DARK-THIRTY, morning. I upped the heat, made coffee, scanned the weather and news sites -- I'm not going anywhere -- and just relaxed. We're having a blizzard outside, with serious wind, blowing and drifting, heavy snow; all we're missing is some "thunder snow". By 11a, there was 8-10"+ of fluffy snow, and I had to go out the office-sunroom's door, onto the back patio, and shovel-out the dryer vent, so I could get laundry done. I donned my Ol' trusty LLBean 12" Maine Insulated Hunting "Bean Boots", wearing only a t-shirt and gym shorts, slipped and fell, and looked like Frosty The Snowman, when I came back inside. Heh.
My R/S hip would hurt all day and evening, but nothing serious, that a Tramadol and a few beers couldn't numb out. No more shovelling today. I got ready for the day, started a load of laundry, and watched The Weather Channel on-and-off all day and evening. It got dark early, because of the cloud cover and blowing snow, and temps were dropping into the teens, so I closed-up the condo, took a short 1hr nap, and tuned back into TWC's ongoing coverage of Snowstorm "Fern".
A ***Cold Weather Advisory*** is in place over the 11 county Susquehanna Valley, Swell.
I watched the evening news, made dinner and went back to storm coverage on both my Desktop and TV. I switched to History's "American Pickers" until 1a, and unplugged.
Up at 8a on Monday, an overcast, windy, drifting and blowing, very cold 16°, morning. Our new lawn care company was plowing us out, with fairly quiet electric equipment, and they did a nice job. I'm not doing my usual 2-4 stop trip to Southern York County, today; I've postponed it to next Monday. Nothing is "mission critical", at this point. Bitter, life-threatening Arctic cold -- NOT an idiotic 'polar vortex' -- is ahead for the next 5-6 days, so I'll stay where it's warm and there are no road problems to contend with, thankyouverymuch.
With near-record cold ahead, I've decided to curtail all but essential activity, for this week. No trip down to DeVono's Cleaners in Dallastown; but I can do some local, nearby stops, if needed. Same for other unnecessary trips; postponed.
I had a large lunch, worked on some condo chores, watched the 6p evening news, talked to Sherry -- she was having a rough two days -- and switched to MT's "Iron Resurrection" and TWC's "Weather Gone Viral" until 1a, and bagged it for the night.
Up at 8a on Tuesday, a bitter cold 9°, partly sunny, windy morning. Still in pain from Sunday's fall, I upped the heat, made the first carafe of coffee, fired-up the HP Desktop, and scanned the weather forecasts and news headlines. Looks like we're in for a possible Nor'easter this coming weekend, but not a gift from Texas, this time. An ***Extreme Cold Weather Advisory*** was posted on local sites and TV. The Southwest and South have had enough misery, for now. Checking the day's list, I need to run 3 nearby errands today, and can easily get them done.
With over 389 active closings or delays this morning, the roads will probably be nearly empty. Maybe... perhaps... could be... probably? I lounged around listening to the "CP Show", until 11:30a, got ready for the day, and left at 11:45 to get the 3 errands done. I left at 11:30a for the trip, so I could get it all done earlier than usual, and get home. Good idea, and I was back by 1:15p. After finishing-up a few condo chores from yesterday -- my hip pain from Sunday's fall, is limiting my ability to stay with projects, but hopefully will abate soon, and I can get back to 'normal'.
I watched the evening news, had dinner, and switched to History's "Curse of Oak Island" until 12:30a. Lights out.
Up at 7:30a on Wednesday, a sunny, bitter cold 3° -- your Rhododendron leaves are curled -- as the garbage & recycle trucks were coming thru the complex -- delayed by the snowstorm, no doubt -- upped the heat, made coffee, and scanned the weather and news, and listened to some of the "CP Show", until leaving at 10a for the 10:40 Dr's app't. Traffic was very light, the roads were darned good, except for a few spots, and I was early for my app't. The Dr was running about 35mins late, but that went quick, as did the app't, with an overall very good rating.
COLD WEATHER ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 7 PM THIS EVENING TO 10 AM EST FRIDAY.
• WHAT... .Very cold wind chills 10 to 19 degrees below zero expected.
•... A strong cold front moving in will help to generate a line of heavier snow showers and possibly embedded dangerous snow squalls across northern and central Pennsylvania.
• WHERE... A portion of central Pennsylvania.
• WHEN...From 7 PM this evening to 10 AM EST Friday.
• IMPACTS...The dangerously cold wind chills as low as 19 below zero could cause frostbite on exposed skin in as little as 30 minutes.
* ADDITIONAL DETAILS...Wind chills may drop to dangerous levels again Friday Night and Saturday Night. Additional Cold Weather Advisories may be needed.
* PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Persons should consider delaying all travel. Motorists should use extreme caution if travel is absolutely necessary.
Back home by 12:30p, I had lunch, got a Weis Market delivery, and did some condo chores. Too darned cold for even a walk over to the community mailboxes, so I took a short nap. Back up, it was almost dark, so I tuned into the evening news, watched Discovery's "Expedition X" and "Ghost Stories" until 1a, and unplugged.
Up at 8:30a on Thursday, a 6, sunny, breezy morning. 6 degrees... it's been a long time since I remember temps as we're had these past 2-3 weeks. Damn. I scanned the weather and news, and tuned into the usual "CP{ Show" from 9-12, with some seriously good coffee, as I do every morning. Looks like the predicted Nor'easter we were supposed to get over the weekend, will mercifully miss us. Thanks, Mother Nature. We don't need any more snow right now. ***Cold Weather Advisory*** (3rd this week by NWS) was again posted. BFD.
I made a 4-stack of French Toast for lunch, listened to some news on the radio, dialed-up some sleep music, and grabbed a 90min snooze on the LR couch, around 2p. Two deliveries from FEDEX, and it was getting dark, so I closed the condo. I made dinner, watched the evening news, and switched to Discovery's "Homestead Rescue" and History's "Ancient Aliens" until 12:30a; lights out.
Tomorrow starts a new week, here in the "Journal", and it's a clear week. and in addition to my cleaning lady, I have another mid-week Dr's app't. Sherry's got a full-plate of things, so if she gets a break, and can we can get some time, great.
Had Enough?
Isn’t it obvious by now that the seditious mischief roiling Minneapolis is some kind of a demonstration project for a China-backed overthrow of the whole country? This is not hard. And, apparently, the Democratic Party is either a willing accomplice or a hostage in thrall to its captor — like Patty Hearst, the heiress kidnapped and bamboozled by psychotic Maoist maniacs who styled themselves the Symbionese Liberation Army, until she was happily making bombs and robbing banks with them (and ended up in prison). Minnesota Democrats hate ICE because they're deporting their voters.
It is well understood that these ICE-Out riots are organized and funded by a network created by one Neville Roy Singham (American, b. 1954), now based in Shanghai. Singham funds the Party for Socialism and Liberation, The Peoples’ Forum, Code Pink, the United Community Fund and a web of other money laundries that supply all the logistics for Lefty-left mobs going back to the George Floyd / BLM operations of 2020 and including the pro-Palestinian uproars of 2024.
Singham’s father, Archibald, was a Sri Lankan poly-sci prof at Brooklyn College, specializing in Third World revolution; his mother was a Cuban-born Marxist. Singham founded a software development company called Thoughtworks in 1993, and sold it to a London-based private equity firm, Apax, for $785-million in 2017, after which he devoted himself to the cause of “dismantling capitalism,” and destroying the USA. If ever there was a James Bond villain come to life, it’s Neville Roy Singham.
And then you have his perfect foil, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, who visited China at least thirty times in his previous career as a teacher, his travel often funded by the CCP. What was he up to there? I think we’re going to find out. We’re also going to find out what he has been up to in the state he supposedly runs, especially vis-à-vis the developing mega-scandal of billions creamed off taxpayers through the Somali fake social services fraud network. It’s already known that some of that money found its way into Democratic Party coffers. How much of it landed in the bank accounts of Minnesota politicians and administrative officials? We’ll find out about that, too.
The communication system for the Minneapolis riots is an encrypted Signal Chat network (“MN ICE-Watch”) run by Tim Walz aide and campaign strategist Amanda Noelle Koehler. That’s how they organize rapid-response actions against ICE and broader mobilization for key propaganda opportunities like the recent shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan acts as an admin for the MN ICE-Watch Signal group. Kind of makes you wonder if Tim Walz himself is involved in orchestrating the chaos. Another thing we’ll probably find out. Are these officials criminally liable in the deaths of Good and Pretti? In any case, it’s all a grand distraction from the massive Somali fraud scandal that broke out over Walz this month like a case of scabies.
The overall Singham / CCP plan is to get rid of Donald Trump, elect a Democratic Party Congress, and turn the USA into CCP-inflected clone state. The Dems have already made their strategy clear: bring in X-million illegal aliens (done) and set them up as voters; admit DC and Puerto Rico as new states to secure the Senate; stuff the Supreme Court with extra Lefty-left justices, and set about “redistributing” the nation’s wealth from the productive class to their rainbow coalition of the oppressed, marginalized, non-white, and mentally-ill. I’m sorry if this sounds like the ridiculous plot of a James Bond movie. Oscar Wilde was onto something when he observed that life imitates art.
Now, the question is: what are we going to do about all this — we who care about preserving an American republic based on economic liberty? And perhaps more to the point: how to put down the current engineered chaos in Minnesota ASAP, in a way that serves notice we will not allow our country to be overthrown by any Marxist-Jacobin rabble. Many are calling for President Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act. The Singham / CCP / Democratic Party axis would like nothing better, of course, because they could then slap the “tyrant” label on Mr. Trump and set him up for impeachment in 2027, if they can take the midterm election. And they’ll do exactly that if Senate Majority Leader John Thune keeps obstructing passage of the SAVE (election reform) Act.
Is there a path short of the Insurrection Act to quell the Minneapolis mobs? How about this: since the Minneapolis Police have been ordered to stand down by Mayor Jacob Frey. . . why not deputize the officers as federal marshals and put them under the direct authority of the US DOJ? Then arrest as many unruly mob actors as possible, just get them off the streets and make the point that there are consequences. Meanwhile, seize the assets of all the organizations that are funding the chaos. No more coffee and donuts. No more Signal Chat dispatch system. No more subsidized motel stays. No more riot paychecks. All support gone.
Perhaps that’s a start. Expect to see some resolute action this week against the parties involved in the Minneapolis attacks on Immigration Enforcement agents. And understand that the forensic litigation over Alex Pretti’s foolish death is just an obsessive-compulsive public ritual that is fooling nobody with half a brain. Get in law enforcements’ faces with a gun and you’ve signed your own death warrant. What part of that is a mystery?
© 1.26.2025 by James Howard Kunstler, "Kunstler.com".
