Israel and Iran

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Source: Google Maps

Jon Stewart, on the Daily Show, recently made a joke comparing Israel and with the Islamic Republic of Iran, and suggesting that Israel was worse. Stewart should know that while Israel started fighting Iran in 2024, Iran has been threatening Israel, since 1979 and and attacking Israel via proxies in Syria, Lebanon, Gaza, and the so-called “West Bank” since the early 1980’s.

But, to offer reasonable comparisons, Iran is roughly the size of Alaska, and roughly 2.4 times the size of Texas. Israel is roughly the size of New Jersey.

Iran is a nation of 90 million people, 88 million of whom are Muslim, none of whom are free.

Israel is a nation roughly the size of New Jersey of 9 million people, including 2 million Arabs, all of whom are free. (Including the Druze of the Israeli Golan Heights and excluding the Arabs of Gaza or the area between Israel and Jordan, who are not citizens of Israel.

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Israel, Somaliland, and the Abraham Accords

Somaliland, in red, NW of Somalia, NE of Ethiopia, on the Gulf of Aden

As reported in the BBC, here, Israel has recognized Somaliland as an independent country. While appearing “radical,” and opposed by Turkey, Russia, and China, this is actually recognizing the facts on the ground. Somaliland declared its independence from Somalia in 1991.Since then Somaliland has governed itself as an independent state. Israel is the third state, after Ethiopia and Taiwan to recognize Somaliland. And UAE has informally recognized Somaliland. (OrfOnline, here). 

Following recognition Ethiopia and Taiwan, recognition by Israel should encourage other nations to follow suit, increasing Somaliland’s diplomatic credentials and giving it greater access to international markets.

For more information: Business Standard, here.

As Alex Stein wrote, in Love of the Land, on Substack, here,

The strategic reasons for Israel’s recognition of Somaliland are clear. It will provide the country with a forward base for countering the Houthis in Yemen and Turkish expansion into Somalia, while deepening its own alliance with the United Arab Emirates.

Somaliland’s President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi has promised that his country would join the Abraham Accords, in a step toward regional and global peace.

Relations between Israel and Somaliland obviously benefit both countries, Europe, and the Americas as Somaliland’s proximity to Yemen – south across the Gulf of Aden – provides cover and protection of ships from Houthis and Somali pirates as they sail into or out from the Red Sea.

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Israel, Greece, & Cyprus v Turkey

Benjamin Netanyahu (center), Nikos Christodoulides (left) and Kyriakos Mitsotakis (right) in Jerusalem on December 22, 2025. (Abir Sultan / Pool / AFP)

Israel’s PM Benjamin Netanyahu, flanked by Greece’s PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Cyprus’ President Nikos Christodoulides said, “To those who fantasize they can reestablish their empires and their dominion over our lands, I say: Forget it. It’s not going to happen. Don’t even think about it.”
(Times of Israel, here).

They are talking to Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

This is chutzah.

Erdogan is dreaming that he can recreate the Ottoman Empire.

This is hubris.

And when it’s chutzpah v hubris, bet on chutzpah.

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Eric Adams v Zohran Mamdani – and NYC, the Jews, and Israel

Mayor Adams has taken concrete steps to protect New York’s Jewish citizens and all New Yorkers. His successor, Mamdani, vows to “Obey International Law” if and when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returns to New York City.

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Trump Tariff Dividend – for 57.3% of Households

Percentage Distribution of US Household Income in 2024, (C) Statistica, 2025

According to CNN, here, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is “promising” a tariff dividend to households making less than $100,000 per year. In 2024, this was 57.3% of households. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, here, as of Nov. 12, 2024, there are about 132.2 million household in the US. This means about 74.67 million households earn less than $100,000. Giving each of them $2,000 would require about $149.3 Billion, plus enough for logistics and overhead.

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Why is Kazakhstan Joining the Abraham Accords? And What About Azerbaijan, India, Ukraine and Uzbekistan, Armenia, Europe, and the West?

As noted on Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, here, Kazakhstan joining the Abraham Accords is partly symbolic. Kazakhstan recognized Israel and has maintained diplomatic ties with it since gaining independence from Russia and the Soviet Union in 1991. But this begs the question

Why did the Muslim majority nation recognize and seek ties with Israel in 1991?

Look at the map. Kazakhstan is south of Russia, west of China, and while separated by Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan, north of Iran and Afghanistan.

Ah-ha. But by this logic a rational person would expect Azerbaijan, India, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan to have ties with Israel. And they do.

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Tariffs and a $2,000 Dividend? Let’s do the math.

Image generated by ChatGPT

According to the Wall Street Journal, here, “The U.S. has collected tens of billions of dollars in tariffs.”

The Journal also quotes Pres. Trump, on Truth Social, saying,

People that are against tariffs are fools! We are now the richest, most respected country in the world, with almost no inflation, and a record stock market price.”

“A dividend of at least $2000 per person (not including high income people!) will be paid to everyone.”

The current rate of inflation, as of September, 2025, is 3.00%, according to “USA Facts,” here, and based on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, BLS, here, which also states that inflation was up 0.3% in September. I’m not an economist, but 3% inflation is not “almost no inflation.”

Now, let’s do the math.

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The Emoluments Clause, Because Emoluments are Bribes

747-8 In-flight Artwork K64146

Here’s the text of the Emoluments Clause: 

“No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.“ 

⁃ US Constitution, Article 1, Section 9. 

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Earth, Mars, and Elon Musk

Elon Musk seems to believe that we – humans – particularly the subset known as Americans – and the smaller subset known as Elon Musk – can and should create a colony of one million people on Mars.

And why not? Raised on the Technocratic wet dreams of his grandfather and perhaps the science fiction of Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, and Robert A. Heinlein, Musk knows, or rather believes, that there is nothing that man generally and men who are engineers specifically can not do or invent; that there is no problem that we can not solve, including terraforming Mars. After all, Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, and Scotty terraformed planet Genesis – quickly – on Star Trek.

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Tom Friedman Beats the Anti-Israel Drum

Writing in the NY Times, here, Tom Freidman says “This Israeli Government [Netanyahu’s] is not a good ally of the United States.” But is the Trump administration, is this United States, a reliable ally to Israel? or any country?

Netanyahu and the Israelis, and everyone on the planet, can see what Trump has done regarding Ukraine. They see him threatening Canada, a NATO ally, and Greenland, part of Denmark, another NATO ally. They hear what he is saying. They know the United States can not be trusted.

They see Trump accepting the gift of a 747 worth $400 Million from Qatar. They see that he can be bought.

They hear him saying “I don’t know” on “Meet the Press,” here, on national – on global – television, when asked if he has an obligation to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America, and they are all gobsmacked, flabbergasted, and in the Kremlin, smiling.

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Musk v Navarro – in Service to America?

The “Car Assembler” calls the other guy a “Moron” … “Dumber than a sack of bricks.”

In Italy, Saturday, April 5, Elon Musk called for a “Free Trade Zone” between the EU and the USA. “At the end of the day, I hope it’s agreed that both Europe and the United States should move ideally, in my view, to a zero tariff situation, effectively creating a free trade zone between Europe and North America,” the tech billionaire told Matteo Salvini, the leader of Italy’s right-wing League Party.” (See USA Today and NBC News.)

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Energy Update: Nuclear: $14.40 per Watt; Solar: 89¢ per Watt

On 25 May, 2023, Vogtle 3 came online. On 1 May, 2024, Vogtle 4 came online, US Energy Information Administration, here. The total cost was estimated “close to $35 Billion, $14.4 per watt for the 2.43 GW reactors, AP News, here. 

On 24 January, 2025 the NJ Board of Public Utilities, NJ BPU, here, announced that during Phil Murphy’s tenure as Governor, we have:

  • Installed 5 GW of solar capacity,
  • More than double the installed capacity in NJ in 2017, before Gov. Phil Murphy took office.
  • With 175 MW at a cost of $156 Million, 89¢ per watt. 
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Kamala Harris will win the U. S. Presidential election in 2024

New York, NY, 7/28/24. Updated, 8/30/24, 9/21/24. Allan Lichtman, whose model successfully predicted 9 out of the last 10 elections, has made a preliminary projection that Kamala Harris will win the Presidential election in November, 2024.
 
I agree with his assessment. However, I think there are a few things that he misses in his preliminary analysis. First: The polls. According to Fox News, Harris has a higher favorability rating in Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

“Favoribility” is not votes – neither are polls. However, the national polls, reported by TheHill.com, as of 7/28/24, show Harris closing but slightly behind the twice-impeached failed insurrectionist with 34 Felony convictions.

Update: according to The Hill, as of 8/30/24, Harris leads Trump, 52.6 to 47.4. This matches the NY Times, 49 to 46. According to the NY Times, here, as of Sept. 21, 2024, Harris leads by 2 points nationally, and leads in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Nevada. According to TheHill.com, as of Thursday, Sept. 19, Harris and Trump were deadlocked nationally while Harris was up 4 points in Pennsylvania. (here). So the Polls are close.

Then, there’s Allen Lichtman.

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President Biden on the 80th Anniversary, what was left unsaid

President Biden spoke eloquently in Normandy, remarks by President Biden on the 80th Anniversary of D-Day, Normandy, France, honoring those who fought to free the world of the scourge of Nazism.  
However, I believe he should have added four (4) observations.  

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