So Israel and Hamas are at it again...

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Hmm, interesting! Thanks, Verb!

CRITICAL LACK OF SELF AWARENESS ALERT:

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/11/obamawe-are-fully-supportive-of-israels-right-to-defend-itself/

Speaking at a joint press conference with Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, Obama called for an end to the firing of missiles into Israel by militants inside Gaza, saying “there is no country on earth that would tolerate missiles raining down on its citizens from outside its borders.”

 

Oh god.

[Junkenstein]

So the current outlook appears to be a cooling for the moment, with knives still out.

Good time to recruit and reload, I've got a horrible feeling the 3rd (?) Intifada may be moving up a gear.


Mursi seems to be taking some liberties. Is this US backed/authorised for his intercession efforts?


/Crackpot speculation as it's a shitty situation unlikely to resolve favourably in any regard in the near future.

[LMNO, PhD (life continues)]

Egypt seems to be taking a lot of credit for the cool-down.  How much did they actually do, and how much are they bullshitting?

[Verbal Mike]

I get the impression that Mursi took a very active role and deserves a lot of credit. But then he went and nearly crowned himself dictator so we'll just see how long that lasts...

[Junkenstein]

I've got to say, the more I think about it, the more interesting the end of the negotiations must have been. 2 parties agree not to shoot more rockets at each other (Essentially. There's been no real concessions or positive steps for the long term that I can see) and the negotiator decides to pull the "emergency powers" bit.

An unspoken condition that this holds only as long as Mursi is on the scene? The first part of genuine co-operation between the two sides in international trolling?


The idea of both representatives winking at each other then praising his prowess and how he should take charge more appeals to me.

It also amuses me due to the fact it could just be true.

Verbal Mike, More updates from someone dealing directly with the fallout from this would be read with interest, please keep us posted.

[LMNO, PhD (life continues)]

As far as Mursi goes, didn't he pull the emergency powers because the majority of the judicial branch was appointed by the previous leader, and due to checks and balances can completely fuck with the new democratic leadership?

[Junkenstein]

Indeed, I just find the timing strange.

If I were leading a newly established democratic regime, and there were possible ways to block the disperal of power, that's the kind of thing I'd think about when I took over. You know, making sure your own position is secure and there is a clear path and timetable.


So why not sort this out when Mursi first stepped in? It's a lot easier to take "executive powers" in such times of transition, and with the right PR/backing it's been proved not to be much of an issue in other nations.

When changing an entire society at a fundamental level, I would think that the existing judicial system would have to be largely scrapped to accommodate the breadth of change. This never seems to happen. Strange.

[Cain]

So...

http://mondediplo.com/blogs/israel-s-war-for-gaza-s-gas

Over the last decade, Israel has experienced a growing energy crisis. Between 2000 and 2010, Israel's power consumption has risen by 3.5 per cent annually. With over 40 per cent of Israel's electricity dependent on natural gas, the country has struggled to keep up with rising demand as a stable source of gas is in short supply. As of April, electricity prices rose by 9 per cent, as the state-owned Israeli Electricity Company (IEC) warned that "Israelis may soon face blackouts during this summer's heat" - which is exactly what happened.

The two major causes of the natural gas shortage were Egypt's repeated suspension of gas supplies to Israel due to attacks on the Sinai pipeline, and the near-depletion of Israel's offshore Tethys Sea gas fields. By late April, a trade deal that would have continued natural gas imports from Egypt into Israel collapsed, sending the Israeli government scramblingto find alternate energy sources to meet peak electricity demands. Without a significant boost in gas production, Israel faced the prospect of debilitating fuel price hikes which would undermine the economy.

By late June, Israel was tapping into the little known Noa gas reserve in the Mediterranean off the coast of Gaza. Previously, Israel had "refrained from ordering development of the Noa field, fearing that this would lead to diplomatic problems vis-à-vis the Palestinian Authority", according to the Israeli business daily Globes. The Noa reserve, whose yield is about 1.2 billion cubic metres, "is partly under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority in the economic zone of the Gaza Strip" - but Houston-based operator Noble Energy apparently "convinced" Israel's Ministry of National Infrastructures that their drilling would "not spill over into other parts of the reserve."

But the Gaza Marine gas reserves - about 32km from Gaza's coastline - are unmistakeably within Gaza's territorial waters which extend to about 35km off the coast. Israeli negotiations with the Palestinian Authority (PA) over the gas reserves have stalledfor much of the last decade since their discovery in the late 1990s by the British Gas Group (BG Group). The main reason for the failure of negotiations was Israel's demand that the gas should come ashore on its territory, and at below market price.

The article goes on to explain how the 2008 Operation Cast Lead was driven, in part, concerns about the gas deal brokered by Tony Blair.  Israeli concerns are that by funneling money to the Palestine Authority for gas, the money would end up in Hamas and similar hands, and Israel would effectively be paying to bankroll terrorism against itself.

Also, a cool $4 billion may be influencing the decision process.