Will's Good idea for the Week of 6/13/21

Soon after this writing Israel's new, hodgepodge government will be sworn in and Naftali Bennett will become Prime Minister. It's a center right government + Labour, Meretz and the Arab Ra'am party that has one goal, oust Bibi. That's it. That's all they care about. How long they can hang together is anyone's guess. A year? If they manage a few religious reform laws, blog will consider the Bennett government a success. 

Right now Bibi may be loathed but time will pass. 'Don't worry about being a great man, just be a man and let history judge,' said Zephram Cochrane. We used to hate Bill Clinton but now we're kinda OK about him. We voted against Bush the Elder in 1992 but now we think he was a solid president.  And W, well, let's just say our views are evolving. When we were a kid Ike was considered old and bland, now he's a national hero. Nixon? He's a victim of the Deep State. 

In the long run Bibi's legacy will be a strong economic growth, successful military developments and the Abraham Accords. People will point to his handling of the Fauci Flu. Just wait till we learn the full story of ops against Iran. Israel is better off for Netanyahu having been PM. Now go away, Bibi.

Segway.....

Given how well this year's 'summer sneak in' has begun, we admit the possibility that next summer we could do a third Israel Strikes novel. Or we might try a different techno-thriller. Remember that idea for a US-Iran War, action in the Gulf, Marines landing in Lebanon, Airborne in Beirut, Hezbollah terror in the US. Dayum, right? 

[Is that your good idea for the week of  6/13/21? You are such a goddam tease-Ed]

No, this is, World War 1990: Denmark. 

[Ah jeeeeez, Edith!-Ed]

Don't worry, we're not going to do it. Denmark would basically be Nederland on the Baltic. The interesting stuff can probably be relayed in The Weser via dialogue; airborne and marine landings around Copenhagen, that sort of thing. So that's how we'll handle the idea.

Will gets all Nostalgic

Yesterday we looked back to 2001. We're going to go back even further today, prompted by an old commercial we caught on Youtube from 1991.  Here's the commercial, Leon Redbone for Chevy. It feels like 1991. The aesthetic is dated but has aged well. Better than 1971, that's for sure. Also this year is the 30th anniversary of a tape us crazy kids made in June of that year.* That time of our lives, that year, a junior and 17, has always been special. When we look back, all we see is the sun. 

Don't know why, there was nothing special going on. We weren't really dating, we weren't on the football team or anything. The Giants won the Super Bowl. We had a bit role in the HS musical, Anything Goes. We still remember our line, 'Hey it's Reno Sweeney and her Angels!' We know all the words to the songs and can still do the dance numbers. We loved, loved, doing Blow, Gabriel, Blow.** 

We wore a lot of ripped jeans and T-shirts, floppy haircut. We looked like a modified version of a late 70's teenager, on purpose. That's the year we discovered classic rock. 

It was just happy. If we could bottle it....man. 

Sometimes we can capture the flavor, the essence of the moment.  We feel silly for reminiscing, but then we recall all the songs doing the exact same thing, Kid Rock, Don Henley, etc etc. 

Here's a great article from the Times of Israel about what a dirty, back stabbing, double dealing sonofabitch Bibi is. Surprise. As noted previously, a more circumspect man would have stepped aside two elections ago. It seems he's going to remain Likud leader in opposition. This blog considers that bad form. Come on Bibi retire. Write your memoirs. Think of the speaking fees you'll command in America. 

A great day before the page, er screen yesterday. On V Corps' front, General Franks will be releasing the 8th Mechanized Division for the NATO counterattack. We found the commander, General David Maddox. Our NATO status update 'shoot around' is turning out great. We have to do US III Corps now, moving out from it's assembly areas in the south Netherlands for the battlefield. After the Ruski advance is stopped on the Weser, they're gonna hammer them. Hmmm...Yes. We think SACEUR is gong to pull a Pershing and insist III Corps isn't used in bits but is assembled for a massive counterattack. Which is one of the reasons why the situation is so dire in NORTHAG. 

*The Black Tape of Mail. It's nothing bad or even interesting. Haven't watched in 15 years. It's in a box someplace in the basement.

**Yes, that presented some challenges in 1991

***We considered cropping that photo but then thought, Cut out the pretty girl, are you nuts?

Jews: Russian and otherwise, also East Germans

Greetings from a rainy New Jersey. Mrs. Stroock is back dealing with family issues, so it's just the six of us, me, the girls and the cats.

We're getting a new microwave today, step two in updating our kitchen. The old microwave konked out last week and a generation of Stroocks is learning how to reheat food in an oven. Yesterday we threw a burger, some potatoes and an egg in a pan and fried them up.

The Times of Israel reports they finally did it. You know, the thing about Bibi is that he pissed off all the right people, the Clintons, Barry Soetoro, the International Set, The Washington Post. Powerline writes about the nature of the Israeli unity government and a Postman holding up said unity government as an example to America. Typical.

Look, we say this all the time here. But the coalition is basically right, right, right, center, Labour and Meretz + an Islamist party that's interested in Bedouin rights in the Negev. Personally, we think inviting an Arab party into the government, a first, could be a step toward reconciliation within Israel.

There's a million Russian immigrants in Israel. They're Jews, but they're still Russian which means they look at the Gaza problem the same way Putin looked at the Chechen problem. Crush problem beneath tread of tanks. Target nine, no comrade, ten Katyusha batteries at city...There's a couple of million young people in Israel who know nothing of 'peace' and the 'peace process'. Israel will not have peace. Israel will have victory.

Mossad: It's NEVER an accident. So yesterday Iran's largest warship Jewishly caught fire and sank. Then a massive oil refinery fire broke out in Tehran. The Imams are right, the Jew is clever. This is almost comic. Remember, this is just the stuff we know about.

Journalist Andy Ngo writes a harrowing, no horrifying account of Antifa trying to kill him in Portland last week. Read the whole thing, as Professor Reynolds says. This is the left. This is America in 2021.

We did a lot of reading on Soviet forces in East Germany (GSFG) yesterday, freshening up, as it were. Forty + Soviet divisions + 6 standing East German divisions. These, it seems, would have been attached to existing Soviet armies. There will be a major East German role in World War 1990: The Weser. We're not sure at what level, though. The East Germans require more research.

Friday Friends and Flags

Hot Air reports on the dismantling of the Newseum in Washington. This was the media's gigantic monument to itself. Admission was $24.95. Folks, the Air and Space Museum is free and it has fighter planes and rocket ships. This blog admits, seeing the Newseum close down arouses us, sexually. Learn to Code, bitches.

A long piece in The Jerusalem Post about the ongoing and never-ending political machinations in Israel. The author argues that a 5th election is the least-worst option. This is about way more than right and left. It's not just that right and left can't agree (there really is no left, anymore), it's that right can't agree. Heh, then there's the secular-right (like Avigdor Liberman) and the religious-right. One of the problems is that Israel has right parties that want a two-state solution, right parties that want to drive the Gazans into the sea, right parties that want to maintain towns in Judea/Samaria, right parties that would withdraw behind the West Bank wall. 

Meanwhile The Times of Israel reports on post-rioting arrests: The Israel Police said Monday that over 1,550 people have been arrested on suspicion of involvement in the violent clashes between Jews and Arabs earlier this month. The sweeping operation, involving thousands of police and Border Police officers, arrested 85 suspects on Monday, among them 38 who are suspected of participating in rioting in East Jerusalem. So far 150 indictments have been filed, police said in a statement.' They've also arrested some Jews. We say arrest more Jews. The Israelis need to figure out this Arab anger problem. No, we're not blaming the victim. But we will put some blame on Bibi. In a few of the past elections he ran against the Arabs, literally. 

The Friends reunion aired last night. We didn't see it. Younger reader(s) if you want a window into the 90's there it is. Fun, frivolous, nihilistic. All taking place in a revived New York City. In the 70's Friends would have taken place in LA. As to the ultimate question, are you kidding me? Rachel.  Heh, this blog remembers when Courtney Cox was Alex P. Keaton's girlfriend. 

Friends' best character was Chandler Bing. He's just a normal 100 IQ Gen-X guy. Not a jock, not a nerd, just an everyman working a data entry job because that's what he found after college. In one episode he's offered a promotion and quits. Friends is his story. We related.

Alright now, we got 76's farming chapter straightened out more or less. It manages to talk about farming, wrap up the Korean War, and intro Reagan being tapped to rebuild Hollywood. Matt scenes are now finished through this chapter. At the end of May The Great Salvation of 1976 stands at 70,000 words.

Below, your Friday Flag:

Blogging and Gabbing on

The sun is out this morning, a rarity so far this April. We did an hour on the treadmill yesterday at 3.6. We thought we blew out an ankle, but we pushed through it. That's three days in a row at the gym. Think we'll take today off, unless we're real bored this afternoon.

Wuhan Virus from Wuhan China numbers are plummeting here in New Jersey, down to just over 2000 a day. The infection number dropped from 1.08 to .94 in the last week. Half the state has been vaxed. It's ending.  Kids are going back to school in person five days a week for the rest of the year.

Let's see what Andy Ngo has to report about the nation's streets and...We nod our head in resignation. A rural friend comments, 'My heart swells with happiness. The spirit of the summer of 2020 is back. The self-crushing urbanites are back at it.' Indeed. Let it burn. For as it is written, let it burn.

Yesterday the writing was slow, haphazard and disjointed. But we advanced the plot. At this point we'll probably have the attack prep scenes done by the end of the month and be prepared to spent May writing the actual attacks. We are not optimistic about our previous schedule.

The Jerusalem Post tells us that the Imams are right, the Jew is clever: 'The Jerusalem Post has learned that the [Natanz] attack was carried out through an explosive device that was smuggled into the facility and detonated remotely. An intelligence official told The New York Times on Tuesday that the attack took out both the primary and backup electrical systems.' Just last week Bibi told America's weakling secretary of state that Israel will never allow Iran to get nukes. Why do people not believe him? War is preferable. Did Bibi mention Levi Eshkol, the PM during the Six Day War? That's like when an American president mentions Lincoln. 

Qbi Wan asked us if we really believe that a police officer with a quarter century of experience doesn't know the difference between a gun and a taser. He said to ask the question is to answer it. 

So we just noticed that this blog has passed the 4500 post mark. It took five and a half years to get there. We'll hit five thousand posts next year sometime. Not bad for a blog that was started to give us something to do in the afternoons. Not that it matters. This blog, near as we can tell, has a couple of hundred actual readers. As our late friend and blog pioneer Kathy Shaidle said, it's one thing to start a blog, it's another to keep it going.

We've been on Gab since 2016 and have pronounced ourselves disappointed with the results. Which doesn't stop us from gabbing. We have 440 plus followers and worked damn hard to get them. If we calibrated that to Twitter numbers that'd be at least several thousand (tens of thousand?) followers. So not bad, actually. 

Monday Madmen

Beginning week three with Mrs. Stroock away on family business.  She's planning to return next Monday. Even the Stroocklettes are tired. It's 0712 hours and not one of them has stirred. Actually this is spring break week, so at least we won't have to worry about getting those little monsters off to school. 

We're binging Madmen. Every time we want to say Don Draper, and we just did this now, we almost say Dirk Diggler [Why am I not surprised?-Ed]. We think they're over doing the smoking thing, but when the show came out, that was a big deal. Did men really act like complete jackasses in the office? We worked in several offices and what we're seeing in Madmen was just unthinkable by the mid-90s. It's perfectly acceptable if you're Andrew Cuomo. Back in our direct-mail fundraising days, we had a very pretty co-working who wore the same dress every other Friday. [You knew it was every other Friday?-Ed] You're damn right we did. And so did she. 

We'll be transitioning [Phrasing!-Ed] to The Final Storm this week. So far we got a bunch of briefing scenes: The Tornado bomber squadron from Polish Storm, Savage and the B-2s, The Aussie F-111s, the Italian F-104 Starfighters and a squadron of Tornados, also a squadron of Israeli F-15s flying out Crimea, Samurakami planning a Japanese F-15 strike in the Far East, Task Force 60 in the Barents Sea, F-117s out of Banak in Norway....Who am I forgetting? Who do you people want to see?

In a post about an appallingly privileged Boomer author, gentlemen adventurer Adam Piggott talks about the realities of book sales. 'I decided to check out this author and see how she rates. When I hear of an author selling everything and moving to France to continue her stellar writing career, my first assumption would be that she has somewhat of a track record. A back catalogue, if you will, to keep her in French red wine and baguettes. Well, I think that my millions of readers will be shocked, truly shocked, at the news that this woman has a single book to her name. Now, yours truly has two books to his name, but the money that I make from the sales of my two blockbusters is barely enough to keep up with my underwear payments. So moving to France on those proceeds would be somewhat foolhardy, if you know what I mean and I think you do. Yet, it turns out that her one and only book is rated at #7,581,863 in Books on Amazon at the time of writing. Now my main book fluctuates between say 3,000,000 and 100,000 on that list depending on the winds of fortune. Based on those numbers I will confidently predict that she is selling around 4 books per month. Good luck with that.' One of Piggott's books has 51 reviews. That's a solid number. We wonder how much Piggott thinks his blog helps sell books.

MV Evergreen is freed but Israel remains stuck. Here's a long article from the Times of Israel about The Man who Divided Israel. The author argues that given everything, Bibi really should have eked out a win here. We know we thought so. Yet he didn't. Americans get sick of a president about midway through his second term*. 'What the electorate, in its apparent wisdom, ultimately did at the ballot box was to require Netanyahu’s opponents to prove that they really meant it when they claimed, as they did day-in, day-out on the campaign trail, that the prime minister has become inimical to Israel’s interests.' At this point we're inclined to agree. Go find something else to do, Bibi.

Monday Metal. We really got nuthin' today so here's the the staff at Cooper-Sterling enjoying the cha-cha and Chubby Checker:

*Note how we unconsciously assumed presidents get two terms. Everyone but you know who in our lifetime did. Of course, the Dems stole it. 

Anti-Asian Hate Crime Week: The Chindian Experience

There are idiots who think yesterday's Simpsons/Ganesh clip is racist. Did we mention these people are idiots? The whole point is that Homer understands life and the universe through TV, and naturally assumed the 'natives' will be terrified by Ganesh. Instead they are confused, annoyed, and in one case outraged. Homer is later chased up a tree. The best line is when the mother-in-law says, 'Ganesh has been subdued.' In watching this clip, those who may not know pick up just a little bit of Indian culture. See how that works? My friend and neighbor Sourabh Mukherji thinks the clip is funny.

The Bridgewater/Raritan school district superintendent is Dr. Thomas Ficarra.  He refuses to do the right thing and fully open the schools. Yesterday the board announced that if your in-person child is home sick, they will not be able to attend school virtually. The point of this rule of what? Dr. Thomas Ficarra, despite all that education (did you know he's a 'doctor'), refuses to think for himself and simply tells us over and over again, we're following state and CDC guidelines. What's the point of all that education if you sit at your desk and wait for the CDC to tell you what to do? Dr. Thomas Ficarra is worried about his liability and terrified of the unions. He'a coward.

Tonight's the first night of Passover, the most important holiday in Judaism. As Mrs. Stroock is still in Indiana caring for a relative we don't know what, if anything we'll do tonight. We're thinking we'll just gather the girls, answer the four questions and maybe read the plagues. One by one you dip a finger in red whine, dab it on a plate and recite:

1. Blood. (Dam)
2. Frogs (Tsifardeah)
3. Lice (Kinim)
4. Gnats and flies (Arov)
5. Disease on livestock (Dever)
6. Unhealable boils (Shkhin)
7. Hail and thunder (Barad)
8. Locusts (Arbeh)
9. Darkness (Choshech)
10. Death of the first-born of all humans and animals. (Makat b’chorot)

Say it in Hebrew and you'll get chills. When the Israelis give their military operations biblical names, you know they're bringing some serious pain. Remember the fate awaiting all enemies of the Jews. Hate us all you want. In a thousand years your civilization will be picked over by archeologists, and we'll still be here. 

Speaking of, it seems the Israelis are deadlocked again. Bibi's real genius is picking rival Likudniks, making enemies of them, and dividing them accordingly. At the moment none of those enemies could agree on who gets to be PM. Maybe a rotational thing, but who knows?

Below, the Friday Flag:

Monday Metal, Israelis and Ethiopians

Our latest at Substack: "In the closing days of 2006, the Ethiopian army launched a lightening quick offensive against the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), a Somali version of the infamous Taliban. The Ethiopians were not fighting alone but with the covert assistance of American intelligence and Special Forces. That assistance later became overt as the United States navy and air force joined the fighting. Somalia’s neighbors helped too, closing their borders to fleeing Islamist fighters. Through these combined efforts, by the second week of January, 2007, the ICU had been crushed and the internationally recognized Transitional Government (TG) restored to power." Head on over to the Horn of Africa.

That piece was fun to do. We set aside an article on William the Bastard conquering England to write it. We remember reading about the campaign, 'Ethiopian tanks defend western civilization' said the headline at Strategy Page. We remember the flash of inspiration. We remember writing at night at Borders after the first born went to bed. We actually used Somali news sources to put the narrative together. 

The Times of Israel's latest poll shows nothing in Israeli politics has changed:  "The Channel 13 survey gave Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud 28 seats, followed by Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid, which received 20. Naftali Bennett’s Yamina remains steady at third with 11 seats, while Gideon Sa’ar’s New Hope sees another poll predicting a single-digit result with just nine seats. The majority-Arab Joint List received eight seats followed by the secular, right-wing Yisrael Beytenu party, which received seven, similar to the ultra-Orthodox Ashkenazi United Torah Judaism party. The Haredi Mizrahi party Shas was predicted to receive just six seats in the next Knesset compared to its current nine." For those keeping score the lead is establishment right, center, right and right, then the Arabs, then the nationalists, then the Haredi parties.  Labour, once Israel's natural governing party, is relegated to the fringe with 6 seats. The Blue and Whites are even registering. Yesh Atid is the great centrist hope. 

Convergence: There are a couple of hundred thousand Ethiopian Jews living in Israel now. In fact they just brought over another batch. Authorities have done the DNA test, and sure enough, these people carry Jewish identifiers. Ethiopian Jews are the literal descendants of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. Here's Yityish "Titi" Aynaw, Miss Israel 2013. You're welcome.

Hell Time Man: Bob Dylan's forgotten classic, the theme song to another forgotten classic, Band of the Hand, which we re-watched this weekend for the first time since 1999. Dylan is just a bad-ass blues man here. The video conveys the theme, feel and chaos of the movie. Lot's of 1980's era MTV cool. Listen to that climbing and descending riff, the slashing licks at the end, and the organs which underpin the whole thing. This video and film (we're bringing back What Will's Watching this week) are what 80's weekend late night felt like. What a romp. It's hell time maaaaaaan...it's band of the haaaaaaaand:

Thursday News Round Up

NJ.com reported that NY enlisted private snow plows to help clear the snow, calling them 'Minutemen'. On FB we remarked, ' Language! Please try to avoid language like “minutemen” this is a radical militia construct. Try “snowhelpers” instead.' Good news here, as most people think we're daft. In fact, the word  'retarded' peppered the replies. 'That's sarcasm, right?' As we're wearing a black suit, white shirt, hammer and sickle tie while standing before the Soviet flag in our FB pic, some people just aren't so sure. 

The war profiteer's daughter was not defenestrated ....from her position in the GOP leadership. No moral or phyric victories A GOP that wants Liz Cheney leading it doesn't want Will.

The Times of Israel has new polling and it shows what an anti-Bibi coalition could look like: 'According to the survey, a coalition of Yesh Atid, New Hope, Yamina, Labor, Yisrael Beytenu, and Blue and White would win 61 seats, giving it a majority in the Knesset. With the left-wing Meretz, it would pick up 66.Netanyahu’s bloc, comprising Likud and the two ultra-Orthodox parties, meanwhile, would win just 44. Even with Yamina, such a coalition would still fall seven seats short of a majority. Leaders of other Zionist parties have not expressed a willingness to sit in a Netanyahu-led coalition.' That is the not-Bibi bloc 61, the Bibi-bloc 41. Who the hell would head up the anti-Bibi bloc is anyone's guess. We shrug. Sure, we like him, but Bibi's gotten a little old. He's been there a long time. Can't you find something else to do, Bibi? Think of the conservatives and evangelical Christians, Bibi could make a killing on the speaking circuit in America. 

Governor Kristi Noem (Total Hottie, North Dakota*) writes: "There are a lot of Americans whose frustration has been building for many years. Republicans have had opportunities to fix our healthcare system, reform immigration, and get our fiscal house in order, among many other things. Republicans have had chances to deliver for the American people. But we haven’t followed through." Problem diagnosed. Is Noem the candidate to take on '47 in 2024? Meh. Most of the rest of the article is conservative boilerplate. 

With the GOP having failed, here's what's next, Dave Portnoy and the rise of the Barstool Conservatives. The article pretty much describes where we are. Meh, do what you want, keep us out and LOL get fucked weirdo:  "What Trump recognized was that there are millions of Americans who do not oppose or even care about abortion or same-sex marriage, much less stem-cell research or any of the other causes that had animated traditional social conservatives. Instead he correctly intuited that the new culture war would be fought over very different (and more nebulous) issues: vague concerns about political correctness and "SJWs," opposition to the popularization of so-called critical race theory, sentimentality about the American flag and the military, the rights of male undergraduates to engage in fornication while intoxicated without fear of the Title IX mafia."

*We don't know which Dakota is which and can't be bothered to look it up. The East Coast Bias is real. 

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Once and Future Israeli PM

Bibi you magnificent bastard! You did it!

Benny Gantz blew up his own Blue and White Party for the sake of stability and will be Netanyahu's Defence Minister. In eighteen months the premiership will rotate to him. Yeah, sure. Though that may just be for how long Bibi wants to hang on.

Of course a good deal of this has to do with the Wuhan Chinese Virus from Wuhan China, and there is the matter of Netanyahu's upcoming corruption trial, but still. 

The PM, now and always.

Yesterday's Best Seller

Israel Strikes: War of the Red Sea.

In fact sales are spiking. People cooped up? Algorithmic mischief? Who knows?

Meanwhile, the Arab Joint List, 15 seats in all, has backed Gantz and the Blue and Whites. We're getting close to driving Bibi down.

Gantz would need a Knesset majority made up of his Blue and White (33 seats), the hawkish Yisrael Beytenu (7 seats) and dovish Labor and Meretz (6 seats without Gesher leader Orly Levy-Abekasis), with support from outside of the coalition from the Arab lawmakers of the Joint List (15 seats).

If all those parties recommend him to form the next government, even without becoming part of it, he would have the backing of 61 MKs compared to 58 for Netanyahu from Likud (36), the ultra-Orthodox Shas (9) and United Torah Judaism (7) parties, and the right-wing Yamina (6). 

Liberman hates the Arabs, so I don't know how he joins a government with them. But still, with him and Bibi, it's personal.

In the meantime:

Yesterday's Best Seller...

….was Israel Strikes.

We're guessing this is becuase of the Israeli election and our blogging thereof.

Hey, the Iranians have bigger problems these days. Heh. 

Liberman and...the Arabs?

It looks like they might finally have found a way to drive ol Bibi down

Avigdor Liberman will join Gantz and the Blue and Whites provided they agree to certain secularist demands, like bus services on the Sabbath. The Arab Joint List may also join the Blue and Whites, provided they get a few goodies, like repeal of the Nation State Law*. Of course Liberman and the Joint List both hate one another, but they also hate the Haredi and Bibi.

Bibi's corruption trial begins on the 17th. 

*Says obvious, Israel is Jewish.

Bibi be Mine

Bibi, you magnificent bastard, you did it!

As of this writing Likud's late surge in the polls gives them 36-37 seats to the Blue and White's 33. Overall the right-bloc won 59-60 seats. Still short of a majority, so they'll have to find a couple of MKs to switch parties. 

Not our problem.

Blue and White leader Benny Gantz should step aside. He can't get the job done. 

Meanwhile Benjamin Netanyahu is the once and future Prime Minister of Israel.

Oh, his corruption trial starts the 17th.

Election Wrap

Biden's campaign of the undead staggers on to Super Tuesday.

In other news, on Monday the Israelis will have their third election in a year. We haven't written about it becuase we had forgotten about it. It looks like we'll have more or less the same result as the other two elections. For those requiring an update. Avigdor Liberman and his Israel Bitenyu party have refused to enter into a right-bloc coalition. They hate Arabs but they hate Haredi Jews even more. Hence the impasse.

Rumor has it, and by rumor we mean our Rabbi said on Friday, that Liberman will throw in with Benny Ganz and the Blue and Whites. Which is just fine with us. Ganz has endorsed the Trump peace plan. He ain't no Shimon Peres.

After that we have Super Tuesday! So lame. Readers should understand we're holding up our hand and making an L sign as we type this.

Bbi Indicted: Likudnik's, so What?

So Netanyahu's been indicted. We have no opinion whatsoever about the merits of the case as we haven't followed it at all. Caroline Glick says the Israeli Deep State is out to get Bibi. 

According to polls the indictment hasn't really changed anything. In fact without Bibi Likud loses seats. So the average rightwing voter is sticking by his man.

This thing will probably take years to sort out, no? So why not Bibi for another term?

Lose Bibi and it's Wither Likud

Well, Bibi is facing a leadership challenge from within Likud from a man named Gideon Sa'ar, who sounds like he should be a good looking commando in Israel Strikes: Will gets his act Together and Finishes the Trilogy.

As Israel hurtles like an out of control freight train toward a third election in a year, The Times of Israel reports on the latest poll:

But everything changes if the embattled Netanyahu, facing corruption charges in three criminal cases, is forced out as Likud leader. In the poll, respondents were asked how they would vote if Netanyahu’s main primary challenger, MK Gideon Sa’ar, was leading Likud instead. The answer bodes poorly for Likud, as votes are reshuffled among right-wing parties, largely to its detriment, while no real difference emerges in the final tally of parliamentary blocs. Thus, Likud falls precipitously to 26 seats. Some of those lost Likud votes, as has happened in the past, go to Shas, which jumps to 10 seats. More go to New Right, which leaps to 9 seats.

So it's Bibi or bust for Likud. 

Everything hinges on Avigdor Liberman and Israel Bitenyu. At this point we're inclined to blame that fat, bearded, Russian (Moldovan, actually) bastard for this entire mess.

We see don't think Israel Bitenyu would boot Liberman. That's his party and it represents a million Russian Jews. The membership may be Jewish, but they are still Russian. And those people stick with their people.

Wither America Strikes

So the Israeli government is deadlocked and Bibi has been indicted. This blog has no opinion on the merits of the case.

At the same time the IDF launched a major air strike on Iranian positions in Syria.

Meanwhile there are massive protests in Lebanon and riots in Iran. The rioters burned a central bank building to the ground. The Mullahs have shutdown the Internet.

Maybe America Strikes: The War with Iran will be overtaken by events. That's one way to cross the project off the list.

Actually, when we wrote Israel Strikes way back in 2012 we spent the entire year worrying the Israelis would do the job before we could publish the book.

Oh no, not again

We haven't written much about Israel's Year of the Election because frankly we're bored to death by it.

Bibi has failed to form a government and returned the mandate to President Rivlin, whose asked Ganz and the Blue and Whites to try.

Here's a summation of where things are and where they might be heading.

In theory Liberman and Israel Bitenyu could join the Arab Joint List in a coalition with the Blue and Whites. Stranger things have happened. But we dunno, man. You're talking about a million Russian Jews who want to stomp Gaza flat and would be perfectly happy to expel Arabs from Israel. That's a hell of a tough sell.

Polls show the nation is sick of Netanyahu. Even we're a bit weary. Our sense is Bibi's finished. 

Third election? Come on, God, we went to services for Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Sukhot. Don't do this to us. 

Lords of Kobol? Crom? The Many Faced God...is there anybody out there? Anybody at all?

Bibi for the Win? Or is it a Trap?

Looks like Bibi is going to get first crack at forming a government.

If one includes Avigdor Liberman's Yisrael Bitenyu, the right-bloc has 64 seats or so.

We just don't see how Ganz forms a government, unless he convinces Likud to dump Bibi. Whose willing to stab him in the back and what would be the price of failure? Yikes.

Netanyahu really does have the best chance. Labour has already rebuffed him, even after he offered them the finance portfolio. It's so personal with them. Also with Liberman. Bibi has that effect on people. We know folks at our own synagogue who loath the man.

But they say in this case the leader who goes first has the worst chance to form a government. So who knows.

What a mess, and we can blame Bibi's tactics and rhetoric for making it so.

We miss Arial Sharon*. Can they tap zombie Arial Sharon to form a government?

*Greatest Jew since Moses, or Charleton Heston, anyway.