It’s time for me to point out a couple of things that make me worry about what is happening in the world as we start 2026. The first item is, naturally, what is going on with my neighbors. There is a cease-fire in Gaza, and Hamas has, predictably, dragged its feet about competing what it was supposed to have agreed to as part of the first phase. There is still one more body to be returned to Israel. Hamas delayed returning the previous last 2 with claims they could not identify the grave they made. Israel waited while Hamas ran out the clock on those 2. The same claim is being made about the last one, and the Israeli position is crystal clear; no movement toward another phase until ALL of the items on part one are completed. Hamas may claim that they haven’t control over the Islamic Jihad group that actually killed the man. The very idea that Hamas is not in total control is ludicrous to me. Add to that Hamas rejecting any idea of disarming, which is one more part of what has to happen in phase one. Right now, there isn’t but one country willing to send troops to enforce this. That country is Turkey. Israel has vetoed any presence of Turkish troops in Gaza (which may be why the Turks are offering). After all, offering to do something you know you won’t be called upon to deliver is easy. How long will Israel be left in occupation of over half of Gaza? Total withdrawal is the last Israeli step before completing phase one.
Hamas and allies are busily flooding the media with tales of humanitarian disaster. This past week France 24 has broadcast a sad story of some Arab refugees suffering from living in tents with no fixed supply of clean water. Their reporters have studiously avoided asking how this state of affairs came about. Those reports also avoid pointing at Hamas as the de facto government that is unable to deal with the problem, or of going beyond that to ask why. Some American media are also guilty of the same biased partial reporting.
Finally, there is the problem of Iran. There is no question that the Iranian economy is in shambles. The Iranian Rial is worth less than half of what it was just a few months ago. Their entire country is also having a severe drought. This is causing many Iranian residents to demonstrate against their autocratic government. The scary part of this is that many regimes in such a position try to distract their population with a little foreign war. Uniting against an outside enemy can be a good tactic to use against internal unrest. The problematic side of this is that Israel would likely be the outside enemy. Another round of mutual attacks would not advance the prospects for a regional peace. There are probably individuals on both sides that are prepared for such hostilities. Plunging into a war by miscalculation is a bad solution. So is doing nothing. The last Iran-Israel exchange was actually a unique new situation in war. The two opponents did not share any physical borders. Iran does support proxy organizations that can attack Israel, but none of them seem o be ready to take that step again. If Iran is really proceeding to prepare missile warheads with chemical or biological agents, the question of their building a nuclear weapon may not be the most threatening scenario.
Wetherhorn 