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PaperclipPerfector  2mo ago (text post)   35712 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of February 3, 2025

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Trump, in Shock Announcement, Says U.S. Will Take Over Gaza After Permanently Displacing Palestinians

U.S. President Donald Trump made the shocking announcement on Tuesday during a joint press conference with visiting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he will pursue a plan where the U.S. assumes ownership of Gaza, shortly after calling for the permanent displacement of the Strip's residents.

"The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip and we'll do a good job with it too. We'll own it and be responsible for dismantling all the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site, level the site and get rid of the destroyed buildings, level it out and create economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area," he said.

When asked if this meant that Trump would send U.S. troops to Gaza, he said "if it's necessary, we'll do that. We're gonna take over that piece and develop it, create thousands and thousands of jobs. It will be something the entire Middle East can be very proud of."

Now there are a few problems with this. One is that Egypt and Jordan, the obvious candidates, are absolutely against it. Second is that it will be horribly embarrassing when an American soldier gets blown up by unexploded American ordnance that was donated to Israel. It's also somewhat incoherent - he's going to make it into some kind of big multicultural party zone?

"I envision the world's people living there. You'll make it into an international, unbelievable place. The entire world will be there - Palestinians also - many people will live there.

The US does have lots of leverage over Egypt though, their economy has been on the cusp of collapse for a while now. So maybe Trump's increased willingness to deploy coercion will bear fruit here.

People in the State Department and on the left in general want Trump to give funding to Hamas to "rebuild Gaza".

Their usual game is to play up the humanitarian disaster.

Arguing that the US should take over and rebuild with direct management counters that, because the pro-Hamas people suddenly have to argue that Gaza is fully capable of running itself.

I don't think it's any sort of real proposal, just an indication that US money isn't coming without control on the ground.

Arguing that the US should take over and rebuild with direct management counters that, because the pro-Hamas people suddenly have to argue that Gaza is fully capable of running itself.

Would hold true if "taking over and rebuilding" didn't involve kicking out palestinians.

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