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PaperclipPerfector  2mo ago (text post)   35701 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.

Eight or nine years ago, it became clear Trump says things he doesn't plan on doing because he values the reaction he gets in politics/negotiations. He's been doing this for a decade and likely longer. He (or someone) wrote a book where saying shocking things while hiding what you want is how one should behave in business. And yet, every single time this happens people take Trump at face-value and attack/criticize the proposal.

IMO, this is never going to happen. Trump forced the Israelis to accept a ceasefire. Now, he is going to batter the Arabs; the immediate strong condemnation by Saudi Arabia was expected and desired. Then he's going to use the discontent to seek some achievable goal. If I had to guess, he's going to try to force the Arab states' repeatedly stated proposals for a Palestinian state which is the responsibility of a Muslim country or coalition.

If I had to make a prediction; if Trump manages to cut this gordian knot, it's going to be because he gets Saudi Arabia (or perhaps a Muslim partnership) to take ownership over at least Gaza. They will get a corridor which is either theirs or granted to them in order to project power and material by land from Saudi Arabia to Gaza.

Saudi Arabia will crack down viciously on violent extremist there. The Ummah will not object because it will be Muslims ruling Muslims. Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries will pour money and investment into the country and this will hugely benefit the people there. This project may even get Iran on board and serve as a bridge for conflicting Muslim factions. If something like this happens, it would be a great development in the region and deserving of world-history level accolades.

The classic "don't worry about it, he's just lying" defense.

I can see why it's exhausting, but you must admit he often just says dumb shit pretty often.

Also known as "bluffing". It's a thing in negotiations.

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