It is now 7 days into 2009. The year has started o.k. from a sharemarkets perspective. Recent volatility seems to have disappeared for now. This may simply be reduced volumes due to holiday trading, however most markets are up so far this year and some are approaching 2 month highs. What is more likely is that most people are taking a wait and see approach for now and are taking advantage of any shares that may have been oversold in recent times. 2008 was a treacherous year; make no mistake. It is far too early to say how widespread the casualties are. Already in 2009 a few more big names have been named to the list. You know that it is getting bad when Billionaires are starting to commit suicide. It goes without saying that most reputable resource companies and retailers are battling down the hatches until the worst is in the past. Those who have not taken the necessary precautions in liquidity reserves are the first to go into receivership.
One thing is certain. Until Obama takes over the US presidency in around 2 weeks, the world is in something of a stalemate. In Geopolitical terms the window of opportunity to take advantage of the current political stalemate is fast running to a close. It is not surprising that a few main players have taken advantage of this free window for political manoeuvring.
Israel as widely expected has taken a dramatic stand to rout Hamas for good. The latest war has taken out over 600 palestinian’s including known terrorists, Hamas officials, innocent civilians, soldiers, police, ambulance drivers, and children. It is an outrageous exercise in bully tactics and I fear that any sympathy that Israel may have deserved; is lost in a sudden rush of shock and anger as its own list of damage, casualties and fatalities fade into total insignificance. Meanwhile a humanitarian crisis in Gaza looms…
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100601 A flotilla of ships headed towards Gaza has been intercepted by Israeli forces in International waters. As the Israelis soldiers boarded the ships to inspect cargoes, they were attacked. In self defense the Israeli soldiers killed ten activists and injured many others with paintballs and pistols. All flotilla ships and occupants are now confiscated and under arrest. Anyone that is known to have assaulted Israeli soldiers will be summarily arrested and face Israeli justice. At the very least, all occupants will face hours of intense interrogation. Immediate deportation will be a mercy ending reserved for the more fortunate cases.
As it is; the flotilla intercepted is a lot smaller than was intended, and the flotilla originally headed off from Turkish shores. It may or not be a coincidence that most of the activists killed were of Turkish nationality. It may also be a coincidence that many of the ships that intended to travel to Gaza from Turkey suffered engine difficulties, or seemed in urgent need of other repairs at the time of sailing.
Let’s not spin words here. Israel is fighting a deadly foe and this foe is known as Hamas. Hamas is a terrorist organization that will stoop to any low levels necessary to achieve its goal. Remove Israel from the map. As a terrorist organization, Hamas is not alone in this goal. (Hezbollah)
What is perhaps more insidious is the influence of Iran. It seems highly likely that Iran is smuggling more sophisticated rockets into Gaza, or waiting patiently for the opportunity to do so.
No wonder that Israeli forces are taking no chances no matter what the international community might say. They are not the ones who will have to live with the result if the smuggled rockets do get through. Make no mistake; the chances of any flotilla of ships getting through without thorough Israeli inspections are slim. This means that future confrontations are inevitable. This is a dangerous battle of wills that will quickly inflame the Islamic world, especially Turkey and neighbours of Israel.
Meanwhile in the midst of all the ongoing turmoil in the ME, Russia decides to ratchet up the rhetoric with its own favourite neighbour, the Ukraine. This is a dangerous war of words because inevitably the inevitable happens. Russia cuts or slows down gas supplies and the Ukraine gets up to its own dirty tricks. This is a war of words that no-body can win. This especially applies to all those European countries that depend on gas that comes from Ukrainian pipelines. A catch 22 situation make no mistake and especially deadly in the middle of winter with a cold storm approaching.
The thing is that this is all becoming slightly repetitive. When will all of this nonsense end?
