PALESTINE - A GOVERNMENT IN EXILE IN ITS OWN COUNTRY

24 September 2025

Short polemical post on an absurd injustice created by colonial hypocrisy where land was promised by people who didn't own it and given or rather taken by another who weren't living rhere, without any regard for the native people who actually inhabited the region.

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A Government in Exile in Its Own Country

Recognition of Palestine by Britain, France and others has created one of the strangest paradoxes in modern politics. The Palestinian Authority in Ramallah is now the recognised government of Palestine. But in reality, Hamas controls Gaza, running the streets, the police, and the ministries with near 100% support from the citizens of this newly-created state.

Normally, a government-in-exile rules from abroad: the Free French in London, the Poles during the war, Tibet in India, the Kuomintang (Republic of China) in Formosa. 

But here is something new. Hamas is not abroad. It is on its own land and it holds territory, it commands loyalty and it exercises power, but it has no legitimacy in the eyes of the international system and is condemned as a terrorist state. 

And while the West recognises Palestine (rather late in the day) yet it still continues to supply arms to Palestine's adversary, bent on its destruction. That's rather more than irony, that is a cruel and murderous hypocrisy.

Meanwhile, the PA has the opposite problem: it enjoys recognition, has seats at the UN, and gets assistance from European chancelleries, but has little control or legitimacy on the ground.

This must be a first in world history:

- a government-in-exile that never left home

- a state that gets recognition from the West who nonetheless is focused on its destruction.

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Which of the following best sum up the situation?:

• “A land without a people for a people without a land".

• "A land promised by those who did not own it, to those who did not live in it, taken from those who inhabited it".

• Palestine today is ruled by a government with territory but no recognition, and another with recognition but no territory.

• With one hand they recognise Palestine and with the other they destroy it.

• A government in exile in its own country.

[End]

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Markets Weekly 4 Oct 2024

6 October 2024

Here is Joseph Wang including geopolitics in his markets weekly report (and seems to be taking sides even, from the point of view of the investor, though he does say he's saddened by these developments in the Middle East).

The main point he is making is that Israel sees this as a "generational opportunity" to expand its territory and the window will likely be closed by the next presidential election. So if they're going to do anything they will do it now. "Now" means in the next couple of weeks!

Markets Weekly 4 Oct 2024

But he doesn't actually go into what might be the effects of an all-out war between Israel backed by America, and Iran, on asset prices.

So in summary, here's what analysts, reading from previous wars, are saying we could expect:

1. Short-term sharp decline in stock markets due to global uncertainty and market fear.

2. Oil price spike leading to higher costs, inflation, and pressure on corporate profits.

3. Sector-specific effects: Energy stocks may rise, while tech, consumer, and industrial sectors could face declines.

4. Safe-haven assets such as gold and US Treasuries would likely see inflows, while equities would experience outflows.

5. Long-term recovery in asset prices, especially stock markets, is possible, but would depend on the length and scale of the conflict and its impact on global trade and energy supplies.

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IN GAZA, THE SCENT OF DEATH FILLS THE AIR

19 October 2024

I've just been watching a very interesting account of the travels of Voyager 1 and Voyager 2. They set off from Earth in the 70s. They're still going strong today, and in something like 30,000 years, they'll leave our solar system.

Of course, by that time it is quite possible that the planet Earth will no longer exist, we having blown ourselves apart.

The whole of Gaza Strip has now been razed to the ground, and I imagine that two million people are sleeping under the stars, huddled under torn blankets, with no food, disease creeping over them all, the scent of death filling the air. 

Just imagine the scene that will be captured by the world's cameras when we get in to Camp Gaza and find all these living skeletons with their sunken eyes staring back at us.

Perhaps if images can be beamed out to Voyager, these will be some of the memories sent from a dead and distant planet.

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