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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 18-Aug-2010
18-Aug-10 News -- The collapse of the Gaza tunnel economy

Web Log - August, 2010

18-Aug-10 News -- The collapse of the Gaza tunnel economy

Pakistan's government is snubbing flood aid from India

The collapse of the Gaza tunnel economy

The May confrontation between the Israel Defense Force (IDF) and the "freedom flotilla" that tried to break the Gaza blockade has had an unexpected consequence.

That confrontation resulted in the deaths of nine Turkish citizens, and resulted in international outrage and demands for Israel to end the blockade.

Israel never agreed to end the blockade, but they ended up changing the import rules: Anything can be imported into Gaza except for a specific list of items, things like weapons or building materials that Hamas, the terrorist group governing Gaza, could use to build bunkers.

Up until that time, there was a vigorous "tunnel economy" in Gaza. Thousands of Gazans were employed digging tunnels under the wall separating Gaza from Egypt, and then smuggling all kinds of goods through those tunnels.

But now that many of these goods can be imported legally, the tunnel economy is going through a "depression," as the people who built, maintained and smuggled goods through the tunnels are now mostly unemployed. The unemployed include people who were some of the best paid Palestinians in Gaza, earning some 120 shekels ($32) a day, according to Reuters.

At their peak, there were 2,500-3,000 tunnels in operation, but now there are just 50 operational tunnels, with only 10 working at any one time, according to the article. Palestinian merchants now buy their goods from Israel, rather than from smugglers.

The end of the tunnel economy is actually a disadvantage to Hamas, according to CS Monitor. Hamas has benefited in two different ways from the blockade: first by generating international sympathy and playing the victim, and second by shifting the economy to the black market that it largely controls.

However, Hamas remains firmly in control of Gaza, as the Palestinian Authority remains in control of the West Bank. As I've been writing since 2003, from the point of view of Generational Dynamics, the region will be re-fighting the genocidal was between Jews and Arabs that followed the partitioning of Palestine and the creation of the state of Israel in 1948.

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Pakistan's government is refusing to acknowledge or accept millions of dollars in flood aid offered by the Indian government, just as they snubbed aid from India after the 2005 tsunami. This is what my mother used to call "cutting off your nose to spite your face." Times of India

In four days, Russia will deliver nuclear fuel to Iran's Bushehr nuclear reactor. This means that after four days, Israel can no longer launch an attack on Bushehr, for fear of triggering widespread radiation. Jerusalem Post

The Pentagon has released its annual report on the military capabilities of China. We will have more to say about this report in the coming days, but suffice it to say that China is fully capable of a large-scale missile attack on the U.S. and the Pacific fleet. Department of Defense

An analysis of the Afghanistan war concludes that the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan will leave the Taliban in control of "vast areas" of the country. Memri

Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency now says that homegrown Islamist militants have overtaken the Indian army as the greatest threat to Pakistan's national security. This is the first time since Partition in 1947 that India hasn't been viewed as the top threat. WSJ (Access)

A new book debunks the myth that Hitler was a heroic soldier during World War I who was radicalized by the war, leading to the birth of the Nazi movement. Newly discovered letters and papers suggest that Hitler was referred to as a "rear area pig" (Etappenschwein) by his comrades, and that the heroic story was fabricated by Nazi propagandists. Independent

I actually met chess champion Bobby Fischer once, when we were both teenagers and I was in NYC and made an improptu visit to the Manhattan Chess Club. He was kind of a childhood hero of mine -- until he lost by default to Spassky in 1974, and then later turned into a Nazi. Anyway, he died in 2008, and a nine year old Filipina girl has been claiming to be Bobby Fischer's daughter, but a DNA test proves that she isn't. BBC

(Comments: For reader comments, questions and discussion, see the 18-Aug-10 News -- The collapse of the Gaza tunnel economy thread of the Generational Dynamics forum. Comments may be posted anonymously.) (18-Aug-2010) Permanent Link
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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 18-Aug-2010 18-Aug-10 News -- The collapse of the Gaza tunnel economy

The collapse of the Gaza tunnel economy

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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 18-Aug-2010
18-Aug-10 News -- The collapse of the Gaza tunnel economy