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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 8-Sep-2014
8-Sep-14 World View -- Mahmoud Abbas threatens to end the 'Palestinian unity' government

Web Log - September, 2014

8-Sep-14 World View -- Mahmoud Abbas threatens to end the 'Palestinian unity' government

Russia threatens Nato with a new nuclear military doctrine

This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com

Russia consolidates gains in Ukraine with ceasefire plan
Russia threatens Nato with a new nuclear military doctrine
Mahmoud Abbas threatens to end the 'Palestinian unity' government

Russia consolidates gains in Ukraine with ceasefire plan

U.S. 173 airborne brigade soldiers leave a C-17 aircraft during the 'Steadfast Javelin II' military exercise in the former Soviet state of Latvia on Saturday (Reuters/MoscowTimes)

U.S. 173 airborne brigade soldiers leave a C-17 aircraft during the 'Steadfast Javelin II' military exercise in the former Soviet state of Latvia on Saturday (Reuters/MoscowTimes)

Weeks after Russia sent thousands of troops, hundreds of tanks, and other heavy weapons to join the anti-government militias in Ukraine, Russia appears to be consolidating its gains from the invasion by arranging for a ceasefire on Friday between Ukraine's government and the anti-government militias.

The ceasefire may or may not be holding, depending on what reports you read. Apparently the strategic port of Mariupol is still under at least sporadic attack by the Russians. If the Russian troops are successful in capturing Mariupol, then then can push through and link up with Russia troops already in the peninsula of Crimea, which Russia invaded and annexed in March.

There are no analysts that I heard who believe that the conflict is finally over. By means of "stealth invasion tactics," the Russian troops have leveraged local anti-government militias first to annex Crimea, and then to freeze Russian control of much of eastern and southern Ukraine, referred to by the Russians as "Novorossiya" (New Russia). Even if the current ceasefire holds for a few days, there seems little doubt that Russian troops will eventually push on to Crimea, and then on to the port of Odessa, to link up with the secessionist Transnistria province of Moldova. France 24 and Bloomberg

Russia threatens Nato with a new nuclear military doctrine

According to Mark Galeotti, an expert in Russian military and security affairs at New York University, Russia's success in invading Ukraine comes from a military doctrine called "non-linear hybrid war" -- using highly trained and well equipped troops working in unison with local militant groups to destabilize territories. He expects Russia's next military doctrine revision to "place greater emphasis on intervention forces: the thought that 1,000 to 3,000 troops in the right place and in the right political environment, as we see in Ukraine, can make a big difference."

Although Nato has indicated that it will not use military force to oppose Russian forces in Ukraine, the invasion has energized Nato enough so that Russia is also revise its military doctrine to envision nuclear war with Nato, according to Russian sources. The doctrine may list Nato not only as the primary threat to Russia, but detail the scenarios in which preemptive nuclear strikes against the alliance would be on the table. Moscow Times

Mahmoud Abbas threatens to end the 'Palestinian unity' government

A bitterly angry Palestinian Authority (PA/Fatah) president Mahmoud Abbas is threatening to terminate the "Palestinian unity agreement" that Fatah signed with Hamas on April 23. Abbas is quoted as saying:

"I don't trust Hamas much because they change their words all the time. There must be a unified Palestinian Authority. ...
You [Hamas] are smuggling weapons, explosives and money to the (West) Bank - and not to fight Israel, but to hold a coup against the (Palestinian) Authority.
Hamas has been trying to cause the Palestinian Authority to fail since the day it was formed."

During the last week we've been highlighting the Mideast realignment following the Gaza war around a growing fault line separating Israel plus Egypt plus Saudi Arabia plus PA/Fatah versus the Hamas plus Qatar plus Turkey, with vitriolicly anti-American Iran increasingly aligning itself with America and the West. So it's not surprising at all that the Hamas - Fatah unity government is collapsing.

Part of the "peace agreement" that ended the Gaza war was to give the unity government control of Gaza. However, Abbas is accusing Hamas of running a "shadow government" that shuts out the unity government:

"We will not accept the situation with Hamas continuing as it is at the moment.
We won't accept a partnership with them if the situation continues like this in Gaza where there is a shadow government ... running the territory.
The national consensus [unity] government cannot do anything on the ground."

Abbas was also bitterly angry at the way Fatah members were treated during the war: "Hamas conducted atrocities during the war in Gaza, also at its end when it executed 120 people without trial because they breached the curfew placed on them."

Mahmoud Abbas, born 1935, is the last of the major Mideast leaders who lived through and survived the genocidal 1948 war between Jews and Arabs that followed the partitioning of Palestine and the creation of the state of Israel. Like all survivors of generational crisis wars, he has devoted much of his life to try to make sure that nothing so horrible would happen to his children and grandchildren. As the leader of the Palestinian Authority, he is trying to find a way to prevent the new war that he senses is coming. If he fails, and he will, it will be the biggest personal failure of his lifetime. al-Jazeera and Deutsche Welle and Israel National News

(Comments: For reader comments, questions and discussion, see the 8-Sep-14 World View -- Mahmoud Abbas threatens to end the 'Palestinian unity' government thread of the Generational Dynamics forum. Comments may be posted anonymously.) (8-Sep-2014) Permanent Link
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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 8-Sep-2014 8-Sep-14 World View -- Mahmoud Abbas threatens to end the 'Palestinian unity' government

Russia consolidates gains in Ukraine with ceasefire plan

Russia threatens Nato with a new nuclear military doctrine

Mahmoud Abbas threatens to end the 'Palestinian unity' government

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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 8-Sep-2014
8-Sep-14 World View -- Mahmoud Abbas threatens to end the 'Palestinian unity' government