The Messiah Complex

Since my previous entry 12 days ago, I have been completely consumed by operations  Rising Lion and Midnight Hammer . In some ways my behavioral health and religious observance have suffered a negative two-week hit, and in other ways they have acquired renewed positive focus. But I will not undertake a relatively self-centered cost-benefit analysis at this time. Nor will I share my thoughts about the eschatological significance of these two operations. That can come later, God willing. I only have a few hours now to drill in with some technical observations for intermediate followers of the  UN Security Council's Iran file.  Intermediate Iran file observers will be reasonably familiar with the information provided in  Iran: Non-proliferation Briefing  at What's In Blue by Security Council Report . President Trump has subsequently announced a ceasefire between Israel and Iran (cf.  Ceasefire between Israel and Iran agreed after 12-day conflict, Trump...

It is Thursday evening at 6:17 PM Eastern and I have just finished watching  General Assembly: 60th Plenary Meeting, Tenth Emergency Special Session | UN Web TV . Let me first say to the President of the General Assembly that I am not sure on a broad conceptual and procedural level whether it was best to convene this debate under the heading of Tenth Emergency Special Session . A strong case can be made that it should have been convened under an agenda item entitled “Strengthening of the United Nations System”  per A/RES/76/262 , if not under a Twelfth Emergency Special Session. I say this because the issue at hand does not seem to be " Illegal Israeli actions in occupied East Jerusalem and the rest of the Occupied Palestinian Territory." It is certainly not about an Israeli decision to build a housing project in East Jerusalem, though this may have seemed to be an emergency to Qatar in 1997. The issue at hand is the genocidal 7 October 2023 mass atrocity carried out by H...

The world political situation is at an incredibly sensitive juncture. If the reports are accurate about a recent letter from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to French President Emmanuel Macron and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (cf.  In first, Palestinian Authority's Abbas condemns Hamas's October 7 attack | The Times of Israel ), then Prime Minister Netanyahu should recognize that  Israel's eight-front existential crisis  has reached an inflection point and he should respond to Abbas by issuing a unilateral Israeli ceasefire prior to the reconvening of the Tenth Special Emergency Session at UNHQ in New York on Thursday (cf.  Spanish UN resolution calls for ‘all measures necessary’ against Israel | JNS.org ). Netanyahu might deliver a short and powerful announcement of the ceasefire along the following lines: "President Abbas should have said all of this sooner, and the UN General Assembly with him, but it might not be t...

I've maintained silence for a week since I published Finding My Voice in the Extended UN Security Council Peacemaking Circle . During that time, Hamas has refused to accept the terms of a ceasefire proposal recommended to it by American, Egyptian, and Qatari mediators. Israel has agreed to the proposal while continuing its new offensive in Gaza. The strategic wisdom - if not plausible military necessity - of this new offensive is debatable, even among patriotic Israeli security analysts. Is it just an unfortunate coincidence that Netanyahu seems to need the continuation of the war to keep his coalition afloat? How does this structural coincidence intersect with allegations by South Africa at the International Court of Justice that Israel has genocidal intent? On the ground in Gaza, it's unclear whether the humanitarian situation has gotten better or worse over the last seven days because independent media access is restricted by the Israeli government and there has been a great...

Yesterday's UN Security Council meeting on the Situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian Question, was nuanced, informative and moving. I hold the diplomats at the United Nations in high regard. I also have great respect for the civil society representative - a fellow American - who briefed the council yesterday. If you have never listened to a full UN Security Council meeting on the Palestinian Question, let me suggest that this was one for the history books. The ceasefire, hostage release, and two-state negotiations are sensitive, alongside the nuclear negotiations with Iran, and I have to ask God whether there is anything I should be writing to change the existing state of play on these tracks: Full text of Witkoff's proposal for 60-day Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal | The Times of Israel PM said to principally back Witkoff outline; Hamas may okay it -- with reservations | The Times of Israel I will pray on whether it is my place to share anything more...

It's 9:40 AM Eastern Time on Wednesday morning and I am about to observe the 9923rd UN Security Council meeting here in New York on UN Web TV (cf.  The Middle East, including the Palestinian Question: Briefing and Consultations | What's In Blue | Security Council Report ). I have watched many UN Security Council meetings over the years, but this will be my first in a couple of months. While I am waiting for the meeting to start, this is a good opportunity for me to congratulate Mahmoud Daifallah Mahmoud Hmoud of Jordan, newly elected to serve as a judge on the International Court of Justice. He was elected without a single negative vote in either the Security Council or the General Assembly.

Colonialism, Explained  was recently brought to my attention by Pascal at Neutrality Studies . Now I am not sure whether to continue subscribing to Pascal's channel or to drop it altogether in my quest for greater geopolitical balance of opinion in a constructive UN Charter reform context. 

Thank you to the Albany Times Union for an affordable six-month Memorial Day 2025 special subscription offer. I am now signed up. As I think about President Trump laying a wreath in Arlington, I cannot help but recall two stories I read this morning on page A5 of the Times Union. They are both from the Associated Press: Crowd marks George Floyd murder anniversary and Israel's latest Gaza strikes kill 38, including children .  Digging deeper into the settler colonial counter-narrative, here is an image of the Wounded Knee Memorial: And here is the logo of the Native American Veterans Association: We remember all sides on Memorial Day in America. I am still somewhat confused by the distinction between intentional murder and unintentional murder as it applies in the case against Derek Chauvin. Furthermore, Chauvin was not charged with a hate crime. Does this mean that the unintentional police homicide of George Floyd had nothing to do with the victim being black, as far as the best ...

Welcome to the sixth Sunday of Easter at the start of week 22 in the year 2025.  Last Sunday I said I would define the "El problem" today. In the meantime, I have learned that the El problem (cf. Joshua 22:22) is a Saturday issue, not a Sunday issue. Specifically, it's an issue related to Saturn in kosher astrology circles. The journey of my doubt, reason, and faith in the resurrection of Jesus - literal and symbolic - is a Sunday issue.  And to the extent that every day on Earth is a new solar day, the journey of my faith in the resurrection of Jesus is also a daily concern. Every day sees a new birth of the Sun, and of all that is on the Earth beneath the Sun, just as every day presents our minds once again with the resurrection testimonies of the Apostles as maintained by the Church. In my forties I was an endurance runner who belonged to the church of the Sunday morning long run. Now I am in my fifties, I am on psychiatric medications, and I have fallen out of shape. ...