A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.
While there is a lot of factual content in Patrick Cooper’s letter of December 21 (Unconditional surrender from Hamas, nothing less), it falls a little short of being objective or analytical.
At the moment, from an analytical view only, it appears that the so-called “Gaza War” will continue for some
time and at the cost of many more lives. Apparently the US and UN, and perhaps the wider world, do not favour the setting up of a massive refugee camp in the Sinai Desert, where almost unlimited aid could be provided to the refugees. We would apparently prefer to let the protagonists continue with their war of attrition, with the winner being “the last man standing”.
It is quite ironic that the Houthi threat to world shipping through the Suez Canal is now designated as the most pressing problem in the Middle East. With a powerful naval force gathering to protect the commercial shipping, it may not be long before the Houthis will “overstep the mark” and bring the wrath of the West down upon their bases in Yemen.
Whether that would ignite the powder keg of the Middle East, and bring Iran and its proxies into what could well become the start of WW3, remains a matter for conjecture.
The irony, of course, is that no amount of lives lost is prompting any real intervention, but as soon as commerce and the mighty dollar are threatened, we suddenly have a crisis.
