Shownotes
United States Pledges to Build a Seaport in Gaza.
In his State of the Union Address, President Biden called for a six-week ceasefire and promised to build a seaport to deliver aid to Gaza.
The project will be lead by U.S. troops and a company no-one has heard of until now. Wait until you find out who runs that company and what their aims in the Middle East are.
We also discuss what all of this mean for the Israeli blockade on Gaza and geopolitics in general?
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Transcripts
Welcome to Rabble Rants, I'm Santiago Gelo Quintero and alongside Jess McLean, we're going to unpack
Speaker:the stories that have us most riled up and challenge the narratives around them. Before we get into
Speaker:our rant on the US move to build a seaport in Gaza, we have an easy call to action for you.
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Speaker:and these rabble rants, which you can find on their own feed. All right. So hopefully by
Speaker:now folks have heard of Biden's plan to build a seaport. That's what we're going to call
Speaker:it throughout the episode. but we'll also speculate as to what its intentions are. So in order
Speaker:to have this discussion, we're gonna kind of set the stage what's happening in Gaza, especially
Speaker:as it pertains to geopolitics and humanitarian aid. So again, I'm sure people have also seen
Speaker:the airdrops and the photo ops that go along with all of this. I know Canada has sent some,
Speaker:the EU has resumed some aid and... All of them are sending politicians over to both Israel
Speaker:and Palestine. I don't know if we'll get into Jolie, but she has been over there posing with
Speaker:everyone she can. And some aid drops have been going in. Some trucks of humanitarian aid have
Speaker:been arriving, but not without issues. I mean, the U.S. and Jordanian military are dropping
Speaker:the most amount of aid by air. And they made a big deal out of this one drop that was like
Speaker:11,500 meals. And, you know, that deserved press and the amount of photography involved and
Speaker:follow up. And you're talking about like feeding less than 4,000 people for a day. There's 700,000
Speaker:people in Gaza right now that are starving. And so whatever they're doing right now. sure
Speaker:as fuck isn't working. You know, you see the trucks that are trying to get in through the
Speaker:like one or two crossings that are open. And I open is a loose term. And some of them are
Speaker:being blocked by Israeli citizens. They're using this whole, you know, Hamas will just steal
Speaker:the aid and use it to rebuild. And in the meantime, yeah, folks are actually, you've got a famine
Speaker:on your hands. One can't mention the aid being delivered into Gaza without also mentioning
Speaker:the flower massacres. That's plural now. We did report on the last one that was on February
Speaker:29th. That killed 112 people, wounded 750. But they have been repeated over and over again.
Speaker:The most recent, I believe it was March 14th, with over 50 casualties. There's one location,
Speaker:the Kuwait roundabout in Gaza City, that has been repeatedly targeted as people are approaching
Speaker:these humanitarian aid convoys. The fact that the world is standing by as Israel massacres
Speaker:people that are trying to get food, nothing really surprises me anymore, but I feel like
Speaker:that becomes like a new low globally, surely. Yeah, I feel like, you know, having looked
Speaker:at history, if they wanted to get more aid in, they could easily, you know, instead of air
Speaker:drops, you put a French US, whatever you want ship directly to Gaza, or you go in directly
Speaker:on the ground to deliver aid, it's it is doable, because Israel cannot afford to directly attack
Speaker:any Western powers. So when you see these airdrops killing people because they're not dropped
Speaker:properly, to me it feels like, I mean, back in the day, like whatever happened to, and
Speaker:you know, we talk about how the UN isn't particularly good at what they do. But what happened to
Speaker:UN peacekeepers? Wasn't that something that Canada is supposed to be super proud of? Lester
Speaker:B. Pearson and whatever. Why is not peacekeeping missions to go and deliver aid? Well, this
Speaker:one's a little bit more complicated. Like, Gaza's got a unique kind of geography that doesn't
Speaker:allow for really large ships without a pier. And the closest pier to most of the people
Speaker:is one that was built in Cognouness. 10 years ago, I think it was, but it's now obviously
Speaker:not faring very well. If anybody's seen aerial footage of Gaza, there's very little infrastructure
Speaker:left that would allow that kind of facilitation. So jetties would be required. It definitely
Speaker:still is possible. I mean, the people of Gaza fish, it is accessible by boat. However, we
Speaker:also have to remember there is an Israeli marine embargo. So That's where it gets a little bit
Speaker:complicated because anything that we're going to discuss moving forward likely in a way contravenes
Speaker:this blockade of Gaza that's been going on far longer than the hostilities since October 7th
Speaker:that most people are focused on. So it's possible logistically, but politically is it. So we're
Speaker:seeing a bit of a shift, though. Obviously, I think. Just the level of carnage and the
Speaker:political backlash, particularly the Biden's basin. So for folks who don't follow US politics,
Speaker:we don't really all that much either, but you must know that there's an election brewing
Speaker:and now it's decided it will be between Biden and Trump and a large portion of Biden's base
Speaker:is very upset with him. They're casting undecided ballots. They're showing real displeasure in
Speaker:the only candidate that they have available to beat Trump. And so this is a political crisis
Speaker:for Biden that he has to navigate. And I think we're seeing the narrative shift and their
Speaker:suggestion of building a seaport that comes into play. I think that has a lot to do with
Speaker:these political games and nothing really kind of grounded in actually delivering essential
Speaker:humanitarian aid. because Israel could be letting in a whole bunch more aid right now. Right.
Speaker:There are more crossings than the ones that are open. Israel claims that they're not blocking
Speaker:any of them. We know that that's not true. There are aid ships like flotillas that have attempted
Speaker:to come and bring aid to Gaza before. Now, I don't think anybody's attempted the crossing
Speaker:just because the level of military activity in the area. But there is an aid ship that
Speaker:is stocked and now off the coast of Gaza, sent by a charity in Spain. Open Arms is the name
Speaker:of the ship and the charity. It's got 200 tons of food and people can actually see it on the
Speaker:beaches of Gaza, which has got to be fucking torture. But it's the need for kind of jetties
Speaker:to take them back and forth. And Israel, of course, the UN reminded them and they just
Speaker:ignored it. All of the rulings from January 31st have meant nothing to Israel. They know
Speaker:what their obligations are under humanitarian law and they're not meeting any of them. In
Speaker:fact, They're the ones creating the situation. So, but this narrative shift, I want to focus
Speaker:on that because I think it brings us to the sepulchre. Wasn't there supposed to be like
Speaker:a one month deadline before they had to check back in? Has that happened? So the ICJ ruling
Speaker:was actually that Israel must submit a report to them on how it intends to address all the
Speaker:issues raised and deliver the humanitarian aid within a month. So that is common. That's long
Speaker:past. But I think when the ruling came down, we all knew that Israel never intended to follow
Speaker:up on anything. They denied the legitimacy of the court and even our own politicians kind
Speaker:of scoffed at the ruling. So they knew the globe, the global community would not hold them accountable
Speaker:to that. So I think it's hit a fever pitch. And one of the things that really surprised
Speaker:me is when CNN did a recent report on the situation in Palestine. And in their... fancy newsroom
Speaker:with their, what do you call it, like digitalized walls. They threw up pictures or images representing
Speaker:all of the dead Palestinian children that had been killed since October 7th. And it wrapped
Speaker:around, you know, it was a very gut wrenching piece. It was shocking because it was CNN.
Speaker:And I think it was kind of evidence that what we've been talking about before of it becoming
Speaker:impossible to defend the Zionist narrative now. And so there needs to be alternatives, right?
Speaker:The media can't keep doing it, but surely they see they're walking step in step with the US
Speaker:government and the military establishment there and their plans. So it was like, boom, boom.
Speaker:So as soon as we posted up about the CNN kind of narrative shift, folks were in the replies
Speaker:going, don't buy it. There's always a purpose to this and the purpose is the seaport. So
Speaker:the reason you're seeing the... the US media shift their talking points and start to focus
Speaker:on the, and not just the US media, but BBC is now talking about the inhumane treatment of
Speaker:medical staff in Gaza at the hands of the IDF. A lot more scathing reports are coming out,
Speaker:honest reporting on the human rights abuses of Israel. And so what is the purpose of this?
Speaker:To justify the seaport. And as we talk about the seaport, we'll start to speculate why.
Speaker:Why is this such an emergency military operation as Biden described it in his State of the Union
Speaker:address? He not only called for the seaport to be built, but for a six-week ceasefire.
Speaker:Very specific. And just so happens that it takes about a month to build this type of pier that
Speaker:they are proposing. That's convenient. Because it will be in a very precarious spot, right?
Speaker:We're talking about just off the coast of Gaza. This is where the Israeli army is pounding
Speaker:Ra'afah, Gaza City still, and Khan Yunis with airstrikes and their ground troops are also
Speaker:in the area. Presumably also Hamas troops are in the area. And so it's not a very safe security
Speaker:spot. And so I think this is really self-serving ceasefire because he couldn't afford to lose
Speaker:US troops to this. Well, I instantly start thinking about oil, right? Because didn't they discover
Speaker:a bunch of oil off the coast of Gaza? Natural gas, LNG. I hate history sometimes, right?
Speaker:Like, it does just feel like the look. Like, we can only operate off of what we know, but
Speaker:US acting out of the best interests of humanity is not exactly something that ever happens,
Speaker:so. No, I was saying like even my mom, I said, Mom, she goes, What are you recording on? I
Speaker:go, Well, the US wants to build a seaport in Gaza. They say it's for food. And she goes,
Speaker:Oh, my God. Like she knew she'd watched enough paramilitary operations in Hollywood to know
Speaker:that they're never up to any good. But we don't need to speculate. We've got a few facts to
Speaker:help people get there themselves. And it's like, you know, look, six weeks ceasefire for self
Speaker:serving interests. still saves people. That's the thing is that we're in a position right
Speaker:now where, you know, it's not exactly like I'm out here saying, no, don't give us a ceasefire.
Speaker:We don't want to see, like, you know, yeah, stop killing people. That would be great. But
Speaker:can it not be for self-serving interests? And can it be permanent? Yeah. And not a ceasefire,
Speaker:but an end to the occupation is really, and I know what you mean, like there are ideals
Speaker:and there are what we can get right now from war hawks. So the fact that the US is offering
Speaker:or suggesting a ceasefire, you know, might assist in the situation. But I think when we're looking
Speaker:long term at what the establishment of a seaport by US military personnel in Palestine would
Speaker:mean, even in that region starts to shift your perspective perhaps a little bit. And I think
Speaker:it's because of this urgency that they're allowed to mask this ulterior motive. Right? Because
Speaker:how can we say no? If you were going to deliver and stop the death, the starvation deaths of
Speaker:people who've already experienced such trauma, then you're like, yes, of course, bring them
Speaker:food, like any means necessary. And then we fall into that trouble. You can't undo that.
Speaker:The US will never remove that access to their seaport. And we've seen what they've done to
Speaker:other nations. where they've gone in to provide assistance and they've never been out from
Speaker:under their thumb again. You'd probably just change one occupier for another to be honest.
Speaker:But let's look at what we know about the seaport. Because face value, I don't believe anything,
Speaker:especially with the US is still supplying Israel with weapons. Now Canada, we've just found
Speaker:out it's been reported that since January 8th, so almost Canada's government put a pause on
Speaker:the permits people need in order to ship technology. They call it non-lethal weaponry. We've talked
Speaker:about that before. It absolutely does kill people, but it includes night vision goggles and all
Speaker:this other stuff. They've not been able to ship that from Canada since January 8th. So there
Speaker:has in fact been an informal embargo put on them. But yeah, so in the State of the Union,
Speaker:Biden, he mentions this seaport for like the first time. 36 hours later, the General Frank
Speaker:S. Besson is set sail from Virginia on its way to Gaza to build the seaport. And folks from
Speaker:inside Gaza will show video footage of bulldozers, other heavy machinery entering Gaza for the
Speaker:purpose of building the seaport and not of rescuing people from under the rubble or any kind of
Speaker:rebuilding efforts. So clearly those trucks had no trouble getting in and getting past.
Speaker:They do say it's for humanitarian aid. They're specific, that it would be food, water, medicine,
Speaker:and temporary shelters. So they're basically gonna sustain this refugee camp that's been
Speaker:established in Rafa, expanded, rather, in Rafa. They're calling it an emergency military mission,
Speaker:as though 160 days in, this wasn't already thought of or a possibility. But... It's a no boots
Speaker:on the ground kind of promise, although it will take a thousand US military personnel to build
Speaker:it. They say they've got all this technology that won't allow them to actually get out of
Speaker:the water. So somehow no boots on the ground is really quite literal. They will be just
Speaker:off the shore of Gaza in full reach of them, but won't actually step foot on shore, presumably.
Speaker:It's going to be like a floating. There's photos of it all over the internet. We'll link some
Speaker:of the things to it. It's what's going to allow larger ships and larger equipment to be offloaded.
Speaker:So not just trucks and aid. This is something that the military regularly builds for ground
Speaker:invasions by sea. Get ground troops by sea. And all of a sudden they're just going to apply
Speaker:it to humanitarian efforts only. But It's not just the US military's involvement that makes
Speaker:it sus. Like that's enough sometimes, right? But it's been sourced out largely to this company
Speaker:called Fogbo, F-O-G-B-O-W. And it's this company's makeup that really kind of sells the story
Speaker:of what their likely intentions are for this marine access.
Speaker:on hand with right they've opened up a new sea route that comes from Cyprus which is like
Speaker:the closest EU nation so they'll be able to also take credit for this. So Fogboat LLC it's
Speaker:a pretty new company it only established in 2022 it's registered in Wyoming and almost
Speaker:nobody knows anything about it well that's changing quickly but I mean if you go to their website
Speaker:they don't give out a whole lot of information there's not a lot of previous articles or data
Speaker:on the internet. for this company, but basically it's headed by a bunch of spooks. Its CEO is
Speaker:Carl Sam Mundy. This is like a retired commander of the US Marine Central Command. And then
Speaker:the other folks that run this company, Mark Mulroy, former CIA paramilitary officer. He's
Speaker:also the former assistant secretary of defense for Trump. specifically for the Middle East.
Speaker:He's also got a relationship with the Biden administration. He helped smooth over the transition
Speaker:that Trump didn't want to happen. So he's in close with both sides of the political elites.
Speaker:That asshole also co-directed something called the Yemen Steering Initiative. And this is
Speaker:an important point. This is like a $50 billion initiative, and they've been tasked with establishing
Speaker:democracy and stability in Yemen. I don't know what episode I need to refer you all to, but
Speaker:I mean, even just in our eulogy of Brian Mulroney, we explain neoliberalism and the establishing
Speaker:of democracies in so-called third world countries. And what it really is about is establishing
Speaker:economic presence there, big capital presence, and it's just heightened exploitation of workers
Speaker:in those areas. That's really all it ends up being. And in Yemen, you have a... the US holding
Speaker:up their chosen government and that allows them to delegitimize the Houthi rebels. So that's
Speaker:a complicated political situation, but these are the kinds of people now that are going
Speaker:to be building this peer. They have never done anything humanitarian in their life. They have
Speaker:advised politicians specifically on how to strengthen their national security through a relationship
Speaker:with Israel. All of them have ties to an organization, an institution called JINSA. This is the Jewish
Speaker:Institute for National Security of America. It's a training program for really high ranking
Speaker:military officials. I'm talking generals and admirals. They go in, they meet the Israeli
Speaker:prime minister, they talk to Mossad. They are taught and it's emphasized how important US
Speaker:national security is to Israel and vice versa and how they're intertwined. These are the
Speaker:folks that actually run these junkets that essentially dictate... military policies, especially as
Speaker:it relates to the Middle East. The more you know about this company and the people that
Speaker:are building the pier, the more you understand that it's a complete military strategic move
Speaker:for the United States and the region and nothing else. They may feed Gazans. They'll have to.
Speaker:I mean, if they build the pier, I don't know what kind of malarkey they could make up to
Speaker:somehow then justify. allowing that starvation to occur, but this is going to be a huge geopolitical
Speaker:shift in the region. So does it change how you feel about the bridge at all when you hear
Speaker:about the company building it? In what way? Because I'm not exactly feeling good about
Speaker:any of it, right? Well, I think like, because you kind of express like, well, we need to
Speaker:feed people. And that is true. And a peer would... deliver that and I think a lot of people will
Speaker:give it a green light mentally or not resist it so much because it likely would mean more
Speaker:food, more medicine going to people who need it so desperately. I think like you said, if
Speaker:they really wanted aid there, like ground aid is the most efficient way to deliver it. And
Speaker:we do have global forces. There are means to force Israel's hand into actually opening these
Speaker:routes and securing aid where it needs to go. I feel like... this is the most expensive and
Speaker:politically tumultuous way to possibly deliver aid. Yeah, it's a situation where given the
Speaker:absence of truly compassionate humanitarian ways of doing this, realistic ones, you know,
Speaker:I mean, it's given the state of geopolitical politics and everything. It's kind of a situation
Speaker:where as long as we're relying on... powerful nations with the interest of powerful nations
Speaker:to solve the problem. You're gonna get these, you know, double-edged solutions to things
Speaker:where, because at the end of the day, that's the thing is it doesn't really benefit. Like
Speaker:what do Western powers have to gain from genociding the Palestinian population really? You know,
Speaker:I'm not talking Israel here. I'm talking everyone else. What do they have to gain from a genocide?
Speaker:control of the natural resources in that area. Ah, well, maybe. Maybe not. Maybe Israel wants
Speaker:the control of it. But I think that's what this is about. I think once the US establishes this
Speaker:military presence or this access, because in a way Israel might be going along with it.
Speaker:This might be in consultation with them to a degree, but there's no doubt that it undermines
Speaker:their blockade, it undermines their position, and it- It undoubtedly creates a stronghold
Speaker:for the US in a way that I think that they maybe can stop begging Israel to behave a certain
Speaker:way. There's this political dance that seems to be going on between Biden and Bibi and it's
Speaker:really costing Biden. If we know anything about US politicians, it's that they will risk almost
Speaker:anything sometimes to simply win elections. It's incredible the things that they'll do
Speaker:to distract from whatnot, but they're in a desperate situation here where... They're made to look
Speaker:so bad and the world has turned on Israel. They cannot defend the Zionist ideology anymore.
Speaker:So they need to have a different reason to be in the Middle East. Remember when Biden was
Speaker:like, if there wasn't an Israel, we'd invent an Israel. So he invented in the form of Palestine.
Speaker:Even that would be like best case scenario out of the built of the seaport is that it helps
Speaker:the US to secure statehood for Palestine. But that would definitely be under a US type rule.
Speaker:They would not simply allow that access. And I don't even think that they would go for that.
Speaker:I think this is a way of the US to just dominate the region again, more definitively, rather
Speaker:than having to use Israel as a proxy, because they do seem to have lost control of that state,
Speaker:at least under Netanyahu. And like you said, there's US politicians calling for an election.
Speaker:So they're frustrated with looking bad through Israel. It's kind of gotten out of hand for
Speaker:them. Yeah. Like at the end of the day, the US, they're not helping Israel. They don't
Speaker:support Israel because they believe in the Zionist project, or at least not the powerful. It's
Speaker:always, what can we gain from this? Biden talks about how if there wasn't an Israel, they would
Speaker:have to create one so that they can have a powerful ally in the Middle East. And I mean, sure,
Speaker:I mean, there's a decent amount of Christian Zionist evangelicals who are very powerful,
Speaker:who are doing this out of a belief in the Zionist project, but they're doing it for very selfish
Speaker:reasons because they believe it'll bring upon, you know, end of days and whatnot. But yeah,
Speaker:there's always something to gain from this. And so just looking at this, it's very much...
Speaker:It's a time when I get a little... I don't know. confused about what we even ask for because
Speaker:we want a ceasefire. We want an end to the occupation. We want all of these things. How do we get
Speaker:it? Well, if we're, if we're asking the powerful countries, the only way that that's going to
Speaker:happen is if they have something to gain from it, right? Or too much to lose. I think like
Speaker:a lot of the pressure that people are building at the grassroots level is to weigh on the
Speaker:other side. So although you might lose that gain. whatever that economic gain might have
Speaker:been from aiding Israel's genocide. But you also have that political capital loss. So there
Speaker:has to be a balance. And it's trying to create that threshold where it's just not politically
Speaker:safe anymore. No matter how much you have to win, you've lost too much. You've lost your
Speaker:base. Biden is an issue, but people can see it with Trudeau right in the polls, slipping
Speaker:so terribly below Poliev. It's, it was a gamble that they really have lost on it. And unfortunately,
Speaker:in both the Canada and US elections will likely end up with the ultimate evils. We've had these
Speaker:discussions many times before, but because these folks have held on for so long and made bad
Speaker:calls, we're gonna end up with even shittier governments. There's a certain sense, and I
Speaker:don't exactly, like I'm not happy to convey this sense, but there's a certain. helplessness
Speaker:where it's like, well, what the fuck do we do? You know, I don't exactly know. Barring a paradigm
Speaker:shift of, I don't know, I don't know. I really like, the US is gonna make some money here.
Speaker:They're gonna gain further control. And you know, it's a useful lesson. It's a useful lesson,
Speaker:but we've had plenty of useful lessons, you know? And that's the frustrating thing is like.
Speaker:looking at all of these terrible conflicts, terrible genocides, terrible things all over
Speaker:the world, it always ends the same way, doesn't it? Until there's something substantially different.
Speaker:And the thing is that for the US control, it doesn't mean sovereignty for Palestine. It
Speaker:doesn't mean that the Palestinian cause wins. It just means that maybe Israel has to back
Speaker:down a bit. Nobody knows, I guess, what the end result is. will be yet. But I guess if
Speaker:we look to especially Iraq and the use of US contractors to essentially act like military
Speaker:personnel in the end and to assert authority over the population in the same way, it's a
Speaker:common tactic used by the military. And I think we raised this issue, one, because being aware
Speaker:of everything is always just like half the battle, but two, to proceed with caution in the same
Speaker:way grifters like Sean King can walk into a community in crisis and be glorified and all
Speaker:his mistakes kind of forgotten. I think sometimes, but some people in desperate situations like
Speaker:the Palestinians are right now will openly accept any assistance possible and not have time.
Speaker:to be cautious. And I don't actually know what the answer is, like, what do we do about this?
Speaker:But surely at least applying a lens of the same colonial experience that the US has repeated
Speaker:over and over, imperialist tactic that we go in with at least open eyes and with warnings
Speaker:to our Palestinian comrades that not all aid is equal.
