Episode 115

full
Published on:

18th Mar 2024

Rabble Rants: U.S. Seaport in Gaza

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?

---------------

All of our content is free - made possible by the generous sponsorships of our Patrons. If you would like to support us: Patreon

Follow us on Instagram

Resources:

Transcript
Speaker:

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.

Speaker:

We're still trying to expand our reach. So while you're listening to this episode, share our

Speaker:

feed with a friend or a like-minded coworker. We got two podcasts now, Blueprints of Disruption

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.

Listen for free

Show artwork for Blueprints of Disruption

About the Podcast

Blueprints of Disruption
Blueprints of Disruption is dedicated to amplifying the work of activists, organizers and rabble rousers. This weekly podcast, hosted by Jessa McLean and Santiago Helou Quintero, features in-depth discussions that explore different ways to challenge capitalism, decolonize spaces and create movements on the ground. Together we will disrupt the status quo one Thursday at a time.

About your hosts

Jessa McLean

Profile picture for Jessa McLean
Host, Jessa McLean is a socialist political and community organizer from Ontario.

Santiago Helou Quintero

Profile picture for Santiago Helou Quintero
Producer