Press TV, Iran:  The IMF Report on Gaza War Economic Fallout

I heartily recommend to readers yesterday evening’s News Review on Iran’s Press TV in which I joined ‘academic broadcaster’ David Miller in Bristol to discuss the latest IMF Report on the negative impact that the Gaza War is having on the regional and global economy.

http://www.urmedium.net/c/presstv/128541

Visitors to the site will find that our views diverge on the relevance of the latest IMF report about the Gaza War and on the degree to which relative decline in America’s military dominance bears on the likely outcome of the ongoing conflict in West Asia.

Sadly, I find that there is an air of unreality in the matter of fact IMF report and in similarly dry United Nations reports on looming starvation among the Palestinian population huddled in Rafah and facing a ground assault by Israeli forces.  As I comment in this broadcast, it brings to mind the black humor of the worst of the Cold War days.

Transcript prepared by a reader

PressTV: 0:10
And now it’s time for this hour’s news review. World’s major financial institutions are raising the alarm over the global economic repercussions of the ongoing U.S.-Israeli aggression on Gaza. The International Monetary Fund has warned that Israel’s long-lasting attacks on Gaza, as well as the rising tension in the Red Sea, pose significant threats to the global economy. Now the UN’s financial agency says that such attacks could increase the risk of a spillover of the conflict into other regions, like the Suez Canal. Last month, the UN announced that the volume of commercial traffic passing through the Suez Canal had dropped by over 40% from the previous two months. Meanwhile, the World Bank has identified the Israeli war on Gaza as one of the top challenges to the global economic outlook.

1:08
I’d like to welcome my guests to this news review. Out of Bristol, David Miller, academic broadcaster and investigative researcher. And out of Brussels, Gilbert Doctorow, independent international affairs analyst. Thank you both for being with us.

…

3:38
Okay, well Gilbert, how do you see it? I would think that those Western governments that care so much about, of course, the economics and being hit like that, that they would see now at least the Israeli regime as an economic liability, if not trying to condemn it, of course, for all the brutal murders that it has taken, has done in the last four months. Are we likely to see more pressure from a lot of these Western governments now on the Israeli regime, at least because of the economic impact that this is having on them?

Doctorow: 4:15
Well, there is an air of unreality about discussion of the economic impact as it has played out so far. And this reminds me of an old Cold War black humor joke that a news program is presenting the latest flash news that the United States and Russia have just exchanged nuclear attacks, that Chicago no longer exists on the map and that St. Petersburg also has disappeared. And then the presenter proceeds to say, and now let’s go on, move on to the sports news.

4:51
The question of the economic suffering that the West and the world at large have suffered so far, have experienced so far as a result of the Houthi action, is nothing compared to what may yet come. What is happening in Ra’afah is very likely the scenario of ethnic cleansing, pushing them all to the Ra’afah crossing, and finally it breaks. And there’s a mass movement into Egypt.

5:24
We are now at the point where Egypt has threatened that it will break, that it will rescind the Camp David Accords and essentially break relations with Israel. If it stops at that– I don’t think it will stop at that. But Jordan has also, despite its very close alignment with the United States, has indicated that massive destruction in Ra’afah and the expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza into Egypt would potentially be a casus belli, and they go to war with Israel. It’s hard for me to understand in these circumstances how Iran will hold back and watch it all happen. I think we are very close to the outbreak of a general Middle East war, xxxxxxxx. Netanyahu, to save his own personal neck and ambition, is working just for that objective.

6:16
Now, I’d just like to take one step back, if you allow me. You have used repeatedly the word regime, the Israeli regime. I disagree. The Israeli government is a government. It was duly elected, and unfortunately and very sadly, it has the support of the Israeli population. Latest polls show that expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza has the support of the Israeli population. So the way that this problem can be resolved is not within Israeli politics. It can only be from outside. And unfortunately, by military actions, it would appear.

PressTV: 6:51
Well, interesting point you just made, Gilbert.

…

PressTV: 9:59
Okay, well Gilbert, your thoughts in just a minute. We’re seeing the end of the global hegemon, the United States, as it once was at the peak of power. But as David has just commented about, even right now, they are afraid to attack the Yemeni military straight on, or Yemen, take them on as you would think they would have done before in the past. How do you assess this? What do you think?

Doctorow: 10:29
Oh, I agree with my fellow panelist’s remarks about the limitations of U.S. power, that American military experts have been commenting in this way for several weeks. It’s one thing to show force as may have happened in the 1970s and 1980s by bringing in aircraft carrier fleets. But that was then. Today it’s a different military situation, far greater distribution of firepower and destructive power among relatively small players. So the United States has to be very cautious. Nonetheless, I don’t want to overdo this.

11:08
The United States is a very violent country, and its ability to create havoc and destruction and mass murder should not be underestimated. Therefore, I can appreciate the prudence of all of the actors in the Middle East not to provide a pretext for the United States to do something utterly abominable. It could do it. It would have no restraints from Congress. And so it is something that one cannot put off the table, as the Americans like to say.

PressTV: 11:40
All right. On that note, I thank both of you for being with me. David Miller, academic broadcaster, investigative researcher out of Bristol and Gilbert Doctorow, independent international affairs analyst out of Brussels. And thank you, viewers, for staying with us for another News Review.
11:57