Digest #4 - Abbas Barks At Hamas, UK Post Office Farce , Musk abandons ship
Abbas Barks At Hamas
The leader of the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the Western Bank has called Hamas ‘sons of dogs’ for not handing over their hostages to Israel. His reasoning; that Hamas holding the hostages gives Israel an excuse to continue its killing. Additionally it puts into jeopardy the Palestinian’s in the West Bank.
This is to ignore the fact that the ‘sons of Zionism’ have been killing Muslims for the last eight decades. It is also to ignore the fact that the ceasefire was never really upheld by Israel and it is to turn a blind eye to the statements of Trump that Gaza should be handed over to the Americans.
Abbas, his political party Fateh and the PA have always opposed the coming into power of Hamas in Gaza. Fateh would like nothing more than to have control over both the West Bank and Gaza, not for reasons of unification but for the power it brings. This may seem strange when a land is occupied for decades and the murder of your own people is part of daily life.
However such is the nature of democratic politics where power and the pursuit of power blinds those with it of their responsibility to their own people, occupation or not.
The cause of Palestine and Al-Aqsa would be better suited under a unified Islamic system than a divided democratic one.
UK Post Office Farce
For anyone with a business, especially one in IT a UK government contract is the ultimate prize. You can charge more than you would the private sector, the level of due diligence (as we will see) is sometimes laughable and once you have worked with the government you can name drop your way to more work.
This news this morning that the Post Office paid £600M to keep using the faulty Horizon software system built by Fujitsu. This was after the Post Office knew the system was faulty and been pivotal in wrongly convicting dozens of sub postmasters for fraud.
The Labour government at the time the contract was signed was warned about the fact the Post Office would never own the code something no company should ever agree to.
This news shouldn’t come as a shock knowing the UK government spent billions on PPE during Covid, only to be told it was all sub standard.
Flaws like the above in government buying are not restricted to the UK but plague Capitalism as a whole. Governments are prepared to out source, the private sector takes advantage and its all sealed with a few back handers for good measure. It’s a reason why Elon Musk has been on a drive to get rid of inefficient government contracts in the US through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). More about this below.
It all comes down to Capitalism failing to instil a sense of accountability in the government sector.
Musk Abandons Ship
Elon Musk has been running DOGE for the past few months and not only cutting back on government spending but also taking revenge on companies that have opposed Tesla in the past. Yes, his crusade for good included ensuring business rivals didn’t keep lucrative government contracts, this is Capitalism even fighting the good fight has a hidden agenda.
Having ‘done’ his job, Elon has now lost stomach for the fight and is cutting back on the amount of time he spends at DOGE. The reason? his business empire is suffering Tesla has seen a dip of 71% on its profits, his work at DOGE and love for Israel has damaged the Tesla brand. With all the uncertainty in the economy no one has money to spend on a wannabe BMW (sorry BMW owners, other brands are available).
Musk had to choose between saving the American people or saving his business empire. This captain is not going down with his ship, so much for noble causes.