World View: Egypt Flooding Gaza Tunnels to Curb Smuggling

This morning’s key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com

• Egypt flooding Gaza tunnels to curb smuggling
• Hamas closes hundreds of tunnels from Gaza over health concerns
• Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez undergoing ‘complex, tough’ treatment
• North Korean nuclear test exploits U.S. – China tensions

Egypt flooding Gaza tunnels to curb smuggling

An Arab working outside a smuggling tunnel connecting Gaza with Egypt

For the last five days, Egyptian forces have been flooding with waterthe underground tunnels that smugglers in Gaza have dug to allow goodsto reach Gaza without having to pay taxes, or be confiscated ifthey’re illegal. An estimated 30% of all goods that reach Gaza comethrough the tunnels, circumventing the Israeli blockade. Flooding thetunnels causes them to collapse and makes the unusable. According toone Gaza resident:

“Egyptian measures against tunnels have worsened sincethe election of Morsi. Our Hamas brothers thought he would open upGaza. I guess they were wrong. Perhaps 150 or 200 tunnels havebeen shut since the Sinai attack. This is the Morsiera.”

Before 2010, there were some 2500-3000 tunnels between Gaza and Egypt,but the number has shrunk markedly since Israel eased some of thelimits they imposed on imports into Gaza. Reuters

Hamas closes hundreds of tunnels from Gaza over health concerns

What’s interesting about this tunnel story is the variety ofexplanations being given by different news agencies. Reuters,quoted above, says that the tunnel flooding is opposed by theHamas government in Egypt. However, AFP is reporting thatHamas and Egypt are cooperating to close the tunnels, becausethey’re being used to smuggle drugs and other harmful itemsinto Gaza. According to an unnamed Hamas official:

“Many of them were closed down because they were usedto smuggle banned materials that harm citizens.”

Finally, an analysis in Jewish Press says, “Egypt is flooding Gazasmuggling tunnels, choking off one of Hamas’ biggest sources for moneyand placing a virtual siege far more severe than Israel ever created.”

We report, you decide. AFP and Jewish Press

Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez undergoing ‘complex, tough’ treatment

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez is undergoing “very complex andtough” medical treatment in Cuba, where he has been hospitalized sinceDec. 11 after undergoing cancer surgery. According to vice presidentNicolas Maduro:

“Our commander is being subjected to supplementarytreatment, as we have reported, treatments (that are) very complexand tough. [Chávez is] undergoing alternative treatments … butthey are complicated and difficult treatments that must – at somepoint – end the cycle of his illness.”

The last report on Chávez’s condition was given on January 26. Atthat time, his progress was said to be “favorable,” though hecontinued to have “a certain level of respiratory insufficiency.”Latin American Herald Tribune

North Korean nuclear test exploits U.S. – China tensions

The U.N. Security Council issued “strong condemnations” of NorthKorea’s nuclear test, but is unlikely to do anything more than issuestatements. China had threatened trade sanctions if North Korea wentahead with the test, but is now considered unlikely to do anything.China is unwilling to back any U.N. sanctions on North Korea, for fearthat it could lead to upheaval, causing an outcome that might favorthe U.S., and sending a refugee flood into China. China has even lessflexibility with N. Korea, now that it feels threatened by theU.S. military “pivot” from Europe to Asia. North Korea is aware ofthis tension, and feels free to blatantly disregard China’s wishes,secure in the knowledge that no serious sanctions will be imposed byanyone. Reuters

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