Mike Whitney – The Unz Review Oct 29, 2026

Today,…. Netanyahu emerges as leader of the largest bloc, representing the true, honest, full face of genocidal Zionism that doesn’t hide. “Liberal” illusions that this genocidal settler society is waiting to have its “democracy” “saved” are shattered.(Bernie) Sanders, (Ed) Miliband and other apologists for this regime will have to learn that that the problem is not Netanyahu but the very entity he leads, built on mass murder and mass destruction of Palestine’s people. Ali Abunimah, X

Every six months you hear ‘The polls say Netanyahu is on his way out; the polls say Netanyahu is on his way out.” Every six months you hear that. (But) he’s the longest sitting prime minister in Israeli history. Why? He’s a self-righteous, obnoxious, Jewish supremacist and, guess what, he is the perfect reflection of Israeli society. He is. That’s why they keep voting for him. They don’t vote for his platform. They vote for him. When they look at Netanyahu, they see themselves. That’s a fact. Norman Finkelstein, Dr Msm, X (2:05 min)

Yesterday’s elections in Israel were a referendum on Netanyahu’s annihilation of Gaza and his plan to demolish Iran. A clear majority of Israelis support those policies and trust that Netanyahu will “finish the job”. In a speech he delivered on Tuesday to Likud party members and other supporters, the Prime Minister thanked the people who helped him to remain in office as caretaker prime minister until a coalition government can be formed. Here’s part of what he said:

“With courageous decisions, together with an Israeli public that stood firm, and thanks to our heroic soldiers, we worked wonders that changed the face of the Middle East…. We established security zones deep inside Gaza, in Lebanon, in Syria. We removed an immediate existential threat that hung over us, the danger of immediate destruction. We struck the Iranian regime and brought it to the edge of the abyss. Iran is weaker than ever; Israel is stronger than ever.”

“It is within our power, together with our wonderful friend President Trump, to remove the Iranian threat once and for all.” He later called it “a historic, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity… to remove the existential threat from Iran once and for all” and urged against letting other considerations interfere…..

“We must form a strong, national, right-wing government. That is what must be done…We prevailed over our enemies, and together we will prevail over them in the future too. Fear not, Israel, fear not…” Benjamin Netanyahu, Victory speech video

(Note that as of October 28, 2026, the election showed an inconclusive result: Netanyahu’s right-wing/far-right/ultra-Orthodox bloc was projected around 53–56 seats (short of a majority), the Eisenkot-led opposition lower, and Arab parties with a strong showing (around 19 seats). Netanyahu remains caretaker prime minister pending coalition talks or a possible further election; neither side had a clear path to 61 seats without difficult compromises.)

What does Netanyahu mean by “prevailed”? No one candidate has the majority they need to form their own government, so they must either strike a deal with opponents or force new elections. But that’s clearly not what Bibi intends to do . What he wants to do is use his interim powers as “caretaker prime minister” to begin deporting Palestinians from Gaza while launching a new round of attacks on Iran. And under existing Israeli law, he can do just that. “There is no blanket ban on major decisions, including initiating a war or major military action.” So, Netanyahu is free to launch an attack on Iran while claiming the election gave him a mandate to pursue his party’s bloodthirsty policies. In short, he’s unstoppable. Here’s a post by former Israeli security official Shaiel Ben Ephraim:

Here is what I see happening in terms of likelihood. I believe Netanyahu will launch a massive war in Iran in a few days while negotiations for a coalition are underway. That will lead to one of these outcomes:

1) Netanyahu runs the war as caretaker PM, no government forms, and any repeat election slips: 35% chance. A caretaker government can legally wage war, and coalition talks stall when the country is under missile fire. Netanyahu doesn’t have to win anything. He only has to keep the clock running.

2) An emergency unity government with Netanyahu “for the duration of the war”: 25% chance. The model is Gantz in 2020, who broke his “no Netanyahu” pledge and joined a COVID emergency government. Eisenkot was a war-cabinet observer in 2023 and frames everything in terms of national security…..

The upshot of this is that it is about a 70% chance that Netanyahu remains in power, weakened and battered and temporary, but more dangerous than ever as a result. Shaiel Ben Ephraim, X

Ben-Ephraim’s analysis coincides with the numerous reports of military supplies, munitions, warships, and B-2 bombers being moved into striking distance of Iran in the last few weeks. A number of analysts have concluded that something big is about to happen although they disagree about the precise date. In any event, there is no doubt that Netanyahu will use yesterday’s election results to persuade Trump that any attack on Iran has the complete support of the Israeli people.

Many readers will have noticed the dramatic uptick in ominous warnings on social media in the last few days which suggest that the US and Israel are planning “something big” in the near future. Here’s a sampling of a few of the more credible sounding “alerts”:

Update: Massive Power Outage Coming! War Department prepares major U.S. military bases to operate for 90 days without outside support, including civilian power grids and global supply chains! US Homeland Security News

And here’s the response to the article by veteran Colonel Daniel Davis:

This goes way beyond general national defense preparedness. This has the earmarks of something urgent and much, much larger scale than anything previously contemplated. Preparations of this nature and magnitude would only be envisioned for an attack on America from a major global power as part of a world war. Given the urgency with which Pentagon officials are announcing this initiative, I’m worried that they know something is coming and they’re not telling us… Daniel Davis Deep Dive, X

So, our leaders are expecting nationwide blackouts, cyber-attacks on nuclear facilities and the power grid, and disruption of communications networks? How serious is this and what is the link to our prospective attacks on Iran?

Nobody seems to know except people at the very top.(and they’re not talking) But something is up. Check this out from the usually reliable Robert Pape:

Britain just told every household to stock 72 hours of water, food and cash, and gave itself 1,000 days to be ready to fight and win. Shelves emptied. Washington has told Americans nothing like it. What does London know that we don’t? Robert A. Pape, X

And it’s not just Britain either. Here’s a plot summary by someone called Pastor Steve (who lists his sources):

FIRST AMERICA. THEN BRITAIN. NOW JAPAN AND FINLAND. WHAT’S GOING ON?

Something significant is happening around the world. Emergency preparedness is trending, with several significant announcements all in October 2026. America wants 90-day preparedness for military bases. Now Britain, Japan and Finland are recommending approximately 72 hours of household supplies. Have we not told you for the last 4 years? AMERICA: The Pentagon is preparing major military bases to operate for 90 DAYS WITHOUT outside electricity, water, fuel or supply chains under its FORTRESS initiative.

BRITAIN: On October 22, the government launched its nationwide “Be Ready” campaign, urging households to stock emergency food, water and essential supplies for 72 hours.

JAPAN: On October 27, reports revealed that Japan’s disaster management minister is urging families to prepare at least three days of emergency supplies, preferably enough for an entire week.

FINLAND: On October 27, Finland’s National Emergency Supply Agency released a new report examining how the country could keep functioning through prolonged crises, drawing lessons from the war in Ukraine. Four countries focused on surviving major disruptions.

SOURCE LINKS: https://fortune.com/2026/10/26/pentagon-fortress-bases-90-days-off-grid-uk-be-ready-stockpile/
https://gov.uk/government/news/households-encouraged-to-take-small-simple-steps-to-stay-prepared-in-an-emergency
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/world-news/after-uss-fortress-plan-and-uks-be-ready-campaign-japan-issues-advisory-for-households-to-prepare-for-emergencies-heres-all-we-know/articleshow/135235152.cms Pastor Steve, X

Then there’s this gem from Colonel Douglas MacGregor who thinks the US might use tactical nukes in the upcoming fracas with Iran
MacGregor, X

Or this from the Daily Mail:

US launches nuclear readiness drills with ‘doomsday planes’ and bombers airborne nationwide. @Daily_MailUS

Is it all just empty fearmongering or are we on the brink of some trully life-altering event?

Chatgpt confirms that the reports are accurate with the “important distinction” that: “If you’re seeing this claim in connection with recent military tensions or fears of war, the fact that several countries are emphasizing household emergency supplies does not by itself establish that governments expect an imminent war.”

So, relax, we’re probably just jumping to conclusions. It’s all in your head.

This is from Fox News:

The Pentagon Doomsday Plan– Military bases across the country must operate independently for 90 day minimum
The US is planning for –what Fox News calls– the Nightmare Scenario. “The Pentagon wants factories to prepare to switch to wartime weapons production with alternative supply chains set up.” Fox News, X

There are literally hundreds of similar warnings across social media. The common thread appears to be that they omit that the probable cause of any cataclysmic attack on America would likely be a retaliation by Iran. Iranian officials have repeatedly said that if the US-Israel strike again they will have “zero red lines” and will destroy all the critical energy producing infrastructure across the Gulf as well as US military installations and warships. In order to appreciate the magnitude of a full-blown Iranian retaliation, take a look at this post at Sprinter on X:

Iran has published its targets in the event of aggression against it. This list includes bridges, railway networks, airports, ports, underwater cables in the Persian Gulf, petrochemical plants, power plants, desalination plants, technology companies, and companies in the field of artificial intelligence, as well as hotels and shopping centers in the Middle East. According to this scenario, in the event of an attack on Iranian infrastructure, there are likely to be major disruptions to transportation, energy, water supply, communications, and trade in the region, in addition to the initial targets, including American bases in the region. @Sprinter_Press, X

Israel gets 80% of its water from desalination plants which would be easy targets for Iran’s precision ballistic missiles. The IRGC would also attack Dimona and potential underground sites for Israel’s nuclear arsenal. In a matter of hours, Israel could be reduced to a radioactive wasteland. And this is why the US and its allies are issuing these cryptic, oddball warnings, because they have no idea of the breadth of Iran’s technological development which could include the capability to strike facilities in the continental United States itself leading to blackouts, food shortages, disruption of energy supplies, and an unprecedented breakdown in communications. This is from the Middle East Monitor:

The head of the Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee warned Saturday that a “single miscalculation” could render Israel uninhabitable in less than an hour, posting a map marking infrastructure sites across the country, Anadolu reports.

“A single miscalculation is all it takes: the occupied lands rendered uninhabitable in under an hour,” Ebrahim Azizi wrote on US social media company X.

The map identified desalination plants, power stations, oil facilities, bridges, and transport routes, as well as the Dimona nuclear research center in the Negev desert in southern Israel.

In the north, it marked the Haifa oil refineries, Carmel Tunnels in Haifa, and Yokne’am viaducts on Highway 6.

Along the Mediterranean coast, it identified the Hadera desalination plant and Orot Rabin power plant, the Sorek desalination plant, and desalination facilities in Ashdod and Ashkelon. It also marked the Eshkol power plant in Ashdod and a site labeled “Ashdod Oil Refineries & Fuel Storage.”…. The map also traced an oil pipeline running between Eilat in the south and Ashkelon on the Mediterranean coast. Middle East Monitor

And this is from an article at Aljazeera titled Iran threatens Gulf data centres:How exposed is the region’s internet?

Iran has warned that cables and data centres in the region could be attacked, as Houthi allies hold internet chokepoint.

Iran’s security chief, Mohsen Rezaei, has warned that cables, data centres and artificial intelligence (AI) facilities across the region could be attacked if war with the United States erupts again..…. Data centres and US business interests were hit in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates during the US-Israel war on Iran. Tehran said these attacks were in response to US attacks on Iranian civilian installations….

Why are data centres and internet cables vulnerable?

Because so much data travels through a few narrow routes. More than 90 percent of data capacity between Europe and Asia passes through cables under the Red Sea, according to estimates by the research firm TeleGeography. They enter the sea through Bab al-Mandeb, a strait about 26km (16 miles) wide at its narrowest, one of the busiest maritime routes connecting Europe to Asia.

Cables can be cut by anchors or sabotage, and repairs in a war zone need permits and safety guarantees.

Data centres, which run banking apps and cloud services, are large, fixed targets.

“An attack does not necessarily need to destroy the servers themselves to render an entire facility inoperable,” Andreas Krieg, a senior lecturer in security studies at King’s College London, told Al Jazeera.

Data centres depend on uninterrupted electricity, cooling and telecommunications, he said, while undersea cables “are difficult to protect continuously and disruption can affect several countries simultaneously”…

On March 11, the semi-official Tasnim news agency said Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has published a list of “Iran’s new targets”, including cloud infrastructure belonging to Google, Microsoft and Oracle in Israel and some Gulf states.

That same month, the IRGC named 17 US firms in a Telegram post, including Google, Meta, and Apple, as well as the Emirati AI company G42 as potential targets….. “What makes Mohsen Rezaei’s warning particularly significant is that he is not simply threatening another set of targets,” he said. “He is identifying a new category of strategic infrastructure that connects Gulf economic diversification directly to American technological power.”

…Gulf states have staked their post-oil economies on technology….Krieg said the threats would not “fundamentally reverse” Gulf ambitions, but would “change the economics and geography of AI investment”.

“The Gulf has traditionally sold itself as a stable environment in an unstable region. The war has challenged that proposition,” he said. The UAE is particularly exposed, he said, because its AI strategy is “deeply integrated with American technology companies”, making Emirati infrastructure “more attractive as a target for Iran”. Qatar, with its diplomatic ties to Tehran, is “somewhat better positioned politically”.

“In many ways, Iran is threatening to do to the Gulf’s emerging digital economy what it has already done to its maritime economy,” Krieg said – to “make reliability itself a geopolitical bargaining chip”. Aljazeera

The next phase of the war with Iran is not going to be anything like the earlier phases. The gloves are coming off, and Iran is going to settle this matter once and for all. They have already beaten the US and Israel strategically, technologically and morally. Now they are going to deliver the final blow that will terminate America’s malign presence in the Middle East and pave the way for more responsible parties to reestablish regional order.

We’ll let Senator Chris Murphy have the final word so readers have some understanding of what they should expect in the weeks ahead:

In one of these briefings, we did have a chance to have a fairly detailed conversation of what the war plan would be if we restarted military operations against Iran. You have heard that it would be a “short duration” plan. I would just say this: Their plan is insane. It will lead to devastating escalation and the likelihood of the destruction of our commitment to the rule of law. …The plan they have developed will lead to a prolongment and escalation of this war that will be devastating to our security interests. Senator Chris Murphy, Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee

 

Trump and Bibi have put us all on the road to ruin.

 

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