Wednesday, February 26, 2025

Trump's toxic Gaza fantasy

Trump's fantasy

President Donald Trump has posted an AI-generated video on social media depicting a version of Gaza that has been colonized by the U.S. and made into a beach resort for the rich — a disturbing show of his desire to forcibly displace Palestinians from the region and create a billionaires’ playground on the rubble of Israel’s genocide.

The 33-second video shows what appears to be the enactment of Trump’s “Riviera” plan — a plan for the total ethnic cleansing of Gaza. 

At the beginning, the video shows the words “Gaza 2025” and “What’s next?” overlaid on AI-generated video of Palestinians walking through rubble and being pursued by armed soldiers.

It then shows artificial footage of a white sandy beach resort with a sprawling skyline, bustling streets and buildings like Dubai’s Burj Al Arab

The scene is chilling and surreal, depicting a genocidal fantasy of a U.S.-owned Gaza where Palestinians have been erased and rich people vacation on the rubble of their homes, cultural sites and graveyards.

The resort appears to be called “Trump Gaza.” There are glitzy monuments to Trump scattered throughout, including a roundabout with a massive gold Trump statue in the middle and a wall displaying rows of Trump figurines. The video also depicts a child holding a large balloon of a gold Trump face.

Excessive wealth is a focal point of the video. Elon Musk is shown eating on the beach in two clips; in another, he is being showered with money at the resort. The sea is littered with yachts and the streets full of cars resembling Teslas.

The video also shows Trump himself vacationing there. It includes a scene of him dancing with a woman in a club, and ends with a clip of him and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lounging in swimsuits next to a pool with drinks.

An eerie AI-generated song plays over the video, the lyrics touting “Trump Gaza.”

“No more tunnels, no more fear, Trump Gaza is finally here,” the song lyrics say. “Feast and dance, the deal is done. Trump Gaza, number one.”

The video is a show of Trump’s utter disregard for Palestinian lives and his willingness to celebrate and exploit genocide in order to bolster his own image and profits. It is just the latest example of Trump pushing his plan for the forced, permanent expulsion of over 2 million Palestinians from Gaza — a plan only feasible through military force and yet more mass brutality by occupiers.

Trump’s plan for Gaza has been roundly condemned by Palestinians and human rights experts across the globe

Earlier this month, a group of UN human rights experts said that Trump’s plan would constitute numerous “blatant violations” of international law. If enacted, it could plunge the world into the “dark days of colonial conquest” and threaten the very structure of international order, the experts said.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) has previously called out the heinous nature of the plan, noting that it would displace millions to create a “billionaire’s paradise.”

“It is grotesque. It is almost unspeakable,” Sanders said.

Palestinians in Gaza have said that Trump’s plan will fail, as they will not comply with orders to flee their homes, even if those homes have been reduced to rubble.

“America and Israel have always been doing their best to ‘clean out’ lands by force or facilities, but they also always fail as our souls are connected to the sand of this land,” Zaid Ali, from northern Gaza, told Middle East Eye last month.

“The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it too,” Trump declared at the press conference with Netanyahu. “We’ll own it, get rid of the destroyed buildings, level it out, create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area....do something different, just can’t go back, if you go back, it’s gonna end up the same way it has for 100 years.”

Labels: , , ,

Elon Musk's empire: Billions in military contracts

Feb 11 Reuters:

Elon Musk's companies have a variety of contracts with the U.S. Department of Defense, highlighting the growing relationship between the tech entrepreneur's ventures and the U.S. military.

SpaceX Provides launch services to the Department of Defense, including the launch of classified satellites and other payloads. SpaceX's CEO Gwynne Shotwell has said the company has about $22 billion in government contracts. The vast majority of that, about $15 billion, is derived from NASA.

SpaceX's biggest Pentagon contracts include the $733 million National Security Space Launch contract awarded in October to lift satellites into orbit. The company has been tapped for more Pentagon launch contracts potentially worth hundreds of millions of dollars more.

Starlink, the satellite-based internet service, which falls under the SpaceX umbrella, has been used by the Pentagon to provide connectivity in remote and austere environments. 

Starlink's commercial broadband service has some 7,000 satellites in orbit.

In 2023, the Pentagon awarded SpaceX a contract worth about $23 million to use Starlink to support military operations in Ukraine through mid-2024.

Starlink has had contracts with Special Operations Command, the Air Force, Army and other parts of the Pentagon.

Starshield: Though not broken out in government contracting, this satellite unit of SpaceX is similar to its commercial Starlink business but designed for government national security programs. 

While details of the program are scarce, it is believed to have more secure communication pathways for classified information. Starshield has a contract with at least one intelligence agency believed to be worth billions of dollars, Reuters has reported.

The total value of Musk's companies' contracts with the Department of Defense is estimated to be in the billions of dollars, but the true figure cannot be determined since many of them are classified. 

The contracts demonstrate the growing importance of private sector technology companies in supporting U.S. military operations and national security initiatives.


Elon Musk’s Business Empire Benefits Under Trump





Labels: , , , , , ,