The Mysterious Case of the Country Nobody was Talking About

[00:00:00] Foreign. [00:00:10] Hello. [00:00:12] All right, I'm just checking. I just still have, like, no bars and no reception, but I'm gonna try this anyway. [00:00:20] Anyway, this is Nicole Johnson. If you are joining and if I actually have reception for this live, that is awesome. [00:00:28] But I really wanted take the. I've been doing a lot of Christmas videos. What's happening in the old city for Christmas? And while that's all well and good, there is just so much news going on here that I had to take the opportunity to actually to talk about some of the actual news, especially the thing that is, I think, the most fascinating to all of us, the mysterious case of the country that nobody was talking about and was suddenly recognized by Israel, though Israel was not talking about it and nobody was talking and nobody heard of, in the words of Donald Trump himself. Wait, let me get this right. Does anyone know what Somaliland is really? [00:01:20] I mean, so. [00:01:23] So we need to talk about Somaliland because first of all, I mean, because that, that's, you know, the big news. And there's actually the more I am diving into this and trust me, I did not know anything of Holy Land about four days ago. So. Yeah. So I'm also doing a crash course as well. [00:01:47] But I just want to mention several other news items before I get to that. First of all, it's been raining like crazy here. It's actually cold in, in Jerusalem now. I'm thinking raining here, flooding here. What is happening in Gaza. And sure enough, the tents over there are getting flooded. [00:02:07] They're getting totally destroyed by the wind. [00:02:11] People went from being homeless, homeless and displaced from their displacement. So it's really a big problem there. Now, what I'm not hearing, I've seen a lot of videos. I've seen what's going on there. What I'm not hearing is from any international body what they're doing about it now. That doesn't mean they're not doing anything. I just haven't heard it. So anyway, so that's something that we need to keep an eye on in the coming days because this is a pretty brutal winter compared to last year, I can tell you. [00:02:43] It's a pretty brutal winter. So you might be asking, why are you doing a live outside? Well, there's a school right here. There's a basketball court right here. My son's got a basketball game and they're up by 20 plus points. So I thought, let me just do this for a little while rather than finish watching the game. He's not playing at the moment. Okay. Some other really important items the fact that right now the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in America. So if you're watching from America, he's over there right now to meet with President Trump and other here already met with Marco Rubio and he's supposed to be meeting for a whole week. So I don't know what is going to be the topic, all of the topics, but I can tell you Somaliland will factor in and we'll get into why. But also, also, of course, since, you know, as the trip was getting closer, you know what they were talking about, you know, now we're hearing all about that Iran is rebuilding its weapons, that they're getting ready to attack. They have done some drills and some tests of some missiles. So, you know, all of this has been going on in the last couple of weeks, days and weeks. And honestly, I'm starting to think that it's all part of the lead up to this so that when, when Netanyahu gets there to America, he can say, hey, look, they're building up, so you got to give me the permission to, to attack them if need be. And so I am guessing that that's exactly what's going on right now with that. So in other words, I'm not worried at the moment that we're actually going to be attacked here. And anyway, there's protests going on in Iran, like massive protests. [00:04:35] The economy is like totally crashing and people are out in the streets. So that's like extremely important for everybody to know as well. [00:04:44] Okay, so Syria, there's also, there was a suicide attack there at a mosque. I think 20 plus people were killed. There's also apparently more massacres going on against the Alawites. I don't have the full details on that. So, so I'm not going to get into that. [00:05:03] And then of course, we're always watching Lebanon. What's going to be happening with Hezbollah, I'm sure that's going to be another big topic of conversation between Trump and Bibi because with Lebanon, you know, saying that they're going to disarm Hezbollah and it hasn't happened yet. And of course that is a big, big concern for Israel that, you know, that they anyway, that that's one of the things that America is demanding, the disarming of Hezbollah. But of course Israel is saying it. Well, if, if the Lebanese army doesn't do it, we'll do it. So are we being dragged back into war on all sides? There is also for most of you, if you're overseas, you may not know this, but there is still one hostage left, the body of one hostage, and. And has not been returned. There's not even really any talk about that right now. Not to say that the Israelis aren't talking about it, but it's not. I mean, the big deal will be if they decide to move on to phase two without getting all of the hostages back, which was part of the deal. [00:06:09] Now, also, Hamas had a big announcement today in which they. They admitted that Abu Abaida, who was the spokesperson for Hamas back, you know, became like an iconic figure during the war. He was assassinated, as Israel said that he was a couple months ago. [00:06:27] So they. They said that today in a big announcement. But okay, so anyway, and hi to. I see Laura and Jerry. Thank you. [00:06:37] Thank you for tuning in. [00:06:39] All right, so I am now. Now we've got to talk about Somaliland. Honestly, did you hear of Soma for this? Please let me know if you did hear a Somaliland and if you knew anything about it, because to me, it sounds like an amusement park, but it's not. It's actually, it's an, like a country, an unrecognized state that has been, you know, for 34 years, was functioning as a state, as a government, issuing passports, having, like, all sorts of services of a government, but unrecognized by the rest of the world. So the other day, what day was it? It's. I'm, like, in a time warp because of Christmas and everything. The other day, Israel decides, you know, just out of the blue, we recognize Somaliland. And everybody's like, wait, let's go to Google right now. What is Somaliland and where, you know, what's the deal? [00:07:31] So it turns out it is like, like a breakaway, not break away. I don't know, like all these factions. I mean, look, I'm not. You're not gonna get the, the, the best details for me because I'm just learning it myself. [00:07:46] It's next to Somalia, kind of a breakaway from Somalia, but not. But not according to them. But they have their own country, their own mindset now. It's a Muslim country, it's an Islamic country. And you know what? When Israel recognized them, I saw videos of people, like, rejoicing in the streets. Like, yes, we're allies with Israel. We love Israel. [00:08:08] You know, and it's just like, what? Mind blowing. All right, so then what happens? What is the fallout? Why did Israel do it? This is just like, I'm geeking out on the geopolitics of this. Like, I, as I dig into this, okay, so it, It Seems to me a lot of this has to do with Turkey. A lot has Israel has been taking some major steps in the last couple of days, like just maybe in the last week or two weeks that are strategic alignments that look like it's against Turkey. Now there was a agreement that they made with Cyprus and Greece to, you know, to shore up their defenses. And, and of course in the Mediterranean Sea that, you know, where Turkey has half of Cyprus, you know, and. [00:09:12] Syria. And so that was probably part, that was, I'm sure, part of it. So that's one thing. [00:09:20] So, so another thing, it's very interesting. The countries that condemned Israel, the Arab Emirates, Emirates has a, has the Abraham Accords agreement normalization with Israel. And now in Netanyahu's statement, he said something to that effect, that this is part of our Abraham Accords agreement, even though, you know, before it was here. The, the declaration is in the spirit of the Abraham Accord signed at the initiative of President Trump. [00:10:02] So they're also like kind of dragging Americ American to this. Now I'm reading these different analysts really fascinating and I can't tell like one is saying that this was engineered by Israel. Now why, I mean, why now? I put as the thumbnail for this video a map because where is Somaliland? Right? Where is it? [00:10:21] Just seeing where it is is very strategic. It's, it's a strategic location. It is right across the, the Aden, is it the Gulf of Aden from Yemen? And who's in Yemen? The Houthis. And what are the Houthis doing? Well, they are controlling like that whole passageway. They're pirating ships, they are launching missiles or war launching missiles at Israel for the longest, for the past two years. They're not really right now. But the Houthis are like a sworn enemy of Israel and they also condemn this decision, this recognition of Somaliland. So now if Israel recognizes this country and they're thrilled that Israel recognizes it, are they now does that mean they're going to use that land or be there, have a military presence like right across from Yemen to like kind of put the Houthis in check? Is that something now also? Who else is it good for? It's good for Ethiopia. [00:11:19] Ethiopia nearby, had some kind of agreement with Somaliland, like some kind of memorandum of understanding, and they didn't fully recognize it, but they, they had, they have relations. And of course this then improves like the Israel relations with Ethiopia and, and now what now Turkey? Why, why does, what does this have to do with Turkey? I'm going to read you A few quotes because I think this is very interesting. [00:11:57] Okay, so I told you about Yemen and the Houthis, but Turkey immediately condemned it. So in the face of Turkey. This is from an article, an analysis by Hai Eitan Uronachuk, who is an Israeli analyst and expert on Turkey, all things Turkey. I've interviewed him before, he's very sharp. Okay, so in the face of Turkey's attempts to establish a regional hegemony and encircle Israel through military alliances in Syria and a massive strategic presence in the Horn of Africa, it seems that Israel has finally decided to act and is now implementing multi area containment measures, combining forces with the Hellenic states, that's Cyprus and Greece that I mentioned in the Mediterranean, alongside the diplomatic move of recognizing Somaliland, constitute a strategic response and transfers initiative to Jerusalem. [00:12:50] These steps not only weaken Turkey's grip on critical shipping lanes and political power centers, but also make it clear to Turkey that Israel is aware of what is happening on the ground and is prepared to act creatively and actively to protect its national interests in every region. [00:13:07] So now another thing, another thing in the talks about phase two of the Israel Hamas war, which it's getting near the end of phase one, we still have this one hostage that I mentioned and when he, he's returned, then phase two can commence. Now phase two, they're talking about how to rebuild Gaza. So how do you rebuild a land where there's 2 million, about 2 million people, many of them living, 80% of them not living in. [00:13:48] Talk. [00:13:50] Re says I've lost the connection on my back. Okay, so there's this talk of relocation of these, of the Gazans and is has Somaliland actually. So now the question in exchange for taking Gazans now, are Gossan's gonna agree, will Gossens go? I don't know, I don't know how that works. [00:14:15] But this is, you know, part of the, what people are speculating of why Israel did it. Now of course Israel did this and a couple days later Netanyahu takes off for America. So now will America follow suit? Now Trump, as he said, you know, who really knows what Somaliland is anyway, you know what he said? [00:14:39] And so I don't. So that was in response to the question, are you going to recognize? And he said no, no, we're not going to do that. But it is just so interesting to watch how things are shaping up. Not just I say in this region, but this region has now sended to the Horn of Africa and to, to Yemen, you know, possibly to Yemen. Now another interesting thing and I think this is how I'm going to end it here. Is that Yemen, there's a, the other thing about Yemen is that you talk about the hooties. [00:15:10] They have their stronghold there and they're kind of, they're an unrecognized government, but there's the other Yemeni government there, but there are different factions. And then the Houthis are supported by Iran. There's a faction supported by Saudi Arabia which also condemned Israel's recognition. And then there's a faction supported by the United Arab Emirates which applauded Israel's recognition of Somaliland. And, and one a leader in the UAE backed faction had said and I think this was a while ago and I don't know his name but, and I, I have it somewhere in my notes. I'm never in my, it's like there's seven pages. I don't know where it is. But he said that, that it will be good for us to have diplomatic relations with Israel. It'd be good for Yemen to have diplomatic relations for Israel. So, so now you are shaping up that the Abraham Accord aligns nations like Bahrain, uae, Morocco, you know, they're not getting, they're not condemning this move, but many Arab and Muslim nations and African nations and some others are condemning this recognition. But you see how it's shaping up like with a Turkey, an anti Turkey slant or the pro Turkey slant or maybe taking, you know, just weakening Turkey's hold in, in this region. [00:16:46] So, so there, so it's, it's just to me very fascinating that this could be that Somaliland gets used as, like this as an intelligence base, as a way to control the shipping corridor right over there between the, the Aden, Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, monitoring the Houthis, somebody going to be monitoring them getting their weapons or launching their weapons, any missile activity they have going on, being able to perhaps track Iran getting a lot closer to, to them and, and the, the extension more or less of the Abraham Accords, which I have been recently talking about that possibly in the caucuses as well, that there could be this, this corridor that goes from Central Africa through the, sorry Central Asia through the Caucasus through the Mediterranean and to the Middle East. But now this would be going a different direction. Wow, I wish I had a map to show you because we're going like south, southeast, southeast instead of northeast. It's just, it's crazy. Absolutely crazy. And possibly using this as an opportunity to relocate Gazans, which that's not necessarily agreed upon by the Palestinians or the Gazans. Themselves, but this was one of the countries apparently tossed around as a possibility for relocation. [00:18:21] So. So anyway, I. I'm gonna end on that. I'm gonna go check out the. The rest of this. The game, which hopefully is good. Hopefully it stayed, you know, in the winning zone. But thank you for tuning in. I see Kim also said okay. [00:18:38] Oh, you are welcome. I also, I tell you what, I did this video for myself as much as I did for anybody else because I needed to understand this. And I find it absolutely fascinating the. The chess game of countries and politics that goes on the Game of Thrones. It's basically, we're watching Game of Thrones. Game of Thrones is actually a reflection of. [00:18:58] Of life. Art imitates life, as usual. Anyway, that's it for me. Thank you so much for tuning in. If you haven't already, please subscribe and. And to this channel, especially if you're on YouTube. If you're not on YouTube, go to the YouTube channel and subscribe because I would love to do more videos like this of what you guys want to hear. [00:19:18] If you have any questions, let me know. But anyway, thank you so much for tuning in and ciao for now. Over and out. Happy New Year, Sam.